High Hurdles Collection Two

by Lauraine Snelling

  “It was all muscle, too.” DJ slid her feet into the sandals so her mother could buckle them. “I feel like a baby. Mommy, dress me. Mommy, wash my hair. Mommy …”

  “Mommy tickle you if you don’t knock it off.” Lindy swatted her on the rear. “I hear Joe’s truck.”

  By the time DJ made it to the barn, Shawna rode in on Major and dismounted at the gate.

  “Now, this is one happy day,” Joe said, opening the gate for Shawna to walk Major through. He patted DJ on the shoulder. “You’re looking good, kid. We’ll get some sun back on your face and you’ll look even better. Here, I brought this for you.” He handed DJ her helmet.

  “Thanks. You think of everything.” DJ took the helmet in both hands and set it on her head. “Now if you’ll buckle the strap.” She looked into her grandfather’s eyes as he squinted to get the buckle adjusted. What a kind and wonderful man you are. “You know what, GJ?”

  “No, what?”

  “I sure do love you a whole lot.” She had to swallow after she said it as the tears immediately clogged her throat.

  Joe put his arms around her and hugged her close. “Well, let me tell you, the feeling is sure mutual, darlin’. Now, you just get yourself up on that horse, and we can all know better that the healing is really happening.”

  DJ stood in front of Major and let him wuffle her hair, in her ear, and down to her hands, where he nosed her gloves, then her pocket for a carrot. “At least I can pet you now, you old sweetie, even if these gloves are strange to you.” She stroked down his cheeks and up around his ears, inhaling deeply at the same time. “Ah, Major, you smell so good.” DJ closed her eyes in delight. “I didn’t realize how much I missed my friend here. Thanks, Shawna.”

  “For being a pain?” Shawna flipped up the saddle skirt. “What hole do you want the stirrups on?” She buckled the leathers into place and did the other side. “Okay, he’s ready.”

  “Me too, I guess.” DJ swallowed the butterflies and, using Joe’s arm to steady her, climbed the three steps to the top of the mounting block. Shawna led Major to stand in the right place so DJ could slide her injured foot across his back. Then with Joe reaching up to steady her, DJ settled into the saddle. She found the stirrups with her toes, let out a deep breath, and relaxed in the saddle.

  Major turned his head to sniff at her toes, then shook his head.

  “My feet do not stink. If it’s just because I don’t have boots on, too bad.” DJ could feel the base of her foot on the metal stirrup. She eyed the reins.

  “How about if Shawna leads him and I walk beside you?” Joe laid a hand on her knee. “That way you can concentrate on your balance right now and worry about managing the reins later.”

  DJ swallowed a determined butterfly and nodded. “Let’s go.”

  General nickered from his stall, where Joe had put him so Major wouldn’t be distracted.

  DJ laid her hands on her thighs and told herself to relax. Come on, body, we can do this.

  “Do you feel light-headed?” Joe asked as they walked across the pasture.

  “No. Just strange to be sitting here and not using the reins.” She flexed her feet, pushing her heels down, then stood in the stirrups. She could feel Joe’s concern, and Shawna looked over her shoulder to make sure everything was all right.

  “Come on, guys, no worrying allowed.” DJ settled back in the saddle. How good it felt! She tipped her face so the sun shone on it. With her eyes closed she let the motion seep into every cell of her body. A step at a time, once around the one-acre pasture. Moment by moment, DJ felt strength and energy flooding into her body. They stopped at the mounting block, where Lindy stood leaning on the upper aluminum rail.

  “I don’t need to ask how you’re doing. Your face is glowing like you’re lit from the inside. If the sun went behind a cloud, we’d all still feel warm.”

  “Thanks, all of you, for pushing me to do this.” DJ leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Major’s neck. “I was scared I would feel dizzy and fall off.”

  “We wouldn’t have let you fall off. Even if you couldn’t do more than just sit with Major standing still, it was time for you to get back on the horse.”

  “Shawna, I think I’d like to try holding the reins and see how my hands do.”

  “Good.”

  DJ stared at the large strap of leather. She slid her fingers under it, palms up.

