‘You’re not scared, are you?’ she asked as she parked in front of a large shed with Big Basket Ballooning painted across it in bold, bright letters. Spotlights shone from either side onto the name so you could read it in the dark.
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ he said. ‘I just think it’s a bit weird hanging out with the people you donated your eggs to.’
‘I don’t see why. They’re nice people. And haven’t we been meaning to get away for a weekend forever?’
The expression on Samuel’s face suggested he wasn’t sure a ride in a hot air balloon counted.
‘We’ll only be with them for a couple of hours this morning,’ she said. ‘After breakfast we’ll hit the wineries and tonight we can enjoy a quiet dinner back at the hotel.’ She thought the lure of good wine would put a smile on his face and it did.
‘All right then. Let’s do this.’ And with that, Samuel leant into the back seat and retrieved the caps and jackets she’d packed.
Letting out a puff of breath that he hadn’t kicked up a fuss, Harper climbed out of the car.
‘How many other people are doing this?’ Samuel said, glancing at the cars pulling up alongside theirs.
She shrugged. ‘No idea, but Jasper told me they’re pretty much fully booked all year round.’
He shook his head slightly as if he couldn’t quite comprehend the popularity and together they headed towards the building.
There was already a crowd of excited people inside, but Claire and Jasper sought them out almost immediately.
‘Harper!’ Claire let go of Jasper’s hand and threw her arms around her.
In contrast to the intense period of frequent contact leading up to the procedure, over the last couple of months they’d merely exchanged a couple of text messages. As she returned Claire’s hug, Harper realised she’d actually missed her. She pulled back and took a good look.
‘You look fabulous,’ she exclaimed. Although Claire wasn’t showing yet, she definitely looked pregnant. Her skin positively glowed and her smile was—if possible—even wider than Harper remembered.
‘Thank you. I feel fabulous,’ Claire said as Jasper jokingly nudged her out of the way.
‘My turn. It’s great to see you, Harps.’ He kissed her on the cheek and then turned to Samuel standing beside her. ‘And you must be Samuel. I’m Jasper and this is Claire. Great to finally meet you.’
He held out his hand and Samuel shook it, glancing around at the photos and memorabilia as he replied. ‘Interesting business you’ve got here.’
Jasper laughed, thankfully not sounding at all offended by Samuel’s condescending tone. ‘It keeps us busy. Did you guys have a good drive up last night?’
Samuel nodded and the boys embarked on a little small talk about city driving versus country and the boutique hotel they were staying at.
Meanwhile, Claire spoke to Harper. ‘We’ve just started telling our friends and family, so Jasper’s parents want to come over and meet you. Do you mind?’ Claire’s hand drifted protectively to her stomach, but the gesture didn’t annoy Harper in the way it sometimes did on other women. Instead she felt a lovely warmth inside at the knowledge she’d helped this woman achieve a dream.
‘Of course not,’ she replied. ‘I can’t wait to meet them.’
‘You’re lucky my parents aren’t here as well, or you’d be at risk of being hugged to death,’ Claire added. ‘My parents are ecstatic about the prospect of another grandchild—especially my mum. We only just told them about the baby and she’s already maxed out their credit cards buying stuff.’
Harper laughed as Jasper clapped his hands together.
‘Right,’ he said. ‘Let’s go say a quick hi before we head off to the launch site. It’ll be good to get out of here before Dad goes through the safety spiel with these guys, but I’ll fill you two in on our way.’
‘We’re not going with them?’ Samuel asked, nodding towards the gathered crowd.
Claire shook her head. ‘Jasper and I are treating you two to a private romantic flight—well, as romantic as it can be with Jasper chaperoning.’
They laughed and then Jasper grabbed hold of Claire’s hand again. Harper and Samuel followed them over to a middle-aged woman holding a clipboard and ticking off names. She paused in the task and stepped away from their paying passengers, her eyes lighting up as she laid them on Harper.
‘Harper and Samuel, I’d like you to meet my mum, Wendy.’ Jasper didn’t say anything more than this, but the smile on the older woman’s face said she knew exactly who they were.
