‘That’s it,’ cheered Freya. ‘Good girl.’
‘I can see your baby’s face,’ called her mum. ‘It’s so cute.’
‘And the shoulders are almost there now,’ added Freya. ‘Everything’s happening just the way it’s supposed to. You’re doing so well, Billie. Good girl. Another push and —’
Billie couldn’t push again. Totally exhausted, utterly drained, she flopped back onto the pillows. Her Pickle had dark hair. A cute face. That was nice to know, but now she just needed to sleep.
She might have dozed off, she wasn’t sure. From nearby, she could hear the murmur of anxious voices, but she was bone weary and she needed to rest. Maybe she could finish this tomorrow . . .
A moment later, however, she was gripping her knees and pushing again, assisted, thank heavens, by another fierce contraction.
‘That’s it, Billie,’ cried Freya. ‘Here it comes. Good girl.’
Face screwed tight with the effort of another mighty push, Billie felt the baby slip from her and heard cries of triumph from her mum and her aunt.
‘Oh, darling!’ her mother sobbed. ‘She’s gorgeous.’
‘She?’ Billie was instantly wide awake. ‘Is it a girl?’
‘A perfectly beautiful little girl.’
A little girl. Billie took a deep, happy breath as she absorbed this news. Secretly, she’d hoped for a girl, but she’d been fairly sure she was having a boy. A miniature Petros.
‘Is she breathing?’ she remembered to ask.
‘Waaaa!’
‘There’s your question answered.’ Freya was grinning from ear to ear.
‘Wow!’ Billie tried to sit up. ‘And she looks fine?’
‘She looks perfect as far as I can tell. All her fingers and toes. Hey, Grandma.’ Freya was speaking to Pearl now. ‘Show your daughter her baby.’
‘Oh!’ Her mum’s face was a picture of ecstasy and reverence as she appeared at Billie’s side. ‘Here, darling,’ she said gently, and Billie felt a wondrous warm weight on her chest.
Looking down, she saw her baby, all shiny and wet, but so, so cute. Her little Pickle. A tiny daughter. Red and perfect with a scrunched-up face. A cap of dark hair and tiny neat ears, fat little hands, teeny perfect feet.
Here, safe.
‘Thanks,’ she said to Freya, who had tears in her eyes now. ‘Thanks to both of you.’
‘No, we should be thanking you,’ insisted her mum, whose eyes were extra shiny now as she beamed at Billie while she slipped an arm around Freya’s shoulders and gave her sister a hug.
Billie was sure they were remembering her own birth and the decisions and regrets that had marred their relationship for decades. She smiled at her mother. ‘I’m so glad you were here today.’
Pearl nodded, blinking as she managed a teary grin. ‘This is, without a doubt, the grandest day of my life.’
‘Anybody home?’ called a masculine voice down the hall.
‘Oh,’ said Freya. ‘That must be Bob, the ambulance man. In here,’ she called.
‘I thought it sounded like Dad,’ said Billie.
And she was right. It was indeed Troy who hurried into the room, followed by a female paramedic. Troy’s face was tense with concern, until he stopped, taking in the scene. And then his expression was one of utter delight.
‘Oh, darling, you clever, clever girl.’
It was several days before Dan was free to visit, arriving late in the afternoon with an enormous bunch of the sweetest pink rosebuds and several gift-wrapped packages.
‘One from me, one from Mum and one from Molly,’ he told Billie.
‘How lovely.’
Pearl was agape with curiosity, but she seemed to approve of Dan, especially when he was introduced to her as Detective Dan Dexter. She happily set his flowers in a jug for Billie and then discreetly retreated while Billie took Dan alone to her bedroom where her new little daughter was sleeping.
They’d already spoken on the phone and Dan knew all about the drama of the home delivery.
‘Wow,’ he said now as he looked down into the bassinet. ‘She’s very cute.’
