Free The Bride Wore Starlight by Lizbeth Selvig

of people, and we went into town a lot. I asked anyone I met, but I honestly didn’t expect to win. I don’t remember the details anymore, but when I did end up winning and Heidi had lost her last chance? I was shocked, and she was steaming mad.”
    â€œSo Heidi threatened to kill her,” Kelly said. “Nobody would have paid any attention, except she said it, screamed it really, right in front of the whole gymnasium full of kids and families. We were all, what, ten or so?” She looked from Grace to Raquel, who nodded as one.
    â€œSeriously?” Skylar nearly choked on laughter. “If we said anything like that today, we’d get hauled out of school in handcuffs.”
    â€œI don’t think it came out like ‘I’m going to kill you,’ ” Joely said. “It was something on the order of ‘You stink so bad Joely Crockett. You deserve to die like a stinky skunk, and I know where there’s a family of them. I should put them all in a room with you and kill you with their smell.’ ”
    â€œThe really ridiculous thing is, she actually did try,” Raquel-or-was-it-Grace said. “She had three brothers. The oldest one was a pretty creepy guy who’s long gone from Jackson, thank goodness. He was the one who helped her catch two juvenile skunks and sneak them in Joely’s open window.”
    Alec turned his head and stared at Joely in disbelief. “That must have been ugly.”
    â€œIt was, although I only lost a fake bearskin rug, a pair of boots, and the dust ruffle on my bed. It didn’t kill me because even though they put a towel under my bedroom door, they forgot to close the window all the way.” Joely laughed. “It could have done a lot more damage. Fortunately, the animals were young and only had tiny stinks. Dad and Skylar’s grandpa, Leif, live trapped them and sealed the trap in an airtight container long enough to release the little guys.”
    â€œI hope that Heidi person got into a lot of trouble,” Skylar said.
    â€œShe did. She never forgave me for that either.”
    â€œAnd there was karma,” Kelly said. “Joely went on to win both the senior princess title and the high school rodeo queen competition. The year after that, she was homecoming queen. Every time, Heidi was first runner-up.”
    â€œAll right!” Skylar pumped her fist in the air.
    â€œWhat about Miss Rodeo America?” Alec asked.
    Joely shook her head. “I never competed for it. Someone talked me into participating in the Miss Wyoming pageant and then I won so—”
    â€œI remember when you won!” Skylar said. “My whole family was there!”
    â€œI remember that, too.” Joely looked back at the girl. “That was really special.”
    â€œSo did you become Miss America, too?” Alec asked. “Did I miss that?”
    â€œIt would have been Miss USA, but no. Thank heavens. Way, way too much pressure.”
    â€œShe was in the top ten, though,” Kelly said. “And she got to have a really big stage for her platform, which was preventing animal abuse. She shut down a half dozen abusive facilities throughout Wyoming that year.”
    â€œI didn’t personally do it. I just told people about them. It’s true, that was a great vehicle for promoting something I felt strongly about.”
    â€œTwo small poultry operations, three super-awful puppy mills, a man who had fifteen or so starved and neglected horses, and one fox farm where they were electrocuting the foxes by—”
    â€œStop!” Joely cut Kelly off with a sharp order. “I don’t need to relive it—I saw it in person.”
    â€œI’m impressed,” Alec said. “An animal rights advocate. Brave indeed.”
    â€œI wasn’t affiliated with any organization,” she said. “I was generically for the rights of animals not to be abused. My platform was that we humans