Willow King (9 page)

She saw the satisfied smirk on Cindy's face and wished she hadn't been so anxious to prove herself. She had fallen right into the brat's trap. She knew better than to let somebody bait her into doing something she didn't want to do. Her own pride had gotten her into this mess. With a sinking feeling, she gathered her things to leave. “I'll bring the entry forms tomorrow.”

The days began to lengthen. Katie spent more time after school working at the farm and taking care of King. One afternoon while she was walking by the fence, checking for loose boards, Jason called hello as he rode up on his big black-and-white gelding. She turned down her radio.

“More fence repair?” he asked as he maneuvered his horse close to the dividing line.

Jason was an excellent horseman. She loved to watch him work his mount. The stocky, well-muscled cutting horse was so different from the finer-boned Thoroughbreds. And cutting horses were quick. Only a very skilled horseperson with a deep seat in the saddle could stay with them. She would be glad to have Jason around to help when the time came to break King.

“No, I'm just checking to make sure the fence is sturdy.”

Jason dismounted. “Hey, that's one of my favorite songs. Can I turn it up?”

Katie watched Jason clamber over the fence and reach for the radio. He cranked up the volume, and the country melody drifted across the field.

“Do you know how to do the horseshoe?” He smiled down at her and extended his hand.

Katie looked at it as if it was something poisonous that was about to bite her. She quickly shook her head and backed up a step. “I-I don't dance,” she stammered and took another step away from him.

“Come on, Katie, it's real easy. We'll be flying over this field in no time.”

Her heart sank. He had that part right, she thought. She'd be tripping over her own two feet,
and his
, and flying to the ground. There was no way she was going to embarrass herself like that in front of Jason.

“No, really, Jason. I'm not good at dancing. I'm very clumsy. I'd step all over you.” He reached out and caught her hand, preventing any further retreat.

“I'm a good teacher. I have lots of patience.” He grinned and chafed her hand between his two palms. “Your hand feels like it's been dipped in ice water. I didn't think it was that cold out here.”

It wasn't. It was just that all her blood had rushed to her head. She was sure her face was ten shades of purple. She wondered if a thirteen-year-old could have a heart attack.

“Here, give me your other hand,” he said as he moved her into the sweetheart position at his side.

“Jason, please…” Katie tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but he held her firm, steadying her like the wild colts she had seen him tame.

“Relax, Katie. This is going to be fun. It's okay if you're not perfect. I won't let you fall.”

She looked up into his blue eyes and knew that she could trust him. He wouldn't laugh at her. Maybe just this once she would give it a try. She took a deep, calming breath. “Okay, but don't hold me responsible if I step all over your toes. I warned you I wasn't any good at this.”

“The important thing is that you're willing to try.” He squeezed her hand and showed her the first steps.

Katie had to admit, it was an easy dance compared to some she'd seen, but she still had a difficult time. On the third repetition, she forgot what she was doing and turned the wrong way, placing the heel of her boot squarely in the center of Jason's foot. She heard the “oooff” and saw him try to hide the grimace that crossed his face.

She was horrified. How could she be so inept?

“Are you all right?”

He nodded his head and shifted his weight to his good foot. She could see he was still in pain. “That's it,” she declared. “No more dance lessons.”

“Come on, Katie. It's not that bad. So you made a mistake. You were doing really well. We were having fun.”

“No.” She shook her head adamantly. “I've embarrassed myself enough for one day. And don't you dare tell anyone, Jason Roberts.” She marched to the radio and turned it off. She should have known better than to try. She was a klutz, and that was that.

“Katie, you did just fine,” Jason assured her.

“Don't pity me.” She was tired of people patronizing her because she had a bum leg. If he dared look as though he felt sorry for her, she would pick up another pinecone and bean him.

Jason looked her in the eye. “You know I would never do that, Katie.”

Katie lowered her gaze to the ground. What a bonehead she was. She knew Jason wasn't like that. Why was she behaving like such an idiot?
Because you like him, and you just made a complete and total fool of yourself in front of him
, her mind screamed. Why couldn't she ever do anything right when she was around him?

