Sam’s thoughts started to drift once more, and the common sense side of her brain kicked in. If Daniel had told his parents that he had a fling with her, that could mean one of two things. Either he wanted to prove something, that he was capable of getting a girl. She wrote that one off immediately. Someone as handsome and caring as Daniel would have no problem getting a girl. Or, that he actually did like her. She was secretly hoping that it was the latter, but couldn’t be sure and made a mental note to find out, subtly of course.
With that thought, the familiar feeling of self-consciousness and awkwardness came flooding back. Sam found it hard to imagine someone as handsome as Daniel wanting anything to do with someone as plain and clumsy, as she considered herself to be.
Trying hard to push the feeling aside, she became aware of a sensation of being watched. She adjusted her focus and could see Daniel’s reflection in the window. His eyes were burning into the back of her head. Sam turned slowly, so as to give him the chance to look away if he didn’t want her knowing he was gazing at her.
To her surprise, he didn't look away and her gaze fell on his. Instantly, her stomach did cartwheels.
His eyes were full of what looked like an apology and a hope for forgiveness. Against Sam’s will, her insides melted. She found it hard to stay annoyed with him for long. Her eyes acknowledged his silent request.
Sam smiled, and his expression turned to one of relief. Hesitantly, he slid his hand across the seat to where hers was resting, covered it and gave it a squeeze. Tingles skittered up her arm making her feel as if she had just touched a live wire.
He pulled his hand away again, not wanting to risk his parents seeing the connection between them.
The silence was suddenly broken by Mrs. Miller’s booming voice over the sound of the engine. “Nearly there now. Just up ahead in a few miles, you should see Shalroma come into view.”
“Shalroma?” Sam asked.
“That’s the name of our sheep station. They all have one. We’re not quite sure what it means,” Mrs. Miller answered.
The plane banked to the left and Sam could see some buildings far off in the distance. The buildings looked like a small outpost, clustered together as they were. The plane circled around the homestead once, leaving Sam in awe of its size from above. The house was enormous, surrounded by numerous outbuildings to one side and a swimming pool and tennis courts to the other.
“We’re here.” Daniel leaned over and whispered in Sam’s ear. His soft lips only brushed her ear for a split second, but it was enough to start some fires.
“Welcome to our homestead,” Mrs. Miller announced after the plane had landed safely on their airstrip and was pulling up in front of the house.
Sam stepped out of the plane, looking in amazement at the single story house that lay out in front of her. It looked even more impressive from the ground, and it was now possible to see what some of the outbuildings were. There were caged runs filled with turkeys, chickens, and ducks to the right of the house. Next to where they had pulled up, there was a fuel pump, with three motor-cross motorbikes and a four-wheeler standing to attention beside it.
“Do you use your plane a lot?” she asked Mr. Miller.
“Yes,” he replied. “We’ll be going up in her tomorrow to find where the sheep are.”
Her mind toyed with what he had just said, and, finally, the size of this place started to sink in. Their property was so big that they needed a plane to search for the sheep. Realizing she was holding her breath, she slowly exhaled.
“Come on, Sam.” Daniel said brightly “I’ll show you to your room, and then we can wash up for dinner. After dinner, I’ll give you a tour of the house if you like?”
“Yes, I think I would like that very much.”
He took her bags once more, and she followed him up into the entrance of his home. The door was not locked, but then, she thought, it would have to be a pretty desperate thief to come all this way to steal stuff.
Daniel led her down the length of the screened deck and through a door at the end. Her room was the first door on the right, after that.
“We share this bathroom and toilet,” he announced, pointing them out to her as they passed. “My room is the next one down on the right. So if you need me, you know where to find me.”
Sam poked her head in the room he had pointed to. It was the bathroom, fairly small but functional. The toilet was in a separate room next to the bathroom.
He placed Sam’s bags on her bed and turned to face her, looking around as he did. He stepped closer and she could feel her body tense, but tried to hide the fact that she was feeling uncomfortable. Sam glanced up as he caught her chin in his hand and looked down at her. Her body wanted to sink into his caress, wanted to know how it would feel, but she stood firm.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” he whispered. “I thought I would never see you again.”
