The Marriage Merger (14 page)

Braden parked under a shady tree. He took the
picnic basket, cooler bag, cushions and a rug from the car and
arranged them on the soft grass.

“Caitlin’s gone exploring, Braden, I’d better
go after her,” Jenna called as she hurried after the little figure
moving towards the water’s edge.

When she reached Caitlin the child was
stretching out her hand to some water lilies clustered close to the
bank. The bottom dropped off more steeply at this point but it was
difficult to tell just how deep it was.

“It’s a bit too far for you, Possum. I’ll get
one for you.” Jenna kicked off her sandals and walked into the cool
water. She was glad she had worn shorts because it was deeper than
it appeared. She leaned forward to pick up one of the lilies. Her
foot slipped on a mossy rock and she overbalanced.

Cold mountain water. She gasped with the
shock of it, and scrabbled to get a footing on the slippery rocks.
As she regained her balance and looked down in dismay at her
dripping blouse and shorts Braden’s laughter echoed across the
water.

As he walked to the water's edge his laughter
subsided, but a grin still lingered as he bent forward and offered
his hand to Jenna. She looked down at herself again and couldn't
stop her answering smile. She really did look like a drowned rat.
She could understand Braden’s laughter.

She grasped his hand. She didn’t know then if
the devil gave her a nudge or if it was a genuine slip, but her
feet shot out from under her and Braden, taken by surprise, lost
his footing and tumbled into the water.

Now there were two drowned rats. Only this
one rose with a tiny water lily dangling incongruously from one
ear.

Jenna bit back her laughter, but her green
eyes sparkled with it, her breasts shook with it, and she knew she
couldn’t suppress it much longer. Braden gazed daggers at her. Then
a tiny crinkling appeared at the corners of his eyes. His lips
started to twitch. A deep throaty chuckle rumbled out and joined
hers as they stood in the waist-deep water and looked at each
other, uninhibited joy in their eyes.

“You look funny, Uncle Braden.”

Their heads swung in unison towards Caitlin.
She was hunched over, hands loose over her mouth, eyes bright. In
amazement they realised she was giggling. And she had spoken. Soft,
whispery words, but words just the same.

Jenna looked at Braden, saw the amazement on
his face, saw his mouth start to form the words of astonished
elation that would alert Caitlin to the fact that what she had just
done was so extraordinary, so wonderful.

She realized that if Braden over-reacted to
what Caitlin had just accomplished, if he over-emphasized the
importance of her speaking again she might panic and revert into
her silent world. It was imperative that they treat her in as
normal a manner as possible. But Braden started to speak.

She did the only thing she could think of to
stop him.

She kissed him.

CHAPTER TEN

As a method of silencing him it was very
effective. Too effective. What started as a diversion, a
distraction from his response to Caitlin’s recovered speech, turned
into the sweetest, most tender kiss she had ever experienced.

Braden reacted to her unexpected offering
with all the fragile tenderness of a man presented with a second
chance at life who was only brave enough to tentatively take what
could be too delicate and tenuous to be real.

His lips were soft, warm and gentle on hers,
his hand light as a breath on her cheek. Her own hands pressed
against the broad expanse of his chest and they reverberated to the
swift thudding of his heart. The wetness of her clothing, the
shrill song of swooping birds, the breeze rustling the eucalyptus
leaves, all receded to nothing as sheer bliss invaded every
particle of her being. An eternity seemed to pass. An eternity of
such moving tenderness that, as Caitlin’s giggle drew them
reluctantly apart, Jenna couldn’t tell if the moisture on her
cheeks was dam water or tears.

“Jenna ...” Braden’s voice was husky, his
hand fallen to her arm, trembling slightly as it brushed down to
her fingers. His black hair, curled and unruly from the fresh
water, tumbled into his eyes, eyes that held hers in such a
swirling array of emotions that her breath caught in her
throat.

“Uncle Braden’s all wet like you, Jinx.”

Braden turned around to Caitlin, and Jenna
forestalled him again.

“Not as wet as you’ll be, Possum, if you
don’t win the race back to the car,” she said as she splashed water
at the child and started to walk out of the water. Braden stepped
up onto the bank before her and again offered his hand.

