The next chapter is online. Have fun and please leave a review.

Thanks to my beta, Isi.

The title of this chapter is a line from "The Lord Of The Rings" but says everything you need to know about the chapter so I used it.

Disclaimer: I don't own McLeods Daughters.

18. One Ring To Bind Them

As soon as Alex had parked his ute on Killarney he ran into the house, looking for his mother. Nobody was in the kitchen so he went into the living room. Liz was there aranging some flowers at a table.

----

"Hey mom."

"Hello Alex. You're already back? I thought you wouldn't be here that often anymore."

"Thought so too but I have to ask you for a favour. I need your help."

"Go ahead my son."

"Would you come with me to Adelaide today?"

"I would love to but today is a really bad day. It's the meeting of the local farmer's wives club. You know I'm the head of it and I can't miss this meeting."

"Oh." He replied slightly disappointed. "Well then, I'll go on my own. Have fun at your meeting."

His mother noticed his mood. "What did you want to do in Adelaide? Is something wrong with Claire or the baby? What's bothering you, my son?"

"Nothing important. Nick needs a hand. We'll catch up later. See ya." "Hopefully I will get the right one without her help." He thought while he turned around to leave the house.

"What are you up to. I know that something is going on."

Mothers were weird, they knew a lot even if nobody told them anything. Alex turned back.

"I wanted to buy something for Claire and I need a second opinion. That should have been your part but you can't so I've got two options. I could go on my own or wait until it fits into your schedule."

"What do you want to buy."

"Uhm Mom ..." He couldn't say more so he stopped.

That wasn't the self-confident son Liz had reared. "Alexander Marion Ryan you will tell me right now what bothers you and what you want to buy."

His mother surprised him with that reaction because she had barely used his full embarrassing name his whole life. "You still can't keep a secret from her."I want to buy her a ring, an engagement ring." Alex gave in and told her.

"That's all? That's simple. I'll skip my plans. They have to do the meeting without me. An engagement ring is more important than anything else." She answered relieved because her son wasn't in trouble as she had imagined. "Wait a moment I'll get my handbag and leave a note for Harry."

"Thanks mom, I'll wait in the car."

----

A few minutes later Liz left the house, shut the door and got into Alex' ute. They were already driving for half an hour when she started to talk.

"So how is it on Drovers Run for you? You already spent two nights there. Is the work on your room done?"

"It's working out. I've done the work at the room yesterday but there wasn't much to do, at least not as much as I had expected. The rest is going on very well. I train the horse, Tess does the other work at the farm and Claire delegates the work because she can't work. Yesterday Nick was over for dinner."

"That sounds nice. So you have already settled a date for the wedding?"

"No, we haven't and I don't think Claire is expecting the ring but I think it belongs to a real marriage even if this one is for the baby's sake."

"You're right. All women want a nice engagement ring as a memory of their happy life lying behind them when they are getting old or becoming grannies."

"Mom, Claire and I are still having our future ahead of us. We don't talk about memories yet."

"You're right but it's different at my age. I still see the little boy Alex running around in his nappies in front of myself when I think about you but you're grown up now and going to start your own family. That time went by in a second." A tear of joy appeared in the corner of Liz' eye. She wiped it away. Lately she was very emotional when she thought about her sons, especially when she thought about her engaged son Alex. He was going to start his own family soon. There would be no space left for her, his mom, in his life.

"Oh mom, you really see me in my nappies? Believe me I'm not wearing nappies anymore so please get another picture of me. I'm allowed to drive a car for some years now." He replied smiling.

----

They finally saw the skyline of Adelaide in front of them. When they arrived in the centre of the city Alex looked for a parking lot. He found one close to the central business district. There were lots of opportunities to shop, not just jewellery. There were shops for everything. They got out of the car and walked the last meters to the pedestrian zone.

"Let's take 'Sheldon's jeweller's shop' over there." Liz said pointing towards a shop lying ahead of them. "I've been there a few times. They have a wide range of nice jewellery. Harry bought the bracelet he gave me to our 25th anniversary there. I still love it."

"Well then. Let's take a look."

Together they walked into the shop. Immediatly a female shop-assistent came to them. "Hello Mrs Ryan. Nice to see you again. It has been a while since your last visit. How are you?"

