Winter Wonderland (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 13) Read online

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  I grabbed Mickey’s arm tightly.

  “Ouch,” she cried.

  “Look,” I shrieked but the gray horse had already disappeared.

  “What?”

  Mickey peered through the sea of people, kids and horses trying to see what I was getting all worked up about.

  “It was him,” I said. “The hurricane horse.”

  “Don’t be silly,” Mickey said. “Why on earth would he be here?”

  “I don’t know but it was him, I just know it was.”

  “There are a lot of gray horses here.”

  “But I saw his dapples.”

  “Lots of them have dapples,” Mickey said.

  “No.” I shook my head. “It was him. I’d know him anywhere.”

  “And what are you going to do if it is him?” Mickey called out after me as I ran into the crowd. “Buy him? You’re not allowed another horse, remember?”

  But I didn’t care. I would do anything to rescue the horse that I’d saved during the hurricane, even if it meant getting another job to pay for his board. There was something special about him, I just knew that there was and if he was here then it had to be because I was meant to save him.

  All the thoughts I’d had about lame horses and sick horses flew out of my head. Deep down I knew that getting a retired racehorse would possibly be one of the dumbest things I’d ever done. I didn’t need a horse like that. What I needed was a horse that could compete in the jumpers against horses like Hashtag and the dapple gray was about as far from that as you could get. But I ran on, fueled by the fear that he had already been sold to the dog food men.

  I ran past the pens where the horses were being held. Past Saffron, who was still drooling all over the cowboy and the little kids, who were trying to pet the frightened ponies. There were gray horses everywhere but none of them were him. They were too light or too dark or too small. Maybe Mickey was right. Maybe I hadn’t seen him after all. I stood there clutching the stitch in my side when I heard a loud whinny and this time I knew without a doubt. He was here.

  I followed the sound to the ring where the horse I’d nearly died trying to save was standing there about to be auctioned off. He looked awful. His coat was shaggy and long and there were clumps of manure and hay stuck in it and even through the long hair you could see his ribs. He had a gash on his neck where it looked like another horse had bitten him and raw spots on his face where the nylon halter had rubbed. Seeing him standing there like that, I wanted to vomit.

  “Lot 132,” the auctioneer said.

  People shuffled about, talking to one another and ignoring him. No one was interested in buying a horse that looked like it was on its last legs. Legs that I could see were still swollen and scabby from when he’d been tangled up in the barbed wire.

  “This is a five year old thoroughbred out of Magic Dancer by Jolly Day,” the auctioneer carried on. “He had a fourteen thousand dollar lifetime earnings before retiring sound and is ready for a new career.”

  “Yeah, right,” a burly guy in the audience shouted. “If that horse is sound then I’m a fairy.”

  “Now come on folks.” The auctioneer was starting to look worried. “Let’s give this fellow a chance. He’s a nice looking horse. Shall we start the bidding at one thousand?”

  “Ten dollars,” the burly man yelled. “And not a penny more.”

  The crowd laughed, sending the hurricane horse skittering nervously into his handler, a small skinny boy with a pointed face who smacked him on the rump with a crop. The horse jumped away from him, his eyes wide. I could see him shaking and all I wanted to do was run to him and snatch him away from that horrible boy and never give him back.

  “What are you doing?” Mickey had found me and was standing there looking horrified. “You aren’t going to bid on him, are you?”

  I felt the wad of cash in my pocket. I hadn’t brought all my savings but I’d brought what I thought was enough to save Saffron from going to slaughter if the worst came to the worst. Now here I was with something even more awful happening and all I could think was that I wished I’d brought all the money.

  “Look at him,” I whispered.

  “I know.” Mickey sighed. “He looks awful but what can you do? Your dad isn’t going to let you bring something that looks like that back to Fox Run. He could have something contagious by now. What do you think Jess and all the other stuck up boarders will say? We don’t board at Sand Hill anymore. We can’t just bring home all the waifs and strays and make them better.”

  Tears pricked in the back of my eyes but I blinked them away. I wasn’t about to fall apart now. I had to stay strong. A couple of people seemed to feel sorry for the horse and had bid a few hundred. One of the bidders was one of the dog food men. I raised my hand a couple of times, outbidding them.

  “Emily, stop it,” Mickey cried. “You’re going to be in so much trouble.”

  “I’m only outbidding the meat man,” I said. “If someone nice bids then I’ll let them have him.”

  “No you won’t,” Mickey said. “And how are you going to get him back to Fox Run in the first place?”

  “I’ll think of something,” I said.

  But it didn’t matter because one of the workers went up to the auctioneer and whispered in his ear.

  “Sorry folks,” he said. “I know it’s a bit unorthodox but lot number 132 has just been withdrawn.”

  “What?” I cried.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  They took the gray horse out of the ring. I stood up, ready to run after him but Mickey grabbed my arm.

  “What are you doing?” she said. “He’s been withdrawn. That means he’s been sold. There is nothing else you can do.”

  But I didn’t listen. I ran down through the crowd, past the ring and the auctioneer who had moved on to the next horse. The backside of the ring was where the horse now stood being handed off to a woman with hair that turned from pink to red.

