Rescued By A Millionaire

CHAPTER ELEVEN

‘THIS flight seems to be taking a very long time.’ Jenna glanced at her watch. It had been almost three hours since they’d taken off from Munyering. She’d assumed Munyering was on the edge of viable grazing land, which surely meant that it wasn’t too far from Adelaide.

‘There’s been a head wind,’ Max called out over his shoulder. He’d been quiet for most of the trip, which had suited Jenna’s mood. Every now and then he’d spoken briefly into his radio, but his voice had been too muted for her to hear what he’d been saying, and he’d made no move to engage her in conversation.

Karli had drifted into sleep, which had also fitted Jenna’s bleak mood. She’d been free to stare out the window and think about everything she was leaving.

Everything she was facing.

‘We’re coming into Adelaide now,’ Max called. ‘Make sure the kiddy’s seat belt’s tight.’

‘Can we get a flight on to Perth from here?’ Jenna asked and Max shook his head.

‘I’m flying you into Parafield, which is the runway for private planes,’ he told her. ‘You’ll need to catch a cab to the main airport to go to Perth.’

‘I don’t suppose you could radio ahead and see if there are any seats on commercial flights leaving this afternoon?’ Jenna asked, and he shook his head again.

‘I dunno how to do that.’

Great. Jenna bit her lip. She couldn’t afford to spend a night in Adelaide.

‘We’re going down now,’ Max told her. He glanced at his dials and bit his lip. ‘I’ve spent as much time up here as I… I mean, I’ve been held up long enough. With the wind and everything. We’re running low on fuel. Hold onto the kiddy.’

Sitting in Bill and Dot’s cargo area wasn’t the most comfortable way Riley had ever flown. In fact, it was the most uncomfortable ride he’d ever had.

And, beside him, Bill whinged all the time.

‘If I’d thought I’d have ended up in the cargo hold I never would have come. Dot, hold this tank steady. I’ll throw up if you bucket round any more.’

‘That’ll make the stink worse,’ Dot called out from the pilot’s seat. ‘This tank doesn’t know how to stay steady.’

‘I offered to sit in the back.’ Maggie was in the passenger seat, knitting and smiling and looking out at the scenery. Her last-minute decision to come was hardly surprising, Riley thought bitterly. Nothing about this day was surprising.

‘You’re not sitting in the back,’ Dot retorted. ‘I told you. It’s not fit for ladies. It won’t hurt Bill to see how awful it is. This way I might finally get a new plane.’

‘Women.’ Bill snorted. ‘Are you sure you know what you’re getting into, young fella?’ He looked desperately over at Riley. ‘Just say the word and we’ll head back now.’

‘We don’t head back,’ Riley said.

Parafield airport looked small and inconspicuous and incredibly lonely. Jenna helped Karli down from the plane. The air was totally still. Totally calm.

‘What happened to the wind?’ she asked.

‘Upward currents,’ Max said and he sounded a bit strained. ‘Stratospheric conditions. Nimbus or something. You don’t feel them under a thousand feet.’

‘Oh.’ She gave him a doubtful look. But there was nothing she could say. ‘You’ve been really good to us,’ she told Max. ‘Thank you.’

Max cast a worried look up at the sky-checking nimbus? ‘Yeah, well, there’s no need to rush off. It’ll take me a while to unload your gear.’

‘There’s only one suitcase each.’

‘Yeah, but…there’s customs and stuff.’

‘Customs?’

‘Yeah, well, fruit quarantine,’ he said, a trifle desperately. ‘Same thing as customs. There’s laws about flying fruit from different areas and everything’s got to be inspected. They’ve got beagle dogs, and the suitcases have to be sniffed before you’re allowed out of the airport. You and the littlie wait in the lounge while I sort it out.’

‘Can’t we take the suitcases straight through?’ The place looked empty.

‘Rules is rules,’ Max said doggedly, with another look upwards. ‘I dunno where the dogs are. You go and sit down and I’ll bring your stuff in as soon as it’s cleared.’

There was another plane coming in to land, and as Jenna and Karli headed reluctantly indoors he chewed his bottom lip in dismay.