  “Does it hurt?” Shawna asked, her brow wrinkling in concern.

  “No. I feel the pressure, but not enough to hurt.” DJ closed her hands as much as she was able to in order to keep the reins from sliding off. “So much for keeping my reins even, huh?”

  “I’d say just keeping the reins is pretty good.” Lindy rubbed her bulging belly. “With my luck, this little one is saying, ‘Get me on that horse.’ ”

  “You want to ride, Mom?” DJ said with a grin. “Shawna and Joe could lead you around.”

  “Thanks, but no thanks. Seven months pregnant is not a good time to start horseback riding. However, later …” She shrugged. “We’ll see.”

  “Let’s go again,” DJ said to Shawna. This time DJ made sure her posture was straight; she kept her attention looking ahead and was totally aware of the reins in her cupped hands. When she tried turning her hands over, the rein slid loose.

  “Joe, could you help me, please?”

  “Sure ’nough.”

  He redid the reins, and DJ squeezed her legs to signal Major forward. At least part of her worked right. Of course, Major was such a sweetie and so well trained that she could probably ride him without reins, just using her legs and shifting her weight. She cupped one hand over the other to hold the reins. Now, if she’d been riding Western, where the reins were held together in one hand, this might have been easier.

  “Shawna, you want to try a real slow trot?”

  “Sure. Come on, Major.”

  DJ squeezed her legs and picked up the post as though she’d never been away. When Shawna began to huff and puff, they went back to walking. Major pulled at the bit just enough to let DJ know that he would like to keep going.

  When they returned to the mounting block, DJ leaned forward and hugged her old friend again. She pressed with her outer leg to get him closer to the block, then laid the rein back on his neck. Placing her left foot on the block, she swung her right leg back over his rump and stood upright. I did it! Thank you, God. I rode again.

  “You want to go again tomorrow?” Shawna had remounted Major, ready to ride him back to Joe’s pasture, where he was stabled.

  “Yeah, I do. Gotta work these hands more so I can hold the reins.” She clenched and straightened her fingers. “The day I can hold a pencil, I should be able to hold the reins.”

  “What if we glued foam rubber to the reins like we have with your eating utensils?” Joe ran his fingers along the leather strap. “Don’t see why it wouldn’t work. You don’t need strength with this old boy.” He patted Major’s shoulder. “Does she, old son?”

  Major shook his head and rubbed his forehead against Joe’s shoulder. The two of them had been through a lot in their years on the San Francisco mounted patrol, including more than one shooting. Major wore a scar on his shoulder to prove it.

  “Shawna, do you mind if I ride Major while I’m recovering?” DJ braced her rear against the mounting block.

  “No. I want you to ride him as much as you want. Anything that will help you get strong again.”

  “Thanks.” DJ rubbed Major’s nose and tickled his whiskery upper lip. He nibbled the ends of her fingers and licked her wrist. “Now, if only I had some carrots, huh? See, the problem is, I can’t get things out of my pockets yet. Of course, I can’t get anything in my pockets to take out again—yet.” Yet Such a small word but such huge meaning. No longer if but yet.

  “That’s right, DJ,” Lindy said softly. “You’ve come a long way, and a lot of it in the last few days. Like the therapist has said so often, the rest of this is up to you. She glanced at her watch. “Oh m
y, I have to go get the boys.” They were playing at a school friend’s house a couple of miles away. “Maria has snacks ready to set out if you want to tie Major up and stay awhile, Shawna.”

  “Okay.” Shawna glanced at her grandfather. “If you want to, GJ.”

  They were still sitting on the deck laughing and enjoying the chocolate chip cookies when the boys burst through the house and threw themselves at their grandfather for hugs and then tore around the table to get the same from DJ. They snatched cookies off the plate, one in each hand and an extra for General, and skipped their way down to the barn.

  “Did a whirlwind just blow through here?” Joe righted a chair that they’d knocked over.

  DJ laughed around her mouthful of cookie. She made her fingers grip the glass of lemonade and took a sip. How good it felt to be able to eat and drink on her own at last.

