Astra (9 page)

She glanced over and saw another frown on her father's face. Lily tried to ignore it, but his disapproval nagged at her. He'd told her she could keep Astra, and she was so close to bringing the mare home. Astra needed to gain strength quickly before her father changed his mind.

Ten

The rest of the week passed in a blur. Lily spent every school day watching the clock. She hurried home to finish her homework, and then she was off to the barn to spend the rest of the day with Astra. She brushed the mare, picked her hooves, and made sure she had plenty of fresh hay and water. Dr. Dale had given the okay to start Astra back on warm bran mash with a small amount of rolled oats. Her appetite was almost back to normal, and Lily had even begun taking her on small walks.

On Friday, Lily finished her homework early and rode her bike down to the Henley barn. She'd just started feeding Astra when Charlie appeared. He hung around the stall, trying to bother Lily, but her spirits were too high to let him bring her down. “Have you met the new kid yet?” she asked. “His name is Devin and he's got a really nice endurance horse. He plans to ride in the races this year.”

Charlie shrugged. “I talked to him a little. I've heard he's an okay rider, but I'm not afraid of competition. My dad's got Derringer, the new gelding that he thinks is going to be really good. He's going to let me ride him this season.” He handed Lily a hay net full of good grass hay. “I looked up the stats on Devin's gelding. Derringer will blow him right off the trail.”

Lily chuckled to herself as she hung the hay net in the corner. If Charlie wasn't worried, he wouldn't have looked up Jericho's stats. It would be a lot of fun to ride the races with everybody this year and watch the sparks fly. Meloney was so lucky.

Mr. Henley stopped by the stall. “Well, Lily, if you're still serious about working for me, you can start this weekend.”

“Great!” Lily said. She needed to make money right away to pay for Astra's feed.

“And the good news is, Dr. Tison said Astra is strong enough to move to your house. After you finish work tomorrow, you can take her home.”

“All right!” Lily even slapped Charlie a high five. “I can't believe it!” She threw her arms around the mare's neck and hugged her tight. Astra snorted at the sudden movement and Lily smiled. Arabians were very high-strung. That simple snort told her that the mare was definitely on the mend. She couldn't wait to get her home.

That night at the dinner table, Lily decided it might be a good idea if she told her dad that Astra would be arriving the following day.

“Are you sure you can take care of her?” her father asked when she gave him the news. “An Arabian is a lot different than a pony. Astra won't have the same temperament as Domino.”

“Now, Daniel,” Grams said, passing him the mashed potatoes and motioning for the salad bowl. “Katherine spent a lot of time making sure Lily knew how to handle horses. Your wife knew what she was doing. She taught her daughter well.”

Lily's father paused with the bowl in midair. “Yes, Katherine knew what she was doing. She was a pro. And she still…” He put down the bowl and frowned.

The table got very quiet. Lily looked from her father to her grandmother. She took a deep breath. “Go ahead and say it, Dad.”

Her father shook his head, refusing to look at her.

Lily tried to keep her voice strong and steady. “Please, Dad. Go ahead.”

Her father's jaw tightened. “Forget I said anything. Let's eat.”

Lily picked up her fork and gathered her courage. “Then I'll say it. Mom knew what she was doing,
but she died anyway
. There. I said it. It's out in the open.” She shoved a huge bite of casserole into her mouth, hoping that she wouldn't get sent to her room for sassing her father. She shouldn't have done it. But her mother's death hung heavily over the entire household. It needed to be brought out in the open.

Mr. O'Neil sighed loudly. “You're right, Lily. It's out there. And losing you is my biggest fear. You're just going to have to bear with me while I try to get used to this new arrangement. I lost your mother, and I cannot bear the thought of losing you, too.”

“We're going to get through this, Dad. I'll be safe, I promise.” Lily got out of her chair and walked around the table to give her dad a big hug. “Everything will work out fine. You just wait and see.”

Lily hardly slept a wink that night. She rose before the alarm the next morning and made it to the barn ahead of schedule. Thomas was just putting on the coffeepot. She went to say hello to her horse, then returned to the tack room to make herself a hot chocolate.

