Dream On (Dare to Dream Book 2), page 25
“Well, time’s-a-wasting and I’ve got a rocket ship to pack. See you later.”
“Say hi to the stars for me.”
“You bet.”
Marley walked out of the kitchen and into the washhouse. She pulled her boots on, then went out the back door and across the yard, stealing a glance back at the kitchen window. Kris was standing at the sink, and Seamus still sitting at the table. Marley slipped out the gate, then paused. The yard and ponies lay ahead of her, and usually she’d go that way without hesitation, but instead she turned to the right, and snuck around the outside of the woodshed. Dropping into a crouch, she crept quickly back towards the house and ducked under the side window. It was open, and she could hear Seamus talking.
“…shoeing some horses in Thames this morning. Do you need me to pick anything up from the feed store while I’m there?”
“You’d better ask Van that,” Kris replied. “She’s got the feeding under control.”
“Okay. What about human food?”
“We’re good. I went shopping yesterday.”
“Grand. All right, I’ll see you later on.”
Marley heard his chair scrape backwards across the kitchen floor, and his footsteps head towards the door. It clicked shut behind him, and then it was just Kris, banging dishes around. Frustrated, Marley stayed where she was for a moment, wondering how to catch them in the act. Because she hadn’t imagined last night, surely…
“What the heck!”
She yelped and stood up quickly, knocking her head on the underside of the open window. The world spun and her head felt as though it had been split open, and Marley stumbled backwards for a couple of steps before she got her bearings. She stared at the window, where Kris was staring at her, looking equally startled with a jug of cold water in her hand.
“What are you doing?”
“Me? What are you doing? Why’d you pour water on me?”
“I was watering the garden,” Kris replied. “What were you doing sitting in the flowerbed?”
“Looking for something.”
Kris raised her eyebrows. “What?”
“My phone,” Marley lied as she rubbed her head where it had connected with the window frame. It hurt like crazy, and she wondered if she might have concussion. It would be all Kris’s fault if she did.
“In the garden?”
Marley shrugged. She’d never been very good at lying. Belatedly she realised she should’ve come up with a line about picking flowers, but it was too late now.
“Well it’s not there. And thanks to you I’m going to have a splitting headache for the rest of the day.”
“Sorry about that.”
“You don’t sound sorry,” Marley pouted.
“Well it’s not like I knew you were there,” Kris replied reasonably. “If you’re going to go around sitting in the flowerbeds, it’s your own fault if you get watered.”
“Maybe I’ll grow,” Marley replied, and Kris laughed.
“Maybe. Now go get those ponies worked.”
“With a bump on my head the size of Africa?” Marley complained. “My helmet will never fit on over it. Guess I can’t wear one today.”
“Guess again,” Kris told her firmly. “The last thing you need is a double concussion.”
“Yeah yeah.” Marley turned and scurried away, and Kris shook her head as she pulled the window shut, then looked over her shoulder at Seamus, who was still standing in the doorway and grinning broadly.
“You were right. She was right under the window.”
“I knew it. She thinks she’s so sneaky.”
“I think she knows.”
“Does it matter?”
Kris thought for a moment. “I guess not. I just…”
Seamus kissed her cheek. “It’s fine. Take your time. I’m not going anywhere.”
The following day, Marley was riding Seattle bareback across the yard when Mike drove in, scattering chickens and spooking the exuberant dappled grey pony into reverse. He climbed out of his ute with an apologetic smile as Marley shook her head at him.
“Trying to break a land speed record?” she teased, rubbing Seattle’s neck reassuringly.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare him.”
“That’s okay, he’s feeling his oats today. I sneezed earlier and he just about leapt out of his skin. Are you here to see Breeze? I didn’t think her rescan was due until next week.”
Mike shook his head. “You’re right. I came to see Van, actually.” He scratched the back of his neck nervously as he spoke, and Marley quirked an eyebrow at him.
