by Suzanna Ross
Evie raced over to the window. “Oh no. We have to get Jessie out. Quick, help me. Rosie will go bananas if she catches her in the house again. I promised last time it wouldn’t happen again.”
Theo stifled a smile. “I think it’s a bit late to smuggle Jessie out.”
Rosie was talking into her mobile as she came through the door. “I’ll be there as soon as I can... Yes, Miss Morris, very inconvenient, I understand that... Okay, I’ll see you in a minute.”
“What’s wrong?” Evie asked.
“Your donkeys are out,” Rosie face was a picture of dismay. “Running wild all over the village.”
“Oh, no.”
“Yes. Oh, no.” Rosie put her hands on her hips and Theo braced himself for shouting. But at least it wouldn’t be directed at him. “And what is Jessie doing inside – again. I’ve told you before, donkeys are not indoor animals.”
“I was just about to take her back to the sanctuary,” Evie replied.
“Too right you’re taking her back. And stay with her until we find out how the others got out. There might be a gap in the fence somewhere. In the meantime, I’d best go and round up the escapees.”
“I’ll give you a lift down to the village,” Theo offered.
The fact she was happy to go to the village in his car told him how desperate she was to minimise inconvenience to the locals. They stopped briefly at the sanctuary so Rosie could collect the halters she would need to lead the animals back. While there, they easily spotted the weak spot in the fence where the animals had pushed through.
“It will be Mr Kennedy’s fault,” Rosie decided. “He’ll be the ring leader in all this. He always frets when Jessie’s not here. Evie knows that. He will have gone looking for her and the others will have followed.”
This all made very little sense to Theo. “Why would Mr Kennedy have gone looking for Jessie when there were other donkeys in the field to keep him company?”
Rosie sighed and got back into Theo’s car with the halters. “He’s in love.”
This was just bizarre. “Do donkeys fall in love? Really?”
“Don’t laugh,” Rosie scolded. “You only have to see the two of them together to see – he follows her everywhere.”
On the way, she called George to have a look at the fence. And, as they drove into the village, Miss Morris was waiting for them.
“It’s pandemonium,” she shrieked. “I’ve even had to shut the shop to keep an eye on them. Running wild, they were.”
Theo glanced over at the four donkeys peacefully grazing on the village green and immediately wanted to laugh at Miss Morris’s exaggeration of the circumstances.
“I’m so sorry you were inconvenienced,” Rosie told her. “And thank you for letting me know. Evie was due to check on them shortly and we’d have been worried when they weren’t there.”
“Glad I was able to help. If I hadn’t spotted them anything could have happened.” Miss Morris was in her element as the one who had averted certain disaster.
“What could have happened to them?” Theo asked in an urgent whisper as Miss Morris returned to reopen her shop.
Rosie smiled. “Probably not much. They would have stayed here grazing for most of the afternoon. Of course, if they’d wandered back onto the road it might have been a different matter.”
She slipped a halter onto the nearest donkey. “Okay, Mr Kennedy, old boy,” she told him soothingly. “Let’s see if we can get you back to your girlfriend.”
“I’ll walk with you.”
“What about your car?”
“I’ll come back for it later.”
It didn’t take them long to lead the donkeys back to the sanctuary. Evie was already there with Jessie. George was working to repair the damage to the fence. As though to prove Rosie was right, Mr Kennedy broke free and trotted over to where the little grey donkey was rolling happily in the grass.
Rosie looked over her shoulder and grinned. “What did I tell you? He’s a donkey in love.”
Theo grinned back, feeling quite sorry for poor old Mr Kennedy – and very grateful that he had guarded his own heart against such foolishness.
Chapter Twelve
They had all been right. Rosie hated to admit it, but she loved the new house as soon as she and Evie moved in. It was properly insulated, watertight, light and airy. Everything the manor wasn’t. And it was less than half the size, so there would be less to clean. If she hadn’t been so stubborn, so adamantly preoccupied with the history of the place, she and Evie might have moved to live in some comfort years ago.
