‘What’s wrong with Nik? He scrubs up quite well. You’ve seen him in a suit. He earns a fortune. Some women would describe him as a catch.’
‘Yeah, but you know us. We don’t do…the love bit.’
‘I’m seeing you come pretty close,’ Blake said cautiously. ‘Five kids. What the hell were you thinking?’
‘If you’d met Maureen you wouldn’t ask. There was no choice.’
‘No.’ He hesitated. ‘I guess there wasn’t. But after it was a done deal, you could have packed them all back to Sydney. You’d get housekeepers there. You could have organized a creche and after-school care. You could have stayed almost as independent as you once were. But you stayed here, boyo. Something inside must have seen what these kids needed.’
‘That’s Ruby talking.’
‘Yeah, it is,’ Blake agreed ruefully. ‘She said your independence is shot to hell and you’re in love with Shanni, and why don’t you ask her to marry you and be done with it.’
‘Because she’d say yes.’
Blake concentrated on his beer for a moment. Pierce stared out into the darkness, listening to his words echo in his head. He’d said it. The unthinkable.
‘You think she might love you back?’ Blake asked, and Pierce thought,
‘She might,’ Pierce said at last. ‘She’s a soft touch.’
‘She’s a nice kid.’
‘She feels sorry for me.’
‘Hey, I saw her watching you when you carried the kids up to bed,’ Blake said. ‘I’m pretty impervious to sentiment, but what I saw on her face wasn’t pity.’
‘No?’
‘Pure unadulterated lust, mate,’ Blake said with satisfaction. ‘Should be more of it. You think she’s hot? She’s besotted. So…You’re stuck here with five kids. One wife’s not going to make much difference, and it might make both of you happier. Come on, bro. It’s happy families. You’ve got the babies. Now you need the bride.’
‘You think I’d lay that on her?’ he snapped, revolted.
‘Why the hell not?’
‘Because she’s generous to a fault. She feels desperately sorry for the kids. She knows just how they feel-she has Ruby’s sixth sense. She’s just like Ruby. She tosses her heart into the ring without thinking of the consequences. She’s a brilliant art curator. To ask her to marry me and be saddled with five kids and their associated baggage…’
‘She can always refuse.’
‘She wouldn’t. She couldn’t. She’s too dammed soft-hearted.’
‘So you’re going to protect her like we tried to protect Ruby,’ Blake said. ‘Yeah, like that worked. We made Ruby miserable. It was Shanni who made us see. Surely you could give her the benefit of the doubt-that she’s an intelligent woman who knows you’re set up with a housekeeper and that you’re not asking her to scrub and bake?’
‘But she would scrub and bake. I know Shanni.’
‘Then surely she should be allowed to?’
‘Hell, Blake, if you were me would you ask her to marry you? I’m under a huge debt to her as it is. I won’t be obligated to her any more.’
‘You think she’d be doing you a favour, marrying you?’
‘Of course she would.’
‘Ask her and see what her reaction is.’
‘No.’
‘You want me to ask her?’
‘Don’t be daft.’
‘No, I mean it. I could just have dinner with her and run the idea past her…As sort of a hypothetical…“Would you ever consider marrying a man with five kids and a chip on his shoulder the size of Ayer’s Rock?”’
‘No.’
‘Or Nik could ask.’
‘No!’
‘Then ask her yourself.’
‘No to that, too,’ Pierce said bleakly. ‘What sort of life would I be asking her to share?’
‘A chaotic one, I’d agree,’ Blake said, finishing his beer and standing up. ‘But surely she has the right of refusal?’
‘I’m not asking.’
‘Have it your own way,’ Blake said, holding out a hand and hauling him to his feet. ‘Ruby asked me to say all this, so my job here is done. But the way I see it you’re in love with her. And if you don’t ask her to marry you, someone else will.’
‘Someone else is welcome to.’
‘Nik?’
‘I’d kill him.’
‘Yeah, well, she’ll marry someone,’ Blake said. ‘If you won’t let me intervene, talk to Ruby.’
‘No.’
‘You don’t want to marry her?’
‘Of course I do. But I’m not asking. She has a life.’
Silence. The old house seemed to slumber.
But upstairs on the box seat, under the girls’ bedroom window, Wendy sat in her nightdress hugging her knees. Her bedroom window was wide open. Right over the place where Blake and Pierce had shared their beer.
She hugged her knees some more. Then she climbed back into bed and tried to close her eyes.
The night stretched out before her.
Who?
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
HE WOKE and there was a deputation standing around his bed.
Abby. Donald. Bryce.
He winced. He glanced at the bedside clock and winced again. It was just after six. It was two when he’d finally got to bed, and he’d been up once with Bessy, who’d wanted to be entertained.
Bessy was now sleeping. With luck she’d sleep for a couple more hours.
‘It’s really early, guys,’ he muttered, but without conviction, already knowing his night was over.
‘We can’t find Wendy,’ Abby said.
‘And she’s made her bed and left a note,’ Donald added.
He sat up. Wide awake.
‘Here’s the note,’ Donald said and handed it over. His small face looked terrified. ‘It’s three hundred and twenty nine kilometres to Sydney.’
What the hell…?
He stared at Donald. And then he stared at the note.
I’ve gone to see Shanni. I have something really important to ask her-stuff I can’t tell Pierce. She gave me her
