Her Outback Cowboy (Prickle Creek) Read online

  Gran’s back was ramrod straight as she headed down the hall.

  A stunned silence was all she left behind.

  Chapter Seven

  It was Jemima’s idea for them to head to the hot bore down at the back of the property. They grabbed their swimmers, and Liam pulled a six-pack of beer from the fridge. As Seb drove the old farm truck down the dirt road and turned into the bore paddock, they were quiet, each lost in their own thoughts. Lucy stared through the window as the lights of the Mackenzie property glowed in the distance.

  By omission, Garth had been dishonest with her. He should have been up-front and told her that he wanted to buy the farm. She wouldn’t have thought badly of him. He was a kind man and was probably only trying to help. But he had lied to her, too. He’d said that Gran disagreed with his newfangled ways.

  The muted sound of the headers in the front paddock was overlaid by the rushing of the hot water from the pipe into the gravel-based bore. Jemima and Lucy slipped behind the trees and pulled their swimmers on. By the time they walked across to the hot pool, Seb and Liam were up to their waists, each holding a can of beer above the steaming water.

  Lucy slipped into the hot water and floated on her back, looking up at the stars. This had always been her favourite place in the whole world. At night, the flies and dust and prickles could be put aside, and the cattle didn’t come down past the wheat paddocks. The night Mum and the aunties had died, Lucy had walked down here by herself in a daze of grief. She’d slipped into the bore, fully clothed, and let the peace of the night soothe her grief.

  As much as it could have, anyway. After a while, Liam, Jemima, and Sebastian had appeared, and the tears that they had shared that night had forged a bond that no amount of distance could destroy. They needed to call on that bond now to sort out what they were going to do.

  The sky was velvet black, pinpointed with a million pricks of starlight. In the city, you didn’t see the sky like this. Peace descended on her, and the worry of the proposal she hadn’t worked on receded even further away to the back of her mind.

  “So, what do we do?” Seb’s voice was deep and echoed across the large expanse of water. “She’s sure hit us with it, hasn’t she?”

  “What do you want to do?” Liam’s lazy voice filled the night. “You were the first one to come out with the resounding no, so you must feel strongly about it.”

  “I do,” Seb said. “But I don’t know if I want to put my life on hold to make it happen. What about the rest of you?”

  The water rippled as Liam sank deeper and tipped his head back, one arm still holding his beer aloft. His dark eyes were shadowed in the starlight, and again Lucy picked up a sense that all was not well in his world.

  But it was Jemima’s voice that brought the most surprise. “I’m in. I can take three months off and come out here. We can’t let Gran sell.”

  Liam turned to Seb. “And if you want to make it happen so much, boyo, your life is going to have to be put on hold.”

  “Lucy?” Seb’s voice interrupted the panic that was building in her chest. It wasn’t fair. This decision couldn’t rest on her alone.

  She bit her lip as she stared at the three faces looking at her, waiting for her to answer. She shook her head to clear the confusion, and thought what it would be like not to have Prickle Creek Farm as the one steady rock in her life that would always be here. Even if she hadn’t visited often, it was still home.

  “Okay, I guess so,” she said, slowly expelling her breath. But how could she make a decision like that when she wasn’t sure? They all needed to think this through so much more. “But what happens then? We all spend three months here? Who looks after the place when we all go back to our real lives? If we have to sell, it might as well happen now. Let Gran and Pop enjoy the money. They can retire and have an easy life. You know, travel, go on cruises, and everything.” She knew she was babbling. “Garth would be an ideal purchaser for the farm.”

  “Still got a soft spot for Mackenzie, have you, Luce?”

  She almost saw red as Liam’s words reached her. “How dare you, Liam. No, I’ve only seen him once in the last six years and that was yesterday.”

  “So you already knew about his offer?” Liam’s tone was hard, and his face looked ghoulish as he stared at her from the shadows. He stood up and took a deep swig from the beer bottle.

  “No, I didn’t.” Her voice quivered; she was on the verge of tears. It was so unfair of Gran to put this on them with no warning. “And you haven’t said what you think yet, anyway, Liam. Your job’s overseas. How are you going to spend three months here?”

