Nina not only knew the Keith Urban/Carrie Underwood song, she considered ‘The Fighter’ the best duet ever and, despite a few beers under his belt, Blair was giving his all. Nina remembered she wasn’t supposed to be good and let herself go, imitating Nicole Kidman’s cutesy performance from the YouTube clip. Wolf whistles and hooting encouraged her until, with the final strains of the song, Nina fell into Blair’s embrace.
And maybe fell a little in love.
*
Later, when she pulled up outside Blair’s house, he looked at Nina, then at his father in the back seat, and whispered, ‘You wanna drop Dad off first?’
Nina smiled, leaned into him and kissed his cheek. ‘Nope. Off you go, sleep tight and drink lots of water. And thank you for a great time.’
‘But—’
Nina shushed him with a finger to his lips. ‘I have to be up and on the road early. Call me,’ she said. ‘Good night, Keith. Er… I mean, Blair.’
‘You make a great Nicole,’ he slurred. ‘But I’ll have a Nina any day.’
‘Go!’ She shoved his shoulder, laughing. When he slammed the door and bent down to peer in through the window, a sorrowful pout on his face, she tooted the horn and took off.
‘Thanks for the entertainment tonight,’ John said, after watching Blair bumble his way to the door. ‘Both the karaoke and the goodbye just now.’
‘You are most welcome.’ Nina laughed as she turned the car around and headed back along the road she now knew would take her to Ivy-May.
‘I haven’t seen my boy so relaxed or happy for a long time,’ John said. ‘I hope we see you again soon, Nina. Oh, turn right here, no need to drive me to the front door. I know my way in the dark from the cottage.’
‘I’m sure you do, John!’ Nina quipped, happy to have met the fabulous and unforgettable John Tate.
Chapter 48
Confessions
Mrs Hense bobbed up from behind the hedge. ‘Hello, dear, how are we doing?’
Ava returned the perfunctory greeting. ‘Very well. Lovely day.’
The villa she’d thought would be her tiny oasis was beginning to feel smaller still with its common wall and the nosy neighbour, who kept the dividing hedge on the front veranda too well pruned.
‘How was book club today, dear?’
‘Excellent, thank you for asking.’ Ava wrestled with the small key in the screen door lock. ‘Today we discussed a murder-mystery that plays out in a small villa complex. One in which the antagonist in the story is a woman who meets with foul play.’
‘Sounds ghastly, dear.’
‘Never fear, the book has a happy ending.’ Although keen to get inside, Ava paused and looked across the hedge at her neighbour. ‘The antagonist is eventually cornered and taken out by a group of residents. Stabbed by hedge-pruning clippers,’ she added. ‘They cut her up into little pieces to fit in the wheelie bin and the neighbourhood celebrates with a huge party, then everyone lives happily ever after.’
‘Oh, well, as long as there’s a happy ending. I do love those stories. Speaking of… ’ That was Mrs Hense’s usual method of introducing gossip, because they were never, ever speaking of anything even closely related to what followed. ‘You’ve had a long-lost friend come calling while you were away.’
‘Is that so? Well, a true mystery indeed, Mrs Hense. I can’t for the life of me think who that might have been, but thanks for keeping an eye on things, as always.’
Ava was about to close the door when she heard the woman call out. ‘Ah, your mystery solved, Ava dear.’
‘I’m sorry?’
Mrs Hense smiled, nodding. ‘There’s your friend coming up the driveway now.’
Ava recognised the woman, who was barely five metres away, her steps slowing.
Oh dear.
Did Katie’s presence explain why Miriam had been so cagey on the telephone when Ava had rung to ask where Nina was and why she wasn’t responding to messages? With Katie now stopped at the bottom of the villa’s concrete ramp, Ava steeled herself. She could tackle this situation in any number of ways, but one thing was for sure: she would defend her daughter whatever Nina was up to.
‘Hello, Katie, would this visit mean you’ve met my daughter?’
‘You knew she was going out to Ivy-May?’
Ava took a breath. ‘I didn’t know until you showed up just now. Can’t say I’m surprised.’ She looked over Katie’s shoulder towards Mrs Hense, whose pruning shears had stilled. ‘I guess you’d better come inside.’ She held open the front door and beckoned Katie to enter ahead of her. Then she watched her eyeing the small, open-plan living area, while dropping her handbag to a chair. ‘You’re welcome to sit, Katie.’
