Hope's Road Read online

  Above her head, Jodie was vaguely aware of a loudspeaker blasting her earlier disaster to all. ‘In the ladies’ event, Jodie was cracked off. For the uninitiated this means she lost her beast back to the mob for a third time and had to leave the camp. Let’s see if she and Parnassus can hold on to this one…’

  The cattle made a break for the right-hand rail but Parnie was onto them, facing up to the steers. His ears were working, flicking back and forth. He was so signed on to the beast, she could tell he was in his element and loving every minute of the challenge as much as she was.

  There! Her selected steer was by himself, the other behind them. Finally. Steer, horse and rider turned to the right. Another swing to the left, all in concert.

  ‘Gate!’ yelled Jodie as the beast moved for another turn.

  The two steel barriers were yanked open by their keepers. The animal could sense freedom ahead.

  And then Jodie, Parnassus and the beast were out of the camp and galloping into the arena. She had forty seconds to get the animal around the course. Covering the steer on the inside, horse and rider headed him towards the first peg. Ears still flicking, Parnie put on a burst of speed, guiding the beast around the peg. The steer was moving okay with his tail up over his back, all promising signs he was going to run well. Jodie allowed a little frisson of pleasure to thread through her body. She’d made the right choice.

  From a nearby fence-top she could hear a piping voice yelling, ‘Go, Mummy!’

  Milly. Her daughter. There would be no one prouder.

  Jodie sat down in the saddle to hold her stride for a smooth cross-over. Around the second peg they went, the steer guided by Jodie and her horse. This was all going so sweet. She’d show Alex what she and Parnie were made of, my oath she would.

  Beneath her she could feel Parnassus sensing the end of the course. He started to run harder, more fierce in his intent. She moved to check him, make him shorten his stride, but the horse didn’t respond.

  Parnassus was over the top of the animal before Jodie’s brain could assimilate what was happening.

  Fuck! She was going to hock the beast. Jodie’s body automatically braced for what she knew was to come.

  Parnie’s head was over the hindquarters of the steer, his front hooves clipping the back feet of the Hereford. The steer tumbled to the ground. The horse and his rider followed, plummeting in a flurry of limbs, hooves and solid unforgiving kilos of flesh.

  It only took a second for Parnassus’s warm body to disappear from beneath Jodie and she tumbled over his head.

  And then Jodie was falling … falling … down into the black.

  Images came like photos from a camera.

  Open sky. Dirt. A teeth-crunching, bone-jarring thump.

  No feeling.

  Black images with fuzzy grey-white edges.

  Forcing her eyes open. Someone screaming. Searching for the voice. She knew it.

  Screaming still. Milly. It was her daughter…

  Struggling to move. Being forced back. A male voice. ‘You’ve gotta keep still. They’re coming … they’re coming … they’re coming.’ It was like a whispered litany in her head. Who was coming?

  Opening her eyes again. Sniffing the air. The scent of Milly’s shampoo, that distinctive smell of strawberries. A mop of hair lying on her chest. Oh God, it all hurt. Pain buzzed through her nerve endings like she was holding on to an electric fence. But that was nothing compared to hearing Milly’s screams. ‘Mummy! Mummy! Mummy!’

  Oh God.

  Alex. Dear Alex. Holding Milly’s hand. No, wait. Alex was trying to pull Milly away. Haul her back. Jodie wanted to scream at him, ‘Let her go!’ But again that male voice: ‘No, Jodie. Keep still till the ambos get to you.’

  She stared up into the kind eyes of an upside-down stockman. His hands were gently cradling each side of her head, stopping her from moving her neck. She could see chest hairs poking through his once yellow shirt. She wondered if he knew they were smothered in claggy grey dirt.

  What had she been thinking? Something about a little girl … Milly …

  Navy blue. Flashes of red. The kind eyes of the stockman were gone, replaced by efficient hands. A collar around her neck. A board under her back. Sticky tape around her head. Milly’s smell again. She could hear the wracking sobs of her daughter – the most precious thing she had in the world.

