The McCalister Legacy

by Nicole Hurley-Moore

  Lia stopped walking and turned back around. ‘Is that where you got your name from?’

  Berry smiled. ‘Partly. Berenice was my great-grandmother’s name, but my dad called me Berry because he said that I was sweet. I guess it stuck, because no one calls me Berenice anymore. Well, except for my uncle if I’ve managed to really annoy him,’ she said with a laugh.

  ‘And does that happen often?’ Nate asked with a raised eyebrow.

  ‘No, not at all. Well, maybe once in a blue moon,’ Berry said. ‘My uncle can come across as a little formidable, and he’s not particularly demonstrative. I guess that makes him well suited to being a lawyer! But once you get past the hard exterior he’s kind and squishy inside, especially when it comes to me and my siblings. He didn’t have to take us in after our parents died, but he did and I think that says a lot about him.’

  Nate nodded. ‘I reckon you’re right. So, you’re close?’

  ‘Yep.’ She paused, then added thoughtfully, ‘I guess that happens when a family goes through a tragedy.’

  Nate watched her. ‘I suppose you can appreciate what you have, and who you have, and draw strength from each other.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Berry said. ‘Something like that. Is your family close?’

  ‘Yes, I get along pretty well with these two nut jobs,’ Nate said with a grin as he gestured to his sisters. ‘And my mum. Dad, on the other hand, can be … difficult.’

  ‘Yeah, well, every family I know fights and argues and thinks that they’re the only dysfunctional one around, but I reckon no one does it perfectly.’

  ‘Mmm, I suppose I should be thankful, but Dad and I tend to rub each other up the wrong way. He believes he’s right about everything all the time and insists on treating me like I’m a sixteen-year-old idiot.’

  Berry winced. ‘Ouch, really?’

  ‘He’s always saying that I’m the future of Tarantale Downs and yet he won’t give me a voice in how the place should be run. Look, he’s my father and the business belongs to him, I get that, but you’d think he’d start giving me a little bit of responsibility. Sometimes I don’t feel much more than a glorified stable hand, the only difference is my pay packet might be a bit heavier than Justin’s.’

  ‘I’m assuming that you’ve tried talking to him?’

  Nate gave her a look.

  ‘Sorry, I guess you’ve already done that,’ she said with a sheepish grin.

  ‘Yeah, I’ve tried. More than once. I always get the same answer—You’re not ready yet. I get frustrated because half the time he’s telling me to man up and take responsibility for my actions all the while he’s saying that I’m not ready to handle any aspect of the management of Tarantale.’

  ‘That must be hard.’

  Nate shrugged. ‘It can be. As I said, we tend to butt heads a lot—it’s one of the reasons I moved out of the main house.’

  ‘Oh, where do you live? Still on the property?’

  ‘Yep. I had the old stables renovated. I’m still at Tarantale but far enough removed so I can have a little breathing room.’

  ‘Sounds like it was a good move,’ Berry said with a smile.

  ‘Berry, what’s down here?’ Lia called out as she reached the edge of the orchard.

  ‘If we keep going we’ll hit the dam.’

  ‘Oh, okay,’ Lia said as she turned back to continue walking down the path.

  Nate glanced at Berry. ‘Listen, we just sort of showed up—are we keeping you from something?’

  ‘Nah, I’ve spent most of the day by myself in the sheds. It’s nice to have some company.’

  ‘Well, if you’re sure. Shall we keep going to the dam?’

  ‘Good idea. I’ve been walking down here a lot. I don’t really know why, maybe because it’s just peaceful,’ she said as the dam came into view.

  ‘Oh, look, Nate—it has an island in the middle,’ Em said with a grin. ‘It’s so lovely!’

  ‘Have you been over there?’ Lia asked.

  Berry shook her head. ‘No, not yet. As far as I know, that’s where the herons nest. I wasn’t sure if I’d disturb them, plus I don’t have a boat. It’s on my list of things to do, I just haven’t got there yet.’

  ‘Maybe we can all go together?’ Lia suggested.

  ‘Lia, will you stop inviting yourself,’ Nate said half under his breath.

