I'Ve Got You

by Louise Forster

  Belle could tell by his tone that something was very wrong. ‘God, is Pop okay?’ She studied Kabe’s face. ‘Why didn’t he ask for Lexie or me?’

  ‘Mario’s fine, he’s just angry and didn’t want to worry you so he asked for me, and …’ Kabe shrugged. ‘His words: “If I was talkin’ to the girls I’d be on the hooter for ages.” And then he signed off.’

  ‘Let’s make a move, and see what it’s all about.’ Marilyn’s voice sounded concerned, and angry.

  *

  As soon as Dan moored the launch, they all clambered off onto Mario’s jetty.

  ‘Mario!’ Marilyn called out, one hand shading her eyes, the other waving happily.

  ‘G’day, Lyn. This is a nice surprise.’ Mario chuckled.

  ‘You’re looking dangerously well,’ Marilyn said, walking into his open arms.

  Mario kissed her cheek. ‘Ah, you’re such a liar,’ he said, grinning ‘Bella dentro e fuori.’

  ‘Italian, Mario!’ Marilyn exclaimed.

  ‘Sì, mia bella. You have to keep the brain active at my age.’ Mario ambled over and hugged Belle and Lexie. ‘Ah, my girls, a sight for sore old eyes.’

  ‘Pop, we’ve been worried. Who was here, was it Greg?’ Belle asked.

  ‘Yeah, Pop, who were they?’ Lexie demanded.

  ‘I’ll explain. Come on, let’s get to the house for some refreshments first,’ Mario said, then greeted Kabe and Dan with a wave. ‘You didn’t waste any time gettin’ here, and everyone’s got somethin’ on their feet. Good, this time of day the sand’s bloody hot.’

  They made their way up to the house, Kabe and Dan bringing up the rear with the camp coolers.

  Stopping on the veranda, Mario pointed to the kitchen and told them to store their gear in there. Belle led Lexie and Marilyn to the veranda, where they could enjoy the cool sea breeze. Kabe, Dan and her grandfather returned with cold drinks: a mixture of lime, ginger, carrot and pear juice over crushed ice.

  Belle took a sip. ‘Hmm, delicious, Pop.’

  ‘Good, it’s a little experiment of mine,’ Mario said, rubbing his hands before resting them on the arms of his chair. ‘Let’s get the nasty stuff out of the way. Marilyn, I’m glad you’re here. I need your expertise as a lawyer. I’ll pay of course—’

  ‘Oh no—don’t even think about it.’ Marilyn shook her head, her tone final.

  ‘Thank you. Perhaps there’s something I can do for you sometime.’

  Marilyn smiled and nodded. ‘I’ll write a list,’ she said, and laughed.

  Belle loved the way Marilyn laughed: full, earthy, suggesting she was a strong and spirited woman. The more time she spent with Marilyn, the more she could see where Kabe’s mannerisms and quiet strength came from.

  ‘Okay,’ Mario began. ‘My conversation with Kabe this morning didn’t last long, he knew exactly who’d come by—Greg Travers—never did like that weasel,’ he muttered, and then turned to look at Kabe. ‘What you don’t know is, there was another bloke with him. Some sort of stiff-as-a-pole legal beagle.’

  ‘Pop,’ Belle began, worriedly, ‘I’m so sorry.’

  He shook his head, and he said, with emphasis, ‘Not a bit of it is your fault, sweetheart.’

  Belle placed a hand over her grandfather’s and looked at him. ‘Why does Greg think he has a chance at getting your island? Many have tried before. Why is it different now? Is it because you’ve left it to Lexie and me?’

  Mario dropped his head for what seemed like an eternity to Belle. Everyone waited patiently. Except for the rustle of leaves, birdcalls and wavelets breaking along the tiny bay, there wasn’t a sound. Mario straightened and, eyes filled with pain, told them what had happened.

  ‘I had my money tied up in investments, and for a while it was good, the dividends paid for everything. I lived comfortably in Luna Bay and occasionally spent weekends here on Butterfly.’ Mario’s brown eyes cut to Belle then Lexie. ‘My investments took a hit during the financial crisis. I’m still trying to recover.’

  ‘Pop!’ Belle and Lexie cried out.

  ‘Is that why you rented out your cottage?’ Belle asked.

  He gripped their hands and shook his head. ‘I had enough left to make myself comfortable here and the rent pays for my outgoings.’

