Outback Reunion (Bunyip Bay #6)

Chapter Twenty-one

Mark felt Gabriela stiffen in his arms.

‘There’s no point playing the what-if game; it is how it is.’ She took another sip of her wine, then leaned her head against his shoulder. ‘But... thank you.’

He chuckled. ‘For what?’

‘For everything,’ she simply whispered.

‘You don’t need to thank me,’ he said, pressing a kiss against the side of her head. ‘This last week has been the best damn week of my life.’

He thought he heard Gabriela say, ‘Mine too,’ but when he looked down, he realised she’d fallen asleep.

She felt so good in his arms. He wanted to stay like this forever, but after the day she’d had, she needed better sleep than she’d get resting against his bony shoulder. He should sneak out before anyone saw him. What would they say to Luna if he was still here when she woke up?

But despite these thoughts, he couldn’t bring himself to break this moment yet.

Just a few more minutes to feel her warmth and inhale her perfectly Gabriela scent. He wasn’t sure whether it was her shampoo, her soap, or a perfume, but whenever she was close, he smelled hints of vanilla and honey. Two of his favourites.

No wonder he couldn’t get enough of her.

A few minutes turned to ten before he forced himself to push their glasses to the other side of the dollhouse sized table, and somehow managed to manoeuvre himself so he could slip his arms beneath her. He scooped her up, so he was carrying her exactly how he’d carried Luna earlier that day, certain she’d wake as he lowered her onto the bed. The fact she didn’t showed just how exhausted she was, and he felt guilty for keeping her talking so late, yet at the same time was glad she’d trusted him enough to tell him what she’d suffered at the hands of the man who’d promised to love and protect her above all else.

He got the feeling she’d never admitted what had happened between her and Dante to anyone else. How could she? His parents might not believe her, and she clearly adored them. But did Eve and Lorenzo really care about her as much as she thought? They had to have had some inkling as to what was going on right under their noses. It was hard enough to keep a secret in a town the size of Bunyip Bay, it had to be impossible in a tiny community such as this one. If they’d known and turned a blind eye, they were as culpable as their son.

And Gabriela had never had anyone else to turn to. Dante had made sure of that by not allowing her to make friends.

Mark doubted she’d ever have confided to anyone in the circus anyway. They’d have been the Jimenez family’s employees, and she’d have been scared to rock the boat because of Luna, scared that Dante could end things with her, force her to leave but not allow her to take their daughter.

It sounded as if he’d already done his best to wedge a rock between them.

Bastard. The anger he’d struggled to contain while Gabriela told him about her abusive marriage reared up again as he pulled the light sheet over her body. His gaze caught on the photo frame on the bedside table—Dante’s smug face smiling up at him as he stood between his girls, gripping them like they were trophies rather than loved ones—and it was all Mark could do not to pick it up and smash it.

The things she’d told him tonight about that man made his blood boil. Dante was lucky he was already dead, because if not, Mark would lock him in the Globe of Death and leave him there.

Let him see how it felt to be so vulnerable.

He hated that for Luna’s sake, that scumbag’s face was the last thing Gabriela saw before she went to sleep at night and the first thing every morning. It wasn’t fair that even though Dante was gone she had to relive the pain he’d inflicted on her daily.

No matter what Gabriela said about being tied to the circus, it wasn’t healthy for her to be in this place with her toxic memories. If she stayed here in Bunyip Bay, she could have the normal life she craved. There were plenty of opportunities for Luna as well. It was a great place to bring up kids and she could even join his junior girls’ footy team. If the potential she’d shown on the beach was anything to go by, she’d be his star player.

Of course, the best thing about all of this would be that he and Gabriela wouldn’t have to stop seeing each other.

He just had to prove to her that leaving and following her own heart—taking a chance on them—wouldn’t make her a bad mother.

***

After tearing himself from the caravan and creeping through the lot, quietly so as not to alert anyone of his presence, Mark drove home, almost missing the turn-off to his own farm because he was trying to come up with a game plan. When he did get there, he took a beer out onto the front verandah and as he sipped and thought, he tried some of the training techniques Luna had taught him with Rookie. At first the dog cocked her head to one side, looking at him like he was crazy, but after a few attempts of ‘sit’, her butt almost hit the ground. Mark laughed and tried again, firmer this time as he remembered Luna telling him he had to sound like the boss. When something moved in the garden, Rookie set off to investigate, and Mark headed inside.

