A Special Kind Of Family

CHAPTER TEN

ONLY, of course, after breakfast things got busy. Really busy.

For a start there was the little matter of a fire having almost destroyed a bedroom and part of the ceiling. It seemed Easter Sunday was no reason why the fire department couldn’t come out in force. The morning ended up as an endless parade of men in hard hats traipsing up and down the stairs, climbing ladders, knocking holes in roofing tiles and clambering about the ceiling.

‘It’s still structurally sound,’ Graham somewhat grudgingly admitted at lunchtime. ‘But you’ve got your work cut out getting Tansy’s room ready for her to come home.’

‘I need to contact her and find out what she wants done with her damaged possessions,’ Dom said. ‘We’ll keep as much as possible intact until she comes back.’

‘When will she be back?’

‘In a couple of weeks,’ Dom said, as Erin listened from behind.

The unknown Tansy.

She shouldn’t mind, Erin thought. Why did the idea of Tansy have the power to unsettle her?

She knew exactly why, but she was trying hard not to admit it.

Luckily she had a distraction. A couple of church ladies arrived and offered to take the boys on an Easter-egg hunt.

Even though the thought of the hunt was enticing, the boys were clingy and Martin still needed observation. An X-ray had shown a rib had a hairline crack, though it didn’t seem to be bothering him. But the boys wanted to go. Dom was needed at the house, so Erin offered to go with them.

The hunt was in a patch of bushland behind the church. Erin limped about on the sidelines as the boys hunted, wishing Dom could be there, trying not to think that he’d seemed relieved when she’d suggested taking the boys-and thus herself-away.

She watched, and while she did so she took stock of this community, wondering whether she could do what Graham had proposed that morning.

But from everyone she told she was a doctor, she got the same response.

‘You wouldn’t like to practise here, would you? We’re desperate for another doctor. And it’d be wonderful to get the hospital up and running again.’

She could do good here. She could be needed.

She could be close to Dom.

No, no and no! The decision had to be made on its own merits. Dom had Tansy. Tansy gave him all the help at home he needed. He didn’t want or need anyone else…personally. This had to be a professional proposition only.

So she needed to talk to Dom about it.

Last night he’d rejected it out of hand.

For dumb reasons, though, she thought. They were illogical reasons. He had to see sense.

It was a gorgeous day. The kids were whooping through the patch of bushland reserve where the church ladies had hidden eggs, the terrors of the night forgotten. They came tearing back every now and then to show her their finds, and she found herself absurdly touched.

‘Erin, Erin, we’ve found nine. Ten. Eleven!’

Something about last night had bonded them to her. They trusted her.

What Dom was doing with these kids was great. Fantastic. He had to let her help.

He missed her.

She and the kids were gone for three hours. It gave him a chance to get some order into the house. A group of church ladies had taken themselves off egg-hunt duties and arrived with mops and brooms. They went through the house like a dose of salts, and by the time they’d finished, the place was cleaner than it had been before the fire.

All the time they worked they chattered. And asked questions about Erin.

‘She seems lovely,’ he was told as the ladies worked. ‘We gather she was lovely this morning. Hughie’s daughter said she sat with him for over an hour. She made him cups of tea and listened for as long as he wanted to talk. She didn’t rush him at all, and that’s after she’d crashed her car and hurt her foot and all. You should have told us, Doc. We’ll organise the men to pull the car up from the river. Doesn’t matter that it’s Easter. What sort of doctor is she? She doesn’t want a job, does she? Ooh, I wonder what Tansy will think of her?’

They were about to find out.

At four o’clock four cars pulled up outside the house almost simultaneously. Dom was in his surgery, dusting through a pile of patient notes. The women had cleaned in here but patient confidentiality demanded he do this himself.

The sound of the kids’ voices made him look out the window.

Erin and the kids were being dropped off by a lady he recognised as Marg Lalor, head of the church choir. That was surprising on its own. Marg was a nervy driver and she didn’t like having passengers. She also Didn’t Like Boys. For her to offer to drive Erin and the kids home was astonishing.

Pulling up behind them was a Porsche.

Charles. Great.

Then there was a taxi. Followed by a small, red car he thought he recognised. Ruby?

But…Ruby was in Dolphin Beach. His elderly foster-mother had intended to celebrate Easter with his foster-brother Pierce and Pierce’s new wife, Shanni.

Nope. Ruby was definitely here, tugging her battered overnight bag out of her car, beaming at the kids.

‘Martin. Nathan. I hear you and your dad have been having some excitement. And Tansy…’

For it was Tansy, looking hot and bothered, edging out of the taxi, dropping her purse, swearing, dropping her shawl, finally sitting down on the kerb, opening her purse and emptying its contents onto the grass.

