Fear

Chapter Five

The two horses and their riders galloped through the field back towards the ranch house. They slowed to a stop as they closed into the barn. Mairi and Elijah laughed as they stopped their horses and dismounted. 

"Well, that was. Amazing." Mairi spoke with so much joy. 

"I'm glad you had fun," Elijah smiled back as Johnny appeared again to take the horses. "Thank you, Johnny. Once the horses are rinsed and in their stall why don't you head home and I'll see you tomorrow."

"Really? Thank you!" Johnny said happily and took Bee and Elmer from the two of them.

"Why don't you come into the house, I'll get you something to drink." Elijah smiled to her,

"Oh my god, yes. I am so thirsty after all that riding." Mairi groaned excitedly as she followed behind Elijah. He pushed open his door to lead into the main area of the house. 

To her left was the dining area and to her left was a large kitchen with a square island in the middle of it. Going forward into the house the floor dropped down three steps to a large living area with a stone fireplace taking the centrepiece. On either side of the fireplace was floor to ceiling windows showing foresty behind the house. Off to the left of the house was a set of stairs which took you up to the next floor.

"Just as beautiful on the inside as the out," Mairi told him as she looked around.

"Thanks, I just had it refurbish and the extension put on just over a year ago. It was well overdue for some TLC." He told her as he walked into the kitchen. "What would you like? Water? Coffee?" Elijah asked looking around, "Beer?" He laughed.

"I'll take the beer." She muttered and Elijah nodded and opened the fridge. He pulled out two glass bottles of beer and kicked the fridge door shut with his foot. He opened the bottles with a contraption that was hanging against the island for taking the caps off of bottles. "Here you go." 

"Thank you." Mairi took on of the glass bottles from him and took a drink of the liquid. The cold fizzy liquid pleasantly scratched down her through, giving her a refreshed feeling. "This is a nice beer." 

"Yeah, It's a friend's company. Local brewery about half an hour from here. Another reason I am trying to expand the towns horizons." Elijah told her as he motioned for her to head to the living area. Mairi took a seat on the cotton grey sofa. 

"Thank you for today." Mairi smiled at him. "I forgot just how much I used to love horse riding." 

"Yeah, well. You are pretty good at it too. You jumped that fallen tree like you were a natural." Elijah told her as he took the seat next to her. "You should come around for a ride more often." 

"I might take you up on that." Mairi took another drink of her beer 

"How about this, I order us a take out. We watch a movie and have a few more of these beers. I have a spare bedroom upstairs in the extension that you can take for the night." 

"You know what. I think I will take you up on that offer." Mairi told him as they tapped the necks of their bottles together before taking another drink. 

"Pizza?" Elijah offered as Mairi swallowed her beer.

"Red onions and mushrooms please." Elijah nodded at her answer and he pulled out his phone and dialled a number. Quickly placed the order for food and was told it would be half an hour before the pizza would arrive. 

Most of the night went by fairly quickly and they enjoyed each others company. They watched a few movies together and chatted about things in their lives. Just enjoying each others company as the time slowly passed on by. Mairi laughed at a part in the movie at the same time as Elijah.

"You know, these movies are so far fetched," Elijah spoke as a matter of fact. "Like werewolves do not always turn on a full moon! Nor do they lose complete sense of their mind." He waved at the TV as if he was annoyed at their portrayal. 

"And how do you know that exactly?" Mairi asked with a raised eyebrow. Her mind was slightly swirling due to the beer.

"Well I, um." Elijah struggled to find a reason for his outburst.

"Well, you um?" Mairi immiatated him.

"I read up about it?" He said more like a question than anything else. Now had Mairi been sober she would have realised this and questioned it more. But sober she was not.

"Come on, bedtime I think," Elijah said as he turned off the TV. and stood up to put the fire out. Once he had done so, he turned around to ask Mairi a question to see her sound asleep on the couch. He just chuckled and walked over to the empty beer bottles. Picking up as many as his hands could hold to put them in the recycling bin. 

Once he was finished cleaning up, Elijah gentle picked up Mairi and held her bridal style in his arms. He made his way up the stairs and to the spare bedroom at the top of the 'A' framed roof. He moved around the double bed and managed to move the bedsheet so he could place her down gently onto the bed. He looked at the woman laying down in all her relaxed beauty. 

He knew he was going to have to wake her to get her changed out of these clothes. But before he did that, Elijah wanted to make sure she had something for her to wear. He quickly made his way to his room and picked out a shirt for her. He quickly made his way back and knelt down by the bedside. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder to wake her. "Mairi, wake up. You need to change out of your clothes." 

Mairi groaned tiredly and she rolled over to look at him. She opened her eyes and looked directly into his eyes. "You are very handsome." He muttered to him causing him to laugh softly. 

"Come on, Let's get you changed." He muttered as he helped her sit up. "Now I need you to take off your clothes and put this on. I am gonna be just outside to give you some privacy." 

"Alrighty then." She told him as Elijah chuckled and walked out of the room to wait for her to change.