Chapter Twenty Six

As they sat down to breakfast on their return from honeymoon, Jo suggested that the young couple should take her room (with the double bed) and she would move upstairs to Joshua's room

 Joshua then spent the day adding his new plants to his growing garden

 Before tending the existing plants

Jo spent her time playing with Smudge

 While Tamara spent the day watching and following a beautiful wild horse she'd fallen in love with

 Eventually she managed to get close enough to the horse to persuade him to sniff her hand

 And then to accept an apple from Joshua's garden

While the horse was eating from her hand Tamara was able to stroke him and marvelled at the feeling 

 She watched him run around for a while longer before heading home

 That night when Joshua went to bed, he had to move Smudge from the bed first 

 Smudge was not impressed

As the two of them relaxed on the bed, Tamara gushed about the gorgeous horse she'd spent the day watching 

Before kissing Joshua good night (and a few other things...) 

In the morning, Jo repaired the dishwasher (which had broken the night before) while Joshua and Tamara got their breakfast from the fridge 

 Once she'd finished her repairs (Joshua couldn't stand strangers in the house so Jo had wound up doing them all herself) she joined her son and daughter-in-law at breakfast

Once Joshua had gone outside to tend the garden, Tamara and Jo bonded over the remains of breakfast 

 Jo had finally managed to upgrade the TV so she watched a cookery programme, hoping to pick up some new recipes, while Smudge did his best to destroy another scratching post

 Joshua happily looked after his garden, enjoying the peace and quiet

 While Tamara ventured back to the small lake and waterfall where she'd last seen the wild horse

 She was delighted to find he was there again and spent a long time watching him

 Before making further attempts to win his trust

Letting him sniff her hand and feeding him treats

 Until he deigned to let her stroke him 

 Joshua spent some of his evening fishing in the lake, watching the stars as he did so

When he got home, he finally remembered to give Jo the recipe books they'd picked up for her in France 

Before retiring to bed (and his loving wife...)