High Hurdles (53 page)

“I didn’t have the recipe before.” Gran poured coffee for her and Joe and set a mug of hot chocolate in front of DJ. “You want a drop of coffee in that?”

“Mocha? You bet.” DJ took a swallow. “Thanks, Gran, you’re the best.”

“After Christmas we’ll have to invite Shawna to stay over.” Joe leaned back in his chair. Shawna, who dreamed of taking riding lessons someday, was the only daughter of Joe’s son Andy.

As he proceeded to impress Gran with tales of their ride, DJ felt locked on the words “after Christmas.” After Christmas—next week to be exact—she would be going to her father’s house for the first time. Three days away from Major, and three days with a man she hardly knew. Could she stand it?

Chapter
•
15

Having lots of relatives sure made a difference at Christmastime.

Early in the afternoon, DJ gave Major his gift—extra horse cookies and a new halter. She gave Patches a treat and then went to see Bandit and Megs. The mare greeted her like a long-lost friend, making DJ feel guilty for not paying the retired jumper more attention since she got her own horse. She’d begun jumping lessons on Megs, Bridget’s show horse of many years.

“See you tomorrow,” she told Bandit. “You’ll have plenty of kids to entertain.” Bandit snuffled in DJ’s pocket for more treats and was rewarded with a carrot piece. “You’re too smart for your own good.” She gave him an extra pat, and after making sure Major had fresh water and hay and had finished his grain, she trotted out to ride her bike home. Sun peeked through the patchy clouds, and while the weather announcers said storms were lining up out on the Pacific, tomorrow was supposed to be nice.

Since Amy and her family had already left for the weekend to visit her grandparents, DJ rode alone. Joe had offered her a ride, but as he and Gran were hosting everyone for dinner, she’d done his chores at the Academy, too. Tonight would be like Thanksgiving had been—one long slumber party.

“Hurry up or we’ll be late,” Lindy called from her bathroom as soon as DJ mounted the stairs.

“I’m hurrying.” DJ draped her horsy jeans and shirt over the back of a chair. They weren’t dirty, just full of horse hair and stuff. She’d wear them for chores in the morning. Honestly, if her mother had her way, the smell of horses would never pass the kitchen door. What was going to happen at their new house when the twins had ponies and she had Major? How would her mother stand it?

DJ climbed into the shower. Thoughts like that always gave her the shivers. Life had changed so much already, and as far as she could see, it was changing big time in the months ahead.

Her mother gave her a didn’t-you-have-something-nicer-to-wear-than-that look when they met downstairs. DJ shrugged. Compared to her mother, she looked casual. But at least she wasn’t wearing jeans and a T-shirt. She had on navy corduroy pants and a real shirt with buttons up the front. She’d even ironed it. If she could have found a belt, the outfit would have looked more put together, but she was running late. As usual, the look from her mother said.

DJ picked up the last box of presents and followed her mother out to the car. They’d already taken over most of the wrapped packages, including the big one from her father, the day before. Once in the car, DJ thought again about the big box. More than once, she’d been tempted to open it very carefully, peek in, and wrap it back up.

She glanced at her mother. What would she have done if she caught her daughter sneaking a peek at Christmas presents? DJ grinned. It wasn’t worth the chance of being found out, so she’d left well enough alone. Whatever it was sure felt heavy when she shook it—accidentally, of course.

Every light in Gran and Joe’s house was on, and the outside looked like a fairyland with small white lights around the windows, doors, trees, and along the roof peak. DJ had helped Joe and Robert put them up two weeks earlier.

“Isn’t it lovely?” Lindy breathed. “Robert said next year we are going to do our house.” She leaned on the steering wheel. “You know, we haven’t put up outside lights since Grandpa died. Do you remember the way he used to decorate?”

DJ shook her head. “I was just a twerp, Mom. The only thing I remember was that the tree was always in the living room corner.” She gathered the shopping bags and presents and opened the car door. Gran had carols playing on an outside speaker.

“O Holy Night, the stars are brightly shining . . .”

DJ looked up. The carol was right.

They were the last to arrive. Andy and Sonya with daughter, Shawna, greeted them in the doorway and led the way to stack the remaining presents under the tree, now nearly hidden by gaily wrapped packages.

After dinner at warp speed, the entire family trooped off to the Christmas Eve service. This year, they hadn’t waited for the midnight service because of the younger children. They all accepted their white candle with its cardboard shield at the door, and with one twin on each side, DJ followed Robert into the pew. The church glowed with candlelight, and the organ swelled with the age-old carols.

