“Oh no, Sergeant Ken, Japanese girl over the moon,” she gushed, “I lift my knees up. You go in…Oh God…right in…Oh God!…YES… YES…YES…more, Sergeant Ken, more.”
McLoughlin reached for the bedhead and drove himself deeply into the woman he loved. In a moment their world became a wheel within a wheel, a circle within a circle, spinning them through the clouds to forever. Finally the moment exploded as the two lovers joyously expired.
McLoughlin had never known such intensity, such totally uninhibited happiness. Spent and exhausted, they lay naked and entwined in each other’s arms across the king sized bed. When he gazed into Kazumi’s eyes, he knew she had just given him her very soul.
* * *
After five days of fine dining, swimming in the warm Pacific Ocean, massages, and making love whenever they could, neither could believe the time could pass so quickly. Soon they were back on an aeroplane winging their way to what Kazumi believed would be Melbourne. But McLoughlin had other plans.
Kazumi looked out the window of the plane. “Sergeant Ken, this not Melbourne. Look! That the Sydney Harbour Bridge.”
“Well I’ll be buggered!” he replied, smiling.
“So that mean we get off in Sydney?”
“Looks that way, doesn’t it?” he said, trying to disguise what he was really up to.
McLoughlin left Kazumi on her own for a few moments while he went to the airlines check-in counter. When he returned he told her there’d be a five-hour wait until the next flight to Melbourne. She looked puzzled.
“Why don’t we pop into town? Would you like to do that?”
“Oh yes! Can go shopping in Sydney?” she asked, her face lighting up.
“Oh we’re going shopping all right,” he told her.
McLoughlin told the taxi driver to take them to Mrs Macquaries Chair off Farm Cove by the Opera House. The taxi driver obliged.
“Wait for us,” he told the cabbie upon arrival. “We might be a few minutes.”
McLoughlin took hold of Kazumi’s hand as they wandered off to get a full view of Sydney Harbour. It was a magnificent day. An ocean liner was making its way into Circular Quay. There were scores of yachts in full sail criss-crossing in all directions. Small boats. Bigger boats. Ferries. McLoughlin sat down with Kazumi on a park bench and put an arm around her shoulder.
“You like all this?” he asked her, avoiding what he knew was the inevitable question.
Her response was to hug the top of his leg. “You spoil me terribly, Sergeant Ken. I not be any good when I go back to Miss Katie.”
“How would you react if I asked if you’d like to grow old with me?” he asked, the fear of rejection in his tone.
Kazumi’s eyes shot straight into McLoughlin’s. “You… you say…we should get married?”
McLoughlin nodded slightly, biting on his bottom lip.
“But Sergeant Ken, it’s just been five days…”
“It’s been forever,” he told her.
“Would you stay with me forever?”
“Until there’s no more hills to climb, or a poet can no longer rhyme,” he answered.
Kazumi threw her arms around his neck. “OH YES! YES! Sergeant Ken. One hundred times YES!”
Oblivious to the onlookers who witnessed the moment, McLoughlin took Kazumi in his arms and kissed her for a very long time. Returning to the taxi he told the driver.
“Cartiers in the city, mate.”
Arriving at the front of the luxurious jewellery store, a gloved hand held the door open for them to enter. An hour later Kazumi was walking on air as she left the shop wearing a solitaire blue diamond on a white gold band. McLoughlin checked his watch. He was trying to remain calm though his gut was in turmoil as his emotions ran wild.
“Still a couple of hours before we have to go to the airport…”
But he could tell Kazumi wasn’t listening to him. Instead her eyes were focussed on the blue diamond and a sign that read Hilton Hotel.
“I want you now, Sergeant Ken. Very, very much,” she purred. “You think airport send bags and we stay here tonight?”
McLoughlin didn’t answer her. Instead, he grabbed his mobile phone, rearranged the flight and had their bags sent into the Hilton.
Forty minutes later they lay exhausted in each other’s arms.
* * *
Katie and the girls were waiting at the Mount Gambier airport to greet them. The door to the aircraft had hardly opened when Kazumi ran to greet them, sheer joy and adulation upon her face.
“Miss Katie. MISS KATIE!” she called.
“Well look at you!” she said. Then Katie saw the ring and threw her arms around her. “Kazumi, that’s wonderful. I’m so excited for you.”
McLoughlin joined the group. Katie looked at him. “You can’t believe how happy this makes me,” she said. “Gabe will be rapt.” Katie reached for Kazumi’s hand to get a closer look at the ring. She threw her head back in awe. “Oh, my God! A blue diamond!”
Katie’s girls, Emma and Natasha were all smiles. Emma “oohed” and “aahed” over the ring, but Natasha was simply overjoyed to see that Kazumi was back home.
“So now what?” Katie asked as they headed back to the farm.
“Oh, I’ll stay around for a few days then take Kazumi up to Mildura for a while. Has she got a leave pass?”
Katie grinned. “She’s got a leave pass. So?” Katie continued, “wedding bells? Do I hear wedding bells?”
McLoughlin looked at Kazumi. “I haven’t even told her yet. But yes, in London, in three months.”
Kazumi was in shock. “Sergeant Ken! London?”
McLoughlin nodded. “At the Ritz.”
Katie shook her head in dismay. “My God! The Ritz?”
“Well I did ask you if you had a passport.”
“Yes you did. I didn’t then. But we all certainly do now.”
“You’ve fixed it all up already?”
Katie nodded and said she’d suspected he’d spring something like this.
* * *
McLoughlin stayed at Katie’s Place for another week. Everybody was deliriously happy for the two of them and after many hours of discussion some decisions were made. McLoughlin said he’d give serious consideration to quitting his job upon returning from London and living in a home Gabe and Katie insisted on building for him on the farm. McLoughlin was hesitant about making such a commitment. Gabe and Katie also told him they had promised themselves one day they would do that to show their appreciation to him for what he’d done for them in the past.
“Not only that,” Gabe added, “Katie and I have had the papers drawn up so that that ten acre paddock across from the wool shed has already been put into your name. Here’s the title deed,” he told him, taking it from an envelope and handing it to him. “You’ve access to the main road up there. We’ll get a bulldozer in and cut a road for you. If you’re not going to London for three months, then we’ll have the place just about up for you