eight

Jacob led them back to Star Gazer’s pen. This time, when Jordan stood by the mare, she looked at her through new eyes. Star Gazer was hers! She’d waited for this day for so long—and now it was finally here. She had a horse of her very own!

She placed her hands on either side of Star’s head and rubbed the mare’s large cheek bones. She almost had to stand on her tiptoes. Everything about this horse was massive. The halter they’d found in the barn definitely was too small. Nothing that fit a normal-size horse would work on Star. Good thing there were a lot of draft horses in the area. She’d seen Amish-made halters in the local tack store. She’d be shopping there soon—right after she mowed a few more lawns.

“Well, I’ve got to get back to work,” Jacob said. “But don’t worry about your mare. You took care of ol’ Ned for us, so now we can return the favor.” He waved and walked away, then turned back, pulling a small pad of paper out of his pocket. He scribbled something on the top sheet, tore it out, and handed it to Jordan. “Here’s our phone number in case you guys have any questions or need anything.”

He gave her a mischievous grin, daring her to ask him if Mennonites were allowed to use modern gadgets like phones.

Jordan beat him to the punch. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. Mennonites can have telephones.”

“Hey, now you’re catching on,” Jacob teased. “Brother Fisher follows the old Amish ways and doesn’t own one. But he can come over and use ours if he feels like it.” He turned to the Wilsons and tipped his hat. “Have a good day. You guys can check out at the cashiers. Once you’ve paid for everything, I’ll help you load up your smaller purchases.”

An hour later, Jordan was sitting on the porch steps with her cage full of speckled chickens. Her mother would be home from work soon. Jordan had gone over every imaginable reason for buying a lame horse. But none of them sounded better than the truth: She’d bought Star Gazer because the mare was going to the killers, and she couldn’t let that happen.

Her mother was going to totally flip out.

Jordan’s foot tapped uncontrollably on the wooden step and she nibbled at her fingernails. When she heard the sound of a car engine slowing down to make a turn and the crunch of tires on gravel, she burst into tears.

Her mother quickly climbed out of the car and took a seat next to her on the stairs. “Jordan, honey, what’s wrong?” She put her arm around her daughter’s shoulders and pulled her close. “Why are you crying? What happened?”

The enormity of what she’d done hit home. Jordan choked back a sob. Her mother was going to be so disappointed in her. Mrs. McKenzie tucked a long strand of hair behind her daughter’s ear and pulled a tissue from her purse to wipe away the tears. “There now,” she said softly. “Calm down and tell me what happened.”

Jordan hiccupped. “I didn’t mean to, Mom, but I couldn’t help myself. They were going to send her to the killers!”

The look on her confused mother’s face was so comical, Jordan almost stopped crying. She realized how silly her words had sounded. She sat up straight and took a deep breath. “Mom…I did something that’s going to really upset you…”

Her mother tried to put on her I-can-handle-this face. “What did you do, Jordan?”

The chickens clucked and pecked at their cage, filling the silence while Jordan tried to think how to word her story. There was no easy way to put it, so she just blurted it out.

“Mom, I bought a lame draft horse.”

Even the chickens stopped clucking. The silence drew out so long that Jordan felt like they were frozen in time.

Jordan’s mom tilted her head and her brows drew together. “You bought a horse? How did that happen?”

Jordan shrugged. “There was this big beautiful draft horse at the auction,” she explained. “She was lame and her owner didn’t want her anymore, so he just dumped her at the auction and walked away. I knew just how that poor horse felt.”

Jordan’s mom sat in silence for a minute. She studied Jordan’s face and brushed away a few more tears, then let out a deep sigh. “This is about your father, isn’t it?” she asked.

Jordan scrunched her lips and looked down at her feet. “I don’t know—well, maybe.” She felt the tears stinging the backs of her eyes again. She needed to push away the ugly thoughts about her dad. She already felt bad enough about her rash decision to buy a horse they couldn’t afford. “The packer was bidding on her and there wasn’t anybody to save her, so I bought her to keep her from ending up in a dog food can,” Jordan said.

