David came towards her immediately, a lopsided smile on his scarred face.
“Hey! There you are. How are you?” He stopped half way across the driveway. The smile dropped. “Ellen! You’ve been crying!” His voice was suddenly full of concern as he noticed her swollen cheeks and puffy eyes. “What’s going on? What’s the matter? Why aren’t you wearing any shoes?” They were suddenly all surrounding her.
She looked at all their worried faces. Scarred faces, ruined faces, ruined bodies, ruined lives. She was the only whole one amongst them, but she felt as though all of her insides had been ripped out. And then the whole world began to spin. The ground came up to meet her as David flailed with his arms, shouted her name and failed to catch her as the whole world went black before her eyes.
She woke up, half lying, half sitting on one of the huge settees in the lounge. Gemma was beside her, her real arm gently around Ellen’s shoulder, the men were gathered in front of them. David immediately began firing questions.
“Ellen, what’s happened? Are you ill? Has that bloody idiot Justin been hassling you again?”
She struggled to sit upright.
“No, please don’t worry about me. I was just being silly. I’d had a bit of a …well, a disappointment…Nothing to do with Justin. I haven’t seen him since the time he threatened me, and he should be getting his money about now anyway. He has no reason to bother me anymore.” She tried to take a deep breath, but the air just wouldn’t fill her lungs and then she was suddenly sobbing uncontrollably.
Six huge white handkerchiefs were immediately waving under her nose. She laughed wetly as she took two, and more tears leaked out of her eyes.
“You lot are going to think I’m such a fool. I can’t believe I’m behaving like this…Oh you might as well know, I’ve fallen in love with someone. I thought he loved me too, but it seems it was just a fling for him. He’s gone back to his wife. She arrived yesterday to take him home. He left me a note.” She pulled the crumpled letter from her pocket and handed it to Gemma.
Gemma read it quietly, her eyes narrowing as she reached the end, and then passed it on. David read the note aloud to them all. He pulled a strange face as the men all looked at one another.
Gemma sat up straight and looked expectantly around at them, waiting for one of them to explain. There was a stunned silence before she spoke again.
“Well? What does that load of crap mean?” She had never been one to mince her words. “Come on you lot. Tell us ladies here. Is that rubbish man talk for “I’m ditching you”? Is he coming back or what?” She looked around at the men. They all shrugged together and she squeezed Ellen gently. “Do you even know where he’s gone?” Gemma looked very confused.
Ellen shook her head.
“I don’t know. He said he hadn’t seen his wife for years. He was in the army, but he resigned after he was blown up. She left him when she saw what the bomb had done to him. I don’t know why she did. It’s not that bad. Nothing worse than you lot have suffered. He helped me when I was hopelessly lost the first time I was here and I instantly fell in love with him. I know he came from Essex, but I have no idea where. We were so happy here, the subject never came up and I never felt the need to ask. It’s not as though I’m going back and I thought he was going to stay here permanently too.” She began the whole story.
Twenty minutes later they were all still staring at her, their expressions grim.
“The bastard!” David snarled. “You mean you’ve been together since you got all the planning permissions, and now he’s gone without saying a word to you. With his wife!” David’s incredulous voice shot up a pitch or two in frustration. “God! Ellen, whatever were you thinking of. You shouldn’t have become involved with a married man. He was just taking advantage of you. You know the phrase…Having his cake and eating it. He’s just a pile of crap.”
Paul scrabbled for Ellen’s hand, missing it completely and then squeezing it gently when Gemma guided him to it at last.
“What regiment was the shit in? Some one will know him, I’m damn sure about that. He won’t get away with this Ellen. He needs to be taught a lesson in manners.”
An arm pulled Paul backwards.
“If he comes back and messes you around again, I’ll smash what’s left of his face.” Joe was speaking through his mask, his teeth clenched.
There was a sudden commotion as Adam forced his way forwards.
“Christ! He hasn’t got his hands on your money, has he?” He rolled his chair between Joe and David, pushing them aside.
