Adopted: Twins!

CHAPTER FOUR

MATT arrived home at about three and he couldn’t find them. There were no kids in sight, and there was no Erin.

He walked from living rooms to bedrooms. No one. He went outside and checked the out-buildings. He checked that Erin’s car was where it had been parked the night before and still he couldn’t find them.

Finally he checked the house once more, and this time his old collie, Sadie, decided to join him. As they passed the laundry, Sadie whined and put up a paw. He pushed the door open-and there were the three of them, sitting on the floor with three noses pressed hard against the glass of the tumble dryer.

They were watching the tumble dryer?

‘Isn’t the television working?’ he asked dryly, and they swivelled to face him.

They really were the most ill-assorted trio! The charity bin hadn’t been good to them, he thought. Nothing fitted anywhere.

Yet Erin looked amazing!

He hauled his eyes from her with an almost Herculean effort. Concentrate on the twins! he told himself.

The twins were wearing jogging suit pants that were way too big, and T-shirts that were far too small. Their sea-green eyes were over big and over bright in their anxious faces and, as they looked up at him, he felt his heart give a thump of sympathy. They looked such waifs!

But Erin…

He failed. Try as he might, he couldn’t turn his eyes from her. She didn’t look much less waif-like herself.

She was wearing someone’s cast-off crimplene dress-pale blue with pink spots, buttoned to the waist and belted with a cheap and nasty plastic belt. The dress looked as if it was meant for a woman of sixty. The bust size was about five sizes too big for her and it looked ridiculous. How she managed to still look beautiful was beyond him.

‘If you so much as smile, you’re dead meat,’ she said, reading at least some of his thoughts, and he wiped the tentative smile from his face, hoped she hadn’t read the rest and tried for a look of innocence.

‘Now why would I smile?’

‘Because this is-or was-Beverly Borridge’s second-best Country Women’s Association dress, and it’s the only thing I can fit into. Her breasts must be…’

She faltered as his eyes fell immediately to the points in question. She blushed bright pink, she folded her arms defiantly across her chest and she turned back to the dryer.

‘Huge,’ she finished, but she was no longer looking at him.

He couldn’t help it. He grinned-which was exactly the wrong thing to do, because she sensed it. She turned back and caught the grin full on and retaliated just like Erin had retaliated as a kid at school. No one teased Erin Douglas without copping it right back.

A sodden towel was lying by her side. How convenient. Her lips twitched into a smile, she lifted it and she threw with deadly accuracy. It whacked him with a soggy thwump; slap across his face.

She was some shot.

She was some lady!

But, soggy or not, he still didn’t know what they were doing. Matt removed the towel from around his shoulders, laid it aside, wiped the grin from his face and crossed to the dryer. Once more, they all had their backs to him and they were staring at the dryer.

There was nothing for it but to see for himself. He crouched down beside them and stared at the glass.

‘What’s the program here?’ he asked. ‘Something good? Days Of Our Lives-or General Hospital?’

The twins simply ignored him. After that one brief glance they’d gone straight back to watching the glass window. Their anxiety was palpable and they were watching the glass as if their lives depended on it.

So Matt watched, too, and he saw a pair of eyes flash past the glass. And also a tail.

All was suddenly clear. ‘That’s Tigger,’ he said in amazement.

‘Of course it’s Tigger.’ Erin nodded and went right back to Tigger-watching. ‘I rang the manufacturer. I hope you don’t mind me using your phone but it was important to get his washing instructions right. They said he’d never dry naturally, even if we hung him out in the sun-he’d go mouldy inside. Their advice was to wash him in soap and water-and you can’t imagine how much soap and water we had to use to get him clean, then squeeze him dry in a towel. We hung him outside in the sun long enough so the fur fabric was dry enough not to shrink, and then we put him in the dryer. But…’

‘But?’

‘But the boys are still a bit anxious,’ she told him. ‘We sat outside with him while he hung on the clothes line and now we thought we’d just stay here and watch.’

‘I see.’ The whole process was crazy. He repressed the grin, though. One look at the little boys’ faces was enough to make that easy. Then he looked at the dial. It had twenty minutes to go. ‘How long have you been here?’ he asked. Sitting watching tumble dryers going around ad infinitum was hardly his idea of a great afternoon’s entertainment.

‘An hour and a half. He should be almost done.’ Erin had a twin on either side of her and she hugged them hard. She was acting like she had all the time in the world and this was the world’s most pressing problem. ‘And he’s doing just fine.’

