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‘You take care, and don’t forget about us while you’re enjoying your break, Morgan.’ The head nurse pulled him into a tight, motherly hug. ‘Because we need you back, so don’t go thinking about retiring just yet, you hear me.’ She waggled a finger at him.
Morgan chuckled and shook his head. ‘I’m not going to retire just yet, Mavis.’
‘Glad to hear it.’ She shooed him off. ‘Now go, get, and put those boots of yours up.’
‘Right you are.’ He offered a wave over his shoulder as he headed towards the car park of the rural airport.
He climbed behind the wheel of his trusty LandCruiser GXL Troopcarrier, revved it to life and allowed it to idle for a few moments while he pondered the fact that there were two sides to him. On one hand, he loved his office window from the cockpit, where the horizon seemed to stretch into infinity, but on the other, give him a good horse and well-worn saddle and he was one hell of a happy man. All in all, he only really wanted for one thing, and one thing alone, but she was long gone. Hell, he’d tried to move on, had enjoyed a few flings and one serious relationship since losing the love of his life, but every single time he hadn’t been able to feel the love he craved, the kind of buoyant, soul-deep love that he had shared with Jess. It sucked, but it was his reality. One that he’d grown accustomed to living day in, day out, one lonely night after another. One of these days, if pigs flew, he might be lucky enough to meet another special lady, one who made his heart race like the clappers and his soul ache for a connection to hers, but until then he’d rather be on his own than feel like an incomplete companion to a woman who deserved to be loved wholeheartedly.
After taking a swig from his water bottle, he wiped his lips with the back of his hand then veered out of the car park, in the opposite direction to where the ambulance had headed, and onto the long dirt track that would lead him home. With the waning crescent of the moon providing little light, dense darkness clung to the untainted landscape and up ahead the horizon had all but disappeared. After navigating the corrugated dirt road for almost half an hour, the tyres of his four-wheel drive finally gripped bitumen. Sighing with relief, he threw his Troopy into top gear, turned the country music up and, pedal to the metal, he chased the white lines of the winding coastal road while singing along to Waylon Jennings’ ‘Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line’.
If he had a baby girl, he’d be walking the line for his daughter, that was for sure.
* * *
The following morning, before the sun had hinted at its arrival, Morgan had donned his favourite timeworn cowboy boots and dusty Akubra, saddled up and ridden into the low light of dawn. An hour later, sitting astride his buckskin horse, Cash, with his weather-beaten wide-brimmed hat angled low, he gazed into the dawn sunshine. Soon, the baking summer heat would have him sweating heavily, but for now the briskness of a cool spring night still lingered, and he was using it to his advantage as he kept his eyes peeled for newborn calves. With almost one hundred acres to tend to, there was a lot of land to cover before he headed down the range, to the Cairns airport and the woman who had inadvertently shattered his heart. If only she could have leant on him, sought his comfort, allowed him to help her heal, instead of cutting herself off from him, from this place, from the life she’d known with Julie and Enzo Sabatini.
Remember to roll with the punches, Savage …
Spread out before him, his fertile land stretched away and down the hill. As he cleared the rise then neared the bottom paddock, a wholehearted smile spread. He brought Cash to a stop at the railings, where deep brown eyes stared back at him as the newborn calf took wobbly steps towards its mother. The moo-ma, a name he fondly called his mother cows, began to lick her calf clean. This was a sign that she wouldn’t reject her baby, and that made his smile spread further still. This, right here, was what he lived for, to see such innocent life be born into what could sometimes be a big, bad, heartbreaking world. The scene before him gave him the hope he needed, the drive he required, to get out of bed and devote his whole heart to this majestic place. Thanks to his wonderful parents, he’d grown up with a deep-set love and reverence for the land, and the country-hearted people who shaped it and called it home. Bearing witness to the magic of it made him, in his firm opinion, a very blessed man indeed.
