Hope wasted. The trainer motioned her over. “Now, what did you do wrong?”
“Broke my concentration and looked off to the side.”
“And?”
“And relaxed my seat and legs so I was no longer driving her forward. Megs felt it and slowed.”
“Right. Now go again. Same routine.”
DJ nodded. When she started to yell at herself, she cut off her words. Bridget stressed positive self-talk—no one was allowed to get on anyone’s case, including her own. DJ squeezed Megs into a canter, and the driving power of the horse’s hindquarters lifted Megs’ head and neck right up into DJ’s hands.
By the time the lesson was over, both girl and horse wore drops of sweat in spite of the chilly, damp weather.
“Good. You are improving daily.”
“Merci.” DJ and Amy had started using some French phrases to get ready to take French classes at school next year.
Bridget smiled up at her. “You have Andrew on the lunge next?”
“Hope so. With him off for two weeks, you never know.” DJ patted Megs’ shoulder. “Thank you for letting me take lessons on her.”
“De rien. You are welcome.”
Back in the arena half an hour later, with an extremely reluctant rider on Bandit, DJ prayed nothing would happen to spook the pony and scare the boy. His lower lip already stuck out about as far as the end of his nose. With Andrew, the fear wasn’t pretend. She admired him for working hard to overcome it so he could someday ride with his family.
“Okay, Andrew, how does the horse feel beneath you?” She kept her voice gentle and a soft smile on her face.
“Big.”
“But you remember your last ride, don’t you? How great you did?”
He nodded, still not picking up the reins. When his head moved, his helmet slid forward.
Resisting the urge to help him, DJ said, “You better tighten your helmet so you can see where you’re going.”
He shot her a questioning look, but at her encouraging nod, he let go of the mane and lifted his hands to tighten the web straps.
DJ stood poised to grab him if he started to slip but felt a glow of pride when she watched his heels go down in the stirrups. “Good going, Tiger. I’m proud of you.”
He picked up the knotted reins. “Ready.”
“Okay, we’ll walk around once with me leading, and then I’ll let out the line, a bit at a time. Gather your reins.” He did. “Good. Now, how will you make Bandit go forward?”
“Squeeze my legs.”
“Good.”
“And to stop him?”
“Pull on the reins gently and say whoa.”
“Very good. And what else?”
“Sit straight, keep my heels down and elbows in, and look between his ears toward where we are going.”
“You have a good memory. You sound just like a parrot.”
He looked at her, a smile tugging at his mouth.
“You ready?” He nodded. “Okay, tell Bandit to move forward.”
As soon as the pony moved, DJ did, too. She kept one eye on Andrew and watched Bandit, the ring, and the other riders. All of them gave the boy plenty of space.
“Good going.” At the end of the circuit, she patted the pony and cheered Andrew on. “Just keep doing the same thing and we’ll move to the center of the ring, out of everyone’s way.”
By the end of the lesson, Andrew had exchanged “the lip” for a wide smile. He patted Bandit’s gray neck.
“You did good, Tiger.” DJ led him back to the stall. “Now let’s see you untack him and brush him down.”
“You did good, too, kiddo,” Joe said after DJ had joined him in the green Ford Explorer. The warmth from the heater felt good.
“Thanks. I never know what’s gonna happen with him. But at least we didn’t go backward.”
When Amy jumped in the backseat, Joe drove the two girls home.
Since she had stayed longer at the Academy than usual, DJ hoped her mother had to work late. That way she could still get her chores done and dinner started like she was supposed to. The closer they got to her house, the more she dug at the cuticle on her right thumb with the next finger. She should have cleaned her room, dusted the downstairs, emptied the dishwasher, and loaded the dirty breakfast things, but she had ignored the mess in her rush to get to Major. Please, God, don’t let Mom be home. I promise to do that stuff first off tomorrow.
No such luck. Light beamed from the windows of the two-story house. DJ groaned—she was in for it now.