“Well then, I’ll keep out of your way. She’s up in the barn, trying to clean tack with one hand because I told her that she wouldn’t be able to. Honestly, the things you can get her to do just by saying they’re impossible for her. It’s quite ridiculous.” She nudged Seattle into his springy walk and rode away as Mike walked up the track to the barn.
He heard Van before he saw her, singing along to pop songs on the blaring radio as she stripped bridles down for cleaning. Mike turned the volume down as he walked in, and she turned with a frown that eased when she saw who it was.
“Hello stranger.” She looked at him suspiciously as he eyed her cast. “Before you ask, I’m fine and yes I can manage.”
Mike held up his hands in surrender. “Never occurred to me that you couldn’t.” He watched her as she struggled to undo the buckle of a cheekpiece, but knew better than to offer to help. “I came to ask you a favour, actually.”
Van raised her eyebrows as she wrestled with the leather strap. “Did you just?”
Mike leaned against the doorframe and shoved his hands into the pockets of his faded jeans. “You remember I told you ages ago about this vet school reunion party that I was invited to?”
“I remember.” Van lowered the partially dismantled bridle and looked at him.
He shrugged, hands still in his pockets. “Well it’s next weekend, and I wondered if you still wanted to go with me. I know things aren’t great between us at the moment, and you can say no, but I didn’t want to ask anyone else without…well, I didn’t want to ask anyone else.”
Van looked at the broad span of his shoulders, the stubble across his jaw, the pleading look in his eyes. He was a hard man to say no to. “As friends?”
His brow creased, but he nodded. “Sure, as friends. No agenda, I swear, I just want to spend an evening with you before you leave.”
“Okay.”
“Yeah?” His face lit up, and Van returned his smile.
“Yes, I will go to the ball with you.”
“I’ll have you home by midnight,” he promised, and she laughed. Glancing at his watch, Mike straightened up. “Damn, I have to go. But I’ll see you next Saturday. Pick you up at eight?”
“All right.”
He grinned, then turned to leave. Barely more than two steps later, he spun on his heel and stuck his head back around the door. “You should know that this is a formal gathering. So you will have to wear shoes. Maybe even a dress.”
“Get out of here,” she told him, throwing her tack sponge at his head. He laughed and pulled his head out of the way, and Van was still smiling as he left.
* * *
“Sit up tall, more inside leg.”
Jake leaned back against the jump stand and watched, hands in his pockets as Marley rode Maggie around the arena. It was a hot day and was only going to get warmer, but once Maggie’s lesson was over, the ponies would all have been worked and the rest of the day would be theirs to spend together. The girls had decided to have a weekend off competing, and with Mihi away staying with her cousins, Jake was looking forward to having some uninterrupted time in Marley’s company.
“Stay straight with your upper body, bend her around the inside leg. More bend!” Kris insisted.
“She doesn’t think she can do it,” Marley told her sister, and Maggie quantified her statement by plunging her head down between her knees and trying to buck.
“It’s shoulder-in, not rocket science,” Kris replied firmly. “And we’re only asking for a few steps. She has to learn to try, not just quit on you every time she finds herself outside of her comfort zone. Ask her again.”
Marley nodded, riding through the turn again and then down the long side of the arena, asking Maggie to bring her shoulders off the outside rail and work on three tracks. It was a fairly basic dressage manoeuvre, one that all of Marley’s other ponies had learned as part of their early training. Even the inexperienced Seattle would give it a shot, but Maggie wasn’t having a bar of it, and she fought Marley every inch of the way.
“Okay, give her a break, you’re just making her mad,” Kris said in exasperation. “Put her over a jump or two if you want, let her loosen up and start thinking forwards again, then we’ll come back to the shoulder-in.”
