Caitlin's Hero

by Donna Gallagher

  “Now, Ruthie, that’s enough gossip for today. Don’t pressure the poor girl. Let Brodie have his chance to sort things out.” Handing each woman a mug of tea, he continued, “Here, Caitlin, let’s get this into you. Life is always better after a cuppa. I’ve added sugar and milk. I had this feeling it’d be how you liked it. Where is that young brother of yours? I’m looking forward to meeting him.”

  Caitlin could not help noting how much Mr James’ voice sounded like his son’s.

  It didn’t take long for Caitlin to find out the whole sorry story. Ruth and Patrick, having heard directly from Brodie exactly what had happened, had decided to make the two-and-a-half-hour car journey to Sydney to show their support for Caitlin until Brodie could get a flight back.

  Caitlin was overwhelmed by the gesture, and by the little detail that Patrick had been on the money with the way she took her tea.

  Not long afterwards, Riley returned home and met the visitors. It was at this point that he found the phone was unplugged from the wall. They plugged it back in, deciding that if it rang again Patrick would answer and take a message, or give the caller a mouthful if need be.

  At first Riley was guarded towards Ruth and Patrick, but eventually he thawed a little and began talking to Brodie’s dad about the match. My, that all seems such a long time ago now—almost another lifetime ago. She listened to their comments.

  June returned and, after being updated on all she had missed, started chatting with Ruth about her pet topic, gardening. She also regaled Ruth with the details of Lila’s visit earlier in the day. Caitlin heard lots of, “Oh no, she didn’t?” and “Oh yes, she did!” remarks coming from their direction.

  Mandy seemed slightly uncomfortable with so many people crammed into the small home. She sat quietly on the window seat, sipping one of Patrick’s magic mugs of tea. Caitlin made a mental note to make the time to get to know her new neighbour when all the fuss died down. She couldn’t get over how helpful and friendly Mandy had been to Riley when he’d been in such distress. And she was curious about why the girl looked so sad, and dressed in what seemed an almost scary way. And what was with the heavy, dark makeup around her unusual eyes? Maybe she’s a goth. But that would have to wait. For the moment, there was so much more to deal with.

  Caitlin, now with freshly washed and dried curls and wearing a change of clothes, was feeling slightly better. As she’d showered she had tried to remember what Ruth—as the woman had insisted Caitlin and Riley call her—had said about half of Australia knowing how Brodie felt. It was something about ‘his girl’. What was that all supposed to mean? The day was such a blur and so much still didn’t quite make sense, but those words had kindled a little spark of hope in her heart.

  Then the phone rang. Everyone seemed to go still and silent in an instant. Everyone, that was, except for Patrick James. Casually he strode over, picked up the handset and in a very deep voice, he spoke.

  “Walters residence. How can I help you?”

  Caitlin watched, holding her breath, as the serious look on Patrick’s face morphed into a huge grin. Caitlin saw a glint in the man’s eye as he turned to her.

  She thought it surely must be Brodie on the line to make his face light up like that.

  Finally, on what was the second worst day of her short life, Caitlin allowed herself a small, nervous smile.

  * * * *

  Brodie could have put money on them getting stuck in traffic. Why not? The day had been a disaster from go to whoa.

  He had programmed his phone to continually call Caitlin’s number. Each time he heard the call go through he held his breath, praying for her to answer. But to no avail. The long, unbroken tone that signalled ‘out of order’ was all that he’d managed to get.

  During the drive, Trevor had filled both Brodie and JT in on how he read the public reaction, and it didn’t seem as catastrophic as they’d first feared. Many had come out and openly attacked Jack Edwards’ reporting style, demanding he be shunned by the rugby league community for all his muck-raking and lies. After all, if there was a negative story around about rugby league, it was a sure thing it had come from Jack Edwards’ desk.

  For all Edwards’ talk about his love of the game, he was actually doing the most damage, undermining the league at every opportunity. He had even been known to buy drinks for some of the rookies, with the sole objective of being around if they fell over drunk. He had a camera ready to capture an embarrassing photo of the incident, of course. The poor kids hadn’t known what had hit them. Hey, how could they, if even an experienced player like Brodie could be set up?

