A Choice of Fate

by Jezz de Silva

  The older Olivia got, the more she realized how much Abi had shaped her life. She’d grown up wanting to be just as tough and caring as her big sister. And when cancer had tried stealing Abi away, she’d dreamed of finding better ways of fighting back. After years of endless study and work and months of applications, interviews, and evaluations she’d beaten hundreds of equally qualified doctors for the shot of a lifetime.

  The team leader position within Cedars-Sinai’s Neurocritical Cancer Research Unit waiting for her back in L.A. didn’t just come with recognition, limitless possibilities, and a six-figure salary. It gave her a chance to fight the monster that almost killed the most important person in her life. And none of it would have been possible without the strength and insight she’d drawn from watching her sister in battle.

  “I know why this position means so much to you. And I’m the proudest big sister in the world that you’re fighting that bitch for both of us.” Abi sniffed and tugged her down until their foreheads touched. “That’s why I’m setting you free.”

  The months Olivia had lived alone had been nowhere near as liberating or exciting as she’d pretended they’d been. If it hadn’t been for the dozens of daily text messages or their weekly Skype calls she’d have had an aneurism worrying about her sister. There was no safer place for Abi than in Ryder’s arms, but Ryder wasn’t a doctor and despite all the arguments she’d had with herself, she’d never truly let her sister go.

  Abi’s grip tightened and her quivering smile faded. “I’m watching you, Dr. Williams. There’s more to life than just a career. No matter how incredible that career’s going to be. I also want you to find someone you love enough to spend the rest of your life annoying.”

  The only thing they’d known about love a year ago had been witnessing their parents’ love affair through children’s eyes. Now both of them knew just how life-altering finding that special someone could be. Olivia had plenty of time to worry about hunting down her very own knight in shining armor. Right now she had her sister, a crazy bunch of future in-laws, the Aussie Outback, and four weeks’ vacation to enjoy.

  Olivia blinked back the tears blurring her vision and rolled her eyes before leaning away. “So that’s it? After everything we’ve been through, you’re dumping me?”

  Abi nodded and reached for her cane. “Yup.”

  Olivia pushed to her feet and dusted herself off while Abi struggled to brace the cane’s rubber foot in the soft sand. Olivia waited for her sister’s trademark scowl to replace her smug know-it-all smile before holding out her hand. “Just like that?”

  “Yup.” Abi forced the answer through clenched teeth before cursing and grabbing hold.

  “So I can finally stop carrying your worthless butt and get on with my life without you laying a guilt trip on me?”

  Abi scrambled to her feet with slightly less growling than she’d gone down with. “Yup.”

  Olivia glanced at the Wishing Tree towering above her and shrugged. “Well, holy shit, this thing might be magical after all, because it just made all my dreams come true.”

  Without giving her sister a chance to set herself, Olivia grabbed Abi’s elbow and made for the ute. Only to have Abi’s cane snap out and almost cut her in half. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?”

  Olivia moaned and waved a hand at the Wishing Tree. “C’mon, you can’t be serious. It’s just a huge freaking tree in the middle of nowhere.”

  “Humor me.” Abi spun her around and shoved her toward the tree. “What have you got to lose?”

  Her self-respect, for one. Olivia gazed up into the canopy and shook her head. She was a student of science and didn’t need witchcraft to know her future lay in the vanguard of brain cancer treatment on the front line of modern medicine. She also knew she wasn’t going anywhere without getting this freak show over with.

  She ignored Abi’s smug grin and fixed her glare on the almost-glowing white bark encasing the trunk. Drawing from the deep well of stubbornness that had come with her Williams genes, she marched forward and stood before the Wishing Tree.

  The tranquility she’d fought so hard to refute the closer she got to the tree slowly consumed her like a rising tide.

  “Put your hands on the trunk, you freaking pain in the ass.”

  Abi’s less than gentle encouragement only solidified her resolve as she pressed her hands to the smooth bark. “I better not see this on YouTube.”

  “Shut up and give yourself over to the magic, you miserable cow.”

