Royal

by Danielle Steel

  “Good luck, Your Royal Highness,” the owner said, hoping he had done the right thing hiring her. She looked so delicate, and her hands looked so small compared to the huge horse she was riding. He was a powerful beast.

  “Annie will do,” she said to the owner, and went to line up, as they watched her, and then the owner went to his box to watch the race. It was being televised around the world on sports channels everywhere. There were news crews all around the racetrack. Annie saw nothing as she lined up, except the track and the horse she was riding. She thought of nothing except what they had to do.

  They got a slow start as she intended, and ran steadily, gathering momentum and speed as they went, passing horses, flying like the wind, pressing harder, going faster, and in the final stretch she pushed him as hard as she could, knowing what she needed from him, and Ginger Boy knew it too. “Give it to me now, come on, Boy, you can do it. We can do it!” He ran faster and harder than any other horse she’d ever been on. He flew over the ground, and she felt as though they were running above the ground in slow motion. She heard nothing except his breathing and her own, faster and faster. She heard people screaming and the roar of the crowd. She flew through the finish line with no sense of who or what was around her, or where the other horses were. All she knew and felt was Ginger Boy. She galloped him for a few minutes after the finish line to slow him down, and patted his neck with all her strength. “Good Boy, you did it! I’m proud of you,” she said and finally looked up. She had no idea how they had finished, and she saw the trainer running toward them, he was crying and waving his hands as she slowed Ginger Boy, and the trainer reached up and hugged her.

  “You did it! Oh my God, you did it!”

  “How did we do?” she asked him, as Ginger Boy danced and she gently led him in a walk off the track. She could still hear the crowd screaming and see people waving.

  “Are you serious?” The trainer looked at her as though she had just landed from outer space. “You came in first, by five lengths. You made history.” She jumped down and he hugged her, and she led Ginger Boy off the track toward the winner’s circle. Her legs were shaking and she was in a daze, as the grooms took his lead away from her, and people hugged her and lifted her off the ground. Camera crews were in her face, and then the owner was hugging her and his wife was crying. The other female jockey had come in eighth.

  “You were the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen,” the owner said to her with tears running down his cheeks. At that moment, she wished she could share it with Anthony and Jonathan and all the people she loved. She couldn’t wait to see the footage of the race. But for that one moment in time, it had been just her and Ginger Boy, and nothing else in the world mattered. She was a born jockey and she knew it. She knew she had done the right thing coming to Kentucky. She couldn’t have given this up, and was glad she hadn’t. This was her moment. She wanted Anthony to be part of it, but he wasn’t.

  She gave two TV interviews and one to the BBC before she left the racetrack in the owner’s Rolls. Her legs felt like rubber and her head was pounding. She had gone to see Ginger Boy and thanked him before she left.

  She went back to the hotel and watched it all on TV on the replays. Jonathan called her, and the queen, and Anthony’s father, and told her how incredible she had been. Anthony didn’t call, and she realized now that it probably was over, but she wasn’t sorry, even though she loved him. She hadn’t given up her dream.

  She flew back to England the next day, and had a hero’s welcome at the stables when she got back to Newmarket.

  The queen had sent a car and driver for her to take her back to the stables, and she came to see her the next day. She hugged Annie when she saw her, and told her how proud she was of her. She was as excited as Annie, and knew how proud Charlotte would have been of her.

  “How’s Anthony?” the queen asked with a worried look.

  “He’s not,” Annie said quietly. “He said that if I went, it was over with us. So I guess it is.” She looked sad about it, but she didn’t regret it, and her aunt nodded.

  “He might get over it,” she said gently.

  “Maybe not,” Annie said. “But I couldn’t give it up for him. I waited too long for this.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t,” Alexandra said quietly. “You’d have regretted it all your life, and resented him for it.” The owner had accepted the trophy for her. No one could take away the records she’d broken, or the victory she’d had with Ginger Boy. Winning first place had been incredible.

