The arrival of Dan and his mum had completely changed the atmosphere, thought Mac. For one thing, Violet looked much calmer. God, she was so damn hot in that suit it took all of his willpower to keep his hands off her. With her hair swept up, the soft skin of her neck peeped out from under her collar. She was soft and beautiful and totally irresistible. Tendrils of hair brushed against her shoulders and it was all he could do to stop himself from kissing her. His mouth went dry and his cock hardened just at the sight of her. Hell, he had it bad.
When Jason and Celine had arrived Mac had purposely stayed outside talking with them just to give himself a few minutes to recover. He’d caught the surprise on Jason’s face when he saw Violet in the kitchen.
And though Violet had seemed fine with Jason—which was a huge relief to Mac—she’d looked so damned vulnerable when Celine started talking about the wedding with her. Still, even he was shocked when he came back and eavesdropped on the two of them. Every time Violet opened her mouth Celine had shot her down.
Maybe Celine was making Violet pay for ever going out with Jason. It was the only explanation he could come up with—Celine was just a totally mean-spirited bitch. He’d never really taken to her but the couple of times he’d met her she’d been pleasant enough. But she was clearly trying to upset Violet and finally Mac had had enough and walked back into the kitchen.
The good thing was that Violet had held her own against Celine, pointing out the difficulties and expense of sourcing some of Celine’s suggestions at such late notice.
But the best thing of all for Mac was seeing Violet look so genuine when she’d told Dan it was good to be back.
She was just so beautiful and strong, he thought. He loved the way she doted on Holly and encouraged her in all her passions. In fact he loved the way she dealt with people full stop. She was warm and curious and had integrity and courage. And she was also sexy as hell.
Basically, Violet Beckett was going to be the death of him if they didn’t get together this time.
Chapter 6
On Saturday morning Violet sat in her office and stared at her bank balance on the computer screen. Things were going to be a bit tight until she managed to get a few more events booked. Still, she and Holly lived quite frugally and she’d certainly been in worse positions than this. At least now there was some work coming in and things were looking a bit better.
She looked up at the envelope Mr Taylor had given her when she’d picked up the key. It had been sitting on her desk since she’d organised the house, tucked between a glass filled with multi-coloured pens and her business card holder. Reaching over, she picked it up. “Miss Violet Elizabeth Beckett” was written on it in her grandfather’s bold handwriting. Somehow she just couldn’t bring herself to read it.
Violet put the letter back. It probably just said how disappointed he was in her and how she’d let down the entire family (both living and dead). She really didn’t need to hear all that again, especially while she was so stressed.
It had been pretty grim when her grandfather had kicked her out all those years ago. Grim and scary, that was the only way she could describe it. And the whole situation had been made better and worse because Lily had insisted on going with her. Lily had made everything better by supporting Violet through every decision. The flipside was that Violet felt terrified because she was responsible not only for her unborn child but also for her little sister.
Long hours and two jobs had taken its toll on Violet. But they got by in a tiny rundown flat in a dodgy area. After Holly was born, Violet cut back to one evening shift. That way she could look after Holly during the day and then Lily would care for her at night.
After Lily finished Year 10 and began her fashion design course, life became a lot easier. Violet found a job as an assistant to an events planner. At first she was hired to just help set-up and then dismantle venues. But as she’d gained more responsibility, Violet had found the idea of helping people celebrate happy occasions in their lives made her feel fulfilled—something she hadn’t been in a long time. Her grandfather would have told her she was wasting her life on ridiculous, frivolous nonsense but she didn’t care. She’d found a job she loved and that kept food on the table.
She’d been so proud of Lily when she got a job with an up-and-coming fashion designer as soon as she left college. For the first time since they’d left home, Violet finally felt she could relax a little. She’d supported Lily while she finished school and been at college and now Lily could finally pretty much take care of herself. And Holly was thriving at her preschool.
