Feeling as if during the night her head had somehow been placed in a slowly tightening vise, Jennifer woke in agony.  She lay there trying to recall what she had done to make her feel so badly, afraid to open her eyes for fear of finding some deranged sadist standing by her bed, slowly winding the vise handle, compressing her skull. Gradually the memory of the night before came to her.

"Ohhhhh, God," She prayed. "Give me strength, puh-leeese."

Little by little she eased herself into a sitting position and opened her eyes. When she did, her blurred vision didn't quite keep up with the movement of her head from the pillow, and a wave of nausea instantly washed over her.

"Damn." She whispered  woefully, clutching her stomach with one hand. It had been quite some time since she had awakened feeling like this.

A steaming cup of coffee and two aspirins fuzzily appeared under her nose. "Here, sweetie." Pat's voice called softly, soothingly. "Drink these down right now before you try to stand up. I've taken mine already."

Jennifer took the cup and attempted to blow on the liquid inside, but the slight pressure from that action caused a blinding pain to instantly shoot through her head.

"Take the cup back, Pat." She pleaded, her hands shaking. "I can't even hold the cup."

Pat stopped fluffing Jennifer's pillows, and took it back from her. "Lie back, Jen" She urged. "We'll try it again in a few minutes."

The phone rang, and Jennifer moaned. "Oh, God!" in agony as she dropped back onto the pillows, and pressed the top one up around her ears to muffle the sound. "Pleeeease, make it stop." She begged.

"Hello, Jonathan!" Pat greeted the caller after racing over to pick up. "How's it going?"

Immediately, at the sound of her husband's name, Jennifer's hand came up frantically waving to stop Pat from handing her the phone.

"Um, she can't come to the phone right now, Jonathan ..." Pat informed him. "Yep, that's right, you've got it... Um-hum, at death's door, seeing the light, and just about ready to cross over to the other side.... as soon as she gets a shower and some coffee in her.... okay, I'll be sure to tell her....bye."

"He says to tell you that he loves you," Pat reported softly. "And that he knows you and bourbon have never really gotten along. At least not on the same terms as he and I."

J.J.  was awakened by the sound of her cell phone chiming Beethoven's Minuet in G. As she reached for it on the night table, she could see the clock. It was 6:52 A.M. Who in the world would be calling her at that hour of the morning on a Saturday ?

She checked the number on the display, before she answered it.

"Daddy?" She said into the phone.

"Hello, Sweetheart. Aren't you up yet?"

"Of course not. How come you're up so early? Unless we have a track meet or practice, I don't see you on Saturday until after nine."

"I miss you and your mother. Couldn't sleep all that well. How's it going? Still want me to come for you?"

"No, Daddy. Everything's fine now. It worked out, and I ended up having a pretty nice evening. I'm going riding later this morning wi-, with someone who goes to school up here."

"How are things between you and Marnie?"

"We're fine. It all blew over."

"Your mother? Did you get that situation squared away?"

"I haven't seen or talked to her, Daddy. Not since I last talked to you over Instant Messenger. Did you get to talk to her?

"For a minute. You haven't seen her?"

"No. I'm sure you know that she and Aunt Pat are at the Gresham Inn. They were supposed to come here for the movie, but we didn't see them at the theatre, so we left and came back to the room. They didn't come to the last function which was held downstairs either. So, I didn't see or talk to her any more. But Aunt Pat came by last night and checked on us. When I asked her about my mother, she told me that she was out."

She thought she heard her father chuckle, but figuring it must be one of their many inside jokes, she let it pass without comment. Instead, she asked him,

"When you talked to her, did she say anything about me and what I did, or should I say, didn't do yesterday?"

"I think she started to, but then she changed the subject."

J.J. exhaled. If her mother hadn't shared it with her father, it was still an in-house matter and would be handled as such. When her father got included in the picture, that was her mother's way of saying she'd truly had enough. She resolved to try to keep her nose clean and cooperate for the rest of her time at Gresham Hall.

"I'll call her after my shower, Daddy. But then again, I'll see her at breakfast, so I'll wait and talk to her then."

"You do that, J.J., and you have a good day. I'll talk to you later this afternoon."

"Okay, Daddy. You do the same. Hug Third for me!"

She clicked off and put the phone back.

