A/N: So I got bitten by the writing bug today!
Unfortunately I cant tell how well this fic is being received because I still don't have any reviews for it :( So yeah, if I could get a few of those, that would be great, since this is nearly wrapped up now...thanks!
"Miss Davies?!" Her name being spoken caught Jessie's attention as Buzz and her were making their way along the field towards the horse box, attached to the car that someone Buzz knew had loaned him for the day. He'd told Jessie it was another favour owed to him, this time for fixing up a rather run down old garden shed.
At the sound of the voice, Jessie passed Buttercup's reins to Buzz and turned. "Can I help y-" she started, before the words dried in her throat. She had recognised the owner of the voice; it was the senior judge from the contest approaching her, the very same one that had been giving out the ribbons and prizes. Panic fluttered in her stomach – was there a rule about handicapping horses? Had they seen Buzz's interference and the whole apple ploy with the ninth hurdle?
"Yes, actually Miss Davies, there was something I wanted to ask you." The man drew closer and held out a hand to Jessie. "I'm Mr Baron. I was judging the show jumping contest today as you know, and I thought I would ask a question of you before you leave."
Jessie swallowed and nodded, taking the man's hand and shaking it briefly, "Of course." The butterflies in her stomach started to flutter madly.
"I was wondering if my daughter would be able to come and see your stables. I understand you're from Brookmarsh Farm, the old Hayward residence?"
"That's right," Jessie managed, the butterflies in her stomach evaporating as quickly as they had started.
"I heard your current employer, who I think I saw in the stands today, did a marvellous job of renovating the farmland and the outbuildings." Mr Baron went on.
"Yes….yessir." Jessie said quickly.
"Excellent. I like it when a proprietor of a large farm like yours takes on the local men for the tasks at hand."
"You know about that?" Jessie was a little shocked at this admission.
"My dear, I'm on the committee for the town. It's my duty to know about these things." Mr Baron cast a glance behind Jessie, and looked directly at Buzz. "I feel I know you, son."
Buzz looked immediately surprised. "Me, sir?"
"Yes….you're Mr Lightyear, aren't you? The one who fixed the brass clock in the local public house, aren't you? I remember you bringing it in one day last week."
"Oh…yes…yes sir." Buzz said, his surprise increasing tenfold.
"Beautiful piece of work, that clock. I was so glad to see it working again. It must have taken you a time, if you'll pardon the pun."
Buzz afforded a grin. "Yes, it did. Not an easy task at all, sir."
"Good…good. I understand from some in the village you do carpentry, too?"
"Yes I do, sir. Nothing special, but I do fix things and the like," Buzz nodded.
"Excellent. I might have to call on your skills for the committee. There are a few things in the county building that could use an eye for detail. Are you located in town?"
"I am, sir!" Buzz relayed his lodgings information to Mr Baron, who nodded gratefully before turning back to Jessie.
"I'll be sure to keep your address in mind, Mr Lightyear. Well then, I'll see you tomorrow afternoon Miss Davies, nice to meet you," With a little incline of his head, Mr Baron pivoted on his heel and began to walk away.
"Well, how about that?!" Jessie exclaimed, turning to look at Buzz.
"How about it indeed!" Buzz remarked, staring after Mr Baron's retreating form. "I think I just got offered a lot of work."
"I wasn't talking about the work! Although it's not a bad thing at all," Jessie added, seeing Buzz's face. "What I meant was - after all these months working with you, I've only just now learned your surname!"
"A county committee member is coming here?" Woody's eyes opened wide as Jessie relayed the information. It was the following morning, and the young stable girl had just arrived at the farm to find Woody and let him know the news. The two of them were by the barn, letting the cows out to pasture, and she had taken the alone time with him to let him know the situation.
"Relax, will you?" Jessie said rather more firmly than she'd intended. "He's only coming to see the horses with his daughter. He's not here to condemn the farm. He said he thought what a good job you'd done with it."
