Holiday Affair (18 page)

Lissy had not told Nick at the airport that she was coming back to Armidale with her mother and Lars on Sunday night. She hadn’t even mentioned to him that they were coming from Denmark to visit her. During the short flight from Sydney to Coffs Harbour, she focused on seeing her mother at the airport. She had received an email two days ago letting her know that they had completed the first leg of their trip safely and would arrive in Sydney a day before Lissy flew back from the Cook Islands.

We’ll hire a car and drive up to Black Rock
,
and then
we can give you a lift up to Armidale on Sunday night.

Lissy, we can’t wait to see you. Love, Mum
Lissy was also excited about seeing her mother. It had been almost two years..

Lissy disembarked at Coffs Harbour airport, and walked through the avenues of tropical plants lining the entry to the terminal. She saw her mother waving madly through the large observation window. Crossing through the automatic doors into the terminal, Lissy saw everyone around them smile as her mother squealed with delight and ran across the waiting area to grab Lissy in a huge hug.

Lissy couldn’t hold back the tears…and she didn’t try to.

After many hugs and kisses from her mother, she stepped back.

“Look at you, Mum. You look fantastic. Everyone will think you’re my sister, not my mother.” Lyn reached over and touched Lissy’s short curls.

“What’s this, where have your beautiful curls gone?” Lissy grimaced, a fleeting dart of pain overshadowing the reunion with her mother.

“Long story, Mum. I’ll tell you over coffee.” She looked up at the huge man standing behind Lyn. Lyn turned proudly and pulled him over. “Lis, this is Lars.” Lyn looked up at him and Lissy could see the love in her eyes as her mother said simply, “He’s the love of my life.” The huge man who towered over her petite mother reminded Lissy of a grizzly bear. He was all brown–brown hair, a thick brown beard, and a brown shirt. Lars reached out and her hands were engulfed in his huge grasp.

“I’m so very pleased to meet you, Lissy. Your mother has chattered non-stop about you since the day she met me.”

Her mother stood and beamed at the pair of them.

“Come on,” she said, linking her arm with Lissy, “come and get your luggage and then we have a surprise for you.” They retrieved Lissy’s bags from the carousel and made their way out to the parking lot.

Instead of heading for the cars parked behind the security fence, Lyn and Lars turned and walked to the fifteen minute parking bay. Lissy was delighted to see Harvey standing next to his old battered four-wheel drive fishing vehicle. He held his arms open and she ran in for a big hug.

“Harvey offered to drive us up. Lars has found driving on the wrong side of the road rather terrifying.”

“She smells a bit fishy, Lis, but the old girl will get us back to Black Rock,” said Harvey, laughing. Lars and Lyn climbed into the back and Lissy sat up in the front with Harvey.

She reached back and and gave her mother’s hand a squeeze. It was so wonderful to see her. She looked over the front seat, and was surprised to see Lyn and Lars holding hands like teenagers. She turned back to the front of the car, thoughtful.

He’s certainly different from my other stepfathers.

Lyn and Lissy talked into the early hours after stopping at the local Chinese restaurant and having dinner with Harvey on the way home. “Lars is wonderful, Mum.” Lissy gave her approval and Lyn visibly relaxed as her face lit up.

“Oh, Lissy, it is something so special. For the first time in my life, I’m truly in love and I feel loved and cherished.

Lars would do anything for me and I adore him. We have some news.”

“Mum—” Lissy looked at her mother aghast. “—

you’re not…”

Lyn giggled like a teenager.

“God, no. Way too old for that. Lars has two grown children and I have you. Our family is complete. No, it’s even more exciting than that. Harvey and Lars have been talking. Lars has a fishing boat, and he fishes out of Frederickshavn, where we live in the summer. Harvey is looking for a new crewman to help him out, so we’re going to spend six months in Denmark and then come over here for the summer each year, and Lars will fish on Harvey’s boat.”

Lissy’s eyes filled with tears and she reached over to hug her mother. “Mum, that is the best news ever.” Once the tears started, she couldn’t stop them and she burrowed into her mother’s comforting shoulder. Lyn gently patted her short curls.