She’d written to her grandfather to say Lily had done well at TAFE and got a great job, that she herself was also well and had a job she enjoyed and his great-grandchild was a bright little girl who was adored by all who met her.
She’d never received a reply to her letter, so it had come as a complete surprise several years later when his solicitor tracked her and Lily down and told them their grandfather had left them the family home and Lily the original Beckett shop in Violet Falls. Though Lily’s life was completely tied up with Melbourne and the fashion industry and she had no interest in moving back to their home town, for Violet the news of their inheritance had seemed like pure serendipity. She and Holly would be able to live in the place she’d grown up in and she wouldn’t have the pressure of expensive city rents anymore.
‘Mummy, can we please go to the park now? You said we could go ages ago,’ said Holly, jolting Violet out of her reverie.
She looked up to see her daughter leaning against the door with an exasperated look on her face. ‘Of course we can, go put on your shoes.’
Holly did a happy twirl in the doorway. ‘So we can play on the swings and the slide and . . .’
‘Hmmm, and what?’ said Violet with a mock frown.
‘Maybe we could have an ice cream on the way home?’ said Holly.
Violet stood up. ‘Well that would depend on how fast someone gets her shoes on.’
‘Yay!’ Holly said as she did the ‘getting an ice cream’ dance down the hall towards her room. ‘We’re gonna get ice cream. We’re gonna get ice cream.’
‘What’s the old saying?’ said Flynn Hartley when Mac ran into him at the post office. ‘“There’s always a Beckett in Violet Falls”?’
‘Hey, Flynn. Yeah, something like that,’ said Mac, leaning against the post office’s wall and staring across the road at a line of parked cars. He and Flynn had been mates for as long as he could remember. They’d gone through school together, played football in the same team, chased girls and both ended up running their families’ farms. ‘Two peas in a pod,’ his mum always said of them, with their dark hair, infectious smiles and an innate sense of mischief.
‘So, what are you up to?’ asked Flynn.
Mac’s eyes stayed fixed on Violet who was getting Holly out of her car, across the street. ‘Nothing much, just enjoying the view.’
Flynn followed Mac’s gaze. ‘Jeez, when are you going to do something about that?’
‘Oh, fuck off Flynn,’ said Mac, smiling. ‘I’m just biding my time.’
‘I think you’ve waited long enough, haven’t you?’ said Flynn. ‘Ask her out or move on. There’s a line of girls waiting out there for you to notice them.’
‘I’m fine,’ said Mac.
‘You’re a monk.’
‘No I’m not, I’m just choosier than some people.’
‘I’m wounded Mac, truly wounded,’ said Flynn placing his hand over his heart and staggering back a step in mock distress.
‘You’re an idiot is what you are. Besides, I’m not judging,’ Mac replied with a laugh. ‘It was an observation, that’s all.’
‘Sure it was. So what are you doing in town, other than stalking Violet?’
‘Getting a new chain for the chainsaw. You?’ said Mac, pretending not to have heard the last comment.
‘Dropping off the ute for a service. So, as I have a couple of hours to spare, why don’t we grab lunch?’
Mac looked back just in time to see Violet and Holly walking hand in hand into the bakery. For a moment the breeze picked up and blew against Violet, moulding her dark floral dress to her curves.
‘Fuck, did you just sigh?’ Flynn asked with a grin, his dark-brown eyes full of laughter.
‘Oh shut up,’ Mac snapped as he started to walk down the street. ‘Come on, let’s get lunch. And it’s your shout!’
‘Shit,’ said Flynn as he loped after Mac. ‘You just can’t take a joke.’
Violet and Holly left the bakery and made their way to the Hummingbird Café. As they stood at the counter Violet bent down and asked, ‘So what sort of ice cream would you like?’
Holly tilted her head to one side as she considered her options. ‘Hmmm, strawberry, please.’
‘Good choice,’ said the waiter as he materialised behind the counter.