  “Did you buy him?” I asked her.

  Her eyes glanced over me for a second but I guess she figured that I wasn’t worthy of a response because she just went back to talking to the skinny kid who had held the horse in the ring.

  “Did you buy him?” I tried again.

  “Why?” She said. “Did you want him?”

  “Yes,” I said, trying not to sound too hopeful.

  “Well come back next month. By the time I’ve put thirty days of training on him, he’ll be a much better horse.”

  “But I’m interested in buying him now,” I said desperately. “I want to put the training on him myself.”

  “Too bad,” she said. “Now beat it.”

  “Please,” I begged. “I know him. I rescued him during a hurricane. You have to let me buy him from you.”

  “I don’t have to do anything,” she snapped. “Now scram.”

  I stood there watching her drag my horse away and knowing there was nothing that I could do about it. The whole thing was awful and horrible and I didn’t know how to stop it. I’d offered to buy him from her. Maybe I should have told her how much I was willing to pay. But as I saw her snap the lead rope and yell at the poor horse, I knew that no matter how much I offered, she would have wanted more. She’d seen the desperation in my eyes. She knew I’d give her the world for him.

  “What happened?” Mickey asked when I finally found her and Esther standing by the truck, waiting for me.

  “Nothing,” I said.

  “What do you mean nothing?”

  “He’s gone and I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “But couldn’t you do something? Offer to buy him?” Mickey said.

  “I tried. She told me to come back next month.”

  “Well there you go then.” Esther shuffled us into the truck. “You can come back to the auction next month and buy him just like she said.”

  “She’ll have ruined him in a month,” I said darkly. “And she’ll probably want more money than I have.”
r />   “Then maybe it’s not meant to be,” Esther said. “Besides, I don’t think he’ll ever be a jumper if that’s what you’re hoping.”

  I stared out the window the entire drive back, glaring at the decorations in people’s yards and not feeling Christmassy at all. Loving horses was a hard life. You fell in love with them even when they didn’t belong to you. You couldn’t help it. I couldn’t help it. But maybe loving them for the brief time that you had was enough. Only I couldn’t help the feeling that I’d rescued the horse during the hurricane, only to have him suffer further now at the hands of that awful woman with the stupid hair.

  “Maybe she’s not as bad as you think,” Mickey said when we got back to Fox Run. “All horse people can’t be bad, can they? Just because her standards aren’t up to yours, doesn’t mean she’s really that bad. At least he didn’t go for dog food.”

  “I know,” I said but Mickey didn’t understand.

  “Want to go for a ride?” she asked brightly.

  “I can’t,” I said. “I have my group lesson in a little bit.”

  “Okay,” she said, her face falling. “Maybe I’ll catch up with you later then.”

  “Maybe,” I said.

  I walked through the barn and out to our cottage. All I wanted was to be alone but there was Jess. I didn’t feel like arguing with her so I turned around and went the other way only she followed me. I gave up and turned to face her.

  “What do you want now Jess?” I said wearily. “Whatever it is that you think I’ve done wrong, I’m sorry and I’ll fix it later.”

  I caught her off guard. She stood there for a moment and then said, “Alright.”

  After all, I’d just apologized for everything I may have done and everything I might possibly do in the future so she couldn’t really say anything else.

  I finally made it back to the cottage where I threw myself down on the couch and burst into tears. It wasn’t fair. I saved the hurricane horse. That meant he was supposed to be mine. He was always supposed to have been mine. I sobbed into the cushions until Meatball jumped up, pressing his head into my hand and begging to be petted. I’d kept him locked up in the cottage for fear that he would try and escape and make a run for it back to Sand Hill and in doing so, he’d become a lap cat for Missy only Missy wasn’t here, she was at another doctor’s appointment.

  “You know that life’s not fair, don’t you boy?” I said, rubbing his fat, orange belly.

  He purred louder until he couldn’t take it any longer and grabbed my hand with his paws, kicking it with his back legs.

  “Hey,” I cried. “I’m not a cat toy or a mouse.”

  He sat up and blinked a couple of times like he’d forgotten where he was, then jumped off and went to the kitchen were Missy had set up his bowl of food. It turned out that she was a cat person after all and so Dad was kind of outnumbered when it came to letting Meatball into our family.

  “Maybe new homes don’t have to be so bad,” I said to the cat. “It worked out okay for you. Maybe it will work out okay for the hurricane horse too.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Dad came up to me before the group lesson that evening.

  “I want you to ride Socks tonight,” he said.

  “What?”

  “You heard me.”

  “But Bluebird is my pony and I’m going to be riding him at the Winter Wonderland show. He’s the one who is going to win me a spot in the Young Riders clinic,” I said.

  “Or Socks will,” Dad said. “I’ve entered you on both of them.”

  “You have?” I looked up at the man who had suddenly taken control of my career without me even asking him to.

  “Of course I have. That way you’ll have two chances to win.”

  “Jess won’t like that very much,” I said. “She won’t think it’s fair if I have more chances than her to win.”

  “Too bad,” he said.

  No wonder Jess had wanted to yell at me earlier. I pulled Socks out of his stall. He nuzzled my pocket for the sugar cube he knew I kept in there for him and slobbered all over my hand when I gave it to him.

