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  ‘That’s good to hear.’

  ‘Wilma will be pleased to hear it too. You know, she’s taught me so much about the rainforest. What she knows is amazing.’

  ‘Tell me about her. She sounds like an interesting woman.’

  ‘She lives in an old cottage on land that has been in her family for a long time. She owns about three acres and apart from the road frontage, it’s bounded by national park.’

  The ferry was drawing close to the bank.

  ‘Quick, back in the car. If you hold up the queue we’ll bear Clive’s wrath. I’ll tell you all about Wilma as we drive. She’ll be a good contact for you getting to know the communities in the north.’

  *

  Jeremy relaxed as they headed north towards Cape Tribulation. Emma drove confidently as the road turned and wound back on itself in hairpin bends. He looked around as they passed beneath the thick canopy of trees. Every few kilometres there was a break in the vegetation and an immense rainforest-covered peak would fill the gap in front of them.

  ‘Thornton Peak. No matter what time of day, or how clear the rest of the sky is, it’s always topped with clouds.’ Emma’s voice was bright and cheery, and she’d kept the conversation general as she’d concentrated on the road. It was good to see her relaxed. Her wariness had disappeared now that they had cleared the air. Jeremy had managed to tamp down the anger that he’d felt at his mother’s interfering. He suspected that she may well know something about the missing letter, too.

  ‘That’s where Troy works.’ Emma’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

  He glanced across to the large colourful sign at the intersection ahead. ‘Rainforest Tourist Centre: Explore from the forest floor to the canopy.’

  ‘It’s worth a visit. We could call in on the way back if you like.’

  ‘Maybe another time.’ Jeremy didn’t particularly want to see Troy. ‘One day when we can spend a full day there,’ he added.

  They travelled another half an hour before Emma pulled off the main road and turned into a narrow track.

  ‘It’s a long way out here,’ Jeremy commented.

  ‘Do you know how much further you’ll be driving to the cape?’

  ‘Yes. I do. I meant this is a long way for an elderly person to live out of town.’

  ‘You’ll find things are very different up here.’ Emma negotiated the car along the bumpy track.

  They followed the track for about fifty metres, the undergrowth brushing the side of her small car. She parked in a small clearing near a locked gate. Jeremy watched curiously as she crouched down and peered back towards the road.

  ‘This is as far as we can drive. We have to walk the rest of the way in.’ She reached into the back, grabbed a backpack and locked the car before directing him to a cleared narrow track leading down the hill. The rainforest encroached on each side of the narrow path but he could see a small timber house at the end of the track. ‘Do you think anyone could see the car parked in here from the main road?’

  ‘I doubt it. Why do you ask?’

  Emma frowned as she looked back towards the main road. ‘Nothing. Doesn’t matter.’ She shrugged and was quiet as they crossed to the gate.

  Jeremy held out his hand as she went to climb over, but she pulled back when his fingers brushed hers.

  ‘I’m fine, thanks.’

  The track to the cottage wound down a hill. He was pleased he’d worn his running shoes as the incline was steep. ‘You usually drive down here?’

  ‘Only when it’s not raining.’ Emma grinned at him. ‘So that means most of the summer I have to walk in.’

  ‘You said Wilma lives out here on her own. How does she manage?’

  ‘She’s got an old four-wheel drive truck. But I do worry about her. Her angina has been playing up a bit lately and it is a long way from town.’

  The cottage looked deserted but Emma marched up to the door and knocked. ‘It’s me, Emma.’

  The door opened slowly and an elderly Aboriginal woman ushered them in. Her eyes were kind but she stared at Jeremy intently when Emma introduced him.

  Her small dark eyes raked him from head to toe and finally she turned away and frowned at Emma.

  ‘What are you doing out here again so soon?’

  ‘I was worried about you. I told you I was going to come out and check on you after that business with the snakes. Jeremy came along to keep me company.’ Emma opened her backpack and pulled out a blood pressure monitor.

  ‘I’m all right. I feel good.’ Wilma waved her away.

  Jeremy leaned back against the sink and watched as the battle of wills developed.

  ‘Please, Wilma.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Have you been taking your medication?’ Emma put the monitor back in her bag.

