Country Affairs, page 33
‘I’m fine. It’s just so, so sorted. So,’ she knew she sounded lame, ‘real.’
‘It is, and it will be wonderful. Here’s your copy of the schedule, so you know what’s happening.’
‘Wow, isn’t it fab? Amazing.’ Sam clapped her hands and took her copy. ‘You will die when you see the dress I’ve got, although I won’t upstage you, of course, babe.’
‘Sure.’ Lottie had bigger worries on her mind. Like Rory and Mick.
‘It plunges right down at the back, and it’s got this slit right up to my knickers, not that I can wear any, but I need to be able to dance, don’t I? And Davey’s got a new tux. He looks gorg with his tan. All the boys do – so fit and horny since they came back.’
‘How do you know they’re all horny?’ Pip raised an eyebrow, knowing that Sam would be all too keen to give any extra details that might be required.
‘Well, all the girls I’ve talked to—’
‘Too much information.’ Amanda grimaced and put the hand that wasn’t holding her paperwork over one ear.
‘Ah, bless. I bet you’re not getting it the same in your condition, are you?’
She blushed.
‘I suppose that is one downside, but you can make up for it after, can’t you? You will get a nanny, won’t you, babe? Cos I don’t know what Davey would say if he had to share my boobs in the middle of the night, especially if we’d not been, you know, for ages.’ Sam looked as if she was seriously considering this new complication for the first time, and Amanda busied herself with her list.
‘Come on.’ Pip tugged at Lottie’s arm. ‘Let’s leave this pair to talking about shagging and go and work out how we’re actually going to get some.’
***
‘I really should hate her,’ Pip, who had opted for leading Black Gold in hand, alongside Lottie, who had the wide-eyed Badger, was beginning to wonder if she’d made a mistake when both horses decided on a competition to see who could get through the gateway first. ‘Aren’t you supposed to lead youngsters out with something steady – not an airhead like Gold?’
‘She’s much steadier than she used to be.’ Lottie hardly seemed to notice the fact that she’d nearly been squashed against the gatepost. ‘She’s much quieter these days. Mick said he thinks it’s this place. Not just because she’s in foal.’
Pip didn’t comment on the fact that she’d heard a lot of Mick’s opinions lately.
‘I think it’s because he’s here too, all the horses like him.’
‘And the people.’
Lottie gave a sideways look, under long lashes. ‘Sorry, would you rather we didn’t talk about him?’
‘No, it’s fine. I’m honestly over him. Once I thought about it properly, it was fine. But you don’t think you’re getting too…’
‘Too what?’ Lottie stopped abruptly and both horses tossed their heads in the air, sensing danger ahead. Pip cursed as Gold stamped on her foot for good measure.
‘Too attached? I know he’s really helping you, but what if he goes?’
‘Why, where’s he going?’
‘I’m not saying he is, but what I was saying at the start, about knowing I should hate her, well, I was talking about Niamh.’
‘Oh.’ Lottie started walking again and both horses set off after her. Pip, being towed in their wake, jogged a few steps so that she was level.
‘She’s still here, staying in Kitterly Heath. And well – well I think she fancies Mick still.’
‘Mm, so do I.’
‘And what if, you know he still…?’
Lottie stopped again, but this time Pip was ready and dodged the stamping hooves. ‘He’s only helping me, I’ve not been sleeping with him or anything.’ She glanced at Pip, as though expecting her to challenge it. ‘Gran offered him the flat, not me.’
‘But you like having him there? And he likes you.’
Lottie sighed. ‘He did kiss me.’ She saw the look on Pip’s face, but she needed to be totally honest. ‘It was after you finished, and it was only a quick kiss. I mean it wasn’t a proper snog or anything,’ she paused, then added for good measure, ‘and we had all our clothes on. Both of us did. And there weren’t tongues involved.’ She set off again at a stomp, and Pip hoped nobody was watching their weird stop-start procession. ‘I don’t fancy him or anything. Well, I do fancy him a bit because he is hot, isn’t he?’ She didn’t wait for an answer, ‘but it’s not like being with Rory.’ She’d started to despair of ever working things out with Rory. It wasn’t the same these days – it was almost like he’d stopped wanting to have fun with her because he thought she might suddenly insist he move back to Tipping House.