  While Brodie quietly seethed about Edwards and his methods, he was distracted and nearly didn’t notice that the phone had reached Caitlin’s number and was actually ringing. Brodie pressed the phone to his ear, mentally begging for someone to answer.

  “Walters residence. How can I help you?” said a deep, very familiar male voice.

  “Dad? What the hell? I’ve rung the wrong bloody number,” Brodie groaned distractedly. How the hell had that happened? He looked at the display screen of his phone again. Hang on! It was Caitlin’s number, and had his father answered with ‘Walters residence’? What was going on here?

  “Dad, this is going to sound weird, but are you at Caitlin’s?” he asked hesitantly.

  “Yes, son, and so is your mother. Where else did you expect us to be, under the circumstances?” Brodie’s father asked.

  JT, hearing this conversation, burst into a fit of boisterous laughter.

  “We’re out in front, mate. Go get her!” Trevor shouted from the driver’s side.

  Brodie was out of the car in a heartbeat, heading for the door.

  “Don’t pull a hammy, old man!” JT gave a cheeky shout as he fumbled with his seatbelt.

  Without looking back or slowing his pace, Brodie gave a rude but well-known finger gesture to the men in the car. Another round of laughter ensued.

  * * * *

  Caitlin looked at the phone, then at Patrick, and was still wondering what to do when she heard Mandy sing out.

  “It looks like the man of the moment has just arrived, and he might just run straight through the front door if nobody opens it!”

  Patrick took the few steps to the door and pulled it open, just in time for Brodie to burst into the room.

  As Caitlin watched the man who had made her so happy, then so miserable—all in the space of a day—look at her with so much emotion showing on his face, she knew why she had been so upset. She was in love with Brodie James. This was how it felt. And she would never love another as much as she loved him. The relief and her newfound discovery caused an unexpected reaction from her.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Brodie had certainly not bargained on such an odd reception committee. His mother and father, an older woman he’d assumed was June the sitter, Riley and another, angry-looking young girl were all staring at him. The look of misery on his angel’s face broke his heart all over again.

  But he was frozen and unable able to take the last few steps to pull her into his arms. What if she pushed him away? How would he recover? He would beg her for forgiveness—it didn’t matter that all these people would see him beg. Brodie didn’t care how it would look.

  He heard footsteps behind him. JT and Trevor were now part of the show. As he continued to try to work up the courage to move, his angel did the most unexpected thing. She burst out laughing. She was always doing something that surprised him.

  The sound didn’t have the same ring to it as he had heard from her before, but it was still music to his ears. As she clamped her hand over her pretty little mouth, he moved towards her. He needed to remove that hand from her lips and replace it with his own hungry mouth.

  “Well, then, now that we seem to have all the participants of today’s little upset in attendance, perhaps I should make everyone a nice hot cup of tea. Any takers? Brodie? JT? What about a cuppa, then? Then we can sort out this whole misunderstanding,” Brodie heard his fa
ther say.

  “It’s not tea that I’m wanting, Dad,” he said, as he brushed past his father and dragged Caitlin into his arms.

  She melted into him at once, their mouths melding as one and her arms going around his neck. Brodie moaned with pleasure. Never had he felt so relieved in his life. It felt as though he had been carrying a mountain on his back, but the pressure had now been relieved as he held his woman. He needed to be with Caitlin. He now accepted this above all else in his life.

  “Ahem… Son?” Brodie heard his father clearing his throat.

  Brodie had forgotten he and Caitlin had an audience, a room full of spectators. As he pulled away from his angel, he started to apologise. How could he ever make it up to her? He had embarrassed her. He wanted her forgiveness—maybe not now, but sometime in the near future. Brodie pleaded his case, telling her he wanted to be her guy, wanted her to be his woman.

  Brodie wanted to tell her exactly how he felt about her but she leaned towards him and placed her finger on his lips to silence him, just as he had done to her that day at the pool, so he returned the favour and sucked that finger straight into his mouth.

  “Seems you’ve got yourself one hell of a woman there, Brodes. Try and hang on to her… Maybe a little more privately with the groping, though.” JT cheekily wiggled his eyebrows at Caitlin.

