Danny shut the front door behind him and looked down the hallway, as a delicious smell made his mouth water. He glanced into the lounge room, and was surprised to see Lucien and Jean asleep in each other's arms on the couch. He gave a silent chuckle and kept walking. As he entered the kitchen, he saw Charlie stirring a pan on the stove. He stood and watched him for a while, observing the floral apron, and the serious look of concentration on his face. After a moment he spoke "Hey" he said gently.
Charlie jumped and the wooden spoon clattered to the floor. He turned to Danny "Sorry, I was a million miles away."
Danny walked over, and picking up the spoon, took it to rinse at the sink. "How are you feeling?" he called over his shoulder.
Charlie sighed. "A little better," he glanced at Danny at the sink and waited until he had turned to face him "Listen, Thanks again for everything this afternoon."
Danny waved him away "It's all good, mate," he said as he walked towards him, drying the spoon. "Someone's gotta look after you." He smiled at him as he reached out to ruffle his hair. Charlie's hair was still damp in his hand, and as he tousled it, a fragrance was released. "You smell nice," he looked over his shoulder to the stove top, "And so does this, What are you cooking?"
Charlie's heart had skipped as Danny's fingers had mussed his hair, "Uh, sausage casserole," he answered as he took the spoon from Danny, and turned back to the stove. "It's my standard recipe. I made it so often growing up, I swear I could make it in my sleep. Although right now I'm just frying onions."
Danny bit his lip, "I've never really got the hang of cooking. Will you…" he scratched his neck as uncertainty crept into his mind. "I mean… Would you teach me?"
Charlie turned and handed him the spoon with a smile. "Sure thing." He took another apron from the hook, and winding his arms around Danny's waist tied the flowery fabric around his hips.
Danny's breath hitched as he felt Charlie's hands skim across his stomach. An image flashed in his mind of those strong arms wrapped around him as they lay together in a bed. He threw a smile over his shoulder at Charlie as he felt his hands at his back, securing the apron to him. "Is this really necessary?"
"You wanna learn to cook or not?" Charlie grinned at him. "Now, first things first, you can stir those onions, we don't want them to burn."
"Well I think I've taken enough photos to fill your own book," Rose laughed as they walked back to the house. "I'll call it 'The Mattie O'Brien modelling portfolio,'" she laughed
Mattie made a face. "Oh shut up," she joked. "As if I'd ever go into modelling."
Rose looked at her. "You could you know. If nursing didn't work out for you. You were a very compliant model. You didn't whinge too much, except for when I made you lay in the dirt, and you look great on camera." Rose looked ahead. "I mean it helps when the model isn't half bad looking in real life. I mean, you're really pretty," she snuck a side look at Mattie.
Mattie's steps faltered slightly and she stopped. "Do you mean that Rose? Do you really think I'm pretty?" her voice trembled.
Rose stopped and turned to face her. "Mattie, I'd go so far as to say you're beautiful. Anyone who says otherwise is either lying, or they're just jealous."
"I guess I've met my fair share of dishonest, jealous people then," she rolled her eyes and began to walk on, but she was stopped by Rose's hand on her arm.
"Do you really not see that you're pretty?"
Mattie just snorted and rolled her eyes.
"No seriously Mattie, I mean, I would have thought there would be guys lining up to take you out."
Mattie looked at the ground as she felt her chest tighten, and she took a deep breath. This was it. "It's just that… Uhh… It's… not… guys... I'm interested in," she replied slowly and quietly, as her eyes flicked to Rose's.
"Oh?" Then what she said began to sink in to Rose, and all of a sudden a lot of things were making sense. "Ohh!" Her eyes widened in understanding as she looked at Mattie, who looked terrified. "I see!" A thought occurred to her. "Does everyone else know?"
Mattie shook her head as she looked back down at her shoes, unable to keep the eye contact for fear of what she might see. "No! Not at all! No, Only you and Danny." She looked back at Rose. "Please don't say anything to anyone else," she pleaded. "I need to work out how to tell people in my own time. It's much more difficult here. In London it was more accepted, and I was able to blend in a bit more. But I wanted to tell you. It's unfair to continue our friendship and for you not to know. And it was getting increasingly hard to talk around it with you."
Rose put a hand on Mattie's arm. "You shouldn't have to hide who you are Mattie."
"I shouldn't have to, and I don't want to, but I've seen a lot of ugly things, been called names and had friends beaten up, because of 'who they are,'" she echoed Rose's words to her. "I'm not ashamed, but I am careful."
"At least you know Lucien and Jean will still love you regardless."
