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Now she looked at her reflection as she changed into a pair of jeans and long-sleeved shirt. It was what she'd seen Maude wearing in the mornings but even as she checked her reflection, she realised she still looked too good—too neat. On impulse, she went into Maude's room and found some clothes which were worn and covered with the reddish-brown stains of outback dirt. Elizabeth changed quickly and pulled her hair back into a low pony tail before hunting for an old pair of Maude's shoes.

When she reappeared, Mitch simply stared. He'd climbed from the ute and was now leaning against the bonnet, waiting for her. His wait hadn't been in vain. For the first time since they'd met, he felt as though she was...real. She had always looked like something out of a dream but
this
woman, this woman who was walking towards him, was real.

'Something wrong?' she asked, when he didn't move.

'Ah...no. No.' He cleared his throat. Get a grip, O'Neill, he lectured himself as Elizabeth eased open the passenger door and climbed in. He slid behind the wheel and drove on autopilot to his own dugout. 'Won't be a moment.' He was out and around the car before his manners caught up with him and he turned to face her. He walked back to her door and she wound down the window. 'Would you like to come in?'

Elizabeth was curious but politeness made her refuse.

'Come on, Lizzie.' He opened her door. 'I can tell you want to but you're just being polite.'

'Know me that well, do you?' She climbed from the car and he shut the door for her.

'I'm getting there.' He tossed the words over his shoulder as he headed inside, forcing himself to keep the situation light and friendly. 'Why don't you grab us a couple of drinks from the fridge?' Mitch called as he headed off down a side tunnel. 'I'll be with you in a second.'

Elizabeth did as he asked and slowly walked through Mitch's house—dugout, she corrected herself. She was getting used to the underground decor. She found the kitchen and switched on the light before crossing to the fridge. Ginger beer lined the door-shelves and she smiled as she removed two, wondering why he didn't drink alcohol.

She headed back the way she'd come, remembering to turn off the lights she'd switched on, but she must have taken a wrong turn as she found herself in the living room. Right around the wall was a shelf—not one that had been put up but one that had been dug out of the wall. It held all sorts of things like trophies, books and photographs.

Elizabeth went over to take a closer look and peered at a photograph of two young boys, playing together on a see-saw'. The boy who was marginally bigger was pulling a silly face, the other boy smiling sweetly.

'My brother and I,' Mitch said, and she spun around to look at him.

'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry. I got lost.' He'd changed his clothes and was now wearing old, ripped jeans with a baggy T-shirt and had an old baseball cap on his head. Every article of clothing was covered with the same dust as her borrowed clothes from Maude. He now looked more like the man she'd met at the pub that first night in town. The first time he'd kissed her. The memory made her turn away and she desperately tried to focus on something else.

'You're not prying, you're looking.' Mitch walked over and picked up the silver frame. 'He was about six, I was seven— just. There's eleven month's between us.'

'That would have been a handful for your mother.'

'
I
was the handful...all on my own. Little brother here was the angelic child.' His word? were said without resentment yet Elizabeth heard the hint of sadness as well.

'Did something...happen to him?'

Mitch laughed without humour and put the picture back. 'Yes. He grew up, Back then, things were easier. Now...' He shrugged and took the drinks from her. 'That photo was taken the last time I saw him. We're very different people. Come on. We'd better get going.' He headed out. 'Would you mind turning off the—?'

Elizabeth turned out the lights before he'd finished speaking and followed him out.

'Maude's dugout is quite straightforward compared to yours. Why do you have so many hallways?'

'Twists and turns. I like them. I'm actually building on another room,' he said as they climbed into the ute. 'I'll show you next time or you could even come and help me dig.'

'You're allowed to do that?'

'Why not? It's my home. No mining is allowed within the city limits but adding a room isn't mining, it's just making more space.'

'Do you mean to tell me you built your home?'

'No. Well, not entirely. When I bought it, there was the kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms—one of which was used as the sitting room.'

'So, that living area?' Elizabeth was astounded. Was this what doctors here did in their spare time? Add rooms to their houses? Go down mine-shafts? She shook her head. It really was a whole new way of life.

