And the twins were
She had her reason all worked out. ‘You know Shanni? She’s expecting another baby, she’s tired and her husband’s just had an operation. She needs help, and I’ve offered to give her a little holiday.’ That much was the absolute truth. If Erin had to take a break she might as well make herself useful.
‘We don’t like it when you go away.’
‘You know I had breaks as a House Mother. You coped then.’
‘But we didn’t like it,’ Henry said mutinously. ‘We always get into trouble when you’re away.’
Oh, dear!
‘You won’t get into trouble when you’re staying with me,’ Matt told them, clapping his big hands on their shoulders and smiling down at them with a no-nonsense smile. ‘Charlotte and I can look after you very well.’
‘We don’t like Charlotte.’
‘You hardly know Charlotte.’ This was stupid. Arguing with children?
‘Erin, where will you be?’ William’s eyes filled with tears, and Erin’s heart clenched. Heck, they’d wrapped themselves around her heart like a hairy worm. She loved them so much-and she had to set them free. This way was right, she told herself fiercely. This way they had a chance of what they needed most in the world. A family.
‘I won’t be far,’ she told them.
‘She’ll just be around the other side of the bay,’ Matt told them, missing Erin’s warning glance. She knew it wasn’t safe to be specific as to her whereabouts, but he didn’t pick it. ‘In fact, if we go down to the beach this afternoon and take the binoculars, you’ll be able to see Nick and Shanni’s house across the sea.’
‘Is it near?’
‘Near enough for me to come right back on Sunday night,’ Erin told them. ‘I’ll be gone for two sleeps and then I’ll be back. So no problems. Please?’
‘They’ll be fine.’ A heavily pregnant Shanni waddled into her friend’s bedroom with two cups of hot chocolate and handed one over to her friend. ‘Come on, Erin. It’s Friday night at nine o’clock and you’re worried already. By Sunday you’ll be a nervous wreck.’
‘And I should be doing this for you.’ Erin took her chocolate and grimaced in guilt.
‘Nick made it,’ Shanni said placidly. ‘He’s still on sick leave, and Doc Emily says he might as well make himself useful. Light housework is fine, she told him, and you should have seen his face when she said it. Court appearances are out, but ironing’s in.’
Erin chuckled, but her heart wasn’t in it.
‘If only I could be sure Charlotte would look after them.’
‘Hey, she’s not a monster.’
‘She’s close!’
‘Matt loves her. She must have something going for her.’
‘Matt thinks she won’t disturb his life. That’s why he’s marrying her. She’s just like his mother.’
‘Hmm.’ Shanni plonked herself down on Erin’s bed and the bed sagged alarmingly. ‘Boy, I’m huge,’ she said placidly. ‘Not disturbing his life, hey? That’s not much of a basis for a marriage.’
‘It’s what he wants.’
‘Is it, I wonder?’ Shanni asked. ‘Or is it just what he thinks he wants?’ She wiggled more comfortably onto the bed and let her mug of chocolate rest on her very pregnant bulge. The baby inside her moved and her hot chocolate splashed onto her robe. She ignored it, as if such events were commonplace.
‘Nick used to think he liked being a bachelor,’ she added contentedly. ‘And here he is and he couldn’t be happier. Sometimes…well, sometimes men don’t know what they want. Sometimes it’s up to us women to show them.’
‘I sure don’t know how.’
‘Hmm,’ Shanni said again, and the look she cast at her friend was very thoughtful indeed.
It had to be tonight. Damnation! Just when he wanted to spend the night with the twins, he was forced to leave them with Charlotte.
But he had no choice. One of Matt’s prize cows was down with her first calf, and she was in all sorts of trouble. At eight Matt rang the vet, and at ten they were both knee deep in trouble.
From dinner time on, Matt didn’t see the twins. There couldn’t be a problem with them though, he told himself, as he worked on into the night. Charlotte had decreed that dinner was to be followed by the twins’ bedtime. That should be fine. So when finally his calf was successfully born, he headed wearily for the house with only a little guilt weighing him down.
But he couldn’t help thinking it would have been better if he’d been able to say goodnight to the twins himself.
And, at first glance, things were just fine.
Charlotte was sitting placidly in the sitting room waiting for him. This was the vision he’d had when he’d asked her to marry him, he thought as he opened the door. A man should come home to this, rather than what he was accustomed to-solitude and take-away pizza.
Charlotte was looking serene and lovely, and the room was looking beautiful to match. Even though the night hardly warranted it, the wind was getting up and she’d lit the fire. The vases were filled with carefully arranged flowers. She’d waxed the furniture, and all his mother’s carefully acquired porcelain pieces had been polished.
The room looked just as it had when his mother had been alive, and he paused on the threshold for a moment to savour it.
Order and calm, and two great kids in bed, sleeping soundly.
This was what he’d always known was right, and, as he crossed the room to give Charlotte a swift kiss of appreciation, he thought finally that he’d done the right thing.
But apparently not completely. Charlotte’s nose was wrinkling in distaste.
‘Phew. Matthew, you smell.’
‘Hey, I’ve washed and taken off my boots,’ he told her, offended. This was good, clean cattle smell after all. ‘I thought I’d come and find you before I took a shower.’
‘Then think again,’ she told him calmly. ‘Cattle smells in the living room are unacceptable.’
‘But we’ve succeeded in delivering a great little calf.’ He was determined to tell her his good news. ‘Mum and calf are both well.’
‘Matt…’
‘Aren’t you interested?’
‘After you’ve showered.’
‘Fine.’
Only it wasn’t fine. He knew instinctively that if Erin was here she’d be excited for him. Sure, the flowers wouldn’t be gorgeously arranged-maybe there’d be a bunch of daisies in a jam jar-and the porcelain wouldn’t be polished but…
Hell! This was what he wanted-wasn’t it?
‘I’ll just go and check the twins,’ he said and her brow snapped down as if he’d just mentioned something else that was distasteful.
‘There’s no need. They’re asleep.’
‘You didn’t have any trouble with them?’
‘Only a stupid argument about them sleeping in the same bed. They’re too old to do that. It seems they both wanted to sleep with that disgusting stuffed toy they insist on sharing. I solved the problem by taking it away from them.’
Silence. Then…
‘You took away Tigger?’ he said cautiously.
‘Is that what they call it?’ she said, and her voice was indifferent. ‘It’s revolting. I locked it in the pantry.’
He guessed he could only be thankful she hadn’t burned it! ‘But they’re asleep anyway?’
‘Of course.’
Only, of course, they weren’t. When he checked, they weren’t even in their beds.
