The Recipient (39 page)

A portrait shot of Saskia imprinted in metal and housed in an oval frame sat underneath the engraving.

Casey lifted her hand to her chest as a familiar ache rippled across it. A tear trickled down her cheek.

Slowly, she stepped forward and bent down, touching her hand to the top of the headstone.

“We did it, Saskia,” she whispered softly.

She lifted the posy and set it down gently on the headstone before kneeling down and plucking a pair of weeds from the grave.

“I kept my promise.”

Weeping softly, her tears flowed freely, falling to the soil where they mingled momentarily on the top of some moss, vestiges of grief and gratitude, before seeping into the earth.

The gift was no longer a burden she refused to accept.

Casey's eyes flicked up towards Scott, who watched on from his vantage point several feet away. She was surprised to find his own features filled with emotion. He drew a hand from his jacket pocket and wiped at his eyes furiously, hoping that she hadn't seen him.

Through her tears, Casey smiled. She looked down. Pressing her fingers to her lips, she kissed them, then touched her hand to the headstone once more.

There was so much she wanted to say.

So much…

In the end, she could only conjure one phrase.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

___

The open road stretched out before her…four lanes of unobstructed freeway.

Lifting her hand to the rear-vision mirror, she adjusted it and inspected the view behind.

The city was already shrinking rapidly into the distance and with it the last echoes of her old life. Casey knew that when she returned, things would be different.

Adjusting her sunglasses, she took in the view on either side. Open pasture stretched out like a luxurious carpet of green, a smattering of cows grazing languidly in the meadow. Beyond that, a ribbon of Australian bushland draped the hilly horizon, fingers of tree branches reached up to touch the brilliant, cloudless blue. As Casey leaned forward and gazed through the windshield, she noted the thin contrail of a jumbo jet threading its way across the sky.

There was no anxiety in this vastness. No fear. Just pure and unadulterated freedom.

A large, green sign up ahead listed the various distances remaining for towns along her route. Hambledown was listed second from the bottom.

575 kilometres.

Reaching over, Casey thumbed the controls for the sunroof and watched as the glass panel slid back. The cool morning breeze tousled her hair and she smiled broadly.

Casey let out a victorious whoop as she shifted gears, gunned the accelerator, and felt the BMW pour on speed. The city shrank further in her rear-vision mirror.

Her heart felt full.

Her heart…

THE END

Acknowledgments

I'd like to thank the following beta readers: Molly Ringle, Ashleigh Oldfield, Abbie Williams, Graham Adams, Scott (The Sasquatch) Taylor & Laura Laird.

Special thanks to Meghan Tobin-O'Drowsky and Bonnie Donaldson.

I want to single out Scott (once again) for allowing me to create a kick-arse sidekick who was a joy to write.

And, of course, Michelle Halket for her constant support and belief in me.

Other Books by Dean Mayes

The Hambledown Dream

Australian Denny Banister had it all; a successful career, a passion for the guitar, and Sonya - the love of his life. Tragically, Denny is struck down with inoperable cancer. Andy DeVries has almost nothing; alienated from his family, moving through a dangerous Chicago underworld dealing in drugs, battling addiction while keeping a wavering hold on the only thing that matters to him: a place at a prestigious conservatory for classical guitar in Chicago. As Andy recovers from a near fatal overdose, he is plagued by dreams - memories of a love he has never felt, and a life he's never lived. Driven by the need for redemption and by the love for a woman he's never met, he begins a quest to find her, knowing her only by the memories of a stranger and the dreams of a place called Hambledown...

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Gifts of the Peramangk

During the height of the divisive White Australia Policy, Virginia, a young Aboriginal girl is taken from her home and put to work on an isolated and harsh outback station. Her only solace: the violin, taught to her secretly by the kind-hearted wife of the abusive station owner. However, Virginia's prodigious musical gift cannot save her from years of hardship and racism.

Decades later, her eight year old granddaughter Ruby, plays the violin with the passion Virginia once possessed. Amidst poverty, domestic violence and social dysfunction, Ruby escapes her circumstance through her practice with her grandmother's frail, guiding hand. Ruby's zeal attracts the attention of an enigmatic music professor and with his help, she embarks on an incredible journey of musical discovery that will culminate in a rare opportunity. But with two cultural worlds colliding, her gift and her ambition will be threatened by deeply ingrained distrust, family jealousies and tragic secrets that will define her very identity.

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