“You two sure did a great job of bull wrangling!” Sal said, beaming at them.
“Thanks,” Carole said. “Now I think I’d like to sit down a minute.”
Everyone dismounted, giving the horses a well-deserved rest. Carole soothed the still-trembling Pogo while Stevie rubbed Tumbleweed affectionately behind his ears. He had done a wonderfully brave job.
“I was so scared,” Lisa said, her voice shaking. “Sal and I came as soon as we saw what was happening.” She looked at Carole and Stevie with tears in her eyes. “That bull had you trapped! Both of you and the horses could have been killed!”
“I suppose.” Stevie took her cowboy hat off. “It’s funny, but that didn’t occur to me until the clowns led that bull away.”
“Me neither,” added Carole. She grinned at Stevie. “I kept wondering what you were going to do if he decided to charge that scarf!”
Stevie laughed. “I hadn’t figured that out yet.” She looked at Carole quizzically. “Hey, were you trying to tell me to use my heels on Tumbleweed right before the race?”
Carole nodded. “Pete came by to wish you luck and hoped you’d remember what he’d told you about Tumbleweed and spurs.”
“I couldn’t figure out what you meant until we were halfway across the track,” Stevie said. “But I’m glad I remembered it when I did!”
“I’m glad you did, too!” Lisa shook her head. “You two nearly gave me a heart attack!”
“Then let’s have a group hug and be grateful we’ve got lucky stars,” suggested Stevie, holding her arms open wide.
The three girls clutched each other, happy that they were all alive and unhurt. Sal joined in, grabbing a handful of tiny silver stars from one of her deep clown pockets and sprinkling them over the girls. They had just begun to laugh about how funny Stevie looked with stars in her damp, tousled hair when Gabriel rode up on Napoleon.
“Hi,” he said, reining the big palomino in close. He hopped off and pulled the reins over Napoleon’s head. “I just heard what happened with the bull. Are you okay, Carole?”
“Yes, I am, thanks to Stevie.” Carole smiled.
“And are you okay?” Gabriel turned to Stevie and for once looked at her without a teasing expression.
“I’m fine, thanks,” she replied. Suddenly she remembered that this whole thing had started right as she was beginning the quarter-mile race—the event that would decide who won their bet. “Hey,” she said. “Who won the race? I kind of got distracted and forgot all about it.”
“Oh, haven’t you heard?” Gabriel asked, his old teasing grin returning. “Me, of course. I beat Mary Corona by half a length.” He stuck his thumbs in the belt loops of his jeans. “Which means that I won three out of the five events. Which means that I also won the rodeo and our bet!”
Stevie stood still. Her face grew hot with embarrassment at having been beaten, but then she smiled. She had lost the rodeo fair and square, but she had lost it for a good reason—helping to save her friend. There was nothing to be ashamed of about that.
“You’re absolutely right,” she told Gabriel graciously. “Congratulations!”
She held out her hand. Gabriel took it and they shook.
“Now,” Stevie said. “What is it that you want me to do?”
“Oh, how about I tell you later?” he replied with another impish grin, his blue eyes looking bluer than ever.
“Okay.” Stevie gulped, her palms growing sweaty. “When?”
“How about tonight? Just before the big barbecue dinner?”
“That’s fine.” Stevie tried to smile through the butterflies that were beginning to flit in her stomach. “I can hardly wait to hear what you’ve dreamed up.”
“STEVIE, WHAT A wonderful rescue you accomplished today!” Mr. Cate stopped behind Stevie’s chair, put one arm around her shoulders, and gave her a squeeze. He looked over at Gabriel, who was sitting beside her, beaming proudly. “You did a great rodeo job, too, young man,” Mr. Cate added with a grin. Then he noticed the two empty plates on the table in front of them.
“You guys know you can get seconds on the barbecue, don’t you?” Mr. Cate clutched his own second helping in his free hand, balancing a large plate piled high with barbecued ribs, corn bread, and a thick slice of apple pie.
Stevie smiled at her old friend from the wagon train. “Thanks, Mr. Cate. I think I may go get some more pie. It’s really delicious!”
“Would you like me to go with you?” Gabriel asked, rising from his chair. “Or I could bring you a piece.”
