Moonlight Plains (27 page)

‘Luke, the pond’s wonderful,’ Kitty was saying. ‘You’ve done such a good job. Thank you.’

‘It was Sally’s idea, and she did most of the hard work.’

‘Well, thank you again, Sally.’ Kitty gave Sally a hug, and then she lifted her smiling gaze to her grandson. ‘I was just telling Sally how your granddad built this pond for me.’

‘Oh, right.’

‘It’s such a romantic story,’ Sally added for good measure.

‘I’m sure it is.’ There was no missing the sceptical note in Luke’s voice.

Sally caught Kitty’s eye and the old woman gave an ever so slight shake of her head, as if warning her not to push him. Then Sally saw Megan coming down the stairs, her arms filled with salad bowls, and she jumped to her feet.

‘I’m supposed to be helping Zoe and Megan to bring out the food. Luke, you can look after Kitty, can’t you? I’d better fly.’

The party at Moonlight Plains was in full swing beneath a huge and clear outback sky, brilliant with glittering stars.

‘I’m sure the old homestead must be very happy tonight,’ Mary Davies from the Historical Society told Kitty. ‘The house must feel pleased to have so many of your family back under its roof and to be the site of such a wonderful party.’

‘I’m sure you’re right.’ Kitty, having sipped her way through an entire glass of champagne, was feeling much more relaxed and therefore happy to imagine that the old homestead nursed sentiments.

She was thoroughly enjoying the evening. The barbecued steaks and salads were delicious and Zoe’s desserts were divine. The band played the right mix of old and new music and people crowded the dance floor almost continuously – couples, children, fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, everyone dancing in whatever style took their fancy.

Kitty was thrilled that, although her busy twin sons were absent, the rest of her family was here. She was especially pleased that Virginia seemed to be enjoying herself, despite her dear husband Peter’s absence.

There had been a moment earlier when Kitty noted Luke, Bella and Zoe alone with Virginia and raising their glasses in a quiet toast, and she was almost certain they were honouring Peter’s memory.

‘They’re good people,’ she whispered, partly to herself and partly to Andy.

She missed Andy tonight. So much.

She longed to be able to tell him about Luke’s beautiful restoration, about Sally’s efforts with the fishpond, and the emotional conversation she’d had this evening with Laura and Jim.

Kitty watched Laura and Jim now, happily engaged in conversation with the others. Laura, looking chic in navy silk, seemed very relaxed, which was pleasing.

Kitty decided she was finally comfortable with the choices she and Andy had made all those years ago. At the time, she’d had reservations about her husband’s desire to tell Jim the truth, but although the outcome had been very emotional for the three of them, it had also been a release. They’d grown even closer because of the secret they shared, and now she suspected that Jim and Laura would remain in contact. In time they could even develop quite a special bond.

The most difficult moment of her day had involved letting Luke in on their secret. Kitty had seen in his eyes that he’d guessed the truth and it would have been foolish or even harmful to leave him to speculate. Now she had little choice but to trust that in time Luke would come to see his grandfather as an even bigger hero than he’d previously imagined.

Of course, she couldn’t think about any of this without also thinking about Ed. And once again, as she had so often over the years, she struggled with nostalgia and guilt. She knew it was unfair never to have told a man he’d fathered a son. And yet . . . the reasons for her silence had always felt justified.

She’d heard nothing from Ed after he left Australia. She’d had no idea if he’d regained his sight. Above and beyond this, she’d been utterly in awe of his reputed life of privilege and high status on the other side of the world. He’d made several veiled references to his parents’ snobbery. So how might the Langleys have reacted to an Australian upstart who claimed to be carrying their bastard grandchild?

Of course, it was easy to look back and to see her decisions as mistakes, as Luke no doubt did, but each generation had to be judged by the values of their day and not by its current ways of thinking.

Kitty could see now that if she’d been more sophisticated, she might have made different choices. She might have contacted Ed and braved Boston, or she might have just announced the truth and snubbed her nose at the naysayers.

But when Jim was born in 1943, she hadn’t been the slightest bit sophisticated. She’d been sheltered, brought up so very strictly, and Townsville was just a remote northern Australian town. There was nothing glamorous about their war, the less important war at the bottom of the world.