  ‘I’m so sorry, Mario. But why are you here at all?’ Marilyn asked. ‘You always enjoyed socialising, and getting involved in the community. Trivia night at the pub was one of your favourite pastimes.’

  ‘Taxes,’ Mario muttered.

  ‘Pardon?’ Marilyn asked, frowning. ‘Greg Travers tried the same with White Sails. He was desperate to buy the whole lot, our homes, the jetty, and the business. Admittedly, we were having difficulties with the land tax department at the time, but they were at fault not us. Greg did everything to get us to sell. I’m sure he would’ve sold it on to Eagle Ray for a tidy profit.’

  Belle swung around to look at Kabe. ‘Why didn’t you say anything?’

  ‘What’s the point of giving you further crap to worry about?’ Kabe shook his head. ‘It wasn’t long after we started White Sails. Like any small business, it took a little while to build a name for ourselves. Land tax seems to be Greg’s favourite scam.’

  ‘He informed me tax for an island, even this size, is something I couldn’t afford anymore,’ Mario put in.

  Belle squeezed her grandfather’s hand.

  Lexie turned to look at him, took his other hand in both of hers, and said, ‘Oh Pop, why didn’t you say something?’

  ‘I didn’t want you girls or your Mum and Dad to worry about this—at all,’ he said sternly. ‘Unless I find a solution, I’m leaving you a financial burden rather than an asset. I can’t do that to you. At the moment, I’ve fixed it the only way I can, by making Butterfly my primary home.’

  ‘You can’t keep this from your son, your only child,’ Marilyn put in. ‘When Tony finds out, he’ll be angry. And Anna too. Your daughter in-law loves you. Why do you think they fought so hard to get you back on the mainland?’

  ‘They want to put me in a retirement home where I’ll dry up and fall asleep head first in my oatmeal.’

  Marilyn gave an exasperated sigh. ‘Mario, I bet it was a joke. I can’t see them doing that, knowing how much you’d hate it.’

  ‘Anyway, I can’t see a way out,’ Mario muttered. ‘I have to stay here. It’s the only way.’

  ‘That’s not true, Mario, there are exemptions,’ Marilyn stated firmly. ‘I think you have a valid reason not to have to pay taxes.’ Eyes welling, Mario stared at her. ‘I can put in the application for you and see to it. It will be fine.’ She paused in thought before continuing. ‘So that’s why these goons have been sniffing around to the point of harassment. Have they offered you money to allow you to pay your taxes, late fines or whatever? As compensation you’d have to allow them to lease and build on part of the island?’

  ‘Yep, that’s exactly it. But that’s not all … they showed me plans with Kabe’s name on them. Said he intended to marry Belle and Dan would marry Lexie. They would use my beautiful girls to get to build here.’

  ‘What?!’ Lexie squeaked, outraged.

  Dan tried to make light of the so-called plan, and wiggled his eyebrows at Lexie. She glared at him. He slapped a hand over his chest in mock suffering.

  Mario looked at Dan and continued, ‘You may joke, but that’s what they tried on me. Of course, I didn’t believe a bloody word.’ Mario’s eyes settled on Kabe’s, and stayed locked with his for what seemed like an eternity to Belle. Then agreeing on whatever the hell they saw, the two men gave each other a barely perceptible nod.

  ‘Same here,’ Dan ground out, deadly serious now.

  It must be a man thing, Belle thought. It didn’t matter, it was positive, and Belle’s tension eased.

  Marilyn cut through the heavy silence: ‘Mario, we’ve been friends for many years, I wish you’d confided in me. In future, anything legal—no wait, anything worrying you at all—for goodness sake tell t
he girls, or me.’

  ‘Mia bella,’ Mario said, ‘every man wants to look after his own affairs, if you don’t let him, it’s like cutting off his … never mind.’

  ‘His balls,’ Marilyn stated matter-of-factly, then laughed.

  ‘Uh-huh, I was goin’ to say his manhood.’ Mario chuckled.

  ‘Pop, I have a suggestion,’ Belle put in. ‘To some degree, the island needs to pay its way. At Starfish Inlet , I saw a large patch of Morning Glory and we know how invasive that climbing weed is.’ Looking grim, her grandfather nodded. ‘You could apply for a Queensland Government Landcare Grant. You could employ a ranger and earmark an area for backpackers on a Workstay program. Only allowing … say … twenty people at a time. What do you think?’

