A Family Forever by Helen Scott Taylor

Chapter One
     
    Victoria O'Shea peered over the fence at the bottom of her garden to see if it was safe to climb into the field. There was no sign of grumpy Farmer Andrews who always harassed her if he saw her on his land, so she slung an old mat across the wire to make it easier to climb over.
    "Come on, Sophie," she shouted over her shoulder.
    "Coming, Mum." Her eight-year-old daughter scampered down the strip of grass that was their backyard, wearing a pink ballet tutu and tennis shoes.
    "When I said change out of your school uniform, I meant into shorts or jeans."
    "I won't get dirty, Mum. Honest. I'll be careful."
    Victoria suppressed a wry grin. The tutu would no doubt end up covered in dirt and leaves, but Sophie was ballet-obsessed at the moment. Victoria didn't have the heart to tell her to change again.
    "You go first, Soph." Victoria grasped her daughter beneath the arms and helped her over the fence, then climbed over herself.
    She reached back into her garden to grab her bag full of hedgehog food and the brush she used to clean out the animals' bowls. They hurried the twenty-five yards to the public footpath that cut across the grassy field. In theory, Mr. Andrews couldn't stop her walking on the footpath—it was a public right of way—even though she was sure he'd love to ban her if he could.
    Sophie skipped on ahead, doing the odd twirl and kicking out her legs in what were supposed to be ballet steps. Victoria knew nothing about ballet, but she had a sneaking feeling her daughter was not cut out to be a dancer.
    The worn path angled across the ten-acre field and ended at a stile leading to a country road. Victoria didn't normally go right to the end but left the path when it reached the fence at the far side. There she climbed through a gap onto the grounds of Larchfield Hall.
    Skylarks soared across the blue sky, singing sweetly. The stress of the day spent teaching at the local art college ebbed away. Friday evening was her favorite time of the week—the time she reserved for checking on the hedgehogs she'd nursed back to health and released.
    Rescuing and caring for injured and sick hedgehogs took a lot of her time and energy, but seeing the animals safely returned to the wild made the hard work worthwhile.
    The hole in the fence where she was heading came into sight and she increased her pace, eager to get off old Andrews's land. She was nearly there when his two mangy collie dogs came charging across the field, barking manically.
    "Quickly," Victoria said, grabbing her daughter's hand. "Run." Sophie took off and Victoria ran beside her, the bag of hedgehog food banging on her thigh with every step.
    The collies reached them, snarling and nipping at their heels. Sophie screamed and Victoria pushed her in front, trying to shield her from the dogs. She'd had enough of Andrews's damn bullying tactics. She quickly moved aside the broken slats of the wooden fence and helped Sophie through the gap to safety.
    "Come on, Mum, please." Her daughter's pale, terrified face and tearful blue eyes fired anger inside Victoria. She would not let the miserable old farmer get away with frightening her daughter.
    She turned to the collies. "Shoo!" She waved her arms and dashed at them, making them back up a few feet, but they continued to bark like mad.
    "Call them off, Andrews," she shouted as the farmer approached.
    With his greasy cap and a few days' worth of gray stubble on his lined face, the man looked like a vagrant. He huffed and puffed, obviously out of breath. After a few moments he whistled to the dogs, who then dropped to the ground.
    "You're trespassing," he wheezed.
    "I was on a public footpath."
    "You ain't on it now. Soon as you step off that footpath you're trespassing on my land. I'll report you to the police."
    "Go ahead." She wedged her hands on her hips and glared at him. "I'm sure they'd like to hear how you set your dogs on a woman and little girl."
    "I'll deny it! It'll be your word against mine."