Chapter 1 – Birthday Wish
Spring 1877
“Today is the day,” Andi Carter chanted in a singsong voice. “Today is the day . . .” She paused, thinking hard. Then she burst out, “Oh, how I love the month of May!”
She ran a brush along the back of her palomino filly. “Did you hear that, Taffy? My verse rhymes. Miss Hall is teaching us poetry in school.” Andi wrinkled her forehead. “I never found much use for it before today.”
Taffy tugged a wisp of hay from her feeder and turned her large, dark eyes on Andi. She chewed but made no other sound.
“Don’t you know?” Andi jumped down from the overturned bucket she always used to reach Taffy’s back. She tossed aside her brush and grabbed Taffy’s golden head with both hands. “It’s our birthday today. Yours and mine. You’re three and I’m nine.”
Another rhyme! She giggled. “Remember?”
Taffy didn’t nicker. She didn’t snort or whinny. Instead, she jerked her head out of Andi’s grasp and grabbed more hay.
Chomp, chomp, chomp.
Did Taffy ever think of anything besides eating her sweet alfalfa?
“You should be more excited about this,” Andi said. “I’ve waited three whole years to finally be able to ride you whenever I want.” She pulled her filly’s head down and whispered in her ear. “With your own saddle. You and me. Horse and rider at last.”
Andi had ridden Taffy bareback plenty of times during the past year. But she always rode under the watchful eye of her brother Chad, the ranch boss. He was her boss too, when it came to training Taffy.
“Patience, little sister,” Chad said much too often for Andi’s liking. “Taffy will have a saddle on her back soon enough.”
Soon enough always seemed like such a long way off. “But not anymore,” Andi said happily. She rubbed Taffy’s golden nose. “Today is the day!”
Tingles raced up and down Andi’s arms. She would ride Taffy with her very own saddle!
Up till now, Andi could ride almost any horse on the Circle C ranch. A ranch hand stood ready to help her lift a heavy saddle and cinch it up on Patches, the paint horse, or Pal, the bay. She only had to ask.
But those saddles were meant for grown-up cowhands. Andi always slid around on those big, full-sized seats.
She could also ride her pony, Coco. Andi could saddle Coco all by herself anytime she wanted—which wasn’t very often. Riding Coco wasn’t much fun with or without a saddle. He was too old and too tired. He trotted slower than a muddy creek in summer.
And he never, ever galloped.
Andi looked at Coco’s small saddle. It hung over the stall railing just across the walkway. She sighed. Was there ever a saddle more worn out? Or cracked? Or one that showed more slash marks than this scraggly piece of tack?
Big brother Chad was sure handy with a knife, even when he was a little boy. He’d scratched up the saddle, but the words were still visible. Andi read them out loud and made a face.
Andi turned her back on Coco’s saddle. She had never thought of it as her own. Not with Chad’s name gouged into it. Grown-up brothers Justin, Chad, and Mitch had used that old thing. Big sister Melinda had used it too.
And me.
No more. Taffy was too pretty to lug around a shabby piece of leather on her golden back.
“Besides,” Andi said, “the cinch would never fit around your belly.” She giggled. “Especially the way you’ve been eating these days.”
Taffy’s ears pricked up. She whickered and shook her creamy mane. Then she stamped her foot. The straw bedding rustled.
Andi laughed. “I knew you would agree.”
“Agree about what?”
Chad’s voice pulled Andi around. “Taffy and I agree that she will never wear that old thing.” She jabbed her finger at Coco’s saddle.
Chad joined Andi in the stall. He raised his eyebrows at her. “Really? Do you plan on riding Taffy bareback all the time? Where will you keep your lasso?”
Andi’s mouth dropped wide open. She would ride Taffy with a saddle, of course! But with a saddle all her own. Not with a hand-me-down one.
Before Andi could tell Chad what she was thinking, he said, “Or will you dig around in the tack room for a different saddle?” He shook his head. “You aren’t strong enough to lift any of those.”
“But—”
Chad waved his hand toward Coco’s saddle. “It appears to me that, for now, this saddle is more your size. I can rig a longer cinch to fit around Taffy’s belly.”
Plunk! Andi’s heart dropped like a stone into her stomach.
Was Chad teasing her? How could he not know Andi wanted a saddle for her birthday? She had given her family about a million hints during the past month.
She peered into Chad’s bright-blue eyes. No teasing sparkles laughed back at her. He looked serious, like he knew best.
This is terrible. My worst birthday ever.
Tears watered Andi’s eyes, but she would not cry. Chad didn’t know everything. He would probably be surprised when he saw a new saddle sitting in Andi’s chair at breakfast. A saddle was too big to hide and too lumpy to wrap.
“It’s Taffy’s birthday today too, Chad,” she said, blinking hard. “Didn’t you remember?”
“Of course I remembered.” He rubbed the white blaze on Taffy’s nose. “Happy birthday, girl.”
Andi’s spirits rose a little at her brother’s cheerful words. For three years, he had helped her train Taffy. For three years, Andi had taken extra good care of Coco—just to show Chad she was old enough to train and take care of Taffy.
As Taffy grew stronger, Chad let Andi ride her. What happy days those were! The best news of all? Chad and Mother agreed that when Andi turned nine, she could ride Taffy whenever she wanted.
To Andi, that meant a saddle of her own.
Weeks ago, Andi had picked out the perfect saddle. Every day after school, her oldest and favorite brother, Justin, drove Andi and Melinda home in the buggy. Every day she begged him to pass by Beckman’s saddle shop.
“That one right there in the window,” she said, pointing. “The one with the swirly designs and the pretty silver conchos. I’m sure it’s just my size.”
Melinda always rolled her eyes, and Justin always nodded. But neither ever said a word. Andi knew her sister was tired of hearing about saddles, but—
“Andi!”
She jumped. “What?”
Chad tugged one of her long dark braids. “I came to get you for breakfast, birthday girl. Let’s go inside.”
Andi pushed her worried thoughts aside. It was time for breakfast—her birthday breakfast.
And hopefully a birthday saddle.