Australia
Set 20 years after the film
Lady Sarah Ashley woke up with a start; she looked over at her husband and smiled. It had been about 20 years since they had found each other again on the wharf. Nullah had gone on his walkabout with his grandfather and the Drover had taken her home to Faraway Downs. When Nullah had come home after his walkabout he was so much more confident and a whole year older. He was what he called a man even though Sarah still thought of him as her child.
The Drover had proposed to her just after Nullah came home and she accepted. They were married a couple of months later at Faraway Downs with all their friends around them. A couple of months after that Sarah had started to feel very strange, she started being sick most mornings. She went to see her doctor and he sat her down and said "Sarah, congratulations you're pregnant." She remembered looking at him as if he was crazy "but I can't have children. My doctor in England told me that." He smiled "well he was wrong and you are pregnant." She burst into tears.
She went home and told the Drover and he gathered her up in his arms and went and told Nullah. Nullah was very excited about the pregnancy. He couldn't wait to be a brother. Sarah's pregnancy went very smoothly and she went into labour on her due date. The day before Nullah's tenth birthday, Catherine arrived. She was beautiful and Sarah and Drover spent their days just staring at her, as did Nullah.
The reason Sarah woke up with a start 20 years later, well actually 21 years later was the fact that it was her daughter's 21st birthday. She couldn't believe that Catherine, or Cate as she liked to be called, was 21 already. Sarah could hear movement in Cate's room, which meant that she was up and about already. No doubt getting ready for her morning ride, she would no doubt be looking for any sign of Nullah too. He had gone on his walkabout again and it was an especially long one this time. He tended to go for a walkabout for 2 months at a time. Cate missed him every time he went away but Sarah was noticing that she was missing him more and more every time he went away. They had become good friends and enjoyed each other's company. Even though there was 10 years age difference between them.
Cate had woken up really early that morning "oh crikey I'm 21 today" she thought to herself. She'd gotten up and dressed really quickly, she was going for her morning ride as per usual. There was a gentle knock on the door just as she was about the leave her room, she knew who it would be "come in mum." Her mum walked in and wished her a happy birthday, they shared a big hug. Every time her mum hugged her Cate felt the love. Cate knew how wanted she had been and how unlikely it should have been that she was born at all. "I'm just going out for my ride, you heard anything from Nullah yet? He never misses my birthday, but he's been gone for almost 6 months this time. I'm worried about him." Cate looked worried "it's alright sweetheart, he'll be fine, he's 31 now. A fully grown man, he can do whatever he likes, whenever he likes. He'll have gotten work somewhere." Cate nodded.
On her ride, Cate would always ride past her mother's first husband's grave. She did it out of respect of what her mum had achieved since his death. When she was old enough her mum had told her about Maitland. She would go to where Nullah's grandfather was buried, he had died not long after Cate had been born. Cate went there whenever Nullah was away to feel closer to him. She felt very emotional today; she really wanted Nullah to be here today. Her feelings for Nullah had changed ever since her 18th birthday. That day she woke up to lots of excitement. Her mum had burst into her room "quick Cate come on Nullah has just arrived with your birthday present." Cate had rushed up and gotten dressed quickly and ran outside to find Nullah standing there with a beautiful new horse for Cate. "Oh Nullah she's a real beaut!" She had hugged him fiercely. That day she had been so happy to have her mum, dad and Nullah around her.
She had caught Nullah looking at her strangely during the day. She liked the way he looked at her. It made her feel strange but happy. That night she had sat up after her mum and dad had gone to bed. "Did you have a good birthday Cate?" she turned round quickly and found Nullah standing there. Cate nodded "yes it was one of the best." Nullah sat down beside her and kept looking at her "what are you looking at Nullah?" she looked right back at him. They stared at each other for a few minutes, Cate was very aware of her breathing being very heavy. "I'm looking at you Cate." She gulped "why Nullah?" "Do you mind me looking at you?" Cate shook her head "no I don't mind". He moved closer to her until he was right up against her. He went close to her ear and whispered "I love looking at you Cate, I love everything about you." He kissed her ear very gently. Cate said nothing but moved her head so they were no more than centimetres away from each other. They moved closer and were kissing each other gently; Nullah put his arms around her and pulled her in closer to him. She moaned into his mouth. He could feel himself getting excited with being so close to her. He had to stop himself from taking her roughly so he pulled away. She kept her eyes closed "why are you stopping Nullah?" She opened her eyes, he had pulled away. "You're so young Cate, I'm sorry that I kissed you like that." She could feel tears building up, but she knew Nullah wouldn't hurt her deliberately. So she just stopped the tears and hugged him. "It's ok Nullah." Cate had gone to bed after that and never stopped thinking about the kiss with Nullah.
