by the way...”
He frowned. “By the way what?”
She stuck out her chin, looking him straight in the face and hoping he didn’t notice the slight trembling in her limbs. “Meg only came to ask for milk—for you—so maybe you should appreciate her a bit more instead of trying to get at me.”
To her relief, Ross stepped away from her without another word, but the expression in his eyes spoke volumes. He didn’t like her, and she didn’t like him.
“Don’t worry,” she called after him as he strode away. “I’m quite happy to keep my distance...from you, anyway. If Meg chooses to seek me out, though, I’m not going to turn her away.”
* * *
MADDIE DROVE TOWARD Sky View, her mind totally taken away from the spat with her unpleasant neighbor by the sheer beauty of her surroundings. The rugged fells loomed against a pale blue sky shot with gray and silver, and rough fell sheep roamed way up toward the skyline, tiny white dots against the greens and browns of grass and bracken on the lower slopes, tucked in cracks and valleys to seek protection from the wild winds that must surely blow here in the winter months. Today, however, it was calm and balmy, both colorful and gray, a stark contrast that made the landscape seem even brighter.
And way, way below her as she climbed toward Sky View, she could see the lake glittering in the morning sun, a paradise for boats and wildlife.
Determined to forget about Ross Noble, Maddie started to hum, feeling happily hopeful as the roofs of Sky View Stables appeared just ahead.
Maddie pulled up at the end of the yard instead of driving right to the house, needing the fix of horse sights and smells she’d get by walking through the stable yard.
A heavily pregnant gray mare appeared through the front gate, led by Jake.
“Morning,” he called.
“Morning,” she responded. “This must be Carlotta.”
When he stopped for a moment, she placed her hand on the elegant arch of the mare’s neck, drinking in the feel of her and desperately wanting to press her cheek against the silky softness of her coat. “She’s just as beautiful as the painting of her you have in the house,” she said.
Jake smiled proudly. “She’s going to have a beautiful foal, too, I reckon.”
“If it’s to Grand Design, then it sure will be,” Maddie agreed, already biting her tongue as the words spilled out.
Jake looked at her curiously.
“At least...if his photograph is anything to go by,” she managed.
“Yes...he’s a handsome horse,” he agreed. “I don’t reckon the picture you saw will have done him justice. Anyway, I’m off to turn her out. Cass will be waiting for you.”
“Of course... I’d better hurry,” Maddie cried, glancing at her phone.
After she returned from dropping Robbie off at school, Maddie settled into her daily tasks, enjoying the routine. It gave her confidence to feel that she was actually useful here at Sky View. That had been her worst fear—that she’d find she didn’t have enough strength or coordination to do what was required of her. Deep down, she worried that Cass knew more about the extent of her injuries than Maddie had let on and was giving her an easy workload. No, that wasn’t possible, she realized as she began setting the table for lunch; there was no way anyone here could know how badly hurt she had really been.
“By the way,” Cass said, looking up from the stove. “You’ll need to set an extra place. Bob Nelson, who owns the sire of Carlotta’s foal, is stopping by. We have another filly that we might put to one of his stallions, and we wanted him to take a look at her.”
“Grand Design’s owner.” Maddie stifled a gasp. The past she’d tried so hard to put behind her sprang into her consciousness.
Cass nodded. “That’s right... You have a good memory.”
When Bob Nelson came into the kitchen half an hour later, chatting to Jake about his horses, Maddie half expected to recognize him and had a minor panic attack about him recognizing her. To her relief, the small, white-haired man was not familiar, and she heaved a sigh. She was there when Dennis’s new owner had come to collect him, but she’d been way too upset to take much notice of anything other than the big bay stallion. Maybe poor Dennis had changed hands yet again, and Bob Nelson was his new owner.
When Jake and Cass insisted she join them for lunch, Maddie was happy to sit down and listen to them chat about horses, although she had to stop herself from joining in on more than one occasion.
They were almost finished the meal when she noticed Bob Nelson eyeing her curiously. “Don’t I know you?” he asked.
Maddie froze. “Um...no, I don’t think so. You must have mistaken me for someone else.”
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.
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