Chapter Thirteen

Jodi was staring at the thing in her hands, utterly bushed. What could it possibly be for? She turned the heavy metal ring, pressed down the lever attached to it, but it pretty much looked the same from all sides- familiar, though! Someone had used this, to fix something…but what? She couldn't put her finger on it.

„Stevie?"

„What?" She peeked around the corner of the shed. There were pearls of sweat on her forehead, a few loose curls were sticking to her face and she had smeared some dirt on her temple.

And it was only around two p.m., Jodi reckoned. They still had hours of work ahead of them. "Where does this…metal-thingy go?"

"Jodi, that's an emergency replacement device for the new water pump, you use it to adjust a smaller tube to it, if the big one's damaged" Stevie explained, little amused by Jodi's ignorance.

The younger woman rolled her eyes. "How could I not know, since we use this thing every day! Besides, you don't even know what it's called."

"Why, that's a…a ring-adapter-thing." She shrugged, unable to hide her smirk. "Just put it back there, where the pump is."

"Righto." She walked over to the provisional stack of cardboard boxes, looking for the right one. "You know, I have no idea how we could manage without Tess, Regan and Kate. We really need more workers, qualified workers. It's gonna take us forever to get that shed fixed and organized, and then there's the cattle auction this weekend..."

"Sure, if you find someone who'll work for free from dawn till dusk, don't hesitate to employ them. I agree, Jodi, but you know our financial situation...hey, there's Tess and Chloe! Finally!" She waved at them from a distance, and Jodi joined in for a moment.

"Yeah" she sighed, crouching down to grub in the dirt for more utensils which might have been scattered. "I think we're pretty much done with this, let's grab the bigger chunks of wood."

"I need to go change Mistral's compress first, she foundered a little this morning. You can get started on the smaller sheets of corrugated iron."

Jodi nodded, complaints wouldn't help here, no matter how much her back ached. This work needed to be done sooner or later. At least the sky was still clouded, so she would be spared a sunburn this time. While Stevie left the shed-ruin, she took a big gulp out of her water bottle, stretched her upper body, and bent back down again to pull a broken board of wood out of the rubble. "Here we go…"

"How far did you get?" Tess asked down from her horse.

"Um, we're done with the yard and the closer paddocks, the windmill wasn't damaged, and we re-sorted the stuff that was still useable from here. As soon as the debris is removed, we can start fixing the shed. You?"

"We did the boundary check, a part of the fence out on Skinny Jim's is broken and some of the cattle got through, so we had to get them back and drove them down onto Jack's Folly."

"Just the two of you?" Jodi was impressed, this wasn't easy, especially if one of the cattle drovers was to be Chloe.

"Yes, that's why it took us so long."

"No wonder. I'll fix the fence later."

"No, Chloe will get onto that. She knows how to do it by now" Tess stated confidently, turning to the young woman. "Take the Ute, it's quicker."

"I will."

"Uh…okay" Jodi muttered, slightly irritated. Something about her sister's voice and the way she looked at her was icy, as if a strange, cool politeness had to be maintained in order to retain a sort of ceasefire. This was getting awkward. She knew that they would have to talk about what happened sometime, but was afraid of the reproaches she was certain to hear. Yet it was far worse that it stood between them as an unacknowledged bomb that was sure to explode sooner or later. This artificial friendliness was worse than any accusations could have been. At that moment, Jodi wished that Tess would just yell at her and get it over with.

Chloe looked back and forth between the two women, clearly sensing the tension. "I should…go unsaddle Bonnie and get started on that fence." She dismounted the mare and led her out of hearing range quickly.

Tess got off her horse, too, and observed the shed in silence, one hand stemmed to her hip.

"I think we should re-do the basis of the roof, too, instead of just fixing the holes" Jodi suggested with an enthusiasm that came across just a bit too cheerful to be heartfelt. "It's gonna cost more, but we'll have a lot less trouble with it. That wood looks decayed and if it is, the whole roof could come crashing down anytime."

