Part one

 G’day  everyone from down under

 Today is officially my first post of my Christmas story. I hope you all love it and tune in for more.

to get you in the mood here is Caves Beach

His Holiday Lifesaver

By Hazel Gower

It was a sweltering hot Christmas day, and Brad was doing some volunteer lifeguarding at Caves Beach. Today was one of the busiest days for Australian lifesavers. He had been busy all morning and was coming back from patrolling, reaching the lifeguard watchtower just as his mates Alex and Luke arrived to start their shift.

Brad had half an hour to go before he could head home. He needed to relax and mentally prepare himself for Christmas dinner with his family. Shivering at the thought, he moaned. Argh, aunties, uncles, grandparents and parents, even sisters, all asking why he hadn’t found a woman to settle down with, and telling him how they had a friend or a friend’s daughter, cousin, etc that he should meet. It drove him nuts, and if one of his sisters tried to set him up again or just happened to have a friend turn up he swore he would scream. He was thirty-five years old and could find his own damn women.

Turning to his two mates who he had known since he started Little Nipper twenty-five years ago, he said, “I’m done in half an hour. I’m going home to relax a little so when I go to Christmas dinner I don’t kill a family member when some poor woman turns up and starts hoping for things they are not going to get.”

Alex and Luke both laughed at him.

“It is seriously not funny anymore. I can find my own women,” Brad insisted.

Both his mates raised their eyebrows.

“Oh, come on, like you two could talk. Alex, that goes double for you, Amy was a sociopath.”

Alex shrugged. “My family isn’t trying to set me up all the time. Have you thought about bringing a pretend girlfriend around for Christmas, someone who knows it’s only temporary?”

He stared at Alex. “That’s a good idea, but do you know any women who would be willing to do that?”

Luke and Alex both shook their heads.

Brad sighed. “Thanks, guys. You really helped.” He patted them hard on the back and turned, saying, “I’m going to check on the rock pools before I head home.”

“The swells are really coming at the rocks, and the tide is rising,” Luke yelled to him. “Make sure all the people come back around before they get stuck on the opposite side of the caves.”

Brad waved his acknowledgment over his shoulder. He thought about what Alex had said. It wasn’t that he didn’t want a wife and the two point five kids, it was just that he had never found a woman who interested him longer than a day or two. Maybe he was going for the wrong women. All the women he took out were too busy wanting to spend his money, or were bitching about having to work and help out their family and friends. He wanted to find a woman who didn’t care about his money. A woman who was happy to work for a living and that helped her family. Was that too much to ask?

He walked through the caves and when he came out he saw that Luke had been right…the waves were now crashing over the rock pools. Most people had headed back to the main beach. There were only three groups left— a family with young children, a group of teenagers, and an older couple.

Scanning the area again, his eyes fell on a woman he had missed at the end of the rock pools. She was heading back in, holding a vase of some sort in her hand. The rocks were getting harder to walk over with every new wave that crashed at her feet. Looking her up and down, he carefully walked over to help her.

The woman was beautiful. She had porcelain white skin and a voluptuous figure, a perfect coke bottle shape. Her midnight black hair was in a loose bun, and she had on baggy shorts and a blue top. He wasn’t close enough yet to see any of her other features.

Before he reached her, a large wave crashed at her and the force caused her to slip and fall into a rock pool, hitting her head on the edge. Moving as quickly as he could to get her, he pulled her out of the water and got her to a safe place before he started checking her pulse and breathing. He started CPR and told one of the spectators to go tell the lifesavers on the other side of the caves so they could call the ambulance.

After a good five minutes she started to splutter and cough. He turned her on her side so she could get all the water out. The woman tried to get up, but he gently put his hand on her shoulder. “Miss, my name is Brad, and I’m a lifesaver. You tripped coming back over the rocks and hit your head. The ambulance will be here shortly. Can you tell me where you’re hurt?”

She sat up quick as a flash. “No, no, I’m fine. Please, I didn’t get travelers insurance. I’m fine, truly. I couldn’t pay for the hospital.”

She started to cry, and for the next fifteen minutes tried to convince him why she couldn’t go to hospital. The paramedics from the ambulance showed up.

“Please, I have used all my saving to come to Australia.” She tried to stand up, but he and the paramedics wouldn’t allow that.

“Miss, you fell and hit your head. I had to give you resuscitation. We strongly advise you to get yourself checked out by a doctor.”

The woman shook her head, winced, then looked to the paramedics and stated, “I’m so sorry that you came all the way here, but I will not be coming with you. I’m fine, really.” She shrugged both his and the paramedics hands off her, took a deep breath, and slowly stood, smiling when she accomplished the feat without falling.

Brad looked over at Oscar, one of the paramedics, who shrugged and turned to face the woman. “Miss, I can’t force you to come with us, but I would advise it.”

“It’s Hailey, and thanks again, but I’m fine.”

Oscar nodded to Hailey then to Brad and walked back out of the caves. Hailey watched him go then turned to face Brad. He noticed the small crowd had gone now since she stood up. As she turned to him she swayed and grabbed his arm. He dared not say anything, only raised his eyebrow.

“Okay, so I’m a little shaky, that’s all. Would you please walk with me up the beach and I’ll sit down, promise.”

When she looked up at him his breath caught, in all his thirty-five years he had never seen a more captivating sight. She had the brightest green eyes he had ever seen. Her hair had fallen out of its bun, and her lips were so full they looked like a bee had stung them. He couldn’t stop staring at them. Licking his lips, he cleared his throat.

An idea started to form in his head. Oh God, he really shouldn’t be thinking of someone he’d just saved like this. He shook his head but couldn’t stop himself from looking her up and down again. Wow, she was young, couldn’t be more than twenty-five, and that was with him really stretching it. Her skin was flawless and her eyes were looking at his with an innocence he hadn’t seen in years.

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK

Make sure you go check out Tamaria Soana - title is Mistletoe & Holly - posting on Sundays at http://tamariasoana.blogspot.com/

As I said last week here is Faith from Kane’s mate