‘What...what have you done with Hoppy?’ It was a dumb question, but dumb questions seemed all she was capable of. He was so near. He was so... Hugh.
He was wearing tough seaman’s clothes. She thought of him working for so many years in foreign crisis zones. She thought of Erik, presented with Hugh’s credentials. Erik would have hired him in a heartbeat.
Tough didn’t begin to describe this guy.
‘Hoppy’s pretending he’s a cattle dog,’ he was saying, while she deviated to wondering what was happening with her heart. It was thumping as if it were trying to jump out of her chest. ‘He’s staying on Holly and Ray Cross’s farm, happy as a pig in mud. Ray’s still recovering, so Hoppy alternates from lying on Ray’s bed or day couch, or fitting in as one of their pack of farm dogs. He’s forgotten he only has three legs. He’s forgotten he was even wounded.’
There was a moment’s hesitation and then his voice softened. ‘And that’s why I’m here,’ he said gently. ‘I figure it’s time I forgot as well, but I’ve figured... I’ve finally figured I can’t do it alone. I’m hoping I might find someone to help me.’
‘Yeah?’ How hard to get her voice to work? It was coming out as a ridiculous tremor. ‘So you jumped on a boat to the Antarctic? To try and find someone?’
‘I had inside information,’ he admitted, just as softly. ‘I knew that the woman I wanted to spend my life with was already on board.’
And her crazy, jumping heart forgot all about jumping. It seemed to still. It seemed to almost stop.
‘Hugh...’
‘I don’t get seasick,’ he told her.
‘Wh...what?’
‘I talked to Erik,’ he said, because she couldn’t think of a single thing to say past that one lone syllable. ‘It wasn’t fair to join his crew without letting him know the situation. I told him we’ve worked before. I also told him I had every intention of asking you to marry me. The last thing he wants is conflict within his team, so we have a deal. This boat docks in Hobart in two days, before heading south. If either of us is the least unhappy about the situation then I get off then. And I will. He’s more than happy to take a chance in order to get his team a doctor, but there’s to be no pressure on you. You say the word and I’ll do my best imitation of pale and wan and leave the boat. They’ll think I’m a wuss, but there’s the end of it. But it does mean I need to lay my cards on the table right now.’ He hesitated and then his voice softened still further.
‘Gina, when you left Sandpiper, I felt like part of me had been wrenched away. It took a while for me to figure out, but I finally have. You want me to explain?’
How on earth could he explain? For that matter, how could she? All she knew was that when she looked into his eyes some part of her that she hadn’t even known had been missing seemed to flood in and make her...complete?
It didn’t make sense.
‘I don’t think there’s anything to explain,’ she said, struggling desperately to find words. ‘Nothing’s been wrenched away. Sandpiper is your home.’
‘It’s not my home.’
There was a moment’s silence and then he took her shoulders and turned her to face him.
For some reason there was no one else in sight. Often when they left harbour the bow filled with team members, but they were completely alone. It’d be Erik, Gina thought randomly. If Erik knew what Hugh intended... He was a softie at heart, a born romantic. He had a wife he loved to bits—Louise was a research scientist in her own right and she was on board now. Erik thought the rest of the world should be as happy as he was.
She could just see him engineering this.
‘Gina, look at me,’ Hugh said, and her swirling thoughts centred. Somehow. He was gripping her shoulders and she looked up at his face. Her gaze was held.
His eyes were dark, serious. Loving?
‘We have it wrong,’ he said.
‘Wrong?’
‘This whole home concept,’ he said softly. ‘I left the crisis team wounded, and thought I needed to retreat from the world. That’s what I figured home was. A place to hide, to lick my wounds, to stay emotionally distant. And you...’ His voice gentled so far, he had to tug her closer to hear. ‘I might have this wrong—tell me if I have—but for you the concept of home is scary. It seems to me that every time a home’s been offered to you, it’s been snatched away. As a kid you seemed to have been tossed from one place to another. Then your parents were killed—your only security. You came to Sandpiper when you were crushed, and, instead of saying welcome home, Babs told you right at the beginning that it wasn’t home. That she had you under sufferance. I imagine you spent those two years trying desperately not to make any ties, not to build any sort of connection that would hurt when you left again.’
