Galloping Gold (11 page)

“Hang on,” Ann warned Darby, and instantly Ann closed her left leg against Sugarfoot and tipped his head to the right. The gelding hesitated, trying to chew his mouthful of greenery, but Ann wouldn't let him. Darby balanced herself as Sugarfoot carried them in a right side pass. As soon as he'd done it, though, Ann reversed her cues and sent the paint into a left side pass.

“What are you doing?” Darby asked as Sugarfoot dropped the grass and carried them on down the trail.

“I can't always stop him from a snack attack,” Ann said, “but I can make sure he doesn't enjoy it.”

Every day Darby learned there was lots more to communicating with a horse than most people knew.

“Good idea,” Darby said, but Sugarfoot blew through his lips, clearly disagreeing.

Sugarfoot responded to the slight pressure of Ann's right leg and moved closer to Cade and Megan in time for the girls to hear Cade say, “He's not so bad. Pauli's putting pressure on him as a pal.”

To do what
? Darby wondered.
Be in the race
?

“He'd better be,” Ann said quietly to Darby, “because there's not much time left before the race, and if we don't have another team to practice against, Sugarfoot might not understand what we want from him.”

Darby nodded. Ann had staked everything on the chance that this race would prove that Sugarfoot wasn't dangerous.

Practicing against a strong competitor like Tyson could make a difference in how Sugarfoot performed on race day.

Kit had driven into town to buy plastic flags at a party store and Cade had used them to mark a course that ran from the fold, across the ridge above Two Sisters pasture, then zoomed downhill and into the rain forest.

“If we do it again tomorrow,” he told them, “we might start in the rain forest and go toward Crimson Vale, but I didn't know how much time everybody had.”

“Dawn and dusk are best for us,” Megan said. She spoke for the team, as if Cade didn't already know the schedule at the ranch.

“Me too,” Pauli said. “I'm working the lunch shift at the resort most days.”

Arms crossed, head bowed inside his hood, Tyson
appeared to be napping. Darby wanted to shake him, but she kept quiet and so did everyone else, just assuming he kept the same hours as the rest of them.

The team managers had decided that Pauli and Ann would ride first, while Tyson and Darby jogged first.

Great,
Darby thought. After the irritation flashed over her, she realized she'd probably grimaced.

“Don't worry,” Tyson said lazily. He peeled off gray sweatpants to show muscular legs in black athletic shorts. “We won't be together for long.”

He was so right,
Darby thought five minutes later.

Cade had learned that Dr. Luke used a popgun to start the race, so he did, too, and though Sugarfoot only took in the strange horse and unfamiliar surroundings with his senses, Jewel hopped sideways, almost dumping Pauli, before she bounded into a run.

Tyson was jogging ahead of the Appaloosa when Darby realized her own Lehua High sweatpants, T-shirt, and windbreaker weren't the right clothes for the running part of the race.

Oh well, that's why it's called practice,
she thought. Besides, Sugarfoot was going to save them.

During their trial run, they learned that Sugarfoot used up more energy waiting for his next rider than actually running.

As Darby approached the gold-and-white gelding, tied at a fence post on Two Sisters ridge, she saw he was dark with sweat. She worried for only a few seconds
because he was usually so difficult to mount anyway, but it was clear that the only thing wrong with him was impatience. He wanted to run after Jewel.

“Let's see what you do when we catch up,” Darby said. She leaned into the gelding's mane as Ann had, and Sugarfoot streaked after the Appaloosa.

Before they reached her, Pauli pulled Jewel up short, slid off, and tied her to a fence post. He spent a long time doing it, as if he and Tyson hadn't practiced their knots.

Sugarfoot rushed past Pauli and Jewel, acknowledging them with only a flick of his ears.

A few strides later, she thought she heard Tyson shout, but it didn't matter, because Darby was in the midst of learning she'd rather ride Sugarfoot uphill than down.