Ellen waved them all down.
“No, please. He’s not like that at all. I never even told him about the money. Another subject never seemed to crop up. He’s not a bit like Justin. He assumed I’ve convinced the bank to stump up the money for the renovations and I never bothered to correct him.”
She dried her eyes yet again. Their indignation on her behalf was more touching than she could bear. They all stood around her, limbs missing or useless, faces distorted, all ready to defend her honour at a moment’s notice. They were all muttering angrily.
She tried to calm them.
“No! Please. It’s entirely my fault. I made the first move. Patrick had told me he was married and I ignored that. I assumed that because she had left him, he wasn’t interested in her any more. We’ve only been serious for three months. Well, I was serious. I thought he was serious too. Don’t blame him please. And he’ll have to come back at some time. He owns the house in the grounds. He can’t just dessert it.” She looked up at their worried faces began to get up. She couldn’t let her ruined romance spoil their precious week off. “What a terrible welcome for you all. I’m so sorry. It wasn’t meant to be like this. It’s not going to be like this.” Her voice was becoming stronger. “You lot have one week to tell me what I need to do to this place, so go on… don’t hang around here. Go and find somewhere to sleep. Adam, the lift’s over there and your room’s first on the left. It’s the only one fitted with a specialist bed and I need to know what you think of it. I have someone coming in to help you later if you need it. The rest of you will have to make do with put you ups I’m afraid…Paul stop! You’re heading the wrong way, show him will you Gemma. I’m going to start preparing breakfast. Get yourselves sorted and back down here in half an hour. Last one back down does the washing up!” Adam blasted his chair towards the lift and the others all bolted for the stairs.
Chapter Eight
Breakfast was brunch before it was eaten. They threatened to roll Adam down the stairs when he moaned that he’d only had to wash up because the lift was so slow. His first suggestion was that she buy a dishwasher as soon as possible. Their laughter rang through the château as they moved from room to room, discussing advantages and ideas.
The vast gardens were another adventure. The forest echoed with their shouts as they scared the wildlife and then all got soaked in the river as they cleared the banks ready for fishing huts. They even pulled a protesting Adam from his chair and sent him floating off on a couple of tied logs, to find the best area for a canoe school. They all had plans for outdoor activities. Ellen began a list. Every day something new was added.
The week passed quickly and they presented Ellen with a huge variety of suggestions at the end of it. They sat and had dinner “en famille” around the huge dining room table the night before they all left. The wine flowed and the banter was endless. Ellen wondered how she was going to cope with the quiet once they had gone.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do without you lot.” Her voice trembled slightly as she cleared the long table for the last time.
David gathered vegetable dishes and followed her through to the kitchen. He helped her load the newly purchased industrial sized dishwasher. He looked up quickly as he heard her sniff.
“Hey Sis! Come on. Cheer up. I’ll be back before you know it.” He pulled her into a huge bear hug.
Ellen snuggled into his shoulder.
“I’m going to miss
you all so much. It’s been such a fun week. I’m going to be so bored.” She wailed into his pullover.
David laughed aloud.
“Are you mad! You still have a load to do. Especially if you start on the stables and riding school. The self-catering apartments are a good idea too, but only if we can manage them properly. What do you think of the time schedule for opening? Still on for Christmas?” He wiped his finger under her eye.
Ellen shrugged.
“Maybe. But I thought that perhaps New Year might be better. Any guests won’t have to worry about bringing presents for the kids. And then only if I can get the staff trained up in time. I’m going to be sending every one of them on paramedic or first aid courses before we open. I’m beginning the first interviews in two weeks, though I think I’m going to ask Geraldine to stay on anyway. She already has a nursing degree and she’s been fabulous with Adam. We’ve had a lot of applications for the other positions. I’m starting with eight full time staff and I have three part time jobs lined up. I hope to increase that when we know what sort of numbers to expect. We haven’t had anyone apply for the chef’s job yet. I was surprised, the French are always telling us British how awful our food is, but it turns out that no one really cooks here. You just go down to the market, buy it already done for you, heat it up, et Voila! Dinner!” She laughed. “If I can’t find anyone suitable, I’ll go to the market myself and dish it all up the same as the locals do. It’ll work out expensive but I can manage like that for a while.” She smiled at his look of horror.
