Part 33 (2/2)

I shook my head. 'Russell, what about when I ... leave? I could reasonably take the cat with me, but a horse ...?

'I told you, Ill help you find somewhere. And even if we cant, you can still keep him here. I dont mind. And Mrs Crisp will be pleased to see you when you visit.

'Russell, your next wife is not ... going to want me wandering in and out a couple of times a week.

'My next wife? he said, thunderstruck. 'What next wife?

'Well, when Im ... gone, youll still need money, wont you? You should be looking around, so you have someone already lined up. Smooth transition.

He actually put the cake down. 'I dont want to marry anyone else, he said, after a long pause.

'But what about ...?

'I dont know. Ill think of something. But it definitely wont be marriage; Ill tell you that for nothing.

I said in a small voice, 'Has it been so ... bad?

'No, of course not, but I cant see myself marrying again, somehow.

'Russell, youre an idiot. Youre ... personable, quite charming when you concentrate, and you have this lovely house. Unless theres something ... badly wrong with the women in Rushford, youll be fighting them off with a stick.

'Mrs Crisp will be my chaperone and bodyguard. Ill buy her one of those earpieces and some dark gla.s.ses.

He would go back to Francesca. As soon as the door closed behind me, she would be over here like a Bengal tiger to a tethered goat.

He was watching me. 'No, I wont.

'Wont what?

'Get back with Francesca. Im not putting my hand in that fire again. Im off leggy red-heads for good. They bring you nothing but grief, said my leggy, red-headed husband.

I put my hand on his arm. 'I worry about you.

Something odd flickered and was gone. 'Well, I worry about you. Just promise me you wont go back to your aunt.

'I promise.

Thomas moved around his box again, calling me back to the moment.

'I havent thanked you.

'Yes, you have.

I put my arms around him and hugged him as hard as I could. The first time Id ever done that.

'Thank you, Russell. Thank you so much. You dont ... know what this means to me.

He tensed and patted my shoulder awkwardly. I was embarra.s.sing him, so I let go and stepped back.

'Well, again, thank you.

He turned quickly away and began hunting through the contents of a dusty cupboard.

'Again, youre welcome.

I had my first riding lesson a couple of days later.

They marked out an area in our second field, with oil drums at each corner, marked A, B, C and, astonis.h.i.+ngly, D. I could only a.s.sume this was for their benefit as I was already on nodding terms with the alphabet and Thomas probably couldnt read. I wore a smart new safety hat, and with the aid of a box, climbed clumsily into the saddle. It was an awfully long way up. I could practically see the sea.

Boxer watched from over the hedge. Marilyn watched through the hedge and everyone else watched from the gate.

With Russell standing in the centre like a ringmaster, I walked Thomas from A to B, turned left at C, and walked him back to A and so on. Once I got used to the strangeness, it wasnt too difficult. Then we trotted and I b.u.mped gracelessly around like a like a very graceless thing. We finished with a walk up the lane so I could show off to the Braithwaites. Their eight-year-old daughter, Fiona, was on her own pony, casually jumping fences that looked taller than me, watched by her proud parents. Everyone waved.

When we got home, I had to get my legs used to land again, and then I had to rub Thomas down under Russells watchful eye, pick out his feet he lifted each one for me, such a gentleman wash his bit, and clean the tack. It took three times as long as the actual ride and I was exhausted at the end of it. No wonder Russell was so thin.

But I was learning. I was actually learning to ride. And the day Russell saddled up Boxer as well and we rode together up on the moors was one of the best days of my life. We went for miles, closing our ears to the anxious cries of a small donkey suffering separation anxiety, drifting up from the valley below.

She was in the yard when we got back. I suspect Mrs Crisp and Sharon had been playing with her in our absence, but this did not prevent her scolding us every inch of the way across the yard. We turned the two horses into the field where they immediately enjoyed a luxurious roll and while they were on their backs with their legs in the air, she had a go at them as well.

'Does she not have a volume control? said Kevin, moving out of range.

Mrs Crisp, whod vainly been trying to get a word in, mouthed a sentence at me. She tried again, just as Marilyn finally fell silent and the words, 'So theyre on their way over, reverberated around the yard.

Russell stepped back. 'Why are you yelling at me?

What she would have done to him at this point was never established, because, with the inevitability of death and taxes, my relations were upon us.

'Quick, muttered Russell, 'Let me look at you.

'What?

'Are you injured at all? Bruised? Ill? Unhappy? Tired? Quick, tell me, so I can think of excuses.

'Im fine, I said, trying not to laugh. 'Just for once, youre ... completely in the clear.

Oh no he wasnt.

I forgot to take my riding hat off.

They stopped dead as they took in the implication.

Aunt Julia opened her mouth.

Uncle Richard, with true heroism, spoke first.

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