Thank you for the encouraging reviews. I hope you like how this story goes.

Next day - Easter Sunday, 20 April 2014

The two men drove in Pete's ute to the address Kate had given them. When they arrived at the house, the two men looked at the house and then at each other.

"I think we're moving up in the world mate," commented Dylan. Pete nodded his silent agreement.

A brick and wrought iron fence stretched across the front of the sizeable block. There was a small gate in the middle of the fence, and a matching larger gate on the right side that slid to one side as the ute turned into the driveway. Kate stood inside the grounds on the lawn, just at the side of the driveway, which led to a three-car garage. Kate used her remote control to shut the gate again, before pushing a different button to open the garage door. Pete drove the ute in and parked it beside Kate's Mini Cooper.

The men got out of the ute and joined Kate on the lawn. The front yard was small and fairly simple. The house was set well forward on the block, with only about two small car lengths from the fence to the front of the house. A low row of bushes was planted inside the fence line at the front and the sides of the yard, and the rest of the area was grass, except for the paving stone path leading from the small front gate to the front door up the centre of the yard. The men turned and looked at the house. They saw a single storey dwelling, made of cream painted blocks. The roof was grey tiled, and the downpipes and gutters were painted in the same shade of light grey as the roof, with a tinge of eucalyptus in it. The front fence bricks had been painted to match the house and the wrought iron rails were the same grey as the gutters and pipes. Kate hugged Pete and Dylan before stepping back from them and gesturing towards the front door "Welcome. Come on in guys and I'll give you the grand tour."

There were a couple of steps leading up to a semi-circular porch, which was set with stones similar to the ones on the path. The front door opened into a small entry way with a dividing wall facing the door, about three metres ahead. The bottom half of the wall was solid, about a metre and a half high, with stencilled frosted glass with a gum leaf pattern rising from the top of the wall to the ceiling. It was a couple of metres wide. A wooden console table was centred on the wall and held a ceramic bowl with keys in it. Kate gestured to the men to walk around either side of the dividing wall. They walked into a large open plan room. The floors throughout were polished blackbutt wood in a light honey colour.

Kate explained "The house is effectively a 'U' shape, more or less. As you can see, this area has the living, dining and kitchen areas. That door on the far end of the kitchen goes through to the garage. You probably didn't notice, but the laundry is set up in the space at the back of the garage, along with a small storage room, and then there's a door leading from the back of the garage to the part of the backyard where the washing line is. The hallways on each side from here lead to the wings where the bedrooms are."

The two men saw that the left-hand side of the large room was the living area, with a number of soft armchairs and sofas and small coffee tables facing a large television and stereo set-up, with bookcases off to the left side. The centre of the room held a dining table and six matching chairs made of a light red-brown coloured wood. Beyond the dining table to the far right was the kitchen with a breakfast bar dividing it from the dining area, a centre cooking island and lots of cupboards and bench top space.

The wall directly opposite the entry was all glass sliding doors, which opened out onto a wooden terrace which ran across the width of the living and dining rooms, before leading onto a grassy lawn between the two wings of the house. The terrace held an outdoor setting with table and chairs, and a daybed. At the end of the lawn was the swimming pool Kate had told them about, with the canal on the other side.

Through the glass to the left and right of the 'U' shape could be seen the hallways leading to the bedrooms. The hallways were also glassed in, using glass frosted in the same pattern as the entry wall, with the bedroom doors coming off the hallways, meaning that the bedrooms faced the outside of the 'U' shape, rather than onto the inner lawn.

Kate explained, "The left-hand side has two bedrooms, quite large ones. I'm in the one at the end, closest to the canal. I've been using the other room on that side as a study. There's also a sofa in there which can be made into a guest bed if there's ever visitors. As you can see, there's three bedrooms on the right, a little smaller than the other two but still quite roomy. There's nothing in any of them, except for the curtains and built-ins. There's a bit more lawn on either side of the house with garden beds, hedges and some trees, so the bedrooms have a bit of a view and some shade. My room and the end room on the other side both have windows looking out onto the canal as well. Would you like to have a look and see what they're like?"

Dylan and Pete walked down the hallway and looked at the three bedrooms. After some discussion between the two, Pete chose the one closest to the kitchen, while Dylan chose the end one closest to the canal, leaving the middle bedroom free. They returned to Kate, who had waited in the living room for them.

"If you guys want to paint the rooms, feel free. I know that they're a bit plain at the moment. I hadn't really figured out what to do with them. I don't know if either of you have any furniture you want to move in. If you have to order beds and things, I've no idea how long it'd take for stuff to be delivered. It'd probably be better to paint before you move anything in."

