Had Keanu talked to her about his idea, made her part of it right from the start, she knew she’d probably feel differently about it.
Probably even be as excited as he was about it.
She’d reached the hospital and was about to climb the hill to the house when Sam caught up with her, his face so serious she knew something was wrong.
Very wrong!
‘You father phoned,’ he said gently. ‘Christopher has taken a turn for the worse. He’d like you home.’
Panic flooded her body. She’d always known this day would come. Known, too, that it was getting closer.
But now …
‘He’s sending a plane for you. You’ve got two hours. You father will send a car to meet the plane at Sydney airport.’
Caroline supposed she’d heard the words, but her total focus was on her brother, willing him to stay alive until she got there.
She’d been selfish, thinking only of her own unhappiness when she’d fled to the island, and now—
Shutting off that thought, she hurried up to the house.
Keanu left the grotto. He’d told Reuben he’d go over to Atangi to talk to the elders again—tell them he’d spoken to Max. Reuben was phoning them and they’d be waiting for him, no doubt filled with excitement and ideas about how they’d manage the mine.
He went down to the village where he kept a boat he’d bought from one of the locals almost as soon as he’d arrived back on Wildfire, half thinking he should have let Caro know where he was going, but he was already running late.
Plus, he needed to consider her reaction before he talked to her again. Out on the water he could think straight. Right now he felt there was a lot of thinking that needed straightening. Not only was the issue of the mine hanging between them but the knowledge that he had to tell Caroline that he was free, that his divorce was final worried at him too. Just how would she react to that news? Given the sour response to his plans for the mines and his ill thought-out decision to get the ball rolling without first consulting her, he imagined that trusting him with her heart was furthest from her mind right now …
He headed towards Atangi, easing the boat over the shallow part of the reef.
The little engine pushed them through the water and the tension he’d been feeling eased.
So was it love he felt for her?
Adult love?
Enough to build a future on? Now that he finally had a future?
It was hard to tell because he’d always loved her and even when he’d cut her out of his life rarely a day had gone by without something reminding him of her.
And now she was here, back on Wildfire where it had all begun, and he couldn’t begin to work out …
What couldn’t he work out?
Whether or not he loved her?
No, that part was settled, but there were so many different kinds of love.
No, he was playing with words.
He loved Caroline, and he was pretty sure that Caroline loved him. And if that was the case they could sort out the rest.
Hadn’t they talked of love on the swing?
But had he told Caro that he loved her?
Had he actually said the words?
He tried to think but his mind went blank with shock at his own stupidity. That he, who knew Caro probably better than anyone else did, hadn’t told her how he felt.
Her whole life had been filled with the uncertainty of love. Not that she spoke of it, or wallowed in self-pity. No, his Caro just got on with things. Like being left with her grandma for a start, then boarding school, and all the times her father hadn’t come. Even Christopher kept his best smiles for his father.
So of course she’d be uncertain about his love, then taking the decisions about the mine away from her—that was how she’d have seen it—would have been the last straw.
He had to see her, tell her he loved her, that more importantly he was now free to love her. He’d start with that then sort out the mine business. He’d see the elders, go back to Wildfire.
Full of resolve, Keanu pulled into the harbour at Atangi, thinking not of the meeting but of the night ahead.
If only Keanu was here, Caroline thought as she flew over the Pacific. With him beside her she could face anything.
Was that what love was about?
Having someone to lean on, someone there to help you through the rough times as well as celebrate the good ones? She’d been stupid, reacting as she had to Keanu’s suggestion about the mine co-op. She wasn’t even sure why she’d reacted as she had.
And blaming Keanu …
Though if he really loved her, the way she now realised she loved him, wouldn’t she be the first person to discuss it with?
Even before he knew it might actually work?
Of course not, that was a petty and stupid way to think.
She’d been unfair, but the calm way he’d announced he’d sorted out the mine problem, leaving her out completely, had temporarily blocked all rational thought and she’d struck out at him.
And now, heading further and further away from him, she couldn’t tell him—couldn’t say she was sorry and agree it was an ideal answer to the problem, even if she felt that a little bit of herself had been cut off.
In her head, the mine had been as much a part of Wildfire as the house she knew was home.
But stuff had gone from it and the house had still been home.
She’d phone Keanu as soon as she was in the car on the way to the hospital and tell him she was sorry.
Tell him she loved him.
Tell him she needed him?
Was it too soon for that?
RETURNING TO WILDFIRE, and heading straight to the house to tell Caro he loved her—this mission becoming more urgent by the moment—Keanu was disconcerted to hear she’d gone.
Because she was upset with him?
But Bessie was still explaining and he forced himself to listen.
Christopher … Sydney … charter flight …
He thanked Bessie and headed for his villa. Thankfully, he could get the regular flight out of here the next day. He sat at his computer, booking a flight from Cairns to Sydney, and arranging a hire car to be waiting at the airport.
Praying all the while—for Christopher, for Caro and for himself a little—hoping he hadn’t left all he wanted to say until it was too late.
Mrs Phipps, the housekeeper, older now and somehow smaller, opened the front door of the Lockharts’ Sydney house and squinted uncertainly up at him.
‘Do I know you?’
‘It’s Keanu, Mrs Phipps. I used to come here sometimes during the holidays to play with Caroline and talk to Christopher.’
‘Keanu?’
Her voice was slightly disbelieving.
‘But you’re much bigger now. You’ve grown. Of course you’ve grown! But welcome. You’ve