34. Josh
“Last time we go fishing on Lake Grace if it’s not summer!” I declared shivering against the cold that was now settled in my bones.
“Stop your whining boy,” Jock admonished me, “the cold puts hair on your chest. Makes you a man.” Tossing his fishing jacket on the kitchen table, my father-in-law went to the sink to admire his catch.
Now, if I wasn’t frozen to the bone, I would have congratulated him again on the impressive trout he pulled out of the water after a marathon tussle with the five kilo scaly beast.
Jury, Judd and Hudson came through the back door looking even colder than I felt, they went to Jury and Gisele’s. Young Hudson looked like a popsicle without the stick, but he had a huge smile on his face after the ripper day he had.
“Heater now!” Jury growled his teeth chattering uncontrollably, Judd’s doing much the same.
“Pussy’s,” Jock muttered going over to the central heating central heating remote on the wall, “the lot of ya.”
Holding my tongue, I refrained from telling exactly what I thought of that comment until I thawed out then he was going to cop it.
The air streamed from the ceiling, and I raced to stand under vent, when Georgina walked into the room.
“Jock Anthony Blessing, you better think twice about gutting that creature in my kitchen sink,” she warned in that voice that could bring a grown man to his knees in mortal fear.
“I wouldn’t think about it Georgina Grace my sweet,” Jock assured her, a fond smile splitting his face as he looked over his shoulder at his wife.
Warming his hands by the wood fired stove that Jock found and restored for Georgina as a surprise a few years back. The kitchen had a modern oven and stove top for the summer months but in the winter, there was nothing better for heating a room.
“Is Gisele and Miracle in the shop?” Jury asked directing his question to Georgina, as he warmed his hands in front of the stove. Judd doing the same thing. “I just popped home and they aren’t there.”
Getting to know Judd today in a causal environment with just the guys gave me peace of mind. He was a real decent bloke, knowledgeable without having a big head and he knew how to fit in. He definitely had a spot on guys night, no doubt about that.
“What do you mean they aren’t there?” Georgina queried wrinkling her eyebrows. “The girls should have returned hours ago from their walk.”
Instantly my ears picked up. Walk? What fucking walk and who went on this walk?
She better not say Claudia went for a walk without letting me know, and she still was not back from said walk.
“Girls? All of them?” I asked, my heart in my throat. I was still feeling the cold from just packing up the boat and rods after being in a warm car for an hour. The weather turned cold quickly after lunch if Claudia was not home and, in the bush, somewhere, because that’s where they liked to walk together, the darkness was going to make it hard to see the hidden mineshafts no matter how well she and her sisters knew the area.
Pulling my phone out of my pocket I selected her contact and hit call.
Pick up baby, please pick up. I begged her in my head as if she could hear me.
Once the call went to her voice message I wanted to throw my phone against the fucking wall, not even hearing her voice message cooled my rage. My head was going a mile a minute imagining all kinds of horrible accidents that could happen to her.
The baby!
Jesus Christ this was way too soon after the hostage event she had to endure. Then we had knew they were taken hostage; we knew guns had been involved. Now we didn’t even know where they fucking were. “Do you know what direction they went?” Jury asked going firmly into cop mode, but his hands were shaking, and his jaw clenched much the same as mine.
Just as Georgina was about to answer, the back door flew open a strong gust of wind blowing Gisele and Miracle inside. Both wet from the rain and chilled to the bone.
Oh, thank God.
“Inside Miracle quickly. Go by the wood stove chickee, quick.” Gisele puffed out, her teeth literally chattering. Looking beyond her, I waited for Claudia and Elle to make their appearance but there was nothing but howling wind.
“Gisele! Lamb!” Jury breathed out sagging against the chair before making himself move towards his fiancé.
“Honey! Oh, thank goodness! We have to go back for Ellie and Claude now!” Gisele cried, throwing herself at Jury, clutching him to her trembling body.
“Fuck me swinging beautiful you are freezing.” Jury growled enveloping the youngest Blessing sister in his embrace, his hands rubbing up and down her back in quick motion.
Standing there nearly ready to lose my shit, I forced myself not to scream at Gisele to ask her what the hell she meant about going back to get Claudia and Elle.
Get them from where and why didn’t they come back with Gisele and Miracle?
