Maddie’s Dream (16 page)

Then she blinked, and it was just Cloudy again—
her
Cloudy, the best pony ever.

“Hey,” Vic said, poking her in the arm. “So did you talk to Ms. Emerson about your plan?”

Maddie glanced around to make sure nobody else was close enough to hear. “Um, sort of. She said she can't sell her to me unless I talk to my parents first.”

Val looked worried. “Okay. What do you think they'll say?”

“They'll probably be all over it.” Vic licked some mustard off her finger. “I mean, they know how special Cloudy is. They won't want her to leave either, right?”

Maddie smiled weakly. “I guess. But listen, can we talk about this later? I—I kind of just want to focus on right now, if you know what I mean.”

“Sure,” Vic said, trading a slightly confused look with Val. “I guess.”

When everyone had finished eating, the horses and ponies were almost dry. Maddie and the rest of the riders saddled up, mounted, and headed for home. By the time they climbed the hill behind the arena, Maddie's leg muscles were tired, her soggy ponytail was sticking to her back, and she was pretty sure her arms were sunburned.

But she was feeling good. The Snack & Swim had been just as much fun as she'd expected. Cloudy had been perfect, leading the other pony past that barking dog, wading right into the creek, and basically not putting a
hoof wrong the entire ride. Then again, Maddie wouldn't have expected anything less.

“You really are a rock star, aren't you?” she murmured, giving Cloudy a pat as they crested the hill and came within sight of the arena.

Then Maddie froze as she saw a tall, lean figure standing right outside the barn. It was Mr. Richardson. And he was staring right at Cloudy.

CHAPTER

“WHAT'S
HE
DOING HERE?” VIC
Hissed, riding up beside Maddie.

“I don't know, but he looks kind of impatient,” Val said.

Maddie couldn't say a word. She was tempted to turn Cloudy around and gallop back down the trail, hiding her away somewhere until the Richardsons gave up their crazy idea about buying her.

But she knew that wouldn't work. If Mr. Richardson was here to finalize the sale, there was nothing she could do about it. It was too late. All her plans had failed, and she was going to lose Cloudy. She dug her fingers into the mare's mane, tangling the silky pale hair around
her hand, feeling as if her heart might break.

“Come on, Cloudy,” she choked out, sliding down from the saddle. “I'd better get you untacked and cleaned up.”

“Maddie . . . ,” Val began.

Maddie didn't respond except to shake her head. She couldn't say another word, or she might totally lose it.

The twins seemed to understand, letting her hurry off without them. Maddie was glad. She didn't want to be with anyone right now—except Cloudy.

Back in Cloudy's stall, Maddie stripped off the saddle and bridle and dumped them in the aisle right outside. Ms. Emerson would be annoyed if she noticed the tack sitting on the floor, but Maddie didn't care. She wanted to spend every second she could with Cloudy—grooming her, giving her treats, scratching all her itchy spots, and thanking her for being so amazing for the past year and a half.

About fifteen minutes later, Maddie heard footsteps stop outside the stall. She glanced up as Ms. Emerson poked her head in over the half door.

“What is it?” Maddie snapped. She knew she sounded
rude, but she couldn't help it. It was too soon! Couldn't she have more time? Even ten minutes—five?

Ms. Emerson had a strange expression on her face. “Maddie,” she said. “I just had a very interesting talk with Mr. Richardson.” She took a deep breath. “As it happens, the family isn't interested in buying Cloudy after all.”

Maddie blinked, not sure she'd heard her right. “What?” she cried so loudly that Cloudy flinched and took a step away from her.

“That's right. It seems the Richardsons got a last-minute invitation from some family friends to go skiing in the mountains yesterday. That's why they didn't show up for their riding lesson.” The barn owner shrugged. “And after a day on the slopes, apparently the whole family is hooked. They've decided to focus their time and funds on getting involved in that sport right now.”

“Whoa!” Maddie just stood there, trying to take in what the barn owner was telling her. Part of her wanted to jump around and scream with joy. Cloudy was staying!

But another part didn't dare to celebrate quite yet.
Amber might be willing to give up riding for skiing, and the rest of the family too. But Filly Richardson was definitely, genuinely, hopelessly horse crazy—Maddie could tell, since she was exactly the same way herself. No, Filly wasn't likely to give up her pony dreams permanently. And the Richardsons were pretty flaky—what if they got tired of skiing after a few weeks or months and came around, wanting to buy Cloudy again?

