A Blessing in Disguise by Cathy Bramley

Author:Cathy Bramley
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473525160
Publisher: Transworld

Chapter 7

The following Monday was a bank holiday. Unfortunately cows don’t appreciate the rare opportunity for a day off so it was business as usual at Appleby Farm. It was also Ross’s first day. After a hearty breakfast of sausage sandwiches cooked by me (a bit black on the outside but nothing that a dollop of brown sauce couldn’t cover up) it was smiley faces all round as the farm’s vast staff assembled in Uncle Arthur’s tiny office to receive orders. I say ‘vast staff’ because everything is relative and with the addition of Ross, me and Lizzie (it was her day off and apparently she had nothing to do except make huge doe-eyes behind Ross’s back) to the workforce of one – i.e. Eddy – that was an increase of 300 per cent.

Auntie Sue had been so delighted about the news that Ross was joining the team that she forgot to be cross with her husband for drinking too much when I’d finally poured him back into the farmhouse after eleven o’clock on Friday night. And she was still smiling three days later.

At that moment Benny and Madge, as if wanting to be considered part of the team, trotted through the door. Benny immediately slalomed his body around everyone’s legs and Madge, who was licking her lips suspiciously, slunk under the desk to lie on Uncle Arthur’s feet.

‘It’s like old times, isn’t it, Arthur?’ Auntie Sue beamed from her position behind her husband’s chair with her arm around his shoulders. ‘With all these people in here.’ I felt a wave of love for them. Such a great team, the pair of them. They didn’t have much, but they had each other.

Like I had Charlie.

My face broke into a grin that I just couldn’t wipe off.

I’d spoken to him last night. And after he’d told me about him and Ollie having a great time at the annual Ivy Lane Easter egg hunt and I’d told him about the cow that had had trouble calving on Saturday but was OK now and we’d declared that we missed each other, something marvellous happened. At the very same moment, just after a tiny pause in our news, we both said those magical three words. The words that change a relationship from being a bit of fun into something special.

I love you.

And I did. I loved him and even though the Cumbrian landscape and the nose-achingly fresh air and the fickle weather made my heart sing with exquisite pleasure, I couldn’t wait – could not wait – to get home to my boy.

And in forty-eight hours I would do just that.

In the meantime, I had chores to do. I tuned back in to Uncle Arthur’s rundown of the day and tried to keep my contented sigh to myself.

‘Can you get on with fertilizing some of the grassland, seeing as we’ve had it dry for a day or two?’ he asked Eddy.

Eddy nodded. He was swivelling round in the ancient office chair opposite the desk and slurping at the third mug of tea I’d seen him drink since breakfast.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.