There was only a man and a woman under the stars, a man taking his woman into his arms, into his heart, into his life.
He held her and held her. Christmas Day came to an end, and snake babies twenty-nine, thirty and thirty-one had to manage their births with no obstetric attention at all.
Sally and Dianne returned the next day, sad, grey, grieving for their friend.
They were met by babies.
Alicia Jessie, one day old, was voicing displeasure at her first bath when the two elderly ladies arrived. Grief turned to intrigue and the beginnings of the way forward.
A baby, in their house…and staying? They were delighted.
‘Of course you must stay,’ Dianne told the new parents when she realised what had happened. ‘Sally and I can use the sleep-out.’
‘And could we make Marge’s room the baby’s room?’ Sally asked, shyly. ‘That seems…right. Please, stay as long as you can. For what little time we have left here, we need to make things happy. And…can I have a cuddle?’
She cuddled Alicia Jessie, she wept a little, the resort buggy arrived with high tea of macaroons, sponge cake and strawberries, and over the third macaroon Sally let out her heart.
The news had kept getting worse.
‘Marge said she was leaving her money to the sanctuary,’ she said, trying hard not to cry. ‘We all intended that. This was our dream. Only it seems Marge never got round to changing her will. So there’s not enough left to keep the sanctuary going. The university will take it over as a research site but we’ll have to leave. And…and Marge’s daughter doesn’t even want Pokey.’
She finished on a wail and Kathy took Alicia Jess back and hugged her and Alicia Jessie wailed in sympathy.
They were all on the veranda. Ben and Jess were sitting on the top step. Holding hands. Soppy, but no one was noticing. Soon they’d share their news, Jess thought, but for now it was all theirs, a secret joy, building and building.
Tempered now with sadness.
‘Do you own this place?’ Ben asked, looking around. A rambling old house. A research shed out the back. Pens, pens and more pens.
‘We have a ninety-nine-year lease,’ Sally said.
‘In Marge’s name?’
‘No, dear, we were sensible about that at least,’ Sally said. ‘It’s designated as Cassowary Island Habitat, a separate entity. We paid up front. It’s only the running costs we can’t cover now. Bringing the vet over. Medical supplies. We can’t keep doing it. We won’t compromise on quality.’
‘Could you extend the house, if you wanted?’ Ben said, curiously. He was still holding Jessie’s hand.
Dianne noticed. She glanced at the linked hands, glanced at Ben, glanced at Jess. She managed a tiny smile, then retreated back to sadness.
‘I guess,’ Sally said. ‘If we wanted. If we had the money. But…why?’
‘Could you build a couple more bungalows?’
‘We’re free to do what we want within this compound. We bought the lease years ago, before they started to protect this island. While we were still working and this was our dream. Actually,’ she admitted, ‘it’s only about an eighty-year lease now.’
‘I think that’ll be long enough,’ Ben said, and smiled.
‘Long enough for what?’
Ben’s pressure on Jessie’s hand increased. She knew he was smiling inside. He’d run this idea past her some time last night, or was it some time this morning? Her happiness just kept growing.
‘You might not have enough money to keep caring for this place,’ he told Sally and Dianne now, simply, bluntly. ‘But I do. If you agreed to my terms I could set this place up so you could care for your animals for ever.’ He hesitated. Corrected himself. ‘Okay, not for ever. For the terms of the lease. For eighty years.’
‘H-how?’ Sally stammered, bewildered.
‘I have family money,’ he said simply. ‘A lot of family money. I’ve been waiting…until I had a family to spend it with.’
‘But…’
‘If you agree,’ Ben said, ‘we would very much like to help. Jess and I would be honoured to be a part of what you’re doing here.’
Jess and I…
The words hung.
Dianne’s eyes went back to their linked hands. ‘Oh, my,’ she breathed. ‘You’re not…’
Ben held up his hand. On his little finger, a band of gold. ‘Engagement ring,’ he said simply. ‘I said yes.’
‘You’re…’
‘What…?’ There was a confused muddle. Clarification. Congratulations. Laughter.
Dusty had been sitting beside Ben. He’d been checking out the surrounds with his field glasses. He’d been listening.
He finished looking at what he was looking at—and then he looked at his mother.
‘Engaged,’ he said.
‘Ben asked me to marry him,’ she told her son.
‘I believe it was the other way round,’ Ben said, smiling at Dusty. ‘She’s very pushy, your mother.’
‘She’s bossy,’ Dusty said. ‘Why do you want to marry her?’
‘So I can be a proper uncle to you?’
‘You’re a proper uncle anyway.’
‘I guess I am.’
‘If you were married to Mum…’ he said, thinking it through. ‘You’d be…almost a dad.’
