Mountain Ash

by Margareta Osborn

  And, with Milly trailing reluctantly behind, they all moved towards Glenevelyn’s impressive front door.

  Chapter 31

  They met Muey coming across from her car. Having already seen Clem out the back, Nate was smiling. He really liked the man he’d grown up with. Such a good mate and great all-round bloke. They’d kept in touch over the intervening years, ringing each other once every few months. Clem never said much so the calls were short, but that was all right by Nate. He respected silence enough himself to appreciate someone else’s need for it. And really, growing up with Muey and Elizabeth around, a man didn’t need to say much, because they said it all for you. A few dozen times over.

  ‘Wal. This is Clem,’ said Nate.

  Wal nodded. ‘G’day, mate.’

  Clem tipped his hat, nodded and that was that. A beer later on would be enough for male bonding.

  ‘Where’s your mum?’ asked Nate.

  ‘Round the front. She followed me in.’

  ‘What? Dad’s new chicky-babe’s cooking? I thought this Jodie’d be too lah-di-dah to get her pretty little hands dirty.’

  Clem pursed his lips and said nothing. So Nate raised his eyebrows in invitation but Clem wasn’t taking the bait.

  ‘We’ll go help your mum,’ said Nate, finally.

  ‘You do that.’ And without a backwards glance Clem set off across the backyard towards the kitchen.

  Nate stared after him. Funny. He could have sworn Clem was a little put out. Was it what he’d said about this new chick? Maybe she’d got Clem around her little finger too. He shrugged. Nah. He’d probably just been gone too long.

  He watched his lifelong mate walk across the yard, half smiling at the other bushman’s gait. Clem was like an animal stalking its prey, light and careful on his feet. Suddenly he stopped. Turned back, like he knew he was being watched.

  ‘Oh yeah. Good to have you back,’ Clem called and smiled. A full-on Clem Bailey grin. Its sudden and unexpected appearance reminded Nate of Ash. The brilliance of the smile was so rare you couldn’t help but grin right back. He nodded to Clem, as he reprimanded himself. He wasn’t thinking about Ash now. She was gone. He’d had enough heartache over the past few weeks to last him a lifetime. And he had to get through this meeting with his father and stepmother-to-be. That was going to take every ounce of diplomacy he had.

  Alex opened the door wide, his free arm around his fiancée, claiming ownership. Jodie could see Muey coming up the steps, carrying a trifle, with an older man by her side. They were talking animatedly. Mue was smiling, while the bloke was nodding so hard his big high-topped Queensland Bronco Akubra was threatening to fall into the decadent pavlova he was carrying. ‘Who’s that?’ she asked Alex quietly. The hat was obscuring his face.

  ‘No idea.’ His tone was clipped, voice hollow. His face was marked with greyish shadows. She realised this meeting was as hard for Alex as it would be for his son. A lot of bridges needed to be built. She only hoped she could help them both.

  A second man was following Mue up the verandah stairs. His head was down but the walk seemed familiar. She scrunched her brow trying to work out why but her attention was torn away by Muey, who thrust the trifle into her arms saying, ‘Happy early Christmas, love!’ Jodie and the crystal sweet-bowl were engulfed in Mue’s big hug. After her atrocious morning, Jodie welcomed Mue’s warmth and sank into her embrace. It was with great reluctance that she finally let the older woman go.

  The unknown man with the big hat appeared in front of her eyes. ‘And I’m Walla– Holy fuck …!’

  Jodie felt the blood drain from her face, her arms, her legs, her whole body. It couldn’t be, could it?

  She snapped her eyes to the other man, who’d now hit the top of the stairs.

  Slim hips, well-filled-out chest, square shoulders, chiselled jaw under a low-slung tall hat.

  Silvery-blue met sky-blue.

  Oh no, no, no … No!

  It was the handsome, bewitching, sexy-as-all-hell Cowboy Nate from the Territory, last seen in the Snowy Mountains.

  He was Nathaniel McGregor?

  Oh. My. God.

  Nate was Alex’s son.

  For Nate, the first warning was Wal swearing so suddenly. The man never swore in front of women unless he was drunk. Hearing it made Nate lift his head in surprise.

  He could barely comprehend who the woman was, standing by his father at the front door of Glenevelyn, before all hell broke loose.

