When Grace Went Away

by Meredith Appleyard

  No sooner than she’d said it, Grace had her mobile out and the phone at the farm was ringing. Something about this didn’t feel right.

  ‘Dad? Is Mum there?’

  ‘No, she was, but she left, aw, at least an hour ago. Why?’

  ‘I can’t find her. She’s not answering her phone, and that’s not like her.’

  ‘She was all right when she left here. She might have stopped off at Carol Claremont’s place.’

  ‘Carol’s? Why would she be there?’

  Doug coughed, cleared his throat. ‘Carol was out here earlier. Ask your mother, she’ll tell you all about it.’

  ‘I will ask her when I find her!’

  ‘I still reckon you should check with Carol,’ Doug said, and hung up.

  Aaron reached for her free hand. His fingers wrapped around hers. His hand was warm, work-roughened, and the gesture settled her.

  ‘Let’s drive by Carol’s,’ he said.

  ‘I’m probably overreacting. It’s hot sitting here. Let’s go inside.’

  An hour later Grace had showered and changed, and Sarah still hadn’t answered her phone, or returned Grace’s numerous calls.

  When her phone did ring, Grace dived for it, taken aback to hear Faith’s agitated voice on the other end.

  ‘Where the hell is Mum? The school rang. She didn’t pick up the kids. One of the other mothers has taken them until Ben gets home.’

  Grace’s stomach plummeted. ‘I don’t know where she is. She’s not answering her phone.’

  ‘You think I don’t bloody well know that! And she’s still got my car.’

  ‘Calm down, Faith. I’m sure there’s a simple explanation.’

  ‘I doubt it. When it comes to her, nothing is ever simple.’

  Grace held the phone away from her ear. Aaron had come into the kitchen and was watching her steadily.

  He reached for the phone, pressed it to his ear and said, ‘Get a grip, Faith. This is not Grace’s fault. We have been looking for Sarah, and we’ll go out again in a minute and drive around some more. We’ll let you know the minute we know anything.’

  He disconnected and handed the phone to Grace.

  ‘Let’s go,’ he said.

  ‘Wait. I’m feeling a bit shaky here … Can you please hug me before we go?’

  ‘Come here,’ he said, and gathered her into his arms.

  ‘I don’t know what I did to deserve you,’ Grace said, muffled against his chest, blinking back her tears as he hugged her tight.

  ‘You must have been good in a previous life,’ he said, making her chuckle. ‘Let’s take my car.’ She eased herself out of his embrace.

  They drove up and down every street, and then around the outskirts of the town. They stopped at the service station on the off-chance Sarah had fuelled up. No one remembered seeing her that day. They drove out to the farm turnoff, and back again.

  ‘Let’s go home. I think it’s time we called the police,’ Aaron said.

  ‘Wait … Slow down. Look there, through the scrub. Is that Faith’s Prado? Isn’t that the cemetery in there?’

  Aaron slowed down, and peered past Grace as they crawled along the road. ‘Yeah, it is the cemetery, and you’re right, that could be Faith’s car. It’s the right size and colour.’

  He put his foot down and minutes later they were skidding to a halt next to the 4WD station wagon, the only vehicle in the cemetery car park. Grace wrenched off her seatbelt and flew out the door, leaving it gaping.

  Faith’s car was locked, and when Grace pressed her face to a window for a clearer view, there was nothing out of place. Hands on hips she looked around, helplessly scanning the area.

  ‘The only reason she’d come here would be to visit Luke’s grave,’ she said.

  ‘Well, let’s go there.’

  ‘What’s the point? I can see from where I’m standing that there’s no one there.’

  Aaron grabbed her hand, and without waiting for any protest, he tugged her towards the newer section of the cemetery.

  Luke’s grave was pristine, as usual, and adorned by a bunch of dried native flowers. It had been a while since Grace had visited her brother’s grave and she found herself rooted to the spot, while tears burned at the back of her eyes.

  She jumped when Aaron called out.

  ‘Grace, come over here.’ He was about three graves away and examining something in his hand. ‘This is Sarah’s phone,’ he said when Grace came up to him. ‘Look, there’re nine missed calls from you, and one from Faith. And the battery is almost flat.’

