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CHAPTER1
At the halfway point between Melbourne and the sleepy little seaside town of Blessed Inlet, Georgie Quinn pulled into a diner on the outskirts of Bairnsdale. Grabbing her walking stick, she limped through a light drizzle into the diner, heading straight for the bathroom. Splashing water on her face, she glanced up at the mirror. “Jesus, I look like shit”, she thought to herself. Tousled blond hair tied in a low ponytail, blue eyes shadowed with pain. A familiar sight. She turned away. Back in the diner, she grabbed a salad roll and a coffee at the counter, contemplated taking a seat, then thought better of it. With three hours of the drive still to go, standing up for as long as she could before having to drive again was the much better option. So she ate her lunch standing next to her car in the parking lot. It was a brand-new Mercedes, the only purchase she’d made after her insurance payout. Raindrops shone like diamonds on its sleek, black paint. She might be in constant agony and, until recently, completely alone in the world, but at least she could travel in luxury. She tried not to think about why she’d been alone. Brandon. God, she missed him. The worst was not knowing exactly what had happened to him. When her twin brother disappeared in Thailand, without a trace, the hole he left behind was immense.
Since the accident, she’d been living with constant pain, which meant Georgie just couldn’t seem to muster up much of an appetite. She found eating a chore, actually. Something she only did out of pure necessity. She tried not to think about how scrawny she’d become because of it. It hardly mattered, anyway. Rubbing at her hip, she forced herself to eat the whole roll and threw the plastic wrap in the bin before easing back into the driver’s seat.
Driving on, she paid no attention to the rolling grassland dotted with sheep behind wire fencing. Didn’t see the shadows thrown over the fields by thick clouds high above her. She turned the music on, blasting the volume in the hope that it would help her pretend her badly injured hip wasn’t on fire. A fire that was slowly spreading through the rest of her body. As she approached Cann River, she seriously considered stopping again, but decided against it. If she stopped now, she was deathly afraid that she wouldn’t have the will power to get back in the car. And then where would she be? Stuck an hour out from her destination, needing someone to come and pick her up. Two people, actually, because someone would have to drive her car. No. It was only one more hour. She could do it.
Every second of the next sixty minutes passed in ever-increasing agony for Georgie. As she followed the satellite navigation instructions, turning onto Blessed Inlet Road, she could barely breathe from the pain. She felt like hot pokers were driving into her hip, shooting pain up her side to her head and down to her toes. The agony clenched at her heart and stole the breath from her lungs. She tooled her car through the little town blindly. So close. She was so close. She just needed to get to the lighthouse compound where she would be staying. Where Leah was waiting for her. Black dots edged her vision as she crawled the car up the steep road. Pulling to a stop, she took no notice of the sandstone buildings, the bright white of the lighthouse itself.
Gritting her teeth, Georgie blinked back tears. Out. She had to get out of the car. Stand up. She reached for the door handle with shaking hands, pushed it open, swung her leg out, willing herself not to vomit from the pain. Her ears were ringing as she pulled herself out, gripping the top of the car door, desperate to get air into her lungs. She was going to faint. No, she told herself. The last thing she wanted was for someone to have to find her here, passed out on the gravel. Her knees almost gave way as she tried to step away from the car. Then she heard a sound. Someone was talking to her. Asking her something. The sound came from far away, down a long, dark tunnel. Don’t faint. Just. Don’t. Faint.
She felt strong hands at her waist and turned, mindlessly gripping a shirt front in tight fists. Forcing her gaze upwards, she looked into the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. They were filled with gentle concern. A soft, lilting voice said, “I’ve got you, mo chroi.” That was enough. Georgie gave up. She just fell into the blessed darkness, escaping from the agony that had set her body ablaze.
Awhile later, Georgie drifted into consciousness, looking around in dazed confusion. She had no idea where she was or how she got there, but she was lying in a big, soft bed. Her eyes fell on a small child, sitting on the bed, his legs crossed, gazing at her. Had she died? Was this heaven? Because this child, with his golden curls and bright blue eyes, looked just like a little cherub.
“Did you know I’m four now?”
Well, that didn’t sound like something an angel in heaven would say. Billy. This was Billy, Juniper and William’s little boy. She’d met them at Leah and Callum’s wedding dinner a few months before. “Are you?” He nodded but didn’t say anything further. Georgie shifted on the bed experimentally. Her hip had gone from agonizing to a dull, stabbing pain. She could live with that. Had lived with it for a long time.
“I’m gonna get Mikki.” Billy slipped off the bed and out the door, leaving Georgie to continue to breathe through the pain.
“Well, you sure know how to make a dramatic entrance, dontcha?” Leah’s sister-in-law, Mikayla, stepped into the room, her brown eyes dancing. She sat on the edge of the bed, her long red hair tied in a plait that dangled over her shoulder. She was dressed in her paramedic uniform of navy cargo pants and shirt. “Let’s have a look at you.” She took a thin torch from the pocket of her pants and shone it in Georgie’s eyes. Then she reached out and put her fingers on the pulse point at Georgie’s wrist, looking at her watch in silence. Once that was done, she said, “Bit fluttery, but you’ll do.”
“How long have I been out?”
“Ten minutes, give or take.” Mikayla looked at her for the longest moment and Georgie braced herself for a lecture. She knew she’d overdone it. She should have stopped more often, had longer breaks. “You’re in a bad way, Georgie.” Her tone was loaded with sympathy.
“I’m fine.” She went to sit up, gasping at the searing pain.
Mikayla snorted. “Should I call the hot Irish doctor?”
“What hot Irish doctor?”
“Ryan. Doctor O’Hotstuff. Carried you in here like a knight in shining armor. Honestly, I was beside myself.”
A memory of kind blue eyes and strong hands assailed Georgie. “I don’t need a doctor. I just need to lie down.”
“You are lying down.”
Georgie rolled her eyes as Mikayla grinned. “I’ll be fine after I have a proper sleep. I just overdid it a bit, that’s all.”
“Sure sure.” Mikayla looked at her for another long moment. “I’ll send Leah in, if you like. She wants to say hello. Then I’ll get Rafe and Callum to take you over to your cabin.”
“Okay.” Georgie gripped Mikayla’s hand as she helped her to sit up. She went out and Leah came in less than a minute later. “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself,” Leah said quietly. “No, don’t get up!” she said as Georgie tried to shift off the bed. Sitting on the edge, where Mikayla had sat just moments before, her gray-green eyes were filled with sympathetic concern. Georgie really wished people would stop looking at her like that. “I just wanted to say a quick hello and see how you are.”
“I’m okay.”
“I’m not sure you are, but you’ve had a long drive, so I’ll let it go for now.”
Georgie’s eyes widened in surprise. She wasn’t sure she’d ever get used to the new assertiveness of her old friend. “Anyway, how are you?”
“I’m great,” Leah smiled, running her hand over her slightly bulging belly. “Pongo and Perdita are doing great.”
Georgie burst out laughing. “Pongo and Perdita?”
“Yep.” Leah grinned. “We’ve got a boy and a girl.”
