JUMP GIRL (The Go Girls Chronicles Book 2)

by Leigh Hutton

  Abia wrapped an arm around her, holding up the disc. ‘I think you’d better watch this.’

  Winnie arrived with a box of tissues and a blanket. Ebony sipped at her cooling cup of tea, cringing each time she swallowed from the pain in her throat and fighting to keep her eyelids from closing; she’d never been so exhausted, she was sure. She pulled the blanket tightly around herself, she couldn’t stop shaking, and her head was pounding with a pain strong enough to split it in two.

  ‘Maybe not good t’ime for her?’ Winnie said to Abia.

  ‘No,’ Ebony said. ‘I’m okay,’ she forced a smile for her friends, ‘thanks, guys, for all your help.’

  They looked worried, but helped her into the lounge room none the less. Abia popped the disc into the DVD player, grabbed Jasmine and Winnie, and left Ebony with the controller on the lounge.

  Ebony pressed ‘Play’.

  Her body froze stiff, and her eyes opened wider than coffee mugs. She blinked a few times, to make sure what she was seeing was real, even pinched her own arm.

  Then she pressed ‘Rewind’, and took it back to the beginning, and cranked up the volume.

  Ebony only had a few photos of Cecile, and no video. Now, she could forever hear her mother’s voice, and this meant more to her than any asset Cecile could have left in her possession.

  Cecile Scott Harris sat in her office at their Millarville home, in front of her computer. She adjusted the collar of her white shirt, and smiled into the camera.

  ‘Hello, Ebony,’ she said, smiling. Her eyes were as blue and as kind as ever, her blonde hair styled nicely in its cute bob. She was wearing pale pink lipstick and powder on her soft, round face. Ebony went to the TV, and put a hand on her cheek.

  ‘I’m so glad you’ve found me!’ she said, staring straight into Ebony’s eyes. ‘I suppose, since you’ve had reason to search for this, that I’ve fallen on some hard times … but please, don’t despair! I know I’m happy. I knew the day we found each other that I’d be able to go any day after that and be a happy woman.’ She shifted her slim hips in the chair and smiled. ‘I’m so sorry for the trouble with this Will business. I didn’t trust anyone, so I wanted to leave the real deal with the one person I do trust. My daughter.’

  Ebony crossed her legs, and sat back on the floor. She kept a hand on her mother’s face.

  ‘The envelope has everything that you’ll need, and this tape will ensure that Samson can’t lay claim to anything. The next step is to find yourself an independent lawyer, someone outside of the city, someone out our way, that you can trust. Actually ’ Cecile raised her hand, as she always did when she had an exciting thought. Ebony grinned, warm tears rolling down her cheeks. ‘You know what — call Marcus Frank, he has a brilliant cowboy lawyer of sorts, named Austin Levi, who’d be perfect!’ Cecile took a deep breath, and bit her bottom lip. ‘I should have gotten you into Marcus’s barn years ago, but here I go, dying with regrets! Don’t live with regrets, Ebony, it’s terribly inefficient. Start your own barn. You are beyond good enough. Find yourself some good friends and great clients. Have fun. Be happy. That’s all I ever wanted for you.’

  Ebony pressed rewind again, before it had finished. She didn’t want Cecile to end.

  Near the end of her video, Cecile kissed the camera. ‘Love you always, my girl,’ she said. ‘Thank you for being my perfect daughter. You made my life.’ She waved, smiled, then reached for the keyboard.

  And her mother was gone.

  Ebony’s phone was broken from when she threw it at her door after her conversation with Dallas, so she used Abia’s to call Marcus. Abia promised she would get the documents and the disc to Austin; she’d look after everything, then she helped Ebony to shower, dress in clean pajamas, and got her tucked her into her guest bed. Ebony fell into a deep sleep, even before her head hit the pillow.

  She wasn’t sure if she was dreaming or awake. She tried to sit up, but kept getting pulled back down, like there was a heavy weight holding her to the mattress. Her eyes wouldn’t open, like they were glued shut. Into the darkness she slipped, again and again.