  * * *

  —

  After the queen left, Annie got a call from the owner of a horse farm in Virginia. He wanted her to ride his horse in the Kentucky Derby next year if female jockeys were admitted, and it looked as though they would be. She accepted on the spot.

  She called Jonathan and told him that night and asked him to go with her, if she rode in the Derby next year. She was on a high now, and Anthony was still lodged in her heart like a glass splinter, but she didn’t have to give any of it up now, and she couldn’t. He was right.

  She called Anthony the day after she got back from Kentucky, but he didn’t pick up, and he didn’t call her. She called him at his office, and they said he was in a meeting. And he didn’t return that call either. So she had her answer. She had won a major female racing victory in horseracing history, but lost her man. He had said it would be that way, and he was sticking to it. He knew what he wanted and so did she. But she couldn’t let him control her or force her to give up her dreams. It would have been so wrong. In the end, her being a princess hadn’t done them in, but her being a jockey had.

  * * *

  —

  She saw him in the paper the next day, at a party with a famous model. She was wrapped around him like a snake. So he had gone back to his old life. And she had too. The life where the only thing that mattered was the horses, and now the victories. It hurt seeing him in the papers, but not as much as giving up the race would have. She couldn’t let him cheat her of this, and she hadn’t.

  She saw him in the papers again a week later with a different girl. The owner who had asked her to ride for him next year in the Kentucky Derby flew to London to meet her. She saw Anthony in the papers again with a Hollywood starlet in London to promote her new movie. They’d gone dancing at Annabel’s. Somehow the thrill of the women he was presumably sleeping with didn’t seem equal to the race she had won, or racing in the Kentucky Derby, whether she won or lost next year. She hoped he was happy, but doubted that he was. His were hollow victories. She still loved him, and she missed him. She had wanted to share this with him, but not in a million years would she give this up for him. She couldn’t.

  She had dinner with Anthony’s father at his house two weeks after she got home. He congratulated her and they talked about the race for half an hour, and then he told her how sorry he was about her and Anthony.

  “So am I,” she said sadly. “I just couldn’t give it up for him, and he wouldn’t settle for anything less. It was all or nothing.”

  “That’s how life is sometimes,” he said. “You did the right thing. There are some things you can’t compromise and shouldn’t. This was one of them. My son is a stubborn man, and a fool sometimes. We all are, I suppose. You’re worth a million of these idiots he runs around with, or used to. I’m sorry to see him go back to that.” Not as sorry as she was. But not sorry enough to back down and give it up.

  “So am I,” she said softly.

  “He’ll regret it,” his father said. It was small consolation.

  “Maybe not. Maybe we just weren’t meant to be.”

  “What would you rather be? One of the most famous jockeys in history, the first woman to win a race like that, or his wife after you gave all that up?”

  “I wanted both,” she said honestly.

  “It doesn’t always work that way.”

  �
�I guess not.”

  * * *

  —

  A month later, in July, she flew to Virginia to meet the horse she hoped to ride the following year in the Derby. It wasn’t sure yet. She and the owner had dinner, and discussed the race and his horse’s history. He was an interesting choice for the Derby, and had won some big races before, but he had an irregular record at others.

  “My boy will like the Derby,” the owner said and smiled at her.

  “So will I, Mr. MacPherson.” She smiled back at him.

  She rode him before flying back to England, and he was incredible. He responded to the lightest touch, voice commands, and almost to her thought processes as though he was psychic. The competition in the Derby would be stiff, and she would train with him before the race and study the other horses’ histories too. She spoke to Lord Hatton about it, and he gave her some advice without ever having seen Aswan, the horse she’d be riding. He knew his bloodline, the trainer, and the owner.

  She went to spend two weeks in Kent with Jonathan and the boys then, and spent August at Balmoral with her royal family. It was peaceful and relaxing, with barbecues and picnics and family dinners. George, Albert, and William had grown up even more, and she felt at home with all of them.

  She had heard that Anthony was in Saint Tropez for the month and tried not to think about it. Her heart still ached when someone said his name.

  The queen brought up her spectacular win in Kentucky again.

