AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She was surprised to find Carly in the sitting room for a change. She was sitting with a bandage around her ankle and had it raised up on a cushion while she read a gossip magazine.
“What have you got there?” she asked curiously.
Ellie looked down at the pile in her hand. “Oh, I just finished the mending, that’s all.”
“Well, you might as well give it here, now that it’s done.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you give it to me, and I’ll give it to the men when they get back.”
Ellie frowned and narrowed her eyes at the other girl. “Why would I want to do that? I’m just going to put it back in the laundry room. They’ll find it there.”
Carly looked like she was about to say more, but Sheri walked in at that moment.
“Lovely muffins you made for breakfast this morning, Ellie.”
“Umm… thanks,” she replied cautiously, slightly thrown by the change in subject.
“Here, let me take those for you.”Sherigrabbed for the pile of mending, and short of ending up in a tug-of-war tussle, there was little she could do but let go. But when Sheri promptly dumped the pile on Carly’s knee and handed her a small sewing kit, she was done with being polite.
“What the heck are you doing? I just told you I’d finished up all the mending.”
“So you did,”Carly replied with a smirk.
“But it’s hardly her fault if the men come back and see Carly with a sewing kit and assume that she did it herself, while she’s been laid up with her poor twisted ankle.”
“But, you…” Ellie blustered for a moment in pure shock at having her suspicions laid out in front of her.
“Just like it’s not Sheri’s fault that they all thanked her for breakfast this morning, just because she served them your muffins.”
Ellie bristled, her hands fisting. “You won’t get away with this,” she said between clenched teeth as indignation washed through and spiked her temper. “I’ll tell them the truth.”
“Oh, but it’s not asifwe’ve told any lies for you to need to correct, Ellie.”
“But it’ll be your word against ours, won’t it… all three of ours against one of yours.”
Ellie pursed her lips together and bit her tongue. She sucked in a deep breath and turned on her heel. She wasnotgoing to get into any kind of slanging match with the two of them, and she suspected that was what they were angling for. Something else to make her look bad, as if them taking credit for her own hard work wasn’t enough.
She needed to get her head together and work out what to do with a clear mind.
She let the kitchen door slam shut behind her. It was a petty thing, but it took the edge off her rage. Heading for the stables, without so much as a glance at the black, boiling clouds in the sky, she looked in on Blaze like she’d promised Tono she would. The horse had a calming effect on her. Probably because the animal was so skittish that it forced Ellie into being calm in order to deal with her.
She slipped into the stall and waited for Blaze to get used to her presence, before she rubbed the horse’s nose.
“There, beautiful girl,” Ellie crooned, stroking down her flanks. She’d been making idle small talk with the horse for maybe five minutes before a loud clank sounded behind them and Blaze reared her head away and backed up a pace.
“Shh girl, it’s okay. Nothing to be scared of.”
Except right at that moment, a massive clap of thunder rent the air and Blaze reared up in terror.
Ellie duckedmanaged to duck out of the way a second before the startled horse’s hooves clattered down right where Ellie had been standing.
Heart thumping wildly, Ellie pressed into the corner and thanked god that the foaling stall was a generous size. Still, she wasn’t going to push her luck. She could still try to keep Blaze calm, but she’d do it with the safety of the stable door between them.
Looking around for the first time since she’d come in here, Ellie realized just how dark it had become. The main doors to the stable were still wide open and one of them clanged and banged as the wind battered it backwards and forwards and howled fiercely through the opening.
The keening whistle of the wind through the rafters set Blaze off again, and Ellie inched slowly towards theentrance, not wanting to agitate the pregnant mare any further.