That had been 3 years ago and they hadn't kissed again. Nullah always came back for Cate's birthday. On the day of her 21st birthday, Cate finished her ride and had breakfast with her mother. The Drover had gone out to do some work on the Downs. Sarah watched her daughter for most of the morning and she seemed very distracted. Cate was looking out of the window all the time Sarah was trying to talk to her. At one point Sarah completely stopped trying to talk to her and Cate didn't even notice. Sarah stood up, kissed her daughter's head and left the room and Cate still didn't move.
By the time the evening came around, Nullah still hadn't arrived and Cate was upset that he hadn't arrived. The Drover and Sarah left her to it, kissing her and hugging her and wishing her a happy birthday. Cate went and sat on the veranda. Looking out at Faraway Downs, she suddenly felt very lonely. "Oh Nullah, where are you?" she said to herself. She stood up and walked out of the gate, she started to run towards the darkness and she stopped and shouted "NULLAH!". "What are you shouting about?" a voice in the darkness said. She turned around to where the voice was coming from. A person walked towards her and then she suddenly realised who it was. "Nullah, where the hell have you been?" she hugged him. "I'm sorry I've been trying to get here before today and I got caught up with a droving job." They kept hugging each other "I'm just glad you're here." "Cate I'm sorry about your 18th birthday and the kiss." She pulled away from him "I should have kept kissing you; I'm in love with you." Cate started smiling "I'm in love with you Nullah." He bent down to kiss her and the kiss quickly became very passionate. Nullah had pulled her hard into his arms, Cate was moaning into his mouth.
"I want you" Nullah said quietly. Cate pulled him towards the little outhouse and they closed the door behind them. As soon as the door closed they fell into each other's arms, kissing passionately. They fell to the floor, pulling each other's clothes off. They made love to each other with all the passion they had.
The next morning Sarah woke up, kissed the drover who was just wakening up. She walked through to Cate's room and knocked on the door, there was no answer. She pushed the door open to find Cate's bed still made up from the night before. Cate hadn't slept here "DROVER!" she shouted panicking. He ran through "what's wrong?" he came into the room. "Cate's gone, she hasn't slept in her bed." The Drover pulled Sarah into his arms "we'll find her, I'll get the boys together and we'll go and find her." Sarah was crying "she was so upset yesterday when Nullah didn't appear; maybe she's gone to try and find him." They both looked at each other "I think Cate has fallen in love with Nullah." The Drover smiled "they're perfect for each other and I know Nullah loves Cate, he hasn't told me but you can tell." The Drover left the room and went to get the men to go out and look for his daughter.
Cate woke up in Nullah's arms. He woke at the same time and bent to kiss her. "Can we do this every morning?" she asked quietly. He looked her up and down, smiled and whispered "if I can wake up with you naked in my bed every morning, I'll be a happy man." She kissed him much more passionately this time. They were interrupted by lots of commotion outside "what's going on?" They dressed and went outside, all the men from the farm were on their horses and the Drover was looking very worried until he saw Cate and Nullah walking towards the house "SARAH COME OUT HERE QUICKLY". Sarah ran out of the house and immediately saw her daughter. She ran towards her and gathered her up in her arms "where have you been?" Cate looked at Nullah and he nodded "I've been with Nullah, he arrived late last night and well we, well we erm spent the night together." Cate blushed furiously and Sarah let her out of her embrace and Nullah came up behind Cate and put his arm around her. By this time the men has dispersed to go off and do their daily jobs and the Drover had come over to the group. "Mrs Boss, Drover, I love your daughter and I want her to be my wife and mother to my children." Nullah said quietly. Cate looked at him "you want to marry me Nullah?" He nodded; they looked at each other and smiled. They looked back at Sarah and Drover and silently asked their permission. "I think it's bloody great" the Drover said and Sarah nodded her approval.
A couple of months later Nullah and Cate married, not too many months later their first baby arrived a little boy, who they called George. It was their first of 5 children. They lived at Faraway Downs and Nullah took each of their children on walkabouts once they were old enough. He only ever took them away for a month because he hated being away from Cate.
THE END
