Bella's Run (44 page)

Bella gathered up the belongings strewn at her feet – a bottle of now-tepid water, her camera and a rain jacket. The wooden door of the hut was already open, Will had disappeared inside, only to reappear within seconds to head across to the ute.

‘Need some matches. Someone’s left us some dry wood in the heap beside the fire. We’ll have to replace it tomorrow. Why don’t you stay here a few minutes until I get it roaring? It won’t take long.’ He grabbed a packet of matches from the empty ashtray of the ute and hurried off.

Bella was only too happy to comply. The darkness beyond the hut door was intimidating. Visions of snakes and spiders slithered through her mind; she hoped a bright fire might encourage anything creepy-crawly to find another home for the night, or at least a dark corner well away from her.

She studied what she could see of the hut. It was constructed from wooden slabs nailed vertically to a frame. Heavy, rusty galvanised iron clad the roof and any other spot missing a slab of wood. The chimney was made from the same aged iron abutted onto the gable-roofed, rectangular hut, the roof triangulated to draw smoke from the fire inside. All in all, it was built to shelter cattlemen and wanderers from the elements, and had served its purpose well over decades.

Will came back out and headed to the tray of the ute. Bella could hear him shuffling around among his stuff as she laid her head against the seat rest and closed her eyes. They’d had a wonderful afternoon. It had been just like old times, four friends reliving the wild days of their youth. Even though they were missing Patty and Macca, the stories had been told with fond regret rather than desperate and grinding grief.

The one thing that had stopped Bella from completely relaxing was Will’s leg, which he had intentionally locked hard against her own for the whole time they sat enjoying the views from Trin and Caro’s verandah.

Will had moved once, to take a leak, but as soon as he’d returned he’d sat down and purposely adjusted his knee to reclaim his place. He’d turned to her once, holding her gaze deep and level, burning holes through her body with the sultry heat from his stare.

It wasn’t until Caro told them proudly that all the food on the table had been home-grown that Bella was able to force her attention back to the table. She couldn’t believe her ears. ‘You mean to say Caroline Handley Eggleton actually killed and plucked a chook herself?’

‘You’ve got to be kidding,’ said Caro, with an obvious shudder. ‘No, old Wes did it for me. He was a champion – beheading, scalding and plucking the bird so well I wouldn’t have picked it from a supermarket-bought chicken.’

Bella smiled. That sounded more like the Caroline she knew.

‘It’s all ready for you, cowgirl.’ Will’s voice hunkered into her thoughts.

She opened her eyes, to find Will calling her from the hut.

‘What? Oh. Right. Coming . . .’ She looked towards the hut door. The inside had been transformed with a bright and welcoming glow misted at the edges with the fine rain now coming down to drench everything it touched.

Gathering her stuff once again, she got out of the ute. Her body had become a lot slower to respond these past few weeks.

The rain softly pattered down on her shoulders and arms as she quickly walked towards the light and warmth of the hut. Once inside she was taken aback by the effort Will had made to turn this small, dirty, austere space into a haven. She was sure if he’d been on his own, the single chainmesh-covered iron bed folded up against the far wall would have been enough to provide him with comfort for the night. So he’d done this for her.

He’d opened up two other beds of the same ilk and pushed them close to the fire in the front half of the hut. Over one he’d folded a tattered blue tarp, and he’d slung a well-worn canvas swag across the other. Then he’d balled up a faded oilskin coat and a bunch of clean rags to use for pillows at the head of each bed. ‘Welcome to the Nunkeri Plains Hilton.’ Will’s dimples flashed as he twirled his hands in the air like a maestro begging for applause.

Despite her misgivings, she couldn’t help but smile.

A hissing sound came from the fire, a billy set over the flames to boil. Grabbing two small cans of spaghetti from the rock hearth at the side of the fire, he pierced a hole in the lid of each with a pocketknife from the leather holder on his belt.

With his back to her as he dumped the tins partially into the boiling water, Will said, ‘Emergency rations. Always carry a bit of tucker around in the back of the ute. Never know when you might be stuck up in the scrub.’

‘Same with the swag, and the billy, I suppose?’ Bella knew there was a faint accusatorial tone to her voice. She chastised herself; he certainly hadn’t organised the thick fog.

‘I’m good, but I’m not
that
good, Hells Bells. I can’t order God around.’ He sounded pissed off.

Bella knew she deserved that one. She gathered herself up, determined to make amends. ‘This looks great, Will. Thanks for making such an effort.’

Will waved a hand in response, his movements jerky with suppressed annoyance as he swung the billy, hooked on a wire rod, back across the fire.

He hadn’t meant the day to turn out like this. Well, not exactly. He’d hoped something might happen between them, but not here; not on a deserted, lonely plain in a dirty, cold cattlemen’s hut with nothing but a swag to sleep on and a grungy fireplace to give light.

He didn’t want to say the wrong thing, make the wrong move. He wanted to get it
right
this time. He couldn’t stand the pain of her misunderstanding him and walking away again like at Hugh’s Plain. Granted, she was a different woman now. Instead of being so strung-up and tetchy, she was more relaxed and could take a joke. She’d got rid of that woolley butt log on her shoulder, leaving only a few splinters in its wake. But still, he wasn’t sure which way this night would go and he figured it was best to leave that up to Bella rather than get it all wrong again. He could wait for her. He’d wait forever if he had to.

‘Look, I’m sorry, Will. I’m just tired, I guess.’

He turned around just in time to see her draw a hand across her eyes. He was shocked by just how black the circles under her eyes were. His gaze softened.

