"World's best son," she said softly.
He smiled a little. "Yes."
"Matthew—"
He squeezed her hand. "Tell me about this." He pointed to a photograph of Jody. "Why is she sticking her tongue out?"
She had to push her words past the lump in her throat. "She was two. That was the year her tongue was out of her mouth more than it was in. I finally threatened to put pepper on it if it passed her lips again." She tried to laugh. The sound was more like a sob. "When we stayed in New Zealand before coming here, we visited a Maori meeting house. Some traditional Maori carvings have images of men with their tongues out to scare away enemies. Jody asked me if I had my pepper with me. She still remembered."
"She's not an easy child, just a wonderful one."
"World's best daughter."
He squeezed her hand again and began to lead her through the hallway. He bypassed her bedroom and the study. Both doors were closed. Instead he stopped at Jody's room. That door was open.
"I've been assured that this bedroom is every little girl's dream. Her friend Annie gave her approval." He stepped aside so Alexis could see. The room had been wallpapered in a delicate print of rose and apple green. The trim was painted rose, and the green was picked up in both a large plush throw rug and a rose and green flowered comforter and matching canopy on the bed in the corner. The bed was pine, and there were a pine desk and dresser to match. Todd's carving of the possum sat on the dresser top, along with Jody's own possessions.
"Matthew " Alexis didn't know what else to say.
"Come on."
She couldn't resist him. She let him lead her down the hallway. She got a glimpse of new furniture in the living room; some she recognized from Matthew's house. But it was the kitchen where he finally stopped.
"What do you think?"
She couldn't think at all. She could only feel, feel the love that had always been present here magnified one hundredfold. With a soft cry, she flung herself into his arms.
He clutched her as if he would never let her go. "Anything you don't like, we can change. I just had to show you—"He buried his face in her hair.
"That you love me."
"I love you." Matthew turned her face to his. "So much that I'll never be able to tell you how much." He kissed her, and they didn't part until they were both breathless. He turned her so that she was snugly against him, crossing his arms around her waist. "Do you like it?"
The kitchen had been remodeled with tender care. The slate floor had been scrubbed and polished to a bright shine. The window trim had been stripped and refinished until it now glowed a warm honey gold. All the cabinets had been given the same careful treatment and adorned with new enamel hardware. The walls had been primed, but not painted, as if they were waiting for final approval. But no one had waited for approval on the appliances. They were all new and almond-colored, selected to complement the unadorned simplicity of the huge room. The only touches of color were the rug they had once made love on and Jeannie's red enamel canisters and blue teakettle.
Best of all, the table she had hoped to refinish someday had been done for her. And gracing it, as if they had always stood there, were four dining room chairs from Matthew's house.
She turned and touched his cheeks with her fingertips. "It's the most beautiful room in the world."
"Will you let me share it with you?"
"The room, the house, Jody, everything I have." Not until relief showed plainly on his face did she know he'd been afraid she was going to say no.
"I don't know how you can still want me," he said.
"I don't know how you could believe otherwise."
"You had so much courage, and I had so little."
She thought of the times he had risked his life for her and shown courage any man would envy. But she knew Matthew meant something different—the courage of the heart.
She tried to tell him it didn't matter. "You love fiercely and forever. It wasn't cowardice, it was grief that made you afraid to love again."
It was a long time before he stopped kissing her. "You gave me back Jeannie and Todd," he said against her cheek. "I can let them go now. We can pack away the memories and make our own."
"You don't have to forget them," she said earnestly. "I love them, too. They were part of you once. They still are. Leave their pictures on the wall. Leave pieces of them here with us. If we have children together, we'll want them to know about their brother, and they'll be curious about Jeannie. Let's teach them that even when love hurts, it's worth giving."
He crushed her against him; then kissing her as they went, he guided her back through the hallway. She had no time to notice the changes he had made in the bedroom. She only noticed the firm mattress under her back and the man she loved against her.
They made love as if they had never been apart. No one led, and no one followed. They moved together, pleasing each other as they pleased themselves. Finally, restraint was a punishment.
Later she clung to him when he tried to leave her. She wasn't ready to be without him.
His smile was lazy and warm enough to reignite the embers they had just banked together. "Won't I be crushing you like this?"
"I'll take my chances."
He kissed her forehead, then turned them both to their sides so that they were still facing.
"Thinking of you here, like this, was the only way I got through the last month." He stroked her hair, letting it slide through his fingers.
"Would you really have come for me?"
"I told myself I'd wait until the house was done. I knew you needed time."
"I needed you."
"You needed to know you were safe. I needed to know that you wanted me anyway."
She frowned. "Did you think I wouldn't? I didn't just love you because you helped me when I was in danger."
"Both of us had to be certain that was true."
She wanted to protest, but she knew he was right. They had been thrown together by circumstance. The month apart had shown them that circumstance had nothing to do with the feelings they had for each other.
