Return to Riversleigh

by Anne Ashby

  About halfway through the flock, Luke called Thomas to his side. “My hand’s cramping up.” He flexed his perfectly-working fingers in front of Thomas. “Could you take over doing the vaccinations for a while?”

  He wasn’t wrong. Thomas’s chest had puffed out. He hid a smile while showing the boy how to inject the lambs, and watched Thomas hesitantly practice on a couple. Luke left him to it with an off-hand, “As soon as my hand feels better, I’ll relieve you.” Luke flicked his right hand again for extra effect.

  “Seems like a decent kid,” Rod commented as Luke joined him.

  “He picked that up quick enough,” Luke mused. “His mother mollycoddles him. She doesn’t let him test his boundaries at all.”

  Rod shrugged. “There’s not much you can do, Luke. You can’t interfere.”

  “She’s making the kid’s life a misery.”

  Rod shook his head. “It’s got nothing to do with you, lad.”

  Luke shuffled away to round up more lambs, his sense of injustice tweaked. He couldn’t sit by and see the kid being denied the fun things in life.

  ****

  Thomas lay on his bed staring at the ceiling. He was knackered. Thank goodness his mother hadn’t expected him to hang about downstairs. Her query about his afternoon he’d managed to answer with a grunt as he hauled himself up to his room.

  His right hand ached. He clenched and relaxed it numerous times, hoping the movement might warm the strained muscles and ease the pain a little. Tailing lambs was hard work, much harder than he’d expected.

  Luke and Rod hadn’t said much. They hadn’t told him he’d done a great job or anything. They’d just nodded as they collected the equipment and packed up for the night. Did I do everything right? He worried his bottom lip. I hope they think I did okay.

  He ignored his mother’s call for him to shower before dinner. He was too tired. “I don’t want dinner,” he yelled out.

  Her head appeared up the stairs. “What’s wrong? Are you sick?”

  “No,” he muttered. “I’m just not hungry, okay?”

  He rolled over, facing the wall. She came no farther into his room, although it was some moments before he heard her moving down the steps again.

  Darkness was closing in when Thomas heard knocking on their door.

  “I want to talk to Thomas.”

  Thomas’s heart stopped. A lump rose up in his throat to choke him. He scrambled up.

  “What’s wrong? What’s he done?” He recognized the tremor in his mother’s voice. She thought he was in trouble, too.

  Thomas clenched his eyes shut, skimming over the afternoon. What did I do wrong? He couldn’t think of one thing.

  “Why do you assume he’s done anything?” Luke sounded irritated.

  He shouted for Thomas. “Come here, boy,” Luke snapped as Thomas crept down the steps.

  His legs worked like cooked spaghetti as he grasped the back of a kitchen chair and stared at Luke, unable to move closer. He swallowed, scared his heart might leap out of his chest at any moment.

  He swallowed again. I did my best, I tried hard. I didn’t mean to stuff up. His back stiffened just a little and he curled his lip. I didn’t stuff up on purpose.

  Luke’s expression changed.

  Maybe he doesn’t look pissed off. Thomas pissed people off around him often, even when he didn’t mean to. He’d become an expert at recognizing the look, a look this man wasn’t wearing. Instead Luke smiled, looking him dead in the eye as he reached for his wallet.

  “You do a man’s work around here, Thomas, you earn a man’s wage.” He held out a bundle of notes. “Same time tomorrow?”

  Luke gave Shannon a stiff nod and left, not waiting for any reaction from Thomas or his boggling mother.

  Thomas was still leaning against the chair when his mother found her voice. “Thomas, that’s a lot of money. Too much for whatever Luke had you doing. I’d feel happier if you returned it tomorrow.”

  Shannon’s words thrust steel into her son’s back. He turned on her, heat raging through his body. “Didn’t you hear what he said? Weren’t you listening?”

  His voice rose as he glared at her. “He said a man’s work deserves a man’s pay.” His mother jumped as he thumped the table. “A man, Mum. Luke treats me like a man, not some sucky little baby.”

