Secrets At Wongan Creek

by Juanita Kees

  Then there was the uneasiness of what would happen when he came back. If he came back at all. Her dad had always been unpredictable and how he would respond to finding his daughter staying at Bakers Hill was cause for concern and no doubt fodder for the gossip mill.

  But she was probably safer with him than anywhere else because he wouldn’t hesitate to put old man Chalmers on his arse if he did anything to hurt Tameka. Harley wasn’t a green nineteen-year-old anymore, and he would do whatever it took to protect her if she needed it.

  His dad’s hand descended on his shoulder, a reminder that he was there. ‘You’re not listening to me, are you, son?’

  Harley uncrossed his arms and hooked his thumbs into the belt loops on his jeans. ‘Sorry, Dad. It’s been a hell of a week.’

  ‘Sure has. The unrest about the extent of the crop damage this year is growing and tempers along with it. Add to that John Bannister pestering everyone into selling and Wongan Creek has seen more pub brawls in the last week than it has in years between those fighting to stay and those wanting to go. I hope it settles down soon. Louis Chalmers’ actions have turned the whole town in on themselves.’

  ‘Not a good thing to see, is it? Not when we all need to be putting our heads together to find a solution.’ If he could turn the clock back a week, he would. But there’d still be no guarantee that none of this would have happened.

  Dad took a sip of his beer. ‘We’ll need to consider our options moving forward. The area has been in decline for a while now. It’s not just the growth of the mine or the spray drift killing our industry. The expense of farming has become too great. Dairy farmers are losing out to cheaper supermarket milk from the east. Too many new diseases are finding their way into crops, the expense of harvest and transport to market, the effects of climate change—no way can we compete with cheaper imports when their cost of production is less than half of what ours is.’

  ‘Yeah, I know. I spoke to someone at the Department of Agriculture during the week. Times are changing for farmers. Farming in general really. How long can we continue to hold down second jobs while trying to keep our farms afloat? Times are tough. Consumers are counting their pennies.’ And he needed to hold onto his monopoly on the hops market or lose everything.

  ‘We’ve got to change with the times, son. We need to turn our crop to something more viable.’

  ‘If Greg can keep the wolves from the door long enough, I had it in my mind to open up our own brewery on the farm. Cultivate my own yeast. We could open the house up to the Bed and Breakfast idea Mum always wanted. It’s just me and Loki in the house with five bedrooms and two extra bathrooms standing empty.’

  The more he thought about it, the more excited he got. It had been ages since he could sink his teeth into a new project. And maybe, just maybe, Tameka would be around to share it with him. Because damn it, when old man Chalmers did show up, Harley would do everything he could to keep her safely away from the old bastard.

  Tom nodded. ‘Your mum would like that. I reckon she’d be happy to come on board with the breakfast part. With the need for short term accommodation growing for the mineworkers, that would provide a small solution to the immediate housing issues. Definitely worth thinking about, son. What else have you considered?’

  ‘I’ve been reading up on the cause and effect of spray drift. I’m working on a proposal to apply for a research grant looking at organic alternatives to the use of herbicides and pesticides. That would at least take care of a portion of the field where I can carry out testing.’

  ‘Still won’t bring in an income though, would it?’

  ‘Not initially, no. I’d still need a backup crop or alternative plan. We need the income now. God knows how long the grant would take to come through. Even going with the Bed and Breakfast idea and adding the brewery, we could be wading through red tape for months trying to get licences. We were doing okay until this harvest turned to shit.’ He didn’t have the heart to tell his dad the cost of the crop he couldn’t harvest that now lay rotting in the compost bins.

  Tom tapped his chin the way he did when the wheels turned thoughts and possibilities over in his mind. ‘But that’s not all that’s on your mind, is it?’

  Harley shook his head. ‘Tameka’s dad hasn’t been seen since the night of the fire. Don’t you find that odd, Dad? I do. What man leaves his farm during planting season for no reason when there is so much work to do?’

  ‘Hmmm, now there’s a difficult bastard.’

  ‘Dad, I keep thinking that maybe the fire wasn’t an accident.’