It might just as well be television’s General Hospital they were watching, Matt thought. Drama had nothing on this. Here we have the patient on the operating table and anxious relatives fearful of the worst…

‘He doesn’t like it in there,’ Henry whispered, and Tigger’s eyes flashed past the glass again. Matt almost had to pinch himself back to reality. Good grief! This was a stuffed animal, yet the tremor in Henry’s voice had him imagining agony within.

Twenty minutes to go…

‘I brought back ice-creams,’ Matt said helpfully, but no one moved.

‘I’ll fetch them, shall I?’

‘That’d be great,’ Erin told him, but all eyes were on the glass. They had no time for him at all.

If anyone told Matt he’d spend twenty minutes watching a stuffed animal go round and round in a tumble dryer-and almost enjoy it-he would have said they were crazy, but that was just what happened next.

He placed a chocolate ice-cream in the twins’ hands, gave one to Erin and settled back with his. He should have brought popcorn, he thought. He hadn’t realised they were into movie-watching.

They certainly were. There was hardly a word spoken. Every ounce of the boys’ concentration was directed at Tigger-as though by watching him they could get him through this ordeal.

They were amazing kids, Matt thought, and began to see what Erin was fighting for. Once you had the loyalty of these two, you’d have it for life. They licked their ice-creams, but they licked them absently and one flicker of doubt that things weren’t well in the Tigger department and the ice-creams would have been abandoned. There was no doubt of that at all.

The ice-creams demolished, Tigger spun on and on, and then the timer clicked off. Tigger thumped three more times around the drum and Erin opened the door.

‘He might be hot,’ Erin warned but, hot or not, they’d waited long enough. The twins had him out of there and were checking him from snout to tail.

‘He’s perfect,’ William breathed.

He wasn’t, actually, Matt thought, looking at the battered toy that had seen years of loving service. Patches of Tigger’s fur were completely worn off, his eyes were decidedly crooked, there was a piece missing from one ear and a bit of stuffing was coming out of his rump.

‘Absolutely perfect,’ Erin agreed, grinning from ear to ear. ‘And I’ve never seen him so clean.’ She poked the stuffing back into his rump. ‘Wasn’t it clever of Mr McKay to save him? I’ll sew his bottom up tonight but meanwhile…’

‘Meanwhile, now he’s fixed, can we see the farm?’ Henry said, bounding up and turning pleading eyes from one adult to another. With Tigger restored to glory, things were obviously okay in his world and he was ready to move on.

‘Yes, please,’ breathed William, and Matt looked into their combined eyes and could no sooner deny them than fly.

Plus Erin was watching.

‘Haven’t you been outside yet?’ he asked.

‘Apart from sitting under the clothes line, no. We had to fix Tigger first,’ Erin told him, as if he was a little bit thick for not realising it. ‘But now Tigger’s better so maybe we can explore. If it’s okay with you, Mr McKay?’

Okay?

Of course it was okay, and suddenly Matt was very, very pleased that they hadn’t explored without him. He very much wanted to show off his farm to this woman.

And these boys, he told himself hastily. Not just Erin.

Of course not just Erin.

‘What have you done with Charlotte?’

They were walking across the yard toward the machinery shed. The boys were whooping ahead, the traumas of the night before forgotten completely as Tigger circled victoriously above Henry’s head.

‘She’s gone home to make dinner for me.’

‘I see.’ Erin didn’t see. She was feeling acutely uncomfortable in her ghastly crimplene, but there was nothing else for her to wear. At least she had her own sandals, she thought gratefully. The twins hadn’t even got those, and were now wearing wellingtons two sizes too big.

‘I was supposed to be going there for dinner last night,’ Matt said, and he also was feeling uncomfortable. After all he’d asked Charlotte to do in town, and the effort she’d put into doing it, he’d felt obliged to accept her dinner invitation.

There was also the issue of the little velvet box…

Whatever he decided about that damned box, he was putting Erin and the boys up only because they had no place else to go. That was the only reason. Therefore, as Charlotte had carefully explained, he surely couldn’t be expected to play host. And Erin wouldn’t be lonely.

‘Tom Burrows is coming out to see you,’ he told Erin, and if his voice was a bit too gruff she appeared not to notice.