Was it the inviting green slope rolling bare and horseless before him? The sight of Ann trying to run rather than roll downhill? Whatever inspired him, Sugarfoot chose the steepest slant as the place to show off his speed.

I do not have the nerves for this,
Darby thought. Each charging step tipped her closer to the saddle horn, closer to Sugarfoot's neck, closer to tumbling over his golden ears, past his lightning-bolt blaze, into the path of his hooves.

She wanted off. Now. But Darby waited until they reached level ground to gather her reins and stop Sugarfoot. Snorting and tossing his head, he compressed
himself into a bundle of energy, capering sideways as they reached Ann.

“My turn,” Ann called as they jogged past.

“Absolutely!” Darby yelled, but it took her so long to find a place to tie Sugarfoot that Ann caught up with her.

She couldn't do that in the real race, she knew, but Pauli and Tyson were breaking even more rules.

They hadn't switched.

For some reason, Tyson had run right past Jewel. He should have mounted the Appy by now. But he hadn't, so Pauli ran in the opposite direction, back to get his horse.

For a few minutes, Darby jogged alone.

Ann and Sugarfoot had gone out of sight, and Tyson hadn't caught up yet.

Yards ahead of her, an animal bumbled along through high grass. Darby changed her course to avoid it, and the move cost her her lead over Tyson.

“Why—you still running?” she asked him.

“Pauli tied such a stupid knot, I couldn't get the horse loose,” he said, with no sign of breathlessness. And then he passed her.

It sounded like an excuse to Darby, and she was happy when she looked back and saw Pauli riding at a lope, catching up with them, passing them, moving into a copse of young trees.

With the Appaloosa mare out of sight, Darby was more aware of the cadence of her hooves. Pauli might
be a new rider, but he and Jewel matched. The rhythm of Jewel's lope was the same four-count beat, over and over again.

But Pauli made a second mistake. Darby was back on Sugarfoot, and she'd loped past Tyson's sweaty back, when she saw the Appaloosa tied to a sapling. The baby tree had the diameter of a pencil, and Jewel had pulled it level with the ground as she reached for grass.

“Don't know if that's strong enough,” Darby muttered to Sugarfoot, but she kept riding.

Ann had taken the edge off Sugarfoot's energy, and riding him now was fun—more bouncy than Navigator, not quite as smooth as Hoku, but enjoyable, until Jewel raced by, dragging the sapling.

“Whoa, Jewel!” Darby yelled, but the Appaloosa kept running.

A few seconds later, as Darby dismounted for what she hoped was the last time, Tyson sprinted by. Breathing hard for the first time in the race, he looked angry.

Tyson and Jewel were out of sight when he caught her, but Darby heard a surprised squeal.

He wouldn't hurt her, would he?
But what did Tyson know about horses? He could harm her without meaning to do it.

Darby was dizzy and ready for a drink of water when Cade and Megan flashed by on ‘Iolani Ranch's
newest ATV and stopped at what Cade had marked as the end of the race.

“We won,” Megan said as Darby collided with her. “But only because Tyson wasn't on Jewel when she crossed the finish line.”

D
arby saw Tyson walking in circles, trying to catch his breath just like she was. Sweat dripped off his brow and hair.

“Where is she?” Darby gasped.

Ann, still astride Sugarfoot, pointed ahead.

“Still dragging the sapling,” Megan said, then lowered her voice. “He caught up with her and grabbed it and—” Megan broke off and cut her eyes toward Tyson. “I won't be surprised if her mouth is bleeding.”

For a moment Tyson looked shocked. Then he shouted, “What do you expect? How was I supposed to get her to stop?”

In that instant, he reminded Darby of his mother,
Gemma. After her fall, Gemma had bristled with a mix of fear, anger, and frustration, just like this.

Realizing he was finished racing, Sugarfoot was about to snatch a mouthful of grass until he heard Cade's voice.

