A Wedding In Warragurra

His heart lurched. In so many ways she was still his little girl, but for how long? The signs of impending puberty were beginning to shout. ‘Sash, why did you give Mrs Davidson such a hard time this afternoon?’

She licked her ice cream. ‘I didn’t want to go to after-school care.’

‘That bit I understand. It’s why you didn’t want to go that’s bothering me.’

‘It’s for babies.’ A belligerent tone crept into her voice.

He breathed in and focussed on keeping his words neutral and even. ‘It’s for all kids from prep to grade six.’

‘But I’m twelve and can look after myself after school.’

He gave an internal sigh. ‘We’ve had this discussion before, Sash, and because work is sometimes unpredictable and I occasionally have to transport patients to Broken Hill, Dubbo or Adelaide, I need to know that you’re safe.’

‘But I’d be safe here.’ She turned, her earnest green eyes imploring him to understand. ‘Besides, Erin isn’t going any more. Her mum stopped working and she’s getting to do cool stuff, like going to Guides on Wednesdays and swimming on Fridays.’

He ran his hand through his hair. Erin Baxter and Sasha were inseparable friends. Without Erin’s company, after-school care would seem like jail. All the other children who attended were in the junior classes at the school. ‘Why didn’t you tell me Erin wasn’t there?’

She shrugged. ‘You would have said I still had to go and I hate it without her. There’s no one to hang out with. I wish that…I wish I could just come home after school.’

Her unspoken words hovered around them both, pulling at him, twisting his guilt. Before Annie’s death Sasha had always been able to come home straight after school.

‘I’m sorry I’m not here after school and I’m sorry Mum’s not here.’ He hugged her tight. ‘What if I talk to Erin’s mum and ask if she would mind taking you to swimming, too? I have Wednesday afternoons in the office so if we find out what time Guides is on, perhaps I can take you. That only leaves three days of after-school care. Deal?’

Her eyes danced with joy. ‘Deal. Thanks, Dad.’

He swung his legs into the hammock and lay down next to her. ‘You’re welcome, sweetheart.’ Another crisis solved. Work was uncomplicated and straightforward compared to this parenting gig.

Sasha cuddled in closer now her ice cream was finished. ‘Did Emily have purple hair today?’ She’d always been impressed by Emily’s extremely short rainbow-coloured hair.

He stretched out, enjoying the companionable time with his daughter. ‘Actually, Emily isn’t working with me at the moment. Do you remember that lady we met when we were buying your new green top? Well, it turns out she’s my flight nurse now.’

‘Awesome. She had the best smile and a gorgeous skirt.’ Sasha propped herself up with one elbow resting on his chest. Her serious gaze searched his face. ‘What’s she like?’

‘She’s very good at her job.’

‘Yeah, but do you like her?’ Hope crossed her face.

Unlike adults, kids always cut to the chase, but even so Sasha’s unexpected wishful look, combined with the question hit him hard in the chest. To a twelve-year-old, like was serious stuff.

Did he like Kate? The image of luminous brown eyes, as warm as melted chocolate, filled his head. A streak of unexpected longing shot through him.

Disloyalty followed closely, jagged and sharp.

He sat up abruptly, setting the hammock swinging wildly. He wasn’t up to discussing this with Sasha when his reaction to Kate confused the hell out of him. He rolled out of the hammock and stretched his arms down for her. ‘Time for bed.’

‘Da-ad.’

He hauled her out of the hammock. ‘Come on, hop it. Clean your teeth and get into bed. Otherwise you’ll never get Anne of Green Gables finished.’

The promise of reading time had Sasha dashing for the door, her question about Kate forgotten.

A long breath shuddered out of his lungs. If only he could find Kate that easy to forget.

CHAPTER THREE

‘SO is everyone clear on the rosters?’ Jen’s right hand rested firmly on her hip as she looked expectantly at the staff. ‘Team Four, your roster has changed a lot so you must make sure you have the most up-to-date version.’ She narrowed her gaze at Baden. ‘The email system is back online and I expect you to check it.’ Jen ran a tight ship, holding together a staff of twenty strong personalities.

Everyone nodded and those brave enough even mumbled, ‘Yes, Jen.’

