Natalie gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile. Kate and Laura were quick to empathise, and Bree had said a quick hello when she’d arrived but sat back now, so like her father, who was doing the same. Poor Owen must think her a lunatic and Jack, well, Jack was watching her steadily, those pearly blue eyes searching. She couldn’t bear to meet his look.

“Thanks…sorry to disappear. I’ll be fine…after a decent sleep.” She turned away from their gazes, made her way to the bedroom. Normally this room was her haven but not tonight. There was no peace here as she stripped off, no comfort as she slid under the covers.

She’d felt an outsider in her parents’ home and now that she was in her own, she still couldn’t find that elusive peace. The sight of Jack in her kitchen, Laura bending over him, her hand on his shoulder, had made the pieces of her puzzled life jumble again and now she doubted her decision to not ask Milt the question she’d tried to avoid.

“Are you sure your mum’s okay?” Sean shut the bedroom door and began to strip.

Kate watched him. Normally she’d be hungry for his strong, lean body after a week without him but tonight the lethargy clung to her, dampening any stirrings of desire. “Yes. I guess.” She slipped down in the bed, trying to focus on his question. “Although I thought she seemed a bit…” A bit what? Kate spent each day struggling to keep her own head up and she didn’t have a lot of energy left for her mother’s mood.

Sean switched off the light and slipped into bed, drawing her to him. She relaxed in his comforting embrace, so glad he was there. “She had to go to Adelaide for tests the same time as Jack’s mum. Everything was fine, she said. Maybe it’s been a bit of a shock… Mrs Halbot’s news.”

“I didn’t think they got on.”

“It’s not that they don’t get on. They just…I don’t know. I think there may have been some kind of falling-out when I was little. We’ve not really mixed much with the Halbots until…” Kate thought about that. Bree had muttered something about Jack turning into Dad’s golden-haired boy while they’d been out mustering. Bree was often touchy and Kate hadn’t thought much about it. “Until recently.” She slid a hand up Sean’s chest and rested it on his shoulder. This wasn’t what she’d wanted to talk to her husband about. “You haven’t said much about your weekend.”