‘She is, isn’t she?’ Billie could spend hours staring at that sweet little face. As they watched, however, the baby frowned, wrinkling her forehead and scrunching up her nose, twisting her mouth and transforming herself from newborn cherub to ancient lady.
Oh, dear, Billie thought, but Dan merely laughed.
‘She’s gorgeous.’
She might have fallen in love with him in that moment.
‘Have you settled on a name for her?’ he asked.
‘Peppi.’ Billie spelled it for him. ‘I wanted something unusual, but sweet, a name that made me smile.’
‘Sounds like a perfect choice then. Peppi.’ He repeated the name, as if testing it, and then, most obligingly, he smiled. ‘I really like it.’
‘Thanks.’ It seemed important that he approved.
And then he turned to Billie, giving her his full attention. ‘You’re looking great.’
‘I’m feeling really well.’
‘You look beautiful, Billie.’
When he smiled at her like that, his brown eyes filled her with warmth and made her feel all fluttery and melting, and Billie wanted nothing more than to lean in to him, to bury her face in his chest, to feel his arms around her.
She resisted, however, and they sat on the bed as she opened the presents he’d brought. From Grace there was a gorgeous little pair of white lace-trimmed socks that somehow carried an air of glamour, and from Molly a plush, long-eared, cheeky-faced rabbit.
‘How perfect,’ Billie said. ‘I’m sure Peppi will love this bunny.’ And she wondered if Grace had had a hand in its selection.
Dan grinned. ‘Luckily the baby store didn’t run to stuffed seahorses.’
They shared a laugh and again Billie resisted an urge to hug him. Instead, she asked, ‘How is Molly? I thought she might have come with you.’
‘Oh, don’t worry,’ he said. ‘She was desperate to come, but I told her she’d have to wait.’
Billie wasn’t sure if she imagined it, but she sensed a hidden message in this statement. Uncertain, she picked up the final gift, Dan’s gift, and wondered what it might be. There was a good chance he had chosen something practical like nappies or onesies. He’d already raised a baby, after all.
As Billie tore away the last of the paper, however, she discovered bubble bath and bath salts, a gorgeously scented candle and a voucher for a massage at a luxury spa.
‘Oh, Dan.’ She was suddenly quite overcome.
‘Most people will give you things for your baby,’ he said. ‘But I thought you deserved a gift, too.’
‘Aren’t you lovely?’ This time Billie leaned in and kissed his cheek, and yes, she let her lips linger at his jawline slightly longer than was strictly necessary while her heart began a crazy kind of thumping.
She sat straight again, sensed a tension in Dan as powerful as her own and found herself trembling. ‘Thanks,’ she managed in a breathless whisper.
He was watching her carefully. ‘And how are your plans?’ he said. ‘I don’t suppose you’ve had time for any more house hunting.’
‘Not really.’
‘But are you still planning on living alone?’
‘I – I guess.’ Billie looked away, feeling totally flustered. In recent weeks, her aim of single parenthood had faltered somewhat, primarily because of this man. But in just a few days, the demanding reality of caring for a newborn had convinced her she’d been dreaming to think that she and Dan might have a future.
When she turned to him again, he was still watching her, as if he was trying to read her.
He reached for her hands, held them firmly, confidently, in his and gave her his most gorgeous smile. ‘I was hoping I might change your mind about that.’
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Given the scarcity of Freya’s possessions, packing for her departure to Spain was going to take very little time. Her
main concern was Won Ton.
Initially, she’d investigated the requirements and restrictions of the various airlines, but that was only the start of this particular venture. Freya also needed to get her head around all the customs and quarantine controls at both ends of the journey, not to mention the vet checks, or finding an appropriate container, or organising all the required export, import and transit health certificates.
Won Ton’s microchip needed to be updated to international standards, and the poor little sweetheart had to be vaccinated for rabies. A daunting prospect on so many levels.
‘Is it worth all this bother?’ asked Pearl as she stood at Seb’s kitchen counter, taking excruciating care to slice purple cabbage as thinly as possible.
