In Safe Arms

by Christine, Lee

  ‘I…I see.’

  ‘They made him take some of his leave. He’ll be back in a couple of weeks.’

  She nodded, throat aching, unable to think of a single thing to say.

  For a moment, Dario Byrne looked lost for words. ‘My wife and I are about to take off around Australia for three months in the Winnebago. I thought I’d give the place a once over so it’ll be nice when he gets back. Got to keep topping up the beer fund money you know.’

  Poor guy, he was trying to make her smile. And here she was, standing on the porch clutching her gifts, and probably looking like she was about to burst into tears.

  ‘Doing the grey nomad thing huh?’ she asked, brain finally beginning to function.

  ‘Yes, we’ve been planning it for years. Look, Josie, do you want to bring those inside? I mean, you may as well take the flowers home, but you can leave the wine for him if you like.’

  ‘Um.’ She raised the wine bottle a little. ‘Do you mind if I put this in the cellar?’

  ‘That’s a better idea.’ Dario smiled again, clearly relieved the awkward conversation was coming to an end. ‘Go right ahead.’

  Josie turned and walked down the steps, berating herself for thinking she would just turn up and find Nate sitting around waiting for her. After all, he had his real life back now, a life she wasn’t part of. There would be family to catch up with, and friends to see, she understood all that.

  But did he have to go so bloody far away so soon?

  ‘Enjoy your trip,’ she called over her shoulder, all at once eager to get away.

  ‘Thanks. See you, Josie.’

  And then Dario Byrne closed the door behind him.

  Chapter 32

  Three months later

  Nate dumped another armload of vines onto the pile he’d stacked near the arbour, and paused to take a drink from his water bottle. Sweat trickled between his shoulder blades, and he wiped his forehead on the arm of his tee-shirt and gazed out at the mountains. Summer was on its way, and summer meant bushfires.

  The quicker he thinned out the undergrowth the better.

  He thought about going for a run, following the trails beneath the cool canopy of trees in the valley, but he was getting enough of a workout here. And he hadn’t even started on the cellar yet.

  He turned and walked towards the old air raid shelter. He hadn’t been inside since the night they got the bottle of Grange for Josie’s birthday and Dickson had turned up. It was bad enough working beneath the arbour and dealing with the memories. Strange how he could still feel her body tucked against his side, smell the perfume in her hair.

  He thrust his hand into the vines and groped for the metal handle, thinking he’d have to buy a few dozen bottles of water to stack in here the next time he went to the supermarket. But he avoided that place too. It reminded him of Josie.

  Christ, Hunter, get a grip. When are you going to accept that it’s over?

  He located the handle, pressed it down and opened the door. Daylight spilled into the room and he stepped inside.

  What the fuck?

  Nate’s heart began a slow throb in his chest. There, on the single plastic chair, was a huge bunch of flowers. Dead flowers. So dead they’d completely dried out, and some of the brown petals had fallen onto the floor.

  And sitting beside the flowers, was a bottle of 1994 Grange.

  Josie?

  Nate’s breath hitched. When had she come up here?

  Christ, he hadn’t known.

  Hope welled up inside him as he spotted the small gift card attached to the flowers.

  He snatched at it, tearing it off and taking it closer to the door so he could read it in the daylight.

  I love you too. Call me. J

  She loved him!

  She loved him and she’d come up here and bought him — flowers?

  Nate grinned like a fool. Wasn’t he supposed to do that?

  Exhilaration raced through his body as he turned the gift card over. How long ago was this?

  Nate checked the date on his watch against the date on the back of the card.

  Two and a half months ago.

  ‘Arrgghh,’ he shouted in frustration and raked both hands through his hair. Two and a half months ago he was in the States, seeing Jonathan.

  Why hadn’t she called again?

  Because you didn’t call her, you idiot.

  All that heartache. The pain. The sleepless nights.

  All that wasted time.

  They’d make it up. It would be alright. She couldn’t fall out of love with him in two and a half months, could she?

  Shit. He had to phone her.

  Explain.

