Page 112 of Outback Reunion

‘I will. I love you, Mark.’

He put his hands on either side of her face and grinned down at her. ‘I love you too, Gabriela.’

Epilogue: Six Months Later

Mark was packing footy balls into the tray of the ute when his phone beeped with a message. While Luna and Heidi climbed into the back seat, he pulled it out of his pocket.

Luna’s staying at Stella and Adam’s place tonight. Can you drop her off there when you deliver Heidi, please. xx

Mark grinned as he replied to Gabriela’s text:That depends. Do I still get to come for dinner? And dessert xx

The jumping ellipsis appeared and a few seconds later, her reply landed:You’d better. This roast lamb is far too big for just me and I want to leave room for dessert. xx

At the mention of dessert, he couldn’t get into his ute fast enough. Dinner with Gabriela and Luna had become a weekly routine ever since footy season began. Stella, Adam or Gabriela would drop the girls off at the oval for training and Mark would take them home. It was his favourite night of the week, but as much as he adored Luna—he still couldn’t believe he was lucky enough to have such a fabulous kid for a daughter—a night alone with just the two of them was a rare treat. Most of the time they scheduled their rendezvous when Luna was at school and Gabriela didn’t have a shift at the café. Luckily, he could escape from the farm for a couple of hours.

Occasionally, she came to him. During seeding a couple of months ago, there’d been one very enjoyable afternoon where she’d brought him cake—she was loving having her own kitchen—and that wasn’t the only sweet treat they’d indulged in. She’d even taken a few shifts on the John Deere herself and had volunteered for the chaser bin come harvest.

‘Can we stop at the IGA and get ice creams?’ asked Luna, jolting him from his illicit thoughts.

He glanced into the rear-view mirror to see two angelic little faces smiling sweetly back at him. They’d obviously planned this ambush. It was so tempting to say yes to everything Luna asked him, but he didn’t want to spoil her, and Stella would have dinner ready for the girls. ‘Not today, but let’s take a raincheck for after the game on Saturday.’

‘What’s a raincheck?’ asked Heidi.

‘I don’t want it to rain on Saturday,’ said Luna. ‘I don’t like playing footy in the rain.’

He chuckled as he drove out of the oval carpark. ‘I don’t like it much either, but this has nothing to do with actual rain. It means, yes, we can have ice cream, but not today.’

‘Mummy might have ice cream at home, anyway,’ Heidi said with a grin.

‘I hope it’s cookies-and-cream,’ Luna said, still pouting slightly.

The girls nattered away as he drove to the Burtons’ farm and Mark smiled as he listened to their conversation about Polly Pockets—something he now knew far too much about—and horses. He could listen to them all day.

He still couldn’t believe that Gabriela and Luna had moved to the Bay. He’d been so shocked when she’d arrived at his place one afternoon mid-February that he’d barely been able to register what she’d told him—that she and Luna had done their own midnight runner. Well, not exactly. Gabriela would never do that to her in-laws, but they had left the circus.

One day, Gabriela had told Luna to go get her costume on ready for the evening’s show, but Luna had flat out refused.

‘What do you mean “no”?’ Gabi had asked.

‘I’m not performing. I’m going on strike.’

‘You’re going onstrike?’ Gabi had tried to stifle her laugh. ‘Is there any reason? You don’t like your work conditions? You want to be paid more?’

‘I don’t get paid at all!’

Gabriela had gestured around them at the lot, all ready for opening night with its colourful Big Top, pre-show games and everything else. ‘All this will be yours one day.’

And that’s when Luna had told her. ‘I don’t want it. I don’t want to be in the circus anymore. I know you love it and so did Dad, but I’m not you guys and I don’t.’

In the end, Gabriela had convinced her to do the show and then they’d taken a few weeks to talk things through and make sure Luna really wanted to leave. When she hadn’t changed her mind, Gabriela suggested they take a year-long sabbatical and see how they both felt at the end of it, but they were five months in now and Luna was showing no signs of regretting her decision. She and Gabriela had visited Eve and Lorenzo in the school holidays and even made a couple of guest appearances.

Much to Gabriela’s relief, the circus hadn’t fallen apart without her there. Lorenzo had called in favours from around the globe and the Grand Jimenez Family Circus now had a whole host of new acts.

What had been much harder for them was learning the truth about Luna. Gabriela had been nervous about telling them and when she did, there’d been lots of tears—from all three of them—but they’d also made sure she knew that she and Luna would always be part of their family, wherever they were.

Mark’s parents also knew the truth, but that was it for now. They couldn’t risk telling any of their friends for fear it would somehow get back to Luna. When he and Gabriela believed it was the right time to tell her, they wanted to be the ones to do so. Together.

Adam was waiting out the front with baby Lily in his arms when they arrived.

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