‘He lied?’ Maggie said blankly, and Enid nodded in satisfaction.
‘The man’s a fool. He was drunk, both with alcohol and with triumph, and he told the world how clever he’d been. Or how clever he thought he’d been. There were those among us who…well, who knew enough to encourage him. Anyway, the outcome is that there’s no way Nicole’s codicil can be overturned, as it’s been manipulated by fraud. Brian’s welcome to dispute it, but, as far as we can see, Nicole’s will stands. The girls will inherit everything.’
That was something to think about. They’d be rich, Riley thought. They’d be independent. Strangely, it gave him no pleasure at all.
It should. He wanted them to be independent. Didn’t he?
‘So you arranged to fly all the way from Perth to tell them that.’ Riley gazed at Enid in astonishment and she gazed back at him, her face serious.
‘I had to. I kept thinking of those two white faces the last time I saw them and I thought Jenna must be frantic. When I heard she hadn’t rejoined the train yesterday I thought, Dammit, I can afford it, so I’ll get in a plane and come and tell them what’s happening.’
Riley might be confused himself, but the rest of the group seemed just plain dumbfounded. ‘That’s…um…great,’ Dot ventured. Riley’s elderly neighbour clearly hadn’t understood a word of what Enid had said, but Dot was examining Riley now and she seemed uncertain about the expression on his face-as well as confused by the story. ‘Isn’t it great? Do you think it’s great, Riley?’
‘Riley doesn’t know what to think,’ Maggie said shortly. ‘He’s in love with Jenna.’
The whole world stilled.
Gee, thanks, Maggie, Riley thought, but he didn’t say it. He didn’t know what to say.
The silence went on and on. The pup nosed in and licked Riley’s hand. He whined softly as if he, too, was confused.
Everyone was confused.
Riley tried for anger, but it didn’t work. He tried for disdain or amusement or…or anything.
Nothing worked.
‘Riley’s fallen in love with Nicole Razor’s daughter?’ Dot asked at last, and Maggie nodded.
‘Hey, mate,’ Bill managed. ‘Whatcha go and do a thing like that for?’
‘You mean what did he go and fall in love for?’ Dot demanded, recovering a little and rounding on her husband. ‘Why shouldn’t he fall in love? Ooh. They must have got smitten while they were stuck at Barinya Downs. How romantic is that?’
‘It’s not even the slightest bit romantic,’ her husband retorted. ‘If you think Barinya Downs is romantic, you must have kangaroos loose in your top paddock.’
‘Yeah, but if they fell in love there now… It’s like you and me,’ Dot said dreamily. ‘I saw our place for the first time when we were in drought. You took me there and I thought it was great. I thought you were great. I fell in love then and you knew I was serious. Marriage is for the good times and the bad. If the bad times come first, then the marriage will last for ever.’ She sniffed and groped for a handkerchief. ‘So there. It is romantic.’
‘Yeah, but he can’t see it,’ Maggie said obtusely. ‘He thinks she’ll walk out on him.’
‘Why would she walk out on him?’ Enid asked, and Riley decided it was time to intervene.
‘Excuse me, but this is my-’
He was ignored.
‘Because every woman who’s ever come near this place has walked away,’ Maggie was saying over the top of him. ‘He reckons if he falls for Jenna and they try and make a go of it, then it’ll end in failure and the littlie’ll be hurt.’
Bill frowned. ‘That’s a bit of a long shot.’
‘You try telling him that,’ Maggie retorted. ‘He’s got rocks in his head.’
‘Will you butt out of what’s not your business?’ Riley demanded.
‘I flew all the way from Perth,’ Enid told him. ‘It is my business.’
‘And if we hadn’t contacted you and told you the cops were looking for them, you’d have had a search party at Barinya Downs days ago and you never would have fallen in love,’ Dot said severely. ‘So it’s our business, too.’
‘I haven’t fallen in love,’ Riley snapped.
‘Haven’t you?’ Maggie demanded. She fixed him with a look he’d first been fixed with when he was two years old. ‘Can you look me in the eye, Riley Jackson, and tell me you don’t love her? That you don’t love the pair of them?’
