“You’ll have to give an accounting for that, sheila,” he promised between deep, ragged breaths. He found her with his strong fingers and began a rhythmic, circular massage that soon had Kate writhing, her hands stretched above her head.
Sean found them and imprisoned them in his fist, holding them where they were. Kate’s back arched, and a whimper escaped her as he continued to soothe and torment her at once.
“I love you,” she managed as he worked her skillfully toward frenzy. “Oh, God, I love you so much.”
“Then stay with me,” he answered, showing her no more mercy than she had shown him. “You belong with me, Kate—in my house and my bed.”
She moaned.
He took her to the east and west and north and south of heaven itself before allowing her a slow descent to earth.
In the morning they rose early to fish. It was their last day alone together, and that gave everything they did a note of sad festivity.
After lunching on their catch, they took down the tent, packed up their gear and hauled the lot of it to the airplane, where Sean stowed it neatly away. Looking back, Kate could see only a ring of stones surrounding a dead fire to mark their passing. Except for that, the ancient land was undisturbed; they might never have been there, loving and living, laughing and crying, shouting and whispering.
“We’ll be back someday,” Sean assured her, lifting her chin and planting a soft kiss on her mouth.
Kate nodded and turned her face toward the future, half excited and half afraid.
The small plane left the land with a roar that scattered birds and sent kangaroos hopping wildly toward the horizon. A magical time in Kate’s life was ending, and she knew it, and she wanted to cling to it with both hands.
Of course, there was no way to do that.
They landed once, around noon, at an isolated place that sold hamburgers and gasoline to truckers and pilots, and took off again immediately.
“I didn’t bring you out here to make you sad, Kate,” Sean remarked, having caught the forlorn expression on her face.
She nodded, her hands clenched together in her lap. “I know,” she said. How could she explain the feeling of loss she had, and the sense that it would be permanent?
They landed at the small airport outside of Sydney a few hours later, and neither of them spoke as they carried their gear from the plane to the waiting Jeep. Sean had a word with a mechanic, and then they were off.
“I’m moving back to the hotel,” Kate said, uttering her first sentence in over an hour.
“Tonight?” Sean asked. There was no challenge or recrimination in his voice.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because of Gil. Because of Abby,” Kate whispered. “Because we can’t be in the same house together without ending up in each other’s arms.”
Sean shrugged and took Kate to the hotel where she’d stayed her first night in Sydney. He waited until she’d booked a room, then kissed her lightly on the cheek and left.
An hour later her suitcases arrived by cab. She was on the telephone when the bellhop brought them up, but she managed to tip him and wave her thanks without interrupting the call.
“So,” she said when the door had closed behind the young man. “What would you and Daddy think if I married Sean Harris?”
Her mother’s stunned silence was answer enough.
Chapter 10
“How long will you be in Hong Kong?” Kate asked, holding the telephone receiver to her ear with one hand and towel-drying her freshly shampooed hair with the other.
“Three or four days,” Sean answered. He sounded as glum as Kate felt. “You might as well come here and stay, since I’ll be gone.”
She smiled. “That was a very transparent attempt to get me to feel sorry for you,” she said.
He chuckled ruefully. “Did it work?”
“Yes,” Kate answered, “but I’m still staying here.”
“Have it your way, sheila.”
Kate drew a deep, weary breath. “I would like to spend some time with Gil, if that’s all right with you.”
“It’s fine. Listen, love, I’m not very good at small talk. Will you have dinner with me tonight?”
“No,” Kate answered, remembering the chops he’d cooked by the campfire. “I had dinner with you last night. I’ll see you when you get back from Hong Kong.”
Sean sighed. “Good night, Kate.”
“Good night,” she responded gently before hanging up.
The evening news was flickering on the television screen, so Kate went over and turned up the sound. As events happening overseas were recapped by a brisk Australian voice, a picture of her father’s face filled the screen. He was standing behind the president’s desk, witnessing the signing of an important bill he’d been trying to push through the Senate for months, and he looked justifiably proud of his accomplishment.
Kate felt a certain homesickness, then cinched the belt of her heavy terry cloth robe a little tighter and sat down on the edge of her bed to eat a supper brought to her by room service. As much as she loved Sean and Gil, it was going to be difficult to live so far from friends and family.
When a silly game show came on, she got up to turn off the TV. She thought of Abby, and wondered how many of her sister’s problems could have been solved by an extended visit home.
In a moment, Kate’s sister and mother were both inside her head, yammering that it would be a mistake to marry Sean. She shut them up by turning the game show back on.
Kate slept in the next morning, then spent a few leisurely hours shopping. She and Sean weren’t planning a formal wedding, but she wanted a special dress just the same.
It was midafternoon when she arrived at Sean’s house to see Gil. He and his dog, Snidely, were playing with a Frisbee on the front walk, and his eyes lit up when he saw Kate.
“Is it true?” he demanded, racing toward her but stopping just short of a hug.
“Is what true?” Kate laughed, resisting an urge to ruffle his hair. She knew that some children resented gestures like that, and she wanted very much for Gil to like her.
