Return to Rosalee Station, page 28
Slim, Daniel, Liam and Patrick looked proud as punch to be standing by their mate, and Matt looked astonishingly handsome in his black suit and matching wide-brimmed hat. His smile was contagious – her prince charming, proof that fairy tales sometimes do come true. A radiant glow fanned throughout her, from her feet to her cheeks, and warmth spread through her chest. She was so proud of how far he’d come, not having touched a drop of alcohol for ten months now, and the love they shared was beyond anything she’d ever thought possible. She couldn’t fathom how they’d come so close to walking away from each other.
Reaching Matt, her dad handed her over, and her heart skittered even more just by being near him. ‘Howdy, cowboy,’ she said with a wicked grin.
His smile from ear to ear, Matt gave her hands a squeeze. ‘Hey, baby, you look amazing.’
‘Thankya, and so do you.’
For the next ten minutes Sarah heard little of what was said, the pounding of her heart and the intense look of love in Matt’s eyes drowning out the words of the celebrant. That was, until the celebrant announced it was Matt’s time to speak his vows.
Clearing his throat, he held her gaze. ‘My beautiful Sarah, you’ve been my best friend, my mentor, my playmate, my confidante, and were the most amazing mother to our darling Eve in her short time on this earth …’ He tripped over his words, tears filling his eyes. Sarah gave his hand a gentle squeeze, letting him know she was there for him as she blinked back tears. One slipped down his cheek and she reached out to wipe it away, the intense moment passing between them shared by all, many of the guests now wiping damp eyes too. He straightened and gripped her hands tighter. ‘I have loved living and growing with you by my side. But most importantly, you’re the love of my life and you make me happier than I could ever imagine. You love me in ways I never thought possible, and even when I deserve to be loved the least, you flip the tables and love me even more. And through it all you’ve made me a better man. I’m truly blessed to be a part of your life, and I look forward to all the happy memories we’re going to make, together. I love you so much, baby.’
Sarah was struggling to keep it together, Matt’s words touching her to the very core. And then it was her turn. Still holding his hands in hers, and looking into his eyes from beneath her veil, she offered up her vows.
‘Matt, my love, we have already walked so many roads together, some so dark we couldn’t see two feet in front of ourselves, but we made it through, and on this day, a new adventure begins. I want you to know how much of a wonderful father you were to Eve, and I also want you to know that I’ll always stand by your side, no matter what life throws at us, as your partner in life and love. We’ll laugh together and sometimes cry together. I’ll inspire you and continue to be inspired by you.’ Her voice trembling and tears filling her eyes, she took a brief moment to compose herself. ‘I’ll cheer you on as you follow your dreams, and I have no doubt that you’ll always help me to achieve mine. I’ll cherish you always and love you unconditionally. You are my one, my only, and the love of my life, now and forever.’
Matt’s lips trembled as he smiled. And after a few more heartfelt words by the celebrant to round the ceremony off, she announced it was time to kiss the bride.
With a dazzling smile that made Sarah weak at the knees, Matt lifted her veil and pulled her into his arms. He placed a kiss on her lips and then spun her around in a dizzying circle. They were both laughing when he set her down on her feet, and Sarah had no doubt in her mind there would be many more years of love and laughter to be shared between them, because this man wasn’t just her passionate loving partner, he was Eve’s daddy, he was her rock, her best friend, her forever ... and once again was going to be the devoted father of their beloved child.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A standing ovation goes out to my remarkable cheer squad at Harlequin headquarters – my wonderful publisher Rachael Donovan, who makes me feel as though I can achieve my writer’s dreams, no matter the barriers I need to jump or bowl over, my gifted editors … Bernadette Foley, who totally gets me and my work, and Julia Knapman, a woman of many talents, the cover design wizards who’ve brought the outback to stunning life along with the inclusion of a very handsome bloke who looks oh-so-deliciously country front and centre, and the rest of the inspiring and supportive team who’ve helped make Return to Rosalee Station the very best it can be. I’m extremely blessed to be part of the Harlequin family and look forward to many more stories to come.
