by Lucy Clark
With an all-encompassing tenderness she’d never felt before Pierce pressed kisses from her cheek around to her ear, where he lingered for a moment, causing her body to flood with a new mass of tingles. Then he worked his way down her neck and she found herself tipping her head to the side, granting him as much access as he wanted. He brushed her hair from her neck with the backs of his fingers, not wanting anything to hinder his exploration, his fingers trailing in the silky strands as though he couldn’t get enough of the feel of her hair. How was it possible that such a simple action could fill her so completely with needs she’d never even known she had?
It wasn’t until he kissed lower, brushing aside the top of her shirt collar, clearly intent on exploring further, that Stacey started to feel a sense of propriety return. She opened her eyes and tried to shift in his embrace, but Pierce spoke against her skin.
‘It’s all right, Stace.’ he breathed. ‘I’m not going to ravish you right here. I just want you to feel.’
‘I do,’ she whispered back. ‘But…we’re…out…in the open and…oh—’ Her words were broken off as Pierce pressed kisses along her collarbone, clearly thrilled with her response to his touch as he made his way around to the other side.
‘You are exquisite,’ he murmured, taking his time, not wanting to rush the exploration.
Stacey tipped her head further back. Her eyes were open as she stared up at the stars, but the sensations he was evoking made it impossible for her to see clearly. It was evident that the attraction between them was incredibly powerful.
When he finally brought his mouth back to hers Stacey’s hunger had intensified, and she opened her mouth wider than before, plunging her tongue into his mouth, wanting him to see exactly how he’d affected her senses, heightening them beyond belief. With a passion and urgency she’d never felt before she surrendered herself to him and to the emotions he evoked.
She threaded her fingers through his hair, making sure he didn’t break away from her just yet, loving the feel of his arms firmly around her, encompassing her, making her feel secure as well as utterly sexy.
Was this how other people felt when they were kissed by someone who really desired them? Was this what she’d been missing out on? How was it possible she hadn’t known that this was the way to kiss an attractive man? Or that this was the way a man kissed a woman he found attractive?
Feeling as though her lungs might completely burst if she didn’t drag some oxygen into them, Stacey jerked her head back, needing to make a sharp clean break in order to breathe.
‘Stacey…’
Her name was a caress upon his lips and she liked the way it sounded. She also liked that he was as breathless as her, as invested as her in all these new and crazy emotions.
‘You really do like me.’ Her words were an astonished whisper, filled with awe and happiness.
‘Yes. Yes, I do,’ he stated with a slight chuckle, and she immediately closed her eyes and buried her face in his chest.
‘Sorry. Clearly I’m a little…knocked off balance by all of this. I keep blurting my thoughts out loud.’
‘Is this a common occurrence?’ he queried, dropping a kiss to her head, his fingers sifting through the silkiness of her hair.
‘No. That’s what’s so confusing. Usually I’m quite in control of my faculties.’ She eased back and looked up at him. ‘But you…’ She swallowed and smiled up at him. ‘You make me feel alive.’
‘That’s a good thing, Stacey.’
‘I know, but I’m clearly not used to it. Hence the unusual behaviour.’
‘I’ll let you in on a little secret,’ he said, dipping his head closer to her ear. ‘I like that you’re a little unusual because that means you’re unique.’ He kissed her cheek.
She sighed and snuggled closer to him, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head against his chest, loving the words he was saying. Having been one of three all her life, it was refreshing to hear that he thought her unique.
The cool breeze, which he’d been oblivious to while he’d been memorising each and every contour of her face, whipped up around them, with a hint of saltiness from the sea not so far away.
‘It’s late…or rather early,’ he murmured. ‘And you need to get home.’
Stacey gasped. ‘You’re still on shift. How could we have forgotten?’
‘If there’d been a problem they would have called.’ He patted the cell phone in his trouser pocket. ‘Besides, I haven’t heard any sirens…except for you.’ He chuckled and waggled his eyebrows at her.