CHAPTER • 2
“Oh good, Robert’s here!” DJ felt the weight lift.
“You didn’t do your chores before heading to the barns, did you?”
DJ shook her head. “You think I’ll ever learn?” She leaned across the console and kissed her grandfather’s cheek. “Now, don’t you need to come in and save your favorite granddaughter’s hide?”
“Try to, you mean.” Joe gave her a one-arm hug. “Tomorrow, kid, you will do your home chores first. I’ll take care of the Major fella. You get grounded, and you won’t be fit to live with.” He patted her shoulder. “Tell that son of mine hi for me and that he could come by and see his old father since the house he’s working on is only three steps from mine.”
“Thanks. I will.” She slammed the door behind her and headed for the front door. Joe’s son Robert Crowder had fallen in love with her mother. Now there was a wedding planned for Valentine’s Day, which was also Gran’s birthday. DJ had yet to figure out something special for that.
In the meantime, she was about to become the big sister to a set of five-year-old twins, Bobby and Billy, better known as the Double Bs. At times, though, she called the energetic pair things like tornadoes or motormouths instead. Quiet was not a word in either of their vocabularies.
Robert owned a construction company and had purchased a house near the one Joe and Gran bought. Now he was remodeling the house to bring it up to size for his family, which was scheduled to nearly double overnight. Three weeks and five days until the wedding—but then, who was counting? Robert had apologized that the house wouldn’t be done in time for the wedding, thanks to bad weather and the snail-minded city planners who awarded permits for building or remodeling houses. Soon after, though, he had promised.
DJ opened the front door quietly in the hopes she could sneak upstairs and change her clothes before meeting up with her meticulous mother. Lindy Randall dressed like a person well on the road to success. She worked hard at her job of selling equipment to law-enforcement agencies and, in her spare time, was studying to earn a master’s degree in business. While she didn’t hate horses, she also didn’t understand DJ’s love of “the huge, smelly beasts”—her mother’s words.
Gran said DJ’s passion for horses came from her biological father, the man DJ had met for the first time in her life just before Christmas.
“DJ’s here!” The dual shriek killed any hope of sneaking away to change. Robert had brought the Double Bs along.
DJ braced herself. Two matching towheads with identical grins threw themselves at her legs and squeezed hard. Gazing up at her with adoring, round blue eyes, they giggled and said at the same time—a trick they did so well—“We was missing you.”
The one on the right, probably Bobby, though DJ still couldn’t tell the boys apart, added, “How come you came home so late?”
DJ groaned. “I’m not late, I . . .”
“She’s late.” Lindy’s voice held the flat tone that said she would be polite—for now. That she was speaking from the kitchen did nothing to hide the fact that DJ was in for it as soon as their guests left. The sound of stainless-steel pans clattering against each other underlined her mother’s frustration.
“Let’s just order in Chinese or pizza.” Robert’s voice also came from the kitchen. Leave it to him to work to calm her mother down with an easy dinner solution.
DJ hugged each of the boys, trying to ignore what was happening in the other room. “How you g
uys doing?” she whispered.
“We’s good,” they whispered back.
“I gotta go change. I’ll be right back.” She disengaged their grips and headed up the stairs. No matter if Robert helped her mother relax now or not, later tonight would be miserable for DJ. She dumped her muddy jeans in the hamper, frustrated with herself for messing up again. Why couldn’t her mother understand how worried she was about Major? It wasn’t as if she skipped out every day. Most of the time, or rather mostly lately, DJ did her chores first, even getting up early sometimes to get some things finished before school.
Life hadn’t been the same since Gran married Joe and moved out. It was a lot more difficult.
“Get your coat, DJ, we’re eating out.” Robert met her at the bottom of the stairs. He had a twin by each hand, their jackets already on. “Climb in the car, fellas.” As they darted out the door, he took Lindy’s coat from its hanger. “Come on, honey, this is better all around anyway. You didn’t expect company tonight.” He held the coat for Lindy and dropped a kiss on her hair when she put her arms in the sleeves.
