Read Hercules: A Matter of Trust Online
Authors: Heather Brooks
Hercules: A Matter of Trust
Heather Brooks
2
Hercules: A Matter of Trust
Emily Summers was on her knees in the main aisleâ¦
Emily slid her hand around the slick leather of Sapphire'sâ¦
Several hours later Emily had put Sapphire back in hisâ¦
It took Emily forty-five minutes to find Aunt Debby toâ¦
Emily ran out the front door of the barn andâ¦
“Emily! You're not paying attention.”
It was after nine that night and the sun wasâ¦
It was almost midnight by the time Emily got backâ¦
Emily's eyes snapped open, and she looked at the clockâ¦
Emily adjusted her grip on her reins and eased toâ¦
It took almost twenty minutes to catch Sapphire. They'd endedâ¦
“Okay, Emily, how are you feeling?”
The entire ride home from dinner was silence.
Emily was up and dressed before six o'clock the nextâ¦
Emily whispered to Sapphire to be quiet, and they carefullyâ¦
Emily took Max and Sapphire to visit Hercules three moreâ¦
By the time Emily made it out to the barnâ¦
By the time Emily reached the back paddock with Sapphireâ¦
Scott Summers found his sister sitting in the kitchen laterâ¦
They were about two hours into the trail ride, surroundedâ¦
By the time the farm came into view eight hoursâ¦
Hercules!” Aunt Debby vaulted off her horse and ran forâ¦
At three minutes after eight o'clock the next morning, Emilyâ¦
E
mily Summers was on her knees in the main aisle of the Running Horse Ridge barn trimming Sapphire's ankles, and she couldn't stop giggling.
She was peering intently at Sapphire's left front hoof as she carefully glided the electric clippers over the glossy black hair, when she felt something nuzzling her back pocket for the fifth time.
She peeked over her left shoulder at Sapphire's dark brown eyes blinking innocently at her, even as his upper lip was trying to worm the piece of carrot out of her jeans. “I already told you, that's not yours. The fifteen I already gave you are all you're getting!”
He stopped nibbling on her jeans, his dark face
with the white blaze so close that she couldn't resist the urge to give him a little kiss right on the splash of white between his eyes. He immediately lifted his upper lip and grinned at her, then gave her a firm nudge with his nose that knocked her right over onto the rubber mat they were standing on.
Emily laughed as Sapphire pressed his face to her chest, wiggling his black ears as if to point out no one was scratching them. She smiled and scratched behind his ears, and he let out a loud sigh of satisfaction, blowing hay dust across the floor. “You do realize you are so making it hard to get anything accomplished, don't you?”
He snuffled against her, and she realized he was trying to lick her jeans, searching for any remnants of anything tasty, as he'd done ever since he'd found chocolate ice cream on her pants the first time they'd met.
And yes, okay, so maybe she'd intentionally spilled ice cream on her jeans a couple times since then just because she thought it was so cute the way he licked it offâ¦.
“Emily!”
Emily scrambled to her feet at the sound of her aunt's voice, brushing the hay off her pants. Had her aunt caught her allowing Sapphire to knock her down?
She hoped not. She and her aunt had very different ideas about what Sapphire should be allowed to do, and since Aunt Debby owned him, she got to make the rules.
And her aunt didn't appreciate it when Emily broke them, as Emily knew all too well. She didn't
try
to break the rules, really; she didn't. It justâ¦well, sometimes it just happened.
Wiping her hands on her jeans, she turned to face her aunt. “Hi, Aunt Debby.”
Aunt Debby was wearing jeans and worn paddock boots as she always did. Her gray T-shirt had the family farm's name across the front in letters that were so faded Emily could barely read them. Aunt Debby's light brown hair was pulled up in a ponytail that showed her silver hoop earrings. She set her hands on her hips and raised her brows.
Emily winced. Oh, Aunt Debby had so seen Emily allow Sapphire to goof around.
“Where are the cross ties?” Aunt Debby asked.
Emily quickly grabbed a cross tie and hooked it to Sapphire's halter. “If I cross-tie him, then he can't reach my jeans to lick themâ”
“Of course he can't. That's the point. We're trying to train him so he can be sold.” Aunt Debby hooked up the other cross tie and gave Sapphire a pat.