“No, thanks,” said Stevie. “I can do it by myself.”
She walked to the back of the room, where a large buffet table was covered with huge platters of food. In one corner of the room, a band consisting of a guitarist, a fiddler, and an accordionist played over the happy hum of wagon train pioneers and rodeo riders laughing and talking. Stevie put a hefty slice of apple pie on her plate and walked back to her seat next to Gabriel. She shot Carole and Lisa a dirty look when they giggled as Gabriel rose and pulled Stevie’s chair out for her. The next thing she knew, a camera flash popped. Polly Shaver had snapped their picture together. Stevie smiled broadly, then started in on her pie.
Gabriel watched as she ate. “You know, I really didn’t mean to make fun of you quite so hard over the goat wrestling contest,” he said suddenly, his voice cracking.
“That’s okay.” Stevie shrugged. “I guess it was pretty funny.”
“And I didn’t really mean it when I said the only rodeo event you’d be good at was the cow chip tossing contest,” he continued.
“Don’t worry about it,” Stevie said through a mouthful of pie.
“And when I said that—”
“Look.” Stevie swallowed and looked at him. “We both said some really stupid things. We both got on each other’s nerves. But it’s okay. When you offered to call the rodeo a draw and not hold me to our bet, that made up for everything.”
“Well, it seemed like the least I could do after you saved Carole from that bull,” he mumbled, suddenly staring hard at his glass of iced tea.
“It’s just too bad we’ll never find out how bad Tumbleweed could have beaten Napoleon,” Stevie said.
Gabriel turned quickly in his chair to say something back. Then he saw that she was smiling. “Okay,” he laughed. “You got me on that one.”
Stevie returned her attention to her pie. In a way it was a shame that she and Tumbleweed had not competed in the race. Tumbleweed was incredibly fast once you put your spurs to him, and it would have been fun to find out which horse could have won. Still, she had no regrets about what she’d done. If anything had happened to Carole or Pogo because she wanted to compete in a horse race … well, she didn’t even want to think about that. And it had been nice of Gabriel to walk over to their wagon and offer to call it a draw. Stevie stole a glance at him out of the corner of her eye. Thank goodness I won’t have to kiss him in front of all these people, she thought, her palms growing sweaty all over again.
“Hey, check out those two!” Carole whispered to Lisa. They were sitting a few seats down the table from Stevie and Gabriel.
“I know.” Lisa glanced over at them. “For once they actually seem to be enjoying each other’s company instead of boasting about who’s better or faster or stronger.”
Carole giggled. “Look at the way Stevie’s smiling at him!”
“And look at the way he’s smiling back!” Lisa winked. “I think they both have huge, world-class crushes on each other.”
“I think you’re right.”
“And why not?” continued Lisa. “They’re both neat people. We already know what a wonderful person Stevie is. And even though Gabriel can be an arrogant know-it-all, he’s got some good points, too.”
Carole nodded. “He’s got those killer blue eyes, he knows everything about the Oregon Trail, he rides like a dream, plus he’s helping us with our notes for Deborah’s newspaper assignment.”
Lisa smiled. “With al
l the information he’s given us, we should have an awesome outline for Deborah by the time we get back to Willow Creek.”
Just then Mr. Williams, the president of the rodeo association, stood up at the head table. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said into a large microphone. “It’s now time to present the rodeo awards. Please come forward when your name is called and collect your prize.”
The crowd cheered. Several cowboys gave earsplitting whistles that echoed around the room. All eyes were on Mr. Williams at the podium.
The adult prizes were given out first. One cowboy who was dressed all in black took the award for the bronc riding contest. Another came up in a fringed buckskin jacket to accept the bull riding prize. Several other awards were passed out, and then the cowboy who’d won the most points overall was called onstage. Mr. Williams shook his hand, presented him with a check for $500, and then handed him a huge gold belt buckle that had a bucking horse stamped on it. The crowd cheered while the cowboy looked at the audience with tears in his eyes.
“I know five hundred dollars is a lot of money,” he said. “But I’ll spend that pretty fast. This belt buckle I’ll treasure the rest of my life! Thanks a lot!”