  ‘That’s all right,’ Berry said. ‘It sounds like a great idea … if we can find a boat.’

  Nate said, ‘Leave it to me. Maybe we could aim for next weekend or the one after that?’

  Berry nodded. ‘Sounds good.’

  Berry meant what she said. Everything about this place needed to be cleansed, and the dam was no exception. In her mind, the dam held a handful of golden memories of her mucking about on the water with Jess—a time that was precious to her, but also painful in the way it brought back all the things that had gone.

  Chapter Fourteen

  As Berry drove up to Cumquat Cottage after an early-morning shop for supplies, she noticed Andrea and an elderly man on the porch. Assuming he was another guest, Berry parked and grabbed her small grocery bag from the passenger seat and walked up towards the front door. She smiled to the gentleman as she passed.

  ‘Oh, Berry, this is Harvey Wainwright. Apparently he’s been waiting for you,’ Andrea said as she turned her back on him, faced Berry and rolled her eyes.

  Berry bit back a smile before saying, ‘Oh, I’m sorry but I don’t believe we’ve met.’

  ‘You haven’t but he insisted on waiting even though I said that I had no idea when you’d be back,’ Andrea said quickly, before adding an exasperated sigh. ‘Come find me in the kitchen when you’re done, Berry.’

  ‘All right.’ Berry turned to Mr Wainwright, trying not to notice his incredibly bushy eyebrows. He was a thin man with a shot of windswept white hair and eyebrows reminiscent of a seagull’s wings about to take off in flight. ‘Now, why did you want to see me?’

  He stood and looked intently at her. ‘Well, to make you an offer, girly—and a damn good one at that,’ he said bluntly.

  A frown flitted across Berry’s face as she braced herself for another one of these conversations.

  ‘Oh, I assume you’re talking about Stone Gully.’

  ‘Well, of course. I’ve been thinking about the property and you’ll be happy to know that I’m willing to take it off your hands,’ he blustered. ‘I know for a fact that it’s in a shabby state and the land hasn’t been worked on in years.’

  Berry took a steadying breath. ‘Thank you, Mr Wainwright, but the decision isn’t entirely up to me. I must discuss it with my brother and sister, and until we decide whether or not we’re going to sell Stone Gully, I can’t give you an answer.’

  Mr Wainwright’s eyes opened a little wider. ‘Are you saying that you’re going to keep the place?’

  ‘I’m saying we haven’t decided yet.’

  ‘Gah, you don’t need to be mouldering out there. Get your pretty face back to the city where it belongs. You’ve got a life ahead of you; you don’t want to bury yourself in a backwater like Harlington.’

  ‘That may be, Mr Wainwright, but whether or not I belong here is not for you to say,’ Berry said firmly as she took a step towards the door, hoping that he’d get the point—he didn’t.

  ‘But I’m willing to offer a fair price. I’ve done the research and I think you’ll be surprised,’ he said as he pushed a folded piece of paper into her hand.

  Berry didn’t bother looking at it. ‘I’ll put it with the other offers.’

  ‘So, you’ve got other offers, girly?’ he said quickly.

  ‘Yes, quite a few,’ Berry said as she made it to the door.

  ‘You’re not playing hardball with me are you, in the hope of upping the price?’ Mr Wainwright said with a frown that made his eyebrows meet in the middle to form the perfect seagull.

  ‘Not in the least. Now if you’ll excuse me I have a lot to do around my shabby place. Goodbye Mr Wainwright,’
she said as she stepped through the door and shut it behind her.

  Berry made her way down to Andrea who was just pouring two cups of tea. She pushed one towards Berry.

  ‘You look like you need this.’

  Berry accepted it gladly. ‘Thanks, I think that’s an understatement. Can you believe that was the third offer for Stone Gully in the past week?’

  ‘How many all up?’

  ‘Seven, and I have to admit this one was the least palatable,’ Berry said as she took a sip of tea.

  ‘Not a good price?’

  ‘Awful delivery,’ Berry said with a wink.

