“Speak of the devil.” His mother choked back another chuckle and tucked her silver hair behind her ears before hefting up a ceramic dish overloaded with roast potatoes and squeezing it onto the dining table already overcrowded with steamed veggies, corn on the cob, gravy, fried onions, and enough spit-roasted lamb and beef to feed a small village.
“I was making sure Abi knew she didn’t have to put up with you just to stay here.” His mother shot Abi a private smile before readjusting her finest—if mismatched—china and smoothing down the special-occasion tablecloth that had been red a decade ago.
So much for worrying about his guest fitting in. He should’ve known the second Abi had stolen his dinner on the plane she’d slot right in with the witches who ran roughshod over the Harper men. Even Maddie had been almost politely indifferent toward Abi, which was a far cry from the open hostility she normally reserved for strangers.
He wasn’t sure whether relief or nerves caused the queasiness in his gut, but either way he was in the shit because neither Abi nor his mother met his gaze, and that meant the tradition of embarrassing the crap out of whoever brought company home had already started.
Osama Bin Laden and his nutbag cronies had kept him relatively safe from his family’s welcome homes and their special brand of love by keeping him occupied dodging bullets and IEDs. Apart from the rare occasions he’d brought a teammate home on leave, he’d escaped the trauma of reliving his most humiliating childhood memories. But something in the knowing glances and whispered chuckles exchanged between his siblings as they fanned out around the table confirmed they were about to make up for the last decade.
With the precision of a military drill parade, his three sisters positioned themselves on the left side of the table and his brothers the right, leaving the heads of the table free, along with the chair farthest away from him. The damned thing may as well have had a neon visitor’s sign flashing above it.
Divide and conquer. This was going to be rough.
Jarrah slid the mismatched visitor’s chair back from the table and waved a hand in front of it. “Ms. Abigail.”
Abi barely spared Ryder a cursory glance before unleashing her smile on his sleazy, no-good brother. She curtseyed and slid into the chair. “Why thank you, Mister Harper.”
His sisters dropped into their chairs with a little too much enthusiasm while his mother balled up the tea towel she’d been wiping down the kitchen bench with and tossed it at Jarrah. “The girls cooked, so guess who’s cleaning up?”
Jarrah sighed and opened his mouth to argue before his mother silenced him with a look. “I don’t give a shit how big and important you are in the city, lawyer boy, you’re in my world now.” She turned and jabbed a finger at Kira who was stealing a roast potato from the dish closest to her. “And what the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Kira lowered her head and slowly retracted her hand, minus the roasted carbs before mumbling a sheepish apology and kicking him under the table for laughing at her.
Christ, they were fully grown adults, yet whenever they got together it always felt like they were the same snotty-nosed, loudmouthed, smart-arsed kids who had somehow won the lottery and ended up at this grumpy battleaxe’s table in the middle of nowhere.
His mother drew in a deep breath and slowly released it before regarding Abi. “Please accept my apologies for my kids. I did my best, but sometimes even your best isn’t good enough.”
Abi chuckled and shook her head. “You have an amazing family and an amazing home.”
“I do, don’t I?” His mother’s eyes glistened as she smiled at each of them in turn before she rubbed her eyes. “Dammit, I promised myself no more tears.”
“Like that was going to happen.” Jeddah passed Abi her plate. “You better kick things off before she starts bawling.”
Abi accepted the plate and nodded hesitantly before picking at each dish like the finches and budgerigars that darted around the big pond’s banks. Where the hell had this polite, demure woman been when his damned kingfish had appeared?
“You can forget about counting calories.” Jeddah nodded to the pitiful pile on Abi’s plate before jutting her chin at their mother. “Heap it on, girl. If the heat and snakes don’t kill you, the red meat and carbs will, and she won’t quit nagging until you can’t breathe.”
His mother huffed. “My cooking hasn’t done any of you any harm so far.”
Ethan speared half a side of roast beef and dumped it on his plate. “That’s because your evil daughter works us so freaking hard.”