  Said woman dropped like a dead duck, straight onto the hard, tiled verandah, with an audible thump.

  The trifle bowl she was holding smashed into pieces as it hit the tiles and shattered around her.

  A little girl was screaming. His father was going down on one careful knee. Wal was flapping his arms and apologising to Mue. ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to swear. It’s just –’ He stopped and glanced in panic at Nate, who didn’t have the foggiest idea what to say.

  His mind was a blank. As wide and empty as the Hay Plains.

  The woman on the ground was Ash. His Ash.

  Correction, sunshine: your father’s Ash.

  Nate swept that thought away. She couldn’t be his father’s. There had to be some mistake. His father’s fiancée was called Jodie. Jodie Ashton, he’d said.

  No sooner was the thought in his mind than his brain was leap-frogging forwards and putting two and two together. Jodie Ashton. Ashton. Ash. Fuck.

  ‘We’ll have to get her inside!’ Mue, ever the practical one.

  Clem had grabbed hold of the little girl and was calming her down like he would a puppy or foal or any other wild animal.

  Nate’s father was looking grey. He was gazing down at Ash as if she was porcelain china lying broken on the ground. The trifle had landed on her dress. Cream and fruit were congealing in lumps on her beautiful skin. The skin that’d felt like velvet under his touch by the Riverton River. Nate shivered. So beautiful. So right.

  Nate was propelled forwards – by what, he didn’t know. He waded into the mess on the verandah, almost tripping up Wal as he pushed past. He ignored the glass and crouched down, gently grabbing Ash under the knees and around the back of the neck. He lifted her into his arms and her head lolled over his forearm. He pulled her in to his chest, stood up and glanced wildly around.

  ‘Here. Come through here,’ said Mue, moving forwards and yanking open the big screen door. Snuggling Ash in tight to his body he carried her into the dark and cooler confines of the house.

  Alex followed, crowding him from behind. ‘Into my bedroom,’ he said. But Nate baulked. He couldn’t do that. This was his Ash. ‘The spare’s closer,’ he said, striding towards the side of the mansion, taking big steps that caused everyone following to scurry like mice.

  ‘I must’ve frightened her,’ Nate could hear Wal saying. ‘I didn’t mean to swear, I truly didn’t. I just thought, well, ummm … She was just so beautiful. I was shocked.’

  Nate could hear Mue making ‘there, there’ noises.

  The woman in his arms was mumbling. Coming to. He needed to get her to the bed, put her down before she realised it was him who was carrying her. He didn’t know why he knew this; he just did. Ash snuggled in closer to his shirt, rubbed her face against his chest. It felt so good to have her in his arms again. He’d been dreaming of this for weeks. He closed his eyes briefly and soaked in the feel of her.

  ‘You okay there, Nate?’ Clem. Holding the door to the closest spare room open with one arm, the fingers of the little girl in his other hand. The child was red-eyed, her nose running snot, but even so Nate could see she was the spitting image of the woman he held in his arms. What the hell else didn’t he know about her?

  A lot, mate.

  Obviously.

  ‘I’ll take it from here,’ said Alex, who was now standing in front of his son. What did the old man expect him to do? Dump her in his arms?

  Like hell.

  Nate ignored his father, brushed past and gently laid Ash on the bed, trying
to make sure her dress was over her undies as he put her down. He didn’t want her to feel any more embarrassed than she already would when she came to properly.

  ‘Nathaniel? I’ve got facewashers here,’ said Mue, touching his arm. He glanced sideways at his father’s housekeeper, a woman he’d known his whole life. She was looking at him queerly. He suddenly realised what this looked like. He wasn’t supposed to know Ash. And she sure as hell shouldn’t have fainted at the sight of him walking up those steps.

  He moved reluctantly back from the bed, noting as he went that Ash’s eyes were flickering. He should probably get out.

  But he didn’t. He couldn’t. Just stood back feeling like the second-best lover as his father, his father, kneeled on the floor holding Ash’s hand. Talking to her. Asking her to come to.

  Ash mumbled something again. It was Clem who realised it was Milly she was asking for. He thrust the little girl forwards, pushing her past Alex and into her mother’s arms. The child was sobbing again.

  Nate knew exactly how she felt.

