A Choice of Fate

by Jezz de Silva

  Olivia had picked up her knife and fork and prepared to dive back into her meal when she caught Naya smiling at her from the head of the table. A comforting warmth flowed through her that had nothing to do with the lingering heat of the day or the man sitting opposite her. There was just something about the Harper matriarch that made you truly believe everything would be okay. Warrior, guardian, shield, fire, peacemaker, and sunshine, Naya was all those things and more, and her name could only have ever meant one thing: mother.

  The tiny gray-haired force of nature dominating the dining room was not only mother to the people gathered around her table and camping on her property. She was also the custodian of the history and traditions of her ancestors who’d watched over Wingarra’s land, water, and creatures for thousands of years. Naya was also going to be Abi’s mother, and the peace that brought Olivia almost made up for the pain of setting her big sister free. The bedlam coming from the other end of the table made quiet conversation impossible, yet the silent smile she exchanged with Naya before Mother Harper was dragged into the shouting match conveyed everything Olivia had wanted to say.

  The feast, presented on mismatched china, battle-scarred platters that looked to have survived thousands of dinners, and a faded red-and-white checked tablecloth that must have been a Harper favorite, was everything Abi had described and so much more. It wasn’t just home-cooked food or the heavenly aromas filling the rustic dining room that had Olivia’s cheeks cramping from smiling and her stomach aching from laughter, it was this family and the effortless love that seeped into everything they did.

  Her gaze drifted to the man sitting opposite her. She studied Jarrah as he shoveled food into his mouth between trading insults with his brothers and sisters. With every mile they’d traveled away from the city, the lawyer had slowly faded until only the cowboy remained. Now that he sat among his family in the home he’d grown up in, she found it hard to believe he’d given all this up for the lonely existence waiting for him back in the real world.

  He’d pretended not to watch her during lulls in the chaos. She in turn had done a pathetic job of disguising her traitorous libido’s reactions to him. Christ, hundreds of men had checked her out, and none had looked inside her like he did. Oh, he was checking her out all right, but not in a Joey Tribbiani, “How you doin’?” sort of way. He gazed at her like someone who was making sure his friend wasn’t left out of the conversation and was getting her fair share of the feast.

  She had no idea why he worried. Her throat ached from talking and laughing, and her belly already tested the waistband of her most comfortable jeans, yet now she’d gotten to know him better his indigenous name couldn’t have been more perfect: Mereki, the Guardian. It wasn’t rugged or glamorous, but it was true. And the more time she spent with him, the more believable the myths Ryder had shared about his Robin Hood brother became.

  …

  “So, Dr. Williams, did my no-good son behave?”

  His mother propped her elbows on the table and studied the woman he’d been covertly spying on for the last hour. Jarrah tore his gaze from Olivia and bit back a curse. Christ, he should’ve known. In all the years he’d lived under his mother’s roof he’d never gotten away with anything. Every time he pulled his shit together and forced himself to stop ogling the good doctor, she’d laugh or fire back her own insult in the playful battle raging around them and that damned voice would crash through his defenses.

  Olivia sighed and lowered her fork. “You’re not going to stop calling me doctor, are you?”

  The last rays of sunshine flooding the dining room shimmered off his mum’s silver hair as she shook her head. “Do you know how long I’ve waited to have a genuine doctor in my family, young lady? Now, stop distracting me.” His mum narrowed her eyes and leaned in for the kill. “Did my son behave himself?”

  Yeah, he’d ignored every instinct and nerve ending in his body and behaved himself, but at what cost? He hadn’t been able to think straight for the last twenty-four hours, was going on three hours sleep, and by the way he couldn’t stop leering at Olivia he wasn’t getting a full night’s rest anytime soon.

  Olivia flashed him a sly smile that was very quickly becoming one of his favorite things about her, next to her wit, her charm, her compassion, and her incredible arse. “He was a perfect gentleman.”

  A chorus of groans erupted around him as a volley of napkins launched his way while Maddie stifled a sneeze that sounded remarkably like a call of bullshit.