Mattie made a face and resumed walking along the path. "Lucien, yes. Jean? I'm not so sure about. She's pretty religious. The Catholic church has quite specific teachings against homosexuality."
Rose ran after her and took her arm. "Haven't you heard? Jean's left the Catholic church!"
"What? No!" Mattie looked at her with shocked eyes. Ever since she had met Jean, her faith had been at the core of Jean's life. She couldn't imagine Jean without it.
"Mhm, Father Emery refused to marry her and Lucien. Apparently they have specific rules about divorce and remarriage too, so she just, left. The wedding is at the Colonists. She's been going to the little Church of England down the road instead."
Mattie exhaled deeply. "That's so archaic."
Rose slipped her arm through Mattie's. "Just as archaic as its views on homosexuals." She smiled as Mattie turned a slightly stunned look toward her "I'm glad you told me Mattie."
Mattie looked at her straight in the eye. "And you're ok with it? With me? Being like this?"
Rose gave a small shrug. "Mattie, you are who you are, you love who you love. I learnt long ago not to judge people because of things out of their control."
They resumed walking down the path, this time arm in arm and after a slight pause, Rose continued to speak. "Thank you for trusting me with this. I mean, I know we just met yesterday, But I feel like I've connected with you more in the last 24 hours than I have anyone else in this town in the past year," she rolled her eyes.
"Not even Charlie?"
Rose didn't answer straight away.
"Rose?"
"I'm thinking." She scrunched her nose. "I think Charlie and I need to start at the beginning again, and get to know each other properly. I think," she paused and scrunched her nose again, "I think maybe we were a bit too hasty jumping into a relationship. We were both so desperate to have someone, that our whole relationship was just one big game of chicken, seeing who would dodge first. And I think that maybe, you showing up, here, now, and showing me what a real friendship can be like, in such a short amount of time, has made me realise that Charlie and I? We didn't have that."
They had reached the Blake house and Mattie stopped. "Thank you Rose."
Rose looked at her and smiled, "Not a problem, And don't worry, my lips are sealed. I won't say anything to anyone. It's not mine to tell." She pushed the front door open and sniffed, "Smells like Charlie's cooking. That's his sausage casserole if I'm not mistaken."
Mattie followed her inside and smiled to herself. All the worry she had held in all day seemed to have evaporated. She watched Rose walk towards the kitchen, and her mind wandered once more. Did she have the courage to pursue Rose after all of this? The girl had said she'd accepted her, and had not indicated in any way, shape, or form, that she may feel something for her too. She looked down at where Rose stood in the hallway. The girl had one finger to her lips and the other hand was gesturing for Mattie to come closer, with a massive grin on her face. As Mattie walked down the hallway she saw Rose fumbling with her camera.
Rose nodded her head in the direction of the kitchen. "Check it out," she whispered.
Mattie inched her face around the corner, and what she saw made her smile. Charlie and Danny were standing at the counter, each wrapped in one of Jeans floral aprons. Charlie held Danny's hand in his as he guided it around a cake. Icing dripped from the knife they held as Danny concentrated hard.
Beside her she saw Rose raise her camera to her face and snap a few shots. Mattie looked between Charlie and Danny, and she wondered if she was imagining the closeness between them. Had Danny told Charlie?
"God they're cute," Rose whispered.
Before Mattie could ask her what she meant, Danny caught sight of them. He immediately dropped the knife and wiped his hands on his pants. "What are you two doing snooping at doorways?"
Rose held up her camera, "Just taking some candid shots of the two of you," she looked down the hallway and once she was sure neither Jean or Lucien were in earshot she whispered, "I'm putting together an album for Lucien and Jean's wedding."
Charlie looked uncomfortable and Danny glanced toward him.
"Great idea, But maybe you should put that away for tonight." Danny took the camera from her gently, and put it on the kitchen table. "It's been a tough day."
The smile was wiped from Rose's face instantly, "Why? What happened? Where's Lucien and Jean?"
Charlie waved away her worry, "They're fine."
"Last time I saw them they were snoozing in the lounge room," Danny added
Rose eyed them suspiciously, "Then who isn't fine? Charlie? What aren't you telling me?"
Charlie just stared past her, and swallowed hard.
Lucien's voice surprised her from behind, "It's Terry Fitzpatrick."
Rose looked to Mattie who had gasped audibly. Without thinking she reached out a hand to hold hers.
Lucien continued, "A branch fell in the storm last night. He didn't make it."
Mattie's eyes filled with tears and she dropped her head into Rose's shoulder.
Rose bit her lip. "Does the newspaper know?"
Lucien shrugged "I'm not sure."
Rose looked at Mattie, "Look, I'm sorry, I've gotta go. If Tynemann gets a hold of this, he'll cock it up for sure. I need to make sure this one's done properly."
