Heart Of The Outback, Volume 2

by Margaret Way

  “I’ve been stung, get Matt, hurry, allergic.” Steffi struggled to speak the last few words. Her lips were already swelling and her throat thickening as the histamines spread through her.

  She heard Mrs Zeller direct Jess to fetch Matt and say she’d call the ambulance, but that was all background noise to the fear that was pounding in her brain. She’d had rapid swelling when she’d only been stung on the foot, so stings to the face put her in real danger. Her heart racing, she slid down the hallway wall until her lower back was leaning against the skirting-board and focused her concentration on breathing.

  It must have only been a minute or two before Matt reached her, but by then her eyes had been forced shut by the swelling. She could hear him but could see nothing.

  “It’s all right, Steffi, I’m here now. I’ve got adrenalin in my bag, I’ll give you an injection.”

  She heard him rummage in his bag, talking all the while. “Jess is out the back with Mum. OK, here’s the needle. That’s it. Mum’s called the ambulance but you’ll feel better before they get here.” Steffi could already feel her heart rate slowing but her swollen lips were still making speech impossible. “I’m taking your blood pressure and pulse now.”

  It was amazing how the fear started to recede as soon as she felt Matt’s fingers on her arm. Her thoughts were fuzzy but she was conscious of a sadness that she hadn’t been able to give that feeling of safety, trust, back to him.

  “Pulse 110. BP 100 over 60. A bit low—is that normal for you?”

  Steffi shook her head. It was normally 120 over 70 but she couldn’t tell him that.

  “I’ll keep checking it. You tell me when it hits normal.” Matt continued to record her blood pressure as it continued to rise slowly so that by the time the ambulance arrived it was close to normal.

  “Connor’s here now.” Steffi heard Matt talking with the paramedic, although they seemed a long way away.

  “She’s had an anaphylactic reaction, now under control. I’ve administered adrenalin and her heart rate and BP are approaching normal.”

  “Put her on oxygen?”

  “Yes, and admit her overnight for observation.”

  “Righto. Let’s get moving. We’ll pop you on the stretcher, Steffi. Just relax.”

  Then Matt’s voice again, closer now, just as Steffi felt herself being slid across onto the cool sheets of the stretcher. “Mum and I’ll bring Jess with us and we’ll call your parents on the way.”

  “You gave us all quite a scare.” Matt wheeled himself into her hospital room just after breakfast next morning. “How are you feeling?”

  She raised a hand to her face, looking self-conscious. The swelling had receded, although there were still some red blotches on her skin.

  “You look beautiful.”

  Gingerly, she touched her cheek. “I doubt it, but thank you anyway.” Matt was the last person she’d expected to see here. And the first one she’d have wanted to visit her.

  He manoeuvred himself over to her bed. “We could so easily have lost you. You need to carry an epi-pen or an inhaler. You can’t risk something like that happening again.”

  “I’ve got an inhaler in my handbag but I wasn’t thinking clearly, it all happened so fast. You saved my life. Thank you seems so inadequate but—thank you.”

  He took in her face, set off by her high brow and azure eyes. Brushed his gaze over her lips, the top one almost as wide and full as the bottom—her features overall perhaps too strong in such a small face but somehow they worked, and, to him, she was beautiful. “I’ll never let anything happen to you.”

  “That’s quite a promise when you won’t let me near you.”

  He could see the wariness in her eyes and hear it in her voice, and he didn’t blame her. “I know I was stubborn.”

  “It’s not too late to remedy that. I’m here to stay if you want me.” Her voice was still cagey, as if she was only game to dip one toe into the uncharted waters of their relationship, a relationship he’d been doing his best to tear apart until now.

  He took her hand in his. “I thought I had nothing to offer you.”

  “I’ve told you, all I want is your love.”

  He grinned at her but he didn’t answer, didn’t want to just yet. Instead, he stood and took a single step to her side and sat on the edge of her bed. She sat straight up, her mouth falling open, and he saw the amazement in her eyes at what he’d just done.

  “Matt, you can stand!”

  His grin widened. “And walk. After a fashion.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I didn’t know until yesterday.”

  “Don’t keep me in suspense, Matt, tell me.”

  “When you were stung, there wasn’t time to waste. I had to get to my bag for the adrenalin.” He waved a hand in the direction of his wheelchair. “That’s too cumbersome. It got me down the hallway but when I saw you on the floor, it was an automatic response to get out of it. Not that I knew I was doing it. Jess noticed. I suppose it was a reflex action, a subconscious thought, much like me thinking I couldn’t walk.”