 A small voice spoke to her from the bed diagonal to hers, "J.J., you are so lucky to have a father like that. He calls you. You call him. You talk like two people who like each other. He seems so nice."  J.J. could see Dee lying propped up on one elbow watching her.

"He is just that nice." Marnie yawned from her side "She got lucky with both her parents. Her mother can be scary sometimes, but it's usually for our own good when she is."

"I know I'm pretty blessed in that department." J.J. admitted, sitting up and pushing back the covers. "But thanks, both of you for saying so."

There was a knock on the bathroom door, and Madison stepped sleepily into the room holding the handset to a cordless phone.

"J.J., it's for you. 'S Teddy. He said he needs to talk to you. I told him I thought you were still asleep. He said you wouldn't be. I guess the boy has radar or something; I see you're up. Here."

She handed J.J. the phone and dragged back out through the bathroom.

"J.J. Hart."

"Hi, it's me, Teddy. Look, skip the breakfast and come ride with me now. I'll bring something for us to eat. I have to go out to the country with the foreman later this morning, and I won't get back until this afternoon for the ice cream thing. If we don't go now, we won't be able to go riding at all. Pleeeease, J.J." He pleaded. "Say you'll come now."

Marnie was sitting up, waving her hands to get her attention, "Go, dammit!" She was whisper-yelling. "He is so hot, and you know you love riding horses. Go! I'll cover for you!"

J.J. wondered at how Marnie could hear the conversation from over there on her side of the room. Talk about radar, when boys were involved, Marnie could zero in on a target like nobody else she knew. For her part, J.J. had been very much looking forward to seeing the horses. Outside of music and electronics, riding was at the top of the list of her favorite things to do, and was something that she didn't get to do as often as she would like. But she really didn't want to disappoint her mother yet another time.

"I don't know Teddy," She wavered, once again straddling the fence. "I really need to make one function with my mother."

 "You'll be at the presentation later when she speaks," Marnie interjected,  "And you'll be there with her for the Ice Cream Social. Go! It's the only chance you'll have to ride while you're here." Marnie tilted her head to the side, raised an eyebrow, and pointed her finger across to her, challenging her, "It's not like you to not take a shot when opportunity knocks, J."

Finally, after wavering a few seconds, she cast her freshly-made resolution to the winds, and hopped off the fence to the other side, "Okay, Teddy. Give me thirty minutes and I'll be down. Where should I meet you?"

"Go down the back steps, and come out the side door." He directed her. "I'll meet you there."

She hung up and looked over at Marnie. "I am really pushing it this weekend, aren't I?"

"Yeah," Marnie agreed, smiling at her.

"But you only go around once." Dee concluded. "And like your Dad told you last night, the bottom line is you love your mother and she loves you, and that will last. Teddy and that horse are here and now. What is it those ads for Nike athletic shoes say? Just Do It, girl."

"Pat, I'm not going to make breakfast." Jennifer miserably conceded from her bed. "Go ahead without me so that you can check on the girls. We haven't spoken to them since last evening, and that's not good."

Pat, hearing her, came back into the main room from the bathroom. "Not feeling any better?" She asked.

"Some, but I don't want to see any food. I'll just stay here, rest, and get myself together for the program this afternoon. I'll be alright. You know those girls are probably over there on The Quad doing whatever they please."

"No they're not. I saw them last night."

"You saw them? When?" Jennifer asked, removing the arm from over her eyes and squinting through the daylight at Pat.

"I went over there while you were asleep." Pat answered as she smoothed Jennifer's blanket. "They were right where we left them."

Jennifer eyed her skeptically, "Why did you have to go over there? Where was I that I don't know about it?"

"You were in Never, Never Land, and I chose to go. I couldn't sleep, and I knew that we hadn't checked on them, so I took it upon myself to go over there."

"Why didn't you just call?"

"Why are you giving me the third degree, Jennifer? I said they were fine. You worry too much. J.J. and Marnie know how far to take a thing. Well- at least J.J. does. Relax. Get some rest. I'll be back right after breakfast so that we can go over our notes. You know, it's good that we finished first in our class. All we have to do is speak. That left the grunt work, all that setting up and running around, for the rest of them. See you in a bit, Jen."

As Pat closed the door, the Dean's words played back in her mind, "You always did play fast and loose with the truth, Patricia."