Pulling back from Jury, Gisele looked over at me, her eyes wide and frightened. My sixth sense telling me this was not one of Gisele’s usual theatrics.
“What?” I asked her through clenched teeth.
“We went for a walk early, not long after you guys left. We went further than normal ended up at the old sluice,” Gisele told us in a rush and my heart sank. That area was riddled with small digging sites, fallen trees and Brown Snakes.
“Where is she?” I growled the lid lifting off my control.
“Still there, Elle stayed with Claudia. She sprained her ankle after a wasp stung her on the lip.” Jesus Christ my wife was allergic to bee and wasp stings, along with fire and bull ants.
“Claudia fell?” I asked but did not want the answer. She didn’t take her phone with her, so I deduced she did not have her EpiPen with her either.
Fuck!
“She didn’t fall on her tummy Uncle Joshy,” Miracle spoke up. Jock had her up in his arms holding her close to the wood fire’s flu closer to the heat.
“Aunty Ellie stopped her just in time, but she can’t walk, and her lip is really freaking huge!” my little niece informed me, the information she gave me was far from reassuring, in fact it did the exact opposite.
“Does she have an EpiPen?” Judd asked, coming into the conversation suddenly all business.
“No,” Gisele said confirming my worst fear, “when we left them, she was having trouble talking but we had a bottle of frozen water for her to hold against it. But her ankle is pretty bad too. She tripped in a big hole in the ground concealed by the picnic blanket.”
Shit. Fuck. Fucking shit!
“Let’s get going,” I shouted, “Now!”
Not waiting for anyone to answer or argue with me, not that I was expecting anyone to, I hastily grabbed my jacket off the chair then swivelled around and grabbed two more off the old fashion coat hanger behind the kitchen door. Jury, Judd and Jock jumped into action too.
“Meet you at the cars,” Jock yelled heading in the direction of the shop. “I’m going to grab a few packets of hand warmers.”
“Towels Georgina,” Jury demanded on his way out the door. Georgina did not hesitate, she dashed out of the room to the hallway where the linen press was located.
I heard Gisele talking to me, but whatever she said did not compute. The only thing on my mind was Claudia.
Claudia and our baby.
Jury took the bumpy track as fast as he could without losing control of the car. The rain had really kicked in since we started driving ten minutes ago, and by my estimation we were only another ten minutes from the area Claudia and Elle were stranded thanks to Jury’s maniacal driving skills. Despite my racing heart and concern for my wife, I was thankful I was in the front and not in the back of the cab like poor Judd who was getting tossed around worse than a pair of jeans in a clothes dryer.
After he yelled ouch for the fifth time, I gave up asking him if he was okay. All I cared that Claudia was okay.
“Jesus, they walked up this track?” Jury asked no one in particular, but still I answered him.
“Do I have to remind you of their last name?” I countered drolly, “the day the Blessing women do anything easy is the day I grow a tail and start barking.” The sad thing was I wasn’t wrong. Claudia was never going to anything she did not want or was ordered not to do. The same went for Gisele and double for Elle.
“Come on Jury the weather is turning really dirty,” I implored, squinting through the windscreen that was getting pelted by heavy rain. In the far distance a lightning strike lit the sky, it looked to be quite a ways off but in these parts of Victoria weather went from one extreme to the other in quick time.
“We are nearly there mate,” Jury reassured me, “Judd has everything needed to treat Claudia’s bite and her ankle.” He said looking in the rear vision mirror at the car behind us. Jock was doing well keeping up with Jury in the fire house ute, needing two cars to get the girls home. This way Judd would have room to work on Claudia and she will be more comfortable. The only thing was I was going to have to stay in the front for him to do that when all I wanted was my wife in my arms.
Five minutes later and a lot of patience not to take the wheel myself, the old mine came into view through the headlights. All the out-buildings had rotted away years ago leaving roofless barely standing frames. Near the river was an old sluice rusting away along with the memories of the men who worked it. My great-grandfather worked it and so did his son, my dad’s father. I came from a long line of gold miners, men who worked from dusk till dawn no matter the weather. Back when the rush first hit, there were no petrol driven loaders or dozers just shovels, pans and bone breaking work. The first sluice was not used until the early sixties, making it easier and more profitable working on the fields.
