The child’s voice in his head faltered as a flash of light showed him Anna, bending over a wire fence, pliers in her hand.
A cluster of sheep had been trapped in a corner of a paddock by the approaching flames. Desperate to escape, they were pushing against the barbed wire as Anna tried to cut through it. Ben caught his breath. Anna could be trapped there too, by the panicking animals or caught up in the wire. He moved in her direction. Before he could reach her, Anna turned her attention to the fence. She cut through the lowest wire first. Then the next and the next. A couple of the sheep had already pushed through under the top wire and the whole group was trying to follow. Anna was in danger of being knocked over by their relentless pressure. She cut through the top wire and stepped through the gap. The animals dashed through behind her and kept running across the paddock to safety.
‘Get out of there!’ Ben yelled.
Instead, she bent to lift the strands of wire off the ground and bend them back, weaving them through the fence wire and out of the way of passing animals. Ben wanted to shake her until her teeth rattled.
Finally and, it seemed to him, without any real haste, she slipped back through the fence.
‘Thanks.’ She held the pliers out for him.
‘You idiot!’ He snatched the pliers from her hand. ‘You could have been trapped there. You don’t ever leave yourself with no way out.’
‘Those animals were trapped. They were going to burn if I didn’t get them out.’
Ben became aware of Justin stepping between them. He turned his fury on his brother.
‘And you. You should know better than to let an untrained civilian wander around a fire.’
‘Calm down, Ben. She’s fine.’
‘No, Justin, she’s not. She’s exactly the same as our mother. Never thinking of what her actions might mean to those around her. To her family. To those who love her.’
Ben’s voice broke on the last words, and he turned away.
CHAPTER
18
Despite the late night, Anna was awake early. Sleep hadn’t been easy. She and Justin hadn’t mentioned Ben’s outburst as they drove back to Wagtail Ridge; Justin had barely spoken a word as he dropped her home. She’d watched his tail-lights disappear down the road, thinking this wasn’t the outcome she’d hoped for. Especially after he had so gently kissed the scar on her cheek. She touched the place softly, as if hoping that something had changed because of that kiss, but the skin was as stretched and rough as always. Now, sitting on a fence, watching one of the horses in her care as it grazed in the early dawn light, she wondered exactly what she had been hoping for. Surely by now she’d learned what her life was to be. The people in the restaurant had made that clear enough. Justin was just being kind.
But Ben. That was something different.
Exactly the same as our mother.
Anna understood that the risk she’d taken to save the trapped sheep was probably frowned on by RFS protocols. She understood Ben had been angry. That anger had probably been caused by fear for her safety. But she was puzzled by that outburst.
Just like their mother? Anna wasn’t close to Carol, but they’d been working together for a couple of years. Carol was a good, kind woman. Did she take risks? Probably. There had been that viral video of her running into the fire. Anna understood that, for Ben, it was an act of stupidity. To Anna, it was also an act of bravery.
Why then had she heard such … dare she call it hatred? … in Ben’s voice? She hadn’t heard it in Justin’s voice when he spoke of his mother. Weren’t identical twins supposed to be close? Closer even than mothers and their children. Why, then, would one twin hate his own mother, while the other didn’t?
Anna shook her head. Families were sometimes hard to understand. Her own family wasn’t. She was an only child with parents who loved her and had raised her to the best of their ability. They’d been there for her every moment of every day after that day, sitting by her hospital bed and caring for her afterwards. Driving her to and from appointments, they had felt every pain she felt. But every time they looked at her, it was as if a stake was driven into their hearts. So many dreams destroyed.
An image flashed into Anna’s mind of a special day, years before. After a family wedding, a small girl sat with her parents, telling her mother about the beautiful white dress she would wear when it was her turn. When her father walked her down the aisle, just like the beautiful bride she had just seen. That would never happen now.
Her parents had been disappointed when she moved so far away, but she’d had to. She could no longer live with those daily moments of grief. In many ways, not seeing her mum and dad had been a relief for her. Was it for them, too? She suspected it might be. They spoke often, and she spent the big holidays with them. After all, they were family. The only family she would ever have.
She ran her hand over the scarred side of her face. Her life wasn’t too bad. This was a nice town and the people were friendly, if not actually her friends. After last night, she didn’t expect Justin would ask her out again. But it would be nice if they could be friends. Although, if Ben’s anger was real, Justin would choose his twin over her. Of course he would. That’s what twins were like.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a car approaching. It turned into her driveway and she recognised it immediately. Sometimes the world liked playing jokes.
Anna got to her feet and went to greet Carol.
‘I found a dead roo on the side of the road,’ Carol explained. ‘There was a joey.’
‘Bring it in.’
Carol carried the blanket-wrapped bundle into the surgery and laid it on the table. The animal struggled weakly as Anna examined it.
