Handle Me with Care (25 page)

‘You’re right,’ she said matter-of-factly. ‘In fact’—she pointed over to a silver four-wheel-drive reversing out of the car park at the other end—‘I might be running one day and some moron runs me over in a huge car.’ She pointed to the apartments in the distance. ‘I could be in a building, in a lift, and that lift could plummet to the ground.’ She pointed upwards, shielding her eyes from the sun. ‘I could fly back to Sydney for a weekend and the plane could drop out of the sky.’ She took a breath and turned again. ‘I could—’

He silenced her with a kiss, and then, ‘I think I get it.’

‘I spent a long time avoiding being really happy, Evan, because I was always in fear that I would lose someone close to me again. I was afraid to let go of the past, but now I realise that it’s no way to live. Living is about more than breathing in and out each day – it’s about savouring every moment and filling your life with people who love you and with whom you can share a future.’

Her insides clenched as his lips twitched in that familiar way. She steadied her voice and said, ‘Are you still going to say that you don’t want me in case life doesn’t go exactly the way you planned?’

His arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her into him until their bodies met. ‘I was going to say that I love you.’

She ran her hands around his neck, pulled his face close to hers and they leant their foreheads together.

He pulled back. ‘Why are you crying? I was hoping for a better response than that.’

‘They’re happy tears, because I love you too.’

He kissed the tear running down her cheek, then her lips, her neck, her collar bone. He buried his face in her hair as they stood holding each other. She felt his heart beat strongly, steadily, dependably. And with every inhale and exhale, she knew they had both been brave enough to let themselves into this new world that was their future. She held him tight, breathed in his warm, manly, woody smell that she knew she wouldn’t want to live without again. Their relationship was one built on a strong foundation, and as she felt the stubble of Evan’s chin brush across her lips before he kissed her, she knew she had found ‘the one’ after ‘the one’.

‘Promise me something, Maddie.’

‘Anything,’ she whispered.

‘Promise me you won’t back away, no matter what life throws at us. We’re in this together, for keeps.’

‘No backing out,’ she agreed. She took his face in her hands now. ‘And that goes for you too. No more pushing me away, even if you think it’s for my own good.’

‘No chance.’ He grinned. ‘You’re stuck with me.’

And then he kissed her with the same urgency that she had felt building up inside of her since that day on the beach in Hamilton Island. She looped her arms around his neck, stood on tiptoes, hardly daring to believe that they were finally together and this time it was for ever.

His hands rubbed the skin on her upper arms, ran down the sides of her body to her waist, sending shivers all the way down her spine. ‘Run with me?’ He nodded over to the start line where people were milling, ready for the off, and as they walked over, hand in hand, he said, ‘I don’t suppose you’d like to come back to my place afterwards?’

They jostled for a good start position amongst the other runners underneath the Blue September banners, and Maddie couldn’t tear her eyes away from the sexy grin that spread across Evan’s jaw.

‘Sounds like a plan. Now stop talking. It’s time to man up and run the race,’ she said.

Right before the start gun fired, he bent down and whispered in her ear, ‘Oh, you’ll find out how much of a man I am.’

Maddie knew then that she was about to run the best race of her life.

Epilogue

One Year Later

Huntley Primary had such success with their fundraising for Blue September that they decided to do it again the following year, and the first month of spring cooperated with a cloudless blue sky and steady breeze that blew across Albert Park Lake, leaving palm trees and ferns no choice but to bow slightly.

‘Do you think you can keep up with me?’ Evan teased.

Maddie ignored the ribbing as they limbered up at the start line. It had been a whirlwind year in so many ways. Jem had marked her 101st birthday with another knees-up, this time including a tasteful cake of Maddie’s design: a square, rainbow-checked sponge covered in blue icing depicting the sky, and covered on the sides and the top with all of nature’s loves from butterflies, bumblebees and ladybirds, to intricate flowers that had taken Maddie forever to get right when she was still suffering from morning sickness at six months along.

Maddie waved over at the stroller positioned in front of Jem. In it sat their little guy, three-month-old Sam, waving a giant blue rattle in the air and kicking his legs wildly to keep himself entertained.

Following last year’s race, Evan and Maddie had headed back to her apartment where Evan had done exactly what he’d promised – proven how much of a man he still was – while Maddie had proven that she was ready to take a chance on love again.

A month later Evan had arrived at Maddie’s place all set to go out on a run, but instead Maddie had sat him down and presented the stick showing two thin pink lines. It had taken a few moments for the reality to sink in, but when it did his eyes welled with tears.

Sam Riley Quinn was born in May of this year. And now Maddie had two new men in her life to love unconditionally and unreservedly, and in return they would do the same for her. Maddie’s parents were doting grandparents visiting from Sydney as much as they could, and both Caitlin and Richard had been overjoyed when little Sam was born, and they had been honoured to attend his naming ceremony.

When Jem agreed to go and live with her daughter, Martha, Maddie and Evan moved into Jem’s old place in Albert Park. They gave it a fresh lick of paint, a little bit of tender loving care, and of course the wisteria stayed exactly where it was. Jem’s wooden chair had been replaced by a picnic table with a bench on either side, but whenever Jem came to visit, she made sure she sat right beside those lavender flowers, inhaling the scent of the past and appreciating what had gone before as well as what was still to come.

