Running Scarred (16 page)

“Cheek! You haven’t complained all week, just shovelled it all in and scraped the plates clean.” She laughed at him.

He shrugged.

“Well that’s what us army guys do. Gotta eat when you can get it. Whatever it is. Never know how long you might have to go without.”

“It
’ll be a doddle then. I have the local farmer lined up to supply pigs for the hog roast and he’s going to help set up the farm too.” She was feeling slightly better. “I wish your next leave was sooner. You could come and help with the farm.” The idea had been Joe’s and everyone had agreed that it was a super suggestion.

David leaned back on the kitchen table.

“Maybe I will.” He was mysterious.

Ellen shook her head at her brother.

“How? You only have leave every six months. We’ll be up and running by then.” She pulled a chair out and sat down looking glum again.

David grinned at her.

“I was keeping it as a surprise, but you may as well know now. I’m getting out. Adam and James are too. We’ve had enough and the army are offering us a good redundancy package, not that I need the money of course, but the others do. Adam wants to spend more time with his wife and kids. His body is getting worse. The paralysis really sods you up. He doesn’t think he’s going to reach old age, and James has to have another set of operations on his legs. He almost wishes they had chopped them off in the first place, they give him so much trouble. If they don’t get any better this time, he says he’s going for amputation. I don’t envy him. At least I had no choice. I’ve told him to think about it long and hard first.”

Ellen grabbed hold of her brother’s hands and squeezed them gently. Tears leaked out of her eyes.

“Oh David, I can’t believe it. When do you finish?”

“Nine weeks. And that’s not the only
thing, Joe’s finishing his five years in three months. He’s not signing up for any more. He’s thinking of asking you for a job here. He doesn’t think he’ll get much anywhere else, what with his face the way it is. I said I didn’t think he would have any problems at all, the bomb blast has made an improvement.” He laughed aloud at Ellen’s shocked expression.  “If he does ask you, for God’s sake don’t offer him the chef’s position. His cooking is worse than yours.”

Ellen smiled indulgently, knowing his banter was serious for all his jests.

“This is the best news ever. What about Gemma and Paul. Are they getting out too?”

“Paul’s staying in, he’s got two years left to go. He’s absolutely brilliant at all the coded stuff. He says it’s even easier to read them now that he can’t see the words, makes him think, use his brain more. They have offered him some new robotic eye system, but he has to be in still to get on the scheme. It’s all experimental, but he’s fine with it. Like he says, it’s not as if you can get more blind than blind. And he gets paid to do it too.” He gave Ellen another squeeze.

“Gemma loves the job as you know. As soon as she gets the all clear she’s getting back into the field. She’s already passed the physical and just has to get through the endurance testing. I don’t think there’s any chance that she’s going to fail.” He stood back up straight. “Only just over two months and I’ll be free. I never expected to want to come out. I loved it while I was in the thick of things and thought I was going to be in the army for life, but stuff like this,” He looked down at his legs. “It gives one a new perspective on everything.”

They began walking towards the kitchen door together. Ellen smiled up at him.

“Come straight back here when you’ve finished, and tell Joe to come too, as soon as he’s out. We’ll get him doing all the outside activities. He’ll absolutely love it.” She was holding David’s arm as they walked across the hall and she squeezed it gently. “Thank you David. I feel so much more positive now.”

“Good. Let me know how you’re getting on with the interviews. I’ll ring when I c
an and I’ll see if I can organize some guests for New Year. We won’t have time to get much advertising done this side of Christmas.” He kissed her on the top of her head as they reached the stairs and he pulled the end of her plait playfully. His hand caught on her clip. “Still wearing it then?”

She smiled up at him

“Of course. I love it and wear it nearly every day. I still have the original one too. It looks a bit grotty in comparison to this one, but I’d never get rid of it”

He dropped her hair.

“Perhaps I should buy you a different one, you must be fed up of this design.”

“Never, but I won’t say no to a pair of matching earrings. There, that’s made my birthday
easy for you. Now get on up to bed, you’ve got a lot of travelling tomorrow.”

“We’re leaving really early in the morning, so don’t get up especially. I’ll see you in a couple of months.”

She gave him a huge cuddle.

“Can’t wait.
Don’t forget to tell Joe he has a job waiting too. Take care and I’ll see you in a few weeks.”

Chapter Nine

“Holy Shit!”
David whooped. “This is fantastic! When did you think of it? I don’t remember anyone suggesting anything like it.” He was hanging onto the zip wire about to launch himself into midair. His breath was puffing out in huge clouds as he worked himself up for his descent.

Ellen looked worriedly down into the ravine.

“I thought of it myself after I’d climbed down those dreadful steps to the fishing huts for about the fifth time. They’re really steep and they kill the backs of your legs. There’s no way you could do it very often, and if you go down via the track, it takes ages. You don’t have to use that thing David, I put it in for the kids really, you can go down in the cable car, the same as most adults would.” She looked at his grinning face.

“Not on your life. This is going to be great. What’s it going to be like at the bottom?” He was peering downwards, slightly dubious for a second.

“Messy if you don’t hit the break in time.” She nodded at a small red button on one of the handles. “It has an auto brake but it’s geared for someone a lot lighter than you. Your weight will take you too far and you’ll hit the water. And you are meant to be wearing that safety harness you idiot.”

David grinned gleefully.

“Don’t be ridiculous! You know what we’ve been through! The danger is the whole point surely! And the brakes, well you can forget them. This’ll be a walk in the park!” And with a great
“Woo Hoo!”
He was gone.

