Sea Horses by Louise Cooper Page A

riding stable just up the valley.’ She smiled at Tamzin. ‘I'll show you in a day or two, when you've settled in.’
    ‘There,’ said Dad, teasing. ‘Before you know where you are, you won't be missing Mum and me at all!’
    That wasn't true, of course. Tamzin was going to miss them dreadfully, and her friends, and everything she knew. But maybe life at Chapel Cottage wouldn't be so bad. For Dad's sake, anyway, she was determined to put on a brave face.
    ‘Don't worry, Dad,’ she said, and managed to smile back at him. ‘I'm going to be fine. Really I am.’
    Tamzin's new bedroom overlooked the valley. It was a nice room with a comfortable bed, wardrobe, dressing table and even a washbasin of her own. She couldn't glimpse the sea from the window but Nan said that the beach was only a short walk away, down the valley path.
    There was another horse picture in her room. It was in a similar style to the one in the kitchen, and when she looked at it closely Tamzin saw Nan's name signed in the corner. These paintings were hers, then. They were very good, Tamzin thought. And all very blue: blue skies, blue light – this one was a moonlit picture of a horse with a flying mane and tail, galloping out of a blue sea. The horse was white, but its coat had a blue tinge… Nan must have a thing about blue, Tamzin told herself, and smiled.
    Nan came in behind her, carrying one of her cases. ‘What do you think of my pictures?’ she asked.
    Tamzin turned round. ‘They're lovely! Especially this one – I think I like it the best.’ She looked at the picture again. ‘Do you always paint horses?’
    ‘Nearly always,’ said Nan. ‘Though I sometimes do other things to sell. I used to ride, you know, but I wasn't very good at it. So now I just do horse pictures and collect a few horsy things.’
    Tamzin smiled shyly at her. ‘Thank you for putting this one in my room. It'll be the first thing I see when I wake up every morning.’
    Nan's expression changed. ‘The first thing you see…’ she mused. ‘Mmm… that's probably just as well.’
    Whatever did she mean? Tamzin wondered. Nan's face was thoughtful, and there was a peculiar little downward curve to her mouth, as if she was worried about something. But before Tamzin could ask any questions, she seemed to shake her thoughts off and was suddenly brisk and cheerful.
    ‘Dinner's nearly ready, so hurry and unpack, then come down. I'll see you in a few minutes, all right?’
    She went out, leaving Tamzin mystified.
    After dinner the three of them settled in the sitting room, but before long Tamzin began to feel miserable again. Dad was staying overnight but in the morning he would drive back home, then the day after that he and Mum would board their plane and fly away to Canada. It was all looming horribly close. Tamzin hated being weak, but if she wasn't careful she would start to cry.
    Nan saw her blinking and looked kindly at her. ‘This must be very dull for you, Tamzin,’ she said. ‘Why don't you go and explore the house, and leave your dad and me to chat?’
    She understood without the need to be told, and Tamzin accepted gratefully. If nothing else, it would take her mind off her troubles.
    Chapel Cottage wasn't that big but it was certainly interesting. There seemed to be lots of little rooms, with twisty passages and steps leading to and from them. You couldn't exactly get lost but it was easy to pretend you could. And in every room Tamzin found, there were more of Nan's horse paintings. Most of them were quite small but a few were as large as the one in her bedroom. Again, the paintings and the horses in them were all very blue.
    The last room she came to was Nan's studio. It was at one end of the house and it had huge picture windows on three sides, almost like a conservatory. It was dark now, and long curtains were drawn over the windows, but there must be a marvellous view in the daytime.
    The room was full of canvases, tubes of paint, rags and bottles; all