Two hours later, turning Cash towards home, he gave his horsey mate the cue to open his stride and gallop for gold. Cash didn’t need any more of an invitation. Careering at breakneck speed, Morgan relished the sound of the wind whipping past and the thunder of powerful hoofs striking the earth. Wrapped up within the fleeting moment he felt free, alive, at peace. Beginning to ease off the pace as they neared the stables, Cash came to a sliding stop as Morgan drew the reins. Alighting after giving the horse a hearty neck rub in appreciation, he unsaddled, gave a very sweat-lathered Cash a hose-down, then led him back into his paddock where he gave him a treat of molasses.
‘Catch you tomorrow, buddy,’ he said as he wandered away.
He passed the chook pen, and as he crossed the driveway his other four-legged mate appeared from his usual shady spot beneath the verandah and rocketed towards him, all fur and slobber and gangly legs.
‘Whoa, there, Teeny.’ Steeling himself for the incoming pile-up, he chuckled when his Great Dane cross wolfhound slid to a stop on top of his boots, with his tongue lolling out to the side and his tail whacking the ground. ‘You’re a nincompoop, you know that right.’ He ruffled Teeny’s big ears lovingly. ‘One of these days, I reckon you’re going to plough right through me.’
Teeny fell into step beside him, and man and dog headed through the picket gate, up the pathway, around the corner and towards the back steps. Off to the side of the homestead, the windmill creaked as it spun lazily in the gentle breeze, pumping water from below. After kicking his boots off at the back door, Morgan headed inside with Teeny hot on his socked heels. He whipped himself up some breakfast, then carried his extra-strong coffee and two pieces of Vegemite on toast to the swing chair, where he enjoyed the raucous chorus of the kookaburras perched on his clothesline. Teeny settled himself at the top of the stairs, as if guarding his master. Morgan loved the big goofball with all his heart, and then some. He pondered whether Teeny would take to Jess, and her to him. From memory, she loved dogs, and they had always loved her, but that was nine years ago. Unlike then, now he didn’t know her, and likewise, she didn’t know him. They were essentially strangers. So much had changed him, shaped him into who he was today, and he supposed the same could be said for her. If he was on social media, he would have likely looked her up over the years, but he wasn’t, and didn’t ever want to be. Surfing the web was a waste of his precious time. Besides, he didn’t want the world knowing his business. He was a private person, with a private life, and he liked to keep it that way.
Rising then wandering to the edge of the verandah, he rested his forearms on the railings. Staring out and into the brightness of the day, he felt buried memories rise and wash over him. Their first kiss. Their first official date at the local drive-in. Their first night out dancing at the local nightclub. The rainy days they’d spent cuddled up on the couch, watching movies. The sunny days they’d spent gallivanting in the great outdoors, by foot, riding motorbikes or on horseback. The night he’d gotten down on one knee and asked her to be his forever. The excitement written all over her pretty face when she’d said yes. Then, that one passionate night they’d let their passions take hold of them, and made the deepest, sweetest love, just three days before they were meant to get married. If Julie and Enzo had found out, they would’ve throttled them both.
Sex before marriage had been a sin in their deeply religious eyes.
Closing his eyes against the bittersweet memories, he sighed. Only a couple of hours, and Jess would be here, in the cottage across the drive, mere metres instead of thousands of miles from him. He couldn’t believe the irony of her finally residing within the walls of what had once been the home where they were going to start their married life. After she left him, he’d never thought he’d see the day. How living near each other for the next two weeks was going to pan out, he hadn’t a damn clue, but he was going to give developing a renewed friendship his best shot. Why not? They were both adults who should have moved on and past it all. Hopefully she felt the same way. They’d shared so much love, so much life, just … so much. But then she’d vanished, as if she’d never existed in the first place. And he’d never heard from her again. For the first year, her profound silence had torn his world apart, but then piece by piece, he began putting it back together. He may have forgiven her, but he’d never forgotten the pain of the heartbreak. So no matter how much he might still secretly feel for her deep down in his soul, somewhere nice and dark, there was no way he’d allow such heartbreak to tear his life to shreds again.
