Page 6 of Road to Rosalee

Zai had heard this a thousand times before, from both his mother and father, and he’d had a gutful. ‘Mum, please. Just drop it.’

‘Okay, I’ll sweep it back under the rug we all tiptoe over.’ Almond milk in hand, she padded back towards him, then wrapped her arms around him. ‘We do love you. You know that, right?’ she said into his chest.

Zai gently hugged her – she was only doing what she thought was best, but he just wished she understood that wasn’t his idea of living. ‘I know you do, but I’m not so sure about Dad.’

She stepped back and met his eyes. ‘He loves you. Maybe a little too much.’

‘I’ll take your word for it.’ He leant in and kissed her cheek, needing to put a stop to this conversation. ‘Anyway, I have to head. I’ll call you when I’m there, okay?’

‘Yes, that would be good.’ She stepped back and watched him wander out of the kitchen. ‘Please be safe,’ she called after him.

‘Always am,’ he replied matter-of-factly.

Heart heavy from the heated chat – not what he wanted right before he left, but inevitable – Zai headed out the front door. Without looking back at the grand two-storey home, he strode to his trusty four-wheel drive parked in the shade of a big old mango tree. With B&S stickers covering the tailgate, enough aerials to make contact with the moon, and a pair of massive spotlights bright enough to blind an alien, his LandCruiser looked so out of place here. Then again, preferring jeans, a Bonds singlet and a pair of roughed-up boots to metro-man clothes and sneakers, so did he.

Climbing behind the wheel, he dropped his bag on the passenger seat, packet of Minties at the ready, and turned the key. Revving the engine to life, he switched the stereo on and chose one of his favourites to keep him company – good old Waylon Jennings. He reversed out and turned down the drive, resisting the urge to put the pedal to the metal to get out of there faster. With a twenty-five-hour drive, broken up by an overnighter at Sarah and Matt Walsh’s place in Far North Queensland, he had a long trip ahead of him. The sooner he got to where his heart was sated, the better. He didn’t belong in this synthetic world. Never had. The outback was where god intended him to be, and he was going to fulfil his calling as a stockman, come hell or high water. One day, he might even be lucky enough to own his very own property, where he could live off the land he so loved with a like-minded woman by his side. His parents were going to have to find a way to accept him exactly how he was, or risk him drifting further away.

Chapter

3

If Melody had thought herself weary in the morning, now she was beyond exhausted. The café had been filled to capacity most of the day, and after missing one of her trains, again, and then having to wait twenty minutes for the next one, it was close to eight-thirty when she finally arrived at Aunt Sally’s place – her home away from home.

In the past, she’d been terrified of train stations after dark, but now she dared anyone to try and attack her. She had so much fight in her, she’d be glad to take it out on some thug.

Climbing the back steps of the cottage, she slipped off her boots and stepped inside the chocolate-box house her mother had called home the past two months. With a background in nursing, Aunt Sally was an absolute godsend.

As she dropped her key into the bowl on the entrance table, a bell jingled as her black cat, Magic, met her, wrapping himself around her ankles and meowing a warm welcome. Smiling, she bent and scooped him from the floor, cuddling his hefty six kilos to her. Having rescued Magic from being put to sleep almost three years earlier after she’d found him in a bad state in a back alley behind the café, she’d done her best to curb his big appetite, but had come to accept he was just big-boned and needed more food than most felines did. The loving tomcat was her most loyal companion. She’d brought him, along with a bag of clothes, to stay here three weeks ago after catching Antonio cheating.

‘Hey, buddy, I missed you today.’ She buried her face into his silky-soft fur, and he purred louder.

As she wandered through the kitchen, the scent of toast wafted along with the lingering of countless incense sticks that had been burnt over the years by her boho aunt. The house was quiet as she tiptoed through the lounge room, where the television was on but the sound muted. The Bachelor was playing – she could not for the life of her understand how any woman believed she could find true love on such a show. It took time to fall in love, to get to know someone – hell, after four and a half years she was still learning things about Antonio, things she wasn’t sure she could live with, or truly forgive. But leaving him wasn’t so cut and dried. There was their house, then the café, and the division of finances and furniture – she just didn’t have the strength to deal with it, not with Mum at death’s door. And then there was the fact that she did still care for him and love him – she was married to him for Pete’s sake. And it hadn’t all been bad.

Sally met her in the hallway, looking as tired as Melody felt. ‘Hey, you.’

‘Hi, love. I hope you got to find some enjoyment in today, seeing as it’s your birthday.’ Melody shrugged and Sally placed her hands on Melody’s shoulders. ‘I got you one of those little Black Forest cakes you like. We can have a slice of it later, with a glass of wine.’

‘Okay, thank you.’ Melody smiled and brushed a kiss over her aunt’s cheek. ‘How is she?’

‘Your mum’s had a really hard day, sweetie.’ She looked to the open doorway, then back to Melody. ‘I had to up her morphine so she could get some rest.’

Melody nodded. ‘I thought you’d have to, seeing as she was in a fair bit of pain this morning.’ With Magic keen to hop back down, she unravelled him from her arms, and released him to the floor.

Walking side by side, they stopped and peered into the bedroom where shimmering stars danced upon the walls and ceiling. It had been an idea of Melody’s, to bring the outback sky her mother had always loved into the room via a projector. Her mum had been beside herself when she’d first switched it on. Now it was more for the sake of normality.

They went to the bedside, where Melody saw the fading shadow of the strong, vibrant, effervescent person her mum used to be. Skeletal, with drawn cheeks and only tufts of hair; the cancer was eating her alive from the inside out. It tore Melody apart knowing how much discomfort she was in. If only there was a way she could save her, but no amount of research she did, no amount of medical advice she sought, both clinical and natural, was proving helpful. She’d reached a dead-end – acceptance of the fact was so very confronting.

Placing a gentle hand over her mum’s, she looked to Sally. ‘Did she eat or drink anything today?’

‘She’s refusing to eat,’ Sally said sadly. She cleared her throat. ‘But I held some ice to her lips, and she had a few tiny sips of orange juice.’

Emotion strangling her, Melody bit back tears. ‘She’s given up, hasn’t she?’ she finally choked out.

‘I think so, sweetheart.’ Sally rushed to her side, and wrapped an arm around her, pulling Melody close. ‘I know you don’t want to hear this, but it’ll be better when she’s gone, my love, because then she’ll be in no pain and finally at peace.’

Allowing herself to finally break down, Melody wrapped her arms around Sally, and quietly wept. She knew her mum was on her deathbed, but still, some part of her didn’t want to believe it. She kept trying to fool herself into thinking she would wake up one morning to find this was all a bad dream, or that her mother would be miraculously cured. It was all part of the process for loved ones, apparently – that’s what Sally had told her on many occasions.

Her aunt allowed her the time to grieve, silently comforting her by stroking her hair, bangles jingling as she did. Eventually, with her tears all but dried up and her head throbbing, Melody untangled and stepped back, sniffling.