‘That’s a very cheesy line,’ she stated, smiling up at him and sighing once more.
‘I thought you liked cheesy?’
‘I do. I really do. But you’re right. I’d best get home. House calls start in exactly…’ She paused and squinted at her watch, unable to see the time. ‘Some time soon.’
Pierce’s warm laughter washed over her.
‘Where are your keys?’ he asked, releasing her from his embrace with obvious reluctance.
Stacey picked up her handbag, which had at some point slipped from her shoulder unnoticed to land at their feet. She dug around in the bag and eventually pulled them out.
‘Amazing what you can find in a black hole,’ he commented as she pressed the button to unlock her car. ‘All women’s handbags are black holes. I’m convinced of it. Even Nell’s—although someone at work bought her an inner purse organiser which she absolutely loves. Still, it only means she can carry even more things around with her.’
Stacey chuckled as he opened the car door for her. He leaned forward and pressed another kiss to her lips. ‘Drive safe.’
‘OK. I hope the rest of your shift is uneventful.’
‘You and me both. I’ll give you a call when there’s news of Gary.’
‘Thanks. I’d appreciate that.’ She smiled at him.
‘And once we’ve discussed our mutual patient we can discuss exactly how we’re going to spend the rest of our weekend—after you’ve finished the housecalls, of course.’
‘We’re going to spend our weekend together?’
‘Why, yes, Stacey. That’s what people do when they date. They spend time together.’
‘Date?’ The word squeaked from her lips and she stared at him with surprise.
Pierce chuckled once more, and was about to say something when his cell phone rang.
‘Go. You’re needed,’ she told him.
He leaned forward and pressed a firm and secure kiss to her lips before extracting the phone from his pocket, then he winked at her and started jogging back towards the emergency department as he answered his call.
Stacey sat in the car and started the engine. ‘We’re dating?’ She stated the words out loud as she buckled her seatbelt. ‘I’m dating?’ She switched on the car’s lights. ‘Pierce and I are dating.’ She tried to state the words with absolute firmness, as though it was the most natural thing in the world. ‘This is good,’ she remarked as she headed out of the car park and onto the road. ‘Moving forward is good.’
*
Stacey seemed to float through the next week with a large smile plastered to her face. Her sister Molly was delighted at this turn of events.
‘You’re dating Pierce? Really dating? Really putting yourself out there and doing something just for you?’ Molly was gobsmacked.
‘Yes.’
‘And you’re not overthinking things?’
‘Nope. Just going with the flow.’
‘Uh-huh.’ Molly didn’t sound as though she fully believed her, but she grinned wildly just the same.
When Stacey spoke to Cora over the internet chat line Cora knew something was different even before Molly blurted it out.
‘You look really…happy, Stace,’ she said, her tone laced with curiosity. ‘What’s going on over th—?’
‘She’s dating Pierce!’ Molly squealed, jumping up and down and clapping her hands with utter delight.
From there, Stacey was plied with a barr
age of questions from Cora—so much so that Cora demanded that the next time they were scheduled to talk Pierce should be there so she could ‘meet’ him.
‘So I’m being served up for Cora’s approval, eh?’ Pierce said at the end of the week.
They’d just finished a hectic clinic day and were relaxing in the kitchen with a soothing cup of herbal tea. Winifred had just left and the front door to the surgery was locked. It was just the two of them, and although she still felt highly self conscious about being alone with Pierce, Stacey was more than happy to have a bit of time with him.
They’d shared several meals together over the past week, with all of Stacey’s siblings and Nell, too. George and Lydia had been demanding, craving adult male attention—especially when he spun them around in the back garden or gave them shoulder rides so they could pretend to be giraffes. And he was incredibly patient with them as they showed him the progress they’d made in training their rabbits in the art of professional rabbit jumping.
