Royal Flush Ch. 07

"Suit yourself. Now then, groom, take Strawberry over to...," she looked about her, "that hurdle over there and she can have her reward."

Tamsin unfastened Strawberry from the sulky and led her over to the hurdle. Strawberry's hands, or should that be forehooves, had not been fastened behind her back so she leant forward and grasped the top of the hurdle. Celia took her riding crop and, with the minimum of ceremony, laid six stripes across Strawberry's backside. Tamsin was all too aware of how much the riding crop could sting but it was plain that Celia was acting more for effect than to cause any real pain.

And so the afternoon progressed. It was noticeable that, unlike Patience, the other Dommes had no reluctance to claim their prizes and were regularly scuttling back and forth to the stables. However, the earlier differences had cast a shadow over everything and there was less enthusiasm than there might have been. In fact, all were quite happy when, after the fourth race, Celia suggested that it was time for her to return to London.

"Sorry to be a party pooper and all, but I've things to do. Barbara, sweetie, can I give you girls a lift?"

"That would be super."

"I ought to be off as well," Hermione put in.

"What about you, Emma, are you leaving me as well or can I tempt you to stay and dine with me?"

"Dine with you? If you're sure."

"Certainly. You'll have to take pot luck, of course, but stay and eat and then Sally can run you back to Brockenhurst in time to catch the nine forty. That gets into Waterloo about half eleven. How does that sound?"

"Splendid! I'd be delighted."

"Well then, I guess we had best get these ponies sorted out. Groom, take them back to the stables."

As the Dommes trooped back to the house Tamsin led the ponies back to the stables. As soon as they were inside she unhitched them from the sulkies and, from there, they were able to look after themselves. They all crowded into the tack room and started to remove the pony gear.

"Your Patience is a bore, do you know that," Felicity said rather crossly.

"How do you mean?" Sally asked defensively.

"We spend all this money on pony gear and troop all the way down here and, if she had her way, it would have been nothing more exciting than school sports day."

"That's a little unfair. Just because she takes it seriously...."

"Seriously! This is supposed to be fun, not serious. I don't want serious, I want to have a good time, to enjoy myself."

"You just don't understand her."

"No, I guess I don't, but I'm not sure she understands me either. Look, sorry Sally, I know you love her but she can be a bit much at times."

Sally didn't reply and the atmosphere in the tack room felt distinctly awkward. Fortunately it wasn't long before they were all changed and Elizabeth, Augusta and Felicity were heading back to the house. Sally and Tamsin were left busy tidying around in the tack room. Sally was putting her pony gear in the locker when Tamsin heard her sniff.

"Are you OK?" Tamsin asked.

"It's just...." Sally turned round and Tamsin could see the tears in her eyes. "I was so looking forward to today, and I know Patience was as well. We wanted it to be perfect, perfect for you and Emma. We had it all worked out and then... and then they went and ruined it. They don't understand, nobody understands. It's not just a silly game, it's part of who we are. They just want to treat it as another excuse for a bit of hanky panky and a chance to sleep around a bit. Patience and I, we're not like that."

"Your Patience was quick enough to tan my backside first time we met and what about the other day, up in London?"

"I guess it's all about where you draw the line. A bit of spanking is one thing and, when your Emma offered, well, it would have been rude to have refused, wouldn't it. We're not prudes but, well, it just doesn't feel right with anyone else."

"I can understand that," Tamsin said softly. And, curiously enough, she did. She wasn't particularly taken with pony play but she knew that when they had had their puppy show there was a disjoint between the way she had felt and the way the others seemed to feel about it. Again, it had been Barbara and Felicity who had been the most frivolous, who were only mucking about. The only one who had really understood had been Princess Charlotte, or was that wishful thinking? She gave Sally a hug.

"Sorry about that, silly of me," Sally said, pulling away from the hug. "Now, it's time I did the evening rounds. Do you want to come with me?"

Tamsin wasn't particularly taken with the idea of going around feeding the horses but it would have been churlish in the extreme to have refused.

As they went from stall to stall Sally's disappointment was lost under her enthusiasm for her charges. However, Tamsin's professional curiosity had been piqued by this obvious rift within the Hellenic Sisterhood.

"So you and Patience, you've been together since school, then?" she asked.

"Well, not entirely. Mummy and daddy decided I should go to finishing school in Switzerland for a while and, after that, we had the most awful row when I told them I was going to train as a vet. They all but threw me out and that's when Patience.... She's always been there when I needed her. Then, when her parents died in that awful accident and she inherited this place, well, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else, would I?"

"You sound very happy."

"Oh, we are. I know it's not exactly conventional but we're as happy as Larry, both of us. I look after her and she looks after me." Sally turned to Tamsin and gave her a great big beaming smile. "I'm so glad you understand. It's not everyone who does. That's why Patience was so keen to have you on board. Some of the others..."