She allowed a sheepish smile. “Neither did I,” she replied.
The familiar awkward feeling that was her constant companion started to coil around her. She pulled away. What was she thinking? She should have never agreed to work there when she found out it was Daniel’s parent’s place. Who was she kidding? She’ll never pull off trying to convince his father there was nothing between them when all she wanted to do at that moment was kiss the smile right off his face. But she needed to know she was more to him than just an imagined fling. That he thought more of her than that. To do that, she resigned herself to the fact that she would have to stick around a bit longer.
“Thank you for showing me to my room,” she muttered to her feet. “I better get unpacked and have a shower before dinner.” With that, she turned and got to work unpacking her backpack.
Daniel let out a small sigh and quietly clicked the door shut behind him. Sam closed her eyes. This was not going to be easy. How on earth was she going to be able to work so closely with him when every muscle in her body was screaming out to touch him, but every rational thought in her brain was terrified of the consequences if she did? She straightened. Oh, pull yourself together, woman, she cursed at herself. You are not going to let another man have that much power over you.
Sam pulled her thoughts together and did a closer inspection of her room. It was small but clean. Just big enough to hold a single bed, a closet, and a dresser. Then she noticed something odd. There were two doors. The one she just came in through and another one on the opposite wall next to the closet. Curiosity got the better of her and she wandered over to the other door, quietly opened it, and stepped outside. She found herself standing at the end of a long corridor that continued to her right. Muffled voices and the clanging of pots were coming from the end the corridor. It was no great leap to assume that must be where the kitchen was.
To her left, the corridor opened up into what looked like a formal dining room that backed up against her bedroom wall, and, she guessed, Daniel’s room, too. Off to the right of the open plan dining room, was a beautiful, almost stately living room. It was decorated very formally with plenty of antiques and what looked like family heirlooms. It didn’t look like it regularly accepted visitors, though. To be honest, she thought it looked more like a museum piece than a ‘living’ room.
Two of the walls had floor to ceiling bookshelves filled to brimming with books. There was an immense fireplace that took center stage on the main wall, with a russet and cream-colored cowhide in front of it. But the thing that grabbed her attention the most was the wall filled with framed photos, most of them sepia or black and white.
She crept over and stood in front of the wall of photos. Some of the people in the portraits were dressed in Victorian clothing. In fact, there were generations of different fashions being worn by the people in the pictures. Right in the center of them were two large portraits, one of Mrs. Miller and one of Mr. Miller.
“That’s our family tree,” a familiar voice said behind her.
She nearly jumped out of her skin and took in a sharp breath in response. Being so engrossed in the pictures, she hadn’t heard Daniel come in and stand behind her.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you jump,” he apologized.
“No worries. This is an amazing collection of pictures. How far back do they go?”
“Mum and Dad’s ancestors were actually some of the first people to be shipped here as prisoners from England,” Daniel explained. “That wasn’t anything to be proud of back in the day, but being able to say your family were some of the original white settlers to this country is quite a feat nowadays. This sheep station has been in our family for generations. It will be mine one day.”
“Wow.”
They stood side by side for a few more minutes while Daniel explained who a few of the people were, then realizing the shower was beckoning, she politely excused herself. Dragged herself away would have been a more accurate description.
Just as she was about to step back into her room, she noticed a door directly opposite hers. It was open so she peeked inside. It was about the same size as her bedroom but was filled floor to ceiling with shelves full of provisions of all kinds: food, toiletries, drinks, produce. It was like a mini grocery store inside.
Sam stepped quietly back into her room and continued unpacking, not that there was much to unpack from her compact backpack. After undressing, she pulled on her robe, grabbed some toiletries, and headed out the other door towards the bathroom. Poking her head out first, she looked both ways to make sure the coast was clear. It was, so she dashed across the hall and darted into the bathroom closing the door behind her.
There was no lock on the door, but she didn’t think much of it, there didn’t seem to be locks on anything. The owners must have thought they weren’t necessary.
