Family Farm (45 page)

She could still hear the muffled voices of the others inside, speaking quickly and excitedly. They had lots to talk about, that was for sure. Izzy couldn’t help but feel sad in a way. It was times like these that she missed her family most. At least these guys had a happy ending. Well, more like a new beginning. But what was her future? Was she destined to stay on Erindale forever? She couldn’t really picture her future here. No matter how hard she tried, Izzy just couldn’t see anything but Gumlea – or maybe she didn’t want to.

‘A penny for your thoughts,’ said Blake, approaching from behind and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

‘Ha. You’ll need more than that for my thoughts.’

They stood together quietly for a moment.

‘So are you okay, still happy?’ Izzy asked.

‘Thanks to you, everything’s cool. Man, can you believe my little sister’s gonna have a squawker, and I’ll be an uncle? It’s just unbelieveable. Simone wants to keep it quiet until she’s about three months, but they’re going to tell Mum and Dad soon. Mum’s gonna flip.’

Izzy nodded. ‘I’m glad you’re happy.’

‘Well, it’s a good start anyway. And there’s no reason you can’t be happy too. Why don’t you give Will a call or your mum? Come on, you’ve made us face our fears tonight. When’s it gonna be your turn? It could work out better than you expect, you know.’

Izzy had been trying to tell herself this, but fear stopped her from taking any action. ‘I don’t know. Maybe. I might after the ram sale,’ she said, fobbing him off.

Blake sighed. ‘Now you’re just making excuses.’

‘I don’t like being disappointed. And I hate that Dad has this thing over me. He’s still controlling my life because he has the thing I want the most, and he’s never let me near it.’ Izzy gave Blake a weak smile. ‘Feel like a game of pool? We could go doubles against the other two.’

Taking a deep breath, he sighed. ‘You really are good at avoiding the issue. All right. I’ll let it pass, this time. Next time you won’t get away with it so easily.’ Izzy headed back inside, pretending not to understand, but he knew she was still listening. ‘Better enjoy yourself while you can. Tomorrow we start gearing up for the sale next week and I know Wally can’t wait for you to look after him.’

Izzy rolled her eyes but was pleased by the change of subject. Wally was one of the best rams they had and Blake’s favourite. He had very good balls on him that were gonna make him rich, Blake would always joke. She had to admit she was looking forward to the excitement of the auction and seeing the interested farmers. She’d picked up quite a bit from Blake recently but she still wanted to learn as much as she could in case anyone asked for information on the SAMM stud.

Walking in on Mickey and Simone having a kiss in the kitchen, she soon forgot about Wally and the stud, and instead felt the excitement of new love.

Izzy waved her hand at them. ‘Don’t stop on my account. It’s nice to see a bit of love floating around.’

Mickey and Simone grinned back like silly teenagers before following her into the lounge room with their drinks.

‘Come on, you two lovebirds,’ she said, picking up a pool cue. ‘Let’s see what kind of team you really make. Dinner can wait a bit longer.’

WILL was so keen to finish making the trailer that he skipped breakfast and began welding straightaway. His father walked over to the shed in the warm sun around lunchtime, carrying a cuppa and a toastie and placed them on the wheel arch of the trailer. Will put down the welder and took off his protective helmet. ‘Morning, Dad.’

‘Hey, mate. Thought you might be hungry.’

‘I am a bit. Thanks.’

‘It looks finished,’ said Brian, running a hand over the trailer. ‘I’m impressed. You’ve been working hard on it.’

‘Yeah, I wanted to get it done so I could get over to Bill’s place and check out his gear before the next rain. He’s due back in Lake Grace tomorrow.’

‘So, how is he?’

‘He’s up to coming home – well, nearly home – but he still can’t talk properly. The right side of his body and the left side of his face are still not back to normal. It’s affected his speech and language, and Jean said he has a bit of memory loss as well. She can’t move him around by herself so he’ll be in Lake Grace where they can keep an eye on him, until he’s up to coming home. He’s improving all the time. But it means I’ll be over at Gumlea a bit.’

‘Yeah, sure. They’re lucky to have you, you know. You’ve done a lot for that family.’ Will could hear the pride in his dad’s voice. He shrugged his shoulders.

‘Let me know if you need any help at the Simpson place, but I won’t be around tomorrow. There’s a stud sale in Brookton I’m interested in. Think I’ll go take a look.’

