She cast Ben a smile as he sat with the pup on his lap, so grateful she had him with her and that her other little man was tucked up safe in hospital with Evie by his bedside, ready for when he woke. It gave her all the time in the world to soak in the farm. Just her, Ben, the new pup and an unborn energy within.
Together, Ben and Rebecca made funny ‘erring’ noises each and every bump so that soon they were laughing and giggling at each other. She stroked the back of Ben’s beautiful little head.
He looked up at her with his big brown eyes, caught too in the moment. ‘I love you so much, Mummy.’
‘And I love you too, sweetheart. Do you reckon you could open the gate for me?’
He nodded and passed her the pup.
She stroked the little Kelpie’s head. ‘Well, you just landed in my lap, didn’t you?’ she said to her. ‘Ask, allow, and you shall receive. Tom helped manifest you so quickly. I wonder what else he can help manifest for us?’ She breathed in the delicious scent of the puppy as she watched Ben’s sturdy legs run to the gate. She smiled at the way his tongue popped out of the corner of his mouth in concentration as he reached up and unhooked the chain. With determination, he half swung, half dragged the farm gate so his mother could pass. Bec set a goal to have every gate on the place swinging nicely before next winter. She drove a little way into the paddock and waited for Ben to climb back in.
‘What are we going to call her?’ Rebecca asked.
Ben bit his lip and took the pup. He giggled as she licked the air near his face. ‘She’s funny.’
‘She is funny.’
‘Yes, well then, she’s funny,’ said Ben, ‘so that means her name is Funny.’
‘Hah! That’s really funny,’ Bec said, then she pointed to the pup. ‘That’s Funny!’ And they both laughed. In her laughter, she still felt the tug of sadness as she remembered the dogs she had lost, but this funny little pup would forever symbolise a new start for her and the boys. With a name like Funny, the little Kelpie would forever remind Bec to see the funny side of life. Always.
‘She’s a little bit small yet to do any work, so we may have to do a fair bit of walking and driving to get the sheep, but we’ll be right. Won’t we?’
Ben nodded, then glanced at his mother. ‘Why didn’t we bring Stripes?’
Rebecca caught her own look of uncertainty in the rear-vision mirror, then looked across at her son. ‘Daddy’s gone to visit Grandpa and Grandma on their farm, and Stripes has gone with him to help,’ she said, hoping that what she was relaying was the truth. After the disruption to their lives since Archie’s accident, Ben seemed satisfied with the answer, said, ‘Oh,’ and simply continued to look out the window.
Bec followed his gaze to the tree line, where the ewes were already turning their white faces towards them. At the top of the run, she opened the gate into the next paddock, then drove clockwise out wide around the mob, hoping that the sheep would drift eventually in the other direction towards the top gate. Without a dog, she thought it would be a challenge, but she soon had the girls mobbed and moving well with her and Ben in the vehicle.
They made their way slowly over the lumpy, rock-scattered paddock, with Bec occasionally tooting the horn or banging the side of the vehicle, but not putting too much pressure on the sheep. At the gate, Bec watched with satisfaction as the leaders of the mob cast their ears forwards and walked willingly through towards a big mob of wethers, who were already gathering up as they watched the ewes.
‘What are you doing, Mummy?’ Ben asked, frowning, knowing it was a farming sin to box mobs together like they were now.
‘Mummy is trying something different. You know that show we watched, with the zebras and gazelles in Africa? How they all wandered around together? We could do something like that too — we’re going to run the blokey wethers and steers with the girlie ewes and cows and have big, big herds to move about our paddocks. That way, the grasses and the soils get a longer rest by the time the animals have come back to graze there. Just like the antelope, buffalo, zebra and wildebeest do on the big plains. It’ll also give the rivers and hills a longer rest from animals using those areas too much. You see?’
Ben nodded and twisted his little-boy mouth to one side. ‘I think so. And the rams will know the girl sheep from the boy sheep when we put them in with the wethers, won’t they?’