  ‘What on earth would her phone be doing over here? And the car over there? Where the hell is she?’

  Aaron looked as distressed as Grace felt. ‘I think we should do what you said: call the police. Now that we’ve found the car and her phone, and not her,’ Grace said.

  ‘Pass me your phone and I’ll ring Sonya.’

  ‘I left it in the car.’

  They trudged back to the car park. The passenger door was still hanging open.

  ‘Sounds like your phone’s ringing,’ Aaron said, and Grace sprinted the remaining distance to the car.

  It was an unknown number. Heart thumping Grace answered the call.

  ‘Hello.’

  ‘Grace Fairley?’

  ‘Speaking. Who is this?’

  ‘Louise Bowden … Claremont. Carol’s daughter. Your mum has had an accident and she’s here at the hospital. She lost her phone and couldn’t remember yours or Faith’s numbers. I’ve had a hell of a time tracking you down.’

  ‘Is she okay? What happened? We’ve been looking everywhere. We found her phone near Luke’s grave.’

  ‘She fell over and hit her head. She has a concussion. The doctor wants her to stay in hospital overnight for observation. He might send her for a CT scan tomorrow. Plus, she’s sprained her ankle quite badly.’

  ‘Please tell her we’ll be there in a few minutes.’

  Aaron drove and Grace called Faith, recounting what had happened.

  ‘She must have gone to visit Luke’s grave and fallen over while she was there. I wonder who found her?’

  ‘Oh, no,’ Faith wailed. ‘Poor Mum. I am a total bitch for saying what I did about her. I’m sorry. Dad said you’d even rung him looking for her. At least this time I can blame the baby hormones. I’ll tell Ben. Keep me posted.’

  Grace disconnected. The phone had been on speaker and Aaron had heard everything. They looked at each other and laughed. Aaron indicated and turned into the local hospital.

  58

  Aaron’s disappointment was written all over his face the following morning.

  ‘I’ll have to stay with Mum for a few days,’ Grace was saying. ‘She can’t be on her own. Not with a concussion, and being knocked out with it.’

  ‘Yeah, but she could come here to stay? There’s plenty of room and she’d have a bathroom all to herself.’ His expression was so full of hope that Grace had to smile.

  ‘I’m sorry, mate,’ she said. ‘But Mum will want to be in her own home, with her own things. I know I would.’

  ‘No worries,’ Aaron said.

  They were sitting at the table in the kitchen nook after eating breakfast. Aaron was dressed for work. They’d agreed that Grace wouldn’t work with him today because she’d be collecting Sarah from the hospital as soon as the doctor gave the all clear.

  Grace had talked to her mum first thing and knew she’d be itching to get home.

  Gratified she was there and able to help out, Grace was still disappointed she wouldn’t be spending the day with Aaron. She loved working alongside him. She loved sleeping alongside him. She loved doing all those little domestic things alongside him. There was nothing she didn’t love doing with him.

  ‘This trip is turning out to be nothing like I expected,’ she said. ‘When I think about London, my job, my apartment … None of it seems real.’

  ‘It’ll be painfully real in just over a week, for me anyway,’ Aaron said bluntly. ‘Do
you have to go back at all?’

  Grace chewed on her bottom lip, but before she could formulate the right words he’d stood up from the table.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I promised myself I wouldn’t say anything to put any pressure on you. I want to just be glad you are here. Only it’s harder than I thought it’d be.’

  She reached for his arm. It was warm, solid.

  ‘Aaron, I can’t simply walk away from my job, from my career, just like that.’

  ‘No, I don’t suppose you can,’ he said, and moved away, out of her reach. She wiggled her fingers for him to come back. When he didn’t, she let her hand drop into her lap.

  ‘Let’s talk about this later on,’ she said.

  ‘You’ll be at Sarah’s.’ There was no accusation in his tone, only acceptance. ‘We can talk tomorrow, or whenever.’

  ‘Are we still going to see your mum on Sunday?’

  ‘Of course I’ll go, but you wait and see how Sarah is before you decide to come or not.’ He scooped up the ute keys, and shoved his sunglasses into his shirt pocket. ‘See you,’ he said, and she tilted her face up for his kiss.

