On Saturday afternoon, Zac heard the satisfying clunk of the undercarriage not long after the aircraft’s wheels rose from the Alice Springs tarmac. As the plane’s acceleration pushed him back into the seat, his mood lifted with the cabin. He’d missed Ava like a limb, even though she’d only been gone for three days.
Since Ava had left Alice Springs for Uluru, a journey that would take him fifty-five minutes to fly instead of hours by car, he’d had plenty of time to think. And act. And, after she finished work today, they’d have two nights and a day together. He had plans. Not just fly-down-and-see-her plans, but outrageous plans. Him-staying-here-forever plans.
Zac had bought something he hadn’t intended when he’d gone to buy Ava flowers this morning. Strangely, the impulsive purchase had eased an odd, disquieting feeling of impending doom that he’d finished night shift with today.
It was nothing to do with the business of the emergency department, so maybe it had just been that he wanted to be with Ava now and not have to wait until this afternoon. Either way, he’d bought something so special, he couldn’t believe his desire to put himself right out there at the end of a very long tree limb and declare how he felt.
Hopefully, his idea would hold its weight. He could have been fuzzy from lack of sleep on his shopping trip, because while Ava had been gone, his work had been hectic and he’d had trouble sleeping in his silent bed. The apartment had sighed with an emptiness he couldn’t fill.
The four days prior with Ava – well, they’d used up a lot of hours not just making love. They’d laughed at the television together, swum in the hotel pool, and spent hours telling their life stories on the comfy lounge as they’d sat by the window looking over the scrubby distance. They’d fit some wild and woolly night shifts in there, too, saving the world together. It had been perfect, as if he’d found his soulmate. Did the culmination of all that explain the bizarreness of his purchase? Like how the item had shouted to him through a shop window in diamond speak that nobody else could understand, like the snake in Harry Potter? Drawing him to the glass to peer at it and marvel.
Yep, something like that. A ring all by itself on a stand with a backdrop of a pink Central Australian sunrise.
The perfect engagement ring for Ava.
It was a big decision, and a big pink diamond, but he consoled himself that if he looked like a fool, at least he’d dared to dream. He’d certainly made the jeweller happy, and the weight of the velvet box in his pocket made his heart rate settle and his vague worry recede a little. He’d stopped drumming his fingers. They would have a long engagement, he decided. There was no need to rush her into a wedding. There were so many things to discuss, people to see – parents, family – and decisions to make. But just knowing he’d found the right symbol of how he felt was enough.
The aircraft bumped through some turbulence and brought him back to the present. He glanced down to where he’d slipped the box into his bag. It was safe, and he resisted the urge to look at it again to confirm the rightness of the design. It was simple. Bold. Beautiful. Like Ava.
And he’d made the right choice with colour. It was the exact shade of the sunrise that had shone on their bed that first morning as he’d watched her wake up, and the colour of her cheeks as she’d met his gaze so bravely that first day. The diamond glowed with a blushing, rosy pink, the colour he wanted to see on her hand and cheeks as he woke with Ava beside him every single morning for the rest of his life.
He had no doubts about that. He’d realised it this morning, when he’d simply nodded his head and bought the ring. Not because she would lust after a big diamond – he’d learned possessions wouldn’t sway Ava – but because the strength of the stone’s pull reminded him of her. Irresistible. One-off. And he was taking a giant leap of faith.
Because he loved her.
Zac felt the ramifications of that statement race along his veins. He’d loved Roslyn, his childhood friend, his society wife, and mourned her loss. He would always hold her memories dear, but this was a different love.
He’d never wanted anyone more than he wanted Ava. Did that make him a bad person? It wasn’t just lust – though bucketloads of that clouded everything. It was the unexpected pleasure in her company, the need to be a better man for her, the desire to make her smile and see her happy. And since she’d been gone, he’d seen that where and how they were together truly wasn’t important. They could figure out the details later.
But so soon? So fast?
Yep.
This was assuming biblical proportions, and strangely, he wasn’t feeling the need to run. The outrageously unexpected purchase of the ring in his pocket attested to that. He wanted to take away all her worries and sit her in front of that big red rock she loved so much and hear her passion for her work and laugh and tease her. He wanted to meet her friends and family, and reassure them that he was worthy.
He’d listened to Ava’s love of the majesty and mysticism of Uluru. As he stared out the window, searching into the distance for the resplendent structure, he thought, It’s the perfect place to propose. He was having some pivotal moments in aeroplanes lately.
Zac heard the engine note change as Ayers Rock Airport swung into view, and the window tilted as the aircraft swung in over the low scrub of the iridescent rust-coloured desert to land.
Now he could see Uluru in the shimmering distance, impassive, mystic, rising from the desert like a long, low pyramid. Even from this distance, it impressed with its magnitude, and he couldn’t wait to see it up close. Actually, he couldn’t wait for Ava to show him up close.
Because this timeless, enduring monolith would become a symbol of their future.