DJ breathed in the scent of evergreens, shushed the boys, and closed her eyes for just a moment. This was her favorite service of the year. A hush fell as if the entire roomful of people stopped breathing at the same instant.

A violin sang the opening bars of “What Child Is This?” joined by a flute and finally the piano. Times like this, DJ wished she’d taken time to learn to play an instrument. She could feel the music tugging at her throat, making the backs of her eyes burn. The words crescendoed in her mind: “This, this is Christ the King . . .”

She put an arm around each of the twins and hugged them to her.

As the verses told the story of the Christ child’s birth, she thought of the shepherds, smelled the hay in the stable, and imagined a cow lowing. It was easy to be there in her mind. Her fingers itched to draw the scene.

“Come, see where He lay,” the pastor announced from the pulpit. “He came for you and for me, giving up all His godly powers—He who was at the beginning of creation. Think of it! He did this for you, for me, for all people. Think what it would be like if you left all your human qualities and took on being a grasshopper. He who brought us into being gave up being God—for us.”

DJ leaned forward, elbows on her knees. Bobby and Billy did the same.

“He loves us that much.”

She flashed a glance at her mother, sitting on the other side of Robert. Were those tears shimmering in her eyes? The burning behind her own eyes grew more insistent.

“No matter what we do, no matter how hard we try to run away, even when we try to ignore Him, He loves us.”

At the end of the sermon, when everyone stood for the hymn, DJ felt like hugging everyone who stood around her. The choir sang during the offering, then the lights dimmed. The altar candles were extinguished, and the tree darkened.

The pastor walked down to stand directly in front of the congregation, a tall, thick candle in the hands of one of the teenagers beside him. “We read from the first chapter of the gospel of John, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. . . . In him was life, and that life was the light of men.’ ”

Two more teens came forward, lit their candles at the pastor’s, and one by one the light moved down the center aisle and then out into the rows. “Silent night, holy night . . .” When each person had lit a candle, then he could begin singing.

The boys fidgeted beside DJ. When the candle came to their row, DJ watched as each member of her family lit a candle from the one beside. The Bs bounced in their excitement. Gran held her candle steady and the first twin dipped his, oohing at the light he now held. DJ lit hers, sharing her flame with the second twin, who shared his with Robert.

DJ felt an uneasy flutter in her stomach as the sea of flames around her grew. She took a deep breath. Both boys proudly held their candles up to her face to show her the flames. A fist seemed to grab her throat as hot wax dripped onto her hand.
Fire!
She felt the familiar fear take hold. Was someone screaming?

Chapter
•
16

“DJ, you all right?”

“Please, DJ!”

The boys’ cries sounded as if they were a mile away.

“I . . . I’m fine.” DJ blinked and took a deep breath. Robert held her hands in his, and Gran wrapped her arm around her granddaughter’s shoulders. “Wh-what h-happened?”

“The fire, darlin’. You know how the memories can affect you. I suppose all the candles . . .” Gran’s whisper in her ear brought DJ back to the moment. What had she done? Gone all kooky again? How embarrassing.

DJ looked to see tears pooling in the big blue eyes of the Double Bs. “Hey, guys, you didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just me . . . and . . . and fire. We don’t get along too well.” She forced the words past the desert in her throat. All around them, people were extinguishing their candles as the lights came back up. The pastor gave the blessing, and the organ broke into “Joy to the World.”

DJ stood with the rest of them. She rubbed the wax off her wrist and covered the scar in the middle of her palm with the other hand.
All because of a couple silly little candles. What kind of a weirdo am I?

The boys glued themselves to her side, shooting her anxious looks when they thought she wasn’t looking. On the ride back to Gran’s, the conversation flowed around her as though she were a rock in the middle of the stream. And like a rock, she had no voice—except inside her head, where several voices argued about how stupid she was. She rubbed the scar again as if the action would bring back the memory. One day she would have to ask Gran again how it had all happened.

“It’s okay, darlin’,” Gran said, pulling DJ close as they walked up the sidewalk to the house. The luminaries they’d made out of brown sacks with a candle and sand in them lit the way.

“I spoiled the service for everyone.”

“No, no one around us even noticed.”

“Was I screaming?”

“Of course not. Did you think you were?”

DJ nodded. “I heard someone screaming, but now that I think about it, it sounded like a little kid.” She took a deep breath. “Well, that’s over.” She grabbed one of the twins by the back of his jacket. “First one into the house gets to turn on the tree!”

Later they hung all the stockings from the fireplace mantel and stood back to admire them.