‘Right, then, thanks for your attention.’ Jen tapped a pile of brightly coloured files. ‘Please collect a folder on the way out.’

Baden winked at Kate. ‘We’d better check our emails.’

‘I think that line was directed solely at you. I’ve still got brownie points up my sleeve.’ She couldn’t resist teasing him. ‘After all, it wasn’t me who drove out to Opal Ridge for a clinic on the wrong day.’

A sheepish grin crossed his face. ‘Lucky for me old Hughie chose that day to have a hypo so it wasn’t a complete waste of time. Now he’s completely up to speed with his new glucometer.’ He faked a serious expression, the corners of his eyes crinkling with humour. ‘Patient education is a very important part of our work, Sister Lawson.’

Laughter rolled through her at his self-deprecating humour, bringing a joy that had faded from her life. ‘Is that right, Doctor? I had no idea.’

His laughter joined hers and quickly raced to his eyes, which sparkled like sunshine on water. His work-issue blue shirt intensified the vivid blue of his eyes and enhanced his tanned face. Not to mention the way his chest filled the shirt, making the fabric sit flat against what she imagined was solid muscle.

Her stomach flipped as heat rolled thorough her. Stop it now. She crossed her legs, trying to halt the tingling sensations that built up inside her.

It was too depressing to be twenty-nine and reacting like a sixteen-year-old. She was too old for a hormone crush. Too world-weary to have stars in her eyes and too bruised to ever think romance was for her. But her body wasn’t listening.

It didn’t seem to matter that she’d spoken sternly to herself, that she’d instructed her body not to react and that she’d willed herself to be impervious to eyes that sparkled with every shade of blue. It took one smile and her body quivered in anticipation.

She stood up and joined the queue behind Linton and Emily to collect the folder as instructed.

‘So, Doc, you thought you’d do a spot of opal fossicking the other day.’ Emily immediately teased Baden about his mistake.

‘Yeah, and I found one this big.’ He held his hands a shoulder width apart. ‘But it got away when Hughie hypo’d.’

Kate let the laughter and camaraderie wash over her, savouring it. Wednesday afternoon meant staff meeting. All the teams were back in the office after morning clinics to attend. They took it in turns being the standby emergency team, but it wasn’t very often that there was a Wednesday afternoon emergency. It was almost as if the locals knew not to get sick after 1:00 p.m. If they did get a callout it was usually from tourists who’d got themselves into a spot of bother.

With the exception of the staff meeting, Wednesday was pretty much a Baden-free day. Kate ran an early well-women’s clinic in the morning before returning to base for the afternoon.

It had been a relief to work on her own this morning, giving her over-developed radar of Baden a rest. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy working with him. She did. She’d loved her first two days with him. He was on the ball medically, good-humoured most of the time, and he related really well to the patients. But this overwhelming attraction that whizzed through her whenever she was near him was wearing her out.

It was crazy stuff. He was her colleague. She should be noticing how thorough he was with the patients, learning from him as he passed on clinical skills, taking advantage of the way he treated her as an equal, seeking her opinion in tricky cases. And on one level she was doing all those things.

But on another level she was very aware of the way he twirled his pen when he was thinking. How strands of silver hair caressed his temples in stark contrast to the rest of his raven curls, and how his deep, rich laugh was as smooth and velvety as a cellared shiraz.

And she kept wondering how he’d come to be a single father. Where was Sasha’s mother?

Was he divorced? Perhaps they’d never married. All the different permutations and combinations ran through her head. Baden hadn’t volunteered any more information and the opportunity to ask more direct questions hadn’t arisen. She supposed she could ask Emily but it seemed a bit tacky, almost like prying. She’d been on the other end of that. Her life had been pried into, opened up and peeled back like a sardine can. She didn’t intend to inflict that invasion of privacy on anyone.

‘Are you coming for coffee, Kate?’ Linton paused by the door. The ‘cappuccino club’ met straight after the staff meeting each week. ‘We’ve got Florentines.’ His expression of delight made him look like a kid who had just discovered Mum had filled the cookie jar.

