by Terri Farley
“What are you going to do?” Jen asked, and Sam wanted to hug her. This is what made Jen a best friend.
Jen wouldn’t give advice until she was asked. They both knew they should turn the bill of sale over to someone in authority, and they both knew the horse would suffer even more if they did.
“What do you think?” Sam asked.
“I think that looks like a carbon copy,” Jen said, “and Rose Bloom has the original, so you can’t keep it a secret forever.”
“I wouldn’t do that.” Sam folded the yellow paper into a square and tucked it inside her front pocket. “But I do want to think about it a little while.”
Sam checked Jen’s expression. Inside a frame of blond braids, Jen’s face had turned serious. Jen was a math whiz with a knack for logical, well-ordered thinking. If there was a flaw in waiting, Jen’s analytical mind would find it.
Outside, a breeze blew and a branch of sagebrush tapped against the bus. Finally, Jen shook her head.
“Other than the tiny chance we’re being watched right now by federal rangers—and I think Ace and Silly would have let us know if they’d sensed them—I see no problem with waiting.” Jen rubbed her hands together and stared at them, still thinking. “After all, we are juveniles…”
“And we can’t be expected to know this is important?” Sam suggested.
“They’re not going to buy that, Samantha Anne. Otherwise, why would we take it?”
“You’re right.” Sam ignored Jen’s gesture that said as usual. “Let’s get out of here. I’m supposed to be home in time to help Jake with Mikki.”
Leading the way back to the door, Jen said, “Just don’t tell Jake.”
“Not in this lifetime,” Sam promised. But by the time they’d made their way off the bus and back to the horses, Sam thought she might ask Jake what he’d overheard when he was hanging out with the official trackers.
After all, it couldn’t hurt.
Sam reined Ace aside and waited for the gray van to cross the River Bend bridge. Even from there, she heard Dark Sunshine’s worried whinny.
As Sam rode into the ranch yard, she saw why.
Far back by the barn, Jake stood between Witch and Sweetheart. With Sam on Ace and Sweetheart outside the barn corral, Dark Sunshine felt abandoned by her new herd.
Right in front of Sam was another surprise. Mikki, who’d just arrived, was talking with Pepper.
Mikki wore jeans and a black tee shirt stenciled with the word “Misfit.” Whether it was the name of a band or a description of the wearer, Mikki had better be nice to Pepper.
Sam shook her head at her own silliness. Why should she feel protective of a cowboy talking to an eleven-year-old girl?
Because she really liked him. Pepper, with his red-blond hair and gangly legs, was only seventeen, but he wasn’t quiet like Dallas or Ross, River Bend’s other hands. He didn’t offer Sam extra care because she was the boss’s daughter or scoff because she’d been a city girl.
Pepper just accepted Sam. His winks, nods, and the stampede string he’d made for her hat had kept Sam’s spirits high while she was relearning her place at home.
As Sam rode close enough to eavesdrop, she heard Mikki ask why Pepper had become a cowboy.
“No choice,” Pepper said with a slow smile.
“What does that mean?” Mikki demanded.
“I’m too lazy to work and too nervous to steal,” Pepper answered.
Mikki laughed, but Sam winced with uneasiness. The bill of sale in her pocket and the technically stolen horse in a River Bend corral might make her a thief, but Pepper shouldn’t be joking with Mikki about stealing.
But hadn’t Mikki been a runaway? Pepper had been, too, when he’d first come to the ranch. Maybe he and Mikki could find things in common.
Before she dismounted to join in the conversation, Sam saw Jake hailing her from the barn.
Sam rode back to him. Jake was already dusty, as if he’d been working. He’d loosened Witch’s cinch, too, so the horse could relax.
Sweetheart was saddled. Had Jake used his half day off to work while she’d gone riding with Jen?
“I’ve been working with Popcorn,” he said. “I’ve got him haltered.”
“Jake, that’s great.”
He shrugged. “It’s the horse, not me. He’s sweet as pie.” Then Jake’s mouth twisted in irritation. “She probably will ride him before she leaves.”
Looking embarrassed, Jake changed the subject. “Leave Ace tacked up so you can help me switch the buckskin and Popcorn after she’s done working with him.”