He couldn’t. Of course he couldn’t.
He tried another track. ‘Hell, I don’t want to hurt them.’
‘So what are you doing sending them away?’
‘It wouldn’t work. They’ll get hurt.’
‘They can’t be hurt any more than they are now,’ Maggie told him. ‘They’ve fallen for you. Just look at Karli’s rock. What sort of loving’s that?’
He should dispute it. He should even manage to laugh.
Instead he dug Karli’s rock from his pocket. He stared down at it while the misassorted group around him stared at him.
Hell.
They can’t be hurt any more than they are now.
Karli was flying down to Adelaide without her rock.
Jenna was flying down to Adelaide-without him.
‘I can’t,’ he said, and Maggie beamed.
‘Yes, you can.’
He stared at Maggie and she stared back.
He gazed at Dot and Bill.
What had Dot said?
Marriage is for the good times and the bad. If the bad times come first, then the marriage will last for ever.
Jenna had fallen for him when they were at Barinya Downs. She’d said she loved him when they were in that damned awful swimming hole. She hadn’t even known this place existed.
She’d said she loved him, knowing she had no money, thinking he had no money, believing Barinya Downs was the way he lived.
Maybe, he thought cautiously, just maybe, he’d been a fool.
Something shifted inside him right there. He waited for it to right itself, but it didn’t. This was a fundamental shift, moving things back that had been first hauled out of place when his mother had left. They’d stayed out of place when his sisters had gone, his father had died, his wife had left.
And now they were back in place. They were back in place because of Jenna, and suddenly he knew absolutely and for sure that this shift was for ever.
‘I don’t have a plane,’ he said blankly, and Maggie’s mouth twitched at the corners. A smile started at the back of her worried eyes.
‘I can see two.’
‘We’ll take you to Adelaide straight away.’ Dot was also starting to smile. She was quick, was Dot. ‘We’re flying there anyway, and there’s plenty of room in the back.’
Riley stared at her. Then he stared at the plane.
He turned to Enid. ‘Enid…’
‘Hey, you’re not borrowing my plane,’ Enid said. She could catch on fast as well. She grinned at her pilot, who gazed back in stolid indifference. ‘It’s only a two-seater and Harold and I are coming. We need to watch. Don’t we, Harold?’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
Riley glanced again at Dot and Bill’s tin can with wings. ‘We’ll never catch them. Not in that.’
‘I’ll radio Max,’ Maggie said serenely. ‘I can have him do a few big loops so he loses an hour before landing. I bet he can do it without Jenna knowing a thing.’ She glanced at Bill and Dot’s plane and her smile deepened. ‘Or maybe I should make that two hours. Lots of big loops.’
‘Is it safe?’ Riley demanded. He might be haring off on a mission of the heart, but he had no plans to get himself killed in the process.
‘Of course it’s safe,’ Bill said, outraged. ‘We’ve used it to transport a bit of blood and bone fertiliser, though. It might be a bit smelly in the back.’
‘Oh, great.’
‘Hey, what’s a bit of fertiliser to a man in love?’ Bill demanded, entering into the spirit of things. ‘You want to win the lady or not?’
Riley gazed at all of them. They all gazed back.
He stared down at his stone.
He looked at the dog. His dog. The pup was nuzzling his hand, just as a much-loved dog had done all those years ago.
He’d call him Bustle, he thought, after a dog he used to know.
Maybe he could give this love business one more go.
No. Three more goes.
Bustle.
Karli.
Jenna.
‘There’s no saying she’ll have me,’ he warned, and Maggie’s face cleared as if by magic.
‘Oh, Riley, of course she’ll have you. She loves you.’
‘Of course she’ll love you, young man,’ Enid told him. ‘If I didn’t have Harold here, I’d love you myself. I haven’t seen such excellent husband material going begging for a very long time. Now shake a leg. You’re wasting time.’
‘Faint heart never won fair lady,’ Harold said-and everybody stared.
The statue had a voice.
Enid chuckled and reached out to hug her pilot. ‘Well, you’d know,’ she said, and Harold hugged her back.