  “Your mother would have been proud of you, and green with envy,” she said, and Annie laughed. “She would have given anything to do what you just did. We’re all proud of you, Annie.”

  “Thank you, ma’am,” her niece said respectfully.

  “Lord Hatton and I have a question to ask you. Will you ride for us in the Gold Cup Race at the Royal Ascot Meeting next June? We’d be honored to have you race for us. We’d like you to ride Starlight.” He was a beautiful white horse, but he was young, and hadn’t been in many races. “Not an obvious choice, but we think he’s ready for his first big race, and a strong showing, and if anyone can make it happen, you’ve proven that you can. Will you do it?” she asked, as Annie looked at her in amazement.

  “Are you serious, ma’am? I’d be honored. I’d like to start working with him soon. I haven’t ridden him much.” She loved the idea of riding on home turf, in England, on one of their horses, for her queen and aunt. It didn’t get better than that. She thought the horse was ready too. He was at Lord Hatton’s stables in Newmarket, so she could work with him anytime. And Royal Ascot was in June, and the Kentucky Derby in May, so she could ride in both races.

  The Gold Cup was the highlight of the four-day Royal Ascot Meeting. At two miles and four furlongs, it was one of the longest races of the flat season, and a real test of stamina for horse and rider. Annie couldn’t think of a greater thrill than riding in that race for the queen. The Ascot racecourse was in Berkshire, six miles from Windsor Castle, so Annie assumed the whole family would stay there. She was so excited she could hardly speak, she just beamed. And the queen was equally pleased she’d accepted.

  Her aunt Victoria called her that night from the South of France. She was due at Balmoral any day.

  “Well, you’re certainly giving us some dignity, dear girl. I’m so proud of you, I could burst. George called me at midnight the night you won the race in Kentucky. He stayed up to watch you. Actually, half of England did. I won a thousand pounds on a wager, so thank you for that. I’ll take you to lunch with my winnings when you come to London.”

  “Aunt Alexandra just asked me to ride for her in the Ascot Gold Cup next year.”

  “Fantastic!” Victoria said enthusiastically.

  She hesitated for an instant then, and decided to tell her. “I saw Anthony the other night, at a party down here.” She knew it was a delicate subject.

  “How is he?” Annie tried to sound neutral about it, but she wasn’t. It still hurt terribly, and Victoria could hear it. But she didn’t want to keep it secret that she’d seen him, in case Annie heard it from someone else.

  “Actually, he’s a mess. He looks terrible. He looks like he’s been drunk since you left for Kentucky. I saw him before that. I think he got sacked from his job, but I’m not sure of it. He didn’t tell me, someone else did. You know how London is, a hotbed of gossip. He didn’t mention you, but I suspect he misses you terribly. He’s a fool if he doesn’t. But he’s probably too proud to admit it.”

  “I called him a few times, but he didn’t pick up or call me back. It’s just as well. There’s nothing much to say now. I did exactly what he forbade me to.”

  “ ‘Sorry I was an idiot’ is always refreshing, but they never say that, do they? They paint themselves into a corner, and then go up in smoke. He had some dreadful woman with him. He looked like he was ready to kill her. Maybe he will, and go to prison. Suitable punishment for leaving you. He should at least apologize for that.”

  “It was a point of pride for both of us,” Annie said in a subdued voice. They had been apart for three months by then instead of getting engaged. And she was booked for two major races next year, which he would never tolerate.

  “It always is with men, darling girl. It always is. Well, I’ll see you at the races, as they say. I’m glad Alexandra asked you to ride for us. You might as well instead of winning for the Americans. Give us some of that magic dust.” Annie was happy talking to her, and she liked hearing about Anthony, even if he was unhappy and hated her for putting her dreams ahead of everything else, for a while anyway. She doubted that she’d do it forever, but for a while. She could pick and choose which races she’d do now, which was a nice position to be in. She hadn’t expected it to happen this quickly. No one had. And she least of all. Anthony had predicted it.