Sam noticed that Jake had avoided using Mikki’s name.
“You still feel uneasy about her,” Sam said.
“I arranged for the van driver to come back late so she could make some real progress today.” He sounded a little defensive.
“But you still don’t trust her, right?” Sam asked.
“I won’t talk about it.”
Sam took a breath, then let it go. “How about your tracking trip? Will you talk about that?”
Jake’s face lit with a rare smile. “Later,” he promised, and began walking toward the round pen.
“What, are you like a cop-in-training now?” she teased.
“Later.” Jake shot Sam a look meant to silence her.
It didn’t work.
“Jake, was it really cool? Tell me.”
“If I were training as a cop, first thing I’d do is put you under house arrest.”
“I haven’t done anything!” Sam felt a zing of worry.
There was no way Jake could know what was in her pocket.
“Unless your fool idea of spending the night with that mare counts.” At her silence, Jake looked smug. “Your dad called and told me about it this morning while you were waiting at the bus stop.”
Jake never missed a chance to gloat. While it took Sam over an hour to reach Darton High on the bus, he made it in half that time, driving in with his brother.
All of a sudden, that didn’t matter. Sam had to know if she was rushing Dark Sunshine. If her idea was a mistake, Jake would tell her.
“Jake.” She grabbed his forearm, tightening her grip when he tried to shake her off. “I’m only going to keep Sunny company in the dark and mirror her movements, like you taught me. That’s all. What do you think? Really.”
Sam released Jake’s arm. He looked down, then rubbed the back of his neck in a thoughtful gesture.
“I think it’s a good idea for the horse,” he said. “I’m not so sure about you.”
“You know I’m careful around horses.”
“Bloody noses and black eyes. Shoot, now.” Jake pretended to frown in confusion. “Who was that I saw, if not you?”
Sam was sticking her tongue out at Jake when she felt Mikki’s stare. Maybe it would be good for Mikki to see it was possible to disagree with a man and not fight.
Mikki turned on her heel, away from Pepper. She pretended she hadn’t been watching Sam and Jake at all, and started toward the round pen.
“Just a second,” Jake called. “Before we go in, I want to tell ya what we’re doing. It’s different.” Jake ignored the girl’s loud sigh and tapping foot. “You’re going to make a deal with Popcorn.”
“A deal?”
“Yeah, if he doesn’t run from you, you won’t chase him. It’s that simple. Sam, show her.” Jake motioned her closer. “You be the horse.”
“Oh, good.” Sam tossed her hair, pretending it was a mane, then walked away. Jake followed. “If I were a mustang,” Sam called back to Mikki, “this would make me nervous, especially when he speeds up like that.”
Sam and Jake speed-walked in a circle. When Jake stopped, Sam slowed down to watch him. As soon as she faced him, Jake retreated a step.
“But you’re letting the horse back you down,” Mikki said.
“It looks like it, at first, but pretty soon you’ll have him coming to you—to eat, to get haltered—”
“To ride,” Mikki inte
rrupted. “Okay, I understand, but that’ll take hours.”
“If you’re lucky,” Jake agreed.
“Why not just rope him, pull him over, then hold him and pet him until he knows I’m not going to hurt him?” Mikki said.
“That wouldn’t work for me,” Sam said. “If some creature tied me up and dragged me somewhere, then wanted to touch my head, I’d fight to get away, wouldn’t you?”
“There she goes again, thinking like a horse,” Jake said.
A blush heated Sam’s cheeks from this best of all compliments, but the real warmth came from inside. Jake’s praise meant a lot.
“That’s not fair. It comes natural to her. She’s been on a horse every day of her life. I just got here.”
“Sam can think like a horse because she pays attention. And she cares about horses,” Jake corrected. “If you’re nice, Sam might tell you where she’s really been these last two years.” Mikki didn’t take the bait, only asked, “Okay, what are Sam Forster’s rules to thinking like a horse?”
Why should I tell you? Sam squashed the thought. She’d act like an adult while Mikki played the bratty little kid.
“There are really only a few rules you’ll need to be a horse today,” Sam said. “One: The herd is where you’re safe. Two; Run from anything that might hurt you.”
