Chapter 10
Ten
Ewan clenched his teeth at Kenzie’s words.
She wasn’t blaming him necessarily, but there was no way of softening the bluntness of the statement.
‘You didn’t have any responsibilities after that night.
’ The knowledge that she was right didn’t lessen his guilt.
He hadn’t thought about the possibility of anything resulting from that night.
The next day, he’d been hungover and feeling sorry for himself.
He’d been a different person at that time.
Those months of travelling and fruit-picking, partying and the occasional brawl had been the escape he’d needed to help him deal with the fallout of walking out on his father.
He’d been angry at the demands his father had been throwing about, and the way it tarnished everything he’d been so excited about.
Taking off to backpack with his old mates had come at the perfect time, and Ewan had run away from his problems for a while.
It hadn’t hurt that it had also pissed off his old man, who’d taken great pleasure in reminding him that he should be working instead of flitting about the countryside.
He had occasionally thought about the mystery girl who’d disappeared by the time he’d woken up the next morning, like some kind of modern Cinderella.
Only she hadn’t left behind a glass slipper.
She hadn’t left anything, not even a last name or a phone number, just a happy memory tinged with the regret that he’d never see her again.
He wondered briefly how the lost kid he was back then would have reacted to the news of Kenzie’s pregnancy.
‘I can’t go back and change what happened, but I can change how things go moving forward,’ he said.
‘I agree, for now, that Poppy doesn’t have to know who I am.
It would probably be a lot for a little kid to deal with. ’
‘It would. Thank you,’ she said, sounding relieved before she glanced over his shoulder. ‘Looks like they’re on their way back.’
‘I, uh, brought her a present. It’s in the car. Would it be okay to give it to her?’
Her face softened just a little. ‘Sure. If you want to get it, I’ll put the jug on, and they should be back by then.’
Ewan wiped his hands on his jeans and swore silently as he reached in for the brightly coloured gift bag on the passenger seat.
His heart was pounding like a jackhammer.
Who would have thought a grown man could be this anxious about meeting a four-year-old?
But this wasn’t any four-year-old; this was his daughter.
On the verandah, he placed the bag on the table and took a seat, before changing his mind and moving the bag to the floor.
But maybe it was better to place it where she could see it?
He put it back on the table then swore softly over his dithering before snatching the bag and putting it back down beside him on the floor.
This was stupid. Why the hell was he so nervous?
He had two nephews, he was great with kids. It shouldn’t be this hard.
The sound of a door opening and little feet running created a fresh wave of panic. He heard two female voices talking in a low murmur before the higher pitch of a small child, followed by a giggle and an excited exclamation.
By the time Kenzie came back out to the verandah, he’d almost got himself under control … until he caught a glimpse of a tiny girl with a yellow bow tied around the end of a long brown plait that hung halfway down her back.
His heart expanded, so much so that it physically hurt. Large hazel eyes watched him curiously as she stood beside her mother, the resemblance to Kenzie was unmistakable.
‘Hello,’ she said with a shy smile. ‘Are you Mummy’s friend?’ ‘Yes,’ he said quickly. ‘I’m Ewan, and you must be Poppy.’ ‘I am!’ she said, and her smile lit up as though he’d managed to guess her name like some sideshow magician, making him smile. ‘I’m four. How old are you?’
‘Uh, well,’ he said stumbling a little over the unexpected question, ‘I’m thirty-one.’
Her eyes rounded. ‘Wow, that’s old.’
‘Poppy,’ Kenzie admonished as she placed a tray carrying cups and a plate of biscuits onto the table. ‘Ever since her last birthday, she’s had a fascination with everyone’s age.’
‘Well, I missed your birthday, but I brought you a present. Sorry it’s a bit late,’ he said, leaning over to hand her the gift bag.
‘For me?’ she breathed, reaching for the bag.
She pulled out the teddy bear inside, and Ewan experienced another moment of panic—did four-year-olds even like teddy bears?—before a huge smile broke out across her pixie-like face and she lifted excited eyes to her mother. ‘A teddy bear! Look, Mum.’
‘Aww, he’s gorgeous,’ Kenzie said as she admired her daughter’s gift.
‘What’s his name?’ Poppy asked, turning those big eyes on him, melting his heart all over again.
‘I don’t know. I thought maybe you should give him one.’
He watched as she crinkled her nose and tilted her head to one side as she considered the fluffy caramel bear in her arms. ‘I think I’ll name him Mr Percival.’
‘That’s a pelican,’ Kenzie said with an amused smile.
‘It can be a bear’s name too, can’t it?’ she asked, turning to pin Ewan with a wide-eyed look. ‘He looks like a Mr Percival.’