‘He’s right,’ Bill said. ‘Faint heart, hey? You’d never want to be called that, now, would you, Jackson? Well. If you’re brave enough to cope with a bit of blood and bone, then we’re game enough to take you. Take a good sniff of decent air, young fella, cos it’s the last clean air you’ll smell until we get to Adelaide.’ He gave a whoop that could be heard in the next state and headed back towards the plane. ‘Let’s get this baby in the air.’
‘Baby,’ Dot snorted heading after him. ‘Demented geriatric, more like.’
‘We’ll need to refuel before we go,’ Enid told them.
‘Then do it,’ Bill told her over his shoulder. ‘You’ll have to catch us up, though. We’ve got enough fuel on board and we’re on a mission to Adelaide. One fair lady, coming up.’
‘I’m crazy,’ Riley said faintly, and Maggie shoved back his hat and planted a kiss on his forehead.
‘No,’ she said firmly. ‘At last you’re being sensible. After thirty-two years, you’re finally seeing sense. Go, Riley, go. Bring your family home.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
‘THIS flight seems to be taking a very long time.’ Jenna glanced at her watch. It had been almost three hours since they’d taken off from Munyering. She’d assumed Munyering was on the edge of viable grazing land, which surely meant that it wasn’t too far from Adelaide.
‘There’s been a head wind,’ Max called out over his shoulder. He’d been quiet for most of the trip, which had suited Jenna’s mood. Every now and then he’d spoken briefly into his radio, but his voice had been too muted for her to hear what he’d been saying, and he’d made no move to engage her in conversation.
Karli had drifted into sleep, which had also fitted Jenna’s bleak mood. She’d been free to stare out the window and think about everything she was leaving.
Everything she was facing.
‘We’re coming into Adelaide now,’ Max called. ‘Make sure the kiddy’s seat belt’s tight.’
‘Can we get a flight on to Perth from here?’ Jenna asked and Max shook his head.
‘I’m flying you into Parafield, which is the runway for private planes,’ he told her. ‘You’ll need to catch a cab to the main airport to go to Perth.’
‘I don’t suppose you could radio ahead and see if there are any seats on commercial flights leaving this afternoon?’ Jenna asked, and he shook his head again.
‘I dunno how to do that.’
Great. Jenna bit her lip. She couldn’t afford to spend a night in Adelaide.
‘We’re going down now,’ Max told her. He glanced at his dials and bit his lip. ‘I’ve spent as much time up here as I… I mean, I’ve been held up long enough. With the wind and everything. We’re running low on fuel. Hold onto the kiddy.’
Sitting in Bill and Dot’s cargo area wasn’t the most comfortable way Riley had ever flown. In fact, it was the most uncomfortable ride he’d ever had.
And, beside him, Bill whinged all the time.
‘If I’d thought I’d have ended up in the cargo hold I never would have come. Dot, hold this tank steady. I’ll throw up if you bucket round any more.’
‘That’ll make the stink worse,’ Dot called out from the pilot’s seat. ‘This tank doesn’t know how to stay steady.’
‘I offered to sit in the back.’ Maggie was in the passenger seat, knitting and smiling and looking out at the scenery. Her last-minute decision to come was hardly surprising, Riley thought bitterly. Nothing about this day was surprising.
‘You’re not sitting in the back,’ Dot retorted. ‘I told you. It’s not fit for ladies. It won’t hurt Bill to see how awful it is. This way I might finally get a new plane.’
‘Women.’ Bill snorted. ‘Are you sure you know what you’re getting into, young fella?’ He looked desperately over at Riley. ‘Just say the word and we’ll head back now.’
‘We don’t head back,’ Riley said.
Parafield airport looked small and inconspicuous and incredibly lonely. Jenna helped Karli down from the plane. The air was totally still. Totally calm.
‘What happened to the wind?’ she asked.
‘Upward currents,’ Max said and he sounded a bit strained. ‘Stratospheric conditions. Nimbus or something. You don’t feel them under a thousand feet.’
‘Oh.’ She gave him a doubtful look. But there was nothing she could say. ‘You’ve been really good to us,’ she told Max. ‘Thank you.’
