Hmm?

Matt gazed upward and he didn’t like the way Wendy was looking at him.

Wendy, Erin, Shanni, Lori… Even Doc Emily. They were all the same. They were organising, bossy women, in a sensible, non-Charlotte type of way that you couldn’t just ignore by going outside and heaving a few hay bales until it was time for dinner.

Frankly, they scared him to death.

He took two more breaths of oxygen from his mask and tried to look pathetic. It didn’t come off. In fact, it seemed to make things worse.

‘Doc says you’re not to go home alone, and I know you live in that great rambling place all by yourself.’ Wendy was onto her good idea like a hound on a scent and she wasn’t to be distracted. ‘What could be more appropriate than Erin and the twins coming home with you to keep you company?’

‘The twins?’ He’d seen enough of the twins!

‘You saved their lives,’ Wendy said, her voice softening, as she crouched beside him. Her eyes met his. They were inches apart and he couldn’t argue if he wanted to. ‘And maybe you saved Erin’s, too, as I know she’d have tried to get them out herself if it wasn’t for you. So you can’t just turf them out on the street, now can you?’

‘I…’ It was too much. ‘No,’ he said weakly. ‘I suppose I can’t.’

‘So you can have them?’

He forced himself to think. He wouldn’t make much of a host. ‘I need to be away occasionally, for cattle shows and things…’

‘But they can look after themselves with ease. So that’s that,’ Wendy said triumphantly, and she rose and hugged Erin harder. ‘It’s all sorted, my love, so you can stop shaking this very minute. All of you. Drama over. All we have is one burned house to rebuild and we’ll be back to normal. Now as soon as the doctor’s cleared the lot of you then you can go out to Matt’s. I can see the Welfare Shop lady over by the fire chief. Good old Edna. She’s always armed with a stockpile of emergency clothes. I’ll see how she can help and then we’ll send you all home. Together.’