  “Leave her be, Liam. You’re being mean.” Jemima’s voice was quiet. “We have to support one another. It’s going to mean some huge changes for all of us, if we take this on.” She turned to Lucy. “Can you get time off work?”

  “I’m freelance. As long as I get to Sydney once a month for the meeting, I can work from anywhere.”

  All was quiet apart from the hot water splashing from the wide pipe into the bore as they were each lost in their thoughts. A fat yellow moon hung low at the tree line, and a white tawny frogmouth hooted as it flew over them. Lucy lay back in the steaming water and looked up at the stars. What did she really want to do? Could she live out here for three months to keep Prickle Creek Farm in the family? And what if none of them wanted to stay?

  What would Garth think about it? Would he see her as a traitor? Why did he want to buy it, and more to the point, where would he get the money?

  And where would Gran and Pop go? Her talk about cruises and holidays had been just that. Trying to see a way out of leaving her life in Sydney and having to come back here. Mum’s face came into her thoughts. Prickle Creek Farm was the one place where she had solid memories of Mum and her two sisters—her aunts.

  Family holidays, Christmas, and many a weekend had been spent out here with the whole family, the three sisters, their husbands, Gran and Pop, and her three cousins. The three Peterkin sisters had stayed in Spring Downs after they had married. Lucy and her three cousins had all attended the town schools and had been inseparable as they’d grown up together.

  Why had they lost touch over the past few years? Why hadn’t they been there for one another? And for Gran and Pop? Seb was the only one she saw these days. Lucy lowered her feet to the gravel bottom of the bore and looked at each of her cousins. Jemima’s makeup had washed off, and she looked like the Jemmy of old. Her cat-like eyes reflected the moonlight as she looked at Lucy and smiled. A real smile, from the heart.

  Sebastian was staring up at the sky, and his mouth was set in a straight line. Lucy knew him so well, and she could sense his confusion from the expression in his eyes. He was the youngest of the four, and he’d always been the one whose feelings were easy to read. He was the softest, and they had always babied him.

  Liam’s eyes were hooded, and he stared back at her as she looked at him.

  “I’m in. I quit my job to come home, and I can work freelance from here for three months, too. I can look for a job in Sydney.” he said, holding her gaze steadily. “Are you in or not, Lucy?”

  She tilted her chin defiantly and nodded. “I’m in.” Even as she agreed, dread rushed through her. It had been bad enough thinking of spending two weeks out here; how the hell would she cope with three months?

  Two hours later, they still sat on the grass beside the bore, planning and tossing ideas back and forth. Liam had pulled an old tarp from the back of the farm truck and spread it on the grass to cover the cat’s head prickles. The night was still and warm, and a slight mist hovered over the water.

  “That’s a great idea, Jemmy.” Seb’s voice had become more animated the more they had figured out a way to make it work.

  Jemima seemed to ignore the old name and continued with her idea. “If we do it in pairs in two stints, we’ll be here to support the other and it will be much easier. Three months on, three months off. Gran should be happy with that; she gets each of us for six mon
ths instead of the three she stipulated.”

  Lucy nodded. If there were two of them here at once, it would be easier to deal with things. “What about Pop? I wonder why she asked us without him here.”

  Seb scowled. “Knowing Gran, I’d say Pop really doesn’t know anything about this. Remember what she said? He has to think this is our idea.”

  “He’ll hate it,” Lucy protested. “Gran can’t make a decision like that without his input.”

  “She would.” Liam nodded. “As much as I love the old stick, she certainly wears the pants in the family.”

  “She’s worried about Pop,” Jemmy said.

  Lucy stood and put her hands on her hips as the trees rustled above. A slight breeze had come up, but it was still hot, and perspiration ran down her back. “So who’s first?” she asked. “And then once we’ve done the twelve months, what happens then? What do we do when the property’s signed over? Do any of you really want to live here? Come on, total honesty, guys.”