CHAPTER
4
‘Ladies and gentlemen, we’re about to begin our descent into the Cairns airport where the local time is two-fifteen in the afternoon and the temperature is a balmy thirty-two degrees.’ The practised voice of the chirpy attendant echoed through the plane’s speakers. ‘Please make sure your seat is in the upright position, your tray table is stowed, your window shade is up, and your seatbelt is securely fastened.’
Feeling a little airsick after twenty-five hours of travel, Jess wondered how the woman could sound so upbeat after a long-haul flight. Groaning, she rested her head back and prayed that she wouldn’t need to use the brown paper bag clutched in her hands to catch the unpleasant food she’d eaten two hours ago. Or was it her emotions sending her stomach into turmoil? Possibly a bit of both. After all the hours spent in the air, along with a four-and-a-half-hour stopover in Singapore, with not much to do but remember her past, and the terrible, hasty mistakes that she’d made, her heart had turned upside down and inside out. There were pieces of her life’s jigsaw missing. She knew exactly what they were, and she also knew she had the power to somehow put them back together, but she was terrified of the ramifications.
In the end, it could go either way.
Holding her breath as the man on her left coughed for what felt like the umpteenth time, she counted to twelve before daring to take another inhalation. A second bout of Covid was the last thing she wanted or needed. Utterly exhausted, her senses were heightened, and everything was annoying her now – the cold air blowing from the vent above, the fact that she felt crammed in between the people beside her and the kid kicking the back of her seat. She’d already asked him three times to please refrain from doing so, and it was taking every single bit of her resolve not to turn around and give him what for. With her busy life back in Florence, she was so used to being able to divert her contemplations, but strapped into her seat, beside an armrest-hogging stranger, without an inch of wriggle room, there was nowhere to hide, nothing to do to distract her thoughts. Try as she might, she couldn’t ignore the dread that now sat like lead in the pit of her stomach. Arriving back in the place that was riddled with ghosts and haunted with memories was going to be tougher than she’d envisioned.
Her stomach dropped as the plane quickly descended through the blanket of clouds. The clunk of the wheels swiftly sounded and soon enough, after a quick flash of sparkling water and tropical green, the plane bounced then gripped the tarmac. That was the very moment the secret she’d been harbouring deep down in her soul scratched and clawed like a banshee trying to break free. And her very next thought was of Morgan Savage. Although she’d done her best to move on, her first and only true love had never truly left her mind, or her heart. And rightfully so. He still unwittingly played a massive part in her life. Maybe. Possibly.
Oh, who in the hell am I trying to kid?
If her timings were right, almost definitely.
After a long taxi, the plane pulled to a stop, and before the seatbelt light had flickered off, almost half the plane’s occupants were already on their feet. The nice air hostess’s voice became dictatorial as she commanded everyone stay seated. Only half the people listened. Jess rolled her eyes at their urgency. Nobody would be getting off in a hurry. Staying put, she grabbed her phone and tried to turn it on. Realising it had gone flat, she cursed beneath her breath and shoved it into her handbag, hoping to god she wasn’t going to need it to reach out to Shanti and Roberto. She waited edgily until the aisle beside her was free before rising, then grabbed her carry-on bag from the overhead locker and joined the long queue. Like cattle being led to the slaughter, the long line of travel-weary passengers made their way out of the aircraft, up the airbridge, through passport control, then to the baggage collection area. Unceremoniously lugging her heavy case from the carousel, Jess popped a mint in her mouth then made her way through customs and towards the security doors.
Although nervous, and bedraggled after her long flight, she was also excited to see her loved ones. A warm glow filled her at the thought of wrapping her arms around both her brother and her best friend. Stepping through the sliding doors, she planted a wide smile as she rose on her tippy toes and looked left to right. A sea of faces met her, but none were familiar. She took a few more steps, then did the same again. Where in the heck were they? Her name echoed across the arrivals lounge and every nerve end fired to panicked life. With her pounding heart leaping into her throat, she dared not look in the direction of the deep, gravelly voice. She didn’t need to see the mouth her name had just tumbled from. She’d kissed it enough times to know the owner of the arousing voice. Clamping her trembling lips together, while holding back some four-lettered words, she did her best to fight the panic building in her chest as she forced herself to turn around.
