‘The new farm worker broke down and I gave him a lift home. He got out and walked across the paddock.’
‘Is he nice?’
Mia was in a dilemma. If she said no, then Lorna would worry, if she said yes, it would be lying, but Lorna would let the subject drop. ‘He’s okay. What have you been doing today?’
‘Sitting here. It’s what old ladies do.’ Big sigh. ‘They sit and rock. All day.’
Mia lifted her brows. ‘So you don’t even need a rocking chair to rock?’
Despite herself, Lorna’s mouth twitched. ‘Minx.’ She grimaced. ‘That did sound self-indulgent, didn’t it?’ She checked her surroundings before lowering her voice. ‘Lachlan and Soretta have been taking it in turns to mind me and have only just left together to go over to the sheep yards because they knew you’d be home any minute. I hate that I’m a nuisance.’
‘You’re not a nuisance. How about I mind you now, and you can help me with my homework. If we get it wrong we can just say it was your fault.’
This time Lorna laughed out loud and Mia felt the warmth of affection growing in her chest. She really was becoming fond of this pseudo granny they’d adopted and it was sad to see her so down on herself.
‘We need to update our webpage, too.’ Lorna would love this and she’d been meaning to tell her since she’d found out this morning. ‘I had a look at the Paypal account that goes straight into the FDS fund and we’ve hit our first thousand dollars. We got an email from the director to thank us.’
Lorna brightened visibly. ‘A thousand dollars?’ Awe spilled from her voice. ‘For auctioning a photo of Dr Morgan?’ She smiled the best smile Mia had seen since she’d come back from the gymkhana with Soretta on Sunday.
Mia nodded. ‘And we have eight hundred likes on the website. Two hundred on your photos on the camel.’
‘You wicked child.’ Lorna stood up and waited until she was steady before she moved. ‘I’ll be back.’ She waggled her finger at Mia. ‘Don’t go away. I’ll just have a look and see what other photos we have and you can put them up.’
She turned away with purpose and Mia could hear her muttering to herself. ‘A thousand dollars for the flying doctor. Now that’s wonderful.’
The dogs started barking and Mia looked up to see Daphne’s car climbing the hill to the house. There wasn’t much dust because of how slowly she was driving, but Mia knew Daphne could gun it down the hill if she needed to get to town fast.
Lorna wasn’t the only one she was appreciating more each day, too. Mia remembered how Soretta had described Daphne’s heroic actions the day she’d saved Lachlan’s life and that was just one instance in a year filled with rescue missions that the flying doctors attended each year. She found herself more invested with Lorna’s fundraising for a cause that deserved the support of everyone in Australia.
And this was what her mother did? Indeed, all the women in the house were inspiring. Not the least her own mother, now that she was being forced to look at her through the eyes of the other women.
Soretta had given her a huge lecture when she’d said something disparaging about her mother’s ability to be busy all the time, and that had resonated with an uncomfortable perception that she hadn’t made it easy for her mum in the past.
In fact, she had the sneaking suspicion that she’d been a brat, and vowed to make it up to her. Soretta hadn’t ever known her mother, her gran had apparently been the maternal support, but then Soretta had lost her as well. Mia was beginning to appreciate just how lucky she’d been to have had her mother all her life. And it was about time she stopped focusing on the fact that she didn’t have a father. Though she was close to her grandad, Soretta didn’t have one of those either.
Daphne arrived on the verandah carrying two bags of groceries.
Mia stood up. ‘Sorry, didn’t see you’ve been shopping.’ She took one bag from her and opened the door with her other hand.
‘Thank you, Mia,’ Daphne said. ‘What were you doing sitting there all by yourself?’
‘Lorna’s gone to get some more photos and we’re going to update the webpage.’
Daphne stopped and studied her. ‘How is she?’
‘Okay.’ Not a lie.
‘That’s good, then. Your mother was worried. We all are.’ She smiled. ‘How did your car go on the way and back from school? Better than the bus?’
