Harry's eyes shot open. The quaint structure to her left was the back of the school house. 

Another fully weatherboard building, completely on stilts and painted the awful pale yellow with forest green trims that Queensland seemed to love to paint all old schools. It was one large, long building, which appeared to be in the shape of an L, probably large enough for four classrooms, and most likely a small office building somewhere near the centre. Between the school building and the house (that Harry assumed was the Principal's house) was a small playground. It consisted of a fought, two slides, a set of two swings, and a sandpit with a much loved looking digger.

At least Charlie can use the sandpit on the weekend, Harry thought to herself.

As David brought the car to a stop, Harry slipped her feet back into her thongs. In front of them stood a pink, square wooden box on stilts. They'd make it work. Harry knew that they would because they had to. She looked at David and the look on his face said it all. She got ready to give the 'remember the really cheap rent' speech but was cut off before she could start.

"Well, it's got a massive backyard. Ranger's going to be happy."

David opened the boot. Ranger leapt out and shook his long, floppy, black and tan ears. His nose immediately went to the ground as his long legs bounded over the dried landscape.

"And by the state of that grass, we won't need to mow for a while," Harry chimed in.

Unbuckling Charlie, Harry followed David up the stairs, passing him the keys to unlock the screen door onto the balcony. A small space stood at the front of the house, enclosed by fly screens. Though they didn't look overly sturdy, it would be a nice place for sitting on a summer's night.

Moving through the front door, Harry was met by the smell of disinfectant. The floors had clearly been scrubbed recently. Upon inspection, it appeared that this was all that had been done to improve the house; the skirting board shelved a layer of brown, paint peeled off sections of the walls, and the louvre windows were caked in grease.

Charlie raced up and down the empty hallway from one end of the house to the other, her arms out like an aeroplane. It was good to see that one of them was able to find the positives. Harry would follow her example.

"Are you sure they cleaned it?"

"It'll be okay once we've given it a good dust, and once our things are filling the space."

"Ever the optimistic one, aren't you?" David commented affectionately. "I'll get our things off the roof of the car, and leave you to deal with Charlie. She smells like a dairy farm."

Harry screwed up her face at her husband.

"That nappy's been on her for hours. I think I'd rather unpack the roof."

Knowing she was too short to do any such thing, she went to retrieve the nappy bag from the car and set off to do the dirty job.

It wasn't long until David had brought up their two bags of clothes and personal possessions, the esky and their air mattresses, and Harry could finally take the shower she had been longing for.

After a quick trip to the toilet, noting the frosted window in the door that barely disguised what she had been doing from outsiders, she snatched her towel and toiletries off the top of her bag and slipped into the pokey bathroom. Pressing herself close to tub, she shut the door behind her and began to undress.

Harry looked herself over. Her green eyes sparkled in the small vanity mirror, however her long auburn hair was an unruly mess. Pulling out her hair-tie, she let it fall over her shoulders and down her back. She ran her fingers through the mass of waves, but after getting her fingers caught for the third time she gave up and reached for the brush sticking out of her toiletry bag.

As she reefed through the knots, she continued her inspection. The long drive and lack of make up had done nothing for her pores. He skin appeared uncharacteristically pale and blotchy in the fading light. It enhanced every freckle across her nose and cheeks.

The flaws on her stomach also appeared magnified in her overly critical state. She stretched out the skin, reminding herself of what it looked like in a previous life. Letting it go, it instantly sagged, forming a tiny crease over her underwear. Harry felt the soft corrugations in her skin; tracing them out from her belly button lovingly. The ruby jewel attached to the top of her belly button was incongruous amongst the sea of stretch marks; nevertheless Harry tightened the silver ball to make sure that she wouldn't lose the stud down the drain.

She lifted her leg and stepped into the bath, ignoring the line of grime between the edge of the bath and the glass shower screen.

Harry shivered as her feet touched the surface of the bath, infecting her body with a light chill. She studied the taps, quickly finding the 'H', and turning the handle as many times as possible. The pipes groaned as she turned. The shower-head spluttered and half a dozen pin pricks of water dribbled down on her arms. Harry looked up at the round shower-head filled with tiny holes that should have been covering her body with water. She turned the cold tap on and a couple more streams of water jetted towards her.

