Feels Like Home (33 page)

Jo stroked Ella's hair in response. ‘Shh,' she said hoping Ella wouldn't hear the tremble in her voice. ‘You go to sleep. I won't go anywhere, I promise.'

She felt Ella's slender body relax and curl into her side. As the child's breaths became deep and rhythmic, Jo found her own breathing keeping time. This really wasn't so bad. In fact, it was kind of nice.

She tried to remember a time when she'd shared a bed with her mother and came up blank. If she cried out in the night it was Daddy who answered her call. He was kind enough, but would never have climbed into bed with her. Even if he'd thought of such a thing, which was unlikely, Katherine wouldn't have approved. It wasn't long before she learned to deal with her fears by herself.

Her heart swelled as she recalled Ella's words. ‘Like a mum.' Was there any higher praise from a child? After a shaky start Ella had let her into her life and was now embracing her as if she was already part of the family.

Maybe she could do this. She and Ryan weren't even officially together and already she'd bonded with his child. She still wasn't sure about the whole idea of kids in general, but Ella wasn't any old kid. She was Ella, lover of horses and lip gloss and sparkly shoes. Fairy princess one minute, fearless warrior riding a magnificent steed the next. She was adorable and intelligent and sweet and occasionally exasperating.

And Jo was falling in love with her.

CHAPTER

34

‘Wake up, sleepyhead. It's morning and you have a child to go home to.'

Ryan opened his eyes groggily, taking a second to remember where he was.

‘Rise and shine.'

His senses came to life as suddenly as if he'd had a bucket of ice-cold water thrown in his face. ‘Mum! You're awake.'

‘Of course I'm awake. It's morning.'

He pulled himself out of the vinyl armchair and went to kiss her. ‘Oh Mum, I was so worried about you.'

‘Pfft. You should know better, Ryan. As if I'd let some trifling infection beat me. Really, I'm insulted you think so little of me.' But she smiled and pulled him in for a hug.

‘How are you feeling? What can I get for you?'

‘I'm feeling much better and you can get me nothing. Honestly, being in hospital is better than being in a five-star hotel. I've never been so spoiled in all my life. All I have to do is press this buzzer and a nurse comes running.'

He grinned. ‘So this was the plan all along, huh? Break your hip and get an all-expenses-paid holiday. I'm onto you now.'

She winked. ‘Just don't dob me in to the nurses on your way out.'

‘Out? I'm not going anywhere just yet.'

‘Oh yes you are. Where's my granddaughter? Who's looking after Ella?'

‘She's at home. Jo's with her.'

Beth frowned. ‘Oh, I see. Was that really wise, Ryan? You don't want Ella getting the wrong idea.'

‘First of all, I didn't really have a lot of choice. Jo happened to be there when the hospital called and all I was thinking about was getting here to see you.'

Her face softened. ‘Oh love, I understand. I just don't want to see you or Ella get hurt, that's all.'

‘I love her, Mum. That's the simple truth. I'm hoping she'll stay on here in Linden Gully and, well, one day I hope to make her my wife.'

Beth shook her head. ‘Ryan, she's not the marrying kind, that girl. Don't get me wrong, I understand why you love her. I loved her too, once upon a time. But mark my words, she won't settle in this town, not even for you,' she said.

‘It's not her fault, not really, but there's a piece of her missing. God knows that mother of hers never let up on telling her she wasn't good enough. A person hears that often enough and they start to believe it. That's what sent her scampering off for the bright lights of New York, you know. She's trying to prove to everyone, to herself I guess, that she's worthy. Trouble is when you're that broken inside there's not enough success in the world to fix you.'

‘You don't know her now, Mum. I think she could be happy here. Happy with me.'

‘Well, maybe I'm wrong and I hope I am. I just don't want to see you get hurt again.'

Ryan leaned in and kissed her again. ‘I don't want that either, Mum. But I can't let her go back without giving it a go. Please tell me you'll support me no matter what happens.'

‘Ryan Galloway, as if you need to ask that question. Now please get out of here and go home to your daughter.'

‘Okay, okay. I'm going.'

