‘Your dad’s not expecting to stay for lunch, is he?’ Rebecca wanted to know. ‘We’re going to be real busy as soon as you get here, and I wouldn’t want him hanging around with nothing to do.’
Olivia pushed mute again. This was tricky to phrase. ‘Rebecca says that lunch will probably be late so if you want to leave before then, she won’t be offended.’
‘That’s kind of Rebecca,’ Mr Vega replied. ‘But I would like to have a look around Susannah’s ranch. She told me so much about it.’
Drat, Olivia thought. If her bio-dad had been planning on just dropping them off, it would have made this conversation much easier.
‘He’d like to see some of the ranch with us, if you don’t mind,’ Olivia told her aunt.
‘Well, of course, that’s fine,’ Rebecca said but Olivia wondered if she didn’t really want him to stay. ‘I just wouldn’t want him to get stuck in prelunch traffic on the way home.’
‘Great,’ Olivia chirped, deciding to end the conversation there. ‘We’ll see you soon.’
Ugh, Olivia thought. That was awkward.
Ivy offered a sympathetic look from the front seat.
It doesn’t matter, Olivia thought to herself. Finding out about our biological mom is going to be so worth it and we’ll smooth out the adults’ issues later.
As Mr Vega stopped the car at the top of the ranch’s driveway, Ivy’s heart sank. There were animals everywhere.
Dozens of chickens ran free, pecking the ground, while two black Labradors lazed on the front porch. The stables were huge – it looked like a horse mansion. There were pigs in one pen and a goat was bleating as it munched on a green hedge.
This is definitely too much farm, Ivy thought to herself. On the positive side, so far no cows to milk.
As well as the animals, there were some picturesque weeping willow trees dotted around the yard. One overhung a small pond with a duck family swimming on it. It was like a scene from a painting.
Olivia looked like she’d just won a cheer-a-thon. Her eyes were sparkling as she undid her seatbelt and got out of the car. ‘This is incredible!’ Olivia declared.
‘That’s one word for it,’ Ivy muttered as she followed, trying to avoid stepping on a white spotted chicken with feathers on either side of its head that looked like a beard.
It was a huge open space, and the wind was kicking up dust. The air smelled like weird popcorn and grass.
The two dogs snuffled and one let out a short bark. They bounded down from the porch swing to greet the visitors, but as they got nearer to Ivy, they backed off.
‘Hello,’ Olivia said softly to them. ‘Who are you?’
That was all it took for the two big balls of fur to go straight to Olivia for a good scratching. Ivy knew that vampires sometimes had an effect on animals, but this seemed pretty extreme. The dogs didn’t even want to come near her.
The screen door swung open and Rebecca rushed to greet them. She had flour on her hands and a breeze of apple-scent followed her.
‘I just put dessert for tonight into the oven,’ she said. ‘Hope you like apple pie!’
‘I love it,’ declared Olivia as she gave Rebecca a hug.
One of the Labs growled as Ivy tried to step forwards for her hug.
‘Gonzo! What’s wrong with you?’ Rebecca tugged on Gonzo’s collar. ‘Be nice to Ivy.’
Ivy smiled sheepishly. ‘Dogs don’t usually like me,’ she admitted as Rebecca hugged her.
‘Nonsense,’ Rebecca replied. ‘Gonzo likes everybody.’
That doesn’t exactly make me feel better, Ivy thought, glad that the wind was whipping her hair in her face so that no one could tell she was disappointed.
‘You didn’t have to drive, Charlie,’ Rebecca said. ‘I would have been happy to pick them up.’
‘It wasn’t any trouble,’ Mr Vega replied. ‘Besides, I wanted to see this place that Susannah talked about so much.’
Ivy saw Rebecca wince at Susannah’s name. She must miss her every day, Ivy thought. I don’t know how I could live without Olivia.
‘I just wish there was more of her presence here,’ Rebecca said sadly. ‘But we were here so long ago that it seems it’s only my memories that keep her here.’
Mr Vega looked miserable, too. ‘Sometimes the memories just aren’t enough.’
Ivy didn’t want this to turn into a funeral.
‘Can we go and see the stables, now?’ Olivia asked, clearly not wanting it to feel gloomy either.
It’s not what I would have suggested, Ivy said, but at least it will change the subject.
‘Of course,’ Rebecca replied, perking up.
‘I’ll wait here and unload the luggage,’ said Mr Vega. Ivy guessed he was feeling uncomfortable around the animals as well.
The four of them crunched across the dirt and gravel towards the huge wooden structure that seemed the size of a small supermarket.
It was cool and dark inside, with a long central walkway dividing a dozen individual stalls on either side. Two stable hands waved, one a man as old as their dad and the other was probably a high-school student. They were shovelling hay with pitchforks.
‘That’s Hank.’ Rebecca pointed to the younger one. ‘And that’s John.’
There was a huge tackroom filled with saddles, buckets, blankets and other things.
‘Wow,’ Olivia breathed.
‘We’ve got twenty-two horses in twenty-four stables,’ Rebecca explained. ‘It takes a lot of looking after.’