25- The Race of Her Life
Jessica Michaels and her husband Jason Fute sat on a plane bound for Kentucky. Jess was entered in about ten races over the course of one week, and five in another. She put her head on his shoulder.
“You’re sure Beth didn’t have any music things going on?” she asked. Jason shook his head and put his arm around her.
“I’m positive. She told me that she has lessons. Cotey and Sam promised they’d call if something came up, or if anything went wrong.”
“OK. Sorry… I’d just feel horrible if she had some kind of recital and she didn’t tell us to that I could race.”
“She wouldn’t do that,” he assured her. She smiled at him.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Hey, no apologies.”
“OK. How much longer until we get there?” Jason glanced up at the blinking Fasten Your Seatbelt sign.
“I’d say five minutes or so,” he guessed. She glanced up and then nudged his shoulder.
“You’re crazy,” she said. He nodded, kissing her forehead.
“Yeah, but who wouldn’t be with someone like you around?” he murmured.
“I don’t know,” she replied. He smiled and they both buckled their seatbelts.
On the day of her first race, Jess adorned herself in the Giran’s racing colors hunter green and navy blue. She walked toward the paddock, receiving applause from all the people standing around. She was carrying her racing saddle; it had her initials and a beautifully sculpted horse head etched into the leather on the saddle flap. She waved, smiled, signed some autographs, then went into the mounting paddock. Jason and Mr. Giran smiled at her.
“Looks like your fans are out in full force today,” Mr. Giran said with a smile. Jess tightened her girth and got a leg up from Jason.
“Sure does,” she said, putting her feet in the stirrups. Her pace rider smiled when he saw her.
“Jessica Michaels?” he asked. She stared at the guy, then smiled, giving him a high five.
“Hey Shell, how’ve you been?” she asked, glancing down at Jason.
“Who’s this Jessi?” he asked.
“He’s one of my father’s friends, Shelby Wallace. I’ve known him since I was four. Come on, we better get going,” she said.
“See you all later,” Shelby said. Jason waved and then hurried toward his box seats.
Jess went into her two-point, staring straight ahead through Citadel’s ears. They were finishing loading all the gates. The bell rang and all the horses broke. Jess moved him to the outside where he liked to run. She kept him to an easy pace, but still stayed in third. On the turn she went forward on his neck and gave him more rein shouting, “Go!” The animal flew up the stretch, passing the second and first horse. They went under the wire first and the audience roared. Jess stood in her stirrups, pulling him up and smiling. There was mud all over her face, but she didn’t care. She had just won her first race since her injury.
Jason held her hand as they walked into their hotel room. Mr. Giran had given them a huge room, paying for everything they wanted. Jess plopped down on the bed, falling back and closing her eyes.
“What a day,” she muttered. Jason lay down next to her and pulled her close.
“You could say that again,” he answered, closing his eyes too. She rested her head against his shoulder, putting one hand on his stomach.
“Do you think I made a memorable entrance back into the racing world?” she asked. Jason laughed, opening his eyes and looking down at her.
“I’d say so. The track official said they’d never seen this kind of attendance this early on. The official racing season hasn’t even started yet.”
“Thanks for coming with me. I would’ve been nervous if you hadn’t come,” she said. He sat up, then leaned down and kissed her.
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else,” he said. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.
“Well thank you anyway,” she murmured. He smiled and pulled away, standing up.
“Be right back. I need to get out of this suit,” he muttered.
“At least you didn’t have to wear a dress,” she told him, standing and going to her suitcase.
“I only do that on Wednesdays,” he kidded. Jason disappeared into the bathroom and Jess pulled on a pair of boxers and a T-shirt. Jason returned moments later.
“Isn’t that T-shirt mine?” he asked.
“I think so.” He smiled and wrapped his arms around her.
“I love you. I’m sorry we don’t have more time together like this.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about. We’ve made it this far, and I know we’ll make it a lot farther.”
“Are you trying to say you don’t miss spending time together?” he asked. She laughed softly and shook her head.
“Of course not. I miss being with you a lot, but we’ve survived.”
“Barely,” he muttered. She laughed, pulling away from him slightly.
“You’re a nut,” she said. He nodded, kissing her quickly on the lips.
“Hey, you picked me,” he said.
“I love you Jason.”
The next Monday after a string of wins, Jess walked through the crowds. Jason was beside her, and for once they weren’t dressed up. Jess had two days off, so they were trying to find Mr. Giran so they could go off and sightsee.
