Lang Downs

by Ariel Tachna

Macklin shook his head. “I can get a fire lit and wrap up in a blanket. You won’t be gone long enough for me to need more than that.”

  Jeremy hoped Macklin was right. “Fine, but I’ll get the fire started. You can feed it from a chair, but getting down to start it would be bad for your knee.”

  Macklin scowled, but Jeremy ignored him. He laid a fire quickly in the grate and got it going. Meanwhile, Macklin got a blanket off one of the cots and positioned himself in a chair near the hearth. Jeremy grabbed a bottle of water and put it within Macklin’s reach as well. “You have the radio, right?”

  “Yes,” Macklin said.

  “Keep trying to get through. Just in case Ned doesn’t cooperate and I end up having to walk back,” Jeremy said.

  “I will,” Macklin said, “but he’ll cooperate.”

  “Arrow, stay with Macklin,” Jeremy told the kelpie. It would be a fast, hard ride back to the station, assuming Ned would let him ride, and Jeremy didn’t want to do that to his dog.

  Jeremy wished he could be so sure, but he pushed down his nerves as he went back out to where Ned waited patiently. He stroked the big horse’s nose, relieved when he didn’t try to take a bite out of Jeremy’s hand. “Hi there, Ned,” he said. “I’m Jeremy. I’m a friend of Macklin’s. He’s in the drover’s hut, and he’s hurt. He needs us to get help for him, which means I need you to let me ride you, okay? We’re going back to the station. We’re going to find Neil or Ian or any of the others, and we’re going to bring a ute back here for Macklin so we can get him back to the house and get him patched up. Will you help me do that?”

  Jeremy felt a little ridiculous talking to a horse that way, but Ned butted Jeremy’s sternum with his nose, and Jeremy figured that was as good a sign as he was likely to get. He flipped the reins over Ned’s head and moved to stand by his side. “I’m just going to climb up in the saddle now, okay? I’m not doing anything you need to worry about. Just like Macklin does, right?”

  Ned shifted a little, but he didn’t fight as Jeremy swung up into the stock saddle and got the stirrups adjusted to the right length. Macklin was a couple of inches taller, with much longer legs. “Okay, you ready to take me back to the station?” Jeremy asked Ned.

  Ned shook his head, the movement carrying all the way down his arched neck to his withers. Jeremy leaned forward a bit and patted the quivering shoulder with a gloved hand. “Relax, mate,” he said. “I know I’m not Macklin, but I’m not going to hurt you. All I need is for you to take me back to the station so I can bring help back to your buddy. Let’s go, okay?” He moved the reins to guide Ned back toward the station.

  Ned took the cue this time, starting toward the station at a brisk canter. Jeremy relaxed into the motion with the ease of an experienced rider. He might not know this horse, but he’d been riding since he could walk, and Ned’s gait was smooth and easy. He could see why Macklin enjoyed riding him.

  Ned shied a little when a flash of lightning lit up the darkening sky, but he settled again after a minute. Jeremy breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t want to take a tumble off Ned and lose his fastest means of transportation back to the station.

  On the ride out, he and Macklin had taken their time, searching for marijuana plants as they went, but Jeremy had no time for leisurely riding now, and Ned sensed his urgency, keeping to a ground-eating lope, the kind of speed he could maintain for some time without growing winded. On Taylor Peak, with horses he knew better than Ned, Jeremy might have pushed a little harder, sure of the horse’s stamina, but while he didn’t doubt Ned’s abilities, this was Macklin’s horse, and Jeremy wouldn’t take unnecessary chances with him.

  “Where’s Macklin?” Neil shouted as soon as Jeremy got close enough for him to see Jeremy on Ned.

  “He’s hurt,” Jeremy said, vaulting off Ned’s back and tossing the reins to the nearest jackaroo. He didn’t even bother to see who it was. If Ned bolted, it would only be toward the paddock and the relative comfort it provided. “Cloudy made a run for it. I got Macklin to a hut and came back on Ned.”

  “You’re either really brave or really stupid,” Neil said. “Which hut?”