‘I don’t really have much choice,’ said Freya.
‘But the poor little dog will be terrified.’ Turning from the counter, Pearl gave an agitated wave of her hands, causing shreds of cabbage to fall from the chopping knife. ‘She’ll hate being stuck in a crate and shoved into the cargo hold for such a long flight.’
Freya blinked at her sister’s surprising concern, but she was inclined to agree. ‘I’m sure the airline will take every care,’ she suggested without much conviction.
‘Oh, I suppose they will,’ said Pearl. ‘But then Won Ton will have to go through the whole nightmare again every time you want to come back here.’
Which did seem to be an inordinate and possibly unnecessary ordeal, especially as Freya and Seb were hoping to make regular trips back and forth between Spain and Queensland. Seb was being quite tolerant about the whole situation with Won Ton, and Freya was grateful for his forbearance, but she was beginning to wonder if she was being fair to her little dog. Surely it was cruel to drag the poor mite back and forth?
‘Perhaps I should ring my friend Daisy,’ she said. ‘She might be prepared to adopt Won Ton.’
‘Or you could leave her with me.’
Freya stared at Pearl in disbelief. They were preparing salads for a family dinner. Seb was out on the deck heating up the barbecue, and on the kitchen counter beside the women sat glasses of white wine chilled with ice cubes. These they had sipped as they’d chopped and chatted. Behaving like normal sisters. A minor miracle, surely? Now this astonishing offer. ‘You don’t mean that, do you?’ Freya couldn’t help asking.
Pearl shrugged, then set the knife down and crossed her arms, hugging herself, as her face twisted into a squashed and somewhat embarrassed grin. ‘Well, I have got used to her,’ she said. ‘She’s quite a sweet little dog, really.’
Good heavens. ‘And at least she’s learned to stay off your sofas,’ Freya suggested.
‘Yes, there’s that.’
‘You’d be okay to take her for walks? She wouldn’t tire you too much?’
‘No, Freya. I’m fine for a daily walk.’
‘So you’d really be prepared to keep her for the whole six months while we’re in Spain?’
‘Isn’t that what I’ve just said?’ Pearl’s natural abrasiveness flared for a second or two, but then she relented. ‘Yes,’ she said more gently. ‘I’d be happy to look after Won Ton. It’s the least I can do after everything that you and Seb have done for me.’
‘Gosh.’ Freya sucked in a necessary gulp of air. ‘That’s wonderful, Pearl. Thank you.’ Freya’s voice was choked and tight as she said this. She knew she would miss her little canine companion terribly. But she couldn’t deny that Pearl had offered a perfect solution.
She blinked back the threat of tears, knowing it was time to set aside her sense of loss, to embrace all the other wonderful things happening in her life. In all of their lives.
‘Won Ton might even be company for you now that Billie’s moved over to the mainland with Dan,’ she said.
‘Yes.’ Pearl nodded. ‘That thought occurred to me, too.’
Freya looked out through the open-plan house to Seb on the deck and beyond to the beach past the line of she-oaks. From here she could just make out the figures of Billie and Dan at the edge of the water. Billie was carrying Peppi in a papoose-like sling, which the baby seemed to love now that she’d passed the early weeks where she’d pretty much slept from feed to feed.
A stiff breeze was lifting Billie’s hair and, as Freya watched, Dan slipped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her. Everything about their body language screamed happiness, and further along the beach Troy and Molly were also a picture of joy as they knelt in the sand, building a massive castle to be decorated with shells and coral, while Won Ton frolicked around them.
‘It’s wonderful that they’re so happy, isn’t it?’ Freya said. In truth, she’d been amazed by how quickly the new little family had blended. Molly seemed to adore being a big sister to Peppi, and Billie and Dan exuded that special glow that accompanied falling deeply in love.