“Santa’s got a big job there,” Robert said. “You think he’s up to it?”

“Santa’s going to bring me a pony,” one of the twins announced.

“Me too.” The other looked up at their father. “That’s all I asked for.”

Robert groaned. The other adults snickered.

“Okay, bedtime.” Robert clapped his hands. “Santa can’t come till you’re asleep.”

DJ debated whether to stay up longer, but the look in Shawna’s eyes made her decide to hit the sack. She and Shawna were sharing the bed, and the boys had sleeping bags on the floor in the grandkids’ room. She heard her mother leave with Andy and Sonya while Robert headed for the other guest room. Slowly the house settled down. She shushed the boys again, and Shawna giggled softly.

“Daddy!”

“What now?” Robert came to the door.

“I wanna drink of water.”

“Me too.”

Robert brought two plastic glasses. “Last time. I hear one more peep from you two, and no Santa.”

More giggles. Quiet again.

“Tomorrow we get to ride,” Shawna whispered. “I can’t wait.”

“You want to spend a couple of days of your Christmas vacation out here with me?”

“Really?”

“If it’s okay with your mom,” DJ whispered back.

“That would be the best Christmas present ever.”

DJ fell asleep hearing the violin and flute soar with the notes of “What Child Is This?”

“DJ, wake up. It’s Christmas!” Four small hands tugged at her blankets and patted her cheeks.

“Go ’way,” she mumbled, scrunching her eyes closed.

“Come see the presents.”

“Now, DJ.” A giggle, then another.

DJ opened one eye. “It’s still dark out. You can’t get up till it’s light.” She covered her head with the quilt.

“We can
turn
on the lights.”

“Nope. No Christmas till it’s light outside. Hit the sack, guys.”

“Go get Daddy,” she heard one whisper.

“No, you don’t. Let him sleep. Let
me
sleep—just till light.”

Shawna smothered a giggle beside her.

DJ closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep. All she could see was that big box. Today she’d find out what was in it! She could hear the boys turning over and over. They whispered about as quietly as a train whistled.

“Okay, fine—go get your poor daddy up.”

They erupted from their sleeping bags with matching shrieks and streaked down the hall.

“Quietly,” DJ sighed. “Come on, Shawna, we don’t want to miss anything.”

“No presents until everyone gets here,” Robert decreed when he met her in the hall. “And until the adults get their first cup of coffee.” He rubbed his eyes and winked at DJ. “Thanks for keeping them down for a little while longer.”

“You heard?”

“Of course.” He gave her a one-armed hug on his way to the kitchen, where the tempting smells of coffee and cinnamon rolls beckoned. Gran even had the table set already.

DJ sat cross-legged on the floor with the boys, who were eagerly digging in their stockings, spreading their treasures all around. Tiny packages were tightly bound with tape to slow their nimble fingers. When they reached the sock toes, each held up a shiny silver dollar.

Shawna and DJ joined the excitement and dug into their stockings. By the time DJ had unwrapped each small treasure, she had new drawing pencils, erasers, hair scrunchies, a booklet of coupons for the local hamburger place, gum, mints, a popcorn ball, a tangerine, and a pomegranate.

“What’s that?” The boys abandoned their socks to come examine hers.

“A pomegranate.”

“What do you do with it?”

“Eat the seeds. I’ll show you later.” She dug down to the toe of her stocking and retrieved her silver dollar.

“We gots those in our banks.”

“Daddy said not to spend them—they special.”

“You are, too.” She ruffled their curls and set them to giggling with tickles. Her eye kept wandering back to the big box set to the back of the tree.

By the time everyone finally congregated in the living room, the boys were wound tighter than a twister.

“Shawna, you want to play Santa Claus?” Robert asked.

“I thought that was my job,” Andy moaned.

“I get to help.”

“Me too.” The twins bounced in front of the tree.

“Okay, okay.” Shawna sat by the tree, dug out the gifts, read the names, and handed the boxes to the boys to deliver. With everyone waiting to watch each person open a present, DJ could tell this would be a long process. Should she ask for the big box first? If only it hadn’t been stashed behind the other presents!

Soon brightly colored paper and ribbons decorated the floor in spite of Gran’s continual folding. Robert wore a wobbly smile when he thanked DJ for the framed drawing, and the note cards were a huge success. The pile of gifts beside DJ continued to grow. She’d never have to buy clothes again—or drawing paper.

It took both boys to carry the big box to her. She split the paper open with trembling fingers.

“Who’s it from?” Bobby asked. DJ had pinned name tags on the twins earlier, saying, “I’m going to figure out who’s who or bust.”