She glanced at her watch. Four o’clock—the meeting had run late. Wednesday evening was Guides. She’d been a Guide leader for a couple of years and tonight was her second night back after her break.

She didn’t want to be late, especially as one of the Guides had asked if she could bring a friend. That was great as the pack could do with more members. The Kennedy clan had pressured some families to withdraw their daughters and some had capitulated. Others had stayed, although they refused to help out, but she was sticking with it. There were three supportive parents and now she was back she planned to rebuild. Guides would be so much fun that the girls of Warragurra would be begging their parents to attend and to get involved. ‘Sorry, I’ll have to pass this week. Save me a Florentine.’

Linton nodded and disappeared down the hall with Emily.

She picked up her folder and handed one to Baden. ‘Aren’t you going for coffee either?’

Baden shook his head. ‘I promised Sasha no after-school care on Wednesdays.’

She smiled. ‘Negotiated a midweek deal, did you, to sweeten the rest of the week?’

Surprise rippled across his face. ‘Something like that. I guess I have to accept she’s growing up and perhaps growing out of after-school care, but she’s not grown up enough to be on her own.’

Kate nodded slowly, understanding his dilemma. ‘It’s a tricky age. School holidays must be really tough for you.’ What about Sasha’s mother? She bit off the specific question that gnawed at her. ‘Can extended family help you?’

‘My parents visit in the holidays.’ The words came out curtly, as if they were meant to discourage a response.

He did that occasionally—lurched from extremely friendly to completely closed down whenever the conversation turned to personal things. A few times she’d been on the point of asking if Sasha might like to join Guides, but he always swung the conversation back to work and kept it firmly centred on the job.

Except when he told you he wasn’t married.

She thought back to Monday when they’d been in Adelaide. He’d closed down then when he’d told her that, just like he’d closed down now. For whatever reason, he didn’t want to talk about Sasha’s mother. Perhaps his relationship with her had been as disastrous as hers had with Shane. If it had been, she could totally understand why he avoided the topic. But that didn’t help her rampant curiosity. She hated the fact she wanted to know about this woman and the more he deflected the topic, the more she wanted to know.

He walked to the door, pushing it open for her. She ducked under his arm, her shoulder brushing against him. Tingling pleasure pulsated through her, the sensations intensifying as they dived deeper and unfurled like ribbons in the breeze. Her body’s reaction to an inadvertent touch was way out of proportion and she tried to shrug the sensations away. Finally, the tingling receded, leaving her bewildered and unsettled.

As they walked down the corridor she concentrated on work, trying to ignore the maelstrom of emotions churning inside her. ‘Have you heard from the Women’s and Children’s in Adelaide?’

He nodded. ‘Susie’s doing well. She’s out of ICU and will probably be transferred to Warragurra tomorrow.’

‘Thank goodness. Mary and Barry will be so relieved.’

‘Yes, it was a good outcome.’ He paused outside his office. ‘See you tomorrow, then.’

‘Yes, see you tomorrow. ’Night.’ She moved toward the door. Thank goodness she could leave the office now. She didn’t have to face working with Baden until tomorrow morning. And all her attention for the next few hours would be on the Guides, which would completely block any errant thoughts of a tall, curly-haired doctor.

An hour later she’d negotiated the supermarket, bought a giant container of maple syrup, set up three trestle tables and plugged in a couple of electric frypans. She crossed her fingers that the old hall’s fusebox would cope with the power drain.

She checked her watch. Sandra, her assistant, was usually here by now.

The Guides started arriving and she gave them setting-up tasks, keeping them busy.

‘Hi, Kate, Mum’s sent some eggs from the farm.’ Phoebe Walton put a dozen eggs on the trestle table. ‘She says you have to take any leftover eggs home.’

‘Thanks, Phoebe. Can you head into the kitchen and help Hannah and Jessica in their quest for cooking utensils?’

‘Sure.’ Phoebe headed to the kitchen.

‘I remembered the lemons!’ Erin Baxter proudly held a bag of lemons aloft.

‘Sensational effort, Erin.’ Kate looked beyond her. ‘Where’s your friend?’

Erin dumped the lemons down hard, sending three rolling down the hall. ‘She’s coming but Mum couldn’t bring her because I had a dentist appointment.’ She grimaced.