  She lay in bed and thought about him after she and Victoria hung up. She wondered if he was as unhappy as Victoria thought he was, or if he also felt he had done the right thing. He probably wouldn’t admit it to anybody, and she’d never know. She doubted that he’d ever speak to her again, or not for a long time. Their paths would cross inevitably at some point. They had gone out for almost three years, but that meant nothing in the end, and certainly not now. Whatever they had shared was dead and buried. He wanted nothing to do with her. He hadn’t even congratulated her for her victory in Kentucky. He was history in her life now.

  She went back to Newmarket at the end of August, and began training with Starlight for the Gold Cup race at Ascot, which was still nine months away. She had gotten confirmation that she could ride in the Kentucky Derby in May, and planned to spend March and April in Virginia, training with Aswan for the Derby.

  * * *

  —

  She spent the next six months working hard for Anthony’s father, training new horses and working with Starlight. She worked diligently with Starlight for Ascot and was pleased to find that the horse was both high-strung and receptive and easy to work with. Within a month, Annie felt in harmony with him, and was able to direct him with the slightest touch, and when she gave him his head, he flew over the terrain and was steady and sure-footed. His size and strength were in his favor, and even though he lacked age and experience, she could sense that he would be a great racehorse one day. What she needed to do was move him ahead quickly to a level of training he hadn’t achieved yet when they started.

  “How’s he doing?” Lord Hatton asked her when he came out to the field where she was working with him, and watched him for a while. She had a remarkable, almost psychic sense of the horses she worked with, and he was impressed by the results she had gotten. Starlight was unpredictable and sometimes uneven in his progress, but she was able to get from him what no one else had yet, and she could see that the giant animal trusted her completely. He was a different horse than when she’d started working with him.

  She spent Christmas at Sandringham with the roya
l family and New Year’s with Jonathan and the boys in Kent.

  Jonathan accompanied her to Virginia in March and stayed with her while she trained with Aswan. It had been an arduous year, nothing but work, and her skills were stronger than ever.

  Jonathan was there when she came in second at the Kentucky Derby. It was an extraordinary win and made headlines worldwide. She returned to a hero’s welcome in London, and celebrated her birthday with the family at Windsor Castle two weeks after she returned. She had just turned twenty-six.

  It had been exactly a year since her breakup with Anthony. She was surprised when he sent her a note congratulating her for her heroic win at the Derby, and wishing her a happy birthday. She hadn’t heard from him in a year. She thanked him, and was completely focused on training for Ascot. She was staying at Windsor Castle until the race in June. Their paths hadn’t crossed in a year.

  The day before the race, she let Starlight rest, so he’d be fresh and anxious to perform on the day of the big event. He was nervous and excited when they got him into his stall at the racetrack, and she took him out to exercise him briefly. They had brought two grooms and one of the trainers with them. That night, Annie went out to check on him and spoke to him soothingly.

  The morning of the race, she could see he was aching to run. It was what he wanted to do with her now.

  The royal party arrived in horse-drawn landaus and paraded along the track in front of the crowd.

  The entire family entered the royal box. Everyone had come. The queen and Prince Edward were there, Victoria, and Alexandra’s three boys had come from school. Jonathan and the Markhams were there, he’d brought the twins, and Penny, the woman Jonathan had been dating for some time now. Lord Hatton was seated next to the queen, and when Annie checked the box with binoculars, she gave a start when she saw Anthony standing just outside the box. She assumed he had come for his father, but she felt odd seeing him and wondered if their paths would cross after the race. She hoped not, and was sorry she’d seen him now. She watched him take a seat between Victoria and William, who was nearly hopping up and down he was so excited. She smiled when she watched him. They had brought him home from Eton. He had just turned sixteen, and the other boys nineteen and twenty. It was a major event, and one of the most important races in England. She never thought she’d see the day when she’d be racing in it. She was the first female jockey, and the only woman racing that day. There were very few who were ready for the transition, but the queen was setting the example in England after the Kentucky Derby. Annie had been one of two women at the Blue Grass Stakes and the Kentucky Derby. And in future, she knew that eventually there would be others, but not many yet.