  Jodie could feel Milly’s little arms coming into her own. The side of her head thrummed with pain. Parts of the rest of her body felt like they were on fire. There was someone dabbing here, there and everywhere with a cool pad of some sort. It felt lovely. Alex was beside her saying something about coming to. She must have fainted.

  But she could have sworn Nate had been there, picking her up, holding her, pulling her in tight, caring for her …

  That must have been a dream. A hazy, beautiful dream.

  She opened her eyes to a nightmare.

  Over Alex’s shoulder sky-blue eyes bore into hers. Far out. It wasn’t a dream. He was here. The man from the Snowy Mountains. The cowboy she’d thought was riding back over those magnificent hills and home to the Territory. He was standing in the homestead at Glenevelyn.

  He was Nathaniel McGregor – the heir apparent. She groaned as realisation hit, causing all those in the room to lean towards the bed with concern. She closed her eyes to shut them out.

  Especially Alex.

  Because Alex’s son was also the father of her baby.

  Chapter 32

  ‘Yoo-hoo? Is anybody home?’ A snooty, mature woman’s voice came resonating down the wood-panelled hallways. ‘Goodness, Alex McGregor, if this is what your house has come to, no one to welcome guests, no wonder you’re marrying my daughter!’

  Clem stuck his head out the door of the bedroom and called out, ‘We’re in here!’

  ‘You’re in where? Oh, there you are! Goodness, who are you?’ Joy Ashton walked into the room, flinging her arms around. ‘Such a mess at the front door too. I’ve got custard or something all over my hands. Young man, you might like to clean it up?’ This was directed at Clem, who was standing like a goldfish with his mouth open. And Nate didn’t blame him. Whoever the woman was, she was a piece of work. Mutton done up as lamb, wasn’t that the expression? Streaked so-blonde-it-was-nearly-white hair, teased to an impressive erection on her head. Long, fake lashes, eyeshadow-encrusted lids, cherry cheeks, garish red lips, a caftan in brilliant colours of cherry, emerald, gold and azure. She was quite a vision.

  ‘Jo-deeeeee, what have you done?’ the woman cried as she spotted the patient on the bed. The caftan flew towards the bed, reminding Nate of a wild peacock running for its life.

  ‘I’m fine, Mum.’ It was a mumble, but at least it was something, for which Nate was glad. Very glad indeed. Two minutes back he’d been thinking he should have been dialling 000.

  But, son-of-a-bitch, did Ash say Mum?

  ‘Oh my poor, poor love. What have they done to you?’ The caftan was now beside the bed, his father all but pushed out – which was impressive, because Alex had looked like nothing but an excavator would move him away from Ash.

  Jodie.

  Ash.

  Whoever the hell she was.

  ‘Don’t worry, d-harling, I’m here now!’

  Nate had to admit the woman’s performance as Doting Mother was good. But there were just two little facts that meant it didn’t ring true. One: the mother was glancing around to see whether they were all taking notice of her ability to act so convincingly; and two: if she was Ash’s mother, that meant she was the child’s grandmother. And the child had fled Ash’s side and was pushing herself so hard into Mue’s legs it was a wonder she didn’t disappear. Not really the actions of a beloved grandchild, were they?

  Why wasn’t anyone around here who they seemed?

  Then a loud alarm started shrieking.

  Clem took off at a run, calling, ‘Smoke alarm. I’ll get it.’

  Nate and Wal followed him. Anything to get out of that room, which was now closing in so hard around Nate, he felt like he’d throw something at someone.

  Wal muttered to him as they ran for the kitchen, ‘Fuckin’ hell. What a mess.’

  Some time later Alex stood proudly before the fireplace, glass of whisky in hand. ‘Before we dine, I’d like to make an announcement; if you’ll charge your glasses?’

  Everyone was either standing or sitting in various positions around the room. Some moved to the bar. All were drinking except for Milly, who was sitting in her corner playing Polly Pocket with Nate; her cup of lemonade sat beside his glass of rum and coke. Jodie refused to look in that direction. She didn’t need to see the man responsible for her current state (in more ways than one) having fun with her beloved daughter. It would just be too much.

  It was just as well she had been banished to the couch. She couldn’t see the pair of them, only hear their voices.