  “So how difficult will it be to glue foam rubber on the reins?”

  “Not at all. I have both glue and foam at home. We’ll use an old pair of reins. I was thinking that if the glue didn’t work, I’d take them down to the shoe repair place to have him sew them on. You’ll have them by tomorrow. Maybe we could try them out after church.”

  “You’re the best.”

  “Do you want to keep Major here for a while, then?” Shawna reached for another cookie. “He could use that other stall again. I can ride here just as well as at GJ and Gran’s.”

  “I … I guess.”

  “Do you good to muck out a stall for a change.” Joe slapped his hands on the table. “Well, I’ve got to get back home. Mel has a list a mile long for me to do.” He shook his head. “I don’t know where she gets all her ideas. You’d think with being so busy with her illustrations, she wouldn’t have time to think of new stuff for the yard and the house.”

  “What are you working on now?” DJ asked.

  “Oh, she wants a ladder over the top of the garage door so she can plant a wisteria or something to cross it. Some picture Mel saw looked real pretty, so we’re going to have one.”

  “Poor GJ.” DJ and Shawna said the words at the same time. But when they went to slap high fives, Shawna pulled back.

  “Hey, you can’t hurt me that easy.” DJ held her hands up and Shawna slapped with the lightest touch.

  When Joe headed for his truck, the two girls made their way to the barn, where Major waited, drowsing with one hind foot cocked. Shawna untied the lead shank and led him out of the gate. DJ patted him again and walked them out to the driveway.

  Since she’d given the boys their riding lessons in the morning, she went back to the kitchen for the ice packs and then upstairs to build a pillow tower and collapse on her bed with her iced foot high in the air.

  “I rode again. Thank you, Jesus. I rode again. And I wasn’t dizzy.” She studied her foot. “There must be a way to get my chore boots on at least.”

  Sandals weren’t allowed around the rings and barns at Briones. What had Bridget been thinking when she insisted DJ be there for a class on Monday? She heard the phone ringing downstairs but fell asleep before she thought much about it.

  Chapter • 12

  On Monday DJ had to call Bridget and cancel teaching her new class because the therapist had changed her appointment. DJ grumped out to the car and sulked against the door.

  “I’m sorry, DJ, but therapy is the most important part of your life right now.” Lindy glanced away from her driving to give her daughter a stern look. “And schoolwork is second. The Academy has to come third or wherever.” She stopped at a light and glanced at her daughter again.

  DJ could feel her mother studying her, but she refused to look up, staring at her hands instead. I finally get to do something I want again, and someone messes it up. “It’s just not fair.”

  “No, it’s not fair, but then, no one said life is fair.”

  “That’s Gran’s line.”

  “I know. I stole it. But I sure remember hating it when she told it to me when I was your age.”

  “So why say it to me?”

  “Because it’s true and fits right now. Have you been working your hands today?”

  “Of course. What do you think I do all the time?” DJ knew she was being a smart mouth, but the words flew out before she thought them through.

  “Well, you haven’t been doing them here in the car.”

  DJ flexed her fingers and used one hand to push in the fingers of the other. She’d forgotten to bring the rubber-coated bag of tiny beads that Gran had found at the pharmacy. She now had one in bright pink and another in purple. While they were ideal for squeezing, DJ still spent time bending her fingers in with as much force as she was able.

  DJ thought back to Sunday afternoon. Brad and Jackie had driven down from Santa Rosa for a barbecue, and with all the family there, it seemed like old times. At least no one had to feed her anymore. Brad had asked her when she wanted him to bring Herndon down.

  The thought of riding Herndon with her hands not working any better gave her goose bumps. He could take off so easily, and how would she stop him?

  “I won’t be jumping him for a while.” She could hear herself all over again, saying words that made her feel like the sun forgot to come out. Two months had passed since the fire, and DJ still wasn’t sure she could handle Herndon.

  But the reins that Joe fixed for her had sort of worked, and she’d ridden Major by herself. But then, he responded to leg signals as much as rein. And he would never run away with her. …

  “We’re here.”

  DJ looked up to see the medical center ahead of them. She’d totally lost track of time. That happened more often than she liked to think—or admit.

