Gypsy Girl and Horse Lovin' Boys (15 page)

I clutched the saddle horn with both hands. A rush of exhilaration, along with terror, flooded over me. Sitting perfectly still, I was astounded at what I had accomplished.

“Are you all right?” Noah squeezed my knee.

“Hmm?” I felt woozy.

“You can get down now if you want,” he said.

“No.” I needed to remember to breathe again.

“You did it. I think it’s extraordinary, don’t you?”

“I think it will be extraordinary if I can get off and stand on my two feet when I’m finished and not faint. I feel like I have totally lost my mind by getting up here.”

“You were brave and conquered your fear. And you got an apology from Kelly today. This is a day like no other.” Noah’s enthusiasm was not lost on me.

I smiled and had enough courage to pat Ezra’s neck.

“If you weren’t so scared, I would love to ride with you bareback. If I ride behind you with the saddle on, I’m going suffer. For that, you need to be extra nice to me the rest of the day.”

“How will you suffer?”

“Riding behind the saddle is not the most comfortable for some of my guy parts. But I’ll do it.”

My cheeks flamed and I had to convince myself that I needed to do
all
the things while I was on the horse’s back. I may never, ever do it again. Besides, I needed to show Cessie up. Riding a horse had been Noah’s goal for me all week. I had to admit, he was a miracle worker.

He opened the stall door before he pulled my foot out of the stirrup so he could swing up to sit behind me. He adjusted the reins and placed them in my hands. Speaking in my ear softly, he told me how to guide Ezra, which way to go, and how to stop. He held onto the front of the saddle so I felt safe and told me to squeeze my heels against the horse’s sides.

Reluctantly, I did as I was told. The horse moseyed out of the stall. Noah didn’t stop talking in my ear, soothing my nerves, and guiding my hands. He might have kissed me but I was busy concentrating on every little detail. Heels down. Weight in butt and heels. Don’t pull the reins unless it’s time to stop. Be gentle.

I did everything he said and before I knew it, we were in the arena. Josh was already there and had his horse on a long lead. Shasta trotted in a circle around him with Cessie bouncing all over the saddle like a Mexican jumping bean. Her face lit up with the most gigantic smile when she saw me.

“Your sister is watching you,” Noah said, letting me hold the reins on my own. He relaxed, resting his hands on his thighs, no longer helping me feel secure in the saddle.

Once the panic of using the reins subsided, I smiled as Ezra leisurely walked around the ring. I had been around the ring twice when I thought I heard someone calling me.

“Sera!” Kelly shouted and she frantically waved for us to come over.

Noah took the reins and kicked Ezra to pick up the pace over to the fence. I gripped the saddle horn, hanging on for dear life.

“I went to the board this morning. I did what I could, but I don’t think they believe my story completely. I think it’s because the two versions I’ve told them are so different and they think maybe your mom is paying me off to get her out of trouble. I need some help.” Kelly gripped the rail and chewed on her lip.

“I don’t think I’ll help much. Even you said what Peppy did to my face might sway them the wrong way.” I wasn’t sure how well the make-up was holding up. Even that couldn’t hide them completely.

“Yeah, that’s true. I don’t know what else to do. My parents want me to make it right and to do it on my own so they aren’t going to help with this part.” Kelly blinked excessively until her glassy eyes went back to normal.

“You think me and Josh could help?” Noah asked.

“I think so. But I don’t know that you’ll be enough either.” She rubbed her forehead.

“Maybe Rachel and Bree will back up the story of what happened earlier to prove you didn’t have anything to gain by changing your story,” I said.

“Yes, we need them too. I’ll see if they’ll help. Can you come now, Noah? There’s only a few board members waiting for me and they won’t be there much longer. They didn’t give me much time.”

“We need to put the horses away first.” Noah turned Ezra, nudging her to pick up the pace over to Josh.

“Noah, that’s too fast.”I bounced hard in the saddle as Ezra trotted across the arena.

“All I can say is hold on. We need to hurry.” He held the saddle horn with one hand again.

“Hey, we have something important to do,” Noah said to Josh.

Josh jogged behind us, leading Shasta to the barn.

