Chapter Four – In the Rear Mirror

Betty sighed, ran a tired hand through her hair and then gently massaged her forehead as Kate walked up to the table with two large cups of tea.

"You're a lifesaver Kate," she mused humbly and then chuckled as she recalled her profession. "Not only literally."

The nurse broke into a grin. "If I recall correctly you wanted to become the first woman on the moon," she said softly.

Betty made a face. "I'll have to admit I've always had highflying plans," she mused. "And I've always ended up on the ground."

"Nonsense, you have Bert and a large farm, that ought to count for something," Kate argued.

"Being a cowgirl isn't much to be proud of," Betty mused with a forlorn expression on her face and then brightened. "But being the manager, the accountant and the entrepreneur that develops the place is."

Kate laughed and shook her head. "Ever the modest Betty," she said jovially. "Anyways, as you heard Doctor Standish, Bert is going to make a full recovery but he'll be staying at the hospital for a few days I am afraid."

"Yeah," Betty mused as she took a sip of her tea. "Don't get me wrong, I am pleased and very relieved that he's okay but I can't run the farm with only Charlie as a back-up." Seeing Kate's confusion she added; "He's our foreman and ranch hand."

"One ranch hand?" Kate asked in amazement. "But your property is huge."

"Yeah, unfortunately it's been one of those years. When the crops aren't growing because of water shortage, the animals are dying of thirst and everything are in need of repairs," she explained solemnly. "We don't have the income to hire more staff when nothing is growing, the cattle is poorly and the bank gives us trouble."

Kate gently squeezed her hand and gave her a soft comforting smile.

"It'll get better next year," Betty added with a wicked grin. "I've danced the rain dance and all."

"Now, about Bert," Kate began.

"Yeah, you've been waiting for that all along haven't you?" she replied mischievously. "He appeared one day outside the bank in Broken Hill. Actually I ran into him, stepped on his toe and ruined his portfolio."

Kate's eyebrows shot up and her lips curled in amusement.

"At that time I worked as a clerk and it turned out he was coming in to get a loan so that he could buy his uncle's property," she explained. "I felt terrible about the incident so I waited until he got out of the accountant's office and asked him for forgiveness."

Kate smirked. "That obviously went well," she said.

Betty chuckled. "I don't believe in faith, Kate, at least I didn't. With Bert it just felt right, like we belonged. We kept seeing each other and then ended up getting together," she replied.

"Lucky you," Kate mused. "Geoff and I was constantly quarrelling and disagreeing on things."

"That's called love-hate. He's not a bad catch. You look stunning together," she appraised warmly.

The nurse smiled mischievously. "I'd like to think I've sorted him out," she said lightly with fondness. "Now, what did you think of DJ?"

"Well, he was everything and a little bit more," Betty said diplomatically. "He's great for this community. Remember when we were children? Everyone was old and grumpy – Doctor Sinclair, Officer Stiles, the pharmacist Winkler and not to mention our teacher."

Kate nodded. "He did cause quite a stir when he first arrived," she admitted.

OOOOOO

"Thanks Nick," Emma said gratefully as she jumped out of the passenger's seat of her own towing truck. "I really appreciate you coming out to get me. Otherwise I would have been stranded for hours."

The young worker just smiled, glad to help. "No worries, Emma. You're my boss after all. I need the job and you need someone to do it," he reasoned. "The way I see it, it's a win-win situation."

Emma made a face at him which he returned with a cheeky smile. "Go on then and do something useful," she ordered.

He threw her a mock salute. "Yes, ma'am."

OOOOOO

Joshua Winters was self-loathing as he sat on the step to the town's hall having been released by Jack only hours before. He glanced up as a rough and dusty old truck pulled up next to him.

The two young men sitting in it where the last people on earth he wanted to see at the moment.

"So, little Josh ended up in jail," the driver taunted with a wry grin. "Have our wannabe brat lowered himself to our level?"

Joshua turned his head away.

"Look at the man, he's shy," the other one in the car quipped. "You're scaring him."

The driver shook his head. "No, no, he's ashamed of talking to us. He's too fine for us. He detests our homemade brew and lack the guts to race the streets at night," he gloated. "Little Josh is what I'd call an "in-betweener" too fine for us yet not in the league to play with the posh children."

Joshua turned toward them.

"Look at that, he glanced in our direction," the man in the passenger seat drawled. "I've got news for you little Josh, you'll never be accepted anywhere so don't even try."

"I suggest you leave before I arrest you for disturbing the peace around here," Officer Carruther's said in a no-nonsense tone of voice as he appeared next to them. "Have you parked here? In the middle of the street?"

