He sounded normal. How could he be normal when they were all so miserable? ‘It’s Jacinta. Are you sane yet?’
Her dad pretended to growl. ‘Grr. Getting there, oh disloyal one.’
She could feel the relief roll over her with his teasing. At least someone was amused. ‘I’m not the mean one here. Why haven’t you rung Noni? I don’t know what’s was wrong with you. We all know you love Noni. Don’t you?’
There was a pause and Jacinta thought for a moment she’d got it wrong. Maybe Noni was right?
‘Yes. I love Noni.’ There was no doubting the sincerity in his voice and she sagged a little in relief.
‘And you know that Noni loves you, right?
‘I believe she has feelings. Yes.’ Less sure.
Before he could say anything else, because seriously, she was so over his faffing around, she continued. ‘She knows what she wants, so how come you don’t know what you want?’
‘Jacinta.’ Iain tried to break through her explosion of words.
She sucked in her breath, telling herself to settle. ‘So, are you coming back?’
‘Yes, Miss Fix-it. I’m coming back. But you can’t say anything yet. I have to extricate myself from a whole world down here. I’ll finalise my work commitments Monday and the apartment Tuesday. I’ll be back Wednesday afternoon. Dr Soams arranged an interview with the hospital for Friday, and I have to spend the next couple of days arranging the change from a Macquarie Street specialist to Burra Hospital’s new obstetrician.’
Jacinta felt relief roll over her. She hadn’t ruined everything. ‘That’s good.’
‘I’m glad to hear it.’ His voice dropped to a soft and urgent tone. ‘How’s Noni?’
‘Not happy, though Harley’s worse. He’s making all our lives hell.’
‘I always knew he was a good boy.’ She heard the smile in his voice.
It was Jacinta’s turn to laugh. Her relief was making her silly. But she needed to stay quiet because she didn’t want Noni to hear that she was happy if she couldn’t tell her why. ‘You’re a rat.’ Then she remembered the glint of tears she’d seen. ‘Why haven’t you rung Noni? She’s sad.’
‘I wish I could.’ She could hear the uncertainty in his voice and that was strange. He was never uncertain. ‘I can’t just phone her. I blew it badly, Jaz. I was terrible to her. I need to apologise in person. A couple of days and I’ll be back, but I don’t want you to tell her either. I’d be a wimp if you did my dirty work for me.’ He paused, then said, ‘She doesn’t like wimps.’ The smile was back in his voice for a moment.
She rolled her eyes even though he couldn’t see her. ‘Well, hurry up.’
‘I’m glad you miss me,’ he teased. ‘Noni misses you. I just want someone to hold Olivia while I shop.’
He laughed and she knew he got that she missed him too. It looked like her daughter would get that extended family they all seemed to need – if they could survive till Wednesday.
She went back downstairs. She found Noni in the library, tidying the shelves as if she needed to keep her hands busy. ‘Hi Jaz.’ Her voice was very bright. Fake bright.
‘Thanks for letting me stay, Noni. I’m sorry Dad was angry with you when it was my fault. It makes me sad that he upset you.’
Noni shrugged and pushed a book firmly up against another. ‘It’s sad he thought I’d scheme against him to keep you here but that’s not your fault. So don’t you be sad. You’ve birthed a beautiful daughter and have your plans for the future. Plus, I’m hoping we’ll have some really good news when Aunt Win comes home from her dinner date that will cheer us all up.’
More change for Noni, Jacinta thought. ‘It’s been a busy couple of months for you, hasn’t it, Noni?’
Noni lifted her head to meet Jacinta’s eyes, then smiled. Even though it wobbled a bit, it was genuine. ‘I met you, and Olivia. And despite his mistakes your dad is a very nice guy. So yes, it’s been busy, but I wouldn’t have missed any of it.’
That’s what Jacinta couldn’t get. Noni was just so awesome.
Chapter Forty-nine
Noni
Wednesday morning, Noni slipped away to go to work early before her son woke up. She hoped Harley would cheer up by the time the weekend came. He’d barely eaten over the last few days and most of his ill temper had been directed at his mother because she’d ‘made Iain leave’. There was enough truth in it to hurt and Noni felt bereft of Harley’s love as well as Iain’s. She’d even offered him another visit to Cath’s house but he just shook his head.