‘Tom?’ Tom was the director of the homes and Erin could only be grateful. She needed his advice ‘You saw him in town?’

‘I went to find him,’ Matt said. ‘He has heaps to do, you understand, but he said he’d bring pizza out from town at about six. He says he needs time to talk to you and that seemed the best way. He’s caught up with insurance assessors until then but he wants to…’ Then he caught his breath. ‘Uh, oh.’

The machinery shed door was open. The twins had darted in and they were up on the tractor before Erin and Matt reached the door. Matt could only feel the keys in his pocket and think gratefully that nothing worked without those keys.

Unless…

They weren’t old enough to have learned hot-wiring? he thought uneasily, and Erin looked up at his face and grinned. She really was a mind reader.

‘No, they don’t know how to hot-wire machinery. You know, they’re not as bad as they’re painted. It’s just that they’re two active, enquiring little boys, they haven’t had the supervision they’ve needed in the past, and they need to be kept busy.’

‘So my tractor is safe?’

‘I didn’t say that exactly,’ she admitted-and grinned. ‘Keep your keys locked up.’

‘Yes, ma’am.’ He smiled down at her, and something stirred within. She looked ridiculous, he thought, as the weird feeling kept right on stirring within his chest. Crazy in her oversized crimplene and curls that he suspected would tangle two minutes after brushing.

But she also looked sort of vulnerable. And underneath the crazy crimplene and riot of fair curls, she looked very, very lovely…

‘You were saying about Tom Burrows?’

‘What?’ It was a big effort to make his mind work on that one when it was thinking about crimplene. Tom Burrows. Who was Tom Burrows? His mind was wandering all over the place-or maybe it was just wandering to one place…

Tom… Oh, right. Orphanage Director. Tom Burrows, the guy who was coming here tonight with pizza while he was having dinner with Charlotte.

Why on earth had he ever agreed to have dinner with Charlotte?

Business! Plans! Future! Get your head screwed back on, McKay, he told himself sternly. He had things he had to tell this lady, rather than stand here like a dummy and try to remember why he’d agreed to have dinner with the best cook in the district-and the lady he’d bought a velvet box…

‘I told Tom you’re welcome to stay here long-term,’ he told her gruffly. ‘Until the Home is rebuilt.’

She paused at that, and turned to face him. Good grief! Had he any idea of what he was offering here?

‘Matt, that’s really nice of you but have you thought it through? Rebuilding might take six months.’

‘That’s no problem. There’s heaps of room, the house is underused, you need a roof over your heads and I’m not putting you out on the street.’

‘The twins can always go into one of our Sydney homes.’ But she sounded doubtful at that.

‘You don’t want them to, though. Do you?’

There was only one answer to that. ‘No,’ she told him. She sighed and looked up at the twins on the tractor.

Which was unusual in itself, Matt thought. He was looking at her, and really seeing her, crimplene and all, but she was totally focused on her responsibilities.

This was a bit of a new thing, as far as Matt was concerned. Good looking and eligible-extremely eligible-Matt wasn’t accustomed to young women looking straight through him.

But there was no doubt about it. She was only seeing the twins.

‘They haven’t had much security,’ she was saying. ‘Bay Beach is mostly it, really. It’s the only place they know. A big city would scare them.’

‘And you’d miss them?’ Still he was focused on her.

She took a deep breath. ‘I only have them between trials of new foster parents,’ she told him. ‘I can’t… I shouldn’t get too attached. Maybe Tom will have organised another couple to give them a try.’

Maybe he would. The thought should have pleased Matt-but then there was a tiny part of him saying that just maybe having this woman and these kids around for a while would be fun.

And suddenly the thought hit home that life wasn’t much fun any more.

Sure he had a great existence, he told himself, surprised by the drab thought that had just entered his head. He had one of the best farms in the district. His stud cattle were internationally renowned, and he had more money than he knew what to do with.

And he had Charlotte.

But…

But what? He really couldn’t say. He could only react to what was going on right now.

William was in the driver’s seat of the tractor and Henry was standing beside him. Tigger was propped up on the windscreen. They’d pushed every button in sight without result, and now Henry was hauling the gear stick, just aching to make something go.

Their aching was irresistible, and so was the need to give them what he wanted himself. Fun.

‘I need to check the cattle in the bottom paddock,’ he called up to them. ‘I’m taking the tractor. Do you want to come for the ride?’

Would they ever? They stared down at him, their eyes as round as saucers.

