Her Happy-Ever-After Family. Barbara Hannay
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it’s been ten months.’
He strode around and seized her chin, his eyes blazing. ‘And you naively think that time can heal all wounds?’
His fingers were gentle but his voice was hard. He smelled of wood and grass and sweat.
He paused and she swallowed, aching at the pain she sensed behind the flint of his eyes.
He scanned her face and then released her with a shake of his head. ‘Why does this matter so much to you?’
She had to take a step away from him. He was too…much. Too much for her senses. Too much for her hormones. And the hardness in him clashed too deeply with the places that grieved inside her. ‘I just lost my sister, Cam. I never appreciated her enough. I wish I had but I didn’t. And now I’ve lost her and I can’t get her back.’
He paled.
‘I have no one now but Ty and Krissie. Don’t get me wrong, they make up for everything, but…you have a mother who loves you and I’m jealous.’ She tried to smile. He had a brother too, but she left that unsaid. In his shoes, would she be able to forgive Lance?
His eyes darkened, his hand half lifted as if to touch her cheek…and then he wheeled away.
She hunched her shoulders, wishing she hadn’t started this conversation. Wishing she’d left well alone. She tried to make her voice bright. ‘Where will you go when you leave Bellaroo Creek?’
He turned back. ‘Africa. I’m an advisor for a charity whose mission is to increase agricultural production in Third World countries. I’ve requested a field position.’
‘Wow!’ She stared at him. ‘Just…wow! That’s amazing.’ She swallowed and chafed her arms. ‘What an adventure.’
‘I’m hoping so.’
‘Is it a secret?’
‘I haven’t told anyone, if that’s what you mean.’ He shifted his weight to plant his legs firmly.
She tried another smile and mimicked zipping her mouth shut to let him know she wouldn’t say anything to anyone, and she had a feeling he had to fight back a smile of his own. She’d like to make him smile for real. ‘We’ll miss you, Cameron. You’ve been just about the best neighbour we city slickers could’ve had.’
His eyes widened. He blinked and then they narrowed. It made her want to fidget. Did he think she was making some kind of a move on him? Her spine stiffened and her chin shot up. ‘You can lose that nasty suspicion right now,’ she shot at him. ‘Even if I was in the market for something more, I’m not stupid enough to get involved with a man on the rebound.’ She folded her arms. ‘In fact, I’m starting to think the sooner you leave, the better!’
He grinned then—a true-blue, solid-gold grin that hooked up his mouth and made his eyes dance. For a moment all Tess could make out was the brightness of the sun, the sound of the breeze playing through the leaves of the lemon tree and the force of that smile. She blinked and the rest of the world slowly surged back into focus.
‘From where I’m standing, Tess, my suspicion was more like wishful thinking and it wasn’t the least bit nasty. In fact, it was pretty darn tempting.’
Heat crept along her veins. She bit her bottom lip in an effort to counter its heavy throbbing. There was nothing she could do about her breasts, though, except to keep her arms tightly folded across them and hope their eager swelling didn’t show.
‘But I’m severing ties with Bellaroo Creek while you’re in the process of establishing them. And while I wouldn’t be averse to a purely physical arrangement…’
She shook her head.
‘That’s what I figured.’
She pulled a breath of fresh country air into her lungs to try to cool her body’s unaccountable response to the man opposite; to give herself the space she needed to remember the promises she’d made to herself. ‘Romance in any shape or form isn’t figuring on my horizon for the next year or two.’
He stared at her, frowned. ‘Why not?’
She glanced at Krissie still dozing beneath the lemon tree, and at Ty and Barney wrestling gently in the long grass down by the back fence. ‘Because at the moment the children need stability in their lives. Bringing a new man into the mix would freak them out, threaten them.’ For the next year or two she meant to focus all her energies on them and what they needed.
For pity’s sake! It couldn’t be that hard. She’d spent the last twenty-six years focussing on nothing but herself and her music. It wouldn’t kill her to put others’ needs before her own for a while. In fact, she had a feeling it was mandatory. Anyway, what did she know about romantic relationships? She’d had flirtations, but nothing serious or long-term. She didn’t know enough about them to risk Ty’s and Krissie’s well-being, that was for sure.
‘Tess, you’re young and beautiful. You’re entitled to a life of your own.’
She stared at him. Did he really think she was beautiful?
She started and shook her stupid vanity aside. ‘Well, then, hopefully another two years won’t make much difference to either of those things.’
‘I think you’re making a mistake.’
‘Ten months,’ she shot back. ‘I think you’re the one making a mistake.’
They glared at each other. ‘Speaking of nosy questions…’ his glare deepened ‘…I have one of my own.’
She moistened dry lips. ‘Oh?’
He hitched his head in the direction of the children. ‘Who hurt them?’
The strength drained from her legs. She reached out but the chicken coop wasn’t stable enough to take her weight. She backed up and plonked down on a load of timber Cam had placed to one side, a chasm opening up in her chest. She wanted nothing more than to drop her face to her hands, but if either child glanced her way it would frighten them, worry them, and calming their anxieties was her numberone concern.
Cam swore. She glanced up. With the sun behind her, she could see his face clearly and the range of expressions that filtered across it—concern, protectiveness…anger.
Who hurt them? Her chest cramped. She’d hoped…‘Is it that obvious?’ she whispered.
He eased himself down beside her. ‘Not at first.’
She had a feeling he was trying to humour her, to offer her some comfort, but there was no comfort to be had. Not for her.
‘Tess?’
She chafed her arms as a chill settled over her, although the sun and the air remained warm. ‘Their father,’ she finally said. ‘It was their father.’
From the corner of her eyes she saw one of his hands clench. She sensed that every muscle in his body had tensed. ‘He hit them?’
She nodded.
‘And he hit their mother?’
She nodded again.
‘The bastard!’
She had to swallow a lump at the pointlessness of it all. ‘Oh, Cameron, it’s so much sadder than that.’ Heartbreakingly sad.
‘Did he kill their mother and then commit suicide?’
Her head came up at that. ‘No!’ The police had been certain. ‘It was a car accident.’ She swallowed. ‘They hit a tree. The police who arrived first on the scene found an injured kangaroo on the road.’
‘They swerved to avoid it?’
‘I expect so.’
He reached out to clasp one of the hands she had clenched in her lap. ‘Tell me the sad story, Tess.’
Why did he want