‘Here, here,’ said a voice from behind.
Tab wasn’t sure who it belonged to but she appreciated the sentiment. She was pretty sure that after the shock wore off, she’d have the backing of everyone else in town. And she didn’t care for Adeline’s interference in her child’s life anyway.
‘Fine. I have photos to take.’ Adeline lifted her camera and flounced off in a huff.
‘Good riddance,’ Funky said, then turned to Tab and gave her a hug. ‘I’m stoked for you. So stoked I’m off to get another beer.’
‘Thanks.’ Tab laughed as he pulled away and then accepted more congratulations from the rest of the small crowd that had gathered around them.
Finally, she looked to her brother and Meg. ‘I’m sorry, Law, I wanted to tell you guys first in private and I certainly didn’t mean to take away the glory from your impressive footy win.’
‘I don’t give a damn about that and you know it.’ Lawson put his arm around her. ‘All I care about is that this is right for you. I wish you’d talked about it with us first though, we could have been there to support you through the whole process.’
‘I know. But this is something I had to do for myself.’ Tab didn’t tell them she’d been scared they might have tried to talk her out of it, tried to convince her to give fate a few more years to find her a partner to parent with. She knew how hard being a single parent could be, but her circumstances were different to what Lawson’s had been—she was going into the adventure with her eyes wide open.
‘I understand,’ he said.
‘Me too,’ Meg added, ‘but tomorrow you’re coming over for dinner and you’re going to tell us everything. I want to know all the details.’
‘Deal. Although here’s hoping I can have a little nap after the lunch rush, otherwise I’m liable to fall asleep on my plate.’
‘So that’s why you’ve been so tired lately?’ Meg mused. ‘Maybe we should talk about hiring some more casuals to help us out at the tea rooms. We’ll need some extra help when the baby arrives anyway.’
‘That’s a good plan,’ Lawson agreed. ‘But right now, we’d better find Ned and tell him he’s going to be a cousin before he hears it on the grapevine.’
‘Good idea,’ Tab said.
And then, flanked by her brother and Meg, she went outside to look for her nephew, thinking how lucky she and her baby were to have such a wonderful family. She didn’t need anyone else.
Chapter Three
Taking her hand off the steering wheel for a moment, Tab jabbed her car radio off as the latest hit by country singer Ryder O’Connell came on. She didn’t begrudge her first (and only real) boyfriend’s success, she just wished she didn’t have to hear his voice so often. Especially not today, when her stomach was already in knots about the questions she might have to face in the next few hours.
Since leaving the football celebrations early, she’d laid low, only venturing out of Rose Hill to have dinner at the farm on Sunday night and visit her grandmother at the nursing home that same afternoon. Granny had been delighted by the news she was going to be a great-grandmother again, although she took a while to get her head around the fact Tabitha didn’t know the father. And, as the tea rooms were only open Friday through Sunday and no one from Walsh had ventured in for tea and scones on Sunday, she hadn’t yet run into anyone who wanted to talk about her ‘announcement’. Going to knitting circle, as she did every second Wednesday, would be like being a corrupt politician and walking into a press conference.
Tab wasn’t sure she had the mental energy for that right now. Even after three days doing practically nothing, she hadn’t been able to shake this pregnancy fatigue. But if she didn’t go, people would only talk behind her back. She and Meg didn’t call knitting circle Stitch’n’Bitch for nothing, but attending the group always made Tab feel closer to her mum. It was the one outing she had each week when Tab was little and for as long as she could remember, she’d begged her mum to teach her to knit so she could go as well. When she’d lost her arm, knitting—among many other things—had been a struggle, but one she’d persevered with until she’d taught herself all over again.
To Tab’s utmost surprise, no one even turned their head as she entered. They were all ensconced in conversation.
A few of the women looked up briefly and offered a ‘hi’ as she took the vacant seat next to Meg.
‘Hey.’ She smiled back warily, then dug her knitting out of her mum’s faithful old craft bag and whispered to Meg, ‘What’s going on?’
‘Kathy’s been telling us about the new teacher in town.’
