Page 66 of Road to Rosalee

Melody took a moment to catch her stolen breath. She wasn’t used to having a family knowing her deepest feelings, but it was comforting to have their unconditional support. She cleared her throat, once, twice, but found it impossible to find the right words.

Judy took her hand and gave it a squeeze. ‘He’ll come around. Just give him some time.’

After a lengthy pause, Melody finally found her voice. ‘That’s what Sarah keeps saying, but I’m not so sure.’ She choked back a sob. ‘I’m so desperate to try to explain things to Zai, but he won’t give me the time of day.’

‘Oh, my love, you’re both standing in the fire right now, and you can’t see for the flames.’ Judy sighed softly. ‘Trust me. If you take a few steps back, you’ll both get the breathing space you need without burning each other more.’

Considering this, Melody nodded. ‘Yes, you’re right. I know I just need to let him come to me when he’s ready to, but I’m so scared he might never talk to me again. And to be honest, I wouldn’t blame him.’

‘Hmm.’ Judy drew in a breath. ‘I’ve known Zai for many years, and he’s not one to leave things up in the air. And he hates seeing the people he cares for hurting. I truly believe he will talk when he’s ready to.’

‘I hope so,’ Melody replied.

Georgia and Sarah moseyed into the kitchen with Danny and Beau in noisy tow, the hullaballoo of the two boys giving Melody a moment to gather herself.

Plonking a pile of serving dishes onto the sink, Georgia took her by surprise as she wrapped her in a hug. Sarah joined in, as did Judy, until the four of them were all squished together. No words were spoken, but the unity Melody felt amidst the three strong, country-hearted women gave her the strength she knew she would need to get through another sleepless night of heartache. Hopefully, before she headed back to the bright lights of the city to sort out her life next week, Zai would come around.

Chapter

19

Not overly familiar with this part of the station, Zai gazed from the rocky ridgeline off to the side to the uneven earthen track in front. He should slow down, but he was eager to get home so he could stand beneath a hot shower and hopefully wash away some of his weariness. Hurtling along in top gear, the four-wheeler’s front tyres hit a crevice, man and quad momentarily flying through the air as if defying gravity, landing seconds later with a back-breaking thump. Groaning, Zai gripped the handlebars as he regained control – out here wasn’t the place to be reckless, given the notorious stability issues of quad bikes, but today his care factor was close to nil. With the sun in his eyes, he tipped his hat to ward off the glare of the setting sun. He only had one more job before he could call it a day, checking the rear fence line. Not an easy feat, given the gruelling countryside – he was thankful for Slim, coming in from the opposite direction. He didn’t have eyes on his mate just yet, but could hear the revs of his inbound quad bike. The plan was to meet in the middle and then head home for some well-deserved beers.

Chasing the last of the day’s light, he flew along the bumpy ground at a speed he’d usually consider hazardous, but his mind was somewhere else, on someone else. It had been hard ignoring Melody’s knocks on the cottage door the past couple of days, as well as sitting as far away from her as he could at every meal. He was avoiding her like the plague, which was hard given that Matt and Sarah had arrived, as had the rest of the crew in preparation for the wedding tomorrow. But he wasn’t ready to talk to her. Even after four days, it felt as though the axe she had proverbially struck him with was still lodged in his back. Why did she have to rule his every thought, take his every breath, control his every heartbeat? With blinding intensity, he recalled the softness of her skin beneath his fingertips, his mouth, and the depth in her eyes as he’d made the sweetest and hungriest of loves to her. In the throes of passion, he’d graduated from dreams to reality, and by nightfall, had already imagined them together, engaged, married, with kids. But then she’d burst his bubble in the most gigantic of ways.

She was a married woman. And she’d lied about it.

