McKellan's Run

by Nicole Hurley-Moore

  ‘You’ve ruined everything.’

  ‘That’s enough. Violet has nothing to do with this,’ called Jason as he ran into the room.

  ‘She has everything to do with you calling off the wedding. You know it and so do I.’

  Hearing the ruckus, the rest of the McKellans filed into the room. Mac pushed his way through and headed over to Violet. He put his arm around her and pulled her to his side. It was comforting to have him near and whatever now happened Violet knew that she could always count on him.

  ‘It’s not Violet’s fault. The problem is between you and me,’ Jason said.

  ‘Oh, don’t be an idiot, Jason. Ever since I stepped foot in this shoddy excuse for a town it’s all been about Violet and her brat of a daughter.’

  Violet stiffened at Celine’s words. Celine could call her all the names she wanted but she wasn’t going to bring Holly into this. She went to take a step forward but Mac’s arm tightened around her and held her back.

  Celine stretched her arms out as if to encompass the entire room. ‘Not even this was about me. I didn’t even have a say in the design of my own wedding. I was pushed into having this blasted wedding here in the arse-end of the country and then I couldn’t even have my own way with the wedding decorations.’

  Violet glanced out into the courtyard and saw that half of the guests were nodding in sympathy. Perfect, just bloody perfect. Celine was totally playing to the crowd now.

  ‘I had to give way about everything to do with my wedding so Violet wouldn’t be hurt or upset. Well, what about me? What about my feelings? All I’ve heard since I’ve been in Violet Falls is what a wonderful woman she is, what a great mother she is and how talented she is at planning parties. Well, I’m sick of it—you can keep your wedding and the wedding planner as well. But that’s what you want to do anyway, isn’t it, Jason?’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ said Jason. ‘Come away from here and we can talk sensibly. I totally understand how upset you are, but—’

  ‘Don’t give me that. I know what’s going on, you and Mac are both in love with her. The question is which one of you will succeed.’

  Violet sucked in a breath at the sting of her words. Celine had cast her eyes down and looked the perfect picture of the wronged bride. Everyone had their eyes on her—just the way she liked it.

  ‘That’s not true,’ Jason said. ‘You know it’s not.’

  Celine stood there with her eyes filling with tears. ‘I just wasn’t enough for you, was I?’ She addressed the question to Jason but her voice carried all the way through the courtyard.

  ‘You love her, Jason, you always have,’ said Celine, sobbing. ‘I mean they say you never get over your first love.’

  There was a murmur amongst the wedding guests.

  ‘Celine, just stop it,’ Violet said. ‘This is just rubbish.’

  There was a gleam of triumph in Celine’s eyes as she levelled her gaze at Jason.

  ‘What’s the matter, lover, terrified I’ll let the big dark McKellan family secret out of the bag?’

  ‘Celine, for God’s sake.’ Mac warned as he loosed his grip on Violet and took a step forward. This time it was Violet who grabbed onto his arm and pulled him back.

  The tears forgotten, Celine whirled around and said. ‘I’m not afraid of you, Mac, I’m not afraid of any of you.’

  Celine faced the crowd and said in a clear voice. ‘As you may have guessed, Jason and I are calling off our wedding. There’s no way we ever had a chance for it to work. You see, he’s still in love with Violet Beckett, his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his child.’

  Violet winced as she heard an audible gasp from behind her. She turned to see some of the wedding guests looking shocked, while others were shaking their heads in disgust. And every single bridesmaid looked as if they wanted to kill her.

  Celine swirled away in a cloud of tulle and perfume. As she passed each of the tables she knocked over as many of the candelabra as she could. Some of the lit candles blew out but others licked the delicate material of the table overlays and sparked into flames.

  Flynn and a couple of the bridesmaids dashed forward and started putting out the flames before they could take hold.