There was an awkward silence, then Jason changed the subject. “So how're things going at the Ellis farm?”

She was glad he'd steered the conversation to safer ground. “Great. I'm learning a lot. Cindy is doing really well with her lessons. You'd be proud of her.”

Jason gave her a funny look that she couldn't fathom. “I'm happy for her. You've got more patience than I do. Cindy can be very hardheaded at times.”

“I guess you would know.”

Jason gave her that blank stare again. She wondered why he was acting so strangely. Maybe his foot still hurt and he was sorry he had come here today.

“How's the colt coming? Do you need me to come over and help with anything?”

Katie was baffled. Whenever she was around Cindy, the girl talked nonstop about Jason, but he rarely said a word about her. Cindy knew that Jason visited Katie's house occasionally, and it was on those days, when Cindy was in a jealous tantrum, that she was the hardest to get along with.

“Doesn't it bother your girlfriend that you spend time at my house?” She peered curiously up at Jason's face, trying to read what was in his eyes. What she saw was genuine puzzlement.

“Girlfriend? What girlfriend?”

“Cindy.”

“Cindy Ellis?”

Katie nodded.

“What makes you think Cindy is my girlfriend? Did she tell you that?”

Katie shrugged nonchalantly. She saw no reason for Cindy to lie to her. “Well, I did see you holding hands that day at her farm.”

Jason climbed over the fence and mounted his horse. “The only reason I was over there is because my dad is trying to negotiate a deal with Mr. Ellis so we can breed some of our mares to his stallion. What you saw was Cindy grabbing my hand and dragging me around. She's only a thirteen-year-old girl. Why would I want her for a girlfriend?”

Katie sucked in her breath, feeling as though she had been slapped. Only a thirteen-year-old girl…
She
was only a thirteen-year-old girl. Sure, he was talking about Cindy, but she got the hint—he was telling her not to get her hopes up. Especially now that he knew what a clumsy fool she was.

He didn't have to put it to her so bluntly. She would have been content just to be his friend. Her face felt hot, and she could feel the tears swimming in her eyes.

“Katie?”

She looked up at Jason but couldn't focus on his face. Oh, what she would give for a big fat pinecone right now. She had to get out of there. Jason couldn't see her cry. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Spinning around, she took off at a dead run toward her house, ignoring the pain that shot up her leg.

“Katie, wait!” Jason yelled after her as he kicked his mount into motion. “Katie, I didn't mean…”

She cut across the pasture fence knowing that he couldn't follow her. She ran until her legs grew heavy and her lungs burned. Then she fell down in the deep grass and cried.

Jason tried to talk with Katie a few times over the next several weeks, but she resisted his efforts, refusing to look at him when they passed in the hall at school and running and hiding like a coward when he rode by the farm. Eventually, he gave up. Katie didn't know whether to be happy or sad about that. To take her mind off the matter, she redoubled her efforts at the Ellis farm, and with King.

It was difficult working with Cindy now that she knew the girl had lied to her, but Katie needed the extra money that giving lessons brought. She bit her tongue when Cindy started talking about Jason and concentrated on getting through their time together without telling her exactly what she thought of her and her lack of riding ability.

Old John stopped by at least once a week to help Katie with the colt and give her some pointers. King was going through some dramatic changes. Katie turned him and his mother out to pasture every day, and he grew in strength and size. True to the trainer's prediction, King's legs began to straighten. It was only a small improvement at first, but the more the colt ran and played, the straighter his legs became.

One day John pronounced King ready for some more serious lessons, and they set about trying to teach him to pony along beside another horse. It was something he would have to learn if he was to race.

Grey Dancer would be the best horse to teach him with, so Katie put a saddle and bridle on the mare and took her out to the arena to longe. It had been a long time since the mare had been worked. She pranced and danced her way around the paddock at the end of the longe line, her tail held high. When she settled down, Katie mounted up and took her for a few turns around the paddock.

