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been. I love you so much, it’s
the only excuse I can offer. Oh, Laurie, Laurie.” He pulled her head onto his
chest. “I'd cut my tongue out if it would do any good. You're the best girl a
man could ever have.”
    He threaded
his fingers through her hair. “I didn't mean what I said. I love you so much
and I wanted you. We mightn't see each other for ages. I got desperate and lost
my temper,” his voice broke. “There won't ever be anyone else for me. You're
the only person in the world I care about.”
    “Danny,
Danny.” She nuzzled her face into the warm flesh of his throat. “It isn't that
I don't love you. I'm frightened I might have a baby.”
    His body
went rigid. “Hell! You think you might be having one?”
    “No.”
    He sagged
against her with relief.
    “A week
after you left, I knew everything was all right.”
    “I’m a
bastard for asking you to take such a risk again. Honestly I didn't even think
about it.”
    “Men never
do, but it’s all right as long as you still respect me. I couldn't bear it if
you didn't.”
    “You know I
do. If we were older we could get married straight away, but there's no way
your father would give his consent. Later on, when I've made something of
myself, he might agree.”
    His lips
brushed hers in a gentle caress. “Tell me all the news from home.”
    She filled
him in on all the local gossip. As he did not ask about his Uncle Alf, she
volunteered no information about him.
    “Your
father didn't mind you coming down to Melbourne?”
    She gave a
defiant toss of her head. “He wouldn't let me, so I came anyway.”
    “Hell.” He
slapped his forehead with his open hand.
    “It's all
right, I told Uncle Richard. He's going to fix everything with Dad.”
    “You defied
your father for me?” He hugged her tight, and everything felt right with her
world again. Be cheerful. You want him to go to the war with happy memories,
not neglect his own safety because of worry about you.
    “Seen much
of the Bryson brothers?”
    “Nope, they
got transferred to a field ambulance unit, so I've only run into them a couple
of times since. Captain Sinclair is a lucky devil. I wanted to join the Light
Horse, but I was worried about the war ending before I got there. Now they
won't let me transfer. Let's catch a tram into Melbourne and I'll buy you afternoon tea. I
heard of a nice tearoom from a mate.”
    The cable
trams were painted in distinctive colors and Laurie tried to curb her
excitement. She had never been on a tram before. They climbed into the first
car, which Danny explained was called a dummy.
    “How do you
know all about it?” she teased.
    “Easy.
Ernie, my mate, used to be a grip man on the trams, born and bred in Melbourne, so he knows his
way about. Told me about the tearooms, too.”
    Danny
pointed out an iron handle, which passed through a slit so it could grip the
cable below. “You see, when the grip man wants the tram to go forward, he uses
a lever to close the gripper on the cable. When he wants to stop, he lets the
cable go and applies the brakes. It sounds easy. I could probably drive one
myself,” he boasted.
    Except for
the roof, the dummy was quite open, and she preferred this to the closed-in
trailer part. The breeze lifted up her hair, whipping it across her face in gay
abandonment, and had her clutching her hat lest it should fly away.
    Danny gazed
into her flushed face. How beautiful she was, and he hated himself afresh for
the cruel words he had thrown at her. He wanted to go to the war, craved the
excitement, but leaving Laurie was the hardest thing he had done in his life. A
few months away would quell the restlessness that had become a driving force
within him, and then he would never leave her side again.
    “I don’t
need to ask whether you're enjoying yourself,” he said.
    “It's
wonderful! I love it.” The soft shining light in her eyes told him she had
forgiven him, and he was glad. She meant more to him than any living person and
always