‘Oh, it’s so lovely to meet you both. I hope you’ll enjoy your hot air balloon ride.’
‘We’re very much looking forward to it,’ Harper said, as a tall man stepped up beside Wendy and put an arm around her shoulder.
Jasper introduced his father Paul, but there wasn’t time for small talk as Paul and Wendy had to get back to their passengers. Then, still holding Claire’s hand, he led Harper and Samuel outside and into the adjoining shed. Harper tried to remember the last time they’d held hands in public. Had they ever? But the way Jasper and Claire frequently touched each other warmed her heart and reinforced her feelings that she’d chosen the right couple to give her gift to.
After a quick visit to the rest rooms, they piled into a four-wheel drive with a trailer that carried the balloon and the wicker basket. As they drove out of the balloon base and down dirt roads to their launch site, Samuel asked Claire and Jasper about the mechanisms of ballooning. Harper smiled as she listened to the answers, happy that he seemed to be enjoying himself.
‘How do you choose where to take off and when to land?’
‘It’s all down to the weather,’ Claire explained. ‘We watch the weather and monitor the winds before a flight. Jasper went out earlier this morning and let out a few testing balloons. It’s perfect ballooning weather today.’
‘We can never guarantee exactly where we’ll land,’ Jasper added, glancing into the rear-view mirror, ‘but we can guesstimate and Claire will chase us on the ground anyway.’
‘So you land pretty much anywhere?’ Samuel asked. Harper could practically see his brain contemplating the legal ramifications.
Claire and Jasper laughed.
‘Yes and no,’ she said.
‘Most of the landowners around here know us and we have their permission to land as long as we respect their crops, stock and vines. Balloonists occasionally have an unscheduled landing, but most folks don’t have a problem with it,’ Jasper elaborated.
‘Especially if we offer them a free ride from time to time,’ added Claire with a smile.
After a discussion of ballooning safety—which seemed mostly common sense—and more questions from Samuel about the exotic places their hosts had flown, they arrived at their destination.
Claire got out of the four-wheel drive and opened the gate to what looked like a paddock in someone’s farm. It was still dark, so Jasper kept the headlights on while he got out and unhooked the trailer, then he turned the vehicle around so they illuminated the trailer.
‘Give us a hand unloading the basket, will you mate?’ Jasper asked, looking to Samuel.
For a moment Samuel looked a little flummoxed—Harper had forgotten to mention that part of the ballooning experience was helping set up and pack up at the other end.
After the men had finished unloading the trailer, Harper decided she couldn’t just stand around like a spare part. She wanted to experience the whole shebang, so she and Samuel followed Jasper’s instructions, helping him get the basket on its side and rolling the balloon envelope out in front of it.
‘It’s a lot bigger than I imagined,’ Samuel noted, his tone full of wonder.
She smiled and nodded her agreement, happy that her husband seemed to be getting caught up in the excitement. Hopefully meeting Jasper and Claire and seeing what wonderful people they were would make Samuel think more favourably about what she’d done for them.
Once the balloon was laid out on the ground, the
y set up two big fans in front of the basket and Jasper instructed her and Samuel to hold one side of the balloon up a little as he began to propel air into it. Even though this wasn’t physically hard work, he refused to let Claire in on the action, so she stood on the side commenting.
‘We fill the balloon mostly with cool air to start with and then once it’s about three-quarters blown up, we start with the hot air.’
By the time they got to that part, the sun was slowly rising over the horizon and the local wildlife were waking up, with bird calls just audible over the noise of the generator.
Claire took out her phone and snapped a few shots of Harper and Samuel in action.
‘Thanks,’ Harper said. She didn’t want to get her phone out and interrupt the magic of this experience, but it would be nice to have the memories later.
Finally, after about half an hour of cold and occasionally hot air being pumped into the balloon, Jasper announced it was time to get it off the ground. Harper and Samuel helped him turn the basket off its side. Although it was now upright, ropes pegged to the dirt kept it grounded.