‘Is it okay with you?’ Matt asked Erin. Maybe he ought to have asked her first.

But her eyes were glowing and he knew straight away that he’d done the right thing.

‘Sure, it’s okay,’ she said, smiling her approval. And then she added a rider. ‘But only if I can come too.’

‘You…’

‘It’s a very big tractor and we can squash,’ she said.

‘There’s no need. I really will look after them.’

‘I’m sure you will.’

‘Well, then…’

‘Well, then what?’ She put her hands on her hips. ‘What, Mr McKay? Why can’t I come?’

‘You mean you want to come?’

‘Of course I want to come. It looks great!’

It looks great… He tried to think of his mother-or Charlotte, for that matter-ever wanting to ride on his tractor and the thought just wasn’t there to conjure. They never would in a million years. ‘I guess you can,’ he said at last. ‘I just didn’t think you’d want to.’

She gave him a look of blank amazement. ‘Why on earth would I want to be left behind? It looks really, really fun.’ She swung herself up into the tractor cab and beamed down at him, a twin at each side. A conspiratorial trio, ripe for adventure, he thought, and he felt stunned.

There were four if you counted Tigger…

‘Can I have a go at steering?’ Erin asked. ‘Please?’

They all had a go at steering.

Matt had to take the long way down to the bottom paddock because a couple of minutes’ steering wasn’t enough for any of them. The tractor was huge. Matt usually used it for hauling heavy harvesting equipment, not for ferrying passengers, but these passengers were entranced and he couldn’t figure out who was the most excited to be in the driver’s seat-the twins or Erin.

The twins went first, of course, with Matt standing behind them carefully controlling their attempts at driving. Then Erin took the seat, and his arms had to lean over her shoulders, just as they had with the twins. But it felt…different.

It was the crimplene, he told himself sternly, feeling just a trifle dazed. He’d never been so close to a woman wearing crimplene.

But the crimplene wasn’t exactly sexy. So why did it feel that it was?

Concentrate on cattle…

The cattle in the bottom paddock were fine. The tractor circled them three times, just to make sure. They circled the cow with her new calf twice, and then, reluctantly, Erin turned the wheel to return to the house.

She was enjoying herself so much! The ride had been wonderful. It really was the most gorgeous day, and they’d been stuck inside with Tigger-washing for most of it. The twins’ faces were glowing, and she didn’t want to usher them back to the white carpets quite yet.

‘Maybe you could drive the tractor back to the house and we could walk,’ she told Matt, but he shook his head.

‘Nope. Not unless you want to walk the long way round. The paddock between here and the house is due for first hay cutting next week and I don’t want you walking in it. There’s too many Joe Blakes.’

‘Joe Blakes?’ The twins were fascinated, as they’d been fascinated by everything Matt said. In their eyes, Matt had achieved almost cult status-not by saving them last night, but by saving Tigger. They thought, simply, that he was the greatest, and they hung onto his every word. Now they waited with bated breath to hear what he had to say about Joe Blakes, and he didn’t let them down.

‘Snakes,’ he said deliciously and they shivered. ‘We breed great big slimy ones hereabouts, and they’ll be all through that paddock.’

Instinctively the boys moved closer to Erin and looked nervously down at the ground around the tractor. But their small boy need for ghoul meant that it was fine-as long as they didn’t have to get off the tractor!

‘It’s safe enough to walk through when it’s cut,’ Matt told them. ‘But not when it’s two feet high.’

‘No.’ They breathed the word as one and Matt grinned. And suddenly he, too, was reluctant to end the day so soon. There was still an hour and a half before Tom was due, and he was expected to leave for Charlotte’s.

He did have things to do. This was a working farm, but…

‘Tell you what,’ he said expansively. ‘Let’s take this baby down to the river and have a swim. Henry, it’s your turn to steer. Erin-give up steering. It’s Henry’s turn!’

She was like a big kid, he thought, and grinned. She gave a comical grimace and pouted as she relinquished her seat to Henry. ‘Aw, rats!’ But… ‘A swim?’ she said, and looked a question at him.

‘Now, I know we haven’t brought our costumes and we’re all wearing our very best clothes.’ That brought a chuckle from all of them. ‘But the river here is the safest swimming hole for miles. You want to do it?’

Once again he thought of his mother and Charlotte-and then didn’t think of them at all as Erin’s face lit up with laughter and delight.

