Flight to Coorah Creek Page 27

  The plane banked as it came in to land. Looking down, Jess saw a small group of people waiting at the airstrip. There was also a long black vehicle. Tears pricked her eyes again, as the grief she felt for Sister Luke washed over her again. She felt, rather than saw, the movement beside her. Adam reached out for her. Their hands joined as the plane swept in to a gentle touchdown.

  Jess was the first to leave the aircraft. Ellen and Jack were waiting and Ellen caught Jess in a hug the moment her feet touched the ground.

  ‘I am very sorry about Sister Luke,’ Ellen whispered. ‘But I am so glad you and Adam are all right.’

  Jess nodded, fighting to hold back the tears. Jack also hugged her briefly, before climbing into the aircraft. A few moments later, Adam and Jack carefully carried the stretcher from the plane. A tall sombre man opened the back of the hearse, and with great reverence they slid the stretcher inside.

  ‘I’ll come with her,’ Adam said, but the man shook his head.

  ‘No, Doc. You need to leave her with me now. I’ll take good care of her.’

  Adam opened his mouth as if to protest, but then his shoulders sagged and he nodded.

  ‘Come by tomorrow morning, and we’ll make all the arrangements.’

  The small knot of people watched in silence as the big black car pulled away. As it drove through the gate out of the airfield, Jess noticed a man standing there. Taking photographs. Despite her grief and exhaustion, she felt a sudden wash of white-hot anger.

  ‘What’s he doing here?’

  ‘The search made the news,’ Sergeant Delaney said. ‘I stopped him coming onto the airfield, but I can’t stop him taking photos from out there.’

  Adam made as if to approach the man, but the policeman stopped him. ‘Leave him, Adam. There’s nothing you can do about him. I need you and Jess to come and give me statements. It can wait until after you’ve had some rest. But I do need it today.’

  All the energy seemed to leave Adam’s body. He looked like a man totally defeated. Jess’s heart almost broke as she looked at him.

  ‘Let’s do it now,’ Adam said slowly. ‘Get it over with.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ the policeman asked with a frown. ‘It can wait.’

  ‘I’m sure.’

  Adam turned to Jess. ‘What do you want to do?’

  Jess wanted to go with him. To be by his side as he recounted the story of their terrible night. ‘You go ahead,’ she said. ‘I’ll be right behind you.’

  Jess hated the look of disappointment on Adam’s face. But there was something she had to do. And she had to do it right now.

  Without another word, Adam turned and walked to the police car. A few seconds later, it was driving through the gate, under the lens of a camera.

  ‘I’ll only be a minute,’ Jess told her companions and started walking towards the gate. She heard Ellen say something, but her attention was on the man in front of her.

  ‘Jess, what happened out there?’ John Hewitt asked, as soon as she drew near. The camera flashed one more time then he lowered it and reached for his tape recorder.

  ‘Is that thing on?’ Jess asked. ‘Good. Because I want to make sure you remember every word I say. I don’t care what you write about me. I really don’t. The people I care about will know what is truth and what is a lie. But you be very, very careful when you write this story. Our community has lost someone very dear to them. A kind and caring person, who only ever wanted to help people. You say one bad word about her, and I swear you will regret it. I am not running away from the likes of you ever again.’

  She didn’t give him a chance to answer. She turned on her heel and walked back to where Jack and Ellen waited.

  ‘I’m ready now – let’s go.’

  Chapter Thirty-One

  It was early evening when Jess woke. She lay on the bed for a few minutes trying to gather her thoughts. She was still fully dressed. She vaguely remembered deciding to have a shower and change her clothes. That had been after her return from the police station. After she and Adam had given statements. Jess closed her eyes briefly allowing a fresh wave of grief to wash over her. The pain was like a raw wound. It would heal in time, she knew. Sister Luke had lived a full life and had been content to meet her God at the end of it. Jess smiled, imagining Sister Luke bossing God around in much the same way she had Adam. Jess would miss her, as would the whole community, though none as badly as Adam.

