A bellbird tinkled in the background, complementing the persistent hum of insect song. A kookaburra laughed in the distance. The track was deserted on this Friday morning but come tomorrow it would be bustling with weekend tourists and city slickers keen for a slice of the great outdoors.
‘So he starts in a fortnight?’ Beth asked.
Rilla sighed and resigned herself to a grilling. ‘Apparently.’ ‘And you haven’t heard a word from him?’
‘I haven’t spoken to Luca in seven years, you know that.’
Not since he’d gone back to Italy after they’d both acknowledged it was over. Even the divorce papers had been handled via his lawyer. ‘If Dad hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t even have known he’d applied for the job.’
Beth whistled. ‘Seven years. That’s a long time.’
‘Tell me about it,’ Rilla griped, feeling every day of the intervening years.
Beth put her arm around Rilla. ‘It’s such a big step—divorce. I know it hasn’t been easy for you, Ril. Are you OK?’
Rilla felt tears prick at her eyes. ‘Sure,’ she said huskily.
They walked in silence for a few minutes. Beth stopped to hold her stomach as she sneezed and Rilla waited for her to blow her nose and resume their pace.
‘Why now? For the papers?’ Beth asked, under way again. ‘You never really said.’
Rilla shrugged. ‘I guess it’s like you and Hails have been saying—I need closure. I think turning thirty a few months ago made me realise that I’m not young any more. I want to get married and have a baby. Seeing you pregnant had really bought that home.’
Rilla’s arm brushed against her sister’s pregnant girth and she felt a deep well of longing rise within her and tears threatened again. The miscarriage she’d had at twenty-two hurt more acutely than ever. The thought of never fulfilling her biological purpose was deeply, deeply devastating.
‘I’m just in this kind of…limbo. I think I’ve finally recognised that I need to draw that part of my life to a close and get on with the rest of it. I can’t go forward with my past dragging me back all the time.’
Rilla felt Beth’s arm tighten around her shoulders and she felt immensely comforted as they trudged along the track.
‘And so pretty soon you’re going to be seeing him every day,’ Beth stated a few minutes later.
‘Yes,’ Rilla agreed, feeling utterly miserable. The sadness and guilt and tumult as their fledgling marriage had fallen apart seemed suddenly magnified by their absolute silence over the intervening years.
She’d thought she was over their brief, albeit intense relationship. Thought she was past it. She’d finally filed for divorce, hadn’t she? But his imminent reappearance was unsettling.
‘Maybe there’s a chance you two will…’
Rilla stopped walking and turned to Beth. She felt the years slip away. All the hurt and pain coming back in one violent rush.
‘Too many years have gone by, Beth. We were like strangers at the end. We shouldn’t have rushed in like we did, and getting pregnant so soon…’
She looked at Beth’s belly, swollen with Gabe’s baby and felt a stab of jealousy mix with her despair over the loss of Luca’s baby. She wasn’t twenty-two any more and Rilla wished for the hundredth time she could go back and live that time over again.
‘We were doomed from the beginning.’
‘He hasn’t signed the papers, though, has he?’ Beth countered.
Rilla shrugged, at a loss to explain why he hadn’t. She’d been expecting him to initiate proceedings years before and she’d most certainly expected him to sign the papers and end their dead-as-a-doornail marriage posthaste.
‘Maybe he regrets the things that happened? That he withdrew from you? He was hurting, Rilla,’ Beth said gently.
Rilla knew how much her family had adored her husband despite their initial qualms over the hasty match. And Beth in particular had always had a soft spot for Luca.
‘So was I.’
Beth put her arm around Rilla’s shoulders again. ‘I know. Come on.’ She pulled Rilla along with her. ‘We’re nearly there. I can hear the water.’
They came into a shady clearing carved from the thick bush land dominated by water cascading down a massive rock face into a crystal-clear pool beneath. Big flat boulders edged the waterhole. A slight breeze ruffled the tops of the canopy and revealed glimpses of an azure sky and cotton-wool clouds.
‘Wow, this is beautiful!’ Beth exclaimed in a hushed awe.
It was lush and vibrant. The abundant foliage looked as if it had been there since the dawn of time, its dark green opulence like a magical jewel, whispering of ancient times. Birdsong echoed around the still clearing, which was like a prehistoric amphitheatre, rustling through the leaves with a resonance more magnificent than a choir of angels.
It was perfect. A testament to the creativity of Mother Nature. Rilla felt as if they’d walked into the Garden of Eden. It was hard to imagine that such a paradise could exist in the centre of a thriving city, Mt Cootha being a mere ten-minute drive from the CBD.
‘I’d forgotten how beautiful it is here,’ Rilla said, her quiet voice invading the vibrant stillness.
‘Well, Luca always did have an eye for beautiful things,’ Beth said, grinning at her sister.
Rilla smiled a watery smile and they stood arm in arm, absorbing the wild beauty for a few moments.
‘Come on.’ Rilla roused herself. ‘Let’s sit.’
Beth nodded. ‘I brought some sandwiches and cool drinks.’
They took their shoes and socks off and Rilla supported Beth as she lowered herself down to one of the many smooth boulders that formed a natural rim to the pool.
‘Oh, God, I’m never going to get up again,’ Beth sighed as she dipped her legs into the blissfully cool water. She reached into her pocket for her tissue and blew her nose again. ‘I must look like a beached whale.’
Rilla smiled. Beth was full and ripe and lush. She placed her hand over the sudden ache that had sprung from her womb. ‘Don’t moan, whale,’ Rilla teased, to disguise the bleakness inside. ‘I’ll help you.’
‘You’ll need a crane,’ Beth said.
‘Stop fishing for compliments,’ Rilla said bossily, plonking herself down next to Beth. ‘You’re blooming.’
‘Tell that to my back,’ Beth grumbled as she accepted a bottle of water from her sister.
‘It seems to be bothering you a bit.’
‘It’s been bothering me for months,’ Beth said dismissively as she took a long pull of cool water. ‘It doesn’t help that this rock is so damn hard it could put diamond to shame.’
‘You’re right.’ Rilla laughed, preparing to get up. ‘We don’t have to stay. We can head back.’
Beth put a stilling hand on her sister’s arm. ‘Are you kidding? It’s like paradise here. I want to just sit and absorb it for a while. And I need a rest.’
Rilla relented. The trek hadn’t been particularly arduous, a little uneven and rocky in places, but, then, she wasn’t walking for two.
‘I know you don’t want to talk about Luca, Ril. But being proposed to here must have been very, very romantic.’
Rilla