"Get lost officer," the driver whined.

"What's that?" Jack questioned.

"He said nothing," the other young man said apologetically.

"Whimp," the driver muttered and then revved the engine, daring the officer to stay in front of the car.

Jack didn't bat an eye, he stared sternly at the young man behind the wheel, then gave a slight nod and slowly took a step to the side.

The car set off like a rocket leaving Jack and Joshua in a cloud of dust.

Joshua sighed as he stared after his classmates. "Now you've made it even worse," he mused.

Jack shook his head and huffed as he crossed his arms over his chest. "In-betweener. Is that even a word?" he asked.

OOOOOO

Emma carefully popped her head into the semi-dark room and smiled warmly as she caught a look of her husband fast asleep on the bed. She opened the door fully and tiptoed inside. His mouth twitched slightly and he gently shifted on the bed as she drew near but he didn't stir. She studied him for a moment and was suddenly caught up in a distant memory of him lying the way he was now, in his uniform, but not in one of the rooms at the Majestic Hotel but on the stretcher in the Nomad. She shuddered at the thought and briefly wondered why she was thinking about that particular incident now. She forced the image away and smiled once again as she knelt beside him to plant a soft kiss on his cheek.

He moaned. "Emma," he whispered and blinked his eyes open.

She rolled her eyes. "Who else, flyboy?"

He laughed at her. "How did you get here?" he asked, remembering he'd said goodbye to her at home in the middle of the night. "Have you been taken flight lessons behind my back?"

"Wake up honey," she drawled in amusement. "You took the plane."

"I knew that," he replied with a smirk and took her outstretched hand.

Emma hauled him into a sitting position.

Sam rubbed his tired eyes. "What time is it?" he whispered.

"Almost six o'clock. I figured we'd have something nice to eat down at the pub before flying home. What do you think?" she asked.

"Emma, I'm so sorry," he said sheepishly. "It's not usually this busy at work."

"I don't know about that," she said softly and smiled at him. "It's all right. Don't worry about it. I lured Nick out to the property so that he could drive me back to town. I've been working for six hours straight and had Nick as my helper the whole time. We've accomplished a lot of things that would have taken me at least four days on my own."

He leaned in to give her kiss on the forehead. "I'm sorry anyway," he mused. "Come on, I'll buy you dinner."

Emma laughed and got up from the bed she was sitting on. "That's the least you can do," she returned slyly.

OOOOOO

Joshua sighed as he made his way back to the house having seen to the livestock. His father didn't seem to care anymore if they lived or died. Not one to leave living beings dependent on him to misery or to give Baxter a reason to leave a complaint against them for malnutrition of animals he took it upon himself to feed them and give them water as best as he could. At least the cattle was always happy to see him unlike some others. It seemed that no matter what he did nothing was good enough for anyone.

He halted mid-step as he caught sight of something in his periphery vision. Intrigued and a bit worried he cautiously began to circle around so as not to alert the person with the faint light sitting propped against the large tree in the distance. He knew the position of every rock and stone on the uneven ground so he turned off the beam of the flashlight and stealthily made his way over. Joshua had assumed it to be a man, possibly involved in Baxter's cattle thefts, therefore he was surprised to almost stumble upon two kids – the same two kids he'd offered Vic's beer too the other day.

"What are you doing here?" he exclaimed as he turned on the flashlight, flooding the youngsters in light.

Gary hastily dropped the lamp he'd been holding and tried to shield his eyes and Andrew tried to stifle a cry.

"Please don't hurt us!" Gary begged in anguish. "We just wanted to see the thief."

"He's not here you nick quit," Joshua replied in annoyance. "You thought it was my father? Then answer this; Why would he try and rob his own place?"

"He and his accomplices must take the animals somewhere," Andrew reasoned bitterly, annoyed at being caught.

"Okay, you two. Does your parents know where you are?" Joshua asked.

"We're staying at Gary's uncle overnight," Andrew replied.

Joshua nodded cunningly. "Would that by any chance be our next-door neighbor Willie?" he probed. "That's almost a two hour walk from here and in the dark. Are you crazy? You could have gotten lost and no one would have known what happened to you!"

"Cut it out," Gary whined. "We just followed the road and we brought a lamp. What are you on about? You sound just like our parents. I liked you much better back at the hotel."

Joshua crouched next to them and ignored the remark. "Okay geniuses. What would you have done when all the kerosene was used up?"

They shared a dumbfounded expression but remained quiet.

Joshua was about to continue his tirade but suddenly perked his ears at a distant sound and quickly killed the light.

The trio remained silent as the sound of shoed horses drew near.

