IT WAS ALMOST nightfall by the time Daniel and Jess walked back from the stockyards to the house. They took their time, enjoying the last of the day, while Smiley scampered around them, chasing after the stick Jess threw for her.
There was still plenty of warmth in the air as they walked through the last of the purple twilight. Cicadas buzzed in the trees, katydids peeped in the grass, and from the stockyards came the occasional bellow of a calf, missing its mother.
‘I wish we could just order out for pizza tonight,’ Jess said.
‘Yeah, pizza would be handy. I must say, I’m not in the mood for cooking.’ Daniel threw an arm around her skinny shoulders. ‘You ever miss the big city?’
She smiled up at him and shook her head. ‘Not really. Just some things, like take-away pizza and going to the movies.’
‘Well, with a little planning we can get a frozen pizza from the supermarket for the weekend, and a movie from the video store.’ As they reached the front steps, he suddenly remembered. ‘Actually, I think Lily—’ He broke off and cleared his throat. ‘I think there’s a pizza left in the freezer.’
Jess didn’t respond.
But she didn’t object, either, when Daniel found the frozen pizza and put it in the oven.
While it heated, and the aroma of tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and Italian herbs began to fill the kitchen, Daniel sat at the table and read the local paper, drinking a pre-dinner beer.
Jess filled Smiley’s feeding bowl and poured orange juice into her favourite glass with stars painted on it, and then she sat at the other end of the table to begin her homework by searching through old magazines for pictures of tropical fruit.
It was a very cosy scene, Daniel supposed. Domestic bliss in a country farmhouse. Pity there was a vital someone missing from the scene.
Whoa, there. Mind-slip.
He mustn’t allow himself to think about Lily. Whenever thoughts of her threatened, he used the old blanking-out routine. But every so often—about a thousand times a day—she’d slip though his defences. He’d think of her, and the deep, raw pain of losing her would catch him, like a lingering war-wound, bringing a rush of sweet, heartbreaking memories.
‘Daddy, can I ask you something?’
Daniel looked up from the paper he wasn’t really reading. ‘Sure, Jess. Fire away.’
‘What was it like in jail?’
He felt his stomach sink. ‘Why do you want to know that?’
‘Because you were there. For so long. And I hated not knowing how you were. When I was at Grandma’s you sent me letters, and they were great, but you didn’t say anything about what it was like, or what you were doing.’
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’d want to know.’
‘But I did. I still do.’
‘Well…it wasn’t much fun,’ he said carefully.
The worst thing. Had there been any one worst thing? Daniel didn’t want to talk about it. He wanted to put it behind him, to protect Jess and keep it hidden.
She was watching him with wide, worried eyes, and he wondered what untold horror she was imagining. Perhaps he owed her the truth.
‘The lack of privacy was the worst thing,’ he said quietly. ‘And I really found it hard to have someone else take total control over everything I did—what I wore, what I ate and how long I slept. I couldn’t choose my company, or who I worked with.’
‘Were the other men very awful?’
‘Some of them. But not all. Things got better when I was moved to the prison farm.’
Jess hunted in her pencil case for a small pair of scissors, found them and began to cut out a bunch of bananas. ‘Were you ever happy there?’
Daniel thought about lying, and changed his mind. ‘No, Jess, I can’t say I was. Maybe I should have found a way to be happy, but I didn’t. I just wanted to get it over and done with.’
‘What about now?’ she asked quietly. ‘Are you happy now you’re home?’
Stunned by her question, he spluttered, ‘Of course I’m happy.’
‘Really happy, Daddy?’
Feeling cornered, he made an expansive gesture, taking in the glowing oven and Smiley wolfing down her dinner in the corner, the table scattered with Jess’s school things and his newspaper.
‘Look at me,’ he said. ‘I’ve got a fresh intake of calves out in the yard, the prettiest little daughter in Australia, a well-fed dog. A pizza in the oven. And you have to ask me if I’m happy?’
Jess pulled a face. ‘You don’t seem especially happy.’
He took a swift swig of his beer. ‘Don’t I?’
