Meant To Be (29 page)

Emily looked around at the group of people who meant the most to both her and Jake. The only ones missing were Des and Gran – she was a little sad about that. And her mother too, but knowing Enid, she'd probably have said something to ruin the moment.

Her eyes kept moving back to admire her ring.

‘Here, give us a look now it's on,' David urged, and Emily held out her hand and wiggled it in front of them. The diamond glinted magnificently in the sun, sending tiny brightly coloured rainbows across the picnic rug.

‘So, when are you going to get married?' Barbara asked when the commotion of oohs and aahs had finally died down.

Emily looked at Jake and shrugged.

‘Better give Enid enough time to put together the full catastrophe,' Barbara said quietly. Emily was surprised by her friend's lack of animation. Where was the smirk? Probably no one else would have noticed, but she did. Barbara was usually the life of the party and had been known to be merciless with her sarcasm.

‘Oh, God, don't remind me,' Emily said, pushing her concern aside, and making an exaggerated show of putting her head in her hands. Barbara did have a point, though. She'd have to try to stop her mother bolting off to book visits to bridal-wear shops, florists and bakeries in Adelaide. She and Barbara had discussed their weddings a few times and there was one thing she knew for sure – this time she did not want Enid involved at all.

‘Speaking of which. I'd better call Mum and Dad,' Emily said, and got her mobile out, stood up, and moved away from the group.

‘Hi Dad, Happy Easter,' she said. ‘How's things?'

‘And a happy Easter to you too. Anything out of the ordinary happening that I should know about?' Des Oliphant enquired. ‘Like perhaps an exciting announcement?'

‘You already know?' Emily looked back at Jake who grinned at her and raised his eyebrows knowingly.

‘Jake might have mentioned something. I hope you said yes.'

‘He actually asked your permission?' Emily asked, fixing her gaze on Jake who now shrugged, looking proud of himself.

‘Very good manners, that young man. I believe he'll be very good
to
you and very good
for
you. I wouldn't have given my blessing if I didn't think so.'

‘Thanks Dad.' Tears filled Emily's eyes again and a lump worked its way into her throat.

Just as Emily was about to ask to speak to her mother, there was a commotion in the background at her father's end. She heard the muffled words, ‘What's going on? What blessing? Is that Emily? Here, give me the phone.'

‘Emily, what's going on?' Enid Oliphant's shrill voice boomed into her ear.

‘Happy Easter, Mum.'

‘Yes, happy Easter,' she said brusquely. ‘Now, what's going on? What's this about Des giving his blessing? For what? And why aren't I being consulted?'

‘Jake has asked me to marry him. We're engaged,' Emily said quietly when Enid's rant finally ended.

‘What? Oh. But you hardly know him. It's a bit soon, isn't it?'

‘We don't think so. You could at least be pleased for me.'

‘I am. Of course I am pleased for you. Congratulations, both of you. I'm sure you will be very happy together.'

‘Thanks Mum.'

The next thing she heard was Enid berating her husband. ‘You
knew
about this Des and didn't tell me? How long have you known?'

Emily rolled her eyes and sighed. As usual, her mother had managed to make it all about her.

‘I'd like to speak to Jake, please,' Enid said suddenly.

Emily moved back towards the picnic rug. ‘Mum wants to speak to you,' she said, and handed the phone over with pursed lips before sitting back down heavily.

‘Hello Enid. Thank you, we're very happy. I hope you approve.'

Emily wished he'd put it on speaker so they could all hear.

‘No, we haven't set a date yet. This is all very new; we haven't discussed any plans.' He looked at Emily and winced. ‘We're not in any rush. When we've decided what we want to do, you'll be the first to know. But it will probably be something low-key.'

‘No, you're right, I haven't been married before. But I'm not a big one for white weddings. As I said, we haven't discussed the actual ceremony as yet. Look, I'm sorry Enid, this phone is going flat. I'm going to have to go. It's probably going to cut out any second. I'll have Emily phone you back later.' And with that he ended the call and dropped the phone onto the rug like a hot potato.

