Читать книгу From Orchards to Outback - Tracey Friday - Страница 16

At dusk, Jack was out in the yard near the stables, sitting on the corral fence with his faithful kelpie, Blue, at his feet. He had been in a quandary ever since Maggie had arrived. Well, he thought to himself, that wasn’t quite true. He had been in a quandary for a while regarding his true feelings towards Kara. Maggie’s arrival had only highlighted the problem. He was feeling pressure from all sides: Kara, her parents, his mother… Jack knew that during the forthcoming rodeo everyone expected an announcement.

There was no denying he had felt an instant spark and chemistry with Maggie and he knew Mrs Heppler had noticed it too, but he could trust her to be discreet. Through one thing or another, Jack and Maggie hadn’t yet had the opportunity to be alone, but in the morning he and Sylvia were due to take her down to the far paddocks to show her more of the Station. His stomach was doing flips just thinking about it and he couldn’t recall ever having the flips when he thought about Kara.

They had been stepping out for nearly a year, but they had known each other for a couple of years, ever since her family moved to the neighbouring Station. Due to the distance between the Stations, they saw each other as frequently as they could, work permitting, on special occasions, rodeos and whenever they visited Burston. Kara had been the instigator in the relationship from day one. She was quite beautiful, petite with long blonde hair and blue eyes and at thirty-two she was five years older than Jack. He had often wondered why such a beautiful woman was still unmarried. He knew that she had a string of failed relationships, including three previous engagements, behind her. Not that he was into gossip, but the grapevine hinted that although she was desperate to walk down the aisle she was difficult to get along with.

Kara had told Jack early on that they being together made perfect business sense as one day, both neighbouring Stations would merge.

Perfect business sense? That statement bothered him, and he couldn’t let it go. What happened to love? She had said she loved him, but the bottom line was that he didn’t truly believe that she really was in love with him. And how did he feel about her? She had made it perfectly clear that she wanted to settle down and have children straight away. She was very persuasive, with ample charms… but he wasn’t ready for a family just yet. Even though he was twenty seven, there was still so much he wanted to do with his life prior to having a family.

Jack realised that there was a fundamental difference between them and that bothered him. Kara wasn’t passionate about the Station and she had mentioned that she would be happier living in the city whereas for Jack, McKinnley Station was his destiny. He had even thought about going back to agricultural school, but Kara had told him on a number of occasions that it was absurd to contemplate such a ridiculous thing.

He slapped his thigh, his mind was made up. Life with Kara was not what he was looking for. “Thanks, Blue,” he said, as he climbed down from the corral and ruffled Blue’s ears, “appreciate your help buddy,” as they made their way back to the homestead.