‘Thanks,’ said Violet. ‘Could we have two strawberry ice creams please?’
‘Would that be one scoop or two?’
Violet looked at Holly who held two fingers up. ‘Oh, I think we’d better have two.’
The waiter gave her a grin. ‘Coming right up.’
‘Thanks,’ Violet said again as Holly wandered over to a cane basket filled with toys and books.
‘Don’t look, but that’s her,’ came a whisper from a nearby booth.
‘Who?’
‘You know, the woman I was telling you about. Remember, she’s just moved back here with her daughter.’
Violet tensed and moved away slightly, trying really hard to ignore them.
‘The girl is a sweet little thing which makes it even more of a pity.’
‘What?’
‘You know Doris, the secretary at the primary school? Well, she said that there doesn’t appear to be a father anywhere in the picture.’
‘Oh that’s sad. Well, good luck to her.’
Violet peeked over her shoulder and checked out the two women. One was super-thin with a blonde bob and sharp features, and she didn’t recognise her from anywhere. The other woman had dark hair and a green dress, though Violet couldn’t see her face because she had her back to her.
‘She’s started her own party business. I wouldn’t have thought there’d be much call for that, but there you go,’ said the blonde.
‘She must be the woman my boss used her for her daughter’s birthday. She was really pleased with the end result.’
Violet turned her head so they wouldn’t catch her staring. The one thing about this town that she could have lived without was the gossip. She sometimes missed the anonymity of living in a large city like Melbourne.
‘Isn’t it funny that after all these years she turns up just when Jason McKellan gets engaged?’
‘Sorry, I don’t follow?’
‘Oh, of course, you moved here after she and her sister left. You see, years ago she and Jason were an item. They went out together for years . . .’
‘There you go, two strawberry ice creams,’ said the waiter.
‘Thanks,’ said Violet, forcing herself to smile as she took them, though she had a lump in her stomach and felt sick. Why didn’t people just mind their own business?
‘Here Holly, come and get your ice cream,’ she called.
Holly skipped up to her and grinned. ‘Thanks, Mummy.’
‘You’re welcome. Now, come on sweetie—let’s get out of here.’
‘Here’s your change,’ the waiter said as he offered her the coins.
‘Oh, keep it,’ Violet said with a tight smile before she grabbed Holly’s hand and hurried to the door.
Flynn was wrong, thought Mac. He wasn’t a monk. He’d gone out with his fair share of women. Well, maybe not in comparison with Flynn, but that was a whole other story. Sure, some of the women he’d gone out with had just been flings but some had lasted for some time.
Mac frowned as he tried to remember a relationship that had lasted longer than a year but couldn’t think of any. Surely that couldn’t be right?
Andrea Culpit. The image of a cute blonde shimmered in his head. They’d started going out two years after Violet disappeared. Andrea had been bright and sunny and a whole lot of fun to be around. But after ten months or so, Andrea got sick of waiting for Mac to make a commitment. ‘It’s not that I expect you to propose to me or anything,’ she’d said. ‘I just want to know there’s a chance we can have a future together.’ Mac had stood there like a statue, the words she wanted to hear caught in his throat. But he couldn’t say them and Andrea walked away—smart girl.
After Andrea there had been a handful of women who’d slipped into his life with the changing seasons. But none of them had stayed. He’d never asked them to. Each and every one of them had wanted something he wasn’t able to give—his heart.
Shit, he hated it when Flynn was right.
Chapter 7
Mac pulled into his mother’s driveway. She loved her modern two-bedroom house on its large block which she’d transformed into the prettiest garden in all of Violet Falls within a year of moving in. The one thing his mum had always loved almost as much as her family, had been her garden at McKellan’s Run.
Mac got out of the ute and looked for a second at the line of peach and plum trees that lined the front fence. White and pink blossoms covered the trees, their scent beautiful and delicate. There was the drone of bees buzzing from one fragile flower to the next and Mac could almost smell the honey.