“Don’t I get to play?” Pepper joked as he moved closer, reminding them he was still there.
“That’s it?” Mikki ignored him and moved toward the gate.
“That’s it.” Jake walked after her. “Now, you’d better get to work, because we’re moving Popcorn to another corral today, and you”—he pointed at Mikki—“are going to lead him there.”
Chapter Eleven
JAKE’S PLAN WORKED perfectly. For a half hour, Mikki walked and talked with Popcorn as if she were one of his kind. During the second half hour, she did the same, except she held the end of a long rope attached to his halter. At last, Popcorn followed Mikki wherever she went.
“Just keep walking as long as you hear his hooves behind you,” Jake told Mikki. “And don’t look back.”
“How far away is he?” Mikki asked as she walked past Jake.
“He’s staying a good seven or eight feet back. That’s his flight distance. He knows you can’t grab him from there.”
Peering into the corral, Sam noticed Mikki’s smile. Right now, the girl wasn’t trying to prove she was tough. She wasn’t acting like she didn’t care. She’d spoken Popcorn’s language and told him he could trust her. She was proud of something that mattered.
“I wish my mom could see this,” Mikki said as she passed Jake again.
“Maybe she can in a few weeks,” he said casually. “I’m sure she’d be welcome.”
Finally, it was time to take Popcorn outside the round pen and move Dark Sunshine into it.
Jake bolted the front gate, just in case something went wrong. Pepper walked out to the gate with Jake. Though he talked loudly enough for the girls to hear, Sam had the feeling something else was going on.
“I think Mikki can handle Popcorn, but I don’t know what to expect from the mare,” Jake said.
Mikki left the round pen with Popcorn. The albino’s head swung toward the ten-acre pasture, toward the barn, and though he picked his feet up high, showing he was nervous, he followed Mikki to an open spot near the house.
“Good,” Jake said to Mikki. Then, Jake nodded to Pepper as he settled on the front porch with Gram.
Everyone was watching.
“I’ll put two loops on the buckskin,” Jake told Sam. “You hold one and I’ll take the other. We’ll keep her kind of cross-tied between Ace and Sweetheart. They’re her herd now, so maybe she won’t put up a fuss till we get to the round pen.”
“She won’t like that.” Sam considered the pen as if she were Dark Sunshine. Would the mare remember the buzzing motorcycles, whooping men, and mustangs running into a trap?
“When we get her as far as the open gate, you’ll ride Ace in and I’ll release my rope. I think she’ll follow.”
Sam sized up the entrance to the pen. Blindfolded, the mare had followed Ace all the way to the River Bend. This might work.
“I talked it over with Wyatt,” Jake said. “This is the best we could come up with.”
“Let’s go,” Sam said.
Jake made a bow to Mikki, Pepper, and Gram. “This rodeo won’t last too long,” he promised.
Jake lassoed Dark Sunshine with such gentleness, she looked confused. Only when Sweetheart and Ace tugged her away from the dark barn did she snort in alarm.
Jake and Sam let the horses work the ropes as the buckskin tossed her head, trying to flip off the loops around her neck.
Sam found it hard to stay quiet, but her voice wouldn’t soothe the mare. Maybe this time tomorrow, but not yet.
The mare rocked back, pawed in a half rear, then landed on four stiff legs. She trotted, black mane fanning on one side, then the other, as she looked from Ace to Sweetheart. Hopping and blinking against the sun, Dark Sunshine was nearly to the round pen when Mikki yelled.
“Popcorn, no! You’re not going anywhere!”
After that, Sam only heard pounding hooves and Sunshine’s screams. The mare reared so high, Sam feared she’d fall over backward. Ace and Sweetheart barely kept her earthbound.
Body thrashing, head slinging, the mare might have escaped, except that River Bend cow ponies were the best. Ace and Sweetheart had been schooled to sidestep charging steers and stay calm in the midst of stampedes. Tails swishing, they kept plodding toward the round pen.
“No! Oh, no, you don’t!” Mikki’s shrill voice rose loud enough for Sam to hear it, but she couldn’t imagine what had gone wrong.
She didn’t try. Her job was to get Dark Sunshine into the corral. Pepper and Gram would have to help Mikki.