  His mother’s silver eyebrows rose and puckered a forehead that had somehow remained relatively wrinkle-free despite the thousand-odd years she’d watched over this land. “Really?”

  He couldn’t figure out whether his mother was surprised, impressed, or disappointed. She considered Olivia for a long moment before leveling those all-seeing eyes on him. “I find that very hard to believe.”

  Olivia shot another grin his way before shrugging. “No really. Once you make it past the Aston Martin, the penthouse, and the fancy clothes, he’s not that much of a douche.”

  The table exploded as Ethan and Kira took turns shoving him back and forth while the rest of his family cheered and clapped. He held on as long as possible before setting free the grin that’d been threatening to take over his face. Damn, what a woman.

  He fired back the napkins and slipped a very satisfying hook into Ethan’s ribs before turning on Kira. That damned angelic smile of hers made it impossible to do anything other than tickle her until she squirmed out of her chair and crumpled onto the floor.

  His mother stopped laughing long enough to curse them all before apologizing to Olivia and ordering the table cleared for desert.

  Olivia shot to her feet only to have his twin sister shove her back down and relieve her of the plates and cutlery she’d gathered with the same unstoppable gentleness she used to keep everyone in line. “Nice try, Doc.” Jeddah smiled and patted Olivia’s shoulder before shooting him a glare. “You’ve put up with enough for one day.”

  With the practiced efficiency of a military unit, his family cleared the plates and leftovers from the table and left him staring at the most beguiling creature he’d ever seen. If the decade he’d spent battling the system had taught him anything, it was to know when he was walking into a lose/lose situation, so he could figure out an exit strategy that would enable him to escape the carnage with his balls intact. Yet he couldn’t stop himself from diving headfirst into those huge sapphire eyes.

  Chapter Nine

  Olivia grimaced and hunkered down in the passenger seat of one of Wingarra’s Toyota Land Cruisers as Abi ordered their chauffer to take them to the Wishing Tree. Olivia had heard so many of the legends associated with the tree that a part of her, far bigger than she cared to admit, was dying for a closer look. She’d be damned before giving her sister the satisfaction of knowing that, though.

  She cursed and folded her arms across her chest in a desperate attempt to stop her boobs from bouncing out of her bra as the truck—er, ute—bucked and lurched over the dirt road. “I don’t care how amazing that damned tree is. It’s not magical, and it sure as hell doesn’t grant wishes.”

  Abi jabbed her with the rubber tip of her cane before tapping Jarrah on the shoulder like some medieval queen wielding a scepter. “Ignore the muggle, driver.”

  “Yes’m, Miss Abi.” Jarrah chuckled as he downshifted and coaxed the ancient four-wheel drive over the same ridge Abi’s Camaro had nearly launched off the day before.

  Olivia had been driving since she was old enough to see over a dash and more than capable of piloting the Land Cruiser despite the steering wheel being on the wrong side and the cranky stick shift. After a seven to two vote, the Williams’ girls had been severely outvoted and Jarrah had been volunteered as their designated driver for the day, since he was the least valuable Harper when it came to mustering. A fact he’d accepted far too easily for her liking.

  The scrub that had appeared completely devoid of animals yesterday afternoo
n showed a spattering of life. Occasionally, a mob of kangaroos or a pair of emus would emerge from the rapidly disappearing shadows to check on the intruders interrupting their breakfast before scattering into the desert. The sun had barely broken the horizon, and the relatively cool dawn was already surrendering to the hints of another scorcher, as the locals liked to call a 115-degree day.

  Her “g’day” still sucked, but at least she’d figured out what a “dead horse” and a “bogan” were. From context, she’d guessed a bogan was a Down Under redneck, yet she’d been lost when it came to a “dead horse.” It was only after Kira had pointed to the ketchup, or tomato sauce as the posh locals called it, that she’d comprehended the true extent of the literary sacrilege that was Aussie slang.

  Thoughts of diggers, barbies, and eskies evaporated as the Wishing Tree emerged from the shadows. The explosion of life that had greeted her yesterday looked even more impressive illuminated by the morning sun. She’d had the benefit of a good night’s rest and she still couldn’t work out how it’d survived when nothing over three feet tall grew anywhere near it. The only possible explanation was that the tree’s roots had somehow burrowed deep enough through the rock to hit the ocean of freshwater beneath it.