And more. "Did you need time to know Jeannie and Todd again?"
He nodded, relieved that she understood. "I had to say goodbye."
She stroked his cheek in silent sympathy.
He kissed her palm. "Can you live here? You came to the island because it was so remote. Will that bother you now?"
"You're here." She traced the line of his jaw with a fingertip.
"That won't always be enough."
"I have my work. I have Jody. After the island, the rest of the world seemed frantic and unreal. I'm glad to be back."
"Then you'll marry me?"
Her finger slid to a stop. "Someday, when I have a starry-eyed teenage daughter, she's going to ask me how you proposed. What'll I tell her?"
"Tell her that I kissed you. Like this." He demonstrated. "And then I asked if you'd be my wife. Tell her it was right here in this very. . . house."
"And I'll tell her I said yes without a second thought."
"Several teenage daughters." He drew the meandering fingertip to his mouth and kissed it. "I'd like Jody to have a sister. Will that be all right?"
"And a brother." She saw the answer in his eyes and knew that he was really healed.
"Todd would have liked a brother. I'd like another son," he said as he pulled her closer.
They fell asleep together then, dreaming of the years ahead. Outside, in a lone gum tree at the edge of the clearing, the koala called for his mate.
And from deep in the forest, there was a rapturous answering cry.
Epilogue
JODY LEAPED INTO the arms stretched out to greet her. "Gray!"
"Merry Christmas, shrimp. You've grown again."
She snuggled close as Gray lifted her against his chest for a hug.
"Pass her around, Sheridan. I want a turn." Dillon Ward, a man who looked like the opal miner he was, reached for Jody, and she went into his arms for an
embrace that equaled Gray's.
Jody giggled as Dillon threw her into the air, then caught her and set her down. "Is everybody here? Are they?"
"Why don't you go see?"
Jody started down the hallway. "Julianna! Kelsey! Paige!"
"If the baby was napping, she won't be now." Alexis stepped over the threshold, followed by Matthew. She hugged both men, then stood back to watch Gray introduce Matthew to Dillon. The two men looked each other over, then smiled.
Alexis slipped her arm through Matthew's with a new wife's pride. "Gray, the house is spectacular."
Gray beamed. "Do you like it? Dillon thought I should have built it underground, like his dugout in Coober Pedy."
"Gray said it would be a bloody aquarium if he did." Dillon clasped Gray's shoulder with affection.
A delicate strawberry blonde came from the far end of the hall to greet them. She kissed Alexis on the cheek and offered her hand to Matthew. The strength of her handshake proved how delicate she wasn't. "I'm Kelsey Ward." She looked him over much as her husband had, then smiled.
"Don't let Outback Man fool you, Gray," she said when the greetings were finished. "He's been lapping up these ocean breezes to remember when we're back of beyond again." She lowered her voice conspiratorially. "I saw him reading the real estate section in the paper."
Dillon threw up his hands in defeat. "For a summer cottage," he said, while everyone laughed. "A holiday spot."
"Kangaroo Island's closer," Alexis pointed out.
"And there's always New Zealand."
Everyone turned to stare at the raven-haired beauty framed in the open doorway. Then there was a rush to greet her and the dark-haired man and child behind her.
"Paige, you're pregnant! You didn't tell anybody." Gray hugged her first.
"I had no doubt you'd be able to tell for yourself," Paige said wryly. "Adam's thinking big. We're having twins. Just like most of our ewes." She reached down to lift the little boy into the middle of the greetings, but her husband shook his head and lifted him himself.
"You're not supposed to be lifting anything heavy," Adam scolded her.
"I'm not anything. I'm a boy," five-year-old Jeremy informed his father.
"See?" Paige said, when the laughter died. She smoothed Jeremy's hair. "Don't worry, darling. When I sit down, you can sit on what lap I have left."
Jody came running down the hallway to greet the new guests, followed by Julianna carrying a Buddha-like Colly.
Another round of kisses and hugs was exchanged.
"We have a house," Julianna informed them all when there was a large enough lull to be heard. "Not just a foyer."
Laughing and talking, they slowly headed toward the living room and the lanai off it. An architect, Gray had designed the house on the coast of Windward Oahu, where he and Julianna now lived year round. It showed all his creative ability in its attention to line and integration with the landscape. It also showed all Julianna's wizardry with color and pattern. Now, in mid-December, it was decorated for Christmas and this very special reunion.
Jody lagged behind. Julianna had given her Colly to hold, and the baby was cooing delightedly. Jeremy wriggled free from his father's encircling arms and came back to join them. In a minute the three children were alone in the hallway.
Jeremy frowned his concern. "Colly still doesn't have any teeth."
Jody nodded wisely. "She will. These things take time."
Colly reached for Jeremy, grabbing a fistful of shiny black hair, which she tried to pull into her mouth. Jeremy slipped away, giggling. "I'm glad I'm not a baby!"
