Bree's Challenge
Chapter Six "Dad Finds Out"
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my made up characters!
AN: I re-read one Thoroughbred book and realized the high school is called Henry Clay High, not Lexington High. So I went back and changed that in my previous chapter!
Saturday, October 13th
I smiled at Mike as we left the winner's circle with Cloud again. She had just won another stakes race and this one made her eligible to be entered in the Breeder's Cup races...of course if Uncle Gene wanted to. I had saw him in the kitchen in the past week, looking over entry forms for the BC races but he hadn't filled anything out yet. Maybe he was entering Jazzman or Indigo, or Gunner. I had no reason to think that Cloud would be the one entered I guess.
"Miss Wilson!" A woman ran to catch up with us. "I'm a journalist with a horse racing magazine trying to get some articles about women and girls in racing. I was wondering if I could talk to you for a few minutes?"
I looked at Uncle Gene who nodded. "Sure."
The woman smiled brightly. "Thank you. My name is Jennifer. Now I noticed you use Ashleigh Griffen as a jockey, who is also jockeying for Townsend Acres. Is there any reason you use her and not the regular jockey Whitebrook farm uses?"
"I guess not really besides I really like Ashleigh's way of riding. Cloud isn't fond of whips and Ashleigh is used to that since she rides Ashleigh's Wonder, who is also whip shy. I like the fact that Ashleigh has a gentler way of riding, she is good with her mounts, she's a good friend and an awesome jockey. I couldn't be any luckier to have her riding my horse." I told Jennifer.
"You seem awfully young to be a racehorse owner. How old are you?" She asked as we kept walking. I grinned.
"I'm fifteen, Ma'am."
Her mouth dropped open. "Fifteen? My goodness! You are young. No offense." She added quickly at the end.
"None taken. When I bought Cloud, I didn't think I was going to be buying a racehorse. Or rather I should say when I tagged along with my Uncle Gene to the auction, my idea was to buy a horse used for ponying or a retired racehorse that I could ride. But I saw Cloud and I knew she was the horse for me." I patted Cloud's neck affectionately. "I just got lucky that I got a horse that can run. If she couldn't, I would just start re-training her for a life of trail riding."
Jennifer smiled again and turned to Uncle Gene. "You're the owner of Whitebrook Farm, are you training Dark Cloud for Miss Wilson?"
"I am. We are in a partnership together with Cloud's racing, I do the training and pay for the entry fees. Bree rides Cloud on the track at home and is very hands on with her horse's training. She's learning more and more everyday." Gene put his arm around me.
"So racing runs in the family blood?" She asked looking at all of us.
I laughed. "I guess you could say that. My mother, who is Uncle Gene's sister, grew up with horses, riding jumpers. Uncle Gene was more into the racing aspect and I've just followed in both of their footsteps with the love of horses. I'm lucky enough to be on a farm full of them."
"So you're not from around here?"
I shook my head. "I'm from South Carolina. My father often travels for business so he sent me here while he's traveling so much."
"And your mother?"
I bit my lip. "My mother died years ago when I was younger."
Jennifer looked mortified. "I'm so sorry."
"It's okay." I assured her.
"A question I've seen a lot is about you and Brad Townsend of Townsend Acres...people are curious about you two." I felt a blush creep up on my cheeks and Mike rolled his eyes.
"We hang out, we're friends." I told her honestly. Were we a couple?
"Well I'd say I'm a little insulted." I heard Brad's amused voice from behind me. We all stopped and turned. Brad and Clay were both standing there. Brad looked like a model in his beige slacks and his white pressed shirt. His dark brown hair was slicked back and I bit my lip. "I thought we were a couple."
"Oh did you?" I teased him playfully. Brad grinned at me. "Well I guess you could say that.."
Brad slid his arm around me. "A congratulations is in order to you, Miss Wilson." Brad handed me a bouquet of flowers, blue and white daises. Whitebrook's colors.
"Why thank you, Mr. Townsend." I grinned back at him. "They're beautiful."
I could see the reporter was loving this. I guess I could see why. We were technically supposed to be rivals since Townsend Spring and Cloud raced often against each other but instead, we were a happy couple. "Do you think I could get a picture of you two together? And then do a group shot with everyone from Whitebrook?"
We accepted and Brad and I took our picture together. Then she asked for one of me, Brad and Clay. Ashleigh found us just in time for her to get in the last picture with everyone from Whitebrook. Gene, Mike, me, Chad, Len and Ashleigh. Our team. Of course Cloud too.
"One big question for you. The Breeder's Cup races are coming up at the end of this month, Cloud is eligible for the juvenile fillies race. I also see she has a nomination. Are you planning on entering her?"
"I'm, ah, not sure." I looked at Uncle Gene. "That would be up to my trainer."
"We're thinking hard about it." Gene stated. "She's a good filly and a good runner. I think she could give the horses in the race a run for their money."
She asked us a few more questions, including Ashleigh, then left stating she would give me a call when the article was coming out.
"I can't believe we're going to be in a magazine." I said in happy amazement. This would do Whitebrook good. It was good publicity and a lot of people in the horse world would see it.
