We moved on from the Brady farm and back into the woods where Alec led me to a small clearing.

The clearing sat in the middle of a circle of trees. Even with the trees, the sun shone down right in the centre with a slight shadow being created around the edge. Due to a large amount of sunlight that managed to touch down in the clearing, the grass was almost emerald green and there were daisies and other wildflowers dotted about. It looked like something that had come straight out of a storybook.

Alec dismounted from his horse and grabbed the wicker basket that Mrs Goodwin had given him. I followed him and clambered off Jigsaw, watching my footing so I didn't fall face-first onto the ground. Both of us tied our horses to a nearby tree where they started to much away at the grass around them.

"We'll take them down to the creak later so they can have a drink. I figured eating a picnic by a creak isn't as nice as this," Alec said

"So you have a clearing, a creak, endless fields and some woods. Is there anything you don't have?"

"A fountain." He laughed. "We have a lake too."

"That doesn't surprise me."

"We can go down to the lake in the summer. It's usually a good day out."

I didn't say anything and instead helped Alec to lay down the gingham cloth so we didn't have to sit directly on the grass to eat the picnic Mrs Goodwin had packed. Alec had sounded so excited at the thought of a trip to the lake in the summer that I didn't have the heart to tell him that I probably wouldn't be around come summer. Even though Summer was still months away, even Alec couldn't take the excitement in his voice.

We straightened out the cloth onto the floor in the direct patch of sunlight in the very centre of the clearing. Once it was straight, we started to pull out everything that Mrs Goodwin had packed for us. She had prepared a multitude of sandwiches and even made some brownies for us to eat afterwards. There were also plates and two glasses for us to drink the ginger beer from. She had thought of everything.

Alec tucked into the sandwiches immediately and devoured one in just a few bites which wasn't all that surprising given how quickly he ate when we were repairing the fence. I savoured the sandwich a little bit more and nibbled it between sips of the ginger ale and looked around at the clearing. Even after a week living with the Goodwin's, I could still see the appeal in living in a place that held so many small secrets.

I loved the city, but there were some elements of the country that I could probably grow to love. It was a lot quieter than the city for one which I welcomed since I had never been a fan of the constant noise and chatter. The air in the country was clear and clean with no smoke from the factories or the strange smell that often came from the Thames. It certainly was a nice break from London.

"How are you finding your time here?" Alec asked, reading my mind.

"It's quieter than the city, that's for certain." I took a sip of my ginger beer.

Alec laid back against the cloth. "I spent two days in the city once, a few years ago, and couldn't wait to come home. There are two types of people in this, those who like the city and those who like the country. No one is ever both."

"What makes you say that?"

"Most people who move to the city from the country never stay there for too long. Just look at Mr Goodwin, he lived in the city for years and then came back when his father died, no questions asked. He could have just sold the farm."

"That's different, though. It's his family's farm."

"He didn't have to pack up and move, though. It's like you, I bet you can't wait to go back to the city."

"Also different. My mum's there, it's home and it's not like any of us asked to be pulled from our homes and to the middle of nowhere."

"The point still stands."

I sighed and caught Alec smiling slightly as he removed his glasses to clean them. Once they were clean he put them back on, tucked his arms behind his head and closed his eyes. Since he was so keen to take a nap, I packed up the empty sandwich plates and put them into the basket before taking one of the brownies. Alec had completely forgotten about them and I was not in the habit of telling people if there was chocolate nearby.

With Alec either pretending to be asleep or actually asleep, I jumped up from the cloth and walked over to Jigsaw who had stopped grazing and was just staring across the clearing. I lightly stroked him on the nose and just stood beside him to take in the silence of the landscape. There were birds tweeting away in the trees and flying overhead, I could hear cows nearby. In London, the only birds I usually heard were seagulls but even they were sometimes drowned out by the general noise of the city.

Although I couldn't think of myself living in the country full time, the break from the city had been needed and I hoped that Mum, Dad, and I could venture beyond London every once in a while. I knew Dad would lie that since he was always trying to encourage Mum to take a trip elsewhere but she never went for it. When the war was over, I hoped we'd get that opportunity.

I crossed back over to the cloth and took one of the brownies from the plate, staring at Alec who appeared none the wiser to me eating the brownies and, as my mum would say, appeared to be away with the fairies. He wasn't going to notice if I ate the entire plate of brownies, he seemed to have completely forgotten about them. All the more for me.

"You better not be eating all of those," Alec said, his eyes still shut. I shovelled another brownie into my mouth and tried to keep from laughing; I'd eaten almost half the plate.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said after gulping down the brownie.

Alec opened his eyes and sat up, looking down at the plate on the cloth. "You've eaten half of them!"

"Not quite half of them. I counted." I swiped another one. "Now it's half."

"These are all mine. All of them." Alec took the plate and cradled it on his lap. He looked like a child.