As he waited for the elevator his phone beeped. It was Jo's response to his text that he was on his way home.

Ryan couldn't stop grinning. This might just be the best day of his life. Mum had dodged a bullet and was well on the way to being her usual no-nonsense self, and maybe, if he was lucky, Jo would tell him her answer was yes. He had no reason to believe she'd do any such thing but her text had him cautiously optimistic.

On his way out of the hospital he made a couple of quick calls to his brothers, to let them know the good news. Dan was still at Coolangatta airport, so he was lucky to catch him. ‘Honestly mate, Mum's much better. There's no need to rush home,' he reassured his brother. It wasn't easy but he convinced his older brother to stay and enjoy the last few days of his well-earned holiday.

Patrick was relieved to hear the good news but insisted he and Georgie would come home anyway. ‘I'll be back next week. I just want to see Mum and make sure all's well. I've got some leave owing to me so I might as well take it.'

‘Righto, mate. I'll see you then.' Ryan smiled as he ended the call. It would be great to have the Galloway clan back together again. And hopefully he'd have some good news to share with them all by then.

‘Hey, Ryan. You're looking pretty happy with yourself mate.'

He turned to see Joel Simmons, a bloke he'd gone to high school with, standing right beside him. Ryan thrust out his hand to shake Joel's. ‘Hey Simmo. Good to see you. How're you doing?'

‘Never better. How about you?'

‘Can't complain.' He eyed Joel's uniform. ‘You working here now?'

‘Yeah, I'm the NUM — sorry, nursing unit manager — in Emergency. Just up here grabbing a drink from the vending machine. Ours is on the fritz downstairs. What brings you here?'

‘My mum, actually. She's in ICU.'

‘Oh man, I'm sorry to hear that.'

‘Don't be. She's on the mend. I expect she'll go back to the surgical ward soon.'

‘Ah, that explains why you're looking so chipper. Thought it might have been something else.'

Ryan laughed. ‘Yeah? Like what?'

‘I dunno. Maybe something to do with the fact that you've pinched a girl from one of those movie-star wankers. You sly dog, you. I know Jo was your high-school sweetheart and all but it must feel pretty damn good to know that she still prefers you over that Hollywood pretty-boy.'

Every muscle in his body tensed. How the hell did Joel Simmons know about Jo? ‘What the…? Joel, I've got no clue what you're on about.'

‘Come off it mate. It's splashed all over the internet. My missus showed me a photo on one of those Hollywood gossip blogs.'

‘Jesus.' Beads of sweat began to form at his temple. ‘Can you remember which one? I mean have you got a web address?'

‘Jeez, mate, I dunno. Just google her name and I'm pretty sure you'll find it. Are you okay? Sorry, Ryan, I assumed you knew. I would never…'

Ryan nodded but didn't stick around to hear the rest of Joel's apology. He gave a quick wave as he headed for the stairwell. ‘Gotta go, mate. Catch you soon.'

He flew down the stairs, taking them two at a time. This had to be some kind of mistake. She knew how much he'd wanted to keep their relationship private. Surely she wouldn't have done anything to jeopardise that?

In the hospital foyer he kept his head down, desperately hoping that he'd make it back to the car without seeing anyone he knew. Once he'd safely closed the car door he pulled out his phone and typed Jo's name into the search engine.

And there it was.

A close-up photo of the two of them locking lips.

Oh fuck.

How could he be so bloody stupid? He'd trusted her. He loved her and he thought she loved him too. But if she loved him how could she let this happen? There had to be an explanation.

He looked at the photo again. It was taken at Nate's place during the bucks and hens night. She'd been all over him, pushing him to kiss her. Was she in on this? Was it some sort of publicity stunt?

No.

He couldn't believe that. Maybe she didn't know about it either. But how could she not? She was always looking at that bloody phone of hers, checking her texts, posting on Facebook, twittering or tweeting or whatever the hell you called it. Surely someone in that massive network of hers would have put her onto the fact that there was a photo circulating of her kissing some random bloke? And if that was the case, why hadn't she said anything to him? Especially after everything he'd told her last night. Didn't she realise how damaging something like this could be for him? The last thing he needed was to be tangled up in some sordid celebrity scandal right at the time he was supposed to be signing Ella's adoption papers.