Sometime in the hours between midnight and dawn, he sat bolt upright where he was dozing on the couch. He’d had a dream—or rather a nightmare.

In the dream, Mum had engaged Ryan’s husband, Grant, to find him a wife. The two would-be matchmakers had hired out the Bunyip Bay town hall and invited women from all over Australia to come and pitch themselves to him. There’d been thousands of women of all ages, sizes, races and more, so many that the queue had been out the door and right down the main street of town. It had even garnered attention from national media.

Sweat poured from his forehead as he recalled his mother telling a journalist from Sunrise that she wasn’t letting Mark leave the hall until he’d found himself a wife.

He’d felt like Prince Charming from Cinderella as he’d sat through woman after woman offering gifts, telling him why they’d make the perfect farmer’s wife, singing songs, reading cringy love poems, offering lap dances and worse. All the while he’d been scanning the queue, desperately hoping Gabriela would be one of them.

‘Holy fuck. That’s it!’

Rookie startled from where she was curled up at the end of the couch. What? she seemed to ask.

Mark grinned and ruffled her neck fur, his heart-rate returning to normal as he realised what the dream was trying to tell him. The answer was Grant! He’d do what everyone had been pestering him to do since he got back to Bunyip Bay. He’d request the help of their newly crowned matchmaker. See if this guy was as good as everyone said he was.

But first, morning jobs—it hadn’t rained for weeks so he needed to refill the sheep troughs and check on the new chickens—breakfast and then a shower. He couldn’t turn up at Ryan and Grant’s place until a more reasonable hour, but despite the fact there was always work to do on the farm, the time dragged until he could go.

Forrester’s Rock, where Ryan and his dad farmed, was further south of town but still only a short drive. Mark knew the way almost as well as he knew the route to his own place. He bumped along the gravel drive, passing sheds and a worker’s cottage, before the main house appeared in front of him, the blooms starting to fall from the jacarandas in the front yard. As he walked through the garden—not quite as well tended as his mother’s—he spotted Grant lazing in a hammock on the verandah. Not an old sheet like he and his mates used to string up between trees as kids, but a fancy-looking contraption that probably cost a small fortune.

Grant looked up from a novel he was reading as Mark approached. ‘G’day, Mark. You looking for Ryan? He’s out mending fences or something. Tried to convince me to join him but—’ he held up both his hands ‘—these babies weren’t made for farming.’

‘Actually, I’ve come to see you.’

‘Oh?’

‘Yeah.’ Mark cleared his throat, suddenly feeling awkward, but now he was here, he might as well spit it out. ‘I need your help. Got a few minutes?’

‘What kind of help?’ asked Grant. ‘It’s my holidays, you know, and if I’m not gonna risk splinters for the love of my life, I’m hardly gonna do it for you. No offence.’

He chuckled. ‘None taken. It’s nothing to do with farming. It’s...’

‘Don’t tell me.’ Grant’s eyes widened and a grin spread across his face as he snapped his book closed. ‘You’ve finally seen the light. You want me to help you find a lay-dee.’

‘Not exactly. I’ve already found the lady—the woman .’

‘Well, colour me intrigued.’ Grant swung his legs over the side of the hammock and stood. ‘Can I get you a drink while we chat? Tea? Coffee? Cocktail?’

Mark looked at his watch. Barely nine o’clock. He wasn’t sure if he was joking about the last. ‘A coffee would be great, thanks.’

Grant gestured for Mark to follow him inside. Although he’d been here lots as a kid, he hadn’t visited in the last decade and things had changed. After Ryan and Faith’s mum had died, Faith had played house for her dad and brother for years, but she’d often complained that Frank Forrester treated her like hired help and wouldn’t let her change anything. Now, however, the house had been painted almost all white, filled with framed prints from Broadway shows, and the furniture looked edgy and modern. Grant had done a lot more than just move in.

‘Does Frank still live here with you guys?’ Mark asked. He couldn’t imagine the surly farmer feeling comfortable in such arty-farty surrounds.

Grant pulled milk from the fridge and dumped it next to a fancy-looking coffee machine. ‘You haven’t heard? Frank got himself a girlfriend—I didn’t even have a hand in that match—so although he officially still lives here, we hardly see him. They’re away at the moment. And as soon as they get back, Ryan and I are off to Bali for the last two weeks of the school holidays. Can’t wait. I’m gonna have ten massages a day and drink my body weight in Pina Coladas.’