“Where were the Wilsons in all of this?” Mrs. McKenzie asked, the exasperation leaking into her voice. “They were supposed to be watching you.”

Jordan frowned. “Please don’t blame Nicole’s parents, Mom,” Jordan begged. “It’s all my fault. I put up the bid card without asking them, then I begged the Wilsons to let me buy her.” She sniffed and brushed away the hair that had stuck to her hot, sticky face. “They said they’d find the horse a good home if we couldn’t keep her. They’re going to call you later to ask about your decision.”

The hens started clucking again and Jordan’s mother studied them for a moment before speaking. “You’ve put us in a bit of a situation here, Jordan. You bought an animal that we can’t afford to keep. It was nice of the Wilsons to offer to fix this problem for you, but I can’t really ask them to do that. You created this mess, and you are going to be the one to figure it out.” She paused for a moment waiting until Jordan nodded in agreement, then continued. “Will the auction take the horse back?”

Jordan shook her head. She didn’t want to give Star Gazer back. “The Wilsons already paid for her. I have to pay them back on Monday. That’s when Mr. Yoder and Jacob are supposed to deliver Star Gazer.”

“I see.” Jordan’s mom folded her hands in her lap and stared out across the soybean fields.

Jordan knew that look. It pained her to know that she’d caused this much trouble for her mom. “I…I know you’re really upset about this, but—” Her mother fixed her with a stare that cut her off midsentence and made her feel like crawling under the porch.

“Jordan…” This calm, steady voice worried Jordan a whole lot more than screaming and shouting. “You went to an auction this morning,” her mother continued, “with permission to buy some chickens. You came home with the chickens, and the news that you’ve purchased a draft horse— a lame draft horse. Your savings is now gone, and we’re going to have to figure a way to feed this horse and ourselves. Yes, I am upset.”

“But, Mom,” Jordan squeaked. “The packer was buying Star Gazer for dog food. Jacob said they like buying the bigger horses because that way they get their money’s worth.” She searched her mother’s face. “I’m sure you would’ve done the same thing if you’d been there.”

“Maybe I would have,” Mrs. McKenzie admitted. Her shoulders seemed to sag under the weight of the problem Jordan had caused. “But the problem still remains. We’ve got a horse that we really can’t afford, and if she’s lame, there’s no way we can sell her—except to run her back through the auction. And then she’d probably just end up in a can anyway.”

Jordan gazed into the distance. “I know. I’ve put us in a pretty big mess,” she said. “But if you’ll just meet Star Gazer, you’ll see why I couldn’t let her go to the packers. I’ll work and earn some extra money to help care for her.”

“All right, Jordan. Here’s what we’re going to do,” her mother said, her tone brooking no argument. “I’ll meet Star Gazer on Monday when Mr. Yoder and his son come to deliver your horse. You can mow lawns and weed flower beds for the neighbors to help pay for the upkeep on this horse. Then you’re going to come home and do a whole list of chores that I have for you. By the time you’re done, you’re going to have calluses on your calluses. And maybe somewhere in there, you will have learned a lesson.”

Jordan was thrilled that her mother was going to let Star Gazer come home with them. “I’ll work until I drop,” she promised.

Her mother gave her a don’t-mess-with-me stare. “I’m not finished yet,” she warned. “We’re going to see if we can get this mare healthy again, and then we’re going to try to sell her.”

Jordan’s moment of victory slipped away. But she knew this was as good as it was going to get for now. Her only hope was that her mom would fall in love with the big draft beauty just as she had. She lifted her eyes to her mother’s face. “I really am sorry, Mom.”

Her mother let out an exasperated sigh and folded her in a hug. “I know you are, dear. Now you can show me just how sorry you are by taking those chickens out to the barn and feeding them. After that you can grab the hoe and start weeding that big flower bed over there.”