“Mr. Giran!” she called, motioning for the man to come over.
“Hello Jessica, hey Jas,” he greeted warmly.
“Hello Mr. Giran. We were wondering if we could take off until my next race,” Jess said.
“Sure you can. You both deserve a break.”
“Thanks Mr. Giran,” she said, leading Jason back into the crowd.
That night Jason and Jess carried several bags into their hotel room and put them down on the floor.
“I think we should do something a little more relaxing tomorrow,” he muttered. Jess laughed, plopping down next to him.
“I agree. Tomorrow I’m going to sleep until noon, then order room service, and then take a nap.”
“Sounds good. What time is it?”
“Ten thirty. I need to go to sleep,” she said. Jason stood and held out his hand. She took it and he helped her up, pulling her into a long kiss. She wrapped her arms around his waist, untucking his shirt.
“You know, I’m not that tired Jessi,” he murmured, kissing her neck.
“I think I could probably stay awake for a couple more hours,” she agreed, tilting her neck to the side. Jason smiled, backing her toward the bed.
“Good,” he murmured, following her as she landed on the bed.
The next morning Jess awoke, still in Jason’s arms. She smiled and watched him sleep. His hair was tousled. Jess moved slowly and quietly, getting out of bed and putting her robe on. She glanced at the clock and sighed; it was eleven thirty. She went into the bathroom and grabbed her brush, pulling it through her hair. Suddenly she felt Jason’s eyes on her and she turned. He was sitting up in bed, a smile on his face.
“Morning,” he murmured. She smiled and pulled her hair into a ponytail.
“Good morning. So are we going out again today, or are we staying in bed all day?” she asked.
“Do you have to ask?” he muttered. She laughed, shaking her head and sitting down next to him.
“I still want to go to a couple more places. I saw some pictures Beth might like. Then there’s Dom and Rachel…” she trailed off, smiling sheepishly. Jason put his arm around her, pulling her down and kissing her.
“I suppose we could go out for awhile today. Tomorrow I’m sitting in the rich box and eating food while you do all the work though.”
“I can live with that,” she said.
The next day dawned clear and bright. Jess held Jason’s hand as she walked down the backside. Mr. Giran was standing by his exercise rider, talking quietly.
“Morning Mr. Giran,” Jess greeted. He smiled, putting his arm around her shoulders.
“How’re you doing?” he asked.
“I’m fine. What’s going on?”
“You know you’re riding Law today,” he said. She nodded.
“Yeah, and I’m excited about it,” she said.
“Good. I know you’ll be fine… it’s just that we can’t seem to find your saddle. We’ve been looking around all morning.” Her jaw dropped and she glanced at Jason.
“It was in my tack box last night. I checked on my gear before I went back to the hotel.”
“Well it isn’t there now,” he replied.
“I can’t believe this. I can’t race without that saddle… it’s worked into shape and weighted properly. We’ve got to find it before my race.”
“We’ll try Jessi,” Jason said, putting an arm around her and ushering her down the aisle.
Ten minutes before the race someone called, “Jessi I found it!” She turned, a smile spreading across her face when she saw it.
“Where was it?” she asked, taking it from the exercise rider’s hands.
“In the male jock’s room. Jose Santos found it on one of the benches.”
“Remind me to thank him. Come on, I have to mount up for my race.” She jogged toward the mounting paddock, the young rider trailing behind.
Law loaded perfectly and Jess smiled. She went into her two-point, waiting for the bell to ring. When it did, Law broke clean, moving toward the rail.
“Good girl,” Jessi whispered, holding her slightly off pace. They went perfectly until they reached the stretch. Her right stirrup went first, then her left. They both broke, and Jess was left with nothing but her knees to hang on with. The announcer was the first to catch it.
“Jessica Michaels is having some problems… it looks as if her stirrups have snapped!” the man exclaimed. Jason stood up quickly, watching her closely. Jess was hanging on for dear life, still urging Law to finish the race. They went under the wire first, but Jess had no way of slowing the mare. Law galloped on, going through the rail…
Jess opened her eyes and found herself face to face with Jose Santos.
“Are you ok?” he asked. She nodded, grimacing as pain shot through her head.
“My head hurts. Where’s Jason?” Jose shrugged, glancing over his shoulder.
“Still trying to get down here I guess. There’s a mob scene up at the gates.”
“Great. Did I win?” He smiled again, giving in to the urge to laugh.
“Yeah you won. You sure know how to liven up a race Michaels. I’ve never seen anything like that.”
