Page 8 of A Chance to Believe

Kimberley shook her head. ‘Jim will be in for lunch, so they’ll eat in their own little nook off the kitchen. Jim is the home farm manager.’

‘You have more than one manager?’

‘Of course. Dad and Ben can’t do everything, and the place is big enough. We have three managers.’

Shayne’s voice sent a shiver down into her belly. ‘I have a manager to assist me with the specialty stock. Ben has one for the merinos and Jim manages the gardens near the house, including the veggies and the chooks. We also have a milker and some pigs, which are Jim’s personal project.’

‘I didn’t realise the farm was so diverse.’

‘We’ve always had the merinos for the wool and meat. After the wool boom faded, my grandfather wanted to diversify to make us more resilient.’

* * *

Shayne pulled himself up. Cassie wouldn’t be interested in the choices his family had made about the farm. She was no doubt being polite.

He handed her the platter and she helped herself to a couple of slices of chicken breast. He found himself studying her face, looking for differences. Were there hollows under her eyes? He remembered Courtney complaining in the late stages of her pregnancy about not being able to get a decent night’s sleep. Between Kimberley kicking her in the ribs and pressing on her bladder, she’d declared babies not worth the effort. Maybe love made the difference, because she’d glowed through her two pregnancies once she’d married Calvin Neilsen. Shayne understood her motivations better now, with maturity. It kept him wary. Until Cassie breeched some of those defences. He wasn’t sure where this surge of protectiveness came from.

Her eyes met his, a mocking gleam lightening the brown, and he dumped the platter back on the table in front of his brother. Ben gave him a knowing look before stacking his plate with meat. Making a fool of himself was the order of the day. He sucked in a breath as his brother leaned forward to address Cassie.

‘How long are you planning to stay?’

She swallowed a mouthful of food. ‘I’m planning on staying indefinitely if I can find accommodation. That might be the hard part.’

‘You should stay here.’

Shayne tried to keep his expression neutral while his heart sped up. Cassie living here?

‘I couldn’t.’ Her rejection came out at the same time as a resounding ‘No’ from Kim.

Shayne caught the query in his brother’s expression. ‘What were you thinking?’

‘We have the annex flat empty. She could move in there for the time being.’

It had occurred to him to offer the small annex attached to the back corner of the house by a short corridor. It had been a kitchen and cook’s quarters at the turn of the last century before the new kitchen within the house had been built post World War I. At one time, it had been used as the housekeepers’ residence and Courtney had stayed there during her pregnancy and the first couple of years after the birth. It had been mostly empty since his grandmother had moved into the nursing home around the same time as his parents shifted into town twelve months ago.

‘I imagine Cassie would prefer to live in town.’

She looked from Ben to him. ‘Not necessarily. What flat?’

Shayne shrugged. ‘We have a small flat out the back. It’s fully self-contained. You could stay there if you don’t mind being out of town.’

‘Why would I mind? It’s close to town if I need to shop or visit. I do have a car.’

‘I don’t imagine you’re used to driving so far.’

‘I take ten minutes to get to the station and forty minutes by train to get into the city centre when I’m working. City dwellers may not cover the same amount of distance in the time, but we’re used to it taking a while to get anywhere, especially in traffic.’

Ben pushed his plate away. ‘That’s settled then. Are you going to show her, or will I?’

‘I will.’ She may be almost a stranger, yet he had a proprietary interest in her. He knew Ben was only stirring him, but he fell for the bait anyway. Cassie was here for him, and they were his children she carried.

Shayne walked slower this time. Not enough to be patronising, but she would have time to orient herself. The corridor was between the kitchen and what used to be storerooms at the opposite end of the house from his office. They’d enclosed the short passageway in the 1970s, cladding it on the outside with fake chamfer board panels. Cassie looked out the glass door halfway along that opened onto the back patio and pool area.

‘Does the pool get used a lot?’

‘All the time. Kim often has friends over for casual pool parties. Ben is more serious about it.’

‘I imagine it would be excellent therapy for his leg.’

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