When Andy returned from the islands, after they’d almost given him up for dead, offering unquestioning love and support for both her and her baby, she’d married him in an excess of gratitude. Love had come later, building steadily from a solid base of friendship and respect into something deep and abiding and joyful.

Kitty smiled at the memories. She was content.

Luke was like a man on a mission tonight, although Sally feared that his mission was to avoid her.

Okay, so maybe she was being a tad paranoid. Luke was the host of this party, after all, and he was doing a great job, lending a hand wherever it was needed. He’d helped the guys with the barbecue and helped his cousins with serving the drinks. He’d made sure the band members were fed and had whatever else they needed, and he’d paid an appropriate level of attention to his mother and grandmother, as well as to other family members.

He’d also spent a considerable amount of time fielding questions about the homestead from neighbours and locals, and Sally knew this was necessary too. She couldn’t forget that this party had originally been her idea and primarily designed to generate interest in Luke’s carpentry skills and the restoration of this lovely old neglected homestead.

So yes, her disappointment was probably unreasonable. Just the same, she couldn’t escape the fact that Luke seemed to have time for everyone at this party
except
her. Surely he was taking their camouflage several steps further than necessary? All the same, Sally was also quite certain that Luke was keeping tabs on her. Many times, she’d sensed his keen glance and then discovered him watching her from a distance, although as soon as she looked up or turned and their gazes met, Luke switched his attention elsewhere. And he did this so smoothly that she found herself wondering if she’d imagined his interest.

It was all rather unnerving. Sally almost wished she could retire to bed early as Kitty had. She’d tried to escape to the kitchen, but Virginia and the aunts had shooed her away.

‘You girls have been working hard in here all day,’ Virginia said. ‘Now it’s our turn to pull our weight. And anyway, it’s mostly only stacking and unstacking the dishwasher.’

In the end, Sally decided she had no alternative but to take action.

She asked Luke to dance with her.

Actually, she thought she handled this manoeuvre rather deftly. She waited till Luke was on his own – the last thing she wanted was to embarrass him in front of his family or friends – and when he was striding across a dark patch of the lawn that wasn’t reached by the party lights, she stepped out of the shadows.

To her relief he stopped. ‘Hey, Sally, how are you? Enjoying the party?’

‘It’s fabulous.’ She raised her voice to reach him above the sudden burst of laughter from a group of young revellers telling jokes. ‘You’ve been the perfect host.’ She reached out, letting her fingertips lightly brush his hand. ‘Can you spare me a moment?’

Perhaps it was just as well that his face was in shadow, so she couldn’t see his reaction.

‘I was hoping you might dance with me,’ she said in the lightest, most jovial tone she could manage.

Luke hesitated, as Sally had guessed he would, but she was ready for that.

‘Just one dance, Luke. No one will think anything of it.’

‘Of course,’ he replied. ‘Okay, let’s dance now.’

But when he stepped into the light, Sally saw deep emotion shining in his eyes and his mouth was twisted in a sad smile that frightened her.

They didn’t hold hands as they walked to the dance floor, but Luke was sure everyone’s eyes were on them.

Too bad. It was perfectly in order for him to dance with a guest, although the fact that the guest in question happened to be the most gorgeous girl here tonight was bound to hold their attention. Luke just hoped the band kept playing something lively that was easy to dance to without too much touching.

Unfortunately, the band did not oblige.

Almost as soon as he and Sally hit the dance floor the music switched to something slow and moody. And as the lead singer crooned the haunting melody, Sally looked up at Luke, her dark eyes revealing a mix of caution and tenderness, and his heart took a downwards spill. This was going to be torture.

Torture to take Sally’s hand in his and to place his right hand in the small of her back, where the warmth of her skin reached him through the thin silk of her dress. Torture to feel the slimness of her waist and the fullness of her breasts as she swayed towards him. Torture to have her body so tantalisingly close and to breathe in the scent of her perfume, to feel her hair brush softly against his jaw.

He was
so
tempted to gather her in, to hold her closer still, with her curves pressed against him. So tempted to touch his lips to her brow, to bury his face in her bright, glossy hair.