She rubbed her temples to relieve a low-grade headache. She’d had an uncomfortable feeling of disquiet, lingering like a scent, all night and when she woke up this morning it was still there. The sky hung full of grey cumulus clouds, so maybe it was just the barometer blues from the impending storm.
Thankfully, Jacinta had been spending as much time as she could to divert Harley’s sulks, asking him to hold Olivia when she was awake, get her a nappy or extra wrap, or read his kinder garten reader to both of them.
Jacinta had turned into a joy. Lucky someone had. Though to be fair, Aunt Win had a special glow since Sunday, but she wasn’t sporting a ring. Noni suspected she and Dr Soams were holding their official news for a week to let the household settle.
She smiled as she tucked away her bag, greeted her shift buddy, and cooed over the babies in the ward that had come back from the base hospital. The ward was still open for pre- and post-natal care despite the ban on births until they found a doctor – thankfully, three mums had been to Wagga Base Hospital and returned to Burra to rest. Things would settle. She hoped.
By the time the shift ended, the afternoon had turned dark and damp with the impending downpour. Storm warnings broadcasted to the patient TVs and on the radio in the nursery warned of heavy rain to come. A flash flood had ripped through one of the creeks up in the mountain village two valleys away and Burra was on alert for a deluge that just might close some roads.
The first raindrops fell as Noni climbed onto her bike and turned the key. The scent of rain and wet grass hung in the misty air and she breathed deeply. Even the sheep were quiet. Harley would be damp when the bus dropped him home. Aunt Win would make him hot chocolate to cheer him up – she’d done that for Noni many a time and it had helped to lift her mood. If only it were that easy. Maybe she would ask for hot chocolate when she got home, too. With marshmallows. Harley loved marshmallows.
The drizzle turned into rain, and rain into needles that stung her arms, and she ducked her head to stop them flying down her neck. At least Harley should have been home before the heavy rain. It was a relief to glide in under the carport and shake off the drops.
Instead of the smell of hot chocolate and the serenity of home, the sound of a distraught baby crying greeted her. She stripped off her wet-weather gear as she walked through to the lounge, expecting to find Jacinta or at least Win tending to her, but Olivia lay red-faced and sweating, alone, and Noni’s disquiet turned to the beginnings of alarm.
Frowning, she scooped up the baby, soothed her and swiftly changed her soaking nappy before turning back the way she’d come.
‘Hello? Anyone home?’ She walked swiftly into the hallway and up the stairs. Olivia bounced on her shoulder, at peace now, snuggling into Noni’s warmth and she hugged the infant closer.
‘Noni!’ Aunt Win’s voice broke the silence from downstairs and the thread of anxiety turned into fear. Noni’s nerves tightened. Aunt Win was never flustered.
‘I’m here.’ She descended quickly. ‘What’s going on?’
Aunt Win swallowed, lost for words or catching her breath, and Noni’s disquiet multiplied, the dread in her gut building alarmingly.
‘Harley didn’t go to school today. I put him on the bus and the bus driver said he went in the yard.’ Aunt Win’s gaze met Noni’s. ‘But one of his friends just rang and asked if he was all right. He thought he must have been sick.’ The distress spilled out with the words. ‘He’s not anywhere.
I think he ran away this morning instead of going to school.’
‘Because Iain’s gone,’ Noni whispered, and her head spun as she fought through a cloud of panic that seemed to drain the light from the room.
She blinked several times as if clearing the fog from in front of her face. One part of her tried desperately to think like a five-year-old boy and work out the most likely place to hide or run. The other wanted to throw herself on the floor and scream.
The baby squirmed in her arms. She breathed deeply and slowly, battled the horror that rose with the fear. ‘Where’s Jacinta? Why was Olivia here alone?’
Win gestured towards the door with her hand. ‘It was only for two minutes. I spoke to the teacher and she said she hadn’t seen him at all. Thought we’d forgotten to call. Jacinta walked to the shops to see if anyone had spotted him and she didn’t want to take Olivia out in the rain.’
As she finished speaking, Jacinta skidded to a panting, bedraggled stop at the front door. ‘Nobody’s seen him,’ she puffed, bending over to drag great gulps of air into her lungs. Not bad for a young woman who’d birthed three weeks ago. ‘He has to be hiding somewhere here.’