Rebecca laughed. ‘Yes, they will. And we’re going to stop spraying all the weeds in the paddocks. If you don’t tell the animals that some of the plants are weeds, they won’t know. They actually nibble at the weeds for medicine. So you see, Bennie, it’s all good. The land and the animals will like it better this way.’
After boxing three mobs in together and moving the cattle in with the sheep, Rebecca watched in satisfaction as the animals all settled down to graze in one big sweep of the paddock. ‘See, Ben, they’ll behave differently now they’re all in together and in a big mob. They’ll manure all of the paddock, not just where they camp. And manure is the best fertiliser for the soil you can get! Somehow we’ve all forgotten that. We won’t have to buy fertiliser much now and the banks will like that and so will Mummy.’
Ben’s little dark eyes were wide with excitement. ‘So we’ll have a farm that’s like Africa!’
‘Yes,’ said Bec, ‘kind of. Healthy land and healthy soils and happy healthy animals and when rain falls it stays because of the plants. It doesn’t just blow away or dry up with the sun.’
‘Can I help?’ Ben asked.
‘You sure can!’
Rebecca felt joy swell: she was imparting a new way forwards in farming to her son. It felt so right. She wondered briefly where Charlie might be, but pushed the thought aside. He had left her and Waters Meeting long ago, emotionally and spiritually. His trips to the pub and the footy and cricket clubs and then of course Janine told her that. She wondered what he might push for in terms of the farm in the future, but again she pushed the thought away. For now she told herself that everything was all right. It would all be OK.
As Funny nestled against her thigh, curled up and sighed, Bec smiled. She knew spring growth would kick in at the end of winter so by the time she had rotated the stock off this pasture, she would have fairly good banks of feed ahead for the large mob to be moved onto. She would dig out the plans she’d drawn up that divided the larger paddocks with temporary solar electric fencing. It would mean she could rest the more fragile areas longer. She felt a warmth run through her knowing that this was the very start of the healing, for Waters Meeting and for herself. With that thought in her mind and with the animals grazing peacefully on the fertile river flats, she drove out of the paddock and back to the homestead. It was time to visit little Archie in hospital.
As she and Ben drove up the mountain pass, her back to the spectacular view of Waters Meeting below, her phone beeped a message as she came into range. She stopped the vehicle and grabbed up the phone from the dash, half hoping it was word from Charlie, for the sake of the boys. She dialled message bank and waited for the voice to come on the line.
‘Hello. This is Cory Mendleton from the Agribiz Bank. Your husband has referred me onto you regarding your property overdraft. We need to talk, Mrs Lewis. Please call me urgently. Thank you.’
The man’s tone was clipped. Rebecca felt her world rewind. The banks were on her back again, as they had been after her father’s mismanagement of Waters Meeting years before. Now she was faced with Charlie’s mismanagement. Or was it in truth her own mismanagement, of herself, which in turn had damaged the richness of her life on all levels? Suddenly looking out across the swathe of farmland and wilderness, she saw yet another pattern in her life that she knew she had to change.
Twenty-five
There was no answer at the giant front door of the Rivermont homestead so Rebecca grabbed Ben’s hand and led him over the white pebble driveway and through the stone archway to the stables. All was quiet there too, save for the trickling fountain and the snorts of the horses happily tugging on hay
bags. There was no one in the smoko room so they left the stable courtyard and walked to the fodder shed. Opening the door, she and Ben stepped in. The warmth inside compared to the mountain chill outside was a welcome relief. The gentle gushing of the reticulated water in the tanks met her senses and soothed her.
Her stress over the call from the bank this morning had been softened when she’d found Evie and Archie playing happily around the hospital bed with a big soft ball. Archie was making such progress and Bec realised it would be no time until he was discharged and she could take him home. She was sure Evie had been helping her boy in a way that the doctors in the hospital couldn’t. All the medical staff had been amazed by his recovery.