Harper gazed up at the massive balloon, transfixed.
‘Now comes the fun part,’ Claire said as Jasper climbed into the basket and then delivered another burst of hot air skyward. ‘Harper, you climb in first. Samuel, wait till she’s in position and then you go.’
They did as instructed, and Claire began unhooking the ropes. Harper’s pulse began to race. Usually she just listened to other people describe their adventures, so getting to experience one first-hand was magic. She could only imagine the excitement of the very first balloonists.
‘Careful, Claire,’ Jasper instructed, his tone anxious.
‘Stop being a stress head,’ she replied.
He shrugged. ‘Sorry, can’t help it.’
Claire had confided to Harper earlier that ever since the positive pregnancy test, Jasper had been treating her as if she were made of china. Apparently he felt a little anxious that they’d had such a smooth run, but Claire believed it only proved this baby was meant to be, and Harper agreed.
‘I’m pregnant, not an invalid,’ Claire said. ‘I’ve done this a million times before. Just focus on our guests, please.’
Jasper laughed and looked to Samuel. ‘Do you get bossed around like this too?’
Although Samuel chuckled and nodded in agreement, Harper knew he only did so to be polite. They never bossed each other around—not even in jest. Samuel didn’t have much of a sense of humour but she’d fallen in love with his other attributes. After the sexual attraction that had sparked their relationship—and still blazed between them—she’d fallen in love with his intelligence, his ambition and of course the fact that he was on the same page as her regarding having a family.
‘All done. Have fun. I’ll see you soon.’ Claire stepped back and waved as Jasper directed another shot of hot air up into the balloon and it lifted a few feet off the ground.
Harper waved down at Claire as they slowly floated upwards. For a little while, none of them said anything—Jasper did his thing, letting them watch in awe as the beautiful Hunter Valley passed beneath them, the rising of the sun painting a spectacular backdrop.
As she gazed down, Harper tried to recall ever doing anything quite so relaxing before. She hadn’t known what it would be like and had even wondered if she’d be scared being so high up in the sky, but it was impossible to be scared when she felt so full of wonder and awe. Something flipped inside her when she glanced across to Samuel and he grinned back at her. A happy contentment that she hadn’t felt in a while bubbled within her. Part of it was to do with what she’d done for Jasper and Claire, but now she realised that another part was down to being up here, experiencing something so special with her husband. They smiled at each other for a few long moments and she made a silent vow to try and spend more time together.
In the busyness of their lives she’d forgotten how much they enjoyed each other’s company. Sure they loved their jobs—their careers were important—but what was the point of being married if they didn’t love each other more?
The sound of dogs beneath them jolted Harper’s eyes from Samuel. Once again she looked down to the land below. She laughed as they crossed over a town and dogs ran crazily around backyards barking up at the sky.
‘Bet the people in those houses get annoyed by you flying overhead,’ she commented. ‘You’d think the dogs would be used to balloons flying overhead by now.’
Jasper chuckled. ‘I think dogs have short memories, but we also don’t travel the same flight path every day, so we annoy different dogs.’
‘How high up are we?’ Samuel asked, still peering down over the edge of the basket.
‘Right now? About two-and-a-half thousand feet, but it varies—we go anywhere from fourteen hundred to five thousand feet depending on the weather.’
‘And do you always fly at sunrise?’
‘Pretty much. Although we do the occasional sunset flight. The winds are calmer at these times. As the sun warms the earth, thermals occur and the winds increase, which can make landing more difficult.’
While Jasper and Samuel chatted about the instruments used to monitor ascending and descending, Harper simply enjoyed the feeling of doing something so outside their normal lives. She still wanted to get Jasper and/or his dad on her show, but she couldn’t imagine how he could possibly convey to her listeners the actual experience of flying a hot air balloon. Until she was up in the air, she’d had no idea it would be like this. Although she knew they were moving, it actually felt like the earth was scrolling by beneath them and they were motionless. It was magic and she could stay up here forever.