  “Got your offering ready?”

  She answered Abi with a growl and continued staring straight ahead. The nervous tension she’d suppressed with spite squeezed her chest as the Wishing Tree grew to consume the view. She jabbed a finger toward the rocky outcrop protecting the tree’s roots and shuddered. “If you think you’re getting me to trudge through that creepy-crawly-infested desert to pray in front of a damn tree, you’re out of your mind.”

  Abi chuckled and tapped her shoulder with the tip of her cane. “Don’t worry, I got you covered, little sis. Plus, the offering means more when it’s made by someone else.”

  The sheer relish Abi took in ignoring her wasn’t lost on their driver. Jarrah offered her a solemn nod that almost fractured the stubbornness she hid behind. “It does, you know.”

  She backhanded him. “You’re not helping.”

  He flashed her a wicked grin that had her chest tightening for a whole different reason before pulling off the road and allowing the truck to rattle to a stop in the shade cast by the Wishing Tree’s canopy.

  Jarrah yanked on the door handle and was half out of the cabin when Abi jabbed him with her cane. “Freeze, cowboy.”

  Jarrah froze with half a butt cheek still poised on the driver’s seat.

  Abi jabbed him again. “This is secret women’s business. And I can damn well get out of a ute by myself. Now, slide that fine ass of yours back inside and shut the door.”

  Jarrah hesitated, only to receive another jab for his trouble.

  “Don’t make me get physical, lawyer boy. Just because I let that brother of yours mollycoddle me doesn’t mean I have to put up with that shit from you.”

  She almost felt sorry for Jarrah as he slid back into the driver’s seat and closed the door—almost.

  He turned to her and hitched a thumb over his shoulder. “Tell me again why my brother loves her so much?”

  This time she couldn’t resist returning his grin. “Her easygoing personality.”

  Abi jabbed both of them in the ribs with her cane before unclipping her seat belt and cracking open her door. “Keep it up, smart-asses, and I’ll find a new maid of honor and best man.”

  Olivia exchanged another conspiratorial grin with Jarrah as Abi clambered out of the ute and hobbled alongside her door. “C’mon, get your sweaty butt out here.”

  Her sister wasn’t kidding. It was barely seven thirty, and the temperature already had to be pushing ninety. She ignored Abi’s glare and the persistent tapping of her sister’s cane on the passenger window and folded down the sun visor to check her reflection in the grimy mirror.

  Jarrah rested his forearms on the steering wheel and pretended to take in the withered shrubs clinging to life among the rubble scattered around them. “You ever win one of these standoffs?”

  She shook her head and tucked a strand of hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear. “It’s fun pissing her off, though.”

  Jarrah chuckled. “It is, isn’t it?”

  Abi tapped harder. “We’re not leaving until you get out here. It’s tradition.”

  Jarrah sighed and picked at the cracked plastic on the faded dash. “At some point everyone comes here. Even the nonbelievers.”

  “Has your wish come true yet?”

  She clipped the sun visor back in place and turned to find him studying her. She lifted her chin when he didn’t answer, only to have him continue to gaze at her without saying a word.

  Long seconds dragged by before he forced a grin and reared back a little too casually. “C’mon, I’ve got a Mercedes and an Aston Martin in the garage of my penthouse apartment and the money to do whatever I want with whomever I want to do it with. What more could a man wish for?”

  He wasn’t lying, yet his smile was. Jarrah Harper had probably already ticked off GQ’s top-ten most-wanted list for the modern man. But something hid beneath his fake bravado that told her he still had at least one wish to fulfill.

  Her curiosity screamed to be set free to poke around his seemingly perfect life, instead she let him off the hook. “Some peace and quiet perhaps.”

  He looked past her to where Abi had pressed her nose to the glass while banging on the roof of the cabin with her cane and slowly nodded.

  Olivia waited for one more muffled threat from her sister before yanking on the handle and shoving open the door. “C’mon, you evil harpy. Let’s get this over and done with before I melt or get bitten by something.”