Archie’s face had lit up when Rebecca and Ben entered the ward. It was the same expression he wore each time Evie came to visit too, when she brought him all kinds of magical things, like river stones, books on unicorns and paint sets with giant sheets of paper. When Archie was with Evie, Rebecca felt it was the most content she had ever seen her little boy. He was so much like her brother Tom, and sometimes retreated from a world which at times seemed too busy and harsh for him to bear. Watching them together, Rebecca realised that Evie was giving Archie tools for living at peace with himself, no matter what life threw at him — they were the same lessons Evie had imparted to her.
As she’d come to stand by the bed, Rebecca had tried to appear bright, singing out ‘hello’, but when Archie and Evie saw Rebecca’s bruised face, clouds of concern had passed over their expressions.
‘He’s gone,’ she had whispered to Evie, who had instantly stepped forwards to hug her. ‘And the banks are onto me.’
‘Good and good,’ Evie had simply said. ‘It’s time.’
Rebecca, with gratitude, had allowed Evie to coach her in phoning Cory Mendleton straight back. Sitting on a bench outside the hospital, with the boys happily playing with Funny on the lawn, Bec had told Cory the truth about what was going on with Waters Meeting and her and Charlie. Quietly and calmly she’d explained about her work with Andrew and her plans for the property and how she could turn things around financially. Especially if she worked off the farm part-time.
As she spoke, she had felt Evie standing peacefully nearby as if she was in some way sending arcs of energy down the phone to the banker. To her surprise, Cory had happily concluded the call with an extended interest repayment time and good wishes, so by the time she had hung up the phone, her world was filled with hope and excitement for the future once more.
As she stood in the fodder shed now, she sent out another round of thanks to Evie. She hadn’t noticed him at first so Rebecca jumped when she sensed movement in the shed. She turned and saw Sol Stanton standing before a computer system wired to the wall.
When she called out a tentative ‘hello’, he spun around.
‘Hola, Rebecca!’ he said in a deep and cheery voice; his smile opened up like a sunbeam when he saw it was her.
‘It’s quiet round here.’
‘Big race meet. We have a dozen horses away with a big crew. And the rest off with the flu.’
Letting go of her hand, Ben stepped forwards to look into the larger room of the shed. The boy let out an audible gasp when he spied the rich green grass that overflowed from the hydroponic trays.
Sol came towards them, rubbing his elegant hands on a rag. His expression changed when he saw the fresh wounds on Rebecca’s face.
‘You need some help, sí?’ His dark eyes flashed with enquiry.
‘I’m sorry to trouble you,’ Rebecca said. ‘But …’ She paused and sighed. ‘I need a job. I came to see if I could work for you.’
He moved close to her, took her gently by the shoulders and spun her softly towards the light, surveying her bruised and already scabbing face. Her eyes slid away, her resolve to be cheery and strong slipping too under the gentleness of his touch.
He made soft noises of concern, searching her eyes with genuine care. ‘Are you all right?’
She shook her head quickly, unable to speak. He drew her into his arms and she felt the vibration of his chest as he spoke, his Spanish accent and glamour making her feel as if she was in some kind of movie scene.
‘Tell me. What has happened?’
She couldn’t speak.
Sol eased his embrace and turned his focus to Ben. ‘Hey, Ben? You like the green grass? Go take a look.’
Ben hesitated, clearly fascinated with what he saw inside the giant shed.
‘Go on,’ Sol urged and the boy stepped forwards and began to walk down the centre aisle.
With the little one out of earshot, Sol turned back to Rebecca. He gestured to her face. ‘A farm accident? Yes? I hope so.’
Ashamed, Rebecca shook her head and looked to the ground.
‘Your husband?’
She nodded; she felt his body stiffen and heard him sigh angrily.
‘El bastardo.’
‘He’s gone now,’ she said, ‘I think.’
‘And you? What do you need? What can I do?’
‘It’s the bank. There was a letter … and I spoke to the manager …’ She looked up at him, realising how she must sound, and quickly added, ‘Don’t get me wrong! I’m not here asking for money! God no! I came to ask for a job. That’s all.’
