Outback Baby

Wasn’t it just typical of this man? Gemma thought as she watched him. He could buy himself a smart little plane, a satellite dish and a fancy computer and still not have progressed to a pop-up toaster.

On the stove, the eggs were boiling so rapidly they rattled against the saucepan. ‘Oh, blast! They’ll be hardboiled!’ she wailed. This was definitely not her morning.

She snatched the saucepan from the stove, thumped it into the sink, then whirled around to glare at Max. He was nuzzling Mollie’s tummy with his nose and making her laugh.

Laugh! Out loud!

Proper chuckles!

Gemma could feel her bottom lip drooping into a pout. How dared Mollie be so sweet and responsive to Max when she was the one who’d lost all the sleep? She sagged against the kitchen bench and, with a self-pitying sigh, folded her arms across her chest.

Max glanced at her. ‘I’ll take her out to see the puppies and give you some space to have another go at cooking breakfast,’ he suggested.

She drew in a deep breath and nodded. Some peace and quiet, some space…that was what she needed…

And yet she felt strangely abandoned watching Max take Mollie outside—as if they belonged together and she was the outsider. He carried her so easily, without any sense of awkwardness. He would make a good father…She found herself wondering how many of Max’s breakfast companions had been hoping to marry him, to have him father their children.

Groaning at the stupid direction of her thoughts, Gemma picked up the blackened pieces of toast and, with grimly compressed lips, tossed them into the bin before setting out to remake breakfast.

By the time Max and Mollie returned, she had set the little table on the verandah and her breakfast and Mollie’s were ready. She had decided against eggs after all and had made Mollie some porridge, settling for tea and toast for herself. And she’d assumed Max might want some more to eat so had made extra for him.

‘Thanks,’ he said as he settled Mollie on his lap and proceeded to feed her milky porridge with a tiny spoon.

‘We could do with a high chair. It would make mealtimes much easier,’ Gemma commented as Max intercepted Mollie’s plump little hand before she could dunk it into the porridge bowl.

‘I’ll add it to my shopping list, but I’m not sure if Goodbye Creek runs to high chairs.’

‘So you’re going into town this morning?’

He nodded. ‘Want to come?’

Gemma hesitated and took a sip of tea, shocked by her ready willingness to accept his offer. The idea of going to town with Max seemed more appealing than she could have thought possible. Her mind ran ahead of her, wondering what she might wear.

He was looking at her thoughtfully. ‘Of course, you might appreciate some time to set up your office. I could take Mollie with me and get her out of your hair for the morning, while you get your business sorted out. It’s a hot day for travelling and seeing you’ve had a rough night…’

Gemma placed her mug carefully back on the table. What on earth was wrong with her? Max Jardine was offering to get out of her way. She should be celebrating. This time yesterday she would have paid him to stay away.

His suggestion that she take the morning to reorganise her business was so brimming with common sense that she couldn’t refuse without looking foolish. So why on earth did it make her feel downright miserable? Her tiredness had to be the answer—plus the fact that she had already grown so attached to Mollie that she hated to be parted from her.

‘A morning to myself would be great,’ she told Max brightly. ‘You finish your toast and I’ll go clean up Mollie and make up an extra bottle for you to take.’

‘Better give me some extra clothes for her, too,’ Max said as she stood to go. ‘We might be some time.’

They were gone for most of the day. Many, many times Gemma went to the front verandah to peer down the dirt track, searching for the cloud of red dust on the horizon that would tell her the truck was returning. She hadn’t the courage to tell Max that there wasn’t much work on her books at present. He already had a low enough opinion of her without adding fuel to his fire.

But by ten o’clock in the morning she’d finished her work and she spent the rest of the day roaming restlessly around the house.

After lunch, she washed and dried all the dishes, vowing that she would have to change some of Max’s bachelor habits. Then she set a sprinkler on the front lawn and picked some flowers from the old rambling garden that Max’s grandmother had established many, many years ago. Exotic-smelling white gardenias, roses in two shades of pink and some yellow crucifix orchids.

After arranging the flowers in a crystal vase on the hall table, she piled a blue bowl with tangy bush lemons and set it on the kitchen dresser, then brought in Mollie’s washing from the line, folded it and put it away.

By mid-afternoon, Gemma wondered if she should start thinking about the evening meal, but decided to wait and see what Max had bought.

At about four, a trail of dust signalled their return at last. Trying not to hurry, she made her way through the house to greet them, unable to disguise her pleasure when they pulled up near the kitchen door.

Max grinned at her as he swung his long frame down from the driver’s seat and her heart gave a silly little lurch. He held a finger to his lips. ‘Mollie’s asleep,’ he whispered. ‘I’ll try to get her out without disturbing her.’

Expertly, he unbuckled Mollie’s car seat and lifted her gently out of the truck. In his strong arms, the baby girl looked comfortable and safe and Gemma’s throat constricted painfully. The combined effect of Max’s surprisingly tender manner as he handled his little niece and the way his usually grim gaze softened when he looked at her lying asleep in his arms upset her.

He hunched one broad shoulder forward to accommodate the little head covered in damp curls and the thoughtful gesture touched her deeply. But Gemma didn’t want her emotions to be touched—such reactions were out of order and made her distinctly uncomfortable.

She felt better when she set about the businesslike task of unloading groceries and carting them through to the kitchen.

‘How was town?’ she asked when Max joined her.

‘Same as always.’ He shrugged. ‘Mollie caused quite a stir.’

‘I guess babies are a bit of a rarity out this way.’

He nodded and continued the unloading without further comment. He brought in a rather battered-looking high chair, which he proudly announced he’d found in the secondhand shop, and then he carried through an Esky full of cold goods and began to load the freezer with more tubs of chocolate chip ice cream and packets of frozen corn cobs and peas.

At last he looked up. ‘Get plenty of work done while we were away?’

‘Oh,’ Gemma replied, with a vague wave of her hand, ‘yes—heaps.’

‘Mollie’s been awake for most of the day. So many people wanted to make a fuss of her. I’d say she needs a good sleep now.’

‘I guess so,’ Gemma agreed. With a plastic scoop, she transferred sugar from a huge hessian bag into an old-fashioned metal canister. ‘Would you like some afternoon tea?’

He glanced at his watch. ‘I should mosey on down to the ringers’ place and have something there. I need to know if Chad and Dingo were able to fix the pump on the five-mile bore.’

With that, he reached for the Akubra hat hanging on a nail near the back door and was gone.

Gemma clamped the lid down tight on the sugar canister, lugged the bag into the pantry, then sat down at the kitchen table and propped up her chin with her hand. She stayed there staring at the door where Max had disappeared. The clock on the wall ticked loudly.