“Well?” Theo demanded as he put down a box of kitchen equipment on the counter. “What do you think?”
“Honestly?”
His brow creased. “Yes.”
“It’s okay.” The admission was grudging. Rosie didn’t like being wrong – even when it meant a better outcome for her. He grinned and, she couldn’t help it, the corners of her mouth tugged and before she knew it, she was smiling back. “Fine, you were right and I was wrong. I love it. Evie loves it, too. We should have moved years ago.”
She expected him to say he’d told her so and was pleasantly surprised when he didn’t. “Looks like you brought all your stuff over just in time,” he nodded towards the window. The wind had been high all day, making the move difficult and bringing down two trees that she knew of, but now heavy rain had been added into the mix.
Rosie shuddered just imagining the state the manor would be in. Their rain buckets would be needed with bells on today. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay on your own at the manor?”
“Why?” Arms folded, he leaned back against the work surface and there was a mischievous gleam in his golden eyes. “Do you want to offer me a bed here?”
She sighed. She was tempted. Very tempted. But having him stay with her overnight wasn’t the kind of example she wanted to set Evie. “I don’t like to think of you staying there while we’re living in such luxury.”
“So now you understand how I felt about you staying there. But yes, I’ll be fine for tonight. I have to go back to London in the morning in any case.”
“Oh.” The disappointment took her by surprise. Since when had it been any of her business what Theo got up to? And it wasn’t so long ago she’d have celebrated his departure with an energetic jig. He’d very quickly become a fixture and she was used to having him around.
“There’s a business merger at a delicate stage of operations and I have no choice – I have to be there.”
She nodded. Of course he did. He might have been playing at estates for the past while, but his real life lay miles away. She was just going to have to become used to his not being here.
The mobile in the pocket of her jeans rang. “Excuse me,” she told Theo as she fished it out. It was Marsha – near hysterical as she cried down the phon. Rosie winced. “Calm down, I can’t understand what you’re saying.”
“I tried to stop them, I really did. But George and his father just had the most awful argument. And they’ve run off into this terrible weather.”
“Who’s run off? Victor and George?”
“No,” Marsha sobbed. “George and Evie.”
“Evie? What was she doing with you?” As far as Rosie knew, she’d been at Louise’s house, doing homework.
It was starting already, she realised, the sneaking around, the untruths, so she could spend time with George. How much worse would it be if she forbade her sister from seeing the boy? Theo had been right, she had no choice but to accept it. But for now, a more pressing matter superseded her annoyance that Evie had misled her. “Where did they go, Marsha?”
“I don’t know,” Marsha wailed down the line. “I’m just so worried. The weather’s so wild and the sky’s so dark out there. And a tree’s just blown down across the lane here. What if something falls on them?”
Rosie bit her lip. Marsha’s tendency to over dramatise every situation annoyed her, but she realised maybe this time the drama was justified. “I�
��m sure they’ll be okay,” she muttered despite her own concerns.
“What’s wrong?” Theo asked as she was frantically trying to press the tiny buttons on her mobile.
“George fell out with his father and stormed out of the house. And Evie’s with him.” Her hands were shaking. “I’m just going to phone and see if they’re okay.” Evie’s mobile went straight to voicemail. “I can’t get through.” Rosie’s lips were numb. She had a bad feeling about this.
“Where do you think they’ve gone?”
She glanced towards the window again and shuddered. “Probably the sanctuary, to make sure the donkeys are okay.” Rosie snatched her waterproof jacket from the chair she’d draped it over and pulled it on. “I’m going to go and see if I can find them.”
“I’ll go,” Theo offered. “You should stay here in case they come back.”
“I can’t just sit here like a lemon.” She zipped her jacket up as she walked to the door.