  They’d all come back here afterwards. Ellen was making a very late lunch when Jessica returned to her room to shower and get a change of clothes. She must have sat down on the bed and just fallen asleep. She had certainly been exhausted – both physically and emotionally. She wasn’t sure how long she had slept, but she felt better for it. She stripped off her clothes and walked into the shower, enjoying the feel of the clean cold water as it washed away the sweat and dust of her night in the open. She felt almost human again when she walked through to the living room.

  Bethany was watching television. Harry, as usual, had his nose buried in one of Jack’s Uncle Scrooge comics. She smiled at them and headed towards the tantalising smell of coffee coming from the kitchen.

  And found Jack and Ellen not drinking coffee.

  ‘Oops … sorry!’

  Surprisingly, it was Jack who blushed as the two leaped apart. Ellen simply glowed.

  ‘Jess. How do you feel?’

  ‘Better for some sleep. Coffee would help too.’

  Jack set about pouring some, while Jess and Ellen sat at the table.

  ‘Where’s Adam?’ Jess asked, knowing already what the answer would be.

  ‘He went back to the hospital. He wanted to check on Andrea, the girl with the broken arm. Hopefully he got some sleep as well. You both needed it.’

  It wasn’t all that she needed. Jack placed three mugs of coffee on the table, then took a seat. Jess couldn’t help noticing how close he sat to Ellen. She was pleased for them both.

  ‘Do you want to talk about what happened?’ Ellen asked gently. ‘If you don’t, that’s fine. I just want you to know that we are here for you.’

  That ‘we’ would have made Sister Luke very happy. It made the pain in Jessica’s heart fade, just a little.

  She looked at Jack and realised that he must be feeling terrible. The plane that crashed was under his care. But it hadn’t been his fault. Sergeant Delaney had told her about the contaminated fuel. It fitted exactly with her own theory about the crash. There would be an official accident investigation, of course. But she knew what the results would show. She couldn’t allow Jack to feel guilty for something that wasn’t his fault. She knew only too well what that could do to a person. She wanted to talk to him about the crash. To reassure him. And it was also time she told her friends about her own past.

  ‘There’s a lot to talk about,’ she said. ‘And last night is just a part of it.’ She took a long draught of her coffee and started talking.

  It was dark when Jess set off to walk to the hospital. Jack and Ellen had believed her, understood her and supported her. Jess knew that in them she had two friends she could count on in good times and bad. Now she needed to know what she had in Adam.

  They had shared their deepest thoughts. Secret parts of their lives that no one else had ever seen. Knowing more of Adam’s past had changed her feelings for him, but only to make them stronger. To make her more sure that Adam was the most honourable man she had ever met. The best man she had ever met. And the last man she would ever truly fall in love with.

  But had their long night sitting vigil over Sister Luke changed how Adam felt about her?

  Adam had been unusually silent, even for him, since they had spotted the rescue aircraft that morning. He had reached for her hand from time to time, as if seeking comfort, as they brought Sister Luke home. She was glad to offer him whatever support she c
ould. And in her turn, Jess had taken comfort from him as they grieved for their friend. But that wasn’t enough. She wanted more from Adam. Seeing Ellen and Jack together had made things even clearer in her mind. She hadn’t known if Adam felt the same way she did, or if she was just a friend he’d looked to in a time of need. She wanted to be more to him than that. Needed him to be more than that to her.

  And she had to know if he felt the same way.

  Two windows glowed with light as she approached the hospital. One was the room where Adam’s patients were spending the night. The other was not Adam’s office. It was a light in the residence where he lived. That surprised her. On every other occasion she had been here late, she had found Adam working. It was what he did. It was who he was.

  But not tonight.

  Jess entered the hospital through the open back door, and turned immediately down the short hallway that led to the resident’s quarters. There was a single door at the end of the corridor. Jess had never been in Adam’s home before. She took a deep breath to calm herself, and then knocked.

  ‘Come in.’