  Olivia clenched her jaw and closed her eyelids. With each slow breath, the thud of her heart slowed and the air rushing through her gritted teeth faded into the silence. Her muscles relaxed, her bones liquefied, and her body grew lighter until she floated above the crimson sand, weightless, and completely at peace.

  She snapped open her eyelids only to discover the Wishing Tree had vanished, along with Abi, and the ute, while she drifted across the desolate Outback toward a setting sun. The steady beat of her heart quickened as a tiny black spec emerged on the glowing horizon. Like a comet, the dot sped toward her, leaving a plume of crimson dust in its wake. She shielded her eyes against the blazing sunset as she floated toward the apparition.

  While air gushed in and out of her lungs and her heart raced, the dark silhouette slowly morphed into a man on horseback. He stood in the stirrups with his hands clutching the reins and his body blending with the magnificent creature galloping beneath him. She squinted and leaned forward only to discover his face was hidden beneath a cowboy hat…an all-too-familiar tattered black Akubra. Just like the one she’d been wearing when she’d placed her hands on the damned Wishing Tree.

  The peaceful ocean she drifted on froze as the rider raised his head and locked his ebony eyes on her before unleashing a smile. A cheeky, all-knowing, all-seeing smile that flowed through her like lava and set her ablaze.

  Chapter Ten

  Jarrah had no idea what the hell was going on. Olivia had done everything short of sticking her head out the window to avoid looking at him since returning from the Wishing Tree. What was even scarier was she’d kept that sassy mouth shut the entire way back home despite Abi’s merciless teasing from the backseat.

  The Big House’s corrugated-iron roof shimmered in the distance like a huge disco ball as the midmorning sun started marching across the cloudless sky. With every year, the sanctuary that had saved his and Jeddah’s lives grew even more perfect. No gray concrete buildings blocking the sun, no traffic drowning the silence, and no crowds squeezing the air from his chest. It was more than the serene ruggedness that had him smiling despite his passenger’s mood; it was the strangers that had become the family he and his sister had never had.

  “Something’s wrong.” Olivia grabbed his forearm. “Go!”

  The concern on her face had him downshifting and stomping the accelerator before he’d even comprehended her words. The Cruiser screamed to life and lurched forward as Wingarra’s courtyard came into focus. Ryder was setting the chopper down outside the tree line as Jarrah caught a glimpse of what Olivia had somehow sensed. Two of the utes and three of the quad bikes that should’ve been out in the scrub were parked haphazardly in front of the Big House while people sprinted in all directions.

  “Get your arses back here! We need the doc!”

  Maddie’s voice crackled through the Cruiser’s two-way and froze the blood surging through him.

  Olivia snatched up the handset. “What’s wrong?”

  “Compound fracture, leg, bad.”

  Abi swore and leaned between the front seats while he crushed the accelerator and tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

  “Stabilize the leg, stop any bleeding, and call an ambulance. We’re two minutes away.”

  The radio fell silent, and Olivia spun to face him. “There’s no ambulance, is there?”

  The roar from the engine swallowed Olivia’s curse as he shook his head. The smile that had him tossing and turning most of the night vanished and lef
t behind a blank mask devoid of emotion.

  Olivia exploded out of the passenger seat before the ute had even skidded to a stop. He helped Abi clamber out of the backseat and waited until Ryder grabbed hold of her before racing after Olivia. He heard the all-too-familiar tortured grunts and muffled curses long before he saw the contorted remains of Ethan’s leg.

  Jarrah had seen some shit in his day. A lifetime working with cattle and heavy machinery had a way of reminding people just how fragile they were, but the agony carved into his brother’s mud- and blood-splattered features had him sucking in lungfuls of air. The look his mum shot him as she cradled Ethan’s head in her lap only added to the adrenaline flooding his system.

  Olivia placed a hand on his mum’s shoulder and exchanged a quick nod before kneeling beside her. “Damn, Ethan, if you wanted some alone time with me all you had to do was ask.”

  The voice that did strange things to him cut through the chaos and silenced the crowd squeezed around them. Olivia tut-tutted and shook her head while surveying the grisly train wreck that was his brother’s body.

