‘Never?’
‘No.’
‘No family?’
‘No brothers or sisters. An older cousin who was a creep.’
‘I think that’d be awful,’ she said. ‘Being an only kid. Being a twin was wonderful.’
He thought about that, and looked down at her sleeping baby. Another only kid? ‘Rose…’
‘I’ll surround her with kids,’ she said, determined. How was she going to do that? She didn’t have a clue.
She was going home to juggle baby, career, life.
She was not going to let it get her down.
‘Your sister’s here?’
‘Yes.’
‘She has kids.’
‘Yes.’
‘Why don’t you stay here?’
‘And be dependent on Kirsty for the rest of my life? No, thanks very much.’
‘Independence can be hard.’
‘I suspect you’re a master of it,’ she said. ‘I’m just learning but I’ll manage.’
‘Susie…’ he began-and then paused as the sound of a motor cut the stillness. He turned to watch a dinghy putt-putt around the cove. It was a simple, two-person craft with a small motor that would have been dangerous on a day that was any less calm than this. But it was calm and the two people in the boat looked inordinately pleased with themselves. A middle-aged couple-the man in a loud Hawaiian shirt and the woman in a swimsuit that had even more gardenias on than her husband’s shirt-were heading straight for them.
As they came within earshot the man stood up in the boat, rocked precariously and yelled.
‘Ahoy. Can we land on this beach? Are there rocks?’
‘No rocks,’ Susie yelled back, relieved her tete-a-tete was over.
They cruised towards the shore, a bit too fast. Neither got out of the boat until it hit sand. Then they sat in the rocking boat, removed their sandals with care and put their toes into the water as if expecting piranhas.
No piranhas.
‘Ooh, it’s lovely, Albert,’ the lady said. ‘It’s not too cold at all.’ She turned to them and beamed a welcome. ‘Hi.’
They were Americans. The place was starting to be overrun with Americans, Susie thought. ‘Hi,’ she replied, while Hamish said nothing at all.
‘We just wanted to take your picture,’ the woman told her, beaming still. ‘That’s right, isn’t it, Albert? We brought the boat round from Dolphin Bay harbour and I saw you through the fieldglasses with your baby asleep and your puppy, and you all look beautiful. I bet that dog’s got dingo in him, I said. And I said to Albert, I’d like to take their picture, because you remind me so much of what we were at that age. And now life’s an adventure and it’s wonderful but I just thought…seeing you two…’ Her beam faded a little. ‘You don’t mind, do you?’ she asked, suddenly anxious that she might have offended the natives. ‘If you give me your name and address I’ll send you a copy. Albert is a lovely photographer.’
Albert looked bashful, but combined beam and bashful very nicely.
‘We’re only in Australia for a week,’ the woman went on. ‘For five of those days Albert has a conference but I said I wasn’t going home before I’d met some real Australians. So I got a pin and closed my eyes and stuck it in a map of places we could get to from Sydney and here we are. And I know you aren’t aboriginal or anything, but you so look like you belong. Anyway, can we take your picture?’
‘Um,’ Susie said with a sideways glance at the silent Hamish. ‘What do you think…luv?’
He grinned. Her drawl had been an attempt to sound Australian but she hadn’t quite managed it.
‘Geez, darl, I dunno why not,’ he drawled, and his accent was so much better than hers that she almost laughed out loud. ‘We could do with one of them photo thingies to show the kiddies when they grow up.’
She choked. Albert suddenly looked suspicious.
‘They might already have a camera, Honey.’
‘We’d be very pleased to have our picture taken,’ Susie said. This was such a glorious morning, she was determined that everyone could enjoy it. She glared at Hamish. ‘What my…what he meant was that’d it’d be an honour to have a picture taken by an American.’
‘That’s all right, then,’ Honey said, obviously thinking the same thing. ‘Can you cuddle? I don’t suppose you want to pick the baby up?’
‘She’s just gone to sleep,’ Susie said. Enough was enough. But then she grinned and leaned down, hoisted the wet and sand-coated dog up and thrust him into Hamish’s arms. ‘There you go, darl,’ she said. ‘You cuddle the dingo.’
The dingo stuck his nose into Hamish’s face and slurped.
‘Gee,’ Hamish managed. ‘Thanks…darl.’
‘Just stand behind the baby,’ Honey urged. ‘So we can get you all in the shot.’
They did, bemused.
‘Put your arm round her,’ Albert urged.
‘It’s all I can do to hold the dingo,’ Hamish muttered. Boris was wiggling like the crazy mutt he was. Ecstatic.
‘I’ll hold the back half,’ Susie said and did that, catching Boris’s legs.
The dog was now upside down, his front end held by Hamish and his back half held by Susie.
‘Now cuddle your wife,’ Albert said,
‘She’s not-’
‘Cuddle me, darl,’ Susie said sweetly. ‘You know you want to.’
He cuddled her. He stood on the sun-warmed beach, with a dog in his arms, with Rose curled up asleep at his feet, with a woman pressed against him and with his arm around her, and he smiled at the camera as if he meant it.
It was like an out-of-body experience, he thought. If Marcia could see him now she’d think he must have an identical twin. This was nothing like he was. The self-contained Hamish Douglas was a world away. He should be in his office now, with his hair slicked down, wearing a suit and tie, in charge of his world.
Instead…
Susie was leaning against him. She was still cool to the touch after her swim. He’d been getting hot on the beach and the cool of her body against his was great.
Not just the cool. The smell of her. The feel of her…
She curved right where she ought to curve. His arm held her close and she used her free arm to tug him even closer. The feel of her fingers on his hip, the strength of her tugging him close…
Whew.
He smiled at the camera but it was all he could do to manage it.
He needed to go home, he thought. He needed to put this place on the market and get out of here.
Why was he terrified?
A vision of his mother came back, his mother late at night, coming into his room, putting her head on his bed and sobbing her heart out.
‘I never should have loved. If I’d known it’d hurt like this, I never, never would have loved him. Oh, God, Hamish, the pain…’
He withdrew. His arm dropped and Susie felt it and moved aside in an instant. It had been play-acting, he knew. She hadn’t meant to hold him, to curve against him as if she belonged.
‘Where shall we send the pictures?’ Honey asked, aware as they moved apart that the photo session was definitely over. There was something in their body language that told her there was no way she’d get them back together again. ‘Do you have a permanent address? Somewhere we can send a letter?’
Susie gazed at her blankly.
‘These people think we’re dole bludgers, sleeping in the back of a clapped-out ute,’ Hamish said, and managed a grin at his mastery of the language. And the knowledge that went with it. Ute-short for utility vehicle-a pick-up
