"I know," I said. "But while you had your happy family, I had to sit on the sidelines and watch." I shook my head. "I thought I'd be okay with it, but the reporters never let up. They kept shoving pictures of you in my face, pictures of you and Eva with your arms around each other, telling the media you'd reconciled in every way. I wanted to forget you, but then each night you'd come to me in my dreams."
I clutched my arms around myself, weeping like a fool. This time, when Adam put his arms around me, I did not step back, but let him hold me while I blubbered all over his shirt.
"Do you think you're the only person who dreamt of what should be?" Adam said. "Every single night, after I lied to the press and told them Eva and I had reconciled, I would lie down in my bed and it would be you who came to me in my dreams! You … on a big golden horse … and we'd ride out onto my parent's cattle station and make love by the river." His voice rose with anguish. "But then I'd wake up and be caught back in the nightmare!"
I shivered even though it was near 38 degrees. That was the exact same dream that I always had. It was the reason I'd been forced to run so far. How do you stop loving a man when your own dreams betray you every night?
"I couldn't touch her," Adam whispered. "I tried. We tried to work it out in marriage counseling. But I just couldn't do it. Every time she came near me, I had to force myself not to recoil."
"You … and she … never…" I stiffened.
Adam hugged me closer.
"I will never lie to you," Adam sighed. "She was my wife, and we both swore under oath we'd fully reconciled. All I can say is we tried and it failed."
I tried to pull away but he wouldn't let me. Instead he lifted my chin.
"You and me have something special between us, Rosie. Something which defies time or space or reason. I love you. And I've come to take you home."
I turned my face away, for if I looked at him, I knew my composure would break.
"You're a married man, Adam. If I go with you, it will cause you to lose the person you value most."
Adam shook his head.
"I'm free," Adam said. "My divorce became final three months ago. I started searching for you the moment Eva and I agreed it wasn't going to work, but you'd disappeared so thoroughly I was unable to find you until today."
I looked up at him, unsure whether to believe him.
"Where is Pippa?"
"Things are as they were before," Adam said. "I have primary custody at the station, and her mother visits every other weekend. The only change is Eva has to share her visits with the king. That and, oh … the king has sent a governess to take care of her … an older woman who will travel with her wherever she goes. For stability. And she goes to Saint Joseph's now."
"Wha… How?"
"Your mother," Adam said.
"My mother?" I asked. "What did she do?"
Adam smiled.
"She is the most ruthlessly pragmatic woman I have ever met. She gained an audience with the king and convinced him, after telling him a story about a girl whose horse had been put to sleep, that if he and Eva's father continued their war, the both of them would end up with a kid who would never speak to either one of them again. And then she met with Eva's father and put the fear of God into him, as well. She mediated the deal between the two. The king gets to see his granddaughter, and Eva's father gets to drill a few new oil wells in Zurikhistan soil."
"And what about Eva?" I asked.
"We parted friends," Adam said. "The judge ordered her into therapy. She let me go once she accepted I was no longer hers." Adam grimaced. "Talk about daddy issues. Your mother isn't the only one who did a number on their daughter."
"And what about Pippa? What does she think of all this?"
"Pippa has been getting to know her new grandfather," Adam said. He shrugged. "You know how kids are. Every little girl dreams of waking up one day and finding out she's a princess. In Australia, I am legally Pippa's father. In Zurikhistan, I am named Regent via proclamation of the king. They had to do it that way so Pippa wouldn't lose her claim to the throne."
Regent … to a princess? My Gitano grandmother had prophesized that someday I would marry a man who carried a crown.
"What if Pippa doesn't want the throne?" I asked. "She doesn't even speak their language."
"She's eleven years old," Adam said. "We don't know what she'll want when she becomes old enough to make that decision. It's not my right to make it for her. Only to make sure she has the skills she needs to become a happy, well-adjusted adult."
Thunderlane brushed up against my legs and wagged his tail like a little kid who went 'huh? huh? huh?' when he wanted you to say 'yes.'