“My . . .” What to call him? “My father.” She glanced up to catch a frown streak across her mother’s face.

“Hurry, DJ, I wanna see.”

“So do I, guys, so back up!” She grinned and tickled the little boy to make him scoot back. Slowly she unfolded the flaps and got up on her knees to look into the box. Pushing aside the packing material, she stopped breathing. “Oh.” Her breath came back on a sigh. “A saddle.” She looked under the saddle leather for the brass nameplate. “A Crosby.”

DJ lifted out the saddle, scattering foam peanuts in the action. She stroked the fine leather. Never had she dreamed of having such a fine saddle. She’d been saving for a used one. A Crosby all-purpose saddle, she could use this one for jumping, for dressage, and just riding. She looked up to see Robert and her mother exchange meaningful glances.

“There’s more.” Billy lifted out a new headstall.

Her father wouldn’t have known she already had a new one, given to her by Angie’s family after the beesting incident.

DJ opened the card attached to the stirrup.
I hope you can use this,
her father had written.
If you need something more, or if the saddle doesn’t fit just right, we can always exchange it
.

“Sit in it, DJ!” a twin squeaked.

“No, can’t do that unless it’s on a horse, or you can break the tree.”

“What tree?”

Joe saved her explaining. “Well, that is some surprise.” He broke the silence that had fallen on the adults. “I know you’ll get a lot of good use out of that. Shawna, there’s another box for DJ behind the tree.”

This one held a new blue blanket for Major. It even had his name sewn in the corner. The card read
With all our love, Gran and GJ
. DJ leaped from the floor and threw her arms around them both. “Thank you. You knew mine was pretty ratty.”

Shawna came over and stroked DJ’s new saddle. “Sure is pretty.”

Robert and Andy slapped their knees and rose in sync. “Far as I know, there’s still one more present.” Robert looked at Joe. “You ready, Dad? This is kind of a present from the whole family.”

“I guess. What did you young pups get into now?” Joe got to his feet, ribbons and bits of paper slipping to the floor.

“Hmmm. How are we going to do this?” The two brothers grinned at each other.

“I say we blindfold the bunch and lead ’em out,” Andy suggested. “Gran, you got any extra dish towels?”

“How many do you need?”

“Ummm . . .” Robert counted. “Joe, DJ, Shawna, the twins . . . five’ll do it.” As soon as all the blindfolds were in place, they led the staggering, giggling parade outside.

“Where are we going?” DJ blew the corner of her blindfold off her lips.

“You’ll see. Step carefully now.” Lindy had DJ’s hand.

DJ shuffled her feet. How strange to be blinded like this. What was going on?

“Okay, what’s up?” Joe asked ahead of her.

“You’ll see.”

“Hey, Billy, no peeking.”

“Are you ready? Now, on three, you can all take off your blindfolds. One, two, three!”

DJ whipped the dish towel off her head and gasped.

“Well, I’ll be!” Joe let out a roar. “You, you . . .”

DJ looked at Shawna with a grin.

“But I don’t have a horse.” Shawna looked to her father. A sudden grin lit her face like a megawatt candle. “But I get one, don’t I?”

“As soon as we find one we all like.”

She ran and threw herself into her father’s arms.

DJ let herself be pulled forward till she stood next to the shiny silver four-horse trailer. A huge red ribbon was tied in a bow on top of the roof.

“Look at that. Dual wheels.” Joe placed a hand on DJ’s shoulder. “And a changing room.”

DJ opened the door and peeked inside. Two tiny whirlwinds zipped around her and began exploring.

“How come for us?”

“ ’Cause we gets ponies!”

Shawna ducked under her arm. “DJ, I’m getting a horse—you heard him.” The light still shone in her face.

“Who do we thank?” DJ turned to the rest of the family, all lined up watching and laughing at the new trailer owners.

“Check the card.” Robert pointed to an envelope fastened to the ribbon streamer.

DJ opened it, and Joe read. “To our horse people, with love from Robert, Lindy, Andy, Sonya, and Gran.”

“How did you manage to get this here without me noticing?” Joe asked.

“We’ll never tell.” Robert had his arm around Lindy’s shoulder. “Besides, if Lindy and I get horses, we’ll need a larger one.”

DJ felt her jaw hit her chest and bounce back up to snap closed. Her mother? On a horse? That would be the day. She crossed to the group and, starting with her mom, gave them all hugs and thank-yous. What a day. What an incredible, four-star, awesome, wonderful day! A saddle
and
a horse trailer.