High Hurdles (65 page)

That night, Robert and the boys arrived loaded down with boxes of Chinese food for dinner. DJ was setting the table when the phone rang. Because she was closest, Lindy answered it.

DJ looked up when her mother’s voice turned extra polite. Pausing in the doorway, she waited.

“Yes, Brad, I have a moment.” Lindy paused. “I see.”

If only she could hear the other side of the conversation. DJ itched to run for the other phone.

“So you’re saying you’d like DJ to attend a horse show with you and Jackie a week from Thursday.”

DJ clenched her hands to her sides.
Oh, please, Mom, say yes
.

“I’ll have to give this some thought. With the wedding coming up . . . well, how about if I get back to you tomorrow?”

DJ could feel her shoulders slump.

“DJ, we’s hungry,” Bobby and Billy announced as one.

She set the plates in front of each of them and reached for a carton of sweet-and-sour prawns, the boys’ favorite. She tried to listen over their chatter, without success. “Shhh!” She glared at them.

Their mouths turned to Os, and they shrank back as if she’d hit them.

“DJ, was that necessary?” Robert’s voice held more than a trace of anger.

Chapter
•
8

DJ felt as if she’d been struck.

Two lower lips quivered as the Double Bs looked first to their father and then back to DJ.

“I’m sorry, guys.” She hunkered down between the two of them and wrapped an arm around each boy. “Please forgive me?”

With four arms strangling her neck, DJ fought back the hot moisture burning behind her eyes.

“I forgive you.” The blue eyes on the right said more than the words.

“Me too.” The one on the left wriggled in his chair. “ ’Cause we loves you.”

The words rang in DJ’s mind long after the boys had left and Robert had given her a hug that said the same.

Is that what would make this family possible? Was there enough love for Brad and Jackie, too?

When she told her grandmother her worries the next afternoon after her stint at the Academy, DJ just shook her head. “Just like you all these years, Gran. How come something so simple as being a family is so hard to live out?”

Gran stroked DJ’s hair as DJ leaned against her grandmother’s knee. “It is so simple to love, yet sometimes we get in the way of it. Mostly because we want our own way, I guess. Remember, simple and easy aren’t the same.”

“I want Mom to let me go to the horse show with Brad and Jackie. It would be so cool to see her compete, and Lord Byron is an awesome horse.” DJ sat still for a few moments. “Did Robert tell you that I hollered at the boys?”

“No.”

“I hurt their feelings, so he yelled at me, and that hurt
my
feelings.” She sighed, a deep sigh that started way down and worked its way up. “What a mess. And all because I wanted to hear what Mom was saying to Brad.” She turned to give her grandmother one of those I-blew-it half grins. “Of course, listening in would have been eavesdropping, and how many times have you warned me against that?”

Gran put gentle hands on both sides of DJ’s face and kissed her forehead from above. “More than once, my dear, more than once.”

“More than once what?” Joe ambled into the room, his glasses pushed up on his forehead. “You seen my book, Mel? I can’t find it anywhere.”

“Which one?”

“The one about training a roping horse. I wanted to show DJ a picture in it.” He looked over the room.

“Did you check the bookshelf?”

He shrugged and winked at DJ. “Now, why didn’t I think of that?”

DJ and Gran laughed together as he left the room. When he called to report he’d found the book, they laughed again.

When Lindy came to pick up DJ later, she accepted the offered cup of coffee and took a place at the table. “So, Mother, what did you find?”

“How does the Oak House sound?”

“Really?” Lindy set her coffee down with a thump. “That’s perfect. Even closer to the church and—”

“And it costs less, if you can believe it. I know for a fact their food is better than the Carillion’s, too.”

“And it
is
bigger.” Lindy reached a hand across to her mother. “I can’t believe it.”

DJ felt like she was at a tennis match, swiveling her head between the two. “So God did good, huh?”

Lindy looked at her daughter, then slowly nodded her head. “Yes, He did.”

DJ and Gran shared a secret smile. Lindy was coming around.

When Brad called later that evening, DJ answered the phone. “Looks like Major’s leg is finally okay,” she said when he asked about her horse. “I get to ride him for a brief warm-up tomorrow, then add more time each day. One of these days, the rain will let up for more than a couple of hours at a time and we’ll get to use the jumping arena again.

