‘But there’s no creek up here, is there? Did you walk all that way?’
The children grinned. Milla said, ‘We were riding our horses.’
‘Oh!’ Bree’s mouth hung open as she took in the prospect of kids her age exploring these hills and valleys on horseback.
‘This has been great,’ Chloe intervened. ‘I think you’ve just about covered all your questions, haven’t you, Bree?’
Bree turned back to the children. ‘Where do you go to school?’
‘Burralea Primary,’ said Milla. ‘Are you putting that in the paper?’
‘No.’ Bree smiled shyly. ‘I just wanted to know.’
‘I’ll be going to high school, next year,’ said Sam. ‘What about you?’
‘I go to a boarding school in Townsville. It has both primary and secondary.’
‘Oh.’
There seemed little more to be said after that. Chloe took a photo of Sam and Milla and then she thanked Mary for the interview and the morning tea. ‘We’d better get back to the office and write this up so it makes this week’s edition,’ she told them.
As they got into the car, Bree seemed a little subdued, but then Sam called, ‘Might see you at the lake.’
‘Yeah!’ She was smiling again as they drove off.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Lying in bed beside her husband, Emily stretched luxuriously. She and Alex had made love in broad daylight, which seemed quite risqué for a pair of sixty-somethings. And, after so many weeks of misery, Emily was almost happy again.
Now, already, she found it hard to believe that she had been so scared when she’d first seen Alex this morning. In the kitchen, when he’d suddenly told her that he wanted to apologise, she’d almost laughed. When it was nearly too late, she’d realised he was serious.
‘An apology?’ She had found it necessary to repeat this to make sure she’d heard him correctly.
‘I owe you a thousand apologies,’ Alex had said. ‘I’ve been stupidly selfish, caught up in my own grief, as if my pain was bigger and more important than anyone else’s.’
Emily had to admit the argument that had sent Alex retreating to Red Hill had felt like a kind of pain contest.
But of course there had been terrible heartache. They were Robbie’s parents. He was their only child. They had both adored him and his death had left them utterly bereft. Rudderless.
‘I shouldn’t have laid the blame on you and your mother,’ Alex said. ‘That was cruel.’
‘We both said cruel things. I’ve wanted to say sorry too. I never meant things to get so – so —’
Her husband smiled sadly. ‘So mega?’
It was a word Robbie had often used and, almost instantly, they were both blinded by tears. Both reaching for each other. Clinging. Sobbing their apologies.
Such a release to finally cry and to hug. Their coffee had been cold when they finally released each other and sat down to talk. They drank it anyway.
‘I’ve had time to think more rationally,’ Alex said then. ‘I know I blamed your mother’s heroics for inspiring Robbie to join the Air Force. And I do believe that was a factor. But he might just as easily have wanted to fly helicopters to muster cattle.’
‘And you wouldn’t have objected then.’
‘That’s right. I probably would have been thrilled.’ Alex sighed. ‘And the crazy thing is that I really do admire Izzie. She’s always been an amazing woman and a wonderful role model for Robbie.’
‘He adored her.’
‘They had a great relationship.’ Alex managed to smile. Then, with an unhappy grimace, he added, ‘We both know there’ve been plenty of helicopter-mustering accidents. So, if Robbie had stayed in the cattle business —’
He didn’t finish the sentence, but Emily knew he was thinking that even if Robbie had followed his father’s wishes and stayed in the cattle industry, the result might have been the same. As always, she was fighting the wall of sadness that threatened whenever she thought about her son’s death.
Alex sighed again, more heavily. ‘It tears me apart to think that Robbie died believing I was mad at him for joining the Air Force.’ His jaw trembled. ‘I mean, I didn’t go into law the way my father had hoped. I gave up an expensive education and took off into the outback to raise cattle and my father let me go without reproach. I – I should have known better. I didn’t want to be the kind of man who held his son back from his dreams.’
‘You didn’t hold him back,’ Emily said gently. ‘When we were fighting, I might have suggested, in the heat of the moment, that you tried to stop Robbie from joining the RAAF. But that was the grief talking. I’m sorry I said that, Alex. I knew you were always going to back down, to give Robbie your blessing to do whatever he felt was right.’