“Can I borrow Sugarfoot?” Cade asked. His jaw was set so hard, his words were hard to understand, but Sugarfoot recognized his name.

Cade was furious. He kept glancing down the trail as if his owl eyes could conquer distance as well as darkness, but Jewel, his new horse, was gone.

Ann slipped off Sugarfoot and extended the reins.

“I'll be careful,” Cade said sharply.

“Cade, Ann trusts you not to wreck her horse, yeah?” Megan looked between her two friends.

“Sure. He needs to be cooled out anyway,” Ann said.

Sugarfoot rolled his eyes toward Ann, wondering what she'd volunteered him for, but the paint stood quietly as Cade mounted.

The instant the paniolo took up the reins to make contact with the paint's mouth, the horse was electrified.

He seemed to run in place for a second, then snorted and set off at a walk.

“Now
that
,” Megan said, “is a horseman.”

Darby and Ann met each other's eyes, then looked away. It was the wrong time to tease Megan about liking Cade as more than a friend.

“It's not my fault I couldn't get on the dumb horse,” Tyson snapped.

“What?” Megan asked. At first she looked puzzled, because she had not been
comparing
him to Cade; she'd just been admiring Cade's skill.

But Ann and Darby recognized his ugly tone and the way he scuffed his shoe in the dirt, then kicked off the head of a wildflower.

Pauli ran panting into the clearing.

“Where's my horse?” he asked, looking around. “And Cade?”

When no one answered him, breathlessness turned to fear. “What happened?”

Megan folded her arms. Darby did the same thing. Ann took a deep breath, as if she was about to explain, but then she nodded at Tyson.

“Ty?” Pauli asked.

Tyson's face darkened. Maroon with embarrassment or rage or a combination of the two, he opened his mouth, then looked away.

“I know I messed up the knot and you couldn't get her loose the first time,” Pauli said, “but why didn't you ride her to the end?” Pauli pointed at the ground. “To here?”

“She pulled up that”—Tyson gestured as if he couldn't think of the proper word for the sapling—“baby tree, and ran off with it.”

“Oh.” Pauli frowned.

“I caught up with her,” Tyson bragged.

“Then…?” Pauli looked around again, as if his horse and Cade might be just out of sight.

Megan's hands were on her hips, about to reveal the truth to Pauli, if Tyson didn't tell on himself.

“Will somebody explain? Please?” Pauli asked.

“I grabbed her reins, but she pulled loose.”

Hooves plopped on the soft dirt as Cade and the two horses returned to the clearing. Sugarfoot moved at a sedate walk, even though his eyes shone and his nostrils flared with excitement.

“I moved his neck rope onto her,” Cade told Ann.

At first, Darby thought Jewel was chewing something. Then she saw the pink foam puffed at the right corner of the mare's mouth. The Appaloosa tasted her own blood.

“Man!” Pauli's outburst was more appeal than anger. He looked between Jewel and Tyson, then added, “You can't treat her like a machine.”

“I didn't,” Tyson snapped back, but he seemed confused.

“He shouldn't be doing this,” Ann said, shaking her head as she walked toward the horses.

Of course Tyson heard her, and tried to make his failure into a joke. “I treated her kinda like a bike, not a machine.”

It wasn't a bit funny, and no one laughed. Pauli stood by, hands moving aimlessly as Cade took off the mare's bridle and hung it on her saddle horn.

“No, she's this live thing. She has like, feelings,
man,” Pauli tried to explain.

“He—” Megan began, but then she met Cade's eyes and shut her mouth. Pauli was Tyson's friend and he'd handle this best.

When Tyson whirled on Megan, eager to argue with her in place of Pauli, Megan shook her head and said, “Nothing.”

“That horse is totally unpredictable,” Tyson said weakly.

“She's never been here before. She's guessin' where to put her feet, how fast to run. Just like you.”

Pauli studied his horse's mouth again, even though Cade had made a gesture indicating it would be okay.