"I've got some furniture and linen in storage that I can send for," said Pete. "It's not much, but it's stuff from my mum's family. There's a bed that's been in her family for over a hundred years and also a blanket box carved by my great-grandfather. They're some of the few things that my grandparents were able to bring with them when they immigrated out here from Poland after the war when my mum was little."

Dutchy chimed in "I'll have to order stuff. I got rid of my furniture when I left Cairns. It was a bit too battered to bother keeping and I haven't needed anything since. I can go out tomorrow to see what I can find. Hopefully it'll be available soon, and I won't have to wait too long for it to get here."

"I forgot to mention guys. I don't know if you noticed, but there's ducted air-conditioning and heating throughout. Each room has an individual control, so you can set it to whatever suits you. The roof's covered in solar panels, so don't worry too much about what you use – within reason of course. We can split the bill – they've not been too much so far." Kate led the men onto the terrace and got them settled there before going to the kitchen and returning with beers for them and a wine for herself.

"Um, what else should you know about? I have a bloke who comes in every fortnight to mow the lawns and keep the bushes trimmed and so on. I like to look at gardens and flowers and everything, but I don't have much of a green thumb, so it's just easier to pay someone to come in. And he also deals with the pool – chlorine testing and stuff like that." She paused and took a drink from her wine. "I suppose we should talk about rent. How does half of what you're paying at the base, plus a third share of the electricity and water, and we can share the shopping? Oh, and when you're away at sea, you don't have to worry about the electricity and water costs?"

Kate paused and looked hopefully first at Dylan and then towards Pete. It was now that she realised just how much she wanted the two men to move in. These were the two people she'd been closest to on Hammersley after Mike. These men had each had her back in their role as buffer, and they'd been to hell and back together. Kate had been doing some hard thinking since yesterday and had realised that she was lonely. The scars of what happened in Cairns were still fresh, and Kate had realised that she both wanted and needed to be close to friends. Her absurd purchase of a five-bedroom house wouldn't seem so foolish if she was able to fill the house with friends.

"Suits me," said Dylan after only a moment's consideration.

"Yep" replied Pete.

And so, the deal was struck between the three. The men would have to give notice to the base accommodation; Pete would have to arrange for his belongings to come out of storage; and Dutchy had to sort out buying his furniture, so they all agreed to keep in touch and let Kate know when they would be able to move in. Kate produced house keys and remote gate and garage controls for both men, and then they settled down on the terrace for an evening of beer and wine and pizza.

OoOoOoO

Later that night, after they'd all eaten and were feeling somewhat mellow from the drinks Pete asked, "Not that I'm changing my mind or anything, but how come you bought such a big house Kate?"

Kate took a moment to gather her thoughts before answering Pete's question, "After so long in Cairns and being mostly at sea all that time, I couldn't bear to be away from the water, especially as I'm home almost every night nowadays. I didn't like anything the Navy was offering for me to live in, so I was looking around for something to rent privately or buy. I inspected some waterfront properties and really, I just looked at this house for fun, the pictures were lovely, and I fell in love with it. I thought that it was so beautiful. Money wasn't an issue – I earn enough as a Lieutenant-Commander to pay the mortgage, and hopefully I'll have my next promotion in a few more years – and I had quite a bit in savings. Also, Mike insisted on giving me a large cash settlement when we split." She paused briefly before continuing, "I wasn't going to accept it at first. Really it was his guilty conscience that was making him offer it to me. In the end I thought why not take his money? After everything that happened, I mean…" Kate's voice trailed off.

"Kate" began Dutchy hesitantly, "What happened in Cairns with you two? I know that you and Mike got married not too long after I left, and last year I heard through the grapevine that you were pregnant and moving to a shore posting. Then I heard nothing until Nikki told me, well both of us, that you and Mike were splitting, and you were coming here. And it's kind of obvious that you're not pregnant and you don't have a baby with you."

"Oh guys…" Kate paused and took a deep breath. She glanced at the men's faces and saw nothing but concern for her reflected in their eyes. "Nikki knows the whole story because I told her when I was planning the move here. I had to tell someone but not many people know." Kate hung her head momentarily while she composed herself.

"X – Kate. You don't have to tell us anything if you don't want to." said Pete.

"No, it's OK. If we're going to share a house, it's probably something you should both know about. Every so often I feel the need to crawl into a bottle or two or three of wine, or vodka on the really bad days, and you ought to know why."

Kate took another deep breath, followed by a mouthful of white wine. Dutchy leant forward and topped up her glass after she put it back down on the tabletop. He had a feeling that more wine would be needed before this conversation was over.