Madison simply shrugged and spread half a tub of butter over her bread roll. “I guess we know who’s digging the foundations for the new watering trough tomorrow.”
Ethan had a lot to learn about not poking the dragon, but Ryder had to agree with his younger brother when it came to the hard work. Cattle station life was as tough as it was unique. The only time he’d worked harder was when he’d stupidly volunteered for Special Air Service selection, and that had only been the start of his magical mystery ride of self-inflicted torture and sacrifice. If he’d had any brains at all, he’d have stuck to wrangling cattle and mending fences and stayed the hell away from the army.
The frantic clatter of cutlery clashing against china combined with muffled chewing and incessant teasing to create a joyous symphony that reminded him just how much he’d missed the priceless luxury of sharing a meal with the most important people in his life.
Jarrah propped his elbow on the table and waved a fork in his direction while leering at Abi. “Look, I’m sorry, I just gotta know. What the hell are you doing with him?”
Ryder was just about to hurl a roast potato at his brother when Abi’s laughter distracted him. She put down her cutlery, pushed up her glasses, and stared straight at him. And just like on the plane, at baggage claim, and pretty much every other time she’d looked at him, everything disappeared—his sisters and brothers, the table full of food, his childhood home, everything. She broke the trance by raising her eyebrows and flashing him a devilish grin.
She sighed dramatically and shrugged. “He looked so pathetic and lonely on the plane I had to talk to him. He was like a big scruffy abandoned puppy.”
And with that the heavens opened. Like the chubby rain heralding the wet season monsoons, the questions fell. Drop after drop they crashed down on Abi until food was forgotten and her head snapped from one interrogator to the next.
What do you do? How old are you? Where do you live? How long are you here for?
If he’d had a bunch of nosy strangers prying into his private life, he’d have been twitching and planning an exit strategy out the nearest window, but Abi fired back answers with an excitement and joy that couldn’t be faked. She was having a ball, and he was getting an even deeper insight into the woman who’d cast a spell over him and was slowly doing the same to his family.
He’d had no idea she’d rebuilt her first engine at twelve or that she’d lost her license three times for speeding or that she could recite every episode of The Big Bang Theory word for word. He’d known she loved the show but just how deep her love went was a little scary.
She glossed over how difficult the years after her parents’ deaths had been, when she’d worked, studied, and taken care of her kid sister while fighting to keep a roof over their heads and Olivia out of foster care. But she’d told him how tough it’d been, and the fact she’d shared that part of her after knowing him only a few hours had something warm and gooey settling in his belly. Instead of focusing on how hard her life had been, she unapologetically bragged about her kid sister the doctor and how Olivia only had a year of residency left before she’d have the world at her feet.
He learned more about her left-wing hippie-teacher mother and overprotective, conservative, mechanic father. It was clear to everyone just how much she missed her parents. Whenever she spoke about them or reminisced about her childhood in suburban L.A., her voice softened and her smile dimmed. Even when she described losing the
m to that dickbag of a drunk driver, there’d been no anger in her voice, just a bone-deep grief that fell over the table like fog.
His family knew exactly what she’d gone through, but they’d had a tough-as-nails mother to pull them through the nightmare of losing a parent. She’d lost both of her parents and only had her younger sister to cling to. Despite the reassurances she was okay talking about her parents, his loving-yet-lethal family turned on Ethan like a pack of rabid dingoes after his younger brother had asked what happened to them. His mother had to step in and order them to shut up and eat to save his brother’s tattooed hide.
He’d thought he’d done a pretty good job of covertly admiring Abi from the other end of the table when Maddie cursed and threw her napkin at him.
Maddie laid down her fork and turned to Abi. “So how far has this thing between you two gone?”
In typical Maddie fashion, his sister and future boss had ignored social convention and simply blurted out the question on everybody’s mind, including his. He had a rough idea where he was at, but the shock on Abi’s face confirmed she had no idea.