  Violet felt sick in the pit of her stomach. She hunched her shoulders. The only thing that she was thankful for was that Holly was still tucked away in the kitchen. Celine’s dramatic departure had left a vacuum and Violet hoped the whole hideous scene was over—but she was wrong.

  Laurie Thornton pushed his way into the room until he was standing red-faced in the middle.

  ‘You’ve got a hell of a lot to answer for,’ he spat as he marched up to Jason and jabbed a finger at his chest.

  ‘Yes, I know I have,’ said Jason, looking stricken at the mayhem he’d caused. ‘But this isn’t the place to discuss it. Let’s go upstairs to the study.’

  But Thornton stood his ground, seeming to draw power from the spellbound onlookers.

  ‘You’ve broken my daughter’s heart.’

  ‘I know,’ said Jason, still looking stricken.

  ‘Bastard. You’ve thrown my daughter over for that—’ he spat as he pointed to Violet.

  ‘It was my decision, Laurie. The blame rests solely with me, no one else, least of all Violet. Now, I think it’s time for you to leave.’

  ‘As if anyone here believes that!’ Thornton said, his face nearly purple.

  ‘You know what, Laurie, maybe you’re right. I do admire Violet; she’s a talented woman, a good person and a great mother. Looking back now, probably the stupidest thing I ever did was to end our relationship. What can I say? I was a young idiot who couldn’t see true worth when it was literally staring him in the face. Too late now because she’s in love with someone else.’ Jason turned his head and smiled at Violet and Mac. ‘She deserves the best . . . and she’s found that in my brother, Mac.’

  ‘I’ll make you pay for this, Jason. I’ll ruin you, just wait and see!’

  ‘Do your worst.’

  ‘This isn’t over,’ Thornton snarled as Flynn and Dan clamped their hands on his shoulders.

  ‘Yes, it is,’ said Flynn. ‘Come on Laurie, you’ve outstayed your welcome . . . And Celine will need you,’ he said leading him away.

  Amidst the hubbub that rose up from the wedding guests, Mac took Violet’s hand and pulled her close. ‘Jason’s going to handle things, and Dan and Flynn will be helping him out. Let’s get away from here,’ he said.

  Mac led Violet out the front door and they walked in silence for a long time. Finally Mac stopped, held Violet close and gave her a tender kiss. ‘Hey, are you alright?’

  Violet nodded her head. ‘I will be.’

  ‘Good.’

  Violet looked up at Mac and smiled. ‘I love you, Mac McKellan, and I should have told you earlier.’

  Mac stilled for an instant. ‘Sorry, could you say that again please?’ he said, his smile breaking into a grin. ‘I’ll never get tired of hearing it.’

  ‘I love you,’ said Violet. ‘More than I could ever have imagined loving anyone.’

  Mac dipped his head and kissed her.

  Chapter 36

  Mac sat by Violet’s side with his arm thrown casually around her shoulders. The first few buttons of his shirt were undone and he’d loosened his tie. Violet’s eyes travelled down the strong column of his throat. She gazed at his muscular frame from the hard work he’d done around the farm for so long. She hugged Holly closer to her chest.

  It felt good just to sit down together and let the world pass them by. As soon as Celine and her father had left, the wedding party had broken up quickly, with none of the guests really knowing what to say.

  Jason had stayed awhile, thanking people for coming and accepting their commiserations or the odd hostile glare with as much good grace as he could muster.

  There had been a few harsh whispers and pointed looks thrown in Violet’s direction but she didn’t care. To hell with them, the only person’s opinion she cared
about was Mac’s—and he loved her.

  Almost everyone had gone by now, with the exception of some of the staff Dan had organized to help with food service, and the string quartet, who were still eating.

  ‘I think we’d better pay them more,’ Violet said as she gestured towards the musicians. ‘They obviously don’t make enough to cover their grocery bills.’

  ‘Well, the last thing we’re short of is food,’ Mac said with a grin. ‘Just as well I have a big freezer—I reckon we’ll be eating wedding food for at least a month.’

