Long-Lost Son Read online

  ‘Can we go and see her?’ Rowdy asked.

  Luke waved at Ben who nodded. When they reached the centre of the clearing, Julie had begun to examine the bird. ‘The leg’s not broken, thank goodness. They’re such difficult patients, they don’t survive fractures. But, still, the muscle is badly torn. Not looking good. She’ll need it cleaned and stitched, and she’ll need antibiotics.’ She had a broad Australian accent, a sweet voice and a cheerful manner. ‘If she’d been a wild bird, I’m not sure if we could have pulled her through because the recovery period would stress her too much, but the fact that she was raised in captivity and will be in familiar surroundings should work in her favour. I think she’ll be fine. We just need to get her back to the animal care room, where we can work on her before she wakes up.’

  ‘So she’s not going to die?’ Rowdy said.

  Had Julie been briefed? She bent down to him, propping her hands on her knees. The silky black of her ponytail swung over her shoulder. ‘She’s not going to die.’

  ‘You’re not going to shoot her because she hurt Sam?’

  ‘No, because she’s going back in a really good cage so she won’t be able to hurt anyone else. Thanks for helping us capture her. It wasn’t safe to leave her in the wild. Hey, if she and Fred have some babies, want to think of some names for them? Send us an e-mail and tell us what you think they should be called.’

  ‘Names!’ He looked very seriously at Janey, a little overwhelmed by the new responsibility. He was exhausted, Luke realised.

  ‘No hurry, Rowdy,’ he said quickly. ‘Think about it another day. I bet you can come up with some great names if you give it some thought. Can we grab a ride back to the resort in one of the buggies?’ he asked Ben. ‘We won’t wait while you load Elke up. It’s getting late.’

  He put his arm around Janey without even thinking about it and squeezed her hard. She squeezed him back, but then drew away uncertainly and sneaked a look up into his face that she didn’t want him to see. He didn’t know what she felt, whether from her point of view there was anything more than his son bringing them close like this. There had to be, didn’t there? What was she thinking about last night?

  Despite his earth-shattering understanding of what had really been going on in his head and his heart eight years ago, he still felt on very shaky ground.

  CHAPTER NINE

  LUKE watched the day’s last boat back to the mainland churning out into the open water, leaving a path of white wake that seemed to glow in the rapidly fading light. ‘Look’s like we’re spending the night on the island. I’ll have to call Charles so he can get someone to cover for me at the hospital tomorrow.’

  ‘If we can get a cabin, it sounds like a nice idea, not a setback,’ Janey told him. ‘Rowdy’s wiped out, and so am I.’ She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and pushed several more back from her forehead.

  ‘We haven’t asked him yet how he feels about being called Rowdy.’

  ‘You think now’s the time?’

  ‘We should make sure, not just let it slide. Sometimes kids accept things because they don’t realise it can be different, don’t you think?’ He walked over to his son, standing beside the dock rail, and bent down to him, knowing that Janey was just behind him, listening. He needed to do this right. ‘Rowdy?’

  ‘Are we staying the night?’

  ‘Looks that way. But can I ask you something?’

  Rowdy nodded. ‘We’ve been calling you Rowdy. Do you like that, or do you want to be called something else?’

  ‘You mean Felixx, or one of my other names?’

  ‘Your other names?’

  ‘Mum changed her mind. When I was four, she thought Nuriel was the right name. But then it didn’t fit my spirit, she said, and she tried Rami, but that didn’t fit either. I can’t remember what my name was before Nuriel. Max and CJ call me Rowdy, and so does Georgie. I like it.’

  ‘Know what?’ Luke said, in a slightly unsteady voice. ‘So do I!’

  He stood up and circled back to Janey, spreading his hands in a silent question. She nodded, and he knew she approved. ‘Now, let’s organise that cabin,’ she said, ‘before I collapse in a screaming heap. I’m a wreck!’

  ‘You look good.’ While he felt sticky with sweat.

  She laughed. ‘Yeah, right!’

  He didn’t argue, just held her gaze for a little too long and left her to make of it what she wanted. She did look good. Sun-kissed skin on her cheeks and shoulders, the fresh evening breeze blowing her hair. A weary yet contented smile.

