‘But Ella. Ella, darling,’ Ursula sighed. ‘You know how much you like working with the horses. I’m sure you’d find the accounting side of things boring, and it would leave you with so little free time.’
‘No more boring than doing an inventory of tack,’ she snapped.
Ursula fiddled with the pins holding her bun in place, an implacable frown on her face. ‘Yes, well, in hindsight, perhaps I should have given that job to Kelly,’ she muttered.
‘Or Vanessa. Or Caroline.’
Ursula’s scowl deepened.
‘Anyway, it doesn’t matter. All I’m saying is that I want to be more involved in the running of the stables, and I expect you to keep me informed. Particularly,’ she added pointedly, ‘if we have any more cash flow problems.’
‘Oh, all right, though I don’t see…’(Ella’s withering glare stopped her in mid sentence.) ‘Oh, fine,’ Ursula said crossly.
Over her dead body, she thought. Some things were better off kept quiet. At least until they were resolved, that is. This business with the Blackwater Film Company, for one.
‘It’s no good, mother. He just won’t do it,’ Vanessa complained, as the bay horse veered sharply away from the jump, almost unseating her in the process. She whacked her whip down on Majesty’s rump, and jerked his head around. ‘Come on, you stupid beast – jump!’
Ella tried to stifle a groan of dismay. Curiosity and a spare half hour in her busy schedule had given her the opportunity to watch her stepsister ride Majesty. It was the first proper chance she had had, since the past few days had seen her shut in the office, trying to make head or tail of the business accounts.
According to Ursula an unexpected computer crash had wiped out several of the records, so it was a bit of a hit and miss affair. Especially as it transpired that there were no back up copies, (although her stepmother did assure her that the accountant had all the details).
Bored with trying to make sense of meaningless columns of figures (which, unknown to her, had been meticulously altered by Ursula), Ella decided to take a breather, and see if the rumours she had heard about Vanessa’s riding skills were accurate. Some of the girls were getting increasingly concerned about Majesty. They said that Vanessa was being too heavy handed with him and that the horse was becoming difficult (some said uncontrollable) and finally, that he was losing condition.
Now Ella was taking the time to assess the situation for herself. And what she was seeing, it had to be said, was a truly diabolical performance.
She sat next to her stepmother on a bench overlooking the sand school, her thoughts churning. If only she would stop yanking him in the mouth. Majesty was perfectly capable of clearing the jumps with ease, but every time he approached one, Vanessa dug her heels in, and then jerked hard on the bit. No wonder the poor horse kept backing off. She was giving him mixed instructions.
‘Be positive, darling,’ Ursula said. ‘Make him go forward.’
‘I can’t,’ Vanessa moaned. ‘Ahh!’ She gave a screech, as the horse swerved to one side again, momentarily unbalancing her. ‘Bloody animal!’ she swore. Her face was red with anger and frustration. ‘I’ll make you go forwards.’
Her whip lashed down on his hindquarters at the precise moment that his owner, Heather Hutchins, chose to stroll onto the viewing platform (a raised area frequently used by the judges when jumping competitions were taking place), in order to see how he was progressing.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing to my horse!’ she shrieked. Her face blazed with anger, as she vaulted over the rail, and ran across the sand school. ‘Get off him!’ she yelled, catching hold of the reins, and glaring furiously up at Vanessa. ‘I said, get off him!’
‘Mother?’
‘Do as she says, darling,’ Ursula said. She stood up, and brushed some imaginary fluff from her trousers as she did so. ‘Miss Hutchins,’ she began, in her most appeasing tone. ‘I appreciate how this must have looked to you…’
‘I know how it looked,’ Heather snapped. Her normally pale cheeks were crimson with rage. Ella had never seen her so angry before. ‘Do you know how much this horse is worth?’
‘Well, yes, but…’
‘This horse,’ Heather continued,’ is probably the most valuable asset your stable possesses, and I will not – I repeat – will not, have him ridden by amateurs.’
‘Amateurs?’ Vanessa said indignantly as she slithered off the horse, removed her riding hat, and tugged her blonde hair free of the hair net she had stuffed it in to. ‘I’ll have you know…’
Her words tailed away as she found herself almost nose to nose with Heather’s furious face.
‘You,’ she said, jabbing her pointedly in the chest with the tip of her finger, ‘are not to go near my horse ever again. Do I make myself clear?’
Vanessa cast a despairing glance at her mother. If she didn’t get to ride Majesty, and Lewis Trevelyan came back to the stables (although they hadn’t heard anything from him in over a week now), he would never believe she was the right person for the film. None of the other horses was a patch on the huge bay gelding.
‘Now let’s not be so hasty,’ Ursula said, in her most wheedling tone, as she pushed past Ella and opened the small gate into the ménage. ‘I mean, let’s be honest here, Miss Hutchins. I agree that Majesty is a special horse – indeed, he’s one of our finest jumpers, but, like all top show animals, he can be highly spirited and, at times, difficult to control.’