“There are
three
team members,” Cade said, but his point was too subtle for Tyson. At least, he pretended it was.

“And that member's totally replaceable,” Tyson said. “I mean, there are a mess of horses. Nothing's so special about this one, yeah?”

Pauli and Cade refused to look at him. Neither guy said that Jewel was special to him, but Tyson would have to be deaf not to have heard it in their silence.

“It's a team, dumbhead,” Ann snapped. Her voice was muffled because she'd bent down to massage her knee, but everyone heard her.

“And you're not the star,” Megan explained.

Was Tyson so dense he still didn't understand? Or was he unwilling to apologize?

Responding to the strain all around him, Sugarfoot
pawed the earth, huffing with worry until Cade gave the reins a twitch.

The paint's lightning-bolt-blazed face tilted to the right, and Darby saw Sugarfoot accept the movement as reassurance, not a correction. Cade really
was
an amazing horseman.

“We all have to cross the finish line together,” Pauli tried once more.

“All this for no trophy, ribbon, or prize?” Tyson asked, then shook his head and glared at them all before walking away.

“It's six miles to Sun House,” Cade told Pauli.

“Let him walk,” Pauli said.

They all stood quietly as Sugarfoot sniffed Jewel's foreleg, shoulder, and then her face. Insects hummed and Darby realized the sun was rising. She should be back at the ranch, freeing the dogs and feeding Pigolo and Francie.

“Tomorrow we'll try it again, yeah?” Pauli said to Cade.

“With a bitless bridle,” Cade confirmed. “Now, though, ride her back without reins. Hold on to the saddle horn and I'll lead her with the neck rope.”

Pauli frowned, and began, “She—”

“She's fine,” Darby blurted, because she saw confusion in Jewel's eyes as she watched Pauli. “Show her you're not part of what scared her.”

Megan and Ann made sounds of agreement, but Cade asked, “Think you can ride that way?”

Even though he'd only ridden for two weeks, Pauli looked sure of himself as he leaned his shoulder against the mare's and smoothed a lock of strawberry mane back on the side where it belonged.

“Her, I can ride any way,” Pauli said.

 

The sun was fully up. Darby pulled off her sweatshirt and tied it around her waist.

They took turns riding the horses back. Still, Jewel and Sugarfoot looked alert and refreshed as they turned toward the fold, the last set of small hills before they reached the ranch yard.

That's where they saw Tyson.

“He waited for us?” Darby couldn't believe it.

“Huh.” Megan sounded skeptical, but when Tyson didn't say anything about storming off, neither did they.

When Tyson worked his way between her and Cade, Darby wondered if this was Tyson's way of apologizing.

But then they crested the last rise and Darby saw George Mookini.

He'd turned away from his work on the new house and stood with feet apart and arms crossed. He seemed to have sensed his son's approach. And he didn't look happy about it.

No wonder Tyson waited for us,
Darby thought.

Cade pushed up the brim of his lau hala hat. He assessed George Mookini's attitude, and when Tyson
said, “I'll lead her, yeah?” Cade nodded and handed him the end of Jewel's neck rope.

With the grace and strength of the athlete he was, Tyson strode ahead of the others.

“Whatever,” Megan said quietly, but within five minutes, they all felt a little sorry for Tyson.

Buckets clashed and dogs barked. An ATV engine snarled and Pigolo grunted, but the morning sounds left a pool of quiet around George Mookini.

Though he didn't say a word, George Mookini was analyzing and criticizing his son.

He expected the worst from Tyson. He looked for it and waited for it, certain it would come. Feeling his father's stare, Tyson turned clumsy and tripped. Swinging his arms to stay on his feet, he accidentally bumped Jewel's mouth, making it bleed again.

Tyson handed the tail of the rope up to Pauli. Darby expected Pauli to stop Jewel and unsaddle her, but he didn't. Cade, Pauli, and Tyson passed Sun House.

