Sapphire: New Horizons

by Heather Brooks

  Alison nodded. “Hey, yourself.”

  Caitlyn tugged at Emily’s arm. “You have dirt on your face. Mom doesn’t like it when we come to the table dirty.”

  “Oh. Sorry.” Emily rubbed her napkin over her face in embarrassment. “I’ll wash up next time.”

  Kyle ignored Emily entirely, instead pointing his fork at the window behind her. “Max is here.”

  Emily turned around to see Max, the old gray horse, had stuck his head in the kitchen window and was watching the table with pricked ears, a hopeful expression on his face. She stared in surprise. “Max comes to dinner?”

  Aunt Debby got kind of a sad look on her face. “Pa always fed him from his plate.”

  “I’ll do it!” Caitlyn jumped up, grabbed her salad plate off the table, and ran to the window and held it up for him. Max immediately started picking the greens off her plate with his upper lip.

  “Don’t let him eat the plate,” Uncle Rick warned.

  “He never eats the plate!” Caitlyn set the plate on top of her head while Max cleaned it off.

  Aunt Debby cleared her throat, ignoring Max. “Emily, I know this has been a crazy week, so dinners haven’t been consistent, but at the farm we value the together time at dinner. Sometimes it’s the only chance we all get to be together, so I would appreciate if you’d make an effort to get here on time.”

  “Sorry. I’m not used to family dinners.” She ducked her head and stared at her plate as she shoved in meat loaf, feeling her cheeks heat up. It had been just her and her dad her whole life, and they ate when they felt like eating. No one set a time for dinner, and her dad would never care if she was late. “I didn’t realize it was a big deal.”

  “Deb, it’s not Emily’s fault. She’s not used to it,” her dad said, and Emily shot him a look of appreciation.

  “All done!” Caitlyn announced as she marched back to the table and set down her empty plate, looking quite pleased with herself. She picked up her plate with the meat loaf and started to head back to the window.

  “Caitlyn.” Uncle Rick stopped her. “He doesn’t need your meat loaf.”

  Caitlyn frowned. “He’s probably still hungry. I’d already eaten half my salad.”

  “Not for meat loaf. Sit down and finish your dinner. You can give him more vegetables after you eat.”

  “But—”

  “Horses don’t eat meat loaf.”

  “How do you know? Have you ever asked them if they wanted any?” She turned and faced Max. “Do you like meat loaf?”

  Max stretched his head out toward the plate and Caitlyn beamed. “See? He does.”

  “Caitlyn!” Uncle Rick jumped out of his chair and grabbed the plate out of her hand just as Max was about to chomp down on the meat loaf.

  “Scott, you should have told Emily about being on time to dinner,” Aunt Debby snapped, jerking Emily’s attention back to the table. “You know the rules on the farm. Just because you’ve been gone for ten years doesn’t mean everything has changed.”

  Uncle Rick put Caitlyn’s plate back on the table. “Debby. What’s wrong?” He was wearing an old gray T-shirt, and he looked as tired as everyone else at the table did.

  Aunt Debby sat back and sighed. “I got a call today that someone bought the horses from Trooper’s barn. All of them. We’re going to lose them.”

  “What?” Emily sat up. “But Precious needs me! What if her new owner doesn’t take care of her like I do?”

  Her dad cleared his throat. “I bought them.”

  The table fell into total silence as everyone turned to look at him. “What did you say?” Aunt Debby asked.

  He looked around the table. “I took a call today from Linda, the police chief. She said that the owner was going to fight the charges, and she was getting pressure to give the horses back to him.” He shrugged. “So I visited the owner and convinced him to sell all the horses to me for a good price. They’re ours now.”

  Emily stared at her dad. “You bought forty horses instead of Sapphire?”

  He nodded. “I did.”

  “Scott.” Aunt Debby sighed. “You didn’t need to do that. I owe you so much money now.” She looked exhausted.

  “No, you don’t.” Her dad picked up his glass of water. “I bought them for myself. I own them. You owe me nothing. It doesn’t help with the cost of running the barn, but I couldn’t sit back and watch you spend all this money on the horses when you might not be able to sell them and recoup your loss. Now they’re an investment.”