  “I’ll take you,” Jeremy said, “but someone needs to call the doc. Macklin’s knee’s busted. I don’t think it’s broken, but somebody needs to look at it. By the time we get there and back, the doc will be here.”

  “Ian, call Doc Peters. Tell him Macklin has a busted knee. Jeremy and I will get him back here. And call Caine. I don’t know what he was doing today, but he’ll want to know as soon as possible, even if he can’t get here before the doc does.”

  “Got it,” Ian called back, heading into the house. He appeared a moment later and tossed Neil a set of keys.

  “Let’s go,” Neil said. Jeremy climbed into the other side of the ute and told Neil which road to take out of the valley.

  “What were you doing out, anyway?” Neil asked. “The weather forecast said to expect storms. Macklin told everyone to stay close to home.”

  “Sam found weed in the bunkhouse last night,” Jeremy said. “Macklin wanted to make sure there wasn’t any growing on the station.”

  “Drongo,” Neil muttered. “He didn’t think it could wait for a day?”

  “Apparently not,” Jeremy said. “He and Sam tore the bunkhouse apart looking for more. Fortunately they didn’t find any.”

  “Did you see anything when you were out?”

  “No,” Jeremy said, “but we didn’t cover the whole area Macklin wanted to check before the clouds got threatening enough for us to decide to head back.”

  As if on cue, the skies opened, pouring down rain.

  “Bloody weather,” Neil cursed. “I don’t know if Doc Peters will be able to fly in this. If he has to drive from Cowra, he might not get here today.”

  “We can ice Macklin’s knee, and I can bind it up,” Jeremy said. “Doc Peters will still need to check it out, but we can get him through the night. It was just his knee, as far as I could tell.”

  The ute lurched and slid on the muddy road, but Neil drove like one familiar with the terrain, often moving onto the grass to get better traction.

  Jeremy pulled the hood of his Driza-Bone up each time they got to a gate and dashed through the rain to open it for Neil to drive through, and the fact that Neil stopped each time as soon as the bumper was clear of the fence made Jeremy smile. They might not be friends yet, but Neil was making an effort for Sam’s sake, and Jeremy appreciated it.

  “How well did you know Sam’s ex?” Jeremy asked when he was back in the ute again, holding his hands in front of the heater.

  “I would have said fairly well until he got here,” Neil said. “Now I’m not sure. Why?”

  “He’s convinced she’ll use our relationship against him if she finds out,” Jeremy said. “I was just curious if he was right or just being careful.”

  “Do you blame him?”

  “Not at all,” Jeremy said quickly. “After everything he’s said, I wouldn’t put anything past her. I just wanted your opinion.”

  “Getting tired of waiting?”

  “Tired in the sense of wishing it was September already,” Jeremy said. “Not tired in the sense of giving up on him, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “That thought never crossed my mind,” Neil said. Jeremy couldn’t tell if it was the truth of a convenient white lie, but he accepted it at face value.

  “I want him free of her,” Jeremy said, “not the least because I hate feeling like I can’t even kiss him without looking over our shoulders or without feeling guilty about it. Before you ask, that’s all we’ve done, and only a few times, and it’s all we will do until he’s a free man. I won’t be the cause of him feeling guilty. I don’t want our relationship tainted by that.”

  “I wasn’t going to ask,” Neil said. “I appreciate your honesty, but really, I don’t need details of my brother’s sex life. I didn’t want them when he was married and it was something that made sense to me. I certainly don�
��t need them now.”

  “Still a little weirded out by the whole gay business?” Jeremy asked.

  “Yeah,” Neil said. “I’m not angry. I’m not going to turn on him or say anything to him, but that doesn’t mean I want to think about it. It also doesn’t mean I’ll let you hurt him the way Alison did. If you do, I’m coming after you.”

  “I don’t know what will happen in the future,” Jeremy said slowly, “but I promise I will never treat him the way Alison did, even if somehow things don’t work out and we end up going our separate ways.”

  “That’s fine,” Neil said. “The problem isn’t that they broke up. The problem is what the relationship did to him.”

  Seventeen

  CAINE’S PHONE chimed as he neared the outskirts of Canberra. Someone must have called while he was in the dead zone between Boorowa and Canberra. It chimed again a minute later. Frowning, he picked up the phone and looked more closely.

