Chapter Twenty Nine

Tamara and Joshua paid a visit to her parents

Joshua explained to Tamara's father how they'd opted for a private wedding because he couldn't stand crowds

While Tamara went to find her mother, who immediately asked when she could expect to have grandchildren, not giving Tamara a chance to comment on her altered appearance...

Tamara explained that they needed to establish themselves in their respective careers first, Joshua's garden was coming along nicely and now that his plants were approaching perfection the income he was earning from the produce was going up accordingly.

She then went out to interrupt the conversation between her father and husband

"Papa, what have you done?  Mama looks younger than I am but you've not turned her, what's going on?"

"It's the reason I brought you all here, there's a magical spring in the mountains here which restores youth.  Your mother never wanted to be a vampire, for reasons which I won't go into, but I couldn't bear to let her grow old and die.   When I heard about this spring I knew it was the answer, and I couldn't let any other clan lay claim to it - hence the secrecy of our move"

Back home Jo tried out another French recipe - bouillabaisse 

Which turned out perfectly as usual

Tamara had placed her first trophy on the table beside they bed and dreamed of winning more

In the morning she got down to the less pleasant side of owning a horse - cleaning out Midnight's stall - at least it provided Joshua with some extra fertiliser

Which he put to good use

Tamara rode Midnight over to the training grounds, her skills had improved rapidly

And the two of them put the facilities at the training ground to good use

Before riding off to the Equestrian Centre to compete in the day's race

Having finished with his garden for the day, Joshua was to be found down at the lake as the sun set

The next morning, as Jo ate her freshly prepared pancakes, Smudge destroyed yet another scratching post

Joshua tended the garden

As Jo unclogged the toilet again

Before joining her son in the garden

Over at the training grounds, Tamara had started Midnight on some simple jumps

Before attempting some of the more difficult ones

With varying degrees of success

As evening drew in, Joshua fished in the nearby park

While Jo indulged in a cooking spree