"Feels nice to be in the spotlight, doesn't it?" Clay smiled at me and I chuckled.
"A little but it's better since I get to celebrate Cloud's wins." I stopped her at the entrance of the barn. I wanted to talk more to Brad and Clay but I had to cool out Cloud so we could head back to Whitebrook.
"Miss Bree, I will go ahead and cool her out for you. I'll make sure everything is packed up. You bask in your win." Len smiled understandingly at me and took Cloud's lead rope. "Come on my sweet filly, let's get you all cooled out."
"Thank you Len!" I called out to the groom. He really was more like family. I had to do something for him to let him know how much I appreciated him.
Ashleigh and Mike had went off to talk, Chad and Uncle Gene went to pull the truck and trailer up, leaving me with Brad and Clay.
"Townsend Spring had a really good race today. I really thought she was going to have it. I mean that break from the gate and the way she plowed down the track..She was a power house today." I complimented their horse. She had done amazing..just Cloud had just gotten the lead in the last furlong.
"She did good. But that filly of yours keeps coming up from behind to take that lead." Clay laughed. "I still am amazed at how you went in and just picked a winner out of all the horses in there. I think you're going to start coming to auctions and sales appointments with me."
I laughed with him and Brad. "I got really lucky with Cloud. I mean I have horses in my blood but I've rarely been around them except for when I visit here in Kentucky."
"So Breeder's Cup races, huh?" Brad raised his eyebrows. I threw my hands up.
"I don't even know how she's nominated. Those are big time races too and I'm a little in awe that we could possibly be entering them."
"It's some hefty fees." Brad let out a low whistle. "It's a good thing she's won a few races."
"I don't even know what the fees are." I admitted. "I leave it all up to Gene."
"He'll do what's best for you and Cloud. You've got a good trainer and partner." Clay assured me.
I could see everything was almost finished being packed up. "I guess we're getting ready to head out." I sighed.
"Well shoot me a text when you make it home." Brad squeezed my hand. Clay gave me a hug.
"Good job out there today. You're going to have to come over soon so my wife can meet you. She's finally back in town from helping her mother and she can't wait to meet you."
"Of course. I can't wait to meet her either. Just let me know when." Clay nodded and walked off to give Brad and I privacy. Brad pulled me into his arms and gave me a kiss on the lips.
"You know, homecoming is next Saturday at my school." Brad whispered.
"Are you asking me out?"
"Yes I am. I'm hoping you'll come with me." Brad brushed a strand of my hair back.
"Only if you come with me to homecoming on Friday at my school." I grinned up at him.
"I think I could agree to that." Brad handed me an envelope. "Buy yourself whatever dress you would like, on me."
I gaped at him after looking in the envelope. "Brad, I can't take your money."
"It's fine Bree. I want to buy your dress. You're going to be my date and if you want, buy two dresses. One for each night."
I didn't want to but I agreed. Brad left and I got into the truck with everyone, waving goodbye to Ashleigh, who was driving herself home.
Later that night, I was in my bedroom when Uncle Gene called up to me. I ran down the steps. "Yes?" And I stopped when I saw his face. His hand was covering the microphone piece of the telephone.
"Did you forget to tell your dad something important?" Gene hissed at me. My eyes widened and I gasped.
"Oh no!" I had forgotten to tell him about buying Cloud. I took the phone from Gene. "Hey dad."
"Don't hey dad me, Bree Elizabeth Wilson!" My dad shouted into the phone and I pulled it away from my ear, wincing. "You spenteighteen thousand dollars on a race horse?!"
I steeled myself. "Yes I did. Eighteen thousand dollars of MY money."
"Your mother left you that money to use towards college." Dad snapped. I sighed.
"Yeah, well, I made a decision. I can still go to college. My horse has won back more than what I bought her for already, I can easily replace the money." I thought about it. It was a big amount of money. Of course Uncle Gene kept it all in his account for me. "More than double actually."
"Your uncle just went along with this? Y'know when he said something about getting you a horse, he said a trail horse. Not a racehorse."
"Uncle Gene didn't know I was going to buy her until I did. He wouldn't have let me do it otherwise. But he supported my choice afterwards." I felt anger rush through me. "I'm not giving her up and I'm going to keep racing her. You're the one who wanted to send me away!"
I slammed the phone down and rushed out the door.
…...
Friday, October 19th
I looked at myself in the mirror one last time. "You're sure I look okay? My dress isn't too short? This is my first time meeting Brad's mother and I want to look good."
"You look great." Ashleigh smiled and I knew she understood my nerves. I looked at Ashleigh with her brown hair curled and up in clips. Her dress was a beautiful teal color and it came to her knees. It was strapless and silky. I had gotten two dresses on sale at Macy's. The dress I was wearing tonight was a dark navy strapless dress and from the left top of the dress to diagonally to right under my chest there were tiny jewels making the dress sparkle. It came down to just above my knees. My hair was wavy and pulled/clipped over to my right side, flowing down my right shoulder. I wore little makeup that Ashleigh's sister Caroline had applied for me and Ashleigh.