He caught up with her in two strides and his hand closed around her upper arm and she could have sworn she felt the warmth of his fingers through her jacket. “Rosie, be sensible. You had trouble walking in here from the car and the wind’s much stronger now.”
“But you think you’ll be okay in it.”
“Given that I’m much bigger and heavier than you are, yes.”
She tried and failed to pull her arm out of his grasp and realised she was dealing with six foot four of solid muscle. Yes, he was stronger and bigger – that probably meant he’d be able to cover more ground than she would to in this weather. “Okay, but if you’re not back in ten minutes I’m coming after you.”
“Make it fifteen.” He opened the door, letting the wind howl into the kitchen, and then he stepped out into the storm, head down, collar pulled up. And then he was gone.
She realised her mistake as soon as the door crashed closed against the gale – now she was going to be worried about him, too.
She paced nervously, tempted to go after him, but knowing what he’d said made sense. Not only had she found it near impossible to breathe out there, but she’d nearly been lifted off her feet earlier, despite heavy boxes weighing her down.
***
Theo made his way to the sanctuary, the wind howling and blowing debris all around him. He wondered if Rosie ever did anything without arguing, but to be fair she’d been running her own show so long she probably found it difficult to listen to advice. He was glad she’d agreed to stay home, though, he didn’t like the thought of her being buffeted around by this gale. She was so tiny she wouldn’t have stood a chance.
His hair was wet through, rainwater running freely down his face by the time he spotted the teenagers. They were outside the donkeys’ barn, both sitting on the ground and it looked as though Evie had... Heart pounding, he put his head down against the wind and broke into as fast a run as the weather allowed. “What happened?” He had to shout to be heard.
“A branch fell and hit her.” George was pale and on his knees next to a dazed Evie. “We didn’t see it coming.”
“Are you okay, Evie?” Wetness seeped through his jeans from the soft ground as he got down so he could get a better look at Evie’s injury. “That looks like a nasty gash on your forehead.”
“I’m fine, thanks,” Evie muttered, still looking a little dazed.
“Does it hurt anywhere?” He was trying to establish how badly she was injured, working out if they needed specialist medical equipment, such as a backboard and collar, before she could be moved.
“Only my head. It just hit my head.” It seemed she hadn’t suffered a neck or back injury, which was something at least.
Theo turned his attention to George. “Did she lose consciousness at any point?”
“I don’t know – maybe for a minute. She was knocked off her feet, it’s a big branch.” George waved in the direction of a branch that looked as though it was made up of at least half a large tree.
The wind continued to whip itself up into a frenzy around them. Theo wanted to shout at George for being so uncertain and for his stupidity in endangering Evie by bringing her out in this storm. But he deemed it more important at this point to get Evie out of the wind and rain and to somewhere her wound could be attended to.
“What are you doing?” George asked as Theo swept Evie into his arms.
“She’s not in any fit state to walk.”
“I’m fine,” Evie argued.
“No you’re not,” Theo insisted. “Besides, you barely weigh more than a feather, in this wind you’d find it hard going even without the injury. This is the quickest way to get us out of here.” She was bigger than, Rosie, but even so, Theo barely registered her weight in his arms. He braced himself against the wind and headed back in the direction of Rosie’s new home.
She was watching at the window and came running out into the driving rain as soon as she saw them. “What’s wrong with Evie?” she yelled over the noise of the wind.
“Nothing to worry about,” Theo downplayed the situation, despite knowing a head injury was always cause for concern. “She’s just had a little accident.”
“There’s blood. Evie, your forehead’s bleeding and your face is covered in scratches.”
“I’m fine,” Evie protested. “Thanks for the lift, Theo, but you can put me down now.”
Theo obliged and set her on her feet on the gravel driveway, near his car – the teenager swayed uncertainly. “We’re going to hospital,” he informed them mildly. “Just to have Evie’s wound cleaned up and looked at.”
“There’s no need. A bath and a bit of a rest and I’ll be good as new.”
