Mountain Ash

by Margareta Osborn

  Joy tittered and went to say something about what a terrible pregnancy she’d had with Jodie.

  Milly, who was sitting beside Jodie, interrupted. ‘But, Mum, you said ten weeks.’

  Jodie blushed, forced herself not to glance at Nathaniel. ‘Ten, eleven, twelve, it’s close enough.’

  Alex was frowning. ‘But you can’t be ten weeks, Jodie darling. I checked my diary. It was the fortnight before your patchworking weekend.’

  She stared at Alex. Had he really just told the whole table when they’d had sex? She forced a laugh and flapped her hands. ‘I must have it wrong then. You know, pregnancy brain and all that.’

  Mue was gazing at Jodie with that queer look on her face again.

  But that was nothing compared to the stare she could feel burning the side of her face, coming from Nathaniel McGregor.

  I will not look, she told herself. I will not look!

  She looked. Then wished she hadn’t.

  He suddenly seemed to come to some sort of decision. He sat back in his chair, one arm draped over the back of it, showing off his square shoulders, the sexy tendrils of dark hair peeking out from the neck of his emerald shirt. A tanned and muscled forearm rested on the table. A thickly veined hand grasped a rum can so hard it was on the verge of crushing it.

  And then he addressed her directly, for the very first time since he’d arrived. She tensed. ‘And so, Jodie, you’re looking forward to having the baby?’

  Jodie felt the tension in her body ease a little. That wasn’t so bad, was it? ‘Yes, very much.’ There, she’d said something to him without dying on the spot.

  ‘And you’re due when?’

  ‘Mid-July.’ This was getting easier.

  ‘So you’ll need a hand getting organised, I suspect? Want to spend more time with my father before the baby arrives?’

  Jodie bumbled on that one. ‘Ummm … yes, I guess so.’

  From across the table, Nathaniel’s eyes narrowed. ‘So you won’t mind if your stepson-to-be hangs around for a while? Helps out a bit?’

  Wal blinked and Clem sat back in his chair and drummed his fingers on the table. They all seemed to be waiting for her answer.

  Jodie didn’t know what was going on here but she could feel a blush rising up her throat. ‘No, of course not. This is your home after all.’

  He was staying? But Mue had said –

  ‘Good. We’ll hang around then.’

  Alex choked on his whisky. Joy jumped up to thump his back, to be waved down by the older man. ‘I’m fine,’ he spluttered, taking another gulp of his drink. He glared speculatively at his son. ‘You can stop here, but don’t be getting too comfortable.’

  Nate feigned innocence. ‘You asked me to come home.’

  ‘For a while only … I’ve got a few more years in me yet.’

  Nathaniel gave a sarcastic half laugh. ‘Well,’ he nodded towards Jodie, ‘that much is obvious.’

  Mue suddenly spoke. ‘Dessert anyone? I’ve got some delicious pavlova and whipped cream –’

  ‘Don’t mind if I do,’ said Wal, hastily rising to his feet too. ‘How about we clear these dishes away first? Milly? Want to help old Wallace carry these plates?’

  Nate was next, not that Jodie was paying attention to him or anything. He got up and pushed his chair in with purpose. ‘I’ll pass on sweets. I need to check my new horse.’

  Alex’s ears pricked. As did Jodie’s. ‘What did you buy?’ Alex’s voice was loaded with derision. ‘Some old station nag you felt sorry for?’

  Jodie stared at her fiancé. She’d never heard him use that tone before.

  ‘Nope,’ said Nate, picking up his hat from a nearby chair.

  ‘Well?’

  ‘He’s a champion campdrafter.’

  And Jodie knew. Just knew what he was going to say next.

  ‘His name’s Warrior.’

  Chapter 35

  He just needed to get out of there and was using Warrior as an excuse. He didn’t realise he’d dropped another bomb in the room.

  The air around the table seemed to drop ten degrees. Alex leaned forwards in his chair, both hands gripping the carver arms like a vice. He uttered, in a voice of sheer ice and steel, ‘I was buying that horse for Jodie.’

  ‘Really?’ Nate’s tone was caustic. ‘How could I know that?’

  ‘Settle down, fellas,’ interjected Clem. ‘This was supposed to be a nice lunch.’

