Chapter 13

Jodi was covered in dirt and sweat. She and Matt had been riding the border fence with Wilgul. It was a promise they had made to Jaz when she opened her training center: the border fences would be checked very knew Jaz had built something amazing from the ground up at Wilgul and they wanted to do their part to help her.

Jodi and Matt had found a post that looked a bit loose, and had set about redigging the hole and replacing the post. It was hard, dirty work, but getting to work with Matt was always fun, so she was satisfied.

"I reckon we're about done for the day." Matt said as he finished the post.

"I reckon we have one more thing we need to do today since Tess and Claire are looking after the girls." said Jodi with a flirtatious smile on her face.

"Oh yeah. What's that?"

Jodi winked at her husband and sent her horse off into a run

"Follow me, babe! Let's make it two days in a row!" said Jodi as she rode away.

Matt smiled and followed behind her on Neely. He knew where she was headed.

They reached the dam in just a few minutes. Jodi stripped down and jumped into the cool water. Matt was close behind.

Tess was not having as good of a time as her sister was.

Meggie and Katie were awesome girls, and they loved the farm, but Katie was only seven. She had a pony named Unicorn, and she could ride pretty well, but Tess knew there were limitations to what she could do and how long she could do things for. Meggie was nearly eleven, tall for her age, like her mom, and she was growing fast. Jodi and Matt had started her on Sunny, a lovely and gentle mare, and Meggie had become a skilled and confident rider, but Katie was much more cautious in general, and it showed in her riding. Tess was always on her guard with them, worried they might fall or get hurt. She loved them as daughters and was fiercely protective.

Claire had met up with them once she finished the washing up, and was good to her younger cousins, but even she had her limits. Katie and Meggie tended to bicker a lot and it got much worse when they were tired and hot.

"Auntie Tess! Katie touched me again! I told her not to touch me!" Meggie whined.

"I did not. You touched me first. It's too hot to be touched." responded Katie.

"I didn't touch you. Stop whining. You're so annoying!" Meggie rolled her eyes as she yelled at her sister. Meggie guided Sunny right next to Unicorn and pulled Katie's hat off as she rode by.

"Hey! Give me my hat back! Mom says we have to always wear our hats outside because the sun can give us cancer!" cried Katie

"Relax! You're not going to get cancer for not wearing your hat for five minutes!" responded Meggie, clearly annoyed.

"But what if I do! It'll be your fault! I'm telling mom you want me to get cancer on my skin!" wailed Katie.

"Enough! If you can't ride during chores without fighting, we will have to go straight home. No extra rides and definitely no swimming!" Tess interjected.

Tess and Claire had been trying to check all the troughs in the south paddock, but their work had been constantly interrupted by having to break up fights between the girls

"Mom, aren't you glad I'm an only child? I bet you didn't miss this when I was younger."

"You're not an only child. You have a brother, Harrison." replied Tess.

"I know and I love Harrison. But it's not the same. We didn't grow up being together all the time like Meggie and Katie. " said Claire

"You have quite a convenient memory lapse there, missy. You and Meggie used to be the same way when you were ten and she was six. Now, you get to ride away when your cousins annoy you, they don't get to ride away from each other yet. You don't get it so much now because you are allowed much more freedom on Drovers. If you still needed the level of supervision they do, you would probably whine right along with them. Meggie used to follow you around and try to be just like you, she still wants to be like you. Just like Katie does with Meggie now. Most of the time you hated it because she was always touching your stuff and messing things up for you but you were also pretty sweet to her. Do you remember teaching her how to Whip and Nae nae? I know you're cousins but, in many ways, Meggie and Katie have been like little sisters to you. I hope you feel like that, too." said Tess.

"You know I love Meggie and Katie and I would help them and protect them however I can, but sometimes, I just can't even be with them. By the way, Harrison is doing really well. He has a boyfriend! He is really excited about him. His name is Jacob and they are in the same history class. Harrison said Jacob has amazing eyes. He wants to ask him to the Halloween dance and do a couples costume with him. I can't wait to see the photos of that!" said Claire.

"That's wonderful for Harrison. Jacob sounds great. I'm glad you stay in touch with your brother. Did he say if he was coming to Charlotte's birthday party? I don't remember if Sally had RSVPed, maybe he would like to bring Jacob as his date. I'll call Sally tomorrow to make sure they're coming and extend the invite to Jacob." said Tess.

"Don't bother. Harrison told me they can't make it. He has an important swim meet that weekend. He said it's the city championships and he reckons he can win the 200 meter backstroke."

Tess thought back to when she learned about Harrison. She and Sally went through some very rocky times. Sally had shown up eight and half months pregnant with Nick's baby shortly after Tess and Nick's wedding, and it was not a great memory in Tess's life. It nearly destroyed their marriage shortly after it began. She and Sally's relationship improved as time went on. When Tess split up with Nick and moved back to Australia, she reached out to Sally and they mended their relationship. Their children were each other's only siblings, and they wanted their children to have a relationship with each other. A few months ago, Harrison and Claire had even flown to Argentina together to visit their Dad during the previous school holidays. It seemed like that trip had really brought them closer, and Claire talked about Harrison a lot. Tess was thrilled Claire had a good relationship with her brother. It was much more than she had gotten with Claire or Jodi at that age. She and Sally had made their peace, and while they would never be best friends, they both cared for the other, and for their children,

"You're doing it again! Just stop it! Leave me alone!" Katie wailed.

"I didn't do anything. You're always getting upset over nothing. I hate you!" Meggie said angrily.

"Well, I hated you first!" Katie retorted.

"Okay that's it! We're done!" Tess yelled. "We are going back to the house right now. You had your last chance to enjoy the ride and maybe have a swim, but the moment you say you hate your family, we go back home. You know that's a rule. We don't say things like that to our family. You are so lucky to have each other. Having a sister is one of the most wonderful things in the world. You always support and help your family, even if you don't like them all the time. Hate is too strong of a word for your sister." Tess scolded her nieces.

"Aw Man! I was hoping for a swim at the dam," said Claire, disappointed.

"Sorry, Claire. You definitely earned a swim, but I won't let you go out there all alone. It's not safe, and I have to take these two home." said Tess.

"I know, I know. I get why I can't go all by myself. It just sucks that I get punished for their behavior." sulked Claire.

"How about I make it up to you? How about just the two of us go to the pub for dinner tonight. No bickering cousins around. Just a mother and daughter night," offered Tess.

"Thanks, Mom! Sounds good."

When the girls got back to the house and had tended to their horses, Jodi and Matt were just riding back. They had a guilty, but satisfied look on their faces and wet hair. Tess was immediately glad she didn't take her gang swimming after all. Everyone would have gotten quite a surprise if Tess had shown up with the girls.

Good on Jodi and Matt. I'm glad they still sneak off for romantic interludes, thought Tess.

"Matt, I reckon it's your turn for dinner duty tonight?" Tess asked.

"That's right. I'm making spaghetti bolognese and meatballs!" he replied.

"Yaaayy!" cried Katie. Tess knew that she loved her dad's spaghetti and meatballs.

"Sounds great, but I'm taking Claire on a date to the pub tonight, so you guys are on your own."

"No problem. Have a nice time girls. Thanks for letting me know. We can just eat your share!" teased Matt. "extra spag bol for us!"

"Claire, go get ready quickly. The sooner we leave, the sooner we'll get there!"