Rose's Vintage (24 page)

Rose heard the wail of an ambulance siren approaching, and soon other cars pulled up at the front of the house. Rubbing her eyes and getting up on unsteady legs, she watched as Vera and Violet were loaded into an ambulance. They didn't appear to be conscious.

‘Are they going to be okay?' she asked one of the firemen, coughing again at the effort of talking.

‘I hope so. They've inhaled a bit of smoke and likely had a very nasty fright, but they're tough old birds, those two, known them all my life,' he said as he raised his helmet and wiped sweat off his face. ‘Looks like it started in the kitchen. It's under control now and the damage won't be too bad. Lucky for them you came along when you did, and that you found the hose. This old place is like a tinderbox; it'd have gone up in minutes.'

As Rose was talking to the fireman, she heard a familiar voice behind her. ‘Rose, what are you doing here? What on earth's happened? I saw the fireys and heard the sirens and followed them. Are you okay?'

Rose's legs suddenly turned to jelly. ‘Oh, Mark,' she sobbed, falling into his arms. ‘I was so scared; there was just so much smoke and they couldn't hear me. They just couldn't hear me,' she repeated. ‘They might have died in there.' Rose went into a paroxysm of coughing, unable to stop.

Mark pulled her tightly to him, rubbing his hand across her back to soothe her. ‘There, Rose, it's all right. Hush now. You're in shock. Try and take some slow breaths.' His gentle tone calmed her, and she clung to him, finding she couldn't let go, feeling the roughness of his unshaven cheek against her forehead and breathing in the comforting, familiar spicy scent of him. His arms, strong as oak, wrapped around her, steadying her.

Mark held her until her coughing stopped and her breathing slowed, seemingly in no hurry to let her go. ‘How did you end up here at this hour though?' he said, eventually releasing her. Rose wished he hadn't; she'd quite liked the feeling of his arms around hers.

‘I woke up early and went for a run. I was at the top of the hill and smelled smoke. Once I got closer to the cottage, I could see it coming out from under the back door, the one to the kitchen. I ran as fast as I could and grabbed the garden hose,' she blurted.

‘She did a great job,' the firey said to Mark. ‘Her quick thinking probably saved their lives. It kept the kitchen fire from spreading further.'

‘Now, love,' said one of the paramedics, who had come over. ‘I heard that coughing. I reckon we need to get you checked out as well.'

Rose tried to protest that she was okay, but he insisted that she accompany him to hospital. Mark backed him up. ‘I'll be there later to see how you're going. Don't worry, they'll take good care of you.'

Rose found that she was grateful, after all, for the rest in the New Bridgeton hospital – they sedated her to stop her coughing, and she quickly found herself dozing off.

When she came to, Mark, Leo, Luisa and Astrid were standing around her bed. Her eyelids felt as heavy as lead and she could barely flutter them open. She felt Mark brush back a strand of hair from her forehead and lean down and gently kiss her cheek. She immediately recognised the delicious, familiar scent of spice and citrus soap.

‘Oh, Rose, I'm so sorry. I promised I'd keep you safe,' he whispered to her.

Rose was woozy from the drugs and his words floated over her, making no sense at all. She was only aware of the warmth of his hand in hers and the sense of comfort that overtook her in his presence.

‘Is Wosey okay, Daddy?' asked Luisa.

‘Yes, darling, she'll be fine,' said Mark. ‘I hope you don't mind, Rose – Leo and Luisa were asking after you. They really wanted to see you.'

‘S'fine,' she mumbled, stirring.

‘Do you mind if I check on Vera and Vi? I'll come back to you in a bit.'

‘'Course.' Rose sank back against the pillow.

The Trevelyn sisters were at the far end of the ward. Mark left her side and the kids followed. He tiptoed over to Violet's bed and took the old lady's hand.

‘Hello, Vi, how are you feeling?' Rose heard him say.

‘Not too bad, love,' Violet rasped. ‘Bit of a sore throat though. Drier than a dead dingo's donger. Got a cold beer on you by any chance?'

Leo giggled.

Rose watched as Violet raised herself up in bed. ‘Hello young feller, it's nice to see you.'

‘Hello, Violet. I'm sorry your house caught on fire,' Leo said. ‘We brought you some lollies.'

‘Don't worry, mate, it'll all get sorted. Just gotta get out of this place first.'

‘We also brought you a few other things – nightgowns and toothbrushes. We thought you wouldn't have anything with you,' Astrid said.

‘That's very kind of you, love. It'll be good to put something on that's not backless. Been showing me arse off to the world every time I go to the dunny.' Violet cackled at herself, which set off a hacking cough.

‘How long will they be keeping you in?' asked Mark when she'd stopped coughing her guts up.

‘I'm not too sure, a couple of days they reckon,' said Violet. ‘Then I think we'll go and stay with our cousins across the valley. Just till we get the house sorted. We've no idea how bad the damage is yet. Have you seen it?'