Maddie zeroed in on him. “Are you two just doing the wild thing for a few days or is your special friend hanging around a while?”
The deathly silence that fell over the kitchen was shattered by cutlery clattering onto the hardwood floor and a chorus of overly polite coughs and throat clearing.
Maddie shrugged and turned to her stunned audience. “C’mon, you can’t tell me you’re not dying to know. She’s the first girl he’s brought home since high school.”
“Madison Kala Hamilton!”
His mother unleashed one of her patented death stares on her middle daughter before turning an apologetic smile toward Abi. But the crimson tide spreading across Abi’s cheeks confirmed his mother’s intervention had been too late. He had to hand it to his special friend, if the situation had been reversed, he doubted he’d have been able to pull his shit together so quickly.
She calmly wiped her mouth with a napkin, cleared her throat, and locked her gaze on him. “I wouldn’t exactly call it the wild thing, but I need a tour guide, and he was the only one I could find.”
Jarrah lost a mouthful of beer through his nose as he buckled over and buried his face in his napkin. Ethan’s hooting laughter joined his sisters’ cackles as the dining room erupted into mayhem. While he dodged insults, napkins, and bread rolls, Abi leaned back in her chair, crossed her arms over her chest, and grinned at him.
“Enough.” His mother slapped her hand on the table and rose to her feet. Her act would’ve been more convincing if her eyes weren’t watering and she wasn’t clutching her mouth in a futile attempt to stop laughter spluttering out. She wiped her eyes and slowly regained her composure. “I swear this isn’t how I raised them.”
“Bullshit.”
His mother shot Ethan a warning before slumping back onto her chair and slowly shaking her head. “I’m so sorry, love. You must think we’re a pack of feral bogans.”
Abi chuckled and patted his mother’s hand. “Don’t worry, your son prepared me for all of you on the drive here.”
“Is that right?” Jeddah straightened and eyed him with the same look she’d used to dismantle many an arrogant stockman’s or contractor’s ego. “Well, seeing as my brother has filled you in on all of us, is there anything you’d like to know about him?”
“Well, there is one thing.” Abi’s lips curved into an innocent grin that was complete bullshit as she casually shrugged and rested her elbows on the table. “My kid sister found some pretty interesting things on the internet when she ran a background check on him.” She winked at him before regarding his family. “I was just wondering whether he’s as tough and dangerous as Google thinks he is?”
All eyes widened and turned to him as Kira chuckled and laid her hand over his. “Only if you try hurting the people he cares about. Otherwise, he’s just a huge squishy marshmallow.”
And that was one of the reasons he stopped bringing teammates home with him on leave because not getting shot in the ass in combat was hard enough without having your brothers-in-arms laughing at you. The other reason was there was no way in hell he was letting any of his sisters fall for an active serviceman no matter how honorable, brave, and decent they were. They could disappear with just a phone call and never return. And if that made him an overprotective, misogynistic arsehole, so be it.
Kira grinned up at him and squeezed his hand before regarding Abi. “Did he tell you what his middle name means?”
Abi blushed and shook her head.
Kira turned to him and raised an eyebrow. “I guess you’ve been too busy.” She returned his glare with an angelic smile before pinching his cheek. “It’s Aragung. It means ‘shield’ in Margani, Mum’s native language.”
“Aragung.” Abi whispered the name and nodded like she’d just been given the answer to a riddle that had been gnawing away at her.
He’d been a filthy, foul-mouthed nine-year-old street kid with a chip on his shoulder as big as his scrawny thirty-kilo body, but somehow his mother had known what to name him. The older he’d gotten and the more of the world’s mysteries he’d experienced, the surer he’d become that his mother shared the same bond with nature’s old-world magic that all indigenous cultures around the globe had, an understanding of the primary forces linking all things that technology and modern man would never comprehend.
Kira patted his hand and nodded to their mother. “Mum gave all of us Aboriginal names when we joined her family.” She pointed to Ethan, “Ethan Wundurra Harper. Warrior.”
