DJ slammed back into the saddle and clamped her knees tight.
Patches snorted, fighting to get his head down.
“You are not going to dump me this time!” Teeth clenched, DJ hauled on the reins. Maybe whoever rode this fool horse should take lessons in bronc riding before mounting him. She always told his owner, Mrs. Johnson, to put him on the hot walker first to take the edge off his energy. Maybe she should have taken her own advice.
Within two hops, she had him moving forward again.
“DJ, you all right?” Shawna asked.
“Yeah, I am, but this broomtail isn’t.” She kept contact with Patches’ mouth, her legs and seat driving him forward. How did he know the exact moment she shifted her attention? Did he have eyes in those constantly moving ears of his? All she’d done was look over at Shawna.
Patches kept his ears flat against his head, his tail doing the double twitch. He attempted a sidestep, but DJ knew his tricks and kept him in a forward motion.
“No, you can’t lope until you can behave at a jog. Loping is a reward for good behavior.”
Patches’ ears now flicked back and forth. He let out extra air with a whoosh and settled into a ground-eating, relaxed walk.
DJ let out a matching sigh and allowed herself to enjoy the ride. “How am I ever going to calm you enough for your owner to ride?” she asked. “You pull one like that on her again, and she’ll send you to the dog food factory.”
“Would she really?” Shawna asked, concern wrinkling her fore head.
DJ shrugged. “Would serve him right—wouldn’t it, you broomtail, you.” After patting Patches’ already sweat-dotted neck, DJ dared to glance at Shawna. “He just has to test his rider, make sure she knows who’s in charge. He’ll settle down as he gets older. I hope.” She patted Patches’ neck with one hand again, keeping the other securely on the reins. “He’s smart, learns fast when he wants to, and is comfortable to ride. I’ve got to start taking him up in the park so he learns trail-riding. The Johnsons want to ride as a family.”
“I’d sure like that. Wish my mom and dad wanted to ride.”
“How do you know they don’t?” DJ squeezed her legs just enough to signal Patches he could jog now. They circled the ring, with DJ giving Shawna suggestions on riding skills, reminding her to watch her aids. If DJ didn’t know better, she’d think she’d turned into a clone of Bridget Sommersby, their teaching sounded so much the same. Bridget, once a world-class contender in jumping, owned Briones Riding Academy and trained both horses and riders of all levels.
“There’s so much to think about, I forget some things.” Shawna straightened her back and lowered her heels.
“I know, but it gets easier. For the little you’ve ridden, you do great.”
An ear-to-ear grin split Shawna’s face. “Thanks.”
After DJ set Shawna to trotting around the ring, then turning and going the other way, she worked Patches through figure eights at both a jog and a lope, halts, backing up, and standing still. The last was the hardest. At least he would stand still now for mounting and dismounting, which she did several times.
Other riders called greetings, with Tony Andrada teasing her about bronc riding. When Tony first came to the Academy, he’d been such a jerk that DJ still found herself wondering who this new person was. DJ had drawn a portrait of Tony’s horse when she drew his name for the Academy Christmas party, and Tony reminded her every once in a while how much he liked the picture.
DJ mounted for the third time and trotted diagonally across the arena to catch up with Shawna. “You about ready to call it a day?”
“If we have to. I wish I never had to quit.”
“You’d get a mighty sore rear, riding all the time.”
“DJ! You know what I mean.” Shawna stopped Major by the gate. “Hi, Grandpa Joe. When did you get here?”
“Not in time to ride with you two. But Ranger is fed, and some nice person took care of food for this old horse, too.” He stroked Major’s nose and up around his ears. “Did he behave for you?”
“Sure. I had the greatest time.”
“She says she wants to ride forever.” DJ leaned forward to open the gate, something she’d risked only a time or two with Patches. His tail swished, but other than that, he held steady.
“Would tomorrow be soon enough? As far as Gran and I are concerned, you’re welcome to spend the night. Maybe if the weather stays decent, we can ride up into Briones State Park.”
“You mean it?” The younger girl rode through the gate after Patches and DJ.
But when DJ tried to close the gate from Patches’ back, the horse shook his head, and instead of going forward, he backed up. When DJ tried to close it again, he sidled away, snorting at the gate as if he’d never seen one his entire life.
DJ tried again, but when Patches still refused, she turned back to trot another round of the arena.
“Come on, let’s go feed this old boy.” Joe headed Shawna toward the barn. “She might be a while.”