I glanced over to where Billy had finally disappeared.
"What about my new life here?" I asked. "Jason McAllister's been good to me. It wouldn't be fair to just ditch him and my students."
"The King of Zurikhistan is extremely anxious to meet the young woman who inspired her mother to stand in front of his palace for eleven weeks, holding a sign until he agreed to speak to her."
"Eleven weeks?"
"She really wants to earn your forgiveness," Adam said.
"That still doesn't address the problem of my students."
"That is his jet I flew in on," Adam said, "and his goodies he brought to bribe Jason McAllister to let me land here and speak to you today. Jason wants a teacher who will take a liking to his son. King Azhanibek promised he will send a dozen young female teachers, all fluent in English, at his own expense, as well as a contract to provide exported beef for Zurikhistanian tables, so long as I can entice you to come home with me today."
I knew what he was asking of me, but he hadn't said the words. Before I said 'yes,' I wanted to be clear what I was agreeing to.
"I'm a teacher now," I said. "I'm too highly trained to be somebody's backup governess."
Adam wore that perplexed look he'd often worn whenever Eva had played games with him, and then it cleared as he realized what he'd forgotten to say.
"Rosie," Adam said softly. "I'm asking you to become my wife."
I reached up and touched his mouth, the lips I had dreamt of kissing for more than a year. Adam's mouth descended upon mine. It was a careful kiss, gentle and controlled. But then I kissed him back, and that was when I found out the passionate man who made love to me each night in my dreams was the same man who now held me in the flesh.
My hat fell off and hit the ground. Adam pulled me closer. With a hungry growl, he forced my lips open with his tongue. My knees grew weak as he tasted the inside of my mouth and I could detect peppermint and the lingering bite of whisky. A pleasant yearning ignited in my belly and tingled out to my extremities, thirsting to be closer to him.
I slipped my fingers into his hair and pulled his ear against my lips.
"Yes," I whispered. "Yes. I will marry you."
Adam's kiss grew more urgent, more animalistic as he backed me up to the fence and pressed my back against the rails, his hands cupping my buttocks as he pulled my soft curves against the hard length of his torso. I felt his reaction press against my belly, only this time, Adam did not hold back. He pulled me closer until we fit together, only the thin barrier of our jeans preventing him from taking me right there in the paddock. He was now a free man, and this time he wasn't about to wait.
I slid my hands down to grab his hips.
"Adam." My voice sounded husky to my own ears. "I share a bunkhouse with fifteen other jills."
Adam tangled his fingers in my hair and tugged out the chignon I'd used to loosely tie my dark hair off my neck.
"Ever since I first saw you," Adam said, "I have dreamed of the day I could see your hair spread out beneath me on my pillow."
"And when will that be?" I teased him.
Adam nipped my lower lip.
"As soon as I can get you and Luna loaded into that plane."
Chapter 58
The wind of heaven
Is that which blows between a horse's ears
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.
Six months later…
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I rode the line between the fields of hemp and livestock, noting all the places where the fences needed to be strengthened, fencing designed for a cow and not the horses which now called the Condamine River Ranch their home.
"Here," I patted Harvey. "A horse could step in this hole and break a leg. I will ask Jeffrey to come and fill it in the morning."
My ghost-horse led me through my latest rescues. In this world, I could see which ones were likely to make it, and which ones I had rescued too late to save. Either way, it was a more peaceful end than the slaughter they'd been sent to. I rescued as many as I could, but I couldn't save them all. Not even Adam's salary and the generosity of Luna's friends on Facebook was enough to save every horse which needed rescue.
"Oh, Cabello," I patted an emaciated gelding I'd brought back from the Lockyer horse sales only last week. "Keep fighting, boy. Your fate could turn either way."
I got back on my horse and this time Harvey carried me back to the house. Luna stood guard there, for she appeared to be a pony of both worlds, just outside of Pippa's window even though in the waking world she slept peacefully in the barn.
"Goodnight, old friend," I kissed Harvey's forelock. "I will see you again tomorrow night?"