“Today's the big day, right?” Thomas said. He poured himself a mug of the strong brew and made a face as he swallowed. “You finally get to take that mare home. I'm really happy things are working out, Lily.” He put down the coffee mug. “And you know, to tell you the truth, I don't think the same way Mr. Henley does. I don't believe Astra is all washed up.”

“You don't?” Lily raised her eyebrows.

Thomas shook his head. “That mare was at death's door and I know she's going to have some problems going forward. But a few months from now, if you take really good care of her, Astra may bounce back and be just fine. Dr. Tison feels that's a possibility.”

Lily's pulse quickened. “You mean…she could be rideable again?”

Thomas shrugged. “If all of her insides go back to functioning correctly, and her blood work comes back good, why not?” He handed Lily a stack of buckets for the morning grain. “I'm not saying she'll ever be a racer again—but I'm also not willing to say she won't.”

Lily took the buckets to the grain bin and measured out rations for the first six horses. Astra stuck her head over her stall door and banged on the wooden panel, neighing for her grain with the rest of them. Lily couldn't help but smile. Another good sign.

Charlie showed up twenty minutes later, just as Lily and Thomas finished graining the horses. “Hey, Lily, guess who's coming over to ride with me today?”

Lily already knew that Meloney would be there. She rode with the Henleys every chance she could and rarely missed a Saturday.

“Devin,” Charlie announced before she could guess. “Jill told him we'd show him our training trails.”

Lily wasn't sure why, but she felt a small twisting inside when she thought about Jill showing Devin all the great riding trails. She wished she could be the one out there, enjoying the fresh air, great scenery, and an awesome horse trotting down the trail under her saddle.

Maybe someday, if Astra got better.…Quickly she dismissed that thought. At this point her dad would ground her for even thinking about riding the mare. But Thomas thought it a possibility and so did Dr. Dale.

“Lily?” Mr. Henley's voice echoed down the barn aisle. “We need to get these horses saddled as soon as they're finished with their grain. We've got a long ride today and company coming to join us. If you saddle Contina, I'll get Charlie's new horse ready.”

“You got it, Mr. Henley,” Lily said. She held out the halter and Contina put her nose into it. The talented mare was a half sister to Astra and they shared many similar traits. This year, Contina would race in the Tevis Cup, and Mr. Henley hoped to finish in the Top Ten. Lily bit her lip. Too bad Astra would probably never have a chance to compete in the Tevis with her sister. Or any other race, for that matter.

A commotion sounded at the end of the barn aisle. Lily glanced up to see Mr. Henley walking a magnificent chestnut with four white socks and a blaze down the aisle. The gelding snorted and pranced, poking his nose at every horse that stuck its head over the stall door.

That must be Derringer
, Lily thought as she snapped Contina into the cross ties. She'd heard talk around the barn of the new horse the Henleys had purchased, in addition to Charlie's bragging. The spirited gelding must have been delivered after she left the barn last night.

Mr. Henley brought the chestnut next to Contina. The younger horse flexed his neck and threatened to bite her.

“Hey!” Lily cried, taking a swat at the badly behaved gelding's nose. The chestnut snorted at the reprimand, but he moved over and quit making threatening gestures.

“Don't touch my horse,” Charlie said. “He was only playing. Derringer is going to be a great racer and I don't want to break his spirit.”

Lily frowned in annoyance. She opened her mouth to tell Charlie what she thought of his ill-mannered horse, but Mr. Henley cut her off.

“Lily was right to correct him,” Mr. Henley said, as he removed his knit hat from the horse's lips. “This gelding is too full of himself. All he wants to do is play. We need to keep better control of him. He loves people, but he acts like a big, playful puppy dog. We need to remember he's a horse and show him how to behave. I don't want anyone getting hurt.”

Jill entered the barn, dressed in a new pair of expensive leather paddock boots, gray riding breeches, and a stylish winter jacket she'd bought on a shopping trip to San Francisco. Lily couldn't help being jealous of the girl. There was no way her own family could ever afford to buy her riding gear like that. She looked down at her own faded jeans. Devin was going to see her looking like a bum again.

