Tangled Vines: An Australian Rural Romance by Nicole Flockton Page A

bungalow up in the hills,” he smiled wryly. “They wanted their privacy. It ended up saving them.”
    “I’ve been to Thailand; it is really beautiful. I can imagine staying in an isolated cabin would be wonderful.”
    “They go back every couple of years. Visit the families they helped during that time. They really are an amazing couple. I have so much to thank them for.”
    “From my interactions with Shey, it sounds like she’s been there for you when you needed her.”
    “Yeah, I don’t know what it was about me, but after that moment, Shey and Nate provided me with support I probably didn’t deserve. It was like they’d worked out that I needed a surrogate family and no one would do as good a job as them. Shey’s only eleven years older than me. She treated me like a kid brother, not like I was one of their sons.”
    “I’d like to meet both Shey and her husband. I’ve only spoken to her on the phone.”
    “Trust me, I think the feeling is mutual. Anyway, they were with me when I got the news that they’d found some victims who fitted the description I’d given of my parents and Emily. I didn’t want to go identify them. I still held out hope that they were somewhere safe, even though it had been ten days after the disaster. They were unrecognizable. They’d been battered by debris and their bodies were covered with bruises. Emily … oh God, Emily, my sweet little sister.”
    Kyle tried to hold back the tears and failed. This was why he never talked about what he’d been through. He wanted to remember her happy, smiling, innocent face. How she’d looked on Christmas Day. All he remembered now were bruises and cuts. So many she was almost unrecognizable.
    Jordan held him tightly and rained kisses over his cheeks. He let himself be held.
    “I’m sorry, Kyle. So very sorry that you had to go through that.”
    “It was my fault. My fault,” he mumbled over and over. “I found out they were headed to the beach to look for me. They didn’t stand a chance when the wave hit. I want to believe they didn’t suffer. But after seeing their bodies, I can’t help but think it would’ve been a violent death for them. Emily would’ve been so scared. I should’ve protected her more. Why wasn’t it me?”
    “You weren’t meant to die, Kyle. I don’t mean to trivialize your family’s death. But I believe things happen for a reason, and even though we don’t understand it, it’s pre-destined for us.”
    Kyle pulled away from Jordan’s embrace, no longer finding comfort in it. Not after her words.
    “So what you’re saying is the whole fight and tsunami were pre-destined and my family had to die and I survived?” He shook his head in denial. “I wouldn’t call living without the people who loved me as a win. I lost so much that day, Jordan. Don’t you see?”
    “Yes, I do. But don’t you see you also gained something, too? You gained Shey and Nate. You gained the fire to finish university and build one of the most successful stockbroking businesses in the country.”
    “You don’t know that,” he scoffed. “I could’ve have started my own firm and had the same success. All the while my family could’ve been standing next to me. I could’ve provided them with everything they’d ever wanted.”
    “I guess you’ll never know.”
    “No, I won’t.”
    A yawn racked Jordan’s body and Kyle glanced over to his bedside clock. It was getting close to dawn. He knew this was the time she normally got up to tend the vines. Guilt that he’d kept her awake almost consumed him, until she pulled him close and kissed his cheek. “I think it’s time we slept.”
    He closed his eyes. His body wrapped up in Jordan’s arms. He gave himself over to a woman for the first time in his adult life. Now she knew the truth about everything. Would she look at him differently when she woke?

Chapter 15
    Surrounded by a cocoon of warmth, the last thing Jordan wanted to do was get up, but her body had other