Sam turned on the shower and waited for the water to heat up. She was travel weary and couldn’t wait for the warm water to envelop her tired body. Once in the shower, she was not disappointed. The water rained down, covering every inch of her, and it felt heavenly. She felt so at ease in the shower; it was one of her favorite things to do. Her muscles started to relax, and she stood for the longest time just enjoying the sensation of being wrapped in warmth.
She was pulled from her trance by a knocking on the door.
“Sam? It’s Daniel,” came Daniel’s muffled voice though the door, “Mum said dinner will be ready in half an hour.”
“Thanks,” she called back. “I’m nearly finished. I’ll be there in a few minutes.” She could hear his footsteps growing fainter and turned off the shower.
Sam felt much better. Showers seemed to have the ability to revive like nothing else did. Peeking outside the bathroom again, she saw no one and made a dash back into her bedroom, quickly shutting the door behind her.
Twenty minutes later she followed the voices down the hallway and found the kitchen. Once again, she stared. Like everything else in this house, except her bedroom, the kitchen was vast; the size of a small house! There were two huge stoves, one was an old-fashioned looking Aga that stood in the corner. The other looked like a normal gas stove, albeit twice the size of any gas stove she had ever seen. The rest of the kitchen was lined with cabinets, workspace, appliances, and an enormous sink with a draining board.
Mrs. Miller was coordinating the meal with what looked like military precision. It was obvious to Sam that this lady felt very at home in the kitchen. This was resoundingly her territory.
“Can I help with anything?” Sam asked, hoping Mrs. Miller would not take her up on the offer and see the painful truth that she didn’t know a frying pan from a dish mop.
“No, no,” Mrs. Miller replied. “You go and sit down in the dining room, and I’ll be there in a minute. Dinner is almost ready.”
Sam nodded and looked over in the direction of where Mrs. Miller was pointing. She could see another dining room off to the right of the kitchen. Only this one looked a lot less formal. She could hear Daniel’s familiar voice talking to his Father. They were both seated at the table chatting about the chores that needed doing. She crept in not wanting to disturb them, but, as soon as they saw her enter, they thrust their chairs back and stood up.
Their reaction to her entrance took her by surprise and she took a step back and held her breath, wondering what she had done wrong. She caught Daniel’s gaze and creased her brow. Just at that moment, Mrs. Miller bustled in behind her, saw her surprised expression and chuckled.
“Not used to chivalry are you, my dear?” It was more of a statement than a question. “I always bring my children up to be chivalrous to ladies. There’s no excuse for bad manners,” she continued, then gestured for Sam to take the seat next to Daniel on the other side of the table.
Obligingly, Sam made her way around the table and, by the time she got to her seat, Daniel was standing behind it, a coy smile plastered across his face.
He pushed her chair in gently as she lowered herself to sit down. She had never in her life had a man stand up from the table when she entered, let alone push her chair in for her. Sam was instantly transported to a scene from Pride and Prejudice, thinking what a remarkably handsome “Mr. Darcy” Daniel would make.
Just then, her thoughts were shattered by a loud squawk coming from the corner of the room; she turned around to see who had made it. Sitting on top of an ornate birdcage sat a beautiful bird. She had a gray body and a pink head, and was bobbing up and down like some insane nodding dog that you sometimes see adorning people’s dashboards in their cars.
“Who’s that?” Sam asked, looking back at Mrs. Miller.
“Her name’s Lucrecia,” the portly woman replied. “She’s a Galah. We rescued her when she was a chick. She fell out of a nest, and her mother rejected her. We never expected her to live, but Daniel took it upon himself to care for her, and here she is ten years later, still happy and loud.” The last word was aimed directly at Lucrecia.
“She’s beautiful.” Sam said, with a touch of admiration in her voice.
“She’s also stuck with us,” retorted Mr. Miller somewhat sourly. “When she fell out of the nest as a chick, she broke her wing, so she can’t fly.”
“She is definitely part of the family,” continued Mrs. Miller.
“Does she sit on your shoulder?”
“Oh, yes. She’ll not leave you alone if you are around the house and invite her to ride on you. She loves to get on board and go for a ride. She can’t get very far walking by herself, and she can’t see much at floor level. One of her favorite things to do is hang on your front while you are washing up. Sprinkle some water on her and she is in heaven.”