Cessie held my arm while Noah explained to Josh what was going on. He texted Kelly to find out where we were to meet and we ran across the fairgrounds to a small office building tucked away in a corner. I followed Josh and Noah inside.

Noah motioned for Cessie and me to wait as the boys walked down a narrow hall to a door near the end. He looked in the window before giving me a reassuring smile and two thumbs up before they entered the room.

A few minutes later Kelly showed up with Bree and Rachel. The two girls gave me a nervous wave when they passed by on their way to the room where Noah and Josh disappeared.

I couldn’t believe that all five of them were trying to save my mom’s show. I wanted to hear what was happening in there but I couldn’t let any of the board members see my messed up face yet. Cessie was a great eavesdropper though.

“Go down the hall and listen. Whisper if you hear anything important.” I gave her a gentle push down the hall.

She nodded and cupped her hands against the door, placing her ear on her hands. She rolled her eyes as she listened, not indicating anything for the longest time.

“You are worthless.” I folded my arms and glared at her.

She gave me a thumbs up before she frowned and gave me a thumbs down. Cessie turned her mouth to the side and rolled her eyes again as she listened some more.

“That tells me nothing.” I crept closer to her. She fanned her hands at me to go back and tiptoed away from the door.

“They’re coming,” she whispered so loud that there was no point in her whispering at all.

I backed up and Cessie grabbed my arm.

Bree was the first one out. By the blank look on their faces as each one came into the hall, they weren’t any better giving me any clues as to what was up.

“I’ll make a call, but like I said, they have their red tape to go through. It may be too late in the process to stop it.” A tall woman followed by a much shorter man walked out the door behind Kelly.

“Who is this?” the man asked, not taking his eyes off me.

I felt as if I shouldn’t be there as I backed up into a desk.

“These are the daughters of Miss Sanders. They were eager to hear if they could stay or if they should pack up to leave.” Kelly stood by me. “Seraphina has had a rough week since she had a run-in with one of the carnies. I think he was arrested, wasn’t he?” Kelly asked, patting my arm.

I slowly nodded.

“What did the carnie do?” the woman asked.

“He tried to rape her.” Kelly examined my cheek. “He kind of messed up your face a little too when you were running from him near the river, didn’t he? But the boys stopped him. His supervisor didn’t want trouble so he made sure that the carnie was arrested immediately. Didn’t he tell you?”

“No.” The tall woman looked at me with sympathy. “Did he? Or were you told to be quiet.”

“I didn’t really want to make a big deal about it. Cause trouble for everyone.” My hands trembled. I knew why Kelly went there, making it look like it was the carnie’s fault as to why my face was so bad. I wanted Peppy home so bad that I went along with Kelly. There was great concern over what happened to me and it was already shifting in my favor. “My mom would have made a fuss, pressed charges, maybe filed a legal complaint against all parties.”

“It sounds like you have had one awful week,” the short man said and he was very uncomfortable, shifting his weight from foot to foot as he fumbled with the phone. “Let’s see what we can do to get your monkey home. I think I need to have a talk with Mr.Rathburn about the conduct of his employees.”

I wrung my hands. The carnie’s supervisor that took care of everything so I didn’t have to face the police was about to get an earful. I was feeling rather guilty about it.

How did Kelly do such cold things without feeling anything when she was doing it?  She was still trying to comfort me by patting my arm.

I caught Noah’s eye. He smiled until he could tell I was holding back tears. He turned his head to the side and motioned for me to go ahead and cry.

I blinked a few times and allowed a few tears to fall. The timing was perfect even though it was going to be hard not to sob. No ugly crying.

Cessie looked up at me and started to cry too. She hung onto me.

“Are we getting Peppy back?” Cessie looked at Kelly then to Josh and Noah.

“We aren’t sure yet. We are letting you stay for the rest of the fair though and we’re trying to find out with the change in circumstances how long it will take to get the monkey back. That is if they will let you have him,” the short man answered.

Miss tall tower was still on the phone. She sat down in a chair and waved for everyone to back away.

Shorty motioned for all of us to step into another room to wait. Even though we stood in silence, the tension was building the longer it took. The woman’s voice escalated with impatience a few times. It didn’t sound like it was going to work out, at least not in time for the busiest weekend of the fair. Doing several shows without Peppy was far more difficult than dealing with him ever was and it could be a few days of it. Fewer people watched the show when Peppy wasn’t in it.

