‘That’s why I put your case so strongly to the board,’ Tom told her. ‘If we take them to Sydney they’ll have to go into one of the bigger homes-even if it’s only for a short while-and I hate the idea. It could do so much damage. We may have these kids on our hands for the long term, Erin. House Mothers are supposed to be short-term parents while we find foster homes or adoptive parents but it’s not happening here.’
He shook his head, but he was watching her face and seeing acceptance of what he was asking. Even more commitment to the twins! ‘It’s asking a lot, and separation at the end will be more difficult, but the alternative’s worse,’ he told her gently. ‘If you can care for them here for a while longer I’d appreciate it. I’ll do my damnedest to find them some other couple as soon as I can, but it’s looking bleak.’
‘I don’t have a choice then, do I?’ Erin asked, and Tom shook his head again.
‘No. Matt’s offer is far too good to knock back. He’s said he’ll take you for the full six months.’ He fixed her then with his all seeing look. Tom had been around, and he knew his staff. As he watched the trouble washing over her face, a sudden thought occurred to him.
‘It’s not putting you into an awkward position, is it?’ he demanded. Then he brightened. ‘I guess it can’t be if the man’s engaged to be married. There’ll be no hassles.’
‘No.’ But she sounded doubtful.
He picked up on her doubt straight away, and he pounced. ‘You don’t trust him?’
‘I trust him, all right,’ Erin said, as she turned away with the pizza boxes. And then she added a rider that was meant for her ears only. ‘I’m just not sure I can trust myself.’
‘Her leg’s just badly bruised. We didn’t break it.’
They burst in like miniature time bombs, exploding into the kitchen with their news. Momentarily they paused as they saw Tom, but they’d been dealing with Tom all their lives and apart from lowering their voices a notch, it didn’t stop them telling Erin what was important.
‘The vet says it’s just grazed and bruised, but he’s wrapped it up in a great big white bandage and he says she’s not to walk on it for a week.’
‘Which is just what is going to happen.’ Following the twins was Matt, carrying Sadie in his arms. He lay the big dog down in her basket, she looked pathetically up at him-and then she wagged her tail.
The wag destroyed the pathetic image completely and Erin had to grin.
‘Not mortally injured, huh?’
‘Not.’ The boys had spotted the pizza which demanded their immediate and undivided attention-which left Matt free to speak to Erin and Tom. ‘I’m glad to see you again,’ he told Tom.
‘It’s my pleasure to be here.’ Tom beamed at what was happening around him. A man, a woman, two kids and a dog. This was a great family situation. Perfect. If he’d tried to engineer a better placement for the twins, he couldn’t have done it.
A sudden idea flashed into his head, his eyes grew thoughtful and his smile widened as Erin shooed the boys out to wash their hands before eating. Hmm.
Double hmm.
‘I brought enough pizza for the lot of us,’ he said expansively. He was suddenly feeling expansive. He was a man who liked a good happy ending if he could possibly arrange it. ‘There are four different types. Help yourself.’
Then he watched Matt’s face with interest-and he liked what he saw.
What he saw was confusion.
The pizzas smelled great, Matt had decided, but that alone was really, really strange. Matt was a bachelor and pizza was his staple food-except he’d become fed up to the back teeth with pizza. Normally he’d run a mile to avoid it, and something gastronomically wonderful was waiting for him at Charlotte’s.
But suddenly all he wanted to do was haul up a chair, sit down beside Erin and eat pizza.
‘Um…no.’ He gave a half hearted grin. ‘I have a date.’
‘With Charlotte,’ Erin told Tom, and Tom nodded politely. But his eyes were still thoughtful. His idea, once planted, refused to be dissipated by a small obstacle like a fiancee.
His idea was wonderful!
‘Well, off you go, boy,’ he told him. ‘I daresay Erin won’t wait up for you.’
‘She certainly won’t.’ Erin’s eyes creased into laughter. ‘I’m pooped already. Too much excitement last night and then a swim on top of it… I wonder how you can face a night out.’
‘But he’s going to see the woman he loves,’ Tom said, watching Matt’s face and getting answers to unspoken questions that were most satisfactory. ‘I expect he won’t find that tiring in the least.’
The woman he planned to marry was waiting for him. She’d been ready for hours, and the cooking smells hit him before he opened the door of the truck.
Wow! They were great smells. And then Charlotte was running lightly down the front steps of her house, greeting him with a hug as he pushed open the door, and he had to acknowledge that she looked just beautiful.
‘Matt. Darling. I thought you’d never come. No more house fires tonight?’
‘No more fires tonight.’ He put her away from him and smiled down at her. She really was incredibly lovely-and those smells…
But it wasn’t quail.
‘I thought you were reheating last night’s dinner,’ he said, suddenly uneasy. ‘That’s why I agreed to come-so it wouldn’t be wasted.’
‘Well, yes.’ She blushed and fluttered her eyelashes at him. ‘But…’ Her eyes slid sideways. ‘I sort of thought… Well, I saw the box when I was in the truck this afternoon, you see, and I thought lobster thermidor was the very least I could produce-and Dom Perignon champagne to go with it.’
The box.
Hell, the box!
It was still sitting where he’d left it last night. Two thousand bucks’ worth of diamond and it had completely slipped his mind. He’d had it sitting in the truck all day, and he hadn’t even locked the truck! Or thought that whoever sat in the passenger side would see it.
And now…
Charlotte was looking at him with eyes that glowed, then looking past him to where the damned velvet box was still sitting in the map compartment. She was expecting him to ask her to marry him.
Well, why not? he demanded of himself, and wondered why he felt so reluctant to move further. This was what he’d planned to do all along, he told himself. He’d thought about it long and hard. It was the sensible decision.
But…the twins.
‘Charlotte, I’ve offered to take the twins for six months,’ he told her hastily.
‘That’s fine.’ Apparently it wasn’t an impediment.
It wasn’t. Charlotte had heard Matt make his offer to Tom this afternoon and her mind had been working in overdrive since then. There was no way she wanted
‘Tom didn’t like our idea of the stables,’ she said, in a voice that hinted at her opinion of orphanage directors who weren’t grateful for any charity they could get. ‘But I’ve been thinking about it. If Erin stays with you, there’s a Home Mother completely taken up with only two children. So what if we get married quite soon and look after them ourselves?’
For Charlotte this was a definite possibility. Unknown to her beloved, she’d had her wedding gown and her wedding plans ready for years. This would not be a rush.
‘We could go away for a lovely honeymoon,’ she told him, taking his hands in hers and smiling her most beautiful smile. I’m sure my manager here would take over your farm while we’re away, and we’d be combining the properties anyway. Then we can come back and Erin could leave.’
He was stunned. ‘You have it all figured out.’
‘Mmm.’ She beamed, and then looked into the truck again. The box was irresistible. ‘It’s so sensible.’ She leaned in, lifted the box from where it lay, opened it and stared down at the solitary diamond. And gasped. ‘Oh,
