36

Alex and Emily spent almost the whole day on horse back. First they went to fix a fence and Alex was once again impressed by his daughter's skills. She knew exactly what she was doing and the fence was fixed in no time. Then they raced back to Killarney to pick up their lunch and Alex again had a hard time keeping up with Emily. After lunch the girl decided it was time for some serious training so Alex helped her put up some jumps and Emily went through the course several times then they would change something or they'd choose a different route and she went through it again. Alex stood at the side and proudly watched his daughter, giving her a few orders and telling her what she could change to make things better.

After a while Emily decided she had done enough training in a fenced off area and asked her father if they could do some cross country training. So Alex saddled up his horse again and this time chose a route over Killarney that would enable Emily to do a few cross country jumps and quick turns.

"Ok Shorty…see those piled up logs over there?" Emily nodded "Wanna try and take it? I know it's a bit higher than what you went over so far but you'll make it. Just be careful, there are a few trees coming up pretty quickly afterwards…you see them?"

"Yep, what's better, turn right or left after the jump to avoid the trees?"

Alex had a closer look and then said "Turn left, if you go right the ground turns a little soft, so I think left is better."

Emily nodded and pushed her horse to gallop quickly so she'd be fast enough for the jump. Alex nervously looked as his daughter got closer and closer to the logs and finally took the horse to jump. Horse and girl landed on the other side and he saw Emily's body being pushed down to the horse's neck while they both flew towards the upcoming trees. Alex held his breath. 'Left Em…left! Come on, you can do it…' he thought to himself, his hands tightly closed to fists around the reins of his own horse.

Finally he saw Emily turn the horse to the left and a happy sigh escaped his mouth. She had made it! God she was good! Was she really only eleven?

Alex dismounted his horse and waited for Emily to come back to him. When she rode up he saw the huge grin on her face and knew she was pumped up now.

"Did you see that? It was so great! God…I can't believe I really did that jump! Ok…what can I do now?" she slipped of her horse when she had reached him jumped into his arms. Alex whirled her around. He was as excited as she was.

"Well…" he said as he placed her down again "looking at my watch it tells me we should go back so you can help Rhonda with dinner preparations…you're still on kitchen duty after all!"

Emily made a long face but nodded as she walked back to her horse "Ok…" she said and mounted "I guess I've done enough training today. Can I call Mum later and tell her about the jump?"

"Sure you can…now come on, let's get back and see what Rhonda has planned for us.

On Shaw's Acres Claire showed Charlotte the property and saw that the girl's riding was getting better by the minute.

And the huge smile on her daughter's face told her that the girl was truly happy at the moment. Claire couldn't really place it if it was just the horse riding though. It was probably more than that. Charlotte had been more relaxed and at ease ever since Claire had remembered her baby name…a fact that made mother as happy as daughter. Claire always felt sad when she thought about all the years she had lost with Charlotte because she couldn't remember her so now that little bits of the short time she had had with her daughter came back to her mind it just made her heart overflow with joy. Maybe the rest of her memory would come back, too one day.

They rode until Claire could make out Bernard and the other hands with a herd of sheep they were trying to get in so they could be sheered the following week.

"There's Bernard…" she said and pointed him out to Charlotte "You wanna go over and meet him? Because I know for a fact he's dying to meet you…"

"It won't be like meeting Laura though…will it?"

Claire laughed "No, he'll be fine with just giving you a wave at the moment. We can stay with them for a while and help them get the sheep in if you want…"

"Sure, why not? If things had gone a little different I would have grown up on a farm anyway…so yeah, it'll be fun."

Charlotte's last comment gave Claire a guilty conscience once again because she hadn't been in her daughter's life for so long. Although she knew it wasn't her fault she couldn't help but blame herself.

They rode over to Bernard and the hands and the man simply touched his hat and nodded his head when Claire introduced Charlotte to him. "Nice to meet you Charlotte." He said "You don't look too bad on horse back…wanna help us get the sheep in?"

The little feared look on Charlotte's face now turned into a smile as she heard Bernard's compliment about her riding.

"We will have to ride back home before you get in though so I can have lunch ready for you lot…" Claire reminded Bernard and her daughter.

"Can't I stay with them Mum? Please? I promise I'll be careful…"

"And I promise I'll look out for her…" Bernard added with a wink.

Claire sighed. "All right…you can stay with Bernard. But no pulling any stunts! Both Alex and your father would kill me! And I'm glad to be alive again…"

All three of them laughed at that comment.

Claire stayed with the herd for a little while watching her daughter trying to help as much as she could. The girl had fun, there was no doubt about that and Bernard was happy to show her what to do.

When she saw Charlotte was well taken care off she told the others she'd ride back and prepare lunch so they would all be able to fill their hungry stomachs when the sheep were in. With one last look at her daughter she rode off.

Claire was just putting the finishing touches on the lunch when she heard running feet in the hallway shortly followed by the figure of her daughter pushing through the kitchen door.

"Mum? It was so great! Uncle Bernard is so nice and he said I could come back and help him whenever I can! Can I go out with him again tomorrow?"