She stared up at him, stunned. ‘Hugh...how can you know...?’
‘I don’t know,’ he said, just as gently. ‘I’m guessing, but when you left, I had a heap of time to guess. I also had time to figure how much I lost when you got on that ferry and disappeared. But you know what finally did it?’
‘How can I know?’ Her voice was a thread.
‘I guess you can’t,’ he told her. ‘But it was Hoppy. The night after you left I went home, or where I thought was home, and I sat in front of the fire and Hoppy jumped up on my knee and almost purred. And I thought, without Hoppy, this place would be totally bleak. It wouldn’t feel like home. And then I thought, what’s the definition of home? You know the saying Home is where the heart is? I’m going to add to that. I’m going to say home is heart. Because that’s what I’m feeling, Gina. Like it or not, I want my home to be you.’
‘Hugh... I don’t...’ She got the words out, but that was all she could manage. Her voice trailed to nothing.
‘Yeah, it takes time to get it,’ he said, drawing her in to hold her against him. She let herself be drawn, feeling the strength of him, the warmth, the surety. ‘But there’s another quote, my love, that my grandma used to read me when I was a kid. Ruth to Naomi. “Whither though goest, I will go.” Grandma used it when she was talking about love. More, she used it to talk about what home meant, and it’s taken me all these years to finally understand. Gina, if you’ll let me, I would ask you to allow my home to be you. And if you could find the courage, if you could find the trust, more than anything in the world I’d like your home to be me.’
‘I don’t...’ She was stuck in some repetitive loop, unable to get her voice to say anything else.
‘No pressure,’ he said, resting his head on her hair and holding her close. ‘Love, I’ve figured it out for me. My home is people. My home is my dumb Hoppy dog. And I would love, more than anything in the world, for my home to be you. But if you don’t want it, I won’t turn into some crazy stalker, following you to the ends of the earth. I’ll head back to Sandpiper and get more and more attached to old Joe Carstairs’ piles and Mrs Barker’s bunions. Because somehow you seem to have opened that door to me, and I love it, too. But equally... I’ve talked to Marc on Gannet and he agrees Sandpiper needs a decent medical service. I can help fund it. They’ll advertise for a doctor to live there, which will free me, so that if you want... “Whither though goest, I will go.”’
‘Even to the Antarctic?’ It was a faltering whisper.
‘I plan to grow a beard,’ he said solemnly. ‘I’ve seen adventurers with frost dripping from beards a foot long. Would you love me with a frosty beard?’
‘Oh, Hugh...’
‘You know, you’re going to have to think of something else to say but, “Oh, Hugh,”’ he told her, kissing the top of her head. ‘No pressure, love, but if you think your home could be me...’
He put her away from him, just a little, so he could look into her eyes. She searched his and what she saw there...
Home.
Hugh.
And with that came a flood of warmth so great it almost overwhelmed her. Here
was love, here was peace, security, wonder.
‘So what’s it to be, love?’ he asked gently. ‘Shall I hop off at Hobart or will you be stuck with me for ever? Stay or go, love, it’s up to you.’
And with that she felt that fragile armour finally crack. More than crack. She looked up into his eyes and it dissolved as if it had never been.
‘Yes, please,’ she managed to whisper. ‘Who...whoever thought bricks needed to be bricks and mortar? Everything I want in the world is right here, right now.’
His smile deepened. Softened. ‘You mean it? I haven’t even brought out the big guns yet. Gina, I’ve arranged for the world’s best coffee machine to be installed in the galley. Call it a bribe, but there it is.’ The warmth in his eyes was a caress all by itself. ‘So, my love, with or without my coffee machine... Will you marry me?’
She choked on what could have been tears, could have been laughter. He had to ask? Her Hugh?
‘Yes, please,’ she said simply and then there was no need for words. She was swept into his arms, against his heart, and she was kissed.