‘Ah, I see.’ Tabitha began to knit, wedging one needle under her armpit and holding the other in her hand. No wonder the women were so animated—there was nothing these old dears liked better than matchmaking; no new teacher or nurse was safe! Those reality TV dating shows had nothing on these country matriarchs. The number of newcomers they’d tried to set Lawson up with before he met Meg had been mind-boggling.
‘Is he married?’ asked Eileen Bennett. She had three unmarried daughters in their early twenties. All still lived in Walsh—two of them working with their father on the farm and one the local hairdresser—and the fact they were all single caused their mother much distress. Every time Tab heard her speak, a vision of the other Mrs Bennett from Pride and Prejudice landed in her head.
Hang on? Her thoughts caught up with the conversation and she looked up from her knitting. The new teacher was male? This really was a turn-up for the books.
‘Joanne doesn’t think so,’ said Kathy, who was Joanne’s mother-in-law. ‘There was no mention of a partner in their early communications, and he hasn’t brought anyone with him …’
‘Except for a cat,’ interrupted Eileen; she’d obviously done her research.
‘And,’ Kathy continued, ‘Joanne said he wasn’t wearing a ring.’
Tab was about to say that didn’t necessarily mean he didn’t have a partner—he could be in a long-term relationship, hell, maybe he was gay—but it was impossible to get a word in over the excitement. No wonder the news had trumped the scandal of her getting pregnant to a turkey baster; she couldn’t remember the last time there’d been a man teaching at Walsh Primary School.
‘I saw him yesterday morning when I drove past the school,’ said Beth in her very posh voice. She’d come out from England seventy years ago to marry a farmer she’d met through a pen-pal scheme and had never lost her accent. At almost ninety, she was the oldest member of knitting circle and also one of Tab’s favourites. ‘He was carrying a box from his car.’
‘Ooh, what does he look like?’ Adeline asked.
Tab was surprised she hadn’t already engineered a meeting herself.
‘Well, if my old eyes weren’t deceiving me, he’s very tall and has muscles in all the right places. His sleeves were pushed up and I couldn’t help notice he had very tanned skin too. He was wearing a cap but I think I saw dark hair curling at his neckline.’
Tab was impressed—if anyone ever needed a witness to a crime, Beth would be perfect.
The elderly woman visibly blushed. ‘Let’s just say if I was sixty years younger …’
‘If you were sixty years younger,’ interrupted Doris Weatherby, ‘I’d be sixty years younger too and you’d have competition.’
Everyone laughed, but Tab saw Adeline’s eyes sparkle like a tiger who’d just spotted a gazelle grazing not too far away. There was new blood in town; of course she’d be on the scent.
‘I wonder why he was able to come at such short notice,’ mused Chloe Wellington. ‘I know when Carline was diagnosed she was very anxious they wouldn’t be able to find a replacement and there’d be too much pressure on Joanne.’
‘Could be some kind of scandal,’ said Suzie McDonald, a mischievous glint in her eyes. ‘Maybe he had an affair with one of the mums and was encouraged to leave. My sister works at a school in Albany and that’s what happened with their principal.’
‘Or maybe he had a thi
ng with one of the students.’ Doris looked horrified at her own suggestion. ‘I’m always reading in the paper about male teachers taking advantage of teenage girls.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Chloe snapped. ‘The man’s a primary school teacher—and anyway, the police would be after him if that were the case. Wouldn’t they?’
The circle went quiet for a moment as the mums and grandmothers pondered this possibility. Tab felt compelled to stand up for the poor man and stop this line of thought before it got out of hand. Lord knew how easily rumours started in small towns, but this one was particularly nasty and she could just imagine what would happen if it took hold. A vision of all the locals charging the school with pitchforks came into her head.
‘Of course he wouldn’t still be teaching if he was involved in anything like that,’ she reassured everyone. ‘We should be grateful that whatever his reasons, he’s been able to take up the position at such short notice. And it’ll be great for the kids to have a guy at school for a change.’
