Home on the Glen
Egan needed a job. When times get tough people don’t buy many horses. He’d been breeding good Brumbies and selling them to private farms and horse people. It was a decent living until the last year. Everything had slowed and gradually Egan had to sell off all his mares and stallions except his remaining two girls and favorite stallion.
Finally a mate let him know of a job ad he saw for a horseman. It was far from ideal, but it would allow Egan to keep the last of his stock and breed them. There was a place for him to bunk and he got to work with horses. Egan was lucky to lease out his land to a neighbor. With that income and the new job he should hold onto his small farm.
So Egan loaded up his truck and horse trailer and drove toward a little village outside of Coffs named The Glen. He’d never heard of The Glen and found out that it was a new settlement with a lot of horses. It might work out for him.
After stopping for some supplies in Coffs Harbour Egan drove toward The Glen. His employer was a tough as nails Yank cop named Bud White who told him he ‘didn’t know shit about horses.’ But his wife, Marie and little cousin Ashley loved them so Bud thought they should have a horse. His wife worked and the cousin was going to have a baby so Bud wanted someone to take care of the small stables and the horses. Egan was to purchase two horses with the input of the two women so they’d get the kind of horse they wanted.
Bud said the younger woman was an expert horsewoman, but wouldn’t be able to ride for a several months and his wife was an intermediate rider who hadn’t ridden much recently. Egan hoped neither was too spoiled or difficult. He really didn’t deal with women too often; usually the women were wives of horse owners.
And occasionally Egan had male needs. Then he got a woman he paid for. No strings and things were simpler that way. It wasn’t as though Egan couldn’t get a woman to look his way. They rarely wanted anything to do with him once they saw where he lived. Most women didn’t want the isolation his lifestyle led to.
After passing though the small village/town of The Glen Egan followed the instructions White gave him to the Curry’s place. The two lands of the White’s and Curry’s bordered one another. Although the stables and cabin were on White’s land he said the access to them was closer and easier from the Curry’s house to unload.
He droved down a long dirt and gravel lane and wondered how a woman would feel living this far out of town. It wasn’t quite as isolated as his spread. White’s directions were precise and soon he found himself driving up to a nice small yellow frame house. Egan kicked the dirt off his boots and walked across the porch to knock on the door. He heard a girl’s voice sing out.
“I’ve got it, Marie.” Light footsteps hurried across the floor and the door swung open.
One of the prettiest sheilas Egan had ever seen popped her head around the door. She was small with long red hair and big blue eyes.
“G’day, Miss. I’m Egan.” He tipped his hat. “I’m supposed to meet Bud White here…” Egan’s voice trailed off as the young woman stepped away from the shield of the door to show her burgeoning pregnant belly.
Ashley grinned as she saw the look on the young man’s face. She was getting to be quite a sight.
“Hello, Egan. I’m Ashley. Ashley Curry. I live here with my husband, Lachlan. We’ve been expecting you.” She called over her shoulder to someone. “Marie, Egan is here.” She turned back to Egan.
“Unfortunately Bud got called in to deal with some police matter and isn’t sure when he’ll return. My cousin, Marie, who’s his wife, is here and we’ll show you around.”
Egan looked at her doubtfully. Shouldn’t she be sitting on the sofa with her feet up or something? At that moment another pretty redhead came up behind them drying her hands on a towel. She stuck out her newly dried hand.
“Hello, Egan. Welcome. I’m Marie White. Did you want to come in for something to drink or see to the cabin and stables right away?” They shook hands. Ashley interjected.
“I have lemonade and iced tea if you’d like something, Egan?”
Egan was overwhelmed for a moment by the two gorgeous sheilas. They looked like sisters and both had flaming red hair. He’d always been partial to redheads.
“No, thanks. I had a samie in Coffs before I came here. I’m ready to get to work. I’ve been driving all morning.” Egan was eager to see the stables. White had warned him some work was needed.