Mattie stood, as a tear trickled down her cheek.
Lucien reached for Mattie and she sank into his arms sniffling into his chest.
Rose looked at Charlie, "I'll be back for some dinner later, save me a plate? Please?" She gave him a small sad half smile as he nodded. She picked up her camera from the table and with a last look around, crept out of the kitchen.
"I didn't even get to see him Lucien," Mattie sniffed as she pulled herself out of Lucien's embrace.
"Oh Mattie, It's possible he wouldn't have even recognised you. His dementia was getting really bad"
"I'm sorry Scout." Danny put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it slightly as she wiped her eyes, "Wanna come help me? I'm learning how to ice a cake? It will take your mind off things," he smiled gently at her.
Mattie raised her eyes to his and took a shaky breath. "I'd like that."
"Where's Mrs Beazley Doc?" Charlie asked. "I have a cooking question for her."
"She just went to freshen up before dinner, Go and knock on her door."
Charlie nodded and went up stairs.
"Did you have a good nap, Gramps?" Danny joked.
Lucien heard the care behind the teasing. "We did, thank you Danny. Now what's this about a cake?" he tried to dodge Danny to get at the cake.
Danny waved him away with the tea towel he had thrown over his shoulder, "Get outa here. It's for dessert!"
"Never thought I'd see you in a pinny Danny. Charlie must be rubbing off on you," Lucien grinned and left them alone.
"You alright?" Danny put a protective arm around Mattie's shoulder.
Mattie sighed. "It's just been a big 24 hours." She glanced at his face. "Rose, knows…. About me. I told her this afternoon."
"I'm proud of you." He hugged her to his chest, "for telling her. Next up Jean and Lucien." He felt her stiffen in his arms, and he looked down into her face. "Oh come on. You can't tell me you're still worried about telling them? How is it that you can tell Rose and not them?"
"There's more to lose if they don't accept me" Mattie mumbled into his chest. I only met Rose yesterday so if I lost her friendship," she shrugged her shoulders, "no big deal. But I can't lose Jean and Lucien. I just can't. They mean more to me than my actual parents do," she admitted.
Danny pulled her out of his arms and looked into her face seriously. "Mattie, if they've never had an issue with me, and I've never even told them, I doubt they're gonna excommunicate you from the family dinners."
Mattie gave him a half smile. "Yeah, well you've always been able to get away with anything as far as they're concerned."
Danny rolled his eyes, "Don't give me that, Scout. They've most definitely got a soft spot for you too. They've gone into bat for you many times. Listen to me," he placed a hand on each of her shoulders and met her eyes, "They love you. And whenever you decide the time is right to tell them, they will still love you, Get it?"
Mattie met his eyes. "Got it" she agreed. But her heart still had her doubts.
"Good. Now, this cake." Danny glanced at it and his face dropped. "I've forgotten how to do it," he admitted with an embarrassed smile.
Mattie couldn't help but grin. "Do you need Charlie's big hands to help you?" she teased.
Danny shot a look at the door, "Mattie!" he hissed.
"Well what is going on? That scene Rose was photographing? Looked pretty friendly to me."
Danny pushed his hand through his hair. "I dunno Mattie, we've been getting along really well, And well, I do, I really like him, I just, don't know where we stand. I don't want to confuse him when he's on the rebound so soon after breaking up with Rose. He's hurting. A lot. But, Mattie, I could have sworn he was about to kiss me this afternoon." he trained his wide eyes on her.
"Charlie?" Mattie's eyes bulged in surprise. "Well. There's something I didn't see coming."
Danny nodded. "So if Rose is into you, maybe we could double date" he grinned.
Mattie grabbed the tea towel from Danny, balled it up and threw it in his face.
"Tell me I'm wrong," he challenged.
Mattie bit her lip. "Well… I'm kinda in the same boat as you right now, to be honest. There's been some lovely moments today for sure, but that was before I told her."
"And you think that will change her behaviour toward you?"
Mattie shrugged "I don't know." She exhaled deeply. "I think what we both have to remember is that we only met them yesterday and in that time they've broken up with each other, dealt with the death of a member of the community, and possibly had to come to terms with thoughts that maybe they're not entirely as straight as they thought they were."
"Ooof, I remember that feeling."
Mattie nodded, "Yep, so do I. So maybe we just give them some space yeah?" She looked to Danny, who nodded. "Right, now, this cake. I've not had much success with cakes, I made one for Jean once, and… well, the less said about that, the better," she looked slightly embarrassed. "So uh, let's just wait till Charlie gets back shall we?"