No one said a word. Josh made faces at Cessie and she made some back at him. An occasional stifled giggle came from Bree and Rachel from Josh’s antics. Kelly didn’t attempt to help comfort me anymore. Instead, she chewed on her lip and tugged on her shirt. Noah kept glancing at me but he kept his distance with everyone in the room.

We heard the woman slam down the phone receiver. I clutched my own arms as miss tall tower entered the room and shook her head.

“I tried. They have a routine with a waiting period and if tomorrow was a weekday we would be in luck. Because it’s not, we have to wait till Monday to get him released.”

Everyone groaned. Cessie clung to my waist, burying her face in my stomach to muffle her sobs. I couldn’t hold back the tears either.

“But we’ll get him back?” I asked.

“Yes, but he will have a report. They won’t pull that for some time even though it has been proven that there was no violence against Kelly.”

“Is it just paper work and bureaucracy?” Kelly asked.

“At this point, yes.”

“But you are sure Seraphina and Francesca can stay with their mom here in the meantime and do their show?” Kelly asked.

“Yes, that has been resolved.”

“I have to go.” Kelly pushed passed everyone and left the building.

“What was that about? She’s not done here yet.” Josh ran out the door after Kelly.

The rest of us stayed put as the two board members gave me the paperwork I needed to give to my mom in order to get the show in order again.

Cessie clung to me in no way consoled over the good news.

Noah rested his hand on the small of my back as we walked out of the office. Surprisingly, even that didn’t help lift the gloom.

“Do you think Kelly ran off because she thought this was done?” I asked.

“I hope not.” Noah answered but looked as if he believed otherwise.

Rachel and Bree didn’t share their thoughts on Kelly’s intentions either.

We were a solemn group as we walked together to the Caravan and we never did run into Josh or Kelly on the way.

“Cessie, do you want to tell mom the good news?” I asked.

“How is it good news if Peppy isn’t home?” Cessie pouted.

“We don’t have to pack up and leave yet. If everything works out, we can get him Monday and just make do with the show in the meantime.” I ran my fingers through her hair.

“I’ll tell mom the show goes on. You tell her the yucky stuff.”

“I will,” I said.

“We probably should let you take care of things here. We can come back later.” Noah nodded towards the horse barn to Rachel and Bree. The three gave us hugs before they left.

Cessie told Mom the good news and I told her the bad. Mom was about as deflated as we were but at least she knew where we’d be for the day.

Performing the show was discouraging. The fair crowd was much bigger than it had been all week, but the show’s attendance didn’t show it. At least we could still perform. Mom and I did a great job acting as if everything was fine, but Cessie struggled to smile and even had teary eyes a few times when we skimmed over a Peppy part. That was during the first show of the day.

Cessie struggled through the second show too. At the end, once we wrapped everything up, Mom sat down at the table and covered her face.

“Are you okay, Mom?” I asked.

She nodded, not saying a word. I didn’t believe her, especially after she sniffed. I paced the inside of the Caravan. Five big steps took me from one side to the other, the long way. Before I made myself dizzy, I sat down on the bench across from her.

“Without Peppy, I’m just wondering if we should quit now. I mean, we do all right but I know today’s shows weren’t our best. It’s not just because Peppy isn’t here. It’s because we aren’t into it at all. I feel awful taking people’s money when we aren’t giving them our best.” Mom rubbed under her eyes, wiping away the mascara trails.

“We don’t charge for the show. People don’t have to buy anything. If it was that awful, they’d leave during the show and not buy a thing,” I said, surprising myself that I was giving her a decent pep talk for once.

“True. I guess it’s just me. My heart’s not in it.” She kicked her feet up on a chair and leaned back.

“Mine isn’t either, but you love that old saying ‘The show must go on’, I don’t know how many times you’ve told me that when I didn’t want to do it.”

“Yes I have. I guess I need to follow my own example.”

“Our last show wasn’t
that
bad. You’re so good at acting that I could barely tell you weren’t into it.” I rested my hand on Mom’s arm.

“That’s good to hear.”

