Stable Groom Read online

  “ ‘If’ isn’t a word you have to use in that context, Carole Hanson,” Lisa told her. She and Stevie were fully confident that when the time came, Carole would pass her “A” with flying colors.

  When they had finished eating, the three of them lay back, basking in the afternoon summer sun. “I wonder how many years it will be before we get married,” Lisa murmured sleepily.

  “Married?” Stevie scoffed. “Are you kidding?” Even though Stevie had a steady boyfriend, Phil Marsten, marriage was a lifetime away.

  “If the groom were someone like Max, getting married would be great,” Lisa insisted. “And weddings are always so much fun.”

  “That I’ll admit. Remember Dorothy and Nigel’s?” Stevie asked.

  Together they reminisced about the wedding on horseback between former horse-show star Dorothy DeSoto and British Equestrian Team member Nigel Hawthorne. The Saddle Club had planned and taken part in the ceremony, which had been a horse lover’s dream.

  “Hey, wait a minute,” Carole said, sitting up suddenly. “If Max hasn’t told us when he’s going to get married—even though it’s a month away—that means we aren’t going to be in the wedding.”

  Lisa and Stevie sat up more slowly, beginning to look worried. “It means we probably aren’t even invited. You’re supposed to send the invitations out six weeks ahead of time,” Lisa said. Because of her socially conscious mother, Lisa knew all sorts of rules of etiquette.

  “I never thought of that,” Stevie said.

  The three girls stared glumly at the remains of their lunches. They knew that Max and Deborah would probably want to invite lots of people their own age, but they had sort of assumed they would be included in the celebration, too. After all that had gone on, they had grown close to Deborah and felt that she was genuinely fond of them. And they had thought that Max would naturally want to invite some of his students, namely, The Saddle Club.

  “It’s too bad we’re not invited, because we’re good at weddings,” Stevie said finally. “If we hadn’t been there for Dorothy, who knows if she and Nigel would ever have gotten married.”

  “And besides, we could have helped Mrs. Reg out with the food or the punch or something,” Carole said. Max’s mother was a favorite among The Saddle Club. The older woman usually lost no time in getting them to help out at special Pine Hollow events.

  “But they might not be having the wedding at Pine Hollow,” Lisa pointed out. “After all, sometimes the bride decides to— Hey, maybe that’s it.”

  “What?” Carole and Stevie asked in unison.

  “I was just thinking about what the bride and the groom each do at a wedding, and I remember that they usually have separate invitation lists. I’ll bet Deborah’s assuming that Max is inviting us, since we’ve been friends with him longer. But Max can be so absentminded that he’s probably just forgotten to ask us.”

  Stevie nodded in agreement. “I’ll bet you’re right. He’s got so much on his mind, with Pine Hollow and the honeymoon arrangements and everything, that I’m sure it just slipped his mind. So that means all we have to do is find some way to remind him.”

  They thought for a minute, trying to come up with a solution. “I know—how about a shower?” Lisa suggested.

  Stevie gave her a withering glance. “Max seems pretty clean to me. Besides, how would that—”

  Lisa cut in, laughing. “Not that kind of a shower. I meant maybe we could give him a kind of bridal shower with food and gifts and stuff.”

  “But he’s not the bride,” Stevie said, pointing out the obvious.

  Carole grinned. “Then how about a b-r-i-d-l-e shower?” she proposed.

  “Ha-ha,” Stevie said.

  “All right. We’ll call it a ‘groomal’ shower for the time being,” Lisa decided.

  “Huh?” Stevie said.

  Ever logical, Lisa explained to Stevie that showers were usually given for the bride, but in this case it seemed fair that they should have a party for the person in the wedding whom they knew best. “We could invite all of Horse Wise plus the younger riders, and Mrs. Reg, Red, Denise—maybe even Deborah.”

  “Right. And since it’s a groomal shower, everyone will bring gifts of curry combs and body brushes,” Stevie couldn’t resist adding.

