Page 93 of Outback Secrets
‘Actually, Macca did,’ he confessed as he passed it to her. ‘I asked him to put together a few things and, as usual, he excelled himself.’
‘I think I’m falling in love with Macca,’ Henri said with a sigh.
‘I might be jealous if I wasn’t already in love with him myself.’
Everyone laughed and then settled into conversation. Well, half the adults were able to chat; the others had to have one eye on the water at all times, making sure the kids didn’t get wet before the arrival of the guy in red. As Henri relaxed and sipped her beer, she realised that the Christmas Tree was probably much more enjoyable for those without kids than those with them. She lost track of how many times one of her nieces and nephews wanted to know, ‘How long till Santa gets here now?’
She almost snapped that he wouldn’t arrive at all if they asked again, but to their credit, her sister, brothers and in-laws had much more patience. At the sound of a baby screaming, Henri looked over to where poor Faith and Monty were sitting with Mabel—how her tiny lungs could make that much noise was a mystery!—and a little boy struggling in his dad’s arms as he pointed towards the water.
‘Soon, Clance,’ she heard Monty say as he glanced towards the dunes, clearly as eager as the kids for the gift-giving to kick off. Clancy was likely too young to know or care about Santa, but the unwritten rules were no swimming until after the official proceedings.
Stella’s daughter Heidi, with her thick-rimmed glasses, blonde pigtails and a smile that looked far too big for her face, tried to help Monty placate his son, but Clancy was having none of it.
‘Thanks for trying, Heidi,’ Faith said, reaching across to squeeze the little girl’s hand. ‘He’ll be okay.’
Defeated, Heidi climbed into Adam’s lap. He was sitting next to Stella, who was waving a paper fan against her face and gulping a bottle of water as if it was vodka.
Henri felt a weird pang in her chest—was she jealous of them? Of Faith and Stella? No, she didn’t want what they had. She didn’t want kids and a husband, but she had to admit that sometimes she did get lonely, especially late at night or on weekends when she was far from home and working with practical strangers. The companionship and always having someone to talk to, to come home to, must be nice. Cecil was a fabulous listener, but sometimes it’d be sweet to have someone who actually talked back.
At the sound of laughter, Henri’s attention returned to her own family.
‘That’s hilarious,’ James said, thumping Liam on the back. ‘Tell us another one.’
Henri looked from her fake boyfriend to her brother-in-law—what on earth had she missed?
‘Well,’ Liam began, ‘an Aussie walked into an American bar, ordered two beers—one for himself and one for his four-legged friend …’
He went on to explain that the bartender poured the drinks, said it was the ugliest dog he’d ever seen and then asked the breed. The Aussie replied, ‘It’s a long-nosed, short-eared, long-bodied, short-legged water hound. Best bloody fighter I’ve ever had.’
‘The barman laughed his ass off, then challenged the Aussie’s hound to fight his prized bulldog that had apparently never lost a fight. A thousand dollars my dog can beat yours. Of course, the funny-looking hound tore the bulldog apart, and as the bartender parted with his cash, he shook his head. What breed did you say it was again?’
When Liam delivered the punchline—‘a long-nosed, short-eared, long-bodied, short-legged water hound, but in Darwin we just called them crocodiles’—Henri snorted and joined in as the rest of her family laughed once again.
‘Where do you find all these?’ Tilley asked.
Liam shrugged. ‘Ever since I bought the pub, I’ve been collecting them.’
‘I don’t remember the last time I laughed so hard,’ her mum said, grinning broadly at him before offering one of her homemade yo-yos.
‘Thanks, Mrs Forward.’
‘I told you, it’s Fiona,’ she reprimanded, still smiling and slightly blushing as she shook her head.
‘Sorry.’ He grinned as he lifted the biscuit to his mouth. ‘Thanks, Fiona.’
Oh God. Mum really liked him. For her, feeding people was a sign of affection. And Henri couldn’t blame her mother, or the rest of her family—Liam was very likeable indeed.
Guilt crept into her heart, but before it could really take hold, an emergency siren sounded and chaos erupted. Shrieking kids dashed towards the sound and parents scrambled up off the sand after them. Henri couldn’t see from where she was sitting but knew from past experience that the local fire engine had just entered the car park.
Sure enough, minutes later there was a deep ‘ho-ho-ho’ as Ryan Forrester, aka Santa Claus, appeared, a large red sack over his shoulder and a couple of volunteer firies escorting him. Someone wolf-whistled and Henri laughed as she spotted Grant snapping photos on his phone. Predictably, Eileen Brady scowled at him.
‘Do you want me to carry you over?’ Liam asked as Ryan made his way towards the tinsel-covered marquee, waving and ‘ho-hohoing’ to the kids who parted like the Red Sea as he passed by.
‘Maybe you can just support me while I walk?’
But Liam was having none of it. As he lifted her into his arms again, her mother grabbed the fold-up chair she’d been sitting on and followed after them to join the crowd that was now gathered on the sand in front of the marquee where Ryan sat on a tinsel-covered lifeguard’s chair, two enormous towers of presents piled on either side of him.
Ruby used a microphone to address the animated crowd. ‘Welcome, everyone, to our annual Christmas Tree.’ The noise hushed. ‘I know you’re all very excited to see Santa Claus, but I need you to sit as quietly and patiently as possible while you wait for Mrs O’Neil to call out your name.’