Will stopped chewing. Hot spaghetti fell to the concrete floor. Something ticked over in his mind.

‘That’s it!’

‘What’s it, son?’

‘Dad, where’s the latest
Elders
?’

‘I don’t know. Try the loo. What’s up?’

Brian didn’t get an answer. Will ran out of the shed into the cool midday air, leaving behind his cuppa and half a toastie, and headed straight for the toilet. Opening the door, he spotted the
Elders
lying on the floor. He scooped it up and went into the office. Sitting down at the desk, he began flicking frantically through the pages. Halfway in he found what he was searching for. He picked up a marker, circled all the phone numbers, then lifted up the phone and started dialling.

‘Hello. I saw your stud auction ad and I was wondering whether you had a new farmhand working for you called Izzy Simpson?’

The day of the sale had come around fast. They’d been flat out setting up. Even Simone was getting in on the act. The change in her was amazing. The interest she now took in the farm had shocked her whole family. She had just needed a reason to be interested, and Mickey was a good one.

It had been an early-morning start, covering the floor of the display shed with fresh straw and then bringing in the sheep and penning them up. Izzy had been firing questions at Blake and Alan all morning, seeing what needed doing and trying to learn as much as she could.

After they finished, she sat on an old tyre outside and watched the prospective buyers arriving. Half of them were probably only here to look. But hopefully there were some eager buyers out there. Alan had sixty rams on offer. He would be rapt if they all went for a good price.

Izzy smiled as she looked over the land. She had been here a while now and knew it pretty well. Mullawoon had its low rolling hills, creek valleys and rocky ridges and its red sandy loam soils. But at Gumlea she could drive to all the paddocks blindfolded, and then tell you the exact soil type under her feet without having to dig. The areas where the salmon gums grew were good indicators of nice heavy soil. Likewise the mallee trees, with their many underground stems and branched trunks that liked the sandy loam. Just thinking about it made her smile again.

Shaking her head, she tried to throw the thoughts from her mind. It didn’t do her any good to dwell on the farm. It only made her more homesick. Annoyed for tormenting herself yet again, she decided to head inside and see whether she could be of any help.

The huge shed had been purpose-built for farm auctions. This would be Erindale Prime SAMM stud’s third year. The smell of straw and sheep hung in the warm air and the hum of voices bounced off the metal walls and ceiling. Izzy noticed a couple of men standing by the yard of one of their best rams.

‘G’day, fellas. You interested in our mate, Wally, here? He is one of the stud’s best.’ Both men nodded. They looked like serious bidders.

‘What’s the ram’s EMD?’ asked the taller of the two. He was older, maybe in his sixties, and Izzy got the distinct feeling he was testing her.

‘His eye muscle depth is forty-two millimetres and he was a hundred and twenty kilograms at last weigh,’ she said while holding Wally’s head for them to study.

They raised their eyebrows and nodded, impressed with the figures. She could see they wanted to talk further so she gave them some privacy and turned to leave.

‘Thanks, love,’ the older man called out.

She waved her hand in reply and headed towards another pen. Mickey and Simone were at this one with another couple. She could hear Mickey doing his sales pitch.

‘I’ve come to buy,’ said Mickey. ‘I’ve slowly introduced them to my merino flock, but I’ve now decided to convert the entire lot, as we’re aiming to boost the meat aspect. With their growth rates, we can get the lambs off the farm heaps quicker.’

The young couple looked fascinated by what Mickey had to say. ‘It sure does sound great. My wife and I have been interested in the SAMMs for a while.’

Izzy was feeling redundant. She gave Simone a nod and decided to grab a drink. Too many people in the shed made the temperature rise and the air stuffy. The straw scuffed under her boots as she headed down the side of the pens.

Suddenly she stopped.

Will Timmins was heading towards her. At least, she thought it looked like him. Was the heat making her see things? As the bloke walked closer, she expected his face to merge into someone else’s, but it didn’t. Will stopped in front of her and reached out to hold her arms, as if forcing her to realise she wasn’t hallucinating. His blue eyes, bright and electrifying, delved into her soul. Oh, she’d missed them and his strong handsome face.

‘Hi, Izzy,’ he said in a voice that sent shivers up her spine.

‘Will? Fancy seeing you here. I … ah … didn’t know you were interested in SAMMs. Do you want me to show you around?’ What were the chances of him coming to this auction? she thought.

‘Izzy, I’m not here to buy a bloody ram,’ said Will, shaking her slightly.

