High Country Christmas

Chapter Eight- Ali's Story

The first I knew that anything was amiss, was I heard Leah scream. The noise around me faded away, and I rushed to find her. At her side I saw Ali, angry, menacing at Daniel. What had happened?

Nobody seemed to know, but clearly they had a massive argument about something. A couple of guys had helped Daniel inside, as he passed Leah and I, he reached for her hand, and she pulled back. This was bad. She seemed weak and very upset, so I decided to take her over to the homestead. Lucas tried to tag along to 'help', but he was taking his persuit of me too far, when I wasn't even interested and I had other things to take care of right then. So I gave him a short shift and sent him back to the Mill to help with Daniel and the clean up when the guests left.

I helped Leah get changed and into bed, as she continued to weep quietly. I got her a cup of tea, and a cool cloth to wipe her face. She had calmed a little but was still quite shaken.

I tried to lighten the moment. "Not everyday we see that kind of action." I smiled at her, squeezing her hand. I continued quieter, "I am sure they will work it out, whatever it is."

Leah sighed, "He won't let me tell you, the only reason he is here is because we agreed to keep his secret. Thanks for being such a dear. I always feel more complete and relaxed when you are on the station. I wish you would think about staying, living here. " Leah seemed almost to be rambling, and getting tired. "Too big, too much." she sighed. I reached over and turned the bedside lamp out.

"You just rest quietly. It will look different in the morning." I stood to leave, as I was just about at the door, Leah called me back, passing me Daniels pillow she said, "Sorry for all this, could you please put this in the corridor by the door, and close the bedroom door."

Wow, so Daniel had really crossed the line on this. I took the pillow from her and did as she asked, then headed back out through the kitchen to stare out into the night. There were boats at the jetty, people spilling down the lawn. All in all there was still a festive atmosphere but not one that I felt in the least like joining in with. It had been embarrassing seeing Daniel and Allister arguing like that, but fortunately many of the guests had hardly noticed it.

He had looked so good. He came in late, and I had been watching for him. Then there Allister was, a dark blue dress shirt, looked so good against his tan, and his new hair cut. I had felt an immediate response to him as my stomach had flipped. He had done nothing more than glance at me to get this reaction. I know if he had smiled that I would have needed to go to him. He had sat at a table closest the door, and I felt like he had been on the verge of leaving all night as he watched the door. Whenever the waitresses had gone to him, they would touch him. Using his new hair cut as an excuse to stand close to him and press against him. I don't know why I felt it, but there was a sharp stab of jealousy. I thought back on what we had shared and there was never any indication from him that he had treated me any differently to anyone else he would meet. The kiss had been hot and heavy and held the promise of so much more, but I felt embarrassed to think that I had been the one to take it there, by pushing into him and he had simply been apologising.

Bed, I needed to sleep and try and relax the knot of tension in my stomach. In the morning things would be better, I prayed that was the case. It seemed that there were a few people around here hoping for a miracle out of that new sunrise. What did Pastor Henderson say? "His mercies are new every morning......Great is His faithfulness."

The next morning I put on my swim suit under my clothes, it was another stunning day. I would ask Leah, but I really felt like a swim. I thought after lunch, about maybe taking the small jet boat out of the shed, then take a run across the bay to a private beach, that the Earnslaw traffic didn't pass. I hoped that both Daniel and Leah would come, Shirley had the Mill covered, and Franco and Lucas could run the woolshed for the afternoon. I hoped to catch Ali and see what he was up to as well.