22

When Claire had finally found Bryce's office she stood outside still no sure if she should go in or not. She had thought about what to say 100 times but still wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do. What if Alex had never contacted his father and Bryce knew nothing about his son?

'Well McLeod, you won't know till you go in there and talk to him!' she thought to herself and entered the building.

"Good morning Miss, can I help you?" a young woman behind the front desk asked Claire.

"Umm, I need to talk to Mr Redstaff please…" Claire wasn't really sure what to tell the woman. If nobody here knew about Alex this could cause a huge chaos.

"He's not here right now but he should be back in about an hour. Maybe I can help you?"

"I don't think so…it's personal and I'm not even sure Mr Redstaff can help me. Look, could I come back here in an hour?"

"Of course, I will let him know you were here, Miss…?"

"Oh umm, he won't know my name. I…umm…will be back in an hour…" Claire quickly said, turned around and left the building.

'Well, what do I do now?' she thought and walked down the street. Maybe she could go and look for some baby things while she was in town anyway, she didn't have all that much at home yet…

After a tiring hour of walking through the city trying to find some baby things Claire decided that shopping was definitely not her kind of thing. Not that she hadn't known that before…

Once more she stood in front of Bryce's office and wondered what to tell him.

"Ah…Miss…Mr Redstaff just came back 5 minutes ago. You can have a seat, he'll have time for you soon. Can I offer you something to drink while you wait?"

"All right, thanks…umm…just some water will do…"

So the young woman left Claire to get some water.

When Bryce walked out of his office he saw Claire sitting there waiting. He knew right away who she was, Alex had shown him quite a few pictures of Claire. He wondered what she wanted here but as he walked closer he saw that Claire was pregnant.

"Ms McLeod?" he said when he reached Claire and looked in a very surprised face.

"You know who I am?" Claire was stunned. That was the last thing she had expected.

"Yes, I do know who you are. Why don't we go into my office so we can talk…Ah thanks Ashley." He said as the young woman brought Claire's water. "No calls now, please…"

Claire followed Bryce into his office where he offered her a seat and sat down opposite of her.

"Mr. Redstaff…" Claire started "I'm a little confused because you seem to know who I am…" She looked at him looking for an answer.

Bryce smiled. "Yes, I can see that. Well, there's a simple explanation…since you're here you probably already know that I'm Alex's biological father…" Claire nodded. "Yes, his mother told me…"

"Alex contacted me about 7 months ago and we have been in contact ever since. He's talked a lot about his life so far and he's also mentioned you a few times. And he showed me pictures." You could see the relief on Claire's face. So Bryce knew about Alex and it sounded like he knew where he was…

"Mr Redstaff, I'm here to find Alex. Do you know where he is? I really need to talk to him…"

"Yes, I do know where he is…what do you need to talk to him about?"

"Sorry, but that's just something between Alex and me…"

"All right…I don't exactly know where he is today, probably at work, but I can tell you where you can find him tomorrow."

Bryce wrote something down on a paper and handed the note to Claire. She read what he had written down and smiled.

"A pony club?" she asked.

"It seems he can't stay away from those 4 legged animals…Just go there tomorrow around 10 am. He will be there…and send him my greetings!"

"Thank you Mr Redstaff, thank you so much…"

"Tell Alex to let me know what happens…"

Then they said their goodbyes and Claire walked out of the office on cloud 9…she had found Alex!

23

10 years earlier

After Claire had made the decision to end her marriage with Alex she wanted to do it as quickly as she could and ordered the necessary papers. It was only fair towards Ale, he had only married her because she was pregnant and now that the baby was no longer there he had the right to be free again. Claire felt tears run down her cheek once more. That always happened when she thought about the baby. Not telling anybody was harder than she had thought. There were times when she really had to hold herself back not to tell Meg. She was like a mother to her and Claire just wanted to be held tight. But it wasn't possible.

A few days later Claire had the papers in her hands. She sighed. She had to call Alex and tell him to meet her. They hadn't spoken for over 2 weeks now and Claire didn't know how he would react.

"Killarney, Nick speaking…"

"Hey Nick, Claire here…I need to speak to Alex please."

"Hold on, I'll get him for you!" Claire could hear Nick putting down the receiver and shouting for Alex.

"Claire?"

"Hi Alex…umm…could you come here? I need to talk to you…"

"Sure Claire, I'll be right there…"

Before Claire could say anything else Alex had hung up. So she went outside to wait for him, she didn't want to do this inside and risk that somebody would hear them.

'There he is…' she thought as she saw is car drive up.

"Alex, we need to talk…" she said before he could say anything.

After Alex had handed her the signed papers he clearly didn't look happy. He jumped in his car and drove off and Claire stood there in a dust cloud with the papers in her hand. So this was it, this was the end of her marriage. Claire felt the tears on her cheeks again and walked inside. She needed an envelope and a stamp to send this off so she didn't have to see it for longer than necessary.

Claire went into the study and found what she was had come for. Before she put the papers in the envelope she took one more look at them and then wrote the address on it and added the stamp. Just as she was finished she heard somebody storming in the house shouting for her. As quickly as she could she got the envelope in one of the boxes that were on the desk.

"Claire?" She heard Meg again. "Where are you?"

"I'm in the study Meg. What's wrong?"

"Claire, it's your Dad…I think he's had a heart attack…We need to get him to the hospital as quickly as we can…"

The next hours went by without Claire really noticing. They had taken Jack to the hospital where he was examined and Meg, Claire and little Jodi were waiting. A few hours later it was clear that Jack had had a minor heart attack but he would fully recover. Claire promised him to take care of Drovers till he was fine again.