‘I think the fluoro pink brackets look fabulous on your braces.’ Kate’s mobile phone vibrated in her pocket. ‘Excuse me.’ She pulled out the phone, immediately recognising the number on the display. ‘Hi, Sandra.’

‘Joel has just vomited everywhere for the second time and I really can’t leave him. Sorry, Kate. Perhaps one of the mothers can stay and help you out?’ Sandra’s hopeful voice sounded down the line.

Kate didn’t have the heart to tell her that the mothers who might have stayed and helped had departed, and by the time she was able to get one of them to come back they would have lost too much time for the session to take place. ‘I hope Joel feels better soon.’ She rang off.

Hilary Smithton walked in with her daughter, Lucy, her nose wrinkling as if the air of the Guide Hall was offensive. Hilary always arrived late, although Kate doubted it was from disorganisation. Hilary had grown up with Shane. Along with the Kennedy clan, she blamed Kate for his death.

Kate took in a deep breath. ‘Hello, Hilary. Hi, Lucy. Did you remember the sugar for the pancakes?’

Lucy cast a worried look at her mother and then stared at the floor.

Hilary put her palm against her chest in an exaggerated movement, her red nails vivid against the white designer T-shirt. ‘Oh, dear, were we supposed to bring sugar?’

Kate forced a polite smile. She’d bet her bottom dollar Lucy had asked for the sugar. ‘Not to worry, Lucy. I brought some in just in case.’

Relief flooded the girl’s face as she ran off to join her patrol.

Kate did a head count. She had more girls than she could legally have in her care alone. She didn’t want to have to disappoint them and cancel. Swallowing hard, she smiled at Hilary. ‘Sandra Dodson has a sick child and isn’t able to assist tonight. Are you able to stay and help out?’

Hilary’s gaze swept the hall, taking in the smiling, chattering girls all lined up in their patrols with the expectation of a fun time ahead shining on their faces.

Kate could almost hear Hilary’s brain ticking over, working out that without help Guides would have to be cancelled. She gave it one last shot, planning to appeal to Hilary’s maternal side. ‘Lucy’s been so looking forward to earning her cooking badge. Tonight’s the final task. It would be disappointing if it couldn’t happen.’

Hilary exhaled on a hiss, her eyes narrowing to glinting slits. ‘Disappointment is part of life. The sooner she learns that, the better. You might have been able to manipulate Shane but you can’t manipulate me.’

For a moment her attention seemed to slide away, as if she was looking over Kate’s shoulder. Then her gaze snapped back. ‘I refuse to help you, just like you refused to help Shane. And if you run the group tonight without another adult present, I’ll report you.’

Kate’s fingers curled into fists, her nails digging into her palms. She welcomed the pain as she forced herself to stay calm. She knew Hilary disliked her but she hadn’t believed she would jeopardise the Guides.

Anger and frustration welled up inside her. Her first attempt at resuming her life back in Warragurra and she’d failed. Hilary had her neatly over a barrel. How hard did it have to be to live in this town?

‘I can stay and help.’

The deep resonance of the words washed over her, causing her breath to catch in her throat. She’d recognise that voice anywhere. She spun around so quickly she swayed.

Baden stood in the hall with Sasha, his expression congenial but his eyes unusually dark, with swirling puzzlement in their depths.

Then he smiled. ‘Hello.’

Kate’s knees wobbled and she locked them for support. Her heart had already been hammering from the adrenaline surge Hilary’s words had evoked. Now his smile added a crazy jumping third beat. It left her dizzy and disorientated.

‘Hello, Baden.’ She focussed hard to sound cool and in control.

‘Erin Baxter invited Sasha to Guides.’ The informative statement filled in the gaps, as if he sensed her confusion at seeing him out of context. ‘She’s been talking about Guides for days so it would be a shame if pancake night couldn’t happen.’ He shot a wide smile at Hilary. ‘Besides, I’m a bit of a pancake expert.’

Hilary stiffened. ‘Well, I’ll leave you to it, then, Doctor. Although a man present at Guides is not exactly what the organisation had in mind.’ She gripped her shoulder-bag close to her side and strode out of the hall, her high heels clicking on the bare boards. The door slammed behind her.

