Desert Flame

by Janine Grey

  Fuck! He ground his teeth together as he stared out at the dark road ahead and when that didn’t suffice he bit out a savage curse that cut through the tension in the car. She gasped, as though shocked from a trance.

  ‘Is it just a coincidence that the paperwork has come to light at this point?’ he asked.

  She looked at him, bewilderment all over her face that slowly turned to hurt as the implication sank in.

  Fin turned the knife. ‘We potentially have a valuable opal stuffed into a sock, of which you own 25 per cent under the agreement between our fathers. But I suppose you’re not interested in your share.’

  ‘No, Fin . . .’

  As he indicated to turn off to Helton, he made a sound of disbelief. Even to his own ears it was a terrible, bitter sound.

  ‘Don’t worry, if I’m right, you’ll get yours.’

  ‘I don’t want it.’ She spoke in a whisper. ‘It’s yours. It always was.’

  Fin clenched his jaw as he pulled up outside Treloars Cottage and waited for her to get out, but she didn’t move a muscle, just stared ahead at the house.

  ‘It’s late,’ he muttered. ‘There’s no point continuing this now.’

  Stiffly, she reached for the doorhandle. ‘Please, wait for just a moment. I have something for you.’

  Fin watched her take her overnight bag from the back seat. He didn’t want to wait. He didn’t want to see her again. He just wanted to get out of the nightmare.

  Before she returned, he was gone.

  *

  By day three, the tears had dried up – mostly – and Eliza threw herself back into her work and her study. Being able to concentrate on something and not wallowing in her own wretchedness was a welcome relief. She avoided human company, though, knowing that the dark circles under her eyes would invite questions if she ventured to the store or the pub.

  A couple of times she heard a knock at the door but she didn’t answer it, knowing that it was likely to be Mick. Even his good-natured company was beyond her at the moment.

  From Fin she’d heard nothing. She didn’t even know where he was staying but, given the heatwave currently engulfing the north-west of the state, she couldn’t imagine he was at the camp, especially knowing what lay beneath. Most likely he was spending time with his mother at Coffs Harbour. The slim chance he was staying at the Helton Hotel gave Eliza another reason to steer clear.

  Six days after that terrible night, she found a bag of groceries on her back doorstep when she went to water her plants one morning, and a cheeky note from Mick: The offer still stands.

  She didn’t know if he was referring to his marriage proposal or his offer to deal with Fin, but his unquestioning support helped lift her floundering spirits.

  The following week, her mobile rang while she was immersed in a case and she answered it without thinking.

  It was Senior Sergeant Rees asking if she and Fin were available for a meeting later that week so that he could update them on his investigations.

  ‘Your theories were very close to the mark,’ he said. ‘And you’ll be pleased to know we’ve located Mr Daly, who returned from Thailand last week.’

  ‘I’m sure Fin will be pleased to hear that but I’m afraid I don’t know his whereabouts,’ she told him. ‘He may be in Coffs Harbour where his mother lives.’

  ‘I see. Well, I’ve left him a message.’

  ‘As for a meeting, I’ve been, um, under the weather, so I’m not able to come to Lightning Ridge right now.’

  ‘I see,’ Rees said again. ‘Look, I may be able to drop by on Tuesday afternoon if that suits.’

  Eliza thought better of telling him she wouldn’t be home on Tuesday. She did want to know what was going to happen to Twomey and Ingeo, if only to draw a line under it all.

  ‘All right,’ she said.

  ‘Good, I’ll see you then.’

  Putting down her mobile, she touched her laptop’s mouse. Her screensaver popped into view – a happy family snap. It had been taken during a holiday to celebrate her graduation, just months before her mother confessed her illness.

  They looked like they didn’t have a care in the world but that wasn’t the truth; it never was. Her parents had loved each other and loved her, both in their own way. They’d made mistakes as parents and as partners, but they were human. Flawed. And so was she, and Fin. Human perfection was a contradiction in terms.