This time he was ready for her and he pulled
her up swiftly, drawing her so close to him that only their clasped
hands separated them. Again that crackling sexual tension sparked
between them, unnerving Jenna with the sudden melting of her limbs
and the deep pounding of her heart through her body.

Braden seemed about to speak but Caitlin
called to them and together they followed her as she ran back to
the car. Quickly, quietly, Jenna explained to Braden how important
it was not to make a big issue out of Caitlin’s speech
returning.

“I won!” Caitlin cried as she tumbled onto
the rug.

“No,” Braden said quietly, “I think we all
did today.”

Braden had a spare pair of shorts and a shirt
in the car. He gave the shirt to Jenna and they changed in the
amenities block. The shirt was pale blue with a fine dark blue
stripe and came half-way to her knees. She felt a little
self-conscious dressed only in the shirt and her satin briefs as
they spread their wet clothes on the grass to dry in the hot
sun.

She felt Braden’s gaze on her as she knelt
back on the rug and tried to smooth the shirt down her long
legs.

“I never knew that shirt could look so good,”
he grinned.

Jenna tried to hide the blush of pleasure his
words brought and busied herself placing chicken and salad on
crunchy bread rolls. He kept looking at her, the same grin on his
face, and she fumbled so much with the rolls she finally asked him
to pour some drinks so he would be otherwise occupied.

Caitlin chatted gaily through lunch, her
conversation a litany of “Did you see...” about Underwater World.
Jenna was amazed. It was as though a dam had burst and the torrent
of words was connecting her with the world again.

Jenna poured coffee from a thermos flask and
cut apple danish into slices. After Caitlin finished her danish her
flow of words ceased, and, yawning, she lay down on the rug. Within
a minute her eyes had closed in the deep, easy sleep of tired
children.

Jenna and Braden sat quietly, drinking their
coffee. Sun sparkled on the deep blue water, the surrounding hills
shrouded in dark green bush. Only the sounds of birds singing and
the slight rustle of breeze through the tree-tops broke the
silence. So peaceful. Jenna’s eyes closed. Her lack of sleep from
the night before was starting to catch up with her.

The cup was gently taken from her hand. Her
head jerked up. Braden was putting the cups in the basket. He
placed a cushion on the rug.

“You’re tired. Lie down,” he ordered. The
gruffness of the order was belied by the gentleness in his eyes. He
was right. She was tired. Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to relax for a
minute. After all, they couldn’t go anywhere until their clothes
dried. She settled back on the cushion and closed her eyes.

Cutting off one of her senses only helped to
heighten the others. Braden was sitting beside her. She could hear
his deep rhythmic breathing, the soft swish of skin on skin as he
brushed something from his shoulder; smell the warm masculine scent
of him, the fresh, clean sharpness of the dam water on his
skin.

She had tried to avoid looking at him through
lunch. Clad only in his shorts, he was disturbingly virile. He had
an athlete’s body, with an athlete’s easy grace, and she admired
the natural beauty of it. But the chemistry between them
transcended that basic appreciation, went deeper than a surface
attraction. She had tried to fight it and failed, and had lost her
heart to this complex man. Although Braden, too, fought that
attraction, his views on love and marriage predominated, but a tiny
tendril of hope began to grow in her heart.

Deliberately she cleared her mind, relaxed
her body. Eventually she drifted into sleep.

By the time both Jenna and Caitlin woke,
there was only a little time left to inspect the many art and craft
shops and pottery studios of the little village of Montville. A
microcosm of architectural styles, it was a pleasant blend of
Tudor, Irish and English cottages of log and stone, Swiss and
Bavarian chalets, colonial and old Queenslander designs, as well as
modern structures like the spherical “Dome Gallery”.

In one of the craft shops Jenna held a wooden
kaleidoscope to her eye. As she moved it over different views such
as the sky or the trees, the complex pattern viewed took on those
colours, changing with each movement. When she looked at the shop
lights the pattern transformed into a shimmering explosion of
fireworks.

She felt a tingling in her skin as Braden
stepped close to her. He still carried the clean fresh smell of the
dam water and she suppressed a shiver of desire as she remembered
the taste of it on his lips.