Relief flooded through Kate, followed by a certain amount of smugness. Hilary had been outplayed and Guides would take place tonight. The situation had been rescued. She turned toward Baden, her thanks rising to her lips.

His clear blue gaze hooked hers. Suddenly she was acutely conscious of his height, his sharply appraising gaze and the unasked questions on his face. Questions that demanded answers.

Her stomach dropped to the floor. Her private life had just collided with her working life.

She’d wanted to keep the two completely separate. No way was she going to tell him about her battle with the town and relive the horror of the last year. But Warragurra’s size was conspiring to throw them together.

The exhilaration of the rescue faded fast, leaving dread in its wake.

Baden had supervised the beating of batter, tossed a hundred pancakes, wiped up more sugar than an army of ants could have consumed and had fought off sixteen girls attacking him with teatowel flicks.

But now peace reigned. Their parents had collected all the Guides and Sasha had gone with Erin for an ice-cream treat on the way home. Although why Erin’s mother thought they needed any more food after the feast they’d just had was beyond him. But apparently ice cream was a must with pancakes, even if the ice cream had to be consumed half an hour after the pancakes.

As he folded up the last trestle table he surreptitiously watched Kate, or Koala, as the Guides called her. She wore a vivid pink and blue apron over her casual uniform and flour stuck to her forehead.

Her silky smooth hair, which normally hung in a perfect curve around her face at work, had been pulled back in a blue hair tie. Tendrils had escaped and now stuck to her cheeks, which were bright pink from the heat in the hall. She looked about eighteen. Except for the fine lines around her eyes.

Lines that life had put there. He recognised them, he had some of his own and many more than he’d had two years ago.

Did they have anything to do with the standoff he’d witnessed when he’d arrived earlier in the evening? The moment he and Sasha had walked into the hall he’d recognised the vitriol on Hilary Smithton’s face.

And every protective instinct he possessed had gone into overdrive. The intensity of his response had left him stunned. The only other time he’d experienced such feelings had been when Sasha had been a toddler and a large dog had bared its teeth at her.

But Kate wasn’t a toddler so this reaction was foolish. Most of him wanted to run a mile. Kate belonged at work. He had no plans to get involved with anyone again. Love was unreliable and he had to protect Sasha.

He’d kept all their conversations at work firmly centred on work. Hell, he hadn’t even realised she was the Guide leader until Sasha had mentioned it two minutes before they’d arrived. Spending an evening with Kate hadn’t been part of his plan for tonight, but the twist of Hilary’s mouth, and the venom of her words, had made him speak.

Kate had treated the episode with Hilary as if it hadn’t happened and now, two hours later, he was none the wiser as to the reason for Hilary’s antipathy. The Guide meeting had continued as smoothly as if there had never been a threat to the evening.

‘Cup of tea?’ Kate held out a steaming mug.

‘In this heat?’ He bit off the words. ‘Are you insane?’

She smiled, ‘Ah, but it makes you feel cooler.’

‘What, after it’s made you twice as hot?’ He eyed the hot drink with distrust.

‘That’s right.’ She laughed, a mellow, throaty sound. ‘Are you judging my mother’s logic?’

He stamped down on the rush of pleasure that streaked through him at the sound of her laugh. ‘Yes, I am.’

She sank down into a chair, all grace and innate elegance, which was at odds with her current bedraggled look. ‘You’re right, it’s crazy thinking but there’s nothing cool in the fridge and I need a cup of tea.’

The thought of a cold beer materialised in his head. ‘After sixteen giggling girls and a run-in with Hilary Smithton, you probably need something stronger than that.’

She flinched as if she’d been struck and her relaxed demeanour vanished. ‘No, I just need to sit down and catch my breath.’ The words came out precise and clipped as she put her mug down by her chair.

It was obvious she didn’t want to talk about it. And, hell, he didn’t really want to know because asking meant involving himself in her life. He didn’t want to be involved in her life. Getting involved with a woman wasn’t part of the plan, couldn’t be part of the plan. He and Sasha were doing fine on their own.

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