"I should have been having my baby about now. But I lost my baby, my daughter, almost four months ago when I was nearly five months pregnant. The reason I lost the baby is that I came home one afternoon from NAVCOM to find Mike in bed with Knocker."

"What!?" exclaimed Dutchy.

"Who's Knocker?" asked Pete.

Seeing that Dylan was rendered speechless at her revelation, Kate answered Pete's question, "Commander Maxine White. She was Commander Marshall's replacement at NAVCOM."

Pete didn't say anything, but he clenched the empty beer can in his hand and squeezed it hard. He was angered by Mike's betrayal of Kate and found himself wishing for five minutes alone with his former commanding officer to show him the error of his ways.

"It was the Christmas – New Year shut down period, the day after Boxing Day actually. I was Duty Officer and I'd been at NAVCOM for the day. It was actually a pretty good day – not too much was happening at sea, and I was able to get a huge amount of paperwork done. I'd been working at NAVCOM for a while then – boy, the paperwork never stops." She smiled wryly. "It was also one of the first days that I'd been feeling really good with the pregnancy. I'd been having regular morning sickness up until not long before then, and finally it seemed to be over. It was weeks after I should have finished with the nausea, but sometimes it keeps going." She added as an aside. "Anyway, I came home and went up to the bedroom to change. Instead, I saw my husband and Knocker, naked and screwing."

Kate paused briefly and shuddered a little at the memory, before continuing her story. "Yeah – just what you want to see in your marital bed. I freaked and turned to run away. I tripped over a loose shoelace and fell down the stairs. I lost the baby that night. Some babies can survive being born so early, but not mine. She wasn't able to breathe properly. Her lungs weren't formed enough. The doctors tried, but…" Kate gulped, and a tear rolled down her cheek. She brushed it away before continuing. "Mike came to the hospital to see me the next day – I'd refused to have him in the ambulance, or anywhere near me that night. He was trying to tell me it was a one off with Knocker and that it wouldn't happen again. But really, given they've got a son together…"

"What?!" exclaimed Pete. "Since when does Mike have a son?"

Dutchy answered, giving Kate a chance to have another mouthful of wine. "It came out the second year I was on Hammersley when Mike was still CO. Mike and Knocker were old friends."

"They went through ADFA together." added Kate by way of explanation.

Dutchy saw that Kate wasn't going to say any more, so he continued filling in the background. "Turns out that years ago Mike had a one-night stand with Knocker when she was married. Anyway, she got pregnant and had her son Ryan. For years everyone thought that he was her husband Stewart's son. When Stewart got cancer and Ryan was tested for a bone marrow transplant and didn't match, it came out that Ryan was Mike's son. Ryan was on Hammersley at the time as a midshipman and had to post off. It was OK to have him serving under Mike when he was only Mike's godson, but once it turned out he was Mike's biological son, Ryan had to go. Ryan quit the Navy a little while later. Things were a bit rough between them then – Ryan found it hard to accept that Mike was his father. I'm not sure if it's better between them nowadays."

"It is. Much better." responded Kate. "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Ryan was partially behind what happened between Mike and Maxine. Well, not the sex of course, but with them getting together. I know that Mike and she had another night together when the truth about Ryan's paternity came out. I was seeing Jim at the time, but Mike told me about it later. Anyway, I'd been posted ashore to NAVCOM as soon as I realised I was pregnant. I had to tell the brass of course – it's standard Navy policy for sea-going females to be landed as soon as you're pregnant, and COs have to set an example." She smiled wryly. "Once I'd recovered from the miscarriage, I refused to go back to NAVCOM. Knocker was my boss – there's no way I was going to see her every day. And they'd already had the January changeover of postings, and there were no vacant positions for a patrol boat captain going, so I couldn't even go back to sea. I'd already told Mike that I wanted nothing more to do with him. So that's how things stood then."

"Oh Kate" Dutchy rubbed Kate's back in sympathy, while Pete rested his hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed.

Kate took a deep breath, then had another mouthful of her wine. "Anyway, the brass wasn't sure what to do with me, so I took some leave to 'consider my options' as they so nicely put it. I heard about the vacancy at the base here and rang Nikki to talk about it. I applied and was approved immediately. I didn't realise quite how fast the Navy can move when it wants to." She gave a short laugh. "And, well, here I am. Mike and I are separated now, and I'll file for a divorce as soon as I can after the twelve-month and one day separation period is up, and I've bought a house." She paused briefly and hung her head before adding in a quiet voice, "I hope that my story hasn't put you guys off moving in.

"Not at all." murmured Pete.

"Definitely not." Dutchy said.

They both hugged her. "Thanks." Kate smiled gratefully at both men. "I'm really looking forward to having you guys around."