‘Not the way you did when you first brought me home from Sydney. You were really, really happy then. All kind of bubbly and excited inside. But now you’re just—I don’t know. Not totally sad, but…’ She eyed him with an incredibly grown-up kind of scrutiny. ‘You look like you might be nursing a tormented heart.’
‘Nursing a what?’ Daniel stared at her in open-mouthed shock—shocked firstly that Jess should use such words, and secondly that she’d described so exactly how he felt.
He’d been trying so hard to keep his feelings under wraps. ‘Where on earth have you heard about “tormented hearts”?’
She had the grace to blush, and she tapped her scissors against the cover of a magazine. ‘I read it here. There’s a story about a television actress whose boyfriend dumped her.’
The oven pinged, and Daniel seized the chance to jump up and look busy. He removed the pizza and set it on a round cane mat in the middle of the table.
‘Get a load of this,’ he declared, with forced enthusiasm. ‘A perfectly melted and toasty pizza. Aren’t you hungry, Jess? Come on. Where are the place mats and plates and napkins?’
He fetched a sharp knife, began to cut the pizza, and Jess hurried to collect the other necessary items from the dresser. But when they sat down to eat she only nibbled a little of her pizza slice, then set it back on her plate.
‘What’s the matter?’ Daniel asked her. ‘This is ham and pineapple. It’s your favourite, isn’t it?’
Instead of answering, she reached over to her school bag, which she’d left on a spare chair, and pulled a little drawstring bag from it. She set it, with a clunk, on the scrubbed pine table-top.
‘I’ve found them all,’ she said, and then she opened the strings. ‘It took me ages.’ Three painted stones tumbled out onto the table.
‘Oh…’ Daniel stared at them. ‘That’s…great.’
‘You never checked to make sure I found them.’
‘No, I guess I forgot.’
‘They got a bit chipped.’ She picked up the stone with the male face. Part of the nose was missing. ‘This one’s the worst. Sorry.’
‘Jess, that’s OK. I’m glad you found them, but you really should get on with your dinner. Pizza’s not so hot when it’s cold.’
He smiled at his joke, but Jess ignored it. She nibbled some crust. ‘I’m not really hungry.’
‘Of course you are. What’s the matter? You’re not sick, are you?’
She shook her head, but she continued to sit there, watching him, biting her lip and looking upset. Using her fingers, she picked a piece of pineapple from her pizza topping and popped it in her mouth. ‘I’m worried,’ she said at last.
‘Why, sweetheart? What’s the matter? Has something happened at school?’
Again, she shook her head, and this time she looked as if she might cry.
‘Tell me what it is.’ Daniel was getting more anxious every second, but he spoke in his most comforting, fatherly voice. ‘Dads are pretty good at fixing things.’
‘Well.’ Jess heaved a huge sigh, as if what she had to say was very difficult to get out. ‘Why don’t you talk to Lily any more on the telephone?’
Her question landed like a smart bomb—right on target, in the centre of his chest.
At first he couldn’t think of a single answer, and then, lamely, he said, ‘We’ve both been too busy.’
Jess rolled her eyes to the ceiling. ‘I know that’s not true.’
‘Why do you mind anyway, Jess? You didn’t want me to talk to Lily. You didn’t like it when we talked.’
‘But you liked it, Daddy,’ Jess insisted. ‘You liked Lily. You shouldn’t have stopped phoning her just because of me. Not if it makes you horribly sad.’
Daniel gaped at his daughter in dumbfounded dismay. What on earth had provoked her outburst? He’d been trying so hard to wipe Lily from his thoughts, trying not to be miserable—or at least not to let it show. For Jess’s sake.
‘When I was in Sydney, I tried to make everyone think I was happy,’ Jess said. ‘But I was only pretending. All the time, at school and at Grandma’s, I was sad on the inside. Missing you.’
‘Poor baby,’ Daniel whispered, too choked to say more.
‘I really, really don’t want you to feel like that, Daddy.’
And then she burst into tears.
Lily pulled a cotton shift over her bikini and gathered up her beach things—sunglasses, hat, sunscreen, a paperback novel—and went through to the kitchen, where Fern was waiting for her.
‘All set?’ She was taking Fern to visit a friend at the other end of the bay that afternoon.