  Doing her best imitation of Max when he was annoyed, Lisa raised her right eyebrow at Stevie. “Ahem. Can we get on with the planning now, Miss Lake?” she asked. She took up the notebook she always brought to unmounted meetings and began scribbling a list of things to be done. The girls had a million ideas for the shower. They all loved to plan parties, especially a party for someone like Max, who had done so much for them over the years.

  At first The Saddle Club had been worried about Max’s future wife, whoever she might be. They had thought she might distract Max from his horses and want him to stay at home. But they hadn’t counted on a fiery redhead like Deborah Hale coming into his life. Deborah’s own career as a prize-winning Washington, D.C., journalist left her little time for distracting Max. If anything, Max had to distract her. When she came to Pine Hollow, she was eager to learn as much as she could about Max’s business. She threw herself wholeheartedly into life on the farm and, since the beginning of their engagement, had won the respect of everyone there. Now there was no doubt in the minds of The Saddle Club that she was the perfect match for Max.

  “We have to decide on a date,” Lisa reminded Carole and Stevie as they got up to go back to the stables. Lunch hour was almost over, and the unmounted meeting would resume in five minutes.

  “I was thinking about that, and I think it should be on Saturday, the twentieth,” Carole said. “We have a Horse Wise meeting that day, so we could plan it for right after. That way, a lot of the people we’re planning to invite would be here already.”

  “And it’s only a week before the wedding. There would be no chance of Max forgetting to invite us to something that close,” Stevie said.

  Lisa agreed that the date was a good one. It also gave them plenty of time to get organized, which, with The Saddle Club, was always a plus.

  On their way back, an inspiration came to Stevie. “Listen, if it’s the custom to give the bride a shower, then maybe what we’re doing is giving the groom a bath?”

  Lisa and Carole laughed, but they liked the idea a lot. They decided to dub their plan the “Groom’s Bath.” It was such a strange name that they figured no one would be able to guess what they were up to.

  “Now, who’s going to bring the food?” Lisa asked, getting right to the important things as usual.

  Before Stevie or Carole could respond, the conversation was interrupted by the unmistakable sound of Veronica diAngelo screeching. Veronica had skipped lunch to go riding, as she often did these days. Since she was totally uninterested in horse care, she thought unmounted meetings were a huge waste of time. So that she wouldn’t “waste the entire day,” as she put it, she had started riding during the break. Now she jumped to the ground, flinging her reins angrily at Red O’Malley.

  “Thanks to you, I had a terrible ride!” she fairly screamed. The loud noise made Garnet prance uneasily. Red put a soothing hand on the Arabian’s neck, not bothering to respond to Veronica’s latest tantrum.

  “Did you hear me? Garnet behaved horribly, and it was your fault. You intentionally put this harsh bit on her to make her uncomfortable. Obviously a horse this sensitive doesn’t need a bit like this! Poor thing, she was so nervous and scared, she could barely walk.”

  Red sighed. In a quiet, polite voice, he reminded Veronica that she had specifically asked him to switch Garnet’s usual bit for the more severe one.

  “I did not!” Veronica exclaimed. She eyed Red menacingly. “How dare you say that! How dare you talk back to me! Or have you forgotten who’s the paying customer around here and who’s the stable hand? I guess I’ll just have to have my father talk to Max about you.” With that final threat, Veronica stormed off into the barn.

  As usual, Red had taken a ton
gue-lashing from Veronica with incredible patience. Watching her go, he merely shook his head. Then he rolled up the stirrups on Garnet’s saddle, loosened the girth, and began cooling off the sweaty horse.

  The Saddle Club looked at one another angrily. Veronica’s treatment of Red was nothing new, and lately she seemed more out of control than ever.

  “The sad thing is that Red knows what she said is true: She’s the paying boarder, and the diAngelos will make trouble for Max if she doesn’t get her way,” Carole said quietly.

  “And Red doesn’t want Max to have to deal with the hassle, so he just keeps quiet,” Lisa noted.

  The situation was depressing. Red always seemed to have to bear the brunt of Veronica’s brattiness. If Max had been around, she wouldn’t have dared make a scene like that because Max wouldn’t hesitate to suspend her from riding. And if she launched an attack on The Saddle Club, they always found a way to get her back. But Red was stuck.