He walked up the winding path and around to the back door giving it a quick rap as he walked in.
‘Oh hey, darling,’ Sarah said, turning around from the oven.
‘Hi Mum, have you got a few minutes?’ said Mac wandering over to lean on the kitchen bench.
‘Of course I do,’ she said, smiling at him.
Mac was silent, tongue-tied. He’d driven over so he could talk about Violet and now he was here, well, he couldn’t seem to get the words out.
‘Whatcha making?’ he asked. How lame was that?
His mother studied him for a second. ‘It’s banana bread and it will be ready in about five minutes. You’ve got good timing.’
‘Great,’ said Mac.
‘Okay, stop pussy-footing about. I can see you’ve got something on your mind so spit it out,’ said Sarah.
Mac never quite knew how his mother managed to see right through him and zero in on a problem.
‘I know that I promised to stay out of what went on with Jason and Violet all those years ago. But I can’t, not anymore,’ said Mac.
Sarah sighed and leaned back against the kitchen sink. ‘I won’t hold you to it. I was wrong, Mac. I always hoped that he and Violet would eventually sort out their differences and get back together. I didn’t know until much later how badly he’d ended it. No wonder Violet didn’t want to have anything to do with any of us. I completely understand Jason wanting to concentrate on his career but I just wish he’d let her down more gently.’
‘Yeah, well he didn’t,’ said Mac.
‘No Mac, he didn’t, and though it pains me to say it, he behaved in an appalling manner. He should have been . . . Oh, I don’t know . . . more understanding. Violet was . . . is a sweet girl.’
‘Why did you ask her to get involved in planning his wedding then?’ asked Mac. ‘Wouldn’t it have been better to hire someone else?’
‘Maybe, but I thought it was time for the past to be the past and for Violet to realise she’d turned into an extraordinary woman all by herself, without the help of my feckless son or any of us for that matter,’ said Sarah.
‘I don’t understand,’ said Mac.
Sarah sighed. ‘Jason told me and your father that once he found out that Violet and Lily were on their own he’d tried to provide Violet with financial support but she’d refused to accept anything from him. We tried several times to make contact and offer her support via Hugh Taylor but she refused any help. After a while Hugh said she stopped responding to his phone calls and the letters he sent her came back with,
“Return to Sender” written on them.’
‘Why would Jason offer her money?’
‘I guess that even though he didn’t want a future with her, he still cared for Violet in a way. I think underneath all that sophisticated polish he’s a good person, it’s just sometimes I think he loses sight of it.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me any of this?’ said Mac.
‘Your dad and I always knew you felt an affection for Violet, but we just wanted you to get on with your life. Violet was Jason’s girlfriend, and back then you could only ever be Jason’s little brother to her,’ said Sarah, taking Mac’s hand. ‘She’d made it clear she wanted to cut off her ties with everyone here, including us.’
‘But I still don’t understand why you asked her to help with the wedding,’ said Mac.
‘Because after I heard how well she was doing back here and how happy she and Holly were—a teacher friend of mine told me what a delightful, bright little girl Holly was—I wanted even more for Violet to know she’d done the sensible thing moving on from Jason. I also knew, and again it pains me to say this about your brother, that if she met Jason again and saw the sort of woman he was marrying it would confirm to her that she and Jason would never have shared the same values.’
‘Then why didn’t you warn me before she came to the house that first time?’ said Mac.
‘Because I’m not blind. I knew you always carried a torch for Violet,’ said Sarah. ‘I thought you’d move on from your crush but you didn’t. You’ve had so many lovely girlfriends and though you’ve always been totally up front and gentlemanly with them, you’ve never really committed to anyone. So I thought, after all these years, it was time to finally clear the air. You’re an adult, Mac, and no longer in Jason’s shadow when it comes to Violet. So why not see what happens if that’s what you want?’
‘Maybe there’s something in that. We just keep bumping into each other, and . . .’
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