  ‘My business.’

  ‘Wilma!’

  ‘When I need it.’ She nodded at Jeremy. ‘About time you got yourself a man.’

  Emma’s cheeks flushed. ‘Jeremy’s an old friend from Sydney. I wanted him to meet you because he’ll be up this way a fair bit. He’s the new doctor setting up the clinics on the cape.’

  ‘Another doctor.’ Finally Wilma pointed to the table with a smile and he understood he’d been accepted. ‘Sit down. I’ve just made some soup and bread.’ She turned to Emma. ‘So what news do you have?’ Emma made her sit at the table and asked her where to find the soup bowls.

  ‘I heard last night that the National Parks are onto the smuggling that we were talking about last night.’

  ‘That is good news.’

  There was a steaming pot of vegetable broth on the stove.

  ‘At least you eat well,’ Emma said as she put a bowl in front of Wilma.

  ‘Of course I do. Jeremy, there’s a cob of fresh bread in the bread bin.’ Wilma pointed to an old-fashioned bread tin next to the stove and he walked over and lifted it out.

  ‘So.’ Emma pulled out her chair and sat across the table from Wilma. ‘I heard Jock Newby gave you a hard time last time you were in town.’

  ‘Who told you that?’

  ‘One of the girls from the hospital saw him bail you up in the supermarket. She told me about it last night.’

  ‘Who’s Jock Newby?’ Jeremy put his spoon down on the side of his bowl.

  ‘Our local pharmacist.’ Emma looked at him from beneath lowered lashes. ‘He doesn’t like alternative medicine either.’

  ‘Pfft. That stupid man didn’t worry me,’ Wilma said before he could comment. ‘Although he had some quite nasty things to say about you, Emma.’

  ‘Yes, I heard that too.’ Emma waved her hand before she picked up the soup spoon. ‘But I’m not worried about him either.’

  The elderly woman smiled as she turned to Jeremy. ‘Emma knows the right stuff.’

  ‘You’ve taught me most of what I know, Wilma.’ Emma’s cheeks had flushed at the compliment.

  ‘Oh, and you forgot to take the sandpaper fig leaves with you yesterday.’

  ‘I know, I realised that this morning.’

  Jeremy listened as Wilma explained the process to Emma.

  ‘Make sure you rub the leaves on the infected site until the skin is quite raw.’

  He shook his head. There was a lot to learn up here. It was a big change. The holistic medicine he could understand, but it was going to take a while before he was convinced about this bush medicine.

  Emma must have seen the doubt in his face. ‘Why don’t you come along with me next week and you can see me apply this to Mrs Abernethy’s foot. I’ll tell you about all of the topical creams we’ve used and the different treatments.’

  A smile crossed Emma’s face. ‘Wilma, why don’t you come with us? You can show Jeremy some of your remedies while I give you a good check-up. You can stay at my place for a few days while this smuggling business dies down.’

  Despite Emma’s offer, the old woman wouldn’t budge. Wilma wouldn’t leave her home and Jeremy and Emma had to get back to town.

  It was mi
d-afternoon by the time they left. Jeremy carried the cardboard box that Wilma had filled with a variety of leaves and stems. The humidity had increased and he was perspiring by the time they reached the top of the hill.

  ‘You’ll get used to the heat.’ Emma grinned at him as he reached up with one hand to wipe his brow.

  ‘There’s a lot to get used to.’

  The drive back was slower as there was a line of traffic ahead when they turned onto the main road. The afternoon sunlight filtered through the low branches of the trees and each time they crossed one of the narrow creeks, the polished rocks gleamed along the edges of the running water.

  ‘There’s a good chance we’ll see a cassowary at this time of day. They’ve been known to kill and a male bird would attack if there were chicks or eggs close by.’

  ‘Crocodiles, snakes and now you’re telling me there are killer birds too?’ He lightened his tone with a laugh. ‘I’ll keep an eye out for them.’

  The afternoon light was fading and as Emma focused on a particularly winding part of the road, Jeremy took his fill looking at her face. A high forehead, softened by tendrils of hair that had escaped from her braid, met well-defined arched eyebrows. Her eyes were hazel, flecked with gold, wide and almond-shaped. When they were together he’d teased her about having cat’s eyes. He’d forgotten that.

