Her Happy-Ever-After Family. Barbara Hannay
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before we move on to that, I just want to let you know that if Krissie has another little outburst like that, then we’ll deal with it in-house rather than calling you in.’
‘Oh, but—’
‘Believe me, Tess, it’ll be for the best. I thought it important you came today, just so Krissie knows she can rely on you, but from hereon we’ll deal with it.’
‘But what if—?’
Stacy held up a hand and Cam heard Tess literally swallow. ‘Oh, I’m making a hash of it, aren’t I?’
His jaw dropped. He turned to her. ‘What are you talking about? You’ve been brilliant!’
‘Cam is right, Tess. You’re doing a remarkable job in difficult circumstances. I sincerely applaud all you’ve achieved.’
Tess shot him a glance before turning back to Stacy. Her spine straightened. ‘Thank you.’
‘Believe me, you can be the natural mother of twelve children and still feel utterly clueless some days.’
Tess stared, and then she started to laugh. ‘I’m not sure that’s particularly comforting, but it makes me feel better all the same.’ She leant forward, her hands clasped on her knees. ‘Okay, so what did you mean when you said you needed to sort me out?’
‘Do you really think you’ll find it satisfying enough just keeping house and looking after the children?’
‘Well, I—’
‘My dear, I think you’ll go mad. So what I want to propose is for you to run a class or two for our OOSH programme.’
‘OOSH?’
‘Out of school hours,’ Stacy clarified. ‘The classes would only run for forty minutes or so. The school has a budget for it, so you would be paid.’
Tess opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
‘It’ll be a great benefit to the community during term time and great for the kids. More important, however, I expect it will help keep you fresh and stop you from going stir crazy.’
Tess stiffened when she realised exactly what kind of classes Stacy was going to ask her to teach—music classes. Cam stared at her and recalled the way she’d tensed up when Helen had co-opted her for the summer school. He frowned. Surely with her experience and expertise teaching music classes would be a cinch. If she had a passion for music, wouldn’t she be eager to share it?
He didn’t want to ask any awkward questions. At least, not in front of Stacy, but…
Silence stretched throughout the office. Finally Tess smoothed back her hair. ‘I know you’re thinking of my piano and guitar training,’ she said quietly. Too quietly. ‘But piano isn’t really appropriate to teach to a large group. As for guitar, that will only work if everyone has their own instrument.’
Stacy grimaced and shook her head.
Tess’s hands relaxed their ferocious grip on each other. He stared at them, and then opened his mouth. He could donate the funds needed to buy the school guitars.
‘I figured that might be the case,’ Tess said.
He closed his mouth again, curious to see what she meant to propose.
She pursed her lips and pretended to consider the problem. He stared, trying to work out how he knew it was a pretence, but he couldn’t put a finger on it. He kept getting sidetracked by the perfect colour of her skin and the plump promise of her lips.
‘I could do percussion classes,’ she said. ‘It teaches timing and rhythm and the kids would love it.’
‘Sounds…noisy,’ he said.
‘Which no doubt is part of the fun,’ said Stacy. ‘What equipment would you need?’
‘Any kind of percussion instrument the school or the children have lying around—drums, cymbals, triangles, maracas, clappers. Even two bits of wood would work, or rice in a plastic milk container.’
‘We can make some of those in class.’
‘Do you have recorders?’ Both he and Stacy groaned. Tess grinned. ‘I’ll take that as a yes. In my opinion recorders get a bad rap. They’re a wonderful tool for teaching children how to read music.’
‘Oh, Tess, that sounds perfect!’ Stacy clasped her hands on her desk and beamed at them. ‘Can you start next week? We hold the classes at the community hall and there’ll always be a parent or four to help out. Would Tuesdays and Thursdays suit you?’
‘I’d love to be involved, and any day of the week is fine with me.’
Cam couldn’t tell if she truly meant it or not, but he sensed her sincere desire to fit in, to become fully involved in life at Bellaroo Creek. To give back. His stomach rolled. While he was intent on leaving.
‘I know you’re busy on Kurrajong, Cam, but I don’t suppose you’d take a class?’
He went to say, You can take that right, when Krissie’s crumpled face rose in his mind…along with the way Ty flinched whenever he was startled as if waiting for a blow to fall. ‘I’ll teach judo classes on a Wednesday if you think there’ll be any takers.’
Tess spun to him. He refused to look at her. He refused to consider too deeply what that meant for his plans. It’d only be a minor delay. It’d only mean hanging around in Bellaroo Creek for an extra month to six weeks. He did what he could to stop his lip from curling.
‘I forgot you had judo training. You received your training certificate before you went off to university, didn’t you?’
He nodded. Teaching judo had helped pay his way through university.
‘Excellent! That’ll be another winner. I can’t tell you both how much I appreciate it. I’ll be in touch to fine-tune the details,’ Stacy said. ‘Now, Cam, my lower field.’
‘We need to talk drainage and fund-raising.’
She sighed. ‘Just as I feared. We might have to leave that all for another day,’ she said, leading them to the door. ‘But many thanks for coming out here and taking a look. Take care, the both of you.’
Cam glanced at Tess as they set off for the front gate. Was she all right? Dealing with Krissie’s and Ty’s fears and insecurities had to be taking its toll. He didn’t doubt for a moment that she loved them, but…She’d essentially gone from fêted musician to a single mother of two needy children in the blink of an eye. It couldn’t be easy. Some days it must be bloody heartbreaking and exhausting. ‘Are you okay?’
One shoulder lifted, but lines of fatigue fanned out from her eyes. ‘Sure.’ When he didn’t say anything she glanced up, grimaced and shrugged again. ‘Some days it feels as if we take one step forward and three steps back.’
He couldn’t think of anything to say that didn’t sound like a platitude or the accepted wisdom she already knew.
‘I know it’ll get better with time.’
But how much time? And how ragged would she run herself in the meantime? He glanced at her again and bit back a curse.
‘You did that for Ty’s and Krissie’s sakes, didn’t you?’ she said, when they reached their cars. She blinked in the sunlight. ‘Offering to teach judo.’
He chose his words carefully. ‘I think if they feel they can defend themselves, they’ll become a little more…relaxed.’
‘I don’t doubt that for a single moment, but…’
But? He shifted. ‘I don’t teach fighting as a good or positive thing to do, Tess. Judo is about self-discipline and learning how to defend yourself.’
‘Oh, it’s not that!’ She actually looked shocked by the idea. ‘But…’ she glanced