  Some good things had happened today—new beginnings born from danger—and she had hope in her face now. For Rowdy. For herself.

  For me?

  He took a moment to think about the kind of beauty she had. An unusual kind. So responsive to how she felt inside. When she was down or stressed or doubting of herself, her face went tight and forbidding. But when she was happy, when she let herself fly, she totally glowed.

  Yeah, Janey Stafford, no matter what you might think, you look good.

  ‘We have an in with management—shall we use it?’ he said. ‘See if Andrew can wangle us something really nice?’

  In the end they didn’t have to lean on Andrew for any favours. The resort had had plenty of cancellations thanks to the cyclone, and there was a three-bedroom luxury cabin with private deck and Jacuzzi available. ‘For you three, complimentary, with a four-course room-service dinner and wine thrown in,’ Andrew told them.

  ‘I think two courses is probably enough for this little guy,’ Luke told him.

  ‘What would you like, mate?’

  ‘You eat pretty much everything, don’t you, Rowdy?’

  ‘I think hamburgers with everything are good,’ he said seriously. ‘And tropical juice. And cake with fruit salad and cream, like we had at lunch.’

  ‘There you go, is that do-able?’ Luke asked.

  ‘No worries.’

  ‘If we could have it pretty soon, because bedtime’s not going to hold off much longer.’ He looked at Janey for confirmation, and she nodded. ‘But maybe save the four courses and wine until eight o’clock or so?’ he finished.

  ‘Whatever you want.’

  Andrew summoned someone to show them their cabin, and Janey announced as soon as he had gone, ‘I think I’m going to cry!’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because it’s so clean and airy and nice, and I’m so tired, and so hungry I could eat about six of Rowdy’s hamburgers.’

  ‘Have a shower.’ He looked at her more closely and saw that she was actually trembling, her blood sugar had dropped so low. ‘And then a soak in the Jacuzzi on the deck. He’s a self-feeding organism. I’ll get him ready for bed.’

  She gave him a suspicious look, and the air crackled with last night’s tension suddenly. ‘You’re spoiling me. Do you think I’m about to collapse in a screaming heap or something? I’ve been out of hospital for two and a half days.’

  ‘Yeah, and that’s not long enough. As your doctor, I’m prescribing a shower and a hot tub.’

  ‘You’re not my doctor.’

  ‘And you’re too fond of a good argument.’

  ‘Only this isn’t a good one, because I’m too tired. You’re right. I need the hot tub.’

  It was sheer heaven. Janey washed off the sand and salt, shampooed her sweaty hair, then wrapped herself in a huge, fluffy towel, went out to the jacuzzi and was faced with a decision.

  Put Georgie’s salty swimsuit back on?

  Really, it didn’t quite fit her, and the straps had been digging into her shoulders all day. A wooden lattice screen made the hot tub very private, as did the churning foam covering the surface. No one would see…

  So, not much of a decision, as it turned out.

  She dropped the towel onto the wooden decking, lowered herself into the tub and floated there with her eyes closed while the tension drained from her body. The water churned, buffeting her tired muscles and coaxing all thought from her mind. She could easily
have fallen asleep…

  ‘Auntie Janey?’

  Her eyes drifted open. Rowdy stood on the deck, leaning on the side of the hot tub so that a pair of big brown eyes were just inches from her face. ‘Hi, sweetheart,’ she said. How long had she been in here? She hadn’t really intended to leave Luke to put him to bed. ‘Was your hamburger good?’ She knew he must have eaten it, because there were beetroot stains and bun crumbs and a tomato seed still on his face.

  But Rowdy didn’t have hamburgers on his mind any more.

  ‘Luke says he’s my dad.’ He almost had to yell the words, over the churning sound of the hot-tub jets. ‘Is he?’

  Janey’s heart went thump, and her sleepy contentment dropped from her like a stone.

  Luke appeared, looming behind Rowdy, his eyes narrowed. He raked his white teeth across his bottom lip. ‘It just came up,’ he mouthed, over his son’s head. He took an agitated pace. ‘I hadn’t planned on…’ He stopped, looking helpless.

  ‘Is he my dad?’ Rowdy repeated. ‘Mum never said.’

