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“I can see why he stole your heart,” Pooja said, an appreciative grin lighting up her face. “A mighty fine specimen of a cowboy you have here.” She nudged Kee on the shoulder.
“Pooja,” Kee exclaimed, surprised.
“Just stating the truth,” her sister fired back, lifting a suggestive eyebrow in Wazza’s direction. “Got any more good-looking cowboys hidden away up here?”
Kee goggled at Pooja. She could hardly believe her sister’s brazenness; something had changed in her over the past few years. She needed to get all the minute details of her sister’s life over the past six years, but after a quick glance at Pooja’s hand, she could see no wedding band. Which meant what? Perhaps Pooja hadn’t taken up the arranged marriage her parents had organized, after all. Maybe that was why her sister was now glancing appreciatively at both Aaron and Wazza. She was looking for a man of her own to fall in love with.
“Why don’t we all take this up to the lodge?” Daniella spoke for the first time, breaking the awkward tension with her easy manner. “It’s much cooler up there, and we have drinks and food, and a place where you can all sit down and get reacquainted.”
“Great idea,” Wazza agreed, reaching for Kee’s hand. He was obviously still a little out of his depth with her family.
After Kee hurriedly introduced Steve and Daniella, they all nodded in agreement and followed Wazza and Kee as they lead the group up the hill.
“I’ll help Aaron with the bags,” Steve called out, as he jogged over to the chopper, where Aaron still waited and watched.
The next few hours were full of blissful, happy talk, as they all caught up on so many years lost. Everyone was there, filling the tables in the great hall with their talk. It was just after lunchtime at the lodge, but Daniella had suspended all activities for the afternoon, telling the guests they had some free time, so all the crew could be there to support Kee and Benni. Dale and Daisy sat with their heads together, chatting to Skylar and Nash, who sat opposite them at the table. Kee could hardly believe that Skylar had taken an hour off working in the kitchen to gather with the crew. Julie told her it was almost unheard of. But then she mentioned it was probably Nash’s doing, he was always subtly pushing her to take more time to just enjoy life.
Daisy’s brother, River, was also there. If Kee wasn’t mistaken, he looked less withdrawn than the last time she’d seen him, his face lit up in an animated smile at something Daisy said to him. Dale had mentioned that River might take up a job offer from Daisy’s mining company, and he was moving up to the Koongarra Station to live amongst the indigenous community in a few weeks’ time, when a house became available. This place seemed to work wonders on everyone it touched, her included.
Pooja was sitting at the end of the table talking to Alek and Bindi. She kept leaning over and touching Alek’s arm, which made Kee narrow her eyes. She needed to warn Pooja away from Alek. She could see why Pooja was keen on him, with his high Slavic cheekbones and stylish man-bun. But he had eyes only for Sasha, and Pooja wouldn’t know that Alek was only being polite by not pulling away from her advances.
Julie and Aaron were talking to her parents over in a corner, seated on two comfy couches, Julie waving her arms around in great circles that made Kee think she was telling one of her larger-than-life tales again. By the look on her mother’s face, eyes getting wider, her hand coming up to cover her mouth, she was probably right. Benni sat on Dadi’s knee, laughing at Julie’s story, blue hat pulled down, in an imitation of the way Wazza wore his. She hoped Julie wasn’t scaring her parents off from station life too much.
Kee had convinced Benni to leave Winnie, their new puppy, up in the shed with Kali and the other puppies. She thought a puppy might be too much for her parents to handle right at the moment. And Daniella didn’t like animals in the lodge, either. Although she made an exception for Benni’s new dog. Benni said the fat, roly-poly puppy looked like Winnie the Pooh and the name had stuck.
When Steve had presented the idea of giving one of Kali’s puppies to Kee, her automatic reaction had been to refuse, at first. Kee still had no idea where she was going to live, or where they were going to end up. But her epiphany in the river made her take a deep breath and squash her initial response. She’d promised Benni a puppy, and here was Steve handing her one with an open heart. So, she’d agreed. And they’d all gone up to the shed and watched while Benni was told the good news. She knew exactly which one she wanted. A little girl, the fattest one of the bunch, with soft, brown eyes and a dark-brown coat. The puppy was still too young to be properly weaned, and Kee was secretly glad she didn’t have to put up with puppy piddle all over her floor, and hours of midnight whining just yet, although that was all to come.
Daniella wandered over to where Kee was standing next to the bar, refilling glasses of water for her parents.
“You look happy,” she said, smoothing back a non-existent loose hair in her immaculate bob. “Things seem to be going well with your family.”
Her mother had already whispered into Kee’s ear how much she loved Daniella’s outfit. “So classy and chic,” Ritika had muttered, which meant she liked Daniella, but was somewhat intimidated by her, and Kee didn’t blame her.
“Yes,” Kee replied with a sigh of gratitude. But then that buzz of guilt tickled her stomach. Once again, Daniella and Steve were going above and beyond anything Kee had ever expected. Not only had they let Kee stay in the same cabin as before, so she had somewhere to recuperate from her injuries, but it’d been Daniella’s idea to invite her family up, and she insisted they stay free of charge.
“I don’t know how we can ever repay you,” she began.
Daniella held up her hand. “You don’t need to repay us, Kee.” Her serious, gray gaze zeroed in on her. “You make Wazza happy. That’s more than enough, in my books. For the past two years, after Karri died, he’s been stumbling around in a sort of half-lived daze, keeping all those emotions bottled up, thinking none of us realized what was really going on with him. We’ve all been terribly worried about him. But then you came along, and it’s as if you woke him up. You deserve our gratitude, not the other way around.”
“Oh…uh…” Kee didn’t know what to say. She’d never thought about it quite like that.
“Stop worrying,” Daniella instructed her, softening her demand with a swift hug. Daniella’s show of warmth made Kee’s chest expand. “You’re part of the family now, whether you like it or not.” Then Daniella was off into the crowd, telling Alek at the top of her voice that she hoped he had a good movie lined up to show at the outdoor theater tonight.
Oh, wow. Kee had to hold back tears. Again. What was happening to her today? This was the third time she’d felt teary in the space of only a few hours.
Wazza wandered up, just as Kee wiped away a stray tear. “You okay?” he asked, wrapping his arms around her waist.
“Fine,” she said, smiling up at him. “It’s been a bit of an emotional day for me, that’s all.”
“I bet,” he drawled, in that slow molasses voice that made her insides flip over. It dragged her back to memories of last night. Her and Wazza together. Dale and Daisy had offered to babysit Benni; Daisy had laughingly said it’d be good practice for Dale for when they had children of their own, much to his pretend horror. They’d had the whole night to themselves. Wazza had brought a picnic dinner to her cabin, but in the end, they’d hardly touched the food. She’d been too hungry for something else. For him. Her ribs had finally healed enough, so that she enjoyed every second of the attention he paid to her body. And her skin still buzzed at the thought of his muscular arms and gentle fingers stroking, turning her insides to molten lava.
“It’s okay to be emotional,” Wazza said, dragging her mind away from their erotic night. “I learned that the hard way. Bottling things up doesn’t help, not in the long run. You went through a horrible time, Kee. And you made it through because you were smart, and strong and determined. But it’s okay to lean on other people sometimes, as well.”
“I know.” She nuzzled his neck.
“I’m looking forward to our new adventure together. Just the three of us,” he whispered into her hair.
And this was part of the reason she loved Warwick Nobles so deeply, because he loved her with all his heart, but he also loved Benni, without reservation, and without prejudice. He was a special man; one in a million, and she could hardly believe she’d been lucky enough to find him. Her life looked pretty much perfect now.
