The tea on the verandah was innocent in the extreme. Fern and Quinn sat in comfortable cane chairs, a wicker table between them, and sipped tea as if it was midafternoon and Fern was paying a social call
It was ridiculous.
It was also a great way to break the tension.
Over her teacup Fern caught Quinn’s eye and her mouth twitched into laughter.
His eyes laughed right back.
‘I’m sorry I can’t offer you a cucumber sandwich,’ he grinned. ‘The maid’s off duty.’
‘It’s a lack,’ Fern said sadly, ‘but I can make do.’
‘I thought of wearing a frilly apron and starched cap myself.’ Quinn’s mournful tone exactly matched hers. ‘But try as I might I can’t convince myself that frills become me. I make a much better butler. If you’d like to go round to the front door and ring the bell I’ll show you my true butling style. Mind, at three in the morning I’ll probably ask icily for your calling card and see you off the premises.’
Fern choked.
There was silence again but this time the silence was comfortable. Something was fitting round Fern like a lovely, comforting cloak.
Something that she’d never felt before…
She finished her tea slowly, glancing back into Maud’s room every few moments as she sipped. Finally, reluctantly, she finished her cup, placing it back on the wicker table, and rose.
Strangely she was loath to move. This night was her wedding night-and she was on the verandah of another man’s house feeling that here was someone who…
Stop it, Fern! Stop it!
What was her errant mind thinking? She was crazy!
‘Thank you…Thank you for the tea,’ she said stiffly. ‘I should go back in…’
And then she stopped as something wet and cold touched her ankle.
Fern stepped back in surprise and looked down.
She was wearing sandals and her ankles were exposed. Nuzzling the bare skin above her feet was a tiny wallaby, only half-grown.
‘For heaven’s sake…’
Fern knelt down. The tiny creature showed not the least fear. He transferred his nose to Fern’s hand and nuzzled these strange new smells with equal interest.
‘Where did you come from?’ Fern asked with delight. She looked up at Quinn. ‘Is he a pet?’
‘No.’ Quinn was smiling down at her, the warmth in his eyes directed at Fern rather than the wallaby. He leaned over and scooped up the little creature. ‘This is one of Jessie’s babies and he’s getting very bold in his old age.’
‘Old age!’
‘He’s been here four months. He’s practically a grown-up now.’
Quinn walked over to the edge of the verandah. Hanging from the rail was a wide woollen pouch which looked very like a sweater with the neck and arms sewn up. It was looped over the verandah rail at such a position that the tiny wallaby could jump in or out whenever he chose.
Quinn tucked the little creature inside. The joey squirmed in a wriggling mass of heaving sweater and gangly limbs-and then his eyes peeped out once
‘It’s too early to sleep,’ his eyes seemed to be saying. ‘If you two are chatting, why can’t I?’
Quinn grinned and with two fingers gently pushed the damp little nose down. Like a jack in the box, the nose sprang straight back up.
‘He’s starting to guess he’s a nocturnal animal,’ Quinn smiled. ‘Someone brought him to Jess after they hit his mum with a car. She’s been hand-feeding him-but she’s started putting him out here at night so he can get used to a bit of night grazing.’
‘Jess…’ Fern frowned. ‘Jess lives here?’
‘Sure.’ Quinn gestured to the huge house behind them. ‘This place is enormous. Jess has taken over the east wing for her animals, and the west wing’s for humans. It works well-apart from the odd escape. Even then, the sight of a baby wallaby or an echidna waddling down the corridors only seems to keep my patients stirred.’
‘I don’t know what the Health Commission would say about that,’ Fern said doubtfully, and Quinn grinned again.
‘The Health Commission, bless their bureaucratic little hearts, are far, far away and, anyway, if they closed Jess’s and my operations down now they’d have a war on their hands. Barega would declare itself a republic and design its own flag on the spot. Jess and I are providing a better medical service to the island than it’s had in years.’
‘I guess…’
Words died away.
The night was warm around them. The huge, golden moon was a glittering jewel hanging low over the ocean, its soft light casting a tunnel of gold across the distant waves.
It was almost as if it was a path, waiting to be trod.
This was a magic night. Her wedding night…
Fern gave herself a mental shake. The feeling of warmth creeping over her had nothing to do with the fact that it was her wedding night. She looked up at Quinn and found him watching her, the wide, generous mouth twisting into a smile that was half-questioning.
‘What is it, Fern?’ he asked gently, and to her horror she felt the pinprick of tears behind her eyes.
It was just that she was tired. It had to be.
Fern turned deliberately away to look in at Maud. Maud stirred in her sleep and sighed, then settled back into slumber. Maud didn’t need her, thank heaven, but Fern wanted to return to her aunt, for all that. She felt as if there was something inside her that was close to breaking and she didn’t know what.
‘I’ll…I’ll get back to bed,’ she whispered.
‘You can go to sleep safely now,’ Quinn told her. ‘I’ll watch the monitors but I’m sure she’ll be fine.’
‘But when will you sleep?’
‘I sleep on my feet,’ he grinned. ‘I’m trained as an emergency medicine specialist and until last year ran Casualty at St Martin’s in Maybroe. Part of the training is coping with sleep deprivation. If I saw eight hours sleep in a row I wouldn’t know what to do with it.’
‘But…’ Fern stared. ‘St Martin’s…If you were in charge there…’
If Quinn was in charge of Casualty at St Martin’s then he had to be good. St Martin’s was one of the biggest emergency hospitals in Australia, coping not only with local trauma but also the complex trauma from almost everywhere else. A man breaking his spine in the Simpson Desert would probably be transported to St Martin’s, and the hospital had a neo-natal team that brought desperately ill babies from all over Australia.
‘So what on earth are you doing here?’ Fern whispered.
‘R and R,’ Quinn smiled. ‘Change of pace.’
Change of pace! From racing with the best to a comparative crawl! Quinn’s income would be a tenth here of the income he was accustomed to-and with his skills…
‘But…your skills are wasted here,’ Fern managed.
‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘That’s in the eye of the beholder and if I’m the beholder I don’t think I am. Someone else stepped into my shoes with enthusiasm as soon as I left St Martin’s. Here, though…Well, even the locally raised doctor refuses to come home to look after her own people on Barega.’
‘That’s unfair,’ Fern whispered. ‘I can’t…’
‘Can’t come home?’
‘No.’
There was a groan from around the corner of the verandah. Silence as if the groaner was waiting for a reaction and then another groan. Louder.
Sam…
Quinn grimaced and motioned to Fern to stay where she was while he went to investigate.
‘I should go…’ she whispered.
‘No.’ Quinn ran his hair through his brown-gold hair in a gesture of exasperation. ‘If you go then your beloved
