Free Christmas at Candlebark Farm by Michelle Douglas Page A

and she wanted to do whatever she could to soothe it.
    â€˜People react in different ways when they lose someone they love. Sometimes in irrational ways.’
    â€˜But—’
    He broke off, as if he’d been about to say something and then thought better of it. She didn’t press him. ‘ My mum died when I was fourteen.’
    He spun to stare at that. ‘Yeah?’
    â€˜It was awful—the worst time of my life. You know all about that, though.’
    He shrugged and nodded. He didn’t back away from her as he had up until now.
    â€˜But I can’t imagine how awful it would be to lose a child. It’s the wrong order, you see. Children are supposed to outlive their parents.’
    Jason’s brow creased. ‘So you think it might be harder for Gran and Grandad to accept that…that Mum’s gone than anyone else?’
    â€˜Maybe.’
    â€˜They hate Dad.’
    Keira swallowed. That had been all too evident.
    â€˜They say that because they’d separated and weren’t living together any more that proves he didn’t love Mum.’
    How on earth could his grandparents do this to him—tear his loyalties like this? She did her best to keep her voice even. ‘I think there must be more than a hundred different kinds of love in the world. Just because your mum and dad weren’t living together any more it doesn’t mean they’d stopped caring about each other. What do you think?’
    Jason scuffed the toe of one sneaker against the floor. ‘Dunno.’
    â€˜Have you tried talking to your dad about it?’
    He glanced away. She recalled how shuttered and closed-off Luke could be, and grimaced. She wasn’t sure if she’d be brave enough to broach the subject if she were Jason, either.
    She paid for the groceries and went to lift her share of the bags, but Jason beat her to it. ‘Dad told me to carry them,’ he muttered.
    For a moment he so reminded her of Luke that her lips twitched. She straightened, placed her hands on her hips. ‘Did your dad tell you that I’m pregnant?’ She didn’t mind if he had. It wasn’t a secret. She’d already spread the news far and wide among her friends.
    Jason’s jaw dropped. He stared at her stomach. ‘Are you?’
    â€˜Yep.’
    His eyes lit up. ‘Sweet!’
    â€˜I think so.’
    He grinned. It stunned her. She hadn’t seen him grin before, and it transformed him completely. It caught the awkwardness of his age perfectly—trapped somewhere between childhood and adulthood. It brought all her maternal urges rushing to the surface, turning her to mush.
    â€˜Am I supposed to offer you my arm or something?’ he said, mock gallant, but grinning like an idiot.
    Laughter spurted out of her. ‘Try it and I’ll box your ears.’
    That was when it occurred to her that what Luke and Jason needed was a bit of fun in their lives.
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    Luke couldn’t believe it. When Keira and Jason emerged from the supermarket they were… laughing !
    Keira had obviously told Jason she was pregnant, because all the way back to Candlebark they tossed around babies’ names, of all things. As if that incident in the supermarket had never happened.
    The ute didn’t have a back seat, so they all had to ride in the front. Keira sat in the middle. Every now and again the movement of the car had her shoulder brushing his. Each and every time a wave of vanilla would engulf him.
    The scent didn’t soothe him. It attacked all his nerve-endings, fraying them with a relentless reminder of all he’d turned his back on, of a life he could never have—a life that held softness and sweetness and bone-deep contentment.
    He’d turned all those things to dust for Tammy, and every time he saw Brenda and Alf it was like a scab being ripped off an old wound. He deserved their hate and censure, but they deserved to find some peace. Every