“I knew something was wrong. Harvey told me you hadn’t been happy and you are too thin. What is it, darling?”

Lissy cried even harder. Her happiness with her mother’s news was overlaid by her grief for Nick and the lost relationship that never was. She told her mother all about Nick and how even if he had wanted her, she wouldn’t commit to him.

Her mother pushed her gently away and held her gaze. “Did you ever wonder why you can’t trust a man enough to have a serious relationship?” She spoke softly.

“You have to trust love and it sounds to me as though you are in love.”

“I don’t understand how you can be so trusting, Mum.

Look at your relationships, your marriages. Nothing—” Lissy rubbed angrily at her tear streaked cheeks, “—

nothing ever lasts.” She pulled away from Lyn and walked over to the kitchen window, looking out into the darkness.

Lyn walked back over to her daughter and placed her hands on either side of her face. “Lissy, Look at me…tell me what you see. Really look at me and tell me what you see.”

The tears clogged Lissy’s throat and she stifled another sob.

“I see somebody who is happy and very much in love.

I see Lars look at you and realize that he is protecting you and—”

“Exactly. I love him and he loves me. Do you remember what Gramps used to say?

Wait for your destiny. It will find you. Well, I didn’t wait.

I married Declan because I was pregnant with you. What we had together was fun, and I don’t regret one minute of it, because it gave me you. Then Greg came along and I could see the security he could provide for us. When he left me for his secretary, I wasn’t surprised. We really didn’t have a close relationship. There was no spark. I’m a slow learner and poor Lincoln came in on the rebound.

But Lissy, please believe me now. When love arrives, and sometimes from the most unexpected direction, you will know it. You can’t live
your
life and make decisions based on my experiences. Heed what Gramps used to tell us. He was a wise old man and he and your grandmother knew true love for almost forty years.” She walked over to Lissy and turned her around, reaching up to wipe her eyes.

Lissy reached for a tissue, blew her nose loudly and summoned up a watery smile.

“Now, Lis…you are a smart young woman, with your career taking off. You think about what you want out of life. Have you been lonely since Gramps died and a bit of attention from your Nick has got you sucked in?” Lissy went to bed and slept dreamlessly. Rising late, she was sitting on the porch with her coffee as Lyn and Lars walked back from the beach, arm in arm. She watched as Lars picked her mother up and kissed her, and they stood together in the sand dunes, watching the ocean. The love between them was obvious and Lissy realized it was the happiest she had ever seen her.

It’s the best news ever.

They walked through the gate, laughing and greeting Lissy with a good morning kiss.

“My turn to cook up a big Aussie breakfast,” said Lissy. “You look hungry, Lars.” As she bustled around in the kitchen, Lissy paused and turned to Lyn.

“Mum, I have a big favor to ask.”

Lyn looked across at her.

“I’ll come back and help you with Gramps’s things next weekend. I was hoping that you would give me a lift to Coffs Harbour this afternoon.”

Lyn looked at her, a knowing look in her eyes.

“I’m going to hire a car and go back up the mountain to Armidale this afternoon. I’ve made some big decisions and I have some important things to see to.” Lyn looked up at Lars who nodded happily.

“I’ll come along and keep your mother company when she drives back from Coffs Harbour after you have gone back up your mountain.”

Lissy laughed. “Lars, if only you knew I am climbing more than one mountain!”

Lyn reached over and pulled her into a hug. “I can’t wait to meet him, Lissy.”

“We’ll see, Mum. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

…

It was early afternoon by the time they finished breakfast, cleaned up and driven up the winding Pacific Highway to Coffs Harbour. Traffic was heavy as they pulled into the car rental place on the north side of town; the winter school holidays had begun and a light rain was falling.

“You be careful driving up that mountain, Lis. The road will be slippery.”

“It’s okay, Mum. I’m used to it.” She smiled at Lars.

“You be careful driving Lars up tomorrow. He’s used to the flatlands of Denmark. It may be a bit scary for him.” She hugged them both and waved them off. She went in to collect the keys for the car that she had arranged renting by telephone earlier in the day. Lissy stowed her luggage in the small hatchback and left for Armidale, determined to sort it out with Nick before the day was done. She had accepted she was in love with him and even if he didn’t want to hear it, she was going to be honest. The problem for the past few months had been her lack of honesty and trust, and that had gotten them nowhere.