“I know, but I should be able to whip something up for supper. Gran always could.”
DJ ducked out the door. Robert and her mom wore that sappy look again that seemed to attack those in love. Even Gran had worn that silly look before she and Joe were married—still did. The pause before the two adults joined the three kids in the car told DJ there’d been some kissing going on, too. The melting look Lindy gave Robert when he helped her into the front seat confirmed it.
Sure would be nice if she stays this way, DJ thought. Melting is better than mad any day.
Robert got ready to leave soon after they returned from dinner, saying he had to get the boys to bed so they would be wide awake for kindergarten in the morning. He gave DJ a hug. “How are the portraits for the Academy folks coming?” he asked.
“Slow. But I have to get busy on them. Mrs. Johnson wants the one of Patches for her husband’s birthday.” Ever since she’d penciled a portrait of Tony Andrada’s horse for his Christmas present at the Academy Christmas party, she’d had commissions from other families. Next to riding horses, she loved drawing horses best.
“You guys be good now.” She scooped each boy up in turn and, after rubbing noses with them, which always made them laugh helplessly, gave them a hug and a tickle before setting them back down.
“Are you our big sister now?” one asked hopefully.
“Soon. Bye, guys.” While her mother walked Robert and sons out to the car, DJ took the stairs three at a time. She could hear her homework calling her.
“Thank you, Father, that Mom didn’t yell at me,” she said later in her prayers. Her mother had wished her good-night and floated on to her own bedroom. “Please heal Major faster, and help me get all the stuff done that I have to do.” She blessed her family, which took much longer than it used to since Robert also had a brother and sister with families of their own. All of them planned to come to the wedding. The wedding!
“We’re having a meeting at Gran’s tonight,” Lindy’s voice said on the answering machine when DJ pushed the Play button the next afternoon. “She’ll make dinner, so don’t start the spaghetti.”
“Good deal.” DJ pushed Erase and listened to the next message.
“This message is for DJ.” She recognized the voice of Brad Atwood, her father, immediately. “I was wondering if, since you don’t have school on Friday, you might want to come up to the ranch for the weekend. Jackie says she’d love to give you a couple of lessons on Lord Byron, if you’d like. She’s getting ready for a show in a couple of weeks—maybe you could go along with us. Give me a call.” She didn’t need to write down the number. She hit Erase and dialed her mother’s number at work.
“DJ, I can’t talk right now,” Lindy said when she came on the phone. “Can’t this wait until I get home?”
“I guess, but Brad called and asked if I wanted to go up there for the weekend.” She heard her mother’s sigh. “Please, Mom, I would like to.”
“We’ll talk about it when I get home.”
“But we’re going to Gran’s.”
“DJ, I have to go. Bye.” The phone clicked almost before the final word.
DJ thunked the receiver down and stomped up the stairs. Up one minute, down the next. Her life felt like a roller coaster, and the hills were getting steeper. Why couldn’t her mom just say yes? It wasn’t as if DJ went up there every weekend. In fact, she’d only been there once. Visions of the white-fenced horse ranch up by Santa Rosa floated through her mind as she changed clothes. Purebred Arabians grazed the green fields, and there were several mares due to foal sometime soon. Riding Lord Byron, Jacquelyn Atwood’s Hanovarian gelding, would be awesome.
She rushed through her chores, finishing just as a car horn honked in the drive. Holding her slicker over her head, she dashed out the door.
“You got your chores done?” Joe asked as DJ settled into the car. With the rain still falling in sheets, DJ’s and Amy’s bikes, their normal mode of travel, remained stowed in the garage.
“Yup.” DJ slid her arms into her yellow slicker. “I’m sick of the rain, how about you?”
“Yup.”
“Guess who called? Brad! He wants me to come up there this weekend.” She continued without waiting for an answer. “Cool, huh?”
“You going?”
“I don’t know. Mom said we’d discuss it when she gets home. You know how she is.” DJ clamped her arms over her chest.