‘How about you take a seat right over here on this log?’ Will kicked a sawn-off block of wood towards her. ‘But just pull that door behind you closed before we lose what warmth we’ve managed to create in this old place.’

Bella swung back, and went to pull the wooden door tight. But just before she did, she took one more look outside. It was completely dark, no moon to light the way. She shuddered as the milky-white mist swirled around the door, thankful for the warmth and shelter now inside.

Lying on the twin wire beds much later, after having consumed every scrap of spaghetti, Bella found herself trying to get comfortable. Despite the makeshift padding, wire dug into her sides no matter which way she turned. She was also freezing in the places the fire’s warmth couldn’t reach.

‘What’s wrong?’ Will’s voice came from the bed next to hers. She hadn’t realised he was still awake.

‘I’m cold. And I can’t get comfortable.’

‘If I didn’t know better, I’d take that as an invitation.’

Bella mumbled something.

‘What was that?’ Will moved a bit, then sat up and looked down at her, his body shadowed by the dark depths of the hut at his back.

‘It
is
an invitation,’ said Bella, a tentative lilt in her voice.

Will raised an eyebrow, and Bella’s heart sank. Who’d want to make love to a hugely pregnant woman – especially if they thought it wasn’t their baby? She knew she should just tell him the baby was his, even if he didn’t want children. Maybe it would make things right, and all would be well. But as she opened her mouth to say the words, her throat closed over.

What the hell? Why don’t you just tell him and be done with it?

I can’t, said Bella to Patty. He doesn’t want children. You buggered that up. You and your bloody parents. So I have to do this myself. I’m strong enough. I don’t need a man to make it all right.

Fool!

Who are you calling a fool; you’re the one who’s dead!

Youch! Temper, temper, Hells Bells. You always were pig-headed.

Bella forced Patty away.

‘I’d love to accept,’ came the quiet, deep voice at her side. ‘C’mon, get up, cowgirl.’

It only took him a few minutes to stow the wire beds away. He stretched the swag out to its full width on the ground, and laid the coat and tarp out over the top. Will helped her down onto the swag and then bunched the rags so she had a pillow of sorts on which to rest her belly.

He lay down behind her and Bella marvelled as his hands moved around her waist to gently cup her belly, which was straining to hold the baby within its skin. She loved the spooned warmth of him against her back as he shared life and heat with her frozen body. Then came a tightening of his arm and hand as it moved up to secure itself on her breast. Bella backed in closer to Will and felt him respond.

Slowly, they helped each other remove their clothes and Bella marvelled at how the heat of their two bodies yearning to become one, burned away any remnant feeling of cold.

With her naked back once again tucked into Will’s chest, his left hand started to explore her new shape. Gentle fingers trailed their way down over her naked breasts, his hand cupping and caressing their voluptuous fullness. His warm touch then drifted across her mounded belly, stopping to explore, tickle and sensuously tease before moving along. But as he reached the tops of her thighs, she felt him tense, his hand abruptly halting. Moments ticked by before his fingers started to slowly explore the long indentations in her skin, external scars from the accident nearly nine years before. Finally, he moved his hand back up towards her breasts, away from those reminders of tragedy and grief, allowing her to let go of a breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding.

Commencing his journey all over again, Will’s hand gently worked its magic until in an agonisingly unhurried motion; he dipped his fingers into the cleft between her legs.

The passion that had been on slow burn the whole day – that had sizzled in the air between them since the Nunkeri Muster all those years ago – finally erupted. It was different this time, though. There was no thunder, no lightning. No urgent need to take and be taken. Comfort, companionship and love were at last consummated in that hut, so deep in the mountains, amid the security of the blanket of fog.

It was a long time later, when Bella was sleeping, and in the afterglow of lovemaking so beautiful he wanted to weep, Will was reminded of another time – when he held Bella at the Gundolin rodeo, wondering at his luck at having such a gorgeous creature in his arms.

He looked down at the white-gold curly hair. What changes time had wrought them both. But fundamentally they were still the same people. This woman was still Bella, the woman he’d come to know then and love now. Forever. Warren may have fathered the baby, but that didn’t mean Will couldn’t learn how to be a dad. If Bella would let him. The child inside Bella was
hers
and, to Will, that was everything.

Chapter 42

Dawn on the Nunkeri Plains promised a clear, sunny day. They made it home by mid-morning, and all afternoon Bella basked in the memory of Will’s lovemaking. Thoughts of his gentleness warmed her as she slowly made her way through the farm jobs. She wasn’t doing all that much now she was thirty-seven weeks’ pregnant, just trying to keep things ticking along until Maggie came home.

Afterwards she hit her laptop, intent on finishing up the last reports on the Landcare project. But her mind wouldn’t stay with the words and figures in front of her. It kept flitting to yesterday and last night, to last week and the week before.

Bella was pretty sure Will loved her, and with that knowledge her whole body buzzed with happiness. Sure, he hadn’t said as much, but his eyes told the story – all gooey molasses, loving and kind. And Will
had
just made love to a heavily pregnant woman not knowing he was the father of the baby. He had to love her, didn’t he?

The thought of seeing him again sent her legs scurrying down the Tindarra Road after dark, a small torch in her hand. When he dropped her off, Will told her he would be in town for the rest of the day. He wasn’t due home until late, and Bella hoped he was back by now. As she walked the moonlit gravel road, she thought about how it would be much more comfortable to make love in an actual bed . . . She hummed to herself in anticipation, already feeling his hands gently cupping her naked belly. Perhaps she should take the risk and tell him he was the father. Surely once he knew, he could love them both.