He reappeared unexpectedly in the afternoon. At the time he reached the villa, Mila and Becca were taking a nap. The house was quiet as he stepped inc...nspicuously through the front door.He paused, looking to see who was around."Want to go for a walk?" he invited Jackie.Yes.Everything within her wanted to shout. Yes. She kept herself outwardly calm, trying to keep her eagerness out of his view.The walked together silently for a while. He knew her very well, and didn't know her at all. In their. "Thanks, Sandie. It's been ... good."She smiled warmly. "I've enjoyed it," she said.I opened my mouth again, about to invite her to call me 'Will', but somehow I couldn't get the words out, eventually saying, "Drive carefully; it's icy." I will," she said, without a hint of bridling at what some might have taken as an imputation they couldn't recognise the danger. "And you look after yourself, Mister Burgin."The lift in my mood was sufficient to motivate me to make sandwiches for tea and brew. He smiled and said ok. The morning went so fast and Dave picked up so quickly that Annie found she was just in the way. Well that was ok; they would need her for the second milking. She weeded some in the garden took the horses to the other pasture. It was beautiful and they could use the extra run. When she got back to the house, everyone had washed up and was getting ready for the rib cook off. But Spencer was mad. She could see it all over his face.“Something wrong?” she asked.“Yes.”“Well. Mikey's body went into motion. Somehow without having made any decisionto do so he found himself fighting the man with everything he had!Slapping and punching, his small arms flailing in blind panic, justknowing that he had to get past this evil man; To get free!Going for the face, he grabbed hold of the bushy white fake beard andripped it off-"UNCLE FRANK!" he screamed in horror."Merry Christmas, Mikey," jeered his hated dead uncle as the heavy doorslammed shut, plunging the boy into total.