  Eliza realised in that moment how much her feelings towards her parents had changed, softened. Maybe things could have been different, but what had happened couldn’t be changed. It was time to put regrets away and say a final goodbye.

  Once she’d met with Senior Sergeant Rees, she would head to Sydney for a week or two. She wasn’t running away, not this time. It was more like taking a step back so she could move forwards.

  And after she had laid the past to rest, she would track down Fin – her present and her future, God willing – and somehow make him believe that love deserved a second chance.

  *

  Between meetings in Sydney and Melbourne with numerous gem experts, several days with his mother in Coffs Harbour and a full day of media interviews in Lightning Ridge, Fin had barely had time to draw breath. It was just the way he wanted it.

  He should have been, if not happy, then satisfied. From chaos and crisis had emerged a future full of possibilities.

  His mother seemed to have turned back the clock since discovering the truth about Logan. The spark had returned. She recognised Fin, understood what was going on around her, and she’d even spoken a few words. It was heartening to see and hear.

  The excitement Dark Flame had generated in the industry and the wider community had been equally satisfying. Before leaving for Sydney, he’d spent hours researching the right person to approach for a valuation of the great opal, but then the obvious had occurred to him. Ernest Weaver would have good contacts, which of course he had done.

  His great uncle had been visibly thrilled to be involved in the conclusion to the hunt for what they were both now convinced was one of the most exciting black opals ever produced in the Lightning Ridge area. After he’d heard the saga, including the discovery of Logan’s remains, Ernest had summoned a thin, beaky man to the house, introduced him as Stevens, a former consultant to the Australian Museum and, for the next hour, the man had looked at the gem under this light and that, a deep frown on his face.

  As the minutes ticked past, Fin’s heart had started to sink. What if he’d got it all wrong? What if it was crap?

  Then the man looked up suddenly, and told them the Dark Flame opal was worth conservatively $1.6 million dollars to a private collector, and asked if he might recommend someone to cut and polish it.

  Dark Flame was now insured and at the museum for safekeeping, with the understanding that it would be first displayed at Lightning Ridge before its Sydney debut. And Fin had agreed that should he and his partners decide to sell, the museum would have the opportunity to make an offer.

  Fin knew he would have to sell – both for Mairi’s sake and to reimburse Eliza. His great uncle had refused to accept any proceeds, pointing out that the money would return to Fin, sooner or later, and most probably sooner. At least a sale to a public institution meant he would still be able to see it. Everyone would. It was the right thing to do, and yet not being able to publicly acknowledge Logan’s part in it didn’t sit quite right.

  But if the story of Logan became known, the police would be all over Ruin Flat, and Fin didn’t want that for Logan. His father had lain in peace for three decades, and it wasn’t right to disturb him now.

  Mairi had nodded when he’d raised the matter with her, and Ernest, too, had agreed that there was nothing to be gained from taking the story to the authorities.

  Ernest had seemed to revel in Fin’s company and hearing about the solving of two great mysteries.

  At one point during the monotony of the drive home, he smiled, thinking of Eliza’s pleasure when he filled her in on his growing relatio
nship with his great-uncle and then he remembered their last words and his smile fell away.

  He missed her until his whole body ached. He missed the little frown on her face when she was working, the exasperation in her eyes when he dropped towels and clothes on the floor, the way she fitted just right in his arms.

  Yes, she should have told him she had an interest in the mine, but equally he’d known she was holding something back and he hadn’t pursued it. Did it really matter, anyway? Love meant surviving the occasional stuff-up, didn’t it? God knows, he’d made enough mistakes.

  Now he was breaking all the speed limits to get back to her in the hopes that he wasn’t too late.

  On the seat next to him was a small package wrapped in handcrafted gift paper. It contained the earrings he’d had made from the small bluish opals he’d found, set in silver. Maybe the gift would tell her what he found so hard to put into words.

  He stifled a groan as he drove towards Treloars Cottage and saw a cop car parked in the driveway. As he pulled up alongside it, the front door of the cottage opened and two men stepped out. One was Mick and the other was Senior Sergeant Rees.

