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He squeezed her close and then leaned back to look into her face, wiping a stray tear with his thumb and kissing her nose. “Scotland was damned cold and my bed was tragically empty.”
“I should hope so. Flo and Don are all right?”
“Nestled happily in the bosom of the family and surrounded by tartan. I was redundant, so I came home on an earlier flight.”
She looked beyond him, seeking out a vehicle. All she could see was Xander’s big four-wheel drive she’d driven up earlier. “I didn’t hear you arrive.”
“I cadged a lift from Briar and walked up from the farm. He sent me bearing gifts.”
The bright orange and yellow of marigolds contrasted with lavender in the basket at his feet. “I’ll put them in the greenhouse. I can finish planting tomorrow.”
He shifted to drape an arm over her shoulders and looked around. “How’s it all going?”
She indicated the structure at the edge of the drop. “They’ve started on the insulation. Mal said they’ll have it to lock-up by the end of next week.”
There was a faint tilt to his mouth as he looked at the house they were planning to share. “I know you sent photos, but it’s different in reality.”
Bonnie tried to see it through his eyes. It had been a slab when he left with his grandparents for the wedding. Now the frame was up and the roof with its wide eaves cast shadows on the bare ground of the construction site. The vivid green of the insulation wrapped around the exterior gave it a garish solidity. “It looks bigger and smaller at the same time.”
*
Xander was readyto drop, but it was better to sleep in local time. “Take me on a tour.”
He’d missed her in the weeks he’d been away, but she’d refused to come, compromising by agreeing to join the family at Christmas and travelling back with his grandparents in the New Year. She’d said it gave her time to organise staffing. Maybe it was a last remnant of independence.
They picked up the trugs and walked hand in hand to the newly built greenhouse beside the water tanks. It wasn’t large, but a good size for the level of gardening they planned on doing. He helped her stack the new plants in the tub with the misting watering system. When she turned away to unpack her equipment he snagged a small posy of herbs from the bottom of his basket and tucked it in his shirt pocket.
Once inside, the half-built house was just as he’d imagined it while he was working with the architect and builder to make sure it had all the elements he and Bonnie wanted in their long-time home. They might not live here all the time, but it would be a base to come home to and a place to raise any children they might have.
The tour finished in the large living area, the building frame showing enormous spaces that would be the picture windows and glass doors opening onto the deck. They would do most of their daily living here, where the view extended forever.
“I think we should set the date.”
Bonnie shot him a glance, her eyes wide. “I thought you wanted to wait a while.”
“I was hoping to find Mum, but it seems pathetic to wait. What if she doesn’t want to be found?”
“It’s not pathetic to want your mother at your wedding.”
He wondered if it was. It had been a long time. More than half a lifetime. “I met this guy at the wedding in Scotland. Some kind of cousin. He was asking all kinds of questions about the Australian side of the family.”
Her frown brought her eyebrows together over her nose. “Why would a stranger be interested?”
“I wondered too. It’s not like there are many of us and half are missing. He said he might have met my mother. Working at a resort up north. At a conference on tropical medicine.”
“He’s a doctor?”
“Apparently. I was about to take him over to meet my grandparents when someone came looking for him with a message to contact the hospital. They called him Doctor MacDonald.” He pronounced the name with a thick Scottish burr in the hope of bringing a smile to Bonnie’s face.
She did grin briefly, but her curiosity won out. “You didn’t let him go without getting the details?” Wrapping an arm around his waist, she snuggled close. He draped his arm over her shoulders again, revelling in her spontaneous affection.
“I didn’t have much choice. He rushed off. He did say he’d be in touch.”
“Did he try?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t come back to the wedding and we left Edinburgh the next day.”
Bonnie was quiet for a few minutes, lips pursed in the way she had when puzzling things out. “If he was at the wedding, he must know the family. I wonder if this woman is really your mother. Christine MacDonald isn’t that rare a name.”
