Her Happy-Ever-After Family: The Cattleman's Ready-Made Family / Miracle in Bellaroo Creek / Patchwork Family in the Outback

He swallowed. he’d spent two afternoons last week finishing off the chicken coop. Both times she’d invited him to stay for dinner. Both times he’d declined. Since he’d revealed he was leaving Bellaroo Creek, they’d maintained a polite but slightly formal distance.

Which was fine by him. As far as he was concerned the less time he spent thinking about her, the better.

He watched her halt now, press her hands to her waist and drag in a breath. Something was up. Before he could kick himself forward and ask what, she’d set her spine and moved straight for Stacy Bennet’s office. ‘Hey, chickadee, what’s up?’

Before she could enter the office, however, Krissie had hurtled out of it to fling herself at Tess, her face crumpled and her shoulders shaking with sobs. Tess held her against her with one hand while the other caressed the hair back off her face. His gut tightened as he watched her. Her love was evident in every touch and gesture. The set of her shoulders and her bent head told him that Krissie’s pain was her own. He had to swallow. He rolled his shoulders, but he couldn’t look away.

Krissie’s storm was brief. When she finally relaxed her grip, Tess led her back into the office. Had someone frightened Krissie again? Almost without thinking he moved towards the office, halting in its doorway. Tess, Krissie and Stacy all sat on Stacy’s sofa, and Tess wiped Krissie’s face with a handful of tissues. They didn’t see him.

‘You want to tell me what happened, chickadee?’

He marvelled at the calm strength in her voice, at her distinct I-can-fix-anything attitude. He shoved his hands in his pockets. Tess Laing was a hell of a woman. He took a step back. She obviously had everything under control. He should leave and give them some privacy. He turned away.

‘Do we have money troubles?’ Krissie hiccupped.

He stiffened and swung back.

‘Heavens, no,’ Tess pooh-poohed. ‘What’s brought this on?’

‘Mikey said we must be poor if we’re renting a house for a dollar a week. And I know that when you’re poor bad things can happen.’

Cam stiffened. A five-year-old should be happy and carefree, not constantly glancing over her shoulder waiting for bad things to happen. A five-year-old shouldn’t have so little faith in all that was bright and good.

Neither should a twenty-nine-year-old.

He shook that thought off.

For the first time he truly appreciated the task Tess had set herself.

Tess tucked the child under her arm and pulled her in close. ‘When you’re a bit older I’ll explain life insurance policies to you, chickadee. You’ll probably learn all about them at school when you’re fourteen or fifteen. But I can promise—cross my heart—that your mum and dad made sure that you, Ty and me would have enough money so we wouldn’t want for anything.’

She’d taken the perfect tone, and she had perfect—

He averted his gaze and wished he’d thought to do that before she’d crossed her heart.

He glanced back to see Krissie turn up a hopeful face. ‘Really?’

‘Really, truly.’

‘Daddy too?’

‘Daddy too.’

Tess might’ve taken the perfect tone, but some sixth sense warned him that she was horribly close to tears. Stacy jumped to the rescue. ‘You want to know why your aunt Tess wanted to come to Bellaroo Creek, Krissie?’

She stared up at the teacher with solemn eyes and nodded.

‘It’s because she knew we wanted you all to come and live out here and be a part of our town. Your aunt Tess knows how nice it is to be wanted.’

The child swung to Tess and Tess smiled at her. ‘It’s true. Don’t you think it’s lovely to come to a place where everyone wants to be friends with us? And weren’t we talking just last night about all the things we like about living in Bellaroo Creek?’

‘You like the fresh air.’

‘I sure do.’ She nudged Krissie’s shoulder with a grin. ‘And I’m finding I have a big soft spot for sultana cake.’

Krissie giggled. ‘And I love Fluffy and Ty loves Barney. And Louisa and Suzie are really nice, and so is Mrs Bennet,’ she added with a shy glance at her teacher.

‘So you don’t need to get upset about anything anyone says, all right?’ Tess said.

Krissie pursed her lips and finally nodded, obviously deciding to trust her aunt. ‘Okay.’

‘How about you run back to class now, Krissie?’ her teacher said. ‘Mrs Leigh is teaching everyone a new song and you wouldn’t want to miss out on that, would you?’

With a hug for Tess, Krissie started for the door. Cam suddenly realised he still stood there staring. He tried to duck out of the way, but he wasn’t quick enough. ‘Cam!’ Krissie hugged him, grinning up at him with those big brown eyes of hers before disappearing down the corridor to her classroom.

He gulped and turned back to Tess and Stacy. ‘Sorry, I was coming in to talk to you about that lower field. I didn’t mean…’

‘Well, as you’re here now you may as well come in.’ Stacy waved him in as she walked back behind her desk. ‘You’ve obviously become good friends with your new neighbours if Krissie’s reaction is anything to go by.’

The collar of his shirt tightened. He didn’t know what to say, so he entered the room and sat on the sofa beside Tess, careful to keep a safe distance between them. ‘You okay?’ he murmured.

‘Sure.’ Tess sent him a wan smile before turning back to Stacy. ‘Mrs Bennet, I’m so sorry. I—’

‘Stacy, dear, please…at least when the children aren’t present. And let me assure you there’s no need to apologise. There were always going to be a few teething problems. I knew that the moment I read your application and discovered Ty and Krissie had recently lost their parents.’

Tess’s breath whooshed out of her. ‘That didn’t put you off accepting us into town?’

‘Absolutely not! We think you’re perfect for Bellaroo Creek. And we think our town has a lot to offer all of you too. What are a few teething problems in the grand scheme, anyway? So don’t you go making this bigger in your mind than it ought to be. The children will settle in just fine, you’ll see. What we need to do now is sort you out.’

‘Me?’ she squeaked.

‘But before we move on to that, I just want to let you know that if Krissie has another little outburst like that, then we’ll deal with it in-house rather than calling you in.’

‘Oh, but—’

‘Believe me, Tess, it’ll be for the best. I thought it important you came today, just so Krissie knows she can rely on you, but from hereon we’ll deal with it.’

‘But what if—?’

Stacy held up a hand and Cam heard Tess literally swallow. ‘Oh, I’m making a hash of it, aren’t I?’

His jaw dropped. He turned to her. ‘What are you talking about? You’ve been brilliant!’

‘Cam is right, Tess. You’re doing a remarkable job in difficult circumstances. I sincerely applaud all you’ve achieved.’

Tess shot him a glance before turning back to Stacy. Her spine straightened. ‘Thank you.’

‘Believe me, you can be the natural mother of twelve children and still feel utterly clueless some days.’