softly. ‘Off you go and face the next level.’
‘Do you think Ben will come while you’re here?’ Rosa asked, and Benjy looked worried.
‘We want him to come, don’t we, Mama?’
‘Mmm.’ Lily tried to be noncommittal. They were walking back to the house, leading Flicker. The mare was growing heavier every day with the weight of her foal. She loved the lush pasture by the river but she couldn’t be trusted to graze there by herself.
‘Her normal paddock’s on the far side of the river,’ Rosa had explained. ‘With the dry weather, the river’s dropped and the ground on this side is marshy. If we left her be she’d end up stuck in mud.’
Lily wasn’t sure if that was true, or it was an explanation designed so she and Benjy had to spend a couple of hours each morning supervising Flicker’s grazing, but, contrivance or not, it was working. There was a lot to be said for supervising a pregnant mare and doing nothing else. This place was the Ben Blayden cure for post-traumatic stress.
Or the Ben Blayden heart cure?
No. His prescription hadn’t worked for that.
‘He’s very busy,’ she told Benjy. ‘He’s probably needed somewhere else by now.’
‘There’s time if you make time,’ Rosa said darkly. She shook her head. ‘He’s so unhappy. Since he was a little boy he’s been looking for a family.’
‘Rosa…’
‘I know.’ Rosa smiled down at Benjy. ‘I have big ideas for your mama and our Ben. But big ideas are not necessarily bad ideas. I just wish that he’d come.’
And two hours later he did. They were washing for lunch when they heard the helicopter, and Benjy was out of the house in a flash.
‘It’s got to be him,’ he told Lily as she joined him on the veranda. ‘It has to be.’
And it was.
CHAPTER NINE
BEN stepped out from under the rotor blades and looked across at the house. She was there.
Lily was standing on the veranda, dressed simply in shorts and a singlet top. Even from here she looked different.
And Benjy… Benjy was racing to meet him, a nugget of a kid, all arms and legs, his grin the same as Lily’s, multiplied by ten.
His grin was Lily’s grin before she’d taken on the worries of the world.
‘Ben, Ben, Ben!’ Ben was forced to drop his holdall as Benjy catapulted himself into his arms. Before he knew what was happening he was hugging his son and being hugged, and looking over the mop of curls to where Lily was smiling a welcome of her own. His gut twisted so sharply it was physical pain.
‘Ben’s here,’ Benjy called, deeply satisfied, and wriggled in Ben’s arms to face his mother.
‘Really,’ Lily said. ‘I thought it was the milkman.’
‘Silly,’ Benjy said reprovingly. ‘It’s our Ben.’
‘You never said that about Jacques.’ Lily halted on the third step down from the veranda. Ben had reached the base of the steps. He needed to climb three steps to reach her but he hesitated, aware that this moment was important.
‘I didn’t like Jacques,’ Benjy said, and buried his face in Ben’s shoulder. ‘He kept saying I had to be a man.’
‘You’re a kid,’ Lily said.
‘I know,’ Benjy said, and peeped his mother a smile. The smile was pure mischief, Ben thought. He’d never seen Benjy like this, as free as kids were supposed to be free.
Their stay here had done them both worlds of good. He could read it in their faces.
Maybe they’d want to leave almost straight away.
Well, that was OK. He’d only dropped in to check on his way to the next mission. On his way to the next danger.
‘I can ride a horse,’ Benjy told him, wriggling until Ben set him on his feet. ‘But not Flicker ‘cos she’s going to have a baby. Rosa says I can help choose a name for her foal.’
‘And what about your mama?’ Ben said, smiling up at Lily. ‘Can she help choose?’
‘Mama chose my name,’ Benjy said. ‘It’s not fair that she chooses the horse’s name, too.’ He skipped up the steps to Lily. ‘Why did you call me Ben’s name?’ he asked.
‘Because…’ Lily said, and faltered. She looked at Ben, in her eyes a question. Now or never, her gaze said, and he had to make an instant decision.
OK. He could do this. Maybe this wasn’t the best time, but was there ever a good time for something so momentous? He nodded.
‘Benjy, I’ve told you about Ben,’ Lily said softly. ‘I told you all about the good things he does and the brave doctor he is. What I should have told you, Benjy, is that Ben is your father.’
Ben’s small mouth dropped open. He stared at his mother like she’d lost her mind. Then, very slowly, he turned on the steps to stare at Ben.
‘You’re my dad?’
‘Yes,’ Ben said, feeling…odd. ‘I am.’
‘Henri said Jacques would be my father.’
‘No,’ Lily said. ‘Ben is.’
‘You mean he gave you the tadpole that went into your egg,’ Benjy demanded, and Ben almost choked, but he didn’t because, funny or not, this was a really serious moment.
‘That’s it,’ Lily said, sounding relieved.
‘I knew I had to have a father somewhere,’ Benjy said. He looked Ben up and down, head to toe. ‘You’re sure?’
‘We’re sure,’ Ben said softly. ‘We should have told you before, but I’ve been off adventuring and your mama didn’t want to tell you by herself.’
Benjy considered that for all of ten seconds. He looked at it dispassionately-and decided it was acceptable. More than acceptable. His grin came back with a vengeance. ‘Cool! Can I ring up Henri in hospital and tell him?’
‘Sure,’ Lily said. ‘We’ll ring tonight.’
‘Can I tell Flicker now?’
‘Of course.’
‘Cool,’ he said again, and breathed a great sigh of satisfaction. Then he bounced down the steps and headed horsewards to spread the news.
‘I guess I’ve done what I came to do,’ Ben managed. Benjy’s departure had created a silence that was lasting too long. He didn’t know how to break it and his words now sounded flippant. And sort of…final?
That was how she took it, anyway. ‘You should have held the helicopter,’ she said stiffly. ‘Maybe if you radio fast they’ll come back and collect you.’
That was so ridiculous that he didn’t respond and she didn’t press it.
‘Tadpole, huh?’ he ventured, and the tension eased a little. She managed a smile.
‘Fathers are supposed to give their sons sex education. Not mothers.’ Her smile grew rueful. ‘Actually, I didn’t give him the tadpole bit. I suspect that was from Henri or another of his mates on the island.’
‘Maybe it’s time I took a hand.’
‘If you have a better sex spiel than tadpoles, be my guest.’
Her agreement took him unawares. Here he was, meeting his son as his son for the first time, and Lily was handing over responsibility for sex education. It was his responsibility?