  They noticed Fin, and Mick must have said something to Eliza because she appeared in the doorway, where she stood still as a statue. The lamplight on the porch gleamed on her pale skin and Fin remembered the first time he’d set eyes on her, and how she’d reminded him of a statue carved from smooth marble.

  Fin strode past Mick and Rees, and a moment later he had her wrapped up tight. Home was her soft skin and sweet scent, and the sound of her voice telling him she’d missed him.

  Except the words never came.

  He was barely aware of Mick chuckling and Rees saying in a stilted voice, as though embarrassed by the public display of affection, that Eliza would be able to update Fin on the case against Ingeo.

  Fin didn’t care about that, or about anything but the woman in his arms, and telling her he was sorry.

  He said as much inside, a moment later, as they stood facing each other in the hallway.

  ‘I’ve made a mess of things, I know, and I’d like to say it won’t happen again, but it might, I don’t know. So, I’ll apologise now for that, too.’ He drew in a breath. ‘I have something for you. It wasn’t intended as a get-out-of-jail-free card because I planned this a while back, so it’s yours whatever happens.’

  He gave her the package, and watched her open it. She looked fragile, paler than usual with great shadows like clouds below her eyes.

  Delicately, she unfolded the tissue paper inside the gift-wrap and held the jewellery in her hand. ‘Oh, Fin,’ she whispered, her voice breaking a little. ‘They’re beyond beautiful.’

  ‘You’re beautiful,’ he replied. ‘I love you. I couldn’t stand to lose you. Tell me I’m not too late.’

  She looked up from the earrings then, a faint smile curving her lips though there was sadness behind her eyes. ‘I’m sorry, Fin. I should have —’

  Fin felt numb. ‘No,’ he said hoarsely. ‘Please.’

  She turned away, and picked up a piece of paper from the hall table. ‘I mean, I’m sorry, truly sorry, for not telling you when I found out about the mine’s ownership. I didn’t want the business to become mixed up with the personal, and I guess I wasn’t brave enough to instigate a difficult conversation.’ She shifted a little. ‘I have something for you too.’

  ‘What is it?’ He scanned the document before looking at her.

  Her eyes were steady on his, and he could see the yearning in them, the want that matched his own, and his fear eased.

  ‘I do love you, Fin, and I want forever with you. But whatever happens with us, the mine is yours and only yours.’

  ‘You can’t do this,’ he told her.

  ‘I’ve done it.’ She shrugged. ‘I did it a long time ago, when I was in Sydney weeks ago, before all this happened. I had my father’s solicitor draw up this transfer document. I wanted to give it to you, but it was never the right time.’

  Fin’s hand pushed through the unruly mess of his hair. He felt sluggish, as though his brain couldn’t quite keep up. His scrutiny of the document fixed on the date, but he already knew from the sincerity blazing from her blue eyes that she was telling the truth.

  ‘You might want to change your mind.’ He told her about the valuation.

  Eliza shook her head. ‘The mine’s yours, and so is the opal.’

  Fin decided to accept her decision. If his plans worked out, it made no difference anyway. What was his would become hers.

  ‘All right,’ he said. ‘Right now, I only care that we’re together.’

  ‘I need to tell you something else,’ she said. ‘About something I need to do.’

  ‘As long as it’s that you love me.’

  ‘You know I do but – Fin!’

  She gasped as he scooped her up and stalked through the house to their bedroom where he dumped her on the bed before starting to remove her clothing, flinging each item across the room in his impatience.

  ‘Fin!’ she said again, half laughing.

  ‘I know how you feel about order. I’ll pick it up later.’

  ‘Not that.’ She was smiling widely now, curled up against the pillows with hands across her breasts and her ankle tattoo visible, and the last of his worry slipped away.

  ‘What then?’ He settled on the bed beside her, his hip nudging her bare knee.

  ‘I seem to have nothing on while you are still fully dressed. I feel a little indecent.’

  ‘You are naked, that’s true,’ he acknowledged as her fingers went to the shirt button at his throat. ‘But I know what we can do about that.’