To my beautiful daughter, Chloe Rose. You’re my everything, sweetheart. You brighten my every day, teach me so much with the way you view the world through such loving and innocent eyes, and inspire me to be the very best woman I can be in both my life and my career. It warms my heart to see you at your desk, writing your stories, so you can be like Mum – who knows, maybe you’ll be a bestselling author one day too? Whatever path you walk in life, and whatever journey you choose, I will always be there, right beside you, loving you, cheering for you and supporting you through it all. Love you to the moon and back, darling, and then some. Xo
To my wonderful mum, Gaye, thank you for teaching me to always stand strong, and to fight for what I believe in. It’s helped me to achieve every one of my dreams, and to also have belief in making future ones attainable. I love that we live so close now, and I enjoy every minute I get to spend with you. Here’s to many more wonderful moments shared. Love you lots!
To my dad, John, your wise and gentle ways have guided me through so many journeys, both hard and happy. Thank you for always accepting me for who I am, and never judging me for the choices I make – both good and bad. Love you.
To my stepdad, Trevor – we may not see each other as often as we’d like, but our bond will always remain. You’ve been there for me since I was a little whippersnapper, and have instilled in me a belief that as long as I keep moving forwards, and smiling through it all, no matter how hard that might sometimes be, everything will work out just fine in the end. Love ya!
To my amazing sisters Mia, Rochelle, Karla, Talia and Hayley – thank you for being the wonderful, strong and inspirational women you are. I couldn’t ask for better sisters, or more devoted aunties to Chloe – love you all heaps.
To Rachael Sharaz, what a beautiful shining soul you are! I’m so glad our mini-mes have introduced us to one another. I look forward to many more girls’ nights shared over a bottle of wine and filled with enthralling conversations!
To my Soul Sister, Fiona Stanford, thanks for simply being you. I feel like I’ve known you for a lifetime and I couldn’t imagine my writer’s journey without you there, cheering me on along the way. Love and hugs xo.
To my German mate, Katharina (Katie), thank you for always being so excited to read my books – I’m sure they remind you of the all fun times we’ve shared in Aussieland over the years. Love ya, cowgirl! Xo
And lastly, but most importantly of all, a huge happy-dancing hurrah to YOU, the reader – a hug for each and every one of you! Thank you for plucking my book from the shelf, be it hardcopy or eBook, and diving into the pages – without you, I wouldn’t be doing what I love day in day out. I hope Matt, Sarah and the rest of the motley crew have taken you on an unforgettable journey and that Return to Rosalee Station has taken you away from the pressures of everyday life, if only for a little while – to hell with the messy house, the unwashed dishes, the unkempt hair, and the pyjamas you might still be wearing well into the afternoon – we all deserve a little me time.
Until my next book, keep smiling and dreaming … life is beautiful.
Mandy xoxo
CHAPTER
1
It was only six a.m. and already the air was so thick you felt like you couldn’t breathe. Sarah Clarke had been lying in bed for a good ten minutes, staring at the fan above her spinning madly out of control. It was squeaking and waving about like it was a missing person trying to attract attention from rescuers. She sometimes had visions of it spinning straight off its bearings and landing smack down on top of her in the middle of the night. Scary thought. The thick, humid air it was blowing down was not really doing much good, but it was better than nothing. As soon as the air was still it was like standing in front of a hot oven with the door open, but after years of living with the heat of the tropics you got used to it.
She kept asking her dad to get her air conditioner fixed but the electrician, a family friend, had still not turned up. Sarah could fix most things herself, but going anywhere near something that threw out 240 volts of electricity was just not going to happen. She would rather sweat it out.
Summer in Mareeba was close to unbearable at times. Some days the sun tipped the gauges at well over forty degrees. Today Sarah was already swatting at an endless stream of flies, annoyed that they were in her space so early in the day. It was a pretty good sign it was going to be stinking hot.
