Charlotte
1361 Words
Charlotte
“Charlotte, it’s a beautiful day…” My Master stands by the nursery door, wearing the jeans and boots he uses for riding, and a thick cable-knit sweater… “…I’m going to take Oliver out. Want to come?”
It is indeed a lovely day, with a crisp snap to the air. And the sunshine is that brilliant clear white you only get in cold winter weather.
“I’d love to. And Charlie could use the exercise. Um…” I look down to my tiny daughter, blinking at the mobile rotating above her in the cot, trying, with unformed muscles, to reach for a glitter-pink unicorn.
“I’ll keep an eye on Cara.” My Mom smiles from her rocking chair next to mine. “She’ll probably sleep anyway.”
“Can you give me five minutes, just while Cara drops off?”
“Of course I can.” My Master takes the few steps to bring him close to me, then reaches down with a long finger, stroking Cara’s cheek. His face might seem impassive to any that didn’t know him, but I see the hidden smile behind his eyes. Our daughter burbles a bit but doesn’t seem to mind. “Take all the time you need,” he says. “I’ll be with the horses, saddling up.”
*****
In the stable, my Master glances up from where he is checking Charlie’s girth. “All ready for you.” Straightening up, he runs over me with his eyes. “You’re wearing plenty of layers? It’s cold out there.”
I tug down the neck of my roll-top pullover. “Two woollens, a cotton top and a thermal vest Mom insisted I put on.”
His lips twitch, then he stoops by Charlie, locking his hands into a cup. “C’mon, I’ll give you a leg up.”
Oliver is stamping and snorting, eager to be off. My Master slaps him on the shoulder then runs a hand up his neck. “Shhhh… Calm down. We’re going now.” Oliver’s ears flick forward, but he settles long enough for my Master to mount. “Walk on.”
As we make our way through the yard, he says, “I thought we might take the path through the top field then loop back for the trail through the woods.”
“Great idea.”
*****
It’s simply magical: just me and my wonderful Master, riding together as though there were no-one else in the world. The ground is firm with the cold and Oliver is trying to take the bit. Head tossing, his gait dancing between a walk and a trot, everything about him says Go…
“He needs to run,” says my Master, then eyes Charlie, also performing, jarring under me. “They both do. They’ll settle after they’ve burned off some energy.”
“Race you to the end of the field?”
He raises a finger. “Only to the fence. No jumping. That gate is too high…”
But his final words are lost to the wind as I kick heels at Charlie, and she moves from trot to canter to gallop in fewer hoofbeats than I can count.
Only for seconds do I have the lead. Oliver is larger and heavier, more powerful, than Charlie and almost immediately, he thunders up, first closing behind me, then alongside, snorting steam as he pulls ahead. But as her son begins to draw away, Charlie jolts under me with another burst of speed and as we reach the end of the field, Charlie and Oliver, mother and son, my Master and I, are neck and neck.
“Whoa…” He pulls Oliver to a standstill and I do the same. I’m grinning like a maniac, panting, my blood racing. My Master’s eyes are soft. “It’s good to see you smiling properly at last.”
“Ah, that was great.” I scan the field, stretching down the mountain, the lake glittering at the bottom, the air frigid and fresh. Oliver and Charlie blow blue from their nostrils. “It’s so good to be able to move again properly. Sometimes, it’s just good to be alive, isn’t it.”
“So it is.” He reaches out, lifting the long arm of the gate latch to let me through, clucks Oliver along behind me, and lets the gate swing closed.
We follow the bridle path that will take us to the trail through the woods.
“Charlotte, there’s something I want to ask you.”
“What’s that, Master?” I try to sound bright, but inside me, something knots. I think I know what’s coming.
He doesn’t speak for a few seconds…
Choosing his words?
“Charlotte, you know that Georgie is still staying in the hotel...”
Yes… Georgie…
“… I’m keeping her there for now. At least long enough to be sure the threat’s diminished.”
“What about her?” I try to keep the edge out of my voice, but I’m not sure I succeed.
He gives me a sharp look, but his voice remains mild. “I would like to invite her for dinner one evening.”
“Dinner? At home, you mean? In our home? Back at the house?”
“Yes, of course, back at the house.” He’s sounding irritable. “Where else?”
“But… you can eat with her in the restaurant. Or… Or… You could take her somewhere in the City. Somewhere nice, that you’d both enjoy. A nice little Italian place maybe.”
Sidelong, his eyes are slitting. “The point, Charlotte, is that Georgie would like to meet you… Properly… In a family environment.”
I want to protest.
I want to scream and screech and shout.
I want to cry…
“But, Master, Georgie hates me. She made that clear when we met that first time. She didn’t want to know me. She was horrible. Not just to me. To you too…”
He cuts me short. “Things have changed, Charlotte. Yes, Georgie was sharp with you. But she’s sorry. She wants to apologise. She wants to get to know her sister.” He softens. “Don’t you think Cara should be able to meet her sister?”
“Georgie’s only her half-sister.” But even as the words come out, I know I sound petulant.
The sharpness is back in his voice. “And what does that matter?” He pulls up on the reins and Oliver drops to a walk, then halts. Charlie halts by him. My Master does not look happy. “Are you telling me, Charlotte, that you do not want, ever, to have my other daughter into our home?”
I have no words. I don’t want to speak. Instead, I flick the reins and move Charlie along. After a few moments, I hear Oliver’s hoofbeats too.
*****
The trail is lovely, the winter sun streaming through the trees, their naked boughs casting an intricate tracery of light and shade.
But I’m in no mood to enjoy it. Charlie stamps and judders under me, tossing her head. I pull back on the reins. “I don't know what's wrong with her today.”
My Master is cool. “It’s not the horse, Charlotte, but the rider. You're in a mood and Charlie's picking up your mood. You’re perching in the saddle as though you’re the one about to bolt. And if you jerk the reins like that again, I’ll take them from you. Charlie doesn’t deserve to be the butt of your temper.”
He’s right…
But so what?
Clicking my tongue, I urge Charlie forward and she breaks into a trot, but her eyes roll back at me…
“Charlotte...”
… I urge on my mount. The air is fresh on my skin. The sun shimmers and dances to the leaf-littered ground. But nothing dispels the clouds in my head.
“Charlotte!” My Master’s voice snaps like a whip. With a thunder of hooves, Oliver pulls up beside me and my Master reaches across, snatching at Charlie’s bridle. “You may be angry with me, but you will not ignore me.”
He wrenches the reins from my hands then leads me, with Charlie, to a tree, looping the reins over a branch. Swinging a long leg over his saddle he dismounts then snaps a gesture to the ground. “Down!”
My throat dry, I obey. My Master reaches, catching me as my feet touch turf, then pushing me backward, my spine pressed flat against a tree trunk.
His face close to mine, he hisses at me, “I am trying to be fair to both you and Georgie. And both of you are giving me a hard time. I'm caught between a rock and a hard place here, Charlotte. And I don't care for it. You are treating me as though I have done something I should apologise for, and I do not believe, or accept, I have done anything to deserve that.”
I have nothing to say.
*****
- Writer