“Do you want your guests to come back? I thought we were trying to give them a taste of the high life.” He gave her a friendly shove on the shoulder.
“Cheek! You haven’t complained all week, just shovelled it all in and scraped the plates clean.” She laughed at him.
He shrugged.
“Well that’s what us army guys do. Gotta eat when you can get it. Whatever it is. Never know how long you might have to go without.”
“It’ll be a doddle then. I have the local farmer lined up to supply pigs for the hog roast and he’s going to help set up the farm too.” She was feeling slightly better. “I wish your next leave was sooner. You could come and help with the farm.” The idea had been Joe’s and everyone had agreed that it was a super suggestion.
David leaned back on the kitchen table.
“Maybe I will.” He was mysterious.
Ellen shook her head at her brother.
“How? You only have leave every six months. We’ll be up and running by then.” She pulled a chair out and sat down looking glum again.
David grinned at her.
“I was keeping it as a surprise, but you may as well know now. I’m getting out. Adam and James are too. We’ve had enough and the army are offering us a good redundancy package, not that I need the money of course, but the others do. Adam wants to spend more time with his wife and kids. His body is getting worse. The paralysis really sods you up. He doesn’t think he’s going to reach old age, and James has to have another set of operations on his legs. He almost wishes they had chopped them off in the first place, they give him so much trouble. If they don’t get any better this time, he says he’s going for amputation. I don’t envy him. At least I had no choice. I’ve told him to think about it long and hard first.”
Ellen grabbed hold of her brother’s hands and squeezed them gently. Tears leaked out of her eyes.
“Oh David, I can’t believe it. When do you finish?”
“Nine weeks. And that’s not the only thing, Joe’s finishing his five years in three months. He’s not signing up for any more. He’s thinking of asking you for a job here. He doesn’t think he’ll get much anywhere else, what with his face the way it is. I said I didn’t think he would have any problems at all, the bomb blast has made an improvement.” He laughed aloud at Ellen’s shocked expression. “If he does ask you, for God’s sake don’t offer him the chef’s position. His cooking is worse than yours.”
Ellen smiled indulgently, knowing his banter was serious for all his jests.
“This is the best news ever. What about Gemma and Paul. Are they getting out too?”
“Paul’s staying in, he’s got two years left to go. He’s absolutely brilliant at all the coded stuff. He says it’s even easier to read them now that he can’t see the words, makes him think, use his brain more. They have offered him some new robotic eye system, but he has to be in still to get on the scheme. It’s all experimental, but he’s fine with it. Like he says, it’s not as if you can get more blind than blind. And he gets paid to do it too.” He gave Ellen another squeeze.
“Gemma loves the job as you know. As soon as she gets the all clear she’s getting back into the field. She’s already passed the physical and just has to get through the endurance testing. I don’t think there’s any chance that she’s going to fail.” He stood back up straight. “Only just over two months and I’ll be free. I never expected to want to come out. I loved it while I was in the thick of things and thought I was going to be in the army for life, but stuff like this,” He looked down at his legs. “It gives one a new perspective on everything.”
They began walking towards the kitchen door together. Ellen smiled up at him.
“Come straight back here when you’ve finished, and tell Joe to come too, as soon as he’s out. We’ll get him doing all the outside activities. He’ll absolutely love it.” She was holding David’s arm as they walked across the hall and she squeezed it gently. “Thank you David. I feel so much more positive now.”
“Good. Let me know how you’re getting on with the interviews. I’ll ring when I can and I’ll see if I can organize some guests for New Year. We won’t have time to get much advertising done this side of Christmas.” He kissed her on the top of her head as they reached the stairs and he pulled the end of her plait playfully. His hand caught on her clip. “Still wearing it then?”
