Page 18 of The Mistletoe Wish

And to Darim it was as if some kind of secret understanding passed between them. That hard knot in his gut he hadn’t realised he’d been carrying, dissolved.

“Darim, why don’t you sit down and tell me all about your day.” Sara moved to the kitchenette and began to prepare their drinks.

He obeyed without a murmur which made his daughter giggle, and as she hugged a pillow and watched with bright eyes, he relayed the news about the caravan. “The tow company should deliver the van late tomorrow afternoon.”

Sara handed a mug to Skye then another to him. Picking up another mug, she perched on a stool and blew on the hot contents. “It’s a shame this happened on the first day of your holidays, Skye. Did your father mention there’s a Christmas tree to erect and decorate?”

“No! Where is it?”

Sara indicated the box on the floor and Skye immediately climbed down the top bunk and raced over. “Also did he tell you about what we’re doing tomorrow?”

Darim’s eyebrows shot skywards. The last time they had discussed the bike ride, Sara had attempted to dissuade him from attending. Now the sweet smile on her lips made him think that she was looking forward to his presence. “Not yet. Why don’t you tell her while I get something from the car?”

She nodded, obviously knowing exactly what he was up to and began to speak. Trying to act as if he wasn’t rushing, Darim put down his mug and disappeared out the door.

Sara was in the middle of describing the swimming hole when he poked his head around the corner.

He was just in time to hear his daughter’s wailing response. “I can’t go. I don’t have a bike!”

Then he pushed the clumsily wrapped girl’s bike into the room. “Happy Christmas, sweetheart.”

Giving a loud squeal, Skye leapt from where she was surrounded by baubles and tinsel and seemed to fly across the room. She flung her arms around his neck. Squeezed. Then danced around the bike, oohing and aahing. “Can I unwrap it now?”

“Sure.” He handed it over and went to stand beside Sara.

Together they watched Skye peel off the Christmas paper before sitting astride the bike and ringing the bell. “It’s awesome, Dad. Thank you.” She hesitated then added shyly, “Thanks, Sara.”

Although Sara had had nothing to do with his purchase, it suddenly struck Darim that the way they were gathered around was exactly like a family.

And he was where he was meant to be.

CHAPTER8

For the umpteenth time, Sara checked the package reposing in the basket at the front of her bike. No problems there. Smiling, she pushed hard on the peddles as she followed the group of riders along the bumpy track that lead to a popular swimming hole in Bindarra Creek. The intense heat was oppressive under the full glare of the harsh morning sun, leaving her skin prickling with sweat. The relief promised by shady trees and cool water propelled her onwards.

On the left was a large grazing property with a country house and assorted barns half hidden behind a grove of shady trees. Dense bushland edged its boundaries. On the right, there were four smaller farm allotments with old homes in various stages of disrepair. No one appeared to be home as she rode by apart from a flock of chickens pecking along the rutted drive of the third farm. As she came closer to the fourth, she noticed a car parked in the drive. A woman stood with her back to them apparently looking at the front porch. She looked over her shoulder as her dog jumped to his feet and barked. But she placed a soothing hand on his head, and he quietened. Sara waved and the woman waved back with a friendly smile on her face.

“That must be the grinch’s American lady!” called Fatima’s eldest daughter Uri from further ahead.

The younger girls waved madly and called out‘cooee’and‘welcome to Oz’.

Sara laughed. Seriously? Bindarra Creek had their very own grinch?

Finally, they were approaching the last property on the right which had been abandoned many years ago and left to return to its natural form. The fences bordering the overgrown paddocks were little more than bales of tangled wire and broken posts. Saplings and shrubs of wild rosemary, bottlebrush and grevilleas grew unchecked. A mob of kangaroos, some dozing beneath the shade of a tall eucalypt tree and some grazing on tufts of grass, stared with inquisitive eyes at the parade of noisy people. Overhead, the sky was a brilliant blue and a heat haze shimmered in the distance.

She couldn’t believe how happy and how humble she felt that Tessa had included her in the bike ride on such a special day. It was if she had turned a corner in her life and her relationships with others. It was if she was now part of something bigger than herself. And that she was truly no longer alone.

It had been a bit of a scramble to retrieve the promised package for Tessa and Dodge then make it to where everyone was meeting on the abandoned farm lot at the end of Diggers Lane. She’d parked her Holden ute on the drive leading into Abby and Roman’s acreage, hefted her bike from the back and ridden along Bindarra Creek Road until she came to the turn off. It had been far too hot for her to peddle all the way from her new home out on River Road – not with the little charge under her protection. She rather suspected quite a few others would be glad of a lift back to town by the end of the day. It was surprising how many people and bikes you could fit in a ute’s tray.

She’d left earlier than Darim and Skye, wanting to time her arrival so she could ride at the end of the pack. That suited her just fine as she wasn’t a particularly proficient bike rider and if she was anywhere near the front she’d probably slow people down. Even the elderly couple wobbling down the road on a tandem were better riders than her.

Grinning, she tugged the baseball hat she wore under her helmet a tad lower over her forehead and slowed as she neared the broken gate to the old farm. She’d told Darim she had to pick up the birthday gift, and he gave her a nod as she lingered well away from everyone especially the lady of the day.

Thankfully Ms. Edwina Lette was surrounded by her closest friends and sometimes partners in crime; Pamela Brown, Beatrix and Maki Fukuka, and the Millers who were the couple astride the tandem bike. Tessa gave Sara a wave. Her bike had one of those kiddie trailers attached with her youngest daughter, Tilly sitting inside. Her eldest daughter Kaylee rode her own bike and seemed to be making friends with Skye and Skye’s two cousins, Ousa and Uri.

Sara fought back a giggle at the sight of a sweating Dodge who was manning the bicycle pulling a rickshaw where Edwina perched grinning gleefully and calling out‘Mush! Mush!’every so often.

Where on earth he had sourced a rickshaw from, she had no idea. But it certainly was an effective and fun way to dissuade their grandmother from insisting she ride a bike. After her narrow escape a few months ago, the elderly lady was under orders not to pursue any strenuous exercises for some time.

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