‘I know, I know. I’m getting an extra daughter. That’s how I’m going to think of it.’
At that moment the bride and bride peeked around the side of the van.
‘Fucking hell!’ exclaimed a young woman who surely must be Sigrid, thought Annie. She remembered telling Nina that she wouldn’t recognise Sigrid if she fell over her, but the truth was that she was a Skidmore. There was no doubt about it. She was blessed with the same long, lean limbs as her brother and the quizzical deep furrow at the top of a long, straight patrician nose was pure Meredith.
Annie’s nostalgic appraisal of Sigrid halted at the jewelled piercing in her left nostril. Annie had to smile to herself—and wait until Meredith saw it! Sigrid was holding hands with someone who actually did look like k.d. lang with curly blonde hair.
‘Muuum! What’s with the daggy Elvis-mobile? Typical! I knew you wouldn’t come by plane. You’ve always had a crazy streak in you. I told Charlie she better watch out, I take after my mum.’
And that, Meredith reflected as she leaned forward for a kiss, had made the whole journey with The King worthwhile. She wished her mother, Edith, could have been here with them both. She might have brought a plate of pikelets along for the wedding reception.
It was early afternoon and the main street of Byron Bay was buzzing. Nina now understood, as she trawled through shady arcades and under low verandas, why everyone wanted to visit the town. Its hippie origins were still in evidence. The tang of patchouli-scented incense wafted from doorways of shops offering organic food, herbal remedies, fruit juice, Balinese knick-knacks and original artworks.
In the shade of giant Norfolk pines, holiday-makers and locals sat at tables on the footpath. Barefoot surfers—glumly commiserating with each other on the lack of swell—stood, arms folded, leaning against walls and scowling at the parade of backpacking blow-ins carting dreaded boogie boards.
Nina—fresh from the spa with glossy pink fingernails, and sleek blow-dried hair—poked through the racks of clothes in one shop after another with increasing desperation. She had barely an hour and a half before they had agreed to meet back at the van to frock up for the wedding. Brad trailed after her, patiently holding her handbag.
Nina smiled wanly at him, not wanting to ruin the day. She stopped at the window of one particularly upmarket boutique. Did she dare go in? She always imagined that the shop assistants in these kinds of places were secretly laughing at the delusions of a dumpy mother-of-three who imagined she might find anything to fit her.
‘Go on, go in!’ Brad urged. Nina stepped inside onto cream carpet and almost immediately saw The Dress—a long, floaty sky-blue confection of loveliness. Its three-quarter length sleeves were edged with tiny silver beads, and the same beads decorated the low, scooped neckline. Nina checked the label and her shoulders sagged—a size 16.
‘Just try it on,’ said Brad. Nina gathered up the dress and stepped behind the curtains, willing it to fit her. She slipped the fabric over her head and, for once, found that she didn’t have to drag it down over her hips. It slid and fell in a sensuous silky puddle around her pink toenails.
Nina looked in the mirror and couldn’t believe it. She’d lost weight. Quite a lot of weight, in fact—maybe three or four kilos. She wiped a tear from her eye, and offered a silent thanks to Zoran’s Spanish mackerel curry.
Annie was standing at the foot of the Cape Byron lighthouse, staring up at the white expanse of tower, when Matty called her name.
‘Annie! I knew you’d be here.’ He looked up and shaded his eyes from the afternoon sun to share her view. ‘It’s a pilgrimage. You can’t leave Byron Bay without visiting the lighthouse.’
‘I thought you were heading north to Cooktown, chasing red emperor.’
‘I am. But I realised that I had bigger fish to fry here in Byron first.’
‘That’s an awful joke.’
‘I know. I’ve been telling myself not to say it to you for two whole days.’ Matty stood next to her and took her hand. ‘Let’s walk out to the point,’ he said.
Their eyes were at the same height, Annie noticed, as they strolled along the path to the lookout. She wondered if that might mean they shared the same view of life.
At the bottom of the cliffs on either side the ocean stretched forever. On a wild and windy day they might