Kalina’s party was over.  Marnie, Kalina and Aunt Jessie put the food away and did some cleaning up.  Aunt Jessie said they had all weekend to finish and suggested taking a break.  Kalina and Marnie went for a walk in the field.    Kalina was very upset because there was no sign of Toniya.  Suddenly Toby began growling, while staring in the direction of the woods.    Lina knew someone was out there, but they remained hidden.   

    Who was it and what did they want with her?  Kalina tried to shake the feeling off.  She didn’t want anything to spoil her time with Marnie.      

    During the entire walk, Kalina’s eyes constantly searched for her horse, but she was disappointed time and time again.  There was no sign of the mare.  Kalina didn’t understand how Toniya could leave her.  Didn’t the horse know how much Lina loved her? 

    The girls walked into the yard and Kalina noted that there was still a good deal of things to do.  Ugh, the tables still had to be torn down.  The food had all been put away, but the table cloths and lots of other things needed to be taken care of.  Marnie took a load of clean plates and silverware in the house while Kalina took the table cloths off.  They all needed to be washed, so there was no sense folding them. 

    Marnie came back out to collect the vases and bring the flowers inside.  She was afraid the vases would get broken if they were left outdoors.  The flowers would look pretty scattered around the house.  On her next trip, Marnie picked up two more vases and turned around to bring them in the house.  She stopped dead in her tracks.  Her mouth dropped open.  Kalina was walking toward the porch with an armful of table cloths.

   “Marnie, what’s the matter?  You look like you saw a ghost.”

   “Kalina, look.”   

   Kalina turned her head to see what Marnie was staring at.  Toniya was standing at the edge of the yard. She whinnied loudly.  Tossing the linens on the closest table, Kalina ran to her horse.

    “Oh Toniya, I knew you’d come back to me!” Kalina shouted.     

    Jeff and Jessie heard the whinny and stepped outside to see what all the commotion was about.   

    “Whose horse is that?” Jeff asked.   

    “That’s Toniya.  Kalina has been dreaming about her for weeks now.  She is positive some unknown person gave her the horse as a birthday gift.  The horse was in the field this morning, but turned and ran into the woods.”  Jessie replied.

    “And now she’s back?  Oh boy.”  Jeff said.