by Ariel Tachna
“We don’t have a training course set up,” Jason explained, “although with a new litter on the way, I imagine Neil and Macklin will build one. Polly’s a work dog, not a show dog. If you give her commands that have no purpose, she’s going to get annoyed with you. When she hears something, she expects to act a certain way with the sheep, not just for the hell of it.”
That made sense, actually. Thorne had always hated the training exercises that had them going through empty motions. “Okay, but don’t let me do anything that would hurt her or the sheep.”
“She’s too smart to get into trouble with the sheep,” Jason said. “Don’t worry about that. If you give an order that doesn’t make sense, she’ll let you know.”
Thorne wasn’t sure how he felt about a kelpie being smarter than him, but he figured somebody had to be in this situation. “So where do we start?”
An hour later, Thorne had an even greater respect for the men and women he worked with, not to mention for the dogs they used to help manage the sheep. Jason was the epitome of patience when it came to teaching, and Polly obediently followed Thorne’s orders except when he gave an obviously wrong one, but Thorne still felt like that happened far more often than it should have.
“If it makes you feel any better,” Jason said as he climbed over the fence and joined Thorne in the middle of the paddock, “everyone who works with the dogs has gone through exactly what you’re going through. I taught Caine when he first got here, and he got mixed up and turned around and sent Polly all the wrong places too, and back then, she was still learning and didn’t know to ignore the mistakes. And if you think that was bad, you should have seen Seth learning.”
“Seen me learning what?” a voice interrupted.
Thorne spun around, senses leaping to high alert, but Jason didn’t wait for him to assess the situation. He took off running toward the fence, vaulting over it like it was inches tall instead of nearly up to his chest. The kid on the other side of the fence—only a kid if you’re an old man, his conscience pointed out snidely—braced himself for the impact of a hundred and fifty pounds of muscle when Jason barreled into him in the guise of a hug. They didn’t fall, but to Thorne’s eye, it seemed like a close thing.
“You’re home! Chris said he didn’t know if you’d make it for Christmas,” Jason said.
“I haven’t missed Christmas yet,” the kid said. “I’m not going to start now. Who’s the blow-in?”
“Thorne, come meet Seth,” Jason called.
Thorne crossed the paddock to the fence as Jason led Seth toward him. “Seth, this is Thorne Lachlan. He’s staying with Ian. Thorne, this is Seth Simms, Chris’s brother.”
“Nice to meet you,” Thorne said, offering Seth his hand. Seth shook it with a solid grip that Thorne appreciated.
“Cheers, mate,” Seth said. “I didn’t think Ian had any family outside the station.”
“He doesn’t,” Thorne said, although he wasn’t completely sure that was true. Ian had said he didn’t stay in touch with anyone, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t anyone.
“So why are you staying with him?” Seth asked bluntly.
“Because he offered me a spot on his couch when the guest room in the main house got a little too….”
“Say no more. The day Neil and Molly moved into the foreman’s house and Chris and I got Neil’s old house was a very good day,” Seth said with a laugh. “I feel your pain. Why were you in the guest room and not the bunkhouse?”
“Because I didn’t hire on as a jackaroo,” Thorne said. “I came with the Firies to fight the grassfires.”
“And then Caine adopted you,” Seth said. “Wonder where I’ve heard that before.”
“Actually, Ian adopted me, but Caine and Macklin were kind enough to agree to it,” Thorne said.
“Ian?” Seth parroted. “Really?”
“Yes. Why are you surprised? He’s been nothing but kind to me.” He’d been a whole lot more than just kind, but Thorne wasn’t ready to tell Seth and Jason that.
“Because Ian has always been a loner,” Jason explained. “He’s friendly with everyone, but he’s only friends with Neil and Kyle. He makes furniture and stuff for everyone on the station. He’ll bring food or beer to every station gathering, but he never invites anyone to his place, which is okay, because his place is small compared with Neil and Molly’s house or Mum and Dad’s house, and if it’s something big, like Christmas or a birthday party, we’ll have it in the canteen, but the point remains. Nobody here has ever seen Ian take to someone like he seems to have taken to you. That’s usually Caine’s job.”