Just ahead, the round pen gate stood open. Sam leaned low on her gelding’s neck.
“C’mon, Ace, lead her in,” she whispered.
Ace leaped forward, passed the mare, and entered the round pen. Ropes dropped loose, swarming around his legs, but Ace ignored them. Even when the gate slammed, Ace listened to Sam’s hands and loped around the pen, with the mare right behind.
After several laps around the pen, Jake opened the gate so Sam could ride Ace through. But Jake had never seen the mare’s need to stay with her herd. She would not be left behind.
Head level, ears pinned so flat they were lost in the torrents of black mane, Dark Sunshine pressed close to Ace, joining his charge for the gate.
Before they got there, Jake slammed the gate. He stood in his stirrups to shout over the fence.
“Ditch Ace and climb over,” Jake said. Then he vanished.
It wasn’t that hard. If her hands hadn’t been shaking, Sam could have stepped off Ace and grabbed the fence in one fluid movement.
But Sam was afraid to see what was happening outside the round pen. When she did, she wanted to give Mikki a shake.
Popcorn was trying to behave. He rushed toward Mikki as she stepped back, but the sight of five hundred pounds of horse coming at her made Mikki panic.
“No! No!” Mikki screamed at the gelding, jerking his head with the halter rope. She tried to make him stop, but he thought the pulls meant “Come closer.”
At last, Jake signaled Pepper to move in. The young cowboy stepped between the girl and horse, slipped the rope from her hands, and gave her a gentle shove back.
Oh, boy. Mikki didn’t like that, Sam thought. But Pepper’s concern was for the frightened albino.
At the end of the lead rope, Popcorn flailed with his front hooves, trying to break loose and run. Pepper hunkered down on his boot heels. He kept his weight low, so the horse couldn’t jerk him off his feet and drag him.
Finally, sweat-darkened and breathless, the gelding stood still and waited.
Pepper straightened his knees. Gradually, crooning and talking, he walked to the horse. Lazily, he coiled the rope, until he was just feet awa
y.
“Hey, Jake,” Pepper said, “what d’you say I walk this fella back to the barn corral?” With a calm stride, Pepper moved away and Popcorn followed.
The albino’s willingness, after such a battle, made Sam so mad at Mikki she didn’t know what to say to her.
Gram was always sensible and straightforward—she should go over and lecture Mikki. But Jake snatched the job.
Without looking at Sam, he handed her Sweetheart’s reins and then his hat.
What in the world? Sam looked down at the dusty Stetson and wondered what it signified.
Jake jerked the rawhide tie from his hair, then reknotted it. Even though Jake’s breathing had slowed by the time he walked up to Mikki, Sam wished Gram would step between them.
Mikki looked around frantically, as if she were being bullied, but Gram stayed on the porch.
“Look, it’s not my fault!” Mikki shouted. “Popcorn started being a jerk. He ran right at me. He tried to trample me. He just…well…I…”
Jake let her protests run down.
“Horses can be scared or pushy,” he said. “They cannot be jerks.”
“He was trying to act all tough—”
This time Jake interrupted. “He is tough. He’s bigger and stronger than you are. Fighting won’t work. It might’ve made other kids or your mom do what you wanted, but it won’t work with a horse. A horse has to trust you, and Popcorn was well on his way. He got scared and turned to you. He needed his herd leader—you—to be strong.”
Jake waited for Mikki to meet his eyes. When she did, he wasn’t easy on her.
“You let him down, girl. You panicked. What’s he supposed to think if you’ve been saying ‘Trust me and I’ll take care of you,’ then you yell at him, yank him around, and prove you’re weak?”
Mikki looked small. Her defiance was gone. Both hands covered her mouth, as if that would somehow smother Jake’s words.
Sam watched the two. Jake didn’t trust Mikki, but he’d had enough confidence in her that her actions had disappointed him. Mikki didn’t like Jake, and yet she was shrinking with shame.
When the gray county van honked at the gate, Sam ran to open it. As it drove in, Pepper walked from the barn corral toward Mikki. At first, his head was cocked to one side, as if he were explaining something. Sam couldn’t hear what Mikki said to him, but Pepper recoiled and his voice carried across the yard.
