CHAPTER 40
It must have been well past midnight when they finally fell asleep. Nathan had fashioned a bed out of the two armchairs, worry-free, love declared and reciprocated, Bea's future sorted he had slept better than he had in weeks.
He woke first and must have stood a good 3 or 4 minutes just watching her sleep. Her hair was loose and falling over the pillow, she looked so happy even in her sleep, it took all his willpower not to go and wake her up, just lay beside her. He thought how wonderful it would be to wake up every morning and be welcomed by such a sight.
Quietly as he could, trying not to wake her, he saw to the stove, emptied the coffee pot, and set a new one on the go. Taking the towel and soap bar from his saddlebag he headed down to the stream.
Bea woke to the smell of fresh coffee brewing, she was so comfortable, content, and happy she didn't really want to move. Thoughts of everything that happened ran quickly through her mind, it had been a tough day for both of them, a day that had to be faced and now their future began. Yes, she thought today was the first day of the rest of our lives. Where was he, she needed to tell him something. Wrapping her shawl around her shoulders she grabbed some clean clothes, her towel, soap, and hairbrush and headed down to the stream. This had been her daily routine, the cold water of this little stream seemed to be working wonders on her leg, she had noticed that for the last few days she hadn't even had a twinge.
As she came over the brow of the meadow the sight that greeted her stopped her in her tracks, she couldn't help but smile and blush at her own thoughts. He was stripped to the waist, his hair was wet and he hadn't shaved. Now that was a sight to wake up to, she thought. As he towelled his hair he turned and saw her, "Good morning sleeping beauty, what are you grinning at?"
She walked down the bank, she knew she was smiling all the way, "Good morning handsome and that would be telling." She leaned in to kiss him as if scared to touch his bare flesh, he just slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her close, kissing her back.
She ran her fingers through his hair pushing it back as he always wore it.
"I have to say I rather like this dishevelled look."
"Dishevelled is it" he laughed " guess it could be worse."
"Well call it what you like but I do like it, oh and I needed to tell you something, I love you Constable Grant."
"I love you too Morag Beatrice Gregory and it feels so good to say it out loud. I will go and get us a coffee while you have a wash."
"I am going for a plunge, much easier than trying to wash this mop bending over."
"A plunge, you mean..."
Laughing she said, " Yes just up there, there is a deeper pool, it's perfect, not as if there is anyone about to see me, well until this morning and you are a gentleman you won't watch."
"Well … no I will go and get coffee, give you 10 mins, tell you what shout when you are out, just be careful."
As he walked up to the cabin he shook his head, that was his Bea, she certainly was one of a kind.
He sat on the steps of the cabin taking the whole area in, it really was a perfect place to escape to, they must make a point of coming back here whenever they could, after all that happened yesterday it would always be a special place for them both.
"All decent," she shouted.
He could smell that wonderful sandalwood soap she used, she was towelling her hair.
"Here let me do that, I used to dry Allie's." He sat on the tree stump and Bea sat on the grass in front of him.
"I was just thinking what a great place this is, we must try and get back here when we can Bea, it will always be a special place."
"I have been thinking about finding a place. If I am, correction," she turned and smiled," now I am staying, I need to find somewhere to live, are there any places like this nearer to town?"
"There are a few, not sure any would be available though, hang fire with that thought Bea, with everything going on up around the factories and new settlements I want you somewhere safe. Here pass me your brush, did you say it was Stan who used to call this your crowning glory because he was right, it is so unusual."
"It was, I have thought about dying it but..."
"Don't you dare, promise me you won't"
"If you like it that much then I promise, I guess I should be used to all the attention it gets after all these years. It is hard to blend in a crowd with a mop like this."
He went to pass the brush back, "I can braid it if you want, I used to do the horse's manes, oh that sounded bad" he was laughing again.
She slapped his leg. After he had finished she had to admit he had done a great job, when she let this down tonight it would be a mass of waves, that look she did like.
"Has there been any news or developments on the site since I came up here?"
"Nothing, well up until Monday, oh I never told you, when I was at HQ their inquiries had confirmed that building work had stopped as the contractors hadn't been paid. They tried to trace the directors of the company but it looked like the details held were all false. The longer it carries on the worse it will be, the newcomers are all telling a similar story, choosing to come here because they were promised work, the anger and unrest are mounting. I only hope not many more arrive. Lee can take on a few but not all of them."