‘Raring to go,’ Fern said, and she rose from her chair with hardly any perceptible stiffness. She turned to collect her things from the kitchen counter, glanced up at her daughter, and frowned.
‘Lily, dear, you look so tired.’
‘Do I?’
‘Yes.’ Fern set her things down again, and peered more closely. ‘Here am I, almost cured, and you, poor darling, are completely worn out.’
Lily suppressed an urge to sigh. ‘I’m fine, Mum. Don’t worry about me. Anyway, I’m going to spend a deliciously lazy afternoon on the beach.’
Fern’s blue eyes were suddenly watchful. ‘Will that help? Your problem isn’t really physical exhaustion, is it?’
Ignoring the question, Lily snagged her car keys from the row of hooks on the wall. ‘Come on. Let’s go.’
‘Wait, Lily. There’s something I’d like to get clear.’
‘What’s that?’
‘I know I’m a bit vague, and don’t follow things through, but let me get this straight. When you came back from Gidgee Springs, I could tell that something wonderful had happened to you out there. Your eyes were alight with a special kind of happiness. And there was even talk of grandchildren and a “theoretical father”. I know we were being playful about that, but then there were endless phone calls with a man who made you positively glow. And then nothing. What happened?’
There was a stretch of silence, during which Lily tried to answer, but couldn’t.
Fern crossed the room, placed her hands very gently on her daughter’s shoulders, and studied her face. ‘I miss that wonderful light in your eyes. What happened, darling?’
‘He’s busy. He’s a widower, and he’s caring for his daughter and getting his cattle property back into working order.’
‘Too busy for an occasional phone call?’
Lily blinked, and then was forced to close her eyes against the threat of tears. ‘All right, Mum. You win. We broke up.’
We broke up. Three simple words. But so deeply distressing. They chilled the air in the cheery kitchen.
‘My poor Lily,’ Fern whispered, recognising the pain deeply buried in her daughter. ‘I’m so sorry. What went wrong?’
‘I’d rather not talk about it.’
‘But I hate to see you so unhappy. You’re still very much in love with this man, aren’t you?’
Lily was gripping the car keys so tightly they cut into her. ‘So much I can’t bear it,’ she whispered.
‘Lily, can’t you tell me how it happened? Why did you let him go?’
I was following in your footsteps, Lily thought, but she couldn’t say that. ‘I—I let him go because I knew it was for the best.’ She winced—it sounded so lame.
‘Best for whom?’
‘For Daniel’s daughter, Jess. And for him.’
‘But what about you, Lily? Was it best for you?’
The question reverberated through her, and, horribly, there was only one answer. Losing Daniel was the worst, the very worst thing that had ever happened to her. Far worse than losing her father or Josh Bridges.
But there was no way Lily would admit it.
‘That’s enough,’ she said sharply. ‘I know you mean well, Mum, but I can’t take any more of this interrogation.’ She headed for the door. ‘I’m taking you to Linda’s. Grab your things and let’s go.’
Sitting sphinx-still, with her arms locked around her knees, Lily stared out to sea. Her novel, a murder mystery, lay abandoned on her beach towel, while her mother’s questions pushed and probed at her.
You’re still very much in love with this man, aren’t you? Why did you let him go? What about you, Lily? Was it best for you?
She thought again, as she had so many times in the past painful weeks, of that last, terrible telephone conversation with Daniel. Over and over she’d berated herself for being so impulsive, for suggesting that they shouldn’t see each other, for hanging up on him. So many times she’d wanted to ring him back, to apologise, or at the very least to find out how he was. But she was too frightened.
I can’t believe I’m such a wimp.
What was the matter with her? Where was the woman who’d driven off into the Outback to face up to Audrey Halliday? Where was the woman who’d bulldozed her way into Daniel Renton’s life—in spite of his protests? Where was the feisty dame who’d charged into his home, bringing groceries and Smiley?
How could she have been so gutsy then, and so pathetic now?
Round and round the questions circled, and then suddenly, and with unexpected clarity, the answer came to her.
She’d faced up to Audrey, because Fern had needed the money. And she’d been bossy with Daniel because she’d known it was what he’d needed. And then she’d given up Daniel because it was what Jess needed.
Zap!!