  She opened the door into a large room. It was furnished as a studio apartment, with a large bed on one side, and a living area on the other. There was a small kitchen and a door leading to what was presumably a bathroom. Jess had expected to find this room uncluttered and functional. Perhaps a little spartan. Like Adam himself. Instead she was surprised to see shelves covered with books. A couple of lovely Aboriginal paintings hung on the walls. There was an expensive looking stereo playing blues music. She saw no television. No computer either. Those, it seemed, were part of his hospital existence. This was Adam’s sanctuary. This was where he could be himself. Adam was sitting on the sofa, a book lying on the coffee table in front of him. He had obviously slept and showered. His hair was just a little damp. He looked tired, but peaceful. How many people, she wondered, ever saw him here? Like this. Saw Adam, rather than the doctor. She felt a low ache deep inside as she looked at him, and realised how close she had come to losing him.

  ‘Let me turn B.B. King down,’ he said, getting to his feet.

  As the sound of the blues guitar sank, the silence seemed to grow. Now that she was here, Jessica wasn’t certain exactly what to say. Or to do.

  ‘Did you get some sleep?’ she asked.

  ‘A little.’

  ‘Me too.’

  ‘I know. You were sound asleep when I left the house.’

  So he had looked in on her, and seen her sleeping. The intimacy of that small thing seemed to fill the room. Jess was uncertain how to continue. She moved slowly around, looking at the book titles. She examined one of the paintings. At length. She was so very afraid to reach out to Adam. Afraid that he would once again shy away from her touch. The first time that happened, she had been shocked and a little hurt. If it happened again now, after all they had shared, she would be heartbroken.

  ‘Jess.’

  She turned around slowly. Adam walked to her. Without saying a word, he raised his hand to run the backs of his fingers down her cheek. It was the softest touch. A gentle caress. Yet Jess could feel the tremor in Adam’s hand. It matched the fluttering of her own heart.

  His eyes were dark with emotion as he searched her face. Whatever he was looking for, he found it there. He pulled her to him and kissed her. It began as a slow, gentle kiss filled with longing. Adam’s lips were like the finest suede, soft but firm. He tasted of long nights listening to rain on a tin roof, of slow sensual music and the fire in the sky at sunset.

  Jess answered the kiss with every part of her being. With her loneliness and her fear and her need. She sank into his arms with a need that matched his. Her fingers twined through his damp hair and their kisses became deeper. More passionate. Both of them quivering with hunger.

  Jess’s hands moved to the waistband of his jeans, tugging at his shirt. And Adam was suddenly still.

  He stepped back, just out of her reach.

  ‘Adam …’ she wanted to tell him not to turn out the lights. That he didn’t need to hide his scars from her.

  He shook his head. Slowly he began unfastening the buttons of his shirt. His eyes never left hers as he slipped the garment from his shoulders and half-turned, exposing his scars for her to see.

  She dropped her eyes to that tortured skin. For long moments she let her eyes rove his body. She felt no revulsion. No pity, just a surge of love.

  Finally she looked back into his face.

  ‘I’m not an easy man to live with,’ Adam said, his voice hoarse with emotion. ‘There are scars you can’t see. There are times I wake in the middle of the night, shaking with fear at the memories.’

  ‘We all have our memories,’ Jess said. ‘We all have our fears. When you wake in the night, I’ll be there for you. As you will be for me. As for these,’ he shivered as she ran her fingers gently over the scarred flesh, ‘they helped make you who you are. I wouldn’t have them, or you, any different.’

  Jess never knew who was the first to reach for the other. All she felt was his touch on her skin. The strength of his body against hers. The taste of him. And the sound of him calling her name.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Sister Luke was laid to rest in the small graveyard behind the Coorah Creek Catholic Church. The small wooden church was built on a slight rise, and the graveyard looked out across the town towards the line of trees that marked the creek and the great red bluffs beyond. It was a peaceful spot, shaded by tall gum trees.

  Almost the entire population of the Creek attended the service in the church. Adam and Jess sat in the front pew, with Ellen and Jack. Harry and Bethany came too, their small faces serious and sad. The rest of the pews held faces Jess had come to know. Even to love. Trish and Syd Warren from the pub. The police Sergeant Max Delaney wore his best uniform. There were uniforms also on display where the pilots and staff of the RFDS sat. Towards the rear of the church were the Aboriginal families. Some of the stockmen Jess knew. Others were strangers, but all came to pay tribute to a small woman with a big heart.