  It seemed even more unfair since Red was so important to Pine Hollow. He was a real horseman and Max’s right-hand man. All the things that The Saddle Club spent hours learning about in Horse Wise—conformation, feeding, saddlery, lamenesses—Red seemed to know naturally. He could answer any question about horses, he rode well, and he worked long hours uncomplainingly. He had a quiet way of doing things that seemed to reassure even the most high-strung animal. Because of his shyness, he kept a low profile around the stables. He never drew attention to his skills, and he didn’t like to compete in shows, so it sometimes took months before Pine Hollow students realized how knowledgeable he was.

  “If we wanted to do something really good for someone, we’d find a way to get some relief for poor Red,” Carole said reflectively.

  Stevie and Lisa agreed. It seemed that they of all people ought to be able to find a way to get Veronica off Red’s back. And doing that would make their own lives better because they wouldn’t have to listen to her tantrums every day. But dealing with Veronica was a tricky business. The only solution for now was to think about it.

  WHEN THE HORSE WISE meeting resumed, Veronica was still making a fuss. Even though Red had hardly said anything in defense of himself, the fact that he had very politely implied that she was lying about the bit had made her extremely defensive. It turned out that she had a long list of complaints about Red. She was in the midst of delivering them to Max as The Saddle Club and the other riders entered the grain room. Red, who often helped out with Max’s afternoon lessons, stood by looking dismayed. He kept shifting his weight uncomfortably.

  “I always see him slacking off around here,” Veronica whined. She seemed to be pretending that Red wasn’t in the room. “If you can’t manage to get better-qualified help around here, camp won’t be worth coming to.”

  Something she said made Lisa frown. “Camp? Isn’t camp during the honeymoon?” she whispered, her eyes growing big.

  Carole and Stevie looked at her in alarm. They both knew what she was thinking: In the excitement of planning the Groom’s Bath, they had all forgotten about the upcoming two weeks of day camp at Pine Hollow.

  Day camp was a favorite Pine Hollow summer tradition. The students came early in the morning and spent all day at the stables. They rode twice a day, had stable management meetings, and usually worked on a special exhibition for the parents, such as a drill team ride. But with Max’s honeymoon scheduled to begin right in the middle of the two weeks, it would be very different.

  Lisa motioned for Stevie and Carole to step outside into the aisle for a minute so they could talk. It was clear that Veronica would be complaining for at least another several minutes.

  “If Veronica’s upset about Red helping Max during camp, what’s she going to say when she finds out he’ll be running it?” Lisa asked.

  “You think he’ll be running it?” Stevie asked.

  “Who else? Red always takes over the stables when Max goes away,” Lisa replied.

  “Probably Max is going to wait till the last minute to make that announcement. He’ll be here the first week to get things started and then take off for the cruise,” Carole guessed.

  “All right. Then nobody breathes a word of this to Veronica—she’d probably threaten to have Red arrested,” Lisa said.

  Stevie put her hands on her hips, offended. “Since when do we share our secret plans with Veronica?”

  Lisa smiled sweetly. “Just making sure,” she said. The three of them slipped back into the grain room, where Veronica was droning on about Red’s shortcomings.

  Finally, Max started to protest. “If you have some specific complaints about an employee of mine, fine. But I hardly think—”

  “I’m not finished,” Veronica snapped. “It’s clear Red doesn’t know what he’s doing. The bit is only one example. I’ve seen manure stains on Garnet’s socks after Red’s finished grooming her, I’ve caught him leading horses without their halters on.…”

  With a look of disgust on her face, Carole turned to Stevie and Lisa. “She probably caught him patting a horse on the wrong part of his neck,” she whispered sarcastically. She could hardly believe how totally ridiculous Veronica’s complaints were—except for the fact that they were so typical of Veronica. Everyone knew that it was impossible to brush manure stains off white markings. Everyone had seen Red loop his belt around a docile broodmare’s neck to guide her in at night. Sure, if you looked up those things in a book, it might say they were signs of bad horsemanship. But real life with horses was different. Some things were understandable or permissible depending upon the situation. Red was completely trustworthy.