"Not the last few months!" Woody argued. "He's with the committee, and if he knows about the work on the farm, and he knows about Buzz's background, he'll know what sort of trouble we've gotten into with the non payments! Furthermore, with all the bills flooding in I haven't been able to concentrate on the work in the fields, they're unkempt and the harvest needs to be started….."
"But the whole object of back payments should be in the past," Jessie interrupted. "We got that money yesterday, Woody. We can pay off over three quarters of the bills with that, remember?"
"And the rest? That other quarter? Without that, we might as well forget the whole thing." Woody snapped.
Jessie stopped dead in her tracks. "So all my training and work was for nothing?"
Woody sighed and also stopped, turning back to look at Jessie. "You know that's not what I meant."
"So let's pay some of the bills off, Woody. You don't need to pay me and Buzz the wages, just let's pay off the bills and go from there." Jessie beseeched him.
"If you must know…" Woody sighed, "I was intending to do just that. It's just….you and Buzz worked so hard I can't find it in me to not pay you both wages as you're owed."
"I don't care about that, and I'm sure Buzz doesn't either. Pay the taxes first. If you don't, we lose our jobs and you lose the farm. And I'd rather lose out on a few months' wages than lose my job." Jessie sighed. "Even you should have figured that out."
Woody sighed and nodded. "You're right." He settled the last few remaining bovine into the field before shutting and latching the gate to keep them herded together. "Let's get back to the farmhouse. I think I might need some help with all the envelopes I have to open."
The knock at the farmhouse door later that afternoon made Woody jump. He was at the table, poring over figures on a piece of paper and an array of paperwork spread out in front of him. Jessie sat just down the table, opening envelopes and discarding any necessary paperwork and general rubbish into the bin. The prize money in the envelope lay quietly on the table in-between them, and every so often Woody would take a few notes from the roll and lay it with a bill to be paid, and then return to his poring.
After two hours of trying to work out where best to spend the money, and how it could work to be as profitable as possible, Woody gave up and abandoned the table for the kitchen counter. He was making a pot of coffee for him and the stable girl to share when the knocking started. Walking to the front farmhouse door, Woody opened it to see a man there, holding the hand of a little girl. He didn't recognise either one of them immediately. "Can I help you?" he asked politely.
"I'm looking for Miss Davies? I'm Mr Baron, she's been expecting me?"
"Miss Davies? Oh, Jessie. Yes…she's right through here in the kitchen." Woody explained, realising who the caller was now.
"Yes. I expect Miss Davies mentioned that I would be passing by to look at your stables with my daughter here. Say hello, Ali." Mr Baron spoke to the little girl he had with him.
Woody looked down and was amused to see the little girl of about six clutching onto Mr Baron's arm. She wore a pink frilly tutu and a pink t shirt, with short brown hair in a bob, and Woody couldn't suppress a smile at the little angel.
"Hewwo," Ali now lisped, and Woody let forth a second smile.
"Hey howdy hey, little lady. Why don't you both step inside. I'll just go and fetch Jes - er - Miss Davies." He hurried off, and momentarily Jessie came out of the next room, looking a little tired from all the work she had been doing to assist Woody.
"Mr Baron. How very nice to see you again," She smoothed her work clothes down, aware she looked a bit of a state. Mr Baron didn't seem to notice her bedraggled demeanour.
"Miss Davies. Lovely to see you too. I don't mean to be a nuisance. You look like you've been busy."
"Not at all, just sifting through some papers for the farm," Jessie played down the truth, remembering Woody's words to her by the barn earlier that day. She quickly changed the subject and bent down to Ali's level. "You must be Mr Baron's daughter."
"Yesp." The little girl lisped, and Jessie caught herself smiling at the little girl, who by now had let go of her father's hand. "My name's Ali."
"Well, why don't we head over to the stables right away?" Jessie suggested, standing up to her full height again. "I think our farm hand is over there too, you met him yesterday, Mr Baron."
"Indeed I did. It will be nice to make his acquaintance again," Mr Baron drawled, as Jessie stepped over to the door and crossed the threshold, starting to lead them both down into the fields.
