Marion Lennox - The Doctor’s Rescue Mission

‘Not a snowball’s chance in a bushfire,’ Marcus said calmly. ‘Tell her.’

‘OK.’ He took a deep breath, obviously a man caught between a rock and a hard place. ‘Um…I thought I might stay here, too,’ he told her.

She thought about it. Her leg should be hurting, she thought dazedly, but she couldn’t feel her leg. She couldn’t feel anything. Was she floating?

Who needed morphine when this was happening?

But… ‘What on earth would you do here? she managed.

‘I wouldn’t mind a bit of privacy,’ Grady tried again.

‘It’s not going to happen,’ Jaqui told him. ‘Tell the lady.’

‘Yeah, well, Jaqui and I have been talking. And we think-’

‘We think this makes a really fantastic base for Air-Sea Rescue, from here to New Zealand,’ Jaqui said. ‘There’s so much sea traffic…’

‘You have to be kidding,’ Morag whispered. ‘You’re crazy.’

‘We are a bit,’ Grady admitted. ‘But we have the government interested in setting up a medical base to service all the remote islands north and east of here. Individually each has tiny populations but when you put them together-’

‘It makes economic sense to service them from here rather than send everyone to the mainland.’ Jaqui’s voice was triumphant.

‘And when you add the indigenous populations…’ Grady managed.

‘The education needs,’ William added. ‘Health education for the Kooris has to be a priority.’

‘Then there’s the fact that the lighthouse needs protecting from marauding sea eagles,’ Marcus added. ‘So we need you and Jaqui and Grady. Plus, I’m going to teach Grady to fish.’

‘Me, too,’ said Jaqui.

‘I can fish already,’ Robbie told her. ‘I’ll help teach you.’

‘But-’

‘And we’re going to run remote training sessions,’ Grady added with a flourish, as if it was his trump card. ‘Jaqui and William and Marcus and I started work at dawn, planning this. After Jaqui and I sorted your leg out we were too high to sleep, and no one else was sleeping either. There’s such potential. We have everything here. We have such expertise.’

‘We’re the best,’ Jaqui said modestly, and everyone laughed.

And then the laughter died.

They were all looking at her, Morag realised. They were all waiting for her reaction.

She couldn’t react. She didn’t know how to. There was so much to take in…

‘The island must remain viable for everyone,’ Grady said softly. ‘And it can. You know, Angie Salmon stood up at the public meeting today and told everyone that Orlando would be buried here because this was where he belonged. It was where everyone belonged. She said she was staying here and so were her family, and if they took the doctor away then the world would be inflicting another disaster on the island as big as the tidal wave. The cameraman who helped Hubert has resurrected a damaged photograph of Orlando, and the world’s press is splashing his picture all over the world’s newspapers right now. We’re safe, Morag. We’re all safe. We’re home.’

‘You’re home? You?’ She could hardly take it in.

‘I will need to go to Sydney from time to time,’ Grady told her, as if he needed to lay all his cards out on the table right now. ‘So will Jaqui. We’ll still be part of the emergency services network, which is run from the mainland. But we thought-’

‘We thought we could go, too.’ Robbie was almost gleeful. ‘Grady talked about it to me like I was a grown-up. He said you really liked shopping and he bet me that I’d like it, too. He said Sydney has cool stuff. And he said that when I go to school in Sydney, you guys could all come over a lot to visit me. He said you’ll have three doctors on the island, so you’ll all be able to take turns.’

‘You have it all worked out.’

‘Yup,’ said Grady. ‘And this way I get to be assistant lighthouse-keeper. How cool is that?’

‘You’ve already talked Robbie into it.’

‘Yup,’ said Jaqui. ‘And I’m going to be assistant to the assistant of the lighthouse-keeper.’

‘Is there anything you haven’t planned?’

‘The wedding,’ Grady said, and the whole world stilled.

‘The…’

‘Right.’ Enough was enough. Grady squared his shoulders. He turned to face the assembled congregation.

‘I’m doing this by myself,’ he decreed.

‘Hey, don’t mind us,’ Hubert said.

‘You can’t keep all the good bits for yourself,’ Jaqui added.

‘Out,’ said Grady. He plucked Robbie from Morag’s arms and swung him round to William. ‘Find the kid a dog,’ he said. ‘Robbie, I need to organise your future.’

‘It’s already organised,’ Robbie told him.

‘No, it’s not. Your Aunty Morag hasn’t agreed to marry me.’

‘You will, though,’ Robbie said. ‘Won’t you, Morag?’

Morag was laughing. Joy was bubbling up so fast it threatened to overwhelm her. They were all looking at her now-seemingly the whole island. This was a proposal from Grady, but it was also a proposal from all of them.

They’d taken Grady to their hearts. He was part of them. Part of this community.

Part of her heart.

Why should she wait until the room was clear? she thought, dazed beyond belief. Why should she wait another moment?

‘Of course I’ll marry you,’ she told Grady. ‘Of course I will, my love. That is…’ She grinned with pure mischief. ‘That is, if you ever get around to asking me.’

Grady groaned. But he was smiling down at her, and suddenly he realised that this wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. With a despairing glance around the room at his unmoving audience, he finally shrugged and dropped to his knees next to the bed.

‘Morag-’

‘That’s better,’ Hubert said approvingly.

‘Ooh, I like this,’ said Louise.

‘Shut up,’ said Grady. ‘Morag-’

‘Have you got a ring?’ Robbie said anxiously from William’s arms. ‘He has to have a ring.’

‘Have one of mine.’ It was Hazel, who’d been squishing in at the back between May and Hamish. Now she held out a ring-one of many that adorned her work-worn hands. ‘Elias gave me a ring every wedding anniversary so I have sixty-two rings. I can’t think of a better way to recycle one of them.’

‘Thank you,’ Grady said with as much dignity as he could muster. ‘Until I have time to buy my own…’

‘Diamond solitaire,’ Hubert advised. ‘Girls like diamond solitaires.’

‘Will you all shut up?’ It was a roar that almost lifted the tent.

It shut them up.

‘Well!’ Louise ventured, inclined to be indignant. ‘In a sickroom.’

‘Louise…’

‘Just joking.’ She held up her hands as if to ward off his anger. ‘Don’t mind me. Everyone, hush.’

Everyone hushed.

‘Morag Lacy,’ Grady said finally, catching her hands and holding them-and holding her eyes with his, with all the love in his heart. ‘Morag, I’ve loved you for four long years and I love you now more than I ever believed possible. You’re the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. I love you and I need you, Morag, now and for ever. Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?’

‘Ooh,’ said Hazel, and sniffed.

‘Is that how it’s supposed to be done?’ Robbie asked, and William hugged him.

‘Yes, my boy, that’s exactly how it should be done.’

But Morag wasn’t listening. Her hands were holding Grady. He was looking up at her and he…he looked anxious. Anxious? How could he possibly doubt her reply?

He was waiting.

The whole island was waiting.

And there was only one answer to give.

‘Of course I’ll marry you,’ she whispered, and then, as he gathered her into his arms and held her, she repeated herself. ‘Of course I’ll marry you, my heart.’

And with those words, fractured leg or not, Morag Lacy stepped forward into her future.

With love.