‘I’m all right. Honestly.’
‘I know you are.’ Tears ran down her cheeks and she brushed them away, angrily. She didn’t want him to see her cry.
He lifted one hand as if to brush them away, but didn’t touch her. He let his hand fall back to the blanket. ‘I took my gloves off,’ he said by way of explaining how they had come to be burned. ‘It was a stupid thing to do. I know better. I was trying to help Dave Morrison …’ His voice tailed off. He knew that Dave was gone.
‘You did everything you could.’
He closed his eyes and nodded.
When he opened them again, he searched every inch of her face. ‘It’s so good to see you. When the fire trapped us, all I could think of was how much I wanted to get back. To you.’
‘And all I could think of was how much I wanted to see you walking into the hall.’
‘It may be a day or two, but I will be back.’
‘And until then, I’m here. If you want me to be.’
The look on his face was all the answer she needed.
‘They tell me I’ll have some battle scars on my hands. Maybe some restricted movement …’
Anna had no words. She simply took his bandaged hand in hers and ever so softly kissed it.
‘I’ve never been in hospital before. I don’t think I’ll be very good at this.’
‘It’s a breeze.’ Anna forced some gaiety into her voice.
Justin raised an eyebrow.
‘All right. It won’t be easy. I’ve been there. But you’ll get through it. I’ll help you.’
As she spoke, a flash of light lit the room, followed almost instantly by a great boom of thunder. They turned to look at the window. With a sharp splat, a huge drop of water splashed against the glass. Followed by another and another. Then the rain was pelting down.
They watched it in silence as it got heavier and heavier.
‘This will stop the fire.’ Justin’s voice was a sigh of relief.
Anna nodded. They sat watching the rain for a while. When she looked back at his face, his eyes had closed again.
The door opened and a nurse came in. She checked the monitors and nodded in apparent satisfaction. ‘He needs to rest,’ she said. ‘It will do him good to sleep now. You can come back later, if you like.’
‘I’m happy to sit here quietly,’ Anna whispered.
A sleepy voice came from the bed. ‘I’ll rest better if she’s here.’
The nurse smiled. ‘All right then.’ She straightened the bedclothes and left.
Anna leaned back in her chair, her body relaxing as the tension of the past few days drained away. Outside, the rain continued to fall. Good, solid, earth-drenching rain. Anna listened to it until her eyes, too, began to close.
EPILOGUE
Six months later
The smell of smoke and burnt earth was long gone. During the long, hot summer, several more fires had burned their way through the Upper Hunter, but none so devastating as the one that cost a firefighter’s life. A memorial service for Dave Morrison had taken place at the Wagtail Ridge church on Justin’s first day out of hospital. The people from Wagtail Ridge and nearby properties filled the pews. The RFS team from Tamworth came to pay their respects and Commander Carter had read the eulogy. Anna had gently held Justin’s bandaged hand throughout the service.
Since then, the winter rains had soaked the dry earth, washing the homes and the gardens clean again. Now, as the days warmed with the arrival of spring, green grass was starting to fill the black paddocks. The white skeletons of dead trees still littered the hills, but between them, new shoots were already reaching for the sun and sky.
On this happy day, the sky was a never-ending blue arc over Wagtail Ridge as people began arriving at the church for a very different service. Deb and Shane walked from the pub. It wasn’t far. As Jake and his wife, Lou, arrived, they visited the little graveyard beside the church and stopped to lay flowers in the place where Lou’s mother rested. A few people blinked in surprise when Val from the post office arrived, her hair no longer its usual brilliant orange, but a subtle blue/grey, neatly arranged by some skilful stylist. The women of the knitting club formed a cheerful group, many of them wearing the results of their labours, while Rose and Mick held hands as they sat in the second pew. The whole town, it seemed, was turning out for this day.