  When she finally woke, her body was drenched in sweat, and she was freezing. Her head was pounding and it felt like there were razor blades in her throat. Abia came in with a glass of apple juice and jam toast. She couldn’t eat. A doctor came a little while later, then Abia went out, to get her some antibiotics.

  Back into sleep.

  Winnie woke Ebony to feed her juice and pills. She brought a man in at one point, a tall man in a white cowboy hat. He had a firm handshake and said his name was Austin — he handed her a pen to sign some papers.

  She was still foggy with exhaustion, and fell back into darkness.

  Winnie said that Dallas had called, and left a long number for her to call back on. Ebony mumbled that they’d broken up. Her heart was sore and worn, longing to hear his voice, but she was too tired to call him. Too much had happened, he was too far away. She had no energy to chase their love right now.

  Back to sleep.

  Ebony wasn’t sure what day it was when she woke to bright, early morning sun and was able to sit straight up. She called out, but no one answered. She knew she was at Abia’s, by the huge oil painting of Samurai on the wall. She rose from bed, and pulled on the fluffy, white housecoat and slippers left out for her. It was quiet and warm in the cottage, with sunlight streaming in through wide kitchen windows. She smiled at the green forest and rolling hills beyond. It still hadn’t snowed; everything was brown. The autumn leaves had fallen.

  She wanted to stretch, her muscles finally free from excruciating pain, and her mind clear. She spotted a note on the round kitchen table, under the cordless home phone.

  Schooling horses, please call when you’re up. Can’t wait to see you :) Abia

  Her stomach was angry and rumbling, so Ebony headed for the fridge. She found some juice and an apple and put two slices of bread in the toaster, put the kettle on, and then felt her hair, which was itching and wet with grease. Disgusting. She needed a shower.

  She found clean jeans, undies, a bra, T-shirt and hoodie next to her bed. She also noticed some cardboard boxes stacked up in the corner of the room. On top was her sketch of Monster, and the framed poster of Eric Lamaze and Hickstead; her heroes, the very picture Annika must have had reframed. Abia must have grabbed it all from Annika’s when she dropped her home, Ebony thought, smiling. She’s such a great friend. She ran her fingers over the pictures, taking a deep breath — suddenly the kettle boiled and dinged for her second instant coffee in the kitchen. Time to get moving, she thought, laying a pair of jeans over the pictures to keep them safe.

  The world Ebony awoke to was vastly different to the one she’d been living in for the last nineteen years.

  Her first time back at Marcus’s, and all of the grooms came out to greet her. Dougie even smiled when he saw her in the hallway and Paisley Chamfer, his mother, rushed up with a bouquet of flowers and box of chocolates. Abia organised her a new phone and it seemed to be ringing constantly with people from Austin’s office and detectives from the RCMP, who had taken Samson into custody for allegedly falsifying Cecile’s Will. They’d found enough evidence to charge him with her murder, and they had a lot of questions for Ebony in regards to Samson and Cecile’s relationship.

  When she realised he’d done it for the money, she felt sick to her stomach and hot with rage. Money, power … nothing should have been more valuable than Cecile’s beautiful life. But it did bring her some sense of closure knowing Samson had been caught and would pay for what he did. Life wasn’t fair, there was no fighting that, and Cecile had given so much in her years on this earth.

  Annika was sentenced to community service and was

  apparently able to keep her house. Mr. Prince, however, went to prison.

  Luther was arrested, tried and found guilty of poisoning Monster. Ebony was happy she would, hopefully, never have to see the evil man again. Luther’s daughter, Sophia, had arrived from Germany
to take over the running of his barn. She rang just days after Luther was found guilty, to express her condolences and apologise for the ‘reprehensible actions of her grandfather’. She sounded sincere on the phone, and offered to help in any way she could.

  Monster’s body was cremated and a man came to Marcus’s to drop off a pretty painted urn with his ashes. ‘Monster’ had been painted on the side in red script. She rode Johnny down the ridge and scattered them in the wind, sending Monster home into the wilderness.

  Ebony tried her best to get back into a routine, schooling Johnny and fitting in the meetings when she could. It all seemed too surreal. She enjoyed her time in the arena riding Johnny the most. It was real. It was her.