  “Why didn’t you walk in here today?”

  “My legs are still weak, too much lying around, and I can’t walk too far yet. And then there was the surprise element. I couldn’t let that slip past.”

  “I’ll give you that. You nailed the surprise element.” She sank back against the pillows. He could see she was tired and while there was delight in her face, she was still holding herself a little aloof from him, not at all surprising when the offer of her love was still hanging unacknowledged between them.

  “Up for another surprise?”

  “That’s not enough for one day?”

  “I’m hoping you’ll like this one just as much.”

  He was grinning as he pulled a white packet from his pocket and held it out to her. “Open it.”

  She did.

  “Oh.” Her disappointment was plain to see but she was doing her best to mask it. “An epi-pen.”

  “Much better than an inhaler when your allergy is so severe, and I gathered yesterday you didn’t have one.”

  She nodded.

  “And there’s something else.”

  Was that a flash of hope in her eyes?

  “Bear with me, it might take a while.”

  “Go on.”

  He reached out across the sheets and took her hand in his, stroking the backs of her fingers with his. “I’ve been a stubborn, grumpy fool, thinking I can get through everything on my own, not wanting to be a burden to you. I thought I was protecting you by not letting you near, but when I came so close to losing you I realised how you must have felt when I had my accident.”

  He took a breath, marshalling his thoughts. He was usually measured with his words but now he had quite a speech to get through and he needed to get it right. “I didn’t understand how you could love me, I didn’t see why you would. I’ve never felt like I’ve really belonged anywhere, but when I’m with you I feel like I’ve come home. And if you feel remotely like I do then we have enough love between us to get through anything.”

  He leant in towards her, pressing her hand against his chest and covering it with his own. “I know I’ve taken my time and messed things up pretty badly, but I’m hoping I’m not too late to tell you that I love you and nothing would make me happier than to marry you.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “What kind of answer is that? I promise we’ll have a beautiful life together, the three of us. Maybe we’ll even have a tribe of siblings for Jess. What do you say?”

  Her eyes were shining. “When can I get out of here?”

  “One more thing then we’ll go home.”

  He pulled another small bag from his pocket and tipped it up, emptying something into his hand. Uncurling his fingers, flashes of fiery colour sparkled from his palm. He picked up a smooth oval stone between his thumb and forefinger, holding it up to the light. Brilliant colour spilled out, rich emerald, sapphire and ruby, a
ll intermingled.

  “This opal was cut from the first one I ever found. I’ve never found a better one. I’d like to have it made into an engagement ring for you.” He handed her the stone and she cradled it in her palm, looking from the gem back to him and back to the gem again.

  “That’s the loveliest gift anyone has ever thought to give me. It even tops the epi-pen.” He joined her laughter. “I’d be honoured to wear it.”

  Again he tipped the packet and this time a much smaller but no less brilliant stone slid out. “This comes from the same rock. I thought we’d have it set in a pendant for Jess, so she knows what an important part of this she is.”

  “That’s a beautiful idea, she’ll be thrilled. Thank you.” Her smile told him everything his gesture meant to her. “You know, you’re going to make a wonderful father to the hordes of children we’ll have together.”

  “About that …”

  “Yes?”

  “I can’t say I’m in a hurry to get back down those mines to find another opal, so how about we have a boy first?” “You think he’ll be happy with a toy car or something easy like that?”

  “A man can hope.”

  “And so.” she threw back the sheets and shifted next to him so he could envelop her in his arms “.it seems, can a woman.”

  Matt dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “Happy?”

  “Blissful.”

  “In that case, get ready to be happy for the rest of your life.” He stood momentarily and pressed the nurse’s call-bell behind the bed. “Let’s get you out of here. Eternity won’t be long enough to show you what you mean to me, so we need to get home and make a start right now.”

  “Home. Right now. Wonderful words.”

  “I know some that are even better.” He tucked her hair behind her ear and brought his mouth close to whisper, “I love you with all my heart, Steffi Harrison-soon-to-be-Zeller.”

  Steffi placed her hand against the line of his jaw and turned his mouth to hers for a kiss that left her in no doubt of his love.

  And when the nurse on duty responded to the call-bell, neither noticed as she came into the room. And neither noticed when she left just as quietly. Their life together had started and they both knew it would be everything they’d ever hoped for. And more.

  ***