  Two nuns from the mother house had made the journey by train to bid farewell to their Sister. The service was carried out by the priest from Mount Isa. He was a young man with a young man’s passion for his calling. His eyes were suspiciously wet as he read from his well-worn prayer book.

  There were flowers in the small church, plucked from gardens all around the town. The white roses lying on the casket had come from the garden of Nikki and Steve – the young couple whose baby Jess had helped to deliver. They were sitting at the side of the church, the baby plump and healthy in her mother’s arms. Jess recognised other former patients. Dan Mitchell, the ranger from the national park put in a rare public appearance, alongside Mayor Coburn who was for once totally sober. So many people’s lives had been touched by Sister Luke, and every one of them came to say farewell. Their presence and love helped lighten the sadness of the day.

  After the ceremony, Adam and Jack led the pallbearers who carried Sister Luke’s plain coffin out of the church and into the graveyard. The congregation followed them across the patchy grass. Tears streamed down Jessica’s face as the coffin was lowered into the earth. Adam took her hand and squeezed it tight.

  When the last prayer was said, people began drifting away. Most stopped to speak to Adam. He stood as Sister Luke’s family. Jess noticed that he didn’t pull back when Trish Warren hugged him. Nor when Mayor Coburn laid a broad hand around Adam’s shoulders. And all the while, Jess stood by his side. Whenever he reached for her hand, she was there.

  At last there were just the four of them left. Trish had taken Harry and Bethany home for milk and cookies. The priest and the Sisters had retired to the church. There was only Jess and Adam and Ellen and Jack standing in the shade of a tall gum tree. A light breeze rustled the leaves above them.

  ‘You are leaving in
the morning?’ Adam asked Jack.

  ‘Yes. I’ve found a lawyer who will represent Ellen in the divorce. He thinks the other accusations will come to nothing.’

  ‘And the kids will get to see their grandmother,’ Ellen added. ‘I’ve spoken to her on the phone. She wants to meet Jack too.’ Ellen blushed a little as she glanced sideways at the man holding her hand. ‘We’ll be back next week.’

  ‘Sister Luke would be happy to hear that,’ Adam said quietly.

  ‘She’d be even happier to see the two of you together,’ Ellen said. ‘It would seem she was a pretty good matchmaker.’

  Jess started to laugh. ‘She wasn’t very subtle about it, was she?’

  ‘She might have been … with you two,’ Jack said. ‘But she didn’t … I mean … Not with me and Ellen.’

  ‘No, of course not,’ Ellen said smiling gently. ‘She never asked you to stop by the house and help me with anything?’

  ‘Well, perhaps once or twice, but I really didn’t need much encouragement.’ He lifted Ellen’s hand, and kissed it.

  ‘She was quite something,’ Adam said. ‘I am going to miss her so much.’

  ‘We all are,’ Jess said. ‘Let’s go back to the house. We can swap Sister Luke stories while Ellen and I start thinking about dinner.’

  ‘You’re going to help cook?’ Ellen asked, astonished.

  ‘No. I said I’d help think,’ Jess said. The four of them smiled, and some of the sadness lifted from their hearts.

  They turned and began walking back towards the gate. Adam held Jessica’s hand. Jack’s arm was around Ellen’s shoulders. A gentle stillness settled over the graveyard, broken only by the distant laugh of a kookaburra.

  About the Author

  Janet lives in Surrey with her English husband but grew up in the Australian outback surrounded by books. She solved mysteries with Sherlock Holmes, explored jungles with Edgar Rice Burroughs and shot to the stars with Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury. After studying journalism at Queensland University she became a television journalist, first in Australia, then in Asia and Europe. During her career Janet saw and did a lot of unusual things. She met one Pope, at least three Prime Ministers, a few movie stars and a dolphin. Janet now works in television production and travels extensively with her job.