  The sound of Alex giving orders.

  A sharp prick to her skin.

  Softness, fuzziness.

  Then nothing. Nothing at all.

  Acknowledgements

  The control of wild dogs is a significant issue for livestock producers across country Australia. Bodies such as the government-appointed Wild Dog Control Advisory Commit­tee of Victoria, representing landholders and the appropriate government agencies, are currently working to advise government on improving wild dog control management practices into the future.

  I would like to thank the Wild Dog Controllers (formerly Dog Trappers) in East Gippsland for sharing their time and wisdom with me, especially Peter Lee, Jim Benton and Terry Higgins. Any errors are mine. To Dan (and Harvey) Mayo, Jenny Lacey, and Peter and Mary Bevan, many thanks for insights into the world of the boundary rider and life in remote western New South Wales. Appreciation and love also to Erlina Compton.

  Sincere thanks once again to my wonderful publisher, Beverley Cousins, and the rest of the team at Random House Australia, particularly Jessica Malpass, Tobie Mann, Brandon VanOver, the fabulous reps (especially Lyndal, Di, Anthony and Jim) and the talented Kate O’Donnell for her insightful editing. Much gratitude also goes to my lovely agent, Sheila Drummond, for your wise advice and friendship.

  To the people of Gippsland, I offer my sincere thanks for getting behind one of your own. The support has been incredible. To all the booksellers across Australia – those who hand-sell my novels – I am very grateful for your faith in my work. A special cheer to Liz and Trevor Watt and Di and Duncan Johnston.

  All my fabulous friends – you know who you are – your support and love means so much. Particularly our wonderful Helen White, my incredible ‘Lardner Park team’, the Dekker and Ross families (for Dekkerby adventures), Jenny Green (for saving my butt over and over), Emma and Buck Williamson (for campfires and brainstorming), and the Nambrok tennis girls – you rock. To the people who read drafts and/or gave specific advice – Pam and Mal Beveridge, Glenda and Ross Anderson, David Wadey, Jen Scoullar, Leonne Seymour, Melinda Bent­velzen and Wayne Doull, to name a few – sincere appreciation.

  To Kim Wilkins (aka Kimberley Freeman), gratitude for your lessons and counsel; the awesome Little Lonsdale Group for your support; the talented Gippsland Country Life team – another great year; Kath Ledson and Kate Belle, my go-to editing and critique stalwarts, thanks is never enough; and Karen Chisholm, website extraordinaire, I salute you.

  Much love and appreciation to Andrea Killeen for planning assistance, the road trips, keeping me focused (and on time!); Fleur McDonald for a treasured friendship; Helene, Nicole and Fiona for the chats and all the other rural authors and readers for your enthusiasm and support.

  As the theme of Hope’s Road centres around family, I would like to acknowledge mine. To the entire Osborn, Jones, Justice and Kerby families, I am so proud to stand among you. In particular, Deborah and Joshua Westland for all things bright yellow; Graeme Osborn for, once again, the serenity of the homestead to write; Margaret Caffrey for her encouragement; the beautiful and courageous Tamara Kerby for her name; and Margot, along with the rest of the Kerby clan, for welcoming us with such open arms.

  To my cherished family – my father John, Pat, Kerry, Des, Stephen, Patrick, Trish, Silas, Paul, Emma, Eliza, Tom and Will – thank you for your love, support and encouragement. You mean the world to me.

  And finally to my beloved husband, Hugh, and beautiful, talented children, Brent, Callan and Katie. You make me so proud. Thank you for allowing your wife and mother to live a dream: family, fa
rming and fables.

  Bella’s Run

  Bella Vermaelon and her best friend Patty are two fun-loving country girls bonded in a sisterhood no blood tie could ever beat.