  ‘That’s grasping at straws, Harley. Tameka was quite clear in her statement to Barry Metcalfe that it was an accident and that her father wasn’t in the house at the time.’

  Harley turned the beer bottle in his hands. It had gone warm with the bottle still three-quarters full. ‘But she doesn’t know where he’s gone or when he’ll be back.’

  ‘Yeah, that’s a bit odd. Even back when you kids were little, he hardly ever left the farm. If they needed something in town, Mai would take Tameka and go in, even if it was parts for the machines or the pumps.’

  ‘What was he like, Dad? I remember him always being bad-tempered and impatient. Was he ever abusive or violent?’

  ‘He was never a friendly bloke, but we never saw or heard of anything that led us to believe he was anything more than just a difficult man.’ Tom scratched his head. ‘No-one was surprised when Mai walked out on him. We had a fairly good working relationship, I guess. He got on with his farm and I got on with mine. Our only real confrontation was the nonsense over the dam, a typical knee-jerk reaction from Chalmers. And there was a bit of nastiness over the shed fire … and Ryan.’

  Harley sighed, patting his father’s shoulder as his breath hitched on Ryan’s name. Losing him still hurt so much even after almost twenty years. ‘Yeah, if only we could go back in time, Dad. I can’t help but think Tameka’s not telling the whole truth.’

  ‘About the fire?’

  ‘About a lot of things.’

  ‘Hard to say when you haven’t really been close since you were nineteen. Many things changed that day, son.’

  And Harley regretted every moment since. ‘If I could change what happened …’

  ‘Hindsight. It’s a bitch. Look, your mum and I always expected you and Tameka to get together. It was inevitable. After Ryan died, you two were even closer and we were glad about that because it got you through.’

  Funny how he couldn’t remember Tameka’s dad having a problem with that, but they were kids and oblivious to what the adults were doing when there were lizards to catch and trees to explore. They’d simply stayed out of the way until they were needed to help. ‘So why the extreme reaction from her dad when we did get together then? I’ve never quite understood it.’

  His dad shrugged. ‘Who knows why Chalmers did anything. He grew grumpier and more difficult to deal with every year. After the incident with the dam, we gave up any pretence of friendship and let him get on with it.’

  ‘Why do you think Mai didn’t take Tameka with her when she left?’

  ‘That’s the question on everyone’s lips and the answer would be pure speculation. Maybe Tameka chose to stay? She was nineteen, legally an adult. But that doesn’t make sense either when she and Mai were so close.’

  ‘And Mai’s never been seen again.’ A chill crept up Harley’s spine.

  ‘Now you’re letting your imagination run away with you, son. Mai didn’t speak English very well. She didn’t quite fit into the community despite everyone’s best efforts. Even Ahn at the hardware store couldn’t bring her out of her shell, and she spoke Mai’s language. She wasn’t a very happy lady. Chalmers wasn’t impressed because she hadn’t given him a son. Everyone knew it wasn’t a love-match. He might even have put her on a plane back to Vietnam himself. It’s not something we’ll ever know the answer to.’

  Dad was more than likely right, but Harley couldn’t stop the questions from forming in his head.
What kind of mother walked away from her child, grown up or not? His mum wouldn’t. But the only one who could answer that question was Tikki and he wasn’t about to ask.

  Harley watched as his mum and Tameka made their way through the gate and back up onto Bakers Hill with Loki darting all over the place. Maybe he should consider getting another dog, a companion to help calm Loki down or he’d never make a good farmhand.

  Mum had her arm through Tameka’s, and their heads were close together like they were sharing a secret the way only women could. Dad stepped up beside him.

  ‘Neither of them would have had an easy life with Chalmers, Harley. It may be better if her old man has taken off.’

  ‘What would happen to the farm then?’

  Dad shrugged. ‘If it owes money to the bank, it will be repossessed, I guess. Or it will just stay in limbo until he’s confirmed dead.’

  Which meant Tameka would be living in limbo indefinitely too unless her father showed up. ‘I don’t know what to do, Dad.’