  “Cross your heart and spit to death–type honesty, Luce?” Liam’s smile flashed. “Okay, if we’re being honest, I could settle back out here and work the place. I’ve done my travelling the world. Jemima?” He turned to his sister.

  “Possibly.” She in turn looked at Seb. “Sebastian?”

  His emphatic nod didn’t surprise Lucy at all. She was the odd one out. She was the city slicker. She always had been. She preferred the hustle and bustle of the city, the vibes of city life, and she honestly didn’t know if she could do it—but it looked like she had to.

  She’d give it her best shot. For Gran and Pop.

  Lucy looked up and caught Seb looking at her, and a slow smile spread across her face. “Now would be as good a time as any, Seb.”

  He looked at her, and his brow wrinkled. “What for?”

  Lucy couldn’t help the giggle that bubbled up out of her chest. Being home was feeling good. Now that they’d gotten Gran’s news out of the way. “You made me a bet, remember?”

  Jemima and Liam looked with interest as Seb spluttered. “No, I don’t remember any bet.

  Lucy turned to Liam. “Seb said he wouldn’t come home unless you did.” She stood straight and watched the moonlight ripple on the small waves. “And you did, so Seb, you lost.”

  “No way.” His expression was mutinous, and Lucy’s giggle turned into a laugh. “Gonna renege, are you?’

  “What was the bet?” Jemima asked, getting into the spirit of the teasing.

  Lucy put her finger to her lips and said slowly, “Now let me get this exactly right. What our dear cousin said was he would eat his hat and run around the paddock stark bollocky naked if Liam came home.”

  Their laughter carried across the paddock and drifted into the night.

  The cousins had come home to Prickle Creek, and they would make it work.

  They had to.

  Chapter Eight

  When Liam drove Pop’s flash Lexus wagon into Spring Downs on Monday afternoon, Sebastian opted to follow on his bike. Gran sat up straight in the front with Liam, and Jemima and Lucy sat in the back as they headed into town to the hospital. The streets were quiet compared to the Sydney traffic that Lucy was used to. She pushed back the cold feeling that took hold of her every time she thought of staying here. At least it was keeping her cool in this relentless heat. Her conviction that everything would work out had disappeared as she’d tossed and turned in the single bed in the room she shared with Jemima.

  “Look.” Jemima’s voice interrupted her brooding. “The old milk bar still has the same tables and chairs outside as it did when we were at high school.”

  “And the same owner,” Gran said drily. “Not much changes in Spring Downs, and that’s not such a bad thing.” She flickered a glance over her shoulder to Lucy.

  “And there’s the produce store. I swear, the same wheelbarrows are out front as when the school bus used to go past there.” It was good to hear Jemima’s laugh. She’d been quiet since they’d arrived.

  Gran’s reaction to their acceptance of her deal had been low key—a brisk nod followed by a hurry-up to Jemima and Lucy to get the flasks filled for the contractors’ supper. The harvest was half done and a few of the workers had begun to move on to the Mackenzie property. All had been quiet over there, and Lucy hadn’t called Garth as she’d promised when she’d left the other night. Her head had been too full of the happenings at Prickle Creek Farm to think about her campaign proposal, but she’d have to get moving on it soon. The plan was to go back to Sydney next week for her monthly meeting, present the proposal, and then come back and do the first of her three-month stints on the farm with Liam.

  Unless there was a way she could get out of it.

  And she wasn’t quite ready to talk to Garth just yet. Lucy wanted to have the right questions ready for him when they finally met up. And between baking endless scones and biscuits, and making sandwiches, and then trying to work on her proposal at night in the room she was now sharing with Jemima, there was no time to think about anything.

  Liam parked the car, and the two girls waited as he helped Gran out. Sebastian roared into the car park, earning a dirty look from Gran.

  “Honestly, he tries to wind her up on purpose,” Jemima whispered. Liam looped his arm through Gran’s and led her into the hospital, followed by the rest of them.

  “Lucy!” As they walked through the foyer, Lucy turned around, and Gran’s back stiffened as Garth walked across the polished floor towards them.

  “Have you been in with Harry, Garth Mackenzie?” Her voice was cold, and Sebastian and Liam flanked her as one.