“Stop arguing,” Rosie snapped. “We need to have a doctor look at you.”
“No way. I don’t want any fuss and I’m not going near any doctor.”
“Evie, be reasonable,” Rosie pleaded.
“I’m fifteen – old enough to decide if I need medical attention.”
If the situation hadn’t been so concerning, Theo might have laughed. Rosie was getting a taste of her own stubbornness. In contrast to her beautiful sister, however, the younger Farnham was likely to respond to his charm – a fact he intended to use to his advantage now. “Evie, it’s obvious you’re fine, but you suffered a bit of a blow to the head and I’d feel happier if you allowed a doctor to examine you.”
“Oh alright, then.” Evie nodded and immediately winced. “Ouch, that hurt.”
He was aware of Rosie at his side, rolling her eyes heavenward, and he paused just long enough to grin at her before unlocking the car and bundling them all in.
***
Rosie sat in the front with Theo while George kept a close eye on Evie in the back. In all likelihood, she was fine – certainly if her backchat was any indication. But Rosie was glad Theo had convinced her to go to hospital for a check up. Not that she would ever have admitted it out loud, but she was incredibly impressed, not only that he’d talked Evie into seeing a doctor, but that he’d allowed them all into his car – mud and all. The pristine leather interior was now covered in dirt and he hadn’t so much as given it a second glance. And she knew how much he loved his car.
The journey took forever. There were trees down everywhere – and debris strewn across every road that made Rose fancy the place looked as though it had been through an apocalypse.
But eventually they drove into the hospital grounds and Evie was being helped out of the car and into the building.
***
“I didn’t think they’d keep her in.” Rosie looked pale and exhausted as they drove through the gates of the Farnham Manor Estate, several hours later.
“As the doctor told you, it’s just a precaution.” Theo manoeuvred his car along the driveway for a short while before taking a sharp left turn to go down to the cottages inhabited by the old rockers. He glanced in his rear view mirror at George. “Which one is it?”
George had been subdued all the way back. It was obvious he was just as worried about Evie as Rosie was.
“Second one along.”
Theo kept the engine running but turned in his seat to speak to the teenager. “Do you want us to come in with you?”
“Thanks, but it’s probably best if I go in on my own. Perhaps you could have a word with them tomorrow, though. They might listen to you.”
Theo somehow doubted they’d listen to anyone, but he’d promised he’d try. The situation had gone on too long – and they had to be encouraged to see the impact they were making on their son’s life.
“What was that about?” Rosie asked after George had got out of the car and disappeared into the cottage he shared with his parents.
Theo put the car in gear and effected a three point turn in the narrow lane. “George asked for my help in trying to persuade his parents to take responsibility for themselves. He really wants to take up that college place.” He felt rather than heard Rosie’s soft sight. “What is it?”
“They’ve started to come to you for help. They already see you as their protector.”
“Is that a bad thing? If it takes the pressure off you...”
She sighed again, louder this time. “You’re right. I never realised what a burden it was, being responsible for so many adults who should be taking care of themselves.”
They pulled up at the house and sat for a moment. The wind had died down now, but they were both reluctant to venture out into the rain. “Shall we make a dash for it?” Rosie asked at last.
Theo felt the jolt of a welcome surprise. “You’re asking me in?”
“I can’t expect the hero of the hour to make his own supper at this time of night.” Before he could reply, she tumbled out of the car and ran, head down, towards the back door.
Theo followed without a moment’s hesitation.
The kitchen was warm and cosy and Rosie busied herself with preparing supper.
He glanced over from his seat at the kitchen table, to where she was toasting sandwiches on the Aga. She still looked tired and pale. Not surprising after they day she’d had – moving home was supposed to be one of the most stressful events in life and she’d had the drama with Evie to contend with, too. As his gaze clashed with weary green and the urge to protect another human being had never been stronger. “Can I help?”