  She giggled. Brodie loved that sound. JT then went over and started talking to the short, dark-haired girl by the window—who, for some reason, was now standing on the window seat, allowing her to nearly match JT’s height of six foot five.

  Patrick had returned with tea. Brodie didn’t take any. He just held on to Caitlin. It was then that he noticed Riley, who was standing behind the circus of people, stony-faced, lips pulled so tight that they were hardly visible. The boy had red, puffy eyes, just like his sister.

  Brodie realised he had more than one person to make amends with. He managed to let go of Caitlin, who looked up at him in alarm, reluctant to lose the connection. She saw where his attention had drifted, though, and nodded at him. Brodie walked slowly to the boy, stopping directly in front of the child he had hurt so much. He was concerned not only because of the damage he’d done to their budding friendship, but also because of the pain Riley clearly felt on Caitlin’s behalf.

  “Riley, mate. How can I make you believe how sorry I am I hurt your sister? I didn’t know anything about that story being published. I really care for you both. I know I already told you that the other night when we had that talk, and I really did mean what I said. I want to be here for you, son. I want to be here for you and your sister. I want you both to become part of my life. I would have given up the footy if that’s what it took. That’s how much you both mean to me.”

  With the heartfelt speech over, Brodie held out his hand for the boy to shake.

  In an amazingly similar response to that of his sister twice before, Riley jumped past Brodie’s outstretched arm, throwing his arms around Brodie’s shoulders and hugging him. Brodie was speechless.

  Riley said, in a very shaky and emotional voice, “No way, mate. Don’t give up the footy yet—you promised to take me into the sheds with you.”

  JT, helpful as always, chipped in. “That’s okay, kid, I’ve got you covered. The rest of the team like me better, anyway.”

  The sound of laughter filling the previously tense room was music to Brodie’s ears, as he stood holding the shaking Riley tightly in a bear hug. This boy had been hurt by someone’s deliberately cruel actions, and Brodie was going to make that person pay if it was the last thing he ever did.

  “Well, now that we have sorted out this mess, what say we organise some dinner?” June’s voice caught Brodie by surprise. The older woman sounded so friendly, keen to keep the group together for a bit longer, as she continued, “You boys must be starving—you are all so big and muscley. It must be quite a job keeping enough food in your bellies. I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’ve prepared enough for everyone. If you just give me a few minutes, I’ll pop next door and see what I can find.”

  “June, thank you. That’s a more than generous offer, but you don’t have to feed us all. You’ve already done so much for me today just by being here,” Caitlin added, her voice quavering, before JT interrupted.

  “As much of a generous offer that was, Miss June, why don’t you stay here and chat with Ruth and Patrick while Riley and I go pick up some takeaway pizza?”

  “That is a great idea, JT. Why don’t you take my car?”

  “That’s so funny, sis. Imagine JT trying to fit into your little car—it would be a bit squeezy!” Riley, finding his own joke extremely funny, burst out laughing.

  Finally, it was Patrick who came up with a sensible solution. “JT—here. Take my keys. You can borrow my car. Pizza sounds like a splendid idea. I don’t mind the odd ham and pineapple pizza.”

  “Thanks, Pat. C’mon, Riley, you want to come and keep me company?” JT asked as he took the keys from Patrick’s hand. “Anyone else have any preferences?”

  “I’d love a vegetarian pizza,” Brodie heard a timid voice from the background say and realised it was Caitlin’s dark-haired neighbour. Mandy, he thought her name was.

  “Righty-o, then—one veggie coming up. Why don’t you join me and Riley for the ride, Mandy, give us a hand?” JT added, and it wasn’t long before all the orders had been taken and the three—JT, Mandy and Riley—headed off to collect the food.

  “That’s an interesting turn of events,” Brodie murmured under his breath as he watched his big mate walk out of the door, deep in conversation with the unique-looking girl.

  June also caused Brodie some amusement over her reaction to meeting Trevor, “a real TV person”. Brodie even faked disappointment at her not recognising him and JT, even though they had also been on TV plenty of times.

