Ella tingled, feeling his lips. “But today I definitely won’t blame it.”
“Everybody!” Robert called out. “Please join me in a toast. He raised his glass. “To Ella and Lucas. I haven’t known either of them very long, but it’s clear they’re very much in love. May they have many, many happy years of married life together.”
The room rang with cheers. Lucas slipped his arm around Ella’s waist and smiled his thanks.
“Speech, speech.” The small gathering shouted, and Jonnie, Lucas’ best man, blushing furiously, dipped a small bow. “Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve worked for Lucas almost four years now and there hasn’t been a day gone by that I’ve regretted it. He’s a kind, compassionate man, and I’m thrilled to bits he’s at last found someone as wonderful as Ella. To their long and happy life together.” He crossed to hug Lucas.
“Your turn now, Boss,” he said with a grin.
Ella looked up at Lucas. He loosened his cravat, smiled, and she thought for the umpteenth time how lucky she was to have found such an attractive, charismatic man.
His hand rested lightly on Ella’s shoulder as he spoke. “Thank you all for coming and making our day so special. I feel I am the luckiest man alive today. I never thought I’d experience that emotion the poets write so passionately about, love. But I know I have found it with my beautiful wife, Ella. Thank you all again.”
When the cheering died down, Molly’s husband, David, collected his fiddle. He’d arranged for two musician friends to join him, and they took their seats out on Glen Ayre’s large wide veranda and started playing.
Lucas looked at Ella. “Before I ask you to dance, Mrs. Helm, I have a little gift for you.” He took from his pocket a small blue velvet box and handed it to her. Ella opened it and gasped, seeing the pendant on its slender gold chain. “Lucas!”
“It is a rare rose pink quartz from the Northern Territories, my love. A stone said to promote gentle love and peace. May I?” He took it from the box and placed it around her neck, standing behind her to fasten it. She thrilled to the touch of his fingers and had to stifle a moan when he bent to kiss the spot.
“Now.” Lucas took her hand. “Dance with me.”
Leading her out onto the veranda, wordlessly he swung her into his arms, one hand on the small of her back. Ella rested hers lightly on his shoulder and pressed her face into his neck, loving the smell of him, the feel of his pulse beating beneath her lips.
“I can’t wait to get back to Woomba,” she whispered. She felt his grip on her tighten and pressed closer.
Ella had never known such contentment. Dancing with her husband, she gazed across the meadows and pastures to the hills.
Hard to believe, she thought, that not many months ago I had no idea this place existed or that this man was alive even! And now I live here and will spend my life with him.
“How do we make them all go home?” Lucas’s voice cracked with longing.
Ella smiled. “They’ll all soon be gone my love. Worry not.”
As if on cue, Dorothy, Molly, and Coralee started the move. Plates were collected, the tables gradually cleared, and the musicians packed their instruments away.
During that activity, Ella and Lucas slipped outside to where Robert waited with the carriage.
He drove at a good pace back to Woomba.
And there at Woomba, the place which had given Ella a life she never thought possible, she led Lucas to her bedroom, where, lit by the soft glow from the bedside lamps, they were finally alone. Ella sighed as Lucas undid the tiny buttons down the back of her wedding gown, kissing her neck at each one. At last with them all open, it slipped off her shoulders, slithering to the floor, and Ella turned to her husband.
»»•««
Lucas slept peacefully. Ella lay wide awake going over his words.
“I fell in love with you that first moment…do you remember, on the lane?”
“Tell me again,” she’d said. “I’ll never tire of hearing it.”
“I love you, Ella Helm.”
In the dark room lit only by the faint glow of the moon, Ella reached out and ran a finger down his cheek, along his strong jaw line. How she adored him, her wonderful lover. Lucas stirred instantly, opened his eyes, and smiled at her.
“Kiss me,” Ella said.
Chapter Nineteen
Over the next few days there were plans to be formulated, decisions to be made, and Ella and Lucas, after the jobs at Woomba and Glen Ayre were finished, swam in the lake and ate leisurely picnics.
“I’ve been thinking.” Lucas ran a finger over Ella’s lips. They were lying on the grass beside the lake. “How would you feel about my leasing the farm to Jonnie with a view to him eventually buying it?”
Ella turned a startled gaze on him. “You’d give up Glen Ayre?”
Lucas rolled onto his back. “Yes, I would. My priorities have changed, Ella. And a ranch the size of Glen Ayre needs a younger man than me. Jonnie’s only twenty-two. He’d have years ahead of him to do what you’ve done with this place.”