  “Get that grumpy look off your face. It doesn’t become you.” Lindy reached back in the minivan for her purse, groaning as she stretched over the seat. “This belly gets in the way of everything.”

  But at least it won’t be long until you are back to normal. DJ wisely kept the thought to herself as she lagged behind her mother going into the physical therapy unit.

  “So how’re you doing?” Jody asked.

  “I rode Major the last two days—yesterday by myself. We glued foam rubber to the reins.”

  “Wonderful. How’d the ankle do?”

  “Hurt when I tried getting into my chore boots, but …” DJ shook her head and shrugged. “Just hurt too bad.”

  “Your ankle should be back to normal in a few more days. Just be patient.”

  “I know.” While they were talking, Jody worked with DJ’s hands. She removed the gloves and worked them that way, examining the red skin and scars, then put the gloves back on and taught DJ several new exercises. “Be creative in finding ways to do things on your own, but don’t push yourself to the point of total frustration. Like the reins. That’s a good idea, but if the horse ran away …”

  “Major won’t, but Herndon, my jumper, isn’t so dependable.”

  “And your balance was okay? No dizziness?”

  “None.” At the smile that lit up Jody’s face, DJ knew that was good news. “But I haven’t tried jumping yet.”

  Jody smiled again and raised one eyebrow. She turned to Lindy. “I think the DJ I heard about is coming back. Good for you, girl.”

  DJ nodded her thanks. “I’m trying.”

  “Knock ’em dead, kid. See you on Thursday, regular time.”

  “How … how much longer do I have to keep coming?” DJ didn’t look at her mother as she asked the question.

  “Until we can no longer do anything for you. We want you to have full mobility again, so you’ll have to keep coming back for a while. I know that as you get back to normal, coming will seem like a waste of time, but humor me, okay?”

  “I guess.”

  Amy was waiting at the house when DJ got home. “I got a whole new bunch of orders from the business club at school. They are so pumped about our cards. Sure wish you had been there, too.”

  “Me too.”

  “When we fill these, we’ll be out of c
ards again.”

  “That many?” DJ thought of all the packets in the drawers and shelves in her room. She looked at her hands. There was no way she could count, package, and seal cards yet.

  “That’s wonderful,” Lindy said as she walked in behind them. “Maybe it’s time we found a place to package them. I’ve checked with an organization for mentally challenged adults, and they can take on simple jobs like this. I know it will bring down the profit level, but there’s only so much you can do.”

  “Then we’d be helping someone else, too,” Amy said.

  Leave it to Amy. DJ wished she’d thought of that. All she could think of was not being able to draw or package or even … Well, she could at least help pack the cartons for shipping.

  “So what do you think, DJ?”

  “Whatever. Sounds fine with me. If we think it costs too much, we can go back to doing it ourselves when …” She raised her hands, which spoke for themselves.

  “Well, I gotta get over to the barns. We’ll have to pack those tonight.”

  “Yeah, but maybe Mom and I can get it done.” DJ looked to her mother, who nodded. Then at least I’ll feel like I’m doing something. She thought of her homework; the pile seemed to grow every time she left the room. “Say hi to everyone for me.”

  “I will.” Amy headed for her bicycle and on out the driveway.

  Lindy looked at the order sheets Amy had left. “Now?”

  “I guess.” DJ counted packets and packed the boxes, feeling like she had fifteen thumbs. But she got it done while her mother checked off the order sheets and made out the shipping labels. DJ tried taping the boxes, but the tape stuck everywhere except where she wanted it to—the thought of kicking the box clear across the room held great possibilities. “Could you please finish this?” Asking for help hadn’t gotten any easier.

  “Sure. Hey, we did that pretty fast.” Lindy took the tape gun and had the six boxes sealed in minutes. “Let’s run these to UPS right now before it closes.”

  “Ten minutes?”

  “We can make it.”

  DJ held out her arms, and Lindy stacked four of the boxes under DJ’s chin and carried the other two herself. She snagged her purse off the table by the door and away they went, calling their destination to Maria as they hurried to the car.