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It was like Rob flipped a switch, and Lady finally got to run. She leaned like nothing Beth had ever seen as she exploded around the corner, overtaking another horse within a stride. She was on the outside, so she didn’t have to worry about running into another horse, and within three more strides, she was ahead of another horse.
Beth started screaming as the horses thundered toward the finish line. Somebody’s Lady looked like she’d just started while the first-place horse had already started to fade.
“Come on!” Trey yelled, and Beth found herself screaming the same thing.
Lady drew up to the brown and black horse who’d been in the lead for the entire race. Her head reached the saddle, then his neck.
“Go! Go!” Beth screamed. The finish line was so close and yet still strides away. Lady just needed a few more.
The announcer was yelling; everyone added their screams to the fray.
Lady drew even with the leader, Rob spurring her on as he rode her to perfection.
The horses crossed the finish line, and Beth had no idea who’d won. The yelling and chaos quieted enough for Beth to hear, “It’s a photo finish, ladies and gentlemen. What a race. Those horses can run, folks!”
Trey stood still at her side, his pulse in his neck throbbing.
“This is torture,” Beth said just as the screen came to life. The footage was terribly slow, and both horses were clearly giving it their all. The announcer explained that it’s any part of the horse that crosses the line first.
The finish line came into view, and they’d put a solid yellow line over it for the spectators. In the next moment, Beth knew.
Trey started to laugh, because he’d seen it too.
Lady was on the right track to be fully stretched out in her stride when she crossed the line. The horse beside her wasn’t.
“She won,” Beth said, actually dumbfounded. “I can’t believe it.” She turned to Trey and grabbed onto him, both of them laughing now. “She won!”
“There it is, folks. By about three inches, with an incredible stride and stretch, your Sweetheart Classic winner is Somebody’s Lady!”
The crowd went wild, and Beth enjoyed the feel of Trey’s arms around her as she looked up at the screen and saw Somebody’s Lady frozen, her nose touching the yellow line while the other horse’s wasn’t.
Trey whipped off his cowboy hat and waved it, whooping along with the others in the crowd. “Let’s go,” he said, quickly smashing his hat back onto his head. He took her hand, and they left the owner’s box. Someone led them down a sidewalk no one else was on, and she opened a gate Trey went through like he owned the place.
They’d been in the small alcove for only a few seconds before Rob rode Somebody’s Lady into the space. She got dressed in flowers and a sash, and Rob lifted both hands above his head.
Trey grinned as he stepped over to Lady and stroked her neck. He reached up and shook Rob’s hand, and he opened his other arm for Beth to step into. She did, and he held the reins while she held him, both of them smiling for all they were worth.
Pictures got taken, and the festivities started to wind down. Beth felt like she was on a roller coaster, with incredible highs and devastating lows.
There were no more races that day, and the crowd had started to thin. Not her family or his, though, and they waved up to them. Beth took a good look at everyone up there. She loved her siblings and her nieces and nephews. She loved her father. She loved her son.
She loved and wanted Trey. She couldn’t imagine not being at his side for this—or for anything else life had to offer, good or bad.
He started to pull away from her, and Beth turned to see Rob swinging Lady around to leave the alcove.
“Trey,” she said, suddenly desperate to go with him.
“I’ll call you in a bit,” he said. He took another step and then turned back to her. He swept his arms around her and kissed her, the movement hard and a little wild. The kiss only lasted two seconds, and he pulled away.
Their eyes met, but again, he only looked at her briefly. She didn’t have enough time to decipher everything in his eyes before he turned and left with Rob and Somebody’s Lady.
She sighed and went back through the gate. As she passed the Chappell family, they all cheered and congratulated her. Blaine stepped out into the aisle and hugged her, and Beth almost started crying. She wanted to belong to this good family, and she wanted it to be real.
Lawrence met her on the next step, and he hugged her too. “Trey’s wondering if you and your family would like to come to Bluegrass for the celebration dinner.”
Though surprise ran through Beth because she didn’t know he’d planned a celebration dinner, she immediately answered, “Yes.” She stepped back and met his eyes. “I can’t speak for everyone, but TJ and I will be there.”
Lawrence smiled and nodded, and Beth continued up the steps to her family. Hugh and Daddy engulfed her, and it was then that Beth realized what had just happened.
