Christmas Getaway (22 page)

“You're no coward.”

“Oh, but I am,” she said. “In the love department. But I'm thinking I need to be brave. So I've figured I'm starting now. On Christmas morning. I'm not exactly sure how to do it—how to go about this loving business—but if you could help me…”

“I'd love to try,” he said cautiously.

“So what to do about it?”

“I could kiss you,” he said. “Would that be a start?”

“That'd mean no one was watching the clearing.”

“We have eight wallabies watching the clearing.”

“That's true,” she whispered, and smiled. “That's very true.”

“So if I kissed you now?”

“Not on the nose.”

“Not?” He frowned. “Is that in the rules?”

“I guess it's not,” she murmured, and linked her arms around his neck, then tugged his head down until his mouth
met hers. “I'm not sure that the rules I've been working on are required anymore.”

“Sometimes rules are good. The kids need rules.” He sounded like he barely believed what he was saying.

“Then we'd better get started,” she murmured, but she was hardly audible for already his lips were brushing hers. “We'd better get a whole new rule book written before they wake up.”

 

T
HE TENSION WAS
still there, but things had changed. By the time the kids woke, Molly couldn't keep the great goofy smile off her face, and neither could Joe, and as they hugged the kids and wished them merry Christmas they had to fight to remind themselves to keep their voices to a whisper, to remember that there was still a threat.

“We've got strawberries and cream and mince pies back in our kitchen,” Zoe said mournfully.

“We've got stockings,” Charlie reminded her, and all three kids looked so sad that Joe and Molly felt guilty about smiling.

“Why are you so happy?” Lily asked suspiciously, and Joe thought about all the things he could say, but while he was trying to figure them out, Molly answered for him.

“'Cos I've decided to stay in Australia and help look after you lot.”

“Really?” Charlie asked.

“Yes.”

“For always?” Zoe asked, awed.

“Yes,” she said before she could think about it, before any of those damned rules that had been getting in the way of her life for so long could raise their ugly heads and shout her down.

“You're kidding,” Joe said, and she cast him a wounded look.

“Don't you want me?”

Dumb question. She had a sandwich squeeze from the four of them—which pretty much answered her question.

“But aren't you a lawyer?” Charlie asked when finally they emerged from their very satisfactory hug. In fact, Joe was hugging her still.

“I guess people need lawyers in Australia.”

“Goody,” Zoe said, moving on. “We need a big house. Can we get a puppy?”

It wasn't a bad way to start Christmas. And the thought of a potential pup—followed by decisions as to breed and name and collar color—kept them happy while Joe slipped away.

That was a hard call but it had to be made.

“I need to find somewhere I can get phone reception,” he told Molly, and she knew that he did. She also knew that for them all to go would expose them needlessly.

So she hugged him goodbye, and then she kissed him and then she held her breath for almost two hours until he slid back into the cleft to join them.

“Done,” he said. “No problems here?” He hugged her, holding her naturally as if she belonged right there against his heart. And that's what it felt like. As if she'd slipped into her natural place. Home was where Joe was, from this day forward.

“I've been worried sick about you,” he said, and kissed her hair.

She held him tight against her. “And me about you. But you didn't have to worry. Our wallabies kept us safe. You found reception?”

“I just headed uphill until it worked. Amazingly there's what looks like a telecommunications tower on the next ridge. As soon as I got over the rise my cell phone kicked in fine. It's okay, love. The police are on their way.”

“Can we trust…”

“We can trust,” he said. “There's been all sorts of stuff going down.” He shook his head, still trying to figure things out. “My foster sister, Ellie, is involved. Remember I told you she tried to be friends with Erica? It seems the cop that Connor framed—a guy called Fitzpatrick—tried to talk to her about the connection. That blew apart when Connor came after them. Hell, if she'd contacted me…”

“She didn't?”

“I don't do family—remember?”

“That's right,” she whispered, and smiled. “I forgot.”