  He stomped up the steps. “I’m not giving this back, and tomorrow I’m going to earn some more. Maybe I’ll soon have enough to go back to Auckland.” He threw the last comment over his shoulder, knowing it would hurt her the most.

  Anyway it’s all her fault, he reasoned as he tucked the money in between some books on a shelf. She’s not interested in having a son to share her life, she prefers a silly little kid she can ignore.

  He wanted a door to slam, just to annoy her some more. What’s with her, why can’t I earn some money? ’Cause little kids can’t be expected to do anything worth being paid for. Well, I’ll show her.

  He’d keep talking about Auckland and his friends and his sailing. She’d hated him sailing, hated him doing anything fun. Even though he was beginning to think Jake might be right—living on a farm was pretty cool—Thomas would keep up the talk about going home. He knew it was more to niggle his mother than because he wanted to anymore.

  ****

  Thomas became Luke’s shadow. And because the other children hung off every word Thomas uttered, they tagged along, too.

  Instead of them making him feel claustrophobic as he once imagined, Luke found himself enjoying their company. His life was changing, evolving into something new and interesting in a much different way than he’d always planned.

  Before Gordon’s accident, he had never considered how it might feel to spend time with a child. And gradually he discovered he no longer hankered for the old days.

  While careful to always consult Shannon first, Thomas now often accompanied him and the kids as they worked around the farm together, doing whatever needed doing. They drove to Riversleigh, Colac Bay, and Round Hill.

  They accompanied him to Invercargill to pick up everything he’d ordered for the zip lines. He’d shown Thomas how the pulleys and harnesses would work, expecting in a couple of years, if they were still here, Thomas would make an excellent crew member.

  “You’ll be pleased when the school holidays are over,” Shannon teased him one morning.

  Luke shrugged; he wasn’t in a hurry for them to end. He’d not only enjoyed the kids, but had managed to keep them alive and fed while Marcia remained in Christchurch.

  Each day he found himself planning something the children might think of as fun, as well as progressing the work on his park. They’d gone fishing for eels this morning while he caught up on some paperwork. He’d promised them another trip to the beach this afternoon in hopes of getting some shellfish for their dinner.

  But something weird had been nagging at Luke all morning. He couldn’t identify a reason for the tingling tightness in his chest. He rubbed a fist where the sensation was at its worst, but while there was no actual pain, the prickly sensation remained.

  “Is something wrong?”

  Luke glanced at Shannon and frowned. Was something up? Who knew? He’d never had an awareness of something ominous before. He rubbed his chest again.

  “Thomas is with the kids, isn’t he?”

  Shannon nodded. “They were excited. Jake was convinced they’d catch some eels in the creek.” She smiled. “He promised Thomas and I could have the whole catch for our tea tonight.”

  Luke managed to smile at her delicate shudder.

  “Silver bellies taste sweet as.”

  “I don’t care how sweet you might think they are. To me they’re slimy as, ugly as, and totally disgusting as.” Shannon shuddered again.

  “You must have eaten them when you were a kid, surely?”

  “No way! Maybe Johnny did, but I had some discrimination, even as a child.”

  Luke chuckled, momentarily pushing the peculiar feeling aside.

&nbs
p; “What do you intend to do if Thomas arrives home with a couple?” He waited while she struggled to compose a response.

  “Give him some hurried cooking lessons and then go for a very long run,” she quipped. “Hoping any cooking odor will have gone, along with any leftovers, by the time I return.”

  Luke grinned. It was good having Shannon around. But only because I enjoy working with her. He’d forced any other thoughts aside after their altercation. He wasn’t going to risk upsetting her again.

  They’d clicked. She wasn’t afraid to disagree with him and his ideas and could give back in spades anything he might want to throw at her. Their working environment was relaxed, and she was great company. Nothing more, unfortunately.

  Half an hour passed before the back door flew open and crashed against the doorstop. Luke’s premonition drove him to his feet and he was in the hallway before his office chair hit the floor. The almost hysterical yells coming from his nephew’s white lips wrapped an ever-tightening band around Luke’s heart and curdled his blood.

  “What?” He grasped the boy’s arm. Jake’s wet clothes stopped his heart. Shannon crowded behind him. “What’s happened?”

