Charlotte climbed onto her aunt's lap and Tess brushed her hair, singing and whispering stories to her. It had been a week and, as far as Tess could see, she and Meg had become Charlotte's parents. Alex practically lived at Kilarney and Claire would be near Charlotte, but couldn't bring herself to play with her. A merc pulled up and a man neither girl knew got out. "Ms. McLeod?" Tess left Charlotte on the porch and went over. "Your papers." He left and Tess read them silently to herself.
"What is it?" Meg asked, coming up from chores to make lunch. Tess showed her. "Bugger!"
"What?" Claire asked, looking at them both.
Tess went up to hand the papers to her sister again. The first two times Claire read them, nothing clicked, but the third, she was furious. "Bastard!"
"I'll call Kilarney; have them send Alex home," Meg said, going to the phone.
"No. I need to talk to Nick." He knew more law than Harry or Alex; he had to know a way to stop this. Claire got in her ute and drove towards Wilgul.
When Nick saw the ute pull up, something in him hoped that, against all odds, it would be Tess, come to her senses after a week. It was bad enough that his brother almost lived at home again, but everyone was throwing everyone else that they loved away. He was surprised to see Claire and climbed down from his ladder. "Long time no see." He studied her. "What's wrong?" She handed him the papers and he scanned them. "Does Alex know?" She shook her head. "Okay, first thing is to let him know. I'll go over to Kilarney and tell him; we'll both meet you back at Drovers." She nodded and he watched her leave before getting into his ute and driving towards Kilarney.
Harry stood watching his son, not sure what to do. He knew Alex needed to go home to Claire and Charlotte, but, for once, was ready to admit that yelling or bullying would not get him there.
Alex cursed under his breath, unable to get the stallion to cooperate without Claire there. She had a way about her, a way most people called horse whispering, only it didn't just work on horses. It was one of the things he loved most about her: the way it mingled withher fierce passion and determination. He'd heard, when he was still single, married people talk about their 'better halves'; he'd always thought it was sentimental mumbo-jumbo, just something they told themselves to make marriage seem like less of a trap. He'd seen his parents' marriage and, if that was any taste of love, he hadn't wanted it. Then the whole mess with Peter had come to a head and Claire had gotten pregnant. Although he'd thought of it as helping out a mate when he'd first started lying for her, something in her eyes, something about Charlotte, grabbed hold and just wouldn't let go. He couldn't imagine life without either of them. If he and Nick hadn't come home when they had, he could have lost more than the baby they'd wanted so badly. He could have lost Claire...maybe even Charlotte too. That would have killed him.
He was jolted from his thoughts by the sound of his brother's horn as his red ute sped up to the corral. "Alex! Dad!"
Harry turned his attention to his youngest son. "Nick?"
The blonde hurried over to them, the papers in his hands. "Peter's suing for custody."
Alex looked at him in shock. "What?" Harry asked, his eyes forming the look both sons knew well. He took the papers from Nick, reading over them. "Where's Claire?"
"Back at Drovers. She brought the papers to Wilgul; I told her I'd come tell Alex."
Alex was already out of shock, his emotions mixing between wanting to kill Peter and wanting to get to his daughter and Claire, if she'd let him near. Alex took the papers from his father, reading them over, as Nick drove him home to his family.