"It is strange that no one has heard anything, normally the rumour mill goes into overdrive when things like this happen. I know that from years of listening to Uncle Harry and Charles. You know Uncle Charles gave me a folder full of stuff when I left, papers, names, and contact numbers of all manner of people, just in case anything happened to me while I was here. I have never even looked at what is in there, but with everyone he knows in industries all over the globe there may be someone in there I could ask, see if they had heard anything."
"He really did plan well for you, didn't he? We could have a look, any information would be useful at the moment."
"You never know, maybe we will get lucky."
"Right, I need more coffee, what would you like to do today, I have a snare I need to check and then dismantle, but that is it. What ..."
He was just laughing again. " A snare, Bea don't you ever change, God I love you so much."
Having eaten breakfast and tidied up they headed off up into the forest behind the cabin. Bea had no trouble finding the snare and sure enough, there was a rabbit in it. She released it, said something in that language he didn't recognise again, then taking her knife she cut the rope and took the snare to pieces. "That's dinner for another night, Nathan, when do you want to go back down?"
"I don't want to go back at all really but Saturday or Sunday. I have to be back at work Monday. Didn't you say something to Clara about packing your things if you were not back by then?"
"I did, so I guess we should leave Sunday morning. I would have said Saturday but Colin was going to check in town on Friday and if I wasn't back he said he would come to take me down, so he will come up and if we are gone he will worry. He is a good man Nathan, I honestly think that whilst whoever sent us to each other they sent us him too. I don't know why but all my life I have had what everyone calls "guardians", Dad and Uncle Harry, then Uncle Harry and Uncle Charles, there have always been two. Staying here I will have you and I think Colin is the other one. He will help you understand Nathan, he actually feels like the big brother I never had. I know he will be a part of our lives going forward. How do you feel about that?"
"He does seem a good man from what I know of him, he looked after you, wouldn't break his promise to you, and brought you up here, I confess I did feel a bit jealous when he told me he knew where you were but I trust your judgment Bea."
"Oh Nathan don't ever feel jealous, what I feel for you I will never ever feel for anyone else, no one could ever match you, honestly. You do know that now don't you?"
"I do now, and you know that there will never ever be anyone else for me."
"I do and so will everyone else, are we going to tell them I am staying?"
"I hadn't thought about that, I think I do want to tell everyone, it is something to celebrate."
"Then we will tell them, you found me and from now we are going nowhere without each other so I am staying."
"There is one thing I thought of there, I will have to go back for a few weeks at some point next year, there will be financial stuff I have to sort and sign and I will also need to see Dr Wilson, but you could come with me, I would love to show you where I am from and Nathan The Highlands I know you will love it up there. Oh, I can introduce you to Hugh."
"You know if I can get the time off I would love that, oh mind would you be OK if we had a tag-along, Allie would never forgive me if I went and she didn't."
Bea was laughing, "You, me, and Allie makes three then."
"That will cost a fortune though."
"Nathan, remember what I told you last night, honestly we could take the whole of Hope Valley and still have a fortune, so the cost is not an issue. We can afford to do anything we want, Uncle Harry made me promise to enjoy what he left me and we shall."
"I won't say anything to her yet, it could be a surprise for when she leaves school. When she was here we talked about her future, she told me that once school finishes next year she would love to go to college, Bea could we pay for that?"
She could see how hard that had been to ask, wrapping her arms around his waist and looking him straight in the eyes she said " Nathan, of course, we can, we must give her the best opportunities we can, does she know what she wants to do yet? Once she does then we can look around and see which are the best and which she prefers."
"Have I told you that I love you today because I do?"
Kissing him she said, " You have but tell me as often as you want, I will never tire of hearing it."
"Are we heading back early Sunday then?"
"That makes sense and it also means I have you all to myself for a couple more days, well until your brother arrives." He was laughing now " I wonder if he has any idea what he will let himself in for."
"Haha, I will run rings around the both of you, just you see. Let's take bunny here and head back down, I will keep him and cook him on Friday for us all to eat on Saturday."
Nathan had noticed a slight change in the air, he felt a bit of a breeze starting to pick up, "Come on let's hurry I think we may be in for a bit of a storm, we need to get the boys in before it starts."