Chapter 20

The snow took nearly a week to thaw and the green of the grasses to show through again. A poor green, not the vibrant and rich greens of the summer, but more a yellowish, straw-like green. Mik and I went back to the main house and checked all was well, and then Mik went over to fetch Connie, who had returned from her holiday in the Canary Isles. I pottered around, doing laundry, checking dates on foodstuff, seeing what needed to be eaten and putting it in a bag to take to the cottage. I planned to go back soon; the views from the cottage were so much better than the small cul-de-sac housing estate the house was in.

I planned to sell the house and move permanently to the cottage when Mik decided what he wanted to do. He wasn’t ready for a full rural life, not yet, but he too was getting a little weary of urban life. Mik arrived back with Connie; we all hugged, and I told Mik that I was going back to the cottage in the morning. He had his own small car; he could stay here, come with, or follow on – the choice was his.

Connie said that she would like a few days in the countryside, so it was agreed we would all go, but Mik would probably go in his own car so that he and Connie could come and go as they pleased. They disappeared upstairs to his room, no doubt for some much-missed sex – missed between them, I mean. Mik and I had of course partaken during our snowbound cottage days.

It wasn’t long before I heard the sighs and gasps and slaps of sex seeping down the stairs; my fanny twinged at the thought, and my imagination filled with images of Connie and Mik shagging, and I found my finger pressing between my legs, my arousal growing, my fanny getting wet. No knickers, and so my fanny was easily accessed, my finger slid along my valley, sliding between my lips, my petals curling around my finger, and my breath beginning to pant, and as I heard Connie gasp loudly, my finger pressed deep inside me, and I, too, gasped loudly.

I pulled myself together and licked my finger dry, savouring my taste, and then it was time to carry on with the chores, and the next load went into the machine, and I sorted the clean laundry into ironing and not ironing piles. Little of the stuff worn at the cottage needed ironing; I was selective with what I bought and what I took to the cottage. Keeping life easy was the key.

Connie stayed over, and there were more amorous noises from Mik’s room during the night; they were certainly making up for lost time. In the morning I packed my car and headed off to Lidl, leaving the lovebirds to it; they would follow when they were ready.

After Lidl I took a leisurely drive up to the Dales and then a slow drive along my track; the melting snow had made it very wet, and I didn’t want to churn up the surface. At the cottage I ferried all the food and clean clothes in and then parked the car down in the barn. I contemplated going for a walk; the day was one of those dry, cloudless but cold, wintry days where you could see for miles in the clear air. It was tempting; let me put away stuff first and then see where we were time-wise.

Upstairs I opened the windows to air the bedrooms and put all my clothing away; Mik’s I just put on his bed; he could do with it what he wanted. I was no longer his keeper, nor was I his carer. Just his laundress, chef, cleaner...

Downstairs I got the Aga going; time perhaps to order some more wood. Last week’s very cold weather had seen us eat into our stockpile; I would have a word with Jacob. I had a chainsaw, I could cut my own wood, but there may be trees that need thinning that I don’t know about. I would seek his advice.

I busied myself sorting the food cupboards and had a rough plan of what we would eat when; it could all change, of course. Mik and Connie may not eat every meal, or they may bring some food of their own. This was, of course, very unlikely, but, well, it was a possibility.

All done, I went upstairs and closed the windows and let the cottage begin to warm up. I expected the kids would be here before long, assuming they managed to tear themselves out of bed. I went out to the barn to look at the Land Rover. One of the chassis outriggers was rotten. I had ordered a replacement from a firm in Birmingham; it had arrived at the main house, and I had bought it ready to fit.

I lay on the barn floor with a torch and examined what I needed to do. It looked quite straightforward: cut off the remains of the old one, offer the new one in place, tack it in place and then weld. Looked straight forward, these things, I suspected, never were. But it did look to be within my capabilities. I had learnt how to weld mending the shepherd’s hut, and whilst I would not make a professional welder, I was proficient enough.

But not now; it was too darn cold. Well, it’s too cold for laying on the floor and welding, but perhaps not for walking. I went back into the house and put my waterproof trousers on, not because it was raining – it wasn’t – but because they stopped the wind and so would be warmer, along with my walking shoes, Aran jumper and wax jacket. I looked proper country. I put a note on the table: ‘Gone 4 A walk xx Mum.’

I wandered off towards the witches’ copse; I hadn’t seen her again, which, in a way, was a good thing – she was too unpredictable, and I wasn’t aware of any ways to counter her spells. As I looked back towards the cottage, it was obvious how new the barn was; it just looked too new. I wondered how many years it would take to fade. I had heard about weathering and ageing wood poles by burning them a little; I might talk to Jacob about that too.

I was on the other side of the wood when there was a fluttering and a breeze.

“Oh Lucy, it’s you.”

“I do wish you would stop calling me that.”

“Why, it is your name.”

“No, it isn’t; my name is Lucifer.”

“Like I said, Lucy, it saves a whole syllable.”

“Why would you want to do that?”

“Economy.”

He looked at me, his wings still extending from his back, his hair beautifully manicured, his dick hard. He was, of course, naked.

“What do you want Lucy?”

“I thought I would visit a friend,” he said, walking towards me, his wings fluttering slightly.

“Oh? Anyone I know?” I said, a smile edging my voice.