  ‘Just as well your brother is a great chef,’ Violet said.

  A comfortable silence settled over them for a minute as they watched Dan’s staff clear the tables.

  Mac absently toyed with a lock of Violet’s hair. ‘Well, I’d like to say it was a wonderful day but that would be a total lie.’

  ‘I guess we should just be grateful that it’s over.’

  ‘Amen to that,’ Mac said with a sigh.

  ‘Is Jason still here?’ asked Violet.

  Mac shook his head. ‘No, he took off a little while ago. Dan packed him up some provisions and he headed to his cottage. He said he needed some time to himself.’

  ‘Is he alright? Did he seem depressed or anything when you spoke to him?’

  ‘Dan and I are going over there tomorrow to check up on him. I think that even though it was the hard decision, he knows he’s done the right thing. He needs some peace and a bit of quiet just to work things through in his head.’

  ‘I hope so, I have to admit I didn’t think my conversation with him would have had such a huge impact.’

  ‘Why, what was his response?’

  ‘He seems to be remembering who he once was.’

  ‘Jason should have re-evaluated his life a long time ago. Despite all the pain he’s caused he’s made the right decision and it’s about time he realised the things he thought he wanted aren’t what he needs. He thought he wanted a certain type of successful and high-flying future with Celine. But there’s so much more to life. He’ll be fine. We’ll all make sure he is.’

  ‘I have to admit I’m not going to miss Celine at all,’ said Violet.

  ‘She’s a witch,’ Holly said as she looked up at her mum.

  Mac threw back his head and laughed. The sound seemed to echo through the entire room and Violet couldn’t help smiling. It was a good sound and one she hoped to hear a lot more of through the years.

  ‘Mummy, did I say something funny?’

  ‘No, sweetie, Mac is just happy the whole wedding thing is over, that’s all.’

  ‘Your mum’s right. I finally get my house back. But you know this was the prettiest non-wedding I’ve ever attended,’ Mac said with a grin. ‘You did a great job, Violet, the house looks amazing.’

  ‘Thanks, but it’s a bit of an anticlimax. I mean we did all that work, and now . . .’

  ‘The house feels sad,’ said Holly, looking around the room.

  Mac leant down and tapped Holly’s nose. ‘You’re right, fairy, the house does feel sad. What can we do to cheer it up?’

  Holly shrugged her shoulders and sighed. ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘I’m thinking maybe we should have a party.’

  ‘Really? With ice cream?’ Holly asked.

  ‘Why not? We’ll have lots of ice cream. What flavours should we have?’

  Holly thought for a second or two. ‘We should have chocolate and strawberry and vanilla and . . .’

  ‘And peppermint?’ Mac asked.

  ‘Ew no. Peppermint is yucky,’ Holly said with a firm shake of her head.

  ‘Right, gotcha. No peppermint. How about coffee or raspberry or caramel?’

  ‘They all sound yummy, Mac.’

  ‘Well, I don’t know about you two, but I think I need a rest before planning another party,’ Violet said as she sunk back into her chair with a sigh. ‘This one kind of wore me out.’

  ‘Don’t worry, sweetheart, you’ll have plenty of time,’ Mac said. ‘Well, at least I’ll give you a bit longer than four weeks to pull the next one together.’

  ‘What are you talking about, Mac?’

  ‘I’m talking about a wedding, Violet, our wedding,’ said Mac taking her left hand and bringing it to his lips. ‘I love you and I love Holly. Say you’ll marry me. Please Violet, be my wife. We don’t have to rush but I just want to know we’ll always be together. You, me and Holly.’

  ‘Mac,’ Violet swallowed, her vision blurred as tears welled in her eyes. ‘Mac.’

  ‘That’d be the best,’ said Holly. ‘I could have all three kittens then.’

  Violet and Mac looked at each other, laughing, then Violet said, ‘Sure, Mac, I want to be together too—you, me, Holly and the kittens.’