Polly yipped behind them, drawing the attention of all three men.
“I’m teaching Thorne how to work with the dogs,” Jason explained.
“And you didn’t ask Caine to pretend to be a sheep?” Seth teased.
“I’m not fourteen anymore,” Jason said. “I’m allowed to work with real sheep now.”
That sounded like a story Thorne wanted to hear, but he found the slight flush on Jason’s cheeks even more interesting than the possibility of a story. Up until now, Jason had been the epitome of a confident stockman, younger than Ian or Neil or some of the others, but much more at home than the seasonal jackaroos. Now, with Seth teasing him, Jason looked like a kid again.
“So, Seth,” Thorne said, changing the subject entirely, “I know what Jason’s doing that keeps him away from the station for most of the year, but I haven’t heard what you’re doing.”
“Studying mechanical engineering,” Jason said before Seth could answer. “You should see him. He’s a genius with machines. Even my dad says so, and I used to think nobody knew more about engines than my dad.”
It took Thorne a minute to work out the relationship, but then he remembered Patrick, the station’s head mechanic, was Jason’s father.
“I like knowing how things work,” Seth said with a shrug and a flush on his face now at Jason’s praise. Thorne wondered if he’d ever been that young and clueless. Then he remembered how long he and Daniel had danced around each other before admitting they were interested in something more than friendship. He suspected Seth and Jason hadn’t reached the admitting stage yet.
“Do you have plans for after you graduate?” Thorne asked.
Seth shrugged again. “Depends on a lot of things. The engineering stuff is interesting, but mostly I like the down and dirty application side of it. I like getting in the machines and working on them. I really could have got an apprenticeship with a mechanic and been just as happy, but Chris wouldn’t hear of it.”
“I don’t imagine there’s a lot of call for mechanical engineering on a sheep station,” Thorne said.
“You’d be surprised. There’s machinery to maintain, of course,” Seth replied, “but Caine’s looking at ways to improve the paddocks, with windmills to bring water to the troughs instead of depending on rain or having to fill them from the utes. He’s talked about trying to put solar-powered generators in some of the drovers’ huts, because even with a fire going, they’re pretty miserable in the winter. Those are all design projects that would be right up my alley.”
“I guess I haven’t seen that side of things yet,” Thorne said. “It sounds like you have it all planned out.”
“We’ll see,” Seth said.
“He’s got this girlfriend,” Jason said with a scowl. “She’s a city girl through and through. She’ll never agree to come live out here on the station, and she’d be miserable even if she did.”
“I can see that being a problem,” Thorne agreed. He couldn’t imagine being miserable on Lang Downs, but then he wasn’t city-bred, not after twenty years in some of the remotest places on the planet. Lang Downs felt like the lap of luxury after some of the places he’d bivouacked with his team. Then again, he already knew his was a unique perspective.
“I need to go unpack,” Seth said. “I’ll let you get back to your lesson, and I’ll see you at dinner.”
Seth headed back toward t
he collection of houses scattered along the north side of the road through the valley, and Thorne watched the way Jason followed him with his eyes. “I think I’ve hit information overload,” he said, taking pity on the kid. “We can call it a day for now if you want to go help Seth get settled.”
“Are you sure?” Jason asked. The hope that shone in his eyes was all the confirmation Thorne needed.
“I’m sure. I’ll find something else to do. There’s never a shortage of work around here.”
“Thanks,” Jason said.
“Jason!” Thorne called before Jason could run off. “Don’t hassle Seth about staying in the city. He’ll figure out what’s important. You just have to give him time.”
“Lang Downs wouldn’t be home without him,” Jason replied.
“Give him time,” Thorne repeated.
