Free Darkest Before Dawn by Gwen Kirkwood

round the cows,’ they said in unison and everyone laughed.
    Once they were alone together in the kitchen, Rosie explained about the earlier estrangement between them and the reason.
    ‘Sam and his family were always so close. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to see them friends again, and I know it will please Tania, tremendously. Tania is their sister, as well as my best friend, so it was often awkward when she invited all of us for a family gathering at Shawlands.’
    ‘You wouldn’t believe they’d ever had a wrong word to see them together now,’ Ellen said, watching their retreating figures through the kitchen window. ‘I really like Alex. We’ve met a couple of times already and he definitely wants to buy Bengairney as a sitting tenant and he’s offered a fair price. That is such a relief. I already have a prospective purchaser for the Manor House provided I agree to sell the Home Farm along with it. The two sales should ease our situation until I settle my own affairs and the proceeds should cover the inheritance tax this time.’
    ‘Will it be a wrench to sell the Manor when it was your family home?’ Rosie asked gently.
    ‘Not a bit. It always was a draughty old house and it never had the style and character that your father’s house had at Langton Tower. Besides, it costs such a lot to keep up these rambling old mansions these days, between maintenance and heating and council tax, then you need labour. No, I shall have no regrets. I shall sell Highfold Farm too once we’re settled uphere. Whatever money remains after we’ve paid the tax man has to be put in trust for Kimberley for her education. Dear Trevor, he was so anxious I should not be out of pocket caring for her, but she is as dear to me as if she were my own child. He made me chief executive and trustee and did everything in his power to make sure she would be in my care but I shall try to adopt her if the authorities will allow a single woman to adopt a teenager.’ She grimaced. ‘Officials can be so bound by rules they forget about the human elements sometimes.’
    ‘Should I assume Kimberley’s mother doesn’t…?’
    ‘Fran is dead, but she and Trevor were not married. She was a keen showjumper and really quite splendid. It meant more to her than having a husband or a family. She thought it was a tragedy when she became pregnant. She blamed Trevor, although she was supposed to be on the pill. They had a terrible row. She wanted an abortion, but even her parents opposed that. Almost as soon as Kimberley was born Fran was back in the saddle.’
    ‘How awful,’ Rosemary breathed. ‘Most mothers love their babies the minute they’re born, although I think my mother considered me a bit of a burden, come to think of it.’
    ‘Fran made it clear the child was Trevor’s responsibility or she would put her up for adoption,’ Ellen said grimly. Trevor and I had bought a house soon after we settled in Gloucestershire and set up our business, but when a house came for sale only a few hundred yards away I bought it for myself. It was a good investment and it meant I was independent if either of us married, but we were still near to eachother.’ Her voice shook, but she cleared her throat and went on. ‘We were so close, Rosemary. I miss him terribly.’
    ‘I’m sure you do,’ Rosemary agreed softly.
    ‘Anyway, Francine arranged for a nursemaid to live in when she returned to her horses.’
    ‘A nursemaid? For such a young baby?’
    ‘Yes. She was very young and had no real experience of looking after babies on her own. Trevor asked me to move in with them to supervise her and to avoid any gossip. I’m the nearest Kimberley has had to a mother of her own. Fran was rarely at home and Kimberley was barely two years old when Fran went to South America hoping to buy a horse she considered good enough for the Olympics. She was giving one a trial when she fell off and broke her neck. It sounds cruel to say it, but it was a