  Pop stared at her without blinking. And when the possibilities slowly dawned, a big grin wrinkled his weather-beaten face. ‘Ha!’ he shouted and slapped his knees. ‘I reckon that’s a great idea!’ He stood and, reaching for Belle, hugged her tightly. Not leaving Lexie out, he hugged her too.

  Excited chatter erupted around the table. Belle smiled and felt the tension in her body ease.

  ‘This will work in so many ways,’ Marilyn sounded enthusiastic. ‘I can set up all the legal work and get the ball rolling, just give me the word to go ahead.’

  Mario moved in to kiss both her cheeks. ‘Please … go do your lawyer magic.’

  ‘We have to find out how Greg got his hands on the old house plans and changed the date,’ Marilyn said. ‘Who’s in on this at Luna Bay council and what does Eagle Ray have to do with it?’ While everyone else was talking, sometimes over each other, Belle thought hard about what Marilyn had said. She couldn’t come up with anything that would help.

  ‘I need to walk, it’ll help me think.’ Belle pushed her chair back and so did Kabe.

  ‘I’ll come with you,’ he said.

  ‘Okay, just as long as you’re quiet.’

  ‘I can do that,’ Kabe said and grinned. They left the others behind, nattering about all the possible solutions to her pop’s problem, the voices fading with every step they took further away from the cottage.

  Belle strode along the cool wet sand, sometimes stopping to stare at the water, thinking, sometimes marching back and forth, muttering.

  *

  It frustrated Kabe that he couldn’t help Belle. He couldn’t interrupt; he didn’t want to say anything in case he messed up her thought process.

  Abruptly, Belle stopped, serious face lifted to his, index finger pointing. ‘There’s a password to get into Greg’s computer files at his Luna Bay office. I probably need help hacking it. There’s a safe in the director’s office that I need to crack. And there’s—’

  ‘It’s all illegal,’ Kabe cut in, and couldn’t help smiling as he watched her golden eyes grow big..

  ‘I know, but damn it, I can’t think of anything other than talking to the press.’

  ‘Relax,’ he told her. He slid his hands around to the back of her neck and massaged at the tension knotting her muscles. Leaning back, Belle closed her eyes and sighed. ‘Mum will come up with something. It will probably involve the local paper and the Mackay TV station.’

  ‘Really?’ Belle tilted her head to look at him. ‘But you both hate the press. Brace yourself, you said.’

  ‘Yeah, we’ll get the info we need and don’t worry, it’ll be their turn to brace. We’ll use dickhead’s and Eagle Ray’s methods to bring them down. The press will lap it up. They’ll want to do a deal. I’m not interested until they retract their lies.’

  Staring at him, Belle straightened. ‘Do you think they care? Because I don’t think so.’

  ‘They’ll care, no big business wants bad publicity. Especially if the fraud squad gets involved.’

  ‘Gosh!’ Belle stood on tip-toe, flung her arms around his neck and murmured, ‘It’s only been a few days since we came over from Starfish Inlet, but so much has happened it feels like months. I miss what we had at Starfish Inlet,’ she said longingly.

  Kabe curved his arm around her waist and held her close; his hand cupped the side of her beautiful face. ‘If I could turn back time, knowing what I know now, I’d take you back to our last year in high school and I’d definitely get into your undies. What a waste those fucked-up years were.’ He watched her eyes pool with tears. ‘I’ll tell you something else, we’d still be together, right here, right now.’

  ‘Yeah, but think about all the fun you would’ve missed ferrying tourists around on your boat. That wouldn’t have happened with me around. Then again, maybe it would’ve and …’

  Kabe leaned back; he knew his expression tightened just like the rest of his body, and there was no way he could stop that. Belle’s eyes widened and she sucked in her bottom lip. Yeah, damn it, Belle, he thought, you’ve said the wrong thing—and you know it.

  ‘And what, Belle?’ he pressed.

  Her hand came up to cover her mouth and she tried to step away from him.

  In a blink, the air between them changed. He let her go and tried not to show his annoyance, but judging by the way Belle was trying to avoid meeting his eyes, it hadn’t worked.