‘I swear I’ve got a fifty-dollar note. Maybe I can do it in coins. Can you wait for a bit?’

And in the middle of it all…Erin, looking confused.

Uh-oh. He grabbed his wallet and went to confront his…family?

‘Tansy!’

There was no mistaking the joy in the little boys’ voices.

The woman sitting on the kerb counting coins looked like…well, maybe like a Tansy ought to look, Erin thought. She was tall and buxom. She’d made an attempt to subdue her copperred hair into a knot but there was no way hair like that could be subdued. Half her hair was in the knot, the rest was a mass of frizzy curls. She was wearing a ragged-edged purple skirt that reached her bright red boots. Her lacy blouse was cut low, a mass of bright red beads wound round her neck and-until she’d dropped it in the dust-she’d also been wearing a shawl. Daffodil yellow.

She looked maybe mid-thirties?

She was gorgeous!

Why Erin’s heart should sink at the sight of her…Well, why shouldn’t it? She was so far gone she no longer had the strength to lie to herself.

Tansy was beautiful. She minded.

The boys launched themselves at Tansy from a distance and coins went everywhere.

She abandoned the money. She hugged the boys as if they belonged to her. ‘I’m so pleased to see you guys,’ she said. ‘Mrs Neale rang me at sparrow’s f-at rooster crow this morning and said you were in trouble. It’s taken me three flights and all day to get here.’

Erin had just alighted from the car. Marg-the lady from the church-was talking to her.

She wasn’t listening. She was watching Tansy’s flaming red curls bent over two small heads, and she was aware of such a jab of jealousy it was like a physical pain.

Tansy was back now. Things would be fine. Dom could go back to work; there was no need for her to stay.

‘Oi.’ The call came from a dumpy little woman dressed in twinset, pearls and neat, sensible skirt and shoes. She was standing in the road beside a big, canvas holdall. She was watching Tansy and the kids with approval. ‘Don’t I get a hello?’

‘Ruby,’ the kids yelled, and abandoned Tansy and careered round the far side of the taxi to reach her.

‘Can I get paid?’ the taxi driver said-plaintively-and Erin was suddenly aware of Charles approaching from behind. He had his wallet out, was counting notes, waving away change-that was such a Charles thing to do-and was moving to help Tansy to her feet.

‘Hi,’ Tansy said. ‘Who are you?’

‘Charles,’ he said easily, smiling down at her. ‘And you?’

‘I’m Tansy.’

Charles did have a nice smile, Erin thought as she watched them. He hardly used it on her any more. He was too busy improving her-or disapproving of her. But when he smiled…

He was smiling at Tansy now. And Tansy was smiling at him. Charles seemed…dumbstruck.

‘Find any eggs?’

She turned and Dom was behind her. He was watching the Charles-Tansy tableau, but his hand came down on her shoulder and rested, just briefly, as if he knew there was a certain amount of emotion here she didn’t know what to do with.

‘Seventeen,’ she said absently. ‘We’ve eaten six.’

‘Well done, you.’

‘It seems we have the cavalry,’ she said, cautiously.

‘We do indeed.’ He didn’t shift his hand and she was irrationally grateful.

‘Tansy and Charles…and Ruby?’

‘My foster-mother. I might have known she’d be here.’

‘Why?’

‘There was a fire last night,’ he said, sounding half fond, half exasperated. ‘Ruby and Tansy have the same fine-tuned antennae. It’s a wonder the firefighters beat them here. And Charles…why do you think he’s here?’

‘I’ve come to take you home,’ Charles said, dragging his eyes from Tansy with what looked like difficulty. ‘We heard the doctor’s house burned down last night. It was on the local news. Erin, you need to be sensible.’

‘I don’t,’ Erin muttered, but maybe she did.

‘You don’t have anywhere to stay.’

‘But it isn’t burned down,’ Tansy said, turning to survey the house. ‘I was expecting much worse. But, hey, is that my bedroom window boarded up?’

‘Your bedroom’s burned,’ Dom said.

‘I lit the fire,’ Martin said in a scared little voice, and any doubt Erin had that Tansy was a Very Nice Person dissipated just like that. Tansy hauled the little boy into her arms, gave him a hug that looked as if it could have cracked more ribs and kissed the top of his head.

‘I imagine it must have been a mistake,’ she said. ‘Has Dom talked to you about it?’

‘Y-yes.’

‘Then there’s nothing more to be said.’

‘So you don’t need me.’ Ruby, too, was staring at the house like it had betrayed her. ‘I thought you might like me to take the boys back to Dolphin Bay.’

‘The boys are fine,’ Dom said.

‘So…can I still stay the night?’ she asked. ‘I can’t turn round and drive all the way back. Can we all sleep here?’