His body was throbbing with desire and his heart was set to explode with emotion. Both were major problems now that he knew he had to let Sally go.

He had to. There was no sense in delaying the inevitable, but it meant this was their last dance, his last chance to hold her.

So sad . . .

So tempting . . .

But most of all, so damn sad.

When the dance bracket ended, Sally forced herself to slip out of Luke’s arms. Dancing with him had been blissful. Reassuring, too, to have him holding her so close, but she didn’t want to push her luck. Another dance would be certain to start tongues wagging, and she didn’t want to stir curiosity now when Luke had taken such pains to protect her.

‘Thanks,’ she said, giving him her warmest smile before she took a step back. ‘That should be enough to keep me going for the time being.’

His eyes seemed to burn as he looked at her, letting his gaze travel over her from head to toe with an expression that was both so hungry and so bleak that she wanted to leap into his arms and smother him with kisses. Or weep.

Luckily, she did neither. She stuck gamely to their plan, and with a little shrug, she took another step away.

Squeezing her cheek muscles to make sure that her smile held, she sent him a final wave, held her head high and walked back to rejoin Megan, who was chatting with Zoe and Bella and their husbands.

A small silence fell over the little group when she reached them, and she took a deep breath, bracing herself for questions or dry cracks about her choice of dancing partner. But the others were either too polite, or they’d been warned by Megan to skip that particular subject.

There was a little throat-clearing, a couple of dropped gazes and a mildly awkward gap in the conversation until Megan said brightly, ‘Hey, Sal, what are you drinking?’

And so the party continued.

In the past Sally had been quite the party girl, staying up as late as anyone, but tonight she was grateful for a midnight curfew, at least for the area around the homestead.

By a quarter to twelve, many of the locals had already left, and quite a few guests had headed for bed, either in the homestead or in their tents. Luke had rounded up the younger players who wanted to party on and sent them off to build a campfire.

‘I’ve slashed an area in the bottom paddock,’ he told them. ‘And there’s a stack of fallen timber you can use.’

Zoe and Bella and their husbands were heading for bed now and Sally knew there was no point in hanging around. She would see no more of Luke tonight.

‘We should probably hit the sack, too,’ she told Megan.

‘Hang on – I think someone wants to say goodnight,’ Megan muttered, giving Sally a dig in the ribs with her elbow.

Following Megan’s gaze, Sally discovered Luke heading straight for them.

Her reaction was totally over the top, but she couldn’t help it. Her heart set up a frantic tattoo as he spoke politely to both of them and thanked them for their wonderful help.

After that, Sally fully expected to be bade a dismissive goodnight, so Luke’s next, casually delivered words were a complete surprise.

‘Sal, can I have a word?’

Megan, with a surreptitious wink, promptly vamoosed, and Sally gave Luke a broad grin. ‘Sure, I’d
love
a word. I’ve been hanging out all day for the chance to chat.’

She was so relieved that he’d come to see her at last, and of course it made sense that he’d waited till they could be alone.

It was still a beautiful night, and so quiet now that the music had stopped. The house was in darkness and, apart from the occasional flash of a torch beam, the rows of tents were in darkness too. The strings of coloured lanterns had been turned off, but in the distance the beginnings of the campfire glowed, and when Sally looked up to the sky she could see the Southern Cross and the Milky Way and the breathtaking dazzle of myriad stars.

‘Maybe we should take a seat,’ Luke said.

A seat? She hadn’t exactly considered what might happen next, but she was a tad disappointed. Taking a seat sounded more like an interview than a romantic tryst.

‘Where would you like to sit?’ she asked.

Luke pointed to the stone seat near the fishpond, which looked prettier than ever in the gentle starlight. ‘That do?’

‘I guess.’ With a half-hearted shrug she walked across the grass with him and they sat, together, but apart – Luke with his long legs stretched out in front and crossed at the ankles, with his hands on the seat on either side of him.

When Sally stole a glance, she saw that he was frowning again and his jaw was grimly taut.

Was he still upset about his grandfather? She wondered if she should pass on what Kitty had told her about this fishpond and Andy’s thoughtful, loving gifts. But what she really wanted was to rekindle the magic of being alone with Luke. His devastating kisses. His hands all over her.

