Dreaming of Tomorrow Read online

  This was not exactly the case for Emily though because several riders before her had good runs. She could go slow and careful to get a fourth place ribbon, or try to do a decent ride and hope to stay in and place even higher. Waiting was killing Emily, and this event traditionally ran slowly. Although the top times were under 10 seconds, after every rider, the judge and his crew had to look at the horses’ tracks, rake the ground so it was smooth, and often repair the chalk circle.

  Taking several deep breaths, Emily entered the arena. Following David’s advice, she carefully lined the horse up with the alley to the keyhole. She picked the reins, clicked softly to the big horse and then they took off. Her ride was fast for a novice, although much slower than some of the more experienced riders that would follow. She focused her attention on stopping the horse at the correct moment and turning him back on his hindquarters to head for the finish line. When she finished the race she waited for what seemed like hours while the judge looked at the ground in and around the keyhole, carefully studying the tracks made by Raider, before he ruled it a “good ride.”

  David leaned over from on top of Target to give her a big kiss. “Good ride!” he congratulated her. “Do you know what place you’re in?”

  “No, but I know it’s in the ribbons. I’m in shock.” She smiled widely, exhilarated.

  They watched the last novice rider run out and get disqualified, and then the next class of keyhole riders began, the twelve and under riders. Some shows had award ceremonies after every age group but the management at this show waited until all the keyhole age groups were complete.

  Because the show was so large, Emily had time to tie up Raider. Then she got the puppy and went to sit in the stands and watch the event. David kept walking Target around, keeping him limber and loose until his class, the senior riders, had their turn. David ran beautifully, a good clean ride. Right after David’s ride, Emily put the puppy back and got Raider out. She had barely mounted him before they were called in to receive their awards. David placed a very respectable second for his ride, but the shocker was Emily, she won her group! Her time wasn’t spectacular but it held up against the other novices. She even heard one rider mutter as she received the trophy.

  “I suppose she thinks she’s fooling anyone, claiming to be a novice but I know better. Look at how good she did,” the anonymous girl complained.

  “That’s not fair!” Emily protested to David. “You know I’m a real novice, for Pete’s sake it was my first event ever!”

  “Emily, relax and think about it, she paid you a huge compliment.” He pointed out, “She thinks you’re too good to be a novice.”

  “Now that you mention it, it is a pretty strong compliment.” Emily smiled. “Even if it was only sour grapes talking.”

  “Just think how she’d feel if she knew it was not only your first show, but also Raider’s!” David laughed. “It would kill her.”

  “Now that I’ve tasted victory, I’m going to go all out the rest of the day.” Emily suddenly felt competitive. “Her grapes are going to get very sour before this show is over.”

  David just laughed, pleased and surprised at the burst of competitive energy coming from Emily. This was a whole new woman!

  The next few events went well for both Emily and David. She placed second in pole bending, fourth in birangle, and got another second in single pole. David was first in poles, second in birangle, and first in single poles. His real fun was watching Emily. With every ride she seemed to grow more confident. By the lunch break, she practically glowed with pride in Raider.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Emily wasn’t entered in the next two events: flag race, and hurry scurry. David told her he hadn’t entered her because they had never practiced those events and they were both pretty complex for a novice rider. In flag race, the rider had to exchange the flag in his hand for another one by sticking the flag into a bucket of sand on top of a barrel, and grabbing the one that was waiting there. He had to do this twice in the course. Most of the novices were disqualified.

  Emily watched the action and said, “Hey! I could have gotten a ribbon in that event!”

  “I know and I would have entered you in it but I don’t like running flag race with a green horse.” David explained, “The rider tends to stop the horse at the barrel and fool around with the flag, which I think confuses a horse that’s learning to run around these barrels without slowing down.”

  “That makes sense.” Emily nodded. “Why am I not in scurry?”

  “Because in scurry there are jumps, small jumps, but jumps. Neither you nor Raider has ever been trained to jump, so I thought you might want to pass on that.”

  “Good thinking,” she said with a grin.

  David won the flag race and Emily was amazed at how he could exchange the flags without slowing his horse down. His hand-eye coordination was fantastic! He also did well in scurry, with Target racing over the jumps as if they weren’t there. With one event to go for the day, he was leading his age group for the high point award. The shock was that in her class, Emily was in third place, but only one point behind second and three behind first.

  The last event of the day was figure eight race, in which a rider had to turn either left or right at one end of the arena, and the opposite direction at the other. For this event the timing line was in the center of the arena.

  The thing that made this event difficult for some horses was the second turn. That turn was at the same end of the arena as the gate they entered and left by. For these horses, this was the end of the arena where the finish line usually was and this was where they were going to stop, no matter what the darn rider wanted to do.

  Fortunately, Raider avoided this bad habit. He seemed to listen as Emily steered him away from the direction of the gate and back to the finish line. She won the event and moved up into second place in the novice high point standings. Emily and David took care of the horses, walking them out and making sure they were cool and ready to be put away before feeding them and giving them grain and fresh water. They also fed and walked the puppy, who was very popular with the other riders.

