Page 105 of Where the Wattles Bloom

She slid her hands over his. ‘Plenty.’

They lapsed into silence again, their hands in place, waiting for a movement that never failed to make him smile. None were forthcoming, but there was something about this pose that made him feel very possessive.

His woman. His baby.

Neanderthal, sure. But there nonetheless.

‘Reggie tackled me today,’ she said into the hush. ‘About my intentions.’

Swearing under his breath, he muttered, ‘Sorry.’

‘No.’ She shook her head, the soft spring of her hair caressing his neck. ‘It’s fine. She’s right. Time’s a-ticking. We should make plans.’

Lachlan let out a deep, relieved breath. He’d been going to broach the subject with her in a few days, after they’d completed the muster and drenching. But now was better.

‘We should.’

She didn’t say anything for a beat. ‘Have you given any thought to the situation?’

Lachlan almost laughed out loud. Any thought? He’d been around and around the houses with it from the moment he’d discovered Rowena was pregnant.

‘Of course.’ Lachlan could suddenly hear his pulse in his ears. This was an important conversation—he didn’t want to screw it up. ‘But I know you’re wanting to go back to the city and that will dictate a lot of what happens next. So I’d like to hear your thinking on how we navigate this.’

She nodded and he sensed she was ordering her thoughts. ‘My last shift in Acacia Junction is November twenty-eight. And I’m due back at work in Sydney on December second.’

Lachlan shut his eyes. Tomorrow was the first of November. She’d be twenty-four weeks pregnant by the end of the month and probably be really starting to show.

‘I’ve been trying to plan past that but, honestly … I don’t know. I thought I’d see how I go for that first month back in Sydney. How I feel.’

How she felt about what? The job? The city? Him …? ‘Okay,’ he said tentatively.

‘How does that sound to you?’

It sounded like a taking-it-each-day-as-it-came plan and he needed more certainty than that. As a farmer he worked to an annual calendar. Things were done at the same time every year—lambing, crutching, shearing—so he always knew what he was doing well ahead of time.

Being a father wasn’t the same thing, he knew. He didn’t have to be a parent to know there was a degree of unpredictability. But it would be good to have the next twenty weeks more clearly outlined, not just the first month.

‘I think I need …’ Lachlan felt like he was picking his way through a minefield of Lego bricks in the middle of a blackout. ‘A little more detail than that.’

‘Okay …’ Clearly, she was being tentative too. ‘Like what?’

‘Like some kind of outline for the remainder of the pregnancy. Starting with Christmas and including things like antenatal appointments and maternity leave timing and where the baby’s going to be born and do you want me there? Or do you just want someone like your mother? You haven’t talked about her much so I’m assuming you’re not close, but childbirth is different, right? A lot of women want their mothers with them.’

That’s what he’d been reading anyway.

‘Which is understandable,’ he hastened to add. He didn’t want to get in the way of any of that. ‘Also, is it okay if I come visit you in the city when I can get away from here? And do you see us as platonic co-parents going forward or do you want something more?’

Other questions crowded his brain, but she’d tensed up at the current barrage so he stopped.

‘That’s quite a list,’ she said, with a little half laugh that sounded more bemused than amused.

She turned then, the water sloshing in the bath as her front slid over his front, looking up into his face.

‘Let’s take this from the top, shall we? I won’t be free for Christmas. After almost a year away from the place, I’m not going to swan in and ask for Christmas off. It’s always hotly contested and people will have already made plans months ago. I don’t want to annoy people my first few weeks back.’

Begrudgingly, Lachlan understood. It might have been a long time since he’d worked shifts but he still remembered what a bun fight the Christmas roster was.

‘Yes,’ she continued, ‘there will be antenatal appointments. Finding an obstetrician is a top priority when I get back and, if you want and you can swing it, then it would be great if you could attend as many of those appointments as possible. I should be able to give you plenty of notice. Which means, you will be seeing me in Sydney.’