  Jodie sat opposite, moving her horrified gaze from one McGregor to the other.

  Nate was having an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. Standing in the passage outside this very room. Wearing his father’s right hook.

  Obviously his old man hadn’t changed – he was still an aggressive, dominating prick.

  He scowled at Alex, who was now standing red-faced, clenching and unclenching his fists. ‘Well, I bought him. He’s mine and there’s nothing you can do about it. I’ll be outside.’

  He turned and left the room for the verandah, slamming the French door as he went. He needed air. Fresh, clear mountain air. But as he dropped off the patio and made his way towards the sheds, he found he’d been followed. By a woman.

  Ash.

  No, Jodie.

  Behind him, then right there. Beside him. Touching his arm like she couldn’t believe he was standing in front of her. He shook her hand off. He was just so angry. How could she do this to him? To them? He shut his eyes and smelled her scent as she stood close to him. He tried desperately to shut her out. And failed. How could he be near her and not want to touch her, inhale her beauty, her loveliness? But she was engaged to his father. Having a baby.

  His eyes snapped open. The baby.

  He glared at the woman in front of him. He had to know. Thanks to what her daughter had said, he had to know. ‘And so, Ms Ashton, exactly whose baby is it? Mine or my father’s?’

  He could see her reel backwards. ‘Well?’ he prompted, anger driving him on. He deserved to know the truth.

  ‘We used protection, Nate.’ Her tone was sarcastic, biting even.

  Should he tell her? Damn it, he would. He hurt too much not to. He stared her straight in the eye. ‘The condom broke. It was old and it broke. I was coming to tell you that morning but you’d gone.’ It had been kind of like that.

  He watched her carefully. She was frowning, then a look akin to resolution. ‘Doesn’t matter now,’ she said, starting to turn away.

  It didn’t matter? Like hell! He grabbed her arm. Couldn’t believe the fire in the touch. How could he let her go, to his old man?

  He had to.

  The words slammed into him as she shrugged herself free. Her eyes were wild. ‘I’ve got to go,’ she said to him. She was almost pleading with him. So she felt it too. Yes. He felt like punching the air – but then, what good was that going to do now?

  She was sliding her arm away from him. He held on. ‘Why, Ash? Why did you cheat on him?’

  She shook her head vehemently. ‘I didn’t cheat. We weren’t really together then. We’d only … we’d only done it …’ she fumbled for the words ‘… once … you know …’

  He knew. Oh how he knew. ‘You were in a relationship with him, Ash. He’d already told me all about you. Why did you lead me on?’

  ‘No, I wasn’t. Alex was sure about … us … long before I was. And I didn’t lead you on! You were the one who kept coming at me.’

  Us. God. ‘You responded.’

  ‘But I thought it was only a one-night stand. A last … a final … It wasn’t supposed to hurt anyone.’

  Not supposed to hurt? He’d give her hurt. ‘You’re nothing but a slut.’ He watched her recoil at his words and felt instant remorse. Oh hell. But still … ‘How could you sleep with him and then me a fortnight later?’

  It took her a few moments to respond. Her eyes weren’t meeting his any more. ‘I didn’t know he was your father,’ she said quietly.

  ‘That’s not the point –’

  She spoke over him, ‘Finding
out about this baby changed everything.’ She finally looked at him, eyes welling up. ‘I didn’t mean to do this to you, Nate. I truly didn’t. I didn’t know who you were. If I had, it never would’ve happened.’

  Really? In all honesty, and if he was brutally frank with himself, he reckoned the sexual chemistry would have overridden any good sense either of them might have had.

  ‘I would’ve taken this further had I had the chance, Ash.’

  ‘Jodie,’ she corrected him.

  ‘Jodie then. I tried to find you. I asked everyone. I’ve been looking for you for weeks.’

  She gave a half smile that didn’t reach her eyes. ‘Well, you found me.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Nate, flatly. ‘Hallelujah.’

  He’d had enough of this. He let her go and went to walk away, to saddle Warrior and ride the hell off this place up into the thick scrub where the Mountain Ash grew.

  But he paused. She still hadn’t answered his original question. And that’s why midway through lunch, he’d changed his mind about leaving. That little slip-up by young Milly had put a whole new slant on things. An outside chance, but one that was worth hanging on to.