"You were the one who decided to take a nap whilst the brownies were sitting there, it's not my fault."

"You didn't have to eat them and you could have woken me up, it's not like I was actually asleep."

"Yes, you were."

Alec laughed and started to devour the brownies whilst I did everything I could to not look at him. He had started shoving several of the brownies in his mouth in one go to prove a point, something I had seen Mark do on more than one occasion, and not something I wanted to see Alec do. Instead, I looked at the horses, both of whom appeared to be staring at us and wanting to get a move on. They must have been thirsty.

Once he had eaten the rest of the brownies, leaving a trail of crumbs everywhere, Alec placed the plate into the basket and then we both clambered off the cloth. Together, we folded it up and placed it back on top of the basket which Alec then secured. He lightly stroked the nose of his horse.

"Let's get these two down to the creek, Duchess can get a little volatile if she doesn't go down there when I take her out," he said.

"Sounds like a plan. Lead the way."

He smiled and climbed up onto Duchess, a little more effortlessly than I managed. Once we were both seated, Alec led me out of the clearing and back through the trees, both of us moving at a slow pace. I hoped to one day get better at riding so we could go a little faster than a walk, but it was better than nothing and I never even thought I would get that far when Mr Goodwin presented the idea.

Just being on the back of a horse was a miracle on its own, especially since I had never seen a horse in person before. Mum would be amazed if she could see me sitting on the top of the horse and riding it, although she would probably think it to be too dangerous. She had always disliked me helping Dad out on the docks or just around the house and I knew being on a horse would top that on the danger scale.

I followed Alec through the woods, surprised that anyone could find their way around since it all looked the same no matter where we went. I would probably need a map to tell me where everything was, and even then I'd probably end up lost somewhere along the line. Then again, it might be different since he grew up in the area, I doubted he would be able to find his way around London on his own.

Eventually, I could hear the quiet sound of running water and deduced that we must be nearing the creak. The grove of trees grew thicker and I noticed Alec slow down a little, most likely so I didn't lose him amongst the branches. The terrain under the Jigsaw's hooves shifted and became a little mudder with the occasional rock poking out of the ground. After a little while, the once flat ground started to slope and I found myself gripping the reins a little more even though I knew I wasn't going to fall.

Jigsaw manoeuvred his way over the rocky terrain without that much help from me and before long we came to the edge of a small creek. Water rushed over jagged rocks and fallen branches, following a trail that seemed to go on forever. Alec and I climbed off the horses and left them tied up to nearby trees so they could have a drink without us on their back. We walked a little further down the creek and sat down on the edge.

"Mr Goodwin was right about you, you are a natural on a horse," Alec said.

"When did he say that?"

"When he came down to the farm this morning. He said that you took to it really well and he wasn't lying. You sure you've never been on a horse before?"

"Maybe in a past life."

He laughed. "So, how did you get into carpentry? It's not exactly a normal hobby for a girl, no offence."

"None taken. I've never been very good at school so when I was younger, Dad wanted to see if my talents sat elsewhere. He asked me to help him build a shelf one Saturday and it just stuck. Mum wasn't too pleased, she doesn't think it's something a young lady should be doing, but she's never been able to stop me."

"Your dad would be proud to hear of all the work you've done for Goodwin's. It's only been a week and the farm already looks a lot better." He paused. "Did he join up?"

I nodded. "Navy."

Alec didn't say anything.

Dad had left for Naval training a week before I had been evacuated and I still hadn't heard from him despite it being two weeks. I had hoped that Mum would include a letter from him when she first wrote to me, but she hadn't. After two weeks, I had no idea where Dad was or how he was doing during training. I didn't even know where he would end up once he was deployed and just how much the Navy would be used for the war.

We sat in silence, with the horses drinking to the left of us and Alex swirling his hand in the creek water. Like everywhere in this little village, the creek felt really peaceful with nothing but the sound of running water and the birds in the trees for company. If I could find the creek on my own, I could see myself spending hours just sitting beside it and listening to the water rush by. It was a nice little place.

After a while, Alec became restless and stood up to stretch his legs, walking a little further down the creek and grabbing a small rock to throw in. He dropped it in with his arm outstretched and laughed slightly at the noise it made when it hit the water as well as the ripple that had been created. I watched him do the same thing a few more times before walking back up the creek.

"We should get going if you want to be back on time," he said.

"Do we have to?" I whined.

"Watch it, you're starting to sound like you enjoy it here." He laughed, offering a hand.

"Shut up." I accepted his hand and he pulled me to my feet. I paused to brush the grass and mud off the back of my slacks.

"I mean it. This place will get into your bones, it always does."

~~~

A/N - Hello and welcome to Chapter Fourteen of The Last Train Home! I'm on Chapter Thirty-Four offline, so, progress!

Questions! Do you think Sybil will grow to love the country? Do you like the idea of her and Alec? Let me know!

First Published - June 16th, 2021