*
Jake left the cathedral and walked to the Austrade office where he had meetings lined up for the afternoon. He was struck by how such a tragedy had brought people together, even those who previously had been critics of the former Prime Minister. Although his heart wasn’t in it, he managed to get through the afternoon’s appointments and arrived at Melanie’s home by 6p.m., looking forward to a home cooked meal and a relaxing evening.
FRIDAY/SATURDAY/SUNDAY
On Friday, Jake finished off his work commitments by attending several meetings with businesses with interests in Japan. Having completed his visits program, he was able to spend the entire weekend with Melanie and her family. He strolled along the beach with them at Half Moon Bay, watched the girls compete at Little Athletics, ate with them at their favourite restaurant, watched a DVD and read bedtime stories to the girls. He enjoyed just being part of a family, something which he realised had been missing from his life for a long time.
Melanie wanted to know everything about the state funeral and what had happened to him over the last two weeks. Bill had rung her to tell her of some of the story but she wanted Jake’s version. She gasped in amazement when Jake told her about his role in P.M. Koshi’s escape from the Chinese terrorists. She plied him with questions about Shoni and their relationship. He was non-committal, saying it would take time but she would be the first to know if their relationship became serious.
On Monday morning he bade farewell to each of them, took a taxi to the international airport and boarded a plane for Tokyo. He dozed on and off throughout the flight but thought a lot about his future, his career and his personal life. Most of all he thought about Shoni.
EPILOGUE
SIX MONTHS LATER - TOKYO
Jake and Shoni had been sipping coffee from paper cups, waiting in the arrivals area at Narita airport for nearly an hour, before they saw the family exit from the customs area. His sister Melanie was the first to emerge closely followed by the two girls wearing identical backpacks and Alex dragging a trolley piled high with luggage. Jake embraced each of them warmly and introduced Shoni. He herded them outside the terminal to the pick-up area where the embassy driver was waiting in a combi-van. The driver packed their luggage into the van and they all climbed in for the long drive to the city.
Once settled in the vehicle, Jake told them that Bill and Lizzie had already arrived and were settled into his new apartment. He asked them how their flight was and they all started talking at once. The girls took an instant shine to Shoni and started asking her questions about the wedding. Melanie tried to shush them but Shoni was happy to outline the wedding plans. They listened intently as she explained that she and Jake were having a traditional Japanese wedding in the picturesque village of Takayama where she had grown up. Her family and Jake’s family would stay at a lovely ryokan, a Japanese inn, and the wedding would be held in the grounds of the ryokan in a beautiful Japanese Garden.
After battling the Tokyo traffic for two hours the driver pulled up the van outside an apartment block which had the Australian flag fluttering on a pole outside the entrance. They piled out of the van and the driver led the way to the lobby. Jake used his security key to take the elevator to the penthouse on the fifth floor. He unlocked the door to the apartment and beckoned the family to enter while he held the door open. On her way through Melanie noticed the plaque on the door.
“Hey, the sign says this is the residence of the Australian Ambassador to Japan?”
Jake just smiled and said “So it does, so it does.”
THE END
AUTHOR’S NOTE
While this book is a work of fiction, most of the cities and towns mentioned in the book are real places although some liberties have been taken with the distances between places. The Kakadu Land Council, the Binugy people, the Lost Temple and the Stockmen’s Track are all figments of the author’s imagination.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Heartfelt thanks to my wife Cheryl and my daughter Kelly, for their encouragement and suggestions for writing this story as well as their assistance in proof-reading and editing.
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