it needed a nap. So I know which side to get on and I’m not too bad at sitting. Anything else is beyond me. Is there anywhere else we can go?’
‘I have a horse who’ll fit the bill,’ he said cheerfully and her heart sank.
‘Really?’
‘Maisie’s thirty. Sam bought her for me when I was twelve, and I loved her. She and I ruled the land but she has become rather fat. And lazy. But she’ll follow Nugget to the ends of the earth. It’ll be like sitting on a rocking chair.’
But she’d been distracted from the horse.
‘Why do I keep loving your Sam more and more?’ she whispered. ‘He bought the son of his housekeeper a horse?’
‘Yeah, he did,’ Matt told her and his voice softened too. ‘He changed my life.’
‘Would he tell you to go on a picnic?’
‘I guess...maybe.’
‘Then let’s do it,’ she told him. ‘As long as I can borrow one of the living room cushions. How far is it?’
‘It’ll take about an hour.’
‘Two hours there and back?’ She took a deep breath and then looked up at Matt and thought...
‘I’ll take two cushions,’ she told him. ‘Let’s do it.’
* * *
Maisie was a fat old mare, used to spending her days snoozing in the sun and her nights nestled on the straw in Matt’s impressive stables. But she perked right up when Matt put the saddle on her, and when Penny tentatively—very tentatively—clambered aboard, she trotted out into the sunshine and sniffed the wind as if she was looking forward to the day as much as Penny.
Matt’s two dogs raced furiously ahead, wild with excitement, as if they knew the day would be special. Samson, however, had been racing with them since dawn. He was one tired poodle and he now sat in front of Matt, like the figurehead on the bow of an ancient warship. He looked supremely content and, fifteen minutes into the ride, Penny decided she was too.
The old horse was steady and placid. The day was perfect. Matt rode ahead, looking splendid on his beautiful Nugget. There was little for Penny to think about, or do, for Maisie seemed totally content to follow Nugget. And Matt.
As was Penny. ‘I’m with you,’ she muttered to Maisie. ‘Talk about eye candy. Wow...’
‘Sorry?’ Matt turned and waited for her to catch up. ‘I didn’t hear that.’
‘You weren’t meant to. Maisie and I were communing. I think we’re twin souls.’
‘I can see that,’ he said and grinned and the eye candy meter zipped up into the stratosphere. Matt was wearing jeans and riding boots, and an ancient khaki shirt, open at the throat, sleeves rolled above the elbows. He’d raked his hair too often during shearing and the lanolin from the fleeces had made it look more controlled, coarser. Now, though, the last of the lanolin had been washed away. His hair was ruffled in the warm wind. His face looked relaxed. His deep-set eyes were permanently creased against the sun, but they were smiling. He looked a man at ease.
His horse was magnificent. He looked magnificent.
If I were a Regency heroine I’d be reaching for my smelling salts right now, she thought, and she wanted to tell Maisie because Maisie was watching Nugget with exactly the same look of adoration.
Wait, was she looking at Matt with adoration? She pulled herself up with a jolt.
‘You be careful of those saddlebags,’ she said, fighting for something prosaic to say. ‘I don’t want squashed cream puffs.’
‘You packed cream puffs?’ He’d loaded the cartons of food into his saddlebags without question.
‘Why wouldn’t I?’ she asked with insouciance.
‘Why indeed? I thought picnics were sandwiches and apples.’
‘Not in my world. Where are we going?’
‘We’re heading for the hills,’ he told her. ‘After this rain I’m betting the place we’re going will be amazing. I hope I’m right.’
* * *
This was his favourite place on the entire property. He’d seen it first the day he’d come to inspect the land. Donald had driven him over the paddocks, shown him the house, the shearing sheds, the outbuildings. He’d shown him the sheep and then he’d driven him here. Donald couldn’t make it down the last steep climb. He’d driven him to the top and said, ‘There’s something down there that’s worth a look, boy, if you have the energy to walk down.’
When he did, he’d known that not only would he buy Jindalee, but Jindalee would be his home.
This was his refuge. His quiet place. His place for just...being. Over the years, he and Nugget had forged a track through the undergrowth that was secure enough to get right down to the bottom. He led the way now, slowly and surely, with Maisie plodding behind. He glanced back to tell Penny to hold on tight but he didn’t need to. Penny’s knees were tight to the saddle. Her hands gripped the kneepads even though her fingers were still light on the reins. She wouldn’t take her fear out on Maisie. And now...fear or not, her face reflected pure awe.
The country on this section of the river was so rough, so undermined by underground waterways that no farmer had ever tried to clear it. Now the massive gum trees towered over their heads. The vast, shading canopy meant the understory was an undulating carpet of ferns, a wondrous mat of green that flowed down to the water.
They weren’t going all the way to the river. The Murray here was wide and wild, a vast expanse of water where the banks would still be covered with debris from the recent floods. This place was better.
He remembered Donald describing it to him all those years ago.
‘There’s a place, boy, where one of the creeks flowing underground sneaks up and burbles up over the rocks,’ Donald had told him. ‘Then it falls and forms a pool bigger’n most swimming pools. You can swim there if you can cope with a bit of cold. It’s the cleanest water on God’s earth, I swear. And then it slithers through a bed of tumbled rocks and disappears back underground. The ground around is covered with moss. A man can lie on that moss and look up through the gums and see the sky. It’s like a slice of heaven.’
Matt had come and seen and fallen in love, and now, as their horses turned into the final clearing, he saw Penny’s face and knew she saw it exactly the same way.
‘Oh,’ she breathed and then fell silent. Awed.
‘Not bad, huh?’ he said, trying to bite back pride and then he thought: Why not say it like it is? ‘Best place in the world.’
‘Oh, Matt.’ She slipped off Maisie and the horse turned to nibble her ear. Her hand automatically went to scratch Maisie’s nose. She was a natural horsewoman, Matt thought. He could buy another horse and...
What was he thinking?
The dogs were heading into the ferns,