  And he needed a shower, needed to get into the city as fast as he could.

  Holding the card in one hand, Nate pulled the door closed.

  Then he took off for the house at a run.

  ‘The hall’s filling up. There are kids everywhere.’

  Josie looked up to see Allegra standing at the backstage door. She smiled at her friend and breathed a huge sigh of relief. She hadn’t been sure how many parents would bring their children along to the rescheduled annual concert, but from the look on Allegra’s face, it seemed they were getting a good turnout.

  ‘I’m going to go sit with Luke now. Good luck, Josie.’

  ‘Musicians say “break a leg”.’

  ‘Break a leg then.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  Josie stood and smoothed her hands over her black top and skirt as the first of the parents began chaperoning their children through the stage door.

  ‘Hey guys,’ she said as they gathered around her, ‘come on through. For the Mums and Dads, there are refreshments for sale at the back of the hall.’

  She watched, heart soaring as one by one her students began to turn up.

  Tonight was another small step towards regaining her life. No, not regaining it, building her new life. Building the life she wanted.

  She looked around the room and smiled at the children, her hope in humanity restored, even as the ache in her heart grew worse by the day.

  The only thing missing was Nate.

  Nate kept his head down and moved through the darkened hall. He could see Josie up on the stage, surrounded by children, and he didn’t want to distract her. She was playing a guitar, and the kids were banging a variety of instruments and singing. It looked like a scene straight out of The Sound of Music.

  Sidestepping between rows of parents with cameras, he eventually slipped into the seat next to Allegra.

  Luke reached around his wife and they shook hands.

  ‘Glad you made it,’ Luke said quietly.

  For the first time since he’d found the card, Nate breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back in the chair. When he hadn’t been able to get onto Josie, he’d eventually called Luke. Discovered tonight was the night of her concert.

  ‘Don’t screw this up, Nate,’ said Allegra, eyes fixed on the stage.

  He smiled in the dark. Nothing could dampen his jubilation tonight. He only hoped Josie would understand why it had taken him so long to get here. ‘Nice to see you too, Allegra.’

  ‘She may be young,’ Allegra whispered, obviously intent on having her say, ‘but she’s coped with more than most people will in a lifetime. She needs someone strong, Nate, a man, not a boy, someone older who can handle her family, who won’t be intimidated by it all.’

  ‘I know that, Allegra. I just have to convince her of it.’

  Luke peered around his wife again. ‘You don’t want to cross Allegra, mate. She can be scary when she gets like that.’

  As Allegra elbowed her husband in the ribs, Nate sat back and watched Josie. She wore a long sleeve black top and black knee length skirt, blonde curls tumbling around her shoulders as usual. She was finger picking the guitar and singing along with one of the children in a high clear voice.

  A picture flashed into his mind, an image of her with their children.

  Shifting uncomfort
ably in his seat, he hit the delete button, trashing the image. He had to stop dreaming. Josie was far from a sure thing, and he was getting way ahead of himself.

  ‘Aren’t you going to congratulate my wife?’ Luke said in a low voice.

  Nate whipped his head around and stared at Allegra. ‘You pregnant?’

  ‘No!’ Allegra rolled her eyes. ‘I’m only thirty-one.’

  Nevertheless, she and Luke exchanged some kind of “club of two” smile that had Nate thinking it would definitely be on the agenda in the future.

  ‘Simon Poole’s offered Allegra a partnership,’ Luke said, reaching for his wife’s hand, pride evident in his voice.

  ‘Yeah? Good one, Ally. When’s this happening?’

  ‘Start of next financial year. Josie’s agreed to stay on. She’s decided she likes legal work after all.’

  ‘Congratulations, that’s awesome news. This day just keeps getting better and better.’

  ‘Thank you, Nate.’

  Allegra smiled, eyes still trained on the stage. ‘Now will you two please be quiet.’

  ‘Bye, thanks for bringing him along.’ Josie waved goodbye as the last of the children left with their parents. She checked her watch. What could be keeping Luke and Allegra? The concert had been a success, but it had finished almost an hour ago now.