‘Yes, indeed.’ For once Adeline agreed with her, but the wolfish smile on her face reminded Tab that it wasn’t only vicious rumours the new guy needed to be wary of.
‘What’s his name?’ she asked the circle.
‘Fergus McWilliams,’ Adeline announced, swooning.
Fergus sounded like someone her dad’s age, but Tab assumed he had to be a lot younger to be making all these women so hot under the collar.
‘I wonder if he’d like a puppy? I have a litter due any day and, if he is alone, it’d be good company for him.’
Adeline thought her fluffy white dogs were the answer to everything. She’d tried to use them to get into Lawson’s pants too, but that had backfired and now it irritated her something chronic that Meg owned one of her Maremmas.
‘The cat might have something to say about that,’ Meg said.
‘And what would the poor puppy do all day while he’s at school?’ Eileen asked with a roll of her eyes. She clearly didn’t want Adeline getting an in with Fergus before she could introduce him to her daughters.
Tab stifled a giggle as Adeline and Eileen eyed each other off. Whatever Fergus McWilliams’ story, she hoped he knew how to handle a pack of piranhas. Adeline and the Bennett girls weren’t the only single women in Walsh and they wouldn’t take any prisoners in their mission to score a man.
‘He could take the dog to school with him. Maremmas are great with kids,’ Adeline spat.
‘What about the kids that are allergic?’ said Kathy.
Getting bored with this conversation, Tab focused on her knitting and made a mental note to thank the poor man when she met him for taking the limelight off her.
‘How you feeling?’ Meg whispered, leaning in close to her.
‘Still so tired I could sleep for a year, but the nausea might be settling a little bit, thank God. I actually managed to keep down my toast this morning.’
Meg smiled. ‘Ned’s so excited. When you left on Sunday night, he started making a list of possible baby names. So far Harry and Hermione are top contenders, and I should warn you, he seems to think it’s his privilege as cousin to pick the name.’
‘There are worse names than Harry.’ Tab was almost as much a fan of the Harry Potter books as Ned was.
‘Ooh, are you talking baby names?’ Chloe Wellington smiled from across the circle. ‘I heard your news, Tab, and I wanted to say massive congratulations. I think it’s wonderful what you’re doing. Lord knows if there’d been that option in my day, I might have taken it. Men are way more hassle than they’re worth.’
‘Thanks.’ Tab smiled.
A few of the older women wanted her to explain exactly how she’d managed to conceive on her own, but there were surprisingly few judgemental comments.
‘You’ll make a fine mother,’ Beth said, patting her hand. ‘When’s the baby due?’
‘Mid April.’ She couldn’t help grinning at the thought and resisted the urge to place her hand on her stomach; it seemed silly when there was nothing to see yet. Often when she was alone, she found her hand drifting down to her still flat belly. It was hard to believe there was anything in there, but she’d heard its heartbeat during her dating ultrasound and she already loved the life within her more than she’d ever loved anything.
‘April’s a lovely time,’ Chloe said. ‘Not too cold yet, but not too hot either.’
‘Once I’ve finished this jumper for my brother-in-law in England—’ Beth held up the bright yellow knitting in her hands, ‘—I’ll start on a special blanket for your baby.’
‘Will you stay in Rose Hill when the baby’s born?’ asked Kathy.
‘Yes, I think so. There’s plenty of room to decorate a nursery and we need someone on site in case of power cuts.’ If no one was there to start the generator, they were liable to lose a lot of ice-cream.
‘It’s quite far from Walsh if there’s any sort of emergency with the child,’ Adeline said, a scowl on her face once again.
‘Not really,’ Tab replied. ‘Besides with the B&B next door now, there’s often someone around. And I do have internet and a phone line out there now, you know.’
The women chuckled, but Adeline was not to be deterred.
‘And when you’ve been up all night with the baby, are you going to get up and provide breakfast for your guests?’
‘We appreciate your concern, Adeline,’ Meg said, before Tabitha could reply, ‘but Tab isn’t running a one-man show out there—it’s actually my business as well and we’ll work out the logistics as a family.’