  Jodie was striding away now too.

  ‘So is it his or mine?’ he called to her. Towards the mansion that was Glenevelyn. To join his father.

  Clem was coming across the grass aiming for them, but Nate ignored him. He had to know.

  ‘Jodie?’ he called again.

  Her answer was thrown over a shoulder. ‘Well, what do you think?’

  Then she was gone. Like a will-o’-the-wisp.

  But that was the problem. Nate didn’t know what to think.

  ‘So you reckon it might be yours?’ asked Clem.

  They were riding a brumby path through the bush, far beyond Glenevelyn’s boundaries.

  ‘Maybe,’ said Nate. ‘She wouldn’t say either way.’

  ‘Why not? I would’ve thought if it was yours she’d tell you.’

  ‘I called her a slut.’

  ‘That wasn’t very nice.’

  Nate sighed. ‘No. It wasn’t. I was so bloody angry and she wasn’t telling me what I wanted to know …’ He stopped. Realised he had no idea of the workings of a woman’s brain. ‘You know her well?’ he asked.

  ‘I haven’t slept with her, if that’s what you’re asking me,’ said Clem, a dry edge to his voice.

  Nate brought Warrior to a halt. ‘That wasn’t what I meant.’

  ‘Wasn’t it? You’re thinking because of what’s happened with you and Alex, she sleeps around? Well, mate, I’m telling you she doesn’t.’

  Nate sighed, urged his horse on again. Maybe that’s what he did mean. He didn’t like himself for caring, but a man in love wasn’t necessarily the fairest of beings. And after all he’d only known her for a weekend.

  Clem was still talking, which was a bloody marvel in itself. He obviously liked Ash too. ‘I’ve known Jodie for a while now, and that girl is straight as a die. What she says is the gospel truth.’

  Nate thought about that. Was that why she was dodging giving him a straight answer? Maybe she didn’t want to tell him the baby was his? Maybe it wasn’t: ten versus twelve weeks. There wasn’t much in it. He knew he was grasping at straws here but he just couldn’t let go of Milly’s comment …

  It must be the money. All about Glenevelyn. The status of being Mrs Alex McGregor. But that didn’t make sense either. It didn’t match up with the woman he’d met at Riverton. The girl he’d thought Jodie Ashton was. There had to be more to it. Maybe it really was his father’s child? So why didn’t he just let it go? Let his father have what he so desperately wanted and Nate just walk away?

  Because this time he didn’t want to walk away.

  This time he was choosing to fight for what he wanted. Needed. And if there was even the slightest chance that baby was his, he was going to fight for it.

  Fuck his father.

  Fuck whatever Jodie thought she was doing too.

  Fuck them all.

  Back at the homestead, Wal, Mue, Jodie and Alex sat around the table eating dessert. The fruit salad was beautiful. Mue had added fresh fruit to the tinned and in the heat it tasted divine. Even Milly had had her fill and gone to sleep on the couch, curled up like a contented cat.

  At least someone’s happy, thought Jodie, because Alex certainly isn’t. She’d never seen him like this before. He looked like he was ready to murder someone. Wal and Mue were glancing around like they were both desperate to escape somewhere far away. To be honest, Jodie would have been right behind them if she could have.

  ‘And the wedding is here?’ said Wal, obviously trying to make polite conversation, God love him.

  Jodie smiled. He really was a kind man. ‘Yes, Wal. Here at the homestead, the Saturday after the new year.’

  ‘Nice,’ he said.

  The table sank into silence until Alex pushed back his chair abruptly and announced, ‘I’ll head down the river and check on those boys working there.’

  As the sounds of Alex’s footsteps receded down the hall, the atmosphere in the room eased a little. Instead of being the wonderful family gathering Jodie had hoped for, lunch had been a complete and utter disaster.

  Wal and Mue headed off to the kitchen with the dishes, leaving Jodie with her daughter. She stared at Milly’s gorgeous face, relaxed and vulnerable in slumber, and walked over to her. She sat on the floor at the little girl’s head and softly stroked her face. Strawberries. Always the scent of that sweet fruit. It was beautiful. Milly was just so beautiful. So trusting of her mother to do the right thing by them both.