  “Do you want to go back to the hotel and get dressed up so we can go out to eat?” David asked, sitting on a chair outside the tack room. “Or we can go back to the hotel and just get room service. We can also clean up here and eat at the club barbecue, lady’s choice.”

  “If we get to the hotel, I won’t want to go out again.” She decided, “I think I’d rather have barbecue here, but where do we get cleaned up?”

  “They have showers in the restrooms in the barns. That’s because when they have horse racing here, some of the exercise riders and grooms actually live in the barns.”

  “Then let’s eat here before we get back to the hotel,” she grinned, “and the bed.”

  “I’ve created a monster,” David moaned dramatically.

  “No, you’ve created a very tired but happy woman.” She laughed at him.

  They each took quick, and unfortunately cold, showers in the fairground restrooms before changing into clean jeans and shirts. They walked over to the picnic area and each got a plate filled with the most wonderful barbecued beef, baked beans, coleslaw and corn on the cob. There was an assortment of cakes and pies for dessert, and plenty of hot black coffee, iced tea, soft drinks, and milk. Emily noticed, however, that many of the adults had brought beer.

  At one point, when David went over to get more BBQ beef, Emily saw a man that looked slightly familiar. The man spotted David and went over to him.

  “Hi David, I see you had some great rides today.” She then heard him say, “By the way, who was that riding your colt?”

  “Cliff, you met Emily before at our charity show. I’ve been teaching her to ride.” He smiled to himself at Cliff ’s expression.

  “That’s Emily? But she was afraid of horses, and she looks different, too.” By this time the men had walked back to Emily. “Howdy ma’am, I’m sure glad to see you again, even if I didn’t rec
ognize you.”

  “I was covered with dirt when we met, no wonder you didn’t recognize me.” Emily smiled at Cliff. “It’s good to see you again.”

  “You’ve sure learned to ride really well.” Cliff sipped his beer. “I can’t believe it.”

  “Thanks,” Emily beamed, “David has been a fantastic trainer.”

  “What you haven’t heard, Cliff, is that Emily and I are going to be married soon,” David surprised the older man.

  “Congratulations! To both of you.” Cliff was surprised and very pleased. “I must say David, you found a real gem here.”

  “Yes, I think so.” David kissed Emily softly.

  After the barbeque there was a live band playing country music. Emily and David sat by the fire and listened, but neither of them wanted to dance. It had been a long day and Emily was all too aware, in every muscle, that she had never ridden for such a long time before.

  When they returned to the hotel room, they were both tired from the long day at the show and from having such a full meal. Emily was getting stiff. They took a long hot bath, turning on the water jets in the spa tub, before getting into bed and drifting off to sleep in each other’s arms.

  The next morning, Sunday, was a repeat of the day before with one exception. Once again Emily got showered, dressed, and ordered breakfast while David went to the barn and fed the horses. They ate breakfast together and then left for the show. There was a small, colorful, but meaningful worship service held in one of the barns before the show started. Not all the riders attended, but there was a good turnout.

  “This is weird, great, but weird,” Emily whispered

  “Jesus was born in a stable,” David whispered back.

  “True, still. . .” She smiled. “Well, I guess it’s better to have a service here than to ignore the Lord’s Day.”

  Emily had a very good day at the show. She placed second in quadrangle, third in poles II, a variation of the pole bending course, and won the speed barrels and barrels. David won quad, poles II, and speed barrels but he placed second in barrels. At the end of the day both of them won their respective high point awards. Emily was on cloud nine, absolutely amazed, as she collected her prize--a large ornate silver belt buckle.

  This day seemed slightly shorter to Emily. The routine was more familiar, and the courses Emily was entered in were the ones she had spent the most time practicing. At the end of the day, when she had put Raider away, she sat on a chair in the tack room relaxing with the very tired puppy sleeping in her lap. She knew she should begin packing her things, but she just seemed to drift in the chair, almost joining the puppy in sleep.

  “Emily, I have an idea.” David walked over and kissed her gently. “Let’s call home and see if they’re okay, and if they are, then let’s pack up all the stuff we don’t need tonight and stay overnight. We can head for home early tomorrow.”

  “That makes sense. If we stay we can have a nice evening but if we leave tonight, we have to load all this stuff you brought and the horses, and then hit the road.”

  “Not only that, but if it took us two hours to eat and get everything ready to go, we’d arrive home at about one a.m.,” he pointed out.

  “And still have to put the horses away,” she moaned.

  “And, we wouldn’t get to sleep together,” he added.

  “I’ll call home.” Emily dug up her cell phone. When she returned, her face was shining. “Julia said for us to stay and have fun. She said things are under control. I told her we’d be home tomorrow sometime around noon.”

  “Great, let’s go have dinner.” David was relieved.

  “Can we take a bath first?” she pleaded.

  “Of course,” he said, then suggested, “together?”

  “Naturally.” She sat the puppy down and stood up, smiling.

  He hugged her.

  “And cuddle in bed after dinner?” She snuggled against him.