But without an audience, Patches gave up. Once he’d allowed her to close the gate without a fuss, DJ took him back to the barn.
Later, back at Gran’s, Shawna asked her mom and dad if she could spend the night. When they agreed, she flung her arms around Andy’s neck. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“Easy, I can’t come get you with a broken neck.” Her father hugged her back and tugged her down on the sofa between Sonja and him. “So how’d the ride go?”
“We going to eat soon?” DJ asked, wandering into the kitchen as Shawna began to tell her parents all about it.
“I know, you’re starved,” Julia Gregory, Joe’s daughter, said with a laugh. “You must be a teenager.”
“Yup. Gran says I have a hollow leg.” DJ raised her right knee. “It’s this one, I think.”
Julia sighed. “You know, it’s just not fair. You eat whatever you want and never gain an ounce, and I just look at a hot-fudge sundae and an inch blossoms around my hips.”
“I wouldn’t mind a couple of inches in some places.” DJ snagged a chicken wing from the platter Gran set on the table.
“Don’t rush it. The tall, willowy type like you will always be in style.” Julia studied DJ with a smile. “I’d give anything for a swan neck like yours.” She pulled at the neck of her mock-turtle shirt. “Oh to be able to wear a real turtleneck without looking like a turtle.”
Willowy? Me? DJ stopped chewing on the chicken wing. Flat is more like it. She kept the thoughts from becoming words and glanced over at Gran. She wore that I-told-you-so look that bugged DJ to no end.
“Don’t say it.” She waved the chicken bone at her grandmother.
“I didn’t.” Gran held up her hands.
“No, but you were thinking it.”
“Can’t help thinking the truth.”
While DJ frequently complained about being flat front and back, both Gran and her mother told her to quit griping.
“I sure wish my girls could have come along,” Julia said with a sigh. “They don’t know how much fun having cousins around can be. By the way, DJ, Allison thinks you can walk on water. You got to be her hero when we were here for Thanksgiving.”
“Just because I can ride a horse?”
“Well, that, too, but you gave her a ride and paid attention to her. Doesn’t take much, you know.”
“She’s a neat little kid.” DJ didn’t mention Meredith, Julia’s oldest girl, who’d been a royal pain in the patootie. She let everyone know she’d only come because her mother made her. And she wasn’t happy about it—or about anything else.
“Living clear across the country like we do makes it hard to feel like part of the family. The girls don’t even have the chance to really know their grandparents.”
“They’re missing out. Gran and GJ are the best.”
“GJ? Oh, I get it.” Julia smacked the flat of her hand against her forehead. “Grandpa Joe. We’ve got DJ and GJ. C-l-e-v-e-r.”
DJ liked both Julia and her husband, Martin, from even the little time she’d spent with them. “It would be neat if Allison could come stay awhile this summer. Maybe by then the boys will have a pony.”
“Or two,” Gran added. “Darlin’, go call the others to come eat.”
Shawna came spinning through the doorway just as DJ turned to round up the crowd. “Guess what? Dad says we might move out here to the country. By you guys! Wouldn’t that be the most awesome thing?
“And he said I could take riding lessons on Saturdays from DJ if she wants to teach me so I can ride better, and he said he always thought he might like to ride, too, and we could all go riding up in the park and …” She finally had to pause for a breath. “So would you … I mean, could you? I mean—oh, DJ!” Shawna leaned against the wall. “Maybe I’ll really get to have a horse of my own, just like you do.”
“That would be awesome, all right.” DJ thought of the discussions she’d had with Amy Yamamoto, her all-time best friend, about cutting back on some things so she didn’t feel pressured all the time. Teaching Shawna would certainly add to the load. “But you have to check with Bridget first. Remember, she owns the Academy.”
Andy joined them, planting both hands on Shawna’s shoulders and drawing her back against him. “We’d pay you for the lessons, just like everyone else. And, yes, I understand we have to go through Ms. Sommersby. Are you sure you have time for another student?”
“Shawna’s doing so well that with some more private lessons, she could maybe join my other girls. She’d like the others, even though they ride Western. Come on out to watch a class sometime and see what you think.”
“Please, Dad, Mom, can we?”
“We’ll see.”
“That means yes.” Shawna nodded at DJ.
Her father swatted her on the seat. “Let’s go eat. Gotta keep up our strength for all this horse stuff.”