“Thanks. I’m calling a foul… my stirrups wouldn’t break like that. At least not both of them at one time.”
“OKK, I’ll tell the officials,” he assured her. An ambulance was coming down the track.
“Thanks. Is law ok? And who else was in this race?”
“She’s limping pretty bad, but she should be fine. The other riders were Craig Perret, Austin Smith, Julie…” She cut him off.
“Austin Smith? Call him on it Jose, he did it,” she said as she was loaded into the ambulance.
“Why him? Do you have proof?” he called.
“Nope, but he did it. I broke things off with him a couple of years ago, and I wasn’t too nice about it. Call him on it! Say you saw him with the saddle or something.”
“Jess!” he exclaimed, his eyes wide.
“Just do it!” she called. The doors to the ambulance were closed and Jess sighed.
Jason and Mr. Giran rushed to the hospital, following the ambulance closely.
“What the hell happened with her stirrups?” Jason demanded, going through a red light.
“I don’t know Jason. Maybe she’ll have some ideas as to what happened. Jose talked to her before she was put into the ambulance.” Jason nodded, screeching to a halt at the emergency room doors.
“When I find out who did this I’m going to kill them.” They walked through the doors and went to the reception desk.
“You’re looking for Jess Michaels right? Go through those doors, first waiting room on the left,” a nurse told them.
“I’m looking for Jessica Michaels, not a waiting groom,” Jason said.
“Come on Jason, it might be awhile,” Mr. Giran said. Jason sighed, but followed Mr. Giran toward the waiting room.
A doctor came in late that evening. Jason glanced up.
“Jason Fute?” the doctor asked. Jason stood up.
“Yes. How’s Jessi?” he demanded.
“She’s fine. We had to do some quick surgery to fix her knee up, but she’s doing very well despite that.”
“What else is wrong with her?”
“She had a sprained wrist, a minor concussion, and a couple bruises. She’s been asking for you.”
“Where is she?”
“Down the hall, second floor, room 272.” Jason nodded.
“Thanks Doc,” he muttered, walking quickly down the hall toward the elevator.
Jess turned when she heard the door to her room open. Jason walked in and smiled at her.
“Are you ok?” he asked, leaning down and kissing her on the forehead.
“Yup. I’ll be here for a couple days, but beside that I’m fine. The doctor said I’ll be ok to race again.”
“That’s great Jessi. I should go call Cotey and Sam and tell them you’re alright.”
“What if they were watching? God, they’ll be going out of their minds.” Jason nodded, picking up the phone and dialing. Cotey picked up on the second ring.
“No Mrs. Fute we haven’t heard anything yet,” she said.
“Well thank you dear, but maybe you shouldn’t call me Mrs. Anything,” he said.
“Jason is that you?” she demanded. He could hear Beth, Sam and the twins in the background, all asking how Jess was.
“Yeah it’s me. So you guys were watching?”
“This is no time to be fooling around Jason. Of course we were… it was Law’s first race in a long time.”
“Well she won. Jessi is fine. She’ll be back on the track in no time.”
“Thank goodness. Beth was having a minor heart attack.”
“Tell her to relax, everything is ok. I just called to let you know we’d be staying down here a few extra days. They want to keep her for observation.”
“OK. I think we can handle things. How’s Law?”
“Tell Sam she went a little lame, but she’s looking alright.”
“Did Jess call a foul?” she asked.
“Yeah, I think Jose was going to do it for her.”
“Good. I hope whoever did it gets everything they’ve got coming to them. Someone should cut their stirrups,” she muttered.
“Somebody will cut something,” Jason muttered.
“Jas you need to stay out of it. The officials will handle everything that needs to be handled.”
“I need to get going Cotey. Mr. Giran is back at the track and I should head down there too.”
“OK. I’ll tell everyone you said hi.”
“Thanks. Tell Beth we love her.”
“I’ll do that. Don’t do anything stupid,” she said.
“Me? Do something stupid? Never. Talk to you later Cotey.” He hung up before she could say anything else.
At the track Jason walked along in search of answers to his wife’s accident.
“Have you seen Jose Santos?” he asked.
“Yeah, he’s up there talking to Austin Smith… it’s not going well from the sounds of it,” the man said, pointing up toward the boxed seating area. Jason nodded.
“Thanks,” he called, jogging toward the seats. He heard them before he saw them. Jose was talking in an angry whisper.
“If you did it, you’re paying for it Austin. Jess has a lot of good friends, and none of them are afraid of you,” Jose said.