  And, of course, Rowdy needed the truth now. He’d had so much uncertainty and so much chaos in his little life. He’d lost his mum. He needed the truth.

  Janey took a deep breath and just said it. ‘Yes, he is, love.’

  ‘Why? How is he my dad?’ he yelled.

  She reached for the button on the side of the tub that turned off the jets. They couldn’t shout this conversation.

  ‘He and your mum were married,’ she said. ‘But sometimes people discover that they can’t be married to each other after all, and they’re not happy and they fight, and that’s not good if they have a child. So they separate—move to different houses or different towns—and the baby goes with either the mum or the dad.’

  She came upon the issue of shared custody in her head, examined it for a moment, and let it go. She had to make this as simple as possible, and about Rowdy himself, not about the myriad scenarios that could happen to kids after a divorce.

  She stretched a wet, slippery arm out of the hot tub and took his hand. ‘You went with your mum, and she lived in a couple of different places, but then she took you to Mundarri, and she decided not to tell you that you had a dad, because he was too far away.’

  He nodded. ‘In Crocodile Creek.’

  Which seemed far away to him. Janey looked at London, looked at Alice concealing her whereabouts from Luke for so long, and let that go, too.

  ‘When she died, I brought you to Crocodile Creek so we could meet your dad, but then we had the bus accident, and everything got complicated and Luke and I talked about it and decided to wait a while before we told you who he was. But then…’ She trailed off. Luke would have to pick up the story now.

  He came forward and sat on the edge of the jacuzzi. ‘But then we were talking just now, you and me, and you asked a couple of questions, and I don’t like telling lies. I thought you’d want to hear the truth. Is it OK, Rowdy?’

  Out of his son’s range of vision, he rolled his eyes and pressed his palm to his forehead. I’m stuffing this up.

  Janey shook her head. You’re not.

  ‘I’d like to have a dad,’ Rowdy said cautiously. ‘Do I have to live at your house, with all the doctors?’

  ‘You don’t have to, but we—’

  ‘I want to live with Auntie Janey.’

  ‘Do you? I guess you would. She’s pretty good, isn’t she?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I think so, too.’ There was a tiny pause. Luke seemed to be thinking fast, weighing up options Janey couldn’t quite read. ‘Here’s a plan, then. Janey, stop me straight away if I’m going too fast.’ It sounded like a warning.

  ‘Too fast?’

  ‘Although it feels to me, right now, as if I’m eight years too slow.’

  That, she couldn’t answer. She met Luke’s gaze once more, over the top of Rowdy’s head. She couldn’t breathe. Something hung in the air, a moment so important and pivotal she didn’t have a name for it, or a word for how she felt. What could she say? Eight years too slow? Eight years?

  Luke spoke. ‘I want to live with Auntie Janey, too,’ he said, not taking his eyes from her face for a second.

  What was he doing? Rowdy looked between the two of them, up over his shoulder at Luke, down at Janey, with the deck’s yellow lighting gleaming on the water. He was confused, and waiting for more.

  So am I.

  ‘Luke?’ she whispered.

  ‘I want to marry her, and then the three of us can live together.’

  ‘In Crocodile Creek?’ Rowdy asked.

  ‘If you want. If she wants. Janey?’

  ‘Marry you?’ Her heart began to beat faster.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Because…?’ Of Rowdy?

  He understood at once. ‘No, not because. For a million other reasons. For the one reason that really counts. Tell me, Janey, so I know if we’re on the right track here.’

  ‘I think we’re on the right track,’ she said faintly.

  ‘Just think?’

  ‘I—I have questions.’

  ‘Which I can answer.’ He leaned closer. ‘You see, Rowdy, I knew her before I met your mum, and we were always friends. Sometimes we didn’t quite understand that we were friends, because we got annoyed with each other a lot. People make mistakes about how they feel sometimes. There was so much I didn’t understand then…’

  Who is he really talking to? Rowdy or me? Himself?

  ‘But I’m not making a mistake about Auntie Janey now. She reminded me about something last night. A party we went to once. And I didn’t remember while she was telling me about it, but today in the bird hide it suddenly came back to me. And I realized…’ He stopped. ‘But that’s for Auntie Janey and me to talk about later. Janey?’

