A Daughter’s Choice

by Lee Christine

  A bear of a man.

  Bald.

  A menacing silhouette.

  She ran on, breathless, the sound of his boots hitting the bitumen echoing in her ears. A scream rose in her throat as she searched for any sign of life in the row of darkened houses she was passing.

  The footsteps grew louder. Quick footsteps for a big man.

  ‘Help!’ She cried out to a woman she could see sitting on a porch up ahead. But the woman seemed to stare past her before jumping to her feet and disappearing inside the house, her front door slamming.

  Lungs burning, Lynsey slowed as a pile of old furniture loomed ahead. Cupboards, chairs, a broken stool, ready for a council pick-up.

  She scooped up the stool leg and slipped behind an old tallboy, shoulders rising and falling as she pulled hard breaths deep into her lungs.

  Chains rattled. Footsteps crunched then stopped.

  Straining to hear over the blood pulsating in her ears, Lynsey shifted the key into her left hand and tested the weight of the stool leg with her right.

  He came from behind, cruel hands gripping her so hard she dropped the makeshift bat. She screamed, pushing him away, jabbing with the key wherever she could reach. He dragged her backwards and she kicked at his shins, pumping her elbows like pistons, driving them into his flabby gut.

  He grunted, let go, clapped a hand over her mouth and cut off her air.

  Lynsey twisted her body, sinking her teeth into his callused hand as she drove the key between his ribs. He hollered, shot out a hand and grabbed her by the neck. He squeezed. Body odour filled her lungs and the world tilted. She reached for his beard, grasping at the stringy, coarse hair and yanking on it with every bit of the strength she had.

  He flung her to the ground and she sprawled like a rag doll, a spike of pain stealing the last of her breath as her knee struck something hard. She winced, closed her eyes, pushed her cheek into the cold, dewy grass. She sensed him nearby, towering over her, wheezing hard. She pushed herself up on her hands, clawing at the grass, fingernails raking at the dirt as she began crawling away.

  He stepped in front of her, cutting off her escape. ‘Oh no you don’t.’

  Black boots—with a large silver buckle on the side.

  ***

  Julian ran through the crowd searching for Lynsey. Boyd Dunbar was in the middle of the brawl wielding his baton and yelling at the mob to settle down. There seemed to be as many people trying to break up the brawl than actually fighting. An old bloke in a nearby house sprayed a powerful stream of water from a high-pressure garden hose and hollered, ‘Everybody cool off.’

  Julian spun in a circle, searching the crowd for Lynsey. If Boyd Dunbar was still here, then where the hell was she?

  He spotted Warren Leadbeater holding two guys apart while giving them a mouthful.

  ‘Warren!’ Julian hauled one bloke away by the arm, got right up in his face and shouted at him to pull his head in. When he turned back, Warren was telling the other guy to shove off.

  ‘Have you seen Lynsey?’ Julian asked, watching as the brawlers sauntered off in opposite directions.

  ‘I told her to go home,’ Warren replied breathlessly.

  ‘On her own?’

  He nodded and pointed to the darker end of the street. ‘She’s parked down that way.’

  ‘Have you seen Sid Akers?’

  Warren looked at him and frowned. ‘Who?’

  Julian took off at a sprint, terrified at the thought of Lynsey walking alone down this end of the deserted road.

  ‘Lynsey!’ he called, turning left and right, searching for her, searching for the car. He hoped he wouldn’t find it. He hoped with all his heart she’d made it home safely.

  ‘Lynsey!’ he called again.

  Nothing.

  Taking his phone from his pocket he stopped in front of a well-lit house and called her mobile.

  ‘She went down that way.’

  Julian swung around to see an elderly lady standing on her porch. She was pointing further along the street to where a pile of furniture was stacked up waiting for collection. ‘I saw him follow her.’ She spoke in a soft voice and wrung her hands together. ‘When she called for help, I went inside and rang the police.’

  Julian took off at a flat-out run. ‘Lynsey!’ he hollered, terror driving energy into his legs and sharpening his sense of sight and smell. He pulled up, held his breath, listened.

  Nothing. He turned his head, listened again.

  Music. From a house.

