14

Alex looked on his watch. He was already late for lunch. It was Thursday and that was the day of Alex's weekly meeting with his father. They usually had lunch together somewhere or went for a drink in the early evening. Usually Bryce was the one being late but today it was Alex. He had been caught up with a customer on the phone and had then run into his boss who had given him new orders. But now he had finally made it and looked for Bryce in the restaurant they had chosen this time. When Bryce saw him entering he waved.

"Alex, over here!"

"Ah, Bryce! Sorry, I'm late, work…"

"That's ok, sit down, I've already ordered a beer for you."

"Ah, thanks, just what I need now…"

They looked at their menus and ordered their food and then started talking about what had been going on since last Thursday. Alex would usually tell about what happened on the weekends with 'his kids' as he would call them and Bryce usually talked bout Alex's sisters. Alex still couldn't believe he had 3 sisters! He had never met them so far because they had agreed not to tell Bryce's family.

"Ashley got her exam results today. She passed! I'm so proud of her! She'll carry on the family tradition and I have somebody that'll take over the firm if I don't want to work anymore. Great news, huh?" but Bryce never got an answer. Alex wasn't paying attention to him today. His mind had drifted off to Claire and the wide open spaces at home. 'Wonder what she's doing right now…' he thought and could picture her somewhere on Drovers mustering a couple of sheep. Then he thought about the sunsets over the hills and the cold beers on the veranda. Alex still felt bad about the way he had left Claire without a word of explanation that morning and had long begun to question his action. But there was no way back now…

"Alex? Are you all right?" Bryce's voice brought Alex back into the real world.

"Sorry Bryce, what did you just say?"

"Ashley passed her exam! Where've you been?"

"Nowhere…"

"You've been thinking about your home again, right? And Claire…"

"Yeah…probably…"

"You should do something about it Alex, talk to her! As much as I like having you here I can see you're not happy…"

A couple of months after their first meeting Alex had told Bryce all about Claire and about what had happened between them. He had skipped the marriage part though, that was something that only Claire and Alex knew and he had decided to keep it that way. But Bryce knew everything else.

"What shall I do? I've really stuffed up big time this time. Knowing Claire she won't even talk to me…"

"You could at least give it a try. You'll never know till you give it a chance…"

Alex thought about what Bryce had said. Maybe he was right…

15

8 months earlier…

Alex had been in Melbourne for 3 weeks now and still hadn't had the courage to contact his biological father. Every now and then he would pick up the paper where his mother had written down the address and look at it wondering if he would ever be able to go and meet him. After Alex had left everyone and everything behind he had ever known he felt like a lost soul in an ocean full of people. He needed to find out who he was other than the guy that they all thought he was. And as part of that finding to himself progress he had to pay his biological father a visit.

So when Alex got up this morning he decided that today was to be the day. He had just finished a job at a construction site and didn't have a new job yet so he had the day off. He tried his best to look nice which wasn't easy since he had only brought a few clothes with him and hadn't really had the money to buy new ones. Once more he looked at the address on the paper. It was his father's law firm and Alex smiled at the thought of his father being a lawyer. So different what he had known all of his life. This was going to be interesting…

Once he arrived at the law firm a man with a robe hurried past him and a young woman shouted after him "Bryce, don't forget the folder…" So the man turned around and said "Thanks Ashley, what would I do without you!" and winked at the young woman.

So this was his father! Bryce Redstaff…

Alex sat down on a bench opposite the office and waited for Bryce to come back. When he saw him walking in he waited another 5 minutes till he got up himself and entered the building. He was nervous as hell. It doesn't happen every day that you meet your father for the first time. Inside the building he found the desk empty so he took all his guts together and walked past it right into the office and saw Bryce reading in a folder. Alex cleared his throat.

"Umm, excuse me, I didn't want to disturb you but there's nobody at the front desk…"

"Oh, I think my assistant has some cards laid out there, just help yourself…"

"I'm not here for business. This may seem a bit odd to you but my name is Alex Ryan…"

Alex looked at Bryce and saw his face light up.

"Yes, I know who you are. Your mother told me you might come to see me." Bryce smiled and offered Alex his hand. Alex took is gladly.

Bryce smiled "Shall we go for a walk?"

"Sure…"

So they left Bryce's office and stepped outside in silence. None of them really knew where to start the conversation. Finally it was Bryce that said the first words.

"Look Alex, about what happened…I don't want to justify it in any way…but I was married and your mother…"

"It's ok Bryce, I know what happened, my mother told me."

"Well, your parents did a good job bringing you up without my help. What can I say, I'm not exactly sure what it is you expect me to do now…"

"Oh, a million dollars would be nice, I'm jobless right now…" Alex said. Slowly he got his self conscience and his wittiness back.

