He stared at her, momentarily speechless, then shook his head. ‘You did not.’ He brushed his lips against hers with so much tenderness she shivered.

‘Okay. Maybe not the first day. But the next day when you asked me back for breakfast. Seriously. Breakfast. So many promises of food that I didn’t get.’ She lifted her face and kissed him again.

They didn’t speak for a while. They were too busy. Too enthralled.

Finally, he lifted his head. ‘I couldn’t take my eyes off you on the flight.’

‘I watched your hands.’ She reached down and pulled one up to kiss his fingers, then laughed. ‘I was berating myself for just following you when you waggled your fingers. I do love these fingers.’

‘And they love you.’ He undid the last button on her shirt and he pushed it aside. ‘My wife-to-be.’

Chapter Fifty-two

Stella

Two months later

Stella looked across to where Zac stood in the centre of a red sandy knoll. He’d been positioned directly in line with Uluru’s blessing under a white metal archway that fluttered with ribbons. He’d been instructed where to stand by Ava, with Poddy as best man, as they waited for her to arrive.

The archway, intricately welded together by Mim, would later be returned to stand in the rose garden at Setabilly Station. Stella and Lorenzo had already made good use of it at their own wedding a month ago.

In a few minutes, Ava and Zac would celebrate their nuptials on one of the many ochre-red sandhills between Uluru and Kata Tjuta.

The whole event would be framed by the benevolent ancient mountain range in the distance and the endless plains filled with promise. This was all the Anangu people’s country, stretching away forever. An orange-brown dusted land, with the sage of desert foliage, between two magnificent icons glowing as the afternoon prepared for sunset. A land that Stella, and many other people here today, loved with a passion.

Round tables had been set below the sandy hillock, white chairs and linen tablecloths in the desert, waiting to seat the guests who stood with rounded eyes, awestruck by the venue, turning this way and that at the desert beauty around them.

They’d arrived from Sydney like vivid birds in their colourful shirts, hats and dresses, streaming from the resort bus along the maroon carpet walkways. Others had arrived from the stations around Alice Springs, from the hospitals, big and tiny, and remote health centres. All were waiting for the bride, and Stella enjoyed the excitement of Ava’s friends, the respect she’d earned from her workmates, the warmth of the smiling faces. Most of all, she enjoyed the expectation of the groom.

A whisper of noise heralded the long black car as it slowed and stopped beside the carpet at the base of the hill. Stella clutched Lorenzo’s hand.