  Her high cheekbones were slightly flushed and she looked happy. Her lips were rosy pink and full, and he remembered how he’d once traced them with his finger as they’d lain in bed. As he watched, the tip of her tongue peeked out and licked her top lip, and a sudden tightening in his groin made him look away.

  ‘So where’—his voice cracked a little and he took a breath— ‘where do I look for these killer birds?’

  A tourist sign indicated a lookout a couple of kilometres ahead.

  ‘Want to stop and take a look? The Alexandra Lookout has a view to the north over some of the area you’ll be travelling to. It will give you an idea of the terrain.’

  ‘Sure.’ Jeremy was pleased that she wasn’t in an all-fired hurry to get rid of him. She’d been quiet since they passed the turn-off to the rainforest centre and he wondered if she was thinking about Troy.

  She parked on the edge of the wide track and they walked across to a lookout. There was a fence at the edge of a steep drop. Beneath them an extensive stand of low rainforest extended to the coast where it met sandy beaches and rocky headlands. To the south, the river wound in a silver trail until it reached the Coral Sea.

  ‘Breathtaking, isn’t it?’ The wind caught Emma’s dress and pressed it against her, outlining her curves. A strand of her hair blew across his face and she reached up and removed it, her fingers brushing lightly against his lips. Jeremy was tempted to take her hand and hold it there but he fought the impulse. Clearing his throat, he lifted his head and took in the vista in front of them until Emma turned back to the car.

  As they drove back towards the ferry, the lights of a police car flashed from the other side of the road.

  ‘Karma.’ Emma’s voice was snarky as she gestured to the car pulled up in front of the police car.

  Jeremy frowned. An older man was standing next to Craig, the policeman from the pub. As they flashed past, the older man was waving his arms.

  ‘Obviously not happy about being booked,’ he commented.

  ‘That’s Jock Newby,’ Emma said wryly. ‘There’ll be hell to pay over that. He thinks he can do anything he likes.’

  They didn’t speak again all the way back to Dalrymple, apart from a conversation Emma struck up with the ferryman. She dropped Jeremy off at the pub with a quick wave. As she drove off a heavy shower of rain began to fall.

  From the verandah outside his room on the first floor of the pub, he looked out over the tops of the palm trees rustling in the dark. A frog croaked in the distance. The shower of rain had washed everything clean. In a way, he felt cleansed too. He had direction; he was falling in love with this town and its people.

  He had taken to Dalrymple already—he felt as though he was starting to belong. As he jogged each morning, someone would wave as they drove past him and the old fellow watering his lawn on the corner near the bakery would call out, ‘Good morning, Doc.’

  All he had to do now was convince Emma that maybe they could work on more than friendship.

  Slow and steady.

  Today he’d had a glimpse of the woman he’d fallen in love with. He was hopeful that he might be able to rekindle that love.

  Chapter 19

  Tuesday morning

  Dalrymple Hospital

  The emergency department was busy when Jeremy arrived at the hospital early on Tuesday, but there was still no sign of Emma. He hadn’t seen her since Saturday and wanted to tell her about the house he’d found. He’d called Jeff and he’d taken Jeremy out to a couple of properties at the beach, and on the Gorge Road yesterday afternoon. But his anticipation at seeing her disappeared in a flash when he saw the ambulance scream into the bay next to emergency. Jenny looked at him curiously as he turned on his heel and went into his office as a cold feeling settled in his gut. They probably could have done with a hand but there was no way he could go in there.

  He tried to focus on the paperwork on his desk and pulled up Google Maps on his computer to get a sense of the places that were listed as possible locations for the clinics but he couldn’t focus. All he could do was wonder what was happening down in the emergency ward and push away the guilt at avoiding his duty. His stomach roiled as he visualised the nights he’d been in emergency at St Vincent’s. Saving lives depended on team work and no one could afford to slink away. Every hand counted in those situations and he was disgusted by his cowardice.

  Jenny came into his office with a coffee about ten o’clock and plonked herself down in the chair.

