"Where's Claire?"
"Taking a walk. Do you hurt?" Tess nodded. "Where?"
"My back. I think it's contractions again."
"Okay." She tried to make her comfortable. "I'm going to call the doctor and be right back."
"I want Claire and Nick."
"I'll see if I can get Claire. Nick should be back anytime now." It had been four hours; surely it should only take Nick another hour, tops. He should be back in plenty of time for the babies to be born.
Tess nodded. Meg made the phone call and looked out, calling for Claire. When there was no answer, Meg went back to Tess. "I'm sure they'll both be back shortly." She wiped Tess's forehead and cheek. "How far are the contractions apart?"
"Five minutes."
Alex watched the constable leave and started to say something when his brother's ute drove up the driveway. He couldn't help but be amused when he saw his brother's appearance. "Amy, can you help?" Nick asked.
Amy went in to get her first aid kit. "What happened?" She asked, coming back out.
Nick looked at Alex. "Peter's back in town."
"So is Sandra," Alex said.
"They're married."
"WHAT?" Alex roared.
"Daddy," Charlotte pulled on Alex's leg and he picked her up, blowing kisses on her stomach until she giggled. He hugged her, needing her laughter.
"So her worst enemy married..." Amy began
"A nob," Nick cleaned up his language in front of his baby sister and niece, but not willing to call Peter Charlotte's father. He was of the firm belief that Claire and Alex hadn't been lying when Alex had said he was Charlotte's father, even if they hadn't known it at the time.
"She'll be thrilled," Alex said sarcastically. "Hey, why aren't you home?"
"I wanted to get cleaned up before Tess saw me."
"He do that to you?"
Nick nodded, not wanting to get into what Peter had said. "I started it. Another reason why I didn't want to go home."
Alex nodded. "The girls don't need the aggravation. I was about to go up in the 'copter. You want to go?"
"Sure."
Alex kissed Charlotte's head, handing her back to Amy. "Be right back, then we'll go find Mum." He walked to the helicopter with his brother, flying over the land until he saw a familiar sight. "Nick." He pointed.
"Blaze and Phoenix." There were other horses, some he recognized from Drover's or Amy's horse from Kilarney. He spotted three riders behind them.
Alex spotted them as well. "Call Kilarney. Get some men out here." One of the riders looked up and took a few shots at the helicopter.
Amy walked back inside the house to get the phone, Charlotte following. "Kilarney."
Meg took a look at Tess. "Amy, it's Meg. Is Alex there?"
"He and Nick went in the chopper to do something for me. Everything okay?"
"Tess is in labor and I can't find Claire. I've called the doctor, but they won't be here for hours." A first-year vet wasn't exactly a doctor, Drover's wasn't a hospital, but it was more than Claire had at Charlotte's birth.
"I'll get word to the boys and then come over." She hung up, telling Terry Dodge and her nanny what was going on, then taking Charlotte back over to Drover's with her.