“You want to go?”
“Yeah, I do.” She told him the entire conversation.
“With all the rain we’ve been having, he’d better hope the levees hold.”
“Don’t say that to my mom, okay? She’ll never let me go if she starts to worry about flooding.”
Joe nodded as he braked to a stop for Amy. “All the rivers are rising again north of here. Some of my police buddies are talking about volunteering to fill and set sandbags—if it comes to that. Pastor said some of the people at church are thinking along the same lines,” he added as Amy opened the car door.
“I’d go help,” DJ offered.
“Go help what?” Amy shook her head, splattering droplets on DJ.
“Fill sandbags if the rivers flood again.”
“They’d never let us out of school for something like that.”
“We could help on the weekends.” DJ looked over at her friend. “You know, if you don’t want to go, no one is twisting your arm.”
Amy gave her a raised-eyebrow look. “What’s with you?”
DJ shook her head. “Nothing.”
“I know what it is. You want to get away from all these pre-wedding jitters that are going around.” Joe nudged her arm with his elbow. “I take it you aren’t looking forward to the meeting tonight?”
DJ mumbled something under her breath.
“Speak up, the rain is making so much noise, I can’t hear you.” Joe cupped one hand around his ear and leaned closer.
“I said I wish they’d run off to Reno—elope or something. I hate weddings.”
“You seemed to have a good time at mine.”
“You weren’t all over everyone around you, though. My mother—”
“Your mother has every right to be uptight, and besides, you ask any of the guys at work and they can tell you how I was before my wedding.” Joe shook his head. “Maybe I should tell Robert to elope.”
“Yeah. I could go visit Brad while they’re gone.”
But later that night at Gran’s, when DJ brought up the message from Brad, Lindy shook her head. “I just can’t think of that right now. Let’s get these wedding plans finalized, then discuss it.”
DJ swallowed, glad her mother couldn’t read her mind. She slowly took her place at the table with the others. When would it ever be her turn? If it hadn’t been for Gran’s good fried-chicken dinner, she’d have been tempted to walk home, in spite of the rain.
Later that evening, when Joe teased Ro
bert and Lindy about marrying the easy way and eloping, Gran rolled her eyes, Lindy nodded, and Robert said “no way.” He said he wanted all of his family around to help them celebrate.
Figures, DJ muttered to herself. The least they could do is get this meeting over with in a hurry—she had homework to do.
“So let’s see how we’re coming on this wedding.” Gran flipped through the pages of a yellow legal tablet and picked up a pen. Since Lindy had so little free time between work and her thesis, she’d asked all of them to help with the planning. Gran read the first item on the list. “Wedding dress.”
“Done,” replied Lindy. “They said it would be ready next week, plenty early. Oh, DJ, how about if I pick you up after school tomorrow so you can come with me to be measured for your dress? That way all of the dresses will be ready at about the same time. I don’t want any of us to cut it close.”
“I teach my beginners’ riding class tomorrow after school.” DJ looked up from the horse she was doodling on the tablet in front of her.
“Is there any time you can go?” The sarcasm rippled across the table.
DJ set down her pencil. “After five, I guess, unless you want me to leave school early.”
“Sure, and go for a dress fitting smelling like a horse.”
Robert gently laid his hand on Lindy’s shoulder. “How about if I pick up DJ and meet you over there?”
DJ answered him with a shrug. “Fine with me. Then I can change before I go.”
Lindy nodded. “All right. But we should have gotten you shoes before now so we could get them dyed to match the dress. There might not be time.”
“If we can’t, they won’t show much under a long dress anyway.” Gran ran the fingers of her right hand through her still mostly golden curls. “By the way, I looked for a dress for myself today and had about as much luck as the sun shining tomorrow.”
“Wait a minute! Time out!” DJ used the two-handed sports signal. “What’s this about a long dress and dyed-to-match shoes? You know I don’t wear things like that.” DJ kept from shouting only with a supreme effort.
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