Read Online What Love Sees by Susan Vreeland - Free Book Online Page B

One, two…thirteen. To the left she heard bath water being drawn in LCW’s suite. She knocked on the door anyway.
    “Yes?”
    “Miss Weaver, I can ride. Father asked my doctor, and he said it’s okay.”
    “Of course you can ride, Jean. I knew you could all along,” she said through the door.
    “When can I start?”
    “Tomorrow. I’ll tell Herr Frederich and we’ll measure you for breeches.”
    Andrebrook horsewomen wore khaki gabardine jodhpurs with leathers, black wool blazers, polished black boots, white silk shirts and stocks, white gloves and black derbies. Custom. The bill was sent to Father. Miss Weaver wasn’t going to have her girls wandering through the Rockefeller estate looking like a bunch of ragtaggles.
    Frederich, the riding master, lived above the stables, a respectable distance across the sloping lawn from the main building and the girls. English saddle was his specialty, so all the girls rode English. He gave Jean Glory Girl, a white nag, gentle and safe enough for her, he promised Miss Weaver. “She’s an old poke,” Jean grumped the first day. “Can’t she go faster?”
    When Herr Frederich announced a moonlight ride through the Pocantico Hills, the girls tittered in excitement.
    “Oh, Jean, he looks so handsome and he rides so tall and straight. He rides ahead of us and we can see his silhouette on his horse up ahead. It’s divine.”
    “You mean he’s divine, Sally Anne. Don’t quibble. We know you’re in love with him.” Dody’s was the voice of reason.
    “I am not. It’s just that he looks so—hm—in the moonlight. It’s the moonlight, Jean, that makes it all so dreamy.”
    “Doesn’t matter to me if it’s moonlight. I’m just glad I get to go.”
    “He’ll make you ride on a lead line, though,” Dody reminded her.
    “So what?”
    “Just imagine. He’ll be holding the other end.” Sally Anne fabricated a swoon.
    “I don’t care.”
    “Listen to you,” Sally Anne teased. “You do, too. It makes you special.”
    “You’re just jealous because I get to ride closest to him.”
    “Did you know Frederich watches you all the time?” Dody asked.
    “I don’t believe you.”
    “He does, Jean,” Sally Anne agreed.
    “He just feels protective. He doesn’t need to, though.”
    “Don’t tell him that. He might stop.”
    She did anyway. Not being singled out was far more important than Frederich. Eventually, in preparation for the yearly Andrebrook Horse Show, Herr Frederich allowed her to ride without the lead. He still rode right ahead of her in order to give her warnings like “turning right” just in time for her to adjust her weight.
    One day something spooked Glory Girl and she shot off in front of Frederich and everyone. He took after her at a gallop. “Low branch, Jeanie,” he shouted.
    Jean bent down next to Glory Girl’s mane. Her derby flew off and she felt twigs scrape across her shoulders. She raised up again and held on.
    “Duck!”
    This time she stayed down, close to Glory Girl’s mane. It seemed to her a perfect position, just like a jockey. The movement felt different. She’d been afraid to lean that far forward before. Eventually, Frederich caught up and Glory Girl stopped. “Are you all right?”
    “Of course, I am.” She smirked even though she was breathing hard. That’s what Miss Weaver would say. “It was terribly exciting. How far did I go?”
    “Maybe half a mile.”
    “It never felt like that before. In fact, it felt wonderful.”
    “Well, it’s not supposed to hurt.” He chuckled. “You did fine, Jeanie. Do you think you can stay still while I go back and find your hat?”
    “Only if I have to.” She grinned. Miss Weaver was right again. Here was something she could do.
    Her piano was often silent in the afternoon now. She had to train for the horse show. Most afternoons she was dressed early. “Who’s ready?” she’d call out her door, anxious to drag the first one down to the riding ring. They were learning