Mia laughed. ‘Just a bit.’ She didn’t mention Joseph to Daphne either. She might later.
They put the groceries away together and Daphne lifted the lid on the beef and mushrooms she’d had simmering all day.
The aroma filled the room and Mia’s tummy rumbled so loudly Daphne laughed. ‘We could have a taste now if you like.’
Which was how Lorna caught them spooning a small serve of beef bourguignon into two saucers.
‘Ah ha!’ Lorna said. ‘Do you realise that Lachlan and I have had to inhale that aroma all day and not lift the lid?’
Daphne reached for another saucer. ‘Shhh,’ she said and ladled a scoop out for Lorna and handed her a spoon. The three of them tasted and sighed with unanimous pleasure. ‘This will tide us over until they all come in at tea time.’
Over the hill at the yards, Soretta wiped the sweat from her forehead. She paused in thinking about paddocks and sheep rotation and watched the new man, Joseph, herd the sheep, and she could see that he seemed to have the knack for keeping them in line. He’d come in later than expected with some car trouble and she had to admit it was easier now that he was here.
She still wasn’t sure if they wanted to keep him. Granddad didn’t seem to mind the man, apparently he knew a bit about metal detecting and they’d had quite an animated conversation about the pros and cons of finding precious metals with different kinds of devices. It wasn’t like she had to deal with him socially because he seemed to like keeping to himself. She didn’t think he’d been to the house once since the first day she’d interviewed him.
She let the thoughts go. They were nearly finished anyway. She wanted to separate the younger ewes and lambs from this mob and move them to the best of the minimal feed that was left. If it didn’t rain decently soon they might still have to sell half of the mob. Klaus was working on the other side with the dogs and her grandfather was working the gates.
She’d heard Mia come home so there was no rush to get back to Lorna. Apart from being quieter than usual, she thought Lorna was pretty good today. Her grandfather had shared some of his experiences on Saturday and she’d seen he’d been genuinely upset at Lorna’s distress. It must have been disturbing for everyone and she was a somewhat glad she and Mia had missed all the drama.
She looked across at the man opening the gates. Her granddad seemed happier now and being back with the sheep was good for him. Especially since they’d had another few mils of rain last night. There’d been no more silly talk of selling Blue Hills.
‘That all of them?’ She heard her granddad’s voice and she snapped back into sheep mode. Saw that he was right.
‘Yep.’ The younger ewes were in the left yard and the older in the right. ‘We’ll take the younger ones up first.’
Her grandfather opened the left gate and the milling sheep streamed out. Klaus climbed onto the four-wheeler and was onto them with the dogs circling the pack, and the mob started up the hill towards the new paddock. It would take at least an hour to walk them there, but he’d return more quickly.
‘Going back to the house?’ Her grandfather had crossed the yards and appeared beside her.
She smiled up at him. It was so good to see he had his spring back. ‘I’ll just wait till the mob get through the first gate and then I’ll let this lot out.’
He touched her shoulder. ‘Joseph can do that. Why don’t you come back to the house a bit earlier than usual? You could join us for tea on the verandah. Everyone’s home tonight for a change.’
She laughed. ‘You sound like you’re getting used to the new extended family.’
‘Yes, well, I
like that they’ve taken at least some of the load off you.’ He patted her shoulder again. ‘And you’re happier, too. And yes.’ He shrugged. ‘I like them all, a lot.’
Impulsively she hugged him. ‘And they even pay to stay here.’
‘Can’t say that’s been a bad aspect. Come on, my little businesswoman. Delegate the work and come back with me.’
There wasn’t a way to say no to that. And she didn’t want to.
NINETEEN
The following Friday at the base was one of those silly days that never seemed to end. A cook on one of the muster camps slipped on a pumpkin peel and split the back of his scalp open. They’d had to fly him out to Broken Hill for an overnight stay in the high-dependency ward.
A six-year-old boy on a remote farm had burned himself playing with matches in the shed and been lucky not to be trapped in the burning building.