Nell enjoyed playing with the rabbits, and was getting good at making Andrew jump over obstacles. She still loved playing games, now openly including the other children, and liked to help in the kitchen when it was time for dinner. As setting the table was one of the things she did every night, she continued to do that job whenever she came to Stacey’s house, and George and Lydia were more than happy to hand over the task.
Jasmine was perhaps the one who had surprised them all the most, by insisting on taking over Nell’s afternoon routine. ‘You and Pierce work late. Nell needs someone right there for her when she gets off the bus. George is nine, so he can stay at home with Lydia—or they can come with me, too.’
‘But she has an afternoon snack. You’d have to prepare that too,’ Stacey had cautioned.
‘Hello?’ Jasmine had waved her two hands in front of Stacey’s face. ‘What are these? They’re hands. I can prepare food with them. I’m not a little kid, you know.’
Stacey had talked this over with Pierce, who’d admitted that it would be good for someone to take over meeting Nell from the bus as sometimes he just wasn’t able to get away from the clinic on time. And so Jasmine had taken over this responsibility and so far was doing exceptionally well.
Stacey had hoped that helping out Nell would stop Jasmine from being so surly with others, but it hadn’t. And she’d stopped acknowledging Pierce’s presence altogether.
‘She’s probably jealous,’ Molly had said to her one night as they’d tried to figure out how they could handle the matter. Stacey had disciplined Jasmine, and given her consequences, but Jasmine simply didn’t seem to care.
‘Jealous? Of what?’
‘Of Pierce. She probably thinks you’ve got less time for her now.’
‘Has she said something?’
Molly had shaken her head. ‘Not to me. I’m just spit-balling ideas here.’
Stacey had closed her eyes and shaken her own head. ‘How do we reach her, Molly? What do we need to do to let her know we’re on her side?’
Molly’s phone had rung and she’d quickly pulled it from her pocket. ‘Sorry, Stace. I’m second on call.’
‘Sure.’
Stacey had waved Molly’s words away and within another ten minutes her sister had gone, heading towards the hospital to assist with the patients involved in multiple car crash on the M1. As this was the main road from Sydney to Newcastle, Stacey had had no idea when Molly might return to finish their conversation. Once again she’d been left holding the ball, needing to make most of the decisions and carry out the majority of discipline.
Stacey wanted to talk to Pierce about it—see if he had any ideas—but it wasn’t his problem. Besides, if she did speak to Pierce about her younger sister and Jasmine found out she might stop going to see Nell, not wanting anything to do with Pierce or his sister. That risk was too great, so Stacey was left to try and figure it out on her own.
‘Do you think Cora will like me?’ Pierce asked, bringing her thoughts back to the present.
Stacey smiled as she placed her arms around his shoulders, delighted that she was allowed to touch him in such a familiar way. ‘I have no doubt about it.’
‘Excellent. Then that leaves only Jasmine.’
‘Jasmine doesn’t like anyone, Pierce, so don’t take it personally. I’m trying not to.’
‘She’s nice to Nell, for which I am very grateful,’ he remarked. He thought for a moment, then said, ‘How about a picnic next weekend?’
Stacey considered it. ‘The weather’s supposed to be nice. King Edward Park?’
‘Perfect.’ He kissed her a few more times. ‘Just like your mouth. Perfect for mine.’
She smiled and sighed into his embrace, more than happy for him to take his time exploring the contours of her ‘perfect’ mouth. Pierce was always saying such lovely things to her—telling her she had luscious hair and that he loved running his fingers through it, or that she was beautiful, precious and deserved to be loved not only for the pureness of her heart but also because of the sadness in her eyes.
‘I’m not sad,’ she’d replied after Pierce had whispered the compliment near her ear the other evening when he’d been kissing her goodnight.
Pierce had brushed her loose hair behind her ears and kissed both of her cheeks. ‘I’m getting to know you better, Stacey and I can’t believe the weight you have to carry on those slim shoulders of yours.’
