High Hurdles (74 page)

Chapter • 16

“I’m really glad you’re home . . . and safe.”

“Me too.” DJ looked up from her history book. “Come on in, Mom. I’m almost done.”

Lindy sat down on the edge of the bed. “It felt like you were gone forever. And listening to the news about the water rising . . . DJ, all I could do was pray.”

DJ leaned back in her chair and crossed one ankle over her other knee. “You were praying for me?”

“Yes, almost continually. As were Gran and Joe and Amy and Robert and Bobby and Billy—”

“God answered, right?”

Lindy nodded. “I’ve decided something.”

DJ caught her breath. 
Now what?
 But her mother’s face didn’t wear gloom and doom. “What?”

“I’ve decided I’m going to make prayer a regular part of my life. I know Mom says we aren’t supposed to bargain with God, but I told Him that if He would bring you safely home, I would put Him at the center of my life.”

DJ felt like fireworks had just exploded, sending sparkles cascading in her mind.

“Now, I’m not exactly sure what I agreed to, but I intend to live up to it.”

“Gran and I’ve been praying for you about this for a long time.” The words tumbled out. DJ knew if she said much more, she would either explode and bounce off the walls or fall apart in tears. “Have you told Robert?”

Lindy nodded. “And my mother.”

“So you believe Jesus is God’s son?”

“I’ve believed that since I was a teenager but . . .”

DJ waited for the rest of the sentence. When none came, she leaned forward. “But?”

“But I let life take over and thought I could handle it all myself.” Lindy shook her head. “Silly, huh?”

DJ got up and crossed to the bed, sitting down beside her mother. “Mom, this is the best present you could ever give me.”

Lindy looked up, one side of her mouth quirked in a mini smile. “Even better than an Arabian filly of your own?”

DJ scrunched her eyes as if she was trying hard to make up her mind. “Yup, even better than Stormy.” Her grin said she was teasing.

With a gentle and loving hand, Lindy smoothed a lock of hair back from DJ’s cheek. “Brad was so proud of you—said he couldn’t have made it through without your help. I am, too. I know what a level-headed, responsible kid you are.”

“Most of the time,” DJ joked.

“Most of the time, yes—and what more can a parent ask for?” She hugged her daughter close. “Guess what?” she whispered in DJ’s ear. “Six more days till the wedding! I think I’m going to have a nervous breakdown.”

“Not with your level-headed, responsible daughter on your tail, you won’t.”

The two laughed and hugged again.

“If what they say about a bad dress rehearsal being good for the actual performance holds true, then this wedding will go like a dream,” Lindy said when DJ came down the stairs on Saturday morning.

“Last night wasn’t 
that
 bad.” DJ smiled at her mother, sitting in Gran’s wing chair with her Bible on her lap. “You look good like that.”

“Like what?”

“Reading like Gran in her chair.”

Lindy nodded. “It just feels right to sit here to read my Bible. Must be all those prayers that were offered up from this very place.”

DJ came over and sat beside her mother’s feet, leaning against Lindy’s knee. “It feels good, too.”

Lindy stroked down the entire length of her daughter’s hair. “You have such beautiful hair, DJ. How about if I style it for you for the wedding?”

“Okay by me. Are you going to have your hair done?”

“No, Robert asked me to wear it like I always do, so that’s what I’m doing. I want this wedding to be a celebration that everyone will enjoy, not a fancy show.”

Three hours later, all dressed in their wedding finery, Gran, Lindy, and DJ waited in the narthex of the church. All the guests had been seated, and the organ played a medley of hymns.

“These shoes pinch my feet,” DJ muttered for Gran’s ears only. DJ smoothed a hand down the front of her high-necked dusty rose satin dress. The sleeves, puffed at the top and fitted from elbow to wrist, made her feel like she had stepped out of the pages of an earlier time. The toe-length skirt swished, playing a melody of its own with every move she made. If princesses felt like this, DJ figured she could handle the role. She sniffed the miniature roses and carnations in her nosegay. They smelled almost but not quite as good as a horse.

“You look lovely, darlin’. You can take the shoes off after it’s over. I brought your white sandals just in case,” Gran whispered back.

