Expecting Miracle Twins

To her annoyance, he chuckled. Mattie almost stamped her foot and Brutus, sensing her distress, licked her hand. And then the woman on the sofa uncurled her long legs, set down her wineglass and joined the fellow in the doorway. She draped an arm around the man’s massive shoulders. ‘What’s going on, Jake?’

‘Just a minor border incursion.’ The man, whose name, apparently, was Jake, watched Mattie with a look of faint amusement.

‘A what?’

‘A territorial battle,’ he told the blonde without taking his dark diamond-bright gaze from Mattie.

An unwelcome ripple of heat fluttered over Mattie’s skin. She glared at Jake for causing it, and deliberately turned her attention to his sulky companion and rattled the keys again. ‘There’s been an unfortunate mistake about the flat. I’m supposed to be moving in here.’

‘When?’ asked the other woman in a tone as unhelpful as her boyfriend’s.

‘Today. Now. This afternoon.’ Mattie pointed to the number three on the tag. ‘I have a key.’ Again, she glared at Jake. ‘Do you have a key? Or did you break in?’

His response was to fold his arms and favour her with a withering look.

In desperation, Mattie said, ‘Look, I told you I have an arrangement with Will Carruthers.’

‘Will Carruthers sent you here?’ Jake’s eyes widened with surprise. ‘Why didn’t you tell me that in the first place?’

Mattie was surprised too. ‘Do you know Will?’

‘Of course I know him. I work with him in Mongolia. He’s my best mate.’

‘Oh.’ She gulped unhappily. ‘So I suppose he knows you’re here?’

‘Absolutely. I’m on leave. I had a week in Japan and now I’m in Sydney for a week and Will insisted I use his flat.’

Mattie clung to the faint hope that Jake’s week was almost up. ‘When did your week start?’

‘Day before yesterday.’

Deflated, she dropped her gaze to Brutus, and he made sympathetic doggy noises and tried to lick her chin. ‘There’s obviously been a mix-up with the times.’

She tried not to sound too disappointed, but if she and this Jake fellow both had a claim on the flat, and if he was here first, she supposed she had no choice but to find somewhere else to stay for the rest of this week.

She wondered despondently where she should start her search for accommodation. It would have to be somewhere cheap and she didn’t know Sydney very well.

‘Rotten luck for you,’ chirped the girlfriend and she grinned smugly at Mattie as she rested her chin possessively on Jake’s shoulder.

‘You haven’t explained how you know Will,’ Jake drawled.

‘I’ve known him all my life,’ Mattie told him and it was perfectly true. Even though she hadn’t seen much of Will Carruthers in recent years, they belonged to a circle of friends who’d grown up together in Willowbank in Outback New South Wales.

‘Will’s sister, Gina, is my best friend,’ she explained. ‘And Gina and Will organised between them for me to live here for twelve months.’

Jake frowned as he digested this and then he shrugged. ‘In that case, I guess there’s no reason why you can’t move in. After all, there are two bedrooms.’

His companion let out an annoyed huff.

Mattie’s mouth opened and shut, then opened again. She really didn’t want to have to start searching for somewhere else, and this pair would only be here for a few more days. ‘Are you sure you don’t mind? I don’t want to intrude.’

He uttered a gruff sound of impatience. ‘I’ve offered, haven’t I? Anyway, I don’t plan to be around much.’ He turned to the girl. ‘We may as well hit the town now, Ange, while—’ He paused and gave Mattie the briefest flicker of a smile. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Matilda Carey.’ She held out her hand rather primly. ‘Mostly I’m called Mattie.’

‘Jake Devlin,’ he said, giving her hand a firm shake.

‘Pleased to meet you, Jake.’

He indicated the small, silky terrier-cross in her arms. ‘Who’s this?’

‘Brutus.’

Jake chuckled. ‘Oh, yeah, he’s a real brute, isn’t he?’ Then he remembered his companion. ‘This is Ange.’

Mattie smiled at her. ‘How do you do?’

‘Oh, I’m fine,’ Ange responded sulkily.

‘Would you like a hand to bring your things inside?’

Jake’s courtesy surprised Mattie, but its effect was offset by the predictably dark look on Ange’s face. ‘Oh, heavens, no,’ she assured him. ‘I can manage easily. I only have a canary cage and a few suitcases.’

‘A canary?’ Jake looked both amused and puzzled. He scratched his head and the gesture caused all sorts of muscles in his chest to ripple magnificently.

Mattie was about to explain that she’d inherited the canary from her grandmother but, once again, his chest distracted her.

‘Jake.’ A warning note had entered Ange’s voice. ‘We’re heading off now, right? I’ll get my things.’

‘Sure,’ he said and he began to close the buttons on his shirt.

Mattie watched as the two of them hurried away to find a taxi and then she went into the flat. It wasn’t quite the exciting introduction to her new home that she’d pictured. The unpalatable music, although diminished, still throbbed from the stereo and she quickly switched it off.

She crossed the lounge room, skirting the coffee table with the abandoned wine bottle, bowl of nuts and glasses, and went through to the kitchen. The sink was littered with dirty dishes and the dishwasher door hung open, as if someone had intended to stack it but had been distracted by a better idea.

Down the hallway, she found the bathroom and she was not surprised to see wet towels dumped on the floor, as well as a pair of black lace knickers. Mattie had shared flats before and some of her flatmates had been untidy, so she was more or less used to this kind of scene. It was weird, then, that the sight of those knickers depressed her.

The next room was a bedroom, dominated by a king-size bed—unmade, of course. The bed’s tangled sheets told their own story, as did the empty champagne bottle on the bedside table.

An inexplicable hollowness in Mattie’s stomach sent her hurrying on till she came, at last, to a neat bedroom at the back of the flat.

It was much smaller than the main bedroom and there was no view of the bay, but it was perfectly clean and tidy.

And mine, Mattie thought. That was something. Actually, when she gave it further thought, she realised that she would probably have taken this room for herself anyway, and kept the front room with the view for visitors.

Then again, she mused, mulling over this as she headed back to unload the car, she probably wouldn’t have too many visitors this year. Gina and Tom would want to visit from time to time and so would her parents, now that they’d recovered from the shock of hearing what she planned. But she’d agreed with Gina that they should keep their surrogacy arrangement very private, so she’d told her other friends very little about her move to Sydney.

Mattie’s decision to move to the city had not been made lightly. She and Gina had talked it over at length. They both knew that if she’d stayed in Willowbank, they couldn’t possibly keep the surrogacy under wraps. And Gina had been sensible enough to recognise that her constant vigilance of Mattie’s pregnancy would be stifling, so they’d agreed it was better this way.