"To quote J.J." Pat thought to herself as she rang for the elevator, "Whatever."

After showering and getting dressed, J.J. had the thought that she needed to call her mother to let her know that she wouldn't be at breakfast that morning. However, with her hand on the phone, she began having second thoughts. What if her mother said that she couldn't go? Her mother knew of her affinity for horses; she loved them as well. But in light of her absences from the events on the day before, and knowing Jennifer Hart's conviction that breakfast was the most important meal of the day, in calling her, she ran the risk of being told that she couldn't go. However, she reasoned to herself, if she didn't put it out there to her for confirmation, she couldn't be shut down by her, and if she went, she wouldn't be disobeying if she had never been told that she couldn't go.

J.J. released the phone, told Dee and Marnie that she would see them later, and headed out, easing down the back stairs to the lower level. At the foot, she found herself right at the door leading to the outside. When she opened it, there stood Teddy, beaming happily.

The phone rang, and at the sound, Jennifer thought she would jump out of her skin. Rolling over, ready to swear that she was feeling the contents of her head sloshing around with the movement, she picked up.

"Jennifer Hart speaking."

"Good morning, darling. This is your father."

Her back automatically straightened upon hearing Stephen Edwards' voice, as if he could see the condition she was in, and would know the reason for it.

"Pa? How are you?"

"I'm just fine, Jennifer. I was calling to see how you and Justine were doing this weekend at your alma mater. I see that our Justine has made friends already."

"You do? I mean, we're fine, Pa. Has J.J. called you?"

"No, actually Dean Marchand called me last evening when she couldn't reach you. Didn't either of them tell you?"

"Well, no, Pa. I haven't spoken with either of them. I went to bed rather early last night. I must have been asleep and didn't hear the phone when the Dean called. Was there a problem with J.J.?"

"No darling, no problem. Justine was simply seeking permission to sit out front with a friend late last evening, and since Mrs. Smythe couldn't contact you to gain permission, she called the Dean. The Dean then called me when she wasn't able to reach you either. You don't sleep that hard, Jennifer. Where were you and Patricia that you had that child there all alone not knowing how to get in touch with you? And why is it that Dean Marchand hadn't been introduced to my grandchild by that time? You'd been there for an entire day. It's not like you to be negligent, Jennifer. But when you and Patricia get together it's just  like old times. Here I am, once again, having to make a call."

Jennifer rubbed her forehead, unable to believe that her father was chastising her in that manner, as if she were sixteen. And about J.J., no less. Wasn't J.J. her child? But then, she was his child. What in the world was going on? The effects of that liquor she and Pat had consumed the night before had left her unable to think clearly or to effectively deal with her father's stern reproach.

"I'll take care of it, Pa." Was all that she could say.

"I know that you will, darling- And post haste. I'll talk with you later."

Completely awake and way more alert at that point, there would be no more rest for the weary and hung over. Jennifer clicked off, and got up wondering how Pat and Jonathan did it. They both could put it away all night, yet they never seemed to have the hangovers she got when she tried it. She also wondered what would make the Dean call her father and not Jonathan if she hadn't been able to reach her about J.J. And had she been that far under that she couldn't hear the phone? Where had Pat been? Probably asleep as well. Pat and J.J. slept like the dead. A bomb could go off next to either of them, and they wouldn't wake up once they were all the way under.

Suddenly recalling her promise to introduce J.J. to the Dean during breakfast that morning, she pulled herself into the shower to try to make it on time. If the Dean called her father again about that... Why was she still calling him after all this time, anyway?... and why were they both so concerned about her meeting J.J.?

As they approached the stables, J.J. figured that Teddy must have had great faith in his powers of persuasion, or he could sense that her love of horses would override her sense of duty and responsibility. Tied off at the rail, he had two sleek Morgans completely outfitted and waiting to go. Right off, she fell in love with Babette, the one he informed her she would be riding. Knowing that they had a limited amount of time within which to operate, he swiftly gave her a leg up, and then mounted his own horse.

"We'll take the back way, out to the foot of Lookout Pointe. It's just over that hill and around the bend" He told her, pointing off into the distance before them. "We can have breakfast there."

"You're the man." She said. "This is your country, I'm just visiting. Show me the way."

Clicking his tongue, he took off and she easily fell in alongside him, impressing Teddy completely with her confidence and poise and cementing his conviction that she was in no way Wesley Singleton's girl.