‘I thought it would be easier to talk now than tomorrow morning,’ he said.

‘Well, yes, I guess breakfast will be busy.’

‘It’ll be mayhem.’

There was a soft splash in the pond and a circle of small ripples, but Sally couldn’t see what had caused it.

‘You should be very happy with how the party turned out,’ she said.

‘Yeah, it went well.’

‘And everyone
loves
what you’ve done with the homestead, Luke.’

He nodded. ‘Tomorrow we’ll have a family conference to work out the future of Moonlight Plains.’

‘Oh? Do you think the family might want to sell it?’

‘That’s the plan.’

She knew she had no right to feel disappointed, but her trips out here had become incredibly important to her. She hadn’t merely chronicled Luke’s progress or shared his bed – she’d also shared his plans and dreams. Plans and dreams for the homestead, that was; they’d never really talked about
their
future.

For casual lovers, the future was an out-of-bounds topic.

‘I’m fairly certain Jim’s going to offer to buy us out,’ Luke said. ‘He reckons he’d like to retire here. He loves the house. It was his childhood home, it’s close to town, and the property’s small enough to run with a part-time manager.’

‘Well, I’m sure you’d all love to see Moonlight Plains stay in the family.’

‘Yeah. I don’t think anyone will object.’

Which begged the question Sally forced herself to ask. ‘So, what will you do next?’

Luke half-turned to her, without quite meeting her gaze. ‘I’m already getting job offers.’

‘That – that’s fabulous.’

‘First up, Robert, my uncle, wants me to build a couple of tourist cabins on his property near Richmond. He gets a lot of gold fossickers out there and people hunting for dinosaur fossils.’

‘Cabins would be . . . great.’ Sally managed to sound happy despite the uncertainty that worried her now.

‘Robert’s keen for me to start pretty much straight away.’

‘Uh-huh.’ She tried to swallow the obstruction in her throat. ‘I guess that means that I – ah – probably won’t see much of you then.’

‘No.’ Luke’s hands gripped the edge of the seat. ‘That’s what I wanted to speak to you about.’ He stared grimly ahead and she could see the silhouette of his profile and the way his throat worked. ‘The thing is . . . ’ His face twisted in a grimace and then settled into an expression of stoical resolve. ‘We’ve never really talked about the end of the road, have we?’

The end of the road . . .

Slam.

‘Do – do you mean the end of our relationship?’

Luke nodded. ‘I’d say it’s run its course, wouldn’t you?’

She closed her eyes against the sudden wave of despair that swamped her. Why hadn’t she seen this coming?

Or had she known it was coming and simply refused to look?

In a nearby paddock curlews set up their mournful, soul-searing cry, while beside her, Luke sat in statue-still silence, waiting for her response.

She swallowed again, trying to ease the ache in her throat. ‘So . . . you mean we won’t be seeing each other any more?’

‘Well, not like we have been.’

‘I guess you’d probably still come to Townsville now and again.’

‘Maybe. Not often.’

He turned to her now and there was just enough light for her to see the concern and determination in his beautiful green eyes. ‘Sal, we always knew this was casual. Not leading anywhere. We had an agreement, didn’t we?’

She flinched, and yet everything he said was true. Absolutely, terribly true.

Of course they had an agreement. She’d insisted on their no-strings relationship and she should have known Luke wouldn’t hang around on the off-chance that she might change her mind.

Foolishly, she’d been so self-absorbed she’d left it too late to admit that her feelings for him had moved beyond casual. Even if she tried to back-pedal and confess how she felt now, Luke probably wouldn’t believe her. And who could blame him? She’d only just begun to believe it herself.

‘Sal?’ Luke was waiting for her reply.

She couldn’t bring herself to say, ‘Yes, I agree it’s over’, but she managed to nod.

Luke made a soft sound that might have been a groan and rose quickly to his feet. He stood looking down at her, his face tormented, as if he wished he could take back everything he’d just said, as if he wanted to reassure her, wanted to haul her from the seat and into his arms.

Sally’s urge to leap up and embrace him was huge. But before she could act on it, he turned abruptly and strode away. Into the night.