It was close to midday before Kate pulled up outside Thistle Lodge Stables in Saskia’s car. With the engine stilled, she gripped the steering wheel and took a deep breath. She didn’t know what she was going to say – well, she had an idea, but it was if Ben was willing to believe her, or even listen to her, that would be tricky.
With a last summoning of her courage, she got out of the car and walked around the stable block. Ben was washing down Suddenly Seymour.
She pulled back her shoulders, exhaled, and walked forward. Ben didn’t hear her coming. She was about ten feet away when Seymour spotted her and spooked.
‘Whoa there, whoa,’ responded Ben, nearly pulled off his feet. ‘What’s the—’ He turned and saw Kate. ‘—problem. Hey.’
‘Hey.’ Kate flapped an awkward arm.
Ben resumed his hosing duties. ‘What do you want?’
‘You got Nicholas’s message?’
Ben nodded. ‘Not that I needed it to know what was going on. Come to rub it in? Hmm?’
‘No.’ Kate shook her head. ‘It’s not true. I came to apologise. And to ask if we could start again.’
Ben chuckled to himself and directed a particularly sharp flow of water at Seymour’s muddy hindlegs. Seymour skittered to the side and rolled his eyes.
‘You going for a record?’ asked Ben. ‘See how many times you can ping-pong between me and Nicholas?’
‘I didn’t get back together with Nicholas, you must believe me. I’d gone over there this morning to tell him we would never work. Please, you have to believe me.
‘I have to believe you? Really, Kate? Because you make it bloody difficult to do so sometimes.’
‘Nicholas let me believe he’d changed d’Artagnan’s tactics.’
Ben raised an eyebrow at her and shook his head. ‘Sounds about his style. Seems to me, though, that things were getting quite cushy between the two of you before then. A table for two at the pub, going to parties together—’
‘We didn’t—’
‘Frankie Bradford’s? Yeah, I heard about it. Don’t bother denying it.’
‘I didn’t know he was going to be there. It was the first I’d seen him since Boxing D—’
‘Why didn’t you stop it there then?’ he cut her short.
Kate sighed, a shawl of shame wrapping around her. ‘I wanted d’Artagnan to run on his merits in the Gold Cup, and I knew if I told Nicholas there was no chance for us then d’Artagnan would have suffered.’
‘But Nicholas still didn’t agree. My orders back there in the parade ring at Cheltenham were to jump out in front and gallop him into the ground,’ said Ben through clenched teeth. He jabbed himself in the chest. ‘It was me who held him up.’
‘I know. I told Nicholas on Tuesday that I couldn’t go through with it. I couldn’t force myself to be with someone for the wrong reasons. Then in the Gold Cup—’ She gave a helpless laugh. It was too complex to explain when time felt so constrained. ‘He lied about it all. Right from the start. He lied about the race, he lied when he sent you that message this morning.’
Ben gave a mirthless snort. ‘What? You gonna tell me that’s not his backyard you’re sitting in using the china and cutlery Nora gave him?’
‘It’s not what you think, Ben. You have – please believe me. I’d only arrived about ten minutes before he took that picture. I hadn’t stayed overnight. I didn’t sleep with him.’
‘But you would’ve.’
‘No!’ she cried. ‘I’d gone there to tell him there could never be anything between us. At the Gold Cup, he made out that we were back together since he’d changed tactics. But we never were. He knew it too. He did all that to hurt you, don’t you see? To hurt us.’ She looked at him in desperation. ‘But it backfired on him,’ she carried on quietly, ‘because it made me realise just how much I don’t want to see you hurt...’ She took a deep breath, trying to gauge which way Ben was leaning. ‘You are the one who makes my heart skip. You are the one I’m in love with.’
Ben stopped hosing Seymour. He let his hand fall to his side, the water spouting out and wetting his boots. He looked at Kate with doubtful eyes. ‘Love me. Love my addiction.’
Kate nodded. ‘I’m sorry. It scared me, Ben. Terrified me. I was dealing with my mother at her worst. I couldn’t contemplate a life with someone with the same problems. But then I went to that AA meeting – the second one – and I heard everyone’s stories and I think I began to understand it a bit more. Things are always so much scarier when you don’t understand them.’ She took a step closer. ‘I listened to your story too.’
‘Sounds like you took a lot out of that meeting.’ Ben turned to let Seymour drink from the hose-end. ‘Turn it off, will you?’ he said, nodding to the tap.
Kate hurried to oblige. Then she stood, not knowing quite what to do next, as Ben set to work scraping the excess water off Seymour’s body.
‘You know why I rode d’Artagnan like I did?’ he said without looking around.
Kate was hesitant to say it. She closed her eyes. ‘Because you loved me?’
