“Holly would love it.”
“That goes without saying, but what about you?”
“I’d love it too.” Ideas started popping. “I could start an art school.”
“Is the bay big enough?”
“The bay’s perfect for people from Melbourne wanting to take some time out to paint and draw and throw clay.”
“Alice! Dad!”
Holly was standing with Alice’s family and waving to them from the growing crowd. Karen had her hands resting gently on Hunter’s shoulders and he was animatedly telling her something. Libby’s hand was in Nick’s and Leo sat on his shoulders, his hands dug into Nick’s curls. Indi was on Peter’s shoulders.
Lucy raced over to Harry. “Can I sit on your shoulders?”
“Sure.” He scooped her up. “How’s that?”
“Look!” Lucy pointed to the first explosion in the indigo sky, delighted by its white cascading light. “Happy New Year.”
Holly wriggled in between Harry and Alice.
“Happy New Year, Hol,” Harry said.
“Duh, Dad. Bit early.”
“I reckon this one might be worth celebrating twice, don’t you?”
Holly slid her hands into Alice’s and her father’s. “I s’pose.”
Harry winked at Alice. “Sounds like it just got a gold-star endorsement.”
Holly rolled her eyes but she leaned into him and smiled.
Alice thought about the difficult year they were putting to bed. She wasn’t so starry-eyed that she believed the new year would be devoid of heartache or challenges for her and everyone she loved. It was love that drove them to muddle through life, but even with the best of intentions, they’d make mistakes.
No one ever said out loud that love was as impossibly difficult as it was deceptively easy. That the exhilarating highs came with devastating lows that forced a person to question everything they believed about themselves and the ones they loved. That love meant sacrifice and sometimes, like her parents, that was generously given. Other times, like with Libby and Nick and Jess, it was extracted by force. All those uplifting quotes about forgiveness people liked to blu-tack to their walls seemed glib compared to the mammoth task true forgiveness demanded. Letting go of anger and pain was a task that involved as much energy as a seismic shift.
The oohs and ahhs of the crowd circled Alice. She watched the joy on the faces of her family—the children’s wonder making the adults, who’d seen fireworks many times before, exchange looks and view them with unjaded eyes. That was empathy and gratitude. That was love.
Harry grinned at her over the top of Holly’s head and she smiled back before lifting her gaze to the sky. The spectacular display rained color over her and she gave thanks for that moment and the many more to come.
Acknowledgments
Another year, another book and another reason to thank the people who have generously supported me as I wrote Just An Ordinary Family. To my dear sister, Sue Peterken, who dropped everything to read the first one hundred pages when I feared this book didn’t have legs. She then told me to hurry up, because she wanted to read more. That reassurance was gold.
Kerri Sackville’s book Out There: A Survival Guide for Dating in Midlife was a most excellent resource and helped me write Alice’s adventures in the online dating world. Real-life stories from my niece Tahlia Lowe also helped. Signing up to three different online dating sites to understand how they work was illuminating as were the looks on my adult sons’ faces when they found the apps on my phone. I promise I didn’t engage, ghost or neg anyone.
Thanks to Kate and Phoebe Parsons for all their information on bronze casting. I’m seriously jealous of your pelican and I’m so excited that it has such a special place in this novel. Thanks also to fellow author and artist M.J. Scott for the drawing tips and Lauren Harbor, author and dog lover, for all things greyhound. Dean Fuller answered my questions about working on an oil and gas platform, Alan Collett helped me out with some accounting terms and Serena Tatti advised on Italian terms of endearment and their spelling. Peggy Howden gave me information on growing vegetables in Gippsland and tennis mate Penny Radalj came up with the great idea of using community events to connect a year. I ran with it, recalling years of wonderful festival experiences as well as the family’s annual summer barefoot bowling night. Years of my parents regaling me with U3A stories came in very handy and I borrowed, with permission, the term “director of Homeland Security” from Eliza Harvey, after hearing it on her excellent podcast, Long Distance Call. Sandra Nieuwenhuis guided me through scrapbooking and Kerri Coghlan shared her experiences at Relay for Life. Dr. David Brumley patiently answered my questions about palliative care and dying at home.
This book was the reason we enjoyed a fabulous family sailing adventure on the Gippsland Lakes—research! Thanks to Kerry McKendrick for filling in my knowledge gaps about the area and providing me with wonderful photos to add to my collection. Using the silt jetties in the novel was her idea.
Many thanks to Rachael Donovan and Annabel Blay at Harlequin who are always equable and calm when I am not. Thanks to Kylie Mason, my editor, whose skills lie in both the big picture and the minutiae even if we don’t always agree and to my agent Helen Breitwieser, who is always a wise source of counsel. Special thanks to Norma Blake and Norm Lowe for ‘Americanizing’ this edition and a shout-out to Laura Helm and her friends for their information on what is considered ‘expensive food’ in the USA.
I’m indebted to my wonderful publicist, Amy Milne, who has brilliantly and enthusiastically supported me with my previous three books and she had hoped to work with me on this one. Tragically, she passed away leaving a huge hole in our lives. My deepest sympathy goes out to her family, friends and colleagues.
Heartfelt thanks go to the men in my life for their love and support, for the research road trips and the