  “You’re silly,” I told him as he spooked at a shadow on the floor.

  He was a highly strung horse both in and out of the saddle and it was hard to know what was going to set him off so you always had to be on your guard with him but I liked him a lot. He didn’t hide his emotions. You didn’t have to try and guess what he was thinking or feeling. He let you know right away. Like if you tightened his girth too much right away, he would kick out or try and nip you with his teeth.

  By the time I got out to the ring, everyone else was already in there warming up.

  “You’re late,” Dad barked out.

  “Sorry,” I replied, hiding my face under the saddle flap to tighten the girth one last time and trying not to smile. It was hard to be upset when you were getting to ride a really cool horse with a really great trainer who just happened to be my Dad.

  “Why is she riding Missy’s horse again?” Jess whined. “It’s not fair. We should all get a turn.”

  “I think you should learn to ride your own horse first Jess, don’t you?” Dad said.

  Tulip snickered and Jess gave her a withering look. She kicked Hashtag, who had been standing there napping and was startled by the sudden heel in his ribs. He jolted awake and leapt forward into Tulip’s horse Velvet, who in turn kicked out and narrowly missed Pixie’s head.

  “Are we re-enacting the Three Stooges or are we going to settle down and start taking this lesson seriously?” Dad yelled at them. “Because if you’re not interested in learning how to become the best rider you can possibly be then you can all just go back to the barn and I’ll teach Emily by herself.”

  “Teacher’s pet.” Jess leered at me as she trotted past.

  I knew Dad was only trying to be helpful but he sure wasn’t winning me any friends in the group. Not that I could say anything about it. I knew he’d say that friends didn’t win you ribbons or medals but it wasn’t exactly fun to ride with a group of people who kind of hated your guts.

  I spent the rest of the lesson dodging the other horses that seemed to always be in our path or way. Still, it didn’t matter. Socks was light on his feet and light in the air. He flew over the fences that Dad had set up for us to jump and once again he barely gave me any instruction while he constantly seemed to bark out corrections at the other girls. It was kind of frustrating. I knew I was good but I wasn’t perfect. Surely there had to be some nuggets of wisdom that he could toss in my direction.

  Everyone had improved since the last lesson though and even Jess had obviously been mortified by the thought of Dad putting me back on her horse and she rode Hashtag almost as well as she had when she first got him, until I spotted her father standing by the ring. It wasn’t like him to suddenly show up. Usually Jess was chauffeured to and from the barn by a driver in a black car that was almost so sleek and shiny in could pass as a very small limo. As soon as Jess saw him, her whole demeanor changed. Her shoulders rounded, her hands grew heavy and she had the first rail of the evening down.

  “What was that?” Dad shouted at her.

  “This horse is stupid,” she said loud enough for her father to hear.

  “The horse isn’t the stupid one,” Dad said. “Do you want a repeat of the last lesson?”

  “My father won’t stand for you putting the hired help on my horse,” Jess said, looking in her Dad’s direction. “He told me so.”

  “I’m the trainer and I’ll put whoever I want on the back of your horse and you’ll accept it and you’ll smile because while you’re in this ring, I am in charge.”

  Jess rode over to her father and said in a rather loud and childish voice, “He’s being mean to me again.”

  I half expected her father to yell at mine but I should have known better. I thought Derek was bad but Jess and Mr. Eastford had just as volatile a relationship. He wanted her to win, whatever the cost and it seemed like their relationship had
been thrown under the bus because of it. He’d sold more than one of her horses out from under her and I suspected it had been that way her whole life. Just when she started to bond with the horse, her father would find a better one that he thought would win more and Jess would be left to start over again. It was why I felt sorry for her some of the time, even though she was infuriating and rude and could be mean to her horses. It seemed that meanness was all she’d ever known. I wondered where her mother was.

  “You’ll do as he says,” Mr. Eastford said. “He is the trainer and I’m paying him to teach you.”

  “Exactly,” she cried. “To teach me on my horse, not the stupid stable hand.”

  “She’s not the stable hand,” Dad said. “She’s my daughter.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Jess looked from me to my father and started to laugh.

  “Yeah, right,” she said.

  “It’s not a joke and it’s not funny so get back over here and ride this line again, this time without knocking the last fence down.”

  “Dad,” Jess whined. “You aren’t going to let him talk to me like that, are you?”

  “Get over there and do as he says.” Mr. Eastford pointed to my father. “And I don’t want to hear another word about it.”

  We finished the lesson in silence. The only sound that of our horse’s hooves cantering over the fences. Jess didn’t have any more poles down and neither did anyone else but she glared at me with daggers in her eyes every time she rode past. I didn’t know what she wanted from me. Rob was my father and that was the truth.

  “Well, I think at least one of you guys will win your class at the show,” Dad said.

  “Who? Your daughter?” Jess laughed and Tulip and Rachel joined in.

  They rode off before Dad could say anything else.

  “I told you,” I said. “They hate me and they’ll never believe this.” I pointed between the two of us.

  “I don’t have time for this.” Dad sighed. “I have too much to do before the show.”