Eleanor Jones - The Little Dale Remedy

For a moment, the older man held her gaze. “I could have sworn...” He shrugged. “No matter. As you said, I must have made a mistake.”

“Seems you must have a double, Maddie.” Cass smiled.

Maddie stood hurriedly, almost losing her balance in her rush to start clearing the table.

“She knows all about Grand Design,” Jake remarked. “Through your dad, right, Maddie?”

“Er...yes, kind of,” she mumbled, pushing crockery into the dishwasher. “I just know that he’s beautiful but cantankerous.”

“Well, that is a good description of him,” Bob agreed.

As the older man went to leave with Jake ten minutes later, Maddie glanced across at him and caught his gaze again. The puzzled frown on his face unnerved her slightly. She’d never set out to lie to anyone...and she hadn’t, not really. She was just keeping some things to herself until the time was right. If Bob Nelson did recognize her, then she would come across to Jake and Cass as deceitful, and that was the last thing she wanted.

When Maddie set off later that afternoon to pick Robbie up from school, she felt positive and lighthearted, absorbing her surroundings with a new awareness. Fell sheep with black faces and wild eyes scattered off the road as she rounded a corner, trotting off through the bracken just as the sun burst from behind a cloud, casting its beam across the fell side so that its greens and grays took on a mantle of gold. Why was it, she wondered, that the sky here seemed so much bigger than anywhere else? A hum bubbled through her lips and she smiled to herself, feeling that she’d somehow turned a corner, and this time it was in the right direction.

She flexed her legs as she drove along. Unbelievably, they felt less tired and painful than they had yesterday, and she was definitely more coordinated. Her back still ached with nagging consistency, but she knew that was something she just had to learn to live with. Balance, stamina and coordination were what she needed if she was going to ride again. Finally it felt as if her goal might be within her grasp.

She arrived at the school way too early and pulled into the parking lot outside the old-fashioned gray stone building, settling back into her seat to wait. With new hope also came the memories of what she’d lost, and for once she allowed them to crowd back into her head. Starting with the morning she tried not to think about, the day her life was turned on its head.

CHAPTER SEVEN

SHE WAS LATE for work, thanks to Alex. They’d had another of their arguments again last night; if it wasn’t a disagreement about their wedding plans, then it was usually over what he called her “lack of business sense.” Sometimes Maddie felt as if he was trying to groom her for a future as a trainer’s partner rather than his wife. Well, she was definitely not going to give up racing or working with the horses hands-on, no matter what he thought.

Last night, she’d still been upset about Dennis, and it had irritated him. It was always hard to let go of a horse you’d cared for constantly, though, and Dennis, aka Grand Design, was extra special. She’d been bitten by him, kicked by him and dumped on the gallops more than once, but then they’d made their breakthrough and suddenly found trust.

She’d insisted on leading him up the ramp when the new owner had come to collect him two days earlier. It had been such a mistake, though, letting Dennis believe, she felt, that she’d broken that precarious trust. That was what she’d been upset about the night before, but Alex could be so cold sometimes. Horses were just a means to an end in the racing industry, he insisted, there to win races and make money. In his eyes, a reflection of his dad’s attitude, sentiment had no part to play in the business. You cared for the horses to your best ability, fed them the right food, gave them the best training, helped smooth out their problems, but getting too attached, as Maddie did, was, according to Alex, a mistake.

She’d left him in a temper, she remembered, and woken up the next morning bleary-eyed with the tears she’d shed. They had been hailed as racing’s golden couple, both talented jockeys with a bright future. It was expected that Alex would one day take over from his father, and Maddie would be by her husband’s side, supporting him as Alex’s mum, Joan, had done for his dad. But it hadn’t felt like that to her then; it had felt as if he was trying to take control of her, even of her emotions, telling her how to feel and how to think and what to do.

With a gulp of apprehension, Maddie allowed herself to remember what had happened next...

She’d slept in past dawn, waking in a panic because she was late. Pulling on her jodhpurs and a thick, pale blue sweater, she had grabbed a packet of crisps as she passed through the kitchen before jumping on her bike. She was intent on getting to the yard before Scott, the head lad, noticed her absence. Her engagement to the boss’s son held no clout with him, and she respected that.

A late February frost had brought a sparkle to the gray surface of the lane. Even the few brave daffodils, whose glorious yellow flowers heralded the approach of spring, had glittered. Maddie could almost feel the sharp, clear morning air on her face as she relived the moment.

Her thighs had ached with effort as she pedaled up the hill from the village, and then she was freewheeling down the other side, her breath coming more easily as her bike increased speed.

It was as she approached the bridge that she saw it. The lane narrowed and she slowed her pace just as the black SUV came roaring into sight over the bridge, traveling way too fast. For a moment, she’d frozen. There was nowhere to go. Pulling on her brakes, she’d veered right, seeing the white face of the driver as he tried to avoid her. Oblivious to the ice, he’d stood on the brakes, but the big vehicle had just carried on, slithering sideways on the slippery road. She would never forget the horror that filled her whole body, the sheer, tortured fear that took away her breath and rendered her helpless.

When the vehicle hit her, strangely there was no pain. She felt a thud, heard the crack of bones unable to withstand the onslaught, felt the fuzziness inside her head that distanced her from the scene...and then came the blackness.

* * *

“MADDIE...MADDIE!”

It was only when Robbie pulled the car door open that she heard him. “Sorry,” she said, blinking. “I was miles away.”

“I won, Maddie!” he cried, jumping up and down.

“Won what?” she asked.

He flashed her a puzzled glance. “The drawing competition—you know, you helped me with it yesterday?”

“Of course... Sorry, Robbie, that’s brilliant. Your mum and dad will be so proud of you.”

“She is kind of like my mum, isn’t she?” he said thoughtfully, climbing into the backseat. “Cass, I mean... It’s like I’ve got two mums.”

“You can never have too many mums.” Maddie smiled. “Now tell me what they said about your drawing.”

Robbie’s excited chatter about his teacher’s glowing praise for the galloping horse he’d drawn, and his detailed account of the other contestants’ entries, took Maddie’s mind well away from her memories of the fateful morning that had realigned her hopes and dreams.

When they got back to Sky View, Robbie relayed the whole story again for Cass, who then asked Maddie if she would take him out to the yard to see his dad. Robbie’s dog, Choco, followed them, bouncing around in excitement.

They found Jake in the barn, feeding some youngsters. Maddie drank in the sweet aroma of hay, running her eyes over the six yearlings that were diving into buckets of feed. The environment brought such a heavy weight of memories that she felt the sudden rush of tears.