  It was a clear spring morning when Mac lifted Violet up and sat her on what was left of the old garden wall at the ruined cottage.

  ‘It’s beautiful here, Mac,’ said Violet as she settled on the cool stones.

  ‘Yeah, it is.’ Mac smiled as he leant against her leg. The sound of the nearby stream was soothing as was the magpie’s warbling song from a nearby tree. In what was once the garden, Holly laughed as she played fetch with Razor.

  Mac felt blessed. He had the woman he loved and the daughter of his heart on his land. As mushy as it sounded, he was kind of in heaven.

  ‘I’ve never been here before,’ said Violet as she ran her hands through Mac’s hair.

  ‘You don’t find it sad?’

  ‘Not at all. There’s a happy sort of peacefulness about it.’

  Mac couldn’t work out why but a wave of relief flooded through him at what Violet had just said. Somehow what Violet thought about the ruined cottage was important.

  ‘I’m going to restore it with Johnno’s help. It’s going to take some time, because Johnno and I will only be working on it when we can. I’d love it if you can take over when it comes to designing the inside.’

  ‘That’s a great idea,’ Violet said, looking thoughtful. ‘I can almost see what it will be like. What are you going to do with it?’

  ‘Well, I thought it could be your new office.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Yeah. You could run your business from here. I know you already have an office at your place but once we’re married, I thought you might like one closer to home. Besides, I have an ulterior motive,’ he said with a smile.

  ‘Oh and what’s that?’

  ‘If you were here it would be a whole lot easier for me to drop by and visit each day,’ said Mac. ‘Anyway, it was just an idea.’

  Violet bent down and dropped a kiss on his head. ‘It’s a fantastic idea and it means a lot to me.’

  Her happiness caught Mac up in the enthusiasm of the new project. ‘I’ll be great, I promise. We’ll restore it to its former glory and throw in all the normal utilities along with WiFi. Whatcha think?’

  ‘I love it and it will still be a lovely reminder for your family.’

  ‘I know we have to look to the future but I reckon remembering the past can be a good thing too.’

  ‘You’re right. It reminds us where we came from and just how much it took to get us here.’

  ‘Mummy, Mac, look how fast Razor gets the stick!’ Holly called out.

  Mac watched as the little girl hurled the stick and Razor darted after it. Grabbing it in his mouth, he trotted back and dropped it at Holly’s feet, before sitting down and eyeing it off. As he waited expectantly for Holly to throw it again, his tail thumped against the earth.

  ‘That was super fast!’ Violet called out.

  ‘It sure was,’ Mac added.

  Holly grinned as she picked up the stick and threw it again.

  ‘I wonder which of them will get tired first,’ Violet whispered as a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. ‘So, is there a reason you brought us here today?’

  ‘No, well maybe. I guess I just wanted to show you the cottage where our family began. I suppose I needed to show you that just like th
e land, you can depend on me, Violet. I won’t let you down. Just like this place, I promise to build us a life that lasts and endures,’ Mac said as he looked up at her. ‘This was where Angus and Bridie started a life together. It just seemed like the right thing to do, bringing you here, I mean—since we’re just starting out too. I want you to know that I love you, Violet, with all that I am.’

  Violet wriggled off the fence into Mac’s arms.

  ‘Ah, the things you say,’ she said kissing him on the lips. ‘I love you, Mac McKellan—more than I ever thought possible and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.’ Mac tightened his arms around her and kissed her with all the love he felt.

  Yep, he reckoned he was a lucky man, and it was a damn good day on McKellan’s Run.

  Acknowledgements

  A huge thank you to Louise Thurtell, Siobhán Cantrill and the whole Allen & Unwin team.

  I would also like to thank Noel Flanagan for his insights into farming, shearing and wool classing, and Tom Chippindall, who escorted me through numerous paddocks, sheep pens and shearing sheds.

  And finally, thanks to Ciandra, Conor and Alannah for their support, humour and general awesomeness.