Jason nodded and whistled for Polly before sprinting after Seth. He couldn’t stop a smile at the way Seth bumped his shoulder against Jason’s as they walked down the road together.
Leaving them to their reunion, he wandered around the sheds and toward the bunkhouse, looking for someone to give him another job, but he didn’t see any of the crew bosses. With nothing more productive to do, he decided to head back to Ian’s house to unpack a little. He wouldn’t unpack all his boxes, in case he didn’t end up staying in Ian’s house permanently, but he could get out his Kindle and a few things like that. Ian had been generous with his library. Thorne could return the favor now. He’d have to go to the canteen if he wanted to buy anything new since Ian’s house didn’t have Wi-Fi. Come to think of it, Thorne hadn’t seen anything even vaguely electronic other than Ian’s cell phone and one of the radios they all carried when they left the valley for the upper paddocks.
He dug through the boxes until he found his Kindle and set that aside to charge before digging back through the boxes. He couldn’t honestly remember what was in all of them. He’d picked up odds and ends over the years in various places they were stationed, mostly cheap tourist stuff to remind him of where he’d been, but a few of the pieces were of better quality, either from longer missions or from a place or a people who had touched him more deeply. He left all of those wrapped for the moment. He didn’t want to presume on Ian’s generosity. He was pretty sure of his welcome after a month, but he was still sleeping on the couch without an explicit invitation to make their current living arrangements permanent.
Of course, that was before they’d spent the night in the same bed. Thorne didn’t want a repeat of whatever had given Ian his panic attack, but he certainly wouldn’t complain about a repeat of the rest of the night. It had felt right in a way that defied words to sleep with Ian in his arms, to curl protectively around Ian’s slimmer body and put himself as a wall between Ian and the rest of the world. He’d spent twenty years fighting to protect his team and whatever place or group of people his commanders decided to send them to, to the point that the need to protect was ingrained, but he’d never had someone of his own. If he thought he was driven before, it was nothing compared to what he felt toward Ian, and increasingly toward Lang Downs. Anyone who thought to threaten his new home and family had another think coming.
The sound of footsteps on the gravel path alerted Thorne that he had company. He looked up and smiled when he saw Ian on the veranda taking off his boots. He set the boxes aside and went to greet him.
“Hi,” Ian said when Thorne joined him on the veranda. “I thought you were working with Jason and Polly.”
“I was,” Thorne said, “but Seth came home, and that was the end of Jason’s interest in working with me.”
Ian laughed. “Yeah, that would do it. They’ve been best friends since they first laid eyes on each other seven years ago. Can’t pry them apart with a stick when they’re both on the station. I swear Jason finished his HSC a year early because he wanted to do the same classes Seth was taking, never mind that they’re interested in two completely different things.”
“I was going through the boxes we brought back,” Thorne said, “but I didn’t want to unpack too much without asking first. I didn’t want to presume.”
Ian drew Thorne back inside and kissed him the moment the door closed behind them. “You still have to ask after last night?”
“I will always ask,” Thorne replied fiercely. “You will always have a choice with me.”
“You have no idea what that means to me,” Ian said before giving Thorne another kiss.
Thorne didn’t need any more details of Ian’s life to know he’d had the right to choose taken from him too often. This was Ian’s home now, and Thorne wouldn’t allow it to become another place where choices were taken from him. He kissed Ian back with all the determination that burned in him to see Ian happy and safe. He hoped to still be doing it in another forty or fifty years.
“Let’s go see if we can find space for your things,” Ian said. “If we can’t, we’ll figure out what we need and I’ll order the wood from Paul and someone can pick it up on the next trip to Boorowa. We might have to squeeze things in for a bit, but I can make whatever we need.”
Thorne couldn’t resist. He pulled Ian back into his arms and kissed him again. Comments like that were tantamount to a declaration of love as far as Thorne was concerned. He still hoped to hear the words—not that he could talk, since he hadn’t worked up the courage to say anything either—but he could live with the proof that Ian intended him to be around for a long time even without the words.
