Heart Of The Outback, Volume 2

by Margaret Way

Jess was sleeping over at Susie’s, and Matt and Steffi could do whatever they pleased. Steffi wanted to take Jess to school in the morning but that still gave them fourteen hours. Fourteen hours to enjoy each other’s company and start to make some new memories for them both.

  Matt parked in the visitor’s space and cut the engine. Grabbing his phone and wallet, he jumped out and slammed the door. Steffi was walking across the driveway towards him, faded jeans hugging her hips and a simple cotton T-shirt hugging her curves in all the right places. Matt paused by his car, concentrating on watching her and momentarily forgetting to walk.

  Her fair hair swung about her shoulders and she pushed it behind one ear. Matt smiled and waited for an answering smile from Steffi, but it didn’t come. His heart plummeted down into his boots.

  “That’s not a happy face.”

  “I’ve been trying to call you.”

  “I was on the phone. What’s happened?” He held out his arms, waiting for her to come into his embrace, but she stopped a few paces short.

  “Rick’s just turned up.”

  Matt’s heart plummeted further. “Jess’s dad?”

  Steffi nodded.

  “From Saudi?”

  She paced from foot to foot, avoiding his gaze. “Somewhere there, I’m never quite sure exactly where he is.”

  “Did you know—?”

  “Ah!” Steffi ducked, covering her face with her hands, interrupting his question.

  “What is it?”

  “I thought it was a bee. I’m allergic.”

  “It’s just a fly.”

  “Sorry. You were saying?”

  “Did you know Rick was coming?”

  “Of course not.” Her eyes met his this time. She looked like she was telling the truth. “Rick’s always been unpredictable. I’ve lost count of the number of times he’s changed his plans at the last minute. It used to really bother Jess, so now I prefer it if he does appear out of the blue. It takes away any expectations.”

  Matt tried to work out the effect this news had on their date. “Why were you trying to ring me? Do you want him to mind Jess instead of Anna?”

  She shook her head. “I need to take a rain-check on the movie.”

  “Why?”

  “Jess sees him so infrequently that I like to be around for the first visit at least. A familiar face. Rick hasn’t had much to do with eight-year-old girls so it’s easier for everyone if I’m here, too.”

  Matt felt his disappointment settle in the pit of his stomach like a stone. His perfect evening, their perfect evening, disintegrated before his eyes.

  He couldn’t help it. His automatic reaction was that Rick had made his choices years before, leaving his partner and their young baby, and yet here Steffi was, still trying to make things easy for him. Couldn’t a grown man manage to care for his own daughter?

  But, then, what had Steffi said? Jess didn’t have much to do with her father and Steffi wished that could change. And perhaps Jess did need her mum there. Maybe he was being unfair. He could let it slide, he didn’t have to make it into a big deal to reschedule.

  “What about tomorrow night? I’m off to Coober Pedy tomorrow but I should be back by seven.” He waited for her answer, saw her avoid eye contact with him, and it would have been clear to the most amateur sleuth that she was hiding something from him.

  “I’m sorry, tomorrow’s no good either. The next night?”

  “OK. I’ll call you tomorrow.” He knew he was being abrupt but suddenly he didn’t want to stand there, playing second fiddle to the mysterious, unreliable Rick. Rick who was no doubt probably rippling with all manner of muscles Matt would never have. He probably wore T-shirts ripped off at the sleeves and walked around with his arms tensed and pressed against his sides, all the better to delineate his bulk.

  He waved a hand in farewell, mustered up a smile and headed for his car, his head full of thoughts he didn’t want to be having.

  What else had she said that night at the wedding? It would be better for her, too, if Rick were around. And that she found being a single parent tough at times—had she been waiting for Rick to reappear? Did she want him back in their lives? Was this her chance?

  Matt turned the key in the ignition and the moment the engine came to life he reversed, spurred on by frustration, and took off down the street like a teenager behind the wheel of his first car.