‘He had a fit on me the other day. I completely forgot he was going to an event. He was so angry.’ She frowned, there were so many entries in the diary, sometimes it was easy to miss the odd one. Except she had a horrible feeling that Rory’s event hadn’t even been written in the diary. ‘He rang me at five in the morning cos I wasn’t there to plait up, then went ballistic when I said I couldn’t go. He said,’ her insides shrivelled a bit even as she said it, ‘that if I wasn’t so obsessed with this damned pile of the past then I’d remember him once in a while.’ And he’d asked her where the girl he’d loved had gone. ‘He says he’s lost the old Lottie.’
‘Aww Lottie, I’m sorry. But he doesn’t mean it. He does miss you. He’ll get used to the fact that things have to change.’
Lottie wasn’t so sure. ‘He does mean it. I think I’m just going to be like a younger version of Gran, and I’ll just gradually turn into her, on my own with the dogs.’
Pip laughed, and Lottie smiled despite herself. ‘You will never be like Elizabeth. But, I did just want to warn you about Niamh. She seems nice.’
‘I suppose Mick wouldn’t go out with somebody who wasn’t nice.’ She raised an eyebrow, ‘Don’t you mind about Niamh?’
Pip shrugged. ‘Honestly? No. No, I really don’t.’ She grinned. ‘I really don’t. Did you know Elizabeth has offered her a job?’
‘What kind of a job?’
‘As a companion.’
‘But I look after Gran, and you do, and Amanda.’
‘She said she doesn’t want to turn into one of those old people who are an encumbrance. And she also said that as Niamh has experience as a nanny she’d be ideal to help Dom and Amanda out.’
‘Do they know?’ Lottie raised an eyebrow.
‘Nope, of course they don’t. It’s one of Elizabeth’s surprise gifts that you don’t know about until it’s too late to say no. She’s probably already given her a key to their front door at Folly Lake Manor and instructions on how to bring up a baby the old-fashioned way.’ Pip grinned. ‘She’ll be there to greet them at the door with the nappy-rash cream in her hand the day it’s born.’
‘Maybe Mick won’t want to be my best man now.’
‘I’m not sure he knows about Elizabeth asking Niamh to stay yet.’
‘Oh. But even so.’
‘He will, he promised,’ she smiled,’ and he promised Elizabeth, and Rory promised to do his bit as well. Elizabeth probably knew it was a step too far to expect Rory to do everything, so you get two men for the price of one. It’ll be fine. Which is more than I’m going to be if your horse stands on my foot one more time.’
Lottie laughed and stroked Badger’s long nose. ‘Badger loves Gold. He’s going to be surrogate daddy to her foal, aren’t you sweetie?’ Badger whinnied and tossed his head up and down, his long baby forelock covering one eye. ‘Silly sod, you can’t see. Here.’ She reached up to push the hair out of his eyes. The shadow of her arm crossed the one eye he could see out of and Badger spooked.
Lottie ducked as he half-reared, his dangling forelegs just missing her head, then he staggered backwards, unbalanced, until he collided with the solid bulk of Black Gold.
Caught unawares, Gold shot forwards, knocking Pip over, her hoof catching in the dangling reins. The leatherwork wrapped around her leg, the mare staggered forwards, stumbled on a rut in the track that had baked concrete-hard over the hot summer, and went down with a heavy thud onto her knees.
For a second Lottie froze, then dashed forward, expecting the horse to be struggling to her feet before she got there. But she didn’t, she lay winded, and didn’t make a sound as the dark trickle of blood pooled in the dirt.
***
‘Go and check Badger is okay, he’s a baby.’
Lottie hesitated, and Mick looked up, his dark gaze meeting hers. ‘Go on, I’ll look after her.’
Surrounded by dangerous thrashing hooves Lottie was fine. But faced with the motionless Black Gold she’d panicked. Pip had picked herself up and gone after Badger, who, realising he wasn’t about to be eaten, had trotted a short distance then put his head down to eat grass.
Thoughts of broken legs filled her head, followed swiftly by nightmares of the horse going into shock and losing her foal. Lottie tugged her mobile phone out of her pocket and frantically called Rory, whose cheerful voicemail message made her heart sink. She tried again and again, getting more and more desperate as she sat on the hard ground by Gold, who looked at her listlessly. He had to pick up, he had to answer. He had to help. But he didn’t.