  Aunt Debby narrowed her eyes. “Running Horse Ridge isn’t about making money.”

  “Which is why you’re in danger of losing it.” Emily’s dad leaned forward. “I own half this place, now I own half the horses here straight out, and I’m spending my money on keeping it going. Therefore, I’m going to see that it starts to make a profit.” His face softened. “Would it really be so bad if you didn’t have to worry about money anymore?”

  Aunt Debby sighed and shook her head. “No, it wouldn’t.” She finally smiled. “Thanks.”

  Max snorted loudly, and they all laughed. “He says thanks, too,” Caitlyn said, giggling.

  Emily was just relieved that Aunt Debby was smiling again. Surely, Sapphire would be safe now, right?

  22

  By Friday, Emily was terrified that Aunt Debby was going to sell off Sapphire, and it wasn’t even her fault. She’d stayed far away from Sapphire, and helped out with Trooper’s friends all day, even when her ankle was throbbing horrifically, which was most of the time. But it wasn’t enough because the barn was crumbling under the demands of forty extra horses, even with the temporary help.

  Medications were getting messed up, the wrong horses were being turned out, and one day no one even fed lunch and it took three hours until Meredith and Emily had realized it. Aunt Debby was still stressing about money because the horses were costing so much and it would be a while before she could start selling any of them.

  But Emily still was having the best week of her life, other than the fact her aunt was on the rampage. It was too awesome to be needed like this, to be crazy busy, to be helping these horses that needed her so much.

  “Emily!”

  Emily shoved her pitchfork aside and peered into the aisle, around the wheelbarrow she’d stuck in the doorway while she mucked out Moondance’s stall. Aunt Debby was standing in the aisle, her hands on her hips, her ponytail half fallen out.

  Emily tried to give her an appeasing smile. “What’s up?”

  “I think someone turned Precious out in the back pasture. I know she’s not due for another few weeks, but I don’t like having her where I can’t see her. Can you run up there and get her?”

  Emily glanced at her cast. “You want me to walk out there?”

  Aunt Debby followed her gaze. “You’re running around here so much I keep forgetting about that.” She rubbed her jaw. “Take a UTV out back. I had her out with a UTV the other day, so you should be able to lead her back all right while you’re riding it.”

  Emily stared. “I don’t know how to drive a UTV. Wouldn’t it be better if I just rode a horse—”

  “Learn.” Aunt Debby glanced at her watch. “I have to run. Bill and Patsy from Black Dog Farms will be here any minute.”

  Emily’s gut tightened. “From California?”

  But Aunt Debby was already rushing down the aisle. Emily’s heart started pounding. She’d been so afraid to ask whether her aunt had decided to sell Sapphire, in case her aunt had forgotten. She’d asked her dad a couple times, and he’d said he didn’t know what Aunt Debby was going to do, though it sounded like he had his own opinions, even though he wouldn’t share them with Emily. She got the sense that her dad and Aunt Debby were both trying to control the farm and were still trying to figure out how to work together on big decisions like selling Sapphire.

  “Get Precious!” Aunt Debby’s voice echoed around the corner, and Emily jumped into action.

  No way was she going to add to Aunt De
bby’s stress by having her worry about Precious. Not today, of all days. Please not today.

  Ten minutes later Emily had punched the ignition of the UTV and managed to get it started. Kyle had showed her how to turn it on, brake, turn, and accelerate, and she was golden. After all, if a ten-year-old could ride one, so could she.

  Kyle grinned and stepped back as she lurched forward then slammed on the brakes. Then lurched and braked again. He started laughing. “You’ll never make it there without crashing.”

  “I will too.” Emily stuck her tongue out at him, then carefully eased forward, her body tensed as she waited for the UTV to explode out of her control. But it moved slowly forward, and she grinned at Kyle as she rolled away from him. “See?”

  Then she caught sight of the Black Dog Farms trailer in the driveway, and she drove straight into the side of the barn with a crack that made her wince. Aunt Debby and a couple who must have been Patsy and Bill all looked at her, and she waved. “No problem. I’m covered.”

