When Junior opened his eyes the next morning, he was laying in a soft canopy bed with Gillian's head on his shoulder and light trickling through fancy curtains into the big hotel room. For a moment he almost thought they were still on vacation in Europe. Then he remembered about Wildfire's injury and shot up. Gillian moaned in her sleep when her head fell back down against the pillow. Junior tucked the blanket around her shoulders and left her there, because in his jacket pocket across the room his phone was ringing. Junior looked at the clock on the wall. Seven o'clock in the morning. Who would be calling him at seven a.m.?"

Of course," mumbled Junior when he saw the phone number for Davis Farms on his phone.

"Hey, son, where did you go after the race?" said Ken. "I was hoping you and Gillian would be in the winners circle with us."

"We left to go find Kris after Wildfire got injured," said Junior.

"Why, what's she gonna do?" said Ken sarcastically. "Use her magic want to make him better? Christ, son. I thought you were done chasing after that girl."

"It's not anything like that," said Junior. "I'm not "chasing after" Kris. And if I were, I probably wouldn't be doing it with Gillian."

"Oh, right," said Ken. "Well, anyway, I called Jean and she said that Wildfire survived his operation. It's just a question now of whether it worked or not. The best she can hope for is that he'll recover enough to become a pleasure horse."

"Cheerful much?" remarked Junior.

"Well, of course I'm happy that Wildfire survived," said Ken. "But he is our biggest competition. It couldn't hurt to keep him off the track."

"You're a piece of work, Dad," said Junior. "Anyways, we might also find Danni."

Ken laughed. "No you won't. While you and Gillian were gone, I hired three private investigators to try to find her and none of them could even get a lead. She didn't tell anybody where she was going, and nobody's known where she's been since." For the first time since he'd gotten back, Ken's voice was actually truly sad.

"Actually, I've already found something out," said Junior.

"Really?" said Ken. "What? HOW?"

"Complete coincidence," said Junior honestly. "I'll tell you more about it later. I have to go now."

"Okay," said Ken. "Call me back."

"I will," said Junior. Then he hung up the phone.

"So…you're not going to tell your father that he's getting a grandchild?"

Junior turned around. Gillian was sitting up in the bed now. She was wearing a tiny silk nightgown she'd bought in Paris, and her messy blonde hair fell around her face and down her back. He couldn't help but stare at her for a moment. Gillian smiled. "What?"

"Nothing," said Junior. "You just look so perfect right now."Gillian's face lit up and she giggled a bit. "So do you."

Junior walked over to the bed and kissed her as he sat down on it. "You know, if we weren't busy looking for Kris and Dani right now, I would so want to rip that nightgown off of you."

"Well…" said Gillian. "Kris and Danni have been missing for nearly eight months now. I think they'll be fine for another twenty minutes, don't you?""

Yeah," said Junior. "I think they will." He looked away for a moment, then pulled Gillian back into a passionate kiss and the two of them dropped back down onto the bed.

At the hospital, Dani was happily laying in her bed and gazing down at her tiny perfect baby, Ramona Jennifer Blake. Kris came in. "Hey, I brought some stuff."

"Thanks," said Dani. "Are you still racing against Trailblazer today?"

"No," said Kris. "I cancelled. I'm gonna stay with you for a while and then I'll buy some stuff for the baby."

Dani smiled gratefully. "I never thought I would say this but Kris Furillo, you are an angel."

Kris smiled. She remembered what Dani had said to her that night after the match race. "You and me don't need anybody but ourselves." Dani couldn't have been more wrong. They needed each other. Not just to run their business, but to stay strong.

"Are you gonna call her RJ for short?" asked Kris.

"Nope," said Dani. "That is why I picked her name, though. She looks just like him, doesn't she?"

"Yes, she does," said Kris. That was RJ's handsome face the baby had, and RJ's brown wisps of hair and piercing blue eyes. "My mom told me that I looked like my dad when I was born, too."

"And I look just like my dad in my baby picture except for the skin tone," said Dani. "I think it's natures way of telling the guy that the kid they're about to raise is actually theirs." Then she sighed deeply. Ramona looked just like RJ, and there was no way he would ever get a chance to raise her.

In Matt's mind, he was still running through the back woods at Raintree trying to catch up to Kris. He still loved her. And he still wouldn't let her go, despite the fact that he was only getting farther from his house and Kris was faint almost to the point of being a white silhouette.

"Hey, Matt? It's Mom and Todd. Listen, something pretty bad happened."

I already know something pretty bad happened, thought Matt. You kicked Kris and Wildfire and the other horses out of Raintree. Most importantly Kris. And now all he could do anymore was try to get her back.

"Wildfire's been injured at the track."

"He had to have an operation. We don't know if his leg will recover or not."

Matt stopped and looked around the dark woods. Wildfire was Kris's favorite horse. He wanted to tell her that he was her, but he would have to catch up to her first. He started running after her again.

"Mom? Do you think Matt's ever gonna wake up?"

"I hope he does."

Wake up? What were they talking about? He wasn't sleeping. He was doing anything but.

Meanwhile, Pablo returned to Sullivan Stables. Tina was already speeding around the practice track on one of the young horses against one of the exercise riders on a different young horse. Exactly the way they were supposed to. As if Tina hadn't almost gotten Wildfire killed the day before.

"Excuse me, Mr. Pablo?" he looked down at ten-year-old Amelia Sullivan. "Will you help me with my pony?"

"Sure," said Pablo. "He probably just needs something nasty sprayed on the wood where he cribs." Pablo paused just for a second to glare at Tina, even though she didn't know he was watching, and then headed back to the barn with Amelia.

"Does that girl have trouble sleeping?" said Amelia.

"Tina?" said Pablo, puzzled.

Amelia nodded. "I heard Daddy say that she's bad in bed."

Pablo nearly choked as he got down a bottle of spray. "When did he say that?"

"This morning," said Amelia. "I heard him talking to my Uncle Jordan on the phone. He also said that making it with her was about as much fun as getting thrown off a stallion. What do you think they were making?"

Pablo bit his lip. "The bed." He sprayed the wood on the door to the pony's stall.

"I only make my bed when somebody forces me to," said Amelia. "Does that mean that I'm bad in bed like Tina?"

"No way," said Pablo. "Believe me, when it comes to making beds, no one screws around the way Tina does."

"That's a bad word," said Amelia.

"Yeah, sorry," said Pablo. "Excuse me."