‘Ring Mick.’ Pip’s instruction broke through her frantic dialling. So she had. He’d picked up on the second ring and was there within minutes, his calm voice drying up Lottie’s silly tears and his gentle urging stirring the mare to her feet.
Pip had gone ahead with Badger, who didn’t look as shamefaced as he should have done, and the sorry trio of Lottie, Mick and Gold limped slowly behind back to the yard.
By the time Lottie had checked over Badger and Pip as instructed, Mick had slipped the bridle from the unresisting Gold and replaced it with a head collar. He was murmuring softly to her all the time as he gently ran the water from a hose over her knees, his other hand stroking with long, steady sweeps down her neck, over her shoulder.
‘I’d call the vet if I was you, treas. She’s made a mess of this knee, but that’ll mend. She’s just a bit more out of sorts than she should be.’
‘Oh God, you don’t think she’s going to…’
He glanced up. ‘I’m sure she’ll be fine, but I’d get them to pop by to be certain.’
‘Oh no, I’ll never forgive myself if,’ she could feel her lower lip wobbling, the tears threatening to brim over again.
‘Come here, you daft woman.’ And she did, letting him put one arm around her shoulder as he held the hose in the other, resting her head on his warm broad chest, and hoping to hell that her horse was going to be okay.
Neither of them saw Rory, who stood in the archway for a moment, then slowly turned and went back the way he’d come.
Chapter 29
‘Oh, sugar, it must be that pizza I had last night.’ Lottie wailed as Sam did her best to pull the material over Lottie’s hips.
‘Well, we can’t put it over your head now you’re made up, babe, it’ll make a right mess. Wriggle.’
‘You could always grease her up.’
Sam giggled. ‘You are so bad, Pip.’
‘Or we could put a tea towel over her head, then pull the dress down.’
‘Will you stop talking about me as though I’m not here?’ The thought of them both heaving to get the dress over her head and possibly leaving her trussed up like a mummy, filled her with more dread than the idea of it splitting as they tried to drag it upwards.
‘It’ll smudge her. Oo look, it’s okay! I didn’t pull the zip down properly – it’s got at least another inch.’ Sam gave a tug and the dress, as well as Lottie, seemed to give a huge sigh of relief.
‘And we all know how much difference an inch can make, don’t we?’
‘Every millimetre counts.’ Sam was laughing so much her hands were shaking.
‘Oh God, I wish Amanda was here to control you two. Where is she?’ Lottie looked around, hoping that she was there somewhere, hiding in a corner.
‘She’s helping Elizabeth.’
‘Oh.’ She was tempted to ask why Pip or Sam couldn’t go and help her gran, but that would have sounded mean. ‘Will you two please stop laughing and do me up, or I think I’m going to pop out of this bra. Whoever came up with the idea of balancing your boobs like this?’
‘I think they’re supposed to be in at least up to the nipples.’
Before Lottie could stop her, Sam was around the front and hiking up the cups of the bra. ‘There, that’s better, don’t they look nice? Although if you’d had them done you wouldn’t need the bra, babe.’ And with that she pulled the dress the rest of the way over Lottie’s hips, leaving her gazing down at her boobs and wondering if she really should consider taking Sam’s advice.
‘Arms up. There you go, babe. Gorgeous.’
Lottie was so relieved she had actually fitted in the dress, she was ready to do anything anybody told her, except she did have one worry on her mind. ‘What if I need the loo?’
‘We’ll hitch it up for you, babe.’
‘No, you won’t.’ She took an experimental step, just to check that the seams wouldn’t split if she moved. ‘How the hell do I get on a horse?’
‘Helicopter?’ Pip got a glare. ‘I’m sure you’ll get plenty of offers of help, don’t worry about it. If your mum did it, then so can you.’ Lottie squashed down the thought that she probably weighed at least a stone (or two) more than her slim and pretty mother had. ‘Right, let’s sort the crown jewels.’
The ‘crown jewels’, much to Sam’s disappointment, were fairly toned down and tasteful. She was, Elizabeth had told Sam firmly, saving the best for herself and Lottie was wearing what all Stanthorpe brides had worn, no more and no less. Which satisfied Sam, as her Ladyship was the absolute expert in these matters.
