Wild Honey (19 page)

“Tell me why the sky's so blue

And then I'll tell you just why I love you….”

Sam's eyes moved to Mrs. Allen's shining face. She looked up at Preston, who seemed as embarrassed by this ceremony as he had been when his fiancée had told everyone his first name was Phineas and that was why he went by his last name, Preston.

He'd laughed, though, when she said she thought “Finny” was a perfectly lovely nickname and that he had given her just the “darlingest” engagement present—a black-and-white rooster named Lucky.

“Because God made the stars to shine.

Because God made the ivy twine.”

Sam noticed Sheriff Ballard fanning himself with the lyric sheet. He wasn't following along, but he wasn't grumping like he had been all week, either. Every time Sam had heard him talking to Dad, he'd been complaining that he didn't have time to be parceling out all the fighting roosters to local ranchers. He kept doing it, though, and Sam thought he
was just dissatisfied because even though he'd tracked Flick to Lost Canyon through the cell phone's global positioning system, he still hadn't found Karl Mannix, and Linc Slocum was harassing him relentlessly.

“Because God made the skies so blue.

Because God made you, that's why I love you!”

As everyone clapped and blew out their candles and Gram turned the lights back up, Sam noticed that Dad and Brynna still stood with shoulders touching. Tears ran down Brynna's cheeks and Dad looked so softhearted, Sam thought an outsider wouldn't believe, looking at him now, that he could have been so angry.

She didn't like to think about it. The consequences of his anger were bad enough: she was grounded from everything but school and school events until Halloween. And she'd been lucky that Brynna had helped her negotiate that concession, because Dad had wanted to ground her until Christmas.

Blaze's howl floated to them from outside and everyone laughed, pretending it was a comment on their singing.

His howl sounded sad to Sam, though, and she ducked outside as soon as she got the chance. This was supposed to be a celebration, and she didn't want to ruin it for anyone else.

Blaze rushed across the yard, mouth open and tail wagging, looking much happier than she was, and
then the screen door closed quietly and Jen was right beside them.

“Okay, hear the news,” Jen announced, flashing the cover of a world almanac. “I've looked it up, and though Preston's projected life expectancy at the time he was born was sixty-five and Mrs. Allen's was sixty-six, with nutritional and medical advancements, they have a lot longer!”

Jen glanced at the book and then at Sam. “It's so cool. Barring accidents and bad guys, he can expect to live an extra twenty-four years and she gets another twenty-three….”

Sam watched her friend's mind click off numbers like a calculator, as she finished, “Given their age difference, they ought to come out about even!”

Morbid as Jen's calculations were, they both laughed.

And when Jake's statement—that the life of a wild horse was risky and she wouldn't have the Phantom long—popped into her mind, Sam wondered if maybe he was as wrong as she'd been.

“Can I look at that for a minute?” Sam asked. “I'm supposed to be helping with refreshments, but—”

“No problem,” Jen said. “Take it and I'll go cover for you!”

Alone in the twilight, Sam tilted the book so that she could read the fine print of the index.

“Life expectancy…animals…” she muttered to Blaze, and then she flipped to the page.

Holding her breath, she read the entry for horses, and though the average life span was only twenty, the world record was fifty years.

She didn't release the shout of joy building inside her chest, but the sight of River Bend's horses—especially Ace—grazing peacefully, filled her with delight.

Sam gazed up into the lavender-pink sky. She ignored the voices, even Jake's, saying, “Don't do it, you're only going to lose him.”

Even if a mustang's life was dangerous, she might have him for a long time.

Sam closed her eyes and the voices faded away.

Cover art © 2006 by Greg Call