He smiled, too, but his smile was a bit crooked as he hugged her tight. “There's also been drama with your maid of honor, Jean, and your brother, Sam. No, they're both safe, but they've been yelling at the authorities. Someone even said they were on their way here, but no one's certain. Anyway, the upshot is that there was a tip-off to the Australian police last night that Connor might be in the country. There's worry he's targeting the kids. My phone call was put straight through to divisional headquarters in Cairns. We'll have big guns out to keep us safe.”

“Jean and Sam…” she whispered, trying to figure it out.

“And Ellie,” he said. “And a guy called Fitzpatrick. It seems we have family worrying about us, my love. Family, whether we like it or not.”

She could scarcely take it in. She couldn't. “So…so we can go back to the house?” she asked, deciding the big picture was too hard and concentrating on the here and now.

“Not yet,” he said ruefully. “We don't know whether Connor's still in the forest. We're only about three hundred yards from the beach. When things are safe, someone's going to come along here with a megaphone and a password.”

“You're kidding.”

“Nope,” he said, and grinned. “Not as high-tech as James Bond but it'll do. Are the kids hungry?”

The kids had been watching from the sidelines, not understanding but obviously appreciating the fact that Joe was hugging Molly. This, however, reminded them of something that had been occurring to all of them for a while. “Yes!”

“Then we have coconuts,” he said. “I know it's not quite the same as roast turkey but let's give it a bash.”

 

S
O
C
HRISTMAS MORNING
was spent splitting coconuts on rocks, telling stories, trying to remember old jokes from Christmas Crackers past, waiting, waiting. The wallabies were resting in the shadows at the edges of the clearing. They were a real comfort, Molly thought as the day wore on. They'd sense strangers before she and Joe could.

The kids were fantastic. Amazing. Wonderful. But by midday their patience was growing thin. There was a limit to how much coconut they could eat. But then…

“Joe!”

Joe's head jerked up, his eyes widening in shock. It was a stern female voice, the voice of an older woman, booming through an amplifier from the direction of the sea and echoing against the rocks behind them.

What the…

“Joe, if you're in there, come on out. Joe? Joe, I'm sick of stomping up and down this beach. It's safe. The police are here. Come out now.”

“Ruby!” To say Joe looked astounded was an understatement.

“Ruby?”

“My ex-foster mother.”

“Oh,” Molly said. Faintly.

“Who the… How the hell did Ruby know I was here?”

“That might have been me,” she admitted.

He shook his head, bewildered. “What—you sent smoke signals?”

“I may just have contacted her a couple of days back.”

“You what?”

“I was worried about you. I knew I was leaving after Christmas. I knew you wouldn't tell her you were caring for the kids.”

“But how…”

“All I did was call Foster Parents Australia,” she said. “They're in the phone book. Ruby sounded like just the person you needed. The woman I spoke to wouldn't give out any information. I knew she wouldn't. But when I said I was looking for an ex-foster mother called Ruby, 'cos one of her ex-foster kids was in trouble, and I described you she seemed to know exactly who I meant. I gave her a message to pass on to Ruby. Where you were and what was happening.”

“You didn't,” he muttered, stunned. “You're planning on me being bossed forever?”

“I was,” she admitted. “I thought someone should do it. But now I'm planning on doing it myself so there's no need.”

“Joe!” the voice behind the megaphone boomed again and Joe sighed and kissed his bride-to-be and gathered his brood together to leave their hidey-hole.

“Family,” he said, “it seems to be growing.”

“Don't we need a password?” Molly asked.

“If there're any villains out there with guns and Ruby's on the case…heaven help the villains.”

 

R
UBY WAS THERE
, but she wasn't alone. They walked out onto the beach, emerging from the cover of the palms with some trepidation to be met by the sight of half a dozen men in camouflage with serious-looking guns, one little old lady…and
one young woman with black-and-silver spiked hair, tatty jeans and a skimpy top, and a really bewildered expression.