  The last place he wanted to go now was home to an empty house, and Anna’s house held no appeal either. He was in no mood for her questions. He drove through Port Cadney, down the main street, past the hospital and found himself at the docks. Normally the feel of the sea spray across his face, the salty tang, the sound of the waves lapping at the hulls of the fishing boats was soothing, but tonight he had no desire to walk along the wharf. It would only remind him of Steffi and where they’d first met. He wound up his window to block out the smells and sounds and sat behind the wheel, gazing out across the water.

  He was amazed at how disappointed he was. It was a bitter pill to swallow. He understood that Jess was a higher priority for Steffi but he hadn’t seen Rick as a serious threat. And now here he was, appearing out of the blue, and immediately she’d put herself and Matt on ice.

  He’d thought she craved security and stability for her and Jess—she couldn’t seriously think Rick was a candidate for that—but maybe he was wrong. What if she was drawn to unpredictability, to the bad boy, clinging to a female hope she could change the father of her daughter? Women did that, apparently. He’d certainly had his share of short-term relationships with women trying to get him to change, to be more open. But it had never had a chance of working, not until Steffi had come along. And maybe that was because he’d never felt pressured by her to change. He’d wanted to be closer to her, to let her in. Slowly, cautiously, but nonetheless to let her in.

  He rested his head on the steering-wheel, forcing a halt to his train of thoughts. One cancelled date didn’t mean that Steffi was about to disappear into the sunset with another man, even if the lone rider in question was Jess’s irresponsible father.

  Besides, the one thing he should be able to take for granted was that Steffi would never compromise where Jess’s welfare was concerned. Stability was what Jess needed most. That, and her mother’s time. And Steffi wouldn’t achieve that by chasing pipe-dreams that Rick would change and give them what they needed. Even if she did still hold a torch for him.

  He cringed at the corny language but they were the only phrases that came to mind, warning him that the bond he thought he shared with Steffi might be nothing compared to the ties that held her to Rick, even if she wasn’t going to act on them. Wasn’t there meant to be something magical, unique, life-changing about one’s first love, teenage love? Especially if that had resulted in a child as lovely as Jess?

  He thumped the heel of his hand against the steering-wheel in frustration. He wouldn’t sit back and do nothing. There was nothing to be gained by that. When he returned from Coober Pedy he would lay his cards on the table. It didn’t matter that he didn’t know if he had much more to offer than Rick. At least he wasn’t trying to play games. Steffi needed to know how he felt about her. It was time.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  THE morning had sped by, Matt’s energy fuelled by his decision to tell Steffi how he felt. He and Connor had completed the first half of the first-aid update and were enjoying a coffee with their colleagues, chatting and exchanging medical news.

  With a population of a little over three thousand, Coober Pedy was big enough to need a GP, three nurses, a handful of nursing aides and some volunteer ambulance and fire officers who all had other jobs but were on call for emergencies. They were all here today with the exception of a skeleton staff of one nurse running the tiny hospital.

  There was one thing a man didn’t like, Matt reflected as he sipped his coffee, and that was a dilemma with no obvious solution. It didn’t matter if the solution wasn’t the right one, it was the being out of control that got a man ev
ery time.

  Now that he’d decided on a course of action, he could put the issues aside and get on with the tasks at hand. He had a free night, the only positive outcome of Steffi’s unavailability tonight, so he’d be staying over in Coober Pedy to catch up with the two locals most dear to his heart. His parents.

  He hadn’t told Steffi much about his mum and dad yet. But tomorrow when he saw her might be the right time to get everything out in the open. Before they got too deeply involved, he’d better sound her out, see if his background was an issue for her, like it had been for others in the past. That was, of course, if he could compete with Rick for her affections.

  He was proud of his parents, loved them dearly, but he’d learnt in high school quickly enough how judgmental people could be. How quick to categorise others and how cruel. His parents were intelligent people who’d made some difficult decisions for the sake of their family, but because he was from working-class stock and his parents didn’t speak English as their first language, he’d been treated by a lot of his peers as if he were socially inferior.