  Kyle started cracking up as she shifted into reverse, backed up, then carefully eased into gear, slowly maneuvering down the driveway until she couldn’t hear him laughing anymore. Then she clenched her teeth and turned toward the path that led to the pasture. She turned too fast and the UTV started to lean. She squealed, turned back, and almost tipped it over the other way.

  She slammed on the brakes, then sat back and put her hands on her thighs. They were shaking, she could feel sweat dripping down her back, and her chest was tight.

  “No. I can handle this. Even Kyle can drive one of these things.” She wiped her palms on her jeans, took a deep breath, then set her hands on the steering wheel again and slowly eased the UTV forward.

  It bumped over the uneven ground, and she winced, afraid it would tip over.

  When it didn’t, she forced herself to keep driving. “Okay, Emily,” she muttered. “You’re in complete control. This is for Sapphire.”

  She kept chanting Sapphire’s name and slowly made her way to the back pasture that hadn’t seemed so far away when she’d been galloping across the fields on Sapphire. But by the time she got there, she felt like her arms had been rattled off, her brain had been jiggled until it was mush, and her entire body was aching with the stress.

  Emily glanced at her watch as she eased to a stop at the bottom of the pasture, realizing it had taken almost a half hour to get back there, even though she’d been going much faster than she would have if she’d been hobbling along on her cast.

  She eyed the vast pasture, but it turned halfway up and was hidden behind trees. She saw several horses, but not Precious.

  Groaning, she realized she was going to have to drive up there to find her. She climbed off the UTV, her legs trembling as she unhooked the gate, then got back on and drove through. She caught her cast on the gearshift as she climbed off again to shut the gate behind her and had to lurch for the brake when she accidentally kicked it in gear.

  She leaned on the hood, bracing her arms as she tried to catch her breath after nearly losing the vehicle. “I hate UTVs,” she announced. “They should all be destroyed.”

  She shook off her nerves and rode up the pasture and around the corner. Then she saw Sapphire standing in the back corner by the fence under the trees. “Sapphire!”

  He lifted his head, and she waved at him and brought the UTV to a stop. That had to be a good sign, right? If Aunt Debby was going to send him off to Black Dog Farms, she wouldn’t have turned him out in the back pasture, right?

  Unless it was a mistake, like Precious….

  She glanced around, looking for Precious, but didn’t see her. Had Emily gotten the wrong pasture? If so, Aunt Debby would never believe she hadn’t come back to seek out Sapphire on purpose. “Shoot.”

  She realized suddenly that Sapphire was still standing in the corner, and he hadn’t made a move to approach her. Her heart tightened as she gazed at him. “Three days and you forget me?”

  He nickered softly and stomped his foot, and Emily suddenly realized he was standing over something large and light brown. “Oh, no,” she whispered as she slammed the UTV into drive and bounced across the field, barely able to hang on as her hands started to shake. She jumped off it when she got close and hobbled the rest of the way, falling to her knees when she realized what Sapphire was standing over.

  Precious was stretched out on her side on the grass, sweating and groaning, the ground churned up under her feet as her ribs heaved with the effort of breathing. “Oh, no!”

  Emily whirled to her feet and ran back to the UTV, tripped twice in the tufts of grass and fell hard. Not even feeling the pain in her ankle, she scrambled back to her feet and leaped onto the UTV to go back to the barn to get Uncle Rick. She pressed the accelerator and started to fly down the hill toward the gate, wincing as the UTV picked up speed and bounced over the ruts. She held tight, her stomach lurching with each bump.

  As she flew down the hill, she realized there was a sharp dip in the grass. She tried to slow down, but missed and hit the ditch at an angle. The UTV tipped over, and Emily flew into the air, landing on her shoulder and flipping to her back.

  She staggered to her feet with a groan, then gasped when she saw the UTV on its side, the wheels spinning aimlessly. Her heart racing, she hobbled over to it and tried to pull it back upright, but it was much too heavy and she couldn’t get the traction with her cast. Tears blurred her eyes as she yanked again. “You can’t do this! I have to get back to get Uncle Rick!”