  She listened until the sound of the ute disappeared down the street. With it went the remnants of her good mood. Maybe if he did put the pressure on, her decisions would be easier to make.

  Poor form, she told herself, blaming him because he was being thoughtful and accommodating. But why couldn’t she have the career and the man? Why did she have to be the one to choose?

  Aaron had drawn his line in the sand and he wasn’t willing to step over it. He’d made a life for himself in Miners Ridge, and made it clear that city life, in whatever shape or form, wasn’t for him.

  The rub was that whatever choice she made, the career or the man, there’d be losses either way.

  She cast her mind back to what had happened with Grant Hughes. He’d wanted a life with her, but on his terms. She’d chosen the job, and family commitments, over the man. Was this any different?

  Yes. Completely different. Her heart was involved this time.

  ‘All right, all right,’ she muttered, summoning the wherewithal to get up off the chair and let Bob in. He’d been sitting outside the French doors yowling for the past five minutes.

  She fed him, did the breakfast dishes, made the bed and hung out the load of clothes Aaron had put on earlier. When it occurred to her how readily she’d slipped into the role of ‘homemaker’, she laughed out loud. Not that he expected her to clean up after him. That was one thing about Aaron: gender didn’t come into the division of labour.

  After prevaricating over what clothes and toiletries she’d take to her mother’s and what to leave at Aaron’s, she ended up throwing everything into the suitcase and taking the lot.

  Grace picked up her mother from the hospital and took her home after lunch. The RN pushed Sarah out to the waiting SUV in a wheelchair.

  Her ready compliance told Grace all she needed to know about how her mother really was. The crutches, the hollowed-out eye sockets and the scrapes and bruises told the rest.

  ‘I must have hurt my wrist along with everything else,’ Sarah said, and Grace helped her with the seatbelt.

  The RN reminded Sarah to take the painkillers when she needed them, emphasising the importance of ringing the hospital or coming back if her headache got worse, or if she vomited again.

  ‘I feel like such a klutz, and a major nuisance,’ Sarah said when they were on the road. ‘You came to spend time with Aaron, and here you are having to babysit me.’

  ‘You know I don’t mind at all, and neither does Aaron.’

  ‘I missed the gallery meeting last night.’

  ‘I’m sure Carol would have put them in the picture, and they all would have understood.’

  ‘You know, Emma is Luke’s daughter. Carol told me … Is it only yesterday? Seems like days ago.’

  ‘At least we know for sure now. Big question is what they’ll do now that they know we know.’

  ‘Let’s hope Louise doesn’t bolt with Emma.’

  ‘Unlikely, Mum. She has a job here, a home, and Emma’s in school.’

  ‘You’re right. We’ll have to wait and see what happens next.’

  ‘We will. Dad said Carol was at the farm. What’s that about?’

  ‘Doing his cleaning, believe it or not. They have baggage that goes way back. They can sort it out, or not. But it did explain why Doug argued with Luke the day he was killed. It doesn’t excuse it though.’

  When Grace had helped her mother hobble inside, and settled her on the sofa, she brought in her own suitcase and stowed it in the spare bedroom. She left the sitting room curtains closed but opened windows and turned on the overhead fans.

  Then she made a pot of tea, cut two generous slices of the homemade fruit cake in the tin, set it out on the coffee table and sat down beside her mother.

  ‘Now, if you’re up to it, tell me everything else that’s happened since we talked on the phone yesterday morning.’

  ‘What happened after I fell over at the cemetery is all a bit of a muddle. But I’ll tell you what I remember.’ And she did.

  ‘You’re exhausted,’ Grace said when her mother had recounted her tale. Grace was still trying to get her head around the bit about her father and Carol’s sister. ‘But I’m glad you told me.’

  ‘I wish I’d had a chance to thank Louise. If she hadn’t been there, who knows what would have happened.’

  You might not have fallen in the first place! Grace kept the thought to herself.

  ‘I think I will lie down now for a while,’ Sarah said, and Grace helped her to the bathroom and then to the bedroom. Neither could decide if the crutches were a help or a hindrance.

