His Miracle Bride

‘Kissing.’ He had to say it. Dwayne was still staring down into the darkness. Any minute now he’d get sick of staring and jump down and make certain it was them.

‘It’s just…kissing?’ she whispered.

‘Of course it is. What else could it be?’

‘You don’t want…?’

‘Hey, I have enough encumbrances,’ he said, trying to keep his voice steady. ‘I’m not in the market for more.’

The fear he’d seen-or had he imagined it?-faded. It was replaced by bleakness. And maybe a little anger.

‘I guess I’m not either,’ she managed.

‘You’re setting up an art gallery in Sydney.’

‘So I am.’

‘It’d never-’ He paused. ‘No.’

‘It might,’ Shanni said urgently. ‘Pierce, it might.’

‘I don’t do relationships.’

‘No?’

‘No,’ he said flatly and then again as if it needed accentuating. ‘No.’

‘But you’re father to five…’

‘Yeah, so isn’t that enough?’ He hesitated, but it had to be said. He might be falling in out of his depth, but he was damned if he was dragging her down with him. ‘Get out of here, Shanni,’ he said gently. ‘While the going’s good.’

‘You mean cut and run?’

‘Yes.’

‘As you’d like to do?’

‘Yes.’

‘Would you really like that? To be free again?’

‘Of course.’

There was a moment’s silence. ‘Coffee?’ Dwayne called again from the veranda, sounding unsure. He’d assumed they were out there but he couldn’t hear them.

‘I don’t-’ Shanni said, and then she stopped. ‘Pierce…’

‘No,’ he said, so forcefully that Dwayne heard.

‘It is you,’ he said from the veranda. ‘Everyone’s looking for you. Mum says do you want her to come back at breakfast time and bring eggs?’

‘No,’ Pierce said again.

‘No?’ Dwayne sounded confused.

‘Everyone’s going home,’ Pierce said, but his eyes didn’t leave Shanni’s.

‘Everyone?’ Dwayne asked.

‘Olga can stay,’ he said.

‘That’s magnanimous of you,’ Shanni muttered. ‘Your brothers have come from overseas.’

‘You sent for them.’

‘Ruby did. She said she was worried about you, and before we could blink they were in the country.’ She hesitated. ‘Blake’s been magnificent. And…’ She took a deep breath. ‘Nik is cute.’

‘Don’t you dare go out with him.’

‘Why not?’

‘He’ll break your heart.’

‘Not possible.’

‘Of course. Mike’s already broken it.’

She flinched. Then, ‘You know, I thought for a bit that he might have,’ she said. ‘But I didn’t know the first thing about loving. And I sure as heck didn’t know the first thing about broken hearts. It’s taken an expert to teach me.’

‘Shanni…’

‘If you really don’t want me, then I’ll go,’ she said, and she broke away. ‘I’m coming, Dwayne,’ she called. ‘And your mum doesn’t need to worry about eggs. There’s enough food in the kitchen to feed Pierce’s immediate family and he has no intention of expanding it.’

She left soon after. She helped Ruby into the car, and the two of them headed off, with only Ruby looking back.

‘I hate to leave,’ Ruby whispered as the lights from the farm faded from view. ‘It seems wrong.’

It did seem wrong. Shanni’s face was set. Ruby glanced at her cautiously and then looked away.

‘I’m sorry, dear.’

‘It’s not your fault he’s a pig-headed, independent, bottom-feeding maw worm.’

‘You’ve got it bad,’ Ruby whispered.

‘I have,’ Shanni agreed and didn’t say anything.

‘You love him very much?’ Ruby murmured after a while.

‘More than life itself. Almost more than I love his kids.’

‘Oh, Shanni…’

‘But I’ll get over it,’ Shanni muttered. ‘I have to. And Mum and Dad get home tomorrow. Yay, I’ll get my bedroom back. I’m in extraordinary need of Susie Belle.’

‘Pierce?’

He was back standing against the post where Shanni had sat. Even Clyde had deserted him. Behind him, the house was in silence. The partygoers had gone. Blake and Nik were still here, as was Olga, but he’d said goodnight and left them. He’d assumed they were asleep.

But not Blake. Blake was two years older than Pierce, and he’d taken on the role of eldest sibling.

‘There’s a beer back here on the veranda,’ he called.

‘I don’t need a beer.’

‘Yeah, you do,’ Blake said easily. ‘You’ve hardly had a drink all night. You’ve looked like you were being chased by demons. Everyone else has had a ball, and you’ve looked like you were being chained and tossed into a dungeon.’

‘Hell, I didn’t…?’

‘Oh, you smiled,’ Blake said. ‘No one who didn’t know you well could guess.’

Should he say he hadn’t guessed himself until Ruby had grabbed him on the way to the car? ‘Talk to your brother. He’s in love with Shanni and he won’t admit it,’ she’d said.

Talking personal stuff didn’t come easy to any of them, but for Ruby’s sake-and for Pierce’s-he guessed he’d try.

So Blake tugged a couple of ring pulls and they drank beer and stared into the night for a while. Pierce had turned off all the outside lights and Blake hadn’t turned them on again. There was only the moonlight. And silence.

‘Ruby says you’re in love with Shanni,’ Blake said at last, and Pierce almost choked on his beer.

‘What the hell?’

‘She says you’ve got it bad. But you’re being stubborn.’

‘What does she know?’

‘Of all the people in the world, maybe it’s Ruby who knows us best,’ Blake says. ‘She’s seen us at our worst. She took us in and loved us, regardless.’

‘She’s great.’

‘Shanni says we have to toss out the stipulations on her apartment. She says it’s cruel.’

‘Shanni’s right.’

‘She’s quite a girl,’ Blake said cautiously. ‘Mind, she’s Ruby’s niece, so she has a head start. Nik is really taken with her.’

‘Tell Nik to leave her alone.’

‘Tell him yourself, little brother. And, if you don’t want her, what’s the problem?’

‘She deserves better…than us.’