‘So we did,’ he agreed. ‘I’d forgotten that. Okay, then, but I’m thinking I want more than that. I want lots of nights. And then when I saw those footprints leading to the rocks and I thought I might have lost you…both…’ His voice cracked and it was all Erin could do to stay sitting still-which was sensible-and not launch herself into his arms-which wasn’t.
‘So I’m admitting it,’ he said. ‘I’m in love. Love at first sight. It’s crazy. I don’t believe it for a minute but it seems to have happened. Nathan, tell Erin I’m a very sensible person. Tell her I never take risks.’
‘So climbing round here rather than wait for the helicopter…’
‘Except when they’re absolutely necessary for survival of the people I love. You know, my love, that my mother fell in love at first sight, over and over again. It made me think it could never be true. But when I saw your footprints disappearing onto rock, I figured she had it right all along. Her choices were lousy but the concept still holds. I’ve fallen in love with you, I’ll do anything it takes to keep you with me for ever, and I’m saying it here and now…you’re necessary for my survival.’
‘You don’t…You can’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘I don’t,’ he said, and smiled again, that heart-stopping smile she loved so much. She could see it clear as day in the moonlight, or maybe she could feel it, but she knew it was directed straight at her. Crooked and teasing and just a little bit wicked. ‘Teach me,’ he said. ‘Teach me about loving.’
Wow!
They could have fun, she thought suddenly, a little bit breathlessly. She and this man…
They could have a family. Or maybe they already had a family.
They could have a bigger family.
‘I love you, too,’ she said, so fast her tongue tripped over itself. She grinned back at him, a great dopy grin. A little bit misty. ‘Boy, do my parents have some readjusting to do.’
‘I can’t wait to meet them.’
A wave, bigger than the rest, smashed into their rock. Their hold on each other tightened. Whatever happened, they were in this together.
Out to sea a fishing boat had rounded the headland. Its floodlights were playing over the cliffs. The light hit what the fishermen were looking for-and steadied.
A man, a woman and a child. The child somehow squashed between the adults.
The man kissing the woman as if he’d never let go.
A man, a woman and a child-a family.
The helicopter arrived fifteen minutes after the floodlight hit them. The waves were starting to constitute a serious threat but rescue was on time. Skilled search and rescue personnel were lowered with harnesses, lifting first Nathan, then Erin and finally Dom.
Graham had what seemed to be the entire community on top of the cliff, waiting for them. Every searcher in the district must have got the news and hotfooted it to the scene to be in on this happy ending. Dom saw them all as he was lowered into their midst.
Did these people ever sleep?
Ruby was there, too, holding a sleepy Martin. Reaching to hug him, with Martin squished in the middle.
‘Ugh,’ Martin said. ‘You’re wet.’
‘And cold,’ said a paramedic he recognised, coming toward him with a thermal blanket.
‘I’m fine,’ Dom said, waving away help. He was searching the crowd for who he needed to find. ‘Erin and Nathan?’
‘We’re warming them inside the ambulance,’ the paramedic told him. ‘Nathan’s bordering on hypothermia. We’re guessing, though, that you won’t want us to take him to hospital.’
‘What’s the use of having two doctors if we can’t take care of our own.’ But Dom was pretty cold himself, and the paramedic was focusing on him as a patient now-not as a doctor.
‘Yeah, well, we’ll strip you off and get you warm or we’re going nowhere,’ the guy told him, and Ruby was concurring.
‘You do as we say or I’ll take you to Campbelltown Hospital myself,’ she said.
‘You and whose army?’
‘Any cheek and I’ll box your ears,’ she said, and he thought she just might.
‘Um…you’re not supposed to be here,’ Dom said, trying to get his head round what was happening.
‘I knew you’d be rescued and Martin and I wanted to see,’ Ruby told him. ‘And we both want to see you with Erin.’
‘You want to see…’
‘Our happy ending,’ she said serenely. ‘Go on, then. There’s blankets and warmth and no wind in the ambulance. Oh, and did I mention Erin’s in there?’ She grinned at the paramedics. ‘Take him away, boys. But leave the doors open.’
He had no choice. He was propelled into the back of the ambulance.
Erin was sitting on one of the stretchers. She was draped in thick, warm blankets. Nathan was snuggled close by her side.
‘Kiss the girl, Doc,’ someone called from the back of the crowd.
‘Right,’ Dom said drily, and tried to close the doors. But the paramedic was holding the doors firmly open.
‘I reckon you have to give the people their money’s worth,’ he said, chuckling. ‘The guys on the boat said you were kissing when they found you. The news has gone round the town and back again. Most of these people have been trekking through bushland to find the kiddie. They want a happy ending.’
‘Like you kissing the girl,’ someone called out. ‘Like in all the best movies.’
‘Kiss the new doc,’ someone else called.
Hell.
He didn’t do emotion-until tonight. He didn’t do connection-until tonight, and he surely hadn’t ever done public displays of the same. Dominic Spencer was a man who walked alone.
Right. When Erin was huddled under her blanket looking out at him, smiling and smiling. When Nathan was waving to Martin. When Ruby was looking on with her ‘get on with it, boy’ expression and when this whole amazing community was watching. Waiting for him to kiss their
What was the use of arguing?
And why would he want to?
Walking alone was for idiots, he decided, right there, right then. He tossed it aside along with any last reservations about love at first sight.
So, taking that all into account, there didn’t appear to be a choice. He couldn’t stand up in the ambulance anyway.
So he knelt. On one knee.
‘Erin Carmody, will you take my hand in marriage?’ he asked, and there was a collective gasp from the assembled crowd.
Erin’s eyes were dancing. ‘You idiot.’
‘Is that any way to greet a proposal?’
‘I don’t know. This is only my second. I need a few more to practise with.’
‘You can’t have any more. I love you.’
She smiled mistily down at him. ‘I love your kids,’ she ventured.
He met her and raised. ‘I love your dog.’
‘And I love your town. Oh, and Ruby’s fabulous.’
‘Erin?’ he said, deciding it was time to get things back on track.
‘Mmm?’
‘I’ve asked you to marry me.’
‘You don’t believe in love at first sight.’
‘I’ve known you for three days. That’s the longest courtship I’ll tolerate. So…’ He was starting to sound exasperated. ‘Will you marry me?
‘Only if you’ll share.’
‘Share what?’
‘Your kids, your house, your patients.’ Her laughter faded. ‘Your dreams, your fears. Yourself. You.’