  ‘I thought we were done with that?’ Kabe said, his voice low with an edge he also couldn’t control. Yeah, he was disappointed and try as he might, he couldn’t hide that either. It was way too important. ‘Why do you feel inadequate? It’s self-destructive. Why keep doing that to us, to what we have? Is your self-esteem so damaged, you need to say this shit in order to hear what you mean to me?’ Kabe waited, while Belle stared at him, panic in her eyes. ‘That arsehole sure did a number on you—you know what that means?’ He watched as she slowly shook her head. ‘He still controls your life and you’re letting him. You’re the only one who can put that shit where it belongs.’

  ‘I … I don’t want him anywhere near me … let alone inside my head,’ she stammered, hands coming up as if to protect either side of her head.

  ‘He’s in there, Belle. You whimper at night. You struggle against me. What did he do to you?’

  Her beautiful face paled.

  ‘Fuck!’ he growled, his expression fierce. ‘What the hell did he do, Belle? Tell me!’ Eyes riveted on her distraught face, he waited, because he knew the answer. Fists clenched, jaw tight, he knew all right. And though every muscle in his body wanted to take her in his arms and make it better, Belle needed to remember—and say it out loud.

  He watched as desperation took over Belle’s face. She looked everywhere, except at him. Her body stiffened, she wrapped her arms around herself, hands clutching at her shoulders, and she began to tremble. He moved in to take her in his arms, but she moaned and stepped back, away from him. He searched her face. What the hell was going on in her head? ‘Belle—talk to me!’

  He stepped forward again, placed his hands on either side of her pale face near her jaw and penetrated her eyes with an intensity he hoped would force or trigger a memory of a night with Greg Travers.

  Nothing happened so Kabe urged, ‘Open the doors, Belle. Open all those dark little boxes where you’ve hidden that crap. I’m right here and nothing bad is going to happen, no one’s going to hurt you.’

  Belle’s eyes squeezed shut, but almost instantly, they flew open again. Kabe watched as memories flickered behind her big, golden eyes that were overcome with fear. Then he saw a flash of recognition, and finally rage took over.

  Helpless in the face of Belle’s overwhelming emotion, Kabe reached for her; he could feel her body shaking and whispered, ‘Belle please!’

  ‘No—no! I didn’t ask him in.’ She shook her head, back and forth. ‘I didn’t—I know I didn’t! I didn’t want anyone to know, least of all you, how stupid I was!’ she screamed at him, then her hand came up to cover her mouth and tears welled in her eyes. She shook herself free, turned away from him and ran back towards Mario’s. Stunned and unable to move, he watched Belle as she sprinted away. It had shocked him to see her pain; he felt it like a stab to his heart. His gut was righ
t, the memory that triggered her reaction was as bad as he thought it would be. He needed to get to Belle, make her understand he was there for her. He took off and ran as fast as the wet sand would allow. He saw her veer off, heading straight for the jetty; he thought she was merely trying to avoid everyone’s questions. Then she did something he knew was out of sheer desperation and he regretted everything he didn’t do and should’ve done to stop her. ‘Belle! No!’

  Chapter 11

  Knowing her grandfather always left the keys to his boat in the ignition, Belle released the mooring rope, quickly climbed on board the small launch and started it up. Within seconds, she’d manoeuvred the boat away from the jetty and headed down the inlet to open water. Over the roar of the engine, Belle could just make out Kabe shouting for her to stop, something she was incapable of doing. In a blind rage, she gripped the wheel, sobbing as she sped through the mouth of the inlet and out into the vast expanse of the Coral Sea.

  She hated Greg; he’d used her and abused her in the worst possible way. Kabe was right, she’d been carrying this ugly memory in her subconscious far too long. Just thinking about it made her burn with shame and embarrassment, which was wrong. How dare Greg, and what he’d done, make her feel this way? Filled with all-encompassing rage, fuelled by adrenalin, she was hell bent on revenge, and she would bloody well get it. First, Greg had to admit the truth and the only way she was going to get that out of him was to confront the arsehole.

  Her grandfather’s launch slammed against the swells, giving her the mother of all headaches. She dared to glance over her shoulder, and saw Kabe’s ocean-going launch following in the distance. Well, what did she think, no one was going to chase after her? Determined to get to Greg before her anyone else, Belle pushed the throttle forward to increase her speed.

  Closing in on Luna Bay, Belle could see boats dotting the harbour and the buildings surrounded by tropical greenery beyond. As she motored closer, she took care to avoid debris left over from the storm. With the engine rumbling softly, she carefully manoeuvred the launch into the marina, and found a place to moor, guiding her grandfather’s boat into the narrow space between two yachts.