They were too far away to see what was happening, but it was as if they were willing Cecil to win, Erin thought as she watched their intent, silent faces. They watched and watched, as if part of themselves was being judged.
As indeed it was. They’d done the hard work. They’d paid their consequences, and when the blue ribbon was placed around Cecil’s neck it was as much as Erin could do not to burst into tears at the look on their faces.
William did. He buried his face into Erin’s breast and sobbed, while Henry just stood and stood, dumbstruck and silent.
‘Well done, us,’ Erin said in a voice that shook, gathering Henry into her as well as William. She found a tissue and mopped William’s soggy face. ‘Well done, all of us. And well done, Cecil.’
Then she looked up, and Matt was at the fence, leading Cecil away from the judges and beaming fit to bust. He’d seen them all. They’d been small figures in the distance, but he’d been so aware of them that the longing to win was no longer purely about what he could earn from his magnificent bull.
He knew how much the boys wanted this.
He’d wanted this ribbon for them-and for Erin.
He looked at her face, and he knew the trouble to get Cecil here-to get all of them here-had been worth it. She stood, her twins still tucked in beside her, and her eyes glowing with happiness. She was wearing Charlotte’s sensible clothes-jeans and a checked shirt-and her normally unruly hair had been tied back in a sensible ponytail. She wore no make-up, but her face was lit with joy, and he wanted to hug her so badly…
Instead, he contented himself with hugging the twins, grabbing them and swooping them over the fence, while Cecil looked on with placid bovine approval.
‘This calls for a celebration,’ he told them. He pushed a hand in his pocket and handed a note over to Erin. ‘Here you go, cola and chips, fairy floss and a ride on the tunnel of death, courtesy of me.’
‘Can we do that in reverse order?’ Erin said faintly, thinking this through. ‘Gee, Matt, thanks very much.’
‘There’s champagne for the grown-ups later,’ he told her, and his smile was so warm she almost melted.
He was only being kind, she told herself sternly. Cut it out, Erin. Stop imagining things!
‘We don’t want to celebrate by ourselves,’ Henry told him, casting a look for reassurance at his brother. ‘Can you come with us?’
‘I can’t leave Cecil.’ Matt’s voice was sure, and Erin nodded. The farmers didn’t leave their cattle. There were living facilities in the cattle pavilion. No one brought a bull as valuable as Cecil to a show and left him to the mercies of the general public. Even at the small shows around Bay Beach she’d learned that. No matter what they’d do tonight, Matt would be with his bull, sleeping on a camp stretcher beside him.
‘Tell you what,’ she told the twins. ‘Why don’t we go and buy a feast? A celebration feast. As much fairy floss, hot dogs, chips and fizzy drinks as we can find, and bring it back to share with Matt.’
Now it was Matt’s turn to say, ‘Gee, thanks,’ and Erin’s blue eyes danced.
‘It’ll be all our pleasure. Is there anything you’d like to add to our list?’
He thought about it. Fairy floss, huh. ‘A beer would do nicely.’ Before or after fairy floss? Good grief!
‘Coming right up,’ she sang, and they trooped away, leaving Matt and Cecil staring after them.
‘She’s quite a girl,’ he told Cecil, and Cecil pushed his great head against Matt’s chest, and nudged him sideways, as if reminding him of his duties.
He got the point. ‘You’re right. I have a woman. I’m an engaged man.’ Matt shook his head as if dispelling a dream. He looked down at his bull and he grinned. ‘Not like you. You can have thousands of them. In the human world we’re restricted to one, and a very suitable one she is, too.’
Charlotte had gone to inspect the horses, and he badly wanted her here now, to see Cecil’s ribbon and to share the moment.
Or maybe he didn’t.
Maybe it was enough that Erin had seen it and was coming back to celebrate.
‘Where are you going to sleep?’
It had turned into a party. The twins were working their way through mountains of junk food, Erin had had the forethought not to bring back one beer but a crate of two dozen, and half the cattle pavilion seemed to be crowded into Cecil’s stall.
Not Charlotte, though. She was off doing her own thing.
Which was how it should be, Matt thought doubtfully as Henry questioned his sleeping arrangements. That was why he’d decided she’d be a suitable wife. She’d lead her own life and he’d lead his…
But it was sort of nice being surrounded by kids-and by Erin.
‘Where are you sleeping?’ Henry’s small hand was in his, clutching him urgently as he repeated his question. ‘Erin says we’re staying in a hotel but you’re not.’
‘I’m staying here.’
‘Where?’
His eyes met Erin’s for a fleeting moment over Henry’s head. She was laughing at something one of the cattlemen had said, but he knew by the sudden stillness of her body that she’d heard what was being said, and was gently mocking him. See if you can stay uninvolved, her body language said, and for the life of him he couldn’t.
‘Matt gets to sleep in the nice comfy straw with Cecil and all these great people and these wonderful animals,’ she told Henry, making her voice mournful. ‘While poor old us get to sleep between sheets in a really comfortable hotel.’
Silence while the twins took this on board. Then came the inevitable-‘We want to sleep on the straw, too,’ Henry said.
‘Yes,’ said William.
It would be sort of fun, Erin thought. Staying here with these down-to-earth farmers instead of going back to the hotel, putting the boys to sleep and then spending the evening with Charlotte.
No! Spending the evening alone!
‘Matt’s booked us into a really great hotel,’ she told the kids. ‘With a swimming pool.’
‘It’d be better here. We don’t want a swimming pool. Matt’s river’s better.’
‘Yes, but we don’t have sleeping bags-and I’ll bet Matt’s already paid a deposit for the hotel.’ She was all with the kids on this one, but it wouldn’t work. Even if their sleeping bags hadn’t been burned in the fire, which they had, sleeping in the cattle pavilion-with Matt-was probably unwise. In more ways than one.
But bad news had a habit of travelling fast in country communities. Even though they were now a hundred miles from Bay Beach, most of the people in the pavilion knew exactly who Erin and her boys were. They were receiving sympathy from all sides, and they received more now.
‘Bet your sleeping bags and stuff were burned in the fire,’ the cattleman she’d been talking to growled, and when she nodded he chewed his bottom lip.
‘There you go then, boys,’ he said to the cattle shed in general. ‘Kids and the lady want to stay here. We’ve been thinking of a way we could help and here it is.’ He hauled his hat from his head and tossed a twenty dollar bill into it. ‘Here’s a start.’ He passed the disreputable Akubra on to his neighbour.
‘This is a whip round, and when we have enough my Bert’ll go downtown and fetch what you need. Three full swags with our compliments. No arguments, girl. The hotel room Matt’s booked will be snatched up by any of a score of people who need accommodation and who don’t figure, like us, that the place we have here is fit for kings. And as for the swags… It’ll be our pleasure to buy them for you.’
The generosity was immediate and almost overwhelming. It left Erin with nothing to say but thank you. Despite Erin’s protestations, there was no resisting the wave of generosity passing through the shed, and the hat with the money disappeared out the door before she could see it.
Bert returned half an hour later, laden with swags-padded sleeping mats, sleeping bags, mosquito nets and pillows. Following him in was Charlotte, and, to Erin’s surprise, she appeared delighted with the new sleeping arrangements.
‘That’s wonderful,’ she told a bemused Matt, tucking a proprietorial arm through his. ‘It means Erin can stay here and look after your beastly bull and you can stay at the hotel with me.’
There would now be a free room, Erin thought, and then thought, they’re engaged, why would Matt even need a spare room? The thought, for some stupid reason, made her feel ill.
It didn’t suit the twins, either. They’d been checking out the sleeping bags with whoops of delight, but now