Max cast a worried look up at the sky-checking nimbus? ‘Yeah, well, there’s no need to rush off. It’ll take me a while to unload your gear.’
‘There’s only one suitcase each.’
‘Yeah, but…there’s customs and stuff.’
‘Customs?’
‘Yeah, well, fruit quarantine,’ he said, a trifle desperately. ‘Same thing as customs. There’s laws about flying fruit from different areas and everything’s got to be inspected. They’ve got beagle dogs, and the suitcases have to be sniffed before you’re allowed out of the airport. You and the littlie wait in the lounge while I sort it out.’
‘Can’t we take the suitcases straight through?’ The place looked empty.
‘Rules is rules,’ Max said doggedly, with another look upwards. ‘I dunno where the dogs are. You go and sit down and I’ll bring your stuff in as soon as it’s cleared.’
There was another plane coming in to land, and as Jenna and Karli headed reluctantly indoors he chewed his bottom lip in dismay.
It was the wrong damned plane.
‘How were we supposed to know the Minister for Agriculture was choosing today of all days to visit Adelaide?’ Dot demanded. They’d been put into a circling pattern and Riley was going nuts. They were all going nuts. ‘Heck, we’ll be stuck up here for ever.’
‘I’m going to die,’ Bill said, clutching his stomach.
‘Is there a parachute?’ Riley demanded, but Dot just grinned and turned the plane into another wide circle.
Holding pattern.
Karli was miserable enough to complain, which, for Karli, was miserable indeed. ‘Why is it taking so long to get our suitcases out of the plane?’
They’d sat in the waiting area as politicians had greeted politicians. It had taken for ever, and no one had done anything about the woman and child patiently waiting for Max’s phantom dog-fruit-checkers to appear. Max himself was nowhere to be seen. Finally, as the dignitaries left in a fleet of chauffeur-driven limousines even Karli voiced her impatience.
Enough, Jenna thought. Enough.
‘I have no idea, but, fruit or no fruit, dogs or no dogs, I’m getting them now,’ she said. ‘Come on, Karli.’
She walked to the door, she swung it wide-and Riley was on the other side.
She was still here.
Riley had been stuck in the air for an hour waiting for clearance to land, and he had visions of Jenna catching a cab to the main airport and getting
a plane straight away to Perth and…
He shoved open the terminal door and she was right in front of him.
‘Riley.’
She said his name and the world righted itself
She was here.
She sounded stupid. She felt stupid. The world was falling away, and for a moment she thought she might faint.
But two strong hands came out and caught her and held her steady.
‘You’re here.’ Riley sounded as stunned as she felt.
‘Of course we’re here,’ she managed, and then she tried to think what next to say. ‘They think we have fruit.’
‘Fruit,’ Riley said blankly. ‘What sort of fruit?’
‘I have no idea.’
‘Max says people stick bananas in their luggage, and he’s gone to find the dogs to sniff them out,’ Karli ventured. Jenna might be too stunned to think straight, but Karli was just plain pleased. ‘Hello, Riley,’ she said. ‘Can you tell the man with the dogs that I ate my banana on the way and it’s silly that we have to wait and wait. Why are you here?’
‘I came to find you,’ Riley told her. He wasn’t looking at Karli, though. He was looking at Jenna. He was holding onto Jenna. ‘I had to bring you your rock.’
‘I left the rock for you,’ Karli said.
‘It was your gift.’
‘But you need it.’
‘I don’t need it,’ Riley said, and his grip on Jenna grew tighter. ‘I have you.’
Silence.
They were blocking the door. Karli was behind Jenna on one side of the door. Enid and Harold and Dot and Bill and Maggie were behind Riley on the other side of the door.
It was a less-than-desirable position for all of them. Enid and Harold and Dot and Bill and Maggie couldn’t see.
‘Do something, Harold,’ Enid ordered, so Harold put his shoulder to the door and pushed, propelling Jenna and Riley back into the waiting area. He propelled them so hard that Jenna almost fell over.
She couldn’t fall. Riley had her tight and he wasn’t letting go.
The others tumbled inside.
‘Has he kissed her yet?’ Dot demanded of Karli, and Karli looked confused.
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