Hope's Road Read Online Free PDF

he’d left his other dog, old Digger, chained to the side of the pigpens.
    By the time he got there, Digger was yelping in a weird strangled kind of way, straining at the chain. ‘Settle, boy. C’mon, pull back so I can let the clip off.’ But Digger was having none of it, and he had the chain pulled so tight he was choking himself. ‘For fuck’s sake, you idiot, gitback!’ Joe reefed on the dog’s collar, which loosened the pressure enough for him to undo the clip. Digger took off towards his mate Boots, who was hanging out by the tractor, chewing on a rat’s head he’d found beside the barn.
    The two dogs started to fight over the tasty morsel, rolling and barking, biting and snapping at each other until the rodent’s head was forgotten in the rumble. Suddenly another blur of black appeared, snatched the delicacy and made it back to the barn with blistering speed. By the time the two dogs realised what had happened, the black cat was up on top of a thick timber rafter, looking smug and chewing ravenously.
    Joe chuckled to himself. He didn’t need anything but his animals around this place; they were trouble enough. He climbed back aboard the tractor and took off, the dogs streaking out in front, barking and jumping around like a pair of excited hooligans. ‘Git behind. Git behind , I’m telling ya!’ Joe roared at them. Through naked gateways with latches hanging limp, beside fences lying on their side, and past posts devoid of wires, they made their way towards a mob of cattle camped in scrubby bush at the far reaches of the farm.
    There had been a time in his life when Joe had cared. Really cared about himself, his life and where it was going to take him. He’d been in his twenties, bursting with youth and enthusiasm. He and his older brother, Thomas, had been set to take on the world. Sons of a well-respected man, a shire councillor, with a prosperous farm that had been in the family for generations.
    But there’d been the war and life had thrown its greasy tentacles around them. Things had changed and, with no extra workers to be found, they’d had to work their arses off to keep it all afloat. Being needed on the land, he and Tom had entered the war late. And they’d been lucky, for both of them came home, a fact which at times had made his mother publicly bow her head when faced with the grief and envy of others, while in her heart she rejoiced at her good fortune.
    But that good fortune hadn’t lasted.
    Thanks to a dark-eyed brunette called Mae.
    Joe had spotted her at the Lake Grace Centenary Ball in 1946. It had been a warm summer night, laced with the scent of roses and wisteria. A stylish, toe-tapping band had been brought in from Melbourne. A supper to rival a Menzies high tea was laid on by the competing cooks of the area, and the decorations had made the Myer Christmas windows seem dowdy. All the ingredients were in place for a wonderful night to meet a beautiful lady. And at thirty years of age Joe was looking for the woman he could spend the rest of his life with.
    There at the invitation of country cousins with whom she was holidaying, Mae Rouget blew into his life with all the force of a hot and howling north-westerly. Draped in a strapless tangerine ball-gown of the softest chiffon, she was a knockout. Glossy, long brunette hair fell in waves onto a slim back. Her sultry full lips and dark eyes made him want to tell the rest of the world to go hang itself and leave him completely alone with this vision. She was all he’d ever want or need and he finally understood the meaning of love at first sight.
    When she opened her mouth and spoke, what little sense that remained in his head dissolved. It was a voice straight from heaven. Perfectly pitched yet with a slight lilt of huskiness curling at the finish: enough to get any man’s libido up and attentive.
    He hadn’t let her out of his arms the whole night and he was