I opened my eyes and snuggled closer to Adam. It was just before the dawn, that time of day when the first kiss of grey brightens the inky blue sky and the morning star sits shining on the eastern horizon. I kissed his chest where the double wedding ring quilt had slipped down to lay it bare and twirled the tiny hairs which ran down from his naval to that happy place which often awoke before he did.
"Rosie," Adam murmured.
I caressed his nipple which had grown erect from the cool air and placed my hand over his heart, listening to the soft rush of blood moving through his brachial artery where I rested my ear. Adam rolled towards me and splayed his hand protectively over the growing bump in my abdomen, our child, his child. This time there would be no deceptions.
It was early still, and Adam had come home late last night from his trip out to the Surat Basin, read to Pippa, and then herded me, blushing, past his brother into our bedroom to have his way with me until we'd both fallen asleep in a satiated afterglow. He usually woke up when the first rays of sunlight slipped across the horizon. Until then, I was content to bask in the warmth of his love.
A soft clopping of hooves across the courtyard caused me to sit up and listen. There were plenty of horses on this station now, but none should have access to the place where we parked our cars. I peeked out the window and saw a white shadow walk past outside. Oh. I was still asleep. I kissed Adam on the lips.
"I have a dream to finish, sweetheart," I told him. "I'll be back as soon as it's done."
I slipped on my sheepskin slippers and pulled on my bathrobe to see what Luna was up to. Her white haunches disappeared into the darkness, but down by the river the will-o-whisps burned brighter than I had ever seen.
I clenched my bathrobe more tightly around myself, for now it was winter, and though the weather never got cold enough to freeze, my breath puffed out in front of me in cool, cloudlike bursts. There was a strange corporealness to the dream as I walked the path I walked each night to meet Adam when he was away, to the place where he'd thrown me over his shoulder and hauled me into the water and almost kissed me. He told me after we'd been married that on that day he'd realized he possessed feelings for me and had wished, with every ounce of his being as he'd pulled away, that someday soon he would have the freedom to be with me at the same moment that I had wished for the exact same thing. For some reason the river had taken that wish and blessed it, for whenever he was away, we met on that warm, summer shore and made love to each other on the beach.
The will-o-wisps did not recede, but each burned in a colorful glow, some of them yellow, some of them white, a few of them purple, and many burned blue. Up close I could see they were tall, slender stick-figures made of fire which resembled dancing men. All around the Mimi spirits, fireflies danced, attracted to their light, and unlike the usual silence, tonight the peepers and crickets and night-owl sang so loud it reminded me of a symphony.
I dared not touch them, for the First Australians said they were fragile things, and if a man were to touch them they could cause the Mimis harm. That part of me which was married to a geologist understood the Mimis were connected to the coal seam gasses which escaped out of the ground beneath the Condamine River, but another part, the part of me that was gypsy, understood the Mimis were something more.
"Luna," I called into the night. "Luna. Where are you sweetheart? What do you want to show me?"
I heard a soft whicker from the river and for a moment I felt a sense of panic, for with the river this high, it was possible for a small horse like Luna to be swept away. Then I remembered this was only a dream. I stepped towards the shore and called for her into the dark.
"Luna," I called. "Come home, silly girl. Mummy worries when her little girl runs away, because whatever happens in this world, always happens afterwards in the real one."
A soft, golden glow grew brighter from the center of the river. As it moved towards the shore, it rose out of the water until I recognized it as Luna with somebody riding on her back. At first I thought Adam's mother had returned, for occasionally she still rode this land in the dream-world which superimposed itself upon this station alongside the river, but then I realized it was a tall, slender woman with white-blonde hair and golden eyes who reminded me a little bit of Pippa.
"Hello?" I said. "I see Luna has found a new friend?"
The woman smiled and whispered something in Luna's ear. Luna tilted her furry ear forward and shook her head in an exaggerated equine nod. All the Mimis moved towards the fairy queen and danced joyously around her. Her gossamer wings rose from her back as they dried.