  He strained to hear before looking down at the phone lighting up in his hand.

  Her ringtone!

  He’d forgotten he’d called her when the elderly lady spoke. It was her ringtone he could hear.

  ‘Lynsey!’

  A muffled scream came from behind the old furniture. Julian moved towards it. ‘Where are you?’

  A movement. A shadow.

  He skirted around the rubbish, squinting in the darkness. ‘Lynsey?’

  Pain splintered through his chest as a fist slammed into his sternum. He saw stars, staggered backwards as he fought to work the air back into his lungs. Sid Akers’s massive frame advanced on him, fists clenched like a street fighter, a vicious snarl on his lips. Then Lynsey rose up behind him. There was a sickening crack of wood on bone and Akers staggered sideways. The blow was like a tranquilising dart to an animal. The former truckie roared like a wounded bull elephant but kept coming towards Julian.

  Julian half turned away, counting, waiting, breathing, until Lynsey’s attacker moved within striking distance. Akers was rumbling towards him, fists raised, when Julian spun and kick slammed the back of his foot into Akers’s kneecap. With a nauseating crack of bone and cartilage the truckie collapsed to the ground like an imploding building.

  Julian doubled over and through a haze of pain looked around for Lynsey. She was walking slowly towards him, still brandishing the piece of wood, her eyes fixed on the man writhing on the ground between them.

  She lifted her gaze to meet his and Julian held out his hand. Her face crumpled and she threw the piece of wood away and ran towards him. Her face hit his chest and he almost blacked out, but he brought his arms around her and held her shaking body.

  Lynsey. His Lynsey.

  He stayed on his feet despite the fire in his lungs, as the flashing lights of a police car turned into the street.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  ‘You can stay for a short time,’ the nurse told Lynsey with a frown. ‘He’s been given a lot of painkillers so he might be a bit groggy.’

  ‘Did he get any sleep last night?’

  The nurse shook her head. ‘Broken ribs are extremely painful. Every breath he takes will hurt, and he’ll have to sleep in a sitting position for about four weeks.’

  Lynsey’s heart contracted. Four weeks! Poor Julian.

  She thanked the nurse and rapped softly on the door then poked her head around the corner. Julian was lying in bed with a drip in his arm, dark head resting against a snowy white pillowcase.

  ‘Hey,’ she said, leaning over to kiss him on the forehead. She lingered for a few moments, her mouth pressed against his warm skin, breathing in his scent over the antiseptic aroma of the hospital. ‘I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get here. I wanted to come last night but they took me to the police station. It took forever to make a statement.’

  He groped for her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. ‘I knew you’d have a lot to do. I wasn’t allowed visitors until this morning anyway.’

  ‘I’ve just come from the station again. They got the CCTV footage of Akers—Green, I mean—walking around Mum’s car that day I was out at the storage unit.’

  Julian blew out a relieved breath. ‘That’s good.’

  ‘Then they insisted I see a counsellor.’

  ‘He’s been in here too. I sent him packing.’

  ‘Did you now?’ She brushed a lock of hair back from his forehead. ‘Why doesn’t that surprise me?’

  ‘How
are you?’ His voice was husky, his eyes roaming over her as though he needed to reassure himself that she was all in one piece.

  ‘Better than you.’ She left him briefly to pull a chair up close to the bed.

  ‘Did you get checked by an actual doctor?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes.’ She took hold of his hand again, careful not to bump the piece of sticking plaster that was keeping the cannula in place. Cool fingers curled around hers, surprisingly strong for someone with two broken ribs.

  ‘Show me what he did to you.’

  ‘Julian,’ she said softly, reluctant to break physical contact with him a second time. ‘I’ve a few sore bruises and a stiff neck. I’m more worried about you.’

  ‘Show me.’

  He motioned with his hand and Lynsey pushed back the chair with a sigh. She lifted her hair, showing him the bruises on her neck where Sid Akers, or the man she now knew as Allan Green, had wrapped his fingers around her throat and flung her onto the ground. She lifted the hem of her cowl neck jumper so he could see the ones on her waist and under her ribs where he’d manhandled her.

  She straightened her jumper and returned to the chair. ‘Julian?’