When they separated, Ian looked as dazed as Thorne felt, which did nothing for Thorne’s self-control. He took a deep breath and stepped back enough to put some space between them. Ian trusted him because he could keep himself in check. Now was not the time to blow it.
“So show me what’s in the boxes,” Ian said a little breathlessly.
Thorne opened the nearest box and unpacked his prized possession, a teak mask a Timorese carver had given him after he’d saved the man’s young son from a band of guerrillas. “This is from East Timor,” he said, showing it to Ian. “It’s probably the most valuable thing I own.”
“It’s beautiful,” Ian said. “The craftsmanship is stunning. May I?”
Thorne held it out to Ian, trusting that the hands capable of the woodwork in the house would treat the mask with the care and respect it deserved. Ian carried the mask to the window so he could study it in the light. “Absolutely stunning,” he repeated. “The time it would have taken to create the details…. I hope you paid the artist well for this and didn’t buy it in some cheap shop that takes advantage of native craftsmen.”
Thorne knew all too well the kind of shops Ian was referring to. He tried to avoid them for anything of real value, but in this case, it hadn’t been an issue of payment. “It was a gift,” he said. “The mask represents protection. The man who made it said it would watch over me since I’d saved his son.”
“I don’t have anything to hang it with,” Ian said, “but we can get something the next time someone goes to Boorowa. We’ll find a place to display it. Something this precious deserves to be seen, not hidden away in a box.”
“The box seemed safer when I was moving around every few months.”
“Of course, but you’re here now. This puts my little hobby to shame. We have to find a place for it,” Ian said. “Do you have anything else like this?”
“Nothing that fine,” Thorne said. “If I was stationed somewhere for a short time, I picked up a little kitschy thing to remind me of the visit. If I stayed for several months, I got something nicer, but this is definitely the crowning glory of my collection of memorabilia.”
Ian brought the mask back to Thorne. “Until we find a place to hang it, we can stand it on the chest in my room if you want,” he offered. “It won’t be as visible if anyone comes to visit, but we’ll see it and it will be safe from harm.”
As far as Thorne was concerned, it could stay in Ian’s room forever if that meant Thorne got to be there with him. He couldn’t think of anywhere he’d ra
ther have the protective spirit holding sway. “I think that sounds perfect.”
He took the mask back and followed Ian into his bedroom, the one room in the house he hadn’t gone into until now. It was furnished in much the same way as the rest of the house, hand-carved wooden furniture and soft, muted colors. A beautiful earth-toned quilt over the foot of the bed drew Thorne’s attention. “Do you quilt as well?”
“No,” Ian said with a laugh. “Carley made that for me when I wouldn’t let her pay me for the bed I made Jason when he decided he had to have a bunk bed. Somehow I think I got the better end of the deal. The bed wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.”
Thorne didn’t think anything Ian made could be “ordinary” even when it was purely functional, because it was all handmade and unique.
Ian stood the mask up on the chest of drawers opposite the foot of the bed. “There,” he said. “Now it can watch over you as you sleep.”
“It can watch over us both,” Thorne corrected.
Ian smiled and leaned in for another soft kiss, which Thorne gave willingly.
“I should clear some space for your clothes too,” Ian said when he pulled back. “Go get your duffel and bring it in here while I do that.”
Twenty
CHRISTMAS STARTED as early on Lang Downs as any other day, Thorne discovered when Ian’s alarm went off at the same ungodly hour as every other day. But it was still Christmas, and Thorne was pretty sure it would be the best one in twenty years. No other Christmas had started with him waking up next to an incredibly attractive man with the relative assurance of being able to do so again the next day, and the day after, and the day after that. No other Christmas had started with soft kisses and tender fingers running through his hair. No other Christmas had started with the man he’d fallen in love with on a station he finally believed he could call home.
“We’ll miss breakfast if we don’t get up,” Ian murmured between kisses.