By the time Lissy turned the little car off the coastal highway, it was late afternoon and a storm was brewing in the mountains. She hated driving in that twilight between dusk and dark, and switched her headlights onto high beam. The rain started to pour as she drove slowly through the little town of Bellingen at the base of the mountain.

She pulled over to get a coffee. The traffic coming toward her was heavy as school holiday traffic traveled from the Western Plain and the New England tablelands for a warm winter holiday on the coast.

She started up the mountain and the rain began to ease. She began to relax into the drive and reached over to turn the music on. When she took her eyes from the road, a large car crossed to her side of the road, the bright headlights blinding her for a moment. Lissy yanked the steering wheel to the left and sighed with relief as the car passed her safely. She relaxed too soon and the wheels of her small car slid in the soft mud at the side of the road.

Suddenly a steep precipice loomed in front of her. Lissy screamed as the car lurched over the gaping drop and slammed head-on into a large tree on the edge of the cliff.

Everything went black.

…

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Lissy opened her eyes, confused, not knowing where she was and why there was water dripping on her face. Her limbs trembled with shock; it was pitch dark. She tried to sit up, but the pressure of the seat belt across her chest held her back. She reached for the interior light and switched it on, but all that did was light the interior of the car. She couldn’t see outside or where she was. Her head felt cold; when she reached up her hand it came away covered in blood. Her heartrate picked up and she panicked.

Take a deep breath, calm down.

Lissy reached up and felt for the damp patch in her hair. Feeling a little bit ill, she gingerly explored the wound and realized it was only a small cut. She stretched and tested her arms and legs, and understood it was the bump on her head that had knocked her out. Her head must have hit the side of the small car when it lurched over the mountainside. The seat-belt latch had cut her scalp when she slammed into the side of the car. Reaching for her phone to call for help, she pressed the on button before she remembered there was no service on the mountain.

About to throw it aside, she decided to send a text since sometimes they would get through as the service came in and out.

But to whom?

She didn’t know Nick’s number. She had never needed to call him, working in the same building and living next door to him. She scrolled through the numbers on her phone and Tom’s number flashed up. She sent a brief text message.

I’m OK, but have had an accident. Gone over
the mountain about three kms up. Help please.

Desperately, she prayed the message would go through. She was about to put the phone down when she remembered the flashlight app she’d. Turning off the interior light of the car, she turned on the flashlight and shone it through the window. All she could see was the leaves and tree trunks of the rainforest.

Please God, let me be wedged securely.
Reaching for the tissues in her bag, she formed a cotton wad and pressed it against the wound on her head. After a few minutes of pressure, it came away with only a small amount of blood. Lissy leaned back and tried to rest. Her head was thumping and she was a little worried about a concussion.

She couldn’t see any lights or hear any other vehicles, so she figured she must be a fair way over the side down in the thick rainforest.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The smell of fuel wafted through the car as the dripping got louder. Undoing her seat belt and putting her phone in her pocket, Lissy slid over to the door. She opened it carefully, shone her torch out and saw that the front wheels of the car were wedged in a tree. The rear of the car was hanging over a huge black drop. Her choices were to stay in the car with the dripping gasoline or try to get out and clamber down the tree without falling down that huge drop.

She turned the flashlight off to save her battery and put her wallet in the deep front pocket of her jeans. The rest of her luggage didn’t matter. She carefully climbed through the open door, gripping the roof of the car as she slid out and shone the flashlight into the tree. A huge branch was butted up against the side of the car and she was able to climb out of the door and put her arms around the branch as she stepped down to a horizontal branch a meter down.

I have to get down in case the car catches on fire.

Looking down into the dark and feeling the misty rain dripping onto her hair and neck, she gripped the tree trunk and slid down. It seemed she was only a few meters up and it wasn’t too difficult making her way down, although her hands and arms were soon scratched by the sharp prickles on the leaves. When her feet landed on the ground at the bottom of the tree, her legs slipped out from under her in the mud and she slid to the bottom of the slope, losing her phone.