"Like Barbara and Felicity," Tamsin prompted.

"They're splendid girls and all and I won't hear a word said against them but... well, lets say they're part of the reason we don't go to as many meetings as we used to. All they want to do is muck around; they don't take any of it seriously. That spoils it for the rest of us, well, for Patience and myself, anyway. Now, that's the horses finished. Come on in and you can help me get dinner ready."

They went back to the house and into the kitchen. Sally seemed more relaxed, happier than Tamsin had ever seen her.

"I've got some lovely Marris Peers fresh in from the garden," she said, handing over a colander full to the brim of potatoes. "They just need washing and any bad bits taking out. Would you mind?"

"No, not in the slightest. I'm not much of a cook but I can do that for you."

As Tamsin set to washing the potatoes Sally got out her pots and pans and started preparing a couple of pheasants. It wasn't long before the kitchen was filled with delicious aromas.

"There's one thing I don't quite understand," Tamsin said after a while. "If the likes of Barbara and Felicity aren't really into the D/s thing why do they come along? What's all the goddesses and handmaidens thing about?"

"Oh, that's all Lady Mary's doing. It goes back to when we were at school. We had this system called 'pashing', a bit like fagging."

"Oh, yes, Zoe told me about that."

"Well, when Lady Mary started the sisterhood all the older girls got to be goddesses. Then they wanted to bring their pashes along and, well, we couldn't be goddesses so we became handmaidens. Silly really but you know what it's like at that age. Back then it was all awfully innocent. We thought we were so daring, secret meetings in the middle of the night, special code words, all that sort of thing. As we grew up, so did the games. Mind you, without Lady Mary, the whole thing would have fallen apart ages ago. She's the one who chivvies us to the meetings. She's the one who still insists on the goddesses and handmaidens thing. I think she just wants to keep the old school days going. Now, if you've finished the spuds how are you at shelling peas?"

"One last question," Tamsin said as she started in on the peas, "was that really Princess Charlotte I met when we were up at Celia's house in Bedfordshire?"

"You're not to call her that! When she's with us her name is Charlie, she hates it if you get all formal on her. Yes, poor darling, she turns up from time to time."

"Poor darling?"

"Oh, haven't you heard? Of course, there's no way you would have done. They managed to keep it completely under wraps. Thank god the press never found out. You know what absolute pests they can be. Still, least said, soonest mended. That's all in the past now. How are the peas doing? I'll be wanting to put them on the gas in a moment?"

Tamsin, sensitive to the way that Sally had clammed up, decided not to push it any further. She knew she ought to. That was exactly the sort of gossip that Angus would love. What's more, she was interested on her own account.

The meal was almost ready and Tamsin wondered if she and Sally were going to have to play at being waitresses but, to her relief, Patience announced that they were going to dine informally and they ended up, the four of them, sat around the kitchen table. Tamsin and Sally were suitably quiet and respectful but, from the outside, it was just four women enjoying a meal together.

"I do apologise for this afternoon," Patience said, after a while. "It can be so hard to find others that share one's particular... obsessions, even among your best friends"

"There's no need to apologise, no need at all," Andrea replied. "I do understand."

"If it it weren't for a sense of loyalty towards Lady Mary... I'm sorry, I must sound like a spoilt child. We either play the game my way or not at all, sort of thing."

"No, really, I do understand. Your relationship with Sally is like mine with Susan; it's a very large part of what we are and when others don't take it seriously, they appear to mock, and, in doing so, they mock us."

"They do indeed. Now, you must have some more of this wine. It really is rather good." Patience reached, once more, for the decanter.

"What a day," Andrea said to Tamsin as they settled down in the train back to London. "But we made some headway."

"With you sucking up to your new best friend, Patience Armitage. You two were getting on like a house on fire. 'We are the only ones who fully understand the lifestyle; oh, Patience, I do so agree'," Tamsin mimicked.

"I'm just establishing our trust. What about you; what did you find out?"

"More than I really want to know about the care and treatment of horses. Sally is a sweetie but she's more than a bit obsessed."

"Yeah, and what bloody use is that to us?"

"And then she told me all about 'pashing', how this lot, in one way or another, goes all the way back to when they were all at school together."

"Well, we knew that already. Still, at least it's something to tell Angus, keep him off our backs."

And, as the train rattled north, Tamsin wondered why she never mentioned that Sally had let slip something about some 'trouble' that Princess Charlotte had been in. Part of her wanted to use it to crow over Andrea, to show that she could find things out as well but... but... As a reporter, exposing the high and mighty's dirty washing ought to be her bread and butter. Why did it feel so wrong? 'I'll wait until I know more about it.' she told herself.