This year was a particularly tough call. There hadn’t been enough rain at the right time and now his crops were on the edge. Did he risk leaving them and hope he could reap enough to get seed for next year, or did he cut it for hay? It was like hovering at the starting line of a marathon, waiting for the starter’s gun. Once underway, the work was relentless and exhausting until you finished or a change in the weather finished it for you.

The sound of a vehicle drew his attention towards the house. He saw Paula’s black Audi go past to the garage. She’d been at Rowena’s doing paperwork. Rowena had better have kept her promise not to tell Paula about his father’s will. Dan massaged one shoulder in an effort to release the tension he felt across his neck and back every time he thought about the damned will. He still couldn’t get his head around the fact that they could lose their property or part of it to a distant relative. He felt so helpless.

“Dan.”

He looked up. Paula was striding towards him. Her chin-length blonde hair gleamed in the sunshine and there was a bounce in her step. She gave him a wave. Even from this distance he could tell she was pleased about something.

“Guess what,” she called. “Rowena is finally handing over the account keeping to me.”

He raised his eyebrows. Paula was anxious to take over the bookwork and she was welcome to it. He hated that side of farming.

She stopped in front of him, her face lit up with a huge smile and she jiggled a small thumb drive at him.

“I’ve got a copy of all the digital stuff and she wants you to move the filing cabinet to our place.”

“Let’s alert the local paper.” He grinned.

“Don’t tease me, Dan,” she chided. “This is an important step. I had visions of Rowena coming back every month to do the accounts. Oh, and you didn’t mention she had decided to get married here, instead of Adelaide.”

“Didn’t I?” Dan hardly remembered Rowena telling him. It had been sometime in the last week and there’d been other things to worry about.

“She was happy, but sad too, if you know what I mean. I guess it’s a big change for her to be leaving the farm.” She put her arms around him and nestled her head against his chest. “I wasn’t at all sad to leave Sydney…but I love this place. Even though I haven’t been here long I think I can understand a little of what she’s feeling. I told her that she and Austin should make her house their country retreat.”

Dan clenched his jaw. He loved this place too. Surely his father had meant for Dan to continue farming here.