“I want you to sit back and relax. Enjoy the ride. It’ll take about half an hour to get where we’re going.”
How far could they travel in that length of time? Depending on direction it could be down the peninsula to Rosebud or toward Melbourne as far as Mordiallic. Or maybe he was taking her up to the Dandenong Mountains?
Darcy started the engine and pulled away from the curb. Emma tried to figure out where they were going by the speed and the direction they turned. She knew they got onto the freeway for a short time, but after they got off there were so many twists and turns she was completely boggled as to where they were. Darcy, of course, wouldn’t give her a single clue. She’d forgotten how maddeningly stubborn and immune to her probing he could be. There was no noise from the backseat. Billy must have fallen asleep.
Finally Darcy stopped the truck. “We’re here.”
“At last. Now I can take off this bandanna.”
“Not yet.” He pulled her hands away from the cloth and placed them in her lap. “Be patient. Sit there while I unload then I’ll come back for you.” He paused. “Promise you won’t peek?”
“I promise,” she lied. As soon as he was out of the vehicle she was peeking.
“I mean it, Em. I’m trying to create an effect. It’ll be spoiled if you look too soon.”
He had gone to a lot of trouble. And she had to admit, the suspense was exciting. This was part of what she loved about Darcy. She never knew what to expect, but whatever he planned was always entertaining.
“Okay, I won’t look.”
While he unloaded the truck—and it took at least ten minutes so he must have brought a lot of gear—she tried to mentally go over everything she wanted to say to him. How she’d always loved him. How much she needed him. The many ways he enhanced her life. The ways she hoped she could make him happy. In every category she’d prepared examples, of course.
Her door opened and he removed her seat belt. “You can come out now. But don’t take off the blindfold.”
His hand at her elbow, he guided her first over pavement then onto grass. “Watch your step. It’s a little bumpy. Easy...over to your right. Take off your sandals.”
She put a hand on his shoulder and slipped off her shoes. She could hear birds close by and in the distance, a lawn mower. She raised her face and smelled a sweet fragrance, jasmine or daphne, on the breeze. “Where are we?”
“You’ll see in a moment. Step onto the blanket. Sit down. Carefully...right down to the ground. There are pillows.”
She lowered herself to her knees, felt around and located a large cushion. He helped her lean against it.
“Ready? I’ll take the bandanna off now.”
After so long blindfolded, the sunlight made her eyes hurt. She scrunched them shut, then slowly opened them a crack. They were seated on a big blanket strewn with soft cushions in a meadow. A picnic basket sat to one side and a cooler. Billy was in his car seat, still asleep.
Emma gazed around. “Where are we?”
“Can you guess? You get points for each correct statement.”
On second thought, not a meadow and not a park, either. It wasn’t that big. A hedge bordered one side and a fence bordered the other side. A quiet residential street formed a third boundary. And down the sloping grass in front of them was a tangle of bush and then tall pine trees and eucalypts. It was an empty lot.
“Is there a creek down there?”
“Two points.” Darcy pulled a bottle of champagne out of the cooler and two flutes out of the picnic basket. “Five points if you can tell me the name of the creek and the town.”
“It looks like Summerside. But how could that be— Oh, you drove around in circles and doubled back. Very clever.” She’d hoped for someplace more picturesque and romantic to propose to him, but this was very pretty. “Are we on private land? Are we allowed to be here?”
He poured the sparkling wine and handed her a glass. “I have permission from the owner. And yes, this is Summerside. Two and a half points.”
“You said five.”
“You have to name the creek.”
Four creeks ran through Summerside, two with multiple branches. She only knew of one that had such tall trees along its banks. “Earimil Creek?”