Authors Note—
Sorry for the long—LONG!—wait!! I was having some computer trouble… stupid laptop hates me. Anyways, I was watching the Kentucky Derby pre-show thing and the inspiration just hit. I'm skipping ahead in this chapter to when Amy and Ty go to the Derby because that's where the fun starts!! And just to make it clear because I think I said the wrong thing before, Brad, Liz, Zach and Lolly left for the Derby with the Prince on Wednesday and Ty and Amy are leaving with Lee and Lolly's kids—whatever their names are…-- on Friday, which would be the day in this chapter. And I know that what happens when they land would probably never happen but it was too funny to leave out. And regarding the Baldwin's Triple Crown history (I'm changing some things): they did have the first filly (Little Woman—Prince's mother) to win it along with another (Prince's sire who's name I'm changing to Baldwin the Great), they won in consecutive years and it's been twelve years since then.
And a HUGE thank you to horsetrainerinmissouri for BETA-ing!
Happy reading!
Steph
BALDWIN PRINCE
Chapter 4: Air Baldwin
Friday, May 5, 2006
I'd counted down the days all week long. Who wouldn't? It was the Kentucky Derby. By Friday, the day we were scheduled to leave, Ty was getting a bit excited. He must have been at the Derby since he was about five—and that's being a bit naïve—but he still talked constantly about the latest news he received daily from his father on the Prince. But that's not to say that I wasn't excited either… because I was. Very. In fact, I was so excited that I woke up an hour and a half earlier on Friday then I usually did.
I spent an unordinary amount of time picking out my outfit for the day though, so I suppose the extra hour and a half did come in handy. I dressed casually—yet quite fashionably… at least in my opinion—in a pair of faded boot cut jeans and a white tank top with a tight black cardigan over it. I'd braided my hair after my shower the night before so it was slightly wavy. I wore a small amount of black eyeliner and no other makeup. My only jewelry consisted of simple silver studs in my ears and the Juicy Couture cuff bracelet that said 'Her Majesty' on it. Usually I hated Juicy clothes—and who wouldn't with that name?—but Ty had given it to me as a joke and I loved it. Coupled with a pair of black Converse and the result was rather pleasing.
Ty picked me up in the morning so that my car wouldn't be a problem when we left for the airport. Ty's dad had scheduled the plane to leave at around one in the afternoon. The plane may have belonged to Ty legally but his dad still had the final say. So we were stuck in school until noon. Needless to say, I learned nothing that day.
Biology, a subject that was always torture for me anyway, became that much worse. It was the last fifteen minutes until we were leaving. The teacher gave up on me and I spent the class watching the clock.
My hand shot up as soon as the second hand passed over the twelve. The teacher stopped short in her demonstration of the body's muscular system and sighed as she let her hand fall away from a life-size chart of the human body. "Yes, Amy?"
"Um, I have to go now. It's twelve."
"Fine, go," she said with a wave of her hand.
I practically jumped out of my seat. Soraya barely managed to wish me a fun trip before I was dashing out of the classroom. I quickly signed out my name at the office and was then walking through the front doors and out into the bright spring sunlight. Ty was already waiting in front of the school, leaning against the side door of his black Escalade EXT looking like my own personal Greek God in a pair of jeans that fit him perfectly and a blue button down that had to rows of white ivy printed on either side of the chest and the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. I hopped gracefully—at least semi—down the stone steps and over to Ty. He kissed me lightly before turning to open the door for me.
"Your chariot awaits, your majesty," he said with a small bow and his horrible English accent.
I grinned and accentuated my own accent dramatically and I stepped into the car. "Why thank you, kind sir."
"Can we cut the mushy stuff out of the trip? I might start gagging back here," a voice complained from the backseat and was soon identified as Jeff, Zach, and Lolly's son.
"They always do that," Lee added. "It does get rather annoying."
"Well, hello to you too," I said with a smile.
Ty just laughed as he shut the door. Soon he was behind the wheel and we were driving out of Green Acres Prep and down the road a half mile to Green Acres Middle to get Marissa and Gabriella. Ty went inside to sign them out and came back a few minutes later with the twins skipping besides him.
"Hey, Amy," they chorused as they smushed in between Lee and Jeff in the backseat. It was nothing short of a miracle that our bags had been sent ahead of us with Brad, Zach, Liz, Lolly and the Prince on Wednesday.
"Hi, guys," I replied before turning back around in my seat.
Marissa and Gabriella chattered animatedly, about how much I was going to love being at the Kentucky Derby, the whole twenty minute drive to the small private airport where the Baldwin's kept their jets.