  Now they are coming to the end of a road trip which has taken them from their family farms in the rugged Victorian high country to the red dust of the Queensland outback. For almost a year they have mustered on cattle stations, cooked for weary stockmen, played hard at rodeos and outback parties, and danced through life like a pair of wild tumbleweeds.

  And with the arrival of Patty’s brother Will and Bella’s cousin Macca, it seems love is on the horizon too . . .

  Then a devastating tragedy strikes, and Bella’s world is changed for ever.

  So she runs - from the only life she has ever known. But can she really turn her back on the man she loves? Or on the land that runs deep in her blood?

  Margareta Osborn’s bestselling debut – set in Victoria and Queensland – is brimming with the energy and vitality of life on the land.

  Available now

  Mountain Ash

  After years of struggling as a single mother, Jodie Ashton has given up on love and passion. What she craves now is security for herself and her beloved daughter Milly. And marriage to widower Alex McGregor, the owner of the prosperous Glenevelyn cattle station in East Gippsland, will certainly offer that. If only he wasn’t so much older and so controlling.

  Needing space to decide her future, Jodie reluctantly agrees to a girls-only weekend at the Riverton rodeo . . .

  Meanwhile, cowboy Nate McGregor vows off women, after his latest one-night stand costs him his job in the Northern Territory. Perhaps it’s time to head back to his family home, Glenevelyn, to check out for himself the ‘gold-digger’ his father seems determined to marry.

  But first, on his way through Riverton, he plans to stop off at a rodeo.

  Two lives are about to collide in one passionate moment – with devastating results . . .

  From bestselling author Margareta Osborn comes another scintillating rural romance with a devastating love triangle twist.

  Available now

  A Bush Christmas

  Jaime Hanrahan does not want anything to do Christmas this year.

  She’s just been retrenched, and, if that wasn’t bad enough, this is her first Christmas without her beloved father, Jack, who died last Boxing Day.

  Determined not to spend it with her mother, who has already remarried, and her friends, who still have six-figure jobs, she jumps at the chance to house-sit a mansion in rural Burdekin’s Gap.

  Two problems.

  Number one, the property comes with a handsome station manager, Stirling McEvoy, who doesn’t take kindly to a city chick destroying his peace. Especially when she needs rescuing from stampeding cattle, falling Christmas trees and town ladies wielding catering lists and tablecloths.

  And two, in Burdekin’s Gap there’s no chance of escaping the festive season. For the town has its own unique way of celebrating Christmas – big time, BUSH style!

  A gloriously funny and hopelessly romantic Christmas story set in the beautiful Australian bush of East Gippsland.

  Available as an ebook now

  Margareta Osborn is a fifth-generation farmer who has lived and worked on the land all her life. She also writes about it in the Gippsland Country Life magazine. Home is the beautiful Macalister Valley of East Gippsland where, with her husband and three children, she spends many hours in the mountains in which her novels are set.

  She is the author of three novels, Bella’s Run – a No. 1 bestseller – Hope’s Road, Mountain Ash and the No. 1 bestselling ebook A Bush Christmas.

  Visit www.margaretaosborn.com.au; Margareta Osborn;

  and @margaretaosborn

  Also by Margareta Osborn

  BELLA’S RUN

  MOUNTAIN ASH

  A BUSH CHRISTMAS (e-novella)

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  Version 2.0

  Hope’s Road

  9781864713176

  Copyright © Margareta Osborn, 2014

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  A Bantam book

  Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd

  Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060

  www.randomhouse.com.au

  Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at http://www.randomhouse.com.au/about/contacts.aspx

  First published by Bantam in 2013

  National Library of Australia

  Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

  Osborn, Margareta.

  Hope’s road [electronic resource]/Margareta Osborn

  ISBN 978 1 86471 317 6 (ebook)

  Cover photographs © Getty Images

  Cover design by Christabella Designs

  Typesetting and eBook production by Midland Typesetters, Australia

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