With a sigh, she turned both taps off and proceeded to run herself a bath instead.

Closing her eyes and laying back her head, Harry let her tension wash away. Having lived in Brisbane apartments and small town-houses her whole life, it had been ages since she had been in a place with a bath. She had forgotten how relaxing emerging one's body in warm water could be. 

A splashing pulled her from her reverie. Charlotte giggled, babbling about the bath water as she climbed in. 

Harry's tranquillity had ended. She got out dressing quickly so that she could see to the supervision of the toddler in the bath. She'd gained a few of moments of peace. What more could she ask for?

By the time Harry had fought to wash Charlie's hair, scrubbed the chocolate out of every one of her crevices, and creamed and powdered her little white body, David had returned from his hunt for dinner.

"I'm not looking forward to finding out what the town looks like on the weekend. It's not even seven yet and the supermarket - if you can call it that - was already looking ready to close. I got us a barbecue chook and some bread rolls. The woman at the register didn't seem very pleased by the fact that she had to stop closing early to actually serve me, so think yourself lucky that you're getting anything.
"Also, it's a good thing that you're getting a pay rise and our rent is cheap, this chicken cost me thirteen dollars! I would have gotten the same thing for about eight bucks in the city..."

Harry rubbed her hand soothingly across his back. David went silent. Giving her a quick squeeze, he sat the food on the floor before heading back towards the car.

"Come out here for a minute," he called a moment later.

Placing Charlie (who was attempting to open the chicken) onto her hip, Harry followed the sound of his voice, unsure why he would need assistance grabbing the picnic basket.

When she walked outside, David was standing in the driveway, a look of amazement on his face and the picnic basket in his hand. His brown hair spiked up off his oval face and his steel blue eyes stared into the distance. In an attempt to ward off the cold, he hunched and tried to cross his arms while holding the basket. His carpenter's biceps bulged within the sleeves of his t-shirt.

Harry smiled as she crossed the footpath to join him. She pulled her jumper in tight around her and the squirming child.

"When did it get so cold? And for that matter, when did it get so dark?"

David pointed at the sky.

"Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?" he asked.

She hadn't. Above the heavens opened before her; a black expanse where millions of fairy lights glistened. It took her breathe away.

"You don't see that in the city, do you?"

She slowly shook her head, transfixed by the night's sky. An icy wind played with her hair and a chill ran down Harry's spine once more. As she turned, David wrapped his arm around her shoulders sheltering her in his warmth. She rubbed his frozen hand with her free one before covering it with the end of her sleeve, leaving David's exposed to the elements.

Flinging him off, she bounded up the stairs two at a time. She sat Charlie down and rushed to find the heater remote.

"Isn't the outback meant to be hot?" she complained.

"Afghanistan is desert too, and just because it's hot during the day doesn't mean that people don't need to rug up over night."

Conceding to David's logic, Harry laid the picnic blanket directly under the heater, and Charlie and David joined her on the floor. It might have been a simple meal, but Harry was thankful for peace and quiet as their mouths were filled with food.

Charlie's cot was quickly set up and she was placed into it with every blanket they could spare.

The cold seemed ten times worse in the empty house. The wind coursed from one end to the other, undeterred by anything other than the slatted windows that only shut about three-quarters of the way. The air mattress was inflated and Harry started to rug up ready for bed, setting the summer pyjamas she'd packed aside. 

"Well, you're clearly planning on us Christening the house tonight, aren't you?" David said taking in her attire.

Charlie's scream saved Harry from the need to tell her husband that at that moment her warmth was more important to her than their intimacy.

She rushed to Charlotte's aid. The toddler's hands, feet and chest were like icicles.

Harry carried her into their room and sat her on the mattress. Harry and David laid on either side of her giving her their body heat. Charlotte closed her eyes and dozed. 

Sharing a look with David, Harry followed suit. She closed her eyes and despite the bitter chill throughout her whole body, she fell asleep.