cousins fell into each other’s arms.
Marion Galloway was short and generously curved with curly brown hair and she had a warm, open nature. At twenty-five, she was two years older than Caiti and an audiologist by profession. Despite losing her parents as a teenager, she had her life well organised and her long relationship with Derek Handy had always run smoothly.
‘I’ve missed you so much!’ she said to Caiti as they hugged exuberantly.
‘Me too,’ Caiti responded. ‘How was it? Did you have a marvellous time? I want to hear all about it!’ she warned.
‘Let’s have a cup of tea. Phew!’ Marion wiped her brow. ‘What an afternoon!’
A few minutes later they were sitting over a cup of tea on the pleasant, creeper-shaded veranda, and Marion was reminiscing about her trip.
‘But it’s so wonderful to be home,’ she said at last. ‘It’s been six weeks but it’s still wonderful. I’m only sorry we couldn’t have got together earlier.’
‘Better this way,’ Caiti said. ‘I’ve got a whole month off.’
‘Tell me about it! Sounds great, working for the French Embassy in Canberra. Lucky you to have had a French mother.’ But Marion sobered rapidly. ‘Is there any hope of a reconciliation between your parents?’
Caiti and Marion’s father’s were brothers.
Caiti heaved a sigh. ‘No. I can’t quite believe it happened, you know. She’s got this new man in her life I don’t like at all. Dad is roaming around South America—he’s in Patagonia at the moment—and I’m sure he’s bereft. They were married for twenty-five years when they split up.’
Marion shook her head in dismay. They discussed Caiti’s job as an interpreter for a while, and the pleasures of living in the nation’s capital.
‘It’s a long way from Cairns,’ Marion said humorously, ‘but what made you give up teaching?’
Caiti hesitated because this was heading into difficult territory. How to tell Marion that in very short order her parents had split up while Marion was overseas, and teaching French to mostly bored high-school students had been no balm to her troubled, suddenly lonely soul?
How then to explain that she’d tossed in teaching and taken up tour-guiding, which had virtually led her into Rob Leicester’s arms?
‘Uh—got bored with it, I guess,’ she said ruefully.
‘To be honest,’ Marion said slowly, ‘I never thought you were cut out for teaching languages. You’re too artistic.’
Caiti relaxed slightly. ‘Well, I’ve been able to indulge that side of me, if it is there, over the past year in Canberra. I’ve done a course in French literature at the National University as well as a music-appreciation course. But listen, I want to know all about the wedding plans!’
Marion blew out her cheeks. ‘It’s been a bit of a rush, to be honest.’
‘I—I wondered about that. Two months isn’t a lot of time to organise a wedding.’
‘Tell me about it!’ Marion looked heavenwards. ‘But I just knew, as Derek and I were coming home, that now was the time to do it.’
Caiti studied her cousin and frowned inwardly as she wondered why Marion’s words had raised a curious little echo in her mind—now or never?
And it struck her that Marion and Derek Handy had been together for at least four years, so could Marion be getting a little desperate to tie the knot…?
But Marion continued blithely, ‘I think I have it all under control, though. Mind you, it’s been a battle. Derek’s mother has very decided ideas and since I have no mother of my own she seems to have set herself up as my mother by proxy. There have been a couple of tense times.’
Caiti blinked. ‘Such as?’
‘She’s pink-fixated for one thing. She wanted pink smoke, pink doves, pink bridesmaid’s dresses and choirboy angels with pink wings.’
Caiti started to laugh helplessly. ‘I don’t believe it!’
‘Wait until you meet her,’ Marion advised. ‘However, you and Eloise—she’s Derek’s sister and the other bridesmaid—will be walking down the aisle in midnight-blue rather than the particularly foul baby-pink she had in mind—all gratitude duly accepted!’
‘Thank you so much, Marion! Baby-pink makes me look as if I have jaundice.’
Marion grinned. ‘As for the rest of it, it’s all fallen into place rather nicely, and Derek is particularly thrilled because the person he most wanted for his best man is available.’
Caiti froze.
It went unnoticed as Marion poured more tea. She added, as she spooned sugar into her cup, ‘It was so lucky really, considering what short notice it was and the fact that Rob Leicester moves about quite a lot. Have you heard of Leicester Camps, Caiti?’
‘Yes…’ Caiti said slowly, and it came out as if she were searching her mind for an elusive name when, in fact, she was searching for a way to break the news to Marion that she had actually married the founder of Leicester Camps then run away from him.
‘They’ve developed a few eco-resorts in remote spots that have really taken off,’ Marion supplied. ‘Well, Rob has. The family owns a grazing empire on Cape York but Rob—he’s the younger son—decided to diversify. The first one he opened was Camp Ondine, north of the Daintree. Apparently it’s a magical rainforest and reef experience. Another biscuit?’ She offered the plate to Caiti.
Caiti shook her head numbly.
‘Anyway, Derek and Rob were at boarding-school together and their friendship carried on from there. I’m not quite sure why but Derek’s always admired Rob Leicester tremendously and to find that he was back at Camp Ondine, and available, was perfect.’
Marion paused and a faint frown knitted her brow. ‘In fact, I sometimes think,’ she reflected, ‘it’s the one wedding detail that has Derek’s unqualified approval.’
‘What do you mean?’ Caiti queried with a frown of her own.
Marion shook her head and laughed. ‘Nothing. Well, it hasn’t been an easy time for poor Derek with his mother and I at loggerheads occasionally. He is her only son and she lost her husband not that long ago. I don’t know—I just get the feeling that he’s really relying on Rob to get him through it all. I haven’t met him myself so I hope he’s right. Incidentally, we’re having a get-together in a couple of days so we’ll all meet the famous Rob Leicester then!’
‘Marion—’
But Marion beat her to the draw. ‘Honey, you look a bit tired,’ she said with concern. ‘You’ve been flying all day and here I am rattling on about Derek’s best man! Why don’t you have a nice long soak in the tub while I get dinner ready?’
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