“But he gets so boredâ” Emily swallowed her protest at Aunt Debby's look. “Yeah, okay,” she mumbled, hating the mention of Sapphire being sold.
Yes, she'd known Sapphire only for a few weeks, but the thought of being at Running Horse Ridge without himâ¦Somehow in the short time she'd been at the farm, he'd become more important to her even than Rhapsody, the horse she was leasing back home in New Jersey.
Emily instantly felt guilty about Rhapsody. She loved him, too. She did. But he wasn't there and Sapphire was and Sapphire needed her andâ
There was a soft snort behind her, and she turned her head to see Max, the old gray horse who got the run of the farm, standing in the aisle behind her. “Max!” He'd been following her around lately, and she suspected it was because he missed Grandpa. From what her family had told her, Max and Grandpa had been best friends until Grandpa had died, and Max hadn't been quite himself ever since. She handed Max the one piece of carrot she'd held back from Sapphire. “Here you go, sweetie. I had to fight Sapphire off for it, so appreciate it.”
Max gently took the hunk of carrot between his lips while Sapphire perked his ears and watched the old
horse as if he was hoping for a stray piece to drop to the floor. When nothing seemed forthcoming, Sapphire set his chin on Emily's shoulder with a resigned grunt. Max's eyes studied Emily and Sapphire, his jaw moving slowly as he worked his way through the carrot.
Aunt Debby patted Max's neck. “That's nice you're befriending Max. I think he's lonely.” There was a softness in her voice that made Emily glance at her aunt. She'd only seen her aunt be that gentle once, when a horse they'd both loved had died.
Aunt Debby was smiling at the old guy, her gaze warm with concern. Emily knew from the look on Aunt Debby's face that Max would never have to worry about being sold. Aunt Debby might be all business when it came to training Sapphire, but there was only love when she looked at Max. Emily felt a tinge of jealousy. Aunt Debby had never looked at Emily like that, even though they were familyâ¦. Whoa. Since when was she jealous of a horse? That was
ridiculous.
Emily gave Max's withers a brisk scratch. “Yeah, I think he's lonely, too.” Emily wrinkled her nose at the dirt under her fingernails when she lifted her hand from Max's coat. “I'll give him a bath today, and then a good brushing.” She cooed at him, “You'd like that, wouldn't you, old guy? Maybe we could get Caitlyn to help.”
Caitlyn was Emily's seven-year-old cousin. Totally sweet and nice, Caitlyn was the only one at Running Horse Ridge who had made Emily feel welcome from the first moment she'd arrived.
Well, Caitlyn and Sapphire.
Aunt Debby's soft look faded from her face. Her eyes became serious, suddenly all business again. “Later you may be too busy to pamper Max.”
Emily cocked her head, not certain how to interpret her aunt's statement. Was she in trouble for something? She'd been working so hard to prove herself to her aunt, to show she was worthy of being trusted with the animals even though she came from a dressage barn andâ¦umâ¦yeah, okay, even though she'd stolen Sapphire and nearly lost him and had almost broken her own ankleâ¦.
She wrapped her arm around Sapphire's head, pleased that he still hadn't lifted his chin from her shoulder. She rested her cheek against his, the fine black hairs so soft against her skin. He snuffled softly, and some of her tension eased as she looked at her aunt. “What's up?”
“How's your ankle?”
Emily flexed the ankle, testing it. There was a slight twinge, but her tightly laced paddock boots
immobilized the ankle well, as did the lace-up booty thing that the doctor had given her after he'd taken the cast off a couple days ago. “Feels fine.”
“No problems after the lesson yesterday?”
“Nope.” Emily had had another jumping lesson on Moondance yesterday, her second one. It had been as fun as the first lesson, and she'd even managed not to fall off, which was a definite step up after her first jumping lesson. It was a little daunting because she wasn't nearly as good at jumping as she was at dressage, and Emily knew that Aunt Debby and everyone else at Running Horse Ridge respected only hunter/jumper riders, not dressage.
Which was why she had to learn how to jump: so that Aunt Debby would trust her and let her ride Sapphire. Emily wasn't worried about her skills, though. She was a good enough dressage rider that mastering jumping would come without too much trouble, as long as she kept doing it. And if she fell off a few more times in the process? Totally worth it.