When we arrived at the airport we all gathered up our carryon bags and went inside the building. Ty went off to make sure the plane was ready and I sat on one of the leather couches in the lounge area with Marissa and Gabriella while Jeff and Lee were looking at something on Jeff's iPod in the corner.
I reached up a hand to brush some hair out of my eyes, but my hand never got that far as it was snatched by Marissa.
"Oh," she said as she examined my bracelet. "I love your bracelet, Amy, it's so cute."
"Yeah," Gabriella quickly seconded. "It's awesome. Where did you get it?"
"Oh," I said, slightly startled. "Ty gave it to me… as a, you know, as a joke."
"Wow," Gabriella breathed. "I wish someday I'll have a boyfriend who buys me such cool things."
"Yeah, definitely," Marissa carried on the sisters' tradition of agreeing to what the other says.
I blushed despite myself. Maybe it was ridiculous to be intimidated by two twelve-year-olds but I was always a little bit self conscious around them since they were always dressed immaculately and, I was willing to bet, head-to-toe in designer clothes. There clothes always looked just-had-the-tag-cut-off new. The jeans they wore now looked like they cost as much as Sunny's saddle.
I smiled at them warmly, anyway, since they really were the sweetest girls. They weren't at all snobby or stuck-up to me and though they were a few years younger then me, they were always fun to talk to. "You'll have no problem getting whatever guy you want," I told them, "you're both gorgeous."
"Well, you're really pretty too," Gabriella said and Marissa nodded vigorously. "And you always make it look so easy to look as good as you do. We're jealous."
"Definitely," Marissa chirped. "What's your dress for tomorrow look like?" she moved quickly onto her question.
I giggled. "You'll just have to wait and see it tomorrow." It was only fair. I'd told the same thing to Ty numerous times.
Ty came striding over to us then. He looked irritated and ran a hand through his hair as he sat down next to me on the couch.
"Is something the matter?" I asked, resting my hand on his arm. "Is something wrong with the plane?"
"The plane's not the problem," Ty said. "The problem is that the airport we're supposed to land at had a water main break this morning and they've closed."
"Oh," I said. "Well is there another airport we can land at?"
"Only the public airport," he wrinkled his nose in what I took as disgust. I giggled, though, since it looked a bit cute.
"Well, that's alright, isn't it?"
"We'd have to go inside the terminal and I've never been in one before," he admitted.
"You've never been in a public airport?" Ty shook his head. "Well, I have so it'll be fine," I assured him.
Ty still didn't look thrilled at the idea, but got up anyway and reached out a hand to help me up as well. "Let's go then. Everything's ready."
Ty looked down at me and I flashed him a bright smile that he met. He took my hand and led me out of the lounge area to where a guy in a tux—I kid you not—was waiting with his hand clasped behind his back. He bowed his head when he saw us. "Right this way if you would, Mr. Baldwin," he said before walking off down a lavishly decorated hallway—I had a suspicion that those prints on the walls weren't fakes… and was that marble on the floor?
"The best of luck to you and your family, Mr. Baldwin," Tux Guy said as he opened the door that led to the tarmac for us.
A sudden blast of wind met us as we walked out onto the tarmac. I pushed my loose hair back and was awarded with my first sight of Ty's jet. I think I may have gasped out loud but that reaction was clearly well justified. About fifty yards or so in front of us sat the plane, a set of stairs ascending up into the cabin. The plane itself was huge… well smaller then a commercial airliner of course, but it was still big to my inexperienced eye. There were eight small oval shaped windows with the shades pulled over them. The body was sleek and a sparkling white with hunter green, silver and black swirling stripes under the windows. Towards the tail of the plane, the stripes morphed into a hunter green horse that was spread flat in a gallop, its mane and tail streaming behind it. On the other side, I soon saw, was the name 'Baldwin' in big, elegantly sweeping hunter green letters.
Ty's arm slipped around my waist, as we looked up at the manmade wonder, that would soon take to the skies—and totally conquer them as well. "So what do you think?" he asked with a grin ever present in his voice.
"Um," I searched for a proper response. "Wow?" I finished lamely.
Ty laughed and bent over to kiss my temple. "Welcome," he said as he led me to the stairs that Jeff, Lee, Marissa and Gabriella were already bounding eagerly up, "to Air Baldwin, your leading airline in style and comfort."
I hit his arm playfully. That was clearly an understatement… even though I'd heard that Mr. Baldwin's private jet was something to marvel at as well. It held horses as well… use your imagination. It was like five star air travel for horses.
