"Yeah, I know. Trudy, you're the best."
That made her blush and pull Nina into a hug.
"Thank you, Nina. I'm making chicken for supper tonight. Is that OK?"
"That's perfect."
Nina smiled as Trudy did. It was a good thing that they got along. Benjamin was jumping up and down in the living room and thumping and Isabelle was wailing. Trudy sighed.
"Sounds like my kids are starving. Our Benny loves to try to kill the floor, like Rumplestiltskin. I probably shouldn't have read that to him. And Bells just cries."
They went downstairs, and Jasper met them. The moment he saw Trudy, he kissed her.
"Thank God you're here, our kids are driving me mad."
"I can hear them. Does Isabelle need a nappy change or milk or a nap?"
"I think it's all of the above. Something smells utterly rotten in the cradle and unless something died, I think it's her nappy. And she's starving, she only shut up for a split second because she thought she heard you. And she keeps on her yawning. She's exhausted. Benny keeps trying to kill the floor."
Suddenly, a new scream joined the baby's. All three of the adults ran into the living room. Benjamin was lying on the floor, clutching his foot and sobbing.
Trudy crouched down and lifted him up.
"OK, baby boy, what happened to you?"
"Foot hurt Mama."
She had a look at it. He'd bruised it all in the toes and heel, but nothing more serious, fortunately for him.
"It's OK, my child. You only have bruises. It'll hurt more if you run about, so try to keep it off the floor. I'm just happy that you're light, that way we can carry you about. I'll just have to feed Baby Bells, then I'll make that chicken dinner, OK?"
Nina looked about, to see Jasper on the floor and the baby on the changing mat having her nappy changed. Then she was handed to her mother.
Trudy fed the baby while Jasper hugged his son, trying to comfort him. Nina was sketching a photo of it. She had that hidden talent for drawing. Nobody else knew. Not even her gran. She'd gone to the grave before she'd known.
"What's that you're drawing, Nina?"
"Hold on a second, please."
When she'd finished, she took it to show it to Trudy and Jasper.
"Nina, this is beautiful! Jazz, look at this."
He had a look and Benjamin did too.
"Nina, this is amazing! You're really talented. Ever thought about being a designer?"
Benjamin said "Pretty picture. It look like in here, but paper."
Nina was pink and quiet.
"Aw, Nina. You never told us that you could draw so well."
"I didn't tell anyone. Nobody else knew."
(In the kitchen, making supper.)
"Nina, would you pass the coriander over, please?"
Nina grabbed the spice grinder and handed it to Trudy. She delicately spiced the chicken making sure it wasn't heavy. Then when she was done, she handed it back to Nina. Nina put it away.
Drawing was Nina's talent and housekeeping and childcare was Trudy's.
"Is this your whole life? Cooking, cleaning and caring for the little ones?"
"Well, we have our own farm, so we run that. We don't need to buy any food, we make it all ourselves. Jasper works late every night, but still manages to catch from 3 in a morning to 9 in the morning of sleep. Six solid hours. I don't wake him to help with the kids, because he works late and helps run the farm from 10 in the morning to 6 at night, then he goes to work. That's how we have lots of money. And our children have never eaten so much as one nibble of store bought food."
"Really? That's incredible. Well, OK, not for Isabelle, because she's not even got teeth yet and can't swallow more than milk. But for Benjamin, it's impressive."
"He's never been in a food store, he doesn't know that other people eat processed food."
"So this chicken...?"
"One of the chickens we raised. Everything we eat we've done ourselves. At least we know what's in our food. We have Benny to care for, so we have to make sure there aren't any bones in our meat, but he's OK."
"So you actually make all of this stuff yourselves?"
"Yes. I learned right from birth how to work a farm. My parents owned one. Here, would you like something to drink?"
"Um, yeah, please."
"What would you like?"
"Milk, please, if that isn't too much trouble."
Trudy poured out a glass of milk and handed it off to Nina, then pushed the chicken into the oven. Nina took a sip of milk and she was surprised at how it tasted.
"Wow, this is thicker and creamier than the milk I've had before."
"This is fresh milk and we have a milk cleaning system that doesn't add chemicals. It won't be like water."
"No, it isn't. It's delicious."
Trudy smiled at her and started chopping up vegetables for the dinner.
"Don't tell me you grow all those veggies on your farm, too?"
"Oh yes. All of it. And we have part of the garden sectioned off for the kids to play in. Our animals are well-trained. We've taken them in the slings on horseback. Have you ever ridden a horse, Nina?"