She discreetly elbowed her daughter out of the way, and patted the horse fondly on the neck. Majesty tossed his head up and down and snorted through his flaring nostrils. Ursula stepped hurriedly to one side. ‘I think you happened to catch Vanessa at a particularly troublesome moment, that’s all.’
‘No, I don’t think so,’ Heather said, in a voice that was clipped and horribly precise. She ran up the stirrups, and unfastened the girth. ‘You see, I know that you’ve stopped Ella from riding him. Oh yes,’ she said, nodding firmly. ‘I have been kept reliably informed of what has been going on around here.’ She lifted the saddle off the horse, and placed it on one of the guardrails around the arena.
Ursula glared at Ella, who gave her a helpless shrug. Whoever had told Heather, it hadn’t been her.
‘I was upset at the time, but I thought no, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. They must have other riders who can do him justice.’ Heather undid the bridle as she spoke. It was almost as if she was talking – or at least, ranting, to herself. ‘Then I find out they’ve put the most ungainly lump of lard they can find on his back. An ignorant, heavy handed, cretin, who shouldn’t be let loose on a pit pony, let alone an animal of such obvious worth.’
‘Heather…Heather,’ Ursula soothed. ‘If there’s been a misunderstanding…’
‘Only on my part,’ she snapped, glaring over the horse’s withers at her. ‘Ella? Can you fetch me a head-collar? I should never have trusted you with him,’ she added quietly, in a voice that was pure ice. ‘Never in a million years.’
Ella saw the sharp, angry look in her stepmother’s eyes.
‘Hollyfield Stables has a reputation second to none,’ she said huffily.
‘Had!’ Heather said. ‘The operative word here is “had”. Thanks, Ella,’ she added, as she took the head collar from her and slipped it over the geldings nose.
‘You won’t find a better livery yard than Hollyfields,’ Ursula said.
‘Actually, I doubt I’d find a worse one.’
‘I beg your pardon?’
Heather finished fastening the head-collar around Majesty’s neck and took hold of the lead rope. ‘This place reeks of incompetence and penny pinching, and I’m not the only person to think that.’
‘What? What?’ Ursula looked stunned. Her mouth opened and shut like a landed fish in its final death throes. How could she say that, when she had spent a small fortune on the new sand school, to say nothing of the repairs to the stable block?
Vanessa was leaning against the guardrai
l, looking sulkily at the circular pattern she was making with her boot in the soft dry sand of the aforementioned arena.
She made a point of pretending to ignore Heather, who was leading Majesty out towards the stables. Ursula was flapping along behind her like an indignant chicken.
‘Now look what you’ve done,’ Ella groaned.
‘Me?’
‘Who else,’ she said, picking up the saddle and bridle. She shook her head in disgust, before hurrying after them.
‘Oh dear, oh dear,’ Caroline announced cheerfully, from her vantage point over by the paddock gate. She had seen everything, and thoroughly enjoyed every single, humiliating moment ‘Looks like you won’t be riding him again.’
‘Shut up!’ Vanessa snapped, hurtling the whip in her direction. ‘Just shut up! The stupid woman doesn’t know what she’s talking about.’
‘Obviously,’ Caroline said, as she hopped over the paddock rail, and crossed over to the sand school. She picked up the schooling whip, and twirled it between her fingers. ‘I’ve always managed to do rather well on Majesty. Maybe I should go and have a little chat with her.’
‘Don’t you dare?’
‘Or you’ll do what?’ Caroline’s small white teeth gleamed between her thin, moist lips. ‘After all, somebody’s got to ride him, in case that film crew comes back to the stables…’
‘I hate you!’ Vanessa shrieked, chucking her rather expensive riding hat across the arena at her. ‘I hate you!’
‘Girls! Girls!’ Ursula shouted, as she marched back to the arena. ‘For goodness sake, stop acting like alley cats. What on earth will people think?’
‘Who cares,’ Vanessa muttered sulkily.
‘I care!’ The viciousness in Ursula’s voice brought them both up sharp. ‘I care what people think. And you should as well. Because someone – someone and I don’t know who, has been spreading rumours about this place.’
‘What sort of rumours?’ Caroline said.
‘Nasty, malicious ones. The sort that gets people prosecuted for slander and libel.’ Ursula’s face had gone a rather worrying shade of ripe aubergine. ‘Someone has been saying that we know nothing about horses, and that we’re only in this business for the money. The cheek of it. Well, I,’ she said, straightening herself up to her full height and glaring around as she spoke, ‘intend to find out who it is.’
‘Well it wasn’t us,’ Caroline said shortly.
‘Yes, I know that,’ Ursula snapped.
‘And it wouldn’t be Ella.’
‘No…no, I can see that.’
‘So it’s bound to be one of the stable girls.’
‘Or…’ Ursula paused, thinking. ‘Or one of the boys.’ She never had liked that Thomas much, and she was under no illusions that the feeling was unequivocally mutual.
‘What’s happening about Majesty?’ Vanessa said. She stooped to pick up her riding hat from where she had chucked it in her fit of pique, and then brushed the sand off the soft velvet cover with the sleeve of her white shirt.
‘Oh, you can forget about him.’