  “Yes, I visited Harry.” Garth smiled at Gran, but it wasn’t returned. “He seems to be doing well. He’s looking forward to going home.”

  “Come on.” Gran turned her back and walked away with the boys. Lucy’s cheeks heated. There was no need for rudeness. She nudged Jemima. “Tell Pop I’ll be there in a minute.”

  She stared at Garth and resisted the urge to fan her face as the heat moved up into her cheeks. Partly embarrassment at Gran’s rudeness and partly due to the fluttering nerves that kicked into gear when he smiled down at her.

  “Hello, Garth. Sorry I haven’t called. I did mean to, but we’ve been really busy at the farm.”

  “So it appears.” His eyes narrowed as he watched Gran and the three cousins walk down the long hall.

  This time, it was Lucy’s voice that was cold. “So what’s that supposed to mean?”

  Garth shrugged. “I didn’t mean anything. Just agreeing. Turn of phrase, so to speak.”

  “I think it’s time we had a bit of a talk.” Lucy crossed her arms and stuck her chin out.

  “About the photos you want to take?” he asked.

  “Not just yet. About some other things I want to sort out.” In for a penny. “Gran said you want to buy Prickle Creek Farm.”

  “That’s right. I made them an offer.”

  Before she could help herself, Lucy burst out, “And just where would you find the money for that, Garth Mackenzie?”

  Garth reached over and took her arm. “Keep your voice down.” A few of the locals glanced at them from the waiting room. “Go and see your granddad, and then we’ll have a coffee in town.”

  Lucy put her hands on her hips. “Oh, will we just, Mr Bossy!”

  “Do you want your questions answered, Lucy? I’m more than willing to have a chat.” His voice was patient.

  “I don’t have my car here. I’m travelling home with the family.”

  “I’ll wait till you finish your visit, and then I’ll drop you home afterwards.”

  Lucy held his stare for a moment. There was nothing to be gained by being pig-headed. She let out a sigh.

  “All right. I suppose that would suit.”

  “I’ll wait in the car for you.”

  Lucy watched as he sauntered out of the room, broad-shouldered and confident.

  Pop had been resting comfortably after the operation, and the doctor had said
he’d be home by the weekend. Unlike Gran, he’d obviously cried when her three cousins had walked in. He was still wiping his eyes when Lucy slipped into the room.

  The room was full of laughter, and even Gran smiled at some of Pop’s jokes.

  “Did I tell you about—”

  They sat on plastic chairs around the bed as Pop held court, and after half an hour of Pop’s endless jokes, Lucy interrupted.

  “I’ve got to go, Pop. I’ve got a few chores to do, and I’m getting a lift home.” She leaned over and hugged him and inhaled his familiar scent.

  Liam followed her out into the corridor. “How are you getting home?”

  “With Garth.”

  Liam’s eyebrows rose in a scowl, and she grabbed his arm and pulled him to the side of the corridor.

  “Enough with the beetling brows, Liam. Why do you always think the worst? I’m going to find out what Garth is up to,” she whispered as Gran’s head poked out into the corridor. “Jeez, she never misses a trick, does she!”

  “What do you need to talk to him about? I was going to call and let him know the place is not for sale.”

  “I want to know for sure before I commit to anything. Maybe it’s a solution we should keep in the back of our minds.”

  “I thought we’d all committed?” Liam took her arm and kept his voice low. “If you’re going to change your mind, you’d better do it mighty quick. Didn’t you see how happy Pop looked when Gran told him the plan that I suggested?”

  “Yes, I did. I mean I’m sure, but I’m still worried. I love living in the city. I’m not a country girl.”

  “You know what they say, Luce.” Liam’s face finally split into a smile. “You can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl.”

  “I’ve heard that too many times over the past few days. But you know what? This girl loves the city.” Confusion ran through Lucy, and her voice rose louder. “I want to see what Garth’s up to, because you heard Gran. If we say no, she will sell to him.” She frowned. “And where would he get the money for that? Cattle prices haven’t been that good, have they?”