  “All night,” he promised.

  “Gee,” she said with exaggerated innocence, “I had wondered why we didn’t check out of our room this morning. I sure hope you’ll be able to stay awake for the drive home tomorrow.”

  “We’ll worry about that in the morning. But for now,” he pulled her into his arms, “we have a date with a bathtub.”

  They went back to the hotel. In short order they were both in the bathtub, soaping and teasing each other into a frenzy like they had on the first night.

  “We should stop if we’re going out for dinner.”

  “Can’t we eat here?” Emily asked. “Dinner in bed?”

  She kissed his neck.

  “Stop that!” He gently swatted her behind. “We’re going out! One of my favorite restaurants is here in this town and I’d like to share it with you.”

  “Okay. I’ll get dressed.” She went to the closet and pulled out a new dress. It was off the shoulders and brightly colored with a swirling skirt, a real change from the kind of dresses she wore in the past.

  “Emily, you look spectacular!” David looked pretty good himself. He had dressed in nice crisp slacks and a tailored shirt. “Let’s go eat.”

  “And then let’s come back here, I think we need to spend a long night in bed,” she suggested.

  “We need the rest,” he agreed.

  “We do need the rest,” she grinned at him wickedly, “and we’ll have a good night.”

  They went to David’s favorite restaurant, a steakhouse that served the best steaks Emily had ever eaten, along with large salads with tangy dressing, huge baked potatoes, and some excellent, crusty sourdough bread. Every time they needed anything a waiter appeared instantly, and yet they never had the impression that he was hovering over them. The atmosphere was relaxed, with people dressed in everything from western wear to fancy dress suits and lovely gowns. In the background there was a country western band playing lively but not raucous music.

  “Would you care for dessert?” David asked. “They have a fantastic dessert tray.”

  “This is a great restaurant, David,” Emily told him. “I don’t know when I’ve ever had such good food, and the service has been impeccable. I’d probably love anything on the dessert tray, but I couldn’t eat another bite.”

  “Let’s go for a walk before we head back to the hotel,” he suggested.

  “Good idea.” Hand in hand, they left the restaurant.

  By the time they made it back to the hotel they were more than ready to settle in the bed and talk before they drifted off to sleep. They awoke in each other’s arm, shared a leisurely shower, checked out of the hotel and left for the show grounds.

  David fed the horses and pulled the trailer around. While the horses ate, they both loaded the rest of their show equipment into the trailer. It was amazing how quickly they dismantled the tack room, leaving it bare. David put hay and grain into the trailer for the horses to eat on the way home. Then he led Raider out, blanketing him, and putting his leather hood on his head before turning his attention to bandaging his legs. Emily took down the buckets and hooks in Raider’s stall, and raked the soiled straw out in front of the barn. She started to do the same in Target’s stall, but the older horse wanted to cuddle with her. He followed her over to his empty grain bucket and put his long nose into it, searching for traces of food.

  “Get back, brat.” She slapped the big horse affectionately. Finally she gave up and haltered him, leading him out and tying him to a hitching post. Then she finished cleaning out his stall. David finished with Raider, and Emily walked him around while David then bandaged Target and loaded him. Finally she led the big colt up to the trailer and slapped his broad butt to get him to walk in. Quickly he shut the door behind him, and put the padded chain up behind his tail. David reached into a front door of the trailer and fastened his rope. Then he checked the trailer hitch and the lights before they got in and started the long drive home. They stopped for a snack at a fast food place around ten, and arrived at David’s ranch shortly after noon. Nicole was there and she helped as they
unloaded the horses and put them away.

  Nicole took David aside and said, “We decided not to say anything when Emily called last night, but I think she should go home and check on her father right away. He didn’t want her to come home early, but even I can tell he’s worse.”

  “Thanks, Sis.” David kissed her cheek and looked over at Emily with sadness and tenderness in his eyes. “I’ll take care of things. Will you finish with the horses?”

  “Sure. Hey, tell Emily I’m proud of her for doing so well.” Nicole walked over to the barn.

  “Emily, Nicole is going to finish the horses. I’m going to take you home.” He took a deep breath and said, “Your father isn’t doing very well and he didn’t want us to know until we got home.”

  “I was worried when he didn’t come on the line last night. I’ve been dreading this for so long. Is he hospitalized?” Emily tried to be brave.

  “No, but remember, Emily, he has a doctor’s appointment today at two, so we’ll have to see what happens then.” David hugged her gently. “Let me go in and call my secretary so my appointments can be rescheduled.”

  “Did you have any scheduled for today?” she asked.

  “Just one for later tonight.” David looked at her gently. “And I may not be able to reschedule this one, but I’ll try.”

  “Thank you David, I really need you now.” Emily leaned into his warmth for a moment before they got into his car and he drove her home.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The short drive to Emily’s house seemed endless, and still in a strange way, far too short. After David parked in front of her house, he turned to Emily. He hugged her gently, noting her pale skin and the traces of tears in her eyes.

  “I want to stay with you, Emily, but I have to leave for a while.” He kissed her forehead. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”