‘Phew,' he said, and let out his breath loudly.

‘Well handled, mate,' David said. There were ripples of agreement from around the group. Simone frowned.

‘Emily's mother can be somewhat…um…interfering,' Barbara explained. ‘And not, generally, very supportive.'

‘That's putting it politely,' David said.

‘Ahh,' Simone said knowingly, and nodded.

‘So, it sometimes calls for affirmative action to protect our dear Emily from her clutches,' Jake said.

In the ute on the way home, Emily still couldn't take her eyes off her ring.

What a surprise, she thought, twirling it around on her finger. Not one mention of their engagement in almost three months and then, bang!

‘You like it, don't you?' Jake asked, putting his hand on her thigh. ‘Because if you don't…'

Emily grasped his hand. ‘It's perfect, and I love it,' she said, beaming across at him. She almost added, ‘Perfect like you, like us,' but stopped herself. This scene – them sitting in the front of the ute, Simone in the back – was too much like a scene out of a low-budget movie as it was without adding soppy dialogue as well.

What a wonderful day,
she thought, again looking back down at her ring. She wondered what it would take to convince Enid she was not having another big wedding. There was no way she wanted to go through that palaver again. Then again, maybe it would be easier just to give in? She could leave all the preparations to her mother and just turn up on the day.

No way, I'm better than that. Look how I've been standing up for myself lately.

It was hard work keeping the defences up, but the peace was worth it. And there was Jake to think about now too.

She knew she'd have to phone her mother back, but she decided to sleep on it. In the morning she would be stronger and more tolerant. Right now she wanted to let the joy of her engagement sink in. She settled back into the seat and let out a deep sigh.

‘I hope that's a sigh of contentment, darling,' Jake said.

‘Of course it is,' she said, turning towards him and smiling warmly.

‘I've never properly asked you, Em,' Jake said, ‘but what do you want? Would you like a big white wedding, a smaller, more casual affair, or to go away, just the two of us? What would you like to do?'

Emily felt a little uncomfortable having this conversation with Simone in the vehicle with them.

‘I'm not sure, but I certainly don't want the full shebang. I'd feel like such a hypocrite doing that all over again, when I didn't get it right the first time.'

‘I'm sure you made a beautiful bride,' Jake said kindly. ‘It wasn't your fault you married the wrong bloke.'

Whose fault was it then? It wasn't like I was dragged down the aisle kicking and screaming.

‘Your mum didn't sound all that happy about the engagement. Doesn't she like Jake?' Simone asked.

‘No, she thinks he's lovely. Well, she did the first few times they met. I think she blames him for what she would see as my sudden wilfulness. You see, I've finally started standing up for myself after a lifetime of accepting her control, interference, and lack of support,' she explained to Simone. ‘I'm thirty-two, and my mother still thinks she can run my life. I'm finally trying to throw the shackles off.'

‘I think eloping to somewhere exotic would be perfect,' Simone said wistfully.

‘Honestly, I've got too much else taking up space in my head to even think about it right now.'

‘Yes, one thing at a time, I think,' Jake said. ‘Like remembering to phone Enid back,' he added, shooting her a grimace. ‘Sorry. Maybe I shouldn't have hung up on her.'

‘Forget it. I'll deal with it tomorrow, when my head is clear and my defences can withstand her.'

They got back just as the last light was fading. Emily was pleased she'd thought ahead and left the outside light on. They were weary but content. She couldn't remember when she'd last spent a day without all her attention on the building project or under pressure in the kitchen.

After unpacking everything, Jake and Emily retreated to the lounge to watch some television – which they hadn't done for ages – while Simone packed so she would be ready to leave early in the morning.

Emily would be sad to see her go. She had been wonderful company while Jake had been off planting the crop. And Emily hated goodbyes of any sort.