Claire smiled. "UNCLE Bernard?"

"Yeah, he said since he was Emily's uncle he might as well be mine, too and I could call him like that…"

"And in your excitement you forgot to take your shoes off…" Claire said shaking her head looking at the dirt Charlotte had brought in.

"What the hell did you do?"

"Oh…I'm sorry Mum…we had to get the sheep along the river and one went down and got stuck in the mud…I helped to get it out" the girl said with a proud look on her face and Claire couldn't help but laugh.

"Well…I can see that! Get your boots off young lady and get yourself cleaned in the cottage. I don't want you to catch a cold!" Charlotte nodded, took her shoes off and left the kitchen. "And hurry up or all of the lunch will be gone!" Claire shouted after her.

Later that day Charlotte and her mother sat on the couch arm in arm in the cottage and were looking at photo albums of Claire's life since the accident. Claire also told a lot of stories about Emily's life and more than once Charlotte laughed at things her little sister had done.

When they had finished with the last photo album Charlotte noticed an envelope on the table under the albums and asked Claire what that was.

"That? Oh, that's the pictures we took two weeks ago on Killarney. Alex gave them to me on Friday before we went to pick you and Emily up. I guess with you being round I just forgot about them…shall we have a look? I haven't seen them yet either…"
Charlotte nodded and leaned forward to pick up the envelope with the photos. She moved back into her mother's arms taking the pictures out.

They laughed as they remembered each scene and when they came to the photo of all four of them that Rhonda had taken Claire ran her fingers over it and sighed. "I'll have to have this one framed…it shows all my favourite people in the world…ok, Laura and Bernard are missing but still…I'll have to buy a frame for it."

Charlotte looked at her mother and carefully asked "Mum? How do you feel about Alex?"

"What do you mean BOM?"

"I mean…you two were together once and I know you can't remember that now…but how do you feel about him now? Do you even like him?"

Claire sighed again. She had expected that talk from Emily rather than from Charlotte since her younger daughter had already made some comments about her and Alex. But now it was the older one of the girls and she would give her the same answer she would have given Emily.

"I don't know how I feel about him, honestly…it's very difficult for me." She said and pulled her daughter closer to her.

"But do you like him?"

"Of course I do" Claire chuckled "How could I not? He's helped me so much with all that has happened lately, how could I honestly not like him. He's become a really good friend to me but…"

"You're not in love with him?" Charlotte finished her mother's sentence and looked at her.

"No, I'm sorry BOM. At least not the way you might want it. I like to be around him, it's somehow really easy to talk to him and I feel safe when we're together but I don't think that is what you want, right?"

"I don't want anything Mum…it's just…you know, Emily and I want to see you and Alex happy."

"Well, we are…in a certain way he does make me happy…give it some time Charlotte and we'll have to see, ok? Right now I'm just happy to have a friend who accepts that I'm not anymore who I used to be and that can still tell me what my former life was like."

"Ok Mum…I think I can live with that."

Claire smiled and kissed her daughter on the head "You'll have to Charlotte…"

After dinner that night Emily asked her father if she could call her mother and Charlotte and Alex agreed. He had to do some bookwork anyway but wanted to talk to Claire when Emily was finished.

Happily the girl dialled her home number and first talked to her mother for a few minutes before she asked for her sister…the real reason of her call. So Claire handed the phone to Charlotte.

"Em? Hold on…I'll go into your room so we can talk…sorry Mum, some things need to stay between sisters and only sisters…" Emily heard Charlotte say on the other end and was glad.

"Ok, I'm alone now…"

"Good" Emily said "Me too, Alex is doing bookwork and I'm in the living room. How do you like the farm? And Mum?"

"It's great Em…I never thought I could have so much fun with Mum. You're right, she's really the best! She let me stay with Uncle Bernard the whole morning…we brought some sheep in…" Charlotte couldn't stop talking and Emily smiled. She could wait "And guess what…"

"What?"

"Mum remembered something about me!"

"She did? What was it?"

"The baby name she gave me! I kind of got knocked down today and when I was on the floor she just screamed it out! Isn't that great?"

"You kind of got knocked down? How did that happen?" Emily was curious now.

"Ummm…something about a helmet and me not paying attention…doesn't matter…what do you say about the baby name?"

"That's great Char. And what is your baby name?"

"BOM…as in Baby of McLeod. Mum gave it to me because she couldn't come up with a name for me at first. And she really remembered it! So…how was your day with Alex?"

"Just as great as yours…we did some practice for the cross country. I did a really high and dangerous jump and I did it! I really did it! It was such a great feeling…oh, and I talked with Dad about Mum…but I couldn't really get anything out of him other than that he's glad she's his friend again…"

"Yeah, Mum said about the same thing. This will be really hard work for us…"

Charlotte and Emily talked for a little while longer about their adventures of the day and then both handed the phones to their respective parent.

Claire and Alex talked about their days with the girls and then agreed to meet up the next day at an ice café in town before the girls had to be back in school so they could discuss properly how to tell Claire's sister about her not being dead and what to do with the girls next…