Pearl was nodding as she followed the direction of Freya’s gaze, and her face relaxed into a smile. ‘Troy and I get to see Peppi at least once a week, so we’re happy, too.’
Billie’s move had worked out better than Freya could have hoped. Most weeks Pearl travelled over to Townsville where she met Troy when he finished his shift, and together they drove to Dan’s place. Other weeks, Dan, Billie, Molly and the baby happily came over to the island, as they had today. It really was fine on all fronts.
Now, from out on the deck came the tummy-teasing scent of onions hitting the hotplate. ‘I’d better see if the chef needs a top-up,’ Freya said, and she collected the wine bottle from the fridge and slipped outside where the sky and the sea were just beginning to deepen into twilight.
‘Those onions smell great,’ she told Seb as she refilled his glass.
He grinned. ‘And how lucky am I to have a woman who anticipates my every need?’
‘Only because you’re tall, dark and handsome,’ Freya told him, and she was grinning, too.
From the beach, Troy called, ‘Is it almost dinnertime?’
‘Yes,’ they called back. And Seb slipped his arm around Freya’s shoulders as they stood close together, watching the first pink of sunset reflected in the sky.
Beside them, the barbecue flames flickered and Freya’s mind instinctively flashed back to the night of the fire and her burning home. That brutal destruction and her divorce had both been so final, leaving her with no room in her head or her heart to imagine second chances or new beginnings.
Now, as the others turned from the sea and began to trudge back across the sand, she was filled with gratitude for her new life, for her old love and for their boundless possibilities.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wrote this story through the upheaval of selling our home on the Atherton Tablelands and relocating back to Townsville. This was a busy time of mixed emotions on many levels and I found, to my surprise, that returning to my desk and to these characters was like sitting down for a cuppa and a chat with old friends, a perfect escape between those bouts of busyness. So my first vote of thanks must go to my muse, who has stood by me for many, many books now, and to Freya, Billie & Co. for staying the course with me. You were so real to me, I could have hugged you.
As always, my husband Elliot was ready to listen to my moans when I was sure the story would fall apart, or be too short, or generally hopeless. He’s my unfailing cheer squad and I’m forever grateful. Any research required for this novel was my own, however, and if I’ve made mistakes, they’re mine as well.
Huge thanks are also due to everyone at Penguin Random House who has helped to make this book the best it can be. Thanks to Ali Watts, Nikki Lusk and Melissa Lane for your insightful and sensitive attention to the words on these pages, and thanks as well to publicist Sofia Casanova and audio producer Radhiah Chowdhury.
Finally, thanks to you, my wonderful readers, for picking up yet another of my books. Without you, none of this could happen.
BOOK CLUB NOTES
The story begins with Freya’s decision to experience the baby’s birth on her own. Do you think she was justified in making t
his choice? How does it shape the rest of the story?
In many ways, this is a story about choices. How many characters faced difficulties in this regard?
Surrogacy was a relatively new option for Pearl and Troy. What do you think of their decision to hide the truth from Billie?
How did the Magnetic Island setting shape the story? Do you think that growing up on this island may have influenced Billie’s sense of adventure or lack of ambition? Or were there other factors at play?
If you had the chance to ask the author of this book one question, what would it be?
Which character in the book would you most like to meet?
If you could read this story from another character’s point of view, who would you choose?
Did the characters seem believable to you? Did they remind you of anyone?
What aspects of the story could you most relate to?
Which other books by Barbara Hannay have you read? How did they compare to this book?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Barbara Hannay writes women’s fiction, with over twelve million books sold worldwide. Her novels set in Australia have been translated into twenty-six languages, and she has won the Romance Writers of America’s RITA award and been shortlisted five times. Two of Barbara’s novels have also won the Romance Writers of Australia’s Romantic Book of the Year award.
Barbara lives in Townsville with her writer husband and enjoys being close to the Coral Sea, the stunning tropical scenery and colourful characters, all of which find their way into her popular stories.
barbarahannay.com
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