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It was a crisp Spring morning, and Victoria Grey-Hughes walked towards the stables in her riding breeches and a t-shirt ready to ride. Her two dogs followed her, sniffing around on the grass and enjoying the early walk. Vic’s daughter, Hyzenthlay, gurgled happily in a backpack on Vic’s back.
“Right, my tiny best friend, here is where we are at today, I have Satan to ride quickly and then some potential buyers are coming to look at Angel and she needs to be at her sparkly best form because we need to make some money, don’t we, baby? So I need positive thoughts from you. We will sell this horse today.”
Hyzenthlay made appreciative noises in her sing-song voice and Vic smiled to herself adjusting the pack on her back slightly. “You are getting fucking heavy now, tiny one.” Hyzenthlay was approaching her first birthday, and Vic could hardly believe how much she had grown.
Hyzenthlay laughed.
Adjusting to becoming a mother, in some ways, had been big for Vic who had spent her entire life being fiercely independent and determinedly alone. Now, at thirty seven years old, she had this tiny little mini-me that she took pretty much everywhere with her.
Vic lived in a royal castle, courtesy of her best friend who was now the Queen of Great Britain. Vic still found that a hard fact to get her head around. Vic had grown up in a wealthy family and gone to an expensive boarding school. Money had been in no shortage in her childhood, unfortunately the same couldn’t be said for love and any kind of quality parenting. Her best friend from boarding school had been Alex, or officially, Princess Alexandra, the serious, earnest girl who always played by the rules. Alex had been the entire opposite of Vic in so many ways. Vic had always known that she was the heir to the British throne, but it had all become very real less than a year ago when Alex’s father had died and Princess Alexandra became Queen Alexandra.
Vic honestly couldn’t think of anyone better for the job. Alex may have been a bit uptight at times, but she was the queen the country desperately needed.
Alex had married her bodyguard, Erin, in a bold and exciting step forward for the monarchy and they had had triplets, which in a strange twist, had been born on the same day as Hyzenthlay. Their birth had been risky and dramatic and early, but the babies had gone on to thrive, and although Princess Florence was still small, she was doing well.
Upon becoming Queen, Alexandra, along with her wife Princess Erin and their children, Princess Matilda, Prince Frank and Princess Florence and their dog, Audrey, had been forced to move to the Royal Palace in London. It was historically the main residence for the reigning monarch of Great Britain, and although Alex had done away with some royal traditions, this was one she had always believed in. She had kept the royal castle that Vic lived in as their weekend home when they wanted to get out of London, and the Royal Family still spent a lot of time there so it was always fully staffed.
It had been strange at the castle without them, and Vic had adjusted to a newer version of life that mostly was all about her and Hyzenthlay and the horses and the staff at the castle. She had arranged to take on some rescue dogs from a dog shelter because she missed having Audrey around, and with Alex’s consent, she had taken on a big, mixed breed bear of a dog, aptly named Bear, along with an elderly golden retriever, named Linda.
Alex and Erin had always joked that Vic was like the Pied Piper for dogs, and it had always proven true. Vic adored dogs and dogs adored her. They always followed her around everywhere. The fable of the Pied Piper of Hamelin was a famous story where a piper played his pipe and all the rats followed him. He then used his unique skill to have all the children follow him and depending on the version of the story he lured the children to their death. Vic never played a pipe and she wasn’t so sure it was a good thing to be nicknamed the Pied Piper of dogs—it boded badly for the dogs, really—but never mind. The dogs hadn’t died yet. There were a number of labradors and spaniels that also lived on the big country estate around the castle and were often running loose in the castle grounds, and Vic often ended up with them running round with her, too, like a little tribe whether she was riding or walking.
“Morning,” called Vic’s groom, Naomi, as Vic arrived at the big barn that housed the individual stalls for the horses.
“Oh god, I love your hair!” Vic immediately noticed the bubblegum pink colour of Naomi’s usually platinum blonde ponytail. Naomi was often changing her hair colour to a variety of vibrant shades. “Maybe I should do mine like that!” Vic snorted, half serious. Oh, to be twenty years old again, like Naomi, without a care in the world!
Maybe pink hair isn’t something that works so well when you are thirty-seven years old.
Naomi was holding the reins of Satan, a stunning horse that Victoria had bought more than18 months ago as a youngster. She had put a lot of work into training him and his muscles rippled under his smooth jet black coat. He looked magnificent standing there in his saddle and bridle ready to go. Vic had been planning to sell him, as she did with all her horses these days, she bought young horses with potential cheaply and then trained them up and sold them at a good profit.
Satan had been wild when she bought him, and if she had been honest with herself, she had known then that he might not be the easiest horse to sell. He was hugely talented, but not an easy ride and honestly not for the faint-hearted rider. She kept putting off her plans to sell him; she enjoyed him so much, he was fun. Vic had always enjoyed the horses that weren’t straightforward, the ones that challenged her and brought out the best in her as a rider. Vic was the kind of rider who would take on horses the other riders wouldn’t.
Vic leant forward and kissed his velvety nose and he nuzzled at her, knowing that she always had a pack of Polo mints in her pocket.
She duly got one out and offered it to him on the flat of her hand and his big lips took it from her and he crunched it. He whinnied joyfully and then raised his upper lip in the air showing off his huge yellow teeth.
Vic laughed. “Good trick, big boy. Behave yourself today and you can have another one when we are done.”
Vic removed the backpack with Hyzenthlay in it from her back and passed backpack and baby across to Naomi swapping baby for horse in a handover they did every morning and it was very smooth now.
Vic had been back riding very quickly after giving birth and nobody had been surprised. There was no point in waiting, Vic had said. Things only got harder to get back to the longer you left them, and in many ways, she had been right.
“Be good, Tiny One,” Vic smiled at Hyzenthlay as she got up on the steps that acted as a mounting block and allowed her to easily get on her horse without causing his back any stress. She pulled on her helmet that had been left strategically by Naomi. Vic was guilty of not always wearing a helmet and she was always berated by Erin, Alex, Naomi and half of the other stable girls when she rode without one.
“Safety first.” Vic smiled sarcastically at Naomi as she fastened her helmet.
She put her left foot into the stirrup and swung her right leg easily over. Satan began to jog as she landed on his back. He was always ready, always keen for whatever they were doing, and Vic loved that about him.
She glanced over at Naomi releasing Hyzenthlay from her carrier. They had a little area penned off with a tiny wall of straw bales next to the riding arena where Naomi carried Hyzenthlay to and placed her down in the little playpen while Vic rode into the arena. Hyzenthlay began to crawl around and pulled herself up using the straw bale to stand and watch, fascinated. There were toys for her in the pen, but she had recently got the hang of pulling herself up and standing holding the straw bale.
“Mama,” she called and pointed at Vic.
Vic smiled and waved at her. “Hi, baby!” she called out to Hyzenthlay as she began to warm Satan up in a trot around the arena. She had been told by so many people that she was lucky in how happy and content Hyzenthlay was and what a good baby she was, and when Vic compared her to Alex and Erin’s children, she could definitely appreciate that.
Naomi sat on the straw bale next to Hyzenthlay keeping her entertained and offering her toys while Vic got on with riding.
It certainly wasn’t the most traditional childcare situation, but it worked for them. Vic glanced over and Hyzenthlay was sucking on a big, raw carrot.
