Chapter 17

The evening went cheerfully and happily. The Carstairs did not hang about after dinner leaving Simon and Joanna alone. They snuggled up on the sofa in the family room.

"Are you coming hacking tomorrow?" Joanna asked.

Simon shook his head. "Tricia wants some time alone with you."

Joanna looked apprehensive. "Is she going to give me a hard time?"

"No, my precious. She likes you and told me so."

They continued to talk happily interspersing it with kisses and hugs until Joanna yawned.

"I'm quite sleepy," she said.

Simon smiled gently at her. "Not surprising," he said softly. "You've been on best behaviour for eleven hours."

She smiled back. "I think I'm for bed. What time's breakfast?"

"Whenever you feel like it. Just go to the kitchen and Maggie will rustle up whatever you want. What time are you riding?"

"Ten-thirty."

"No rush then. I'll probably be down around nine."

"OK."

Simon saw her to her room where he took her in his arms and kissed her tenderly. "I love you, my darling Jo-Jo. So very much I love you."

Joanna smiled back at him. "And I love you with all my heart." She returned his kiss equally tenderly.

"Sleep tight, Si."

"And you."

Their farewell kiss lasted a little longer and was rather less tender.

Joanna wandered into the kitchen at about half past nine the next morning dressed for riding. Simon was already down, drinking coffee and reading the paper. She greeted Maggie and then gave Simon a kiss and squeezed his hand.

"What can I get you for breakfast?" Maggie asked.

"Just a couple of boiled eggs and some toast please, Maggie. If you point me in the right direction I'll do it."

"No, my dear. You just sit down and enjoy your coffee."

Joanna smiled her thanks and sat down next to Simon who poured her a mug of coffee.

"Sleep OK?" he asked.

"You bet. I went out like a light and stayed that way."

"Did you dream of me?"

Joanna grinned. "Not that I'm aware of, you vain thing."

"No, I'm not. I just need reassuring."

Joanna snorted. "So you dreamt of me all night so I wouldn't wake up in the wee small hours and be frightened."

"Not that I'm aware of."

Joanna chuckled happily. "You're a very cheeky man."

Simon smiled imperturbably at her. "Yup!"

Iain wandered in in his dressing-gown, bid everyone good morning mutedly, helped himself to coffee and one of the papers and wandered out again.

"He's not much cop until he's had his coffee," Simon explained softly.

Joanna grinned. "I know the feeling," she replied equally softly.

Maggie placed her breakfast in front of her. "Thanks, Maggie," she smiled.

Tricia was next to appear. She gave Maggie a hug, casually kissed the other two and helped herself to cereal.

"All set?" she asked Joanna.

"Yes apart from a hard hat."

"You can borrow Mummy's."

"Thanks."

Conversation was desultory as the two girls ate their breakfast and then left, Joanna having given Simon a loving kiss.

"Have fun," he said.

There was not a lot of chat while they saddled up and indeed the silence persisted until they had been going some five minutes. Tricia broke it.

"As Simon probably told you, I wanted some time alone with you," she said.

Joanna smiled. "Yes he did."

"He's probably told you that we're very close."

"Yes."

"It means that I only want the very best for him and from what I've seen that's you, Joanna. You're beautiful: you've clearly got brains and a lovely sense of humour: you also love him as he loves you."

Joanna looked puzzled.

"So I don't want you to take what I'm going to say the wrong way. The thing is that I know him better than you and I know his shortcomings. Actually there's really only one that I want to tell you about. Any others are pretty piffling. The reason I want you to know about it is not to put you off him but to be ready to deal with it if and when it next happens."

Joanna was now looking concerned.

"Don't worry, love. It's not as bad as it sounds. It's just something I hope you can help him with."

"I'll try obviously."

"And I'm sure you'll succeed. Your experience in the Lake District was, I suspect, a sign of it."

"What?"

"When you asked whether you could join Ralph and Simon to climb Coniston what was their reaction?"

"Pleasure, I thought."

"OK. And Helvellyn?"

"Well, Ralph had said it was pretty steep and I thought he was thinking of Mum and Dad but when I asked to go with them he asked about my boots and then they both looked at each other and Simon said OK."

"How did Ralph behave afterwards?"

"As though he felt guilty. He said we ought to have been roped."

"Whereas Simon was happy and cheerful?"

"Well, he did say that he was sorry for causing me to look down but he could hardly be blamed for that. None of us knew I was prone to vertigo."

"Sure. It was the first bit though. Simon was keen on you and wanted you to be with them so he brushed off anything that might interfere with that."

"Are you saying that he deliberately risked me getting hurt?" Joanna asked this rather aggressively.

"No, I'm not but he can get over-enthusiastic and brush reasonable doubt aside. I'll bet that when the boys looked at each other Ralph was sending a silent warning but Simon overrode him."

Joanna was silent for a few moments. "So why, when Ralph had Simon on his own sometime later, didn't he insist that we roped up?"

"He probably tried to but Simon pooh-poohed it and he shut up. Simon is the more dominant of the two."

"Hmm!"

"Don't dwell on it, Joanna. Hey! May I call you Jo? Joanna's an awful mouthful even though it's a pretty name.

Joanna smiled. "Of course you can. I think it's only my parents that don't. Anyway, go on."

"Well, there have been other instances. He got into several scrapes at school which is probably why he was never made a prefect but the serious one was when he was doing estate management. He got over-enthusiastic and overspent hugely. The guy he was working for refused to pay and the firm had to meet the bill. In fact, Daddy had to meet quite a lot of it personally. The Board was furious and wanted to sack Simon but Daddy fought for him although he still had to remove him from estate management which is why he's down at Pitsbury now. There's less chance of him making another cock-up of that size."