It was the wrong damned plane.

‘How were we supposed to know the Minister for Agriculture was choosing today of all days to visit Adelaide?’ Dot demanded. They’d been put into a circling pattern and Riley was going nuts. They were all going nuts. ‘Heck, we’ll be stuck up here for ever.’

‘I’m going to die,’ Bill said, clutching his stomach.

‘Is there a parachute?’ Riley demanded, but Dot just grinned and turned the plane into another wide circle.

Holding pattern.

Karli was miserable enough to complain, which, for Karli, was miserable indeed. ‘Why is it taking so long to get our suitcases out of the plane?’

They’d sat in the waiting area as politicians had greeted politicians. It had taken for ever, and no one had done anything about the woman and child patiently waiting for Max’s phantom dog-fruit-checkers to appear. Max himself was nowhere to be seen. Finally, as the dignitaries left in a fleet of chauffeur-driven limousines even Karli voiced her impatience.

Enough, Jenna thought. Enough.

‘I have no idea, but, fruit or no fruit, dogs or no dogs, I’m getting them now,’ she said. ‘Come on, Karli.’

She walked to the door, she swung it wide-and Riley was on the other side.

She was still here.

Riley had been stuck in the air for an hour waiting for clearance to land, and he had visions of Jenna catching a cab to the main airport and getting a plane straight away to Perth and…

He shoved open the terminal door and she was right in front of him.

‘Riley.’

She said his name and the world righted itself

She was here.

She sounded stupid. She felt stupid. The world was falling away, and for a moment she thought she might faint.

But two strong hands came out and caught her and held her steady.

‘You’re here.’ Riley sounded as stunned as she felt.

‘Of course we’re here,’ she managed, and then she tried to think what next to say. ‘They think we have fruit.’

‘Fruit,’ Riley said blankly. ‘What sort of fruit?’

‘I have no idea.’

‘Max says people stick bananas in their luggage, and he’s gone to find the dogs to sniff them out,’ Karli ventured. Jenna might be too stunned to think straight, but Karli was just plain pleased. ‘Hello, Riley,’ she said. ‘Can you tell the man with the dogs that I ate my banana on the way and it’s silly that we have to wait and wait. Why are you here?’

‘I came to find you,’ Riley told her. He wasn’t looking at Karli, though. He was looking at Jenna. He was holding onto Jenna. ‘I had to bring you your rock.’

‘I left the rock for you,’ Karli said.

‘It was your gift.’

‘But you need it.’

‘I don’t need it,’ Riley said, and his grip on Jenna grew tighter. ‘I have you.’

Silence.

They were blocking the door. Karli was behind Jenna on one side of the door. Enid and Harold and Dot and Bill and Maggie were behind Riley on the other side of the door.

It was a less-than-desirable position for all of them. Enid and Harold and Dot and Bill and Maggie couldn’t see.

‘Do something, Harold,’ Enid ordered, so Harold put his shoulder to the door and pushed, propelling Jenna and Riley back into the waiting area. He propelled them so hard that Jenna almost fell over.

She couldn’t fall. Riley had her tight and he wasn’t letting go.

The others tumbled inside.

‘Has he kissed her yet?’ Dot demanded of Karli, and Karli looked confused.

‘No.’

‘What’s he waiting for, then?’ Dot demanded, and Jenna tried to haul herself away-but not very hard. She tried to make some sense of what was happening. ‘Who…?’

‘These are Dot and Bill, our neighbours at Barinya Downs,’ Riley told her, but his eyes didn’t leave hers. His hands were tight on her waist, and he was looking down at her with an expression that made her heart twist. That made her world twist. ‘You know Maggie, of course. Good old interfering Maggie. And this is Enid, who I gather you met on the train. Oh, and Harold who’s her…her…’

‘Her lover,’ Enid finished briskly, taking right over from a man who was clearly incompetent to explain anything. ‘Jenna, we’ve fixed up that business about the will. You and Karli now should inherit all your mother’s money. I gather there’s a lot. You stand to be very wealthy women.’

She’d be a wealthy woman. Harold was Enid’s lover. Maggie was here.