‘These days, to everyone but family I go by Kathryn. Still a Tate,’ she added. ‘I’ll always consider myself a Tate. Having produced an heir I’ve earned that right.’
‘I see.’ What she called herself made no difference to Ava, who still saw shades of the girl who’d barged into the cook’s cottage to set Ava straight on a few things, at the same time claiming her position in the Ivy-May hierarchy. Ava had been too naïve to realise she’d been claiming John. ‘Kathryn suits you better than Katie-from-next-door. We’ve all grown up. Some of us older than others.’ A smile tried, unsuccessfully, to break the ice.
Their ten-year age gap had once placed Ava as the more mature grown-up. Now, stylish in a khaki skirt and jacket, set against the backdrop of knick-knacks and the typical grandma gallery of family photos on the wall, Ava felt ancient. She and Katie had been friends once, albeit briefly. At least, Ava had tried until she’d realised she was the enemy and her relationship with John a threat.
‘I met your son,’ Ava started.
Katie looked surprised, and not in a good way. ‘When?’
‘I went out to Candlebark Creek last month. I saw John under the pretence of sitting for a portrait. While I was there I stayed at Blair’s Retreat. Your son is delightful and very handsome.’
The compliment seemed to soothe Katie. ‘Blair is a special boy. He has a beautiful nature and all the local girls are vying for his attention… but, Ava, they’re girls who understand the realities, not simply the romance, of country life. Living on the land is not for everyone.’
Ava couldn’t understand why the woman was harbouring resentment after all these years. ‘Can I get you some tea, Katie? A glass of water?’
‘Water, although I don’t want to put you to any trouble.’
‘Water is doable.’ Ava smiled. ‘If there’s any joy to villa living it’s having everything within reach.’ She left her visitor to her forensic investigation of the compact living space that must have felt like a matchbox compared to sprawling Queenslanders like Ivy-May. ‘I’ve never bothered with big houses.’ Ava spoke louder over running water. ‘Life is too short and I’m too busy to spend a second of mine cleaning unused rooms.’
‘You still go by Marchette?’
Ava told herself that life was also too short to second-guess the purpose behind Katie’s visit, deciding to maintain a balance of courtesy and caution.
‘I never married.’ She returned to the living area. ‘I wanted to find someone I truly loved, so I waited.’
Looking everywhere but at Ava, Katie finally said, ‘John was in love throughout our entire marriage.’
‘Oh?’ Ava wondered how long she intended dragging this out. Part of her wanted to shout: No need to rub salt into still raw wounds, Katie. You won.
‘Yes, my husband was very much in love – and still is, only he’s never figured out who with.’ Katie was looking at Ava now. ‘As much as I wanted it to be me I’ve always known better.’ Her eyes were growing damp. ‘You probably still think me weak and insincere. I was once. Weak and stupid enough to be influenced by Marjorie Tate.’
‘I never saw weak or stupid when I looked at you, Katie. I saw a youthful eagerness and determination. I knew a lot about that myself. Then, on the morning after your eighteenth birthday, I saw fear and d
esperation. I knew about that too. That’s why I wanted to help.’ Katie said nothing. ‘When I landed in Candlebark Creek last month, I barely recognised the main street, except the pub, of course. Can you tell me what happened to Rick Kingston?’
‘He died,’ Katie said. ‘A bar fight and a broken bottle.’
‘So, someone finally gave Rick what was coming, eh? I think he and Colin—’
‘No.’ Katie’s head snapped up, her face contorted. ‘I’m not interested in talking about Rick or Colin, or in reminiscing with you, Ava.’
‘And yet,’ Ava spoke slowly and deliberately, braced for another retort, ‘for some reason, here you are.’
Katie dropped onto the sofa. Ava sensed a confession of some sort, or maybe she’d finally get an apology. Why else had the woman come looking for her today? Surely it wasn’t to tell her to control her curious daughter, or to warn her that she planned to run Nina out of town, like Marjorie had with Ava.