  Logically, he knew it was stupid to let any of those early experiences influence how he acted today. Stupid to let an emotional response tied to the victimisation he’d experienced as a teenager have any impact on who and what he was. Crazy to let a time, when anything and everything different about him had been fodder for bullying, have an impact now. It hadn’t mattered what it had been, once he’d been singled out, anything about him had been fair game. He knew that, knew it was all in the past, but emotional scars could be stubborn, and sometimes intellect was no match for feelings, for past experiences that had been painful.

  He also knew he’d been carrying that burden over the years since but, then, experience had also kept teaching him he didn’t fit in. Things had been fine at university, no more bullying, but he’d never been able to shake the feeling that he didn’t belong. He had to admit, it might have been in his head, his thought patterns seared by his adolescent experiences, but even at university he’d known he hadn’t quite made the cut. He hadn’t been a true private school boy, hadn’t had the connections, the wealth, the name. He hadn’t had a single thing in common, in terms of upbringing, with any of his classmates. And yet he might have been embraced by his peers, they’d all become adults by then after all, but he’d probably distanced himself out of habit, out of a self-protective mechanism telling him he didn’t belong.

  And who, if faced with rejection for years in a row, wouldn’t take themselves out of the game before it happened all over again?

  On a logical angle, too, it couldn’t be denied that he was different. He hadn’t wanted to follow a traditional career path in medicine, hadn’t wanted to run down the lines of specialising in a narrow field, treading the well-worn path to professional recognition and wealth. Even if he’d been brought up in the city with wealthy non-migrant parents, he just couldn’t see that he’d ever have fitted the mould.

  So from necessity he’d learnt to keep his private life private.

  And then he’d met Steffi.

  And known almost immediately she was different, more open-minded—the influence of being brought up in the country? Or had her circumstances made her less inclined to pass judgment on others? He thought so. Hoped so.

  They had more in common than pure chemistry but he also knew that when Steffi met his parents for the first time he’d really be asking her to pass a test, to look beyond the man he was now and see the boy he’d been, the part of him that still wasn’t sure if he could belong.

  Enough thinking. He put his mug back on the table with a clink and cleared his throat, motioning the group to get back to the session.

  Fate had other ideas.

  The door swung open with a force that could only mean “emergency” and Matt’s heart sank for a split second as he realised his plans for today were about to go haywire.

  The nurse on duty appeared in the room. “There’s been an accident, a mine collapse. About twenty minutes” drive north from here. A miner’s trapped and apparently they can’t get down to him.”

  Matt grabbed his hat and medical kit, never far from his side, from the table and jerked his head at Connor and Bill, the local GP. “Get the rest of the gear packed up and meet me out there with whatever resources you have.” He looked at Bill. “Got your car here?”

  He nodded in reply. They all accepted without question that Matt was in charge, even Bill. Matt had the most experience with emergency situations in unusual conditions. And he was a local boy, born and bred on the mines.

  “I’ll go ahead in your car.” He turned back to the nurse on duty. “I take it the rescue team is onto it?”

  “They’ve been called.”

  “Whose claim is it?”

  “Old Jimmy’s.”

  The adrenalin started to pump as Matt processed this information. “Old Jimmy’s?” “You know him?”

  There were lots of Jimmys out here. Most of the miners seemed to be called Jimmy, Steve or Johnny, but there was only one known as Old Jimmy who was on a claim twenty minutes north of town. His dad’s oldest mate.

  Bill’s old four-wheel-drive was a vehicle after Matt’s own heart, but it wasn’t cars he was thinking about right now. The twenty-minute drive seemed interminable.

  When he finally stepped out into the heat and the flies, the first person he saw was his dad walking towards him, arms outstretched in greeting.

  “Mattias.” He used Matt’s given name, and pulled his son close before holding him back and looking up into his eyes. “What are you doing here?”

  “I was in Coober Pedy, running a training programme. I was hoping to surprise you with a quick visit before we flew back.” He looked about the desolate location, red barren earth strewn with piles of old mullock, lumps of whitish clay Old Jimmy would have removed when digging the mineshaft by bucket and hand-shovel. “But not under these circumstances. What can you tell me? How long’s Old Jimmy been down there?”