She smiled up at him
“Of course. I love it and wear it nearly every day. I still have the original one too. It looks a bit grotty in comparison to this one, but I’d never get rid of it”
He dropped her hair.
“Perhaps I should buy you a different one, you must be fed up of this design.”
“Never, but I won’t say no to a pair of matching earrings. There, that’s made my birthday easy for you. Now get on up to bed, you’ve got a lot of travelling tomorrow.”
“We’re leaving really early in the morning, so don’t get up especially. I’ll see you in a couple of months.”
She gave him a huge cuddle.
“Can’t wait. Don’t forget to tell Joe he has a job waiting too. Take care and I’ll see you in a few weeks.”
Chapter Nine
“Holy Shit!” David whooped. “This is fantastic! When did you think of it? I don’t remember anyone suggesting anything like it.” He was hanging onto the zip wire about to launch himself into midair. His breath was puffing out in huge clouds as he worked himself up for his descent.
Ellen looked worriedly down into the ravine.
“I thought of it myself after I’d climbed down those dreadful steps to the fishing huts for about the fifth time. They’re really steep and they kill the backs of your legs. There’s no way you could do it very often, and if you go down via the track, it takes ages. You don’t have to use that thing David, I put it in for the kids really, you can go down in the cable car, the same as most adults would.” She looked at his grinning face.
“Not on your life. This is going to be great. What’s it going to be like at the bottom?” He was peering downwards, slightly dubious for a second.
“Messy if you don’t hit the break in time.” She nodded at a small red button on one of the handles. “It has an auto brake but it’s geared for someone a lot lighter than you. Your weight will take you too far and you’ll hit the water. And you are meant to be wearing that safety harness you idiot.”
David grinned gleefully.
“Don’t be ridiculous! You
know what we’ve been through! The danger is the whole point surely! And the brakes, well you can forget them. This’ll be a walk in the park!” And with a great “Woo Hoo!” He was gone.
Ellen walked to the cable car, the lines of which ran adjacent to the zip wire, and pressed the descend button. She made a more sedate pace to the beach at the bottom of the ravine. She could hear loud laughter echoing around the the valley.
“That was brilliant.” David puffed up to her and opened the door of the cable car. His trousers were soaked and great clouds of breath were coming out of his mouth. “I haven’t done anything like that for years.”
“You’re just a big kid.” She smiled, glad that he was enjoying himself. “The tree top walk goes in next week. And the canoes and rafts for the white water rafting arrive the week after. Joe is going to have his work cut out for him when he arrives. I hope he’s up to it.” They began to walk along the river. Ellen pointed out the fishing cabins, tucked a little back from the bank.
David had arrived the evening before and had been amazed at the amount of work that had been done in such a short space of time. The rooms had all been decorated and fitted out in sumptuous style. No one would guess that the four posters all had hidden hoists or pressure relief mattresses. The ensuite bathrooms had wet room showers and sunken hydro-therapy baths, every one of them big enough and with ramps or lifting gear to take a wheelchair and still leave room for an assistant.
All the furnishings were of the most beautiful quality, the materials rich and enticing. The library was stocked with innumerable shelves of books. The games room was complete with table tennis, snooker and card tables. The cinema took up part of the attic space while the cellar swimming pool had fabulous underwater mood lighting, along with landscaped ramps and hoists. All the treatment rooms were filled with delicious smelling lotions and rubs. Ellen had made one of the cellar rooms into a gym, equipped with all the latest high tech machinery plus several racks of old fashioned weights, and another into a beauty parlour with a hairdresser, beautician and nail expert, while beside the pool, she had installed an integral sauna room with an icy cold shower. She had fitted a squash court and two badminton courts in the old riding school and five self-catering suites in the stables.
Running Scarred (Scarred Series Book 1) Page 13