‘Bloody hell, love, you’ve scrubbed up well. Let’s have a look at you.’ Billy, who had marched into the room without knocking, propelled his daughter nearer to the window and then gave her a once-over like she’d seen him do to a prize show jumper.
‘Dad, you can’t just…’
His lips were compressed into a straight line as he looked, then looked again. And if Lottie hadn’t known him better, she’d have thought he was about to come over all emotional. When he did speak, his voice was as gruff as ever, but it was what she called his ‘happy gruff’, as opposed to his ‘grumpy gruff’. ‘Your mum would be so proud, Lots. You look gorgeous. She was a real stunner, and you take after her.’ He gave her an impulsive hug and kissed her on the end of her nose. ‘Although, of course, you’ve got my good looks as well. Looked the most beautiful ever on her wedding day, she did.’
‘Dad, you do know it’s not actually my wedding?’
‘Of course I do, love. Mind you, when I told you to practise everything I didn’t mean to go to this extent.’ He gave a loud laugh, the sentimental moment passed. ‘And I definitely don’t want you going around rehearsing wedding nights.’
‘Dad!’
‘Oh good heavens.’ Amanda flew in, looking as immaculate and cool as ever, apart from her flushed cheeks and the fact that a tendril of hair had escaped from her Alice band. ‘Your bouquet. What have they done with your flowers?’
‘I’m sure they’ll turn up,’ said Lottie, wondering how she was supposed to balance on a horse in a slippery satin dress (particularly as she couldn’t sit astride), and hold a bunch of flowers, which no doubt the horse would either try and eat or decide was a scary monster. Either way, it was probably better if they turned up later rather than sooner. ‘I can pick them up in the entrance hall, can’t I?’
‘Oh no, no, they have to be in the pictures. And where’s the photographer from Cheshire Life? I just promised them an advance shot of you dressing,’ she shot a look at Billy, who she’d only just noticed, ‘without any men, in your bedroom, before you left. You’ll have to wait outside, but don’t go, Lottie. Please don’t move.’
Sam giggled. ‘A shot of you actually dressing would have been more fun – when we were trying to get the zip up.’
‘And shoving your boobs into place.’
Billy turned puce and took a backwards step. ‘I’ll wait outside, shall I?’ He didn’t have that much choice as Amanda swept him out in front of her, her mobile to her ear, as she tried to track down the missing flowers and photographer.
The photographer had, it turned out, been side-tracked by a demanding Elizabeth, who mistaking him (or more likely not) for a member of the catering staff, had sent him in search of a large gin and tonic, or preferably a bottle, if he could smuggle one out from under Dominic’s nose. The man had done his duty admirably, unaware that the bottle he’d been given had been doctored and diluted down to half-strength by Dom, who knew his mother only too well. He arrived slightly breathless, after Amanda had shoo’d him from Lady Stanthorpe’s room and sent him running down the corridor to Lottie’s, but fairly sure that he’d be granted access to all kinds of places that the other members of the press wouldn’t get to.
Skidding to a halt outside the room, with his camera clutched to his chest, he smiled a hello to Billy, then paused, ‘I know you, don’t I?’
Billy was used to anonymity when he was out of his jodhpurs and horseless and toyed with the idea of saying he was the butler, until Sam poked her head out of the door and blew him a kiss. ‘She’s decent now, and we’ve stopped talking about boobs. Oh, hi. Are you here to take the piccies? You haven’t got the flowers have you?’
He looked nonplussed, and Billy shrugged. ‘Only my camera, love. I do know you,’ his attention was back on Billy, ‘Hang on, don’t tell me. Film, no, starlet story? No, hang on, hang on, it’s coming,’ he suddenly grinned, ‘Bonko Billy! You’re the show jumper who shagged all four nations after the Olympics, kudos.’
‘Will you shut up about that?’ Lottie’s wail carried clearly across the room to them. The picture of Billy naked (apart from the gold medal around his neck) in a Jacuzzi with three female show jumpers had haunted her through her teenage years, and she’d really hoped it had disappeared when she’d hit her twenties. ‘That was years ago, and it was three bloody nations, you don’t need to exaggerate.’