  Without giving her sister a chance to argue, she latched onto Abi’s arm and guided her through the maze of rock and tangled roots toward the Wishing Tree. With each step, the temperature dropped until the gentle breeze wafting over her skin almost felt cool.

  She filled her lungs with the eucalypt-drenched air as the silence enveloped her and slowed her racing heart. With every breath, the serenity worked its way into her bloodstream until it flowed through her. She froze and turned to find her sister smiling back at her like the Cheshire Cat. Tightening her grip on Abi’s elbow, she focused on the glowing white trunk and pulled her sister forward. “It’s just the shade, that’s all.”

  Abi chuckled and tugged her toward a ridge off to the left. “We need to make a pit stop.”

  Her sister shuffled toward a cave that must have served as the dumping ground for the offerings from the poor gullible suckers who’d risked their lives trekking out here. From where she stood, the pile of offerings looked like any other mound of junk you’d find at a dodgy secondhand store, yet Abi stared at the collection of knickknacks as if it were the statue of David holding the Mona Lisa over his junk. Olivia eased in beside her for a closer look only to discover that tucked among the rusted tools, laceless boots, and broken toys were rolled-up wads of dog-eared cash, dusty jewelry and watches, and antique trinkets that definitely didn’t look like rubbish.

  “Hold this.”

  Olivia looked down to find Abi’s cane pressed to her stomach and her sister doing her damnedest to fall on her butt. She slapped away the cane and grabbed Abi. After a growling and wrestling match that was as uncoordinated as it was unnecessary, Olivia found herself on her knees beside her sister in front of the treasure heap.

  Abi blew out a breath and muttered one final curse before reaching for a one-eyed teddy bear that had seen better days. Her sister’s fingers trembled as she delicately dusted the red sand that had settled on the bear’s fur. Abi had been more a Barbie and Cabbage Patch Kid kind of girl. And Olivia had never seen the bear when she’d gotten bored of her own toys and rummaged through Abi’s stash. Yet her sister caressed the bear’s matted fur like his tiny heart still beat. Sure, the poor little guy was cute in a bedraggled sort of way. However, that didn’t come close to explaining what the hell was going on with her eerily quiet sister.
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br />   Abi cleared her throat and patted the bear one last time before retrieving her smartphone from her pocket. “Long story.”

  Long story, her ass. In between chemo treatments, when sleep had been almost as impossible for her sister as keeping anything down, they’d relived every minute detail of Abi’s fairy-tale adventure Down Under. There’d been no mention of one-eyed teddy bears.

  Abi swiped her home screen and clicked on the emergency app she used to store all her medical history and vital health data.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  Abi waved her away and fiddled with the app’s menu. “Hoping the Wishing Tree accepts virtual offerings.”

  Before she could ask her sister what the hell was going on, Abi held up the phone and pointed to the emergency contact information. “For the last five years you’ve put your life on hold to care for me.”

  Olivia shook her head and opened her mouth to tell her sister she hadn’t put a damn thing on hold when Abi jammed a hand over her mouth. “Shut up and let me get this out.”

  Abi raised an eyebrow and pressed harder until Olivia mumbled a curse and nodded.

  Her sister lowered her hand and composed herself as if about to deliver a eulogy. “Not only did you sacrifice your happiness for me, you also loved me enough to set me free to be with the man I love.”

  Abi sniffed and deleted Olivia’s contact details before adding Ryder’s. “I love you more than you’ll ever know, Olivia Marie Williams. Now I’m setting you free so you can chase down your own happily ever after.”

  Abi’s eyes shimmered as she drew in a ragged breath. “No more worrying about whether your big sister’s going to see another Christmas. No more babysitting me when you should be out having fun and meeting people.”

  Olivia shook her head only to have Abi cup her cheeks and steady her. “And nothing holding you back from changing the world.”

  Abi blinked back tears and cleared her throat. “I’ve seen enough doctors to know the good ones. You have a rare gift, Dr. Williams. You’re as compassionate and smart as you are determined. But your greatest superpower is you understand medicine’s not just about curing disease—it’s so much more.”