Instead of returning home the next day as planned the little party were taken out of the city by Brian and after a longish drive down country lanes arrived at a large country estate, this was Brian`s ancestral home and he wanted them to see and know about their family history although he himself wasn`t exactly proud that his father had been a big arms dealer.

The mansion was an example of Pre Victorian elegance and furnished with when they over almost 200 yrs ago the finest furnishings money could buy from around the world. The painting on the walls were Great Master originals, painters like Rembrant, Raphael, Constable and many others, some of the other rooms held Van Goghs, Picasso`s and Lowry`s. The whole house spoke of enormity of wealth and power that this family once held in days long gone, all that was left was the wealth and a lonely old man.

As they ascended the stairs to the upper rooms family portraits graced the walls, the men in them were mostly High ranking Army and Naval Officers and the Ladies were shown dressed at the height of fashion of the day, everyone was impressed as Brian told of some deeds done by one or another of them.

Members of the Household staff showed each of them to their rooms and helped with unpacking, the children were roomed together by choice and they couldn`t believe the size of bed or the fact that it had a huge canopy and drapes. Certain rooms were off limits to the guests and these rooms weren`t locked but everyone was warned that they being renovated and for their own safety they shouldn`t enter them.

After everyone was settled lunch was served in a small dining room, Brian had shown them the main dining room that was able to seat forty people comforably and they agreed it was much too big for such a small group, again the children were amazed when they saw the size of highly polished table and brian had explained the room hadn`t been used since before World War Two. and only then on special occasions.

After lunch the children were taken away by too of female staff and changed, when they reappeared they were wearing riding habits, Brian told them he was going to take them on a carrage ride around the estate, while the adults rested up and had some time on their own, all the adults though the kids looked cute in their red coats and long black skirts.

Brian carried Jemma out to the carrage and then helped Annabel up into the seat, once the two of them were strapped in Brian got in and the Driver started off around the perimeter road. At a slow trot the trip took around two hours with them stopping to admire some of the features that Brian showed them, such as the ornamental fountains the huge lawns that were once used for tennis and croquet and finally stopping at the stables.

Brian would have like Jemma to call him Grandad put didn`t push the child as having a family again was strange to her, instead she addressed him as Sir, but slowly she was starting to come round to the idea. Brian introduced the children to the head trainer who showed then all the horses and ponies that were held on the estate. The stables had a resident saddler an old trade that actually hand made and repaired saddles and arrangements werer made for the children to measured and saddles were to be made for them, Jemma was going to be a challenge for the craftsman but he was sure he could come up with something suitable for her for riding and it would have to harness to prevent ehr falling out of the saddle and injuring herself.

Brian had introduced Jemma to all the staff as his Grandaughter to save any embarrassing questions by anyone and Jemma was comfortable to go along with him. The staff soon to liking the two children and they never lacked for company or something to do, Jemma would have been quite content to sit and read one of the thousands of books that were held there, but she was afraid she might damage them and most of them were priceless first editions with some being very rare volumes. Books that Brian had read in his childhood days were produced for her to read safe in the knowledge that the battered volumes weren`t very valuable.

The estate had several electric cars, similar to Golf Carts and the party was ferried the estate in them if they didn`t want toi use the horse and carrage, while they were staying at the estate visits had been arranged to some of the sights in the area and the weekly cattle marlet. They party had a wonderful time seeing how people lived in the country, enjoyed the peace and quiet and the slower pace of life they were experiencing during their short stay.

As they say " All good things must come to an end" , Brian had told them they were welcome to come back anytime as it was also their home as much as it was his, he knew the children would wnat to come to back so they could start riding lessons and he was happy, he now had a family that he could care for.

They returned home after spending a little over a week at the estate, but they didn`t return to the home they knew but to the new house with all the features to aid Jemma to get around, whilst she was no longer in her wheelchair all day she still struggled on crutches so the house had been built with everything on one level with easy access for her either in her wheelchair or when she was using her crutches. All the doors had sensors fitted so they opened as she approached them, all counter tops had rounded edges so she wouldn`t injure herself if she fell against them,there was no door sills on the floors and all carpeting was secured so there was little likelyhood of her tripping. It hadn`t been cheap to include all the safety measures but the adults felt they were worthwhile for both the children.

The date of the trial for the terrorists was nearing and Jemma was working with lawyers and the Crown Prosecution Service to recheck her statement and to help her through the forthcoming ordeal with the defence lawyers. Gerry was now fit enough to drive and had been taken on by Brian as Jemma`s personal chauffer and was also living the new house along with his wife. Slowly the little family was becoming a little community in it`s own right,Brian was trying to talk Elizabeth into moving permanently to the Country Estate and was slowly getting Elizabeth round to his way of thinking, she was reluctant to leave behind the life and friends she knew, but Brian told her to invite them to join the ever growing family and there was enough land to build several homes on with the estates boundaries, Elizabeth promised to give it some thought.