After the meal, DJ brought out her small sketch pad and took her place again. Everyone sat around the table, picking at the leftover treats and sharing stories they remembered from the past. While she listened and at times contributed stories of her own, DJ drew two nearly identical pictures of a colt peering out from behind the veil of her mother’s tail. She added the diamond between the eyes and a line down to a smaller one on the baby’s nose. She signed it Storm Clouds by DJ Randall and gave one to Shawna.
“Here, give this to Allison,” she said, handing the other to Julia.
“You couldn’t give her anything to make her happier.” Julia held it up for all to see. “I knew you were an artist, but, DJ, you’re only fourteen. This is amazing. What an incredible talent you have.”
“I have a good teacher.” DJ nodded toward Gran.
“Just say thank you, darlin’. God gave you the talent—I just helped mold it a bit.” Gran beamed the kind of smile that warmed DJ clear down to her toes.
“You are taking art classes, aren’t you?” Julia continued to study the pencil drawing. “I can’t believe how you can catch such personality like this. That baby just sparks with mischief, yet the whole picture is of utter peace. I swear I can even smell the hay and the horses.”
DJ could feel her neck heating up. The urge to chew on her fingernails made her hide her hands under her thighs.
“I’m going to frame this before Allison sees it. I seem to remember you did note cards, too. Do you have any more of them?”
DJ shook her head. “But it wouldn’t take long to print some.”
“You ever thought about putting them in card shops—the packets of note cards, I mean?” Julia looked up from studying the picture to gaze at DJ.
DJ shrugged. “Not really. Bridget carried them in the tack shop at the Academy, and they went pretty fast. Guess Amy and I kinda forgot about them after Christmas and all. She had some of her photographs on hers.”
“I remember.” Julia nodded and nibbled on the side of her lower lip. “If I could get a friend of mine to stock these in her shop, could you produce enough?”
“I guess. How many?”
Sonja leaned forward to scoop dip with a rippled chip. “I bet I could sell some where I work, too. I used the ones you gave me as thank-you cards and got raves about them.”
“Let me check into it.” Julia turned to Gran. “Do you have any file folders or an envelope I could put this in?” Her eyebrows flicked upward as she asked DJ, “Could I show my friend this one, too?” She motioned with the drawing still held in her hand.
“Sure.”
Julia and her husband reluctantly said good-bye when the clock in the living room bonged ten times. After spending the night at DJ’s house, they would fly home early Sunday morning. “You’ll hear from me soon,” Julia promised after giving DJ a big hug. “I am so proud to know you. That big brother of mine got a real gold mine when he found you and your mother.”
“Thanks.” DJ hugged her back. “Thanks a lot.”
Shawna’s parents left soon after, with promises to see them the next day.
“You’re going to be a famous horse artist one day,” Shawna said later from the sleeping bag spread beside the bed. “And I got one of your early pictures. That is so cool.”
DJ grinned and reached down to tousle the girl’s hair. “You are cool yourself. Sleep fast.”
“So we can ride up in Briones! I can’t wait.”
Possibilities raced through DJ’s head. What if the cards sold well? What if they didn’t? Wouldn’t it be fun to make more? Wait till she told Amy about this!
She thought, too, about the way Shawna and her dad could talk and tease each other. Maybe she had been missing out on something by not having a father all these years. She turned over and tucked the comforter more tightly around her shoulders. Well, now she was going to—no, change that—she now had two fathers. And while the newest one had forgotten to hug her good-bye, the other sure hadn’t.
DJ fell asleep while thanking God for the filly who waited for her at Brad’s farm and for the chance to ride up in Briones after church in the morning.
Shawna could hardly sit still through church. While clouds had covered the sky when she, Joe, and DJ went to feed the horses, sun now painted the shiny floor with reds and oranges and browns from the stained-glass windows.
“Are you going to ride Patches?” she whispered at one point.
DJ shook her head. “I’ll saddle Bandit for you.” The gray pony’s owner had said she could use their pony any time. She was already using him for little Andrew Johnson’s lessons.
Gran gave them a look.
When Shawna started to whisper something else, DJ shook her head.
Was the sermon awfully long, or was she feeling as antsy as Shawna, who couldn’t sit still on the pew beside her? DJ refocused her attention on the pastor for the who-knew-how-manyeth time. But whatever he was preaching about didn’t make it past her rampaging thoughts. She took in a deep breath and let it all out, dropping her shoulders as she did.