  ‘Well, that was a busy start to the day.’

  ‘What happened?’ Jeremy put down the highlighter he’d been using on the place names.

  ‘First patient was a drug overdose. Stabilised and sent to Port Douglas.’

  The room spun. Jeremy gripped the side of the desk, knocking her coffee over.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Jenny grabbed the cup and set it upright but coffee was running off the side of the desk onto the floor. He jumped up and grabbed some paper towel and mopped up the liquid.

  ‘Sorry. It didn’t go on you, did it?’

  ‘No. I’m fine.’ She gestured to the desk. ‘Your papers are ruined.’

  ‘It’s okay. I can print them out again.’

  ‘And then we had a cane worker in.’ Jenny shook her head. ‘He cut his leg with his machete, nicked the artery, wrapped his leg in a diesel-soaked flannelette shirt and drove himself in.’

  Jeremy swallowed, pushing back the ever present guilt. ‘Very busy down there.’

  ‘That’s not all. Within an hour we also had a couple with whiplash from a car accident on Ferry Road, and then to top it all off, a group of kids were brought in from the preschool. Vomited all over the place, and were fine again by the time their parents got here.’

  ‘Hmm,’ he said.

  ‘We could have done with another pair of hands.’ She looked at him squarely.

  ‘I’m sorry. I was busy up here.’ He injected a note of superiority into his tone—he’d rather she thought he was arrogant and lazy than afraid—but she held his gaze.

  ‘I won’t hold you up any longer, Doctor. I’ll let you get back to your work.’

  He knew he’d been judged and self-disgust welled up from his gut. As he turned back to his computer, his phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out and glanced at the number with a grimace.

  My father.

  He didn’t want to take the call but he stood and opened the door at the back of his small office. ‘Hello Dad.’ He crossed to the low concrete wall that overlooked the lawn.

  ‘Jeremy. We haven’t talked since you left. It’s almost two weeks.’

  ‘I sent you a text to say I was here safely
.’

  ‘I know but it would have been nice to hear more about it. Nice part of the world. Your mother loves Port Douglas.’

  ‘It is good up here. I’ve settled in well.’ Jeremy looked out over the lawn. Rod was pushing an elderly resident in a wheelchair along the path and every so often he would stop and the woman would reach down and pick a flower.

  ‘Anyway, we wanted to make sure you were okay.’

  ‘Yes, all fine and looking forward to starting the job.’

  His father’s voice turned business-like. ‘I have a proposition for you.’ So this was not a social call.

  ‘And that would be?’ Two could play at this game. He made his voice as terse as his father’s.

  ‘We’ve decided to expand the practice. Your brothers and I are prepared to accommodate you.’

  Jeremy couldn’t help the laugh that rose to his lips. ‘That’s interesting. What if I’m not interested in being accommodated?’

  ‘Don’t be foolish, son. Show some gratitude. Stop dicking around up in Hicksville and come home. We’re creating a place especially for you.’

  Jeremy raised his eyebrows. ‘Dicking around, huh?’ That expression was a long way from his father’s usual language. ‘I guess that’s Brenton’s phrase,’ he commented wryly.

  ‘He hit the nail on the head.’

  ‘I didn’t think Brenton would give two hoots about where I was. In fact I know he’d prefer me to be elsewhere. Probably even further away than Hicksville.’

  ‘Be that as it may, your place is here at the family practice and as I said I—we—can make room for you. With any speciality that you would like to practise in.’

  ‘I’ve found where I want to be, Dad. A good combination of medical administration and clinical practice. And in a rural setting.’

  ‘We can wait until you get this out of your system. I’ve got first option on the suite next door to our rooms and in six months you can come back and set up in the family practice.’

  ‘No.’ Jeremy clenched his jaw. He took a deep breath and looked out at the trees in the hospital grounds. Rod and the patient had disappeared. Crimson and sapphire-blue birds hung upside down in the huge bottlebrush trees as they drank the honey from the red flowers. Their squawking contrasted with the muted hum of traffic on the highway a block away. He felt his serenity returning. He refused to let his father’s attitude upset him. ‘Thanks, but no. I’m not interested.’