Bilgarra Springs (30 page)

Jakob could hear Max’s laughter from his side of the desk. Aurora knew that he wouldn’t get the joke. He couldn’t possible know what she had sitting in the bank, but she did and so did Max. She had several million invested with him and when the Estate was finalised there would be somewhere around ten million dollars to add to it. The car was a drop in the ocean but she wasn’t going to tell Jakob that.

When she hung up she turned to him.

‘Max said to give him five. While we wait for him, do you want to sort out the final figure?’ Jakob sprang into action scribbling numbers down on the pad in front of him. Aurora couldn’t help herself and added as innocently as she was able, ‘I assume that I get a decent discount for cash?’

Jakob paused in his calculations and assured her very smoothly.

‘Naturally.’

He still hadn’t finished working it out when one of the office staff knocked on the open door before placing the fax from Max on the desk and leaving. Jakob read the few lines and smiled at Aurora.

‘Lovely. We should be finished in a few minutes.’

And they were. Aurora wrote out a cheque while Jakob buzzed through to the office asking them to send Steve to take the car out of the showroom and leave it in the customer parking bays. Aurora went out and took the boxes out of her old car, along with the CD’s and personal bits and pieces and placed them in the new one.

She had not long finished when Jakob emerged, paperwork in hand. He handed her the relevant forms, complete with receipt and handed her the keys. She in turn promised that she would drop the second set for the VW in to them in the morning. He seemed satisfied. Nothing left to be done there, she climbed into the driver’s seat and fiddled with the seat and mirrors before pulling out of the caryard.

The journey home in the afternoon traffic was an interesting one as this car was somewhat larger and completely different to drive to the other one. She counted herself lucky that she had at least driven the hire car which had given her a bit of a head start. She eased the car into the garage at the units and noted that it was much more of a snug fit than the other one.

When she got upstairs Tim looked guiltily up from the lounge again. Feeling emboldened by her drastic changes this afternoon she couldn’t help but tease him.

‘Tim, you really need to stop feeling so guilty. If I wanted to kick you out of here I would. Speaking of which...’

Tim cut her off before she could finish.

‘I am so sorry Aurora. I have been looking, I really have. I even went through a few this afternoon with one of the agents, but the competition is fierce and the units are very ordinary with huge price tags...’

His words which had tumbled out on top of each other slowed to nothing. Aurora felt bad for intentionally teasing him.

‘Tim, it’s all good. I have something to put to you. I have taken a very long period of leave from the University effective today, which means I won’t be returning for the rest of this year or the next.’

Tim’s eyes bulged. She continued nonetheless.

‘I also traded my car in for one that will be better suited to what I propose to spend the foreseeable future doing. So, as of tomorrow, I won’t be here. If you want to stay here you are very welcome. If you are prepared to pay the phone and electricity bills I won’t worry about getting them transferred to you. As for rent, you pick a figure that you are comfortable with and we will leave it at that. I don’t know when I will be back, it may be weeks, or it may be months. I simply don’t know I am just going to play it by ear. Short term I will probably need you to keep an eye on my mail for me. Are you interested?’

Tim’s eyes may have been bulging before, but he looked fit to burst now. He opened his mouth but no sound came out. It took him a few seconds but he regained control and was grinning like a mad thing.

‘Absolutely. That would be fantastic and of course I will pay the phone and electricity and I am happy to keep an eye on your mail for you. That’s just...that’s just brilliant Aurora. Thanks a heap.’

He looked like he had just been handed the world. Aurora was glad for him as she watched him ruffling Orinoco’s fur.

‘I do have one bit of bad news for you though, I’m going to take Orinoco with me. Don’t quite know how she is going to take to the car, nor how practical it is going to be to have a cat in tow, but I propose at the very least to try.’

Tim looked up at her and shrugged.

‘That’s cool. She tolerates me but if you’re around I may as well not exist.’

As if to prove the point, Orinoco stood up, stretched and in her particular leisurely manner jumped down from the couch and made her way over to Aurora, winding through her legs. Aurora picked her up and placed her over her shoulder like a baby. Aurora looked at Tim.

‘That’s ‘cause she’s my girl.’

The cat certainly looked content.

‘Well, if we have a deal I’m going to throw some of my clothes into a suitcase because tomorrow I’m out of here.’

The smile on Aurora’s face was magic. Tim hadn’t wanted to probe where she was going or why, he figured that she would have told him if she wanted him to know, but she really looked happy with her decision.

Three days later, Aurora found herself turning off the main highway headed towards Bilgarra Springs: the same trip, the same scenery, looking for the same signposts, yet this time arriving in very different circumstances.

As she entered the house yard Aurora couldn’t believe that it was only just over a month ago that she had driven through this same gateway. This time she was ready for the puppies running at the car and got out happy that she hadn’t been spooked by them and committed the same faux pas as last time. Rough and Tumble were beside the car barking their heads off. They stopped the minute she got out, recognising her despite the strange vehicle.

She bent down the scratch them both behind the ears before closing the front door. She swivelled around and opened the rear door, pulled out the two Jacaranda saplings that she had bought in Townsville on the way through and placed them on the ground beside the car, then grabbed the cat cage off the back seat, turning just in time to see Callan coming around the side of the house. She had heard him calling to the dogs. He must have come to investigate what the ruckus was about. He stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted Aurora. Disbelief was written all over his face before it split into a grin from ear to ear.

Aurora was positively glowing as she slammed the back door of the car and took a couple of steps toward him, cat cage in hand. She pointed to the cage and shrugged her shoulders.

‘I couldn’t leave her behind.’

Callan chuckled and made his way over. As he crushed her to him, cat cage notwithstanding, she peered over his shoulder to see Trudy and Fiona burst onto the verandah eager to welcome her home.

Author photo © Benn Brown, Blue Sky Photography
AUTHOR’S NOTE

Whilst writing itself is a solitary practice, the process of a novel being born is very much a journey that involves many people in various capacities.

There are an awful lot of people who have helped along the way with comments, information, ideas etc. To all of you, thank you.

Special thanks need to go to my grandmother for her kind permission to use her photos on the cover (and no, it isn’t her story!) as well as proving to be a valuable font of information on life in North Queensland in the 1940s, Erica for her patience and willingness to read it chapter by chapter and come back with suggestions and the odd re-write, the invaluable group who read the draft version, Vivian for her generous proofreading, Benn for his great author photos (you didn’t have a very willing subject so big thankyou), Suzanne Ashmore and her team for the fantastic covers (you outdid yourselves), Greg Brown of McPherson’s Printing Group for his patience and forebearance with my inexperience and my family and friends who didn’t hold it against me when I couldn’t spend time with them because I was busy.

I enjoyed writing
Bilgarra Springs
. Writing is very much a labour of love. The greatest compliment to an author is a reader who thoroughly enjoys a book and requests more. So, for those of you who would like the next instalment in the lives of Aurora and Callan, there is a sequel,
Small Beginnings,
which should be out in late 2012, early 2013.

Later this year, however, my next novel,
Rocky Creek,
is due for release and I have included an excerpt at the end of this book
.

I hope you enjoy it as well.