Morgan had taken that message and sent her out with Daphne. She’d shuddered at the close call as they’d transferred the boy to Adelaide. It had always been her worst nightmare that Mia would leave a candle burning or play with matches. Morgan must have seen her distress because he’d been very gentle with her when she returned.
Then a three-year-old girl almost drowned in a trough and needed to be monitored overnight in hospital after her parents resuscitated her. Daphne had gone alone on that call but Billie had been on tenterhooks until they’d arrived back with the good news.
Billie’s shoulders felt stiff from the tension and she caught Morgan assessing her as she rolled her shoulders. She knew she was emotionally drained from the phone calls and her heart went out to the people who had actually had to deal with the events as they happened, let alone Daphne, who had flown out and retrieved most of the wounded.
When she came in from the last flight, Daphne’s shoulders were bowed and her face shone pale in the afternoon sunlight. Plus, she was on call again that night so she’d planned to stay in town at the old townhouse.
Rex followed her, telling Morgan that he was taking her home to his place for a bit of spoiling. ‘They can ring her there.’
Billie decided there was a ‘don’t ring her there’ in his voice and watched with a touch of wistfulness as they waved goodbye. Daphne even winked.
Billie’s lips twitched. It was so good to see. Mia was staying over at Trent’s parents’, a lovely couple who had come out one day to Blue Hills for afternoon tea, and everyone had liked them. Now with Daphne away, the numbers would be down at home tonight.
She checked her computer screen, straightened her back off the chair and stretched, then glanced again at the clock. Another hour and a half until she knocked off.
‘Would you like to come back to my place for tea tonight?’ Morgan had come up behind her where she was sitting and she jumped. That made her cross. Normally she could feel when he was near. An indication of how drained she felt today.
‘Because you feel sorry for me?’
He raised his eyebrows. ‘I don’t feel sorry for you.’
‘Well you should,’ she said unreasonably, and to make it more annoying he smiled.
‘Cranky pants.’
And you’re not getting into them. Thankfully, she didn’t say that out loud, but even in her thoughts the words didn’t have much conviction. ‘Sorry.’
He put his hands on her shoulders and squeezed once, then stepped back, as though the action was out of bounds. ‘If you come back to my house I’ll massage your shoulders.’
OMG. Not an opportunity a single lady like herself could possibly pass up. Nobody rubbed her shoulders and today was the perfect day to be spoiled a little. ‘You’re on!’
An hour and a half later she drove into Morgan’s spare car space. She’d rung Lorna to tell her not to save her a plate for tea. There had been an inquisitive archness in Lorna’s comment and she smiled at the memory. Lorna was getting better. Thank goodness for that, and she hadn’t mentioned leaving for twenty-four hours now.
Billie stopped and waited for Morgan to unlock the door. Now that she was here, she felt a little self-conscious as she preceded him past the front door and into the lounge room. They hadn’t discussed their sunset jaunt at the station, and apart from the occasional tension when she found Morgan watching her at work, their relationship had remained tenuous. Until today. Why today?
She stopped in the middle of the room and tried to think of something to say apart from, So, when are you going to rub my shoulders? And do I have to take my top off? ‘It’s nice and cool in here.’
The sliding curtains were open and the afternoon sun was still high, but the tinting on the windows kept the temperature down substantially from what it was outside.
‘The air conditioner is on a timer. It came on at five pm. One of the things I love about this flat.’
Oh. ‘There goes my tinted-window theory. I was going to tint my windows if I finally bought a house.’ What was with her sudden need to fill the room with words?
He put his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her down into a seat. ‘Hold that thought. I’ll just change and be back in a flash.’
She raised her brows. Looked up at him hovering over her while he waited for her response. She fought against the feeling of being small and fragile. Pretending she was very relaxed, she managed to make a joke. ‘You’re going to come back and flash me?’
He shot her a grin. ‘It could be arranged.’
She had a sudden vision of him doing just that. ‘Ah, no thanks. Too much of a good thing and all that.’