Marley clicked her tongue, pushing Maggie forward into a canter. They progressed around the arena in a series of silly leaps and bucks, and in desperation to try to get the pony focused, Marley turned her across the arena towards the jump set up in the middle. It was a medium height oxer that she’d been schooling Gigi over earlier that day, neither particularly high nor excessively difficult. But as soon as Maggie realised that Marley’s intention was to jump it, she skidded to a stop and threw her head back violently. The crest of her neck slammed into Marley’s face, her short mane grazing Marley’s cheek and stunning her momentarily. Maggie pivoted on her hind legs and shot forward, bucking hard. Dazed and half-blinded by her watering eyes, Marley lost her balance as Maggie spun, slipping to the right and losing her stirrup. And this time Maggie didn’t save her. Instead she leapt in the opposite direction, depositing Marley into the dirt, and aimed a vicious kick at her that only barely missed the side of her head before galloping away.
Kris was running towards her sister, and ducked out of the way of the feisty mare as Maggie shot past her. The pony swerved past Jake, lined up the arena gate and jumped easily over it, then galloped off up to the barn, her reins and stirrups flapping.
“Are you okay?” Kris was crouched down next to Marley, who was spread-eagled on the arena surface.
Marley sat up, nodding and wiping her still watering eyes. “I guess it’s fair to say that I didn’t see that coming.” She blinked and looked around. “Where did my pony go?”
“Jumped the gate and took off,” Kris said, rolling her eyes.
Jake was on his knees next to her, and he looked at Kris, wondering if she expected him to go and fetch the pony. He’d probably have more luck catching her than Kris would, but he didn’t want to leave Marley’s side. After a short pause, Kris got to her feet.
“I’ll go make sure she hasn’t hung herself up on a fence or something,” she said, walking away as Jake helped Marley to stand. She groaned as she got to her feet, and dusted herself off.
“I think she got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.” She sighed. “She was going so well. Why did she have to go and ruin it like that?” Jake shrugged, saying nothing, but Marley frowned at his expression. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“That’s not nothing face.”
“You said you’d never make her do anything she didn’t want to do.”
Marley’s brow furrowed. “Well, yeah. I meant jumping.”
“Did you?”
“It’s a few steps of shoulder-in,” Marley argued. “It’s not hard. And it’s not optional. She has to do it.”
“Why?”
“Because.”
Jake raised an eyebrow, and Marley shrugged. They stood in silence until Kris returned with the nervous pony, her hand holding the reins firmly under Maggie’s chin. Marley walked over to them and took the reins, then asked Jake for a leg-up.
“Now, let’s try that again,” Kris said as Jake boosted her sister into the saddle. “Forget the jump, let’s go for the shoulder-in. Just a couple of strides will do.”
Marley glanced down at Jake, then shook her head. “No. She doesn’t want to do it.”
“She doesn’t get a choice,” Kris said.
“Yes she does. That’s why she’s here, remember?” Marley turned the pony to the gate and rode back through it.
“Where are you going?” Kris called, and Marley looked over her shoulder and smiled.
“To have some fun.”
She urged the mare into a canter, not caring whether she shied or plunged, just sitting tight and letting Maggie enjoy herself. It had been far too long since she’d done this, but it was what Maggie needed. And moments later, as she drew the eager mare to a halt at the top of the hill and looked out over their picturesque farm, for a moment it wasn’t Maggie’s dark ears that she saw in front of her. For just a moment, she was back on Cruise, seeing instead his brown ears edged in black, his arched neck and thick mane that changed colour halfway down. Maggie tossed her head restlessly, and the vision faded. Marley turned the mare back towards the farm, and the pony danced keenly forward, enjoying herself.
“I should’ve done this ages ago,” Marley told her. “Sorry. You don’t need to be drilled, you need to just enjoy life.” And as she spoke, she realised that she wasn’t the only one who could benefit from this reminder.
Van was slathering peanut butter on toast when Seamus walked into the kitchen that afternoon.
“How’s your arm?”
“Fine. How’s your face?”
“Gorgeous,” Seamus said with a deadpan expression, and Van snorted as he motioned towards the calendar on the wall. “Couldn’t help but notice this, the other day.”