The thought hit her like a lightning strike—I can be brave when I’m doing it for someone else, but when it comes to what I want, I back down.
She loved Daniel—loved him so much that every part of her ached with her need for him. Without him, she feared she might never be happy again.
And what was she doing about it?
Zilch.
She deserved better than that.
Yes!
Leaping up, she hauled her shift over her head, dropped it onto the towel and ran to the water. She gave a shout of exhilaration and dived in, slicing neatly beneath a cool, salty green wave.
Everything was perfectly clear in her head now. She would go back to Ironbark. She would face up to Daniel. She would win over his daughter. If necessary, she would fight—very nicely—for her right to be there with them. She was going to claim Daniel for herself—she would find a way. The thought was so exciting she was almost giddy. She swam quickly out to a little mound of rocks that marked a small inshore reef, and then she turned and swam back to the shallows again.
Jogging through the ankle-deep water, impatient to get to Fern and tell her this decision, she looked up.
There was a man walking down the beach, dressed in red and white Hawaiian-print board shorts. With Daniel on her mind, she thought for a crazy moment that the man was Daniel.
His beautifully wide shoulders and tapering lean waist were so much like Daniel’s. And he had dark, thick hair like Daniel’s, and he walked like—
Oh, goodness.
Lily felt as if she’d fallen into the vast blue void of a bottomless ocean.
It was Daniel.
It was Daniel, with a slender, laughing, dark-haired girl skipping beside him. She was wearing a lime-green two-piece swimsuit, and she was at that in-between age—all skinny arms and legs—but there was an unmistakable grace about the way she moved. She had to be Jess.
Father and daughter were chatting and laughing as they set their towels and a striped beach-bag down on the sand. And then, squinting slightly against the glare, Daniel looked Lily’s way. Her heart threatened to burst through her chest, and the bravado she’d felt thirty seconds ago vanished.
What was he doing here?
He shaded his eyes and took another look at her, and she wondered if he would recognise her. With her hair wet and stringy, dressed in a bright floral bikini, she probably looked like a dozen other girls at the beach.
But he was grinning and coming across the sand, calling hello.
Lily could see the crinkling of skin around his eyes as he smiled, the sky-blue of his irises. She began to shake. Why was he here? In her entire life, she had never felt so nervous.
He looked nervous, too, in spite of the smile. He stopped some feet away. No kiss hello.
She said, somewhat breathlessly, ‘This is a surprise.’
‘I know. I’m sorry I didn’t warn you we were coming. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision.’
Why? She couldn’t bring herself to ask that, so she said, ‘And you’ve brought Jess. On a school day?’
He looked back over his shoulder to Jess, who was standing by their things, watching them with hugely curious eyes. ‘Hey, Jess,’ he called. ‘Come and meet Lily.’ To Lily, he said, ‘It doesn’t hurt for her to miss a day of school once in a blue moon.’
His eyes moved restlessly over her, taking in details—her hair, wet and clinging, her floral bikini, and her suntan, deeper now after more than a month at the bay.
She thought of the last time she and Daniel had been together. The final blissful night of passion. And, irrationally, she felt embarrassed and self-conscious to be wearing so little now. She wished she’d had time to cover up.
‘It’s so good to see you,’ he said.
‘You, too.’
Jess arrived, and there were introductions. The girl smiled at Lily shyly. They talked for a bit about swimming, and the pretty coral fish on the little reef out near the rocks.
But all the time they chatted Lily wondered why they had come. What did this mean? ‘When did you arrive?’ she asked.
‘Not long ago,’ Daniel told her. ‘We went to your house first, but there was no one home, so we decided to drive along the bay, have a swim, and check again later.’
‘So, you’ve come to see me?’ Her heart raced.
‘Of course.’ Daniel’s eyes were intense as he looked at her, but he was still smiling. ‘Why else would we be here?’
Lily, in a kind of dreamlike haze, said, ‘Mum’s with a friend. I’m about to collect her. But we’ll be back at the house soon. You’re very welcome.’
‘We’ll be there, just as soon as Jess has had a swim and we’ve cleaned up. We’re booked into the motel out on the point.’