"No, I haven't. Unless you count donkeys at the beach?"
"It's how I started, on a donkey. Jasper had a little experience on a donkey, so I thought of him trying a horse. Would you like to try tomorrow, after we've done the rounds and had our breakfast? You have a rider's suit in your wardrobe. Suit, helmet, gloves, boots. I'll even show you how to put the saddle and reins on. It's easy."
She put all the veg into their pans, filled the pans with water then smiled.
"It's still light out. If Jasper keeps an eye on the supper for us, I'll take you now."
Nina went to change. She found the riding suit. It was perfect to her size, looks and taste. Then Trudy came out in hers.
"Are you ready?"
Nina nodded and stepped out of her room.
(In the field.)
"OK, so you have your horse. The saddle's on, you've got the reins. Right. Swing yourself up."
Nina tried, then fell into the grass. Trudy went up behind her and showed her where to put her feet and how to swing herself over.
"There, sweetie. Now."
Trudy was on her horse in moments.
"OK, follow my lead."
She gently snapped the reins and the horse moved at a smooth pace. Nina copied and her horse moved nicely along, too. Then they were riding nicely along together.
Nina smiled at Trudy, who caught the grin and smiled too.
"I come out here if I get a little agitated and ride. It's a good thing we have three horses and two foals. The foals will be fully grown when the little two learn to ride. It's wonderful therapy to ride if you feel agitated. Or you could have a go at digging in a little patch. That'd be helpful, come the time to harvest for the winter."
Nina was stunned. Was this really the same woman who had been living in Anubis house? She looked the same, spoke the same, and was even the same when she was around her husband and kids. But she wasn't the same when she was out on a farm.
Trudy stopped her horse.
"Are you OK, Nina? You've gone a little distant."
"I'm fine. I was just thinking. Is this riding an everyday thing?"
"Yes, we do this every morning. Our children love to horseback ride with us. If you like, you can keep that horse. It's not been named yet. The horses back there have names. Well, Jasper's and Benny's do. There's Cherry and Chestnut. Isabelle gets to name her own horse. What do you want to call yours?"
Nina's horse was pure white, with a light grey streak.
"I'll call it Snowflake."
"That's beautiful."
"What's yours called?"
The glossy black horse looked about and Trudy petted it.
"I've called him Ebony. I'll admit, at first I was a little bit nervous, but he's a true softy. Just like me. Chestnut's as sweet as sugar, but she has a little bit of temper if she's not fed regularly. Just like Jazz, which is why they get on so well. And Cherry and Benny get on really well, they're both babies. Benny and Cherry were born within two days of each other. Benny was a day old when he watched Cherry's birth. And he was twice the size of Izzy, our Benny."
They turned back, ready to save the supper.
Back in the stable, they put their horses back in their boxes and gave them all a sugar lump each. Then they went back and got out the supper, which was golden and very well done, just not burnt.
At the dinner table, Trudy had them all pray, except the newborn. Well, she was asleep in the sling and even so, she was much too tiny to pray. Jasper led it all, though it was clearly Trudy who was in charge. She'd given him that look and he did the whole thing. It was clear that he'd do anything in his capabilities to please her.
During dinner, Jasper smiled at his wife.
"You've done your miracle again, Trudy. And you, too, Nina."
Trudy smiled back at him, carefully cutting her Yorkshire pudding. It was amazing to Nina what would happen now that she lived there.
After supper was over, Trudy picked up her little son.
"Come on, my little monkey. Bed time."
She took him upstairs. Jasper smiled over at Nina.
"How was the horse ride?"
"It was surprisingly easy. Trudy showed me how to do it."
"Her parents taught her everything she knows. She didn't attend the village primary school, just the last three years of high school."
"Did she tell you that?"
"No, she and I were taking our GCSEs together. She got all A* s. Little genius. Literally, she was tiny. Still is. But if you'd seen her, about 4" 4' and 3 stone wet through, you'd know what I meant. Miniature."
"She wasn't that tiny, was she?"
"Could pick her up one handed. She didn't let me, but I could. I can now."
Just then Trudy walked back in. Jasper scooped her up and gave her a kiss.
"You really can pick her up one handed."
"Yeah."
"He's been able to do this since we met. Cheeky person. Would you believe that when we got married, he picked me up and tickled me so much, I squirmed and he accidentally dropped me?"
"I believe it. You are fantastic at squirming. You definitely got out of enough situations with Victor."
They all went up to bed. Nina was excited to see what went on the next day.
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And there you are, chapter two. R&R! Until next update, Random Dizzy. :D