  ‘Not much you can do except be there for as long as she’ll accept your help.’ He cupped his hands around his mouth. ‘Hey, Shirl! Shake it up. We need to go.’

  His mum waved and they walked a little faster.

  ‘I don’t like driving after dark since the heart attack. Has Tameka filed a missing persons report with Sergeant Riggs?’

  ‘I’ve offered to report it, but she doesn’t want to make a fuss.’ Harley rocked on his feet. ‘I think she’s hoping he’ll show up in his own time. Or maybe not at all.’

  ‘Fair enough. The girl’s got enough on her plate as it is. Maybe she knows where he is, but they just need a break from each other, hey?’ Tom patted Harley’s shoulder.

  ‘Don’t you think it’s odd that he disappears on the night his daughter almost dies in a fire?’

  ‘When has Chalmers done anything that wasn’t odd? He bought Golden Acres, walked into this town with no past and a pregnant foreign bride on his arm, and started farming. No-one knows where he came from and he kept it that way.’

  ‘Even in a town this small where everyone knows your business? No-one asked?’

  His dad shrugged. ‘They didn’t need to. He didn’t cause trouble with the locals except for not supporting them in business, and still flies under the gossip radar. People are curious, but there’s always been enough going on in town to keep their focus off him. Whether he’s here or not won’t make any difference because from what I hear that girl keeps the farm running.’

  ‘There are so many things I don’t understand, Dad.’

  ‘The answers will find a way to the surface, son. They always do. You just need to be patient with the girl. Since she’s come to you for help instead of shacking up at the caravan park, I’d say she’ll tell you when she’s good and ready.’

  Harley watched as his mum and Tameka took the stairs up onto the verandah. Her cheeks were pale and her lips pulled tight. She looked tired. He wanted to sweep her up and lie her down then curl around her and keep her safe, make all the horrors of the last few weeks—hell, years—disappear.

  She stood close without touching him as they waved his parents away and then they were alone with questions rolling around in his mind and Tameka seemingly lost in her own thoughts as silence stretched between them.

  ‘Everything okay?’ He let his gaze trace her pale, drawn face.

  She nodded. ‘I’m a little tired. I think I might lie down for a while.’

  ‘Sure. Call me if you need anything, okay? And take Loki with you. He looks like he could do with a nap.’ Loki leant against her as if he’d fall over when she moved. Harley had an awful feeling he wasn’t the only one who’d lost his heart to the girl next door.

  Chapter 15

  Tameka shuffled through the papers on the desk in the manager’s office on Golden Acres. She’d had a rough night, tossing and turning, torn between discomfort and the worry of what state the farm was really in. So she’d snuck out early right after breakfast to get a head start on hunting down paperwork.

  Thankfully, the office had escaped most of the fire damage and besides everything being covered in fine black soot, she’d been able to salvage most of the accounts scattered across the desktop. And wished she hadn’t.

  A couple of hours work sorting through invoices left her with a pile of paper covered in red or green ‘overdue’ stickers. Thousands of dollars outstanding for fertilisers and general supplies, and judging by the amount owing on the electricity bill, they were lucky they still had power. No wonder Dad hadn’t let her near the accounts. She held little hope that he’d paid the insurance bill.

  Yep, there it was. Unpaid with a note that cancellation was imminent. Three months ago. Is that why Dad had walked away from the burning house?

  ‘Damn it, Dad.’

  Tameka tossed the pile of paperwork back onto the desk. She should have paid more attention to what he was doing, sneaked in a look while he was passed out in his armchair. But she’d been too exhausted to think after a day out in the field or the long trips away for supplies that could have been sourced in Wongan Creek.

  Dad had stood firm on his resolution not to support the locals and now she knew the reason why. He’d been stringing creditors along all the way from Kalgoorlie to Perth. How many more nasty surprises were hiding between the walls of the office? Golden Acres was bank-snatch away from going belly-up.

  In the distance, an engine rumbled and fear congealed like cold porridge in her stomach. If this was Dad coming back, she was alone and unprotected. God knew what state of mind he’d be in and she’d never been this afraid of him before—a cold, raw fear that if he found her alone he’d finish what he’d started. Loki had deserted her to find Harley, so any chance he’d behave like a guard dog was lost.

