Ivy nodded. Suddenly, instead of demon horses, she could imagine racing along green fields on Black Beauty ...
"Told you I"d never failed to find a horse for a rider!" Rebecca said.
But just then, Topic tossed her head and sidestepped. Ivy hadn"t done anything. "Wh-what?"
Topic whinnied and pawed at the ground.
"Steady," Rebecca"s voice came from somewhere to the side, but Topic was already starting to buck. "Steady!"
Ivy panicked; her mouth went dry and it felt hard to breathe. "What do I do?" she shouted, pulling on Topic"s reins as she bounced up and down.
"Stay calm!" called Rebecca. "Steady, Topic!"
With one loud whinny, Topic reared up and Ivy couldn"t hold on. She was falling. She landed with a thud on her side and cried out, feeling a shooting pain in her ankle.
"Ivy!" Olivia was at her side in a moment, while Rebecca grabbed on to Topic, who was still spooking.
Ivy tried to control herself, but tears streamed down her cheeks.
"I"m just not meant to do this," Ivy said to Olivia.
Her sister didn"t say anything and gave her a huge hug.
"Are you OK?" Rebecca had handed Topic"s reins to Hank, who had rushed over.
"My ankle," Ivy said.
Topic gave an apologetic whinny as Hank led her back across the yard.
Rebecca carefully removed Ivy"s boot and looked at her ankle. "It doesn"t seem broken. Can you stand on it?"
Ivy stood up and put her weight on it. It hurt but wasn"t unbearable.
"I think it"s just a little sprain," Rebecca said. "I"m so sorry I should have stayed closer. You just seemed as natural as your sister."
Ivy sniffled. "I think me and horses don"t go together."
"Don"t say that," Rebecca said gently. "I know that was scary, but it wasn"t anything you did that spooked Topic."
Ivy didn"t believe her.
"Look." Rebecca pointed to the edge of the ring near where Ivy had been riding a moment before. A mother duck and her three ducklings were waddling under the fencing.
"Topic is scared of ducklings?" Ivy asked, baffled. It might have been funny if she hadn"t wanted it to be true so much.
"I know it sounds unlikely, but horses can get scared of lots of things," Rebecca replied. "Listen, let"s get you inside to put that foot up. We can try again another time."
Ivy dusted herself down. She had tried horse-riding once and, as far as she was concerned, once was enough. As she limped back to the farmhouse, Ivy had to face the fact that she would never be a horsewoman like her mother.
Ivy sat on the porch swing, with her leg up and her notebook on her lap. She was trying to write a sonnet for English cla.s.s but wasn"t getting very far. She hadn"t even had a chance to look at her mother"s diary before Olivia had gone off with Rebecca, Hank and John on the trail ride.
Ivy was stuck at the farmhouse with a bruised ankle. They wouldn"t be back for hours, so she"d sent a text to Brendan: Cowgirl sings the blues. Could use city boy to help change her tune.
Brendan had texted back right away: Mounting my iron steed. Giddy up.
Finally, she saw the little cloud of dust coming up the long driveway.
She wanted to run to greet him, but all she could manage was a few limping steps. Brendan put his brakes on, skidding in a half-circle to a stop in the yard.
Before he said anything, he held up his phone on full volume, playing "I Wear My Sungla.s.ses at Night".
"No more cowgirl blues, please," said Brendan. Then he grabbed her in a big hug.
"Careful of my ankle!" Ivy squealed, but she was so happy to see him.
Brendan scooped her up and carried her back to the porch. He sat her on the swing pillows and squeezed in next to her. She told him what had happened. "I"m sorry you got hurt," he said, "but I"m very impressed that you were up on a horse in the first place."
"It was going pretty well, actually," Ivy said, rocking gently, "until the Duckling Incident."
Brendan chuckled. "You must be pretty determined to connect to your mom if you got up on a horse."
"That"s exactly the problem," Ivy replied. "Even my dad can handle a horse. I"m clearly the black sheep of the family."
"Nothing wrong with that," Brendan said. "You look good in black."
"Yeah, but, what if ..." Ivy had been thinking about it all morning. "What if she was alive? What if she wouldn"t get me?"
Brendan stopped her in mid-swing. "Don"t be silly, Ivy. You would be her daughter and she would love you. Besides, she obviously liked black because she loved your dad. Now, I want to see these terrifying ducklings." Brendan pulled Ivy to her feet and grinned. "Feel free to lean on me, if you need support."
Ivy led him slowly over to the pond. The three fluffy yellow ducklings were quacking along behind their mother a happy family in an orderly line.
Ivy sighed. That was just never going to be her family.
She heard a horse whicker from inside the barn.
"I thought all the horses were on a cattle drive," Brendan said.
"All but Lucky," Ivy replied. "And it was a trail ride."
"Isn"t Lucky your mom"s horse?" Brendan asked.
Ivy nodded.
Brendan looked at her. "Do you want to go in?"
Ivy thought about it for a moment. Lucky hadn"t shied away from her when they first met, and Rebecca insisted that the reason Topic was upset was the ducklings. Maybe she could go and talk to Lucky. With Brendan by her side, she felt safe. "Let"s do it."
They stepped into the cool barn, the smell of hay filling her nostrils as they clomped across the wooden floorboards. Lucky neighed from the back stall.