He poured milk into a small metal jug.

‘Okay, tell me about your girl,’ he said as he settled the portafilter into position and pressed the handle down, raising his voice slightly over the noise of the beans grinding.

‘Her name’s Gabriela. She’s with the circus.’

‘The one in town?’ Grant let out a whistle. ‘Faith told us they’re fabulous. I’ve been trying to convince Ryan to go with me, but he reckons it’s just for kids and poofters.’

Mark didn’t know what to say to that.

Grant snorted, clearly amused. ‘Don’t worry; I told him that was inappropriate.’

‘He’s missing out,’ Mark said. ‘They’re really good.’

The machine clicked and coffee spurted into the first mug.

‘So how did you meet this Gabriela ?’ Grant asked.

It was a reasonable question, considering Mark had been mostly resistant to his friends’ efforts to get him socialising, and Grant’s efforts to set him up with someone.

‘We actually met eight years ago at a pub in Melbourne,’ he admitted.

‘Ah... so were you together before your wife?’

‘Not exactly.’ Mark shook his head. ‘No, not at all. There was a night—a really good night. We met, had a drink, there was this amazing connection, and she came home with me.’

Grant nodded, waiting for Mark to continue.

He shrugged. ‘That’s it. When I woke up, she was gone, and I didn’t see her again. Until last week.’

‘And between last week and now?’ Grant asked as he emptied the portafilter into the knock box and put a second cup beneath the spout.

‘We’ve reconnected.’ That was all Mark was going to say; Grant could read between the lines. Mark didn’t want to focus on the sex here—sure, it was unbelievably fantastic, but it was only one of the reasons he wanted Gabriela to stay.

Grant frowned. ‘So what’s the problem? She’s not as into you as you are to her?’

‘I’m pretty sure she’s into me.’ He thought of their late-night conversations when they’d bared their souls to each other and the heat in her eyes when she looked at him. ‘But it’s supposed to be just a fling while she’s in town. She feels obligated to stay with the circus. Her in-laws own it and—’

‘ In-laws? ’ Grant looked up from where he was pouring the steamed milk into the first cup. ‘Ah... I see your problem; she’s married. Look, I’ll be honest with you—’

‘No! No, she’s not.’ Mark rushed to set things straight, explaining about Dante. He didn’t go into all the details, not wanting to break Gabriela’s confidence, but he made sure Grant knew the dead husband wasn’t the issue.

‘I see. And this isn’t just about sex. You’re serious about this girl?’

‘Well...’ Mark swallowed, not used to talking about this kind of stuff with other blokes—neither footy players nor farmers tended to wear their hearts on their sleeves. He hoped it was worth it. ‘The sex is off the charts, but yeah, I want more than just a fling.’

He chuckled. ‘What are you thinking? Marriage, babies, the whole shebang?’

Although Grant was clearly joking, his question made Mark pause. Was that what he was thinking? He hadn’t really thought beyond getting Gabriela to stay in town but yes, his chest suddenly ached with how much he wanted what Grant described. Instead of Dante’s smug face in that photo frame, he wanted to be the face she woke up to. He wanted to be the one who held her while she fell asleep and brought her a cup of coffee to wake up to.

He couldn’t imagine living another day without her.

‘Earth to Mark?’

He blinked at Grant. ‘Yes. I do. I want all of that. I’m in love with her.’

Holy shit.

The realisation slammed into his chest with a force a hundred times stronger than the collision that had ended his career, but the truth was he’d known how he felt since the moment she’d confessed she hadn’t been in love with Dante. Until then, he’d been guarding his heart, not allowing himself to admit his real feelings. And he didn’t just love Gabriela, he loved Luna as well—he loved her feisty spirit and the fact that when she was awake, she almost never stopped talking—and he wanted them both in his life, not just for a week, but forever.

‘She’s already got a kid—Luna—but yeah, I’d like us to have a couple more.’ He reckoned Luna would make an awesome big sister. Bossy, but awesome.

‘Woah there, cowboy! This seems fairly quick for a guy who just last week said he was sworn off relationships.’

Mark shrugged. ‘When you know you know.’ Although it felt like they’d fit a year’s worth of dating into the last few days.