But with all this new stress in her life and with her worries about Jack Claire just forgot about the papers at the bottom of the box…

24

The day after Claire had spoken to Bryce she got up early and had a long shower. Today was the day she would see Alex again. She was nervous. How would he react when he found out she was pregnant and hadn't told him yet. Claire had decided to tell him about the pregnancy first and leave the news about their marriage for some time later. When Claire got out if the shower and looked through the clothes she had with her she sighed. There was not really anything she would want to wear for her meeting with Alex. She finally chose one of the dresses Tess had bought for her, a nice wide summer dress with flowers on them. She put it on and looked in the mirror and frowned 'Well McLeod' she thought 'He'll know right away you're pregnant. Let's hope he sees clearer this time…" She smiled at the thought of her last pregnancy announcement to Alex. Back then he had been excited after the first shock so she really hoped he would feel the same this time…

Claire got herself ready and on her way to the address Bryce had given her. A pony club! Claire laughed, what the heck did Alex do with ponies?

A few hours later Alex was brushing off one of the ponies in the stables. He had just finished a therapy hour with a little boy and still had a little time till the next little patient would show up. It was Julie, a 10 year old girl with Down syndrome and she was one of Alex's favourites. She always made his day better with her beautiful smile and her positive attitude on life. No matter how bad her day had been she always smiled when she saw the ponies.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't hear that somebody had entered the stables and now stood behind the closed gate of the box.

"Hey Ryan, you need to shrink the horses now so you can handle them?" he heard a voice behind him and when he turned around he looked into a very familiar face

Claire was glad that the box was closed and Alex could only see her face and parts of her upper body. He hadn't realized she was pregnant yet.

"Claire…" Alex said and smiled. "Didn't expect to see you here…" He turned his attention back to the pony

"Well, that's not really my fault now, is it? You were sure hard to find…" Claire got nervous. Although Alex had shown a little smile when he saw her she wasn't sure if he was really happy to see her here.

"Alex, can we talk? There's something I need to tell you…" she then said because he was still brushing off the pony and didn't look at her.

"Claire, this is not a good time. I only have 10 minutes left before my next customer will be here…" Alex put the brush away and walked over to the door where Claire was standing. Claire slipped into the neighbouring box that was empty and Alex opened the box and walked to another box where a bigger pony was waiting.

"If you wanna come back in an hour…I should be finished then" He said without turning around and left Claire in the stables alone.

Claire was surprised. This was definitely not the reaction she had expected…

Alex took Daisy out of her box and let her out of the stables to saddle her up for Julie. He was still surprised to see Claire here. Why was she here? What did she want? Why had it taken her so long to come here? 'Get yourself together Ryan, you got a 10 year old sunshine waiting…'Alex thought and walked away.

Claire didn't know what to do with herself in the next hour. The pony club was too far outside of the city centre to go there and there was just nothing reasonable to do here. So she decided to watch Alex from a safe distance. She really wanted to find out what he was doing here. So she left the stables and found a place where she could sit down and watch the training circuit without Alex noticing her right away. 'There he is…' she thought as Alex walked around the corner with a bigger pony in tow. Then a car pulled up and a woman got out with a little girl on her hand. Even from the distance Claire could see that the girl had trouble walking. What exactly did Alex do here?

When the therapy hour with Julie was almost over Alex suddenly felt a shiver run down his spine. He knew Claire had just walked up to the training area. He didn't want to look at her just now so he turned his attention back to Julie. "Well my little sunshine, we're finished for today. Let's get you off that pony!" Julie didn't agree, as always "Noooo, want more!" She said and looked at Alex with begging eyes. Sometimes Alex would give in and give her another 5 minutes but not today. He knew he needed to talk to Claire. "Sorry Julie, not today. Look, your Mum is already waiting for you…" he said and put the girl on the ground.

Claire had watched the scene as she walked closer. This girl had Down syndrome! She could clearly see that now. So Alex did some kind of charity work here! Claire's heart warmed at the thought. If she hadn't known she wanted him back she would surely know it now! With a smile on her face she stepped up to the fence of the circuit.

When Alex had finally said goodbye to Julie he turned around and yes, there was Claire, leaning against the fence. Was she wearing a dress? He took a closer look and walked towards her. Then he saw it…"You're pregnant!" he shouted out…

25

10 years earlier…

After Alex had signed the annulment papers he just wanted to get away. He would never understand women! NEVER!

"You will NEVER see me again!" He shouted and drove off without taking another look at Claire. He was too mad at her. What was this all about? He had really thought Claire loved him but now it looked like she didn't. Alex felt the tears running down his cheek. He had wanted Claire ever since he first laid eyes on her but now it was all over before it really began.

Since he didn't want his parents or his brother to see him in this state Alex just drove around in his car with no particular place in mind. He finally ended up in Gungellan and once he was there he headed straight for the pub. He was still mad at Claire and if she didn't want him maybe some other girl would.

"Give me a beer Brian!" He shouted as he entered the pub "And keep them coming…I need LOTS tonight!"

He sat down at the bar where his beer was already waiting and drank it in one swallow. "Ah, that's good! Better than any woman out there…"

"What happened Alex? Got dumped?" Brian asked with a smirk and handed Alex a new glass.

"Sorta…"Alex made it clear he didn't wanna talk about it. That was the minute the door opened and Jennifer, Susan and Karen walked in the pub. They were known as Gungellan's "easy girls".

Alex face lit up. "Girls" he said "Wanna have a shot" and pointed over to the pool table. The 3 girls looked at each other and nodded "Why not?" Jen said.

Countless beers and pool games later Jen and Susan were gone and it was just Karen and Alex left. Alex had drowned his sorrow over Claire and Karen was only too willing to hook up with the famous Alex Ryan. They took off together and ended up in the middle of nowhere making out in the back of Alex's ute…