Pat entered the dining hall after having stood around outside for a bit chatting with friends. She had seen Marnie and Dee go in with four other girls. They waved to her when they saw her, but seemed in a hurry, and hadn't stopped to speak. Although she was ready to go in with them when they had arrived, she continued to stand outside making idle chatter, while actually waiting for J.J.

When ten more minutes had passed, and J.J. still hadn't come over, Pat deduced that once again, her godchild was missing in action. That was when she went inside with the intention of finding Marnie and breaking her down.

"Okay, so where's your buddy this morning?" She asked as she took the seat next to Marnie at the table.

"She's having breakfast somewhere else." Marnie answered, quickly following her response with a long, slow swallow of orange juice.

Pat turned toward her and waited her out. When Marnie finally had no choice but to put the glass down, Pat spoke quietly, but firmly, "Don't mess around and become a statistic this morning, Marnie. I'm nursing a serious closet hangover and I am not in the mood. Talk to me and talk to me now."

"You don't look hung over." Marnie observed, looking her up and down. "You hold yours pretty good. When my mother has a hang-"

"Marnie."

Hearing the definite threat in Pat's voice, Marnie quickly fessed up. "She went riding with Teddy. She was coming here at first, honest. But then Teddy had to be somewhere later, and he really wanted her to see the horses before he left. You know how much J. loves to ride. For real, she really had every intention of coming here, but if she didn't go with him then, they wouldn't have been able to go at all."

For the first time ever, Pat found herself annoyed with J.J., and she determined that she was going to let her know it. As far as J.J. knew, her mother would have been at the breakfast looking for her, and once again she would have been disappointed by her unexpected absence. Pat had never knowingly allowed anyone to hurt Jennifer. They had always looked out for each other, and anyone crossing that line they had long ago drawn around themselves, was handled with dispatch. In this situation, J.J. Hart, Jennifer's only child, would be no exception, in fact she would be held in higher stead since Jennifer was her mother. The time had come for a heart-to-heart with her beloved, but short-sighted godchild.

"Where's J.J.?" Almost like an echo to her thoughts, the question was posed from behind her, and Pat closed her eyes at the sound of the all-too-familiar  and unexpected voice. It was Jennifer, rushing in to take a seat.

Pat looked over at her as she got settled, checking to see how she was. No one would know. She was perfectly put together and appeared to be holding her own. She had always been good at assuming disguises and putting on whatever face she wanted the world to see. The mask of wellness she was wearing that morning was a winner. Only her eyes gave her away, and one had to look closely at them to see that anything was amiss.

"I didn't think you were coming." Pat answered smoothly, casually. "So I let her go riding with one of the boys from Brookfield instead. She met him yesterday. I'm sorry, Jen. I hope you don't mind."

"Is this the same boy that she was out with last night when you told me you chose to go over there to check on them?"

"Yes." Pat went ahead and admitted without hesitation despite her surprise. "His name is Teddy. He grooms the horses here at Gresham. Smythe vouched for him. I wouldn't have let her go this morning if I had any idea that you would be here."

All the time, Pat was wondering, "How did she know all that?" It was as Jennifer had ESP when it came to J.J. Frequently, J.J. complained that her mother always seemed to know or to somehow find out when she had gotten into something or had done something she shouldn't have done.

Jennifer, in the meantime, gave herself a mental pat on the back. She hadn't known for sure with whom it was that J.J. had asked permission to be out, but she assumed right off that it hadn't been a girl. J.J. wouldn't have stopped to ask permission to go out if she had been with a girl. Unwittingly, Pat had confirmed that her superior mother's intuition, as it applied to her own child, hadn't been impaired by the previous evening's imbibing.

"You had no way of knowing." Jennifer answered as she placed her napkin in her lap and swallowed the two aspirins in her hand down with some coffee. "I trust your judgment with her. I didn't know that I was coming until the last minute myself. And do I have a story to tell you about the wake-up call I just got before coming over here. I would not be here right now if it weren't for that."
 
 

On Pat's other side, listening to her covering for J.J. in the way that she had, Marnie could clearly see that J.J. had been thoughtless; that they both had been thoughtless that morning, and how badly J.J.'s mother would have felt if Pat hadn't done that for her. Pat had been covering for all of them the entire time.