His eyes still adjusting to the darkness Joshua had trouble seeing even the silhouettes of the riders. He squinted trying to make something out. Then he hitched on a breath as a familiar voice carried over wasteland. Determined Joshua grabbed for the two teenagers and hauled them off as the riders came their way. "Be silent," he said with a cautious whisper. "We have to get away from here and find Jack."

OOOOOO

Nancy let out a surprised yelp as two young kids came bicycling just beside her, on the patio of the Majestic. She blew out a frustrated breath and reached up with her hand to wipe away the perspiration from her forehead. She paused in the cleaning of the patio and stared after the children who made a speedy retreat into one of the alleys further down the main street.

"What is it?" Vic hollered in concern as he came around the back.

Nancy huffed and started her morning routine again. "Just some kids," she mused. "If they were mine I'd read them the riot."

Vic chuckled to Nancy's surprise. "Come on Nance," he said amusedly. "They're just kids, cut them some slack. Their teacher has taken ill and the radio school has been cancelled for a few days."

She frowned indignantly. "I'll remind you of that the next time they break into the backyard and play with your beer drums," she said.

OOOOOO

They got up early, both feeling rested and refreshed after a good night sleep. It didn't take them long to feed the animals and water the plants. They worked well together, like a well-oiled machine, after years of friendship and later years of marriage.

They met up after a short split up for various tasks in the stable, Sam giving Emma a kiss on the cheek while Emma broke into a grin and straightened his worn cowboy hat.

"Let's go for a ride around the property then?" she suggested.

He snorted amusedly. "To mend broken fences?"

"Right, cowboy," she let on.

Ten minutes later they were both on horseback and set off in a steady gallop. The wind was lightly kissing their faces and tussling their hair while the sun beat down on them. It was beautiful day in the late spring. Sam suddenly held in the large white gelding and came to a halt as Emma did the same next to him. Together they glanced around a large portion of the property with the Goolies to the right and large pastures of grass to their left with the barest of hint of the house further away ahead of them.

"I had forgotten how beautiful it was," Sam said, panting after the hard ride as he gently patted the fur on the animal's neck.

Emma smiled warmly as she nodded following his gaze from left to right. "I'm not sure I can take the decision of leaving it while overlooking it like this," she whispered. "It's our land, Sam and it's beautiful."

He sighed in frustration. "We've got to do something Emma. Money is pouring from our accounts into it and there is still a lot left to do. I can't work twenty-four hours a day to finance it and you can't either," he reasoned with a heavy heart.

"No," she whispered crestfallen. "Like I said. I'm not sure I'm ready for such a big decision. I know I was the one who brought it up but it was in one of my weakest moments when everything was conspiring against me and you weren't home."

He said nothing as he moved his horse closer to hers and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Would you rather leave the garage?" he said seriously.

"No," she said truthfully and looked deep into his eyes. "I don't know what I want any more Sam."

"Come on, let's race each other back," he suggested playfully. "I'm on scheduled duty this afternoon, I've got to pick up the doc's at the clinic."

"What are you waiting for then?" she asked amusedly and spurred her horse.

OOOOOO

Geoff gently knocked on the door to Chris' office. "I'm sorry to bother you," he began kindly.

Chris softened and broke into a cautious smile. "You're never bothering, you know that," she said. "I was just caught up in this."

He walked into the room and up beside her and saw the results on her latest tests.

"I received this from Sydney yesterday but I didn't have the courage to open it until now," she explained. "It's still looking good."

He let out a sigh of relief and sent a silent thank you to higher powers.

"It's been almost a year, Geoff," she said seriously. "I was so afraid."

"I think we all where," he admitted truthfully. "I still remember when DJ shouted at me in the duty room asking me if I considered him to be stupid since no one told him about your condition. I will never forget that."

She sighed. "I will always remember the look on everyone's face when we gathered in my house," Chris mused in a subdued voice. It almost broke my heart to see that I caused them so much worry. I don't think I really understood how bad my prognosis was."

Geoff smiled warmly at her. "But you're still here with us," he reasoned.

She broke into a cautious grin. "Yeah," she whispered and sobered. "You didn't come here to boost my moral so what's on your mind?"

"I lost your patient," he said solemnly. "There wasn't time to call you and even if I had there wouldn't have been anything you could do."

Chris swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. "I see," she whispered and glanced out window.

"His cancer was too progressed," Geoff said.

"I know, I just hoped-" she returned.

"I know you did," he let on as he squeezed her shoulder again and turned to leave.

She watched him go, a tear spilling onto her cheek.

OOOOOO

To be continued