‘Joss, I can’t…’
‘You can’t what?’
‘Love you.’ There. The thing was said, She waited for him to take it on board and step back.
He did no such thing.
‘You can’t love me?’
‘No.’
‘But the future I’ve planned is founded on just that.’
‘What?’
‘The fact that you love me.’ He looked deeply concerned. ‘Are you sure you can’t? If you try very hard?’
‘Joss…’ She was torn between tears and laughter. It was so good to see him again. It was wonderful.
‘Maybe you can just pretend,’ he told her. ‘You see, I don’t think I can stay here as Medical Director of Iluka Health Services if I don’t have a wife to support me. A man of such importance needs a wife.’ He was grinning at her like a fool. ‘All those opening ceremonies, all that ribbon-cutting-a man needs a wife, if only to hold his handbag.’
‘You,’ she said slowly, ‘are being ridiculous.’
‘Nope. I’m proposing.’ He delved into a back pocket and produced a tiny crimson box. He flipped the lid and there lay the most beautiful ring she’d ever seen. A band of gold held a magnificent central diamond, twinkling and sparkling in the morning sun coming in from the window by the sea, and a host of tiny sapphires surrounding it.
‘Oh, Joss.’ It took her breath away.
‘Do you like it?’
‘It’s…it’s beautiful,’ she told him, and he grinned.
‘Yep. And it’s bigger than Malcolm’s.’
She looked up at him then and gasped in indignation. ‘Of all the-’
‘Wonderful men?’
‘Conceited, arrogant-’
‘Wonderful men,’ he repeated, and lifted the ring from the box. ‘Can I put it on your finger?’
But she hung back. ‘Joss, you must see that I can’t.’
‘No.’ His smile faded and he took her arms in his and held them. His eyes were on hers, and what was in his eyes made her catch her breath. Love and care and trust.
Love…
‘Amy, I’ve organised us a life. If you’ll listen.’
She thought about it. She’d give him the benefit of the doubt, she thought. She’d indulge herself as well as him. Pretend for a few short minutes that they had a future.
But Joss had released her. He crossed to the door and flipped it open and there were no fewer than fifteen faces and one dog crammed into the doorway. Grinning, he took a folder from his father and closed the door-but not completely. The fifteen noses would have been squashed. Then he marched over to the desk.
‘This,’ he said, unfolding a huge blueprint onto a desk, ‘is the plan for our future.’
Amy stared at him. Then she stared at the plan.
And gasped.
It was a map of the bluff-the tract of land that held the nursing home. The nursing home took up about five per cent of the available land. But now…
The plan included the nursing home but much more. There was a hospital, about twice the size of the nursing home. There were a score of houses dotting a park-like setting and overlooking the sea. There was a row of shops-more than a dozen with places earmarked for more-plans for a cinema, an indoor heated pool, a remedial health centre, doctors’ surgeries. A hotel named ‘Iluka Coastal Life’. There was even a school! A school labelled ‘Educational Facility for Children of Resort Staff’.
‘What is this?’ she gasped, and he beamed.
‘The whole thing’s the Iluka Health Resort,’ he told her. ‘What else?’
‘I don’t…’
‘You don’t understand?’ He lifted the plans and folded them away, then took her firmly in his arms again. ‘Amy, your stepfather put caveats on all this land-except the bluff. The caveat on the bluff simply says that it’s to be used as a nursing home. But he specifically states that the nursing home is to be built as a resort. Now, my lawyer and I…’
‘Your lawyer?’
‘Henry,’ he told him. ‘Malcolm’s father. We spent a bit of time looking at resorts on the internet, and nearly every resort we found had shops. And swimming pools. And lots of commercial extras. The big ones even had medical facilities. We looked a bit further and we found resorts like this one will be. A health resort with an acute-care hospital and all the ancillary things. Pharmacies, physiotherapists…you name it, we can have it here. Your stepfather left enough money to build the nursing home itself, but as it is it’s not a real resort. So we approached the bank.’
‘You approached the bank.’ Amy was almost speechless.
Joss beamed. ‘Yep. I even wore a tie, and Henry came, too. They were really nice to us. Especially when Henry outlined the financial foundations this place is built on. You have a mansion worth millions and a great nursing home and incredibly valuable land-and you own the lot.’
‘But-’
He was brooking no interruptions. ‘You know, in six years you stand to be an obscenely wealthy woman. This place is worth a fortune, and it’ll be worth much, much more if you develop it. And with what’s here already-the climate, the place-Iluka is the best place in the world to recuperate in. We’ll attract clientele from around the globe.’
‘But I can’t afford-’
‘Yes, you can,’ he told her. He was holding her then, cradling her in his arms and enjoying her confusion. Or enjoying just holding her. Life had been cruel to this woman for far too long. This was his gift.
As Amy was his own sweet gift.
‘We’ve done our homework and the bank sees this as a really viable investment,’ he told her. ‘It won’t all be done at once, but as every stage works out we’ll go on to the next. We have provision for a wonderful little town, whose main industry will be a state-of-the-art health resort. Its centre will be the hospital. This place is a gold mine, and the finance people agree. The bank will do very nicely out of it.’
‘I don’t understand.’ She was so confused she was almost speechless, and his enjoyment grew. This felt…wonderful!
‘We’ll attract medical people from everywhere,’ he told her. ‘In fact, we already have. This district is screaming for decent medical facilities. When the council builds a new four-lane floodproof bridge and improves the road to match…’
‘A bridge?’
‘The council’s agreed to build a bridge, and they’ve already negotiated government assistance. They see-like me-that this is a goer. And it is! Amy, I’ve already sounded out four doctors who have been aching to find somewhere like this to settle. So far there’s two physicians, an anaesthetist, a gynaecologist-and me. We have everyone behind us. The government authorities are more than eager to have a major medical centre established in this area but until now they haven’t had anywhere that would attract doctors. Doris in Bowra is so overworked she’s near to collapse and she almost fell on my neck when I ran this plan past her. So…’ He smiled and held her back at arm’s length. ‘How does that sound? For a beginning?’
‘I…’ She stopped, unable to go on. ‘It sounds unbelievable.’
‘It’s not.’ Joss’s eyes were lit with excitement, aching to share his wonderful dreams with her. ‘It’s entirely believable. And workable. As part of the resort we’ll build smaller cottages to house all the new workers, plus specialist houses for people like Marigold and Lionel who need help but want to stay in their own homes. We’ll build a huge workshop for activities-we’ve even designed a shop-front for it so that Lionel can sell his kites and all those matinée jackets can find a home. Anything that’s part of the resort can be as commercial as we like. By the way, the place will be big enough to need part-timers-volunteers-so people like Marie and Thelma will be able to do as much or as little as they like. Oh, and Malcolm…’
‘Malcolm?’ Amy was no longer breathing. She didn’t need to. Who needed to breathe with this joy?
‘I’ve spent some time with Malcolm in Sydney,’ he told her. ‘He’s recovering but he’s one very sorry boy.’