Ms. Emerson was watching Maddie closely. “You don't have to worry, Maddie,” she said. “The truth is, I wasn't going to sell Cloudy back to the Richardsons regardless.”

“What?” Maddie blinked, not getting it. What had all the fuss been about over the past week? “But I thought—”

“I didn't really want to sell Cloudy at all—she's a valuable part of the barn and would be difficult to replace.” Ms. Emerson folded her arms and leaned on the stall's half door. “Plus, given the Richardsons' past with the mare, I had my doubts all along, to say the least. But they begged me to consider their offer, so I figured I'd give them a chance to prove they'd learned their lesson and
intended to become more responsible horse owners this time around.” She grimaced. “It didn't take me long to realize that wasn't the case.”

“Yeah.” Maddie thought back to the careless way Amber had acted around Cloudy—as if she already knew everything there was to know about ponies and riding.

The barn owner nodded. “I probably should have told them it wasn't going to work out as soon as I figured it out. I guess I was just hoping that spending some time here, taking a few lessons, might make them think twice about rushing out to buy another green horse or pony—or, who knows, maybe even flying back out to Chincoteague next month for the pony auction.”

For a moment, Maddie was too stunned to speak. Then a big grin spread across her face. “I never would've guessed you were such a sneak!” she exclaimed. Then, seeing Ms. Emerson raise an eyebrow, she quickly added, “Um, I mean that as a compliment, okay?”

“Hmm.” Ms. Emerson pursed her lips. “Well, are you just going to stand there, grinning like a loon? Or are you going to actually groom that poor filthy pony?” She waved
a hand at Cloudy. “There's more to being a horsewoman than just riding, you know.”

Maddie's grin widened, threatening to split her face in two. “Yes, ma'am.” She saluted crisply, just as she'd seen her mother do a zillion times. “I'm on it, ma'am.”

“That's more like it.” Ms. Emerson's expression remained stern, but her eyes twinkled. “I'll leave you to it, then.”

As the barn owner hurried off, Maddie flung her arms around Cloudy's neck. “Did you hear that, girl?” she exclaimed. “You're staying!”

She was so happy and relieved she could barely stand it. Her mind raced, imagining all the fun she was going to have this summer—and beyond—with the best pony ever to swim the Assateague Channel.

Maddie's laptop chimed. She pulled it closer on the bed, peering at the screen. A new post had just appeared.

[HALEY]
I'm here! Nina just called and ordered me to get online. What's going on?

[NINA]
Took u long enough!!! Maddie won't tell us what happened on her ride today until we're all here.

[BROOKE]
Ya—and we've been dying of curiosity! So spill it already, M! Was the S&S amazing?

Maddie smiled and opened a new text box. Nina and Brooke had been trying to convince her to tell them about her day ever since she'd logged on fifteen minutes earlier. But she wanted them all together when she gave them the news.

[MADDIE]
The ride was great. I'll tell u all about it in a sec. But first, big news—Cloudy's staying!

[NINA]
Wait, WUT?!?!?!?!?!?

[HALEY]
OMG, r u serious?

[BROOKE]
What happened?????

Maddie typed fast, giving them the basic story. The next few entries from her friends were a jumble of exclamations of joy, with plenty of careless typos and even more exclamation points.

Finally the excitement died down a little. Then a new post popped up.

[BROOKE]
Wait, I almost forgot—what happened w/the soccer thing? If u make the travel team, won't u have to stop riding for a while?

[MADDIE]
O right, I almost forgot to tell u guys that part. I talked to my parents about it as soon as I got home from the barn.

[HALEY]
What did u tell them?

[MADDIE]
I said I didn't want to give up riding to do the C. League. I love soccer, and I still want to play on my reg. team. But I love riding even more. I don't want to give it up, even for 1 summer.

[NINA]
Good for u! What did they say?

Maddie smiled, still surprised by her parents' reaction. That was at least partly thanks to her Pony Post friends—she'd applied some of the tips they'd given her for talking to Ms. Emerson to the conversation with her parents. And it had worked. Her parents had been impressed with the grown-up way Maddie presented her arguments. They were disappointed, of course—they still thought playing for the Cascade League would be a good opportunity. But they'd agreed that it should be Maddie's choice and had agreed to call the league to withdraw her name from consideration.

[MADDIE]
They said it was OK. They want me to be happy.

[NINA]
And we all know Cloudy makes u happy!

[BROOKE]
Ya. Chinc. ponies are amazing!