When J.J. got back, and they were together once again in the room, they would have to sit down and talk.

The Dean was enjoying her morning constitutional: standing on her second floor rear screened sun porch, taking in the grounds of Gresham Hall, and gazing out to the stables. Some mornings she went down and rode for a while before donning the mantle of Dean for the day. This morning, there was the alumni breakfast, so there would not be time even if she had felt so inclined. She was looking forward to being there, and to finally meeting Stephen's elusive granddaughter.

It was actually Stephen who had the first stable built for the school over forty years ago, and it was he who sent the first five horses. He had it done right after Jennifer arrived to accommodate his daughter's lifelong passion for riding, and to ensure her comfort during her stay. Jennifer had grown up with horses, and it was the one important aspect of her life over which he felt he had control of it not being taken away from her. The stable and the horses had proven so popular with the girls, many of them from Virginia and other areas of horse country, that other patrons had quickly come along contributing to its expansion and upkeep, so that it was presently a major component of the Gresham Hall/Brookfield recreational programs.

Stephen never wanted Jennifer to know that he had done that specifically for her. It was just one of many things he had done for her and for the school during her years there, and beyond, that he never wanted her to know anything about.
 

Unable to reach Jennifer that previous evening, she hadn't hesitated to call her father. Stephen had given her leave to do so when he had phoned her earlier in the week to say that Justine would be attending the reunion with her mother, and when the opportunity presented itself,  she hadn't hesitated to take him up on it. Later, it dawned on her that the girl did have a father of her own whom she could have contacted, but it was Stephen to whom she wanted to speak. Thinking on it later, she quietly admonished herself for feeling and acting like a silly schoolgirl at the thought of him. It was the reaction she had always experienced when it came to him, even at present, despite their decidedly advanced ages. She figured that it would likely always be that way.

Stephen, she had come to know, stayed up late most nights in his study reading or listening to music, and he had been right there by the phone when she rang him. Recalling his long-ago rigidity regarding Jennifer and the opposite sex when she had been Justine's age, she hadn't mentioned that it was a boy with whom his granddaughter wanted to sit out front and hold conversation.

Normally she would have nixed that request herself, but since Justine was going to be outside with Teddy, she had made a rare exception. He was a good boy, one whom she had gotten to know pretty well, and whose parents she had known since they were teens themselves. His mother had attended Gresham Hall, and his father had been a Brookfield boy as well. During her years as an educator, she found that she was drawn to more "challenging" children, those arriving with personalities firmly in place and in possession of plenty of nerve. He fit the bill absolutely, which was the main reason he was in summer sessions at Brookfield and working mornings at Gresham Hall in the stables.

When told that Miss Smythe would be monitoring her, Stephen readily consented, but he had been puzzled as to Jennifer's absence in the situation. It wasn't like her, he said, to be out of touch when it came to Justine, but he concluded that with Patricia in the picture anything was likely. That made the Dean smile. Stephen always tended to lay the blame for the things that happened with those two on Jennifer's association with Patricia, but she was well aware that Jennifer had been no angel herself. As girls those two had worked in tandem, and judging by the strong sisterly aura she observed radiating from them at the previous day's reception, they probably still did. Whatever mischief they had been into the night before that put them out of reach, they were in it together, equally sharing the blame.

Two young people came into her view from below, a boy and a girl, walking quickly, almost running across the back green headed for the stables. She could see that it was Teddy with Justine in tow. Shortly after they disappeared around back of the building, she saw them return, riding off together, racing over the first hill. He was a master horseman, and she was right beside him, looking as gracefully skilled as her mother once looked when she went out riding on those early mornings before her classes. Dean Marchand sighed, recalling that she had watched Jennifer from that same second floor porch many, many years before.

As the children disappeared from view, the Dean guessed that her meeting with Justine Hart would have to be put off until still later, but it would have to take place sooner or later before they all left on Sunday.

"Teddy!" J.J. exclaimed. "I don't think I can walk on it, but I have to get back! I have to be there for the Dean's presentation this afternoon!" 

She had painfully rolled over and was seated on the ground, still in the spot where she had fallen after stepping into a hole camouflaged by the dried grass that covered it.