Noni sank onto the hallway chair and the baby squirmed as she unconsciously clutched her tighter as if to keep her own child safe. In the next instant, she bounced up again. ‘I’ll check his room. He must be in the house, hiding.’
Win opened her mouth and closed it again. ‘Here, give Olivia to me.’ Win reached out and Noni blinked as her shock faded, and she handed over the infant.
She ran up the stairs following Jacinta and they split up while Noni checked every cupboard, under every bed, spending the longest in Iain’s old room, looking under the bed, in the wardrobe and behind the curtains.
Lightning flashed and thunder rattled the windows as the rain fell in great sheets now onto the high roof and poured from the overloaded gutters. ‘We’ll try the carport again.’ She had to raise her voice so Jacinta could hear her over the rain.
Noni shuddered to think of her baby huddled outside somewhere. Alone. Or worse. What if someone had taken him? Or he’d accepted a lift? She closed her eyes, but her brain stayed sluggish with terror and shock. She had to get a grip and move fast. ‘Think, think.’
All she could think about was Harley, lost and frightened, and Iain five hundred kilometres away when she needed him. The thought of Iain sharpened her mind.
‘Right. Let’s get back to Aunt Win,’ she said to Jacinta.
Aunt Win was still standing in the hall, clutching Olivia, looking more shocked than Noni had ever seen her. Noni’s voice shook as she tried to speak calmly.
‘You phone the police, notify Sergeant Rodgers of his disappearance. He’ll know what to do.’ At least in a small town, the police instantly knew each family and who they were looking for. ‘I’ll phone Iain on my mobile, grab some stuff and I’ll drive around in your ute after that.’
‘I’ll come.’ Jacinta’s eyes were huge in her face. ‘Please, Noni.’
Noni wiped a distracted hand across her face. ‘Jaz, what about Olivia?’ Noni knew she had to act quickly. He’d been gone all day!
‘I could mind Olivia here. We’ll be fine. I’d be happier if you had someone with you, Noni,’ Win said as she moved away to phone Sergeant Rodgers.
Noni tried Iain’s mobile, but it went straight to message bank. Was it off, engaged or out of service? She thumbed urgently through the address book for the landline number he’d given her when he’d left for Sydney. She couldn’t believe Harley could have done this to her. She couldn’t believe she was such a bad mother that she hadn’t realised what he was going to do. She found the number and punched it in. It rang and rang and finally she heard Iain’s voice.
‘Iain! It’s Noni.’ The voice continued talking. ‘Stupid answering machine.’ She felt like throwing the phone against the floor and took a deep breath to regather her wits. ‘Iain, if you’re there, this is an emergency. Pick up the phone!’
The voice finished and the phone beeped.
‘Iain, when you get home ring me on my mobile.’ She gave her own number and disconnected. They didn’t have his work number. Of course. That would have given away his true profession. A spurt of frustrated anger blurred her vision for a minute before she snapped herself out of it.
‘He’s not home,’ she said unnecessarily to Jacinta.
Win reappeared. ‘The police want a photograph and will send someone around to pick it up. I’ll give them the one on the mantelpiece.’
Noni thought she was going to lose her control then. She bit her lip with a grinding ferocity and fought back the fear that clutched at her stomach. This wasn’t happening. She squeezed away tears and tried to stay sane. Sane!
‘Jacinta can come if you think you’ll be all right with Olivia,’ she said to Aunt Win, her voice cracking.
Aunt Win nodded vigorously. ‘We’ll be fine. I’ll ring your mobile when she needs a feed. Go. I’ll phone Greg. He’ll come here in case we need him.’ Win put her hand over her mouth as Noni looked at her. Then she said, ‘I need him.’
It took three long minutes to grab torches and leave. Noni barely spoke as she tried to block out images of her son, lost and crying. Wet and cold. Forlorn and frightened.
The worst was the drum of the rain as it rushed through the gutters and pelted the roof of the car. Searching was made harder by the darkness and poor visibility from the storm, even though it was still only four-thirty in the afternoon.