“Leave it to you to be prepared.” DJ turned to her mother. “Mom, you look fantabulous. Are you as happy as you look?”

Lindy nodded. “You know those butterflies you talk about before a show class?” DJ nodded. “How do you get them to fly in formation?”

DJ chuckled. “I concentrate on my horse until I enter the ring. Once I’m there, they fly together like they’re supposed to. Works every time.”

“Okay.” Lindy took a deep breath and let it all out. “Here we go. Let’s enter the ring!”

At a signal from the usher, the organist began the “Wedding March,” and the doors swung open.

DJ listened for the beat and started out on her left foot like she’d been told. She held her bouquet of red carnations and white lilies in front of her and rubbed the ring she wore on her thumb. The ring that Lindy would place on Robert’s finger.

She glided down the aisle, smiling at Brad and Jackie in one row, and the Yamamoto family in another. Amy gave her a thumbs-up signal.

When DJ reached the front, she smiled up at Robert; at Joe, who was best man; then down at Bobby and Billy. She winked at them, and they clapped their hands over their mouths to keep from giggling.

DJ turned and watched Gran and Lindy start through the door. While the shoulder-length veil hid her mother’s face, she seemed to be lit from within with a glow that turned the simple cream-colored satin dress to radiant shimmers. Beside her, Gran beamed at everyone as their march down the aisle began. Everyone stood in honor of the bride.

DJ felt like cheering and crying all at once. She wanted to jump and shout, “Hey, that beautiful woman in satin is my mother—and the other one is my grandmother.”

When the completed party was at the front, DJ moved to stand beside her mother and Gran so the three of them faced the altar. The minister asked, “Who gives this woman to this man?”

Gran and DJ replied together, “We do.”

“Us too,” the twins added with serious faces.

DJ, Lindy, and Gran hugged each other, barely able to keep from laughing. Then Robert gently took Lindy’s hand and brought her forward. DJ took her place next to her mother, and Gran moved in next to her.

Feeling someone tug on her skirt, DJ looked down into the smiling faces of the twins, one on each side.

“Are you our sister yet?” Billy—or was it Bobby?—asked in his idea of a whisper. Those at the back of the church could hear it as well as those chuckling in the front.

DJ shook her head. “Soon.”

The verses were read, the soloist sang, and the vows given in strong voices.

“Is she our mother yet?” Another dual whisper.

“Soon.” DJ pulled the ring off her thumb and handed it to her mother. At least her part of the ceremony was done. The rings were exchanged and prayers said. As Robert kissed his bride, Bobby and Billy grinned at each other, clapped their hands, and threw themselves at Lindy’s skirts. “Now we’s a family!”

Laughter rippled through the room, and Robert and Lindy hugged both the boys and DJ.

“They’re right, you know,” Robert said for all the guests to hear. “We 
are
 a family now, praise God.” To the applause of their family and friends, he tucked Lindy’s hand in his arm and said, “Follow us, kids.” The five of them, trailed by a laughing Gran and Joe, marched back down the aisle.

“Can we eat now?” one of the boys asked.

“I want cake,” stated the other.

“Soon,” DJ answered again. “Very soon.”

They stepped out into the bright sun, and DJ raised her face to the warm rays. The storm clouds had passed, and they were headed into a bright new day—as a family.

Books by

Lauraine Snelling

Golden Filly Collection One *

Golden Filly Collection Two *
High Hurdles Collection One *

High Hurdles Collection Two *

Secret Refuge

Daughter of Twin Oaks

Dakotah Treasures

Ruby • Pearl

Opal • Amethyst

Daughters of Blessing

A Promise for Ellie • Sophie’s Dilemma

A Touch of Grace • Rebecca’s Reward

Home to Blessing

A Measure of Mercy • No Distance Too Far

A Heart for Home

Red River of the North

An Untamed Land • A New Day Rising

A Land to Call Home • The Reaper’s Song

Tender Mercies • Blessing in Disguise

Return to Red River

A Dream to Follow • Believing the Dream

More Than a Dream

* 5 books in each volume