He was ridiculous. She chuckled and suddenly things were just fine. The twins were inspecting their disgusting toy with relish. It appeared that the grime and general dishevelment made not the least difference to their affection.
How could it?
Matt grinned, trying to ignore the warm feeling Erin’s pleasure was giving him. ‘Doc Emily deserves some credit, too,’ he admitted. ‘She saw it when she was listening to my breathing and told me to hang on to it. Then I forgot it-until I took a shower, opened my shirt and it fell out. The damned thing nearly gave me a heart attack.’
‘I imagine it might.’ Erin’s smile was a mile wide. ‘We’re so lucky you didn’t toss it away.’
‘I could have.’ Matt’s eyes were resting on the twins. They’d sat on their shared bed again, one end of Tigger on each of their knees. ‘But by last night both Doc Emily and I had an inkling that whatever could be saved might be important.’
‘You have no idea how important,’ she said warmly. ‘Oh, Matt…’ Her eyes were glowing.
Whew! Her eyes were doing something to his insides which was truly spectacular. He needed to be grounded here.
He was.
The admiration session was interrupted before his chest buttons could finally pop from the strain. Just as Matt was starting to feel very peculiar indeed, another knock sounded through the room.
Visitors were coming thick and fast this morning, Erin thought, but what the heck. They had Tigger. With Tigger, they could save the world! They could cope with anything.
But it was Charlotte, and suddenly Erin wasn’t so sure if anything included Charlotte.
She was amazingly early, Erin thought, and then she glanced down at her wrist-watch and stared in disbelief. It was after nine o’clock. Help!
And she looked like this!
‘Charlotte,’ Matt said warily, and the tone of his voice summed up all of their feelings.
Charlotte gave him her most sympathetic smile-heroine racing to save hero!-and then she moved straight to practicalities.
‘Mrs Gregory told me you were feeding the children their breakfast in the bedroom,’ she said briskly. ‘Why on earth don’t you do it in the kitchen? At least you can wash the floor there.’
And then she looked again-and saw Tigger. She physically flinched.
‘What…what on earth is
‘It’s Tigger,’ Erin said, and beamed her joy with the world. Even Charlotte couldn’t burst her bubble this morning. ‘He’s a bit fire-stained. As we all are. Hi, Charlotte. Isn’t it the most wonderful morning?’
Erin’s greeting startled Charlotte out of her composure. ‘I suppose it is.’ She looked Erin up and down-aristocrat to a low life form somewhere under the level of porriwiggle. ‘What on earth are you wearing?’
‘At a guess, I’m modelling old Mr Harbiset’s hand-me-down dressing gown,’ Erin told her, refusing absolutely to be ruffled. ‘He’s the only local I can think of who’s fat enough to own a dressing gown this size, and Mrs Harbiset’s always giving things to charity.’ She gave a fast twirl, ballerina-like, and the flannelette dressing gown swung out almost full circle around her bare legs. ‘Isn’t it great? You think the style will take off?’
Charlotte somehow managed a smile. Then she turned to face Matt, excluding Erin and the twins nicely from her ordered world.
‘Matt, darling, I’ve talked to my parents,’ she told him sweetly, in a tone that said she’d solved all his troubles. ‘And they’ve been terrific. They say the orphanage can have the use of the stables until the Home is rebuilt.’
‘The stables?’ Matt blinked and Erin raised her eyebrows politely. Stables?
‘I don’t mean the stables proper, silly,’ Charlotte said, giving him the benefit of her delicious, tinkling laugh. She threw the twins a look that said she wasn’t so sure that stables wouldn’t be the best place for them, but then went bravely on. ‘No. There’s living quarters directly above the horse boxes. We used them for the men when I housed all my horses there, but now I’ve moved out they’re empty. They’re still quite liveable.’
‘That’s very generous of your parents,’ Matt said, thinking it through. ‘But the living quarters were built for use by the stable lads, weren’t they?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then they’re pretty basic.’
‘Yes, but it’s almost summer.’ Charlotte beamed. ‘There’s a little kitchenette and a dormitory and a bathroom. Everything they need.’
‘One dormitory?’
‘Yes.’
‘So Erin would be sharing the dormitory with the children?’
‘That’s what she does, sweetheart.’ Charlotte gave Erin her very nicest smile. Her beam widened, all her problems solved and she reached out to take Matt’s hand. ‘She won’t mind, darling. Caring for children is her job. Isn’t it, Erin?’
Hmm. Erin might have continued to twirl but she had also been listening. And thinking-fast.
‘It is,’ Erin said thankfully. ‘And I’m very grateful. But I’m afraid I can’t accept any offers before our director comes down here and sorts things out. Meanwhile, if Matt’s offer still stands…’
‘When’s your director coming?’
‘This morning, I imagine,’ Erin said dryly. She glanced at her watch. Tom Burrows had been in Sydney this week, but she’d imagine news of the fire would have him down here by lunch time. ‘I’ll pass on your offer to him and he’ll come out and see your parents-and the stables.’
‘Hey, hang on a minute!’ Matt wasn’t having a bar of this. ‘The kids are staying here.’
‘You must see that’s impossible.’ Charlotte was still at her sweetest.
‘Why?’
She lowered her voice, just enough to make the twins aware that they were being discussed without them hearing.
‘Because they’re juvenile delinquents, that’s why. They burned down the last place they stayed in. Heaven knows what they’d do here.’
But that was enough for Erin. Her hackles had well and truly risen. Juvenile delinquents?
If she didn’t get rid of this woman soon she’d lose her temper-which maybe wasn’t such a good idea, she thought, as she’d really, really like to stay here for a while. This set-up was perfect for the twins. They had a farm where they could be relatively isolated from the rest of the community.
If Tom agreed-and he surely would-then she could stay here, too. The farm was beautiful, nestled right on the river mouth and overlooking the sea. It’d be like a beach holiday. There’d be no other children for her to look after- the Homes couldn’t ask Matt to look after any more-and they’d have her sole attention.
Which was just fine by her. These were badly traumatised children, and most of the trauma had been inflicted well before last night.
‘Matt, would you mind if you continued this conversation with Charlotte outside?’ she managed. Juvenile delinquents indeed! ‘I…I need to get dressed.’
‘I noticed your donated clothes pile is still out in the hall,’ Charlotte said pointedly. ‘You’ll have to go and forage. Unless you’re planning on wearing what you had on last night.’ She smiled.
‘Charlotte!’
Whoops! She’d gone too far. Charlotte’s self-preservation instincts surfaced then, as a look on Matt’s face told her that he wasn’t seeing things as she was. And this crazy woman wasn’t any real competition. Matt was only being charitable, after all, and it behoved Charlotte to appear the same.
‘I’ll fetch you something, shall I?’ she asked. She looked at Erin, assessing. ‘You’re a couple of sizes larger than me or I’d lend you something of mine.’
‘I’m quite happy with our charity pile,’ Erin said through gritted teeth. Anonymous charity, that was. Not Charlotte charity. ‘I’ll fetch something myself.’ She pulled open the door and stopped short.
Last night, when they’d come here their toes had sunk into the lush white carpet. It had still been here and squish-able when she’d come to bed.
It still was now-but there was plastic over the top.