"Oh…"

"I'm just kidding, I just wanted to know who you are."

"Well, I'm glad you came…"

Suddenly Alex felt the need to ask Bryce a question.

"Do you have any other children?" besides me he added in his thoughts.

Bryce smiled. "Yes, I have 3 daughters. Ashley, the youngest works in the office…"

So the young woman Alex had seen earlier today was his sister! Alex was overwhelmed, he had a whole other family he had never known off…

"Wow, 3 sisters…that's a shock!"

Bryce's face got serious. "Look Alex. Nobody knows about you…maybe we should just keep it that way for a while…" he said and then changed the subject fast "Maybe I could help you with a job if you want to."

16

Claire was only a few hours away from Melbourne now. The trip had taken longer than she had thought, over a week. She couldn't drive as long and as fast as she had hoped because she had to stop too often because she needed to pee. Bloody pregnancy! At the moment she just wanted it to be over and the baby out of her but at the same time she wanted Alex to know about the baby before it was born. Claire thought back to the morning after her wonderful night with Alex. She had woken up with a smile on her face but that smile had faded quickly when she saw that Alex wasn't beside her and that his side of the bed was cold. She had thought that she had gotten his thoughts off the whole father issue but it didn't seem like that now. She had gotten dressed and had driven straight to Wilgul in the hope to find Alex there. But no luck on that end. She had talked to Nick and he had told her that Harry had cut off Alex from all his money and that Alex was now looking for a job somewhere else. With sinking hope to find him she had driven home. A couple weeks later she had found out that she was pregnant with Alex's child.

A smile appeared on her face as she thought about the baby and about the fact that her and Alex were still married. This was just too funny. At first she had been shocked but now she just liked the thought of it and really hoped Alex would like it too. She really needed him back, maybe this time everything would be all right…

17

10 years earlier…

"Alex, could we meet somewhere? We need to talk!" Claire was on the phone with Alex and sounded really serious.

"Everything all right Claire?" Alex was a little worried. He hadn't really seen Claire since the day they woke up in each others arms.

"Not exactly but I don't want to talk about it here where they can all hear me…"

"All right…how about the dam? Don't think anybody will bother us there…"

"Ok, so I'll meet you at the dam in an hour…"

"I'll be there…"

An hour later Claire was nervously waiting for Alex at the dam. When she saw him riding up on his horse her heart skipped a beat only to go on with twice the speed it had had before. Gosh he looked good…

"Hey Alex!" she said when he had reached her.

"Claire…what's wrong? You sounded serious on the phone…"

"Let's sit down in the shade first, I'm not feeling all that well…"

"Claire, you really got me worried here!"

"Come on, I'll tell you"

They walked over to one of the trees and Claire sat down leaning against the trunk. Alex took a seat opposite of her and looked at her expectedly. Claire had thought about what to say but had decided to just come out with the truth. She could still see where she would go from there.

"Alex…well…I'm pregnant…I took a test 2 days ago and it came out positive…"

"WHAT? Who is the guy? I'm gonna punch his lights out!" Alex had jumped up and was really mad. Claire couldn't help but laugh. This was so Alex…

"Will you sit down again Alex Ryan and let me explain so even you understand it…" Alex looked confused but did as he was told.

"Remember that last Rodeo we were at? Where you had that accident? And we…well you know what we did that night, don't you? You are the one that got me pregnant Alex…"

"Ooooh…" was all Alex could say as the truth hit him. Guilt hit him…and he knew right away they were in deep trouble.

"What are we gonna do now?" he asked Claire looking on the ground. He couldn't look in her eyes right now.

"I don't know Alex, I really don't know…" Claire felt her eyes filling up with tears. Since their night together she had dreamed about what a life with Alex would be like, she had even thought about their future children but that had been something in the far future and not a given fact in the present.

Alex brain worked and worked. He knew he had stuffed up and there was only one way to fix this…

"Claire…I know you might not wanna hear this but…would you marry me?"

"What?" Claire looked at him confused. She secretly had hoped for that but would have never thought that Alex really considered it.

Alex took that more as a no on her side and started to explain "I know this is not how people usually decide they wanna get married but I really think this is the best way. I mean…we're mates, we like each other and…I just think it would be the right thing to do…Claire?"

Claire had started smiling at his explanation. He was too cute trying to fix something that couldn't really be fixed.

"It's ok Alex, I think it is a good idea…"

When Alex heard those words a smile formed in his face and he hugged Claire and kissed her long and deep…this felt so good.

They decided to keep all this a secret till they were legally married and planned their wedding for 5 weeks later when they were both at a Rodeo about 3 hours away from home…