“Dad said you and he have been talking about getting married,” Gil told her, and he looked genuinely pleased by the prospect. “Are you going to be my mom?”
So Sean had said they’d talked about getting married, not that they definitely would. Kate put an arm around Gil’s shoulders, and they proceeded up the walk. The driver of the taxi she had arrived in honked his horn as he drove away, but she barely heard the sound. She was too busy searching her mind for the proper answer to Gil’s question. “I’d be your stepmother,” she said at last. “And your aunt. But my sister was your mom, and nothing is ever going to change that.”
Worried brown eyes scanned her face. “You wouldn’t make me give Snidely away, would you?”
“Of course not,” Kate answered quickly. They had reached the steps of the porch, and they sat down side by side at the top. “I think Snidely is a nice dog.”
Gil was happy again. “Thanks,” he said.
Kate wanted to kiss his forehead or his cheek, but checked herself. He’d probably hate that, think it was corny. “Say, handsome,” she said as though struck by sudden inspiration, “how about having dinner with me tonight, since your dad’s away? We’ll go wherever you like.”
The child nodded eagerly. “McDonald’s!”
Kate laughed and slapped her hands against her blue-jeaned thighs. “McDonald’s it is, then, but we’d better tell Mrs. Manchester before she goes to any trouble making you dinner.”
The two went inside and found the older woman in the kitchen, rolling out dough.
“Aunt Kate’s taking me to McDonald’s,” Gil announced importantly, “so you don’t have to cook.”
Mrs. Manchester smiled. “Well, that’s good news,” she said with enthusiasm to match Gil’s. “I’ll just watch the telly, then, and have something simple for supper.”
“We could bring you a hamburge
r,” Gil volunteered.
Mrs. Manchester glanced at Kate, her eyes twinkling. “I don’t think that will be necessary,” she said. “You just go and have a good time, young man, and don’t worry about me.”
Kate told the housekeeper when she would bring the boy back and called another taxi while Gil dashed upstairs to change his clothes.
“I wish you’d come back and live at our house,” Gil told her when they were riding toward the nearest McDonald’s in the backseat of a cab.
Kate thought of the plans she and Sean had made to buy another house, one where Abby’s memory wouldn’t haunt them at every turn. “I think we might end up living together at some point,” she said cautiously. “Maybe you wouldn’t like it, having another person around when you’re used to just your dad and Mrs. Manchester.”
Shyly Gil moved a little closer to Kate on the seat. “I’d like it,” he assured her in a quiet voice.
Kate was so moved that her throat thickened and, for a minute, she didn’t dare look at her nephew for fear of bursting into sentimental tears. “Have you ever thought about visiting America?” she asked when she’d recovered herself.
Gil considered for a long time. “Dad says the place is overrated,” he told her finally. “But I’d like to see it for myself—especially Disneyland.”
Kate smiled at that. “Disneyland is one place that’s everything it’s cracked up to be,” she told Gil.
He looked concerned. “Disneyland is cracked up? What happened to it?”
Kate laughed. “We seem to have a language barrier here. When an American says something is everything it’s cracked up to be, that means it’s all that you’d expect of it and more. Disneyland is wonderful.”
“Oh,” Gil replied, and his expression betrayed both puzzlement and relief. “That’s good.”
Once they’d reached McDonald’s and were happily consuming their hamburgers, french fries and milk shakes, they exchanged idioms and tried to guess at their meanings. This made them both laugh so hard that people turned to look at them.
Kate would have liked to spend more time with Gil, but it was getting late and he had school in the morning. The day after that, however, would be Saturday, and Sean wasn’t returning until Sunday.
“Do you have plans for this weekend?” she asked.
Gil’s eyes were bright with anticipation as he shook his head.
“Then how about going to the Taronga Zoo with me? It’s been a while since I’ve seen a platypus or a wombat or even a koala.”
Gil liked the idea immediately, and he recounted the school field trip he’d just been on all the way home in the cab. Kate had the driver wait while she saw her nephew safely inside the house and said good-night.
When she got back to her hotel room, a bouquet of twelve yellow roses was waiting on her nightstand. The card read simply, “Now and always. Love Sean.”
Kate bent to sniff the luscious scent of the flowers, feeling optimistic about all the problems and differences she and Sean would have to work out in order to make a life together. Didn’t all couples have to do that?
She took a long, hot bath, read a third of the thick romance novel she’d bought that afternoon while shopping for her dress and fell into a sound sleep.
Since she hadn’t found a dress she liked the day before, she went out shopping again after breakfast. At a pricey little boutique tucked away between a pawnshop and a bookstore, she found a lovely ivory silk gown with a trimming of narrow lace around the hemline and along the V-shaped bodice. It was perfect.
After paying for the dress, Kate took it back to her hotel room and hung it carefully in the closet. She was just turning away from doing that when the telephone rang.
She answered with a questioning, “Hello?”
Sean’s voice came over the wire as clear as if he were in the next room instead of on another continent. “Hello, sheila,” he said. “Did you get the flowers?”
“Yes,” she answered, smiling. “They’re beautiful—thank you.”