Ewan sent a quick glance towards Kenzie, not really wanting to be caught in the middle of a mother–daughter naming dispute, but she just shook her head.
‘We watched Storm Boy last night,’ she explained.
‘Oh. Right.’
‘You can name him whatever you like,’ Kenzie told her.
‘Then I’ll call him Mr Percival,’ she decided, sitting the bear next to her on a chair beside him.
‘What do you say to Ewan?’ Kenzie asked lightly.
He watched as a big toothy smile followed an adorable drawn-out, ‘Thank you, Ewan,’ in the sweetest little singsong voice he’d ever heard. Man, he was seriously losing it.
‘You’re welcome.’
Footsteps drew his attention to a woman dressed in jeans and a red shirt with wavy dark blonde hair. ‘Hello, I’m Sam, Kenzie’s mother.’
Ewan stood up from his chair and reached out for the small hand, clasping it gently. ‘Ewan Campbell. It’s nice to meet you.’
Heavier footsteps alerted him to yet another arrival, a broad-shouldered man dressed in jeans and a well-worn work shirt.
‘This is my husband, Jack,’ Sam introduced. Ewan shook the older man’s hand, careful to hide his grimace at the near-bone-crunching handshake that conveyed a silent message very loudly: this man would happily hurt him if he found a need to.
‘Ewan.’ He nodded, resisting the urge to shake some feeling back into his hand as he sat down.
‘So, you’re from the Gold Coast,’ Jack said, reaching for a cup and spooning some sugar in.
‘Not originally, but I’ve been living there for almost four years.’
‘Where you from originally?’ Jack asked.
‘South Australia,’ Ewan answered. ‘Scotland before that.’
‘Oh, Scotland. How lovely. My parents did some travelling over there and loved it. How long have you been in Australia?’ Sam asked, handing across a cup.
‘My family moved over when I was ten.’
‘What do you do for a crust?’ Jack continued the grilling.
‘I’m in private equity, mainly,’ he said, and saw the man study him a little oddly, maybe due to the fact he wasn’t exactly dressed as an executive.
‘We buy and sell businesses. Well, at least, I used to. I worked for a trucking company for a couple of years before that, handling freight and logistics. Before that, I worked on the family property with my father, in South Australia. That’s where I’m headed.
Time for a bit of a change, work out what I want to do next. ’
‘Home is always good for working things out,’ Sam said gently, and something about the softness in her eyes suddenly made his chest tighten.
He cleared his throat quickly. ‘Yeah. It’ll be good to get back there for a bit.’
He hadn’t expected to feel so emotional about going home, maybe because it had always been so connected to the tension between him and his dad.
But now, he didn’t care about his pride or past hurt.
He just felt a pull to go home. He missed his mum and his sister and his nephews—he saw them once a year when they came up for holidays on the coast, but he hadn’t been home in a long time.
‘What do your parents run?’ Jack asked, and Ewan turned his gaze to the other man, grateful to steer the conversation to other things.
‘Beef cattle mainly, with some cropping.’
‘What cattle do you run?’
‘Droughtmaster, Angus and Shorthorn.’
‘Sounds like a bit of a big production.’
‘Yeah, pretty big. Bit over twenty thousand acres spread over two properties.’
Jack pulled what Ewan assumed was an impressed kind of face, giving a slight nod.
‘Makes this place look like a hobby farm.’ Ewan shrugged.
‘You get to run this place the way you want without having to hire a whole fleet of people to work it. My old man hasn’t really left his desk in over a decade. ’
‘Yeah, nah, that’s not for me,’ Jack agreed. ‘So, what about you? You think you’ll go back into farming?’
‘I’m not sure. I miss it—I guess it’s in my blood—but things are a little bit …’ He paused and glanced across at Poppy briefly, ‘… complicated, at the moment.’
‘Fair enough,’ Jack said easily.
‘What do you run here?’ he asked, turning the conversation back to cattle. At least he and Jack had found some common ground.
‘Angus.’
‘Jack’s been building up his stock after the fires,’ Kenzie threw in.
‘Did you lose much?’ Ewan asked.
‘Yeah, took a bit of a hit, but not as bad as some. We’re building up the bloodlines with a few new bulls. They’re turning out some great progeny.’
‘Sounds promising.’
‘I’m heading down there now, if you want to come for a look?’
He opened his mouth to agree, but then remembered he was here to spend time with his daughter, and running out on them to talk cattle would probably not endear him to Kenzie.
‘Poppy loves the cows, don’t you?’ Kenzie surprised him. ‘We could all go?’
‘Uh, yeah … if you’re sure?’
Kenzie gave an offhand shrug. ‘Doesn’t bother us. As long as you have the time?’
His gaze lingered on the little girl who had his eyes. ‘I’m not on a schedule.’