She touched Luna's forehead where the scar still marred it. A great wound opened up; but then a long, slender spiral grew out of it and solidified into a golden tusk.
Luna nuzzled my belly where Adam's child grew … boy or girl … this baby would be loved. I touched her horn and laughed as I realized Luna was sopping wet.
"I guess Pippa was right," I said. "You really are a unicorn."
The fairy queen smiled and gestured to the Mimi's. They swirled around her, singing a joyous song, and then she stepped back into the river and sank beneath the surface. The fireflies danced higher and then set out in different directions to bring their tiny sparks of light to all the people that needed hope. The tall, slender Mimis sank back into their rocks and disappeared, leaving Luna and me standing in the early pre-dawn light.
Luna's horn was gone, but the scar which marred her forehead had completely healed so that all that remained was a star-like cowlick in the spot her horn remained hidden from the waking world. I glanced down at Adam's bracelet, on one side a unicorn, and on the other side a fairy, both of them facing a shark-tooth that looked remarkably like a crown. Adam was right. The bracelet had been made for me by an Aboriginal woman in a dream walk, for to the First Australians, your dreams are a form of wealth.
"Come girl," I told Luna. "Come back to the barn before you catch a colic."
I put Luna into her stall, dried her off and covered her with her warmest blanket, and then I went into the house, checked on Pippa, slipped off my slippers and snuggled back up to the warmth of Adam's long, lean frame. I slid my hand down that happy trail of golden-brown hair to the place where his 'happy self' had woken up before him, eager to resume the bonding of last night.
"Mmmm, honey," Adam mumbled. "Why are your feet so cold?"
"It was only a dream," I said. "Everything will be just fine."
He splayed his hand across our baby and whispered that he loved me, and then we fell back to sleep, just two people living in a dream.
.
-Dulcis Somniabunt-
(Sweet Dreams)
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A Note from Anna:
Thank you for reading The Auction. Find out what happens next at the Condamine River Ranch when Adam's twin brother, Jeffrey, has difficulty adjusting to life back on a cattle station after a year held captive as a Taliban prisoner-of-war. But a rescued former racehorse, and a special woman, help Jeffrey learn to cope with his PTSD. Join my READER GROUP to receive word when Book 2 of the Song of the River series gets released, and as my special thank-you, I will send you two free ebooks.
Join HERE: http://eepurl.com/bg-H4X
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Last but not least, you can find visual representations of Adam, Rosie and Pippa; Rosie's dress, the hideous orange sofa, Thunderlane, and Mrs. Hasting's bats at my special Pinterest board.
About the real-life Luna
While the people and places in this story are fictitious, all of the horses and their individual stories are inspired by real-life horses. When an Australian friend became involved as a witness against an owner who turned their horses out into the Outback to starve, I learned authorities are reluctant to intervene because the owner often retaliates by sending the horses to a slaughterhouse.
Not only is this a problem in Australia, but worldwide over 200,000 horses each year are auctioned off and shipped for slaughter under horrific conditions. I set the story in Australia because that is where I first learned of the problem, but this is a global meat market, a hidden dirty secret that nobody wants to talk about because it's too gruesome and heartbreaking to even think about.
But YOU can make a difference to end this barbaric practice. Boycott horse meat. When you find a restaurant who serves horsemeat on the menu, tell them you think it is barbaric and you are considering never eating there again. Write to your local elected officials. And lastly, if you have the money, find a local equine advocacy agency and support them so they can rescue horses.
And as for the real-life Luna … she really did spend three days on a mattress with her Mummy curled up next to her to keep her alive, and she really does only like the grassy hay. The little palomino mare found a new home. The Clydesdale, the pens full of healthy, young Thoroughbreds, the golden stallion with his filly, the tired old gelding whose owner unwittingly paid meat dealers to give her horse a good home, and the pony with strangles are all real horses, including Rosie's description of what happened to Harvey which was caught on video and investigated, but never prosecuted.
The Auction a Romance by Anna Erishkigal Page 53
