Max gazed up at Deborah, delighted with the news. For a moment the two smiled at each other as everyone else suddenly found something fascinating to look at off in the distance. Then Max remembered the rest of the day’s activities. “So that explains why—”
“Why I had to distract you for an hour while Deborah rode,” Stevie finished for him, “by making up a ridiculous story about the grain being bad—”
“—and emptying the contents of your lunch into the grain buckets to keep me occupied,” Max said, trying to get the last word.
“Hey, it worked, didn’t it?” Stevie said, grinning.
“Anyway, during the lesson the ‘judge’ arrived,” Carole continued.
“That much makes sense,” Max said.
“Only our ‘judge’ was supposed to be here to certify Red as a Riding Counselor, just like Denise.”
“A what?” Red asked, astonished.
“I was?” the judge exclaimed simultaneously.
Lisa cleared her throat and looked at Red. “We were trying to get you certified as a Riding Counselor so that Veronica would get off your back and then Max wouldn’t believe all the awful things she said.” She looked up at Red, steeling herself for the worst.
But instead of being annoyed, Red looked shyly pleased. “I guess I never appreciated the lengths you three were willing to go to in order to help me out,” he said quietly.
Then they all started talking at once, filling in details for each other. Soon it all became very clear to everyone—except the poor judge. She had been standing quietly, listening to everyone’s explanation. Finally she threw up her hands in confusion. “Excuse me,” she said. Her low, authoritative judge’s voice put a halt to the chatter. “I am Judge Emily Stilwell,” she said. “Just exactly what does this riding certificate have to do with marriage, and exactly who is getting married today?”
“Today? Nobody’s getting married today,” said Stevie. “Max and Deborah are getting married on the twenty-seventh!”
“We are?” Deborah asked, surprised.
Stevie suddenly got a sinking feeling in her stomach. “You’re not?”
“No, we’re getting married today,” Max said, looking slightly alarmed.
“Then who is marrying Redford O’Malley?” the judge demanded.
“Redford?” Red said.
“If you mean Red,” Denise spoke up, “then that would be me, I think, but probably not for a couple of years and certainly not until Red gets up the guts to ask me.” She slipped her arm through the stable hand’s while Red blushed the color of his name.
This was too much for Stevie. She had thought that she knew all the secrets while everyone else was in the dark. Now it turned out that she had the date wrong for Max and Deborah’s wedding and she had completely missed a blossoming Pine Hollow romance. It really wasn’t fair.
“But you don’t even know each other!” Stevie blurted out.
“Yes, we do,” Denise said calmly. “Red and I met this spring at the university. Red’s been taking equine studies classes there. Didn’t you know?”
“And you really might marry each other?” Lisa asked, awestruck.
“Well …,” Deborah started to say, taking a sidelong glance at Red.
“But he’s about three-quarters married already,” Judge Stilwell protested.
“To my fiancée,” Max retorted.
“Will someone please tell me what’s going on?” the judge asked.
“Have you ever heard of The Saddle Club, Your Honor?” Max began.
“… SO NATURALLY, WHEN we saw the Indiana plates on your car—” Stevie said, finally reaching the end of a long explanation. The group had moved from the schooling ring to the yard in front of the Regnerys’ house, where they could sit down.
“My sister-in-law is visiting me, and my car’s in the shop,” Judge Stilwell explained.
“She is?” Stevie asked. “I mean, it is?”
“I’m afraid so,” the judge said sympathetically. “But I’m flattered that you thought I knew enough about horses to examine a riding instructor. I’ve never actually set foot on a horse farm before.”
At that moment, Mrs. Reg swung open the door of the house. She was wearing a huge apron over a matching peach-colored blouse and skirt. Her hair was swept into an attractive bun. “It looks like you’re having an important conversation,” she called, “but the frosting on the cake is beginning to slip, and if we’re going to have a wedding, we’d best have it now!”
Max, Deborah, and the judge stood up to go into the house. Stevie cleared her throat. Max stopped. He tried to look severe but ended up grinning from ear to ear. “You know, I thought I was going to have a chance to do something in my life without having The Saddle Club in my hair,” he said. “But it looks like that won’t happen. If I don’t let you girls witness the wedding, you’ll probably find a way to try to marry my wife off to someone else! So you’d better come on in. Red, you and Denise should join us, too. Mom? Is there enough cake for a few more guests?”
