Issie said. She didn’t want to tell Aidan that she had been in floods of tears when she said goodbye to the colt last night. She knew it was only a month, but it seemed like such a long time to be away from him when he was so young.
“Well, I’m really glad you came,” Aidan said softly. Then he realised he sounded mushy and tried to make up for it by adding, “Ummm…cos Hester really needs your help.”
Issie smiled. “Hester says you’ve been schooling up a few of the Blackthorn Ponies that we caught when we were here last time.”
The Blackthorn Ponies were a wild herd that roamed the hills around Blackthorn Farm. On her last holiday at the farm Issie and Aidan had saved the herd from a cull. Most of the ponies had been sent to new homes, but Hester had kept a few of them with her at the farm.
“That’s part of the problem,” Aidan continued. “The cost of those extra ponies adds up fast. Hester has thirteen horses now–that’s a lot of farrier bills and hard feed.”
“So the riding school will cover the bills?”
“Uh-huh,” Aidan said. “We won’t make a fortune out of it, but hopefully we’ll make enough to keep the farm going until the next movie job comes along.”
Issie looked worried. “And what if another film job doesn’t come along?”
“Something will turn up soon,” Aidan said reassuringly. “I’m sure everything will be fine.”
“But, Aidan, what if it’s not fine?”
“Well, if things got really tight, I guess we’d have to sell some of the horses,” said Aidan quietly. “Diablo and Stardust are experienced stunt horses–they’re both worth quite a lot. But if that’s not enough…”
“Then what?”
“Then Hester will have to sell Blackthorn Farm.”
For the first time since they had set off on this trip, silence settled over the truck cab. Issie stared out of the windows at the road ahead and couldn’t help wondering if this would be the last time she would be making this journey.
By the time the horse truck came through the narrow Gisborne gorge and began to travel up through the green cornfields towards the high country, Issie had pulled herself together again. In fact, she was positively filled with resolve.
“You’re right. Things will be fine!” she said firmly, smiling at Aidan. The riding school would make enough money–or they’d think of something else. No matter what, there was no way her aunt was going to lose Blackthorn Farm.
Half an hour later, they reached the crest of a very steep hill. To the right, Issie could see the bright blue sea of the Gisborne coastline, and on the left was farmland and forest. Up ahead she could see a gravel road that veered to the left off the main highway.
“We’re here!”
Aidan turned off down the private road, slowing down a gear as the truck struck gravel. Issie watched as the trees closed in around her and the truck became cocooned in the dense native forest that bordered the sides of the driveway that led to Blackthorn Farm. Low-hanging pohutukawa branches scraped against the roof of the truck.
“I keep telling Hester we need to prune the trees back to get the truck through,” Aidan said as he heard the branches scraping the roof above him. “She just tells me to ‘add it to the endless list of things that need doing’!”
A few more scrapes and bangs later and they had emerged into the bright sunlight once more. Issie’s heart leapt when she saw the familiar sight of the cherry trees, their white and pink petals falling in a snowy carpet on the circular lawn in front of Blackthorn Manor.
The tumbledown mansion was just as she remembered. The enormous two-storeyed country manor must once have been very grand, but was, she noted with fresh eyes, definitely rickety and in desperate need of a new coat of white paint.
“It must have been horrible being here over the past couple of months. You know, with all those movies cancelling at the last minute.”
“Actually,” Aidan said, “this will sound weird, but it’s been great. I mean, yeah, it’s been stressful, especially for Hester. But having no film work has meant that I could spend more time riding. I’ve been doing loads of training sessions on Destiny.”
“Like movie training?” Issie asked.
Aidan shook his head. “Showjumping. Destiny’s a natural jumper. He picks his feet up really cleanly and never knocks the rails.”
“How high have you been jumping?”
“He can do about a metre twenty,” Aidan said. “Easily big enough to put him in the prize money.”
“What prize money?” Issie was confused.
“The Horse of the Year Show,” Aidan said. “I haven’t asked Hester yet, but I was thinking of entering him in the novice horse class.”
“Do you think he can win?”
Aidan nodded. “Yep–and it’s decent prize money too. The Horse of the Year is the richest competition in the whole Southern hemisphere. There’s half a million dollars in prize money. If Destiny and I win the novice class, that’s worth $10,000.”
“$10,000?”
“There’ll be loads of competition though,” Aidan continued. “There are riders from all over the country coming down for it.”
“I know,” Issie said. “Tom is coming down next week. He’s bringing Dan and Ben. I think Dan’s riding in the novice class too.”
Aidan seemed to go very quiet at this news. When he finally spoke his voice sounded quite different. “That guy Dan. You go to pony club with him, right?”
“Uh-huh,” said Issie.
“And he’s, like, a friend of yours?” Issie nodded. Aidan went quiet again for a moment.
“Is he your boyfriend?”
Issie was stunned. She hadn’t been expecting this. “No,” she said, “no, he’s not.” Aidan looked relieved.
“Hester is probably waiting for us down at the stables,” he said. “We’ll drive straight through to unload the horses.” He nosed the truck to the right of the circular lawn so that they swept right past the front door of the manor and headed down the limestone drive towards the stables.
“Issie?”
“Uh-huh.”
“You know what I said before? About me being glad that you were here? Well, I am, Issie. I’m really glad. It seems like ages since I saw you and…” Aidan stopped paying attention to the road and stared at Issie. He was fidgeting nervously with the sleeve of his tartan shirt. “The thing is, I’ve been wanting to ask you something the whole way down here…”
He was suddenly interrupted by Issie who let out a loud shriek. “Stop the truck, Aidan! You’re going to hit him!”
Aidan’s