Emily noticed that her aunt's eyes were twinkling, almost as if she were hiding some big secret.
“I have a proposal for you,” Aunt Debby said. “And Sapphire.”
“For Sapphire?” Emily frowned, realizing that it
hadn't been a casual visit to Sapphire's stall at all. Her aunt had an agenda involving Sapphire.
And with him for sale, that was always a scary thing.
E
mily slid her hand around the slick leather of Sapphire's halter. “What kind of proposal?” she asked cautiously.
Aunt Debby grinned suddenly, as if she'd been trying to fake Emily out with her serious expression. “You interested in going to a horse show tomorrow?”
“What?” Emily blinked in surprise. “A
what
?”
“A horse show, silly. You know, where you ride horses and compete?” Aunt Debby was laughing now, clearly enjoying the fact she'd made Emily nervous.
“Oh my gosh! Really?” Emily did a little hop of excitement, making both horses jerk their heads back in surprise. “A dressage show is in town?”
“Dressage?” Aunt Debby looked confused for a second. “No, it's a hunter/jumper show. I was going to have you jump.”
“No dressage?” The excitement whooshed right out of Emily. She'd been a dressage rider for years. No jumps, just very detailed and precise work on the flat. It was what she excelled at.
But her aunt's farm was a hunter/jumper barn that not only didn't do dressage, but they didn't even
respect
it. Not that Emily was against jumping. Her two jumping lessons had been a total blast, but well, she was sort of
bad
at jumping.
Well, not
bad
bad, but in comparison to her dressage skills, she was awful at jumping. But she
was
getting better, and it was so much funâ¦.
“Emily? Are you interested? The show's a couple hours away, which means we'll have to be driving out of here at about four thirty tomorrow morning.”
Emily had a sudden vision of her alarm going off in the middle of the night, of the eager anticipation of leaping out of bed and racing to the barn, of riding into the ring before a judge, of competingâ¦. Her heart started to race and her stomach fluttered with sudden excitement.
A show was still a show, and she'd missed three big
dressage shows since she and her dad had come out to Oregon a few weeks ago. The thought of getting back in the ringâtoo awesome! She let out a whoop of glee at the sudden rush of anticipation. “Oh,
yes
I'm so in! Can I ride Sapphire in the show?” She knew what the answer would be, but she asked anyway. “
Please?
Competing in shows is my specialty, you know. I used to compete every weekend back home, and I'm really good under pressure. I'd be so good for himâ”
Aunt Debby chuckled and gave Emily an affectionate brush on the shoulder. “You never give up, do you?”
Emily nearly leaped in excitement at her aunt's laughter. She hadn't flat-out denied Emily's request to ride him! Did that mean Emily was making progress? That Aunt Debby was actually considering allowing Emily to ride him? Oh,
wow
. “Of course I'm not giving up! I'm trying to wear you down with Sapphire until you finally let me ride him just to shut me up. Is it working? Can I ride him in the show?
Please?
”
“No, you still aren't ready to ride him, but I admire the effort.” Her aunt scratched Sapphire on his forehead, and the beautiful black horse stretched his head toward her. “But you can show him in a model class.”
“Really? Really?
Really?
” Emily squealed and threw
herself on her aunt, giving her a huge hug. “I can really show him?”
Aunt Debby gave a loud bark of laughter this time. “Yes, you can.”
“Wow. Wow! That's so cool.” Emily released her aunt and flung her arms around Sapphire's muscular neck, squeezing as hard as she could. “Did you hear that, Sapphire? We get to show together. In a model class!”
Sapphire swung his head around to look at her, as if wondering what in the world she was getting so fired up about, and Emily suddenly realized she had no idea! She whirled toward her aunt. “What's a model class? If I'm not riding him, then how can I be showing him?”
Her aunt patted Max, who had shoved his way past Sapphire and was standing in the aisle next to Aunt Debby, swishing his tail impatiently. “It's where you lead him in and stand him up properly to show off his conformation, then trot him a bit to show his movement. He'll wear a bridle, but no saddle.”