“Plenty,” said Mrs. Reg. “Somehow I always knew that threesome would find a way to be at the wedding!”
With that, everyone streamed into the house. Deborah dashed upstairs while Max fled to a back room. In the kitchen, Carole, Lisa, and Stevie hugged one another with joy. Despite all the mishaps and all their mistaken assumptions, they were going to see Max get married after all.
“I guess we’ll have to wear our riding clothes,” Lisa said. “They’re all we’ve got.”
Mrs. Reg surveyed the three of them critically. “Go into my room upstairs, wash up, and wait for me.”
The girls did as they were told, happily splashing water on their faces and redoing their hair. In a few minutes, Mrs. Reg appeared, carrying a pile of clothes. “If you’re going to wear riding clothes, you might as well wear coats and stock ties,” she said. “See if any of these fit. Some are Max’s old stuff; some were left here after shows.”
The girls eagerly scrambled to try on the coats. Soon Stevie had found a dark gray, Lisa a black, and Carole a slightly too small hunter green. They lined up for Mrs. Reg to tie their ties.
“All right, everybody find a place in the living room now. They should be starting any minute,” the older woman urged. She hurried down the stairs to the kitchen to oversee the final preparations.
Stevie and Carole followed her, but Lisa had another idea. “Back in a minute,” she yelled, banging through the door. She ran to the locker room of the stable area, where she had her camera and a couple of rolls of film, then ran back.
“Thank goodness someone remembered to take pictures,” said Mrs. Reg. “Thank you so much, Lisa.”
Lisa went into the living room and stationed herself to get a good picture of the bride descending the stairs. Thanks to Mrs. Reg, the room looked perfect for a wedding. A number of vases held bouquets of pink roses mixed with baby’s breath. Sunlight streamed in through the open windows. Quickly, Lisa snapped a shot of Stevie, Carole, Red, Denise, and Mrs. Reg. She snapped another of Max, standing alone, waiting for his bride. Then all eyes turned to the staircase. Deborah came down slowly, beautifully dressed in a simple beige silk suit. Max took her hands, and the small private ceremony began.
A few minutes later, Judge Emily Stilwell pronounced Maximillian Regnery III and Deborah Halby Hale husband and wife. After the applause died down, the judge turned to the group. “Now, you’re sure I’ve married the right bride to the right groom?” she joked.
“Absolutely, positively, one hundred percent sure!” Max exclaimed, planting a kiss on Deborah’s lips.
“Then on to the cake!” Mrs. Reg announced. She brought out the dessert, a two-tiered white cake with white icing and pink flowers. Red helped to carry out a bottle of chilled champagne and some ginger ale for the girls. First Mrs. Reg made a toast to Max’s and Deborah’s health. Immediately after that, everyone had a toast. Max toasted his wife’s riding career; Deborah toasted Mrs. Reg’s cake; Red toasted Denise, and she toa
sted him back; and The Saddle Club toasted themselves, since no one else had.
“I just wish my parents could have been here,” Deborah murmured wistfully. “I know they couldn’t leave London, but still …”
Max gave her hand a squeeze. “I know, but we’ll see them soon,” he answered.
When everyone was sitting down, happily munching cake, Stevie spoke up. “We’re still curious about a couple of things.”
“Better clear them up now,” Max said with the air of someone about to tackle a huge project.
“Why did you get married today, when you don’t leave for your honeymoon until the twenty-seventh?” Stevie asked.
“That’s not true—we leave for our honeymoon tonight,” Max said.
“But the cruise isn’t until the twenty-eighth,” Carole countered.
“The cruise? Oh, the cruise!” Max exclaimed. “Are you by any chance referring to the Ocean Pearl?”
The three girls nodded.
“We’re not taking that cruise—my mother is,” Max said. “She hasn’t had a proper vacation in years, so Deborah and I decided to give her a present. We’re sending her on a Caribbean cruise.”