Riley had Karli’s rock.

It was all very confusing. She should think about all these things, Jenna decided. She couldn’t. Nothing mattered except the way Riley was looking at her and the feel of his hands on her waist and…

‘Why are you here?’ she whispered and his hands tightened still further.

‘Because I’ve been a fool.’

‘Yeah, that’s a good reason to sit in a cargo hold full of fertiliser for three hours,’ Bill retorted. ‘You’ve done that because you’ve been a fool? You’re going to have to do better than that.’

‘Because I love you?’ Riley said.

That was better. Everybody seemed to think that was better.

Especially Jenna. Jenna let herself look up into Riley’s face and what she saw there was very, very satisfactory indeed.

‘Really?’ she asked.

‘Really,’ he said.

‘But how can you love me? You don’t even like your dog.’

‘If Bustle could have fitted in the cargo hold he’d be here right now,’ Riley told her. His eyes didn’t leave hers and his smile was making her heart perform cartwheels. ‘I love my stupid dog. I’ve fallen really hard for a cute little button of a kid called Karli. But most of all, I’ve fallen for you, Jenna Svenson. I’ve fallen so hard I don’t think I can ever recover. I’ve been a dope. But between them, these guys have made me see sense. And you’ve made me see sense. My wonderful, darling Jenna.’

She took a deep breath. She searched his face for evidence that he was joking.

She forgot about breathing entirely.

‘Really?’ she whispered.

‘Nope,’ he told her, smiling that gorgeous, heart-stopping smile before he hauled her into him again to hold her hard against his chest. ‘But Enid tells me you’re a very wealthy woman and I’m a gold-digger from way back.’

She ignored the superfluous and concentrated on the necessary. ‘You love me?’

He stopped smiling. He held her away from him-just a little-so that she could look into his eyes and see exactly what was in his heart.

‘I do,’ he said softly. ‘I love the way you look. I love the way you smile. I love your spirit and your courage and the way you look when you tie your hair in rags and you have dust on your nose. I love the way you giggle and the way you hold Karli and I love the way you face life with so much courage and with so much love. Jenna, I can’t believe that you could possibly love me, but you told me-back there in the waterhole-that you could love me. I want to know if I’ve blown it. I need to know if I’ve stuffed it entirely or if I’ve got a chance. If…’

He could go no further. She’d stood on tiptoes and her lips had reached his.

‘Oh, Riley,’ she whispered ‘Oh, Riley, my love. How can you doubt it?’

He kissed her. He kissed her then as she deserved to be kissed. As she needed to be kissed. As she’d wanted to be kissed for ever and for ever but she’d never known it-because how could a girl know that a kiss could feel like this? That a body against hers could feel this good? That two hearts could merge into one just like this?

He kissed her and kissed her and kissed her-and then the tables turned and she kissed him right back.

Over and over.

Life started-until death did them part. It started right there. When finally they pulled away from each other, the rest of their lives had already begun.

‘Yuk,’ said Karli.

‘Don’t you like kissing?’ Maggie was smiling and smiling.

‘No,’ Karli retorted. ‘But I said yuk ’cos Riley smells disgusting.’

‘So does Bill,’ Dot said cheerfully. ‘But still I love him.’ She looked doubtfully at her disreputable husband. ‘Or I think I do. Mostly. As long as he buys us a new aeroplane.’ Then she turned back to Karli. ‘You know, if Jenna’s kissing Riley when he smells as bad as he does now, then it’s definitely serious.’

‘You mean they might get married?’

‘Of course they’re getting married,’ Enid said briskly. ‘I’m qualified to perform a marriage ceremony and there are at least seventy people I know from a certain train ride who are just aching for an invitation.’

‘Oh, I’ll be able to plan the best wedding at Munyering,’ Maggie said dreamily.

‘What about having it at Barinya Downs?’ Dot retorted. ‘That’s where it all started.’ She grinned. ‘We could have a waterside ceremony by that awful dam on Riley’s place. Now there’s romance for you.’

‘It’d be cheap,’ Bill said reflectively. ‘There’s always that.’

