He’d known Rebecca all his life. His parents owned Wilga Cattle Station to the west of Morgan’s Reach, and he and Rebecca had attended the same school, the same picnic races and get-togethers over the years. But he hadn’t given her much thought back then, for she was just another annoying girl, and of no interest whatsoever. He’d left to finish his education in Brisbane as most of the Outback children did, and stayed on after college to work for the fire service.

But the lure of the great empty plains and the magic of the bush drew him back home, and on his return to Morgan’s Reach he’d heard through the gossip that Rebecca was now training as a nurse in Sydney, and engaged to a veterinary student called Adam Jackson. Even then he hadn’t taken much notice, for he was in love with Maggie Wheeler, gossip was for housewives and he could barely remember what Rebecca Morgan even looked like. And then, in September 1939, war was declared and Ben had left Morgan’s Reach to enlist along with his mates, thinking it would be a great adventure and a chance to see the world.

Thinking back, Ben grimaced. It had been a gut-wrenching, terrifying and bloody experience, and far from an adventure. The last letter from Maggie had extinguished the one glimmer of hope he’d kept burning through those endless enemy bombardments in the North African deserts – compounding the horrors of war and the reality of being so very far from home.

He steered the utility through the trees, the flickering light filtering through the canopy on to the dusty, scratched windscreen making it hard to see where he was going. But he’d come this way so often he barely had to concentrate, and his thoughts returned to his dilemma.

He’d survived the war and come home to discover that his mate John Blake hadn’t been so lucky – and neither had several others. Maggie had long since married and moved to Darwin, but time and distance had healed the hurt, and when he met Rebecca again the attraction was instant, and he was amazed at how quickly she’d got under his skin.

And yet he was wary. He didn’t want to get hurt again, and Rebecca was still fragile after losing Adam. He’d tried not to rush things, tried to understand that she and Danny needed time to adjust to a new commitment, but it was getting harder to stay patient, and despite her reassurances, he was beginning to suspect she was having second thoughts.

A movement amid the shadows caught his attention and he glanced across just in time to catch a glimpse of bright red hair and two small figures darting through the trees.