  Max folded his arms over his chest and gave Veronica a bored look. “Anything else, Veronica?” he asked, stifling a yawn.

  Veronica’s eyes flashed angrily. “Yes! There is! Red used a riding crop excessively on Garnet when he was exercising her.”

  A murmur went through the group. That was a serious complaint. Red started to speak, then stopped himself. His face was a mixture of anger and anxiety.

  “Why do you think that, Veronica?” Max inquired patiently.

  “Because the next time I rode Garnet, she shied when she saw the crop,” she said triumphantly.

  The Saddle Club stared at Max to see what his reaction would be. In their opinion, Veronica was desperate to make an accusation that would carry some weight with Max. But if anyone was known for using a crop too much, it was Veronica herself. It was no surprise that Garnet would be crop shy around her. Making up charges against Red was just too much.

  “Well discuss this later, Veronica,” Max said firmly, unable to keep the irritation out of his voice. He glanced at Denise McCaskill. The Saddle Club knew how much he hated anyone to think badly of Pine Hollow. Unfortunately, given the chance, Veronica never failed to give a terrible impression. “For now, I want you all to split up into groups to devise feeding charts for a small stable, a medium one, and a large one.”

  IN A MATTER of minutes, Max had the Pony Clubbers separated into three groups, headed by himself, Denise, and Red. He seemed to have concluded that keeping Veronica away from Red would provide a temporary solution. He put her on the team working with Denise. To Stevie’s dismay, she was placed on that team, too. Normally, she would have jumped at the chance to work with Denise, whom they had all taken a liking to. But she was sure that Veronica would ruin everything. At the least, she would probably be incredibly rude to Denise. Stevie looked enviously at Carole and Lisa as they worked with Red.

  “All right, why don’t you all tell me your names again, so I can start learning them for real,” Denise said when her group had gathered in a circle in one corner of the grain room. “You start,” she added, pointing at Veronica.

  Steve gritted her teeth. Veronica was one of the few people she knew who could turn a simple introduction into an offensive remark. Veronica smiled sweetly at Denise. “I’m Veronica diAngelo, and I’m very pleased to meet you,” she said.

  Stevie could hardly believe her ears. Veronica diAngelo was being friend
ly to an outsider? That was very strange. Usually, the only outsiders she bothered to talk to were horse-show judges. Stevie was even more shocked when Veronica continued. “We’re all really excited to be working with you, Denise. I’m sure we’re going to learn a lot. If there’s anything I can help you with, let me know.”

  “Thank you, Veronica. That’s very nice of you,” said Denise, obviously pleased at the warm welcome.

  Stevie glanced sharply at Veronica, hoping for some kind of clue as to why she was acting so unlike herself. Veronica, however, was gazing happily at Denise along with the rest of the group, as if her behavior were completely normal. Come to think of it, Stevie thought, her behavior was completely normal—just not normal for Veronica.

  When it was Stevie’s turn to introduce herself, Betsy Cavanaugh had to nudge her twice before she snapped back to attention. “Oh! Sorry! I’m Stephanie—Stevie for short—Lake,” she said.

  “The one with all the brothers, right?” Denise said.

  “Yup.” Stevie nodded, pleased that Denise had remembered.

  As the meeting went on, it became clear that Denise was a great teacher. She knew all the stable management techniques cold. What was more, she was patient and funny, and she kept everyone interested in the topic. She made sure that they all participated, which wasn’t easy with Stevie and Veronica vying to answer all the questions first. Stevie had decided that whatever Veronica’s purpose in wanting Denise to like her, she had better outdo Veronica—just in case.

  After a detailed discussion about feeding a whole stable as opposed to one or two horses, Denise gave everyone pencils and paper. She told them to write their guesses as to how much hay and grain twenty horses would consume in a month and to sketch out a feed chart.

  Stevie whipped off her answers and then sat puzzling. The only idea she could come up with to explain Veronica’s politeness was that maybe Denise was very wealthy. Veronica always turned on the charm for rich people. Stevie looked surreptitiously at Denise. With her well-worn jeans and paddock boots and her United States Pony Club T-shirt, she certainly didn’t look as if she had tons of money, but then again, you could never tell.