  Jake was already dragging him toward the door. “Amy, Amy,” was all he managed.

  “Oh, my God. Thomas.” Shannon dashed past them and was halfway to the shed by the time Luke and Jake got the quad bike roaring off in the direction Jake pointed. Ignoring the rough terrain, Luke tore straight to the creek before swiveling the bike alongside the bank.

  “Where?” he snapped. Jake’s dripping arm gestured over his shoulder and he took off, knowing the boy was clinging to stay on. Praying the wheels would chew up the ground at the speed of light, Luke leaned forward to urge the quad bike faster, but it was already at top speed. Shannon flew past on the trail bike, her face white.

  “Be careful,” Luke shouted as she spun out on a patch of mud, but he guessed she didn’t hear him. Or more likely she didn’t care. He grimaced. She was rushing to find her baby boy.

  Jake talked. Luke heard stuttered pieces of the conversation above the noise of the bikes but not enough to make any sense of what the boy was saying.

  His wet clothes, along with the few words he did hear, “accident” and “stuck in the creek” struck fear deep inside him as he’d never experienced. Oh God! If something has happened to Amy…

  It took only moments to reach the spot next to the creek where Shannon had thrown her bike, although it felt like a lifetime to Luke. A lifetime in which he’d made numerous bargains with God in return for the safety of his little girl.

  With a curt word to Jake to stay on the bank, Luke ran into the hip-high water after Shannon. His heart thumped in his throat as he spied Thomas under the little girl using his body to keep her face above water.

  “It’ll be all right now, Amy. Your uncle is here,” Thomas said through chattering teeth.

  Both sets of children’s eyes rested on him with such faith he stumbled against the trunk of the liquid amber tree that now lay in the creek. The recent rain must have loosened the roots and it had slipped into the water. The two children were pinned under it. Shannon tore at the trunk, but it wasn’t going to budge.

  “Are you stuck?” Luke asked Thomas. The concrete mixer inside his stomach churned even faster at the boy’s shaking head.

  Luke gripped the skinny shoulder. “Think you can hold on a little longer?”

  Thomas’s face might be white, his teeth chattering with cold, but his arms tightened around his little burden. “I ain’t going anywhere.”

  “Good boy.”

  Unable to ignore Amy’s tears or the way her arms stretched out to him, Luke bent and rubbed his cheek against hers. “It’s okay, little girl, we’ll have you out of here in a jiffy.” He prayed he was right. This tree wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. “Thomas has got you. He’s not going to let you go.”

  Shannon had heard his calming words. She waded up behind her son and slipped her arms under his. Luke caught her gaze as the boy’s head slumped back against her.

  “I’ll take her now, Tommy,” Shannon suggested.

  Thomas jerked up his head and tightened his arms. “No! I’ve got her. You guys just shift this damned tree.”

  “Jake, go for the chainsaw, a can of petrol, and a rope,” Luke barked.

  Heat exploded through him at a flash of disapproval on Shannon’s face as Jake leapt onto the quad and took off. “Just consider, Shannon, how long it would have taken him to get help if he’d had to run,” he snapped.

  He didn’t have time to argue with her now. Instead he took a deep breath and pushed himself under the water for a closer look at how Amy was pinned under the trunk. It was difficult to see in the brackish water, but his fingers encountered the extent of Amy’s legs trapped under the trunk.

  He shook off the water as he surfaced. “I think we might be able to dig her out.” He looked to where Jake was a speck in the distance. “Damn, I should have told him to bring a shovel.” He turned to Shannon. “Can you find anything we might dig with?”

  “We brought a knife with the fishing gear.”

  Luke gripped the boy’s shoulder again. He even managed to give him a shaky smile as Shannon rushed to survey what else the children might have with them.

  Soon he and Shannon were both under water scratching in the mud around Amy’s pink gumboots. By forcing a rock into the space they were making, they stopped the trunk from settling any deeper into the now-muddy bottom of the creek.

  After what seemed like forever—but couldn’t have been too long because Jake wasn’t even back yet—Luke’s tap on Shannon’s arm drew them both upright.