And then she found out the whereabouts of all the team who usually gathered in the bow to watch the ship leave harbour. There was a massive cheer from above, so loud it made them draw apart enough to look up.
The wheelhouse was crowded. Here was her team, every one of them cheering, clapping, laughing with delight.
‘Erik reckoned if we had a happy ending we had to share.’ Hugh was chuckling, still holding her but looking up at them with a smile a mile wide. ‘Reckon we’ve supplied it?’
‘Reckon we have,’ she managed and smiled and smiled. ‘But only if you kiss me again.’
‘Anything you say, ma’am,’ he said promptly. And did.
EPILOGUE
Sandpiper, autumn
IT WAS THREE WEEKS after Icebreaker Two had docked back in Sydney. Just enough time to find a wedding dress, organise the formalities and plan a simple wedding on Windswept Bay.
But a simple wedding, with just Hugh and Gina, the celebrant and the two witnesses necessary for legal reasons, was never going to happen.
Because the island celebrant was also the mayor and the island’s policeman, and when had Joan Wilmot ever been discreet? They’d landed back on the island to find the organisation of the wedding had been taken out of their hands.
‘Sorry, guys,’ Joan told them. ‘You asked me to find a couple of witnesses and suddenly I had a queue of everyone on the island. I knew you wouldn’t want to offend anyone, so I thought, lesser of two evils, give them their heads.’
Which meant the beautiful Windswept Bay was dotted with picnic rugs, beach umbrellas, tables laden with food and drink, all centred around a magnificent home-made arch strewn with what must surely be every rose on the island.
For, whatever Gina and Hugh’s definition of home might be, the islanders had their own ideas. They’d heard of Gina and Hugh’s plans by now. There’d been talks with Gannet Island medical centre. It seemed there were medics interested in what Gina and Hugh were offering, a base on Sandpiper at prearranged times, intermittently staying in Hugh’s magnificent house, in return for medical coverage while Hugh and Gina—and occasionally Hoppy—headed off on yet another adventure.
Gina and Hugh would be Sandpiper medics, with backup so they could be anything they wanted. Even a geologist, if she’d like to go back to study, Hugh had told her, though she’d kind of figured by now that she liked being a nurse.
And she’d very much like being Hugh’s wife.
Their adventures might need to be curtailed in the future anyway, Gina thought serenely, as Holly Cross fussed about her veil, and smiled and smiled, and then declared the bride ready for the short walk down to the beach. To where Hugh was waiting.
Or maybe she had her definition of adventures wrong.
Down on the beach, under the magnificent arch, Hugh stood and waited for his bride. Hugh, resplendent in a dark suit—who knew he even owned such a thing? Hugh, his deep, dark eyes smiling and smiling as he watched her make her way towards him. Hugh, who she loved with all her heart.
Hugh, who was her home.
Adventures needing to be curtailed? Maybe not so much. Lately there’d been an urge...not yet but soon...and when she’d mentioned it to Hugh his eyes had flared, with love and with hope.
And excitement.
An adventure devoutly to be wished? Spending the rest of her life with this man? Loving him? Carrying his babies. Maybe adopting another dog or two, rescuing the odd wombat, helping islanders in need?
What greater adventure could a woman want? A career, a base and a man who loved her, as a husband and a friend.
And then she reached his side. He took her hands in his and he kissed her—surely that was for the end of the ceremony, but who cared? She kissed him back and knew that whatever the path their lives took, here was her heart.
‘Ready, love?’ he murmured as Joan coughed and raised her formal sheet of vows meaningfully.
And Gina smiled and smiled, though maybe there were tears in the mix as well.
‘I’m ready, my love,’ she whispered back, and she gave him one last hug before they turned to the celebrant to be pronounced man and wife.
‘Oh, my love, welcome home.’
* * *
If you enjoyed this story, check out these other great reads from Marion Lennox
Falling for His Island Nurse
Mistletoe Kiss with the Heart Doctor
Pregnant Midwife on His Doorstep
Rescued by the Single Dad Doc
All available now!