George Mookini hadn't said a word of greeting to his son and he didn't say good-bye, either. He just watched him out of sight, then jerked a hammer from his tool belt and set to work.

 

Later, as they washed the dinner dishes, Megan told Darby she'd overheard something strange that morning while Darby was helping Ann load Sugarfoot into his horse trailer.

“George Mookini was holding a level—you know
those tools with a little bubble in it that shows if a board is…”

“Level?” Darby teased.

“Yeah,” Megan said, but she refused to be sidetracked. “Kimo was standing back, kind of squinting at it, and what George said to Kimo…” Megan chewed her lower lip. “I just don't get it.”

“What did he say?” Darby asked, but Megan just stared into the dishwater, as if an explanation would be spelled out in bubbles.

“Kimo is their neighbor, you know,” Megan said, “so I'm sure
he
got it but, well, no one else was around, and I don't think they knew I was in the tack shed.”

“What did he say?” Darby repeated.

“First Kimo told George that he thought it was cool that Tyson was going to be in the race. Tyson's dad just…” Megan pantomimed the man spitting.

When Darby recoiled, Megan added, “And that's not even the worst part. You know what he said?” Darby shook her head and Megan imitated George Mookini's deep, slow voice to say, “‘Before long, he'll be followin' the footsteps of you-know-who and find himself in jail.'”

 

In hushed tones of their own, Darby and Megan discussed what Megan had overheard until the dishwater had turned cold.

The only person they knew who'd gone to jail was Manny, Cade's stepfather.

“But this island has a long memory,” Megan said. “He could be talking about some ancestor from a hundred years ago.”

Darby folded the dish towel and hung it up, then said, “I'm going to ask your mom what she thinks, okay?”

“Sure,” Megan said with a shrug. “She's probably in watching the news with Jonah.”

Darby paused before she got all the way into the living room.

Clouds had rolled in, so the usual light from the lanai was faint. No lamps were turned on. The room looked empty, but it didn't feel empty.

The front door opened and closed. Megan's feet tapped upstairs to her apartment. Pip barked and her doggy toenails clattered in a mad tap dance.

Then, illuminated by the television screen, showing just above the back of the couch, she saw Cathy and Jonah. They sat so close together, their heads touched.

Darby froze. And stared.

Jonah's arm lay across the back of the couch.

When the phone rang, Darby jumped and Jonah looked back, staring into the darkness.

Darby ran on tiptoe, glad for once that Jonah's sight was poor. Glad he hadn't caught her watching.

 

Darby felt dizzy by the time she grabbed the phone to talk to Ann. She didn't try to figure out what she'd just
seen. Instead, feeling like a complete gossip, she told Ann what Megan had overheard.

Ann was quiet for long enough that Darby heard Ed and Ramona Potter talking about putting Buck to bed earlier. Then, finally, Ann said, “Are you sure that's what he said? I mean, this isn't like that game—what is it?—telephone, yeah, where something keeps getting repeated until it—”

“I don't think so.”

Ann sighed. “Well then, as much as I can't stand Tyson…”

“It'd be awful to have your dad think you couldn't do anything right and you were just bound for prison, wouldn't it?” Darby asked.

“Yeah, so maybe when Sugarfoot shakes off his bad reputation, Tyson can, too. If he hasn't done something illegal lately. And if Cade and Pauli don't kick him off their team,” Ann said.

“I don't think they will,” Darby said. “Even though we're all trying to keep him from getting an even bigger head about it, he's awfully—”

“I wish
I
could run better,” Ann interrupted.

“Me too,” Darby said, a little surprised by how intense Ann sounded.

“Thanks.”

“No! I meant, I wish
I
could run faster, too.”

“Sure you did,” Ann teased, and Darby guessed she must have been wrong about Ann's vehemence.

“Tyson makes us all look slow,” Darby said.

“You're still faster than me,” Ann said.

“And you're a gazillion times better at strategy,” Darby told her.