Van peeled a banana and looked up at his hand. “They don’t have calendars in Ireland? Talk about behind the times.”
“Smart aleck. It’s your sister’s birthday on Friday.”
Van looked surprised. “Oh yeah.” She cut the banana into chunks and started mushing it onto her toast. Seamus watched her with a disgusted expression for a moment, then looked back at the calendar. “So what’s the plan for the big day?”
Van shrugged. “Nothing much. You know what Kris is like, she hates anyone making a fuss over her. Marley usually bakes a cake, but she’s been slacking off lately.” She took a large bite out of her toast and chewed thoughtfully. “We don’t have enough money to bother spending it on each other, so we bypass presents and just do each other’s chores or something.”
Seamus shook his head as he leaned back against the sink. “Well that’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard. Everyone likes a bit of fuss on their birthday,” he countered. “Let’s do something different. Go out for dinner or the like. There’s a new Italian restaurant in town, I saw it the other day, thought it might be worth trying...”
“What’re you two talking about?” Marley asked as she walked into the room and eyed Van’s second piece of toast. “Oh yum. Split it?”
Seamus pulled a face as Van tore the toast in half and handed one piece to her sister. “Kris’s birthday,” she told her. “It’s in a couple of days, and Seamus wants to go out for dinner.”
“Does he?” Marley said, a twinkle appearing in her eyes. “How romantic.”
Seamus folded his arms and raised an eyebrow at Marley, whose wide grin was daring him to deny it. They stared at each other for a moment as Van munched her toast, her eyes flickering between them in vague curiosity, then Seamus gave up.
“All right then, let’s have it,” he said.
Marley’s grin widened and she sat down quickly, her hands clasped together on the table. “When did it start?”
“Wait, what?” Van looked at Seamus in astonishment. “You and Kris are–?” He nodded sheepishly, and her eyes flew to Marley. “You knew about this, and you didn’t tell me?”
“How could you not already know?” Marley countered, conveniently forgetting that it was Mihi who’d had to point it out to her. “It’s so obvious.”
Van’s head swivelled back to Seamus. “How long has this been going on?” she demanded.
Seamus just looked speculatively at Marley, who considered for a moment.
“At least since before Tauranga,” she decided. “Maybe earlier. Since Nationals?”
Seamus cracked a small smile. “Keep going.”
Van slapped her palms down on the table in disbelief as Marley’s grin widened still further. “New Year’s?”
Van snapped her fingers affirmatively before Seamus could respond. “Kris told me you stayed up all night with her when Marley went missing. You sly devil.”
Seamus allowed a slight nod, and Marley grinned. “Well in that case, you’re welcome.”
Van rolled her eyes. “Yeah, your brilliant plan to get lost and almost die of exposure was totally worth it.”
“Clearly it was,” Marley replied as they heard footsteps coming down the hall. All three looked at each other and broke into broad smiles as Kris walked into the room with a bag of groceries in each hand. She looked at them all in surprise.
“What’s going on in here?”
“Oh, nothing. We’re just all catching up on the latest gossip,” Marley told her sister, then jumped to her feet and flung her arms around her. “And we’re very happy for you both.”
Kris flushed scarlet and shot a panicked look at Seamus, who held his hands up in surrender. “I didn’t say anything. They worked it out for themselves. Well, one of them did. The other one’s a little slower off the mark,” he corrected, jerking a thumb towards Van, who retaliated by throwing the last of her toast at him. He sidestepped and it hit the kitchen window, sliding slowly down the glass and leaving a dirty smear behind.
“We’re all caught up now, anyway,” Marley told Kris as she released her sister and grabbed the grocery bags out of her hands, then dumped them on the table. “Are there more of these in the car? We’ll get them. C’mon Van, let’s leave these two lovebirds alone.”
Marley left the room, humming happily to herself as Van followed her to the door, still looking slightly stunned. She turned in the doorway and looked at her sister quizzically.
