Page 92 of Outback Reunion

‘Yes, sweetheart. You know you can ask me anything.’

‘Do you love Mark?’

‘What?’ Gabi almost dropped the brush. ‘Why would you think that?’ Had Muriel said something to Luna? She’d kill her if that were the case.

Luna shrugged. ‘No reason. I was just wondering.’

Gabi put down the brush and turned her daughter around to face her. ‘Mark and I are like Joey and Rachel fromFriends. We just enjoy each other’s company.’

Luna frowned. ‘So we’re not going to leave the circus and stay here to live with Mark?’

‘No! Of course not.’ She pulled Luna against her and held her hard, not wanting her to feel unsettled. ‘If you don’t want to go to this barbecue, that’s okay. We don’t have to go.’

Luna pulled out of her embrace. ‘Of course I want to go!’ She screeched so loudly that Loud Mouth squawked from where he was perched on the kitchen tap.

‘My ears! My ears! My ears!’

‘Shut up!’ said Gabi and Luna in unison.

They both laughed, then Luna added, ‘I want to see Heidi. Mark said Heidi was going. And I want to swim in the pool, and I want to take my football and kick it around with him.Pleasesay we can still go?’

‘Okay, okay, we’ll go.’ Gabi let out a bemused chuckle; sometimes it felt like she didn’t understand Luna at all. ‘You better let me finish your hair then.’

Chapter Twenty-three

‘Is she always so terrifying?’ Mark whispered as Luna skipped ahead to his Cruiser. He’d come to pick them up for the barbecue and Dante’s grandmother had pounced on him at the entrance of the lot, refusing to let him in.

Thankfully, Gabriela and Luna had been waiting outside their caravan at the time. They’d seen him and intervened, but he didn’t quite understand what was going on. Had the old woman seen him visiting Gabi? He looked back and she was still standing by the gate, her hands on her hips. If looks could kill, Mark would be a dead man.

‘She’s just a bully. Ignore her.’

‘Where’s Rookie?’ Luna demanded as he and Gabriela climbed into the front seats. She’d already strapped herself in the back, the football he’d given her yesterday clutched tightly to her chest. She looked so adorable and he couldn’t help grinning.

‘I saidwhere’s Rookie? And are we going anywhere or are we just going to sit in your ute all day?’

Mark blinked and shoved the key in the ignition. ‘Sorry. Um... I left her at home. She’s not well behaved enough for polite company.’

‘I could have kept her under control,’ Luna said, her tone more than a little patronising.

He exchanged a smirk with Gabriela. ‘I’ve no doubt, but I thought you might be too busy playing with Heidi.’

‘Fair,’ Luna said, sounding so much older than her seven years. He guessed that’s what happened when a kid spent most of her time with adults.

As usual, she chattered non-stop all the way to Forrester’s Rock, and Mark did his best to listen and respond where necessary, while trying to keep his hand from drifting over to her mother’s knee.

Being close to Gabriela and not being able to touch her was pure torture.

‘Wow, this place is stunning,’ she said as they bumped along the dusty drive from the road to the house. ‘Are those mulberry trees?’

‘Yep.’ He followed her gaze to the row of trees lining the long gravel drive. ‘Ryan’s mum planted them not long after she and Frank were married. Sadly, she didn’t live long enough to see how well they’d grown.’

‘Oh, that’s so sad.’ Gabriela was quiet a moment, perhaps thinking of her own mother. ‘So how do you know Ryan?’

Mark chuckled. ‘Pretty much the same way I know everyone around here. Our parents were friends, and we grew up together, but after Ryan and Faith’s mum died, my mum kind of took them under her wing. We were round here a lot while she’d cook and clean. Me, Ryan, Faith, and some of our other friends loved eating the berries on these trees and collecting silkworms.’

‘Are we almost there?’ asked Luna, peering out the window as the house came into view—she wasn’t as interested in hearing about people she didn’t know.

‘Yep,’ Mark said, frowning.

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