  Andrea laughed as she opened the biscuit barrel and offered it to Berry. ‘Here, you’d better take a couple of these too. I can’t tell you much about Harvey Wainwright other than he’s a grouchy old man who makes it his business to rub people up the wrong way.’

  ‘Well, I guess he succeeded again. And grouchy old man isn’t exactly how I’d describe him,’ Berry said with a smile, ‘but I’m much too polite to say what I really feel.’ ‘Okay, I get it,’ Andrea said. ‘So, did he offer you a decent price at least?’

  Berry unfolded the piece of paper and stared at it in disbelief for a moment before handing it to Andrea.

  ‘A decent price? This is a joke!’

  ‘Well, apparently he did the research and Stone Gully Farm is in a shabby state,’ Berry said as she took the paper from Andrea, screwed it up and dropped it in the rubbish bin. ‘I understand that there’s an interest in the place because I’ve come back, but what I don’t get is that so many people think I’m just here to sell it.’

  ‘I suppose they believe you’ve got a life in Melbourne, but you’re right, they’re assuming a lot.’

  ‘At this rate I feel like keeping the farm just to spite them all,’ Berry said.

  ‘Have you had any real offers?’

  ‘Maybe two. Sam Tarant told me he’d buy it for market value if we chose to sell.’

  ‘Really?’ Andrea sounded surprised.

  Berry glanced up at Andrea. ‘I know you don’t like him but he seemed sincere. And unlike everyone else, he wasn’t pushing. He said if we decided to sell it would make sense for him to buy it because Stone Gully borders his place. And the other reason was that he was friends with my father and he’d feel that on some level he was helping out.’

  ‘He always seems so … oh, I don’t know, unapproachable. Then again, maybe he’s just like that with me. But at least he’s given you an option, whether or not you take him up on it,’ she said with a smile. ‘Are you going out to your place today?’

  ‘Later. First I thought I might drop by the Fords’ place.’

  ‘Ah, yes, you were friends with their daughter, Jodie?’

  ‘Yeah, we went to school together. We tried to keep in touch after I moved to Melbourne, but it all ended up being too hard. It wasn’t my fault and it certainly wasn’t Jodie’s, it just happened.’

  ‘Do you think you’ll reconnect now?’

  Berry nodded. ‘Uh-huh, she’s coming back next week from uni. I’m a little apprehensive but at the same time I’m really excited. Anyway, while I’m here I thought I’d talk to her mum about my parents. They were friends, I remember. And they were the ones Mum sent me to when … well, they looked after us until the police came.’

  Andrea took a sip of tea.

  ‘You don’t think it’s a good idea?’ Berry asked with a frown settling on her forehead.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Andrea answered. ‘I guess because you were so young you’d like to get an impression of your parents, but do you really want to open up the past? I mean, you sound like you want to move on, so is dragging up things that happened a long time ago really in your best interest?’

  Berry considered this for a moment. ‘I understand what you’re saying. The truth is that I’m a little torn—part of me wants to know what my parents were like and the other part wants to slam the door on the past and try to forget. I’ve been thinking about it a lot since I came back, and I figure that if I don’t find out what I can now, maybe I’ll regret it in the long run.’

  ‘I get it. I’m just worried that you might end up finding out something you wish you hadn’t.’

  ‘I suppose that’s a risk I have to be prepared to take. If we end up selling Stone Gully and leaving Harlington, then any information I might have been able to learn will be lost.’

  ‘I just don’t want you to get hurt,’ Andrea said with a smile.

  Berry reached over and took her hand. ‘Thanks, Andrea. I promise I’ll be careful.’

  That afternoon Berry found herself sitting around the bench in the Fords’ kitchen. The warm familiarity brought back memories of happy childhood days, and in some ways it felt like she had rolled back the years to that innocent, trouble-free time before her world collapsed around her.

  ‘I’m so happy that you took me up on the invitation,’ Lynette Ford said with a smile.

  ‘No, thank you, I really appreciate being able to drop by.’

  ‘I talked to Jodie last night. She’s so excited about next weekend and seeing you again.’

  Berry smiled. ‘I’m excited too. I hate the way we lost touch.’