“Meloney and Devin are coming up the road,” Jill said. She grabbed her saddle and a brush box from the tack room and headed toward her horse's stall.

Lily sighed. Meloney was so lucky, too. Then Contina shoved her with her nose and Lily remembered that she was supposed to be saddling the mare, not envying her friends. By the time she got Contina tacked and walked her out the barn door, Meloney and Devin were just stepping into the stable yard.

“Hi, Lily.” Devin waved from atop Jericho's back. “What's up?”

Lily couldn't help grinning. “I get to take Astra home today.”

“That's awesome!” Meloney said.

“Great news,” Devin agreed.

Charlie walked Derringer from the barn and strapped on his riding helmet.

“Wow, nice horse,” Devin said. Jericho nickered and extended his muzzle toward the flashy chestnut. Derringer greeted him with a quick nip on the end of his soft nose. “Hey, watch it!” Devin immediately backed Jericho up several steps.

“Aw, he's just playing. He didn't mean anything by it.” Charlie stuck his foot into the stirrup and mounted up. Derringer took several steps to the side and snorted. Charlie patted the gelding's neck. “He's just excited and ready to hit the trail. Good luck keeping up with us, Devin,” he called over his shoulder as he jogged the colt in a big circle to get his mind on business.

Jill walked her mare from the barn and mounted up. “This isn't a race, Charlie. Save the smack talk for the real thing. We're just going for a training ride and showing Devin the trails today.”

Lily waited for Mr. Henley to come collect his mare so she could get on with her chores. She wanted this day to be over so she could take Astra home. Plus, she felt out of place standing there on foot while the others sat atop their beautiful endurance horses.

Meloney moved her horse next to Contina and leaned down to speak to Lily. “I'll help you take Astra home when we get back from our ride. I'll cool Jasper out here and clean him up while you're finishing your work. Then we can pony her back to your house on Jasper if you want.”

“That would be really great.” Lily smiled at her friend.

“I'll help, too,” Devin offered. “I'd like to be there when you turn her loose in that amazing pen we built.”

Lily thought about all the mismatched boards and bent nails on their fence. They must have all been thinking the same thing because they burst out laughing at the same time.

“What's so funny?” Charlie asked, riding up.

Lily thought about explaining, but decided it would be more fun to keep it as her and Meloney and Devin's little secret. Mr. Henley showed up right then and saved her from having to answer any of Charlie's questions.

“Thank you, Lily.” Mr. Henley took the reins and mounted up. “We'll be back in about four hours. Thomas has a list of things for you to do while we're gone. When we get back, we'll see about getting Astra ready to go to her new home.” He winked and reined his mare in a half circle, motioning for the rest of them to follow him down the driveway.

Devin gave her a snappy salute as he trotted off. Meloney and Jill waved.

“See you later, Lil-Pill!” Charlie hollered as he squeezed his calves against Derringer's sides and moved off to join them. Derringer gave a little crow hop and Charlie pulled the gelding alongside Jericho.

He kept his horse nose to nose with Jericho. Even from where she stood, Lily could tell Charlie was watching Devin closely.

Lily had the feeling she was witnessing the beginning of a big rivalry—and it wasn't going to be a friendly one.

Eleven

Astra stepped into the deep straw bedding of her new stall and snorted. The Henleys bedded their stalls with shavings, but Astra seemed to like the golden straw. She pawed at it, then lowered her head and nibbled at some of the smaller stems.

“I think she likes it,” Lily said.

Devin and Meloney nodded in agreement.

Lily's dad stood a few steps behind them with his hands in his pockets and a solemn look on his face.

Grams leaned over the stall door and offered Astra a piece of apple. The mare lifted her head, her nostrils flared to inhale the scent. When she recognized it, she stepped forward and accepted the treat, crunching the crisp apple and looking for more. “I think it's good to have a horse back in this barn again,” Grams said.

Lily smiled so big her cheeks hurt. No doubt about it, having Astra here in their very own barn was wonderful!

“Okay, ladies, let's head in for dinner,” Mr. O'Neil said. “Astra has had enough attention for the night. Lily, say goodbye to your friends and come wash up for dinner.”