Teddy had taken her to the place on the bluff where he said a Brookfield alumni had allegedly fallen to his death after trying to make out with one of Gresham Hall's alumni at one of the reunions years ago, before they had both been born. He had joked that Brookfield boys had been falling for Gresham Hall girls for years, his parents included. J.J. had been more interested in the vista to be seen from the bluff. Totally taken by the beauty of it, she had taken that fatal step, her foot dipping and twisting unexpectedly into the gap causing her to lose her balance and lurch forward awkwardly. Attempting to right herself and regain her footing, she instead dropped to the ground, caught off guard by the sudden shooting pain. Slightly ahead of her at the time, pointing out the city of Boston off in the distance below them, Teddy heard her cry out, and immediately come to her aid. Her foot now rested in his lap as he anxiously examined her rapidly swelling ankle.

"I see that you can move it, so I don't think it's broken, but I do think you sprained it something terrible, J." He observed after rolling back her sock. "I don't think we should take your shoe off. Damn! I left my cell. If I had it, we could call someone to come for you. I never seem to have that thing when I need it!"

"That's okay!" She said. "Help me up. I can ride back. It'll be okay. I'll soak it when we get back to the house, and I'll be alright."

Teddy slowly shook his head in uncertainty, attempted to touch her ankle again, and was further dismayed when she flinched and shuddered in pain. "I don't know J.J. I don't think you should ride. This looks kinda bad. But I don't want to leave you here by yourself while I go get help, either."

"I can ride, Teddy. Just help me up. Please. Just help me up and it'll be okay; I promise you. I have to get back for my mother's speech and you have to meet the foreman. Come on."

She gingerly moved her foot from his lap, and got in position to try to stand. Holding her under the arms, Teddy slowly, carefully helped her up and watched her as she bravely tried to hide the pain he knew she had to be feeling. As she used her good leg to get a leg up, he pushed, balanced, and assisted her in maneuvering into place atop Babette, marveling at her surprising strength.

"Are you going to make it, J.J.?" He asked while mounting his own horse, keeping his eye on her. "Are you sure you're going to be okay?"

"I'm fine, Teddy." She answered gamely. "Let's just get back." Unable to put her injured foot into that stirrup, she prayed for help in concentrating on staying balanced and not the pain.

"We'll just take it easy then." He said. "We'll get there when we get there."
 
 

Marnie was pacing nervously, alternating between checking her watch and peering out of the window. J.J.'s mother had called twice since they had been back from breakfast, and still she hadn't returned.

"Where in the hell is that girl?" She muttered. "She should be back by now. Breakfast has been over for almost an hour. The Duchess is calling here and everything. If she comes over here..."

Dee, too, stood at the window looking out onto The Quad at the mothers and daughters milling about below. She didn't know J.J. well enough to know her habits, but from what she had heard about J.J.'s mother, she didn't sound like someone who would be pushed too many times. J.J. had been pushing ever since she arrived. It probably would not be long before Jennifer Hart showed up.

Just as she finished that thought, the door opened and in came Miss Smythe followed by a man who carried J.J. in his arms. Teddy entered the room behind all of them. Both Dee and Marnie ran over to J.J.'s bed where Miss Smythe directed the man to place her. Marnie quickly realized that Miss Smythe was carrying J.J.'s shoe. That was when she noticed J.J.'s bare swollen foot.

"Oh my God!" she cried. "What happened to you! I knew something was wrong; you were taking too long to get back. Your mother has called here twice looking for you!"

"What did you tell her?" J.J. asked, wincing as she was placed on the bed. She reached underneath her and removed her cell phone from her back pocket, causing Teddy's eyes to widen with surprise.

"That you were still out of the room." Marnie answered. "But I'm not so sure how much she bought it. Any minute now I expect her to bust up in here. J., what did you do to yourself?"

Madison and Dakota ran into the room from the bathroom. "What happened?" Asked Madison. "We were downstairs in the dining room, and we saw them carrying you across The Green! What did you do?"

"It's nothing." J.J. answered as she lay back, then grimaced as Miss Smythe raised her foot to put pillows under it. "I just fell and twisted my ankle a bit."

"A bit!?" Exclaimed Dakota. "I'd say a lot, J.J."

The man grabbed Teddy roughly by the back of his collar and began pulling him from the room. "I'm sorry about this, Miss." The man said to J.J. And then he turned to Miss Smythe. "I'll handle this one. He had no business taking her out without telling me."