Maddie had come to realise that to remain frozen in grief would interfere with her capacity to remember the best of Riley. She had had the engagement ring made into a necklace and that necklace, with its pear-shaped diamond, now sat in a box in the chest of drawers in her bedroom. The box containing Riley’s photograph and other keepsakes had been taped up – she wasn’t sure whether she would ever get rid of it, just like she didn’t know whether she would ever wear the necklace. But both were a part of the man who had held her past. The box sat up in the attic these days, along with the doll’s house her dad made her as a child – maybe Sam would enjoy it someday, or maybe they would have a daughter next and she could get as much pleasure out of it as Maddie once had.

A single diamond solitaire sat on the third finger of Maddie’s left hand as a symbol of Evan, the man who held her future. The cancer was still running scared these days, and if ever Maddie felt her throat closing, her fear bubbling up at what the future may or may not hold, she told herself how lucky she was to have been very much in love, twice.

Since Maddie had taken maternity leave from her job as a physiotherapist, her reputation as a baker had spread – largely by word of mouth – and she’d spent any free time she may have had making cakes: Ally’s engagement party cake, a friend’s baby shower cake, and, of course, designing her own wedding cake for when she tied the knot with Evan next March. Business was really taking off, and as soon as she’d had the business cards made up and she started distributing them more readily, she found she was thriving on the demand. It was hard to juggle the business with Sam around, but she and Evan made it work.

‘Good luck!’ Martha shouted from the sidelines where she stood with Holly, who was pregnant with a little brother or sister for Ava. Holly had promised not to go into labour at least until after the race.

‘Come on, guys,’ Maddie called over to her sister and Josh, who could barely keep their hands off one another. ‘There’s plenty of time for that afterwards.’ Jennifer had come to visit for Maddie’s baby shower and had fallen for Josh the moment she saw him. Jennifer had moved back to Australia and now they were renting Maddie’s old apartment until they could save up for a place of their own.

Maddie and Evan, Jennifer and Josh, joined the other runners at the start line beneath the blue banner.

Evan used a blue zinc stick to draw a line down Maddie’s nose and then across the bridge spanning out to the cheekbones. ‘You look beautiful.’

She grabbed the stick and did the same for him. Last year they ran the 5K given that Evan had only just got back into running following his operation and the chemotherapy, but this year Evan said he was going all the way and Maddie hoped she could keep up with him and make the 10K too.

‘You ready for this?’ Evan took up position next to her, ready for the off.

‘Of course I am.’  She hadn’t run so far in a long time but hoped that any lack of fitness would be obliterated by her determination. She seemed to have plenty of that these days.

‘Don’t push it too much.’ Evan adjusted his cap. ‘You’re still getting over having Sam. I’m proud of you just for being here with me.’ He squeezed her hand in his. ‘I’ll do two laps, the 10K, but you can leave me after the first if you need to.’

She kept her focus straight ahead. They say that acceptance is the final stage of grief, and from now on Maddie was back on course, running towards her future. ‘I’ll never leave you,’ she said.

He wrapped his arms around her waist, tilted her back and kissed her. ‘From this day forwards.’ He grinned, ignoring the catcalls from the crowd as the start gun fired.

Acknowledgments

As always, a huge thank you goes to my family for their patience and understanding. I would never have got this far without you all.

Thank you to Sue Moorcroft for critiquing Handle me with Care so that I could pull it apart and make it into a better story, and for reading my book and giving me a lovely cover quote.

My thanks goes to Rachel Daven-Skinner for her hard work and dedication in copyediting my manuscript. It was a pleasure to work with her and I’ve learned a lot during the process! Thank you too to Stephanie Box for proofreading my story and saying how much she enjoyed it.

The cover design stage was a lot of fun thanks to Debbie Clement and she did an amazing job … the only downside was having so many fantastic designs to choose from!

In writing Handle me with Care I undertook a lot of research into testicular cancer. I would like to thank Dr. Joe McKendrick of Eastern Health Victoria, Australia, for patiently answering my many questions in our interview and follow up emails. All the information I gathered enabled me to go on to develop my character, Evan, who follows his own individual journey with the illness.

Thank you to Amy Tyson, friend and physiotherapist who gave me enough information during our Pilates sessions to create a realistic work setting for my character, Maddie.

And finally, a huge thanks to Alison who, so far, hasn’t resigned from her post as my beta reader. She’s currently reading my next book …

About the Author

Helen J. Rolfe writes uplifting, contemporary fiction with characters to relate to and fall in love with.

Before she started writing books, Helen J. Rolfe worked in I.T. until she came to her senses and studied journalism and writing.  She wrote articles for Women’s Health & Fitness magazines as well as newsletter content and media releases for a not-for-profit organisation. In 2011 the fiction bug bit and Helen has been writing fiction ever since. 

After fourteen years of calling Australia home, Helen has returned to the UK with her husband and two children. 

Handle Me with Care is her second novel.

Find out more at www.helenjrolfe.com, and follow her on Twitter @HJRolfe.

If you liked Handle Me with Care, why not try The Friendship Tree, available from Amazon now.

Read on for a free sample of the first three chapters …