She couldn’t allow herself to think he’d been taken. Or bobbing, drowning in a rushing stormwater drain or one of the swelling creeks. She kept picturing Harley crouched somewhere in the rain, waiting for her to find him. Desolate and drenched. Doubting his mother would come.
‘Try the cricket field.’ Jacinta’s voice broke into her thoughts and Noni swerved to avoid a fallen branch.
Terror closed her throat again and her voice faltered. ‘We have to find him soon.’
‘We will.’ Jacinta’s voice shook and then steadied. ‘He’s probably holed up somewhere warm and dry, eating his play lunch.’
‘Please, God. If someone’s taken him …’ She couldn’t say it. She swallowed the lump in her throat. ‘I have to find him.’ She gripped the wheel tighter, the pain in her heart so fierce she could barely breathe. Harley was her world. The joy of her life. A series of memories flashed behind her eyes as she drove. His shining eyes when he asked a question. His enthusiasm for any type of ball game. His love of Olivia. His dirty knees and boundless curiosity.
She needed help. She needed Harley. ‘Why hasn’t Iain phoned us back?’
Chapter Fifty
Jacinta
‘Dad doesn’t know yet,’ Jacinta soothed. ‘How can he know until he finds out you rang him. He’ll come as soon as he gets the message.’
Jacinta wanted to scream. She knew her father was coming, permanently. But this changed everything. He needed to be here now. Guilt weighed her down. If she’d told Harley her dad was coming back he would never have run away. But she hadn’t known he was going to run away. If she told Noni now that would be a distraction she didn’t need. Dad had to ring back.
An hour and a half later, Noni and Jacinta passed two police patrols as they turned for home. It was futile in the semi-dark, driving from place to place. The rain continued to fall as if a flood was on its way and the mobile phone between them stayed silent. It had been growing darker by the minute. They’d have to go home. Olivia would need feeding. Jacinta glanced across at Noni and she could see tears running down her cheeks, silver in the light of the street lamps as she drove.
They passed a small bridge over a creek, and they both looked at the rushing water. Fresh fear rose like a monster in Jacinta’s throat as the headlights reflected the volume of water surging power fully into the creek. Surely, he wouldn’t hide in a stormwater drain? Now she felt sick.
‘Aunt Win might have news.’ Noni’s voice cracked as she spoke and Jacinta nodded vehemently. P
lease.
They drove into the carport, and as the ute rolled to a stop she heard Noni drag in a big breath as if preparing herself for the worst.
Inside the guesthouse, one look at Aunt Win’s face as she huddled under Greg’s protective arm telegraphed the lack of progress in the search. She had no good news.
‘The local radio is alerting everyone to the search and state emergency workers are dividing the swampland into a grid for a foot patrol.’
Chapter Fifty-one
Noni
Car headlights shone into the driveway and pulled into the carport. They all turned to look and Noni felt the tears well up.
‘It’s Iain!’ Noni was out of the door and into his arms before the car had barely enough time to stop. He squeezed her tight and she burst into tears from the fear and trauma of the day. It was the last thing she wanted to do but couldn’t help herself.
Iain’s arms squeezed her tighter still. Hugging her against him with one arm, and stroking her hair with the other. ‘Hey. It’s okay, darling. Settle down.’
Noni pulled herself back off his chest and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. She sniffed and caught her breath. ‘It’s Harley, Iain. He’s gone. He’s run away.’
Iain’s face drained of colour and he squeezed her shoulders. ‘Come inside. How long has he been missing?’
‘He didn’t go to school. We didn’t know who to call when we couldn’t reach you.’ She was tripping over words, trying to tell him everything at once as he ushered them back towards the house.
‘Slow down, my love.’
Noni turned around to look at him, confused.
Iain said, ‘It’s okay. We’ll talk about it all later. Just know I’ll do anything you need to get Harley back.’
Her brain refused to think so she said, ‘Thank you for coming, Iain.’ She took another steadying breath. ‘I’ve driven and looked everywhere. The police and volunteers are out looking for him. They think he might have been washed out onto the flooded swampland. Why haven’t they found him?’ Her voice was desperate. She stood in the centre of the lounge with Iain’s arms around her and shut her eyes. Where was he? Harley had been on his own for hours. She shuddered.
Mothers' Day Page 25