  All the families had left.

  Josie opened the door and stepped into the small storage room where the kids had haphazardly stacked their instruments. She needed help carting all this stuff across the car park to her new “second hand” car.

  Damn! She was going to have to go out the front and find them.

  She left the storage room, then halted as the door banged closed behind her.

  Oh no!

  Josie groaned, realisation dawning that she’d left her keys inside. She swung around and grabbed the doorknob, twisting it both ways and trying to push the door open, but the damn thing wouldn’t budge.

  ‘Shit!’

  ‘Lucky the kids have gone,’ a deep voice drawled from behind her.

  Josie stilled, the beats of her heart tripping over each other, her breath catching in her throat. Two and a half months, and she hadn’t heard a word. Two and a half months, six days and ten hours to be precise, and now, just when she’d given up all hope of ever seeing him again, he decides to turn up.

  She turned around, and in that one moment, all her doubts melted away.

  He was standing just inside the stage door, tall, dark, eleven out of ten on her personal scale. He wore straight cut jeans, a cream tee-shirt and a stylish brown leather jacket. He looked so good, he could have walked straight from a Fifth Avenue men’s boutique in Manhattan. Not that Nate Hunter was the metro-sexual type by any stretch of the imagination. He was lean, tough, tanned and naturally sexy, but she could see he’d gone to a bit of extra trouble with his appearance tonight.

  But best of all, he wore a hopeful smile, and he was holding the bottle of 1994 Grange in his hand.

  ‘I know I’m late. I only found the flowers this afternoon.’

  Clean.

  Straight to the point.

  No bullshit.

  ‘Oh.’ Josie’s stomach filled with butterflies as she ran nervous hands down the sides of her skirt.

  ‘When I didn’t hear anything, I wondered, thought — maybe you’d decided to stay in the States, you know, keep screwing the Hilary Clintons of the world.’

  A rare flash of irritation sparked in his eyes. ‘Josie!’

  Oh God, where had that come from?

  ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m really nervous, and you know how I say things when I’m nervous.’

  His eyes softened, and his mouth curved in a dry smile. ‘Yeah, I know.’

  She waved a hand in his direction and drew in an uneven breath. ‘And you caught me by surprise, coming in unannounced like that, and looking all great. If I’ve learned anything over the last three months it’s that I hate surprises.’

  ‘I’m sorry.’ Now he was apologising. ‘I tried calling, but your phone was turned off.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘Let’s start again, shall we?’ He leaned down and put the Grange on the floor. ‘How are you?’

  Josie opened her mouth to say she was fine, to parrot off the automatic response that people just expected. But this wasn’t people, this was Nate.

  Suddenly, she knew she had to be honest. This man knew her better than anyone else in the world.

  ‘I’m alright. Truly, I am. It hasn’t been easy, it’s been bloody hard work. But bit by bit, I’m putting my life back together.’

  There was a moment of uncertainty in his eyes, but then it disappeared as quickly as it came. ‘Building the wall one brick at a time, hey?’

  She nodded. ‘Something like that.’

  ‘And your mother?’

  Touched that he’d asked about her mother when many didn’t, Josie smiled. ‘Mum’s getting there too. The house is being sold — proceeds of crime and all that. But it seems there’ll be enough money for her to live on. I mean, Dad did own the construction company, so not everything’s been bought with drug money.’

  She closed her eyes and wondered whether she’d ever be able to utter the words “drug money” without a pain piercing her heart.

  When she opened her eyes, Nate had moved closer. ‘I’m proud of you, Josie.’

  The admiration in his voice sent a wave of pleasure through her. ‘I’m trying to turn things around. Mum and I have even joined forces, if you can believe that. We’ve set up a charity, raising money to rehabilitate teenage drug addicts.’

  Nate’s eyebrows shot up, so close now she could feel the heat from his body, smell his sexy clean aroma. ‘I’m very impressed, but I need you to tell me what made you change your mind, about me?’