‘Yeah, we could feed all the guests baked beans and beer,’ Maggie retorted. ‘A wedding with a difference. I don’t think so.’

‘Can I be a flower girl?’ Karli asked, and Maggie hauled her up into her arms and hugged. Maggie’s role as Grandma-elect was about to start right now.

‘Of course you can be.’ She beamed. ‘We’ll make you the prettiest dress. All pink and white with a huge pink bow.’

‘But what would a wealthy woman like Jenna do at Munyering?’ Enid asked thoughtfully. Her forte, it seemed, was planning for the future.

‘She’s a nurse,’ Maggie said. ‘Jenna could run the remote clinics for the Flying Doctor. They’d think that was great. And Karli could do School of the Air. We could have such fun.’

‘They’d both have to learn to ride a horse,’ Dot added. ‘I could help there. I’ve got a couple of quiet old nags I could let you have, Jenna, and it’d be great to have another woman to help with the muster.’

‘Hey, Jenna, you could learn to fly,’ Bill said, catching the spirit of the future and joining in with enthusiasm. ‘Then you’d need another plane so you can go shopping in Adelaide any time you want. What with all your money and that. And…’ he assumed an air of innocent nonchalance ‘…I just happen to know where you can get a really reliable plane at a very reasonable price. One owner from new.’

‘Yeah, right, only driven by a little old lady to church on Sundays,’ Dot said dryly and Jenna choked.

‘But he hasn’t asked her to marry him yet,’ Harold observed, and they stilled.

‘Neither he has,’ Bill said. ‘There’s still a chance, mate. Ouch!’ Dot jabbed him hard in the ribs and he shifted sideways and looked wounded. But then he grinned.

‘You are going to, aren’t you, Riley?’ Maggie asked.

‘Indeed you must,’ Enid said. ‘You don’t get an offer of a free marriage celebrant every day of the week.’

‘Will you marry Jenna?’ Karli asked.

There was a note of panic in her voice. It was a sudden jolt that stopped the laughter. Karli knew this world was serious. She knew good things didn’t necessarily happen.

Life was tough and happy endings were for story books.

But life wasn’t too tough. Not here. Not now.

‘You know, it seems to me that bad things have happened to us in the past,’ Riley said seriously. He let Jenna go-with reluctance-and lifted Karli from Maggie’s into his own arms. He held her and smiled at her and Jenna felt her heart twist all over again. ‘Your mum died,’ he said softly. ‘Jenna and I have been lonely. There’s been bad stuff. But good things happen, too. So it seems to me that we’ve done our bad stuff. We’ve been lonely for long enough. It’s time we had the good stuff.’

‘The happy ending,’ she said, echoing Jenna’s thoughts.

‘No,’ Riley told her. ‘No happy endings. I don’t like happy endings.’

‘What do you like?’ Karli whispered.

‘How about happy beginnings? What do you think about that?’

‘I think I like them,’ she said seriously, thinking about it. As a concept it seemed pretty good. ‘Happy beginnings. You and me and Jenna and Maggie and your puppy.’

‘It’s a ready-made family,’ Riley told her. ‘As soon as Jenna agrees to marry me.’

‘Will you marry him?’ Karli asked and turned to face her.

Would she marry him?

‘I would,’ Enid said. ‘Marriage is a very sensible arrangement.’

‘Hey, that means you ought to marry me,’ said Harold.

‘Give me Karli,’ Maggie ordered, and lifted Karli back so that Riley had a clear track to Jenna. ‘Ask her again.’

‘Think carefully,’ Bill said.

‘What’s there to think about, stinky?’ Dot demanded and hugged her husband.

What was there to think about?

Nothing. Not very much.

Riley smiled and smiled. Then, realising that the entire world was watching-the whole disreputable cast of this comedy of manners, plus the entire terminal staff-he rose to the occasion.

Or, rather, he dropped to the occasion. He fell to one knee.

‘Will you marry me, Jenna Svenson?’ he asked.

And what was a girl to say to that?

‘Yes,’ she said promptly, and she fell to her knees as well. ‘Yes, I will.’

There was simply no other answer to give.