Her mother picked up her purse and walked into the house, leaving Jordan sitting on the porch steps wondering if she was going to regret her decision to buy Star Gazer.

The next morning, Jordan was up with the sun. She didn’t want her mom to have to ask her to do chores. Jordan swept the kitchen floor and started a load of laundry. Then she put on her old sweats and headed to the barn to give it a cleaning it probably hadn’t had in a decade.

The pretty speckled hens clucked and scratched the barnyard dirt, picking at seeds and worms. Jordan had caught her mother smiling last night when they’d turned the hens loose to explore their new home. She just hoped her mom would look as fondly at the new horse.

Jordan stared at the fences surrounding the pasture where Star would be kept. She had a lot of work to do before the draft mare arrived. All sides of the enclosure had places where boards were missing or broken, and someone had dumped several loads of weeds and garbage that would have to be removed. And her head swam when she thought about everything that needed to be done inside the barn. She wished Nicole was here to help, but her mother had grounded her from seeing Nicole for a week.

She found a bunch of old lumber and some wire stacked in a corner of the barn. Some of it was still good. She could use it to fix a new stall and rebuild some of the fence. It wouldn’t look all that great, but she didn’t care, as long as it worked to keep Star Gazer in.

Around ten o’ clock, Jordan looked up from pulling a broken board off the old fence and was surprised to see her mother coming down the hill wearing jeans and work boots. She had a tool belt cinched around her waist. Her dark hair was tucked beneath a blue polka-dot scarf. Despite the work attire, she looked really pretty. The move from L.A. had been a hardship, but Jordan hoped the country air and slower pace of a small town was doing her mom some good.

Her mother surveyed the work Jordan had done on the fence. She looked impressed. “Not bad. What do you say we start fixing up that stall?”

“Sure,” Jordan said. “I’m not very good at this. I’ll take all the help I can get.”

As the day wore on, it grew muggy and they felt lucky to be working in the shade of the barn. There were enough boards to expand the stall and even make improvements to the adjoining outside corral. Jordan thought they’d even have enough to finish up the pasture fence she’d started.

“We’d better take a break now,” Jordan said. “Mr. Yoder should be here with Star Gazer pretty soon.” She stayed behind to check the stall and corral one more time while her mother went to the house to clean up.

Ten minutes later, her mom hollered down the hill that the trailer was pulling into the driveway.

Jordan took off at a run, reaching the front yard just as Jacob and his dad hopped out to unload the horse. Her heart banged wildly in her chest—partly from the run, but mostly from excitement. Star Gazer was finally being delivered!

Mr. Yoder opened the trailer door while Jacob went inside to untie Star and lead her out. There was a lot of banging and clanging as he turned the large mare around and led her out. Star paused at the edge of the trailer, not wanting to take the twelve-inch step to the ground.

“Is she okay?” asked Jordan.

“Yeah,” Jacob said. “But her front feet are still pretty sore.”

“You might want to get the vet out here and have some X-rays taken as soon as possible,” Mr. Yoder added. “You need to make sure there’s nothing cracked or chipped on those bones inside the hoof.”

Just then, Star Gazer stepped from the trailer, stumbling painfully and almost falling down.

Jordan hurried over and ran her hands calmly over the mare’s jet-black coat. “Easy, girl, it’s going to be okay.”

But deep in her heart, Jordan wondered if it really was going to be all right. She’d bought a horse she knew very little about, and it had taken all of her money to do it. How were they going to pay for X-rays? And what if there was something terribly wrong? Star might have to be put down. That would be the saddest thing ever and their rescue would have been for nothing.

She stood there for a minute with her stomach tied in knots. Tears burned her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Things will work out, she told herself, reaching a shaky hand for the lead rope that Jacob was holding out for her. This was her big dream coming true. Everything had to be okay.

But as she attempted to lead Star Gazer down the slight hill to her stall, doubts as big as the draft mare herself settled in Jordan’s heart.