‘Right.’ It was ridiculous to still be so nervous. ‘See you soon then. You must stay for dinner. Have a nice swim, Jess. Bye, Daniel.’
Fern accepted the news of Daniel’s arrival without making a fuss. She didn’t ply Lily with questions on the way back to the cottage. She seemed quite content with her own conclusions.
When they found an enormous bouquet of white lilies and a basket of maidenhair fern set in a shady corner of the front porch, she wasn’t at all surprised.
Lily stared at them. Lilies and ferns. ‘Daniel must have left these.’
‘Of course he did, darling. Aren’t they gorgeous? How thoughtful.’ Fern’s eyes were sparkling. She seemed very excited, as if she could hardly contain herself.
Lily felt compelled to issue a warning. ‘Mum, I have no idea what this visit is about.’
‘Yes, you do, Lily. Trust me. These lovely gifts are a very good omen.’
They put the basket of ferns on the little table under the kitchen window, and the gorgeous white lilies in an enormous round glass jug on the coffee table in the lounge. The lilies’ beautiful perfume made the little cottage smell heavenly.
‘I’ve invited Daniel and Jess to stay for dinner,’ Lily said, and she opened the door of the fridge and peered in. ‘I could do that chicken and almond dish.’
‘I don’t think that will be necessary. Daniel will take you out to dinner, and Jess and I will have something simple here. Macaroni cheese.’
‘You can’t count on that at all.’
Fern flicked a knowing glance through the kitchen doorway to the vase of lilies, and then back to her daughter.
‘That man is courting you, Lily.’
‘But you don’t understand the full picture, Mum. It’s complicated. Jess doesn’t want us to get together. That’s why we broke up. That’s why—’ She looked down and fiddled with a button on her pocket. ‘That’s why I have no idea what’s going on. I don’t understand why Daniel’s turned up like this. The suspense is killing me.’
‘Oh, darling.’ Fern crossed the room and gave her a hug. ‘Be brave, Lily. Hang in there. It’s going to be all right.’
‘How can you possibly know that?’
‘Motherly intuition.’
‘Sorry. That’s not scientifically reliable.’
‘You’ve been a perfect angel looking after me, Lily. This is a thank-you gift from the universe.’ Fern winked. ‘Besides, I read your tea leaves at breakfast this morning.’
‘Oh, Mum.’ Lily gave her arm a playful punch, and pulled away. ‘I think I’ll take a bath.’
‘Good idea.’
‘Hold it, Dad,’ Jess called as they were about to leave the motel. ‘Turn around.’
‘Jess, we’re late. I don’t have time—’
‘Just turn around. I want to make sure you look nice.’
Daniel, so nervous he felt sick, turned. ‘I didn’t want to look too dressed-up,’ he said.
Jess narrowed her eyes as she studied his open-necked white shirt with the long sleeves rolled back, his blue jeans, his neatly shaved jaw and his damp hair, carefully combed. She gave him the thumbs-up signal. ‘Totally hot, Dad. Lily will love you.’
‘Totally hot? Is that better than totally cool?’
She grinned. ‘Don’t worry. You look hot and cool.’
‘You’ve lost me.’ With a rueful smile, and a hand on Jess’s shoulder, he shepherded her out through the door. ‘Come on. Let’s go.’
Fern appeared at Lily’s bedroom door. ‘A utility truck has just pulled up outside,’ she said.
From the street came the slam of a car door. And then another. Lily’s heart jumped each time. She turned to the mirror. She was wearing a simple dress in swirling aqua-blue, with thin shoulder straps and a softly flaring skirt. Daniel had never seen her in a dress. She’d added gold earrings and low-heeled sandals, and she’d left her legs bare.
‘Do I look as if I’m trying too hard?’
‘You look perfect.’
They shared a smile.
‘Shall I answer the door or will you?’ Fern asked.
‘I’d better go.’
On the doorstep, Jess said, ‘Dad, we forgot the chocolates and wine. They’re still in the glovebox.’
‘Damn.’ Daniel turned, about to head back to the car, but there was a sound of footsteps coming to the door.
‘I’ll go,’ said Jess. ‘Give me the car keys.’
She scampered back down the path just as the door opened.
Daniel knew Lily would look lovely, but even so the sight of her stole his breath.