  “What’s a nice girl like you do—” Ethan’s entire body clenched as he gasped in breath and smiled through clenched teeth.

  “Oh, you know, just catching up with family and seeing the sights.” Olivia chuckled and eyed Kira, who held a blood-soaked towel around what was left of Ethan’s shin. “How you doing down there, Sunshine?”

  Kira looked up long enough to shake her head before returning her panicked gaze to the mass of flesh and bone she held together.

  Olivia sighed dramatically and cupped Ethan’s cheek in her hand. “What the hell have you gone and done to yourself, cowboy?”

  “Fucking quad bikes, Doc.” Ethan’s fingers clawed into the dirt while grinning through clenched teeth. “Give me a horse any day.”

  “Boys and their damned toys.” Olivia’s chuckles drowned out the nervous murmurs from the stunned crowd as she cradled Ethan’s head in her hands and examined him. “Anything hurt besides that tiny ouchie on your leg?”

  Ethan growled out a curse and shook his head. “Nothing a massage and sponge bath won’t fix.”

  Olivia leaned down and pried open Ethan’s eyelids with her fingers. “Nice try, tough guy. But you’ll have to take me dancing first.”

  Olivia couldn’t have looked more out of place as she examined his brother. She was a classy city girl surrounded by a horde of filthy stockwomen and men. And within seconds of kneeling down in the dirt beside his brother, there was no doubt who was in charge. Even his mum, who’d bandaged and sewn together her fair share of bodies, stared on in wide-eyed amazement as Olivia went about her business like it was just another day in the office.

  “Okay, big guy, foreplay’s over.” Olivia straightened and nodded. “I’m going to check out your leg, and it’s going to hurt like a motherfucker, so I want you to stop crying like a little bitch and toughen the fuck up or date night’s over.”

  A choked gasp cut off Ethan’s laughter as Olivia gently ushered Kira out the way and peeled back the sodden towel. “For Christ’s sake, it’s barely a scratch, you big baby.”

  Olivia scanned the crowd before locking her gaze on him. The hope that had built in his chest froze and plummeted into his gut as he caught sight of the concern hiding behind her smile. He sank to his knees opposite her and dragged over the first-aid chest he’d used too many damn times and handed her a pair of gloves. With a determined nod, she drew in a deep breath and got to work.

  While he sucked in air and passed her tools, bottles of saline, and bandages with fumbling hands, her fingers danced over the mangled mess of torn flesh and shattered bone with the unconscious grace of a classical pianist. Between trading insults and flirting with Ethan, Olivia cleaned, packed, and dressed the wound until it almost looked like a human leg again.

  With the politeness of a sledgehammer wrapped in velvet, she marshaled her troops and had his brother’s leg splinted and his entire body strapped to a wooden door that’d been torn off a nearby shed while Jarrah struggled to process what he was witnessing. Judging by the gaping mouths and stunned faces staring down at the deep freezer’s worth of frozen veggies piled on Ethan’s legs, Jarrah wasn’t the only dumbstruck onlooker.

  He clenched his fists to stop his hands from shaking and watched on with the same silent awe that had fallen over the crowd as Olivia pecked Ethan’s forehead and pinched his nose. “Not bad, mate. You’re pretty tough…for an Aussie. Now don’t go anywhere, I’ll be right back.”

  She ripped off her gloves and tossed them in the garbage bag he held open for her before ushering him and his family toward the Big House. Her smile faded with each step until she looked as worried as the rest of them. “We’ve stabilized the bleeding and immobilized his leg, but he’s going to need urgent surgery to save the limb. Where’s the nearest hospital?”

  “Charleville. Two hundred kilometers.” Maddie’s response sounded more like a curse. “The flying doctor’s on the way. They’ll be here within the hour.”

  A shadow flickered across Olivia’s face before she nodded. “He’s got circulation to the leg, but the frozen veggies aren’t going to delay swelling long. I’ve cleaned the wound as much as I can, but he’s still got half the Outback in there. They’re going to have to pump him full of antibiotics to prevent infection, and he’s going to need proper scans to get a better idea of the damage. X-rays aren’t going to cut it.” She paused long enough to look each of them in the eye before releasing the breath she’d been holding. “Do we know what equipment Charleville has?”