  ‘What she really said was “I’m gunna shoot the bastard dead”, but Mum said I’m not allowed to swear and I know I’m not allowed to lie,’ a sigh followed, ‘so I really just don’t know what to do. Polly needs to go do something outside on the farm.’

  A deep rumble from behind the couch: ‘How about we just pretend there was no snake and Mum needed more eggs to make another pavlova?’

  Cowboy Nate had obviously seen the state of her dessert when they’d all put out the fire in the kitchen. Leaving vegetables to boil dry wasn’t the cleverest thing she’d done today, but it was so by far not the worst. Hopefully all the surprises were over. She would get through the next couple of hours then go home to bed and forget today ever happened. She’d wake up tomorrow and Nate and Wal would be magically transported back to the Snowy Mountains or the Territory where they were supposed to be, Joy would be home doing whatever she did on Bribie Island and she and Alex would elope. Milly could come too if she wanted.

  ‘Are you all ready now?’ asked Alex.

  Jodie could hear Nate getting up from the floor behind her and taking a swig from his drink. Why was she so attuned to his movements?

  ‘Well, c’mon.’ This was from Clem, sitting over near the window, gazing outside. ‘We’re waiting.’

  This earned Clem a hard look from Alex and an even sterner glance from Mue.

  ‘I’m hungry,’ said Clem by way of explanation.

  Oh God. How the heck were they going to salvage something for lunch out of the mess in the kitchen? Mue had taken over all that. Something Jodie should have let her do, days earlier. She had offered, but Jodie had thought to give the woman the day off, so she could try out her hand at being a proper cook and feeding a proper family. Her soon-to-be-family …

  She groaned, causing Joy, who was sitting at the other end of the couch, to frown. ‘Are you all right?’ The tone was clipped. It wasn’t about Joy any more so her concern for Jodie was laced with impatience.

  ‘Fine.’ What else could she say?

  Alex was speaking. ‘I’d like to let you all in on a little secret which goes a long way in explaining why Jodie fainted at the front door – but please keep it to yourselves until after the wedding.’

  Secret? What secret? Jodie started. Alex, no! They had planned to tell no one until after the wedding …

  Nate had moved to the end of the couch. Along with her little girl. Crap. She hadn’t even t
old Milly yet. She had to tell her daughter first!

  ‘Alex –’

  ‘No, Jodie. I feel they need to know now so they can celebrate with us.’

  ‘But, Alex –’

  The man brushed her off. ‘I want to tell you all we’re having a baby. Glenevelyn has a new heir!’

  Jodie slumped in her seat. She couldn’t help but sneak a glance at Nate’s face. And that one look was enough. He’d gone from a paler shade of bronze (which he’d been since they’d sighted each other at the top of the stairs) to a chalk-white quartz. His face slowly turned to hers. Shock. Violent disbelief. Wild anger.

  And then her view of him was cut off as Milly threw herself into her mother’s arms.

  ‘Mummy! Oh wow. I’m gunna have a little baby brother or sister. Awww … totally cool!’ Now Milly had her hands on Jodie’s tummy. ‘So the bubby’s in there? Can I hear it?’ A small pink ear was pushed into Jodie’s dress. The one that was now decorated in red jelly stains, like blood. As if Jodie had been stabbed in the heart and was bleeding out over the couch.

  Alex, standing by the fireplace, was pink with pride. Mue was disappearing out the door into the kitchen. (Lucky Mue.) Joy was speechless, staring at Alex as if she couldn’t work out how, at fifty-eight, he could father her daughter’s baby. Correction, it was probably why the hell would he want to have another baby? Joy was an expert at not wanting children. Next was Clem, who was watching Alex, a perplexed expression on his face. And, she realised when she could finally see beyond the acres of Milly’s hair, there was no sign of Nate. He’d gone. Disappeared.

  Wal was the only man left standing. The only person in the room who stepped up to the fireplace and shook Alex’s hand. He turned and nodded to Jodie, then he too vacated the room. To find Cowboy Nate no doubt. Clem followed soon after.

  Jodie patted her daughter’s head and wished she could dissolve too. Reappear back at McCauley’s Hill, to sit on the old verandah, take in the peace and serenity of those incredible mountains. The Great Diving Range. Back to old Joe McCauley’s comfy, ramshackle home where she and Milly could start life anew.