  * * * *

  JT and his group returned with so many pizza boxes Brodie could hardly see his head over the top of the stack. Next to him, an exuberant Riley bragged excitedly about seeing two of the guys from school at the pizza shop and introducing them to JT. Even better, JT had told them that Riley Walters was, indeed, one of his best mates. Brodie loved that his big friend was being such a softy for the kid.

  Mandy was happy to eat with them, but took off very quickly afterwards, presumably to her flat. JT definitely appeared disappointed when Mandy left and she had looked quite comfortable around JT, despite seeming ill at ease with just about everyone else.

  Brodie sat with his parents and Caitlin, rage building in his gut as they filled him in on the horrors of the day. He was overwhelmed with gratitude for his loving parents, who had charged to the rescue on his behalf. His resourceful mother explained how she had contacted Mia’s Restaurant and convinced Angelo to give her Caitlin’s home address.

  The fact that Lila had had the nerve to come to Caitlin’s home and say such venomous and untrue things to Caitlin, and in front of Riley, horrified Brodie. He figured Jack Edwards must have had a hand in arranging that visit. He wasn’t sure how he was going to avenge his angel, but he would.

  “Caitlin, I need to return a few phone calls, thank some people for their help today. Will you be all right just for a few minutes, angel? I’d put it off if I could, but I promised I’d make a comment as soon as I knew you were okay.”

  “Of course, Brodie. Do what you have to do. I think I can cope for a few minutes without you.” The smile Caitlin bestowed on him was the sweetest sight Brodie had seen. “I’ll go chat with your mum,” Caitlin added, kissing him quickly before moving the short distance to where his mother sat.

  As it turned out, most papers had decided to drop the story as it was filled with so many lies, and given that the photograph had been taken without Brodie and Caitlin’s knowledge on private property, most thought it unethical.

  When everyone had finished their pizza, Brodie began to tidy up the remnants. He was surprised to overhear a conversation taking place between his mother and Caitlin.

  “You know,
darling, Patrick would love to spend some time around young Riley, and it’s such a long drive home. Do you think it would be all right if we spent the night here?”

  “Ruth, I’d love to invite you both to stay, but I only have this sofa bed to offer you. It’s not really all that comfortable. Wouldn’t you rather stay at Brodie’s?” came Caitlin’s reply, sounding so full of apology and embarrassment, it nearly broke his heart.

  “Rubbish. Pat and I will be fine on this sofa. We can play some games with Riley before we tuck him into his bed, then in the morning Patrick and Riley can go and kick a ball around in the local park. Caitlin, it will be wonderful for Pat to have a kick with the boy.”

  “Well, if you’re sure… I’ll just change the sheets and then make up some sort of bed in Riley’s room for me,” Caitlin said hesitantly, as if she was trying to think of a solution to the sleeping arrangements problem.

  “Well, that won’t do at all, Caitlin. We can’t have you sleeping on the floor. Why don’t you go home with Brodie and leave us here to keep Riley company? We’ll be just fine, and you and my boy can make sure you have everything all sorted out, in private. Be gentle with him, sweetheart.”

  Brodie nearly choked on his own sharp intake of breath. He had never realised how manipulative his mother could be, but he certainly was glad of it in this case.

  Caitlin explained the plans for the night to Riley, who winked at Brodie and agreed. Patrick was quick to ask Riley if he knew somewhere they could kick a ball around a few times the next morning before school, probably thinking that would make the boy more comfortable with the arrangements. JT also volunteered to give Pat a call early on, to see where the boys were headed, adding that he’d drive Riley on to school so they had more time together. Riley bounced.

  Trevor offered to drop Brodie and JT back at the team grounds to collect their cars and escorted June home to her flat, also giving Caitlin time to grab some overnight requirements. Brodie noticed Caitlin’s nervousness, that ‘ready to flee’ look in her beautiful, emerald eyes that he had already come to know so well. So he hovered around in the doorway, just to be on the safe side, just in case she needed him or some reassurance that everything was going to be okay. He was pleased that, as she and his mum made up the pull-out bed, Caitlin glanced his way and smiled on more than one occasion. Brodie loved the picture of these two special women in his life working so well side by side.