‘I can’t think of anything we’d like more,’ she said definitely. ‘Thank you, Mr McKay. That would be very nice indeed.’

It was.

‘You mean we really can swim in our clothes?’ the twins asked, as the tractor slowed at the river bank. Here the paddock dropped to a sandy curve-a gorgeous, golden beach leading down to the water’s edge. The river flowed gently here, having almost reached the sea. It’d be tidal this close to the coast, Erin thought. The water was turquoise and glittering, sandy-bottomed and clear as crystal.

And the need to swim was now irresistible to all of them.

‘I really mean you can swim in your clothes,’ Matt said. ‘Though you might be more comfortable in your knickers.’

‘Are you swimming in your knickers?’ the boys demanded of Matt, and Matt remembered enough about being a small boy to know they intended to do exactly what he did.

Matt eyed the lady. She eyed him back and, hell, he could see what she was thinking. She knew exactly what he normally wore when he swam here, and the thought was enough to bring a blush to a grown man’s cheeks.

Hell!

‘Um… I think I’ll leave my jeans on,’ he told them, and that decided it as far as the boys were concerned.

‘Then we’ll leave our pants on, too.’

‘Fine by me.’

Which left Erin.

Erin was looking doubtfully down at her crimplene. There’d been no bra to fit her in the donations pile. The bra she’d been wearing the night before was still hanging on the washing line, so she had no cover underneath her dress at all. Heaven knew what crimplene would do when it was wet.

But there was no way in the wide world she was not going to swim in this magic place.

‘What are we waiting for?’ she said, laughing and shrugging her shoulders. Okay, she was taking a risk with her modesty, but what the heck? ‘Come on, twins. Last one in gets to wash up after pizza.’

To Matt’s surprise, the twins could swim like little fish, and Erin was like a dolphin circling around them.

‘It’s my one life skill,’ she told him, surfacing but only up to her neck. Very carefully up to her neck. Her fears about the crimplene were justified the moment she hit the water. ‘You can’t be brought up in Bay Beach and not swim, and I take a personal pride in teaching every one of my charges to survive in water.’

They could do more than survive. The twins were doing handstands under water, their toes just breaking the surface as they competed to see who could stay under longest. It was a game that looked like it could go on for hours.

Matt stayed until he saw that they were safe and then he swum away from them, stroking his usual two hundred yards up river and then down again. In a way it was a relief-to get away from the lady with the responsibilities.

And the transparent swimwear!

As for Erin, she would have liked to join him, he knew, guessing instinctively that she’d long to stretch out for a good, long swim, but she didn’t. She stayed and supervised her boys, taking her duties very seriously. He watched from a distance, liking more and more of what he saw.

There was a boat, an old wooden rowboat, moored on a roughly made jetty a hundred yards from where they were swimming. It fascinated the twins, and Matt watched as Erin laid down the rules. She could see their fascination, and she knew trouble when she saw it.

‘The boat is out of bounds when Matt or I aren’t with you,’ she told them as their gaze swung instinctively and longingly toward it.

‘I’ll take you out prawning in it one night,’ Matt called. ‘That’s what it’s for.’

‘When?’ The twins were nothing if not direct and Matt had to smile. He’d been like this at seven himself.

‘When the moon’s right. You can’t prawn with a full moon.’

‘So meanwhile it’s out of bounds.’ Erin fixed the two children with a look. ‘Promise me you’ll leave it be.’

‘Why?’ They glared back at her, and Matt’s grin broadened. Yep, these two were trouble, but you had to admire their spirit. And Erin was their match.

‘Because it’s dangerous to be in without adult supervision. The tide could take you out to sea.’

‘But we wouldn’t-’

‘You might. And while you’re living with me you obey my rules,’ she finished, and she glared at them right back. They tried meeting her look head on, but finally they conceded. How had he known that they would?

‘Okay, we promise,’ William whispered reluctantly.

One down, one to go. Erin’s gaze shifted. ‘Henry?’

‘I promise, too.’ And Matt knew that the promise would be kept. Trouble, he thought. Yep, they were trouble but they weren’t bad kids at heart. It was just a matter of guessing what the risks were before they took them. And Erin was some guesser.

She was some lady!

Finally he swam back to her as the twins whooped and dived away, the boat forgotten-or at least put on the back-burner. As he reached her, she’d just surfaced from a dive herself. They were nose to nose, a yard apart, and suddenly the whole set-up was intensely…

What?