“I’ll have to exact a certain price for them, of course,” Sean teased.
Kate felt warm all over, and she wished he could be right there in that room with her. “Of course,” she retorted in a low, sultry voice.
“How’s Gil?” was his next question.
“He’s just fine. We went to McDonald’s for supper last night, and we’re off to the zoo tomorrow.”
“Sounds like he’s pretty comfortable with you.”
Kate smiled. “He asked me if I was going to be his mom.”
The warmth seemed to fade from Sean’s voice, at least for the moment. “What did you tell him?”
Kate sat down, feeling deflated. “I said I’d be his stepmother, if you and I were to get married.”
“I see.” Sean still sounded uncomfortable, but that awful chill was gone from his voice.
Kate was never sure where her next question came from, because she hadn’t given it a moment’s thought beforehand. “I don’t suppose you’d let me adopt him?”
There was a long silence.
“Sean?”
“That would give you the same legal rights that Abby had,” Sean reflected.
“I know,” Kate answered. She knew she was walking on thin ice emotionally, and she was practically holding her breath.
“We’ll talk about it when I get back,” Sean said abruptly. Kate wished she could look into his eyes, for then she’d be able to read his thoughts.
“Which will be Sunday?” Kate asked brightly, anxious to soothe him.
“Probably,” Sean replied. “I love you, Kate.”
“And I love you.”
A few moments later they hung up.
The telephone immediately jangled again, and when Kate answered, she was surprised and a little alarmed to hear the operator say, “You have another overseas call, Ms. Blake. This one is from the States.”
“Thank you,” Kate said, and bit down on her lip as she waited. She felt inexplicably nervous.
“Your mother tells me you’re thinking of marrying that Australian,” Senator Blake boomed, without so much as saying hello to his daughter first. “Don’t you think that’s a little idiotic, given what he did to your sister?”
Kate braced herself. “He didn’t do anything to Abby. She manufactured her own set of problems, just like the rest of us.”
“He’d like to have you believe that. Katherine, I want you to get on the next plane and come home. I need you here in Washington, anyway.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Kate answered flatly.
She could feel the storm brewing in and around her father. “Katherine,” he said in an ominously quiet voice, “I expect to see you in this office within seventy-two hours. Is that clear?”
She sighed. “I’m sorry, Daddy. I’m staying here, and I’m marrying Sean.”
“If you do, by God, I’ll disinherit you. You’ll be left with nothing but your grandmother’s trust fund!”
Kate didn’t care about the money she wouldn’t inherit, and her trust fund was quite adequate for her needs. But she did care about losing the senator’s love and approval. “Do whatever you have to do. I’ve made my decision, Daddy.”
At that, the senator hung up on his daughter with a resounding crash.
*
Kate was still upset the next morning when she set out to pick up Gil at Sean’s house. Her father had no right to behave like such a tyrant, and she was going to tell him so the next time she saw him.
Gil greeted her at the front door, dressed for a day at the zoo. His smile seemed as wide as the distance between Kate and the senator. Once she was inside, the little boy gave her a shy hug. “I’ve been thinking about going to the States,” he told her. “I think I should, since I’m half-Yankee.”
Kate grinned. “I think you should, too, but your dad might have a different opinion.”
“I could go if he changed his mind, though,” Gil told her enthusiastically. He brought a passport from the pocket of
his jacket. “See?”
Kate nodded. “You’d better put that away before you lose it or something,” she said.
She was distracted from Gil by Snidely’s unmistakable bark. “You get out of my kitchen, you great hulking beast!” Mrs. Manchester cried, affronted.
“I think maybe you should go and tie up your dog,” Kate told her nephew.
He nodded his agreement and disappeared.
When the boy returned, he and Kate went outside and got into another taxi. They rode to Circular Quay, which was down near the Sydney Opera House, and boarded a ferry that took them across the harbor to the world-famous zoo.
They spent a happy morning examining one creature after another. Some were indigenous to Australia, while others might have been seen in any zoo.
Kate took a picture of Gil holding a baby koala. The little animal crunched nonchalantly on eucalyptus leaves all the while, willing to tolerate the idiosyncrasies of human beings.
When midday came, Kate and Gil had hot dogs and sodas for lunch. Kate reflected that her diet was going to hell on greased tracks; she’d have to get herself back on healthy food soon.
By early afternoon Gil was getting tired, so they took the ferry back to Sydney proper, found a movie house and bought tickets. Kate was glad to sit down, and she didn’t really care what the show might be.
It was an action-adventure story, as it turned out, and both Gil and Kate were soon drawn into the plot, as much a part of things as the main character. When they came out two hours later, they were blinking in an effort to focus their eyes.
A quick check of her pocketbook showed that Kate was nearly out of money. “Let’s go back to the hotel for a few minutes,” she said to her nephew. “Then we’ll have supper somewhere.”
“Great,” Gil agreed. It was an expression he’d heard in the movie, and he seemed pleased with himself for picking it up.
The hotel was several blocks away, but it felt good to walk after sitting for a couple of hours, and Kate and Gil played their game of exchanging idioms again as they went.
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