'I built it.'

'By yourself?'

'Yes. Didn't take long. I've added another bedroom with an
en suite
bathroom and the room I'm doing now is going to be my billiard room.'

'You mean your
play
room.'

Mitch grinned and looked at her as they drove along. 'See! You're getting to know me quite well, Lizzie.'

They stopped and bought some food before heading out to the mine. As they drove, Elizabeth stared at the mullock heaps. Seeing them at a distance was one thing but driving up right beside and past them was another.

'I can't get over how different this place is. It's like I've moved to the moon.'

Mitch chuckled. 'Several people have described it like that.'

'What does Coober Pedy mean?'

'Loosely translated, it means "white man in a hole" which as the majority of people live in dugouts, is quite apt. The Aboriginal words are "
kupa piti"
so that's where it originated.'

They drove past another sign warning tourists about the danger of falling down a mine-shaft. 'I can't believe haw many holes there are around.'

'We put up signs but either people can't read or they think the signs are a joke because every year we have several tourists trapped down abandoned mine-shafts.'

'Really?' Elizabeth was astounded. He stopped the ute next to Maude's pickup truck then got out. Elizabeth followed suit.

Mitch was standing by a large hole in the ground which had a winch cable going down the shaft. It was a similar setup to the mine rescue squad's.

'So my mother's down there?'

'Sure.' He walked over to Maude's truck and grabbed a couple of mining helmets. 'Here, put this on.' He handed her one, placed the other on his head and rubbed his hands excitedly. • 'This is good. I have a very good feeling about this.'

Elizabeth peered down the shaft again. 'I'm glad you do because I certainly don't.'

'Opal is in the air.'

'How do you know?'

'I just do, that's all.'

'Have you
felt
it before?'

'Yes.'

'And did you find it?'

'Yes...well, Maude did but I knew it in my gut.'

'So what makes you
feel
it today?'

Mitch shrugged and grinned at her. 'Don't know. Perhaps it's you... Lady Luck.'

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. 'Superstitious?'

'No.' Immediately, Mitch bent, picked up a handful of dirt, tossed it over his shoulder and spun around.

Elizabeth laughed. 'Sure.'

'It's true, I'm not superstitious. I was just mucking around, although I must tell you that a lot of miners are so it's better not to joke about it.'

'I wasn't. You were.' She glanced down the shaft again. 'How do you get the opal out?'

'A lot of different ways. Yesterday, Maude would have blasted. She makes a potent sausage.'

'Sausage? Wait a minute. I'm confused.'

'Not meat sausage—dynamite sausage, as in explosives.'

'What?'

'Relax. It's all part of mining life. She's very careful and takes every precaution, but once she's blasted, no one's allowed in the shaft for twenty-four hours.'

'Why?'

'Because of the gases released into the air.'

'So she's been down there all morning?'

'Probably.' He looked at her with pure excitement. 'Come on. We haven't had a meeting of the "help Lizzie to be more spontaneous club" for a while. Consider this your next challenge.'

'What about lunch?' Elizabeth asked, trying to stall for time.

'Are you hungry?'

'Er...no. Not at the moment. I'm too nervous to be hungry.'

Mitch grinned. 'I'll call down to Maude on the radio so she can supervise your descent. I'll be at the top, she'll be at the bottom.' He shrugged. 'Nothing can go wrong.'

He did as he'd said while Elizabeth tried to calm her nerves. There was no way he was going to let her get out of this and she could quite understand it. She needed to get used to going down mines. It would be part of her work and this time there wasn't a patient at the bottom but her mother—in perfect health.

'All set,' he said a few moments later. 'Maude's down the bottom, I'm up the top, let's get you sorted out. Trust me, Lizzie.'

Elizabeth was amazed to discover that she did. She trusted Mitch! She hadn't known him that long and yet she trusted him. She'd known Marcus for the past few years or so and still she'd never felt this way about him. She shook her head. Now was not the time to dwell on it.