  Not one message. Four messages. That wasn’t good.

  He found a parking lot and pulled into it so he could listen to the messages.

  “Caine, it’s Ian. Jeremy just came back riding Ned. He said Macklin’s been hurt. We’ve called for a doctor, but I thought you’d want to know as soon as possible.”

  Caine felt his heart squeeze tight in his chest. The thought of something happening to Macklin tore at him. Macklin hadn’t even planned on riding out today. Caine had asked. And now something had dragged him out into the tablelands, and he’d gotten hurt.

  “Caine, it’s Ian again. I just realized how my last message sounded. Jeremy said he hurt his knee. Badly enough he couldn’t ride back in, but not life-threatening or anything. Call when you get the message.”

  Then, “Caine, it’s Kyle. Doc Peters is flying in to look at Macklin’s knee. Jeremy and Neil went to bring him back in. It’s pretty badly swollen, but it doesn’t seem like anything’s broken.”

  And finally, “Caine, where are you?” The sound of Macklin’s annoyed voice relieved most of Caine’s worries. If Macklin was annoyed, he couldn’t be in too much pain. “Call me when you get this message. I need you to pick some things up in Boorowa before you head back.”

  Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Caine dialed the number for the station and waited for someone to pick up.

  “Where are you?” Macklin demanded. “You didn’t answer your phone.”

  “I just now got your message,” Caine said, avoiding the question. He had come too far to ruin the surprise now. “You said you needed me to pick some things up in Boorowa. If you’ll give me the list, I’ll make sure to get them before I head home.”

  Macklin gave him a list of medicines from the doctor that Caine wrote down dutifully. He hadn’t planned on stopping again in Boorowa after he picked up Macklin’s mother, but the prescription would be at the pharmacy there, not in Canberra, so he’d have to make an extra stop.

  “Are you sure you’re not hurt worse than you’re telling me?” Caine asked when Macklin didn’t seem in any hurry to end their conversation.

  “Doc Peters checked me out pretty thoroughly,” Macklin replied. “He said it’s just my knee. I just hate being cooped up and helpless. If you were here, we could sit in the office together and work on the books or the organic certification application or something, so I wouldn’t be stuck here on the couch by myself with nothing to do.”

  “Read a book,” Caine suggested. “Watch TV. Work on the organic certification application yourself. I’ll go over it with you when I get home if you want.”

  Macklin grunted.

  “I’ll be home as soon as I can,” Caine promised. “And you said you weren’t riding out today before I left, so don’t blame me for not being there when you changed your plans.”

  “Something came up,” Macklin said. “We’ll talk about it when you get home.”

  That didn’t sound good, but Caine didn’t push. If Macklin didn’t want to talk about it over the phone, pushing for details would only annoy him, and that was the last thing Caine wanted at the moment. He set it at a fifty-fifty chance of Macklin being annoyed with him when he got home with his surprise anyway. No reason to tip those odds against him.

  “I’ll be home as quickly as I can,” Caine said. “I love you.”

  “I love you too,” Macklin said. “Talk to you soon.”

  Nerves churning in his stomach again, Caine put down the phone and drove the rest of the way to the apartment building where he was supposed to meet Sarah Armstrong. It wasn’t quite public housing, but it wasn’t much better. He grinned, thinking of the house on Lang Downs and the guest room there. If this weekend went well, he’d see about moving Sarah to the station. Macklin’s mother deserved better than this. He parked and went inside, looking for her apartment. He knocked on the door when he found it and waited, heart pounding, for her to answer.

  He’d told her about him and Macklin, and her only reaction had been to be glad Macklin was happy, but he was still meeting his partner’s mother for the first time. Without him (which probably made it easier, honestly, since they hadn’t seen each other in thirty years). He didn’t think she would react badly to him now, but it didn’t settle his nerves completely.

  The door opened, and Caine caught his first glimpse of his mother-in-law. He didn’t know how old she was, but it seemed every one of her years was etched into her face. She smiled when she saw him, though, and that took a decade off her lined face. “You must be Caine.”

