‘Can I talk to Bluey?’
‘Checking up on me?’
‘Yes,’ he said strongly. ‘Yes, I am. I worry about you, Holly. I’ve heard you’re working too hard.’
‘And so are you,’ she snapped. ‘I can hear in your voice that you’re exhausted, but I can’t ring your henchmen and ask for reports.’
‘I’m not-’
‘How much sleep did you get last night?’
‘That’s none of-’
‘My business,’ she finished for him. ‘No. For I’m not your wife, Andreas. As you’re not my husband. Let’s leave the checking alone. Let’s leave each other alone. Thank you so much for what you’ve done for the farm,’ she said stiffly, forcing herself to say what had to be said. ‘But if there’s nothing else…Thank you for calling and goodbye.’
He replaced the receiver and stood, staring at the phone for a long time. Sebastian, searching for him on business, found him still standing at his desk, and at the look on his face he frowned in swift concern.
‘What is it? Problems? The diamond…’
‘No problem.’ He shook his head, trying to clear his mind of the emotion caused by the call. ‘Not as far as I know. I’m leaving for Spain in the morning. We’re working through every avenue.’
‘I know you’re doing what you can,’ Sebastian growled and, uncharacteristically, he put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. ‘You’re looking like hell, brother.’
‘I’ve just sent my wife to Australia.’
‘Not my idea,’ Sebastian said firmly. ‘In fact, I seem to remember I forbade it. There are repercussions already. The people don’t like you parting so soon, no matter how sensibly you’ve explained it.’
‘So tell me I can go to her.’
‘Bring her back here,’ Sebastian said. ‘You’re needed here. These next few weeks are vital to secure the country.’
‘And after that?’
‘You’re third in line to the throne. You know your place is here. We’re family, brother, whether you like it or not, and you know your duty.’
‘So it’s Spain tomorrow. While Alex honeymoons.’
‘He’ll be back. He knows his place.’
‘And he even enjoys it.’
‘Enjoyment doesn’t come into it. Family does.’
‘Right.’
‘You’re not thinking-’
‘Of course I’m thinking,’ Andreas snapped, shrugging off his brother’s hand. ‘I’m thinking so hard my head hurts. I need to get some rest.’ He paused and a glimmer of a smile returned behind his eyes. ‘Even my wife says I’m tired. My wife.’
‘It’s a marriage of convenience.’
‘Yes,’ he said and closed his eyes. ‘A marriage of convenience. Family…Hell, Sebastian, let me be. Spain tomorrow. Duty calls.’
She bathed away the dust of the day, she picked at the truly excellent dinner Honey put before her, and then she wandered down through the home paddock to the Munwannay gum tree. To sink on the grass round her little son’s grave. To close her eyes and let pain wash over her in waves so great she thought they’d overwhelm her.
‘I can do this,’ she whispered. ‘I can go on.’
For whom?
‘There’s no choice,’ she told the little boy buried deep under the leaf litter. ‘I love Munwannay. It’s my home.’
‘Your home’s with your husband,’ she told herself.
‘He doesn’t need me.’ She knew that. ‘He even agreed I should be here.’
‘It’ll be better when Deefer’s here,’ she whispered but no one answered. No one agreed.
Her little son was gone. Her husband was in another world.
She was alone.
The first of the cattle arrived the day Deefer’s quarantine expired. There was nothing Holly wanted more than to fly down to Perth and fetch him, but these cattle were the beasts she’d chosen herself.
Bluey was good but he’d stayed at Munwannay while she’d attended the sales so he didn’t know what she was expecting. Cattle had been switched before. She had to be here when they arrived, to check they were the beasts she’d bought, to welcome the beginning of Munwannay’s rebirth as a prosperous cattle station.
They started arriving at dawn, in a string of road-trains, huge trucks loaded with bewildered beasts. Every truck had to be checked, cattle ticked off individually as they were unloaded, trucks directed to individual paddocks. The cattle would be held in the near paddocks and hand-fed until they settled, then gradually assimilated into a life of freedom, roaming the vast open landscape around them. These were magnificent breeding stock. She’d got it right, Holly thought in satisfaction as she worked on. It’d be okay. She could do this.
And if she worked really hard she might be able to put Andreas out of her mind.
She worked on all through the day, ceaselessly checking cattle, giving orders, working side by side with Bluey and the two other men they now employed. They needed more staff yet, she thought. A couple of jillaroos or jackaroos. They needed more cattle, too.
And tomorrow she’d fly to Perth to collect Deefer. That should make her the happiest of women. She had nothing left to complain about.
So why did she feel so empty?
At seven that night she saw the last of the trucks drive off the property. Even Bluey was beat. He headed back to his quarters with Rocket beside him and Holly watched them go and thought wistfully that tomorrow she’d have her own dog.
Honey had set up a trestle table of food out under the gums. Holly and the men had eaten intermittently during the day, grabbing sandwiches in passing. Honey was there now, clearing away. She glanced up at Holly, who was standing on the veranda looking into middle distance.
‘You want something else to eat, love?’
‘No, thanks. I might just have a bath and hit the cot.’
‘You might want to rethink that,’ Honey said and glanced at her watch. ‘You’re expecting a visitor.’ She shaded her eyes and stared up into the western sky. ‘Speaking of the devil…’ She smiled. ‘Right on cue.’
‘Who…?’
‘He rang before,’ Honey said. ‘When you were down the bottom paddock. He reckoned he’d be here at seven. “Make sure she’s home,” he told me, and where else would you be? I asked him. So here he is. Do you reckon he’ll need a sandwich?’