  It wasn’t long before Austin arrived at Marcus’s, and ushered her into her tack room. He was carrying a briefcase and a small envelope full of keys.

  ‘Now, this one’s for the main door of the house,’ he dumped the keys out onto her tack box, holding up each one to show her, ‘and this one’s for the barn, then the garage, front gate master key and kitchen entrance, too.’

  Ebony stared, incredulous. ‘What are these for?’

  Austin laughed, tipping the brim of his hat with his thumb. ‘They’re for your house, girl!’ He gathered up the keys, slipping them back into the envelope and slapping it into her hand. ‘You’re free to move home whenever you’d like.’

  Ebony felt the weight of the keys, and suddenly, her legs gave way.

  ‘Easy, there!’ Austin caught her, and set her on her tack box. ‘I’m sure this is all a lot to take in,’ he said, resting his briefcase down beside him. ‘I’d like to offer my services to help appoint an accountant and a financial manager to look after your new assets. Would that be alright?’

  Ebony looked up into the gentle man’s brown eyes, and took a long, calculated breath. ‘Austin,’ she said, a wave of calm and peace sweeping over her. ‘There’s only one business I’m interested in, and that’s Star Monster Stables.’

  Austin raised his eyebrows, and smiled. ‘Atta girl,’ he said. ‘We knew you’d be up for it!’

  Ebony sat back on the tack box, and considered the words that had just come out of her mouth. It was absolutely the perfect name for her new barn, she decided. She could see herself now, moving home, unlocking the barn and the house and getting it set up to run just like Marcus’s — well, maybe not exactly the same, but ‘The Gale’ certainly did a few things right and he had taught her a great deal about horsemanship.

  Now all Ebony needed was an experienced business manager, a few clients, and a new top horse, to train for the Rio Olympics.

  Ebony eased back in Cecile’s desk chair and stretched her arms up over her head. She gazed out the office windows, taking in the sunset, now in full bloom, the lake aflame with yellow and a tinge of pink. She could see Johnny, enjoying his final moments out in his paddock before she would bring him in for the night.

  Nibbling at Johnny’s mane was Jasmine’s top horse, Odysseus, who’d taken quite a liking to him. Not that his affections had been fully reciprocated; Johnny squealed and lashed out with his teeth, but didn’t move from Odie’s side.

  The next paddock along was occupied, too.

  Gallant raised his head, a clump of brown grass hanging from his lips. He was looking out over his paddock, down the hill to the lake, and the mountains beyond. His mane was long and tangled and his belly stuck out the bottom of his blanket. He was enjoying his retirement, which was so well deserved.

  Paisley Chamfer had dropped him off personally, as a ‘house warming present’, the day after Ebony, Winnie, Abia, Samurai and all of her other horses had moved in. It was such a big house, there was no way Ebony could fill it all on her own. Abia had offered to come in as partner, to help her with her horses and teach her about coaching clients. Their first lessons with client number one, Jasmine ‘Jazz’ Kassedy, were going splendid.

  Ebony smiled as she heard their old tractor starting up; Winnie would be moving hay from the shed to the barn. A local farmer had dropped off a truck-full of bales for them this morning, to fill up their hay shed. A construction crew new friends Winnie and Clancy had made while out one night at Cowboys had just finished closing in the covered arena, to make it an indoor, and had agreed to let them pay it off as they could. Ebony also had plans for a jumper field, bordering on the lake.

  She reached for the invoice for the sand, which the local quarry had delivered to top up their new indoor free of charge after her and Abia had worked out a cross promotion deal with the company, and filed it in her desk drawer. Her inbox was shrinking, as she worked through the tasks of getting their barn up and running. She was quite enjoying office work, considering it was horsey related.

  Some lilacs needed to be planted along the window, so she could smell them in the summer, Ebony decided, thinking back to the bouquet she’d rested on Cecile’s grave, that summer with . . . Dallas. Her heart clenched at the thought of the one love she feared she’d lost forever. She knew she’d been horrible to him that day, when her world was crumbling down and she couldn’t handle another crushing loss in her life. She’d tried so many times since that night to call him, to say she was sorry, to explain, and to just hear his voice … maybe, she could message him?