Unfortunately, not long after thinking this, Jasper pointed out Claire and the four-wheel drive waiting in a paddock a little way off. She glanced at her watch and couldn’t believe they’d been up in the air almost an hour.
They descended quickly and Jasper reminded them to bend their knees and hold onto the handles inside the basket as he brought the balloon back down to earth. It hit the ground and then bounced up and along again three more times before they finally came to rest.
‘That was amazing,’ Harper said, straightening again.
Jasper grinned. ‘That was a pretty smooth landing. Glad you guys liked it.’
‘Loved it, mate, thanks.’ Samuel clapped their host on the shoulder and grinned in a way he hadn’t in a long while. In fact, Harper couldn’t remember her husband ever wearing such a full and natural smile.
Claire pulled up in the four-wheel drive and leapt out. ‘How was it?’ she asked, excitedly.
Samuel and Harper replied in unison: ‘Bloody marvellous,’ and ‘I want to do it again. Right now.’
Claire laughed as she began to grab the ropes to secure them to the ground. ‘That’s exactly how I felt after my first flight.’ She looked to Jasper, who was anxiously watching her work. ‘We might have a couple of new recruits.’
Once the balloon was grounded again, Jasper instructed Samuel and then Harper to disembark and then he finally climbed out. Packing up didn’t take quite so long as setting up had, but it was a skilled process. They flattened the deflated balloon envelope out along the ground and then Samuel and Harper helped Jasper roll it in at the edges as he folded it up from the base. She and Samuel marvelled at Jasper’s skill in being able to fit the massive balloon back into its plastic covering.
‘I can’t even put a sleeping bag back into its casing,’ Samuel admitted, and Harper knew he was thinking of the one disastrous time they’d agreed to go camping with his massive family.
‘It’s a skill,’ Jasper said, ‘but practice definitely makes perfect.’
‘Usually after a flight we take our passengers to a gorgeous little café overlooking the river,’ said Claire once the balloon and basket were back on the trailer and they were piling into the four-wheel drive, ‘but we’d like to invite you back to our place where we won’t be distracted by the group that went up with Mum a
nd Dad this morning. Is that okay with you?’
‘That sounds lovely,’ Harper said.
‘Thank you,’ Samuel added. ‘I’m starving.’ Then he shuffled over a little in the back seat, wrapped his arm around Harper’s shoulder and kissed her cheek. She snuggled into him, surprised but happy about his rare public display of affection.
Jasper drove them back to the airfield where they collected the Audi and then followed him back to his and Claire’s place. Theirs was a relatively new house on about an acre of land and the garden looked like something out of the Chelsea Flower Show.
‘Oh my goodness,’ Harper exclaimed as they walked towards the house. ‘You weren’t kidding about Claire being a green thumb.’
Jasper smiled at his wife, pride and adoration shining from his face. ‘There’s not much Claire isn’t good at.’
‘Oh, stop.’ Claire blushed. ‘Come on inside. Samuel is hungry.’
They laughed again—Harper had lost track of the number of times the four of them had done so—and followed Claire into the house, which was as bright and cheerful as the garden outside. The walls were all white but broken up with massive floral paintings in frames and the furniture was colourful and funky. It was easy to imagine kids’ toys strewn across these floors and drawings stuck to the fridge.
Jasper and Claire led them into a country style kitchen with a table in the middle of the room and two fat orange cats sitting on top of it.
‘Gerry! Sunny!’ Claire scolded as she went across to lift them off. ‘Sorry about these two. I’ve told them time and time again that they’re not allowed on the table, but they refuse to be trained.’
Harper smiled. ‘Don’t worry about it.’
As Claire dumped the cats on the floor, Samuel stepped towards them and held out his hand. ‘Here kitties,’ he said, rubbing his fingers together.
Both animals gave him a look of disgust and then turned and stalked from the room, their tails swishing in the air behind them.
Jasper chuckled. ‘Take no offence. Those two rarely like anyone. Now, take a seat and make yourselves at home.’ He gestured to the table that was already set for breakfast as Claire turned to switch on the oven.
The Greatest Gift Page 17