  Aaron rang at four and she took the conversation outside so she wouldn’t disturb her mother.

  They’d back-and-forthed about how Sarah was before Grace picked up on a strange tension in Aaron’s voice. Before she could ask him if he was all right he said, ‘Your suitcase is gone.’

  ‘Yeah,’ she said, and chuckled. ‘I couldn’t decide what to bring and what to leave, so I threw in everything.’

  ‘Oh,’ he said. ‘I thought—Never mind what I thought.’

  ‘The nurse said Mum needed someone with her the first night. Knowing how independent she is, I’m sure she’ll turf me out sooner rather than later.’

  ‘Good,’ he said, all traces of the previous tension gone.

  He refused an invitation to come around for dinner, and in a way Grace was relieved. Her mother needed to rest. And when Grace looked in on Sarah a few minutes later, she was snoring softly.

  She’d barely pulled the bedroom door closed when her phone pinged with a message from Aaron.

  Aren’t we supposed to be having a pub meal with Doug tonight?

  Yes! I’ll ring and make it a day next week. OK?

  OK. X

  Sarah got up at five pm. They rang Faith and put Grace’s phone on speaker. Faith had had a better day. Christopher had been more settled. Ben was there with Liam and Amelia. If all went well, they’d let her come home after the weekend.

  Grace scrambled eggs and made toast for their evening meal. Just as they finished eating, there was a knock at the front door. Mother and daughter glanced at each other, expressions a mirror image. Neither had heard a car.

  ‘It’s probably Aaron. He might have walked around,’ Grace said, and bounced off the sofa. She was smiling broadly by the time she reached the door. However, the joy froze on her face when she opened the door to find Carol, Louise and Emma standing on the doorstep.

  59

  Sarah

  When Grace answered the door I was surprised to hear Carol’s voice.

  ‘Sorry to drop in unannounced, love, and we won’t stay long, but I needed to see how your mum was. And Louise has something to say to her.’

  ‘Please, come in,’ I called out, to override Grace’s reply.

  Like a wool-heavy ewe I flailed about on the sofa, trying t
o get to my feet. The crutches were a nuisance, but putting any weight on the foot was painful.

  Then there were three women and a girl crowding around me, and Carol instructing me to stay put.

  Grace looked flabbergasted. Louise’s eyes darted around the room while she fidgeted with the paper wrapping the bunch of flowers she was holding. Carol’s expression was one of uncertainty, and hope.

  Then Emma smiled.

  ‘Hello,’ she said. ‘Crutches … Cool. Can I please have a try?’

  I burst into tears.

  ‘I told you this wasn’t a good idea,’ Louise hissed to her mother. Carol tutted.

  ‘Would you like me to put the flowers in water?’ Grace said, and Louise thrust them into her outstretched hands.

  ‘I know where her vases are kept,’ Carol said, and marched towards the kitchen, Louise and Grace in her wake.

  Emma sat down on the sofa beside me.

  ‘Liam said you’d cry,’ she said. ‘He said you cried when his mum let him and Amelia visit you the first time.’

  ‘He said that?’ I gave a watery laugh, and sniffed. Emma passed me a wad of tissues from the box on the coffee table.

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘When were you talking to Liam about this?’ I said, mopping my eyes with the tissues.

  ‘Ages ago. Not long after I started school here. Liam and I are in the same class and I told him a secret … That my real dad was dead and buried in the Miners Ridge cemetery. We rode our bikes out there so I could show him. We didn’t tell Amelia then, but it’s not a secret anymore.’

  ‘Ah,’ I said slowly, the penny dropping. So Liam had worked it out, but not the way that Faith had envisaged.

  ‘Liam said that if Luke Fairley was really my dad, like my mum says, then we’re cousins and you’re my grandma as well.’

  ‘And so I am,’ I said. ‘Luke, your dad, was my youngest son.’

  ‘Liam also said you were okay for an old person.’

  ‘Well, I’m pleased to hear that!’

  Then Emma smiled, and she looked so like her father that I gave in to another flood of tears.

  ‘I’m sorry, sweetie,’ I said. ‘These are happy tears. You remind me so much of your dad.’