‘I guess I would,’ Ben said diffidently. ‘How would you feel about that?’
‘Ace,’ Dusty said, deeply satisfied. ‘Could we live here?’
‘No.’
‘No?’
‘Your mother and I talked about that last night,’ Ben said, apologetically. ‘We’d love to, but our job is delivering babies. And though we seem to have delivered a whole lot in two days…’
‘A whole lot?’ Sally breathed. ‘Pokey?’
‘You don’t know the half of it,’ Ben said. ‘But can I tell you our plan?’
‘Our plan,’ Jess repeated, and grinned and grinned. All was looking very neat in her world. Neat as in Dusty’s use of the word. Neat as in cool. Neat as in ace.
‘The thing is, the resort manager told me a couple of days back that there was local concern about this sanctuary’s long-term viability,’ Ben said, sounding a little apologetic. ‘With just the three of you running it he said there were problems. So I had a bit of warning. I’ve had time to think. And I think…if my family money was used to bring this place to what it could be, I reckon we’d even get the cassowaries back.’
‘We have sixteen already,’ Dianne said, sounding defensive.
‘Which is a great start and with more money for research we can truly make this place Cassowary Island again. We can have a full-time vet. We can work with threatened species. We can work with the university.’
‘It’d cost a fortune,’ Dianne breathed, her eyes shining.
‘Just lucky I have one,’ Ben said. ‘Just lucky my father and my brother didn’t waste their money doing what they should have done.’
‘But you…’ Sally said.
‘That’s a problem,’ he admitted. ‘Jess and I deliver babies. Dusty needs to go to school. But we thought…if Jess is prepared to move from London, I’d be prepared to move north. I can do my research through the university here. We can work on the mainland, Dusty can go to school, but whenever we have time off we could come and help.’
‘I could keep coming here?’ Dusty breathed.
‘We’d need a bungalow,’ Ben said. ‘And we’d need vet quarters. And room for more staff.’ He hesitated then, and Jess looked at Kathy and smiled and smiled. She knew what was coming. This was her part of the plan. How neat was this?
‘We also think,’ Ben said diffidently, ‘seeing neither of you ladies drive… We think you need someone here permanently who can do some hard physical work. Kathy says you, Mike, aren’t enjoying the mines. Kathy, you tell us you love this island. If there was a decent house here, and decent wages…’
‘Oh, my,’ Kathy breathed.
‘Hey,’ Mike said, startled, and took Alicia Jess back f
rom her. ‘You’ll drop our baby.’
‘I could help here?’ Kathy breathed.
‘Don’t go near the snakes,’ Dusty said. ‘Not till you’ve learned how. I’m going to learn how.’
‘Me, too,’ Kathy said.
‘Could we do this?’ Sally breathed, as awed as Kathy. ‘I mean…could we really do this?’
‘We can do anything we like,’ Ben said. ‘Forty-five babies in one night. Give or take one or two. I believe I stopped counting. There’s nothing Dr McPherson and Dr Oaklander can’t achieve.’
‘Forty-five…’ Sally said, confused.
‘We’re quite a team,’ Ben said, and rose and tugged Jess up to stand beside him. He put his arm around her waist and hugged her close. ‘My wife and I. A unit. A family. Did I tell you that we’re getting married? Should I repeat it?’
‘When?’ Dusty demanded.
‘How soon would you like?’
‘Now,’ Dusty said. ‘Make him sign something, Mum, so he can’t change his mind.’
‘He can change his mind if he wants,’ she said serenely, feeling the strength of his arms holding her, feeling the strength of his love. ‘No one’s making him do anything.’
‘Yes, you are,’ Ben said, and despite his audience he drew her round to face him. ‘Yes, you definitely are. You, my lovely Jess, are the reason for all of this. You’ve pulled me out of my boys’ own world and you’ve made me family. I love you with all my heart, for ever and ever, and if it’s not possible to marry you legally today, know that I’m marrying you at this moment in my heart. I love you, my Jess. From this day forward.’
‘You can have babies together,’ Dusty breathed.
‘Thousands,’ Ben said.
Whoa…
‘Professionally speaking, of course,’ Ben added hastily. ‘Personally…one or two?’
‘Can we talk about this later?’ Jess said, feeling desperate.
He smiled. He tugged her forward and he kissed her.
‘Why, yes, my love, I believe we can,’ he said. ‘For I believe we have all the time in the world.’
‘Only eighty years,’ Dianne warned.
‘That’s just the start,’ Ben said, kissing his Jess again. ‘Watch this space.’
ISBN: 978-1-4592-8246-9
DYNAMITE DOC OR CHRISTMAS DAD?
First North American Publication 2011
Copyright © 2011 by Marion Lennox
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Dynamite Doc or Christmas Dad? Page 18