She reached for her husband’s hand, felt it tremble, and she wrapped her fingers around his, desperate now to reassure him. ‘I’m sure Robbie knew it, too.’ She squeezed his hand more tightly. ‘Alex, Robbie did know. He always knew you loved him.’ Her voice cracked as she said this and then she was weeping again and Alex was pulling her into his arms and holding her close.
‘My dearest, dearest girl.’
Looking up at him through her tears, she tried to smile.
‘I hope you know I’ll always love you, Emily.’
‘When you were away for so long, I was beginning to wonder.’
‘I’m sorry. I was a stubborn jerk. It was easier to spend long days on horseback than it was to come home and admit I was wrong.’
With a guilty start, Emily thought of Rolf. She wondered if Alex would mention their friend’s role in his decision to return, and she was rather relieved when he didn’t. As far as she knew, Rolf had left yesterday, flying to Brisbane first, en route for Washington.
Perhaps Rolf had rung Alex from Brisbane. Obviously, he had said only enough to shake Alex without revealing everything. And that was how it should be. Must be. Some secrets were never meant to be shared. She was confident that Rolf would never betray her and she would have to come to terms with the choice she’d made that night.
She reached for her husband’s hand, linked her fingers with his and squeezed. ‘I’m so glad you’re back, Alex.’
‘So am I. We’ll stop quarrelling now, won’t we?’
Emily smiled. ‘I hope so.’
Like someone coming out of a long sleep, she drew a deep breath and looked around her. They were still in the kitchen and the day outside was now bright and hot, the lake the same bleached blue as the sky. ‘Would you like breakfast?’ she asked. ‘Or should we just wait till lunch now it’s getting so late?’
But Alex wasn’t worried about breakfast or lunch. He had a better idea, which was how they had ended up here in bed. In the middle of the day.
So they had behaved like honeymooners after all, Emily realised with amused satisfaction.
Alex rolled towards her now, traced the line of her shoulder. ‘This seems like the perfect occasion to take you out to lunch.’
The suggestion had instant appeal, but Emily couldn’t help feeling as if she’d forgotten her responsibilities – at the Bugle, or the CWA. And then she remembered. ‘Oh, gosh. I almost forgot that Jess is coming this afternoon.’
Alex frowned. ‘Who’s Jess?’
‘A new girl in town. The one who phoned this morning. A single mother. She works at the Lilly Pilly and she’s made friends with Chloe, our new journalist.’
‘And she wants to visit with you?’
‘Yes.’ What had Jess said? There’s something I need to tell you.
‘When’s she coming?’
‘A little after half past three.’
‘Then we’ve plenty of time for lunch.’
Finn had no idea what to expect when he pulled up outside the Bugle office. His short trip to Thailand had been a roller-coaster, the tension of the events there made so much worse by the knowledge that he’d abandoned Bree at the crucial start to their promised holiday together.
So much had happened in such a short time – the meetings with Ben, with Doug Brady and Jack O’Brien, who was putting the finishing touches on plans for the final arrests. It was surreal to be back so soon, looking down the familiar street with its quaint shops and cottages and carefully tended footpaths.
From here he could see kids, freed from school for the long summer holidays, playing cricket on the spare allotment beside the Community Hall. He saw old Ernie Cruikshank walking his dog past Ben Shaw’s bakery, which still had the closed sign on the door. A middle-aged woman, her hair freshly coiffed, emerged from Tammy’s salon.
Finn wished he could feel more triumphant. He had finally found Ben and there would soon be an end to the baker’s disturbing disappearance and exile. But these victories were small compensation for the painful truth that he had deserted his daughter and had landed the entire responsibility for her onto Chloe.
He felt like a heel. A tired heel at that. He’d had little sleep in the past few days, but it was time to face the music.
With no idea what to expect, Finn wearily climbed out of the small hire car. He had not warned Chloe of his arrival. She would have felt obliged to come down to Cairns to pick him up, losing precious hours out of her day, and he’d already made her life difficult enough.
‘Dad!’
A delighted shriek reached him, even before he got to the office door. His daughter burst onto the footpath and launched herself at him like a small missile.