  His mum clutched her hands to her chest and shook her head. “It’s just a bush hospital. Anything serious ends up in Brisbane.”

  Olivia sighed and dropped her head as if she’d already known the answer. Long, silent seconds passed before her head shot up and her eyes glowed with a ferocity that stole his breath. “Can we contact them in the air?”

  …

  Olivia leaned on the veranda’s weathered railing and breathed in the tranquil darkness. The air smelled a lot like the lasagna, garlic bread, and chocolate mud cake she’d just stuffed herself with. And she couldn’t care less about the bloated stomach oozing out of her jeans. She just felt too damned good.

  The surgeons in Brisbane were confident Ethan and what was left of his leg would make a full recovery. He wouldn’t be taking her dancing anytime soon due to the scaffolding they’d erected to support his shattered tibia and fibula. Considering the horror story it could’ve been, he was one lucky cowboy. The first aid they’d performed had bought him enough time for the magicians from the Royal Flying Doctor Service to fly Ethan and Naya directly to Brisbane, where a team had waited to ferry him straight into surgery. Infection was still a very real threat given how much desert he’d jammed into his leg, but he was as tough as a rusted fence post and probably still high from all the antibiotics and painkillers they’d pumped into him.

  The raucous celebrations that had kicked off thirty seconds after Naya had called with the good news had finally settled down and the work crews and their families had drifted back to their camps to nurse weary nerves, food comas, and relieved hangovers. Work had carried on throughout the day while they’d waited for news, but a grim silence had hung over the place that reminded Olivia way too much of the ER waiting room. Thank God her days of triple shifts, wrestling drug addicts, and treating gangbangers while they’d threatened one another were over.

  “Now this is no place to find a superhero.”

  His voice shot a fresh dose of adrenaline into her exhausted system. It surged through her body and pooled low in her belly. “I needed some privacy to change back into my secret identity.”

  “Too late. Word of your superpowers has spread far and wide.” He grinned and pointed to the silvery darkness cloaking the desert. “They’re going to be queuing all the way out to the Wishing Tree just for the chance of meeting the doc.”

  She’d given up asking her new fan club to call her Liv after acce
pting their ninth toast of the night, but her new official title hadn’t caused her throat to clamp shut. Oh no, her breathing difficulties could be squarely attributed to that damned Wishing Tree and the images her galloping libido had shoved inside her brain. She groaned and dropped her head onto the railing in the desperate hope it’d buy her enough time to evict the cheeky horse-riding cowboy from her thoughts.

  She’d spent the afternoon alternating between worrying about Ethan and analyzing that damned dream, or whatever the hell it had been, while helping Abi and Kira prepare the bush classroom for the dozen or so home-schooled kids who traveled with their mustering parents. Abi had been as helpful as ever and had used Olivia like a stress ball to ease her own anxiety by teasing her mercilessly. Her sister had even recruited Kira into the mix, and Olivia had figured out the youngest Harper was as devious as she was adorable. Olivia hadn’t told them what years of less than mind-blowing sex, jet lag, and stupid superstitions had created in her head. That hadn’t stopped Abi and Kira from inventing a few fantasies of their own to torture her with. And all involved the man standing two feet away.

  He eased in beside her and slid a mug of hot chocolate into her hands. “It’s not Glenfiddich, but it’s pretty bloody good.”

  And there it was, that tingling sensation that skittered through her body. The dozens of people that had crowded the Big House during the festivities had diluted his power. Yet whenever their eyes met through the crowd, or he’d casually checked that her plate was overloaded and her glass was full, something had crackled between them like someone had flicked a switch.

  Too chicken to face him, she clung to her mug and stared out into the night. She’d made sure she couldn’t even see him out of the corner of her eye, but it didn’t do any good. Her skin burned as his gaze inched down her body, only to ignite as his surveillance lingered on the bits that tingled the most, as if he knew exactly what he did to her.