The panic inside her began to tumble out. She talked on with urgency. ‘You see if I can earn a little off-farm income now, I can make it work. I’ve got it figured. I’m going to shift Waters Meeting management over to no-kill, no-till cropping, like you’re doing here. I’ve already begun Andrew’s grazing regime, this morning. I’ll save a truckload of money that way. And I’ll arrange an online machinery sale. There’s thousands invested in all Charlie’s fancy-pants machinery. But just for now I need a start. Just to tide me over. I know Archie will be with me because he’s not school-age yet, but I can find a babysitter. Evie’s already helping. He’s doing so well he’ll be out of hospital in the next little while. So can I work here?’
‘Shh, shh, calmar,’ Sol said, drawing her to him again. ‘Calm yourself. Take it steady.’
She felt the pain of her tense and bruised muscles as his fingers ran up her back. She was grateful his touch was not sexual. It was one of care. She allowed herself to be soothed by him.
‘Slow it down, Rebecca.’ She felt the tone in his voice, the same tone she had heard him use when he was talking to the horses in the stables. She let herself settle against his chest, soaking up his compassion and gentle kindness, and he held her there, with his big arms around her. Again she smelled that lovely fancy men’s fragrance and the underlying scent of his masculinity. She inhaled deeply, drinking him in. And Sol kept on holding her while her quiet tears came. She felt him stroke the back of her head, which made her cry more.
‘It will be OK,’ he whispered to her. ‘Everything will be fine. You just need to steady yourself. Take things quietly. Yazzie and I will help you. And of course you can work here. Don’t even dream of babysitters. We’d love to have little Archie about on your shifts. Everyone would love that, particularly Yazzie. This is a child-friendly place.’
His words prompted further tears, tears that had been buried deep within her over the years. Rebecca realised no man had ever shown her such compassion. She’d never experienced such softness from anyone, really, and certainly not a bloke.
She began to pull back to express her gratitude to him, but when she looked up into his face, she saw within his eyes something beyond pity or empathy for her. Instead she saw passion. It shocked her, but at the same time thrilled her. She looked harder, trying to be sure what Sol felt, but before she could find out, Ben was running to her.
‘Mummy!’
Rebecca pulled away from Sol.
‘This place is amazing! How does the grass grow in those trays? Can I eat it?’
The moment was gone. The next time she looked at the tall man’s face it was shut down again. She followed him into the growing room and watched Ben running his fingers over the long green le
aves of the barley, setting tiny half-orbs of moisture free from lush blades of grass. She knew the moment had been fleeting, but she was certain she had seen desire in his eyes. Her head spun from the notion.
‘It is amazing,’ Ben said.
‘It sure is,’ she said absently.
As Sol ushered Rebecca and Ben outside, her mind began to shatter the moment and unravel what she had felt. It was not possible. He was just being kind.
‘Stop frowning,’ Sol said as they walked towards the fountain, around to the front of the house where Rebecca had parked. ‘Allow this to happen.’
‘What to happen?’ she asked, uncentred.
‘To let people help you. To let life take you where you need to go. Stop resisting,’ Sol said. He squeezed her hand and delivered her a shy smile, which, Rebecca thought, offered friendship and nothing more.
‘You sound like bloody Evie,’ she said.
‘Good,’ he answered.
The evening sun was lighting up the Rivermont garden, casting a golden glow over the big bare limbs of the deciduous trees and lighting up the unseasonably early buds of daffodils and winter roses.
As Ben excitedly ran to the turning circle to dip his fingertips in the soft sprays of the fountain that held a bronze horse at its heart, Bec turned to face Sol.
‘But why help me? Why us?’
Sol smiled gently down at her. ‘I think you might ask Evie that question. She has been showing me many truths about myself and helping me to see how much the power of helping others positively can transcend all of us.’
Rebecca frowned. ‘So I’m potentially a single-mum charity to you?’
The Farmer's Wife Page 20