Katie knew better than to take her any faster than a walk or trot. If the mare ever got into her stride, she might take the bit in her teeth and run, and Katie might not be able to stop her. Once a racehorse, always a racehorse.

John and Katie worked the mare and colt around the arena for several days until King got the hang of it. Then John suggested she take them into the back pasture, where King could get more exercise. Katie invited Jan over to ride with her on Saturday.

The weekend came, and while Katie tacked up the gray mare and put the halter on King, she finally told Jan about her confrontation with Jason.

“I think you just misunderstood him,” Jan said.

Katie pulled the girth snug, then checked the bridle. “There was nothing to misunderstand, Jan. He pretends my bad leg doesn't bother him. Maybe it does … maybe it doesn't. But he thinks I'm a kid, and that's that. I don't want to talk about it anymore.”

Jan gave her that you're-being-unreasonable look, but she remained mute on the subject.

Katie led King out of the stall and handed him to her friend. The colt pawed the ground, anxious to be off.

“Stop it,” Jan said, giving a yank on the rope.

King reared, standing on his hind legs and thrashing the air with his front hooves. Startled, Jan fell backward.

“Look out!” Katie yelled, grabbing the lead shank and bringing him back under control.

Jan got shakily to her feet. “What was that? He's never done that before.”

“It's a nasty habit he started just this week. John said to really get after him when he does it. It's easy to handle him when he's this size, but if he's still doing it when he's bigger, I'm in a lot of trouble.” Katie shook the lead. “I tell you, Jan, raising a colt is nothing like I thought it would be. It's a lot of hard work.”

Jan gave her a nervous smile, then stepped forward to pet the colt. “It'll pay off someday. He's just got a lot of energy now.”

“I hope you're right.”

Katie adjusted the stirrups, setting one a notch higher than the other to accommodate her shorter leg. She might be at a slight disadvantage on the ground, but in the saddle, she could go with the best of them. She mounted Grey Dancer and pulled King up close to the mare, placing him at his dam's shoulder. It was important to keep the horse ponied in this position. If he got too far ahead or behind the lead horse, the rider would lose control and an accident could result.

She waited for Jan to get settled on her own mount, then they pointed the horses toward the back pasture and took off at a trot. King enjoyed the exercise. He no longer had an awkward, shuffling gait. Now when he moved, his strides were long and flowing. He played at Grey Dancer's side, nipping his mother in the shoulder and kicking up his heels every time Katie gave him enough line to take advantage of the situation.

Katie slowed Grey Dancer to a walk when they reached the boundary of the far pasture. Her arm was aching from trying to keep King under control. The colt didn't like the slower pace. He jumped around on the end of the rope, wanting to be free to run with the wind.

Katie muscled him into place, pulling the lead line close, but in the next instant, King reared and the halter snapped tight across his nose. He rose even higher, and the girls watched in horrified silence as he lost his balance, tipping over backward into the fence.

There was an equine whinny of fright, then a resounding thud as King connected with the fence post, the hard wood catching him in the vulnerable spot between his ears. Then there was silence.

“King!” Katie screamed as she vaulted off Grey Dancer. She knelt beside the still form. “He's dead.” She looked up at Jan in disbelief.

The gray mare shifted nervously, nickering to her foal. “Jan, hold that mare!”

Katie leaned over King, searching for a pulse, but she couldn't find it. She felt she was in a bad dream. Time seemed to slow down, and everything became crystal clear. She could hear the twittering of robins and the lowing of cattle. The sun shone around them, but she felt cold all over. What was she going to do? So much depended on this colt.

Katie bowed her head and turned from the colt's still form, the tears flowing freely down her cheeks. She took one step, then was knocked off her feet as King suddenly came to, his feet striking wildly at the ground as he tried to stand. She blinked to clear her vision. He was alive!

The colt got unsteadily to his feet, swaying and whinnying for his mother.