‘You’re back,’ Bree cried, hugging him hard.
Finn hugged her in return, but his throat was suddenly so tight and raw he couldn’t speak. Through the open doorway, he saw Chloe, inside the office, still sitting at her desk, watching them.
‘How’ve you both been?’ he managed to ask Bree when he’d cleared his throat. He hoped the news wasn’t bad.
‘We’ve had the best time ever.’ Grabbing his hand, Bree pulled him into the office. ‘Chloe and I have been swimming in the lake and we had a party and we’ve done an interview. And I’ve written my first ever news story and Chloe says it’s good.’
Finn had never seen his daughter so excited. ‘Your first news story, eh?’
‘Yep.’ Bree was clearly bursting with pride. ‘Chloe says it’s fine and I’ve written the headline and everything. Come and have a look.’
Now, with two hands at his back, Bree pushed him towards his own computer where a story on the screen was headed: JOYOUS REUNION FOR COOPER.
‘Headline looks great.’ Finn felt somewhat winded. ‘Who’s Cooper?’
‘The cutest little black and tan dog. He went missing from the Burralea Nursing Home. Two kids found him – Sam and Milla Peterson – and Chloe and me went and interviewed them. They live on a farm, Dad, way up on top of a hill and I asked all the questions.’ Bree paused to catch her breath. Her face was flushed, her eyes shining. ‘It was so cool.’
‘Seems like Chloe’s taken very good care of you.’
As Finn said this, his gaze met Chloe’s. Her warm brown eyes were shimmering. With tears? Once again, he was sideswiped by unexpected emotion.
But then Chloe smiled. ‘Welcome home,’ she said.
‘Thanks.’ Finn dredged up a shaky smile of his own. ‘It’s good to be back.’
And he realised, for possibly the first time, that returning to this small office in this tiny country town really did feel like coming home.
It was almost four when Jess arrived at the Lake House in the little yellow bubble of a car that she had recently bought. She was looking surprisingly transformed, with her brown hair freed from its usual ponytail and hanging to her shoulders in a shining fall. She had also replaced her habitual jeans and T-shirt with a slim-fitting shift of green linen that brought out sea-green depths in her eyes.
The baby was dressed up, too, in a cute little pink floral dress with puffed sleeves and sweet smocking.
‘Oh, don’t you both look lovely,’ Emily said as she greeted them.
She had the tea things ready on a tray and Alex was downstairs tinkering with the outboard motor of his little sailing boat. He hadn’t used the boat in ages, of course, but now he wanted to get it going again and to make the most of opportunities to sail before the wet season arrived.
‘Sorry I’m a bit late,’ said Jess. ‘Willow was asleep when I went to collect her from day care and then I needed to feed her.’
‘That’s fine.’ Emily grinned at the rosy-cheeked, bright-eyed baby. ‘You look wide awake now, don’t you, Willow?’ Then to Jess, ‘Come inside and make yourselves comfortable.’
‘Thanks.’ Jess took a plastic container from her capacious shoulder bag, which no doubt held all the paraphernalia that young mothers found necessary. ‘I brought some baklava.’
Emily laughed. ‘That’s very wicked of you. Wicked in the best sense, of course. I’m very partial to baklava.’
‘Ellen at the Lilly Pilly made it. It’s become her specialty,’ Jess said as she followed Emily into the lounge room. ‘Oh, wow!’
Like many previous guests, Jess stood in open-mouthed admiration of the view provided by the floor to ceiling windows of the tree-dotted shore and the lake beyond.
‘I knew it would be lovely here, but that view’s beyond amazing.’
‘Yes, we’re lucky,’ Emily murmured as she had so many times before. ‘It’s a pity it isn’t a nicer day, though.’ Thick grey clouds loomed, darkening the normally silvery water to a dull gunmetal grey.
Emily tapped the box Jess had brought. ‘I’ll just pop this on the tea tray in the kitchen.’
She wasn’t sure if the ‘talk’ Jess had planned was serious enough to start without waiting for the kettle to boil, so she returned quickly to find Jess still admiring the view. With Willow in her arms, Jess had moved a little closer to the window. From this angle, Alex could be seen leaning over the stern of his boat, wrangling a fixture on the outboard motor with a spanner.
