Alright, I confess…I am a hopeless romantic after all. So what?

Chapter Seventeen

"Okay, the little lamb it shall be. What about you, Charlotte?"

The addressed girl shrugged, unsure of what to say. It hadn't gone unnoticed by him, however, that she had been watching the tiny stuffed pony with a longing gaze.

"Come on, you must like something. Don't be shy."

"Stuffed animals are for little kids" she explained.

"I'm not a little kid!" Emily protested.

"Hm, I see. That's of course a problem" Alex replied with a serious expression, winking at his niece. "Tell you what, I'm gonna aim for that pony over there anyway, because I like it."

Emily giggled, but covered her mouth at his warning look.

"Three shots, please."

The middle aged woman behind the counter, who usually worked at the pub, shook her head, but handed him the gun nonetheless. "You'll never make both of them in three attempts, but okay…that'll be one fifty."

He got out the money and handed it to her, taking the rifle with both hands. The children plugged their ears, afraid of the loud bang that they were expecting. Carleigh was right, the stuffed animals were just about the most expensive prize there, so naturally, the targets with their number on them were the hardest to hit as they were moving really fast from left to right, going up and down over hills.

Alex tried to concentrate, but the two fidgety little girls behind him didn't make it any easier. The trick was not to follow the target with the gun, but to position it correctly, keeping your arm steady, and shoot right before it was about to come by, estimating its speed beforehand. He aimed, waited, shot…and, to his own surprise, hit the right target straight away.

Emily jumped up and down in excitement and Charlotte let out an impressed "whoa". The woman behind the counter smiled and grabbed the lamb from the back shelf, handing it over to Alex. "Congratulations!"

He took it and passed it on to Emily. "Here you go, princess."

"Gracias" she replied politely, flashing her sweetest smile. She sure knew how to melt his heart and he was certain that she had chosen the Spanish version on purpose because she knew how adorable he thought it was. Not that he cared.

"What're you gonna name him?" Charlotte was eyeing the lamb with a tiny hint of jealousy.

"It's a she" her cousin declared with serious conviction, gently running her hands over the lamb's soft ears. "I don't know. You can name her, Uncle Alex."

"Oh, actually…that's okay, you just pick a name you like and I'll do the naming ceremony."

"Animals have naming ceremonies, too?" Charlotte asked sceptically.

"Of course, everyone should have a proper naming ceremony!"

"Hmm…I like Taffy, or Lappy or Shamshee, or Ambrosia, or Whitey…"

Alex had to suppress a laugh or grimace at some of his niece's ideas. "Well, she could have more than one name. Which one shall it be?"

"All of them!"

"All of them? Okay." He took the stuffed animal with one hand and put the other on its head in a festive gesture, trying to keep a straight face. "Lamb, I hereby name you Taffy Lappy Shamshee Whitey Ambrosia. And may you, uh…may you always carry that name with pride."

The girls giggled and Carleigh cleared her throat audibly. "Are you gonna use those other two shots?"

"Sure."

He handed the lamb back to Emily and aimed at the next target, number fourteen. Somehow, the white plastic flashing by distracted him the longer he looked at it, with the numbers becoming a blur. He had to hit it; it was important to him to treat the two children equally. It didn't matter how often he'd miss, he would simply keep on trying.

Somehow, the thoughts he had spent on it made it come true: he missed his target. He had simply hesitated for too long. "Ow…well, let's give it another shot."

On his second attempts, he tried to keep things as straightforward as possible – no thinking, just aiming, keeping it steady, shooting. And it worked! Charlotte was beaming when he gave her the pony.

The woman behind the counter sighed. "You know, Alex, people like you make me poor. One of these days, I'm gonna go into the city and we'll see how well people are gonna do there!"

"You do that, Carleigh, and don't forget to send me a postcard when you get there. See ya!"

Alex led the girls away from the booth. "So, have you decided on a name yet?"

Charlotte nodded. "Lulu."

"Oh, that's a pretty name." Emily looked at him suspiciously. "So is Taffy Lappy…Ambrosia, of course" he added quickly.

They were just about to work their way over to the carousel, through the crowd of people, when he saw Nick and Tess coming towards them. The girls rushed over to their side and showed them their new stuffed animals.

Alex couldn't hear what exactly was being said over the noise, but he caught Tess's "did you say thank you?" Nick took them over to the carousel, one of the two rides, the thing they had been most excited for.

Tess lingered for a moment. "Thanks for watching them!"

"No problem."

"They seemed pretty impressed by the shooting part. I think in their esteem, you've just risen to 'coolest uncle ever'."

He grinned, but tried not to show too much how happy it made him. "What do you mean 'risen to', I've always been the coolest uncle!"

Tess shook her head with a smile. "I'm gonna go catch up with them."

"Alright, see you later."

Suddenly, he felt two hands covering his eyes from behind. The shock only lasted a split-second, before he recognized her by the perfume she seldom used, the vague scent of sheep, which had lingered nonetheless, and a quiet chuckle. She had to be in a very playful mood. He smirked. "Hey, Kelly. I missed you, baby."

Stevie removed her hands and slapped his arm. "You're unbelievable!"

"No violence, please…" he laughed, turning around. "I'm just joking."

She shook her head. "Men. You frustrate me."

"Well, I'd shoot you a prize at the booth, if I didn't know that you're way too independent for that and would feel offended by it" he teased her.

"Damn right" she replied with a smirk. "That and I couldn't decide between the teddies and the plastic jewellery."

