‘YOU HAVE TO come and see. Tomorrow at Boardrider’s Beach. All the learners’ mums and dads are coming. Please?’
Of course they were coming. So now, on a balmy Saturday morning, Angus and Misty were watching Forrest try to surf. It had taken time and patience to teach him to trust the water—indeed, to trust the world—but bit by bit his confidence was building. Surely today he’d ride his very first wave to the shore?
He missed the first couple of waves. The third he caught, but barely got to his feet before he wobbled and toppled, though it didn’t seem to dent that fragile confidence. ‘Wipe out,’ he yelled, and headed out again.
There were five other kids waiting at the back of the waves, all aching to catch a curler. Forrest was surely the most eager of them all.
Angus and Misty stood together on the beach, their hearts in their mouths, their fingers crossed, hoping desperately that this would come off.
‘Well done, Forrest, great stand, but get that leg further back.’ It was a yell from their surfing tutor, out the back of the waves, on her own board. Jodie.
For Jodie had returned. She’d come back for Misty and Angus’s wedding, but afterwards she’d stayed.
‘If you can figure out a way for the island to afford me, I’d love to work here,’ she’d said and Angus and Misty had spent a part—a very small part—of their honeymoon working on a plan for a health resort. It was a place for rehabilitation, for healing...for happy ever after?
‘We should call it Happy Ever After.’ That was Cath and Alice’s idea, but Jodie had howled them down. ‘It’s too soppy for words,’ she’d said. ‘We have enough of that every time we look at Misty and Angus.’
So their health resort had taken the name of the place they’d bought to build it. Angus’s magnificent Melbourne home had been sold to fund Sapphire Seas Healing and that gorgeous horizon pool was now being enjoyed by many.
Including the island medics.
There were now three doctors on the island, which meant there was enough time for playing in the surf, in the pool, with the kids.
With each other.
It was a gift beyond price, Angus thought, as he and Misty held hands, held their breaths, and watched Forrest wait for his perfect wave.
At their feet two-year-old Lily was filling in a hole—or trying to. Biggles, their five-month-old beagle pup, was intent on digging to China. He dug, Lily filled—ad infinitum. Cath and Alice were watching from a distance, with Doozy hovering between. Doozy was helping the digging, but Cath had sandwiches. How was a dog to decide? Doozy’s leg was still a bit weak, but you’d never know it by the speed he gained when a sandwich was on offer.
He was healed.
And so am I, Angus thought. The sun was on his face. Lily was at his feet and Misty, the woman he loved with all his heart, was by his side. As she’d sworn to be until death do us part.
And that would happen one day, hopefully in fifty years, or even more. He accepted the risk and that acceptance was part of his healing. He’d figured it out. Love was finite—and yet infinite.
One day the little girl at his feet would grow up, leave home, do what? Become a surfing instructor in Hawaii? And Forrest? Lately he’d been reading everything he could find about whales in Antarctica. Hawaii seemed a much warmer bet.
And what of the others he’d learned to love? Alice’s heart was getting weaker. Doozy was getting old.
So there’d be loss, but he couldn’t protect himself from pain by not loving. The trick was that he just had to love more.
And he’d learned it from Misty, his beautiful, huge-hearted wife, who’d opened her heart to the world and somehow included him. He still couldn’t believe she’d said yes. Every morning he woke to find her body spooned against his and he couldn’t believe his luck. How had he ever thought he could live without loving? Right now he felt like the luckiest man alive.
And then there was a whoop, a yell from Jodie. ‘Coming in now, Forrest, this is your wave.’
And Angus stopped thinking about luck, he stopped thinking about anything, because he was struggling to breathe. The swell was building. Forrest was paddling his hardest, glancing behind him, watching the water build, paddling faster.
Misty’s hand was digging into his. He glanced down and saw her face and he thought, Forrest’s not riding this by himself. And it wasn’t just Misty. A quick glance told him every heart on the beach was riding with this damaged kid, this little boy the island had taken as their own.
And then the wave crested and somehow Forrest was on his feet. He staggered, there was a collective gasp, but then he steadied.
And he rode.
The wave was perfect. It swept in, a long line of cresting foam, breaking at just the right angle. And Forrest had found his centre and everything came together.
In he came, confidence building, enough for him to look towards the beach and give a grin so wide it enveloped his face. He’d done it.
And Angus was hugging Misty and she was hugging him, then Forrest was off the board, tearing out of the water to get his share of the hug, and Lily was grinning up from her hole because she knew this was exciting—except she did have to get back to her hole because Biggles was winning.
And Angus thought, how perfect is this?
He’d take it. Love, family, kids, dogs, islanders, weddings, funerals, catastrophes, celebrations, the whole kaleidoscope of emotions he could possibly feel.
Forrest was racing back into the shallows. He’d managed one perfect wave, now he wanted another.
And why not, Angus thought, as his embrace of Misty turned into a kiss of pure triumph. Why not aim for more?
He’d thought love could be destroyed. How wonderful to be proved so wrong.
How wonderful to know that love, in all its forms, could last for ever.
If you enjoyed this story, check out these other great reads from Marion Lennox
Her Off-Limits Single Dad
Healed by Their Dolphin Island Baby
Dr. Finlay’s Courageous Bride
A Family to Save the Doctor’s Heart
All available now!
Keep reading for an excerpt from Reunited by the Nurse’s Secret by Louisa George.