Ella. Oh god. What if she saw this? What if one of the kids at school got hold of it?

He needed to get back home and get to the bottom of this monumental stuff-up. Now.

‘What comes next?' Jo asked.

‘I have to clean my teeth and then you brush my hair,' Ella replied.

‘And that's it? We're ready to go to the bus stop.'

‘Yep. Jo, do you think you could do a braid for me? Dad can't do them.'

‘Of course, honey.'

‘Awesome! Wait til Annabelle sees me. She'll be so surprised.'

‘Hurry up and do your teeth, then, so we have enough time.'

Once the teeth and hair were sorted and the school bag checked and rechecked, Jo bundled Ella into her car. This time there was no argument about the car seat. Maybe she should invest in one of those if she was going to stay. Okay, maybe she was getting ahead of herself now, but after spending the night here with Ella, Jo knew that she was prepared to, no scratch that,
wanted
to give this being a family thing a go. She wasn't sure how it would work. Maybe they'd take it slowly, as Ryan had suggested, but she'd made up her mind. When Ryan returned she would tell him her answer was yes.

As they approached the bus stop Ella piped up from the back seat. ‘Who's picking me up?'

Jo smiled. ‘I'm not sure, honey. Either me or Dad. Don't you worry, I promise one or both of us will be here.'

She pulled the car over to the side of the road and helped Ella out just as the bus approached. ‘Have a great day, sweetheart,' she said and planted a kiss on the top of Ella's head.

Ella grinned up at her. ‘Thanks. You too.'

Jo waved as the bus pulled out and then pulled the Jeep into a U-turn. It'd been quite a morning. She had to admit she was proud of her achievements so far today. Ella was safely on the school bus in correct uniform. She'd eaten a good breakfast, had a healthy lunch packed in her school bag and was sporting a pretty awesome hairdo. Seemed she was getting the hang of this parenting thing already.

Ryan had sent a text at around seven to say Beth was on the mend, which was a huge relief. And now Ryan was on his way home and she was going to be there to greet him.

In her underwear.

She smiled at the thought of his surprise when he found her in bed waiting for him. First she would tell him she loved him, that she would always love him and that she was going to find a way for them to be together. They could work out the details later. The important thing was that it was what they both wanted.

Then they would make love. After, while he slept, she'd cook for him, maybe lamb and veggie soup — she'd have to see what was in the fridge — and bake some cookies for Ella to eat when she got home from school. They could greet the school bus together. A perfect end to a perfect day.

Of course there was still the photo to contend with. But with every day that passed it was becoming less of a story. A middle-of-the-night phone call to Lydia once Ella was peacefully asleep had confirmed that Zach's people were doing everything in their power to kill the story. A statement on Zach's website claimed there was doubt about the authenticity of the photo. The quality was pretty poor so maybe people would believe that.

In any case, if she and Ryan were going to be together now, what difference did the photo make? Surely he realised everyone would know about them soon enough. Hopefully Ryan would see reason. He was bound to feel annoyed at having his privacy breached, but he could hardly blame her for that. And hopefully his joy at her answer, plus the extra surprise she was planning, would outweigh any negative fallout over the photo.

She parked the car near the house and raced back inside. A glance at her phone told her she probably had twenty minutes before he arrived. Plenty of time to call Amanda, the one friend from boarding school she still kept in touch with. Hopefully Manda would have the information she needed in order to surprise Ryan. She was buzzing with anticipation of his excited reaction.

After all her indecision and worry, spending last night with Ella had put everything into perspective for her. Suddenly life seemed simple. She was in love and she was loved. What else was there?

Jo cleaned the kitchen table and put away the breakfast things as she chatted to Amanda. Everything her friend had to say was positive and she promised to email all the information to Jo as soon as their call was over. Once their goodbyes were said she headed into Ryan's bedroom and pulled the covers back on his king-sized bed. She just had time to shimmy out of her jeans and jumper and slip between the covers before she heard Ryan's ute rumble across the cattle grid.