‘Um…maybe not,’ Dom said. ‘The boys’ bedroom is okay, and mine is, too, but Tansy’s isn’t, and Erin’s using the sitting room.

‘I’ve come to take Erin home,’ Charles said, but he was sounding less sure of himself now. He was still watching Tansy. Mesmerised. ‘Maybe we can even take the dog,’ he added, like it was a rehearsed speech. ‘In view of the fire, my mother says it’s the only Christian thing to do.’

Tansy snorted. Why hadn’t she snorted? Erin thought, and jealousy returned in force.

The snort threw Charles off balance. He really was a good person, Erin thought again. He’d been put under as much pressure by their combined parents as she had. ‘Do the right thing by Erin…’

He was a good person but she didn’t want to marry him. Especially not now. Not when she’d figured what she could feel.

Dom’s hand was still on her shoulder. It felt weird. It felt…right. For she needed determination, and if Dom’s hand on her shoulder gave her that determination, well and good.

Okay. Deep breath and jump.

‘You don’t need to take me home,’ she said, to Charles and to all of them. She took a deep breath and managed a smile. ‘And of course Ruby can stay. I have alternative accommodation. I’ve figured it out. I’m taking a new direction and I may as well tell you all. I’m taking a job as a local doctor. Charles, my home is here.’

If she’d detonated a bomb she could hardly have had less of an impact. They stood, stunned, all of them, staring at her like she’d grown two heads.

She couldn’t see Dom. He was behind her. She was aware that his hand had stiffened on her shoulder.

She should have told him first. Of course she should. But she already knew his misgivings and she’d decided to ignore them.

Maybe those misgivings were valid and maybe they weren’t. She could always leave. But, dammit, she was going to try. Surprise is the essence of attack, she thought. She needed to breach defences she knew instinctively were all around the man standing behind her.

Maybe that was a dumb thing to think when Tansy was here. Maybe Tansy had already breached his defences. But Dom still had his hand on her shoulder. If he and Tansy were an item, surely he’d have let her go by now. He and Tansy…Maybe not.

Please not.

She needed a smile. She needed…something. She looked round and found Ruby had the required smile. It was a smile of questions but it was a smile nonetheless.

‘You’re moving in with my son?’

‘Dom’s your son?’

‘My foster-son,’ Ruby said, extricating herself from kids and moving forward. She gripped Erin’s hands, kissed her warmly on the cheek, then set her aside and hugged Dom as if he were the same age as Martin and Nathan.

She reached about as high as his chest.

‘You’ve found a woman,’ she said, sounding delighted.

‘No,’ Dom said adamantly, and Erin thought maybe it behoved her to clear a few things up.

‘I’m not moving in with Dom.’

‘You’re not?’ Ruby said, sounding disappointed.

‘I’m moving into the old doctor’s house by the hospital.’

‘You’re kidding,’ Dom said-faintly.

‘But that’s wonderful,’ said the church lady. In all the excitement she had been forgotten. ‘I’m so glad. I’ll get Graham to get the contracts drawn up straight away. And seeing you’re tight for accommodation here, I’ll organise to set the old doctor’s house up so you can sleep there tonight. We’ll even supply dog food.’ She beamed. ‘Nothing like striking while the iron’s hot, don’t you think?’

‘Huh?’ said Charles, and he said it for all of them. ‘Huh’ was right.

‘Bye,’ the church lady said, and climbed back into her car and drove off.

One down, Erin thought, dazed. Many more to go.

She needed to get Dom alone.

Like that was going to happen.

It happened.

‘I’ll drive you there now,’ Dom said, sounding suddenly grim.

She thought ‘Huh’ again, even if she didn’t say it.

‘You can’t,’ she said. ‘Everyone’s here.’

‘Which is why I need to be somewhere else. Charles, can you help Tansy and Ruby inside with their things? You girls can have the two usable upstairs bedrooms. The boys and I will keep sleeping in the sitting room. Erin, I’ll take you-’

‘And Marilyn,’ she said.

‘And Marilyn,’ he agreed, sounding goaded.

‘Erin…’ Charles said.

‘They want to be alone,’ Tansy said unexpectedly, and tucked her arm confidingly in his. ‘I can sense these things.’

‘You’re good,’ Ruby said warmly. ‘A woman after my own heart. Charles, can you take this holdall?’

‘Erin…’

‘Charles, tell our parents I love them,’ Erin said, but she had to speak fast for Dom had her hand and was leading her forcibly back to the house. ‘I’ll ring them tonight. And thank you for coming to rescue me but I think I might have rescued myself. Dom, where are we going?’

‘To fetch your dog, of course,’ Dom said. ‘And your toothbrush. And then to get rid of at least one woman from my life.’