The kids took one look and yelled in stunned delight.

“Mandy! Mandy!”

“Hey,” the girl yelled back, and started running up the beach toward them. They met in a muddle of hugs and tears, and Joe stared at them in bewilderment.

“Mandy?” he said faintly.

“She's the kids' nanny,” Molly said serenely, tucking her hand in his. “I love it when a plan comes together.”

“My head hurts.”

She grinned. “It was supposed to be my Christmas gift to you all,” she explained. “Before I realized I was staying. I met Mandy last year and I knew she loved the kids. When the kids told me she'd been sacked, I felt dreadful. She's little more than a kid herself, but she's lovely. So I phoned the kids' grandmother, got the address of the agency Erica used, tracked Mandy down and offered her return flights and a year's salary. She has no family of her own and has been missing the kids ever since Vincent sacked her. She said she'd try to get here as soon as she could.”

It was too much. He gave up. He hugged her tight and they made their way down the beach to meet…their future.

 

I
T TOOK TEN MINUTES
to walk back along the beach to the house and the kids whooped all the way. Even the state of the house when they reached it couldn't dent their joy.

The place had been ransacked. But searching had obviously taken precedence over prudence, and in their desperation Connor and his allies hadn't kept a lookout. The police had arrived before they found whatever they were looking for.

Connor and his companions were now in custody, but the
kids no longer cared. Their stockings were intact. The refrigerator was still groaning. They had a snack the minute they got back to the house, then they attacked their stockings. Ruby and Mandy cleaned and rebandaged Zoe's head while Molly and Joe showered, and then all of them settled down to Christmas dinner proper out by the pool. The turkey could be served in the evening—no one was prepared to wait for it to cook—but there was more than enough without it.

Molly was back in her bikini and sarong, serving Christmas pudding, feeling the warmth inside her grow and grow.

For her, too, Connor had faded to insignificance. She didn't ask what was happening to Connor. As long as he was no longer a threat to the people she loved, she didn't care about him.

She was sitting inches from Joe. What more could life hold?

There were two detectives at the table, as well—two senior detectives from Cairns who needed to interview the children. But Ruby had put her foot down. Christmas first, interviews second.

“So how did you get here?” It had taken this long for Joe finally to be able to ask. Ruby helped herself to the brandy butter and beamed.

“Easy. I got Molly's message that you might need me. Yes, I was supposed to be having Christmas at Dolphin Bay but it sounded like you needed me more. Then Ellie contacted me and said she was coming here for Christmas, so that settled it. I rang Ellie just now, by the way. She'll be here soon. Anyway, I left a note for the rest of my family, and I caught the last plane from New South Wales to Cairns. I got into Cairns and got lucky—I hired the last car in the hire car rank. I was just out of town when I saw Mandy on the side of the road with her thumb in the air. It seems there aren't any buses on Christmas day so she'd decided to hitch. I couldn't let a young girl risk
hitchhiking so I picked her up and we talked and found we were coming to the same place. We got here and there were police everywhere. And those horrid men were being led away. I was so worried about you, but then the nice policemen said I could come with them on the beach with the megaphone.”

“Thank you,” Joe said to the detectives and the detectives, complacent at the end of a very satisfactory case and a surfeit of Christmas dinner, waved their glasses in acknowledgement.

“Our pleasure.”

“So how did you know what was happening when I rang?” Joe asked the detectives. His mind was operating on two levels here. First, everybody he cared about was safe. Second, Molly was sitting beside him, smiling and smiling. His foot was touching hers under the table. When pudding was over they might just be able to slip away…

But he'd asked a question. It was only polite to concentrate on the answer.

“You know Jean heard O'Bannion making threats against the children on the night before the wedding?” The senior detective looked at the children but Charlie and Lily and Zoe were preoccupied pulling crackers and had no interest in adult conversation.

“Yes, but we thought…”