Chapter 9
The Last Fence
The final week of the three-month probation arrived, and the station was buzzing with a different kind of energy. The mustering was done, the books were in order, and a sense of peace had settled over Kiandra Station, a peace that felt earned.
Elara was in the homestead office, finalizing the application for a conservation grant she’d discovered, when Jax appeared in the doorway. He held two mugs of tea.
“Come on,” he said, a quiet command in his voice. “There’s one last fence to check. The boundary line on the northern ridge.”
They rode out in the cool of the morning, the sky a vast, cloudless blue.
The tension that had once crackled between them was gone, replaced by a comfortable, easy silence.
They reached the northern ridge by midday, a high, rocky spine of land that marked the edge of the property.
The view was breathtaking, stretching out over endless plains of gold and red.
The fence here was old, the posts grey with age, the wires sagging. It was more of a symbolic boundary than a practical one.
Jax dismounted and walked to the highest point, looking out. Elara joined him.
“This was always my favourite view,” he said quietly. “Your grandfather brought me up here when I was a kid. Told me a man who owned a view like this was the richest man in the world.” He turned to her, his eyes clear and certain. “I never wanted to own it alone, Lara.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, worn velvet box. Elara’s breath caught in her throat.
He didn’t get down on one knee. That wasn’t his way. He simply opened the box. Inside wasn’t a diamond, but a simple, heavy band of Australian gold, etched with the pattern of a gum leaf.
“I bought this for you ten years ago,” he said, his voice rough with emotion. “I was going to ask you up here. Then you left.” He took a deep breath. “I’ve carried it with me every day since. A reminder of the dream I thought was dead.”
Tears streamed freely down Elara’s face now, but they were tears of joy.
“This land, this life… it’s nothing without you in it,” he said, his gaze holding hers, steady and true. “Elara Flynn, will you stay? Not for three months. Not for a year. Forever. Will you marry me? Will you build that life with me we always talked about?”
She didn’t hesitate. She threw her arms around his neck, the vast outback their only witness. “Yes,” she whispered against his skin, her voice choked with emotion. “Yes, Jax. A thousand times, yes.”
He slipped the ring onto her finger. It was a perfect fit, as if it had been waiting for her all along. He kissed her then, a kiss of promise and permanence, under the endless Australian sky.
As they rode back towards the homestead, the setting sun painting the land in shades of fire, Elara looked down at the gold band on her finger.
She wasn't just mending fences anymore; she was building a new boundary, one that enclosed their future, their shared dream, their hard-won second chance.
The last fence wasn't a barrier; it was a beginning.