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Finally seeing the turn off for Drovers Run – and annoyed to the high heavens that it had taken him so bloody long to get here – Will Dawes drove his hired 4WD up the long gravel road. Spotting the large house before him, he parked the car, opened his door and surveyed the place.

Didn't look like much.

He startled when he heard metal hit metal, and turned to see a tall blonde haired man throwing a circle of wire into the back tray of a ute. He made his way over next, each foot placed with precision. "Can I help you?" he asked in a friendly tone.

"Yeah," Will replied. "I'm looking for Stevie Hall."

He was surprised at the man's wary response. "Who wants to know?"

Whatever he might have said was interrupted by a noise from the ute, what sounded like a baby's cry.

"Excuse me."

All Will could do was watch the man return to the car and stick his head in the cab.

"Marcus?"

Now that was a voice he could recognise anywhere. Turning, he saw a flame haired woman step out onto the porch, the flyscreen door slapping closed behind her. He knew the exact moment she recognised him.

"Will," she said in a flat tone.

He got straight to the point. "I need our kid."

He saw her look past him, and turned his head to see what she was looking at: the blonde haired man called Marcus, now with a whiny toddler on his hip. He had no idea what transpired between the two of them, but it was Stevie who turned back to him. "Why?" she gritted out.

Ah, straight to the point as always.

"I'm dying."

He could see that she was taken aback, but still eyed him warily. "So you want to meet your daughter before you die?"

"It's a girl?" It didn't really matter either way.

He winced at her incredulous laugh. "You didn't even know it was a girl."

She threw her hands up in the air. "Of course you couldn't have known," she continued harshly. Glaring daggers, he was ashamed to say that he took a step back. "You abandoned me."

"And now I'm dying," he shot back, hoping for a guilt trip.

It seemed to work, as she paused a moment and swallowed her words. "Rose isn't here."

"Well, where is she?" he said exasperatedly, keen on getting away from this place, the crying brat really getting on his nerves. "I need to get her tested."

"Tested?" The woman before him exploded. "Tested?"

"I think it's time for you to leave mate," came the quiet voice behind him.

But Stevie clearly wasn't done yet.

"How dare you come and demand to see my daughter – the daughter you have never known – so you can save your own sorry skin." She spat on the ground between them. "Over my dead body."

The fuming woman stormed past him, ripped open the door of the ute, slammed it shut loudly and drove off in a cloud of dust. Turning to the man jostling the whimpering baby in his arms beside him, he tried to appeal his good nature.

"You're Stevie's husband right?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Help a man out?"

The man's voice showed quiet anger as he took a step toward him, a protective hand on the back of the child resting against his shoulder. "Get off this property."

He left.

Next chapter: Number three.