AN: I can't really explain it...why update after almost two years? Well, I would have gotten this stuff up sooner but hates my word processor. Anyway, summer is coming and you know what that means: more time for writing. Maybe this thing will finally get finished. It all depends on the reviews! I've been out of it for so long I don't even know whose still around these days...Miracle? Dakki? Hello...somebody...
Oh, P.S. It's sort up short. Sorry.
Book 2: Chapter 4
After crossing that finish line, the first half of the day had moved in slow-motion silence in comparison. The gun had sounded and suddenly her senses seemed to perceive everything around her two hundred percent. She finished and people where everywhere. Through the crowd of cheers she managed to hold onto the helmet which concealed her head, her first concern, and find Miracle and Race. Macy was handed over to Race, and the trio followed his lead, cheering, hugging, and waving to whomever crossed their path.
"A-mazing!" Miracle cried, jumping up and spinning. She landed with a thud and grabbed Annabelle by her shoulders squarely. "Thanks for treatin' me to the best day of me life!"
Annabelle chuckled, hugging her strange friend quickly and was just about to ask of Spot's whereabouts when the man himself popped up in front of them and pulled Miracle from Annabelle's arms into his. "Honey, we'se rich!" The girls laughed louder as Spot jingled his pockets, the coins inside creating their own tune and the folded bills in the hidden chest pocket of his jacket bulging proudly. "And you," he wrapped a free arm around Annabelle's shoulder. "how can I thank you!"
"I should be mad that you bet against me!" She teased, pushing him away.
"Ah, c'mon. You'll get over it when I by you something." The trio laughed louder, now stopping in front of the stable Macy and Annabelle had claimed as their own while in New York. Macy was being brushed down by another stable hand and as Annabelle looked down the row of stables, the party had consumed the whole stretch. It didn't seemed to matter who had crossed the finish line first as far as this group was concerned. Leaning out into the hallway, someone handed Annabelle a glass of liquor before clinking their own glass against the new one and continuing into the crowd. She chuckled to herself, sniffing the drink before pouring it to the ground. "Hey," came a voice, "I would have liked a sip of that."
The man in green and white checkers offered his right hand to Annabelle. She shook it hard, just as her father had taught her, and was glad the party had distracted her to the point of not yet removing her helmet. "Nice race today," the man had a sly smile but Annabelle had seen if enough on and off the track to know it was all show.
She nodded. "You certainly have plenty to celebrate."
He shrugged. "I do what I can. Can't be too comfortable though, what with yougin's like you riding my tail." Annabelle touched the front of her helmet in salut. "What you say your name was?"
It was easy to say now, so easy slipping off her tongue that it humored Annabelle in a way. "Roz Mooring. I'm from upstate."
"Well Roz Mooring, hope to see you next race." He waved a quick good-bye and was halfway across the stables before Annabelle could mumble a reply. She turned back to Miracle and Race, Macy all fresh and clean with a towel on her back. Miracle was making kissy faces at the horse, cooeing about how lovely she was while Spot and Race clinked glasses of their own. She sighed again, feeling the events of the day dragging her down. But she couldn't drop the smile from her face and the only thing that could possibly make the day better would have been to have watched the whole race from the stands, the real Roz Mooring racing around the ring. She liked riding, but all the hoopla, all the noise and rules; after only a week it had grated on her nerves. Riding Macy throughout the woods of upstate New York, having the ability to go which ever way she pleased, that was her type of riding.
Looking around the small stable she turned when a knocked sounded at the door. "Grandfather!" She hugged him tightly, causing him to drop their two suitcases.
"Child," he whispered, bending so that they were the only two to hear. "Boys don't hug their grandfather's so…enthusiastically."
Annabelle stepped away, laughing to herself as she fixed the helmet still on her head. "Oh grandfather, can we go home now?"
"Are you ready?" She nodded. "Well, then sign a few banners for your fans outside. We have enough time before we have to catch the train." Annabelle laughed at her grandfather's tease. "I mean it child, someone's waiting for you out there."
Puzzled as to who it could be, Annabelle leaned out the door, Miracle, Spot and Race taking their own look from over the edge of the stable. At the sight of Jack, duffle bag on his shoulder and a new looking newsie cap in place of his cowboy hat, Annabelle stumbled back inside.
"Annabelle, listen to me." Jack called, stepping into the stall. Miracle, Spot and Race hopped up onto the edge of the wall while Annabelle scolded her grandfather for whatever part she knew he'd played in Jack's appearance.
"I'm mighty busy Jack…" She lied, busying herself around Macy's feet.
"I can see that, but just let me apologize." He trailed her frantic movements, jumping out of the way when she turned suddenly to grab a horseshoe off the wall.
"For what?" She chucked it into a nearby bucket.
"For last night, barging in the way I did and everything."
She sighed heavily, pausing with both hands on the wall in front of her as if about to do a push-up standing up. "Forget it." She muttered.
"Annabelle, c'mon don't do this."
"Gotta catch a train, Jack." She grabbed her suitcase and passed off Macy's rope to Race who jumped to attention and followed her out of the stall. Kloppman, Spot and Miracle followed also and of course, Jack was right at her heel.
"Right, back home. But see, I don't think you're really gonna get on, Annabelle. If I know you as well as I think I do." She stopped at that point, dropping her bag to the floor of the stables with a thud. The crowd seemed to surge around them, the four others within their entourage, forming an oval shape barrier.
Jack cleared his throat, aware of just how brief a moment he had before the shock wore off and she started going again. "Seems that you came down to the city to race, sure, but because life at home wasn't what you'd been hopin' it'd be. And now, I messed everything up here and you wanna go back. But you can't really, go home I mean, because you know that waiting for you back there is the same thing that drove you away in the first place." Her eyes were glazed over as she stared at his boots and as he reached forward she snapped them to his face. He paused for a second before continuing in a direct path for her suitcase. "You can't go back and you can't stay here."
"Is this supposed to be making things better?" Spot whispered, watching as Jack held tightly onto Annabelle's suitcase in one hand and his small bag in the other. "cause he's going at it all wrong."
"You told me to give you a reason to stay and that's when I realized what was wrong." Jack explained. "I don't want you to stay." Spot sighed loudly, smacking his hand to his forehead as Miracle and Race shuffled their feet nervously. Annabelle was the only one, eyes now wide with anticipation, who seemed to know where Jack was heading with his babbling. "I want you to go home and I wanna be going with you. That's where you belong, as much as you thought otherwise. So that's where I go too."
Silence now filtered in between the far away noise of the track. Most people had gotten what they needed from in and around the stables and headed to the nearest pub for some sort of drink. The six still standing looked oddly out of place. "So, whattya think?"
She stepped forward, reaching for her bag now being held in his hand and he let in go with an air of defeat. Yet before his chin could rest against his chest for good, she shifted her bag to the opposite hand and slid the empty one back into his. Not looking at him directly but knowing his eyes and smile were glued to her, she squeezed his hand just slightly. "Grandfather, I'm ready now."