He didn’t know what. He had no experience to describe the way she made him feel. She looked amazing, he thought, completely free of make-up, her blonde curls hanging in wet tendrils over her face and to her shoulders, and her eyes bright with sunshine and with happiness.

And this was a lady who’d lost everything only the night before?

Maybe her belongings had been in another place, he thought. He asked her, and her face momentarily clouded, the pleasure of swimming dissipating.

‘Nope. The Home has been my home for years. I guess everything I had in the world was burned.’ But then her face was deliberately cleared, blocking pain. ‘But they were just things. I told you before, they can be replaced. We have the kids and we have Tigger. Who can ask for anything more than that?’

She wouldn’t mourn if her white carpet was stained!

The thought crept in subtly at the edges and held. His house was full of beautiful things. How would he feel if they were destroyed?

Probably gut-wrenchingly dreadful, he decided, thinking of the paintings his mother had so carefully collected over her lifetime. To not care about things was an entirely new concept-as was the way he was looking at Erin now.

‘Hey.’ She was laughing, her lovely blue eyes twinkling at him over the water. ‘You’re looking at me like I just landed from Mars. I’m not that bad.’

She surely wasn’t. Different, yes. A world apart from the world he lived in.

That, too. But not bad.

The boys had dived through the water to shore, and were up on the bank. Instinctively Erin turned toward them. She’d learned early never to take her eyes from them. Not for a moment.

True to form, they’d headed straight to the only threat as far as the eyes could see. There were two long pieces of wood on the shore, driftwood brought in by the tide. The sticks were worn by the sea to smooth, white poles.

‘Hey, these’d make great swords,’ Henry yelled, and lifted one up. William was almost as fast, and Erin dived away from Matt and was at the river’s edge almost before the poles had touched.

‘No,’ she said sternly, but they tuned out as if they hadn’t heard her. The poles clashed in salute and clashed again.

And then the fight was on in earnest. Robin Hood and Sheriff of Nottingham-without the finesse.

And without the Hollywood blunted swords. These sticks were big enough to hurt!

‘I said no!’ Erin was out of the water now, stalking toward them. She couldn’t get close-the sticks were flailing wildly enough for her to be injured if she got in the way. ‘William. Henry. You put those sticks down this minute or you will walk home. The long way or through the Joe Blake paddock. Take your pick.’

There was one more clash, but they’d heard her. The sticks slowed and their eyes grew thoughtful.

‘You know I mean it,’ Erin said, as if she didn’t particularly care what they decided. ‘You choose.’

They turned and stared at her, and Matt, who’d swum to the shore, watched the battle of wills with some surprise. This was a side of the twins he hadn’t seen. They were being crossed, and they didn’t like it.

He could have intervened, but he didn’t. This was Erin’s territory after all, he thought. She was the child expert, and she was facing them down with a sternness that told him she had every intention of following through with her threat.

‘We want to fight,’ Henry said, his voice mulishly stubborn.

‘And one of you will win and one of you will be hurt. Those sticks are heavy enough to hurt badly,’ Erin said. ‘You heard me, Henry. Put them down.’

Henry turned to William. Their eyes locked and Matt knew they were asking a question of themselves.

And finally Erin won.

But not happily. As if of one accord, the boys glowered, then turned and threw the sticks as hard as they could across the beach toward the paddock beyond.

It was just unfortunate that Sadie chose that moment to appear from behind the tractor.

The old dog hadn’t been with them during their tour-there’d simply been no room for her in the tractor cab-but she must have watched the tractor’s progress from the house. When it stopped she’d plodded on down to the river to find them. Just at the wrong time.

William’s stick caught her right across the foreleg. She gave one stunned yelp and collapsed. She tried to rise, yelped again and lay still.

No!

Matt launched himself up the beach like he’d been shot. His dog! His Sadie…

With one incredulous look at the twins, Erin followed him, her heart sinking to her toes. Dear heaven, just when everything was going beautifully…

It was always like this with the twins, she thought, her heart sick with dread. It was why no foster family would have them. Disaster followed them like sunshine followed rain.

‘Is she hurt?’ Erin couldn’t see. Matt was crouched over his dog, his whole body tense, and all Erin could see was one black and white tail. It lay ominously still. She took those last few steps around him, and then sagged in relief as she saw the collie lift her head and look pathetically up at her owner.