“Speaking of jumping, have you heard of a woman named Mrs. Lamond Ellsindorf? Most people call her Bunny.”

“Yes, I think so. Why?”

DJ went on to tell him about the woman’s rudeness and how all the Academy kids already hated her. “She never says please or thank you. Just orders us around like we’re her slaves.”

“Hmm. That doesn’t sound like the woman we met. I’ll ask Jackie and let you know when I pick you up a week from tomorrow. You’ll be ready, right?”

“You mean I get to go?”

“That’s what your mother said when she called me today. She didn’t tell you?”

“Nope, we were talking about the new reception place. Guess she forgot.”

“You’ll need some dressy casual clothes, like a blazer or a good sweater.”

“Sure.” She mentally inventoried her clothes closet. She’d outgrown the one outfit she kept for special events. “I’ll be ready. Thanks, Da—Brad.” She hung up, wondering at her slip of the tongue. Was she really beginning to think of him as Dad?

Later, after an hour at her books, DJ got a black cherry soda from the refrigerator and sat down beside her mother on the sofa. “Thanks for letting me go to the horse show.”

“You’re welcome. Robert and I agree that it will be a good experience for you.”

DJ figured she owed Robert a big thank-you. She picked at the cuticle on her thumb, then took a swallow of the soda.
How can I ask for another favor?
“When do we go pick up the dresses for the wedding?”

“I don’t know. I should call, I guess.” Lindy looked up from reading the paper. “Why?”

“Well, I need some nice clothes for the trip.”

Lindy looked at her daughter thoughtfully. “Yes, you do. It’s time you began to develop a style of your own.”

“I don’t need a whole wardrobe.” DJ started to say something else, then thought the better of it. “I . . . I thought maybe a tailored jacket of some kind or something. Mine are all for the show-ring.”

Lindy folded the newspaper and placed it on the table. “Let’s go see what you have that might work and make a list of what you need.”

DJ groaned to herself.
Leave it to my mother to make a production out of it. All I want is a blazer
. But by the time they’d finished, she was almost looking forward to the shopping trip. Almost.

Thursday poured its way into the Bay Area. Water sheeted the whole street, not just the gutters and drains, when Mrs. Yamamoto drove the kids to school. At times, the windshield wipers couldn’t clear the glass fast enough, and they were nearly late, the traffic was moving so slow.

The low places between the buildings looked like miniature lakes as the students slogged from building to building. The outside lockers gave the rain another chance at the kids. DJ kept all her books in her backpack so she didn’t have to stand and fight with her combination.

“What a yucky day!” She bailed into the van as soon as Amy shoved open the back door. John was already in the front seat, a frown on his face because he wasn’t getting to drive.

“Just don’t ask again, John,” Mrs. Yamamoto cautioned. “Hi, girls. DJ, Joe called to say he and some of the other retired police were going up north of here to help fill sandbags. He wants you to take care of Ranger for him.”

“Sure.”

“Can you be ready in half an hour? I can’t think that anyone will ride in weather like this.”

“All right.” DJ looked at Amy, who hadn’t said a word so far. “What’s wrong? You sick?”

Amy nodded. “I think I’m going to throw up.” She suddenly sat up very straight. “Mom! Quick, stop the car!”

In spite of the rain, Amy hung her head out the van door and heaved. When she finally sat back in the seat, DJ handed her a napkin. “You look terrible.”

“Thanks.” Amy leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

“You going to make it home now?” Mrs. Yamamoto turned to check on her daughter. “Looks like you’ll have another horse to take care of, DJ. Unless John—”

“No time. I have to be at Dad’s. It’s my day to work.”

“No problem. I’ll do it.” DJ put her hand on Amy’s shoulder. “You cold?”

“F-fr-freezing.” Amy wrapped both arms around her middle. “I knew I shoulda called home earlier, but . . . well . . .”

Her last words disappeared on the wind as DJ threw open the door and bailed out. The wild wind tried to blow her back in, but she slammed the door shut and headed for the front door, digging in her pocket for the key. Why hadn’t she thought to get it out earlier? A branch had blown off the oak tree in the front yard, flattening the snowball bush beside it.

Even standing under the porch roof, DJ was battered by the wind, which blew rain down her neck. The downspouts sounded like waterfalls, and the heavy drops hammered the glass, sheeting the windows in their rush downward. DJ huddled deeper in her slicker until she finally inserted the key in the lock.