‘Don't worry yourselves about that. I'll help you sort it all out. And don't worry about the vineyards; we'll look after them until you're back on your feet. I've got a bloke starting next week. Viticulturist, from Adelaide. Young gun, completely on board with biodynamics, so don't stress about a thing. In any case, we'll be needing all the grapes you can give us, Channings have just confirmed a big order.'

‘Oh, so that's why you're here.' Rose heard a teasing note in the old woman's voice. ‘You're not worried about us at all, just the grapes. I might have guessed. Seriously, that's bloody good news, Mark. About time you had something go your way. Good job the fire didn't spread to the vines then.'

‘Yeah, we could do without smoke taint in the fruit, that's for sure.'

Mark looked round as Vera stirred in the next bed and gave a hoarse cough. ‘Hello, Mark. How's Rose?' she asked in a whisper.

‘She's fine. She's just down at the other end of the ward,' Mark said, pointing towards the door.

‘They told us that she helped fend off the flames. Is she alright?'

‘She'll be fine,' said Mark. ‘She's only got mild smoke inhalation and the doctor says she'll be right as rain in a few days. You two gave us all a fright though.'

‘Oh thank goodness. I couldn't bear it if anything had happened to her.'

‘Can you hear me, Rose?' Violet asked, raising her voice.

Rose slowly lifted a hand in reply.

‘I think that means she can,' said Mark, who was watching.

‘Well, we're grateful to you, Rose, that's the truth,' Violet added. ‘We'd have been charcoal if you hadn't turned up when you did.'

‘She's one in a million, that girl, you know,' said Vera.

‘I know,' said Mark, smiling at the two old ladies. ‘She certainly is.'

Mark, Astrid and the kids stayed a while longer, and Mark promised to contact the insurance company and check when they could go back to the house to assess the damage. He stopped by Rose's bed on the way out and leaned down to kiss her again. ‘Rest up, darling girl,' he whispered to her.

CHAPTER 24

R
ose was allowed to come home after a night in hospital and, although her throat still felt tender, was back on her feet after a day in bed. Even though she made a swift recovery, Mark was solicitous with her, calling over most evenings to check on her, often staying for a chat and telling her about his day.

But the following week, after a trip to Eumeralla for groceries, she opened the door to the barn and immediately spied a large duffle bag in the middle of the room, an empty coffee mug on the table and a jacket slung over one of the sofas. At that moment, she heard the loo flush; a tall, dark stranger emerged from the bathroom. She quickly took in the long legs encased in jeans, cinched around the hips with an alligator-skin belt, and the broad expanse of tawny, muscled torso. Finally, scanning up to connect with a face, she found a wide mouth, razor-sharp cheekbones and wavy dark hair. Her mysterious visitor looked like a disturbingly attractive but slightly menacing gypsy. The only thing missing was a gold hoop in one ear. Sticking out of his mouth was the white handle of a toothbrush, and a dribble of foam was making its way down to his chin. This went some way to making him look slightly less alarming.

‘G'day,' he said, having removed the toothbrush. ‘You must be Rose. Jake. Jake Salmon. Just got here. Hope you don't mind me sharing your digs. Mark said you'd be cool with it.' He extended his hand, looking her up and down lazily with sleepy blue eyes so dark they were practically indigo.

Rose was uncomfortable: she felt those eyes travelling over every inch of her as she took his strong, calloused hand in hers. ‘I guess not,' she said brusquely. ‘Anyway, Mark's the boss. There's a spare room through there,' she said, gesturing to the door on the far side of the large living area. ‘I'll show you where to get some sheets and things from the house. I see you've found a towel.'

Rose was put out by the thought of having to share the barn with a stranger, particularly someone as full of himself as Jake clearly was. Mark could have at least given her a heads up. She'd got used to having her own space since she'd been at Kalkari, and had been surprised to find that she enjoyed the solitude.

She couldn't help but notice the half-moons of dark earth under Jake's nails. ‘Goes with the job,' he said. ‘Can't ever seem to get them clean.'

‘Oh,' said Rose, ‘right.' She was embarrassed at having been caught staring.

‘Okay then,' said Jake, unperturbed by her lack of effusive welcome. ‘Better go and see what the boss wants me to get started on first.'

‘Umm, don't you think you've forgotten something?' Rose gestured to his bare chest.

‘Yeah, a shirt'd probably be a good idea, right?' Jake bent down to his bag and retrieved a pale blue tee, slipping it effortlessly over his six-pack and grinning cockily at her. ‘All set. Catch ya later, babe.'

‘I guess,' said Rose to his retreating back. It dawned on her that with a new roommate there'd be far less likelihood of Mark stopping by the barn in future. She'd come to look forward to their time together at the end of each day more than she realised.

The weekend rolled around. Rose had been so busy preparing to reopen Ferment, baking and freezing vanilla cupcakes, chocolate brownies and sweet lime and coconut bread late into the night that she'd hardly had time to exchange more than a few words with either Mark or her new roommate. Although Jake had certainly made his presence felt, with stray shirts left on the sofa and boots claggy with vineyard mud on the barn's doorstep, he was still asleep when she went out for her dawn run, and gone by the time she was back to cook breakfast for the kids. With immaculate timing, they managed to miss each other every morning.