Very, very carefully, Ivy approached the stable door. Lucky poked his head out to see who it was and tossed his head.
"He"s saying h.e.l.lo," said Brendan.
Ivy remembered Olivia whispering to the horses and decided to try it herself.
"Hi Lucky," she said quietly. "I won"t be afraid of you if you won"t be afraid of me."
Brendan stayed next to her as she reached her hand out to touch his muzzle.
Lucky stood still, his tail swishing. He seemed to be waiting for something.
Ivy glanced at the photos of her mom on the wall. In one, her mom had her arm around Lucky, in a hug. "If I hug Lucky," Ivy whispered to Brendan, "then it"s almost like I"m hugging my mom."
Ivy took a deep breath. She was going to get closer. She grabbed a rope off a nearby peg and pulled open the stable door. She walked down Lucky"s left side, running her hand down his beautiful white neck. He didn"t seem to mind at all. She clipped the lead rope on to his halter and took hold on his left, just like she had with Topic.
Lucky took a step out into the aisle, then another.
"He"s beautiful," said Brendan.
Ivy nodded, relaxing her grip on the rope a little, as Lucky walked out of his stable on his own.
"Wait, wait," Ivy said to the horse. "Don"t go. We"re not leaving."
But Lucky seemed to think it was his turn for a walk. Ivy knew she couldn"t handle him outside the stable.
"Uh oh," Ivy whispered. "I probably shouldn"t have opened the door."
Ivy fought back the panic. How was she going to get Lucky back in his stall? She pulled on the rope, trying to get Lucky to turn around. "Lucky," she sing-songed. "Come back this way."
She tried to hold on to his lead, but as she reached out, he backed up into the wall. Ivy shuffled one way and Brendan shuffled the other, trying to keep the horse contained. But Lucky didn"t like it.
He whinnied and reared up, eyes rolling in his head as he pulled the rope right out of Ivy"s hand.
She scrambled to get it back and Brendan did, too, but that only made things worse. Lucky shook his head and reared up, just inches away from Ivy.
She staggered back and tripped, only just managing to roll out of the path of his trampling hooves as he bolted. Her hair got in her face and she shouted, "Lucky, wait!" as he galloped towards the stable door.
She scrambled to her feet, pain shooting through her ankle, only to see Lucky streaking across the ranch, towards the trees. This time there wasn"t anyone to bring him back.
"Oh no, what have I done?" Ivy said, starting to cry.
Chapter Eight.
Olivia was leading the group of visitors, while Rebecca pointed out the features of the trail and helped anyone who needed encouragement. Olivia loved riding Honey and the crisp, sunny day was perfect for the tour along the river and through the pine trees.
Rebecca had told her just to follow the green arrows, which was easy enough, and after a good two-hour ride, past a beautiful mini-waterfall, they were back at the ranch. Olivia had had plenty of time to think about Operation Smooch being a total failure so far. She couldn"t believe Jackson hadn"t kissed her yet! Ivy thought he was waiting for the right moment, but it had better come along soon! Or I"ll have to kiss Garrick first! thought Olivia with a shudder.
As she turned Honey towards the stable, she saw Ivy and Brendan waving frantically at her. She urged Honey into a trot and pulled her short when they got close.
Ivy"s face was streaked with tears and Brendan looked more grave than usual.
Olivia dismounted right away. "What"s wrong?"
"Lucky," Ivy gasped out. "Lucky escaped!"
"Oh no!" Olivia whirled around to look in the direction that Ivy was pointing, into the woods.
A domestic horse out in the wild could be really vulnerable, Olivia knew. Especially one as old as Lucky.
"Aunt Rebecca!" she called across the yard.
Hank and John were leading the visitors back to the stables and Rebecca rode over. "What"s happened?" she asked, keeping tight control over Admiral, who was prancing.
"It was all my fault," Brendan put in. "I left Lucky"s stable door open. He ran away into the woods over there."
Olivia glanced at Ivy, and she looked utterly crushed. Olivia wondered if there was more to the story than Brendan was letting on.
"How long ago?" Rebecca demanded.
"About half an hour," Ivy said, fresh tears rolling down her face.
Rebecca looked down on Brendan from Admiral"s back, like a general looking down on an army deserter. "I think it"s time you went home."
Olivia felt awful. She knew Brendan wouldn"t have done anything like that on purpose. Ivy started sobbing, and Brendan whispered something to her.
"I"m really sorry this has happened, Ms Kendall, and I hope you find Lucky soon." He hugged Ivy tightly and then rode away on his bike.
"John and Hank will get the rest of the horses in and I"ll go looking right away," Rebecca said. "I hope he hasn"t gone far. Olivia, can you help?"
Olivia nodded.
"What can I do?" Ivy said. "I have to help somehow."
Rebecca tossed Ivy her cell phone. "Call everyone in my phonebook and tell them what"s happened. Anyone who can help, will, I"m sure." She gave Ivy a sympathetic look. "Ivy, don"t beat yourself up over this. You"re not to blame." Then she rode away to the group.
"Don"t worry," Olivia said to Ivy. "We"ll find him." She turned to mount Honey again but Ivy caught her arm.
"It wasn"t Brendan," Ivy confessed. "It was me."
Olivia sucked in her breath. "It doesn"t matter now," she replied. "He"ll be OK."