There as a silence, I waited for the penny to drop. It was Kate who looked up at me first, a shocked look on her face. “Yes…” I pulled out an envelope. “And, to give me some time to move out.” I handed the envelope to her. “You need a honeymoon, I think you liked the spa day so there is a nice spa somewhere sunny for you to enjoy some downtime. You deserve it.” Kate leapt up, hugging me, almost knocking me from my feet.
The rest of the evening was a bit of a blur, we danced, we drunk and ate well into the night. In the end, I realised I wasn’t going to sleep and the sun was rising anyway so I took one last look around the yard before leaning over the fence and looking out to sea.
“So, you couldn’t sleep either…” I looked up as Adam leaned beside me.
“I didn’t want the day to end. Shouldn’t you be with your wife?”
“He is…” Kate walked towards us, she hugged me. “You don’t have to leave, you know.”
“Oh, I do…” I smiled, taking their hands. “I can’t be a gooseberry in the farmhouse or let you live in the staff flat with the others. This is my way of giving you the best start as a couple. ”
“But what about you?” Adam frowned.
“Don’t you worry about me, little brother…”
43
A New Reality
“It’s only for a short while…”
“Amanda Bishop… Stop looking so stressed out.” Dan laughed, taking me into his arms.
“It’s lovely, it’s so much nicer than my flat and I really don’t care how long it’s for.”
I’d made the decision about my yard before I had even heard it wasn’t going to be confiscated. I had resigned myself to the fact that I might lose it and so had spent long nights soul searching and thinking before the solution was presented to me.
I’d realised Dan had also been stressed about something, it was clear he had wanted to ask something for some days. He sat down on the sofa with his head in his hands and told me the Met police wanted him to join a special national task force thanks to the work he had done with our case. It was a major promotion for him, coordinating efforts across the UK with many police forces. He explained he could do a lot of the work remotely, and it would take him across the UK, but he would need to move closer to London. I don’t think he had expected my overjoyed reaction.
“You don’t mind?” He was incredulous and confused. “I thought you would have wanted to stay in Cumbria.”
“Could you commute from Swindon to London when you needed to?”
Now, a couple of months later, the plan had come to fruition. May had been delighted to offer me my old flat, it was empty again as they had a local girl working for them as a groom. I thought Annie would explode when she was told, she was beside herself to have her sister back and promised early morning hacks again.
Of course, I needed work, and this was where Dan had helped me again. Thanks to an introduction he made for me, I’d been interviewed, and despite having the black mark of my potential conviction hanging over me, had been accepted and would be starting with Wiltshire Police as they were reopening their mounted division and needed a stable manager. I knew I was now safe from Patrick and Edwin, but having a policeman as a boyfriend and working for the local constabulary, was a belt and braces approach to my own personal safety.
We had redecorated the flat, it was very cosy and we knew our life here would be perfect. I helped out on the yard at times and shared Sunday lunch together with Meg and Annie in their farmhouse. Truly, we could not be happier.
I totally knew I had the right man, however when he asked if he could try riding it made my heart sing. It was baby steps first as he was a bit nervous of the horses, but Duchess had looked after him and it wasn’t too long before he would join me on a hack, albeit it a bit tamer than the usual gallop I would take with Annie, and he would spend hours grooming Duchess on his days off, to be honest, the two of them had become rather attached to each other, not that I was at all jealous of him being with another woman.
***
Our honeymoon was amazing, I even stopped worrying about the horses after a few days knowing that Annie was taking charge with our more than able grooms. She had promised to stay on to help out and we appreciated her help.
Coming back home had been weird, unlocking the door of the farmhouse and finding it empty was a little sad, however knowing that this was now all ours made it so special. We had big hopes for the Glebe Farm Equestrian Centre under our new management. We were surprised to find on our return that there was a massive article in Horse and Hound with our story and wedding photos as a centre-fold, it would no doubt be good for business, and a copy had been framed and hung on the wall of the hall. Hopefully, the first of many more photos to line our walls.
I stood looking over the yard, our yard. Kate wrapped her arm around my shoulders. The grooms, our grooms were out sweeping the
