What's Meant To Be Will Always Find A Way…

Claire McLeod sat down on the chair behind her father's desk. 'Great McLeod, you can't even be up for a couple minutes without having to sit down again! This'll take ages!' Claire was rubbing her swollen tummy, she was 8th month pregnant. She took a look around the study and at the papers, folders and boxes spread around the floor and desk. Claire had found a couple of boxes with old papers of hers in the attic when she had looked for the old baby bed. Now she was sorting through everything and putting it in folders. 'I'll just have to do it all seated…' Claire pulled herself up from the chair walked around the desk and bent down to pick up another box.

"Oi Claire, what do you think you're doing there?" Tess, Claire's younger sister, stood in the doorway and looked at her sister.

"Oh Tess, you're already back! Could you pick this box up for me and put it on the desk?"

"Claire, I told you to wait till I'm finished with the today's chores…"

"I know but I feel so useless…" Tess went over to Claire, picked up the box and put it on the desk. "Here, there you have it. Now be a good sister and sit down. I'll take a quick shower and be right back."

"No need to hurry Tess, Meg should have dinner almost finished, I'll just have a quick look through this box here and then I'll go set the table. At least that's something I can do!" Ever since Claire had reached the last trimester of her pregnancy she wasn't allowed to get up on her horse anymore to help with the daily works around her farm. And that was something that really bothered Claire. She was not the type to sit at home and just do nothing, she needed to work. So she had already decorated the nursery and when she had found the boxes in the attic she had been glad to have another project.

"Righto then, I'll have my shower and we'll see how far Meg is when I'm finished." Tess left her sister with the papers and headed upstairs for the shower. Claire smiled. It was so good to have Tess back. She couldn't imagine what life would be like without her now. Tess had so much energy and brought life and light into this house and Claire was happy now that Tess had found her way home almost 3 years ago. Her sister had been so supportive over the last months with Claire being pregnant and all that had happened before that. She had only asked Claire once who the father of her baby was but when she didn't get an answer she had been quiet about it. Claire still couldn't believe she was pregnant. If somebody had told her a year ago she'd have a baby and be happy about it she would have called them nuts.

'Ok, back to the papers or Tess will be finished and I'll still be here…' she thought and turned her attention to the box in front of her. She scanned through the papers and at the very bottom of the box found an unopened envelope. Claire frowned and turned the envelope around. This was not something she had received, this was a letter that she had meant to send but never did. She opened the envelope and took out what was inside. She took one look at the document and was horrified…No this couldn't be true! How could she have forgotten to send that…

2

After her shower Tess changed into fresh clothes and went into the kitchen to see how far dinner was.

"Tess, could you set the table?" Meg said "Dinner's almost finished now."

Tess looked confused. "Where's Claire? I thought she wanted to do that?"

"I don't know where she is, I haven't seen her for a while but the table needs to be done now so would you please be so kind…"

Tess was still a bit confused but shrugged her shoulders and started to set the table. Claire had probably forgotten about it over her stupid papers.

Tess's thoughts drifted back to the day they had found out Claire was pregnant. Claire had not been feeling well for about two weeks and everybody had been worried about her.

Tess walked into the kitchen and as always Claire was already up and having breakfast. But today Claire only looked at her plate and tossed the bacon from one end to the other. She looked pale and skinny, probably a result of her constant sickness in the last two weeks. "Claire? You alright?" "Huh?" was the only answer she got. Tess felt so sorry for Claire. She had gone through so much lately. First she had split up with her boyfriend Peter after she found out he was married and had children. Then she quit the training business with Australian Bloodlines and tried to start a business of her own partnering with Alex Ryan. Just when she thought everything was going to be all right Alex had disappeared from the face of the earth after he found out that his father Harry was not his biological father and that his mother had lied to him all his life. So much for the training business…

Claire took another bite of her toast which only resulted in her running to the bathroom and loosing the little she had had for breakfast to the toilet again.

Meg shook her head. She had a pretty good idea what was going on with Claire and decided to give it a shot. If she wasn't right they could still take her to the doctor and if she was right they needed to go to a doctor sooner or later anyway. So while she was in town that day getting supplies she went to buy a pregnancy test for Claire and hid it at the bottom of a bag. Back home she was carrying everything inside but deep in thought she accidentally ran into Tess and the bag she had in her arms went to the floor and all the contents – including the pregnancy test – were spread in the kitchen.

"Meg? What's this?" Tess asked as she found the test. "Bugga…it's for Claire. I don't know if I'm right but I thought…well…"

"Meg, that's brilliant! Why didn't I think of that? But you know what…I'll break the news to her. She can't fire me, right? I'm her sister…"

"True. But will you let me know if I was right? I'd just like to know…"

After assuring Meg she would let her know Tess took the test and went to look for her sister. She found Claire in the stables talking to Blaze.

"Claire? We need to talk!"

"Tess, I really don't feel like…"
"I know, that's why we need to talk! Look…umm…how am I going to say this…Meg and I might have an idea what could be wrong with you but you have to promise to not be angry with us."

"Tess!"

"Promise!"

"Ok, ok, I promise…"

"Right. While Meg was in town today she got this for you." Tess said and handed Claire the pregnancy test. At first Claire looked confused but then Tess could see it working in her brain. Claire's expression turned from confusion to surprise to shock.

"Well, what do you think? Wanna take the test?"

"Yeah, would probably be a good idea…"

So they went back to the homestead and straight to the bathroom and 5 minutes later they had the result…Claire was undeniably pregnant!

3

When Tess was finished with the table she told Meg she'd go and look for Claire and headed for the study.

Tess found her sister behind the desk in some kind of trance. Claire looked shocked and Tess could see she was miles away.

"Claire? Everything all right?" Claire looked up finally realizing that Tess was there.

"Umm…yeah…yeah, it's all good. Dinner finished?" All of a sudden Claire got really busy trying to put the papers she was holding back into the box. Tess shook her head and smiled. Hormones!

"Yep, dinner's finished and the table is already set."

"Right, I'll be with you in a minute…"

Later that night everybody was sound asleep but Claire. She was still thinking about the documents down in the study. After dinner she hadn't been able to get them back out of the box and she needed to get them before anybody would find them.

So she got up, put her bathrobe on and went down to the study as quietly as she could. She was relieved to find the envelope where she had left it and headed back upstairs.

"Claire? What are you doing up?" Tess was standing at the top of the stairs waiting for her sister.

"Bloody hell, Tess! You scared me to death!"

"Well, why are you up?"

"I was hungry and couldn't sleep so I had something to eat…" Claire hoped that Tess couldn't see her eyes in the dark. Her sister always knew when she was lying by just taking a deep look into her eyes.

"A bit late for a snack…well, try to sleep now!" Was all Tess had to say and Claire was relieved. They both went back to their rooms.

Inside her bedroom Claire switched on the light and took the paper out of the envelope again. She was still shocked by what she read there. How could she have forgotten about that? She had been the one that had wanted this so why didn't she send it?

She took one last look…

"Official annulment of the marriage of Claire Louise McLeod and Alexander Marion Ryan…"

And then the consequence of what she had just read came to her mind…She was still married to Alex Ryan!