Oh well, Sarah thought, I better get up and start the day’s work down the packing shed. She threw her tanned, slender legs over the edge of the bed and felt the cool timber floor creak underneath her feet as she stood up and stretched her arms. She let out a huge sigh. She was getting tired of the same work, day in, day out. She knew it was time to try something new.
As she walked to the window, Sarah’s mind turned to Brad, her boyfriend, who was a chopper pilot. He worked a fair bit away mustering cattle out on stations in the chopper, and she missed him when he was gone. She knew from the stories he told her that the times out on the stations were tough, but she would give almost anything to give it a go. She’d always loved cattle and horses, and it would be amazing to experience mustering in the heart of the cattle country, amongst the dust and bellows of the cows, in the saddle of an Australian stock horse.
Sarah let out another drawn-out sigh, bringing her thoughts back to the reality of the day. It’s okay to dream, I s’pose, she thought to herself as she flung open her heavy curtains, letting in the sunlight that had been playing peek-a-boo through the cracks. The sun thrust its rays into Sarah’s room, hitting the crystal sun-catcher she had hanging off the curtain rod and bouncing a spectrum of colours across the walls and furniture of the room. Sarah admired the beauty of it for a split-second before her gaze turned back to the bay window, which had a perfect view of the fruit paddocks behind the house. Outside there were fruit trees as far as the eye could see, beneath netting that had been expensively erected a few years back to stop the birds and the bats eating the crops. Mother Nature was already hard at work as bees buzzed industriously around the fruit flowers, doing their job of helping the fruit set, while sunshine kissed the flowers, helping produce the future mango and lychee crops. She smiled as she watched a kangaroo go bounding through the back yard with its joey in tow, relieved to not see Duke, her beloved dog, chasing them for a bit of fun.
Sarah dragged her gaze away from the window and pulled on her regular work gear of jeans and a Bonds singlet before tipping her head upside down and ruffling her fingers quickly through her mane of platinum-blonde curls. People said they matched her personality: bouncy, free-spirited and full of life. Brushes were her worst nightmare – she just ended up looking like she had put her finger in an electrical socket. Maybe in the eighties it would have been a fashionable look, but not now.
Sarah had worked on the family fruit farm since she had left school. The Clarkes had 800 hectares and employed over eighty staff in the fruit-picking season. The family business pumped out over 3000 tonnes of mangoes, lychees and Chinese longans every year.
It was a good life all in all. Sarah worked really hard for six months during harvesting and then got to work at a nice pace the rest of the year when the main jobs were just pruning, slashing, watering and fertilising the crops. She loved the time she spent in her John Deere tractor. It was a cruisy job, sitting in an air-conditioned cab with country tunes blaring from the stereo as she drove up and down each drill feeding the crops to produce a massive harvest.
Her two older brothers Peter and Daniel worked on the farm alongside her dad, Jack. Sarah had always worked as hard as the men in the family but she constantly felt like she had to try harder than her brothers to get appreciation from her dad. She knew deep down that her father worshipped her like flowers worshipped sunlight but he had a tough exterior and didn’t show his emotions too freely. Sarah blamed his time in prison for that. When Sarah was a baby, Jack had been caught growing marijuana. He’d been farming tobacco and had a bad crop for a few years running. With the naïve confidence of youth, he thought growing illegal drugs might get him through the hard times. He couldn’t bear to lose the family farm that had been handed down through two generations. Jack had never even smoked pot but had used his skills as a farmer to grow a massive, thriving crop. But then he was caught red-handed, arrested and locked up in Townsville maximum security for five long years as an example to the community. Sarah knew it must have been a hard time for her mum, Maggie, especially with three young children, and Jack still lived with the guilt of not having been there for his family. Sarah didn’t have time for anybody stupid enough to touch drugs, especially marijuana – she knew how much it could hurt people’s lives.
‘Sarah!’ Maggie yelled from the bottom of the stairs. ‘Lily’s on the phone for you, love.’