“God, the perfect Father, loves us, loves you, loves me, right now. No matter what we do, He loves us. Think of that. He loves you.” Each word the pastor said now rang and echoed in DJ’s head. “God loves you. Yesterday, today, tomorrow. God loves you. Jesus loves you.” In a voice rich with love, the pastor emphasized each word. They seemed to fill the sanctuary, bouncing off the beams overhead and dancing with the sun streaming in the window. The precious words circled DJ’s heart, invaded it, and took sanctuary there.
“Amen.”
DJ heard sniffs and throat clearings from those around her. She wiped away her own tear before it left the haven of her lashes. Gran took a tissue from her purse, and Joe blew into his white handkerchief.
“Awesome,” Shawna whispered.
DJ’s throat kept closing during the final hymn.
There wasn’t a lot of talking as the congregation left the building. GJ wrapped an arm around Gran and the other around DJ as Gran snuggled Shawna close to her side. The four of them walked to the parking lot and the waiting car.
“DJ, wait up!” Amy dashed across the parking lot. She greeted them all, then asked, “You going to the Academy this afternoon?” Her black hair gleamed in the sunlight.
“We’re going to Briones,” Shawna announced.
“You want to come?” DJ asked.
“You bet I do!” Amy waved at her mother’s call. “Just don’t leave without me.” She darted back between the cars to the Yamamoto minivan.
“You want to eat lunch now, pack a lunch, or ride first and eat later?” Gran asked when they got home.
“Could we pack it?” Shawna asked as if she were being offered a trip to Disneyland.
Gran hugged her on the way up the pansy-bordered walk. “In a heartbeat. I’ll do that while you change clothes. Don’t worry, DJ, I’ll pack for Amy, too.”
“Melanie, my love, you are the best grandma ever,” DJ heard Joe say as she headed for her bedroom. DJ totally agreed.
With their lunches in Joe’s saddlebags and the horses groomed in record time, the four closed the gates behind them and headed up the trail to Briones State Park. The trail curved around a rounded hill and below a grandfather oak tree raising dark arms against the sun. The hurt-your-eyes green of the grass said that while the calendar still proclaimed winter, the earth on these California hills was thinking spring. The breeze bending the grass held a nip to it when it kissed DJ’s cheeks.
She raised her face to the sun and inhaled. “How come new grass smells almost as good as horse?”
A red-tailed hawk, riding the thermals above them, screeched an answer. One of the horses snorted. The saddles creaked and bits jangled, adding a tune all their own.
DJ knew there was no place in the entire world she’d rather be than right here, right now.
They ate their lunch by the fenced-in pond in the upper meadow. Riders on cross-country bikes sped by on the fire road, and hikers whistled for their dogs to keep them from chasing the cows with their calves that grazed the hillsides.
Shawna flung herself on her back, her arms outstretched. “This is a five-million-percent perfect day.”
“You said it, kid.” Joe balled his sandwich bag and stuffed the trash in his saddlebag. The horses grazed beside them. While DJ told Amy about Julia’s offer to take their cards to a gift shop, maybe reproducing one of the filly pictures, too, Joe answered Shawna’s stream of questions. They mounted their horses again and rode farther up the hill, following the trails along the ridge until Joe finally said they should head back.
When Shawna groaned, he laughed. “You’re going to feel all this tomorrow as it is, young lady. Besides, Gran needs our company.”
“When are you going to get Gran a horse?” DJ asked.
“Any time she wants one.”
“Just get one, and once we drag her up here the first time, she’ll be hooked for sure.” DJ thought a moment. “If I can get Patches to behave on the trails, she can ride Major.” The tall, dark bay flicked his ears at the sound of his name. DJ patted his neck. Right now she felt like hugging him and the whole world.
“You’d help me find her a horse?” Joe questioned.
“Need you ask? So will Bridget.”
“Don’t tell her.”
“I won’t, but we’d better get to work. Mother’s Day will be here before you know it.”
Joe nodded, a sneaky smile curving his lips. “Thanks, DJ. That’s the perfect idea.”
When they got home, Andy sat in his car, waiting for his daughter.
“Why didn’t you go in the house?” Joe asked.
“It’s locked. Besides, I only just got here. Let’s get your stuff, Shawna. I need to get back.”
When they entered the kitchen, a note on the table said Gran had gone into the city to pick up the twins. Maria had caught the bug, too, and was too ill herself to care for two sick boys.
DJ and Joe waved good-bye to the others a few minutes later. What are we in for now? DJ wondered.