A Koala Called Kent - A Robert Irwin Story

Family Feuds

Listening to my friends tell me how amazing they thought I was, was kind of contagious and so when Robert stopped the conversation with,

"You're my girlfriend," I found myself gasping a little. I wasn't expecting something so abrupt. My body froze. Everybody froze. My eyes quickly scanned the table in an attempt to read everyone's expressions but there was so much variety that one emotion couldn't possibly describe everyone's thoughts. My eyes fixed on Terri, she was biting her lip but I could see from her eyes that she was smiling. She already knew. I don't know how but she'd known since the morning she sent Robert and I off on a tour of the Reserve together. Mother intuition I guess.

"You guys are telling us this now," Luke scoffed, "as she's leaving, Mitch what are we supposed to do with this?" he said, "we could have had triple dates!" Okay good, we had Mitch and Luke onside. Doctor Brett had no comment, he wasn't really here for the personal business and couldn't care either way who was dating who. I nervously looked at Wes. He was Steve and Terri's best friend and had acted like a father figure to Robert and Bindi when they were children. His voice mattered.

"Sometimes you just know don't you Terri," Wes said with a laugh, "and we knew as soon as you put the uniform on that you'd be sticking around for a long time," he told me. I found myself laughing nervously.

"We're sorry we didn't tell you guys. It's just we weren't really sure when the right time was," Robert explained,

"You don't have to explain," Terri said as she reached out and placed her hand on top of Roberts, "it was new and it was special, it was yours to keep," she said. Robert nodded along, his smile could not be broader.

"Well I'm glad you all approve," he laughed.

"All this time?" Bindi asked. She hadn't said anything yet and with these being her first words I felt an ounce of unease spread through my body. "But we've been talking about his girlfriend for weeks," she said. She felt lied to and I understood, I had lied to her.

"Bindi, you remember what you were like when you and Chandler first started talking. You didn't want to share it with anyone," Terri said.

"Yes but I didn't lie about it and I didn't get into a relationship to then leave after only a few weeks,"

"No but I did," Chandler said. "We always knew I was going back to America" he said,

"That was different. You intended to work in conservation, come back to Australia and besides we didn't start dating straight away. Look they're not us. This is just like the last time." I had never known Bindi speak harshly and to see her like this was upsetting for everyone around the table.

"I'm sorry I kept it from you..." Robert started but I interrupted him, something she had said caught my attention.

"Why do you keep saying that? Like the last time... or again... or how it used to be... why do you always sound like you've known me my entire life?" I asked her. Bindi said nothing, she was looking at the empty wine glass in front of her, her arms folded and slow, silent tears were streaming down her face.

"I think we should all just..." Terri began,

"Take a breath, tell another lie," Bindi snapped. Something was definitely wrong, something was off and from the look on Robert's face, he had no idea what was happening either.

"Bindi," he said softly, he reached out for his sisters' hand but she never moved.

"Look I'm happy you found a girlfriend little man, you deserve to be happy and I want that for you more than anything, I just wish you hadn't chosen her for your first try," she said. That hurt.