Keep reading for an excerpt from Second Chance with Her Guarded GP by Kate Hardy.
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Second Chance with Her Guarded GP
by Kate Hardy
CHAPTER ONE
OLIVER LANGLEY TOOK a deep breath.
This was it. His new start. Not the life he’d thought he’d have, six months ago: but that had been before the world had tilted on its axis and mixed everything up. Before his twin brother Rob had gone to work for a humanitarian aid organisation in the aftermath of an earthquake and his appendix had burst. Before Rob had ended up with severe blood poisoning that had wiped out his kidneys. Before Ollie had donated a kidney to his twin.
Before Ollie’s fiancée had called off their wedding.
Which had been his own fault for asking her to move the wedding. ‘Tab, with Rob being on dialysis, he’s not well enough even to be at the wedding, let alone be my best man.’ He’d been so sure his fiancée would see things the same way that he did. It made perfect sense to move the wedding until after the transplant, giving both him and Rob time to recover from the operation and meaning that Ollie’s entire family would be there to share the day. ‘Let’s move the wedding back a few months. The transplant’s hopefully going to be at the beginning of June, so we’ll both be properly recovered by August. We can have a late summer wedding instead.’
‘Move the wedding.’ It had been a statement, not a question. She’d gone silent, as if considering it, then shaken her head. ‘No.’
He’d stared at her. ‘Tab, I know it’ll be a bit of work, changing all the arrangements, but I’ll do as much of it as I can.’
‘That’s not what I mean, Ollie.’
He’d stared at her, not understanding. ‘Then what do you mean?’
‘I—I’ve been thinking for a while. We should call it off.’
‘Call it off?’ He’d gone cold. ‘Why? Have you met someone else?’
‘No. It’s not you. It’s me.’
Which meant the problem was him and she
was trying to be nice. ‘Tab, whatever it is, we can work it out. Whatever I’ve done to upset you, I’m sorry.’ He loved her. He wanted to marry her, to make a family with her. He’d thought she felt the same way and wanted the same things. But it was becoming horribly clear that he’d got it all wrong.
Her eyes had filled with tears. ‘It’s not you, it’s me,’ she said again. ‘You’re giving Rob a kidney—of course you are. He’s your brother and you love him. Anyone would do the same, in your shoes.’
‘But?’ He’d forced himself to say the word she’d left out.
She’d looked him in the eye. ‘What if something goes wrong? What if you get ill, and your one remaining kidney doesn’t work any more, and you have to go on dialysis? What if they can’t find a match for you, and you die?’
‘That’s not going to happen, Tab.’ He’d tried to put his arms round her to comfort and reassure her but she’d pulled away.
‘You’re not listening, Ollie. I can’t do this.’
‘Why?’
‘You know how it’s been with my dad.’
‘Yes.’ Tabby’s father had chronic fatigue syndrome. He’d been too ill to do much for years.
‘Mum stuck by her wedding vows—in sickness and in health. I didn’t realise when I was younger, but she worked herself to the bone, making sure my brother and I were OK, and keeping us financially afloat, and looking after Dad. Obviously when we got older and realised how ill Dad was, Tom and I did as much as we could do to help. But my mum’s struggled every single day, Ollie. She’s sacrificed her life to look after Dad. And I can’t do that for you. I just can’t.’
He’d frowned. ‘But I’m not ill, Tab. OK, I’ll need a bit of time to recover from the transplant, but I’ll be fine. Rob will get better and everything will be back to normal soon enough.’
‘But you can’t promise me you’ll always be well and I won’t have to look after you, Ollie. You can’t possibly promise something like that.’ Tabby had shaken her head. ‘I’m sorry, Ollie. I can’t marry you.’ She’d fought to hold back the tears. ‘I know it’s selfish and I know it’s unfair, but I just don’t love you enough to take that risk. I don’t want a life like my mum’s. I don’t want to marry you.’ She’d taken off the engagement ring and given it back to him. ‘I’m so sorry, Ollie. But I can’t do this.’
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