He nodded sagely. ‘I can see how it could be.’
Then he was gone and she sagged back in the chair as if someone had untied the knot of her internal balloon. ‘Crikey!’ she muttered. Maybe she’d ask for one of those manly T-shirts he seemed to have in abundance to change into herself and get out of her uniform. It would probably smell fabulous.
Then he was back and she forgot what she’d been thinking. He had on one of those shirts she wouldn’t mind sniffing, beneath which a nice expanse of torso rippled and tightened like the sensations in her belly. His strong legs extended from loose shorts and his quite beautiful feet were bare.
She resisted the impulse to fan her face. Apparently the air conditioner had stopped working.
He put out a hand to help her up and her fingers were lost in his. Up she sailed. Talk about a rollercoaster of sensations.
‘Come through to the kitchen. Sorry I keep leaving you while I change.’ He shrugged those truly delightful shoulders. ‘Maybe I’ve lived too long on my own and have a routine.’ He smiled ruefully at her. ‘I like to strip off work with my clothes.’
She could picture that. Mmmmm. She followed like she was on a string and sat on the low-backed stool at the breakfast bar that he pulled out for her.
Maybe she should say something. ‘I might have to leave a sarong in my glove-box if we keep doing this.’ She glanced down at her work trousers. ‘I’m at a disadvantage.’
He looked her over. ‘Believe me. You’re not at any disadvantage.’ The tone of his voice made the room feel even warmer.
Her cheeks must have hinted at this because he turned to the fridge and brought out a bottle of juice. ‘Would you like a cool drink?’
‘Thank you.’ He poured her a glass, half of one for himself that he downed in seconds, and then put the bottle back in the fridge. He studied her. ‘You do look a little shell-shocked from the day. Let me have a go at those shoulders.’
She put the glass down before she fumbled it and watched, mesmerised, as he walked round the bench, then behind her until she couldn’t see him. But she could feel him hovering there. So she dropped her head and waited. Felt the whisper of air just before he touched her and shivered.
When his hands did settle on the apex of each shoulder she tried not to tense. Forced herself to breathe out and droop as his fingers slid slowly along the fabric of her shirt.
‘If you took off your shirt I could use some oil.’
‘No,’ she said in an a
lmost strangled voice. ‘That’s fine.’
He didn’t say anything else and she tried to relax again. Gradually, as he dug his fingers in gently through her shirt, and then with more firmness, she couldn’t help the sag as magic fingers began to work on releasing the tension.
An involuntary groan escaped as he kneaded a particularly tense section above her left shoulderblade and he slowed, dug deeper, around and around and around, slow and rhythmic. Like his tongue had been. That insidious thought jerked her back to a semblance of alertness, but too soon she melted like chocolate on the chair again, lost in a cloud of physical sensation.
‘You have beautiful shoulders,’ he murmured.
‘I like your hands,’ she muttered thickly.
She heard him chuckle. His big hands slid over and up and along, always moving, never stopping the pressure, so that she was happy just to soak it in for as long as he could keep going.
‘Is this okay?’
‘Yes,’ the word slipping out on a sigh, like she was threatening to slip off the chair.
She could hear the smile in his voice. ‘Thank you. I’m thinking I could ask you anything and you’d say yes at the moment.’
‘Mmmm. Yes.’
He laughed. ‘Then I’d better stop because I’d like to have a serious conversation with you.’
She opened her eyes slowly. Turned her head and watched him walk around the breakfast bar, that lithe easy movement of his a pleasure to watch.
He washed his hands and dried them before he opened the refrigerator and lifted out some cheese and olives. ‘I’d better feed you first.’ Out came an open packet of tiny crispy Italian bread bites.
Massage then food. She had no issue with that. ‘Can I do something to help?’
‘Nope. Just relax.’
And enjoy the view? This guy could really tick the boxes if she let him. And that was the problem. Could she let him? Or would they both retreat if she did? These were all good questions that she realised she would have to answer soon.
The Homestead Girls Page 22
