Natalie’s thoughts went to the small community with its beautiful beach. That’s where her fondest memories of her Kimberley adventure had been made. There’d been a Christmas card from Rosie. One of her lost boys was going to move back with his family. He was a chef and the community had received a grant to do up the old mission house into a cafe. They were hopeful it would mean some extra employment opportunities and extend their tourist offerings. Charlie was keen to learn to cook and had applied for some training so that he could eventually come back and help with the cafe.

Natalie truly hoped they’d go back one day and see it all.

“Your turn, Nanna.” Sean held the baby out to her.

“Gosh, she looks pink,” Natalie said. “Perhaps we should go inside now.”

Everyone helped, taking armloads back to the house. Milt walked beside her, lugging a pile of folding chairs and gazing down at his granddaughter. She’d seen a different side to him when he was with Olivia. He’d always been capable with their girls when they were babies but he was besotted when it came to his granddaughter.

So was she. Natalie recalled her holiday and Rosie asking her what she wanted in her life. A grandchild had been one thing. And she’d wanted some meaning for her life. The garden had helped with that. It had given her a new focus, as it had Olive who had taken to living some of the week with them and some at her unit in town.

Natalie had also decided to keep teaching, at least for another two years. Paul had convinced her to accept a more formal mentoring role with new teachers and she was keen to give it a go. She and Brenda had caught up in the previous school holidays. They’d had a weekend in Sydney and had decided they’d make a trip away together an annual event. Who knew, she mused, one day they might be a Dot and Faye touring partnership. And there was the travel with Milt, something they were both looking forward to.

They reached the back gate and he rested his pile of chairs against the fence.

“Your turn,” she said and handed over their precious granddaughter.

His face lit up as he took the baby in his arms. Natalie wrapped an arm around his waist and hugged him close.

Milt’s big, kind smile was one she knew so well and said without words that he loved her. She smiled back at this man who she’d known for so long, her husband who had feet of clay but had rebuilt his life on firmer footing and become her rock. She knew he would be there for her through thick and thin and yet she’d turned away from him, travelled halfway across the country to find answers that were here, within her family, her home.