Everyone clapped as he sat down. Mr. Williams took the microphone again.
“Next we have our junior riders. This year’s competition was fierce, but our overall junior rodeo champ is Gabriel Jackson from the Wagons West trail ride.” Mr. Williams looked out into the audience. “Come on up here, Gabriel, and get your prize.”
Polly’s camera flashed again as Gabriel rose from his chair and walked to the podium. Mr. Williams shook his hand, then gave him a long blue ribbon and a gold trophy with a bronc rider on top. Gabriel grinned and looked very proud.
“Give that young cowboy a big hand, folks!” Mr. Williams said as Gabriel made his way back to the table. Stevie looked wistfully at the shining bronc rider on the top of his trophy as he sat beside her. It would have been neat, she thought, if she could have brought a trophy home to show Max and Deborah and her family.
“Now, we have something special for you folks tonight,” Mr. Williams continued. “Normally we don’t do anything like this, but normally we don’t have anything like this happen. There is someone very special sitting in our audience tonight who this afternoon exhibited an extraordinary amount of courage and bravery. Would Ms. Stevie Lake please come forward?”
Stevie looked questioningly at Carole and Lisa as everyone turned to smile at her. She frowned. What was all this about?
“Go, Stevie,” Polly whispered from across the table. “They’re waiting for you! I’ll take your picture!”
Stevie rose from her chair and walked to the podium.
“Ladies and gentlemen, for the one or two of you who might not have heard, we had a dangerous and regrettable incident with one of our bulls this afternoon when he escaped a stock pen and cornered one of our clowns. Even though Stevie was already lined up for the quarter-mile race, she saw what was happening and rushed over to save her friend, Carole Hanson.” Mr. Williams put his arm around Stevie’s shoulders. “Stevie, we thank you for your quick thinking and your courage, and we’d like to present you with this in honor of your bravery.”
Mr. Williams held out a small black box. Stevie opened it. Inside was a golden belt buckle just like the one the champion cowboy had won. “Gosh,” she breathed, awed by the beautiful gift. “Thanks.”
“Hold it up so that everyone can see, Stevie,” Mr. Williams suggested.
Stevie grinned and held the belt buckle high above her head. The whole audience stood up and cheered. Stevie could see Carole and Lisa and Mr. Cate and Polly all clapping for her. Jeremy Barksdale and Karen Nicely and even little Eileen cheered as well. Then she saw a figure climb up on a chair. It was Gabriel, clapping hardest of all.
“Hey, Stevie,” he yelled above the applause. “Catch this!” He stopped clapping and with one hand blew her a big kiss. Everyone in the audience roared!
Stevie’s face reddened with embarrassment. How could Gabriel do that! Everyone knew they’d practically been at each other’s throats throughout the expedition, and now he was blowing her kisses. She turned away from the cheering crowd and shook Mr. Williams’s hand. By the time she returned to her seat, Gabriel had gone to help the men clear away some of the tables for square dancing.
“Hey, Stevie, let’s see what they gave you!” Carole and Lisa grabbed the chairs on either side of Stevie. She laid the belt buckle on the white tablecloth, where it glowed gold in the soft light. Stevie turned it over. Mr. Williams had explained that her name and the date would be engraved on the back.
“Wow,” said Lisa. “It’s just like that cowboy said. You can keep this forever.”
“You sure can.” Carole ran a finger over the buckle. “You can always remember that this was the day you saved my life!”
“Oh, I’ll remember a lot about this day,” said Stevie. “I’ll remember you guys and Tumbleweed and San Antonio Sal …”
“And Gabriel,” teased Lisa.
“Yes, and Gabriel,” Stevie admitted with a smile. “You know, I think you guys were right. He and I do have a mutual crush going. As much as I hated the idea of having to kiss him in front of everybody, I’ll have to admit that I do kind of wonder what it might have been like.”
“So, what’s stopping you?” laughed Carole. “The party’s just beginning.”
Stevie rubbed the belt buckle. “I don’t know. I guess I’m not really, really interested in him.” She shrugged. “I mean, he’s cute and good-looking and he has a lot of nice qualities, but he can’t hold a candle to Phil.”