"It wasn't his fault." J.J. pleaded to both adults present. "I wanted to go, and I didn't fall from the horse. I was walking and just wasn't looking where I was going. Don't punish Teddy. I really wanted to go. I called and asked him to take me riding, and he only did it because I bugged him so much about it."

The man looked to Miss Smythe who nodded at him. He let Teddy go, but pushed him in front of him toward the door just the same.

"I'll call you later, J!" Teddy called behind himself to her, catching her eyes with his own grateful ones.

Miss Smythe reached for the phone, but J.J. reached out and held onto her hand, the one which held the handset.

"Please don't call my mother, Miss Smythe." She pleaded. "Let me just soak it or something. I don't want her to know. She'll be all worried and everything, and she has that speech to make this afternoon. I don't want her missing her marks." With her eyes brimming, she begged, "Pleeeease."

"You have to be checked out, Miss Hart. You could very well have a hairline fracture. That ankle and foot are very badly swollen. There's no way that I can let you go untreated."

J.J. looked down at her foot and then up at Marnie who stood by her side.

"She's right, J." Marnie confirmed. "That needs to be looked at. You run track, and if it's messed up bad, then it needs to be looked at professionally so that it heals right."

Dee nodded silently in agreement from where she was seated on J.J.'s footboard.

J.J. took the phone from Miss Smythe and punched in a number.

"Hi, Daddy." She said weakly, trying not to cry. "I'm in trouble again."

"What now, J.J.? Do we need to go ahead and fire up Valentine to fly up there right now? You just aren't going to make it at Prep School, are you? Not even for a weekend visit."

"Daddy, it's not that kind of trouble. I'm hurt. Physically. It's my ankle."

"What happened?" He could detect in her voice the tears she was holding back. That made his heart sink and his pressure instantly rise. It had to be bad; J.J. didn't sweat over small things. "How did it happen? Where's your mother?"

"I was out on the bluff, and I accidentally stepped into a hole.  I twisted it. I guess it's pretty bad because it's all swollen and so is my foot. My mother and Aunt Pat have gone back to the hotel, so they don't know anything about it yet. They just got me back into our room. I called you because I don't want my mother to know. She has that speech to make, and I don't want her to miss that. If she finds out that I'm hurt, she'll want to take me to the hospital and then she'll miss out on what she came here to do.  Miss Smythe wants to have my ankle looked at, so will you talk to her? She's right here."

"Yes. Let me speak to her."

There was a brief conversation, and listening to Ms. Smythe speak, J.J. made note for the first time that the woman had the same accent as her grandfather, only it wasn't as pronounced as his. Miss Smythe handed her back the phone.

"Yes, Daddy." She said.

"I've okayed everything with Miss Smythe. You do whatever she tells you to do, do you understand? I don't care if you don't like it. You have to preserve that ankle if you want to continue to run, and that means following the instructions you're given to the letter. Am I coming in loud and clear?"

"Yes, I understand." But she really just wanted to break down and cry. The only time that he laid down the law with her was when things were dead serious.

"I mean it, J.J."  He continued. "No cutting corners or looking for loopholes on this one. Do what they say, and hang in there, baby. They'll fix you up. Miss Smythe says that your ankle hasn't started to change colors, so it most likely isn't a break, and that's good. If it comes down to that, your mother will understand about your not being there at the presentation once she knows what happened."

"Don't call her, okay? Just let her think I skipped out on it like I have everything else. I don't want her to be worried."

"If you do it that way, you know that she's going to be extremely angry with you."

"That's alright. She'll hide being mad from everybody while she's working. She'll put that off, and do what she has to do, then she'll come and chew me out afterward. I can deal with that. But she can't hide worry. Being worried about me will make her not do well when she's on the podium, if she even goes at all. I know that about her."

"I'll leave that up to you, but it is probably going to come down to you missing it. It sounds like you need to stay put."

"I'll do whatever they tell me. Daddy, thank you for everything. I'll talk to you later. Bye."

And she hung up from him.

She had chosen to miss everything before this, and now it appeared that she was going to be forced to miss the most important event of all. It was a once in a lifetime event, and because she had been willful and impulsive her entire time there at Gresham Hall, she wouldn't be there to share her mother's and Pat's shining moment that afternoon either. She felt it when Marnie put her hand on her shoulder. Reaching up to take her hand, they laced fingers and held tight.

