Return to Stringybark Creek

by Karly Lane

  The rest of the day passed in a blur of emails, phone calls and arrangements, and by the end of the day Hadley had a renewed appreciation for her mother and her remarkable ability to pull together an event in such a short space of time.

  Later that afternoon, when Hadley had arrived at Ollie’s with the news, she looked up at him from where she reclined against his chest on the lounge and frowned a little. ‘You don’t seem as excited about this idea as I imagined you would be.’

  Ollie gave a half-shrug and stared down at their entwined fingers. ‘I am. I think it’s a great idea. Your mum’s fantastic at raising money for things like this,’ he said.

  ‘But?’

  ‘I don’t know … it’s not enough,’ he said, then looked down at Hadley quickly. ‘I know it sounds like I’m being a jerk. I’m grateful that your mum and the other parents are stepping up, but I just don’t see how it’s getting the message across the way it needs to. We have to target the groups that this is happening to. Do you know what I mean?’

  ‘Yeah, I do actually. What you’re saying makes sense. We just haven’t been able to think of a way to make that happen yet.’

  ‘I know. I’ve been thinking, but I don’t know, it has to be something special. Something different. Something that makes people sit up and take notice.’

  ‘Maybe we can get a group together and brainstorm some ideas around a bonfire one weekend?’

  ‘Yeah. I’d like that,’ Ollie said, looking at Hadley before a gentle smile touched his face. ‘It’s really great that you and your mum got this thing up and going though.’

  ‘I think Mum and the other women at the CWA know they have to stick to what they do best. I’m always gobsmacked when I see how much influence these women and their groups have. The CWA has been campaigning for rural health and regional investment for years now. I’m in awe of how passionate and motivated they are. In fact, I’ve just finished doing a story on them. Now I have a bit of free time, I’ve been able to explore a lot of the stories I’ve wanted to write but haven’t had the opportunity.’

  ‘That’s great. I’m glad. You seem less stressed lately.’

  ‘And I suppose you’re fishing for a compliment in there somewhere, are you?’ she asked, lifting an eyebrow.

  ‘Well, I do happen to know for a fact that I’ve been responsible for some of that release of tension,’ he said smugly.

  Hadley had been worried about how things would be between them once they announced they were a couple. But so far everything was going along as normal. Of course, it was partly due to the fact that everyone else was still buried under the last of their harvest, and farming never really stopped, so her time alone with Ollie had been rather limited since their announcement.

  She’d walked into the room a few times when her parents had been deep in conversation and they had stopped talking abruptly, making her suspect she and Ollie had been the topic of discussion. However, it can’t have been anything too concerning or she would have been sat down for a deep and meaningful by now. It was probably genius on her part to time the announcement just as her mother was in full Christmas preparation mode and had very little time for anything else.

  Hadley’s writing had become an exciting outlet for her; she was sending more and more freelance work out and loved the change of pace these stories provided. She was missing her assignments, but strangely not to the point where she was becoming restless. Maybe when she began running out of story ideas she’d feel a need to get back out in the thick of it all, but at the moment she was enjoying having less deadline pressure and not having to write about the worst in human and Mother Nature.

  It was hard to believe it was almost Christmas. Her time here had been flying past, mostly because of Ollie. They were caught up in the new relationship where everything was exciting and fresh and fun. But would it last? She wasn’t sure. After all, she knew the pressures that a long-distance relationship could put on a couple. She’d seen many of her colleagues go through rough patches with partners who weren’t in the business, and she wasn’t overly confident that Ollie understood what he was getting himself into. How could he?

  She’d tried to bring it up a few times over the last few days, but each time Ollie stopped her. ‘Can we just focus on here and now for a while before we worry about the future?’ he’d asked last time.

  ‘Not talking about it isn’t going to make it go away, you know,’ she’d said gently.

  ‘And it’s not going to change anything either, so let’s just deal with it when we have to.’

  Unfortunately that time was rapidly approaching and Hadley knew the conversation couldn’t be put off forever.