  “Yes, m-m-ma’am,” he said, cursing his stutter silently, but the combination of worry about Macklin and nerves at meeting Sarah was too strong to overcome easily.

  “Come in for a moment,” she said. “I’m all packed. Unless you’d like a spot of tea before we go?”

  “I would r-rather we g-go,” Caine said. “M-Macklin got hurt today while I w-w-was d-driving here, and I’d l-like to g-get back to him as qu-quickly as possible.”

  “Oh, of course!” Sarah said. “I’ll just get my bag.”

  She disappeared into the other room and came back with a small rolling suitcase. Caine took it from her and carried it out into the hall. She locked the apartment and followed him outside. “I hope it’s nothing serious.”

  “He fell off his horse,” Caine said. “He t-twisted his knee. He’ll be f-fine, but I want to get home as quickly as we can.”

  He put the suitcase in the trunk (and smiled as he did because he still thought of it that way and not as the boot. He’d picked up a lot of the vernacular, but that wasn’t one of them) and joined Sarah in the car.

  “So tell me about yourself,” Sarah said as Caine started back toward Boorowa. “How did you end up on a sheep station in New South Wales?”

  Caine smiled. He could do this part. “My great-uncle owned Lang Downs,” he explained, his stutter fading as he relaxed into the ease of storytelling. “He didn’t have any children, so when he died, it passed to my mother. She was going to sell it. She didn’t have any need for a sheep station, after all, but I convinced her to let me run it. Last year at Christmas, she gave it to Macklin and me.”

  “That was very brave of you, leaving everything to come here,” Sarah said.

  Caine shrugged. “There wasn’t much to leave, honestly. You’ve heard me stutter. It’s hard to get ahead in business talking that way, and I didn’t have a boyfriend. The station was a godsend, a chance for a fresh start.”

  “It was still a brave choice,” Sarah insisted. “Plenty of people stay in miserable lives because they don’t have the courage to change anything.”

  Caine didn’t ask if she was talking about herself. He didn’t know what had happened to Macklin’s father, but she had clearly been the only inhabitant of her apartment, so wherever he was, he wasn’t bothering Sarah anymore. “It was a gamble, but it’s paid off in spades.”

  “And Macklin?”

  “Macklin is the station’s foreman,” Caine explained. “He helped me get my feet under me, and I fell in love with him.”

  �
�I know that wasn’t as simple as you make it sound,” Sarah said with a laugh.

  Caine laughed too. “No, it wasn’t, but like anything worth having, it was worth the work. He’s a strong, stubborn, sometimes bullheaded man, but underneath that, there’s a tender heart.”

  “I’m glad. His father did his best to beat it out of him, but it never worked when he was a child. It’s good to know that hasn’t changed.”

  MACKLIN HEARD the sound of the front door opening, of Caine taking off his boots and coming into the living room. He wanted to get up and go kiss his lover, but he wasn’t supposed to get up without the crutches, and he hated the bloody things.

  “I’m in the living room, Caine,” he called.

  Caine came in and joined him on the couch, kissing him firmly before running his hand down Macklin’s leg. “How bad is it?”

  “It’s sprained, but Doc Peters doesn’t think I tore anything. A few days on the couch and then a few weeks in a bloody brace and I’ll be good as new. What took you so long?”

  “I have a surprise for you,” Caine said.

  Macklin frowned. He didn’t like surprises, even if he trusted Caine enough to expect it would be a good one.

  “You didn’t need to get me anything,” Macklin said.

  “I didn’t,” Caine said. “I got you someone instead.”

  That made no sense, but before Macklin could ask what Caine meant, he heard more footsteps in the hallway, and a woman he didn’t recognize stepped into the room. He looked from her to Caine and then back again before recognition dawned. “Mum?”

  “Hello, Macklin,” she said quietly. “I hope… I hope you don’t mind that I came to see you.”

  “How did you find me?” Macklin asked.

  “I didn’t,” Sarah said. “Caine found me. I know you have every reason to hate me, but I wanted to see you once, to see the man you turned out to be.”

  “No,” Macklin said, reaching for the crutches. He struggled to his feet, waving off Caine’s assistance. “No, I don’t hate you. My God, Mum, it’s….”