“Seriously?” Emil frowned, trying to picture a class where people just walked around leading their horses. All she got was an image of the Westminster dog show and the little fluffy white dogs strutting around. Sapphire acting like a fluffy dog? That was completely ridiculous!
“There's no riding at all? Is that a real class?”
“Yes, it's a real class, and it's a very important one for a horse as beautiful as Sapphire. It'll showcase him.” They both turned to inspect Sapphire, who pricked his ears and returned their gazes with a curious expression.
Aunt Debby held up her fingers and fluttered them, and Sapphire lifted his head to watch them. “See how he has his ears up and his eyes are bright and focused?”
Emily nodded. “He looks majestic. Like a king.” So not a fluff ball!
“That's exactly the look we want.” Aunt Debby dropped her hand, and Sapphire nudged it to see if she'd been hiding anything in it. “You'll need to stand him so his front feet are even and one hind foot is about ten inches in front of the other. You should practice a bit.”
Emily pursed her lips and rubbed Sapphire's nose, her stomach a little achy at the thought of going to a show so potential buyers would notice how beautiful Sapphire was. But if she didn't do it, would someone else get to? “Okay. I'll do it.”
Aunt Debby continued talking as if she hadn't even considered that Emily might have refused. “And you'll ride Moondance in a couple classes as well. It will be a good experience for you.”
Emily stared at her. “
Jumping?
” Did her aunt really
believe in her enough to let her jump in a show? “Really?”
“Of course.” Aunt Debby raised her brows. “Unless you're not interested?”
Tears pricked at the back of Emily's eyes for a split second at the realization that her aunt was going to let her jump. That her aunt had that kind of faith in Emily, faith that Emily had worked
so hard
for. “Oh,
no
. I am
so
interested.”
Aunt Debby nodded. “I figured you would be. So I'll need you to get both horses ready for the show. Baths, then trim them and clean their tack. You know how to braid?”
“I'm a great braider.” Emily's heart was racing at the thought of going to a show with Sapphire, at the thought of jumping at a show. Jumping! How cool was that? “The best in my old barn.”
“Great. You can do Moondance and Sapphire.” Aunt Debby glanced at her watch. “I have to run, but there's a pony in the back paddock that I want to bring in and start to work with. He's one of the horses we rescued from Trooper's barn, but I haven't had time to do anything with him yet. He's a palomino Shetland. Do you think you'll have time to go grab him this afternoon and clean him up? One of the gals told me he seems skittish, so I
need an idea of what his issues are. Let me know how it goes?” Aunt Debby rubbed the back of her hand over her forehead, suddenly looking weary. “There's so much to do with all these horses we recently rescued, and we've got to start working our way through them.”
Another chance to show her aunt that she was responsible? To force her aunt to see her as someone mature enough to be trusted riding Sapphire, even though he was so spirited and so valuable? “You bet. What's his name?”
Aunt Debby shrugged. “No idea. Why don't you come up with one for him?”
“Cool!” Emily whirled back to Sapphire as Aunt Debby walked off. “We are so going to dominate!” She threw her arms over her head and did a quick jig in place. “And I'm going to ride Moondance and do so awesome that Aunt Debby will let me ride you from now on. This is
it
! It's our chance to show her that we belong together! Is this the best or
what
?”
Sapphire snorted and stomped his foot.
“I know! What are we doing chatting? We have work to do!” She grabbed the clippers and flipped them on, the familiar buzz whirring through the air. “We have to make you look beautiful, don't we? A little whisker trim is definitely needed.” Sapphire dropped
his head obligingly as she began trimming his whiskers, humming happilyâ¦.
“She's going to make you ride in the Maiden class.”
Emily looked up at her younger cousin Kyle, who was lurking at the end of the aisle. She winced, remembering how the first time they'd met, he'd drenched her with his turbo squirt gun. He wasn't a
bad
kid, but he liked to tease his sisters, and he'd been happy to include Emily in his stable of victims. As if she wasn't already feeling weird being dumped in the middle of a big family after a lifetime of being only with her dad, Kyle had quickly made her realize that life without a younger brother had been a very good thing.