Sometimes she wondered if this little twinge she felt whenever she and Jake said goodbye – even for the shortest time – was fear that what she had found was too good to be true and that it was all about to be taken away. She had to work hard to force the negative thoughts away. She was so lucky to be where she was now. And she'd been doing so well at being positive. If only she could just focus on the good all of the time and not let the insecurities seep back in.

Barbara had told her more than once that if you thought too much about what you feared happening, it could become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In recent times, Emily had often wanted to say something similar to Barbara regarding her fear over losing the baby, but had never found the right way to say it. She didn't want to sound like she was throwing Barbara's philosophical beliefs in her face. But she couldn't help thinking that if Barbara just got on with life – instead of fretting about doing the tiniest thing in case it might harm the baby – she would be better off.

But really, what would I know?

What she
did
know was that she was neglecting their friendship because of the cottage project. She knew Barbara didn't resent her for it, but perhaps if they could hang out together more, her friend might be in a better place psychologically and emotionally.

It was even worse now that seeding had started and David was spending most of his time off in the paddock, leaving Barbara home alone with her fears. Even though Emily wasn't religious, she did still sort of pray. Well, raised her eyes skyward and silently begged the atmosphere around her to give Barbara a healthy baby and return her well-adjusted, laid-back friend to her.

She knew a baby would change everything, but she just hoped Barbara would return to trusting the universe to do its thing.

‘All packed and ready to go,' Simone announced, entering the lounge and throwing herself onto the vacant couch.

‘I'm going to miss you,' Emily said. ‘It's gone far too quickly, but it's been so good to have you stay. And to get to know you a bit better.'

‘Me too. But we've got lots of time to get to know each other now we're going to be related,' Simone said, beaming. ‘I'm so happy for you guys. Anyway, I'd better get back home and get busy on the paintings,' she continued. ‘I wonder if the boss would let me take a month off to play artist like he's playing farmer,' she said, raising her eyebrows in question at Jake.

‘How many times do I have to tell you two? Tractor driving is
not
playing. And, anyway, I'm still running the project while I'm doing it. I'm
multi-tasking
like you women are always on about. It's actually not so hard,' he added with a challenging grin. ‘But seriously, Sim, do you want some time off to paint?' he asked.

‘I wouldn't mind, actually,' Simone said a little coyly.

‘Well, you've got plenty of leave owing.'

‘But you're not there.'

‘But Angus is. And Toniette. It's JKL and
Associates,
remember? You keep telling me not to worry, that everything is going along fine without me. And that Andrew is proving a great asset. Winter is coming and the Hansen job has had the plug pulled, so it's quiet anyway. The other guys can run the place and focus on looking for new work while you take a month off.'

‘Are you sure?'

‘Of course. As if I'm going to shackle you to the place if you don't want to be there. I don't want my best employee and business partner getting so jack of it all she ups and leaves me permanently.'

‘What if my paintings sell like Emily's jam and I become a famous artist overnight,' Simone said, waving her arms theatrically.

‘Well, we'll discuss how we're going to move forward then.'

‘You're pretty safe. It's not as if that's likely,' Simone said.

‘How many times do I have to tell you to stop selling yourself short? Your paintings would look right at home in plenty of the galleries I've visited,' Jake said emphatically.

Emily chimed in. ‘Jake's right, Simone. I loved the paintings in your house. And I bet plenty of other people will too once they get to see them.'

‘Well, you're both very kind,' Simone said.

‘So, take a month off and enjoy your painting,' Jake said. ‘End of discussion. I'll phone Angus on Tuesday morning. Anyway, we
don't want you working so hard you end up a basket case like I almost did,' Jake said.

‘You seem good now, so if that's what getting out of the office does for the psyche, sign me up!' Simone said.

‘That and good country cooking, fresh air, and the love and attention of a good woman,' Jake said, putting his arm around Emily and pulling her towards him. ‘I will be forever grateful for you calling Emily that day, Sim,' he continued. ‘So, consider this the first step in repaying you.'