Chapter 5

Spring Break came and went in Sleepyside for the 3 girls. Trixie, on her part, had felt that it had gone by entirely too fast. Even though she was almost through her freshman year in college, a part of her was still that 13 year old girl who hated school, well actually only math. But at least then she'd had Brian and Jim to tutor her. Now she felt like there was no one. Ashamedly, she bit her lip as she looked up at Di and Honey sitting up front in the car. Trixie was so thankful to have her friends with her. She knew she'd just die if they weren't going through all this with her. And there hadn't been a really good mystery in ages. The biggest mystery had been the picnic Jim had taken her on this past winter. At that thought, Trixie smiled but only briefly as she remembered that she hadn't heard from Jim all week. Not even a phone call or letter. She shook her head to get rid of those thoughts. "Hey Honey, she called up, turn on the radio." As a familiar song came on, the girls all stopped talking and started to sing. They didn't know all the words, and so ended up creating their own at some point. By the time they got to the Manor, they were laughing and giggling so hard, they couldn't hardly speak.

"Well, well, well," said Tom as they pulled up. "This looks like a fun time." Tom, as dark-haired as Reagan was red, was the Wheeler's chauffeur. However, since Honey and Trixie had started driving, he really only drove Honey's parents around. Now, he put on an act to help Honey, Di, and Trixie out of the car. "Oh Tom, you really should stop," Honey giggled, "we can barely breathe now." With a wink and a bow, Tom only grinned, and pulled the car around to the garage. The 3 girls were all still chattering as they walked around to the stables. They had already agreed that it was too nice of a day to go inside, and so decided to go riding. After all, the horses needed to be exercised and Reagan would really get onto them if they didn't do just that.

When they got to the stables however, Reagan was nowhere to be found. All the horses were there, but there was no sign of the groomsman. "Gee, I wonder where he went off to," said Trixie. "Yeah I know," replied Honey, "it's not like him to be away from the stables during the day. Oh well, let's just get the horses ready and go riding. I'm sure he'll be back from wherever he is when we return." With that, the girls went and got their horses ready; Trixie chose Susie, while Di chose the always-gentle Lady. Honey selected her horse Starlight. Once ready, girls mounted up and nudged the horses in the direction of the preserve. Matthew Wheeler, Honey's father, liked to hunt, and so had turned the land surrounding the area into a preserve so that his daughter, son, and all their friends could go riding safely whenever they wanted, although danger had sometimes followed anyways. They decided to go visit Mr. Maypenny, the gamekeeper while they were out, but his place was locked up with no signs of life. "This is strange," Trixie thought, "first Reagan, and now Mr. Maypenny. I wonder where they could be." She would have laughed if she could have seen them at that moment. In fact, all the girls would've.

At that very moment, Reagan and Maypenny were headed by from White Plains, where they had gone to get some stuff for the horses and the preserve. Maypenny was driving, and it was all Reagan could do to keep from vomiting, or closing his eyes. "The next time someone tells me Maypenny's a harmless old man," he muttered, "I'll let them ride around with him for the day. See how they like it." Mr. Maypenny's driving was somewhat jerky and he kept getting distracted which in turn took his focus off the road. Reagan spent half the ride back cursing, and the other half praying for his life, sure at any moment they'd wreck. However, in a short matter of time, they had made it safely back to the Manor, at which point Reagan resisted kissing the ground.

Just about that time, all three girls came into sight on their horses, and they couldn't help but stare at Reagan. They had never seen him such a changing of colors, first green, and then pale white. Of course Trixie couldn't help but make the comment, "it brings out the green in your eyes." At that she snickered, and rolled her eyes. In moments, all three girls were laughing as they dismounted. "Poor Reagan," said Honey, trying to control herself. Reagan, feeling more like himself, walked over to them and took the reigns. "Just wait until you have to ride with him girls," he grinned. They all three gave a mock gasp of horror before breaking into laughter again. Trixie wiped the tears from her eyes and said, "cheer up Reagan, it doesn't have to happen again for another month." At the reminder of their daily trip to White Plains, Reagan turned slightly green again. Trixie felt a little sorry for him at this point and got him some soda water to help settle his stomach. "You guys go ahead, I'm going to stay and help Reagan," she said. Di and Honey protested that they would help to but, Trixie, with a little grin, said, "Nah, go talk to those boyfriends of yours." Coloring a little at the reminder, the three girls said goodbye. Honey and Di both went home, while Trixie went to make sure Reagan was fine, as he had disappeared.

Moments later she found him brushing down Lady. Picking up a brush, Trixie started to brush down Susie. They worked like this in a comfortable silence for several minutes. She had always been comfortable around Reagan. They were good friends, even if he was the Wheeler's groom. Even though he sometimes lectured her on not staying safe or telling the police whenever she stumbled onto a mystery, she could always depend on Reagan to come through for her, and the other Bob Whites for that matter; such as when Dick the Dip was trying to get the diamond had originally stolen back. She had never been so glad to see him in her life as she had then. And Jim, she had been so relieved to find he was safe. Dick had showed with a shotgun, although later he had said it was empty, when Dick tried to take her along for a little "ride". That was the first of many times. Of course she helped to repay the favor, when he was in jail in Saratoga after some bad guys tried to frame him. All the Bob Whites knew they could count on Reagan to be there for them. So deep in thought was she, that Trixie didn't realize that Reagan had been watching her for a couple minutes. He had already finished with Lady and Starlight while she had been lost in thought. He wondered what she was thinking about.

"Penny for your thoughts," he asked. Startled Trixie jumped a little, which in turn startled Susie. She reared back and kicked up a little. Trixie was so stunned by this, that she couldn't move. Susie was getting a little too close to Trixie for Reagan's comfort. "Trixie," he snapped, "move!" She still didn't move. Reagan's tone startled Susie even more, which made her even more skittish. He saw the direction the scared horse was moving. He knew he had to act and fast or Trixie could get seriously hurt. At the same time that Reagan moved towards her, Trixie snapped out of her trance and made a grab for Susie's reigns. Speaking to her in a soft voice, Susie slowly calmed down. All the while, she petted her gently and spoke in an almost hypnotic voice. The horse finally was completely still and silent. And that's when Trixie got the strangest feeling she was being watched.

Reagan listened and watched as Trixie tamed the frantic horse. He was almost hypnotized himself by her voice. He had never heard her speak like this to anyone. All of a sudden he realized the horse was calm and that Trixie was staring at him. Shaking himself out of it, he all but growled, "be more careful next time Trixie and pay attention to what you're doing. You know it's bad to startle the horses." She stared at him. "Who put a bee in your shirt," she asked. Turning red, he apologized. "Sorry Trixie, that just scared me. Honey would have killed me if I had let her best friend get hurt." He hoped she went with that and couldn't see how scared he had been that she had been so close to danger right in front of him. He sighed, "go on home and I'll finish with Susie." "Thanks Reagan, and I really am sorry." With that, she turned and walked down the path to Crabapple Farm, all the while wondering about that strange look that had been in his eyes while she was calming Susie down. She had never seen that look before. "Guess he really was scared," she thought. Then her thoughts turned to school and she forgot all about it. Back at the stables, Reagan was watching her leave. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he got to work on Susie, put her up, and settled in for a night in front of the television. When he got so tired he couldn't keep his eyes open, he went to bed, dreaming of a spirited blonde with blue eyes.