A/N I wasn't quite so near the end as I thought, but we are still nearly there...

Chapter 44

Summer holidays at Trennels with a father who had left-the-navy-forever and no Rowan was very different. For one thing, it was very much harder work.

"Some of that is because Peter isn't here." Nicola pointed out to Lawrie. "He's pretty good at fixing things."

For another thing, every mealtime felt as if one wrong word would trigger some kind of explosion. It had so nearly happened when Lawrie had asked if, since they were working so many more hours than a usual summer holiday, there might be some extra pocket money involved.

"Not since your sister let us down. Not if you want Nicola to have her sixth form at Kingscote." Their father replied. Lawrie, to whom school without Nicola seemed no more possible than Trennels itself getting up and walking across the landscape to Rum Beacon was effectively quelled.

"All the same," said Lawrie privately to Nicola later, "you, me and Ginty are all working jolly nearly full time. More last week when it was the wheat harvest. And there's father instead of Rowan."

"And no Peter. And no Ann. And we did used to help on the farm sometimes."

"Ginty hardly ever did. And we didn't do anything like as much as now. Not if you added us all together. Which I have. We're doing about thirty five hours each, not counting looking after the quadrupedss or making-beds-and-cleaning- your-bedroom."

Of course Lawrie would.

"He really wants us to be sure it's Rowan's fault though" Lawrie said. Nicola found this an uncomfortable thought.

There was no more Doris (well we aren't inside enough to make that much work), and Sellars the groom had retired. The heavy horses had been deemed to cost more than they were worth and had been sold. As Father pointed out, Ginty had always been meant to look after Catkin and Lawrie and Peter had always been meant to look after Idiot Boy.

Somehow, with Lawrie looking after idiot boy, Ginty looking after Catkin and Mother looking after Chocobar, looking after Prisca had fallen to Nicola's lot, although she was by no means as keen on riding as her sisters. Prisca was still, Nicola supposed, Father's horse by right of having been Jon's, but he didn't ride all that much and Nicola didn't feel that she was pushing her luck too much when, father having agreed one mid-August Friday that all three girls could have the afternoon off, she asked if she might borrow Prisca and go for a ride with Ginty and Lawrie.

Ginty always preferred to ride alone, and soon after they left Trennels, she and Catkin cantered off. Nicola and Lawrie hacked gently along with Tessa the Afghan hound trotting along behind. Nicola felt that Lawrie seemed the only person now it was safe to talk to.

"It must be worse for Ginty. Not being a twin." Nicola said.

"If she was a twin, she wouldn't be Ginty. She'd be someone else. We'd best trot along this bit." Lawrie said. She was right. The quicker they were out of the narrow bit of the lane, the less chance they had of meeting a vehicle with all the awkward squeezing past that would entail.

"Nick, do you want to go to Rowan's wedding?" Lawrie asked when they had turned out of the lane onto a track along the edge of a field and Prisca and Idiot Boy were once more sauntering companionably side by side. Rowan had written to all three of them separately. Nicola and Lawrie, comparing, had discovered that it had been exactly the same letter. Being absolutely fair. Nicola had pointed out.

"Of course, don't you? Only we can't."

"Of course I do." Lawrie said. "But not as frantically as you."

Nicola opened her mouth to protest at Lawrie's calm assurance that she knew Nicola's mind and then admitted that yes, she did mind not going rather frantically, but with the full force of paternal prohibition in place, what was to be done?

"You remember that netball match?" Lawrie said. Even at the distance of four years, it was wholly unnecessary to specify which netball match.

"It didn't work." Nicola reminded her.

"This time it will, because you will just have to be you, at Rowan's wedding. It'll be me being both of us, and maybe not even that, and I can manage that quite well."

"People at school will still remember. And they'll expect to see us both for meals and things."

"But that's the beauty of it. The 23rd is this new exeat weekend thing half-way-to-half-term that Keith's so keen on." Lawrie had evidently given this some thought. "All we need to do is get ourselves invited to somewhere at the same time. It's a pity one of us isn't Ginty really. We could go and stay with Monica and all go out on the bus for the day, only we go to the wedding."

"It wouldn't be any good even if we were still at school." Nicola said. "Ginty wouldn't want the row."

"There wouldn't be one." Lawrie said. "It would be helpful if we knew someone who lived in Crewe, or Birmingham, or even Bristol, because of the trains. But the best I can think of is Miranda in London. You'll have to tell her, of course, and get her to invite us both. We all go to Miranda's house on Friday night, and you get up early and catch the very first train to this Strickland junction place – it seems to be nearest. And then you get on a bus or something, or maybe there's a branch line - anyway, you're the one who know about timetables. And Miranda and I pretend you've gone out frightfully early to look at something naval somewhere that we aren't interested in. And that's why you aren't at breakfast. And then the plan will be for us to meet you somewhere and go round looking at things in London, and have our lunch and our tea in a corner house, so no-one expects to see us for those meals. And then we could plan to go to the cinema, so we wouldn't go home until after that. And by that time you'll have got back to Paddington."

"It will be Euston." Nicola said.

"You'll be sorting out the train stuff." Lawrie said airily. "Anyway, we meet you there and all come home together."

"People will want to know why Miranda invited both of us and you didn't go and visit Tim or something." Nicola said.

"A play." Lawrie said. "Instead of the cinema. It will have to be a real one though, because of advertisements in the papers and so on. And it will be better if Miranda and I actually go and see it. Am I not a genius?"

Nicola admitted that her twin was rather a genius. "There are still all sorts of things to go wrong."

"We've got plenty of time to plan." said Lawrie comfortably. "Only I thought I would tell you know so that you knew not to spend any money before then. You'll need it for your train ticket. I'll need mine for the theatre."