The Ugly Duckling (Excerpt)

Agony

Waking up wasn't fun.

I struggled upright, stiff, and sore, especially my butt and upper legs, and making it to the toilet was the most painful thing I had ever experienced as I slid from the bed, sounding like someone giving birth before crossing the floor with very tiny steps. And I was right about my thighs; the saddle had chafed them raw.

Pulling down my pants got me wide awake, and sitting down almost tore me in half.

"Mercedes? Are you alright?" Sherise asked from the door.

"No. Yes. Nooooo."

She made her way into the chalet and walked into the bathroom.

"Do you need a doctor?" she asked, and I laughed, instantly regretting it.

"For sore muscles?"

"Mercedes?" Jeanette asked from the other room, putting a tray on the bureau just inside the door, and my stomach growled at the thought of food.

The previous evening, I went straight for a hot shower and barely made it to bed.

"Morning, Jeanette, I'll be out in a minute," I said, unsure how I intended to accomplish that.

"How do you feel?" she asked, setting the table in the corner from the sound of it.

"Not great."

There would be no point in lying.

"I brought you some muscle relaxants and pain pills. When Barry taught me to ride, the horse ran off with me and, apart from scaring the piss out of me, also threw me.

"With us kilometers from home, I had to get back on the damned thing to get home. I'll never forget how I felt the next morning, and I would have been happy never to get on another horse again, but Barry made me." The laughter in her voice told a story of its own.

Only stubborn pride made me lift myself off that toilet without help and pull up my shorts in the same motion.

"I could almost feel how much that hurt," Sherise said, hovering around me and not knowing how to help me.

I brushed my teeth before slowly shuffling into the other room.

"I won't be physically able to get on a horse by Monday," I admitted.

"You won't need to do that. Harris made Druscilla pack her stuff and had Barry take her to the city to catch a flight on Monday. He wouldn't even give her a chance to speak, she got angry and blamed it all on you, but he just turned his back on her and told Barry to remove her from the property."

Jeanette poured my coffee and helped me sit.

Even picking up the fork hurt.

"He told her they would talk when he got home, and she better not still live in his house when he returned." The idea seemed to bother her, and with her being friends with Harris, I could understand that.

"The lady's probably burning me in effigy right now," I said, and I wasn't entirely kidding.

"None of this is your fault. This is her nature, and she will never change until she understands the problem is with her and not other people."

"Jeanette? Druscilla just arrived by taxi. She demands to be let past the gate, and Harris is having none of it," Thabisho said from the door, out of breath, a scowl almost connecting his dark brows.

"Let me sort this out. His issues with his daughter are none of our concern, and he does not pay us enough money to deal with this," she said, nodding at me and leaving but not meaning any of it.