  ‘The bastard! If the police weren’t guarding his room, I’d walk down the corridor and beat the shit out of him.’

  ‘No, you wouldn’t. You’re too good a person.’

  ‘I’m not. My careless words put you in danger. I’ll never forgive myself for that.’ He shifted in the bed then winced as the movement caused him pain.

  Lynsey stayed quiet, giving him time to find a more comfortable position before speaking again. ‘He’s going to need a knee reconstruction, so you hurt him good for me, Stone. Must have been all that tae kwon do you did as a kid.’ She wanted him to look at her, wanted to make him smile just once because after today she wouldn’t be looking into those deep blue eyes for a while. ‘I was impressed enough with that kick. You didn’t need to break your ribs as well.’

  His injured lip twitched and the corners of his eyes crinkled. Finally, he looked right at her and Lynsey caught her breath at the depth of love shining there. ‘Not as impressed as I was with that speech you gave last night.’

  Warmth spread upwards over Lynsey’s cheeks. ‘Who’s been filling you in with the details?’

  ‘Chappy. He called in this morning—had it all recorded on his phone.’ Julian reached up and cupped her cheek. ‘You’re a deadset superstar, Lyns. That speech was inspiring. I take back every snide comment I made about you coming back to town because you were afraid of losing your inheritance.’

  ‘I was afraid of losing it.’ The shameful words were out before she could stop them. ‘I feel like such a fraud, leading what I thought was a socially conscious life. But that was easy when the family business was there, a safety net in case I failed. And now that my father’s gone and lost it all, it’s like, I don’t know who I am anymore.’

  ‘Of course you do.’ He tipped up her chin so he could look into her eyes. ‘You’re the same person you always were, Lyns. Like everyone else, you got the rug pulled out from under you, and by someone you love, which makes it so much worse. But you’re more than the Mindalby mill. You just can’t see it right now.’

  ‘Maybe.’

  ‘The way you and your mum handed over those documents, that showed real character.’

  She nodded. The last thing she wanted was to wallow in self-pity in front of a man like Julian, who’d worked so hard and overcome so much. But if they were to have any hope of a future relationship, she needed to be honest and tell him how she was feeling. And right now she was lost, frightened, and dreading the public humiliation looming in front of her.

  ‘Dad was charged with fraud this morning. The charges are being formalised in Bourke Court tomorrow.’

  ‘I know. Your mum came in earlier when you were at the police station.’

  ‘It sounds like you’ve had a procession of people in here.’

  ‘It’s been like bloody Pitt Street. You don’t know how popular I am.’

  ‘Oh, I think I do,’ she said with a smile.

  There was a pause in the conversation and then Julian squeezed her hand. ‘So, are you going to go up to Bourke tomorrow?’

  ‘Yes, and then I have to go back to work.’ She groaned and rested her forehead briefly on his shoulder before looking up again. ‘I can’t believe the horrible timing. I’m not ready to leave, but one staff member has resigned, and then I got a call this morning saying another colleague has had to take carer’s leave because of an ill child.’ She gave a rueful smile and raised both hands in defeat. ‘I couldn’t say no because of a few bruises.’

  ‘It’s more than a few bruises, but if I know my girl, you’ll manage.’

  Lynsey’s throat closed over. ‘Your girl?’ She wanted to be his girl more than anything else in the world. But she wasn’t the type of person to shirk her responsibilities either, not when people were depending on her.

  ‘You’ll always be my girl. And don’t stress too much, okay? Everything will get sorted out in time, even this terrible thing with your father.’

  But would they sort it out together?

  That’s what she wanted to know.

  ‘I want to come back, Juls,’ she whispered, ‘but I’m scared. There’s nothing here in my line of work. I’d end up working in Mum’s shop, I know I would. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.’

  ‘You don’t have to. You have a good job in Brisbane. A life. A home. I’m not so selfish I expect you to drop everything for me. When I get out of here I’ll have my hands full with getting the ethanol plant back on track. Between the two of us we’ll work something out.’

