Lonely Pride

  * * *

  It was still dreary when she drove her car from the bowels of the ferry onto the dock. But the weather couldn’t dispel her light heartedness. The euphoria stayed with her as she left Devonport to head inland.

  As the windshield wipers slashed backwards and forwards she sang along with the radio. It dawned on her it had been years since she’d sung. There were few tourists on the road and she met little traffic, except the occasional truck or bus.

  She trembled with excitement until her extremities tingled with anticipation. If a niggle of misgiving hid somewhere deep inside, she ignored it. Clare could be way off target; Mac might not want her to be a part of his life. She could have alienated him permanently.

  A small shudder ran through her at the awful thought. But if she didn’t at least give this a try how would she ever know?

  Tiredness made her feel slightly queasy as she neared home. The familiar rain-washed streets of the town were deserted. On an impulse she did a U turn and drove past Mac’s house. His four-wheel drive wasn’t in the car park and her heart plummeted.

  As soon as Sam pulled up in the driveway her mother ran out of the house to meet her, an old coat over her head to shield her from the rain. “Darling, you don’t know how happy I am to see you.”

  Tiredness forgotten, Sam hugged her mother. “I’m happy to be here, Mum.”

  “We’ll just take your small bags in now Sam, and leave the other stuff until later, when this rain has eased,” Barbara suggested, as they went inside. “You look like you need a shower and something to eat.”

  She did. Once both needs were attended to she sat sipping a cup of tea across the table from her mother.

  “Have you seen anything of Mac?” Finally she asked the important question that had been inside bursting to get out from the minute she parked the car.

  Barbara smiled over her cup. “Not for a day or two.”

  “Did you... Did you tell him I was coming home for good?” Sam nibbled her bottom lip.

  “Of course.” Barbara’s smile turned into a fully-fledged grin. “I spoke to him on the phone yesterday.”

  “What did he say?” Even though she tried to hide her anxiousness Sam could hear the nervous quiver in her question.

  Barbara finished her drink. As she stood, she patted Sam on the shoulder, saying enigmatically. “He said he’d be waiting for you, and that you’d know where to find him. He’s building a house somewhere on his father’s property.”

  With a gentle push on her shoulder Barbara urged, “Go on, your heart’s showing. You’ve been itching to go to him from the minute you walked in. Get moving.”

  Sam stood and hugged her mother.

  “And for goodness sake tell him how you feel.”