Ell
en walked to the cable car, the lines of which ran adjacent to the zip wire, and pressed the descend button. She made a more sedate pace to the beach at the bottom of the ravine. She could hear loud laughter echoing around the the valley.

“That was brilliant
.” David puffed up to her and opened the door of the cable car. His trousers were soaked and great clouds of breath were coming out of his mouth. “I haven’t done anything like that for years.”

“You’re just a big kid.” She smiled, glad that he was enjoying himself. “The tree top walk goes in next week. And the canoes
and rafts for the white water rafting arrive the week after. Joe is going to have his work cut out for him when he arrives. I hope he’s up to it.” They began to walk along the river. Ellen pointed out the fishing cabins, tucked a little back from the bank.

David had arrived the evening before and had been amazed at the amount of work that had been done in such a short space of time. The rooms had all been decorated and fitted out in sumptuous style. No one would guess that the four posters all had hidden hoists or pressure relief mattresses. The
ensuite bathrooms had wet room showers and sunken hydro-therapy baths, every one of them big enough and with ramps or lifting gear to take a wheelchair and still leave room for an assistant.

All the furnishings were of the most beautiful quality, the materials rich and enticing. The
library was stocked with innumerable shelves of books. The games room was complete with table tennis, snooker and card tables. The cinema took up part of the attic space while the cellar swimming pool had fabulous underwater mood lighting, along with landscaped ramps and hoists. All the treatment rooms were filled with delicious smelling lotions and rubs. Ellen had made one of the cellar rooms into a gym, equipped with all the latest high tech machinery plus several racks of old fashioned weights, and another into a beauty parlour with a hairdresser, beautician and nail expert, while beside the pool, she had installed an integral sauna room with an icy cold shower. She had fitted a squash court and two badminton courts in the old riding school and five self-catering suites in the stables.

“You’ve done brilliantly Ellen. The whole place is wonderful! Has everyone confirmed for New Year?”

“Well it’s mostly your mates, but I’ve had a couple of families who had just heard about it. They want to be all together so I’m putting them in the self-catering suites. They can all have separate bedrooms there, but still be with each other and they’re all going to be eating with us up here. I’m hoping to get recommendations from them all. And then there’s the Maire, his wife, plus all my workers and half the town coming too for the celebration dinner. There are going to be over a hundred of us in the ballroom on New Year’s Eve, sort of grand opening gesture I think.”

He bent and picked up a flat stone, weighed it in his hand before he skimmed it across the water.

“Great. I can’t believe how well you have done already. And how’s the budget going? Are we overspent by much?” Ellen had discussed the figures with him the evening before, over dinner, but David had been more preoccupied, flirting furiously with Geraldine, one of her specialized staff who was helping out all round. He had been so entranced as she had waited at the table he hadn’t really listened to Ellen at all.

“Not too much.
Twenty eight thousand at the last count. It sounds like a massive amount but it’s only because of the additional accommodation. I’m getting a few bookings for later on in the year and we have the first of three weekends of corporate guests arriving at the end of January. They are fully booked and paying the full going rate for all of the rooms so I’ve nearly made up the difference already. If they recommend us to other business clients, I’m hoping all the corporate weeks will be filled completely. They are only happening one week in six but will pay for the entire shortfall with our other guests. I’m relying on Joe to organize all the team building activities before then. I must make a note to remind him that the corporate stuff will be for normal human beings and not for a load of adrenaline junkies like you lot. I don’t want them put off because he’s making them try and leap over a twelve foot wall.” She sounded a little flat.

David looked over at her, wondering whether he should bring the conversation up.

“Joe’ll find that a doddle, it’s right up his street…” He stared into her sad eyes. “Not still fretting over that scumbag that let you down, I hope?” He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

She smiled weakly and lied badly.

“No, don’t be silly. I haven’t had a moment to think about him. I have a hotel to open in less than a month and there are still a million things to do.”

David stared down at his sister as she turned to face him.

“You are such a bad liar Ellen…You are skinny and listless and have obviously been working all the hours God sent, just to keep your mind off him. I knew you were still upset when we left before, but I had no idea that you were in so deep.”

S
he turned away from his scrutiny, her voice was almost strangled when she replied.

“Deeper than you’ll ever know David. I’ll never get involved with another man again. No one could come close.” She stared into the distance
and blinked hard as she thought of Patrick.

David picked up another stone and hefted it in his hand.

“I just can’t see how he’d drop everything like this. I mean, it’s been months now. His house must be a right mess.

Ellen didn’t dare look back up at David. She couldn’t tell him that before he had arrived she had spent every night at Patrick’s house, sleeping in his bed and snuggling up to his coat, desperate for anything of him, any tiny infinitesimal shred of him, to hold onto.

She nearly cried out at the thoughts. She quickly changed the subject.

“Come on, I’m going back up to the house. I need to speak to Geraldine about the other bar staff she’s booked and I
also need to sort out the first aid exams. I have three staff taking them this week. And you need to get out of those wet clothes. You must be freezing.” David’s trousers were flapping wetly against his legs.

He looked down at the dripping fabric, completely unconcerned.

“Huh! Don’t see why you would think that. I haven’t got any legs to freeze.” He grinned as she rolled her eyes and they turned to make their way back to the cable car. “Not nearly so exciting as going down.” He muttered darkly as they rose slowly through the trees.