Mrs. Smythe made two quick calls, and then she told her that the campus physician was dropping everything and driving up to see her. She would be there just as soon as she could get there. Marnie, Dee, Dakota, and Madison she told to go and let her be so that she could tend to J.J. She instructed Marnie and Dee to take everything they would need for the reception over into the other room so that they wouldn't be in the way of the doctor when she came. On their way out of the room, Dakota and Madison squeezed J.J.'s hand sympathetically in passing.

"At least you won't have to wear the damned uniform." Marnie whispered to J.J., trying to lighten the moment.

The idea of the doctor coming making her nervous, J.J. turned to Miss Smythe and asked, "What do you think is going to happen with me? What am I to do while they're gone?"

"Not to worry. You will be right here with me." Miss Smythe answered. "Doing whatever the doctor tells you. Now let's get you out of those clothes and into your gown so that you'll be ready when she gets here. Most likely I'm going to have to cut you out of those fancy jeans to get them over that foot."

"Aw, man..." J.J. complained. "I just got these right before we left."

The woman decisively reached down and pulled the "Born to be Wild" tee shirt over J.J.'s head. "You, Missy," She said. "Are probably not going anywhere, except maybe to the confines of the infirmary, for a while."

Pat waited until Jennifer finished fussing about J.J., and had gone into the bathroom, before she hurried to the phone to call up #1 Waverly. She wasn't surprised when once again it was Marnie who answered even though that time she had entered the number for the phone assigned to the room rather than calling up J.J.'s cell.

"Did J.J. make it back yet?" Pat whispered right off.

"Yes, she's back." Was the answer she received, but she could hear hesitation in Marnie's voice.

"It's about time. Put her on the phone."

"She's not in a position to talk, and that's no B.S. this time. I'm not playing around. She's here, but she really can't come to the phone."

"And just why can't she?"

"I can't tell you that, Aunt Pat. She doesn't want me to say anything." Was Marnie's desperate sounding entreaty, the last sentence delivered in a whisper. "Please just trust me. She can't come to the phone right now. I promise I'll have her to call you right back."

Pat was undeterred. "Tell me what's going on, Marnie. If you don't tell me this minute, I swear to God, I'm sending Jennifer over there, and you don't want that, I promise you. She is fired up about you two, and all she needs is one more reason."

"I didn't even do anything." Marnie whined. Then there was a pause, and Pat could hear the phone being jostled, several anxious voices in the background, including Miss Smythe's; and then finally it was J.J. who spoke to her, her voice sounding strained.

"It's me, Aunt Pat. I'm here. I'm sorry that I didn't ask first, I know that I should have, but I went riding with Teddy this morning. I couldn't resist when I found out about the horses. I'm back now. I know my mother called here looking for me, but I guess time got away from me again."

"So why is it that you don't want me to know why you can't come to the phone? What are you doing? What is it you're into? What is it you don't want to say?"

"It's nothing, really. I was just sort of tied up at the moment, but I've got it worked out now. No need for anybody to worry."

"J.J., dammit! You've been slipping around going off on your own, doing your own thing the whole time we've been here, and I don't like it. I don't like it one bit. You're making your mother angry, and you're hurting her as well. That's something you know I'm not tolerating, not even from you. What ever is going on with you, if you don't want to talk to me about it, fix it- NOW! And then you had better get your act together for the remainder of this visit, or I'll know the reason why. Do you hear me?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Was the humble reply.

Pat quickly put down the phone just as the bathroom door was opening, and Jennifer entered the room again.

"Were you on the phone?" She asked. "I thought I heard you talking. You weren't talking to me, were you?"

"That was J.J. She just wanted to let you know that she was back. She was just saying that she's sorry she missed you at breakfast, as well as your calls. She said that she was gone so long because time got away from her since she was out on that horse."

"Now that's something I can understand and forgive, I guess." Jennifer said from inside the closet. "She and I both love horses and riding, but do you realize that I haven't seen her in almost twenty-four hours. I thought the whole idea of us being here was that we were supposed to be here together?"

Pat shuffled the papers that were in front of her on the table. "Well, it's for sure that you'll see her at the presentation." She said. 'Let's go over these notes one last time."