another woman and made them both bankrupt. She loves kids.’
‘And Ruby wants to move to Dolphin Bay,’ Blake added. ‘She told me. Apparently there’s a really good macrame club there. So all you need to do is find a big house there and you’re home and hosed.’
‘I think Ruby should have her own home, though,’ Nik said. ‘A cottage.’
‘Near your house, though,’ Blake added.
‘Excuse me,’ Pierce said and stood up.
‘Don’t you want to marry Shanni?’ Abby said in a small voice, and everybody hushed.
Shanni looked at him.
He looked at Shanni.
‘Yes,’ he said, and the collective breath was let out in a collective sigh.
‘But I need to ask her,’ he said.
‘No need,’ Blake said. ‘Job’s done. Olga, can you pass the pie down here, please?’
Pierce was in the middle of the table. Olga handed him the pie. He handed it on to Blake without thinking.
Shanni was looking confused. The rest of them had moved on, distracted by what looked a truly excellent pie.
It was a great pie.
‘Leave some for us or you’re dead meat,’ Pierce growled.
‘If you’re going to propose, then hurry up and do it,’ Olga urged. ‘Blake, that slice is too big. Nine equal portions. You cut and the rest of us choose.’
He took her out to Clyde’s paddock. The big bull was on the far side looking longingly at the cows beyond his boundary. Here at last was privacy.
Pierce had Shanni by the hand. He marched Shanni out to the gate and stopped.
‘You seem…angry,’ Shanni said tentatively, and he turned and faced her.
‘Exasperated, more like.’
‘Why?’
‘I like a bit of control.’
‘Me, too,’ she said.
‘So we have something in common.’
‘Something more than love for five kids?’
‘You love the kids?’
‘Of course I do,’ she said. ‘What’s not to love?’
‘Do you know how many times I get to sleep right through the night?’
‘Sleeping’s boring.’
‘Do you know what you’re letting yourself in for?’
‘It’d be okay,’ she whispered. ‘If…’
‘If what?’
‘If you loved me.’
The world stilled.
‘What makes you think I don’t love you?’ he said at last.
‘You’ve never said.’
‘I don’t know how.’
‘How to love?
‘No.’
‘It’s easy,’ she said, and it was her turn to sound exasperated. She linked her arms around his neck. She stood on tiptoe. She kissed him, ever so lightly on the lips, and then pulled away a little before he could respond.
‘This is how,’ she whispered. ‘Pierce MacLachlan, I love you. I love you from the tip of my toes to the top of my head. I love you more than I ever thought I could love anyone. I love you even more than I love Susie Belle.’
‘Susie Belle?’
‘You haven’t met her. You will. She’s about to make our Wendy very happy.’
‘
‘She is our Wendy,’ she whispered. ‘Our gorgeous little girl. The bravest kid. I love her so much.’
‘How much love have you got?’ he demanded, and she chuckled.
‘It just keeps on oozing out. I blame the ice water. It was sort of a cathartic experience. It released the inner me.’
‘Shanni…’
‘Yes, my love?’ She was still on tiptoes, still within kissing distance, still holding him.
‘I don’t know about the love thing.’
‘You don’t think you can love me?’
‘It seems I can,’ he said, sounding dazed. ‘It seems I do.’
‘But?’
‘I didn’t think I could do it. I’m still not sure.’
‘Okay, here’s a test,’ she said, kissing him again. ‘I’m moving in here anyway. I love these kids to bits. Ruby’s met them for one night and she loves them. So does Olga. You’ve just reclaimed a whole lot of money for me-so I can rent a great big house at Dolphin Bay, have an art gallery at the side and Olga and Ruby and I can take these kids off your hands and love them for ever. We can be one huge family. And you can slope off back to your independent life in Sydney, being the world’s best architect.’
‘I…’
‘I’m serious, Pierce,’ she said, and she sounded serious. The laughter had gone from her voice. ‘Wendy told me you wouldn’t ask me to marry you because you thought I’d hate being tied to the kids. Is that true for you? For I’m making you an offer, and I mean it. You can go back to your old life and we’ll live happily ever after without you.’
She took his breath away. What she was offering was so immense that he felt dizzy.
His old life back. Independence.
Wendy, Donald, Bryce, Abby, Bessy, Shanni, Ruby and Olga living in a glorious muddle of happy-ever-after in Dolphin Bay.
Without him.
The choice was a no-brainer.
The thought of being without them was suddenly so bleak he couldn’t bear it.
‘No.’
‘No? Then the next alternative is the same thing only without me in the equation,’ she said. ‘If you really don’t want me, then I can visit.’
‘No.’
‘I can’t visit?’
‘No, I don’t not want you.’
‘I’m having a little bit of trouble here,’ she said.
But suddenly it was crystal clear. A man had to do what a man had to do. She’d done the proposing. She’d thrown her heart into the ring. She’d told him she loved him. The abyss she’d put before him-life without any of them-made him see what he hadn’t been able to see until now.
He was deeply, madly, wildly in love with each and every one of them. Even Olga’s curlers.
But most of all…
He dropped to one knee.
‘Shanni.’
‘Ooh,’ she said.
He took her hands in his. ‘Shanni, I love you.’
‘Really?’ She looked pleased.
‘If you make any wisecracks I’m stopping.’
‘I’m not making any wisecracks. Though there’s a cow pat right to your left.’
‘Shut up.’
‘Yes, dear.’