"I'll be right back." Ashleigh said, leaving the room. Caroline fluffed my hair out over my shoulder again and met my eyes in the mirror.
"You know, I used to date Brad." I froze in shock at her words.
"You and Brad dated?" I whispered. I could only hope she didn't hate me.
"Yeah, don't worry, I'm not some angry or jealous ex." She smiled at me then sobered. "I just...I just want you to know that Brad can make you feel like you're on top of the world and then it comes crashing down. We were together for awhile and then he broke up with me abruptly. In the barn in front of all the grooms and people there, just like that we were done."
"I'm so sorry Caroline." I hurt for her. That had to be humiliating. I couldn't imagine Brad doing that. Not the Brad I knew.
"I just worry about you getting hurt. I don't know you that much but Ashleigh talks about you and you're close to Mike and Chad. They worry about you too." Caroline hesitated. "Although I have to admit, the way he treats you is so different from what I've seen of him lately. He acts different, he is actually being nice to people around here."
"Thank you Caroline. I know Mike worries about me and in relationships you can never be sure of what's going to happen..but everyone keeps talking about Brad being changed and I can only hope if we end up breaking up that he won't repeat his past mistakes like what he did to you. I can't even imagine how horrible that must have been."
Caroline's words played in my head the rest of the night. I still had fun with everyone and even danced with Chad a few times since him and his girlfriend broke up. Brad's mother was wonderful and I could see I would like her just like I liked Clay.
The next night, I met some of Brad's friends. There was Russell and his girlfriend, Stacy, then Max and his girlfriend Leah. They seemed fun and nice but you could tell they were all "rich" kids. I mean I wasn't a poor kid, especially after Cloud's winnings, but I didn't have a Porsche or a Ferrari, a mansion or anything. I was living the simple life right now with Uncle Gene and Mike and I loved it.
When we pulled up to Whitebrook that night, Brad walked with me to Cloud's stall to check in on her. She dozed peacefully in the back of her stall. We brought the chairs out to the back entrance of the barn, staring out over the paddocks and the starry sky. Brad had given me a jacket of his to wear since it was kind of chilly. My dress wasn't strapless this time but the part that covered my shoulders was a mesh type material that had jewels on the top and hem of the top of my dress. It was an emerald green that matched Townsend's Acres' colors. Brad and Clay had gotten a kick out of that. Brad had also laughed when I gave him back almost all of his money. I had bought two dresses like he said but since they were both on sale I didn't spend much.
"You seemed a little distracted these past two days. What's bothering you? The thing with your father?" Brad asked as he put his arm around me. My father and I hadn't talked since last weekend. Uncle Gene had kind of smoothed things over with him but I wasn't talking to him.
"No.." I smiled up at him. "It's nothing."
Brad raised an eyebrow. "It's not nothing. I may have only known you for a little over two months but I know you well enough now to know it's something."
I played with my dress nervously. "Everyone keeps talking about how you've changed."
"Oh yeah?" Brad kissed my cheek. "Is that bad?"
"Well no, it's not bad. It's just I can't put the you I know with the you I keep hearing about." I whispered.
"I can admit I haven't always been the greatest person in the world but you've changed me." Brad looked at me seriously. "You in these past two months have made me into a better person and I guess that's what happens when you start caring for someone like you."
"Someone like me?" I asked with a half-smile.
"Someone who is beautiful, smart, caring, patient. Someone who doesn't judge you for your past." Brad looked a bit nervous. "That's who you are, Bree. You care about everyone around you, even me, you worry about straining our relationship with the racing. You're patient with me and with Cloud, with everyone. Sure, you can be a "spitfire" as my father likes to call you..but you've got this vibrant, beautiful personality and you're laid back about things."
I kissed him, not even knowing what to say. "You're so sweet."
"Only for you." Brad kissed me again. "I better get you inside before your uncle kills me. I want to be alive to see our fillies run against each other in the Breeder's Cup Juvenile."
Uncle Gene and I had made the decision to enter Cloud in the race. The pre-entry fee and the entry fee combined was forty thousand dollars. One percent each other the race's purse, which was two million dollars. It would definitely pay off if she won.
Brad walked me to the door and gave me one last kiss. It had truly been a good weekend spent with my friends, my boyfriend and my horse and here in a couple of weeks, we'd be going to the Breeder's Cup races. I couldn't wait.
…...
AN: Hey readers! Here's your update. I know it's been awhile but I'm updating as frequently as possible with sixteen active stories lol. Soon I should be down one less story(finishing a 6 year story!) and be able to update a bit more frequent after that. I'd love to hear about what you thought about the chapter! I'd love to see some reviews :)
To my reviewer Ash222: I did post that new Fanfic in case you were interested. It is called You Are The Only Exception.
I should be updating in a few weeks! I know it's a long wait but maybe I can get two chapters a day out if I try really hard.
Thanks for reading! -Quinnandseth'sgirl15. My next update(s) will be: You Need To Trust Me(A Twilight story) and You Are The Only Exception(A Phantom Stallion: Wild Horse Island story).