How had she thought he was going to feel when he found out? Then again, maybe he needed to put himself into her shoes …

Abruptly, his thoughts changed direction, dragging his heart along for the ride. She’d looked so wounded when she’d left and with his anger subsiding, little by little, something inside him softened. She had been through a lot, had lost a lot. He couldn’t blame her for being so messed up and, in turn, messing everything up between them. Damn, he wanted to be the one who showed her what she needed. If he were being completely honest with himself, he’d officially reached the point of not being able to walk away – there was no way in hell he’d be able to switch off his feelings for her. They ran too deep, too strong. So what was he playing at? This was achieving the opposite of what he wanted so badly. And that was her. The sudden desperation to tell her had him spinning the quad bike around. He wanted to take her into his arms, to feel her heart-stopping, smouldering kiss again. He wanted to tell her he forgave her, and that he wanted them to be together forever, because they’d get through this together, no matter what it took.

And that’s when the front tyres clipped something unseen again … but this time, as if in slow motion, the four-wheeler motorbike flew through the air, tumbled, and then, tipping down a steep ravine, landed with him pinned beneath it. Searing pain sliced into the back of his head and reverberated through the rest of his body. The pain so excruciatingly intense, he almost vomited. Twice. He tried to lift the motorbike, but it was impossible. He tried to calm himself, took a few tiny breaths – the weight of the bike was crushing the air out of him. Was this how he was going to die? No, he couldn’t. He had to get to Melody and tell her everything.

Using every bit of strength he could muster, he tried to push it off him again, but it wouldn’t budge. He quickly scanned his body from head to toe. He couldn’t feel his right leg … had it been cut clean off?

‘Holy shit, Zai! Hold on, I’m coming buddy.’ Slim’s bellowing voice echoed as he half ran, half slipped down the side of the steep ravine.

Zai tried to answer but before he could, he started choking on something.

Is that blood?

With a force that would usually be beyond any mortal man, Slim shoved the bike from him. The look on his face spoke of everything Zai feared. With terror gripping him, he tried to move his toes, but couldn’t even feel his legs.

Slim dropped to his knees, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbing Zai’s head and mouth. ‘Shit, Wellstone, you’ve gone and done a damn good job of it, haven’t ya mate?’ He pointed back up the ravine. ‘You’re gonna have to stay here while I go back up and two-way for help.’

Unable to form words, and finding it hard to draw a breath, Zai watched his mate clamber back up the ravine and disappear out of sight. He hovered between darkness and blinding light, in a world where he started to wonder if he were even still alive. The pain dissolved into a bizarre kind of peace and he drifted there for a little while. Ebbed and flowed with it, as if riding on a wave. Then the world faded further from him still, until he could hear nothing but silence. A blurry haze had him blinking faster, but with everything out of his control, the sweet blackness took his fear, his agony, and him.

* * *

With her adoring newfound family surrounding her, Melody was trying really hard to get into the happy pre-wedding spirit, but couldn’t find an ounce of joy within her broken heart. Standing at the Aga cooker in the homestead, she manned a huge pot of beef stroganoff while Sarah, Aunt Georgia and Grandma huddled around the big oak table that dominated the centre of the kitchen, plates of food strewn from one end to the other. She found immense comfort in their company, the atmosphere in the room one of family and union and love. Never had she felt so welcomed anywhere in all of her life. It almost brought her to tears to know she’d had this family all along, and had missed out on so many years with them. But she had to look to the future and be grateful she had that to share with them all.

The radio announcer introduced the next song. ‘Well, folks, let’s have ourselves a little bit of good old-fashioned fun now with Rednex’s hit song, “Cotton Eye Joe”.’

‘Oh my gosh, I love this song.’ Sarah took Georgia by the hands and dragged her away from the table. ‘Come on, sis-in-law, dance with me.’

Georgia laughed, tossing the potato peeler onto the bench. ‘Righto, let’s get down and dosido like nobody’s watching.’ She looked to Melody. ‘Come on, my gorgeous niece. Come and dance with us.’

Melody was saved from doing so when the back door burst open and Showbags rushed in, his usual sunshiny face grave.