Mountain Ash (25 page)

Giving Alex a nod, the man fled. They heard the outside door bang shut as he went.

Alex came towards her, ‘My dear, Jodie, did you say you shot –'

‘Mum? Can I have a drink?' interrupted Milly. ‘And three cars have arrived. A ute with a horse float, Clem and Muey.'

‘A ute with a horse float?' said a distracted Alex, frowning. ‘Yeah, it came ten minutes ago when Mum was shooting the bastard –'

‘
Milly!
' said Jodie. ‘I've told you not to swear.'

‘That's what
you
called him!' said Milly. ‘Don't back-chat your mother, young lady.' This was from Alex.

Oh God, the morning was going rapidly downhill again.

‘Nathaniel's arrived,' said a voice from the door. Clem.

He was carrying an Esky, which, by the weight of it bearing down on his shoulder, was chock-a-block full of beer and ice.

‘Where is he?' asked Alex, sounding strained.

‘Just sorting out his horses.' Clem looked at Jodie's turkey. ‘Maybe my mum should've cooked?'

He was a man of few words, and the ones he
did
use were pertinent, regardless of your feelings.

Yes, she should have got Muey to cook.

‘Mum's coming in the front door. Some bloke's helping with her stuff.' Clem turned to Alex. ‘So's your son.'

A weird look shot between the two of them, so fleeting Jodie wasn't sure if she was imagining things.

‘Ahem,' Alex cleared his throat, ‘we best go meet them then. Jodie?' He held out his arm to usher her first.

Jodie went to go then realised with a start that she was still holding the turkey. She dumped the baking dish on the counter and flicked a tea-towel over it. Quickly wiped her hands. Fluffed her hair.

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

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.