B
P
It seemed almost a shame when the pilot announced that we had arrived at the gate Mr. Baldwin had somehow managed to secure for us. The jet, as spectacular as it was on the outside, was only better on the inside. It was nothing short of an airborne mansion with the mahogany trimmings, plush carpets and leather seats and couches and flat screen TVs and DVD players that somehow managed to play whatever movie you wanted. The bathroom had marble sinks and there was an actual kitchen, albeit a bit on the small side but it was still there… on a plane. There was also a bedroom and an office room. Wow. I'd never be able to get on a commercial aircraft again. So long miniscule bags of stale peanuts and canned sodas in plastic cups and paper napkins. Hello sparkling water, caviar and cloth napkins…. Well alright, maybe the caviar was a bit of an exaggeration.
The pilot came back into the main cabin just as we were gathering up our stuff. "Once again I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience this is causing, Mr. Baldwin. Are you sure there is nothing we can do to help?"
Ty, to his credit, smiled a half business half friendly smile and put his arm around my shoulders. "It'll be fine. Like an adventure," he said. I couldn't help a small giggle.
"Well then. The car will be waiting out front for you. Our money's on Baldwin Prince," the pilot said as he shook Ty's hand.
"As well as it should be," Ty said.
The pilot, copilot and stewards all wished the Baldwin's the best of luck in the races once more as we stepped off of the plane and into the small, dimly lit tunnel.
"Here goes nothing," Ty said as we stepped out into the bright florescent lighting of the terminal. He slipped on a pair of sunglasses and I resisted the double take I so wanted to take—was that a Giorgio Armani logo?
"Well, it's not like anyone's going to know who you…"
My thought was cut short as several people jumped up from the cracking upholstered seats and started flashing cameras.
"…are," I finished lamely. "Hmm. What are the odds?"
"Ty! Ty Baldwin, over here!" one of them yelled. If the interest of the rest of the people in the wide terminal wasn't already sparked by the cameras, Ty's name surely got them. We were in Kentucky, Louisville no less, the day before the Kentucky Derby. It wasn't even that. It was more that with the added fact that we were in the middle of horse country and that everyone would know Ty's name. I think I was starting to see why Ty wasn't crazy about landing in a public airport. Can't say I blame him.
"Ty, can you give us the inside scoop of Baldwin Prince?" one particularly bold reporter stepped closer to us.
Ty quickly took control of the situation with a calm and cool composure that made it perfectly clear to see that he was made for inheriting Baldwin Ways. He sent Jeff and Lee off to the car with Marissa and Gabriella before facing the cameras and questions. I slipped my arm through his and stood confidently, and quietly, by his side. At least I hoped I looked confident, it was kind of unnerving having all those people staring at you.
"Give us the inside scoop for the race tomorrow, Ty." Man, that reporter sure was persistent.
"The Prince is as good a bet as any," Ty said. "Every horse in the field has the chance and the potential to win tomorrow. We'll just have to see," was his super-vague answer.
"But surely Baldwin Prince is the most qualified!" the reporter attempted to pry something more from Ty by egging him on. Poor reporter didn't know that Ty had the patience of a paleontologist… or, you know, he had a lot of patience.
"If credentials were what won it, the sport would be no fun," Ty said with good humor that I was sure was more then a little forced. "Preparing is one thing; it's a game of luck. The long shot always has as good a chance as the favorite when coming out of the gate."
"Is this the Baldwin year?" someone else yelled out. "It's been twelve years since Little Woman won it. Is Baldwin Prince going to wear the crown this year?"
"We like to focus on one race at a time. We'll see what happens tomorrow and, providing the Prince is healthy and sound, the next race will be the Preakness. The Triple Crown is nice but it's not our goal." I almost laughed; Ty was leading them in circles. I looked up at him briefly and thought I saw a sparkle in his emerald eyes. Of course he would think this was funny.
"Baldwin Prince is bred from two Triple Crown winners, though, so you must have high hopes for him," the reporter persisted.
"The Triple Crown races are a trial for the best horse. Of course we have high hopes for the Prince. We have high hopes for all of our horses. We've taken him as far as we can at this point and we leave fate to determine the rest. For now, though, we're just here to enjoy the races." Ty smiled, nodded, and led me away from the reporters.
I held my threatening laughter as best as I could but the reporters were still yelling after Ty and people were pointing and staring at us and a giggle escaped. Soon I was full out laughing and Ty was practically dragging me through the terminal halls. I wouldn't say that we were running but it was as fast as we could go while laughing.
All in all, it was a hell of way to start off the Kentucky Derby… maybe it wasn't traditional, but why be traditional when you can leave your mark in a more creative way? Yeah, I don't know the answer to that either.