  ‘Yes. It’s insane. It’s not,’ she corrected quickly. ‘It feels insane. But when I think…I’m not sounding sensible, am I?’

  He sat on the edge of the hot tub. ‘Not very. We’re waiting for a clear answer, Rowdy and I.’

  And she knew that Rowdy needed one.

  ‘Luke and I are going to get married, Rowdy,’ she said, and as soon as the words were spoken, clear and plain, the way he needed, they sounded right.

  ‘Well, he’s asleep already,’ Luke said ten minutes later, coming out of the bedroom Rowdy had chosen for himself. ‘So I guess he’s OK with everything for the moment.’ He paused, then spoke quietly. ‘Are you OK with it, Janey? I sprang it on you. It wasn’t the right time. I didn’t know what else to do. Can we make it the right time now? I love you. Can’t even say it in words.’ He covered the remaining space between them in three paces. ‘Will you marry me, sweetheart?’

  ‘Oh, Luke…’ She reached out her arms and whispered, ‘Do I really need to tell you?’

  She pressed her cheek against his, smelling the clean scent of his recent shower on his warm skin. They were both wrapped in the resort’s tropical kimono-style robes. ‘Tell me anyway,’ he whispered, seeking her mouth.

  ‘I love you. I’ll marry you.’

  He kissed her with deep, sweet, hungry heat. They grinned at each other, stroked each other’s hair, kissed again even more deeply, and then he just held her, and it was all she wanted. ‘At first I kept feeling Alice’s ghost…’ he said.

  ‘Me, too.’

  ‘Not real, but in my head.’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘I’d been so angry with her, but I still couldn’t help wondering.’

  ‘If you were looking for her when you looked at me?’

  ‘Yes. And then in the hide today it hit me. I was never looking for her in you. It was the other way around. Always. Eight years ago, when you used to drive me so crazy and we’d rub each other up the wrong way, have those arguments while we washed the dishes at your parents’ place at Christmas and birthday gatherings, or in groups of doctors at work. It was only because I wanted you.’

  ‘Wanted me?’

  ‘I think you wanted me, too.’


  ‘Only I wasn’t ready. Plus you were too perfect, and you knew it.’

  ‘And you were impossible. And that was what drove me so crazy, that you didn’t have the first idea of how much you were worth. A lot more than I had to give you at that point in my life, to be honest.’

  ‘No…’

  ‘Yes. Now I’ll give you my whole heart, and it’s bigger than it used to be.’

  ‘We’ve both grown up…’

  ‘Janey, I was looking for you in Alice, and I was so blind to think I could have found all of your qualities in her.’

  ‘You remembered the kiss.’

  ‘I remembered you in a silver dress. Did you ever wear that again?’

  ‘I borrowed it. It was an act of madness, not my kind of thing at all. Sent all the wrong signals, I thought.’

  ‘You looked fabulous. The way you danced. The way you smiled. The way you let your hair fall all over your face and just went wild. And in the hide I remembered this smug moment of thinking at the party that I’d known all along that you could be fabulous, and that was when I realised the truth. And it means we can let Alice go.’

  ‘Let her go?’

  ‘She’ll always be your sister, and Rowdy’s mother, but she’s not and never has been the woman I’m searching for, with you as her substitute. You have to know that, Janey. It’s always been you.’

  ‘And it always will be you, Luke, in my heart,’ she promised him in a whisper as she looked into his amber eyes. ‘For the rest of my life.’

  On the beach at Crocodile Creek, in the cove below the Athina Hotel, a bonfire blazed while the sun began to set behind the cyclone-ravaged mountains to the west. The debris from the cyclone had been piled in several heaps off to the side of tonight’s gathering, gentle waves had deposited much of the churned-up sand back onto the beach, and in the fading light you couldn’t even see the damage, only the beauty.

  Luke, Janey and Rowdy had caught the five o’clock boat back from Charm Island, a day later than originally planned, and had driven straight to the cove from the boat dock in Crocodile Creek’s tiny harbour. Cal and Gina’s wedding ceremony was scheduled to begin at six o’clock.