Marion Lennox - Adopted - Twins!

Instead of which, she had to content herself with two seven-year-olds leading the bull of her fiancé-and it hardly had the same impact to say; ‘Those children are leading my fiancé’s bull!’

‘I guess you can always watch Bradley,’ Erin told her, determined to be good-humoured with the woman. She was feeling so cheerful herself she felt like doing a little jig on the spot. For her twins to be given such responsibility… She tucked her arm into Charlotte’s and refused to withdraw it even as Charlotte tugged sharply away.

Maybe she had to be even nicer. ‘Hey, Charlotte, I’m sorry for saying what I threatened about your poetry,’ she told her. ‘You know I’d never really tell anyone-and, in truth, Shanni burned them.’

‘We were only teenagers,’ Charlotte said, displeased to the core. As well as having to put up with the absence of Matt in the parade, she also had to put up with this disreputable member of the lower orders acting as if she was her friend. Her friend!

Charlotte plumped herself down on a seat and huffed. Not put off in the least, Erin plumped beside her. ‘It was just childish stupidity. I’d forgotten all about it,’ Charlotte added.

‘Bradley hasn’t,’ Erin told her thoughtfully. ‘You must know that. He’s always thought you were the ant’s pants.’

‘There’s no need to be coarse!’

‘Why have you always refused to go out with him?’ Erin said curiously, and got an angry glance for her pains. When Erin still looked an enquiry, Charlotte thrust out her diamond-adorned ring finger, as if that explained all.

‘Because Matt and I-’

‘Not at fifteen,’ Erin told her flatly. ‘Or even at twenty-three. If I remember rightly, Matt didn’t go out with anyone until he was seventeen, and then it was with Sally McKinley.’

‘How on earth do you remember that?’

‘I was three years younger than you and Matt,’ Erin told her simply. Her eyes twinkled. ‘Come to think of it, I still am. But then…well, Matt was school captain and a hunk even then, so whatever he did was the cause of major school gossip. He and Sally-’

‘I don’t want to hear.’

‘No.’ Erin chuckled her agreement. She paused, scanning the cattle starting to emerge from the pavilion, but there was still no sign of Cecil and the twins. More to keep her mind off what the twins might or might not be doing, she kept right on probing. ‘But I seem to remember that Bradley was good-looking, too. Why would you never go out with him?’

Silence while they both thought back, remembering.

It had been no secret that Bradley had been keen on Charlotte. The poetry had been part of years of secret notes, and Bradley’s despair, inexpertly disguised and pounced on with glee by his peers and by those younger than him.

Bradley, in his teens, was a spoiled brat and, as far as the rest of the students were concerned, his passion for Charlotte made him fair game. Especially the impoverished and scorned younger set to which Erin belonged.

More silence.

Normally Charlotte would simply ignore a question such as Erin had just posed. Normally she would just ignore Erin.

But things weren’t normal today. Charlotte’s social set weren’t here- ‘Really, darling, cattle shows, you know. Not our scene!’ Her two men were both out of reach and Charlotte had to either sit alone in the stands or pretend to talk politely to Erin.

She could do it. Erin had been grooming bulls for hours, both Cecil and others. She looked like a farm hand-someone the elegant Charlotte would employ. So she could spread her finger so the morning sun just glinted on her diamond, and give the impression that her purpose here was to discuss cattle quality with the staff.

And she was feeling so grumpy with Matt, she might as well tell all…

‘I could have had both of them,’ she confided, and Erin’s eyebrows rose. Respectfully. She was playing along for all she was worth here. She could have been a peasant, shocked to the core by the goings-on of aristocracy, and Charlotte’s carefully controlled trill of laughter through the stands meant Erin’s ploy was working.

‘Oh, not both at once,’ she continued. ‘But yes, Bradley was certainly keen. He’s still keen now. He’s asked me to marry him-oh, I’ve lost count of the times.’

‘So why not accept? Why pick on… I mean, why did you choose Matt?’ Erin asked respectfully, and once again, Charlotte laughed.

‘Are you kidding? There’s no choice. Matt’s family have had their land forever. His grandfather even had a title!’

Charlotte gave Erin her aristocrat to low life look, meaning with her level of intelligence Erin couldn’t possibly understand, but Erin did. There were still people to whom the phrase ‘old money’ meant something, and Charlotte was certainly one of them.

She chose her words carefully. ‘So otherwise, you didn’t really mind which one you chose?’

‘Of course I did.’ Charlotte simpered and waggled her diamond bearing finger some more. ‘I’m engaged to Matt, aren’t I?’

‘Of course.’

‘And…’

But Erin was no longer listening.

The twins had emerged from the pavilion doors. They were leading Cecil, and Erin was effectively silenced.

So was Charlotte. She puckered her lips in distaste as the twins proudly and solemnly led their charge around the ring. Erin knew that all Charlotte could think of was, why wasn’t Matt leading them?

And Erin was thinking of Matt, too, but in a totally different way. Her gaze never left the faces of her two little boys, and all she could feel was gratitude.

She was so grateful she felt like weeping. Damn, she was weeping!

Below her was the purest of pure bloodstock, being led by the cream of the nation’s farmers-and in their midst were her two abandoned and unwanted little boys.

They were all she could see, and she could only see them through a mist of tears. They were totally unsmiling, and solemn as judges-every sliver of concentration bent on leading their charge around the arena with the dignity he deserved.

What a gift!

Erin sat absolutely motionless, with every fibre of her being willing nothing to go wrong. Nothing did, and when the boys had taken Cecil twice around the arena and Matt had come forward to help them tug him back through the great pavilion doors, Erin reached for her handkerchief and blew her nose. Hard.

Charlotte shifted sideways in distaste, but Erin couldn’t give a toss.

‘Well…’ Somehow she managed to find her voice. She rose, and the smile she gave Charlotte was tremulous. ‘That’s it, then. Are you coming to congratulate them?’

‘What, congratulate the twins? You have to be kidding!’

‘I meant all of them,’ Erin said carefully. ‘Matt, too.’

But Charlotte was fed up with a Matthew she hadn’t been able to boast about. ‘Bradley’s not out yet,’ she said shortly. ‘I’ll stay and watch the horses. At least Bradley has the sense to lead his own beast out.’

Sense?

Maybe. It wasn’t ‘sensible’ for Matt to let the twins lead Cecil, Erin thought.

It wasn’t sensible in the least.

It was just plain wonderful!

It was a subdued set of twins Erin took back to the farm, and it was a very quiet time Erin had of it for the next few days. It was as if they needed time to absorb what had happened to them. They simply couldn’t believe it.

The Grand Parade had been televised. Expecting Matt and Cecil to be in it, Shanni had had the forethought to videotape the program. She and Wendy brought the tape out to the farm and the twins watched themselves on television over and over again.

‘It’s a miracle,’ Wendy said frankly, watching the pair of them. Usually unable to sit still for more than two minutes at a time, the twins had been still for more than half an hour, and Shanni was growing more and more incredulous. ‘How on earth have you done it?’