No. Even today she didn’t believe Katie was like her mother-in-law had been. Katie was a victim but right now she looked ready to confess, just as she’d looked ready to admit some terrible truth on the morning after her birthday party, crying alone in a paddock. The only bragging being done back then was by Rick Kingston, who’d joined the party late, observing the carry-on from sober sidelines. ‘A free feed and a sideshow’ was how he had referred to it.
Something else Rick had told Ava fell out of the memory strongbox from that day, something so shocking she’d never wanted to imagine it was true; something about Katie getting what she wanted, only not the way she’d wanted it. While Rick had made out he knew something, his stories were always more fiction than fact. But could he have been telling Ava he knew who had slept with Katie that night? Rick had said Marjorie had taken the O’Briens home after the party had broken up. He’d also insinuated he’d seen John come and go from Ava’s cottage. But what had he really seen? Who else had been at Ivy-May after the party?
‘I need a drink,’ Ava told Katie. ‘Give me a minute.’ More than tea, Ava needed time to unravel that recollection and quell the anger that Rick’s image always provoked.
*
Ava had known only about Rick Kingston’s status as the town’s colourful raconteur. The few occasions they’d spoken while she was Ivy-May’s cook, she’d always thought him friendly and amusing. When he’d found her crashed on the roadside, weak with misery following Marjorie Tate’s dismissal, she had let herself be saved. Only after she’d refused to sleep with him did she discover he had a dark side. When he didn’t get his way, Rick Kingston turned tyrant, hurling abuse, accusations and a whole lot more.
‘So, I’m not good enough for you, eh, Ava?’ he’d yelled after pub closing one night. ‘After all I’ve done you spit in my face.’
‘I appreciate the job and the room, Rick. I don’t appreciate the surprise kiss, that’s all.’ Ava had tried to continue cleaning the kitchen, but it wasn’t easy with him getting in her face. ‘You know I’m not interested in you that way.’
Rick grabbed the soft part of her upper arm, pinching the skin so hard that pain shot into her shoulder. ‘Then let me tell you something about that family you’re gagging to be part of.’ He jerked her into him. Thank goodness she was holding a stack of dirty dishes between them. ‘Marjorie and Colin Tate’s interest in the O’Brien property next door is no secret in this town. How far they’ll go to make it happen sure is, though, but I also know the secret, Ava, and it’s a humdinger.’
Ava shook him off and stepped back, frustration overcoming her earlier fear. ‘What secret, Rick? What are you talking about?’
‘What’s not a secret in town is you and John bloody Tate. The two of you were making goo-goo eyes across the room that night, as if no one else was there. Everyone saw. You two should be ashamed of ruining the girl’s birthday party. Poor thing had been so excited about turning eighteen. She was certain, mostly because Marjorie said as much, that John had been waiting for it to make their relationship official. Come the end of the party, John disappeared, and I know where to, don’t I?’ Rick had moved in behind Ava, his breath on her neck smelling of smoke and beer. ‘Poor Katie is so upset that night she’ll take comfort and reassurance from whoever’s offering.’
‘Rick, I’m not listening to any more of your stories. You’re making it up as you go along. You weren’t even invited to the party.’
‘Ain’t no bullshit, Ava, and I sure was there. Old Marj was angry her husband hadn’t picked up ice, cos the beer was gettin’ warm. Col telephoned me and I was more than happy to deliver, along with a carton of cold ones. Got there in time for the most awkward birthday speech ever. Thoroughly entertaining, though, and I enjoyed the free feed and the sideshow. So I do know a thing or two about all the comings and goings that night – if you get my drift.’ Rick moved to lean against the draining-board while Ava fetched more dirty dishes from the servery. ‘You weren’t the only one getting a little love action after the man of the moment spilled his beer over Katie’s pretty blue dress, then disappeared, party over.’ Ava stopped scrubbing long enough to see Rick’s wink. ‘Nothing ends a party faster than a family feud. I didn’t care. All the more food for me when the place emptied faster than a beer keg at a bachelor party. Then everyone’s best friend, Marj, drove Ma and Pa O’Brien home, probably making them a cuppa to keep in the good books and Colin disappears – gotta feel sorry for a bloke who has to put up with a ball-breaker of a wife like Marj. No wonder he’s here at the pub every weekend. Bloody hell! What he gets up to some nights would curl ol’ Marj’s hair.’