  Ebony snatched for her phone, which Winnie had repaired for her, typing madly …

  I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I love you. Ebony

  She keyed in Dallas’s number, and hit send before her fear of having lost him forever could override her hope that he would find it in his heart to forgive.

  She drummed her thumbs on her phone, her stomach reeling with nerves, looking across at her mother’s face, smiling out at her from the framed picture next to her old computer that Ebony now used. Her sketch of Monster was taped up too, on the wall, next to Eric and Hickstead and a framed image of her and Monster clearing the water at the world championships, which Jasmine and her mother, Leslie, had given her.

  The sound of a car pulling up dragged her from her thoughts, and she set her phone next to her keyboard. She rose from her desk, grabbing her handbag — which was lighter these days, as she now kept her passport in her desk drawer, her sketchpad on her night side table and her iPad in the kitchen, where the girls conducted most of their business meetings. She trusted her new family; the girls who shared her home.

  It was Leslie, dropping Jazz off for a sleep over. The girls were going shopping the next morning for outfits to wear to the Christmas party, which they’d planned for that weekend. It was to be a joint party, for Poplar Ridge Farms and Star Monster Stables. Marcus had loved the idea, and booked the Calgary Tower for the occasion. Everyone from both of the barns had been invited.

  The next morning, and Ebony still hadn’t received a reply from Dallas. She stared at the screen of her phone, rolling onto her side between her sleek black sheets in her old, wonderful double bed. Flicked into messages, into emails nothing new.

  Maybe he didn’t get it.

  He needs to get it.

  She went into ‘Sent Messages’, and tapped on his number. Calling him is the only way … She held her breath, listening to the sound of the dead static on the other end of the line. Her stomach dropped and she sat bolt upright when a woman answered.

  ‘The person you are trying to reach is out of the service area,’ the woman said. ‘Please try again later.’

  Shit. Ebony held the phone to her chest, her breath coming hard and fast. She had to reach him.

  Please call me as soon as you get this. Love Ebony

  She remembered Dallas telling her that his Facebook page was managed by someone from his team. Abia had started a page for their barn, but she didn’t have a personal one, not that she’d want someone from Dallas’s team getting her message, anyway. But how else could she get ahold of him?

  Ebony went into Safari, and searched ‘The Calgary Knights’. She stared at the phone number in ‘Contact’, considering what she’d say when someone answered, ‘Hi, I’m the ex-girlfri
end of Dallas Cash and I’m really desperate to talk to him!’ Desperate. Too desperate. Sad.

  ‘Gahhhhh!’ she cried, holding her pillow over her face and punching it.

  ‘Ebony?’ There was a knock at the door. ‘Get moving, girl,’ it was Jasmine, ‘we’ve got some serious shopping to do!’

  Ebony gritted her teeth and rolled out of bed.

  Jasmine suggested they head to Southcentre Mall, so the girls piled into the Mustang, cranked the stereo, and headed into the city.

  Ebony couldn’t remember the last time she’d been to the mall, but it was exciting to be here, as they passed through the huge, glass front entryway and headed for a juice stand to grab a smoothie. It was busy, with a buzzing atmosphere inside the shops, and Ebony enjoyed all of the shiny, pretty, colourful items on display. She reminded herself to pick up some new nail polish, as her nails had finally grown long enough to paint black again.

  The girls stopped at a clothing store on the other side of the food court, and got to browsing. Abia held up a slinky, black dress with three-quarter sleeves. ‘You guys like?’

  ‘For sure,’ Ebony said, glancing up from a rack of sale items. ‘You have to try that on.’ She had no idea what kind of dress would be best for the party, the last time she’d been in one was when one of her foster mothers shoved her in a frilly, pink number and sent her off to Sunday School.

  ‘C’mon, Eb!’ Jasmine yelled from the fitting rooms. ‘Pick one!’

  Ebony sighed and grabbed a white, poofey dress by its hanger.

  When they all came out to admire each other’s outfits, the girls burst out laughing.