‘Hello again,’ he said, in a voice barely above a whisper.
‘Hi.’
Her eyes shone and she smiled at him. Leaning forward, he dropped a light kiss on her flushed cheek. Her skin felt wonderfully soft, and she smelled divine.
‘I thought Jess was with you.’ Lily looked suddenly worried.
‘She’s just getting something from the car.’
‘We forgot these,’ Jess called, madly waving a box of ginger chocolates and a bottle of red wine as she ran back up the path. She presented them to Lily. ‘They’re really from Dad, of course.’
‘Oh, lovely. Thank you.’ Lily smiled at her. ‘And it’s lovely to see you here, Jess.’
Jess met her gaze and smiled shyly. ‘Thank you.’
Lily stepped back into the hall. ‘Please, both of you, come on in.’
‘This is a lovely house,’ Jess said.
At first Lily thought the child was simply being polite—a little girl instructed to be on her best behaviour. But then she saw Jess’s face, and the obvious delight with which she was looking about her.
The timber beach cottage was simple, shabby and old, and yet, thanks to Fern’s artistic talent—the talent that had interested Marcus so many years ago—her home had undeniable charm. The walls, ceilings, windowsills and frames were all painted in a surprising but very appealing array of bright colours. Plants abounded in all manner of hand-painted pots. A lovely leadlight feature caught the last of the afternoon sun. Suspended in an open window, a mobile made from driftwood, shells and sea glass spun in the breeze. A collection of handmade candles nestled on another windowsill.
‘These are so pretty,’ Jess said, looking at the gorgeous-coloured candles decorated with pressed flowers.
‘I could show you how to make a candle like that,’ Fern told her.
‘Could you?’
‘Lily knows how to make them, too.’
‘Oh, wow.’
Jess sent Lily another shy smile. And then she looked at Daniel. ‘Go on, Daddy. I’m OK. Off you go.’
There was an awkward moment, where Daniel tried to shush Jess and Lily wasn’t quite sure what was going on.
Fern took command.
‘Your daughter’s right, Daniel. You and Lily should take a walk. Jess and I want to get acquainted—don’t we, Jess?’
‘Sure,’ the girl agreed, without a beat of hesitation.
Lily swallowed a surprised gasp. Since when had her mother become so bossy—and Jess so co-operative?
She looked at Daniel. He seemed so tall and big in Fern’s tiny house. So handsome. His eyes burned with an intense light that made her heart flutter. She didn’t think a heart could do such a thing, but, yes, it actually fluttered. With apprehension. With hope.
Daniel addressed Fern. ‘I wouldn’t normally rush off. There’s a great deal I’d like to tell you about your wonderful daughter.’
Fern blinked, and reached in her pocket for a handkerchief. ‘That would be lovely, Daniel, but I might blubber and get sentimental.’
‘Mum!’
Fern winked at them. ‘Off you two go. I’m going to show Jess my collection of beads.’
Daniel turned to Lily. ‘Want to take a walk?’
What was she to say, but, ‘I’d like that. Thank you.’
He took her hand, and her fingers burned at his touch. They left the house via the door that led to the beach, and at the gate, where the garden ended and the beach began, they removed their footwear. Daniel rolled up his jeans.
And then they set off across the still-warm sand. A breeze blew in from the sea, bringing the smell of salt and the tang of coral, lifting strands of Lily’s newly washed hair and Daniel’s shirt collar.
She said, ‘I might never recover from the shock of seeing you turn up here, out of the blue.’
‘I should apologise,’ said Daniel. ‘But I balked at the thought of another phone call. I didn’t want to mess things up like last time. I needed to see you.’
‘It’s hard to get things right over the phone.’
‘Yes.’ His grip on her hand tightened. ‘Lily, I don’t know what your plans are now that Fern is on the mend, but I was wondering if…’
He stopped, looked stricken, and ran a hand through his wind-blown hair. ‘I’m doing this badly. I haven’t told you how much I’ve missed you, how amazing it is to see you again.’ He took both her hands in his. ‘How I feel about you, Lily.’
She looked up and saw the truth of it in his eyes, and her heart was so full she couldn’t speak.