He’d placed his large warm hands onto her shoulders as he’d spoken, massaging gently, releasing endorphins that had made her want to melt into his arms for ever and never leave.
‘I care about you, Stacey. More and more every day. But the sadness which you’ve buried deep down inside is dangerous.’
‘Dangerous?’ She’d tried to laugh off his words, but the sound had been hollow even to her own ears.
‘If we’re not careful sadness can consume us.’
‘You sound as though you know what you’re talking about.’ She’d eased back from his massaging hands and he’d instantly stopped the motion.
‘I do.’
‘Grief over your parents’ loss?’
‘Yes. The death of a loved one can leave such a wide and gaping chasm, and if we’re not careful—if we don’t take the time to heal the wound from the inside out but just keep changing the dressing and applying a new bandage to the wound—then infection can set in.’
He’d brushed the back of his fingers across her cheek before pulling her closer into his arms. They’d stood there for a while, with Stacey revelling in the feel of his arms wound tightly around her, before he’d finally spoken again.
‘I understand the brokenness, the pain, the desolation that grief can bring, whatever the circumstances which have caused it. Along with all of these comes loneliness, and whilst I know you have a very supportive family, and you seem more than willing and able to shoulder the lion’s share of that responsibility, at times you seem so lonely.’
‘Lonely?’ She’d eased back slightly and looked up at him. ‘I’ve never been alone in my life. I’m one of three. I wasn’t even alone in the womb! And let’s not forget I have five siblings.’
‘And yet sometimes…’ He’d exhaled slowly, his words filled with understanding. ‘You’re so lonely. I just wanted you to know that I’ve been there, too.’ He’d bent his head and brushed his lips across hers. ‘The weight of your world is not yours alone to carry. Please let me help you in any way I can.’
His words had held promise, his touch had held promise, even the taste of his lips on hers had held promise…so why was she having such a difficult time letting go of the chains that bound her? Had she been carrying the responsibility for her family for far longer than she’d realised?
When her father had married Letisha, when they’d had Jasmine, hadn’t it been Stacey who had helped the most, wanting to do everything she could to make things easier for her stepmother? Cora and Molly had been delighted with their new sibling, and indeed, when George and Lydia had rounded out their fam
ily, the triplets had loved having younger sisters and a brother to entertain. But whenever they’d been asked to babysit it had been Stacey who had taken charge.
Have I always done this? she asked herself later that night. Now that he’d pointed out the wound Stacey had thought already healed, especially since returning to Newcastle to connect to her roots, she was more than aware of the way both Molly and Cora really did leave it up to her to call the shots.
She wanted to talk to Molly about it, but her poor sister had been rostered on with such long shifts that as soon as she arrived home she’d quickly eat something before collapsing into such a deep sleep Stacey hadn’t the heart to wake her.
She loved her siblings—all of them—and would do anything for any of them. They’d do the same for her…wouldn’t they?
She tried not to fixate on the question as she went about her daily life, happy that George and Lydia were settling into school but with increasing concern for Jasmine’s declining behaviour.
Indeed, when she informed everyone they would be having a picnic in the park the following weekend they’d all been excited except for Jasmine. Even the information that Nell was looking forward to seeing her there hadn’t changed Jasmine’s attitude.
‘I have no idea what to do,’ Stacey confessed to Cora during one of their internet chats. ‘She really seems to hate me.’
‘That’s because you’re the disciplinarian.’
‘How did I get that job?’
Cora laughed. ‘I don’t know. I guess as you’re the oldest triplet we’ve always just naturally looked up to you. At school whenever there was a problem you always came up with a solution. Some people are born leaders, Stace, and you’re one of them. Just look at how you’ve held us all together over the past eighteen months. And when you decided to buy Dad’s old practice Molly and I gave our blessing because we trust your judgement. We knew you would have figured all the angles, weighed up the pros and cons.’