"You could always go for those little whistle things." He put his arm around her and they walked on with no particular direction. "I bet Jodi, Tess and Chloe would just love it if you used one of those to communicate with them."

Stevie smiled with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. "That's actually not a bad idea, but if I were to get one, I'd shoot it myself. I can't let you have all the fun."

He tapped his hat. "As you wish, ma'am."

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Nick and Jodi were standing at the side of the dance floor, observing the lively goings around them. Old evergreens were being played, interspersed with up-to-date country songs. The yellow and red spotlights, as well as the orange lampions and the colourful fairy lights, provided a perfect atmosphere underneath the starry summer sky. In spite of the heavy heat during the day, the nights had already started to cool down a little to a more comfortable temperature. Jodi had draped a light, transparent turquoise shawl around her shoulders, for the purpose of fashion rather than that of keeping warm, Nick supposed.

Couples of all ages as well as groups of young girls and guys were enjoying the music, shaking a leg on the dance floor or chatting with friends. Nick watched Tess with a mild smile on his face while she was dancing with the girls, spinning them over and over again in wild pirouettes. The children showed no hint of fatigue even at this hour; they were way too agitated to feel tired.

He let his gaze wander across the brink of the dance floor, still trying to find a potential partner for Jodi. "What about that bloke over there?"

"The guy in the green shirt? You have good taste in men." An amused smile spread on Jodi's face.

"Don't ever mention anything of the kind to Alex, or I'll get to hear that for the rest of my life."

"No worries, your secret is safe with me" she remarked with a wink.

He sighed. "That's what I get for trying to help you. So anyway, what's wrong with him?"

"He's in a relationship."

"How do you know?"

"Well, he doesn't look gay to me."

"That doesn't mean-"

"And he doesn't seem shy either. See that attractive brunette in the short skirt over there, standing right next to him?"

Nick still didn't get the point. "Yeah?"

"Look at her body language, she's just waiting for him to ask her to dance and trust me, if he weren't in a relationship, he would've asked her by now. No man would let that chance pass."

He chuckled, shaking his head. "If you say so…"

A minute later, a pretty young woman and a man approached the guy in question. Jodi nudged Nick as the guy gave the woman a quick peck on the lips and put an arm around her. "See?"

"Coincidence, mere coincidence…"

Jodi wasn't listening, still focused on the couple, who were heading for the dance floor…or so it seemed. "Quick, Nick, go dance with your wife."

"What?"

"The other bloke, he's standing over there by himself, looking around…go, if you stay here much longer, he's gonna think we're a couple and ask the brunette to dance."

Nick laughed and did as Jodi had told him, leaving her. As he was heading over to Tess and the kids, the lights slowly changed from reddish tones to a dark blue and a slow song he didn't recall the name of came on.

Grow old along with me

The best is yet to be…

He put his hand on her lower back lightly, making her aware of his presence. "Would you like to dance?"

She turned around and smiled. "I thought you'd never ask. Would you excuse me for a moment, girls?"

The children didn't react; they had already joined hands and started doing "twister turns" that did not match the music at all.

Tess took Nick's hand and put her other one on his shoulder, while he drew her closer. They started dancing slowly, barely moving from the spot. She was still smiling at him, a smile of true contentedness.

…Grow old along with me

Two branches of one tree

Face the setting sun

When the day is done…

"I wonder where Stevie and Alex are…they disappeared a long time ago."

"Well, it's not that hard to imagine, is it?" Nick replied with a smirk.

…Spending our lives together…

"I'm glad they finally got things sorted out" Tess remarked. "They both deserve some happiness."

"Yeah. Although this is still just a start."

"But a good one."

…Whatever fate decrees
We will see it through…

They danced on in silence, or rather moved more and more slowly, just following the basic rhythm. Tess put her head on his shoulder. She was so close, he could feel the warmth of her body, smell the scent of her shampoo, even synchronize his breathing with hers. So incredibly close…

When the song ended, she sighed. "I wish it could always be like this."

"Me too."

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"Alex?"

"Hm?"

"I just found the solution."

"To what?"

"To what we were talking about, of course."

"Oh…right." He shifted a little. Her head was getting heavy on his arm, but, at the same time, he didn't want to change positions either. Firstly, because he enjoyed the contact and secondly, because he was simply too lazy to move.

Stevie chuckled. "You really did have a couple of beers more than me, didn't you?"

"What's the solution?"

"We could just sleep here."

"In the back of the Ute?"

"Well, there's no better solution, really. Neither one of us can still drive and the pub's rooms are all occupied. See, aren't you glad we took the Ute now? That's the good side of your car breaking down…"

"Believe me, there can't be a good side to that" he said sombrely. "You're right, though, it's all I can think of right now. And it's not cold, either…just uncomfortable."

"Oh, come on, you were just about to doze off!"

"Yeah…I guess I was" he replied seriously.

Stevie turned a little and lifted her head to see his face; he had sounded so tranquil and yet thoughtful, all of a sudden. Alex was smiling up at the dark night sky wistfully. It was an inward smile, not the kind commonly used to convey pleasure to someone else. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing" he muttered slowly, absent-mindedly, and his smile grew a little wider while his gaze was still fixed on the dark and yet so luminous sky. "Nothing."

She snuggled up a little closer against him with the faint understanding that this was one of these things that couldn't possibly be shared.

"It's just that…the stars haven't shone this brightly in a long time."

"No. No, I guess they haven't."