When the meeting breaks up, Harry, Stella and I walk back to the house. As we approach the door, Stella grabs me by the wrists.

‘I want you to promise me something,’ she says. ‘When you walk through that door, when you enter our house, you don’t tell us any more lies. It’s the truth from now on, you hear?’

The last week has been such a jumble of half-truths and lies that I hardly know what’s real and what’s not anymore. But there’s something binding in the way she looks at me.

‘No more lies,’ I say.

She nods at Harry, and the three of us go inside and sit down at the table.

‘Now,’ Harry says, ‘you’d better give us the whole story, Finn.’

So I tell them about Rose and everything that has happened since she arrived in Angowrie. I watch their faces carefully while I talk, but they don’t seem too surprised. Not until I tell them that Rose is pregnant.

Stella is excited and angry.

‘She’s pregnant?’ she cries. ‘And on her own surrounded by Ramage’s mob? Why did you leave her down there?’

‘I had no choice. If I hadn’t gone, she would’ve gone herself. And that would’ve been even more dangerous. For her and the baby.’

Stella smiles. ‘You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, Finn. Your mum and dad would be proud.’

I don’t know what to say to this, but something warm glows inside me.

We all fall silent. They’re both weighing up what to do, but I’ve made my decision. I made it the minute I saw Kas at the meeting. It’s just a matter of whether Stella and Harry are going to help us or not.

‘Tell me about when Kas arrived,’ I say.

‘She’s been here a few days now,’ Harry says. ‘One of our young blokes, James, got separated on a hunting party last week. He found his way over towards Swan’s Marsh and spotted the girl on her own. There was some sort of commotion going on in the town, and she took the chance to steal a horse and make off with it. James led her back here. To start with she was pretty happy just to have a feed and a roof over her head, but then she told us she had to leave.’

He hesitates, twisting the wedding ring on his finger.

‘I’m sorry about what happened at the meeting, Finn. You didn’t see us at our best. You probably worked out that Tusker has pretty different views from mine.’

I almost smile. ‘Yeah, I picked that up.’

‘Kashmala—Kas,’ he corrects himself, ‘has done a bit of work around the place, mostly on her horse. She doesn’t let it out of her sight. Sleeps in the barn with it. When I saw her ride it, I understood why.’

Stella has been quiet but now she says, ‘We’re in a difficult situation, Finn. No one in the community is going to allow you to leave, especially not with Kas. But I can’t bear to think of her sister down there on the coast fending for herself. Not with a baby coming.’

‘There’s no use trying to escape,’ Harry adds. ‘They all know this country better than you do. Tusker and Wilson are good bushmen, they’d catch you before you made it to Pinchgut Junction, drag you back here and lock you up.’

Stella leans across the table then and puts her hand on my arm.

‘What if we could get Rose here, into the valley with us,’ she says. ‘She’d be safer—and so would her baby.’

‘Being around the likes of Tusker doesn’t feel very safe to me,’ I say. ‘Look at the way he treats Kas. He’ll know straightaway that Rose is a Siley and that means her baby will be a Siley too.’

‘You’re not alone here, Finn,’ Harry says. ‘Stella and me will stick up for all of you. The most important thing is bringing that baby into the world safely. It’s the best chance Rose’s got.’

I’m tossing everything up in mind. Maybe they’re right. I’ve got no idea what to do when the baby comes and I’m guessing Kas hasn’t either. Ray might be able to help us, but even he admitted he doesn’t know much about childbirth. Still, I don’t trust anyone here apart from Harry and Stella. The others could take the baby and force Rose to work on the farm.

I tell them I need to sleep on it. I don’t want to be rushed into another decision that leaves me up shit creek. I console myself with the fact that I’m still the only one here who knows exactly where Rose is, though I worry that she’ll grow tired of waiting for me. If she does, I hope she has the sense to follow my directions to Ray’s place.

The next few days pass quickly. Even though I’m edgy to leave, there’s something satisfying about working on the farm. I stay close to Harry most of the time, hardly talking to anyone else. We work along the river, getting the paddocks ready for ploughing. The soil is soft and dark brown. Harry says it’s good for cropping. There’s capeweed and thistles in thin patches and we work at rooting them out.

Every now and then I scan the valley, looking at the other groups of workers for any sign of Kas. I think I see her once across the river, but I can’t tell at such a distance. And my eyes are drawn to the steep country leading up to the ridge. It looks rugged and difficult to climb but, if we could find a way, it’s the quickest way back to Pinchgut Junction.

At the end of the day the different work teams return to their own houses. When we get close to ours, Willow runs out to meet Harry. He sweeps her up and carries her on his shoulders.

Each night Harry goes to the community hall to meet with the others. He doesn’t say anything about these meetings or what’s being discussed, but I see the way he shakes his head at Stella when he returns each night. I get no news of Kas. Stella keeps talking about Rose and how we might be able to get her to come and live in the valley, and have the baby here.

Time stretches and, before I know it, a week has passed. Every day I think of Rose. Is she getting better? Are the antibiotics working? Have the Wilders left Angowrie? I toss and turn at night and fret about escaping. But I have to get to Kas first. I can’t leave without her.

I’ve been here for about ten days when I hear Harry and Stella talking quietly after I’ve gone to bed. I tiptoe into the lounge room and sit on the floor outside their room.

‘There’s not a chance, Stell. They won’t let us,’ Harry says. ‘It’s too dangerous. Ramage’s patrols will be out looking for the girl. We could lose everything we’ve worked for if they track them here.’

‘And what about the other girl, Harry? What about Rose?’

‘They don’t even know if she’s real or not. I believe Finn, but Tusker and the others don’t. They’re not prepared to take the chance, even to get another girl and a baby.’

I can hear the anger in Stella’s voice. ‘Well, I’m going to help her, Harry. I swear to God, I’m going to. I don’t give a damn what the others think.’

‘They won’t let you leave, Stell. They’re watching us like hawks. They’d track you in no time and bring you back.’

‘And what about you, Harry?’ she says, louder. ‘Are you going to lie down and let them trample all over us?’

‘You know it’s not as easy as that. We’ve got Willow to consider. If I took off to look for the girl, you two wouldn’t be safe. You know what Tusker’s like.’

‘All right,’ Stella says. She leaves a long silence than adds, ‘Help Finn and Kas, then. Help them escape.’

Harry is silent. Finally he says, ‘You know we’d lose them all. The three of them. They’d never come back to the valley.’

‘Four. There’d be four of them, God willing.’

I hear the lamp being blown out in the room and the house falls into darkness. I sit for a while, trying to understand everything I’ve heard. By the time I get to my feet my knees are cramping and I have to navigate carefully back to my room so I don’t knock anything over.

I’m just about to close my door when Stella calls out.

‘Goodnight, Finn.’