Page 179 of Sugarloaf Ridge Lies

“What?” She slaps my arm. “You don’t. Seriously.”

I chuckle and take a long drink from my water bottle.

My phone buzzes with a call. I snatch up the device, Finn’s name and face on screen.

Liv stands and packs her goodies in the box. “I’ll find somewhere to put these until the tree arrives.” She winks and leaves the room.

I answer the call. “Finn. How’s it hangin’?”

A horn beeps in the background followed by a swoosh of a passing vehicle on wet road. “Jer, I need your help.”Where is he?

My chest constricts at the panic in his voice. Finn doesn’t ask for help. He’s a proud man who will do anything and everything himself, foregoing sleep as if it’s a luxury. Asking me for help means it’s something out of his control.Like a fiancé with a heart condition and a baby due next month.

“Daynah?” I choke out.

“Yep. We came to Sydney for a check-up, but the cardiac team won’t let her leave.”

“Fuck.”What the hell does that mean? Is her heart struggling to keep up?

Finn huffs. “We’ve always known the baby could have heart issues, too, so they’re setting up a bigger team to do an assessment. The baby’s smaller in size for its gestational age, and Daynah’s oxygen levels are lower than they should be. All along they prepared us for an early delivery. Neither of us are ready.”

“She’s gonna be fine.” My voice is weak. I want to believe my words, but the fear of the unknown makes it hard to breathe.

“There’s a real risk of heart failure while she’s in labour.”

Bile rises in my throat, and my skin itches all over. We can’t lose her. I just found my sister, but the real heartbreak will be for Finn. Knowing how strong their bond is, he won’t recover if anything happens to her, or the baby.

“Goddamn it.”

I bang my clenched fist against the dining table. Pain radiates up through my wrist.

“Daynah’s bloody freakin’ out. I’m strugglin’ to put on a brave face, but she needs me. I can’t leave her. Not until we know what the doctors are plannin’.”

I swallow hard at the notion of my sister in a hospital bed at the mercy of the doctors. I’ve seen it before and I don’t want to witness it again. “What can I do. Tell me.”

“I’m sorry, brother. I know you have your plate full, but there’s no one else I trust with overseeing this. I need you at Banridge. From tomorrow for a few days.” He pauses. “A week tops. Can you manage it?”

Fuck. I’m knee deep in the spring prune. The plants need enough time to recover for summer blooms, otherwise all the work I’ve put in will be for nothing. Aside from that, can I swallow my pride when it comes to Mum? Is she gonna be hanging around the yards getting on my nerves, or will she let me get on with the fucking job?

I can’t tell him no. He never says it to me. I won’t let him down. I’ll have to come up with another solution for the farm. Liv and I will talk it over, come up with something.

“I’m there. Tell me what you need.”

He huffs. “We’re yard weaning.”

“Fuck, okay.” Jesus. That’s a hell of a job. Keeping cows away from their calves is fucking taxing. Hearing cows wailing, non-stop, day and night, was always hard to take when I was young.Especially once I knew I was abandoned. It’s what must be done to get the cows back in condition to breed again but doesn’t make the process any easier.

“Thanks. I owe you,” Finn says, a tinge of relief in his voice. “Big time. A few of the Jackaroos have been through it before. They understand what they need to do to keep the weaners calm and what to look out for. There’s no one else I’d trust to manage this.”

To don’t want him worrying about the Station. As much as I hate weaning, I’ve been a part of it at least a dozen times over.

I rub my hand across my brow, trying to ease the tension there. “How many weaners we talkin’?”

Finn clears his throat. Another car horn blares. “Enough.”

I’m guessing that means anywhere between fifty and a hundred, so we’ll have our work cut out for us. “’Kay.”

“I’ll flick you Red’s number. Out of all the boys, he’s got his head screwed on right.”

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