‘No. The thing that made me decide to do it for certain was when you let us go. You said “You know what to do”.’
‘I—I was talking to d’Artagnan.’
‘Yeah, I know, but it felt like you were talking to me too.’ He stopped scraping to look at her. For the first time he smiled. ‘And because I loved you.’
Kate’s heart felt like she’d hit the jackpot on the slots. ‘Do you still love me?’ she whispered, hardly daring to breathe.
Ben dropped Seymour’s lead rope and scraper and bridged the gap between them. With damp and dirty hands, he cupped her face and kissed her. Kate let herself soar, like the thrill of riding the drop jump on Jerry, a full body experience that removed all sense of space and gravity.
Ben withdrew. ‘That answer enough?’
Kate nodded, finding difficulty in speaking. ‘And you forgive me?’
‘What’s there to forgive? You were being had. I’m just sorry we didn’t win yesterday.’
‘Winning wasn’t what was important.’
‘I know, I know. You just wanted d’Artagnan to be the best that he—’ He paused, his smile widening. ‘I’ve just realised something.’
‘What’s that?’
‘All this time, you’ve been pushing for d’Artagnan, I couldn’t understand it. I thought it was because you wanted to win the Gold Cup, but it’s not. You wanted to give d’Artagnan the chance you never had.’
‘Sounds a bit pathetic, doesn’t it?’ Kate said, turning her tingling cheeks into his palm to hide her blushes.
‘Not really. I’m just sorry you didn’t win.’
Kate rested her hand over his. ‘I did.’
Ben laughed. ‘You call this first prize? Half a dozen stables to muck out and six muddy horses to clean?’
Kate looked around at the set-up. ‘Are you going to be able to keep this place going?’
‘Well, I might need some help. But I did what you suggested. I applied to be a registered charity, and thanks to Xander, I’ve got funding to open it to troubled teens.’
Kate gasped. ‘Oh, Ben! That’s a fantastic idea.’
‘And I’ve got qualifications in social work and therapy from when I was working at that rehab place in Wales, so it’ll be a proper set-up.’
Kate hugged him hard. ‘Oh, I’m so pleased. What about your race-riding? Are you going to be able to manage both?’
‘I spoke to my dad after the races yesterday. Told him I was quitting race riding.’
‘How did he take it?’
Ben looked undecided. ‘Not sure. He was a bit disappointed, I think. Maybe apprehensive is the better word. He thought I was quitting because I was back on the booze, but I think I’ve convinced him that’s all in the past. He liked the idea of running this place as a charity.’
‘Racing needs places like Thistle Lodge.’
‘It’s a two-way street. Anyway, it means I can move out of that tin can and take up residence in a proper house. Fiona’s moving out in a couple of weeks, so.’ He raised an eyebrow at her. ‘Would it put you and Saskia in a bind if I asked you to move in with me?’
Kate pinched her tongue between her teeth with glee. ‘Saskia’s moving to London.’
‘And you’re letting her go?’
Kate nodded. ‘She’s a big girl now.’
Ben squeezed his arm around her. ‘That, she is.’
He kissed her again and Kate’s head spun. It seemed too surreal to be kissing Ben. Too much like a fairy tale.
Lips barely apart, he whispered. ‘You want the other news?’
‘There’s more?’
‘Dad was so up for the idea that he said he’ll send all his horses through Thistle Lodge.’
Kate gasped and jerked back so that she could look at him properly. ‘So d’Artagnan will live here one day?’
Ben nodded. ‘And if he’s a good boy, he might even stay on. I’m going to need some stalwarts to rely on. Seymour’s sticking around.’ He motioned to the horse, and only then did they realise he was no longer stood there. ‘Seymour?’
‘Where’s he gone? Seymour?’
The clip clop of hooves on the walkway gave the gelding away. Trailing his lead rope, Seymour was off to chat to his mates.
‘Shouldn’t we go get him?’ Kate asked when Ben didn’t make a move.
Ben fobbed him off with a vague wave of his hand and looped his arms around Kate. ‘The feed room’s closed. What harm can he come to?’
And with that, he bent to kiss her again.
*
Suddenly Seymour turned to look at the couple, wondering what on earth was up with them. Pah! They didn’t look like they’d be bothering him any time soon and he had a mission to fulfil. He was going to find his old pal, Jerry.
He clopped past Miranda’s door, ignoring her tossing head and snapping teeth. She was too uptight for his liking. He rounded the corner to the isolation stable, where he’d heard noises these past few days of a new resident going by the name of Fontainebleau.
Seymour stopped dead in his tracks as the most beautiful chestnut he’d ever clapped eyes on lifted his head over the stable door.
A clarion whinny of newfound love echoed around the yard, but did little to disturb Kate and Ben still locked in each other’s embrace.
THE END
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