This was not the end of the risk, but she was in a place where the odds of her surviving finally started to weigh up against the odds of her passing. I had looked at this tiny person, so small yet perfectly formed and prayed.
“Kate, what are you doing?” She had forcibly shoved me from the bed.
“Get my clothes!”
Kate swung her legs out of the bed, standing shakily, grabbing the bedside table for support before starting to pull pads and wires from her chest. A nurse rushed into the room. “I need to see her… I must see her…”
* * *
Leaving the hospital, I suddenly realised how alone I was. I had been released. I was weak and bruised, my ribs still hurt where Sally had hit me, however, they had told me I was free to go, they needed the bed. But where was I to go and to what?
I had no home, no horses, no career. That had all been taken from me. Despite everything, there was no going back. What could I do? I stood in the cold of a winter morning, my breath clouding before me and realised there was nothing left for me. I had survived the most terrifying ordeal, but for what? I had once been a professional rider with a stable of great rides now what the hell was I? I walked to the nearest bench and sat down heavily, my head in my hands.
I didn’t look up when I felt someone sit beside me.
“Penny for them?”
I sat up, looking across towards Adam and burst into tears.
* * *
“Here. I’m sure it tastes awful, but it’s all there is.”
He placed the cup of vending machine coffee in front of me. I took a sip, grimacing.
“Told you it would be bad… So, I saw you leaving the hospital, where were you off to?”
“I don’t know Adam? They told me I was free to go, but where can I go? I have nowhere? What can I do?” I burst into tears again, Adam handed me another tissue before sitting back, a smile playing on his lips.
“Well… Rumour has it that you were once, not a bad rider. And, apparently a pretty good coach. What if I told you that someone still wants you and that there could be somewhere for you to go?”
36
Birthday Greetings
“…Happy birthday to you…”
Megan needed a little help in blowing out the single candle on her birthday cake but she got the idea of what was required from us all puffing theatrically! Who would have thought in just one year she would have gone from a tiny thing in an incubator clinging to life to our beautiful, happy baby?
I looked around the kitchen table. There were our extended family, Jacqui and the staff, all wearing party hats, Adam, pulling silly faces and making Megan, and to be honest, everybody else laugh, and finally, there was Hilary.
Of course, I’d agreed immediately with Adam when he told me he had offered her a place with us. She had needed something to get her started, the initial idea had been for her to coach riders and maybe, just maybe go back onto the circuit in time.
However, rather than the bad publicity putting off potential sponsors as she had imagined it would, the story of what had happened to her had rather excited a number of sponsors who wanted to ride on the coattails of her newfound fame. In the end, she had been able to take her pick not only as to who would fund her but also as to who gave her a selection of the very best horses, not least Bob, her stallion who had whinnied as he saw her, dragging his groom across the yard to get to Hilary.
She could have purchased any stable yard she wanted but she had chosen to stable these million-pound horses alongside our liveries and riding school ponies. She mucked in with the staff and offered to coach both our existing and up and coming staff which gave us a selection of working pupils who could experience both the hard work and diversity of the horse industry under our charge.
Adam took part in local and regional shows, but didn’t want to try to go any further, he was loath to leave my side and was there every day to support me and our new family.
A massive miscarriage of justice was what the papers had called Adam’s imprisonment, he had been offered a stupid amount of money which he accepted before promptly donating it to the Riding for The Disabled Association. We were all glad just to put the whole thing behind us, to move on and finally live our lives.
Hilary had only just moved out of the farmhouse this month. She had been our lodger and unofficial babysitter, a title fought over by the grooms who loved Megan and had already made us promise she would start riding as soon as she was able.
Hilary had, in the end, been reluctantly encouraged to rent her own tiny cottage in Grange, however, still joined us not only daily at the stables but also with all of us on a Sunday evening in our new tradition where Adam or I would cook Sunday dinner and we would all sit around, long into the night with family, staff, and working pupils enjoying food and conversation, putting the week truly to bed.
* * *
We had been required to give statements and speak at Sally’s trial. She had looked so lonely, so broken as she had stood crying in the dock. Of course, she had been found guilty, that had been a foregone conclusion. Grace had ensured the case was suitably high profile using all of her influence to create a court of public opinion in the press and