They arrived in the stables not more than five minutes later, where Buzz was petting and talking to Buttercup. There were piles of straw everywhere, fresh from the mucking out the horses had gotten a few hours ago.
"Buzz? Mr Baron's here," Jessie called as they entered, and Buzz swung around to see the trio entering behind him.
"Mr Baron, how nice to see you." Buzz offered, with a nervous cough as he stepped away from Buttercup.
"The pleasure is all mine," Mr Baron commented, looking around. "Fine stables you have here. A little on the small side, but for the amount of horses you have, it seems to serve its purpose."
"Would you like me to show you the horses, sir?" Buzz said, eager to be of help to Jessie's visitor.
"Sounds like an excellent idea. We can talk business while we're at it," Mr Baron commented, and as he moved past Buzz, the farmhand gave a delighted look in Jessie's direction. Jessie grinned back at Buzz as he left in Mr Baron's wake, and the two men strolled off to the nearest enclosure.
"So you like horses, Ali?" Jessie asked, kneeling down to address the little girl now. "Your Daddy was telling me you wanted to come here."
"Yesp. Horses are big but they don't scare me." Ali nodded.
"Well, we have one horse here that's only a year old. I think you might be a perfect match for her." Jessie smiled.
"What's her name?" Ali asked.
"Her names Éclair."
"Éclair." Ali said, and then smiled. "I like that name."
"I like it too. I chose it," Jessie admitted.
"That horse you rode the other day…can I see it?" Ali asked, and Jessie nodded.
"Sure. Come on. She's just over here." She got up and held out her hand to the little girl, who clung to it. Bewildered by the sensation that swept through her, Jessie pushed the feeling to one side and led the small girl over to the stable where Buttercup was. She gently undid the bolt and pulled the stable door open.
With a harrumph, Buttercup turned to regard them both as the door behind her opened, and Ali gave an audible gasp at seeing the creature close up. "She's so big!"
"Yes, she is. About fifteen hands tall." Jessie agreed.
"Can I touch her?" Ali asked, and Jessie hesitated. Before she could speak further, Buttercup had shuffled over, kicking up straw, and bent to nose at the little girl, who shrieked in surprise and took a step back.
Jessie smiled at Buttercup's forwardness. "I think you just made a friend," the stablegirl commented, as Ali recovered a little and raised her hand quiveringly. The skin on the little girl's hand made contact with the nose of the horse, and finding the horse didn't resist her touch, she smiled a little and started to pet the horse gently.
"I wish I had my own horse. But Daddy says we have no room to keep one."
"They do need a lot of looking after." Jessie commented, watching the little girl fuss the white filly.
"I'd like to ride one, one day," Ali lisped softly. "But I can't."
"How come?!" Jessie asked, trying not to be intrusive.
"Daddy says it's too expensive and far away." Ali sighed as Buttercup tired of her petting and shuffled away back into the stable again. Jessie stayed silent as she pulled the stable door closed again and re latched it.
"Ali?" Mr Baron's voice could be heard now as he came up, "Have you been talking about horse riding again?" He cast an apologetic look at Jessie. "I'm so sorry. She's riveted on the idea of being able to sit on the back of a horse. They're beautiful animals, I agree, but we could never afford or want to travel so far for an hour's lesson each week."
Jessie nodded, wordlessly, and in the silence Buzz took over the conversation. "Would the young miss like to see around the rest of the stables?"
"Yes! Daddy, will you take me around and show me all the horses?" Ali turned big eyes on her father, who rolled his eyes good naturedly.
"Of course, pumpkin." He threw Buzz a smile, took his daughters hand, and led her off.
Buzz wandered closer to Jessie, who had stayed silent for a while now. "What's on your mind?" He asked, idly scrutinising Mr Baron and his daughter from afar.
"Nothing." Jessie fibbed, watching the little girl be hoisted up by her father to pet the nose of Ginger, who had stuck her nose over the top of the stable door. "Nothing that can't wait."