‘That’s true. I knew the moment I first laid eyes on Ryan; he took a little bit more convincing.’ Grant picked up the mugs—both now steaming with delicious smelling coffee. ‘Let’s take these into the lounge room and we can work out a game plan. It was starting to warm up outside and the flies were pestering me. That’s one thing I despise about the country—so many damn flies.’

Mark followed Grant down the hallway into the front room, which also appeared to have had a makeover. There were two shiny, black leather couches on either side of a glass coffee table with the sculpture of a black dragon in the middle. They settled into one each.

Nursing his mug in his hands, Grant frowned a little. ‘Let me get this straight—she doesn’t want to leave the circus, and you can hardly run away and join them.’

Mark chuckled at the thought. ‘That would definitely be a last resort.’ What would he even do? He might be coordinated when it came to a football, but he couldn’t even juggle two tennis balls! ‘The thing is, I’m certain she would like to leave. She told me as much, but she was born and grew up there, and because of her daughter, and Luna being her in-laws’ only connection to their son, she feels obliged to stay.’

Grant took a sip of his coffee and thought for a few moments. ‘Then it’s not only Gabriela you need to convince to stay, but also Luna.’

‘What do you mean?’

Grant grinned. ‘Mothers will do anything for their kids, so you need to make her believe that being here in Bunyip Bay would offer Luna more than she can experience on the road with the circus.’

‘Yeah, you could be right. I mean, she does feel like she owes her in-laws because they practically raised her when her own mother died, but if Luna didn’t want to be there, she might put those feelings aside.’ Mark started to feel excited. ‘And Luna loved spending time with Heidi at Adam and Stella’s, and yesterday on the beach she had a ball kicking the footy and swimming with some other kids. If they could stay another month or so, it would be easy to show her that she and Luna could have a really good life here, and still visit her grandparents on school holidays. The problem is, I don’t have another couple of months. The circus leaves on Saturday.’

Grant frowned. ‘Have you told Gabriela how you feel? That you love her?’

Mark shook his head. ‘No. I kinda only just worked it out myself, and I think it might freak her out. I don’t want to scare her off. She’s been hurt badly before and...’

‘But she told you she wants a normal life, normal friends, and to join a community group or something.’

‘That’s right.’

Grant grinned. ‘Then you need to show her the life she could be having if she took the plunge and left the circus. You need to throw her a party. It’s the best way to introduce her to loads of locals, make her feel like one of us and show her everything Bunyip Bay has to offer her and Luna in a short time.’

‘A party?!’ Mark couldn’t think of anything worse, but on the other hand, he could see the idea had merit. ‘Won’t it look a bit suss?’ And not just to Gabriela. He’d been living like a hermit for months and now he was supposed to beg everyone to come to his place? ‘I don’t have a reason to throw a party.’

Grant frowned. ‘Hmm.’ Then his eyes lit up and he clicked his fingers, before aiming the index one at Mark. ‘You’re right, which means we need someone else to throw a party and you can invite Gabriela and Luna as your dates.’

‘I can’t ask anyone to do that.’ God. He shouldn’t have come. Since when had he needed help in the woman department anyway? ‘Besides, we don’t have time. She’s leaving on Saturday, and they’ve got shows every night.’

‘Parties don’t have to be at night,’ Grant mused, rubbing his chin with his non-farmer fingers. ‘We’ll throw a garden luncheon.’

Mark had visions of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party or worse, something his mum and her CWA buddies would organise.

Maybe he should just tell her how he felt. Lay his cards and his heart on the table.

‘I’m not really a party kind of guy,’ he said, wondering how he could get out of this stupid mess he’d dropped himself in.

Grant waved his comment away. ‘Okay, not a party then. Just a simple barbecue. And I’ll be your someone. We can have it here in the backyard, so the kids can swim in the pool while the adults mingle, and you can be shirtless and send your woman crazy with your sexy abs and fabulous sixpack.’

‘A barbecue?’ Mark asked, ignoring the comments about his body. That didn’t sound quite so bad, and it would give Gabriela the chance to connect with a few key people.

Then , if she had a good time, he could gently tell her his idea.

‘Okay. What do you need me to do? Of course, I’ll pay for everything, but do you need me to organise anything else? And are you sure Ryan won’t mind?’

Grant winked. ‘You just go and invite your girls. Leave my strong, silent but very sweet husband to me.’