"No, that's not going to happen, it's well supported. And we don't have time to re-do it, a new delivery of drench agent is going to be here on Friday. We have no room to store that stuff anywhere else. Besides, there's the auction on Saturday-"

"Oh, so we're definitely going?"

"You, Stevie and Chloe are- help me here." Tess heaved up a large corrugated sheet.

Jodi grabbed the other end of it and together, they moved it out of the way.

"I have to catch up on some paperwork and…go through the books" she added. "Nick's got an appointment with a doctor in Fisher, and somebody has to watch the kids."

"What about Mum?"

"She'll take the day off."

"Well, you really haven't been to a cattle auction in a long time, and if you wanna go…" Jodi hesitated, studying her sister's poker face. She just wanted to be nice, but wasn't sure how Tess would react to her idea. "I could stay here, take care of the paperwork and watch the girls."

"That's an interesting suggestion, coming from you" Tess replied harshly.

'Well done, Jodi' she thought to herself. Of course she had once again chosen the wrong thing to say. Why did this always happen to her? "Tess, listen, about yesterday…I really had no idea that Charlotte was able to hear my conversation with Mum. It wasn't meant for her ears, she was outside playing. Look, I am so sorry about what happened, I wish I hadn't-"

"Then why did you say it?" Suddenly, the poker face had disappeared. A mixture of anger and disappointment was reflected in her eyes, and it was the disappointment that really got to Jodi. "Why couldn't you, for once, keep something like that to yourself? Is it that hard!"

"I didn't think that much about it, it was just…one of those comments you make during the day and forget about later!" She run her fingers through her hair in a scatterbrained manner. "Again, I'm sorry, but how could I have known that she was listening?"

"You could have kept an eye on her! And why are you apologizing to me, anyway?"

"I don't know, you've always been the…responsible one. And you were so worried, not that I wasn't, I was…I was, because you see, she's my niece, too."

"Then start acting like it!" Tess shouted. "You're not a teenager anymore, Jodi, you are 26 years old! Talk to Charlotte about it, do something…start takingresponsibility!"

Jodi swallowed. "Yeah, I…um…I should have…" She felt horrible. It wasn't like Tess to lash out at others like that, so if she did, someone had to have acted really stupid. And she did have a point there: Jodi hadn't been much of an aunt for either one of her nieces. The idea of it had been so strange to her, being "Aunt Jodi"…weird thought.

It occurred to her that she hadn't been much of a substitute leader for Drover's Run, either. Sure, theoretically, she and Stevie had agreed to an "equal status", but Stevie had pushed through all of the big ideas. Jodi was a part-owner, but not a decision-maker, a relative, but not a present aunt. She wasn't somebody's wife or mother, either, and there really were no great accomplishments worth mentioning in her life. She was just Jodi.

Apparently, Tess had vented off her anger. She was looking at her sister with an expression of discontentment and annoyance, confused by her meek stuttering. Jodi tried to steady her voice, to seem more proud, but that didn't quite work out as planned. "You know…you're right. But I'm not you, Tess. I'm the illegitimate McLeod."

She turned around and walked away, before her sister could say anything else.

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"Stevie?"

"Hm?"

"Are you awake?"

"No, I'm talking in my sleep" she mumbled into her pillow. "Just ignore it."

He chuckled. "Alright. Good night."

"'night."

The room fell silent again, the only audible sound being the calm, steady breathing of its two occupants. Alex stared up into the darkness, then out the window at the half moon, wondering how many hours were to remain until the first shimmer of sunlight would finally light up the horizon. He was wide-awake, too excited by his resolution to let his mind rest. It was perfect, no doubt about it, it had to be. He had spent too many hours, too many years questioning his intuition, had become too careful to believe that long-term happiness was possible. And yet he couldn't resist jumping into it again, it could be different this time, and even if it wasn't - short-term felicity was well worth it. All this had occurred to him in one single moment. Although the idea of it had to have been there before, it had just hit him out there. But he had to be cautious, let it grow…take one step at a time.