"Do you want to hold her?"
Jeremy considered his answer. "No," he said finally.
"But you ought to practice. You're going to be a big brother."
He frowned as if he wasn't sure he was looking forward to that. "I never had a brother or sister before."
Jody transferred Colly to one hip. She put her other arm around Jeremy's shoulder. "You've got me."
"But you don't live with me."
"My mother says family is something you make right here." She touched Jeremy's chest. "In your heart. Everybody here is my family. So you must be my brother. And Colly's our sister."
Jeremy nodded. The logic seemed good enough for him. "I still don't wanna hold her."
"Okay." Jody looked up and saw her mother standing in the doorway. Her new father stood behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist.
"Would you like me to take Colly so you and Jeremy can explore?" Alexis asked.
"Daddy can take her," Jody said, hoisting Colly off her hip to thrust her at Matthew. "He likes little girls, and he never got to hold me when I was a baby."
Matthew took Colly, then bent to give Jody a kiss. "But I get to hold you now, don't I?" As an afterthought he ruffled Jeremy's hair. "Family," he reminded the little boy. Jeremy grinned.
In a moment the two children had run off to play.
"Family is something you make right here," Matthew said, reaching down to touch Alexis's chest. His hand lingered as Colly teethed happily on the collar of his shirt. "Did you really tell her that?"
"I don't know, but if I didn't, I should have."
"You should put it in a book. You should put all this and everyone here in a book. All the love. All the stories, including ours." He gestured widely, encompassing the house and everyone in it.
"I just might." Alexis stood on tiptoe to kiss him; then she stepped back, smiling. "Do you think anyone would believe it?"
THE END
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Author's Note
I'm delighted to share the final novel in one of my favorite romance series with you. Out of the Ashes is the fourth of a four book series that I titled Tales of the Pacific (that darned James Mitchener beat me to Tales of the South Pacific.) The books were first published in paperback, and are now available as ebooks. The series came to life after I traveled to each of four different "islands" on a family trip down under—with a nice long weekend in Hawaii--just me, my husband and our four children ages four to fourteen for six months. What an extended holiday that turned out to be.
By the time I came home again I was bursting with ideas and research information and ready to do something with both. Somewhere along the way--probably the night I was sleeping in a real opal mine in Coober Pedy, Australia--I decided that an opal looked like rainbow fire. Of course I knew immediately that Rainbow Fire had to be a book title. But if I had fire, didn't I also need embers, smoke and ashes? Of course I did. And as had happened before and since, I created titles before I created stories. Authors are like that.
From Glowing Embers was the initial book of the series, to be followed by the rest and many others. Eventually as an author I moved from pure romance into women's fiction, which I write today. But how much of a move was it? As you read this novel you'll see the elements I continue to share with my readers. Dealing with personal tragedy. The courage required to take life into our hands no matter the dangers. Starting over in a place so far from home even the stars are unfamiliar. Falling in love with someone who has sworn never to love again.
Reading back through Out of the Ashes, I was immediately involved in the lives of Alexis Whitham, her daughter Jody and ranger Matthew Haley. Alexis has run so far from her abusive husband that there is no place left to go. Every moment she wonders if she and Jody will ever be safe. And Matthew, who has nothing left to run from except hope and love, finds that he can't escape either no matter how hard he tries.
Kangaroo Island was so beautiful, so inspiring, that when my family traveled to Australia ten years after our first trip, we immediately made plans to revisit the area where this novel is set. We weren't sure what we might find, but we were delighted so little had changed. We stayed in a cabin where Alexis and Jody's fictional home was set. We communed with possums, with wallabies and kangaroos, walked among seals, pl
ayed at Remarkable Rocks. When asked where my heart's home is, I still have to say Kangaroo Island. It's my happy place, my serene place. I hope to visit there again someday.
How could I not set a book on Kangaroo Island?
I can't forget one of the best parts of writing this series. All four of these books have been made into movies in Germany, where they've aired in the prime Sunday night slot on ZDF. I was invited to go to New Zealand to watch another of my novels being filmed—and later I traveled to Germany to help promote the movie based on Rainbow Fire.
Out of the Ashes, like all the others, was filmed in New Zealand, along with the rest of the series, and as you might guess, Australian koalas are in short supply. So my resourceful producers changed the story and wrote yellow-eyed penguins into the plot instead. And, you know, they were awfully cute.
Who knew when Julie Ann and Gray of From Glowing Embers first appeared to me and began to tell their story, that they would live on in film and I would experience so much joy watching all this happen?
Happy Reading!
Emilie
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Haven't read the rest of the series and your interest has been piqued? Here's more about the others, and excerpts, too. Be sure to visit my website book pages for to learn more about my many other novels, and watch as new ebooks quickly join the others. You'll find more novels set in the Southern Hemisphere, too, including my sprawling pearl diving saga, Beautiful Lies. http://bit.ly/1ULBTjg
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