They’d left then looking grim. They weren’t looking grim now. The younger guy was smiling almost fatuously, and the older guy was looking on with benign amusement.
‘So, Friday night…’ the young cop said to Shanni.
‘Can I let you know?’ Shanni said. ‘I need to sort out rosters with my cousin. It wouldn’t do to leave the kids by themselves.’
Ouch.
‘We’ll see you round, then,’ the older cop said benignly. ‘Good luck with that cow, miss. I’m sure you’ll get that leg right in the end.’
‘I’ll ring you on Friday,’ the young cop said, waving a slip of paper. ‘Thanks for your number. I won’t lose it.’
They waved to Pierce in friendly salute. They climbed into the police car, and they were gone.
Leaving Pierce with Shanni.
CHAPTER TWO
‘UM…YOU’RE Shanni,’ he said, and he sounded dumb.
‘You think?’ Shanni said, arching her eyebrows. She’d stopped walking toward him the minute the police car left the yard. She didn’t come one inch closer. ‘You might want to check. After all, it’s important to be sure who you leave in charge of your children.’
‘Look, I…’
The bouncing smile and the charm were put carefully aside. ‘What the hell are you playing at? Wendy’s terrified. I came within an inch of telling those policemen that these kids would be better off in foster care. What sort of a father are you? Where the hell have you been?’
He focused on the one tiny thing he had control over. ‘Do you mind watching your mouth? I’m teaching them not to swear.’
She took a deep breath. ‘You are kidding?’ she said at last. ‘Abandoned, starving kids being taught not to swear.’
‘They’re not starving.’
‘So what did you leave them for lunch?’
‘I don’t know,’ he said, forcing his dazed brain to think. ‘There’s eggs, steak, sausages, frozen chips…’
‘All of which require a stove,’ she said dangerously.
‘We’ve got a stove.’
‘And the kids were going to light it how?’ Shanni was looking at him like he was something that had crawled out of cheese.
‘Look, I went to sleep.’
‘Really?’ She raised one quirky eyebrow. ‘You had a little nap. So your kids starved.’
‘Kids don’t starve from missing lunch.’
She glared.
‘Dad,’ said a small voice, and it was Wendy, approaching from behind Shanni.
She stayed behind Shanni. She didn’t come near. It was like she was using Shanni as a shield.
The weight around his heart grew heavier. He’d let Wendy down. This puny kid who had the weight of the world on her shoulders. He’d been gaining her trust. A little.
‘Hell, Wendy…’
‘Don’t swear in front of the children,’ Shanni said icily.
‘Look, I fell asleep,’ he said desperately. ‘I didn’t sleep at all last night. Wendy, tell her I didn’t sleep. I had to take Bessy to the doctor’s, and then I had to wait for the prescription to be filled. I sat in the car and waited because you can’t leave kids alone in the car, and I just slept.’ He spread his hands. He might never convince Shanni, he thought, but it was Wendy who was important.
There was a lengthy pause while Wendy considered. Shanni remained silent.
‘He really didn’t sleep last night,’ Wendy said at last, talking to Shanni. ‘Maybe he didn’t sleep the night before, either,’ she added. ‘I had a nightmare and woke up. He made me hot chocolate.’
Shanni’s iciness thawed, just a little. ‘You’re saying he has an excuse?’
‘He looks awful,’ Wendy said.
‘He does,’ Shanni agreed. ‘When did he last shave?’
‘He looks okay when he’s shaved,’ Wendy said. ‘Or when he’s a little bit bristly. He’s too bristly now.’
This sisterhood thing was getting scary. But they were coming down on his side. Maybe.
‘Oooohh.’ It was Bessy, beaming at Wendy.
Wendy walked forward and snatched Bessy from his arms. Then she retreated behind Shanni again. They weren’t completely on his side. Wendy must have been terrified.
‘I’m really sorry,’ he told her, while Shanni practised her glare some more.
‘I thought you’d run away,’ Wendy said.
‘I won’t. I told you.’
‘Men tell lies. Mum said that. Men always tell lies.’
There was another lengthy pause, worse than the last. Pierce tried to think of what to say. Nothing came.
The silence extended. The three of them were gazing at him like he was a maw worm. Wendy and Shanni…even Bessy.
Then, ‘You know, my dad doesn’t tell lies,’ Shanni said, thoughtful. ‘Honest. And I’ve known my dad for twenty-nine years. He makes mistakes-once he even left me at the ice rink for five hours cos he was reading a really good book-but he doesn’t tell lies. Are you hungry?’ she asked him.
Food was the last thing he was thinking of. Though, come to think of it…
‘I guess I am a bit.’
‘There’s cold sausages,’ Wendy said. ‘We cooked a lot for lunch cos we thought you’d be home. And Shanni made choc-chip cookies.’
‘Shanni’s made choc-chip cookies?’ He stopped looking at Wendy. Yep, he’d betrayed a trust, and somehow he had to figure out a way to retrieve himself-but there was nothing he could do about that right now. But somehow Shanni’s ice-rink story had lessened the tension. And sausages…Choc-chip cookies…
‘They’re my specialty,’ Shanni said modestly. ‘You didn’t have choc chips so we had to squash a block.’
‘The fire’s not lit.’
‘We lit it,’ Wendy said. ‘We had to light it to get hot water to do the dishes. And I’ve eaten five choc-chip cookies.’
‘You lit the fire? But the wood…’
‘Shanni chopped it. The boys stacked it. The wood box is full.’
Shanni had chopped the wood. She’d lit the stove. She’d made choc-chip cookies. He stared.
‘I know,’ she said, pseudo-modest. ‘Call me Wonderwoman.’
‘Ruby said you’re an artist.’ His tone was almost accusatory. He heard it, and tried desperately to retrieve himself. ‘I mean…’
‘I think I’m converting to wood chopping,’ Shanni said. ‘I’ve failed cows’ legs, and chopping vents anger.’
‘Anger…’
‘Now, why would I be feeling anger?’ she said, to Wendy rather than him. ‘To be brought here under false pretences…’
Whoa. Things were spinning away from him. ‘False pretences?’ he said weakly.
‘One baby,’ she said, and tugged Wendy against her in another display of the power of sisterhood. Men, the gesture said. The despicable species. ‘One baby does not equate to five kids. Ruby told me one baby. I rang you from my friend’s and you said one baby.’
Uh-oh.
‘I didn’t say one baby,’ he said weakly. ‘But, yeah, Ruby would have told you one baby. To be honest, when you rang I thought I’d get you here any way I could and try and bribe you into staying once you got here.’
Beam me up now, Scotty, he thought bleakly. I’m an outright bastard.
But suddenly they had a diversion. Bessy had been nestling against Wendy’s shoulder, content from her drive. But Bessy was eight months old. She hadn’t been fed since breakfast. She was a young lady with chicken pox.
Bessy suddenly recalled all this in one huge momentous wash of outrage. She opened her mouth, and she yelled.
‘Can you stay at least until we’ve fed Bessy?’ Pierce asked over the yells.
‘I’m staying until you’ve done some explaining,’ Shanni said grimly. ‘I need to murder you or I need to murder my Aunty Ruby, and I can’t figure out which.’
She should leave.
Since Bessy’s initial howl there’d been no time to do anything but run. There certainly hadn’t been time for explanations.
Bessy had needed feeding, bathing, soothing, more soothing, more feeding. The kids had needed baths and dinner. The cattle had needed feeding. Okay, Pierce had done that one on his own. Shanni had stayed in the kitchen and supervised the kids’ dinner while watching Pierce out the window.