Kyle's Game Boy was clutched in his left hand, and he was wearing shredded jeans and a black T-shirt, like the renegade cop in the movie the family had watched last night, on Family DVD Night. Even though the movie had been bad, Emily had to admit it had been kind of fun hanging out with everyone, eating popcorn with extra butter and drinking homemade lemonade. It had also been sort of weird because everyone had been quoting the movie, which they'd apparently watched before, and Emily and her dad had been the only ones who hadn't been part of the joke so she'd felt a little left out.
She realized suddenly that Kyle was sporting the same smug smirk the movie cop had had when he'd been about to expose the bad guy. He was looking decidedly pleased. Too pleased. Like he'd found another way to torture her. “Did you hear me?” he asked. “I said my mom's going to make you ride in the Maiden class.”
Emily frowned, watching him carefully to make sure he didn't have a squirt gun hidden behind his leg. One hand was hidden behind his back. “What are you talking about?”
“Maiden. It's the class for beginners. Even Caitlyn can't ride in Maiden classes anymore because once you win one, you're disqualified. Caitlyn's seven, and she rides in a higher class than you're going to be doing. Alison rides in the Open division because she's won so many she has to be in the top level.”
Emily frowned at the mention of her older cousin. Alison might have more experience over fences, sure, but Emily knew she was a better rider. Better form, better understanding of how to really
ride
, even if Alison got to jump higher than Emily did. “I'm not a beginnerâ”
“Doesn't matter. You know how my mom is. You're going to be in Maiden for sure. That'll be fun to watch you lined up with all these kids that can barely stay in
the saddle.” Kyle moved suddenly, and Emily lunged for him, ripping the squirt gun from his fingers before he could get it out.
“Hey!” He shouted his protest as she turned the florescent orange gun on him and pumped it.
It
splooshed
right in his face, and he howled with rage and grabbed it out of her hand. “I can't believe you did that!”
Emily laughed as he pumped the empty barrel at her, getting nothing but a few drips that landed on the toes of his dirty sneakers. “Don't underestimate East Coast girls, Kyle. We're dangerous.”
He scowled at her. “This is war.”
She smiled brightly, amused by the wariness on his face. He was so afraid of her! “Bring it on. I'm ready.”
He wrinkled his nose at her then spun around and stalked down the aisle, his gun clutched in his fingers, his feet squishing as the water dripped down his front. Emily wiped her wet hands on her jeans, grinning at Sapphire. “Then again,” she told Sapphire, “maybe there's a reason for little brothers. It's kind of fun to beat them at their own game.”
Kyle turned at the end of the aisle. “Beginner!” he yelled.
“I'm notâ”
But he was already gone, his cackle echoing down the aisle as his sneakers squeaked on the cement floor.
Emily's elation faded as she stared after him, thinking about the image he'd drawn of her in a class with a bunch of six-year-olds. Aunt Debby wouldn't really make her enter a class with little kids, would she? Then she thought about Aunt Debby, and realized, yes, she really might. The clippers fell limply to her side, her shoulders drooping.
Oh, boy. That would be majorly humiliatingâ¦.
What would her friends in New Jersey say? She could hear their laughter, hear the snarky comments of Jenny Smith, saying she always knew she was really better than Emilyâ¦.
“No.” Emily pulled back her shoulders and lifted her chin. She'd won so many dressage classes that surely she wouldn't be eligible for a Maiden class. Yes, she wasn't a star jumper
yet
, but surely she deserved the chance to at least compete against kids her own age, didn't she? She'd find Aunt Debby and explain. She and Aunt Debby would strategize like Emily always used to do with Les, her coach in New Jersey, before a show. Aunt Debby would respect Emily even more for her insight, and everything would work out fine.
Emily pursed her lips and grabbed a currycomb,
rubbing circles on Sapphire's coat while she made her plan. In New Jersey she and her best friend, Giselle, would always team up when they disagreed with Les's coaching decisions, and they almost always got him to see their point. Who could she get to approach Aunt Debby with her?
Her cousin Alison would be good. Aunt Debby respected Alison's riding and might listen to her. No. Alison had no respect for dressage and would never stand up for her.
Kyle? Emily snorted and smacked the currycomb on her thigh to shake off some of the dirt and hair. As if.
What about Uncle Rick? No, he was too busy with his veterinarian practice, plus he seemed to leave all the barn stuff to Aunt Debby.