  Hadley was answering emails while her parents sat and watched the news later that evening. She smiled to herself as she glanced up at the familiar scene. Other than at meals, it was the only time of the day that her parents sat down together. It had been that way ever since she’d done her first on-air story. They never missed it. They’d always been there for her, supporting her from the sidelines.

  ‘We now cross live to our foreign correspondent, Amber Latoy.’ The newsreader’s smooth voice cut into her memories and drew her attention to the television. The tall, attractive woman on the screen talking earnestly into the camera wasn’t unfamiliar to Hadley. They’d bumped into one another now and again during assignments, but this was the first time Hadley had seen her doing her job. She’d known they’d be replacing her during the somewhat forced leave the network had persuaded her to take, but she hadn’t known it would be by Amber.

  ‘I don’t know this one,’ Lavinia said, turning a curious face to her daughter. ‘Is she new?’

  ‘She’s been around for a little while,’ Hadley said, trying to keep the surprise from her tone. Not long enough to be landing the foreign correspondent role, though, she added silently. She’d been told Marcus, her long-time colleague, would be handling things until her return. Something big must have come up to take him away. Already her mind was sifting through the possibilities. Crap. What was she missing out on?

  ‘She’s very pretty,’ Lavinia said.

  Hadley narrowed her eyes slightly as her mother’s comment registered. She was very attractive, and quite young. And ambitious. She gave a silent, self-deprecating chuckle at that. They were all ambitious—it came with the territory. You had to fight for your stories and always be ready to jump on the slightest lead. But she’d never really warmed to Amber. Admittedly, she hadn’t spent a great deal of time with the woman as Amber hadn’t been working in the field very long. Maybe she just needed a bit more time to get to know her once things went back to normal.

  The throw ended and returned to the studio, but Hadley was left uneasy. Too many changes had been happening and she wasn’t sure all of them were temporary. If she wasn’t careful, things may never go back to normal again.

  Ollie walked into the shed and frowned as he saw his father bent over, changing a tyre.

  ‘Jeez, Dad. Here, let me do that,’ Ollie said, as he reached his father’s side.

  ‘The day I need someone to change a bloody tyre for me will be the day I roll over and die.’

  ‘Would you stop. You don’t need to be doin’ this stuff. Just ask for help.’

  ‘I don’t need help.’

  ‘Why do you always have to be so damn stubborn?’ Ollie snapped, as he stood watching his father struggle.

  ‘’Cause I’m sick of everyone fussin’ over me. I’ve been home for months and anyone would think I’d got out of hospital yesterday.’

  ‘The doctor said not to push yourself,’ Ollie reminded him.

  ‘He also said layin’ around wasn’t good for me, but if your mother had her way I’d be tucked up in bed reading flamin’ New Idea all day.’

  ‘We’re all worried that you’re taking on too much, with the farm tours and stuff. It’s a lot of pressure to put on your body. You’re lucky to be walking again.’ It wasn’t the first time he’d had this conversation with his dad.


  ‘That’s right. I’m lucky,’ he said, straightening with a grimace. ‘Layin’ in that hospital bed gave me a glimpse of what my life could have been like,’ he said, holding Ollie’s gaze. ‘I’m not takin’ anything for granted anymore. I’m not completely useless, despite what your mother and sister think.’

  ‘Come on, Dad. They don’t think that. They just don’t want you pushing yourself too hard.’

  ‘I know what you kids were thinking when you came up with this little venture. It was so I had something to keep me busy and out of the way.’

  Ollie opened his mouth to protest, but closed it when his father held up a hand.

  ‘I get it,’ Bill nodded. ‘I can’t do as much around the place as I used to, but I can still do some things,’ he said, spreading his arms to indicate the flat tyre before them. ‘You don’t understand what it feels like to suddenly go from being a capable, able-bodied man to one who has to relearn how to walk, to climb steps and to dress himself. I hope you never have to go through that, son,’ he said stiffly. ‘That’s why I need to do things around here—normal, everyday things.’