  “I think we can pull her up now.”

  Amy had stopped crying. She didn’t respond to Luke’s light touch on her cheek. Her gray, pasty face drove bile into his throat. Her staring eyes and labored breathing cut through him deep enough to cause physical pain. He clenched his stomach muscles in an attempt to remain in control of his fear.

  “She’s gone into shock. We have to hurry.”

  Luke didn’t need Shannon’s words. He had eyes of his own. “Help steady her, turn her to the left when I signal,” he ordered. He pushed himself under the water again.

  Grasping the little legs firmly in his hands he nodded, hoping Shannon would know what he needed. They tilted the little girl to one side allowing her feet to slip through the hole they’d made without jiggling her legs too much. He suspected one, if not both, were broken.

  Jake’s return was perfectly timed. They waded from the water and Luke sat on the back of the quad bike, Amy tightly clutched in his arms. He hardly noticed Shannon helping a very stiff Thomas from the water.

  “Warm, dry, and hospital,” he yelled above the noise of the bikes. Shannon nodded.

  By the time he had Amy’s outer clothing off and had rubbed her frozen skin with a warm, fluffy towel, Shannon had changed and had his car at the back door.

  Luke heard Thomas arguing with his mother, demanding he and Jake were coming to the hospital, too. He wrapped Amy in a woolen blanket and carried her out in his arms.

  Both boys were beside the car struggling into dry clothes. They weren’t sure if Thomas had won this round with his mother, but they weren’t taking the risk of being left behind.

  Shannon ran out the door behind Luke carrying towels and a change of clothing for him as well as some of Amy’s clothing in her arms.

  Her cheeks colored. “I saw them in the laundry. I don’t know if they’re clean or not, but at least they’re dry.” She threw the armload into the car. “I knew you wouldn’t take the time to change.”

  Amy hadn’t uttered a sound while he’d stripped and rubbed her dry, but her gaze clung to him. He longed to hold her tight and never let her go, but instead he had to allow Shannon to secure her, with legs cushioned, in a seatbelt. He ripped off his wet shirt and, throwing it into the garden, he climbed into the backseat of his car to ease Amy’s body close to his own warmth.


  The ride to Invercargill and Kew Hospital was the longest hour he’d ever spent. Silence accompanied them.

  Nobody complained when the heat inside the car reached a claustrophobic level. Nobody responded to Shannon’s whispered apologies when the car bumped or jostled over uneven road surfaces or around a corner.

  Everyone cringed each time an agonizing little moan escaped the blue lips close to Luke’s bare chest. He died a little inside with each groan.

  Despite his continual rubbing of Amy’s body through the blanket, he’d lost sensation in his fingers. Absently touching his cheek with one hand he discovered it was cold and stiff. A shudder ran through him.

  If Amy doesn’t… He refused to allow the negative thought to take hold. His arms tightened around the little girl.

  He’d had companions with hypothermia before. Hell, he’d even suffered from the dangerous drop in body temperature himself during one aborted raft trip. They’d survived with no lasting side effects.

  But they’d all been adults.

  His head slumped, he pressed his lips against the beanie they’d pulled onto Amy’s head, and he began making bargains with God all over again.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Shannon swung the car into the Kew Hospital entrance, directing Thomas to jump out and find a gurney for them. Amy’s legs had been jiggled about enough. This close to expert care, she could be spared any further unnecessary movement.

  Whether he’d gone in and screamed the Emergency Department down or just been lucky to find a roaming orderly, Shannon didn’t know or care. The fact he appeared back within moments with a young dark-haired man and a gurney was all that mattered. Together they maneuvered Amy out of the car and onto the gurney. The boys rushed into the hospital behind Luke.

  First park the car and get Amy treated. She took a shuddering breath. Then there’ll be plenty of time to forget how hot Luke looks without a shirt. She clasped the pile of clothing she’d grabbed from the laundry and stalked toward the entrance with it held as a shield in front of her. Now is not the time.

  She needed to occupy Jake and Thomas until it was time to head home again. She suspected she’d be leaving Luke and Amy right here.