When he shifted for the thousandth time, trying to find a comfortable position, Stevie suddenly sat up, pulling the light sheet up to her armpits. "Okay, I'm listening, but it better be important!"

"Never mind, it's not urgent, we can talk about it tomorrow."

She looked at him, able to see his facial expression in the dimly lit room, and something about that complacent smile of his made her curious. "No, you might as well…I couldn't go back to sleep now anyway."

Alex just got carried away by the moment, too carried away to listen. The moon let Stevie look pale, but she was still beautiful, in that serene, mysterious way. Her untamed curls fell onto her bare shoulders loosely, her brown eyes were glistening and the milky light made her skin shimmer in a bluish tone. And then, there was that look, that piercing look…it was definitely sexy. Alright, time to focus. What had he been about to say again?

Stevie smirked, brushing a strand of hair out of her face self-consciously. "What?"

He sat up, too, looking at her more seriously. "Do you realize how much money we're spending on gas just to drive back and forth between Drover's Run and Killarney all day long?"

She laughed incredulously. "What? And that's so damn urgent that you have to tell me about it in the middle of the night?"

"Well, it's expensive…and we're polluting the environment."

"Right. I'm glad you got that out of your system."

"And wasn't it strange for you to move back into the cottage, after having lived in the homestead for so long? It was all Jodi's place, and now everything's changed…"

"Go ahead, rub it in-"

"Sorry, but the cottage really is a lot smaller."

"I like it. It's got a personal touch to it, and I don't have to share it with anyone."

"Yeah…" His smile faded all of a sudden. "Sure, but…not sharing it…I mean…you can get lonely sometimes, right?"

If Stevie had a remote sense of what he might be hinting at, she pushed the thought aside quickly. Everything seemed to come so out of the blue. She was confused and tired, and it was just way too late at night for this kind of conversation. This was probably just the incoherent rambling of an insomniac. Alex was making no sense at all, and it annoyed her. "Look, we both have to get up early tomorrow -which is actually today- so get to the point. Are we talking about pollution here, or money, different living circumstances, or…?"

"Shh." He put a finger to her lips, shushing her. "Just listen. I know that we haven't really talked about it before, and it's a big thing, but I was wondering if maybe…if maybe you wanted to come live with me…on Killarney."

He tried to find a positive or negative emotional reaction in her face, but she just looked at him with this baffled, speechless expression of surprise. There was no overt excitement, no romance about the moment, it just was what it was- a question about a clear direction.

But to Alex, the moment seemed to drag. He felt obliged to explain himself. "Cos everytime you're there, it just feels so right, and when you're not…I miss you. And I wish I was the kind of person who could put this into fancy words, but, you know, I love you."

Her lips curled up to the hint of a smile, and she shook her head, looking at him warmly. He didn't quite know what to make of it.

"So what do you say? You don't need to answer right away, but…" he grinned, "well, it would be nice to know what side you're on."

"Have you really thought this through?"

"I thought it through, and when I was done, I started all over again. Believe me, I know what I'm saying."

Stevie nodded. "Okay."

Alex felt his heart racing with excitement. "Is that an 'okay' as in 'okay, whatever you say', or as in 'okay, I do want to move in with you'?"

She chuckled, beaming happily. "Both, did you think I'd say no?"

It took him a moment to realize the impact of her words, but when he did, he was filled by a surge of joy. "That's great...oh yeah, that's great!"

He pulled her into a vehement embrace, which made her laugh. "But just because of those benefits you pointed out! I'm sure it'll do a great deal against, you know…global pollution and-"

Alex silenced her with a kiss, which grew more intense as her giddy excitement was replaced by overwhelming happiness. Neither one of them wasted another thought on sleep.