  When it didn’t move, she screamed in frustration and started to half run, half hobble down the hill. Her cast caught in the grass, and she went flying as pain shot up her leg.

  She righted herself and started running again, gasping in pain at each step, then fell again. She groaned, holding her leg as the pain ricocheted through her body. “I’ll never get back in time.”

  Then a shadow crossed the sun, and she looked up to see Sapphire standing over her. He dropped his head to give her belly a hard nudge.

  “I can’t ride you! Aunt Debby will sell you for sure. Remember when I put you away that time? She didn’t care about the excuses. I can’t do it.” She sat up and her ankle throbbed.

  He nudged her again.

  “No. I won’t lose you. I won’t.” She staggered to her feet, then groaned when she caught sight of the roof of the barn in the distance. It was so far. It would take her forever to make it back.

  She glanced back at Precious, who was pawing at the ground again and moaning, and she thought of Trooper. Trooper hadn’t stayed home when his friends had needed him. How could she let him down?

  She closed her eyes against the sting of tears and wrapped her arms around Sapphire’s neck, pressing her face against his soft coat. “I know this means Aunt Debby will sell you to Black Dog Farms, but I have to do it. For Trooper.” She held him for a few seconds, then pulled back and took a deep breath. “Okay, let’s do this.”

  She peeled off her sweatshirt, tied the sleeve to Sapphire’s halter, then led him over to the upturned UTV. Keeping a hand on him for balance, she climbed up on it, then grabbed his mane and threw herself onto his back, nearly sliding right over the other side.

  Her fingers dug into his mane and she pulled herself back to the middle. Then she sat up, gripped the other sleeve of her sweatshirt, and turned him toward the gate. “Let’s go save Precious.”

  She nudged him into a canter, holding on tightly so she didn’t slide off, and they headed toward the barn.

  Toward Uncle Rick.

  And Aunt Debby.

  23

  Once they were through the pasture gate, Emily clucked Sapphire into a gallop, gripping his mane tightly and clenching her calves around his smooth belly to stay on his back while he flew across the fields toward the barn. His body was rippling under her, and she could feel every step, every breath, since she was sitting directly on his back. The wind was whipping her face and his body was stretched out majestically as they flew over the fields.

>   But all she could think about was Precious.

  Sapphire skidded around the corner of the barn, and they nearly ran over Aunt Debby, who was standing in the driveway with Patsy and Bill.

  “Emily?” Aunt Debby sounded so shocked and furious that Emily flinched. “What are you—”

  “Where’s Uncle Rick? It’s Precious. Something’s wrong.”

  Aunt Debby’s face changed instantly from anger to worry and concern. “Where is she?”

  “By the back fence in the back pasture.” Sapphire’s ribs were heaving under her legs, he was breathing so hard, and she suddenly remembered his injured leg. Oh, no. “Where’s Uncle Rick?”

  “Main aisle. I’ll get his truck.” Aunt Debby was already running for Uncle Rick’s pickup truck, which he kept stocked with all his medical supplies and equipment for when he went on appointments.

  Emily whirled Sapphire around and trotted him into the barn. She felt terrible when she realized he was limping slightly. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

  Then she saw her uncle walking out the far door of the barn. “Uncle Rick!” She urged Sapphire into a canter, his iron-shod feet echoing rhythmically on the cement floor. “Uncle Rick!”

  He turned and looked around, then saw Emily riding toward him. “What’s wrong?”

  “Precious. Back pasture. Something’s wrong. Aunt Debby’s getting your truck—”

  He was already sprinting away from her and he was gone in an instant. Emily heard the spray of gravel as Aunt Debby pulled up with the truck, the car door slammed, and the engine roared as they sped out toward the back pasture.

  Emily sagged with relief, then slid off Sapphire, her legs shaking so much she nearly sat right down when she landed on the ground. He was still breathing hard, and she knew his leg was hurting. “Come on, let’s get you cooled down.”

  She gave him a brisk pat, refusing to think about the repercussions of what she’d done as she led him down the aisle. It was done.