Sarah raced down the stairs, tripping over Harry, the family cat of nine years, on the way down. ‘Do you always have to sleep right in the middle of the stairs, Harry?’ Sarah asked him once she had found her footing after sliding down three steps. Harry looked up at her, yawned, and went back to sleep. The only thing that got him moving was the sound of his canned sardines being spooned into his dish.
Sarah grabbed the phone from her mum, kissing Maggie on the cheek. ‘Morning, Mum.’ She put the phone to her ear and scrunched her shoulder up to hold it there while she zipped up her jeans with her free hands. ‘Hey, Lily. How are ya, mate?’
Lily’s voice sang cheerfully into the receiver, ‘Great, Sarah. Almost your birthday! Hey, I just wanted to know what time we’re going to head down to the rodeo tomorrow?’
Sarah sat her bum down on the bottom step of the stairs. ‘Daniel’s gonna be out in the arena about five-ish so I’d like to be there to watch him give those bulls a good go. Let’s just pray he doesn’t draw Devil’s Grin!’
‘Exactly! That sounds like a good plan to me. I’m so looking forward to watching Daniel ride. And we’ll have to party like there’s no tomorrow – it’s not every day you turn twenty-three. I’ll be at your place about four, okay?’ Lily said, bubbling with excitement.
‘Great! I’ll see you then. I gotta run, or I’ll be late down the shed and Dad’ll be in a right huff. He’s a pain in the arse to work with when he’s in a mood. Catch you tomorrow.’
‘Have a good day, Sarah. Catch you, matey!’ Lily said as she hung up.
Daniel rode bulls at the local rodeos, and Sarah always went and cheered him on, either in the crowd or at the back of the chutes. He was one of the top riders in the circuit, and had a few scars to show for it too. It was great timing he’d be riding on the day of Sarah’s birthday.
Sarah’s mate Greg supplied the bulls for most of the big rodeos and she liked to catch up with him for a drink and a laugh whenever he had a minute spare. He had let her name one of the bulls last year. She had been honoured, and proudly named the bull Devil’s Grin. He’d turned out to be one of the most feared bulls on the rodeo scene: a big, burly brute that didn’t like any bugger on his back. Not one cowboy had been able to ride him past four seconds. Once free of the chutes he went off like a cracker on Chinese New Year.
Sarah strolled into the kitchen to the warm and welcoming smell of her mum’s cooking. Maggie was a brilliant cook. Her friends were always madly scribbling down recipes after enjoying one of her home-cooked meals. There was only one recipe she refused to give out: her very own famous lemon meringue pie. All the neighbourhood women requested it every time they were invited to a barbecue and there was always a friendly debate amongst the men over the last piece of pie.
‘Hey, Mum,’ Sarah said as she sat down on the kitchen bar stool.
‘Good morning, Sarah. Sleep well, darling?’
‘As well as I could in this heat.’
‘Sorry, hon. I’ll call the electrician again for you today. You think he’d make more of an effort. Your dad is too bloody soft on him. I’ll put the wind up him about being slack when I talk to him.’ Maggie pointed her finger into the air as if poking the electrician then and there.
‘Thanks, Mum. I better run or Dad’ll get his knickers in a right knot. You know how he gets.’
‘I know, love, but he doesn’t mean it. He just gets really stressed out in the season. You know he loves you to bits,’ Maggie said, passing over some foil-wrapped parcels. ‘Here’s breakfast for you. Give these ones to Daniel and your dad, would you? I have to catch up with some of the housework and then I’ll be down the shed to help out.’
‘Righto, Mum. Thanks for the brekkie. You’re the greatest! This is probably going to be the only thing I’ll have time to eat today – there’s so much fruit to pack.’ Sarah took the parcels and stood up. ‘The pickers have been working their nuts off to get the fruit off the trees before the rain sets in. We’re gonna be as busy as blowflies at a barbie, us lot!’ She gave Maggie another kiss and headed towards the back door.
