‘As Angus brought Deirdre,’ she whispered. ‘And all of us…somehow we’re all together. She wriggled on his knee, feeling suddenly like bouncing. The shock was wearing off and what was left was a searing blast of joy so great it almost overwhelmed her. ‘Oh, Hamish. Do you think we’ll live happily ever after with Ernst and Eric?’
‘They expect nothing less.’
‘In our castle?’
‘Sure, in our castle. With our pumpkins.’
‘As in all good fairy-tales.’ Her thinking was extending, past the confines of the man she loved to the world outside. ‘Where’s Taffy now?’
‘Out in the trolley racks.’
‘Where?’
‘With Harriet. Come and see.’
And when they finally found Taffy she wasn’t alone. The trolley racks were loaded.
Kirsty and Jake had shown the girls round the airport and had finally emerged to find the postmistress-and dog-in residence. So they’d settled down to wait, too-hoping that Hamish hadn’t talked himself onto Susie’s flight-and when Susie and Hamish and Rose emerged from the airport, it seemed half Dolphin Bay was waiting for them.
‘So you’ve come back to us,’ Jake said, but he wasn’t talking to the woman he’d said farewell to a couple of hours ago. He was talking to Hamish, gripping him on the shoulder as a man gripped a friend he hadn’t seen for years.
‘I guess I have,’ Hamish said, thinking of the impossibility of futures broking from Dolphin Bay, and then shrugging and thinking that impossibilities were made to be overcome.
‘I guess I have.’
E-mail From: Hamish Douglas
To: Jodie Carmody
Subject: Suggestion
Dear Jodie
Susie and I are delighted to hear you and Nick will be at our wedding next month, here in Dolphin Bay. With your pregnancy and your job as church secretary, we thought you’d be deeply embedded in your choir stalls.
But your letter, saying the stalls are finished and you and Nick are after adventure before the arrival of your little one, set us thinking. Maybe you’d like to share our adventure?
As you egged me on to discover, my life has changed. We have a castle, we have a little girl, we have a dog and we have a pumpkin patch. I have my financial training, Susie has her landscape gardening and we’ve been looking for ways of putting them together.
I can do some sharebroking from here, easily, with only the occasional trip to New York. But I need a secretary.
Susie can garden here to her heart’s content, but she needs people to enjoy her garden and eat her vegetables.
The castle is aging and maintenance is screaming to be done. The conservatory alone needs someone to care for it-someone who loves wood.
The castle needs people.
So we’ve decided to open our Castle By The Sea. It will be styled as a Cottage By The Sea, which is a famous holiday camp for children in need. Disadvantaged kids will come to us for the holiday of a lifetime. They’ll come in times of family crisis, they’ll spend two weeks here, on the beach, learning to garden, learning to farm in the experimental farm Susie’s planning. They’ll take time out from whatever crisis is in their lives. We’ve talked to the authorities. We have enthusiasm!
But we need someone with experience with disadvantaged kids. They’ll come with their carers, but we’d plan their experience. And-you see, Jodie, I do pay attention-I remember you telling me that Nick is a social worker. That he worked with disadvantaged kids and he loved it. We wondered whether he’d like to dip his toe in the water again.
Jodie, we’re not offering Nick a full-time job as a social worker or a woodworker, or you a full-time job as a secretary. Susie and I don’t intend to be full-time gardeners or sharebrokers either. But we are offering full-time commitment.
What we’d like is for you guys to have a house in the castle grounds-maybe helping build it could be Nick’s first job-and for you both to be Share-Castlers. Like share farmers, only different. This castle needs two families. We’re inviting you to be our partners.
You don’t need to answer at once. Terms need to be negotiated. There’s no way I’ll let you do this as a temp. What about it, Jodie? Will you share our happy ever after?
Think about it and let us know. With love from:
Hamish and Susie and Rose and Taffy and Ernst and Eric
Text Message from Jodie Carmody to Hamish Douglas
We’re on our way. P.S. Who are Ernst and Eric?
Marion Lennox
Marion Lennox was born on an Australian dairy farm. She moved on-mostly because the cows weren’t interested in her stories! Marion writes for the Medical Romance™ and Harlequin Romance® lines. In her non-writing life, Marion cares (haphazardly) for her husband, kids, dogs, cats, chickens and anyone else who lines up at her dinner table. She fights her rampant garden (she’s losing) and her house dust (she’s lost!). She also travels, which she finds seriously addictive. As a teenager Marion was told she’d never get anywhere reading romance. Now romance is the basis of her stories and her stories allow her to travel. If ever there was one advertisement for following your dream, she’d be it! You can contact Marion at www.marionlennox.com
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The Heir’s Chosen Bride Page 19