  Jodie sat against the couch and idly gazed around the room, her eyes landing on the portrait painting of Elizabeth McGregor. It was stunning and so lifelike – from every angle, you felt she was watching you. Today her gaze was piercing in its accusation: ‘What are you doing to my family, you stupid, stupid girl?’ Jodie shivered. It was time to leave. She needed to get out of this place before both Alex, and a certain cowboy, came riding back.

  She gently woke up Milly. ‘Sweetheart? C’mon. Time to go.’

  ‘Wha-at?’ said her daughter in a sleep-fuzzy voice.

  ‘We’re going home.’

  ‘But Nate promised me he’d show me his new horse.’

  Jodie inwardly groaned. This was the last thing she needed. A developing bond between her daughter and the man so determined to make a mockery of her life. ‘You can see Warrior another day.’ That was something else she didn’t need to think about. That bloody horse and Alex’s attack on Nathaniel over it.

  ‘C’mon, Milly,’ she pleaded. ‘Just get up and let’s go.’

  ‘All right,’ grumbled her daughter. ‘But can I have a ride on Parnie?’

  ‘Don’t push it, missy.’

  ‘Buggsy?’

  Jodie couldn’t help but smile. ‘You’re on. Buggsy it is; now move your behind.’

  ‘I’m coming, I’m coming,’ said Milly, scrambling off the couch. But before she belted out the door she asked, ‘Mum, do we need to say goodbye to Mr McGregor? And to the others, Muey and Wal?’

  ‘I’ve already done it for you, mate,’ Jodie lied.

  Milly nodded. ‘Okey dokey then, let’s go.’ She took off, racing to get into their ute.

  Jodie headed out the door of Glenevelyn. It was a beautiful homestead, stacked wall to wall with antiques and precious artefacts. But it just didn’t feel like her kind of place. It wasn’t her ragamuffin shack, with its cosy rooms, quilts and fireplace. She couldn’t imagine what it was going to be like to live there, which she was planning to do in two weeks. Two weeks? Her heart sank. And she knew that wasn’t right either. She should be excited, desperate for her wedding day to come.

  But she wasn’t.

  There was no way Nate was going to let things lie and she had to work out what the hell she was going to do.

  Chapter 36

  Get married to Alex, that’s what she was going to do. It had been a fortnight since the lun
ch. Christmas Day had been and gone. She’d had to do the late shift and there was no day care, so Mue had looked after Milly – which in fact had meant Mue, Clem and Nate had looked after Milly. The men had taken Milly riding off into the bush on horseback, searching for ‘twacks’, she had said. Knowing Clem was a part-time wild-dogman and a hunter, she figured Milly meant ‘tracks’. She knew Clem would take care of her daughter. But Nate? As if she needed any more bonding between that man and Milly.

  It was now Friday. Her first full day off since the disastrous lunch. She’d jammed in the million things she’d needed to organise in between shifts, looking after Milly and her little place, with its cosy house (the thought of leaving it nearly killed her) and menagerie of animals, before the wedding the next day.

  Stacey was going to be her bridesmaid, and had promised on her own life to behave as though Nate and Wal were total strangers to her. Nate, after a lot of serious urging from Mue, had finally agreed to attend the wedding. Alex had originally wanted him to be the best man because ‘that would be what was expected’. As if that was going to happen. With the father and son’s strained relations even before you added the whole baby saga, it had been highly unlikely Nate would ever agree.

  And Jodie was worried about Alex. He’d barely even acknowledged his son was around. How the heck was the wedding to go ahead without the two of them coming to blows? But Mue assured her it’d be fine. ‘Alex and that boy know how to behave when they need to,’ she had told her.

  She could feel her tummy slightly and irrepressibly expanding each week. She just hoped her empire-line wedding dress would hide the evidence from people like Glennys Muldeen, because from the way Alex was talking it seemed that the whole community of Narree had been invited to the wedding.

  Her wedding to Alex.

  The wedding that in reality should have been hers to Nate.

  She’d managed to avoid being alone with the cowboy this past fortnight. He’d been trying to get hold of her, each message more desperate than the previous one. She’d become very adept at dodging him. Hadn’t returned any of his calls. Though he was working at Glenevelyn, he’d moved in with Clem, and Clem lived so far out in the scrub it was easy to avoid Nate. The unfortunate thing was, she was desperate to see him too.