‘But …’
‘He’s leaving,’ Ursula said tersely. ‘I have no intention of being spoken to like that. If people don’t like the way I run this yard then they are perfectly within their rights to go elsewhere. That’s what I’ve told Miss Hutchins, and that is what she is at liberty to do.’
‘Leaving!’ Vanessa’s mouth opened and closed like a goldfish. ‘But…but you can’t let him go. What about Lewis Trevelyan? What about the film? What about…?’
‘Oh do shut up,’ Caroline snapped. ‘This is all your fault. Now neither of us will get the chance to ride him.’
‘No,’ Ursula agreed. ‘And nor will Ella.’
Vanessa and Caroline glanced at each other. A faint flicker of triumph flitted across Vanessa’s face. A satisfied smirk spread across Caroline’s.
‘There are other horses, we could ride, I suppose,’ Vanessa said.
‘There’s always Jasper.’
‘Or Lady Ginger…or what about that dark bay – you know?’
‘Mr Sticks.’
The sister’s excited chatter reached Ella in the stable yard. She peered out of the barn door to see the two of them walking arm in arm with their mother towards the house. There was a jaunty swing to her stepmother’s stride, and Vanessa appeared to be laughing. It was most odd.
She had expected Ursula to be devastated by Heather’s announcement that she was removing Majesty from the stables – ‘as soon as I can make other, more suitable, livery arrangements.’
Ella had fully anticipated a performance of apologetic grovelling worthy of an Oscar from her stepmother. To lose a client was bad enough, but to lose one with such a superb horse on full livery didn’t bear thinking about.
She had practically cringed as she tensed herself for her stepmother’s reaction.
But it never came.
Instead, Ursula had said, ‘You must do as you think best,’ and walked away.
Now, it seemed, she had even found something to laugh about.
It was all very strange.
‘You do understand why I’m doing it, don’t you?’ Heather said, as she brushed Majesty’s mane and tail. ‘When Thomas phoned to tell me that she had stopped you from riding him, I was gutted. You’re the only reason I brought him here in the first place.’
‘Thanks,’ Ella said. ‘I appreciate the compliment. He’s a real beauty. I got a lot of pleasure from working with him.’ She rubbed his nose, and smiled as he blew down his nostrils at her. ‘Where will you take him?’
‘God knows,’ Heather said, as she tugged the brush through a knotted piece of the horse’s tail. She glanced over at Ella, and frowned. ‘I honestly don’t know. I mean, I thought I might take him over to River View, but it would mean doing everything myself, and I don’t know if I can fit it all in, not now that I’m working full time. And I don’t want to get a sharer – or at least, not yet, anyway.’
‘No.’ Ella knew from experience that sharers sometimes caused more trouble than they were worth. It was often difficult to agree over routines and workloads, when two people tried to divide one animal between them. Many a time she had been obliged to act as an independent adjudicator, when two owners had almost come to blows.
‘I mean, ideally, if I can get someone experienced to ride him during the week, then I can manage the rest myself,’ Heather said. ‘Mucking out and feeding isn’t a problem. I can see to that in the mornings and after I’ve finished work. And Peter, bless him, will always help if I ask him. It’s just this business of exercising him,’ she sighed. ‘Willing though they may be, I can’t ask any of the village teenagers. I need somebody responsible – somebody who isn’t a novice rider – somebody…’ She paused and Ella knew exactly what was coming. ‘Somebody like you.’
‘Heather, I can’t,’ she said.
‘Why not?’
‘Because of Ursula,’ she said. ‘She’d think I was consorting with the enemy. You do realise she’s not going to forgive or forget what you said to her.’
‘Good.’ Heather said. ‘And I hope she pays heed to it too, because I’m telling you, Ella. I meant every word. She’s turning this business into a shambles, and you need to do something about it before she ruins the place completely.’
Ella was shocked. ‘It’s not that bad, is it?’
‘Not yet, no. But don’t say you haven’t been warned. Ursula has about as much knowledge of running these stables, as I have of flying to the moon. If it wasn’t for you, Ella, this place would have gone under by now.’
‘That’s some compliment,’ she said, her cheeks colouring rapidly.
‘It was meant to be.’ Heather’s warm smile turned into a wicked grin. ‘So, now will you ride my horse for me? You’d be doing me an enormous favour,’ she added. ‘I trust him with you, and I’ve seen you ride together. You make a brilliant team.’
‘I know, but…’
‘And, I’d pay you.’
‘It’s not that,’ she protested weakly. ‘I mean, I wouldn’t want money for doing it. Honestly, Heather, there’s nothing I’d like more than to exercise him for you, but you’re placing me in a very difficult position.’
‘I know,’ she said. ‘And I’m sorry. But please tell me you’ll think about it?’
Majesty nuzzled into Ella’s shoulder, and blew warm, hay scented breath over her face. She stroked his neck, and sighed. He really was a beautiful creature, and she had always loved riding him. ‘Oh, all right,’ she said at last. ‘I must be mad for agreeing, but I’ll do it.’
‘You will?’ Heather gave a screech of delight. ‘Oh, that’s brilliant, Ella. Thank you so much. You won’t regret this.’
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