  Fin plucked her dark-rimmed reading glasses from a pile of books next to the bed and slipped them onto her nose.

  ‘Perfect,’ he said. ‘Now you’re quite decent, Miss Mayberry.’

  *

  It was ten days before Christmas and that afternoon Eliza would be flying home to Helton, having done what she’d needed to do in Sydney.

  Each day during her short time there, she had been to her parents’ graves in quaint Waverley Cemetery to lay fresh flowers and to talk. She felt she had spoken more honestly with them then than when they’d been alive – of her memories, what she’d learnt from them, and her hopes for the future.

  On her final day, she spoke to them of Fin. She imagined her mother smiling her approval, while her father worried at the prospect of losing his little girl.

  ‘I love him,’ she told them. ‘But while he and I were apart, I did some thinking. I realised that while Fin had made his peace with his family, I hadn’t made mine. That’s why I’m here.’

  She talked some more, telling them everything that had been on her mind.

  ‘I used to think I was Dad’s girl, but I know now there’s a bit of each of you in me. And the rest of me is made up of my choices, my experiences. No one’s perfect. I’ve made some mistakes but I think it’s going to work out, and that’s all I can ask.’

  Eventually, she said her goodbyes and walked from the cemetery towards her car.

  She stopped on the spot. As if from nowhere, Fin was there, arms folded over his chest, watching her.

  ‘How did you know where I’d be?’

  ‘You’ve been here every day.’

  ‘I thought you were seeing your great-uncle today.’

  ‘I did but he has an afternoon nap these days, so I thought I’d come to meet you. Have you done what you needed to do?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes.’ She smiled at him and took his hand as they walked away from the past. ‘Let’s go home.’

  EPILOGUE

  Eliza and Fin intended a small, intimate wedding on the banks of the river outside Helton, except that almost the entire town had announced their intentions to turn up and throw confetti, whether they were invited or not.

  Originally planned for March, the wedding had been delayed for two months when Mairi died suddenly in February. To Fin’s mind, at least, it was also unexpectedly.
<
br />   Eliza had not been as surprised. She’d seen a look in Mairi’s eyes, one that she’d seen before in her father’s and hadn’t been able to identify at the time. But now she knew. It was the look of someone whose long wait would soon be over.

  Even during their Christmas visit, Eliza had suspected that Mairi’s good cheer was not what everyone else thought; it wasn’t so much that Mairi was happy to be coming back to them, as she was happy to be saying goodbye.

  ‘Fin,’ Mairi had whispered at one point when he had been laughing at a terrible Christmas cracker joke. Eliza had leant in close to make out the word. ‘Fin.’ She said no more than his name, but the gentle smile and look of pride on her face expressed more than words.

  Eliza nodded. ‘He looks happy, doesn’t he? But he still gets pretty bad-tempered when things don’t go his way.’

  It was true. Only the previous day, he’d grumbled under his breath when she’d told him to pick his damp towels off the floor of the hotel bathroom and hang them up to dry.

  Mairi’s expression had been soft as she lifted a hand to stroke Eliza’s cheek.

  ‘I love him,’ Eliza had said simply. ‘We’re good for each other. Mostly.’

  Now, four months later, as Eliza stepped into her wedding dress in front of the mirror, she thought of Mairi and Logan. They were a reminder that relationships could be as fragile as lace or as indestructible as steel. She glanced from the lace bodice of her dress over to where her steel-capped boots sat. She suspected that their relationship, hers and Fin’s, was a combination of both lace and steel. At times their differences might tear great gaping holes in the fabric of their life together, but the steel structure would somehow hold it all together.

  ‘Hurry up,’ Fin yelled from outside the door, where he’d paced for the past hour. He’d flat-out rejected the tradition requiring a groom to stay the night at the pub so she’d refused to let him watch her dress. That, she thought wryly, was what constituted compromise in the Mayberry-McLeod household. ‘We’ll be late. Everyone’s waiting for us.’