Free Expecting Miracle Twins by Barbara Hannay Page B

them.’ Mattie was aghast by how brittle she sounded. ‘I’ll look after the kitchen. You go and get ready.’
    ‘OK, OK.’
    Her hands were shaking as she loaded the dishwasher, and she broke a cup. She’d just finished putting the pieces in the bin as Jake came in with a backpack swung over his shoulder.
    She tried to sound relaxed. ‘You travel light.’
    He smiled crookedly. ‘I’m not much of a shopper.’
    ‘I’ll just clean my teeth and get my bag.’
    In a matter of moments she was back. Jake was holding Brutus and rubbing the little dog’s silky ears. Brutus licked him under the chin. ‘We’re saying goodbye.’
    Mattie nodded and bit her lip to hold back tears. ‘I hope you said goodbye to Pavarotti too.’
    ‘Oh, I did and he sang me an aria.’
    She dug in her bag for her sunglasses and put them on before her eyes gave her away. ‘I’ll keep in touch with Roy for you.’
    Jake smiled sadly. ‘I don’t suppose there’s any point in trying to tell you that I don’t expect you to worry about Roy.’
    ‘No point at all. I’d love to visit him now and again.’ Quickly, she went on, ‘We’d better get going.’
    ‘Yeah.’
    She swung the strap of her bag over her shoulder and looked down at her car keys, took a deep breath.
    ‘Mattie, are you OK?’ Jake crossed the kitchen until he stood in front of her. He lifted her sunglasses and a soft groan broke from him when he saw her eyes filled with tears. With trembling hands, he framed her face.
    She tried to smile and her mouth wobbled out of shape, but then it didn’t matter because Jake was kissing her.
    Mattie melted into his warm, strong embrace and she kissed him as if her life depended on it. And, afterwards, she felt a little reassured—a little calmer, which was just as well as she had to concentrate on driving in the heavy traffic.
    By the time they reached Sydney’s International Terminal her eyes were dry, her stomach reasonably composed. She hoped she could stay that way through the final farewell.
    The airport was typically busy, with cars and taxis zapping in and out of parking spots, and travellers wheeling overloaded luggage trolleys onto pedestrian crossings.
    ‘Just leave me here.’ Jake pointed to a two-minute drop-off zone.
    ‘Are you sure you don’t want me to come in?’
    He shook his head. ‘It’s going to take ages to get through security and you won’t be able to come past the customs desk anyway. You know what it’s like with international flights.’
    ‘I hadn’t thought about that. I’ve never been overseas.’
    Jake’s eyes widened. ‘Really?’
    ‘The furthest I’ve been is Western Australia.’
    His eyebrows lifted in surprise. ‘I guess you’ve been too busy looking after other people. You haven’t had time to travel.’
    ‘I guess.’
    He smiled. ‘It means you still have a lot of adventures ahead of you.’
    Something about the way Jake said this made Mattie’s heart leap like a flame. In a sudden burst of confidence, she asked, ‘Do you have an e-mail address? It must be so lonely in Mongolia. I could write to you if you like.’
    ‘Yeah, sure.’ He pulled his wallet from his pocket and dug out a business card. ‘Here you go.’
    Mattie stared at his name, Jake R. Devlin, on the card and she felt her throat tighten. This small white rectangle was all she would have once Jake was gone, but she was so pleased that he wanted to stay in touch.
    He extracted another card. ‘You should write your e-mail address on the back of this one.’
    ‘Of course.’ She printed the address and handed him the card and he leaned in close, kissed her cheek.
    Needing one last proper kiss, Mattie offered him her lips.
    Car horns honked all around them and from somewhere above she could hear the roar of a plane taking off, but she wanted to take her own sweet time over this last lovely kiss.
    Finally, Jake touched her cheek with a gentle caress of his fingertips. ‘Take care, Mattie.’
    ‘You