Elizabeth had no idea of the fortune that Brian had, she knew he was rich but even she wouldn`t have believed how rich,she had seen the opulent wealth of the country estate and had rather liked that and the peace and quite of the area. Brian asked her to consider Jemma, it would be a long time and the child would never regain 100% mobility, it would give her a completely fresh start were nobody knew her.

She talked over Brians proposals with Rodger and he admitted he had to agree with Brian and that as Grandfather of the child he was doing his utmost to look out for her, the estate was self contained and had a small nearby, if Elizabeth wished to carry on nursing maybe a small clinic could be started up to keep her occupied. Eventually she capitulated and talked it over with the her now extended family and friends and in the light of everything she had to agree with Brian and Rodger, Jemma had to come first and it would be a fresh start for the child with a chance to make new friends and if she decided to remain as she was now no bigotry or bullying, Jemma would be able to grow up as she wished without any harrassment form outside agencies.

Of course any move would have to wait until the trial was over as they felt that all the travelling back and forth would be too much of a strain for all of them and then they had to consider the doctors at the hospital that were treating Jemma. The child completely trusted the medical staff at the hospital,a trust that had been hard them by them as Jemma had always been wary of strangers and more so now after the recent incident, which almost cost Gerry his life.

No, she would have discuss the impending move with the two surgeons and their team of specialists, as well as any of her friends that she felt would like to move away from the town and city life. Thinking more about it she had actually enjoyed staying at the big house and fancied taking up horse riding, something she had always wished to do but had been unable to do before. She knew jemma and Annabel had loved the time they had spent with the ponies and were looking forward to doing some riding themselves, especially as they both had their own ponies now courtesy of Brian and he was getiing getting saddles made for them.

A room in the house had been set up as a study room for the children, complete with the latest computer technology which had been designed and build by a friend of Brian`s, the systen had a speech mode inbuilt but the adults had that disabled as it would be too easy for the children. The tutors that had been hired came and spent a day with the family getting to know everyone, they were quite impressed with the knowledge the children had, way above that of the level taught in the schools. On looking at the library the teachers were more than satisifed that they could give the children a good level of education.

It was a surprise when they found that Jemma was the Hero that had been recently been in the newspapers, especially when they saw how small she was, but Elizabeth told them not to let that interfere with the childrens education and she was assured that it wouldn`t be an issue. Jemma`s medical needs were explained to teachers along with her days at the hospital and they all agreed they could work round any problems. After they left Elizabeth who was suitably impressed with them told the children that school would begin for them in a weeks time abd that she expected them to continue to work hard, the children promised they would do their best.

Jemma and Annabel had rooms next door to each other and both rooms had been furnished as you would expect for a young pre teen girl although they would soon enough be teens, Jemma had never many toys and what she had had been given away and replaced with dolls etc, as she had been told if she was to dress as a girl she would have to behave like a girl at all times, but everyone had feeling that Jemma was here to stay.

The following week was spent going round the area and finding where everything was, shopping for groceries wasn`t a problem as they could that online ,but good clothes shops and beauty salons were found along with churches, cinemas, a theatre and of course the emergency services. They did a bit of shopping but they mainly bought in school supplies.

Monday morning at 8am the first tutor arrived, Elizabeth had her join then for a coffee while the children finished their breakfast, the tutor Ms Landsbury explained that all the tutors would be easing in to their jobs slowly to find the best way to proceed with their task, the plan was to find a basic starting level and to work from there and also to get to know children better and what little idiosyncracies they had. She assured Elizabeth that they wouldn`t be easy on the children and would push them hard in all subjects, the science lessons would be held in laboratory owned by a local company but except for that all lessons would be at home.

Listening to the plans laid out by the tutors Elizabeth was sure there would be little or no problem as these two soaked up knowledge like sponges, even the teacher concured saying she had never met children this young with so much knowledge and that it would be a shame if it was wasted, and she would be kept updated weekly on how the children were performing.

The first week was taken up with testing and the children and tutors getting to know one another,The level of knowledge that the two girls had was according to the test results four years in front of what they would have been taught in a mainstream school. At the end of end of week both the children and the tutors felt comfortable with each other, the children because they weren`t talked down to and the tutors because they could have an intelligent discussion with the children on most subject. Both the tutors and the children worked hard and Elizabeth , Rodger Brian and Milly were happy to see them all enjoying each others company.