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year.
    â€˜Maggie, I’m here to take Tara to say goodbye to the horses. I’ll bring her back on Sunday night.’
    â€˜I still think it’s a bad idea. I just wish she didn’t need to go back there and that the two of you weren’t so adamant to do this without me.’
    â€˜It’s not that we don’t want you there, it’s just that it’s Tara’s goodbye. You’ve had yours. The girls were still at boarding school when we packed up the farmhouse and moved you into the city. And when you left, you said you’d seen the last of Whispering Winds.’
    â€˜I did. And I signed the papers to sell it to Buffel Potgieter last Monday. We don’t own it anymore. The bank and everything has been dealt with. I told Mauve this when she called.’
    â€˜I know, Mum did tell me. So I called Buffel, and I told him that we wanted to say goodbye, that we need closure. I’ve already lethim know we’re there till Sunday, and he said it was fine. Just that we were not to shoot any of the animals.’ He turned to Tara. ‘You packed?’
    â€˜She packed on Tuesday,’ Maggie said.
    Tara was already standing next to Gabriel with her suitcase.
    Together they walked out the door.
    Gabe opened the door of his mother’s car and made sure Tara was inside. He put her small suitcase in at her feet.
    â€˜It’s chockers in the back, this will have to travel here,’ he said before he closed her door, walked around and climbed into the driver seat.
    â€˜It’s almost like being collected on a Friday from boarding school,’ Tara said. ‘Going home for the weekend.’
    â€˜Almost, except this will be the last time we drive out to Whispering Winds.’
    â€˜I know …’ Tara said as her voice cracked. ‘And thank you for this, Gabe.’
    He grinned at her as he started the car. ‘Don’t thank me until we’ve survived the weekend’s cooking duties together. You know, without a cookboy employed in the farm house anymore, we are going to have to cook our own meals.’
    â€˜ Braai every meal?’ Tara asked.
    â€˜You bet. Except we can stop for a hot pie and warm bread at the station just as we get onto the Vic Falls road. And I did pack a crate of Coke.’
    â€˜We can’t drink only Coke all weekend,’ Tara said, settling back into the seat as Gabe stuck his head out the window to reverse out the driveway, the camping gear filling the back seat to the ceiling blocking his view.
    Once he was out on the road and moving forwards again, he wound up his window with the handle. ‘Who says? It’s just us. We can do as we please.’
    â€˜Can’t wait!’ Tara said, grinning.
    Still grinning after a night of sleeping on a roll-up mattress on the floor in her old bedroom, Tara was woken by Gabe bringing her tea in a tin mug. ‘Come on, sleepy head. It’s time to get moving.’
    â€˜Where we going?’ she asked.
    â€˜Everywhere and nowhere. We can just ride around the farm, say goodbye and think of all the fun we’ve had all over this place.’
    â€˜Okay,’ Tara said. ‘I don’t want to go near the river.’
    â€˜Oh, we’re going there. You need to say goodbye to your dad.’
    Tara stilled and looked at Gabe. ‘I’m not sure I want to go there …’
    â€˜You must, Tara. It’s just a place. You need to see that your dad isn’t there any longer. Now it’s just bush, like everywhere else. Besides, I already asked Buffel Potgieter if he was okay with us visiting there. I told him that I’d spoken to the Member In Charge at the police station, and that he had said it was a good idea that we were coming out to say goodbye.’
    â€˜You went to the police?’
    â€˜No. I lied. I just told Buffel that so he wouldn’t try to stop us going down there. We might never know who shot your dad and Jacob, but we