August 2020, Hobart
Nina cleared away the soup bowls, waving off offers of help. Jude and Lis had come for lunch, something that happened often these days. Paul and Arnie would have come too, but they were busy packing up. They were moving to the Sunshine Coast together. Putting the past behind them. Nina had a standing invitation to visit at any time.
Jude had finished filming his television series, not without difficulties due to the lockdowns that seemed never ending. Still, that was one good thing about making a show set on islands—there was no need for social distancing.
‘So, what now?’ Lis asked. ‘Another series?’
‘No.’ Jude glanced up at Nina. ‘At least … I want to talk to Nina about it first.’
Lis raised an eyebrow. ‘You’re not thinking of sailing around the world, are you? I still remember those conversations you two used to have. Bloody Pitcairn Island.’ Suddenly she grinned. ‘It was like you were two halves of a whole.’
Lis and Nina had become friends. It was difficult to believe, sometimes, when Lis had been a spectator of some of the worst moments of Nina’s life. Nina liked to think that Murray had brought them together, unwittingly and certainly unwillingly. It was unlikely he knew or cared, these days. Murray had turned supergrass and no one knew where he was. A safe house somewhere.
She hadn’t dismissed the possibility of one day pursuing the justice she deserved. It seemed more than likely that Murray would reappear, and when he did, she wouldn’t be surprised if he brought himself to the attention of the authorities. When that happened, Nina would make a decision. Take him to court so that he could answer for all the pain he had caused, or let it go and live her life without that dark cloud hanging over her. In the meantime, she wasn’t going to spend her days plotting vengeance. She had wasted too many already.
‘I am so sorry,’ Lis had said, during an impromptu visit after they’d returned from Benevolence. ‘How can you ever forgive me?’
‘You didn’t know …’
‘I should have. I was just so jealous, I suppose. I loved Jude like a big brother and then you hurt him, and everything went weird.’
‘Lis, please, let it go.’
Eventually she had.
‘I’m writing a book about the sapphire,’ Lis said now, grinning at them. ‘Fact or fiction, or maybe some of both.’ Then, with a sly glance at Jude, ‘Have you told her yet?’
Nina sat down. ‘Told me what?’
Jude smiled, that open, charming smile she had missed so much. ‘Remember I said my great-something-grandparents were lighthouse keepers at Cape Bruny? Well, Lis did a bit of research for me, and their names were Edmund and Laura Bailey. They were here for a good few years, had some children. Turns out that Laura Bailey was actually Laura Webster, daughter of Leo Webster. The head keeper at Benevolence at the time of the wreck of the Alvarez and the missing sapphire.’
Nina stared at him, wide-eyed in amazement. ‘Really? So, when you went to Benevolence you were walking in Laura’s footsteps? Jude, that is remarkable.’
They kept looking at each other. They couldn’t seem to stop.
Lis sighed and rolled her eyes like the teenager she used to be. ‘Thanks for lunch, Nina, but I think I’ll head home. I have lots to do.’
Belatedly, Nina was on her feet. By the time she’d seen Lis out, she was beginning to wonder what Jude had to tell her. He was a busy man. Nina had left Island Heritage under her own terms, and these days she was concentrating on her health and was making great progress. The flashbacks were few and far between, but she was learning to manage them much better. She would always have problems, but she was a different person from the one who had arrived on Benevolence.
Jude was standing by the window, staring out over the city. The cold, clear air made everything appear magical, the old and the new juxtaposed, and the grey water of the Derwent slipping past. He had an expression on his face that she had always loved, as if his head was full of dreams.
She came and stood by his side and he took her hand in his, linking their fingers. When he twisted around there was something very vulnerable in his expression. As if he was about to open his heart and lay it out before her. And Nina found herself caught between wanting that more than anything, and being terribly afraid.
He leaned in and gently kissed her temple. ‘I love you, Nina. I’ve never stopped loving you. I want to be with you.’
His eyes were full of tears, as if the emotion was overwhelming. ‘Jude,’ she whispered. ‘Oh, Jude, I love you, too. I always have. But things have changed. You know they have. I want so much for us to be what we were.’ Nina was crying now. ‘I don’t know what you’re expecting from me …’
‘You’re Nina.’ He said it with steely determination. ‘You’re my girl. Anything else we can work through. If … if that’s what you want, as well?’
She did want it. More than anything. He must have seen the truth in her shaky smile, because suddenly his arms were tight around her. For a long time they just stood there, holding each other.
‘The production company did offer me another series,’ he said at last, smoothing her hair back from her face as she leaned out to look at him. ‘I turned them down.’
‘Oh, Jude, why?’
‘Lis was right. I want to make a show about two amateurs sailing their way across the Pacific. From go to whoa. There’ll probably be some frightening moments, but some funny ones, too. And some touching moments. It’ll make for great viewing, but more than that, it will make for great times.’
That had been their dream.
‘Will you come with me and make our dream come true?’ he said. ‘It’s taken a while to get here, but I want to do this. So much. With you.’
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Yes, please.’
‘Then that’s what we’ll do,’ he said.
Nina tried to picture it, her and Jude sailing, the world before them. There would be long days, probably stressful days, but there also would be good times. Laughter and love. And that was when she knew everything was going to be all right.