"Do you like it?"

She sensed a deeper meaning in his words but
answered lightly.

"It's lovely!"

"Then it's yours. A gift. A souvenir. So
you'll never forget today." He moved closer, his lips parted, his
grey eyes grew brighter, the blue flecks shimmering, hypnotising
her with their intensity.

The shop began to fade as her whole being was
riveted by the need she read in his gaze. Her body swayed towards
his, her mouth opening slightly in anticipation of savouring once
more the irresistible delights only his lips, his tongue, could
provide.

"Can I have a souv ... a souv... a present
too, Uncle Braden?" Caitlin's query shattered the mood, and Jenna
blushed as she realised how easily she could fall under Braden's
spell. He only had to look at her with that light of desire in his
eyes and she lost all sense of propriety.

Braden laid a gentle hand on Caitlin's cheek.
"You pick out what you like while I buy this for Jenna, okay?"

Jenna's heart constricted as the shop
assistant wrapped the kaleidoscope. It would be a wonderful
conversation piece when she moved into her own apartment. But
somehow the dream she had had of moving into her own apartment once
she was established in her new job had lost its appeal. All the
little mementos she had chosen overseas now seemed to be just that
- reminders of a time that was over.

What had she gained? Training and experience
that would be invaluable in the years ahead; but she had lost her
heart to Braden, and anywhere she went after this would not feel
like home because the old saying was true - home is where the heart
is. Dare she hope that, in her few remaining weeks with him, Braden
could come to recognise that too?

That night Braden took more video footage of
Caitlin. The next morning he captured her laughing and chatting
with Jenna in the pool. After lunch he told Jenna he was taking the
video to Alicia.

It was a long afternoon without him. The
evening before they had sat out in the courtyard drinking their
coffee and talking. Their euphoria over the return of Caitlin’s
speech had settled into a quiet contentment. Jenna’s happiness was
increased by Braden’s friendly manner. It was as though he was
starting afresh in his attitude towards her.

She knew she was probably being a naive
optimist, because although her mind told her there was probably no
future for her with a man whose convictions on love and marriage
differed so widely from her own, her heart hoped that there was a
chance he might change his mind. It wasn’t much of a hope, Braden
was a determined man, and the pain his mother had inflicted on him
had left scars Jenna was not sure could be erased.

But every time she saw him with Caitlin that
tiny spark of hope would ignite in her heart. He had a great
capacity for love, if only he wasn’t so afraid to offer that love
to a woman who would love him as much in return. And with every
hour she spent in his company she knew she was that woman. Knew
that her love for him was growing with each smile he gave her, each
thought he shared, each kindness he showed her.

Because he was a thoughtful and considerate
man. She wondered how he had become that way if his mother and
father had been so disinterested in him. She surmised it was
because he had spent so much time looking after Alicia in their
formative years, or because of the intensive care he had had to
give Caitlin. She wasn’t aware that in the holidays he had spent
with his grandmother he had soaked up all the unselfish love and
caring that was showered on him and subconsciously emulated what he
realised was missing in his home life.

Braden was unusually quiet when he returned.
If Caitlin noticed she showed no sign. Since the night Braden had
told Jenna about his mother, he had not gone in with her to put
Caitlin to bed, preferring to give the girl a kiss goodnight in the
lounge-room.

Tonight, however, he came in with Jenna. He
stood silently as Caitlin recited her prayers asking God to look
after her mother, her father up in heaven, and Uncle Braden and
Jinx. Jenna had wondered why Caitlin called her “Jinx” but then she
remembered that that was the name Braden had first called her when
he'd asked Caitlin if she liked her. Although he had corrected
himself, that first name must have stuck in Caitlin’s memory.

Jenna glanced up at him as he stood a little
back from the bed, watching the child. His strong white teeth bit
worriedly into his bottom lip, a slight frown furrowed his brow. He
must have sensed Jenna looking at him. He gave her a crooked grin.
Her heart lurched in her chest. With that unruly lock of hair
falling down on his forehead and a small dimple suddenly appearing
at the side of his mouth he looked endearingly boyish.