She edged out over the opening of the shaft, her heart pounding fiercely beneath her ribs.

'You'll be fine, Lizzie,' Mitch said as he started the winch. The cable jolted and Elizabeth's breath caught in her throat. She swallowed over it and looked up at Mitch, giving him what she hoped was a confident smile.

Soon daylight began to disappear and for a while, in the thirty-metre drop, there was only the light from her helmet around her. It was a long way down and she felt strange just sitting there, being lowered down. She was blindly trusting a man she'd known for a few weeks to winch her down a mine-shaft! What had she been thinking? Had she gone completely insane on this continent? Because she was positive that she would
never
have done anything like this back in England. »

'How much further?' she asked softly.

'You're almost there, darling, and you're doing a great job,' Maude called.

'I'm not doing anything,' Elizabeth insisted. 'Your powered winch is doing it all.' Soon she was down the bottom and never had she been more happy to feel the ground beneath her feet. Unable to control her emotions, Elizabeth waited while Maude helped her off before embracing her mother warmly.

'That was terrible,' she said, moving away from the shaft.

Maude laughed. 'You get used to it. In the olden days, they had to pull themselves in and out. At least we have the winch.' She radioed up to Mitch and then showed Elizabeth the mine. It was just as Mitch had said. Tunnels. Underground tunnels were everywhere. 'Follow me,' her mother said.

'Shouldn't we wait for Mitch? He might get lost.'

'Ha. Mitch? Down here? No way. He'll find us.'

'How?'

'Probably by following that amazing perfume you're wearing. And I must say that my clothes don't look too bad on you.'

'Thank you.' It was then Elizabeth realised it was quite light in the tunnels. Lights were hooked up to the walls with an electric cable running back up the hole she'd just descended. Funny, she hadn't noticed that before.

Maude took her to where she was currently digging and Elizabeth forgot all about being so far beneath the surface and looked carefully at the rock face her mother was telling her about.

'Today's the day,' Mitch said as he joined them. 'We're finding opal today.'

'I think you're right,' Maude added. 'Lizzie's our good luck charm.'

'Oh, not you, too.'

Maude laughed and shrugged but didn't say any more. She showed Elizabeth the area she'd blasted the previous day and the pick work she'd done that morning.

'No wonder you have such good arm muscles,' Elizabeth commented, and Maude laughed.

'Yes, I guess it is one way to keep in shape.'

'Here.' Mitch held out a pick to Elizabeth. 'Maude will show you how to do it and then you can have a go.'

'Are you sure? I don't want to hit the wrong thing or damage the rocks in any way. I read in one of your mining books, Mum, that it's quite easy to pick too hard at a spot and completely destroy the opal.'

'Aha! The woman has hidden talents,' Mitch said as he leaned against the wall.

'I'd hardly call reading "hidden", Mitch.' Elizabeth smiled at him. Maude laughed and then started coughing. She reached for a bottle of water and took a sip. 'Are you all right, Mum?'

'Yes, dear, I'm fine. Mitch, I might leave my daughter in your capable hands and go up for a bite to eat and some fresh air.'

'OK,' Mitch said after Maude had left. 'Hold the pick like this and then—'

'What's wrong with her?' Elizabeth asked with determination.

'Pardon?'

'You heard me. What's wrong with her?'

'I can't tell you that, Lizzie,' he said softly, lowering the pick. 'You know that.'

'I've seen her file at the clinic and it's quite thick, which means something is going on.'

'Why haven't you asked her?'

'I have. She said she has asthma and that's all. You're treating her for it but it's more than that.'

'Intuition?'

Elizabeth shrugged. 'Yes, and the fact that she was up early this morning, coughing.'

'What happened?'

'She said she forgot to use her inhaler, took it and settled back down to sleep. I checked on her a few times and she appeared fine.'

'Get her to talk more. That's all I can offer you because she's asked me not to tell anyone and I have to respect her wishes. Rest assured that I
am keeping a very close eye oft her.'

'Well, that confirms my suspicions that it's something more than just asthma. Thank you.'