  Josie stared at his firm brown lips, her breathing turning shallow. ‘I saw the interview with Dickson on TV. You’d been right all along about him. I understood then, why you did what you did.’

  He reached out and cupped her nape, coaxing her nearer, and when he spoke, his voice was a low whisper. ‘Dickson was out in the hall. He left before I could speak to him.’

  Josie moved closer too, parted her lips in anticipation. She didn’t want to talk about Dickson. She wanted Nate to stop talking and kiss her.

  ‘I feared he might have taken my place,’ Nate murmured, warm breath fanning her face, thumb a hypnotic stroke across her cheek. ‘Has he, princess? Has Dickson taken my place?’

  Josie shook her head, raised her hands and splayed them across his chest. ‘No one could ever take your place, Nate.’

  He kissed her then, softly and tenderly, lips clinging to hers, hands cupping her face.

  ‘Josie’, he whispered between kisses. ‘God I’ve missed you.’

  ‘I’ve missed you too.’

  He groaned and gathered her closer, wrapping her in his arms and claiming her mouth again, this time in a passionate kiss. Josie slid her hands upwards, stroking her fingers across his shoulders and down his triceps, where the Altar Boys had inked the tattoo into his skin.

  ‘You’re thinner,’ he said against her lips, hands roaming her body.

  ‘I lost my appetite.’

  He rested his forehead against hers. ‘I’m going to have to take you home and fatten you up.’

  ‘Home?’

  ‘Home to the mountains, and then Tasmania. I haven’t brought a girl home since high school so Mum will know it’s serious. She’d be over the moon.’

  Josie stilled, unsure she was ready to confront the entire Hunter clan. ‘Your family?’

  ‘Yes, my family.’ Nate raised his head and held her at arm’s length, so she had no option but to look in his eyes.

  ‘Princess, you have to accept that you are not your father, that you did not commit his crimes. I wish I could give you the self-esteem, empower you with the confidence to know that. But I can’t. All I can offer you, is me.’

  His heartfelt, genuine w
ords brought tears to Josie’s eyes, but she blinked them away and refused to cry even happy tears. This was a night for celebration.

  Gathering every bit of internal strength she could muster, she forced herself to smile and give him a gift in return. Prove to him that she’d develop the confidence to overcome all that had happened to her.

  And she would, with him by her side.

  ‘Okay. If I’m in love with you, and I am, I guess it’s only reasonable I meet your family.’

  He crushed her in another hug, burying his face in her neck and inhaling deeply. ‘You’ll love it down there. There’s an apple orchard, and we can go for long walks by the river. We even get snow sometimes. It’s about as different from Sydney as you can get. It’s perfect for holidays.’

  Sudden elation welled inside of Josie, and for the first time since making love with Nate in the mountains, she dared to think that she could be lucky enough to have all this. Have him. ‘It sounds beautiful, Nate.’

  He kissed her again, tongue searching for hers. And then his hands were sliding all the way down her back and over the curve of her bottom.

  ‘No!’ He pulled away when she crushed her breasts against his chest. ‘We are not going to make love in the dusty back room of a community hall.’

  ‘Oh come on, detective.’ She had the urge to tease, like old times. ‘Where’s your sense of adventure?’

  He growled. She didn’t know how he did it, but the low sound that rumbled from deep within his throat was positively primitive.

  ‘I’ve had enough adventure to last me a lifetime, and I’ve booked us a room at the “Shangri-La”.’

  Josie raised her eyebrows. ‘Very posh.’

  ‘You better believe it. Undercover work pays extremely well.’

  Josie sobered. She’d been so excited, she hadn’t even thought about his next assignment. How would she cope without him, cope with knowing he was constantly in danger?

  ‘Hey.’ He captured her chin between his thumb and index finger, tilting her face up so he could look into her eyes. ‘What just happened?’

  ‘When do you start your next assignment?’

  He grinned. ‘My undercover career is over, princess. This face has been splashed all over the media for three months. I should have mentioned undercover cops have a limited career life. Most only have one or two big assignments in them.’