Mrs. Reg nodded. “That’s the truth, girls.”
“Although how you would know about the cruise is beyond me,” Max continued, grinning wickedly.
Stevie smiled wanly. “Let’s just say I happened to find out about it.”
“Right. And you happened to be snooping around my desk. And you happened to read, in detail, the cruise brochures on my desk.”
“That’s the way it happened,” Stevie said. She elbowed Lisa, who was sitting beside her, and muttered, “Help me out here.”
“So, Max,” Lisa said promptly, “ah … let’s see … oh, yeah, where are you and Deborah going on your honeymoon if you’re not going on the cruise?”
“We’re flying to London,” Deborah answered. “My father is the chief of The Washington Times bureau in London, and so we’ll get to see my parents as well as take a vacation. Of course, Max has to be back in time for camp, so we’ll be gone only a week.”
“Back for camp? Then that means you’ll also be back in time for your Bath!” Carole cheered.
Deborah looked a little worried. “I expect Max will actually bathe before then.”
Lisa glared at Carole. “You didn’t have to give it away,” she said.
“But since you have,” Stevie continued, “we might as well tell Max that we’ve planned a wedding party for him.”
“What does that have to do with bathing?” Max asked.
“Well, you see, we couldn’t call it a bridal shower—or even a b-r-i-d-l-e shower, so then we thought, how about a bath instead of a shower, since it’s for a groom instead of a bride,” Lisa said.
To The Saddle Club’s delight, everybody seemed to love the idea. Stevie was able to refrain—barely—from telling the theme.
Max promised not to miss the Bath. “In fact, it’s all I’m going to think about my entire honeymoon,” he said solemnly.
Deborah elbowed him hard.
“Max,” said Mrs. Reg, “that’s one vow you’d better not keep.”
During the conversation, Red and Denise had slipped away into another room to look at the Regnerys’ hunting prints. Their absence reminded Lisa that they had never asked Max an important question. A little timidly, she inquired, keeping her voice low, “Did you actually believe some of the stuff Veronica was saying about Red?”
To her relief, Max replied without hesitation. “Of course not. Red is the best stable hand I’ve ever had. And Denise is a great help, too. When I asked her to come teach at Pine Hollow, she wasn’t sure she would. She was considering going back to Indiana for the summer. Then she started dating Red and decided to stay. So I’m thankful to him for that, too.”
“But when did Red find the time to take equine studies classes?” Lisa asked.
“All spring, in the mornings, while you were in school, and now in the evenings after you go home. He also has to leave during the day occasionally for special meetings.”
“We never knew that,” Stevie said.
“Probably because you never asked, which”—Max paused to clear his throat—“you might have done before jumping to conclusions. That’s why Red’s not instructing at camp: He has his final examinations for the summer school session during the second week, and he has to prepare. But Denise and Red will be in charge while we’re in London, and if Veronica doesn’t like it, she can leave.”
“But we thought the diAngelos were threatening you—telling you to fire Red,” Carole said.
Max laughed out loud. “Boy, you must have really thought I was being a wimp! Actually, it’s the opposite. I’ve had them in for a few meetings to discuss Veronica’s behavior around here. If she doesn’t shape up, she’s not going to be allowed to come to camp.”
In one motion, Stevie, Lisa, and Carole sat back on the sofa they were sharing. Their brains had reached information overload, and they couldn’t absorb—or give—one more explanation. Max and Deborah rose and went to get their bags ready. Mrs. Reg began busying herself with the cleanup. Red and Denise reappeared in the doorway.
Lisa, whose logical mind couldn’t rest until she knew every detail, made a superhuman effort to ask one remaining question. “By the way, Red,” she said, “what is your real name?”
Red looked surprised. “I thought you knew,” he said. “It’s an old family name: Redford.” He and Deborah clasped hands and headed out to the stable.
The three girls looked at one another and began to howl. They laughed until tears streamed down their faces. And then they laughed some more.
