‘It’s a fact of life,’ she replied. ‘Just because you’re a mother doesn’t necessarily mean you have to like your children when they get past the baby stage.’ She blew her nose again. ‘But at least she did something right in the end,’ she said. ‘My granddaughter turned up here a few years ago, and she’s proved to be a strong, fearless, hard-working young woman who I’m proud to say bears absolutely no resemblance to her mother.’

He gave a low whistle. ‘And who is this paragon of virtue I never knew existed until today?’

‘Millicent Cooper. She’s married to William who manages the sheep on Big Mac’s place. You’ll meet her soon enough if you stick around. Her fifth baby’s due any minute.’ She chewed her lip thoughtfully. ‘It’s strange and rather wonderful how life seems to go in circles. We all come back to our roots one way or another, don’t we?’

‘Becky and I were talking about that the other day,’ he said. ‘I suppose it’s in our nature to discover who we are and where we belong.’ He shot her a teasing glance before negotiating the dirt track that would lead them to the homestead. ‘Though I don’t ever remember you wanting to go back to Brisbane – or Wales.’

‘Hmph. There’s nothing for me in Brisbane – and I never fitted in there anyway. As for Wales, I hardly remember it. I was seven when my parents brought me to Australia.’ She folded her hands in her lap. ‘No, this is where I belong. I don’t need anywhere else.’

‘Perhaps that’s why Uncle Max came back?’

‘Maybe,’ she agreed. ‘He was always the quiet one; artistic, gentle and perfectly happy with his own company as long as he was free to roam in the bush. He went off to work in the city to try to drum up some interest in his paintings, but I don’t think he was happy there – and then the war came and he was sent to Gallipoli and Flanders. He was never the same after that.’

‘But Dad must have taken part too. How come he wasn’t affected?’

‘Oh, he was,’ she said. ‘He just never speaks of it.’ She sighed. ‘All men are changed by war – even you, Terence. But Max suffered from what we now know was shell shock. He came home for a short while and then went wandering. It was several years before we heard from him again, but he’d found his refuge at last, and was contented to live a solitary life out in Warratah Forest.’