Chapter 49 Hopes and fears
Alex and Marcus drove upon the Drovers homestead. Stevie saw Alex' Ute coming closer and already waved. 'Regan!', she yelled. The McLeod came almost running from inside. 'What?' Stevie pointed her head at the two men who left the car. 'Good morning ladies', Alex smirked. Stevie smiled pleased at him. 'So you are bringing the wire. Couldn't handle that one on your own.' Alex walked to her shaking his head amused. 'Yeah well we kinda almost got into a fight who could visit, so we decided to both go.' Regan and Stevie had to laugh. 'Poor boys', Regan said as she gave Marcus, who handed her the wire, a quick kiss.
Alex and Stevie just kept staring at each other, carrying huge smiles on their faces. 'Hey Steves, I'm gonna head for the fencing. Marcus will accompany me. I think we'll take Blake for the ride'. Regan said. 'Okay', Stevie hardly looked at her friend. 'So there goes my employee', Alex smirked at his girlfriend. 'Well you always have Riley', Stevie said while claiming his shirt with her hands. 'Yeah well he's preparing for the competition. I swear I never seen him this nervous. So I have to go back.' She could hear the disappointment in his voice.
'Will I see you later today?' Stevie gazed at him, an asking look, still playing with his shirt. 'What about tonight?' 'Sounds good'. 'Okay it's a date, meet you at eight'. He walked to his Ute but returned a second later. Alex leaned in and kissed her deeply. The couple could hardly pull away from each other. 'Maybe you should call Marcus back', Stevie mumbled, between kisses, but Alex was too focused on her lips to reply. 'Nah, I better leave, so I will be finished for tonight', he finally said.
Stevie was preparing for the evening. She was looking forward to a night alone with Alex. After they got together at the barbeque the couple had spend the last two weeks visiting each other shortly, and prepared the baby room at Drovers, but they didn't have real quality time so far. When Alex arrived they agreed on having a drink on the veranda. They just sat down and kept sharing glances. 'You know, if it helps we could talk about the weather.' 'We could but it wouldn't'. They smirked at each other, moving closer so they could share a passionate kiss.
When they parted Stevie was still caressing his hair, staring a bit at it, when she turned her eyes to his again. Their faces were still close. 'There is something I wanted to talk about.' 'Uhm, talk hey', Alex grinned softly. Stevie gave him a teasy annoyed stare. 'Yeah talk ...', she sat back a little. 'I was thinking. The baby room over here is finished and well we didn't really talk about what's next with Regan around. So were you thinking of a baby room at Killarney?' Alex nodded; 'yeah I already had something in mind.' She smiled sweetly at him. 'Cause I don't know how it will go after this one is born.' She looked down for a sec. 'I see, well I guess things will work out when we get there. It's not that we have to rush things, and besides that the baby won't be here for another six weeks.'
Stevie was leaning against him. He could see she was thinking about something. 'What's on your mind?' he asked, caressing her arm. She sighed softly. Now they had been talking about when the baby was born, she started to think about all things coming along with it. Of course she had thought about it before, but it was coming closer. She looked up with a bit of a sad expression on her face. 'Do you think I will be a good mother?' He stared at her while she said it. 'Yeah I think you will be great. Are you worried about that?' She breathed out. 'It's just with Rose. I know it's a long time ago and ... I only had her as a baby and that didn't work out that well.' 'Hey', Alex made her look at him. 'I'm sure it wasn't your fault back then, and you were young, you had to do it on your own. Everything is different now. And when I see how you handle Rose now. She adores you. I'm sure this little one will do the exact same thing.' She smiled at him, and snuggled up even closer. He was such a wonderful man; just a few words could make her day.
'And what do you think of me as a dad?' He asked, staring in front of him. She looked up again with a big smirk. 'You will be great. You are made for it.' Alex had to laugh. 'You think?' She nodded heavy. 'Yeah, how you are with Charlotte and with Harrison. My heart melts when I see you like that.' 'Why did I never notice that?', Alex smirked. 'You would probably get all strange ideas in your head if I would have said something about it.' 'Strange ideas hey, like what? Like this.' He bended down to meet her lips. She nodded while kissing him back.
'Are you scared to give birth?', he asked all of a sudden. 'No not really, a little I guess.' She looked at him, but he glared away. 'Why?' she asked, pulling at his shirt. He shrugged his shoulders, so she continued. 'I can remember with Rose I was so scared, but I was even more scared when she was born. She was so beautiful, so precious.' She looked up at him again and saw he was fighting something back. 'Alex?' Her hand slid along his face and when his eyes looked down she could see they were teary. 'Hey, what's wrong?' She could feel his body breath deeply.
'It's just ... how are you so sure everything will be okay? What if something goes wrong with you or the baby?' Her eyes turned wet now, but she gave him a supportive soft smile. 'Cause I can feel it. And I know you are there with me. And that's all I need. In a few months it will be you, me and our baby Alex.' He smiled softly, trying to hold in his tears. He was scared to loose her, scared to loose the baby and if anything would go wrong during the confinement ... he shrugged away the thought. Stevie moved up at bit, her hand caressing the side of his face when he looked at her. 'I love you. I won't leave you, nor this little one. Don't forget it's a tough one. It's a Hall-Ryan baby.' She had made him smile with her last comment. He pulled her close. 'You are amazing, do you know that?'