  Lynsey’s mind overflowed with questions. She wanted nothing more than to stay and take care of him, but she stopped herself from saying it aloud. Julian was an independent guy. He wouldn’t appreciate being treated like an invalid. ‘You need to recover first before you do all that,’ she said in the end.

  ‘Piece of cake. I cracked a few ribs playing footy once. They’ll heal. And you know what this town’s like. The ladies will cook for me whether I want them to or not. I won’t have to make dinner for a month.’

  ‘That’d be right,’ Lynsey said with a smile, though a spear of jealousy shot through her. Caprice would be one of those women. ‘You’ll have those CWA ladies wrapped around your little finger. And you’d better watch out for Beryl. That waitress has her eye on you.’

  ‘Come around here.’ He patted the other side of the bed where there was more free space.

  Lynsey did as he asked. Taking care not to knock into him, she perched on the side. Then she leaned down and rested her forehead on his shoulder, sighing with contentment as he brought his hand up to rub her back.

  ‘The detectives from Sydney were here this morning. They think Akers started the riot last night so he could get to you, and that he might be involved with some missing backpackers.’ Julian gave a heavy sigh. ‘It will be a long time before I forgive myself for saying what I did and putting that monster on your tail.’

  Lynsey straightened and stroked a soothing hand across his brow. ‘Don’t feel so guilty, Julian. The police said he had false identities. It was just a coincidence he was working for you when I arrived in town.’

  ‘Christ, Lyns. It’s bloody awful.’

  ‘I know it is. But he won’t get out on bail. He’s not going anywhere.’

  ‘Another five minutes.’

  Lynsey swung around as the nurse she’d spoken to earlier came into the room. The nurse checked the readings on the machine then jotted them down on Julian’s chart. ‘I’m sorry. The hospital has a two-hour rest time in the afternoons.’

  Lynsey nodded. ‘I’ll be heading off in a couple of minutes.’

  When the nurse left, Lynsey leaned down and rested her cheek against Julian’s. ‘I don’t want to go,’ she whispered against his warm skin. ‘I’m worried about you.’

  ‘I’ll be fine. I have Chappy looking after every
thing at the depot and Willow will be here every day with whatever organic produce of theirs is a magical cure for broken ribs. As long as Atlas doesn’t jump on me I’ll be fine.’

  Lynsey smiled and blinked away the moisture pooling in her eyes. Conscious of the nurse returning at any moment and fearing the longer she stayed the harder she’d cry, she pushed away from the bed. ‘God damn you to hell, Stone, for not being able to kiss me goodbye.’

  ‘I’m sorry for what I said that day on your mum’s porch, about dumbing down your life for me. I was an arse. You should go to America if you can get that visa.’

  ‘What?’ Dread churned in the pit of Lynsey’s belly. ‘But we only just rediscovered what we had.’

  ‘I know. But I lost that chip on my shoulder last night—when I nearly lost you.’

  Lynsey couldn’t speak. He wasn’t giving her up. But he wasn’t going to hold her back either, or let her sacrifice her dreams for him.

  Fearful that the nurse would reappear at any second, Lynsey squared her shoulders before walking around the bed and picking up her satchel. Then she kissed her fingertips and pressed them to the corner of his mouth. ‘I’m coming back,’ she promised, her eyes locked on his.

  ‘I know, Lyns.’ He gave a weary nod and closed his eyes. ‘Just don’t leave it nine years this time.’

  Chapter Thirty

  Wrapped up warmly against the biting wind, Lynsey gripped her mother’s arm and together they hurried along the street in the direction of the courthouse. A car accident between Bourke and Mindalby had forced the police to close one lane of the highway, slowing the traffic to an intermittent crawl. By the time they’d arrived in Bourke parking was scarce. They’d been forced to leave the Camry four blocks away.

  Lynsey turned the corner and the brick and tile building with the imposing tower came into view. Television crews had set up camp on the footpath, testament to the high level of public interest in the failed Mindalby Cotton Company—and the man charged with its spectacular demise.

  ‘Remember, Mum. Don’t let the press goad you into answering their questions. Better still, try not to make eye contact.’ Lynsey glanced at her watch and breathed a sigh of relief. Despite the hold-up, they’d arrived ten minutes before the court’s opening session.