  ‘I do understand, Dad,’ Ollie said, his earlier frustration draining away. He knew that if he was in his dad’s situation he’d struggle with the sudden loss of independence and he’d hate giving up the job he loved. But it was hard to stand by and watch him struggle.

  ‘Okay,’ Ollie said with a defeated sigh, stepping back from the ute. ‘You change the tyre. Under one condition,’ he added firmly. ‘In future, if there is something you need help with, you ask. No one thinks any less of you for needing some help now and again, Dad. Everyone’s proud of how far you’ve come. I know I am.’ He cleared his throat roughly and studied the cement floor under his feet. ‘I’ve got some stuff to do. Yell if you need anything.’ Ollie turned away to head across to the workbench where he’d left the battery from the Toyota that had been flat that morning.

  For the next few minutes he listened to his father’s slow movements, determined not to look over and watch his progress.

  ‘So you and young Hadley, huh?’ his dad said, grunting as he tightened the wheel nut on the ute.

  The question, and it was a question rather than an observation, surprised him. ‘Yeah. Kind of snuck up on us both.’

  ‘Did seem to come out of the blue,’ Bill agreed. ‘You sure you’ve thought this one through?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Don’t get me wrong—I love those Callahan girls like one of my own—but Hadley’s always been different … bit of a parrot among the pigeons. I’m not sure I can see her settling in back here after all this time. How’re you planning on making that work?’

  ‘We’re not sure yet,’ Ollie eventually admitted. ‘I don’t know where it’s headed.’

  ‘I reckon you better start figuring it out soon. One way or the other. Way I see it, you only have two options. Make it work or end it.’

  His father’s words stayed with him long after his old man had gone back inside. That gnawing sensation had started back in his gut again. What were they going to do?

  They would most likely end up with some kind of long-distance arrangement and, as much as the thought of that sucked, the reality was that it was the best outcome he could hope for. Did he like the thought of only seeing Hadley whenever they could arrange a weekend for him to fly to the city? Hell no. But what was the alternative?

  Sixteen

  ‘You’re quiet tonight,’ Hadley said as she and Ollie sat on his lounge the next evening, holding hands as they watched TV.

  He flashed a quick smile and rubbed his thumb along the inside of her wrist distractedly. ‘Just been a long day.’

  ‘You sure that’s all it is?’

  The conversation he’d had with his father had been playing on his mind. Things were pretty much black and white. They either had a future or they didn’t. Hadley’s leave wouldn’t last for much longer and she’d be returning to her life of travel and excitement, leaving Rankins Springs behind her without a backwards glance. That’s not how she’d put it, of course. He knew if he asked her right now, she’d sweeten it, tell him that everything would work out, but they both knew deep down that there was no simple solution to their dilemma.

  ‘I knew it,’ she said, leaning forwards on the lounge, her eyes glued to the TV screen.

  Ollie switched his confused gaze from her face to the news presenter talking solemnly into the camera and tried to work out what had caught her intense focus. They were crossing to something live and the camera switched to a man in his early forties holding a microphone and standing in front of a large motel. The newsreader finished, ‘Marcus Beercroft is in Lagos with more on the events unfolding.’

  ‘Early this morning, militants invaded the prestigious hotel, a popular place for businessmen and travellers to stay in Lagos, taking eighty-six people hostage,’ the journalist said gravely. ‘It’s understood that French Special Forces were deployed and, upon storming the hotel, encountered heavy gunfire. Currently the death toll stands at sixteen and there is no sign of the insurgents surrendering. So far the nationalities of the deceased are not known. I’ll be standing by with further updates as they come to hand.’

  ‘I knew there was something big going on. That’s why Amber was replacing Marcus.’ Ollie sent her a confused frown and she shook her head abruptly. ‘Sorry, just something that happened last night.’

  ‘Would that have been you, if you weren’t here? Covering that story?’ Ollie asked.

