I propped myself against a wet wall and waited. A thought occurred to me while she was gone, and I put it to her when she got back to distract myself from how difficult it was to climb into the van. “If I’m in the bedroom, and Harry’s in the living room, where the fuck did you put all the tack?”
“In the trailer.”
“What?”
“The trailer,” Emma repeated like I was a moron. “It’s been cleaned out and secured.”
“By who?”
Emma pulled out of the hospital grounds, paying more attention to the road than strictly necessary.
“Please tell me you didn’t let Harry do it?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then who? Most of that old junk is too heavy for Toby and George, and you’re scared of spiders.”
“I’m scared of everything. Doesn’t stop me pulling my weight on the farm.”
“Never said it did. I—” I caught myself before the conversation descended into the type of sibling bickering that went round in circles. “Who did it?”
Emma shot me a worried glance. “You’re not allowed to get cross.”
“I won’t.”
“I mean it, Joe. Mum had a long conversation with that doctor this morning and he said you’re not allowed any stress.”
“Then stop pissing me about and answer the question.”
Emma eased the van onto the main road, taking care to avoid the bumps and holes, which I appreciated. “Dad’s been helping on the farm.”
“He’s been what?”
“Helping, Joe. Fuck’s sake. Don’t make me say everything twice. You didn’t bang your head that hard.”
The bang to my head had been the least of my worries. Concussion was a breeze compared to the disaster in my stomach. I took a deep breath and forced myself to at least try and sound reasonable. “What’s Jonah been doing on the farm? He can’t stay there.”
“Iknow,” Emma said. “The night you got hurt, Shadow was too much for us, so I called the Legion looking for him, and he was sober enough to come and help. He’s stuck around since then, helping George nurse those ponies and working with Shadow. He cleaned the trailer out too, but he’s gone now, I swear. He knew you wouldn’t want him around.”
I absorbed it all and sat back in my seat, closing my eyes as my overloaded brain processed it. Weird emotions ran through me, but confusion was loudest. I’d been angry at my father for most of my life, but I could deal with him. Emma was the one who’d ignored him all these years, seemingly content to pretend that he was pretty much dead. How could she call on him for help and then explain it to me like it was fuckingnormal?
It was a while before I felt steady enough to continue the conversation, and by then I was too tired to be pissed off. “You do realise that we told Dicky that Jonah was never on the farm? If he finds out he has been, he might come back and have another go at Mum.”
Emma snorted. “I doubt it. George was in the Legion last week, and apparently Harry scared the shit out of Dicky. He hasn’t been around for ages.”
Nothing was ever that simple, and Dicky McGee wasn’t the kind of man to leave his pride in the mud of my yard. I started to argue with Emma but ran out of steam before I’d managed a coherent sentence.
She frowned at me.
I shook my head. “I’m tired.”
“I know, big brother. We’re almost home.”
I couldn’t wait.
At least, I thought I couldn’t until the bumpy lane to the farm almost killed me.
“Sorry.” Emma winced on my behalf. “Perhaps I should’ve let Harry fetch you in the car after all.”
