‘Terry!’ She just missed being knocked flat by the fast-moving utility as Terence swerved to a halt. ‘Terry, I thought you were dead. Oh, God, I can’t believe it.’

Terry just about managed to get out from behind the wheel as she clung to him and sobbed into his shoulder. ‘Fair go, Sandra,’ he muttered, his bashful glance sweeping over the spectators. ‘Calm down, love.’

‘But I’ve been frantic with worry,’ she sobbed. ‘Where have you been?’

‘In the middle of nowhere,’ he replied as he tried to prise her clutching hands from his sweaty blood-stained shirt. ‘We would have got here earlier, but we had to push the flaming ute for about a mile to get her started.’

‘Blood!’ she shrieked, her eyes widening as she looked at his shirt. ‘You’ve been hurt.’

‘It’s not mine,’ he said, and firmly but gently pushed her away. ‘I’ve got a patient to see to, Sandra. We’ll talk later.’

‘But I thought you were dead,’ she sobbed, her voice high-pitched and on the point of hysteria. ‘Can’t you at least pretend you’re pleased to see me?’

‘For goodness sake, Sandra,’ he hissed, aware that Paddy was watching this exchange with great amusement. He reddened to the roots of his hair as he caught the drover’s eye. ‘Let’s get young Ross into a proper bed,’ Terence said as he hurried to the back of the truck. ‘I want to make sure those stitches are holding.’

As the two men carried the stretcher into the hospital, Jane and Gwyneth followed, but Becky held back for a moment to have a quiet word with the sobbing Sandra.

‘He does love you, you know,’ she said as she gave her a handkerchief and drew her away from the veranda. ‘And of course he’s pleased to see you, to be back home – but at moments like this his work has to come first.’

Sandra sniffed back her tears and made no reply as she refused to meet Becky’s gaze.

‘I know you’ve been worried – we all have – but now he needs our help, and the best way to do that is to stay calm and focused.’

Sandra sighed tremulously and folded her arms tightly round her waist. ‘Of course I realise that,’ she said flatly. ‘I’m not stupid. But he could have said something kind. I’m a highly emotional, sensitive person, and can’t help showing how I feel. We can’t all be ice-cool and collected like your mother.’