Jury slowed down to let Jock pass and lead the rest of the way. No one knew these mines and the river better than Jock Blessing.
“Follow his trye tracks exactly mate,” I instructed seriously, “where he goes you go.”
Nodding, Jury did as he was instructed and followed Jock’s tyres. Then we heard the horn blast on Jock’s car and relief swamped me.
He found them.
But my relief was not completely satisfied, first I had to get eyes on her, then in my arms and have Judd see to her injuries before I could relax.
Pulling the car up beside Jock’s, I jumped out of the car before it even stopped, my eyes finding Claudia and Elle sitting on a large stump, Claudia’s leg elevated on what looked to be back packs, a picnic blanket covering their heads like a tent.
Smart ladies.
“Claudia!” I shouted out over the howling wind, and pelting rain, running at full speed towards the beat of my heart.
My wife.
“You took your time!” I heard Elle shout back. I was in two minds about giving her a mouthful, but that idea flew out of my head when I saw Claudia’s face in the shinning headlights from one of the cars.
“Fuck me! Baby!”
Her bottom lips was so big I couldn’t make out where the top one was, one side of her face was also swollen, right up to her eyebrow line.
“Judd!”
“Behind you Josh,” Judd yelled back, his footsteps sounding close behind me.
Sliding to a skidding stop, I dropped to my knees right in front of my wife, my arms automatically circling around her, bringing her wet soaking into my embrace.
“Thank God, oh sweet Jesus thank God,” I chanted, my voice breaking with pure and utter relief. This is where I needed her.
With me.
Always.
Sinking into me giving me all her weight, Claudia sighed happily.
“Hmmm you schmell perwectwy wike you,” she said, pressing her face into my shoulder.
“Careful of your face baby,” I scolded her gently, worried about the extent of the swelling from the bite.
“It’s fine howney,” she mumbled her voice sounding garbled, “I’m swelling but it doesn’t feel as bad as when I was bitten as a kid.”
“Probably because you are older. Sometimes allergic reactions disappear with age.” Judd said dropping to his knees beside me, his torch shining in Claudia’s face making her wince and closing the eye that was not swollen shut.
“Jesus warn a girl will ya,” Elle muttered reminding me that she was there too.
Shit!
“Ellie, are you okay?” I asked straightaway, looking at my sister-in-law.
“I’m fine, fine. Wet and fucking cold but fine,” she answered me in her typical way. Judd chose that moment to direct his torch to Elle, to see if she needed any medical attention and when he did, he let out a streak of curses Jock would be impressed.
“Elle?”
“Oh, shit on toast,” Elle spluttered, her voice unlike I have ever heard from her, under the harsh lighting from the cars she looked white as a ghost ready to throw up.
WTF.
Looking between the two, I asked what turned out to be the wrong question just as Jock and Jury came over to see the women.
“You two know each other?”
“Boy do they,” Claudia chuckled, or tried to.
My interest in Elle and Judd wanned immediately, my focus back on my wife.
“Don’t talk sweetheart, come on baby, let’s get you to the car so Judd can see you better,” I said, pulling back from her for only a few seconds to lift her up into my arms.
“Hold onto me tight baby.”
“I always wilf Joshcee,” she answered me her words giving my heart a much needed jolt. This time in the right direction.
Fuck I love this woman.
“Jury, you got Elle?” I asked as I turned around to head back to the ute. “Judd let’s go.” I was desperate to get Claudia a shot with the EpiPen, the swelling was bad as I’d seen before, my worry was also for our baby. Was the shot safe for the baby? I made a mental note to ask Judd that question as soon as I got my wife out of the rain. Her whole body was shivering uncontrollably and even over the wind I could hear her teeth chattering.
“I got her,” Jock said in his commanding tone, as he helped a shell shocked Elle from the stump. “Come on girlie, let’s get you home.”
“Hey Daddy, how was the fishing?” I heard Elle ask, doing what she did best to mask her intriguing reaction to Judd.
“Jim dandy honeybun,” Jock answered her, playing along with her changing the subject but I would bet my last dollar when she gets home, all bets were off.
A sudden absent thought passed through my mind, but I shoved it aside immediately.
Nope, that would be too much of a coincidence, but then again anything was possible when it came to the Blessing family.
Anything.