‘And I’ll be happy to help with the guests or the baby anytime,’ Chloe said, and although her offer was followed by many others, Tabitha suddenly wondered if she was crazy to have thought this was a good idea.
Yes, she wanted a baby more than anything and yes, she already loved it with everything she had, but was her decision a selfish one?
Lawson, Meg, her dad and stepmother had been very supportive when she’d finally discussed her pregnancy with them, but her father and stepmum didn’t live close enough to be of practical assistance, and Lawson and Meg had their hands full on the farm. The business she and Meg operated from Rose Hill had grown from Meg’s original vision of tea rooms and a craft shop to something much bigger. It now also included Tab’s ice-creamery, an art gallery, and a bed and breakfast in the building next door, and was a good supplemental income to the farm and a fulltime job for Tabitha.
When Meg and Lawson got engaged, Meg and Tabitha had in essence swapped places, with Meg moving to the farm and Tabitha to Rose Hill. The tea rooms, and everything that went with it, had become a tourist destination much quicker than any of them had ever hoped or dreamed and now they had a number of casual staff, but Tab worked harder than anyone. And she loved it, but wasn’t stupid enough to think she’d be able to continue at such a rate once the baby arrived. It was already becoming a struggle.
As if sensing her anxiety, Meg reached out and squeezed her knee. ‘Want to get a cuppa?’
‘Good idea,’ said Beth next to Tabitha. ‘I think my fingers have done their dash for the day. Must be time for afternoon tea.’
Murmurs of agreement echoed around the circle and one by one the women packed up their knitting and went into the kitchen to organise the feast. Tab nibbled on a couple of scones, fielded more questions about her baby plans, listened to the older women as they reminisced about pregnancy cravings and then announced she was heading home for a nap.
‘Don’t forget your plate of leftovers,’ Beth insisted as Tab went to retrieve her bag.
‘Thanks,’ she said, going back to put a few slices and a couple of scones on a plate. She kissed Meg on the cheek, told her she’d see her tomorrow and then waved goodbye to the rest as she went to her car.
As she was driving out of Walsh, Tab caught a flicker of movement in the corner of her eye. She turned her head to see a man she didn’t know painting the brick wall at the front of the school—shirtless—and almost drove off the road.
He had muscles in all the right places.
As Beth’s words repeated themselves in her head, there was no question in Tab’s mind that this was the new teacher. What he was doing painting, she had no idea, but, with a quick glance at the plate on the passenger seat beside her, she found herself turning into the school car park. Surely all that manual labour would be making him hungry and it would be a shame for all this food to go to waste; she had enough for herself at the tea rooms.
With that thought, she parked her van alongside the wagon she guessed belonged to him. Loud rock music sounded from a portable stereo a metre or so from where he was painting, which meant he didn’t hear her approach until her shadow fell over him. He spun around and her mouth went dry as she took in the sight before her. She didn’t usually get all that excited over bare male skin. Perhaps it was pregnancy hormones or maybe it had just been so long since she’d seen any, but as her gaze skimmed the contours of his perfect six-pack, covered in tawny-brown skin that glistened from the exertion, Tab forgot to breathe a moment.
No wonder Beth had blushed when speaking about him.
‘Can I help you?’ he asked as he dumped his paint roller in a tray on the ground. Dark sunglasses covered his eyes so she couldn’t read his expression, but his tone and stance told her he didn’t appreciate being ogled.
Whoops.
Tab found her voice. ‘No. I was just driving by and thought I’d introduce myself. I’m guessing you’re the new teacher? Fergus?’
He nodded.
‘I’m Tabitha Cooper-Jones. My nephew Ned’s in your class.’
Then, forgetting about the plate she was holding, she shot out her hand to offer it to him and ended up somehow throwing scones and hedgehog slice at him instead. Dammit, why hadn’t she taken the time to cover them with cling-wrap?
‘Oh my God, I’m so sorry.’ Almost dropping the plate in her efforts to put it down, she rushed forward and tried to wipe the cream off his impressive six-pack.
Something to Talk About (Rose Hill, #2) Page 3