Sam could understand that, showers had that effect on her, too.
Dinner was superb. Mrs. Miller, it turned out, was a wonderful cook. The rest of the meal was spent discussing chores and the timetable of events for the season.
Sam found out that her job included feeding the poultry every morning and afternoon. She listened as Daniel and his father went over the timetable of events for the upcoming months until they hit the final crescendo of the season…shearing.
After they finished their meal, it was Daniel’s and Sam’s responsibility to clear up and wash the dishes. Sam walked over to Lucrecia. As she did, the bird started bobbing her head excitedly as Sam got closer.
“Hop aboard,” she said, holding out her arm for the bird. Lucrecia didn’t hesitate. The little bird climbed on Sam’s wrist, then crab-walked her way up Sam’s arm and settled down next to her right ear. Sam’s grin nearly stretched from ear to ear. She loved birds and now had made a friend with one who sat happily on her shoulder.
Daniel and Sam cleared the plates and made their way to the bath sized sink in the kitchen. To Sam’s dismay, there was no dishwasher included in the array of appliances.
“I’ll wash if you dry?” she asked Daniel. He nodded his agreement. No sooner had the sink filled up with hot soapy water, Lucrecia was climbing down Sam’s shoulder and hanging onto her sweatshirt just below the neckline.
Sam looked down at her and laughed. “I’m guessing you want a shower?” she asked the bird. She dipped her hands in the soapy water and lifted them above Lucrecia to sprinkle droplets over her head. Lucrecia showed her appreciation by bobbing her head and started flapping her wings and squawking her approval. Sam could see that she was going to get soaked, too, playing this game, but it made her laugh. The bird looked so cute.
After playing with her for a few minutes, Sam got back to work on the dishes. She and Daniel worked well as the dish washing team and had the dishes washed, dried and put away in no time.
“Come on,” Daniel said. “I’ll show you the rest of the house.”
Lucrecia climbed back onto Sam’s shoulder, and they followed Daniel down the corridor. They wandered straight through the dining room and exited through a door on the other side that led outdoors.
“The house is very old by Aussie standards,” Daniel explained. “It has been added onto over the generations. This part of the house was added about fifty years ago.”
The whole house was encircled by a covered deck. Daniel pointed to several rooms that were used as guest rooms, each having their own separate entrance from the deck. They walked a bit further and passed a door that Daniel told her was his parent’s room. It was almost the size of another small house, and was completely self-contained with its own bathroom and living room.
Passing his parent’s room, they carried on down the deck until it ended with a door that was closed. Daniel opened the door and waited for Sam to walk through it.
“Thank you,” she said, to which he inclined his head.
“This is our screened in poolroom leading to the swimming pool outside,” he announced. He was obviously very proud of this area of the homestead. Sam looked around in awe. The screen room was huge just like every other room in this palace in the outback. The sun was just setting, and they walked through the door that led straight outside to the swimming pool.
She had seen it from the air, but, up close, the pool was spectacular, and the water, calm and inviting. To the left of it, she could see the tennis court; a high chain link fence surrounded it to keep the stray balls in and the kangaroos out. The air outside was becoming cool. The seasons in Australia were reversed and although it was the beginning of June, they were headed into their coolest months.
As they watched the sun go down, Daniel explained that the climate there was rather like a dessert climate. It could get cold at night, but during the day it could still be very warm.
“It’s so beautiful out here.” Sam whispered, not wanting to spoil the tranquility of the moment.
“I think so.” Daniel agreed. “It’s my home, and one day I hope to find someone who will love it as much as I do and will stand by my side when I take it over from my parents.”
He turned to look at Sam, his eyes searching her soul. She held his gaze for a moment before looking away. The chill in the air reached through her clothes, but she couldn’t decide if it was Daniel’s intense gaze or the night air that made her start to shiver.
“You’re cold,” Daniel stated. “Come on, let’s turn in. We’ve got a busy day tomorrow.” With that, he wrapped a protective arm around her and guided her back to her room.
“I’ll just put Lucrecia to bed,” Sam told him as he stood by her door. “Good night Daniel. I’ll see you in the morning.” She walked away towards the kitchen and out of his sight.