“Have you mentioned it to him?”
“Only lightly. I said I’d have to speak to you first. But he seemed mighty thrilled with the idea, said he’d bring his young brother to join him.”
Ella raised on one elbow and leaned over her husband. “We think alike, darling.” She kissed his mouth. “I was only thinking about Coralee. Have you noticed anything?”
Lucas laughed. “What, that Robert’s never away from the place?”
“She’s in love with him. I think marriage is out of the question, there’s the small problem of an errant husband out at the mines somewhere, but she’s asked Robert to move in with her.”
“Good on them,” Lucas said. “I want everyone to be as happy as we are. And hey, what about Mary Wells? It didn’t take her long to switch her affections to Jonnie. The lad’s besotted!”
Ella laughed. “Getting back to Coralee and Robert. I actually broached the subject of them taking over Woomba. They were delighted, and Robert has the money to do it.”
“Woomba! Ella, you’d let it go?”
“Like you, I feel differently now. I have nothing to prove, but it pleases me to think I’ll be passing on a successful business. Yes, I’m ready to let it go. I’d make one stipulation though.”
Lucas squinted at her. “Oh, and what would that be?”
“That Glen Ayre always has access to the water from the lake.”
“Ah, Ella, how incredible you are, and how wonderful life is. I have thought of many options for our future but the one I keep coming back to is the coast. How do you feel about that?”
Ella laid her head on his chest and listened to the steady beat of his heart. “Whatever you think best,” she said on a happy sigh.
Lucas chuckled. “Well, I have enough savings in the bank to buy a place for us by the beach with plenty over to invest in other properties for rental. Maybe we could build a small hotel? The possibilities are endless.”
Ella nodded. “And don’t forget, I’d have the money from Woomba and the Hampshire farm to add to the coffers.” A tingle of excitement ran through her.
“Most importantly,” Lucas said, “is that we’ll be working together. Imagine darling Ella, bringing up our brood of children close to a sandy beach. Does that sound good?”
Dorothy sprung into Ella’s thoughts.
“I can hear your brain whirring,” Lucas said. “Is it Dorothy?”
Ella raised her head and looked into his eyes. “I would miss her so much.”
“I know. And I wouldn’t want that, but if we bought, or built somewhere with a cottage attached, she’d come wouldn’t she?”
“Maybe.” Ella brightened. “Even if she just came and spent holiday time with us? As for me, Lucas Helm, I’d follow you to the other end of the earth if you asked me.”
»»•««
Almost two months passed. Months of sometimes frantic activity as all their dreams and plans slowly slotted into place.
Lucas had taken a few days to travel to the coast looking for land or a property and came back wildly excited.
“Ella, Ella!” He ran into the kitchen at Woomba and grabbed her, swinging her round and round.
“Stop, stop.” Ella laughed. “You’re making me dizzy. What is it?”
“I’ve found it, Ella. The ideal set-up in the perfect spot. It has a lovely house with far reaching views over the ocean, three acres of land, sand beaches…” He stopped to catch his breath.
“And?” Ella waited eagerly, looking up into the deep blue eyes she loved so much.
“As soon as I saw the separate cottage in its own paddock I bought it.”
»»•««
Everything was at last settled. The few household goods Ella wanted to take with her were stacked, ready in the barn. Coralee and Robert would take over Woomba the day Lucas and Ella left, and Jack would remain with them. Jonnie and his brother had already taken possession of Glen Ayre with the generous loan from Lucas. But the icing on the cake for Ella was Dorothy’s acceptance of their offer to join them.
The last night before they left the place which had brought Ella such incredible good fortune, her thoughts wondered to the new home awaiting her, the people she had yet to meet. It would be such an exhilarating time in their lives. Turning, she slid her hand around her sleeping husband. He murmured as she kissed his back, thought about the new life she was almost certainly carrying, conceived on their wedding night.
Ella snuggled closer.
A place by the beach! How wonderful for their child.
She knew it could wait until tomorrow, which was when she’d fully intended telling him, but she wanted him to know now, and to show him how much she loved him.
“Wake up, Lucas,” Ella whispered.
THE END
About the Author
Pauline Saull is retired, living on the Gold Coast in Australia, where luckily, the weather allows her to write outside most days. She loves creating characters, plots and sub plots in her romance novels, which she hopes brings pleasure to readers.
Hartwood Publishing delights in introducing authors and stories that open eyes, encourage thought, and resonate in the hearts of our readers.
Australian Odyssey Page 17