"Hello Lara. Nice to see you too. I'm fine. Thanks for asking. May I intodruce you to my son, Alexander. He wants to buy an engagement ring. Could you please show us some?"

"Of course. What kind of ring do you imagine, Mr Ryan?" Clara asked him.

"I think white gold would be nice and it should be simple but not too simple. Actually I would like a diamond embedded in it."

Liz was astonished by the picture her son already had in mind. It was a good picture because that kind of ring would be perfectly for Claire. It matched her own imagination of the engagement ring she would have recommended to Alex.

"Please come over to the desk. I will just get some examples which might match with your imagination." Pointing towards a desk she went away and took some wooden boxes out of a drawer. Meanwhile Liz and Alex sat down at that desk. With the wooden boxes in her hand Lara returned to the table. She sat down opposite to them and opened the boxes. "Please, have a look. I think this kind of ring is too fancy if you want something simple." She said pointing towards a box. "But this ring could match."

All three looked at the different rings. "That one is it." Alex said nearly immediatly, took the ring out of the box and held it in front of himself and his mother to get a closer look. "That's Claire. I can see her wearing it." The ring was only partly white gold with some gold at one side of the ring. A small diamond was embedded as he had imagined before.

"I like it too but don't you think we shall have another look?"

"No, mom. That's her, that's really her. I'll take that one."

"Ok. How would you like to pay?"

"Credit card." Alex answered and handed it to her.

"One moment please." She went away with his credit card.

"It's a wonderful choice Alex. Claire will love that ring. You didn't need my opinion at all." Liz told him smiling.

The shop-assistent came back. "Here is your card Mr Ryan and the receipt. I'll just put the ring into a box and wrap it. Then you're ready to propose to your girlfriend."

"I've already proposed I just hadn't had a ring."

"Well then your fiancée will be happy to get such a beautiful ring."

"Thanks but please don't wrap it. I'll hand it to her out of the box."

"Sure. Anything else I can do for you or you, Mrs Ryan?" Clara asked while she handed the box to Alex.

"No thanks, we've got everything we needed." Liz answered and stood up as well as Alex.

"I hope we'll see you soon again Mrs Ryan. You and your fiancée are welcome at any time too, Mr Ryan. If you want to buy your wedding rings, we'll love to help you with that. Good bye." They shook each others hand and left the store.

----

"Do you mind if we will do some shopping now, Alex?" Usually Liz did that after she had finished the business she had to do in Adelaide.

"Yeah, I would like to have a look for a tuxedo too. I need a new one."

"Then we should start right now." She answered and walked towards a store with expensive designer clothes. They looked at dresses and tuxedos but had enough after a while although they hadn't bought anything.

Alex looked at his watch. "We missed lunch. Do you want something to eat, mom?"

"That would be nice. There's this nice little Italian restaurant down the street. I would like to get something to eat there. Afterwards we should go home. There will be work to do for you and for me."

"Yeah, good idea. But first I'll call Claire and tell her when I'll be back."

"Take your dad's mobile phone." Liz handed it over to him, so he called Claire and moved a few steps away from his mother while the phone dialed. She didn't have to know everything.

----

The phone rang so Claire went to get the call. It was Alex as he had promised.

"Hey sweetheart." He said in a funny tone. "I'll be back at about 6 o'clock. Harry has still got much work for me to do."

"Ok, see you then but don't get back later. We're going to have a barbie tonight. I invited everybody from last night because of my behaviour. I want to apologise, honey." She answered in a funny way too and called him by his new nickname.

"About 6 o'clock. I'll be there. Shall I get something on the way back?"

"Which way? You're just at Killarney." That was a weird question because he wouldn't pass any shops on his way.

"Yeah, you're right but I ... I still have to go to Gungellan. I could go shopping there if you need something." The most stupid excuse he could find in the hurry.

"No, everything is under control. You just need a good mood and the sense to pair off someone."

"Whom?"

"You'll notice later." She answered laughing and hang up.

Alex did the same and thought about whom she had referred to. It couldn't be Nick and Tess. They already had spent the night together although he and Claire had spent a night together too and were still just friends.

----

After that call he had something to eat with his mom and drove back home afterwards.