“But, Stevie, you’ve worried that your relationship with Phil was over ever since we started this trip,” said Lisa. “You’ve convinced yourself that he’s fallen for another girl.”
“I know.” Stevie sighed. “I just realized when I saw Gabriel blow me that kiss that he and I have really been flirting with each other the whole time. Oh, I know that competing in contests and calling each other names doesn’t seem like flirting, but in this case, that’s what it was.” She looked at her friends. “And if I can flirt with Gabriel, how can I expect Phil not to flirt with that cute redhead who’s on the raft with him? I mean, it wouldn’t be fair!”
Carole and Lisa looked at each other and shook their heads. Only Stevie Lake could stew for a whole week about Phil Marsten, grumble about Gabriel Jackson, get herself bamboozled by a goat, save Carole’s life, and then decide that she’d had a crush on Gabriel all along and she didn’t mind if Phil flirted with a cute redhead who probably didn’t even exist!
Carole gave a low whistle. “Stevie,” she said, “when you want to, you sure can cover a lot of ground!”
Just then the band played a single loud chord and Mr. Williams turned the microphone back on. “Okay, everybody. Now Dashing Dan and His Prairie Dog Band are going to provide music for square dancing. All the tables up front have been cleared away, so grab a partner and form your squares!”
Jeremy Barksdale came over and asked Lisa to dance, while a cute boy who’d competed in the calf roping contest grabbed Carole’s hand. As Stevie watched her friends join the dancers, she felt a tap on her shoulder.
“May I have this dance, ma’am?”
Stevie turned. Gabriel, smiling, was holding his arm out for her. She rose and took it, and together they walked to the dance floor.
“I’ve got to admit this is the first time I’ve ever danced with a girl who had a championship rodeo belt buckle,” Gabriel said as they joined hands for a large Texas star.
“Well, this is the first time I’ve ever danced with a boy who could pin a goat in eight seconds,” Stevie laughed.
“And tie a calf in ten,” he added. “And win the quarter-mile race in—”
“Okay, okay,” said Stevie. “It’s just a shame that we’ll never know who would have really won the rodeo.”
Gabriel smiled. “Oh, I don’t know,” he said as he put his arm snugly around her waist an
d swung her in a tight circle. “I kind of think we both did.”
“ISN’T IT WONDERFUL to be home?” Lisa sat on a bale of hay outside Pine Hollow Stables. It was late afternoon, and the girls were watching their horses graze in the front paddock. “I mean, we’ve got hot showers and soft beds and regular clothes and milk that comes out of a refrigerator instead of out of a cow!”
Carole looked up from the stack of photographs in her lap and laughed. “Gosh, Lisa. I thought you were really getting into the pioneer spirit.”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I mean, I really enjoyed the trip and the rodeo and all the people we met,” Lisa said. “I guess I just learned a lot about myself, too.”
“Like what?” asked Carole.
“Like even though it’s neat to do things the way the pioneers did them, I really like living today a whole lot better.”
“I know what you mean,” said Carole. “Experiencing the past is great, but it’s the modern age we’ve got to deal with today.”
“I wonder if she has brown eyes or green eyes?” Stevie worried out loud as she tapped her foot nervously in the dust.
Carole frowned. “Who?”
“Phil’s new girlfriend,” Stevie said morosely, cupping her chin in her hand.
“Maybe she’s got one of each,” suggested Lisa. “There’s a girl in my class like that. It’s really cool.”
“Or maybe she’s got one of all three,” Carole laughed. “One blue, one green, and one brown, right in the middle of her forehead! That would certainly get Phil’s attention.”
“Ha, ha, ha,” Stevie said while her friends collapsed in giggles beside her. “You two don’t seem to be taking this nearly as seriously as I am.”
“I’m sorry, Stevie.” Lisa wiped tears of laughter from her eyes. “It’s just that this wonderful, beautiful, incredibly smart girl is all you’ve thought about ever since we’ve been back. Haven’t you talked to Phil about her on the phone?”
“No. We’ve just played phone tag with each other. I leave him a message, and then he leaves me one back.” Stevie checked her watch. “He’s supposed to be here in five minutes to go with us to TD’s.”
Quarter Horse Page 8
