Commitment

Part 11

A week later, Regan and Loretta were talking as they stood beside the outhouse. "You need to tell your brother that you don't want to work on the farm." Regan said gently. It was obvious that Loretta was not a farm girl, nothing like her brother. Her family might share similar genes and their blood, but her heart and soul lay elsewhere.

"But...I am not sure I can..." Lore grumbled, as she acknowledged Regan's statement.

"But nothing Loretta. If you want to work in fashion then get some qualifications and some work experience. And working on this farm is not it." Regan wondered why she had never taken her own advice. She had become a doctor because her parents had mapped out that course for her. So she had studied, got the grades and headed off to Dunedin to do medicine. She could have gone to Auckland, but Lucy had gone to Dunedin, so Regan decided it was where she would go. Which left her with a problem, how to convince her parents. She explained to her parents that Dunedin had the best reputation for medicine and it had been a rare win for her side when she had set her course for Dunedin rather than her parent's preferred option of Auckland. She thought that situation helped her to stand up for herself. Sort of! She was good at dishing out advice to others. She smiled to herself. Amazing how time can give you opportunities to level the bumps in your life. Occasionally her true character surfaces and sometimes it is just a gulp of freedom, but at other times, the memory of that outing is vivid in her mind. Regan look over at Loretta and said, "You don't like working on the farm. You'll just make yourself even more unhappy..."

"But Gray needs me." Loretta huffed. She'd never been a farm person, but when their circumstances had changed so suddenly she felt she had to just pitch in. Her dreams would have to wait.

"Probably, but what about your needs? Your career? And you can support him in other ways." Regan walked alongside Loretta. Even as she heard herself voice those questions she wondered why she'd never faced up to them herself. Too much of a coward she acknowledged quietly. "You have options."

"Options?" Loretta flicked her hair over her ear.

"Yes. You need to decide what you want and you need to talk to your brother about it and do something about pursuing your dreams." Regan said quietly, wondering whether she'd ever have the nerve to talk to him about what she wanted. They had a kind of truce at the moment as she had found the cash to buy some stock. And that appeased him.

"I don't want to upset him." Loretta shook her head and look at the sky. She sighed again. "I have not seen him like this for ages." She shrugged when she saw Regan look over at her. "He is so happy."

"You think he is happy?"

"Of course. He loves the fact he is here, getting this farm ready for stock. Grandfather and I were just talking about the fact that Gray was even smiling! That is so rare, after the event. He stopped smiling after what happen."

Regan had not asked about the event, she thought at some point they will voluntary the information. So she hadn't asked about the event.

"Now, here, working for long hours, he loves it. And he smiles, often. I don't want to upset him." Gray would be hurt by her request. She knew that. He loved working the land. It was everything to him. He just assumed that she liked working the land too.

"He'll be upset if he finds out you are staying on the farm because you want to keep him happy." Regan corrected. From what she'd seen so far, Gray doted on his sister, and wanted her to be happy. Regan doubted very much whether Gray would want Loretta to stay on the farm if it made her unhappy. Although he might not be happy as he could not keep an eye on her. Oh, well, thought Regan, she will face that problem if necessary. In the meantime she was going to focus on Loretta's current dilemma. "He dotes on you. I am sure he would want you to be happy, like him!"