“I think we’re ready to go.” Marie threw the towel aside to land on top of the couch.
“One tic.” Ashley smiled and went to pull on a pair of boots to the side of the door. She’d been barefoot. “Okay, ready.”
Egan followed Marie and Ashley in an old pick up truck down a grassy lane. Marie jumped from the truck to open and hold a gate for Ashley and then Egan to drive through before securing it closed again. A little further down the road a wooden cabin came into sight. From the outside it looked sturdy and in good shape.
The girls pulled up to the side and Egan stopped before it. Egan hurried over to help Ashley down from the pick up truck when he saw her sitting in the passenger seat frowning at the long jump to the ground. Egan didn’t know where to grab her and ended up helping her by her arms to swing her down. She blushed prettily.
“Thank you, Egan. I’m much better getting in and out of cars. I still have a little over two months. I don’t know how in the world I’ll even move by then.” She flashed him a grateful shy smile.
“Glad I could help, Ashley.” Egan almost said ma’am, but she looked too young to be a wife and soon a mother and sure not a ma’am.
Marie and Ashley showed him the cabin with some anticipation. When Bud had told them his plan to bring someone to look after the stables and horses the girls had been a bit skeptical. They thought Bud and Lachlan were really doing it to have a man around to watch over Ashley and Marie for the long time periods the two men were away from their homes because of work. They both decided that it didn’t matter why as they were still getting horses out of this deal which made them very happy and Ashley had been afraid of the isolation as her pregnancy progressed.
They’d done everything they could in the week they had to make the cabin livable and feel like a home. Egan walked in and gave a low whistle. The place was sparkling clean with curtains on the windows and new sheets on the bed. It was two rooms and a bath. He even had his own bedroom. And there were fresh flowers on the table.
“Did you two do this?” His voice was low and sounded a bit shy.
“We did. We hope you like it?” Marie smiled.
“Bonzer.” He looked around. This was a lot nicer than he was expecting. “This is real nice. Thank you.” He dropped his two carpet bags on the floor and looked at the rest of the cabin. He brought in a box of groceries he’d gotten in Coffs and was surprised to find the place already stocked with the basics.
“We wanted you to have some things to start.” Ashley beamed at him.
“Ta.” Egan busied himself to put away the things quickly. He’d unpack his few other belongings when the horses were unloaded from the trailer.
Next were the stables. There was quite a lot of work to be done to the small building. It was structurally sound, but there were loose boards and fallen shelves that needed to be fixed. This building would keep him busy for a while.
Ashley showed him the small fenced in pasture next to the stables. It was lush with uneaten grass and stream flowed through it for fresh water. The women intently watched as Egan unloaded his horses from the trailer. They each led one of the mares to the pasture. It gave Egan a chance to watch them around horses. They were both comfortable, but to Ashley it seemed like second nature.
He caught her staring at the belly of one of his mares. “She’s, like me.” They led the horses into the pasture and removed their halters.
“Yep, this beauty has been doing his job.” He smiled at Ashley and gave a small thump to the rear end of his stallion. The horse trotted off to explore the pasture with the two mares in tow.
“They’re beautiful horses, Egan. I’m sure the colt or filly will be a fine one.” Marie watched the horses shoving their noses into the tender lush grasses.
“They are wonderful, Egan. And there will be two babies here.” Ashley smiled as her hand settled on her belly.
Ashley and Marie let Egan get settled. An hour later they came back to the stables to see how he was doing and help with the work. He was shirtless and up a ladder nailing a board back into place.
“Oh, my. Now that is a fine sight, Cousin.” Ashley sighed from out of hearing distance.
“Mighty fine.” Marie nodded in agreement.
“We may be married…”
“But we aren’t dead yet!” The two girls chorused in agreement amongst giggles.
Ashley grabbed the thermos of iced tea and cups from the truck. “Let’s get to work.”
Marie gave her a grin. “Girl’s hearts are gonna be breaking all over The Glen.”