THE WEDDING WAS over, and the girls had helped Mrs. Reg do the few dishes. It was time for Max and Deborah to leave. Max brought their suitcases into the hall. Deborah, who’d changed into her traveling clothes, joined him. They both embraced Mrs. Reg, whose face was the tiniest bit tearstained. “Max is her only son, and now he’s married. I’m sure mothers think about days like this for years,” Lisa whispered.
Then Stevie had an idea. She dashed out to the grain room. Everybody knew you weren’t supposed to throw rice these days. It was bad for the birds that ate it because the rice expanded in their stomachs. So why not oats instead? She grabbed half a bucketful.
Lisa and Carole met her outside and scooped up handfuls of the grain. They waited, giggling, for the bride and groom. When Max and Deborah emerged from the house, the three girls showered them with handful after handful. Max grabbed Deborah’s arm and they ran to her waiting car. “I knew I could count on you to do just one more ridiculous thing,” Max said happily.
“But it’s perfect, isn’t it?” Stevie asked.
Max looked at the woman standing beside him. “Yes, it is,” he said. They got in, and the car door closed. They were off.
CAROLE YAWNED AND turned over. This time, since the sleepover was at her house, she had the bed, and Lisa and Stevie were sharing the floor. She knew that she should enjoy her last chance to sleep in: Camp started tomorrow, and the riders had to be at Pine Hollow by eight every morning. Unfortunately, even though it was six A.M., she was wide awake.
“Carole, are you awake?” Lisa whispered.
“Yes.”
“Oh, good. I’ve been dying to talk about the Bath, but I didn’t want to wake you up.”
“Why didn’t you talk to me? I’ve been staring at the ceiling for half an hour,” Stevie said indignantly. She and Lisa climbed onto Carole’s bed to get more comfortable.
The Bath had been a smashing success. Everyone who had volunteered had come through with great food and clever presents.
“You know, even Simon Atherton’s Jell-O got eaten,” Lisa said, giggling.
“Yeah, it was a real hit with the younger kids,” said Carole.
“Didn’t you love the look on Deborah’s face when she suddenly figured out the theme of all of Max’s presents?” Stevie asked.
Both Max and Deborah had been confu
sed when they saw the first few gifts. “Dusting powder?” Max had asked. And then, “A mini–tape recorder?” Still, obviously not wanting to seem ungrateful, Max had thanked the gift givers. “I have to admit, though, I don’t really understand what this stuff is used for.”
“But, Max, it’s obvious. The powder is for fingerprint dusting. The tape recorder is miniature so that you can record things without anyone knowing,” Deborah explained.
“How do you know?” Max asked.
“Because all the gifts are”—she stopped for a split second, a slow smile spreading over her face—“they’re all things that have to do with investigative reporting,” she finished, beaming.
“Oh, I see,” Max said, “It’s my turn to learn about your career, huh?”
The Saddle Club had burst into applause. After that, the newlyweds had practically pounced on the remaining presents, tearing open a set of Sherlock Holmes mysteries, a pair of walkie-talkies, a fake nose and mustache disguise kit, and a guidebook to code cracking. The final gift was from The Saddle Club. It was a framed copy of the “Drug Ring at Local Track” article that had brought Deborah in search of a horse person to help her with the horsey details—namely, Maximillian Regnery III. Deborah had choked up for a minute. When she could speak again, she said, “And to think it all started with a simple newspaper article.”
After the gifts, the celebratory eating and talking had continued most of the afternoon. Reluctantly Max had said, “We all may be stuffed, but there are some horses that need to be fed.” And, in good Pine Hollow style, they had all gone to help with the feeding.
“I’m not sure which was better,” Carole said, sitting up in bed, “the look on Deborah’s face when she realized that the Bath presents were in her honor or the look on Veronica’s when she saw Red and Denise holding hands last week. She stared at them so long, I thought her eyes would pop out of her head.”
When Veronica had put two and two together and realized that her beloved Denise was dating Red, a very strange thing had happened. Whether because of that alone or because of that plus Max’s threat about camp, Veronica’s attitude toward Red had changed overnight. Now instead of yelling at him to take care of Garnet, she asked him to in a normal tone of voice. The Saddle Club had even overheard a “please” on at least two occasions. Of course they had made sure that Veronica knew all about Red’s course of study at the university.
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