“So what if I did it? She isn’t that good anyway… she deserved it.” Jason emerged from the shadows, his face angry.
“You’re the one who did it, aren’t you?” he demanded.
“Why is everyone accusing me? I didn’t touch that bitch’s saddle. Why would I want to?” Jason grabbed his collar, slamming him against the wall.
“First off, she’s not a bitch. Second, she dumped you a couple years ago because you were such a loser.”
“Has anyone accused me officially yet?” Austin asked.
“I told them I had an idea who it was, but that I wanted to confirm a few things first. They said that I had until seven, and then they’d come up looking for me,” Jose said, glancing at his watch. “Well look at that, it’s seven,” he said. Austin took a swing at Jason but he missed.
“Nice try, but you’re staying here for awhile,” Jason said, hearing the sound of approaching footsteps.
Jess sat up, squinting through t he darkness. She saw a masculine form in the corner, and she jumped as it stood and moved forward.
“Who’s there?” she asked.
“It’s just me,” Jason assured her. She sighed, putting her arms around him when he reached her bedside.
“You scared me to death,” she said, giving him a kiss.
“Sorry. I just wanted to let you know what happened at the track.”
“Did Jose call it for me?” she demanded.
“Yup. Austin Smith is going to be called for trying to sabotage your race.”
“Really? Did Jose say he’d seen Austin with my saddle?”
“Nope. Austin confessed while I had him pinned against a wall. The officials came in right as he broke down.”
“You didn’t hit him did you?” she asked.
“No. The officials came in too soon.”
“Good. What time is it?”
“Eleven thirty. I’m heading back to the hotel soon. I have a lot to do back at the hotel.”
“Like what?”
“Like try not to think of you… because if I do I’ll just go crazy missing you.” She placed a light kiss on his lips.
“Wish I could go back with you. I tried to convince the doctor that I’d be fine at home, but he wouldn’t fall for it.”
“I will see you tomorrow. I love you.” She nodded, watching as he walked out.
Four days later Jason and Jess pulled into Cotey and Sam’s driveway. Beth came racing out of the house.
“Daddy, Mom!” she exclaimed, tackling her father in a tight bear hug. Jason smiled, swinging her into his arms.
“Were you a good girl?” he demanded. She nodded, her fluffy blonde ponytail hitting him in the face. “Good. Come on, let’s get back inside.” He put her down and she went to Jess, hugging her awkwardly due to the crutches Jess was using.
“Crutches again Jessi?” Sam asked when she came through the front door. She made a face, sticking out her tongue and crossing her eyes.
“Yes, crutches. Law’s lucky. At least she has three legs.”
“You’ll only be on them for aw eek,” Jason said.
“One week too long if you ask me. Thanks for keeping Beth for the last few days,” Jess said. Cotey smiled.
“She was fine. Dom was glad to have someone to practice with, and Rachel was glad to have someone to ride with. Are you guys going over to the horse show next month?”
“Which one?” Jason asked.
“It’s over in Vermont… supposed to be really great. Entries need to be in by the twenty-fifth.”
“Can adults enter?” Jess asked.
“Only adults can enter. It’s for experienced jumpers, dressage, and pleasure horses. It looks really interesting.”
“Where do you get the entry forms.” Cotey laughed, picking up a piece of paper.
“I decided to send for two, just in case you wanted to compete.” Jess snatched it from her hand.
“Thank you. What about you Sam? Are you competing?”
“Yup. I’m thinking of using one of our retired race horses for it.” Jason laughed, shaking his head slowly and glancing at his friend.
“You should just retire Law. She’s fifteen now… should be a brood mare. She can keep the legacy alive.” Sam shot him an annoyed glance.
“Retire Law? Are you crazy? She’s still racing just as well as she used to!” Sam exclaimed.
“She’s gone lame on the same leg twice,” Cotey added.
“She’s still got the urge to win… but it’s not the same. She goes out now and she goes through the motions, but she’s not the same. It’s not the same drive behind it,” Jess said.
“I guess it’s everyone team up on Sam day,” he muttered, standing and stalking from the room. They heard the front door slam and then saw him going to the barn. The kids glanced around with wide eyes.
“Why is Daddy so mad?” Rachel asked.
“It’s no big thing kiddo. Why don’t you guys go upstairs and play?” Rachel nodded, and all three of them went upstairs. “So Jessi, that must’ve been some race.”
“Yeah. I think it was the race of my life.”
