Unseen Messages(171)

We visited Galloway often, but he remained asleep. However, his lips twitched whenever I touched him, and his forehead smoothed when I whispered in his ear.

We were subjected to poking and prodding from the medical team. We were given tablets and vitamins and our vitals checked regularly to ensure we were improving.

For dinner, Stefan brought us cheeseburgers and French fries, roasted chicken and potatoes, braised beef and thick gravy.

For all my vegetarian ways, I sampled everything.

And I cried.

It seemed I cried and cried and cried.

I cried in happiness. In pain. In homesickness. I cried in confusion. In misery for Conner. In excitement.

So many things were changing, and we had no choice but to be swept away.

The cruise had set sail the moment we’d been found, authorities had been alerted, Morse code or telegrams (however boats transmitted messages) sent to our respective families.

The passengers had been informed of the change of schedule and given a choice to disembark at the nearest hotel in Nadi, and wait a few days for a replacement cruise, or return to Sydney with the promise of another voyage of their choosing.

To my surprise, the majority decided to return home with us. I had no idea why the captain wanted to personally escort us. He could’ve dumped us on a flight (gulp) or arranged other transportation.

But he wouldn’t hear of it.

Our reappearance was his personal accomplishment. He’d found us and would only leave us when we were on familiar soil.

Unbeknownst to him, Galloway wasn’t from Australia. Neither was Pippa. And Coco didn’t have a birth certificate. We were all going to the one place I knew because I was greedy and wanted to see Madeline. I wanted to hold my friend and tell her who I’d become. What I’d become. And let her protect me from what would come next.

Despite my nerves dealing with so many strangers, they gravitated toward us, drawn by our celebrity status thanks to the captain announcing our unforeseen arrival. If the limited audience was this obsessed with us, what would the city be like? How hectic would our future be now we were back from the dead?

I met with the captain again and apologised profusely for my dramatics. He’d hugged me (I was hugged a lot) and said he completely understood. He pried about our tale. Asked questions. Curious as to how we’d survived.

I was reluctant to share too much. What we’d endured was ours. It wasn’t a story to be told with gratuitous embellishment. It wasn’t something to gloat over and determine if the re-teller could’ve done better.

It was our life.

And I wanted no judgement.

So instead of answering his questions, I smiled and redirected. I learned more about the P&O renovation than I ever needed. He educated me on his nautical career and showed me pictures of his two boys in Taiwan.

The photos depicted twins aged sixteen.

I’d cried.

I’d tried not to but couldn’t help it.

Conner had been sixteen.

Conner had died before he could be found and now...now, we’d been taken away.

And soon...Pippa might be taken from me, too.

She was only eleven-years-old. But she acted like an adult. She knew how to fish, to cook, to build, to heal. She was more woman than any girl I’d ever met. And she was mine.

We shared the same last name through some twisty cliffhanger of fate.

But we weren’t blood, no matter how much I wished it.

Our future was changing and the power I had over our destinies was no longer in effect.

I was once again just a songwriter without a pen to write.





Chapter Sixty-Seven


...............................................

G A L L O W A Y

......

“I CAN’T BELIEVE it.”

My father’s arms (the same arms I never thought I’d feel outside prison again) wrapped tight around me.

I was free.

Free.

How?

I still didn’t know.

“Did you do it?” I asked, pulling away from his embrace.

I’d been told I looked a lot like my father, but I had some of my mother, too. I’d inherited my height from him and my colouring and possibly his eyes.

Those eyes now brimmed with tears. “No. I mean...I’ve tried, Gal. So bloody long, I’ve tried. I’ve drawn up affidavits. I’ve begged for a new hearing. But nothing came of it. Not until I got the phone call.”

“What phone call?”

“The one saying they’d charged the wrong killer.”

“But, Dad. I’m the killer.”

My father slung his arm around my shoulders, leading me from the prison gates. “We both know that, but someone...someone knew that too and decided to save you. It’s a miracle, Gal. And I’m going to find the man who did this and worship him for being so damn kind.”

.............................

SHE’D TOLD ME she would be there for me.

She didn’t lie.

I opened my eyes, and there she was. Coco dangled asleep in her arms while my woman watched me with such concentration, I felt as if she’d yanked me from my dream with pure willpower.

Pippa stood behind her, her lips parting into a smile.

Estelle clapped a hand over her mouth as our eyes met.

Tears leaked unnoticed down her cheeks.

My emotions crested and crashed, threatening to wash me away after clinging so tightly to the rock of life.