  His dad shrugged. “I’ve been here for over an hour, so at least that long. It was just bloody lucky he asked me to come out here today or we wouldn’t have known about this until who knows when.”

  Matt shoved his hands in his pockets as he digested the situation. He knew the story all too well. These old-timers were paranoid about their claims and keeping secret what they were doing. Old Jimmy only ever worked alone.

  Matt looked about him, taking in the scene. No one other than his dad and a few other old miners, together with himself and Bill, currently on the radio back to town, were here. “Where is everyone?”

  “The emergency response team is out at the open-cut mine on a training exercise and there’s a carnival over in Port Newland so the young blokes have all headed there.”

  “Damn.” In the absence of the response team, the younger miners would normally be champing at the bit to go down and rescue one of their own. Until they grew out of it, if ever, the blokes who carved their living from the earth would be on site as soon as word spread around, eager to flex their muscles and showcase their bravery. They’d be fighting over the chance to be first down the mine and add a few tales of their courage to their fund of well-embellished stories. But it wasn’t to be, not today.

  They walked to the entrance of the mine Old Jimmy was currently working, stepping around the lumps of mullock. The shaft was primitive, dug by hand with back-breaking tedium. A wooden ladder was bolted to the side of the narrow shaft, disappearing into its depths.

  Old Jimmy was trapped down there, with no light source other than what he’d have taken down with him, probably just a head-lamp, and no means of communicating with anyone up here in the breathable air. Two-way radios, phones—nothing worked down in the mines. If he was even conscious and able to talk. Or even alive.

  “What else do you know?”

  “I came out here after lunch. Jimmy called yesterday, thought he was onto something big, said he’d know by this arvo and to drop by. I waited, he didn’t come up, so I tri
ed to get down to him and saw the collapse.” He patted his girth, nicely rounded after years of Matt’s mother’s good cooking. Lately, he hadn’t been mining himself so he wasn’t working it off like he once had. “I couldn’t get around the blockage, the passage is too small now. And to be honest, I didn’t want to try. I moved some debris but the whole thing looked like it was going to cave in.”

  Bill joined them, slipping his phone back onto his belt. “The ERT are on the way but they’ll be half an hour or more.”

  “Hell!” Matt looked around him as though he might be able to see an alternative rescue team nearby. “We might not have that long. We don’t even really know how long he’s been down there.” He stalked over to the car and pulled out his kit, returning to his father’s side as he continued talking, shutting out thoughts about procedure and safety protocols that were fighting against his need to take action. “I’m going down to have a look.”

  “You can’t. You have to wait for the emergency services.”

  Matt snorted. “I can’t stand around and do nothing. A man’s life may be at stake.” He was searching through his kit, choosing items and placing them in a strong plastic bag that could be slung around his shoulders, discarding others back into the medical kit. “I’ve spent as much time in the mines as any of the blokes in the rescue team, probably more.”

  His dad started to protest but Matt silenced him. “I won’t do anything rash, but you know as well as I do he might be dying down there. If I can’t get him out, there’ll be something I can do, even if it’s to get access to put an IV line in. If he’s injured, that might be enough to keep him going until we can get the equipment here to dig him out.”

  “Then let’s hope you’re so darn skinny for a reason and you can make it through.” He handed over his helmet, fitted with a lamp. “Just promise me you won’t take any stupid risks or your mother will have my head.”

  Matt kitted up and flicked the switch at the back of the helmet, turning on the light. He flung his makeshift bag across his shoulders and strode to the entrance to the mineshaft. It was years since he’d spent much time down in the shafts with his dad. The safety issues had never bothered him then, neither had claustrophobia, but as he turned at the entrance, ready to begin his descent, another surge of adrenalin hit him and Steffi’s face flashed before his eyes. The reason he’d really wanted to see his parents today. Another reason not to go down. But he’d go crazy waiting around up top not doing anything.