Jess turned, looking suddenly worried. ‘Is – is that your husband?’
‘Yes.’
‘I thought he was away.’
‘He’s come back from out west. Just arrived this morning.’
As Emily said this, Alex straightened and glanced towards the house.
‘He’s very distinguished-looking, isn’t he?’ Jess said, watching him.
Emily smiled. ‘I’ve always liked to think so.’
‘Your son looked like him.’
‘My son?’ Emily had to reach for the back of a chair to steady herself. ‘You – you knew Robbie?’
‘I did, yes.’ Jess hugged Willow a little more tightly. Her mouth worked as she struggled to smile. ‘That’s why I’ve come. I wanted to tell you that I met Robbie in Sydney. I – I knew him quite well, actually.’
Emily stared at her in stunned amazement. This was the second shock she’d received today and she now felt as if she’d fallen into a kind of stupor. Several seconds must have passed before she gave a dazed shake of her head. ‘But – but you’ve been here for weeks and you’ve never said anything.’
‘I know. I’m sorry. You must think I’m very strange. It’s just —’ Jess swallowed and then blinked, as if she were fighting tears. ‘I – I wasn’t ready to talk about it.’
Emily recalled the telephone conversation this morning. There’s something I need to tell you.
Watching the young woman as she stood there now, with her baby, both so smartly dressed, while nervously delivering this startling news, Emily was stirred by an unsettling presentiment. Goosebumps broke out of her arms. Afternoon tea no longer mattered.
‘If you’re going to talk about Robbie, I think my husband would like to hear it, too,’ she said. ‘Do you mind if I fetch him?’
‘No, I guess not.’ Jess gave a shrug, but her demeanour was anything but casual.
‘I’ll be back in just a moment.’ Emily indicated an armchair. ‘Take a seat.’
It wasn’t a command, but Jess obeyed rather meekly and Emily left, her heart racing as she hurried through
the house and down the back stairs. Outside, a wind had picked up, rustling through the trees and tossing clouds across a darkening sky.
‘Alex,’ she called, but he had his head down, tinkering with the motor again, and he didn’t seem to hear her. Emily crossed the grass. ‘Alex.’
He turned, looked back over his shoulder.
‘Can you come upstairs for a moment?’ she asked him. ‘Jess – the young woman who’s come to visit me – she says she knew Robbie.’ Emily came a little closer and lowered her voice even though Jess couldn’t possibly hear her. ‘She’s come to tell me something about Robbie, but it’s a little weird, Alex. I’ve known her for weeks and this is the first time she’s mentioned Robbie. I just thought I’d like to have you there, too, to hear whatever she has to say.’
Alex was frowning as he wiped his hands on an old piece of rag. ‘It does sound rather strange.’
‘Will you come?’
‘Of course.’
‘She has a baby.’ Emily couldn’t hold back the note of warning in her voice.
‘A baby?’ The creases in Alex’s forehead deepened. ‘You don’t think —’
‘I don’t know what to think. I’m trying not to think, actually.’ Emily nodded towards the house. ‘Come on. We’d better not keep her waiting.’
A chilly numbness descended as Emily returned to the house with Alex following close behind. In the kitchen, he stopped to wash his hands properly at the sink, but he didn’t bother to remove his boots.
When they came into the lounge room, Jess was in the armchair and Willow was sitting on the floor in front of her, surrounded by a scattering of brightly coloured plastic toys. The baby grinned when she saw them and lifted her arms.
‘Gaaa!’ she cried, showing two little white teeth in her lower gum.
Alex halted for a moment and eyed the child with wary reserve, then he took command, striding across the room. ‘Hello,’ he said warmly. ‘I’m Alex. And I believe you’re Jess.’
‘Yes.’ Jess looked a tad intimidated, but she held out her hand.
‘Pleased to meet you, Jess.’ They shook hands. Then Alex looked down at the baby. He was well over six feet and, to Emily, the distance between the man and the little one seemed enormous. ‘And this is your daughter?’
The Summer of Secrets Page 28