She understood that there wasn’t always a reason for things and she trusted that children would be part of their lives when the time was right. Sam had given her comfort; he’d known how to help her heal, and while she never forgot this pregnancy she was able to get past the loss.
What she didn’t know as she boarded the plane in Denpasar was that the miscarriage would be the first test of her resolve that year, but not the last.
One week later she received a call from her father. That in itself was unusual?her mother normally phoned and her dad would speak briefly once she and her mother had finished gossiping. Juliet immediately anticipated bad news and assumed it involved her mother. Why else would her father call? He reassured her that her mother was fine and he was calling about her brother-in-law, Maggie’s husband, Steve.
Steve was a policeman in Sydney and he’d been called in as part of reinforcements when riots had broken out at a Sydney beach. Juliet had seen images on the evening news the previous day—temperatures were soaring in an early summer heatwave and some longstanding cultural differences had spilled over from verbal sparring into physical violence. Juliet had called Maggie to check on Steve and had been told he’d sustained a head injury but had been discharged from hospital. She’d relaxed and she relaxed again now—she’d only spoken to Maggie a few hours ago, she could reassure her father that all was well.
But her father had more recent news, and was calling to tell her that Steve had been readmitted to hospital during the night. He’d had a large subdural haematoma and had died before the neurosurgeon had reached the hospital.
Her sister Maggie was a widow.
Juliet and Sam were on the next flight to Sydney.
Sam had been worried that Steve’s death would stretch Juliet to breaking point but for Juliet, Steve’s death put things into perspective. Her loss paled in comparison to Maggie’s. Thanks to Sam, Juliet had been able to escape to the sanctuary of Bali where she had been able to hide from her life until her sorrow over the miscarriage was able to be tucked away in her heart. It was no longer completely overwhelming and all-consuming.
Maggie had lost her husband and she was left with two young children to comfort, explain to and care for. There was nowhere for Maggie to hide and despite Sam’s concerns Juliet was able to embrace the responsibility of being the one to support and comfort Maggie.
She stayed in Sydney when Sam went back to Darwin but when she returned to Sam she was her old self, determined to move forward. They had each other and they would be okay, she’d make sure of it.
Throughout all of this, Sam had supported her and she knew she would never have made it through to the other side without him. He’d been her rock then but who would be her rock now?
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