‘I don’t know how I’ve survived these past few weeks,’ Daniel said. ‘It’s been worse than anything I felt in jail.’
She recognised the dark pain that lay behind his words. ‘I’ve been the same, Daniel. I’ve been so miserable.’
‘Would you consider coming back?’
‘To live with you?’
His throat worked. ‘Yes.’
Across the kitchen table, Jess said to Fern, ‘Do you think my dad and Lily are in love?’
‘Yes, my dear, I do.’
Jess, under Fern’s supervision, was threading beads to make an anklet. Fern picked out a marvellous purple bead with tiny chips of silver mirror. ‘Would you like this one?’
‘Oh, wow! Yes, please.’
‘Would you mind if Lily and your father decided that they’re very much in love and want to stay together?’
Jess shook her head. ‘Not now. Not now I understand.’
Fern smiled at her. ‘And what is it that you understand?’
‘That Dad couldn’t help falling for Lily. She’s right for him.’ Jess set the threaded beads down carefully, so she could concentrate on what she was saying. ‘I saw the way Dad and Lily looked at each other, and something just seemed to click inside me. It felt right. I don’t know if I can explain it any better than that.’ She frowned. ‘Maybe it’s like a joke.’
‘A joke?’
‘You know how it is with a joke. People either get it or they don’t. I “got it” that they’re right for each other.’
Fern smiled and reached out to squeeze Jess’s hand. ‘I “got it”, too.’
‘I thought Jess objected to us,’ Lily said, as they wandered along the almost deserted beach while the daylight faded around them.
‘I’ve sorted things out with her.’
‘How? Are you sure? It seems too good to be true.’
Daniel’s mouth tilted into a wry curve. ‘Jess could see for herself that I was a hopeless case without you. And then I told her exactly what you mean to me.’ He tightened his arm about her shoulders. ‘I told her how much I love you, Lily. I told her how you rescued me.’
‘Rescued you?’
‘Of course. If you hadn’t run out of petrol and stumbled onto Ironbark I’d still be a depressed and broken man.’ He smiled, but his eyes glittered with a sheen that rocked her heart. ‘I might never have recovered from the shame and the horror of prison. Without you, I’d never have been strong enough to go to Sydney to reclaim Jess. I owe everything to you.’
‘Oh, Daniel.’ She lifted her hand and fingered a wing of dark hair blown onto his forehead, traced the dear, familiar ruggedness of his cheek with her fingertips. It was so, so good to touch him at last. ‘How did Jess react?’
‘She couldn’t get me here fast enough.’
On a heady wave of relief and sheer joy, Lily let out a cheer, and she spun in a quick, ecstatic pirouette.
Daniel caught her with two hands at her waist. ‘I love you, Lily.’
‘I know,’ she cried, laughing and crying as she hugged him hard. ‘I know, I know, I know. And I love you, too!’
He kissed her. He took a deliciously long time about it, and Lily doubted there had ever been a kiss quite so perfect.
Later, he said, ‘I would have been here yesterday if I hadn’t bought a new mob of calves. To be honest, I shouldn’t really be here now. I should be checking that they’ve settled in OK.’
A small wave lapped at Lily’s ankles. ‘The joys of a cattleman’s life.’
He drew a sharp breath. ‘Lily, is there any chance that you would consider sharing that life with me?’
Smiling, she shook her head at him. ‘Can’t you guess, Daniel Renton? From the very first day I walked onto Ironbark I’ve been fantasising about spending my life with you. You were a marked man.’
‘You mean I didn’t stand a chance?’
‘Not one.’
Daniel smiled. ‘That was the luckiest day of my life.’
‘And mine.’
And, for that, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her again.
Afterwards, he asked, ‘Are we expected back at the house for dinner?’
She laughed. ‘Actually, no. You’re supposed to be taking me out for a romantic dinner.’
‘Are you sure? Will Fern mind?’
‘No, it’s written in the tea leaves that Fern and Jess will have macaroni cheese, while you wine me and dine me at the lovely new restaurant attached to your motel.’
He looked amused. ‘I didn’t know you read tea leaves.’
‘I don’t. Fern does. She’s an expert.’
Daniel grinned. ‘Then we mustn’t let the expert down.’