She raised an eyebrow curiously. ‘You’re not? Then … why are you here?’

‘For you, of course.’

‘Oh …’ Izzy thought for a moment, but seemed stunned. ‘But how did you know I was here?’ She was trying hard not to get lost in his eyes.

‘You mentioned the ram sale when we bumped into each other in Perth, so I just rang all the coming stud sales and asked if you worked there. After a handful, I eventually rang Erindale and found out where you’ve been hiding. Didn’t realise you were this far north.’

‘Oh.’ Izzy didn’t know what to say.

‘Alan told me that you worked for him but I asked him not to say anything until I could come and talk to you myself,’ Will explained.

‘I see.’ I really need that drink of water, she thought. ‘So, what do you want to talk about?’ He’d caught her completely off guard and now she was starting to feel angry at him for confronting her like this.

‘You need to come home at once,’ he said sternly.

Izzy began shaking her head. ‘No, I can’t, Will. Not yet.’

‘You have to. Your dad’s very sick. He needs you.’

Izzy squinted at him. ‘What do you mean sick?’ Thud. Her heart began to beat so hard that she felt like she was standing on a railway crossing as a train chugged past.

Will took a deep breath and glanced around the busy shed. He had hoped to do this in private, but he knew she wasn’t going to budge.

‘I found him slumped in his wheelchair nearly two weeks ago. He’d had a stroke.’ Will let his words sink in.

Izzy felt the blood drain from her body. ‘What?’ she managed to squeak.

‘He’s back at Lake Grace now and he’s over the worst of it, but, Izzy, he really needs to see you.’

Izzy began to fall forwards. Will could see she was about to pass out. Quickly, he guided her to a hay bale and sat her down. She was pale and staring into space. Will looked up and saw Blake striding towards them. He silently groaned.

‘Hey, Will. How are you going?’ Blake greeted him, much more cheerfully than Will had expected. ‘What’s up with you, Izzy? You look crook. Is there anything I can do?’ Blake held Izzy’s face as he looked into her eyes. He reached over and rubbed her back.

‘Some water, mate?’ Will asked, hoping he would rack off. This was none of his business. He didn’t know if it was the look of concern on Blake’s face that had him ticked off or the way he caressed Izzy’s back tenderly. Either one gave him more reason to hate the guy.

Blake nodded. ‘I’m on to it.’ He headed for his water bottle.

‘Izzy, are you all right?’ Will asked.

‘Yeah, it’s just a bit of a shock.’ She started to stand up but her legs were still wobbly.

‘Whoa. What are you doing?’ Will gently forced her to sit back down.

‘I need to go and pack and head home.’

Will paused. ‘You want to go see him, now?’

Izzy turned and looked him in the eyes. ‘He’s my father, Will. I still love him. I don’t want to see him hurt again, or …’ She was about to say dead, but couldn’t bring herself to finish. ‘He’s the only father I’ve got.’

‘Blake’s bringing you some water. Just sit here and get yourself together, then you can think about coming home. Your dad’s fine. He’s settled into the hospital at Lake Grace and he’s not going anywhere. They think he’ll make a full recovery, so you don’t have to rush home this minute.’

Izzy nodded obediently.

‘Here, have a drink,’ said Blake on his return.

‘Thanks.’ She drained the cup in a few gulps. ‘Dad just can’t sit still, can he?’ she said, anger surging through her once again. ‘He’s always pushing the limits. He’s gonna do himself in properly one of these days if he can’t learn to take it easy.’ Izzy rolled her eyes to prove her point. ‘None of this would have happened …’

‘I know. You’re right,’ said Will. He could see the colour returning to Izzy’s gorgeous face. He had missed her so much more than he thought he would. It seemed so lonely on the farm now. He felt like he was lost most of the time, with no direction or purpose. He found himself sitting by Bill’s chair a lot, just talking farming to him. He felt comfortable in their house, as if he was closer to Izzy. A part of him always hoped that the next time he visited Bill, Izzy would be sitting there beside him.

‘Do you want me to drive you down?’ Blake asked Izzy.

‘No,’ said Will and Izzy at the same time.

Izzy looked sideways at Will, baffled by his quick reply. Shrugging, she explained, ‘There’s no use me rushing home, like Will said. I’ll go after the sale. It’ll only be an extra hour. I can’t abandon your dad. This is a huge event for the farm and I want to see it through.’