by Di Morrissey
‘At your command, my dear!’ Sean leaned down and lifted the little girl onto his shoulders.
‘First up the hill wins,’ Katie called out.
Laughing, Mollie and Sally linked arms, Dan took Jessica’s hand and Sean burst into song, as Carmen, fit and strong, charged ahead.
*
Dan stayed the night, and the following afternoon Sally and Jessica drove him into Burridge to sail the Lady Jane back to Hobart.
He held Jessica tightly. ‘I’ll be back in a few days, then we hit the high seas.’
Dan kissed Sally’s cheek. ‘Take good care of yourself, Sal. And thanks for introducing me to Arcadia.’
Sally and Jessica watched the Lady Jane sail down the river towards the Channel and the sea.
‘Pinch me, Sal.’
‘It’s real. And you deserve it.’
‘I’d forgotten what it feels like to be happy, gloriously, wildly, crazy happy.’
They stood there in the sunlight, the river glittering, a slight breeze ruffling its surface.
‘You know what I’m thinking?’ said Sally.
Jessica glanced at her. ‘Let’s go. Let’s do it.’
They scrambled into the car and drove back the way they’d come, turning down to the river and the dock below Arcadia.
As they got out of the car, Jessica’s phone rang. ‘I bet it’s Dan, he’ll be getting out of range soon.’
‘I’ll go and get the key,’ said Sally. She made her way to the old boatshed, lifting the key from its hook under a loose plank.
She had the electric winch going, and the Charlotte-Ann was sliding easily into the water as Jessica came running towards the shed.
‘Hey, guess what!’
‘What?’
‘I got the job!’
‘No way! Fantastic!’ The two women hugged. ‘You’d better ring Dan.’
‘Yes, I will. But let’s get the sails up and sorted first.’
As they’d always done, they worked in unison, finally pushing off from the little dock and nosing into the river, watching the mainsail fill and swell.
‘I always think of a woman letting her hair down and shaking her head when the sails start to fill,’ said Sally. ‘Shall we head up past the forest? I like seeing the trees rising up the hill.’
Jessica had the tiller. ‘This place is so beautiful. I couldn’t be happier.’
‘Me too. Jess, I’ve been waiting for the perfect time to tell you: I have some wonderful news. I’m pregnant! I’ve been feeling so tired and crook. I thought it was stress! Toby and I went to the doctor after the meeting with the solicitor.’
‘Oh, wow! I’m thrilled for you,’ Jessica said, hugging her friend with one arm while keeping the other hand firmly on the tiller.
Sally put her arm around Jessica’s waist. ‘Seems like we’ve lived another whole chunk of our lives together in this short time!’
‘I feel like I’ve been around the world twice. When I look back on how bleak everything seemed when I arrived . . . I thought I’d never be truly happy again. And now your baby – a brother or sister for Katie – and meeting Dan! I don’t know where it might go, but I can’t think of anyone I’d rather be with, Sal. I feel so content. So safe. Thanks for putting up with me.’
‘We’re friends, Jess. Always will be. You’d do the same for me. End of story.’
*
Several hours later the river was turning gold, the hills darkening as they went about to head back to the dock.
Together they berthed the little boat, closed the old bleached wooden doors and hung the key back under the plank.
For a moment the girls stood in the fast-falling twilight, as those moments between sundown and night lingered, nothing moving save the shadows of the hills and trees on the smooth surface of the light-streaked river.
And as they turned and walked to the car, they heard it.
The distant warning screech of an owl, emerging from its nest in an ancient tree, to hunt in the forest it knew was home.
A suggested reading list . . .
Wesley the Owl by Stacey O’Brien (2008, Simon & Schuster)
King of the Wilderness: The Life of Deny King by Christobel Mattingley (2002, Text Publishing)
Win & Clyde by Janet Fenton (2010, Forty South Publishing)
Love! Nature and Save Nature Now by Dr Reese Halter (2018, both self-published)
Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets (2005, Ten Speed Press)
Radical Mycology by Peter McCoy (2016, Chthaeus Press)
About Di Morrissey
Di Morrissey is one of the most successful and prolific authors Australia has ever produced. She trained as a journalist, working in newspapers, magazines, television, film, theatre and advertising around the world. Her fascination with different countries – their cultural, political and environmental issues – has been the catalyst for her novels, which are all inspired by a particular landscape.
Di is a tireless and passionate advocate and activist for many causes. She is an avid supporter of Greenpeace, speaking out on issues of national and international importance. She established The Golden Land Education Foundation in Myanmar (Burma), and is an Ambassador for Australia’s Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children. Di also publishes and edits a free community newspaper.
In 2017, in recognition of her achievements, Di was inducted into the Australian Book Industry Awards Hall of Fame.
To find out more, visit www.dimorrissey.com and www.facebook/DiMorrissey. You can follow Di at @di_morrissey on Twitter and @dimorrisseyauthor on Instagram.
Di’s titles include: Heart of the Dreaming, The Last Rose of Summer, Follow the Morning Star, The Last Mile Home, Tears of the Moon, When the Singing Stops, The Songmaster, Scatter the Stars, Blaze, The Bay, Kimberley Sun, Barra Creek, The Reef, The Valley, Monsoon, The Islands, The Silent Country, The Plantation, The Opal Desert, The Golden Land, The Winter Sea, The Road Back, Rain Music, A Distant Journey and The Red Coast.
Also by Di Morrissey
In order of publication
Heart of the Dreaming
The Last Rose of Summer
Follow the Morning Star
The Last Mile Home
Tears of the Moon
When the Singing Stops
Scatter the Stars
Blaze
The Bay
Kimberley Sun
Barra Creek
The Reef
The Valley
Monsoon
The Islands
The Silent Country
The Plantation
The Opal Desert
The Golden Land
The Winter Sea
The Road Back
Rain Music
A Distant Journey
The Red Coast
This is a work of fiction. Characters, institutions and organisations
mentioned in this novel are either the product of the author’s
imagination or, if real, used fictitiously without any intent to describe
actual conduct.
First published 2018 in Macmillan by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd
1 Market Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2000
Copyright © Lady Byron Pty Ltd 2018
The moral right of the author to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted.
All rights reserved. This publication (or any part of it) may not be reproduced or transmitted, copied, stored, distributed or otherwise made available by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical) or by any means (photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise) without prior written permission from the publisher.
This ebook may not include illustrations and/
or photographs that may have been in the print edition.
The author and the publisher have made every effort to contact copyright holders for material used in this book. Any person or organisation that may have been overlooked should contact the publisher.
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry is available
from the National Library of Australia
http://catalogue.nla.gov.au
EPUB format: 9781760782894
Typeset by Post Pre-press Group
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