‘Tess and Michael will be shocked,’ Wendy said gently, gathering Tess closer as she spoke. The doctor was checking the twins, and the little girl was starting to tremble. ‘They’ll need lots of care, so I don’t think Luke and I can do much more than take them. I talked to Lori and she said the same. She’s thinking about the baby and the twins now. And speaking of Lori…’
Lori arrived then. Thirtyish and competent-as all the house mothers were-she might be shocked, but she took right over where Wendy left off.
‘It’s fine for Michael and Tess to go with Wendy,’ she said directly. ‘It makes sense. But the other Homes are packed. Maybe we can use the hotel as an interim measure.’
‘Erin can’t look after Marigold tonight,’ Wendy told her. ‘Look at her. She’s shocked to the core. The last thing she needs is two o’clock feeds. She needs to sleep. And the twins-’
‘No one but Erin can control the twins,’ Lori said bluntly.
‘Yeah, look at how I controlled them,’ Erin retorted. ‘That’s control?’ She gestured to where the flames were dying and leaving a charred and smoking ruin, and she shuddered.
‘And the publican’s heard of the twins,’ Lori added. ‘I guess we might have trouble persuading him to take you.’
‘You bet we’ll have trouble.’
‘But the baby’s up for adoption and her placement’s due on Monday,’ Lori said, brightening. ‘I guess I could squeeze Marigold in with me until then. She’s such a great baby.’ She glanced around to where Valda was holding her at arm’s length, a look of complete disgust on her face. The baby, it seemed, had started to smell.
They all knew it didn’t matter. Lori had decreed Marigold was a great baby, and so had her prospective parents. She’d survive a few more minutes of Valda’s disgust. ‘That just leaves Erin and the twins.’
‘I don’t know about the hotel,’ Erin said doubtfully. ‘Maybe we could stay with Shanni.’
‘Shanni has two kids, is pregnant and has a sick husband.’ Wendy was suddenly in charge again. ‘And I can’t take any more than Michael and Tess.’ Then she looked down at Matt and her brow grew thoughtful. ‘Hmm.’
Hmm?
Matt gazed upward and he didn’t like the way Wendy was looking at him.
Wendy, Erin, Shanni, Lori… Even Doc Emily. They were all the same. They were organising, bossy women, in a sensible, non-Charlotte type of way that you couldn’t just ignore by going outside and heaving a few hay bales until it was time for dinner.
Frankly, they scared him to death.
He took two more breaths of oxygen from his mask and tried to look pathetic. It didn’t come off. In fact, it seemed to make things worse.
‘Doc says you’re not to go home alone, and I know you live in that great rambling place all by yourself.’ Wendy was onto her good idea like a hound on a scent and she wasn’t to be distracted. ‘What could be more appropriate than Erin and the twins coming home with you to keep you company?’
‘You saved their lives,’ Wendy said, her voice softening, as she crouched beside him. Her eyes met his. They were inches apart and he couldn’t argue if he wanted to. ‘And maybe you saved Erin’s, too, as I know she’d have tried to get them out herself if it wasn’t for you. So you can’t just turf them out on the street, now can you?’
‘I…’ It was too much. ‘No,’ he said weakly. ‘I suppose I can’t.’
‘So you can have them?’
He forced himself to think. He wouldn’t make much of a host. ‘I need to be away occasionally, for cattle shows and things…’
‘But they can look after themselves with ease. So that’s that,’ Wendy said triumphantly, and she rose and hugged Erin harder. ‘It’s all sorted, my love, so you can stop shaking this very minute. All of you. Drama over. All we have is one burned house to rebuild and we’ll be back to normal. Now as soon as the doctor’s cleared the lot of you then you can go out to Matt’s. I can see the Welfare Shop lady over by the fire chief. Good old Edna. She’s always armed with a stockpile of emergency clothes. I’ll see how she can help and then we’ll send you all home. Together.’
CHAPTER TWO
FOR how long?
It occurred to Matt as they started out to the farm that this might be no short undertaking. The Bay Beach Home lay in ruins, and finding accommodation in this town was next to impossible. Rented houses were taken by tourists at big dollars, and everything else…
Everything else would have to wait. ‘Worry about tomorrow tomorrow,’ he told himself, glancing back at the cavalcade behind him. Rob was driving him home in Matt’s truck-‘because there’s no way you’re driving tonight,’ the doctor had decreed, and Matt could only agree. He didn’t even feel like driving.
Behind them was the police car, driven by a police constable and containing Erin and the twins. Behind that another helper was driving Erin’s Home car. That car held enough Welfare donations to clothe a small republic.
Heck!
He glanced back again and Erin was sitting in the passenger seat of the car behind. They were just turning out of town, and as they passed under a street lamp she looked right back at him, raised her eyebrows and gave him a quizzical look that said she knew exactly what he was thinking.
That this was a disaster.
This was just great!
He had a mind-reading, bossy tenant, with twins and trouble attached. His nice bachelor existence looked like it was being threatened in a much more dire way than when he’d thought earlier that he might-just
Charlotte was one thing. Married to Charlotte, he knew he’d be free to carry on with life as normal, and his emotional involvement would be minimal.
But life with Erin and twins?
Life could just be chaos.
Then he twisted back to face the road ahead as Rob applied the brakes. Behind them, the cavalcade slowed as well.
‘I think this might be someone wanting to speak to you,’ Rob said, and he gave him the same quizzical look that he’d just received from Erin. ‘If I’m not mistaken, it’s your Charlotte.’
Once more he had that sensation of entrapment-the sensation he’d had since he was about thirteen and Charlotte had told the district he was the man she intended marrying. Of course it was Charlotte, driving her smart little red BMW and pulling to a halt as Rob steered Matt’s truck to a halt on the grass verge. Then she was out of the car and darting across the road toward them.
Charlotte was looking immaculate. Of course. When had she not? She was wearing her signature, beautifully cut, white slacks and white silk blouse, her long, blonde hair was carefully braided into a chignon, and she looked all ready for their intimate dinner.
Except she was no longer expecting her special dinner. Bay Beach had a very effective communication system, and it hadn’t let Charlotte down. She’d heard of the fire. Hauling the truck door open before Matt could do it himself, she practically threw herself into his arms in relief.
‘Matthew… Oh, love, you could have been killed.’ But emotion or not, her eyes were taking everything in, including Rob-and including the red velvet box lying forgotten in the map compartment. Sensibly, she ignored it. Almost.
‘Sally rang and she said you dived into that burning building and pulled out the orphans all by yourself. She said you were burned!’ She stepped back and saw the nasty red blister on his forehead and the grime of smoke all over him-and then, instinctively, she looked down at herself.