‘Like what?’
‘That’s secret men’s bar business.’ Rick’s fingers pretended to zip his lips shut. ‘So, you see, Ava, I can keep a secret. Like what happened when sweet Katie was alone in Ivy-May and needing a shoulder to cry on that night.’ His head shook as he tutted. ‘John Tate had broken her sweet little heart. Oh, sure, he apologised, but she’d wanted more. She’d needed reassurance that she was worthy. The girl needed loving.’
‘You can’t know all this.’
‘I know all the dirty lies in this town and I know young Katie was easy to comfort, never made a sound. That’s what I heard, of course.’
‘Stop it, Rick!’
‘Katie sure got what she wanted, just not the way she wanted it.’
‘I said stop. I don’t want to hear any more.’ Ava was desperate for Rick to stop talking. ‘It’s not your business.’
‘No, but it should be yours, Ava.’
*
Why was she thinking of this now? If Katie wasn’t interested in reminiscing, then neither was she. Ava was about to tell her visitor as much when Katie’s next words stopped her.
‘I tried to tell you that day in the paddock, Ava. You wouldn’t believe me.’
‘You mean that you were pregnant?’
‘You thought I was being naïve, but I knew the moment I woke up in Ivy-May. Somehow I knew I was different and that night would change everything.’ There was no anger, her voice more that of a child who knew she was in trouble. ‘I couldn’t tell you the truth about what happened. You would’ve told John and I couldn’t bear that.’
‘Whatever you told me, I would have kept the secret, especially from John. But I could’ve guided you, and if you’d needed options, Katie, they were there. Why didn’t you take one?’
‘I went to Marjorie.’
‘Did she not help you?’
Katie shrugged and another tear landed as a dark stain on her skirt. ‘If by help you mean take charge, I suppose she did. I told her what had happened, thinking she’d help me get to a doctor and have an abortion. Instead she told me if I was pregnant I’d be keeping the baby and John would marry me. We’d be a family. Next thing I know you and John have disappeared, and when he did come home from hospital, not remembering anything about his birthday, or you, or—’
‘You won,’ Ava sighed. ‘He was yours, at last.’
Katie looked up, her cheeks wet with
tears. ‘It wasn’t how I wanted things, Ava. It certainly wasn’t how I’d dreamed my marriage would start.’
‘Then why?’
‘It was John’s fault.’
Ava was getting more confused by Katie’s ramblings. ‘How?’
‘John hurt me that night at the party. I was angry. Marjorie told me she saw you and John together and I got so mad. It was my party, my time to feel special. When Colin found me crying in the office, and he was so caring and he said things that made me feel loved and wanted and grown-up, I…’
Ava’s brain had been in a spin since her visitor’s arrival but the mention of Colin slammed it into a brick wall. Shock and disbelief, rather than friendship, pushed her onto the sofa beside Katie. Ava had been about to defend the quietly spoken man she’d known, when she heard Rick’s words: Any man with a ball-breaker wife like Marj will find ways to assert his power, and always on the weakest, easiest victim.
‘Marjorie knew?’
‘Yes, but she wasn’t a bad person.’
Ava recoiled, bitterness was a rare taste in her mouth. ‘The woman made you raise her husband’s baby and lied to her son about it, and you say she wasn’t a bad person?’
‘She was a mother needing to replace a lost child, Ava. My baby did that for her.’
‘I’m confused, Katie. Marjorie didn’t lose John.’
Katie sniffed, clearly surprised. ‘Did John not tell you he wasn’t an only child?’
‘I, er…’ Ava couldn’t recall.
‘John had a brother, Ava, five years older. Peter died and it was a shocking death, which was why people in town thought nothing of Marjorie’s over-protectiveness. Peter’s ashes were scattered under the big tree on the ridgeline. She never got over the loss until my pregnancy filled that void.’ Katie stopped to blow her nose and take several more tissues from the box. ‘Marjorie was city-born and she once told me Peter had arrived at the perfect time and made her isolation on the land bearable. She insisted that having children was the most important job a woman could do. The second-best thing was making sure that they formed a strong connection to the land and to small-town life so they grew up and stayed and small towns prospered.’
A Place to Remember Page 31