“Well, I’m telling you this when I’d rather be watching my friends at the horse competitions. So I really mean it.”

“Are they out there now?”

“I don’t know. They didn’t tell me what time because they were helping me with getting our show back on.”

“You should go find out.”

I hesitated leaving while Mom was so upset. Cessie hugged a Peppy stuffed toy hunched over in the corner of the bench, muttering to the toy as tears slid down her cheeks. I rolled my eyes.

“Come on, Cesspants. Let’s go see some horses.” I reached out for her hand. She slowly took it and drooped when she stood. I gave her a pull and we were on our way to the stands.

I anxiously wrung my hands when Bree and Rachel competed and Josh was nowhere to be found.

Noah climbed up the bleachers to sit beside me, restlessly taking off his hat, and looking in all directions before putting it back on. “I don’t know where Josh went. I can’t find him anywhere. He said he’d be back soon. I don’t know why he’s a no show for this one. He was so ready.” Noah couldn’t stop fidgeting.

I rubbed the back of his arm. “My mom really appreciates what you guys did for us.” I couldn’t help it when I rested my chin on his shoulder and inhaled discreetly. I loved the clean, manly smell of Noah. He never smelled like the horses. Maybe I was grasping to get my mind off worrying about everything else.

Noah smiled as best he could. “I’m sorry everything got so out of hand.” He covered my hand with his. “I don’t want to leave you alone but I have another competition soon.” Noah pulled out his phone to read a text before looking over at the Caravan. “Change of plans.” He slid off the bench pulling me with him. I was barely able to tug Cessie’s shirt so she’d follow.

A van drove up the pathway very slowly while people moved out of the way. It stopped by the Caravan.

“That’s the Humane Society van.” Noah pulled me along, walking even faster.

Josh and Kelly stepped out of the Caravan with my mom. When Josh spotted us, he jogged across the grassy field.

“Where have you been all day?” Noah shook Josh’s shoulders. “You missed your competition!”

“I’ve been with Kelly helping her convince her dad to fix this and he did. He fixed everything! He’s an attorney and they’ve brought the monkey back.” A broad smile spread across his face when he fixed his eyes on me.

I tried to say something but was too choked up. I grabbed him, hugging him tight until I could finally speak. “You missed your competition to help me? To help us get our monkey back when you’re so scared of him?”

“I never had to see the monkey. I did want to help you. I’ve won plenty of ribbons already.” He waved off missing his last competition as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“You could have told me.” Noah hit his arm with the back of his hand.

“I would have, but everything happened so fast, I didn’t have time.” Josh grabbed my sleeve and pulled me to the Caravan. “It’s not done yet, come on.”

Mom bounced on her toes in anticipation the way Cessie usually did. Peppy’s excited screeches once he could see everyone when the back van doors were opened put Cessie in a fit of giggles. A crowd gathered around the reunion.

I backed away and leaned against the Caravan as Mom animatedly spoke with the Humane Society staff, Kelly, her dad, and a few of the fair board members. I couldn’t even see Cessie through growing crowd.

“Aren’t you happy?” Josh asked, leaning against the wall next to me.

“Of course I am. My face still looks bad and I don’t want to explain it to anyone gathered in that crowd. Besides, this is Mom’s moment. Her dream, it’s all come back to her.” I squeezed his arm and smiled. “Thank you.”

“Kelly did it. I just helped convince her dad how much we needed his help. He thought she might have been trying to manipulate him. She’s done that plenty before.”

“I’m so late. I have to get ready,” Noah jogged past us and started running.

“I’ll come back in a few. I’m going to go help him.” Josh took off after Noah.

I wanted to hug Josh again for all he’d done but he was gone. Instead I rubbed my arm, watching them run for the horse barn.

“Umm. Before I go, I wanted to let you know one more time that I’m sorry.” Kelly startled me.

“This helps us so much,” I spun around and nearly hugged her. However, I still didn’t like Kelly enough to do that.

“My dad was able to show them how best to legally eliminate the paper trail they were working on. He’s good at giving advice like that. It took some convincing that it was the right thing to do. He’s good at that too, making sure people do the right thing for the right reasons.” Kelly hung her head. “That’s something I need to work on.”