It had been her foreleg, then. For one awful moment Erin thought maybe she’d been mistaken in what she’d seen, and the stick had caught her head.

Her leg was bad enough, though. It was bleeding sluggishly at the point of impact, and Matt’s face was grim as death.

They’d be out of here tonight, Erin thought bleakly, as she looked down at the lovely old dog. And they deserved it. Oh, no!

‘Matt, I’m so sorry.’

‘So am I, but it’s not you who should be apologising.’ Matt’s voice matched the grimness of his face. One hand was cradling the old dog’s head, the other was carefully examining the injured leg. ‘Maybe it’s not so bad. I can’t feel a break, and she’s holding it up.’

She was, too. When Matt released the leg-just half an inch from the ground so it couldn’t be further hurt if it fell-Sadie kept it up, as much as to say, ‘Look at this, it hurts.’

‘She really is a bit of a hypochondriac,’ Matt told Erin in an undervoice, so the twins couldn’t hear. ‘But it was a fair whack. She’ll have to be checked.’

‘I’ll pay the vet’s bill.’ Heaven knew her wages weren’t sufficient to cover all she’d have to buy in the next few weeks but this…

It was her fault, she thought bleakly. She should have seen the sticks. She should have moved faster.

She’d let herself be distracted by Matt…

‘Erin, don’t! I told you before, it’s not you who should be apologising.’ Matt cradled his dog and looked up at her. She looked so distressed that he couldn’t bear it. Damn, she’d been through enough because of these kids.

She was so lovely. Standing there in her crazy crimplene that had turned totally translucent with the water, she looked…

Actually she looked naked.

Maybe he’d better concentrate on his dog-and on the twins, he told himself firmly. As Erin was so distressed, then it was time for him to take a hand in the twin-control stakes.

What these kids needed to learn was consequences.

But what?

The twins were standing side by side, ashen-faced and flinching. He looked up at them, and he knew instinctively that these kids had been beaten in the past. Beaten beyond reason. They weren’t in an orphanage for nothing. Nobody loved this pair, and they knew it.

So now their faces were stoic, expecting pain. They were expecting the world to come crashing down around their ears, as it had so obviously done in the past.

What had Erin said of them?

They expect to be rejected.

They expected it now. They were waiting for a good thrashing and to be sent away, and a glance at Erin’s face said she thought the same. Oh, not the thrashing-because she was here-but she was surely expecting him to toss them out.

‘Come here,’ he told them and then, when they didn’t move, he lowered his voice a notch. ‘Henry. William. I said come here. Now!’

With an uncertain look at each other they came. Slowly, their shoulders touching, they came, waiting for what was to come, but waiting together.

Erin’s whole body tensed.

She was like a mother hen, Matt thought. If he laid a finger on these boys, no matter how justified he was, he’d have her to contend with, and he just knew that taking her on would be some task.

He was doing no such thing, but the boys had to face up to what they’d done.

‘You’ve hurt Sadie,’ he said, and waited for what most kids would say. William did it-or We didn’t mean to, or It wasn’t our fault.

They said none of those. Instead their faces fell to Sadie and the knowledge that had hit home when he’d watched them with Tigger in the dryer was reinforced yet again. These kids weren’t bad. They cared. Their loyalty, once won, was won forever.

So no, he wouldn’t thrash them, and he wouldn’t throw them out.

‘We…we’re sorry,’ Henry whispered and one glistening tear slid down his cheek. Only one. These kids had schooled themselves not to show emotion and it didn’t show now.

‘Being sorry won’t help Sadie,’ Matt growled, immeasurably moved despite his anger. ‘You need to do something that will.’

‘Like…’ It was Henry again. William was trembling, and the urge to lift the child and give him a hug was almost overwhelming. Erin, though, was managing to hold her hug instincts in check. She was leaving this to him. ‘Like what?’ Henry whispered.

And Matt made a snap decision.

‘We need to take Sadie to the vet to make sure the leg’s not broken. I’ll call first, but before that we need to get her back to the house. That means we all have to squeeze on the tractor because I’m not leaving Erin behind. You two climb up behind the driver’s seat, sit down and make your knees as flat as you can. Then I’ll hand her up to you. You’ll carry her on your knees. You’ll be uncomfortable but I can’t help that. Erin, can you ride on the step?’

‘Sure.’

Of course. Anything.

‘Right. Let’s move.’