Ethan’s puffed-out chest deflated as soon as he took in the shocked expression on Abi’s face. “Jesus, you don’t have to look so surprised.”
Ryder reached around the table and patted his younger brother’s back. “Don’t worry, puberty’s sure to hit soon, and until then you’ve still got your tats for toughness.”
Abi chuckled before she caught herself and nudged Jarrah with her elbow. “What’s yours?”
Jarrah cursed. “These two bozos get Shield and Warrior, and I get Bakana—Guardian. Jesus, Mum, you may as well have tied a ribbon in my hair and called me Nancy.”
“Was I wrong?” His mother tilted her head and studied Jarrah with knowing eyes.
Jarrah grunted something resembling a “no” before Jeddah leaned forward and waved her hand toward her twin brother. “Despite what my brother wants women to believe. He’s about as wild and untamed as French cuffs on a three-piece suit nowadays. But he just happens to be one of the best native title lawyers in the country.” She sighed and shook her head. “And it kills me to say this, but he’s probably the only reason Mum still owns this place.”
Abi reared away from Jarrah and stared at him.
Jarrah shook his head and gestured to his mother. “All I did was censor Mum’s curses and translate them into legalese so the greedy sons of bitches got the message to back off.”
Maddie cursed under her breath and jutted her chin at Jarrah. “He did more than that, but we try not to bring it up. The smart-arse is hard enough to live with as it is when he graces us with his presence.”
Abi tried her best to conceal her surprise, but she regarded Jarrah as if he’d suddenly turned into an alien. She blinked and shot Jarrah one more confused glance before nodding to Kira. “And yours?”
Kira’s face exploded with a joy that had all his sisters and brothers groaning in united disgust. “Alkira, Sunshine.”
Maddie shoved their youngest sister. “And the little suck-up even changed her first name as soon as she turned eighteen because she believed it was so true.”
No matter how much they hated admitting it, there was no denying his mother had been spot-on. She hadn’t even waited until Kira was old enough to officially choose to become part of their family. As soon as his mother had rescued the tiny little girl with the spiky jet-black hair and huge terrified elfin eyes from protective services, she’d named her, and the older Kira got the more p
erfect the name became.
Kira stuck out her tongue at Maddie and shoved her back. “You should’ve done the same. It would’ve at least warned strangers to stay the hell away from you, you miserable cow.”
Jeddah nodded and hitched her thumb at Maddie. “This isn’t going to come as a surprise, but Mum named this one Kala.”
Abi held up her hand. “Let me guess.”
A chorus of warning oohs and aahs erupted around the table, but she waved them away and studied Maddie, who crossed her arms over her chest and raised one crimson eyebrow.
Abi narrowed her eyes before clicking her fingers and breaking the stare down. “Kicker of Asses.”
Maddie’s predatory scowl softened into a satisfied grin. “Close enough. Kala means fire.” Maddie sighed and turned to him. “I’ve still got no freaking idea how you managed to trick this woman into sleeping with you.”
He had no idea, either, but he’d be damned if he admitted it to these mongrels. He cocked an eyebrow and extended his arms out to his sides. “How the hell can any woman resist all this? Seriously, have you seen a more perfect specimen of manliness?”
Jeddah grimaced as if she’d eaten one of the flies buzzing around their heads. “Pity about the face, personality, and peg leg.”
Abi laughed and nodded to Jeddah. “I’m guessing you’re named something regal. You’re way classier than the rest of these guys.”
Jeddah batted away the napkins and curses flung her way. “Mereki, Peacemaker.”
Abi returned Jeddah’s smile. “That’s two for two.”
Jeddah tilted her head toward their mother. “Want to try for three out of three?”
Abi shifted in her chair and studied his mother for a long time before slowly nodding. “Naya, it can only mean something like Mother.”
His mum nodded and clutched a trembling hand to her mouth before her eyes overflowed. “Goddamn, now you’ve gone and done it.”
Against All Odds (Outback Hearts) Page 18