  She reached for the top drawer on the desk and pulled it out, her fingers searching underneath for the spare key to the gun safe. Moving quickly, she opened the safe and grabbed the spare rifle and buckshot. Her fingers fumbled over loading it.

  Even if it wasn’t Dad, it could be looters who thought the burnt homestead would be fair game. Not that there was much left of the contents to loot. If it was Dad, the crazy she’d seen in eyes on the night of the fire called for caution.

  Tameka shivered. Not that she was sure she could ever shoot him, but hopefully, the threat alone would be enough. A big man, strong and out of control in a temper, he’d already proven he had the strength to overpower her.

  Harley’s ute came into view and she breathed a sigh of relief. Stepping out on the verandah, she kept the rifle in her hand pointed to the ground, the safety on.

  No threat physically, but emotionally Harley had power over her she didn’t want right now. Not when her heart was so close to being his again. Not until she’d sorted through the mess in her head. Maybe never.

  He pulled to a stop, swinging the nose of the ute to face back up the road he’d come in on. He got out, Loki bouncing out behind him before he slammed the door closed. His hands went to his hips, hitching up the red and black-checked flannel shirt tails as he leant back against the tailgate, one booted foot up on the bumper, the other planted firmly in the red dust. He scratched Loki’s ears before letting the dog run up to Tameka.

  ‘I come in peace. With beer.’ Harley held up his hand making a V with his fingers. ‘Don’t shoot.’

  Tameka felt a smile tug at her lips, the tension in her neck and shoulders easing a little. ‘Anyone who can pull off a Vulcan salute with such ease is safe by my standards.’

  ‘And I thought the beer was the deal-breaker.’

  ‘Probably not a great idea to wash down painkillers and antibiotics with beer.’

  ‘Good point.’ He turned around and hauled a small blue icebox and a shopping bag out of the back of the ute. ‘That’s why the beer’s for me and the tea is for you. And I brought some of the Danishes Mum hauled in last night. I figured you’d need sustenance about now with all this dust and soot around.’

  ‘You know yo
ur way into a girl’s heart, Harley.’ And damn it, he did. Even after all this time apart, he was tuned in to her. He’d know she was afraid, uneasy, unsettled. He’d taken care of it with tea and a Danish, and bringing her back his dog for company. In another time, another world … but dreams were cheap when reality cost more than you could give.

  He smiled that heart-stopping smile that lifted the corners of lips she wanted on hers every morning and every night and a good portion of the day in between. ‘Permission to board?’

  ‘Permission granted.’ But she’d keep the line drawn in the sand, even if he did come armed with tea. ‘I hope that brew’s hot.’

  He dropped the esky and the bag on the top step of the verandah. His gaze pinned hers. ‘Hot and strong with a hint of milk and a touch of Jasmine.’

  Tameka looked away, crossed her arms and toed the wooden deck of the verandah with her boot. ‘You’re a dag, Harley Baker, but your lines don’t work on me.’ But, damn him, they did because what girl in her right mind wouldn’t melt in a puddle at his feet when he turned up the wattage on that smile?

  ‘A dag who brings Danish and tea.’ He rubbed a thumb across her cheek. ‘You have a streak of dirt on your face.’

  Her heart did a little happy dance at the brush of his skin on hers. She should slap his hand away. Except his palm cupped her face, his head tilted to the side then his lips brushed where his thumb had been and her eyes fluttered closed as he trailed a kiss across her cheek.

  ‘Gone now,’ he whispered against her ear.

  Her fingers tightened around the rifle to stop them reaching for him and dragging him closer, taking that kiss a step further.

  ‘You’re in my space.’ Tameka tried to keep the purr out of the reprimand and failed.

  He drew back a little, tipped up her chin with his fingers and grinned. ‘I kissed a girl … and I liked it.’

  She rolled her eyes. ‘Really? Katy Perry? Seriously? Scrap the dag. You’re a douche-bag.’ Tameka gave him a little shove even though her heart pounded away because she liked him kissing her too. ‘Can I have that tea before it gets cold?’