  ‘Maybe,’ she shrugged.

  ‘You wish you were there,’ Ollie said and tried not to sound as deflated as he was feeling.

  ‘It’s a pretty big story. It would have been a good one to be on.’

  ‘Reporting on a terrorist situation, with hostages, in … wherever the hell that place is? You’re disappointed because you’re not there right now?’

  ‘It’s in West Africa and, yeah, of course I’m disappointed. It’s a big deal.’

  ‘It’s dangerous,’ Ollie pointed out firmly. Christ, there were pictures of armed soldiers running around the place and the sound of guns firing. People were being killed.

  ‘Of course it’s dangerous. That’s why they’re over there … to report on it.’

  ‘Even if it means putting yourself in harm’s way?’

  ‘We don’t put ourselves in harm’s way. We’re just there to tell the story to people back home. Document what’s going on. We’re kept back from the actual action.’

  ‘Except when you’re on tour with some military unit in Afghanistan or Iraq, or doing a story on training camps in Al Qaeda territory,’ he pointed out dryly.

  ‘Ollie, it’s my job.’

  ‘I guess I try not to think about it too much. At least that’s what I used to do. It was none of my business before.’

  The look she gave him made him pause. He could have sworn it said, It still isn’t, and mentally he took a step back. Was it his business now? They weren’t married or anything—he gave a small grimace at that—even when she had been married it hadn’t stopped her. Did he want to stop her? His immediate reaction was no, of course not. He didn’t want to become some overbearing dick, but seeing the violence on the TV unfolding behind the reporter at this very moment, knowing that would be her again one day soon, chilled him to the bone.

  He wanted to ask whether it was his business. But he was too scared of what her answer might be. They sat together on the lounge without talking much after that, both caught up in their own thoughts, and Ollie had a sick feeling inside that refused to go away. One day soon he wouldn’t be able to avoid the question—and he had no idea how he was going to cope with the fallout of that.

  Ollie greeted Bob Callahan and Linc as he bounded up the stairs. Christmas spirit hung in the air and everyone seemed to be in the mood to celebrate. Well, almost everyone. It wasn’t that he wasn’t looking forward to Christmas—they’d had a great season, harvesting had finished earlier than expected and was even better than l
ast year, and this year he had Hadley. That still took some pinching. He had a lot to be happy about, and yet he found himself thinking about Luke and all the joy got sucked out of him like a vacuum. The Pattersons wouldn’t be celebrating this year. Christmas would never be the same for them with an empty place at the table. This year in particular would be hell on earth—the pain still so raw. He wished there was something he could do. The need to take some kind of action—to try and … that was just the problem. Try and do what? He didn’t know what to do, all he knew was this could not be allowed to happen again. But how to stop it? He didn’t have any answers, all he had was an empty, sick feeling inside.

  He looked over Linc’s shoulder and that sick, empty feeling eased a little as Hadley saw him and a smile lit up her face. ‘Sorry, mate, I’ll be back in a sec,’ he said, stepping around him and heading towards her.

  He didn’t care that they were surrounded by both their families, he needed to feel her against him, and the moment she was in his arms he felt the sadness he’d been carrying inside him all day ease a little.

  ‘Hey, you,’ she said softly, leaning back a little after sharing a deep but all too brief kiss and looking up at him with a puzzled face. ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘Nothing now. I just missed you all day.’

  ‘You saw me this morning,’ she said, giving him a look that instantly made him wish they were alone. ‘You do remember this morning, don’t you?’

  How could he forget? It was the reason he’d been late starting work—he had been lucky he hadn’t bumped into his father and needed to try to explain.

  ‘I remember,’ he said sending her a slow grin. ‘It’s been playin’ on my mind most of the day.’

  ‘Ollie, there you are,’ Lavinia brushed past and kissed his cheek. ‘I was worried you weren’t going to make it.’

  ‘Wouldn’t dream of missing Mr and Mrs Claus making an appearance.’