Christmas Where She Belongs. Meredith Webber

went off happily and Mac turned to Clancy.

      ‘Do you think you could help me get Rod out to the car? You stand on his left side and I’ll take the right and he should be able to hop with our support.’

      They hopped the injured man out to the car and helped him in, then Jess returned with overnight bags. She turned off the lights in the house as she walked to the front door, closing it but not, Clancy noticed, locking it.

      If she’d needed anything to remind her she was back in the country, it was that one small detail—unlocked doors.

      Mac drove to the airport, this time with Mike loping along behind the vehicle. Clancy helped again to get Rod into the plane, hearing the hissing of his breath as he tried to conquer the pain of his injury while struggling into the back seats.

      Jess clambered in after him, seemingly unhampered by her pregnancy, then came Mac, and the little plane taxied away.

      Clancy turned to Mike.

      ‘Well, dog, it’s just you and me now. Do you suppose if we head back to the house we’ll be able to tell which is the drive we follow to the gate?’

      Mike smiled his silly smile and Clancy ruffled his head. But it was an absent-minded ruffle, for she was looking up at the massive sky that spread above her and sniffing the fresh, eucalyptus-scented air, and trying very hard to ignore the feeling of well-being that was creeping over her.

      ‘Oh, no, I’ve done my time in the country and I’m a city girl,’ she told Mike. ‘Just you remember that!’