Storm Chaser (18 page)

Jessica looked back at the house. Her mother had returned last night after she'd fed the whole crew. She'd sympathized with Jessica and held her while she cried, but in the end, her mother had reminded her that selling Chase was necessary to help keep Wild Hawk Ranch afloat.

“I'd better go tell my mom so she can put the steaks on the grill,” Jessica said. “They're going to be awfully hungry when they get back.”

She and Marybeth climbed down the ladder and ran to the house. Mrs. Warner had all kinds of dinner chores to keep them busy until the riders returned. Jessica tried not to think of Chase as she husked the corn and wrapped potatoes in tinfoil to put in the oven for the welcome-home feast.

By the time the riders entered the stable yard, dinner was almost ready to serve. Jessica and Marybeth helped the tired cowhands unsaddle their horses and put them away.

“So what did you think?” Jessica asked Lainey.

Lainey stretched her tired legs. “I think I'm going to be permanently bowlegged, but other than that, it was awesome!”

The rest of the riders agreed—even the two boys on the ATVs.

“We got to see a lot of deer and jackrabbits, and even a bighorn sheep,” Michael said. “Your dad said that's pretty rare around here.”

Jessica helped Monica unsaddle her horse. She glanced at Chase as Ariel dismounted and her heart squeezed in her chest. Ariel didn't look back at her as she handed Chase to Mr. Warner to unsaddle.

Wyatt led his horse to the water trough. “Hey, chin up, Jess.”

She didn't feel like putting her chin up, even for Wyatt. She felt like crying.

As she unsaddled Monica's horse, the ungrateful wretch turned and nipped her when she loosened the cinch. Jessica was so distracted that she barely felt it.

“Jess, come get your horse,” her father called. He held out Chase's reins for her.

Jessica frowned.
Couldn't he see how miserable she was?

Duncan pushed her hands away from the saddle and pointed toward Chase. He had a funny smile on his face, but she couldn't see anything worth smiling about. “You heard Dad. Get going,” he said.

Her legs felt like fence posts as she walked toward her father. A tear escaped down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away before anyone could see. She
would not
cry in front of all these people!

Marybeth walked beside her for a few steps and squeezed her hand. “It'll be okay, Jess. Be brave.”

“Come get your horse, young lady,” her father repeated.

Jessica knit her brows in confusion. Why was everyone smiling? Everyone except Ariel, who stomped away from the crowd and headed toward the bunkhouses.

When she got to Chase, Jessica reached out a shaky hand and took the reins from her father.

She put her forehead to Chase's and inhaled her warm horse scent, promising herself again that she wouldn't cry. She looked up at her father, expecting to see a look of pity in his eyes. But instead, her father was smiling down at her. Didn't he know how much it would hurt her to load the paint filly into the Wilsons' trailer with Raven?

“Better get this little gal brushed and back in the corral with Rusty where she belongs. She's had a long couple of days,” Mr. Warner said.

“But she doesn't belong here anymore,” Jessica said. “She'll be going home with the Wilsons.”

“Now who told you that?” her father said.

Jessica stared at the dirt beneath her boots. “Ariel's parents said they'd buy her the horse.”

Her father pulled the saddle from Chase's back. “Well now, honey, I've been thinking. Money isn't everything.” He shrugged. “Besides, we're booked full for the entire summer with vacationers. The way I see it, this filly will be a fine addition to the ranch, and her future foals will bring a good price. Besides, you're going to need a decent horse to get any work done around here.”

Jessica swallowed hard. Was her father saying…?

Mr. Warner took off his hat. “Jess, you did a really grownup thing when you agreed to take Ariel's horse back to the ranch. And you've been working hard at training the filly and helping out around the ranch. All that made me realize how much you've grown up lately.”

Jessica was speechless.

“Chase is all yours, honey. You've earned her. Now get her on back to the corral before I change my mind,” her father said. “We're all looking forward to that welcome-home dinner.”

Jessica couldn't believe her good fortune. Marybeth had forgiven her, and now Chase would be hers and Rusty's forever and ever!

Duncan tipped his hat to her. “You deserve it, Jess.”

Marybeth slapped Jessica a high-five, and Wyatt gave her a big hug as everyone clapped and congratulated her. This would definitely be a welcome-home dinner.

Storm Chaser was home to stay for good.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

The paint horse has a long and proud history. This breed is known for its strong stock-type body, athletic ability, and agreeable disposition. In 1519, the Spanish explorer Hernando Cortez had two pinto-colored horses in his entourage. By the 1800s, the American plains were teeming with horses, many of them loudly colored. Because of their splashy color and athletic performance, these horses became a favorite of the American Indians.

Throughout the 1800s and 1900s, paint horses grew in number. They were called pinto, paint, skewbald, and piebald. In 1962 the American Paint Stock Horse Association (APSHA) was formed to preserve the breed's stock-type conformation and color. In May 1965, the organization merged with the American Paint Quarter Horse Association to become the American Paint Horse Association (APHA). To date, there are more than 460,000 paint horses registered throughout the world.

To be registered with the APHA, foals must be of paint, quarter horse, or Thoroughbred background and have one parent registered with the APHA. Any other bloodlines must be registered as pinto.

Each paint horse has a particular coat pattern of white and any of the regular equine colors: black, bay, brown, chestnut, dun, grullo, sorrel, palomino, buckskin, gray, and roan. Markings may be of any size and shape and are found anywhere on the horse's body.

Paint horses have three main types of coat patterns:

Tobiano
(tow-bee-yah-no) Marks are regular and round, usually covering one or both flanks, the neck, and the chest. The head is colored the same as a non-paint horse with blazes and snips. The tail is often two colors and all four legs are usually white.

Overo
(oh-vair-oh) The white color rarely crosses the back of the horse from withers to tail. At least one and often all four legs are dark. White markings are splashy and irregular. The head markings are distinct, often with a bald or apron face. The tail is usually one color.

Tovero
(tow-vair-oh) The ears and often the forehead are dark. One or both eyes are blue. This horse frequently has dark coloring around its mouth, which may extend up the side of the face. There are dark spots on the neck, flank spots, and at the base of the tail.

For more information on paint horses, visit the APHA website at
www.apha.com
.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CHRIS PLATT
has been riding horses since she was two years old. At the age of sixteen, she earned her first gallop license at a racetrack in Salem, Oregon. Several years later, she became one of the first women jockeys in that state. Chris's other horse-related occupations have included training Arabian endurance horses and driving draft horses.

After earning a journalism degree from the University of Nevada in Reno, she decided to combine her love of horses with her writing. Her previous books include
Moon Shadow, Willow King, Race the Wind,
and many titles in the popular
Thoroughbred
series.

Chris lives in Nevada with her husband, six horses (two of them paints), three cats, a parrot, and a potbellied pig.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2009 by Chris Platt

Cover illustration copyright © 2008 by Paul Bashem

Cover design by Loraine M. Joyner

ISBN:978-1-4976-3757-3

This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

345 Hudson Street

New York, NY 10014

www.openroadmedia.com

EBOOKS BY CHRIS PLATT

FROM OPEN ROAD MEDIA