This was assuming biblical proportions, and strangely, he wasn’t feeling the need to run. The outrageously unexpected purchase of the ring in his pocket attested to that. He wanted to take away all her worries and sit her in front of that big red rock she loved so much and hear her passion for her work and laugh and tease her. He wanted to meet her friends and family, and reassure them that he was worthy.

He’d listened to Ava’s love of the majesty and mysticism of Uluru. As he stared out the window, searching into the distance for the resplendent structure, he thought, It’s the perfect place to propose. He was having some pivotal moments in aeroplanes lately.

Zac heard the engine note change as Ayers Rock Airport swung into view, and the window tilted as the aircraft swung in over the low scrub of the iridescent rust-coloured desert to land.

Now he could see Uluru in the shimmering distance, impassive, mystic, rising from the desert like a long, low pyramid. Even from this distance, it impressed with its magnitude, and he couldn’t wait to see it up close. Actually, he couldn’t wait for Ava to show him up close.

Because this timeless, enduring monolith would become a symbol of their future.

Chapter Eleven

Ava

Zac was coming! He was due to arrive after lunch, and Ava glanced around the clinic and decided it wasn’t too untidy to show off. The patient load was calming down now that the half a dozen seats in the waiting room had nearly emptied. She methodically completed her assessment of a child with asthma and was relieved to see the wheeze Zoe had shown yesterday had lessened, as they’d thought it would. ‘You did well with your puffers, and your chest sounds much better,’ she told Zoe with a smile, then turned to the mother. ‘Keep following the asthma plan and ring the helpline if you get worried.’

‘Thanks, Ava. Will do. Come on, Zoe.’

Ava washed her hands and moved on to the elderly diabetic gentleman from the community whose ulcer was also improving, and then dealt with an elderly lady with a scraped knee and a twisted ankle.

‘I’ve wanted to come here to Uluru for years,’ the lady was saying, ‘and I fall over and twist my foot on the first day.’

‘It’s a shame but all is not lost,’ Ava reassured her as she bandaged her leg. ‘If you put your feet up today, you should be feeling even better tomorrow. You can take the bandage off for your shower in the morning, but put it back on for walking, as support.’

‘Yes, Nurse.’ The woman looked doubtfully down at her foot. ‘You sure it will be fine?’