The first anniversary since the one I loved left me for this life but I am sure that we will meet again.
It had been a full year since Claire Louise McLeod had tragically passed away,
Alex had not yet been able to fully let her go and Tess seemed to have let her go and moved on to Claires dream of making Drovers a money maker, Charlotte had turned one since her mum had gone but Claire was up there watching over her daughter, sister and best mate / soul mate.
"Alex, what's wong?" Charlotte asked her 'uncle'
"nothing gorgeous, why would anything be wrong" Alex smiled but on the inside he cried knowing that Charlotte would never really know her mum,
"ah Alex, you have little Miss McLeod" Tess walked over smiling but Alex knew that Tess wouldn't fully smile now that Claire was gone and they both had to fake a smile for Charlotte.
Night had fallen and Charlotte was fast asleep in the cot that Alex and Claire had argued over a few months before she was born, Tess looked at Charlotte while she was sleeping and as still and as quiet as Charlotte was Tess just wanted to pick her up and cry, because Tess knew what it was like to miss out on having a parent around after her mum had left Jack for the city.
The phone rung but Tess was too caught with the fact that Charlotte was every bit like her mum, she heard Meg yell out but Tess didn't want to move because she knew if she went downstairs then it would be another call saying 'Tess, I'm sorry for your loss' and that 'Claire was a great horse woman and a great person' and Tess didn't want any of that because Tess knew she hadn't fully let go of Claire, she only acted like it for Charlottes sake, Tess faked a smile for Charlotte and a laugh for both Alex and Charlotte but without Claire none of this was real.
Morning had come at last and Tess was putting off getting up because today was the day her one and only sister was taken away from her and her niece, but she knew Claire would want her to get up and face the day not matter what it may put towards her, in Tess's mind she could see Claire on the day she died and how happy she was before they had got into the ute but Tess blamed herself and Alex blamed himself but really it was none of their faults, the potholes and the brumby were to blame.
Tess slowly emerged down the stairs and saw Alex there and for some reason she had a flash back to when Claire and Alex had first realised their love for each other, she smiled at the fact that Alex hadn't stolen anyone's toast since Claire had gone but as soon as she locked eyes with Alex she just wanted to run and hide because he was feeling what she was, sad, alone and unloved.
Alex saw Tess at the bottom of the stairs and a single tear came to his eye, the moment he first met Claire rolled through his mind over and over again.
The thought that Tess was all alone now Claire had gone made Alex want to hug her and say everything's going to be alright but he couldn't because that was something Claire would say.