  Lynette nodded. ‘Well, things like that happen even under the best conditions and intentions. There were a lot of things conspiring against the both of you but at least you can find each other now.’

  ‘We’ve got so much to catch up on,’ Berry said with a grin.

  ‘You do,’ Lynette agreed as she pushed the banana cake closer to Berry. ‘Have a piece, I made it this morning.’

  For a moment Berry almost refused, but the temptation was too great and she snagged a piece and took a bite. ‘Oh my God,’ she said as she held her hand up to her mouth. ‘This is amazing! I’d forgotten how good your cake is. You used to make this for us as kids.’

  Lynette laughed. ‘Well, thanks—I think that’s the best compliment my cake has ever got.’

  Berry swallowed. ‘No, seriously, it’s fantastic. I could eat the whole thing.’

  Lynette poured a little more tea in Berry’s cup. ‘Did you have anything you wanted to ask me?’

  Berry was silent for a moment. Lynette had given her an opening and now all she had to do was be brave enough to take it.

  ‘I guess there is, but I’m not exactly sure how I should word it,’ Berry said.

  Lynette looked at her kindly. ‘I usually find that the best way is just to come out with it.’

  Berry nodded as she focused on her teacup for a second too long. Finally, she glanced up at Lynette. ‘Could you tell me about my parents?’

  Lynette paused for a moment as if trying to find the right words, and Berry realised that she was holding her breath.

  ‘I was friends with your mum, as you know,’ she began. ‘We met because of … well, you and Jodie actually. Your mum and I just kind of hit it off when you two started kindergarten together. She was a good friend, the type who would do anything for you, whether it was emergency babysitting or a shoulder to cry on. I miss her every day and even now when something goes wrong, in those first few seconds as the shit hits the fan, Cath is the first person I want to turn to—and then I remember I can’t.’

  A silence hung over them for a breath and then another one. As Berry studied Lynette, she saw that the older woman was holding back her emotions, and obviously trying to stay strong. She gave her a fleeting, awkward smile before wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

  ‘Sorry, I don’t know what came over me. My loss is nothing compared to yours—your whole family’s. But all I can say is that I lost my best friend in the most horrible way, and it still hurts.’

  Berry forced herself to smile. ‘There’s nothing to be sorry about. I’m glad you were friends and had each other. Because I was so young, a lot of my memories are kind of fuzzy. I remember my parents and grandparents, of course, but sometimes it’s like looking at a faded picture.’ Berry sighed and ran her hand over her hair. ‘I’m not ex
plaining this very well at all, am I?’

  ‘No, I think I get what you mean.’

  ‘You know, some of my memories merge and I’m not sure when things actually happened. Except for my tenth birthday—I think I can remember pretty much everything until I got here.’

  Lynette nodded. ‘I couldn’t believe what I was seeing—you’d ridden your bike all the way into town with little Tommy. I knew something was terribly wrong but I could never have imagined what actually happened.’

  ‘Lynette, I know this could be a difficult question, but what did you think of my dad? I mean, I know what he did but I’ve always found it really hard to accept it. When my uncle told me the truth of what happened, I couldn’t reconcile the dad I knew with a man who could kill his family.’

  Lynette nodded sadly. ‘I know. I had to explain to my kids that he had a breakdown and wasn’t in his right mind when he killed your mum. Never in a million years would I have thought Jordy would do that—he always doted on all of you,’ Lynette said, then gave a small laugh. ‘Sometimes I was a little jealous of the way he treated your mum.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘He just loved her so much. He always remembered their special dates, and not just their anniversary or birthdays, but little things—like when they first met. He’d bring her flowers for no reason, and even though there were times he could drive her crazy, she loved him too.’

  Berry closed her eyes as snippets of memories began to resurface. Lynette hadn’t been wrong when she said that her dad doted on her mum. She remembered him handing her a bunch of flowers he’d picked. It was almost as if Berry were looking through a hazy lens or staring into an old photo that was fading and tinged yellow with age. No, there had been love in their family, so how could it have gone so wrong?

  Berry hesitated for a moment before she went on. ‘Did Mum ever say anything to you, I mean about Dad having a temper or that she was worried?’