Olivia brightened. ‘I can’t wait!’
‘Bye,’ Olivia called and turned to Ivy as Jackson’s chauffeur opened the car door. ‘Why oh why oh why won’t he kiss me?’ she whispered, as Jackson was driven off.
‘What’s that?’ Mr Vega asked.
‘Nothing!’ Ivy called. ‘Let’s get on the road.’ Ivy got in the front seat and Olivia sat in the back behind Mr Vega.
‘Righty-oh,’ Mr Vega called. ‘Let’s ride ’em, cowboy.’
The twins looked at each other and burst out laughing.
That just goes to show how vampires and country don’t mix, Ivy thought. But as long as it’s not too bunny on the farm, this weekend should be fun.
‘Ooh, I love this song,’ Olivia said, bopping around in the back seat to the twangy music blaring from the car speakers.
‘It sounds like a dying hyena to me,’ Ivy said, pretending to plug her ears.
‘This is classic country music,’ Mr Vega said. ‘I made a playlist for the car journey, to get you in the mood.’ He grinned, which on him looked a little sinister.
‘Oh yes,’ Ivy deadpanned. ‘It makes my feet itch for some square dancing.’
‘Ha ha,’ Olivia replied. ‘Itchy feet are no joking matter. The last time I had to deal with your itchy feet, you turned my Romeo from a Jackson Caulfield into a Garrick Stevens!’
‘A prince to a frog,’ Ivy quipped.
‘Precisely,’ Olivia said.
‘Now, girls,’ Mr Vega said, turning serious. ‘You are, of course, able to come home at any time. If at any point you wish to leave, I can be there in half an hour.’
‘Thanks, Dad,’ Ivy said.
Olivia realised that Mr Vega was a little more worried about the weekend than his just-for-fun playlist suggested.
‘You know that Aunt Rebecca doesn’t know anything about … ah … our background,’ he said.
‘We know,’ Olivia replied.
‘She doesn’t really understand why your mother and I didn’t keep in touch with her. We were planning to tell her about you two once you were born. Things just didn’t work out that way,’ he finished sadly.
‘Don’t worry, Dad,’ Ivy said. ‘We get it. And we’re really glad you tracked her down so we could meet her.’
Just then, a phone beeped.
‘That’s mine,’ Mr Vega said. ‘It’s in my briefcase on the back seat. Olivia, will you answer it, please?’
Olivia fumbled for the phone and then pressed the green button. ‘Charles Vega’s phone,’ she said.
‘Ivy?’ said a female voice. ‘Olivia? It’s Rebecca. Are you guys on your way? When will y’all get here?’
‘It’s Olivia and, uh … hang on.’ She pressed the mute button. She didn’t want Mr Vega to think that Rebecca was checking up on them, so she decided to rephrase the question. ‘Aunt Rebecca would like to know how far away we are.’
‘We are on schedule, of course,’ Mr Vega said, ‘and will be arriving at 10 a.m. as discussed.’
‘We’re right on time,’ Olivia translated, leaving out the ‘of course’ and ‘as discussed’ so that it didn’t sound too defensive.
‘Your dad’s not expecting to stay for lunch, is he?’ Rebecca wanted to know. ‘We’re going to be real busy as soon as you get here, and I wouldn’t want him hanging around with nothing to do.’
Olivia pushed mute again. This was tricky to phrase. ‘Rebecca says that lunch will probably be late so if you want to leave before then, she won’t be offended.’
‘That’s kind of Rebecca,’ Mr Vega replied. ‘But I would like to have a look around Susannah’s ranch. She told me so much about it.’
Drat, Olivia thought. If her bio-dad had been planning on just dropping them off, it would have made this conversation much easier.
‘He’d like to see some of the ranch with us, if you don’t mind,’ Olivia told her aunt.
‘Well, of course, that’s fine,’ Rebecca said but Olivia wondered if she didn’t really want him to stay. ‘I just wouldn’t want him to get stuck in prelunch traffic on the way home.’
‘Great,’ Olivia chirped, deciding to end the conversation there. ‘We’ll see you soon.’
Ugh, Olivia thought. That was awkward.
Ivy offered a sympathetic look from the front seat.
It doesn’t matter, Olivia thought to herself. Finding out about our biological mom is going to be so worth it and we’ll smooth out the adults’ issues later.
As Mr Vega stopped the car at the top of the ranch’s driveway, Ivy’s heart sank. There were animals everywhere.
Dozens of chickens ran free, pecking the ground, while two black Labradors lazed on the front porch. The stables were huge – it looked like a horse mansion. There were pigs in one pen and a goat was bleating as it munched on a green hedge.
This is definitely too much farm, Ivy thought to herself. On the positive side, so far no cows to milk.
As well as the animals, there were some picturesque weeping willow trees dotted around the yard. One overhung a small pond with a duck family swimming on it. It was like a scene from a painting.
Olivia looked like she’d just won a cheer-a-thon. Her eyes were sparkling as she undid her seatbelt and got out of the car. ‘This is incredible!’ Olivia declared.
‘That’s one word for it,’ Ivy muttered as she followed, trying to avoid stepping on a white spotted chicken with feathers on either side of its head that looked like a beard.
It was a huge open space, and the wind was kicking up dust. The air smelled like weird popcorn and grass.
The two dogs snuffled and one let out a short bark. They bounded down from the porch swing to greet the visitors, but as they got nearer to Ivy, they backed off.
‘Hello,’ Olivia said softly to them. ‘Who are you?’
That was all it took for the two big balls of fur to go straight to Olivia for a good scratching. Ivy knew that vampires sometimes had an effect on animals, but this seemed pretty extreme. The dogs didn’t even want to come near her.
The screen door swung open and Rebecca rushed to greet them. She had flour on her hands and a breeze of apple-scent followed her.
‘I just put dessert for tonight into the oven,’ she said. ‘Hope you like apple pie!’