Six Ways to Sunday

by Karly Lane

  ‘I’ll give you a hand,’ Rilee said, following quickly, unsure how the woman would handle a man that weak on her own. Rilee’s mind was racing with possible scenarios as they headed towards an old Holden parked outside.

  ‘I think I’ll be able to carry him, I’ll just need to swing him around from this side,’ the woman was saying as she opened the rear of the station wagon.

  Carry him? The woman looked as though she could handle a hard day on the farm, but carry a man?

  ‘Maybe we should see if we can get a lend of a wheelchair first?’ Rilee said and the woman gave her a doubtful look over her shoulder.

  ‘I heard you lot were a bit out there but I really don’t think that’ll be necessary.’

  ‘I don’t think…’ Rilee’s words tapered off as the woman leaned into the back of the vehicle and then straightened, a large lump of fur in her arms.

  ‘That’s a dog,’ Rilee gaped.

  ‘Of course it’s a flaming dog.’

  ‘Harry’s a dog,’ Rilee groaned.

  ‘And he’s not getting any lighter. You want to show me where to put him?’ the woman said briskly, jolting Rilee into action.

  ‘In here,’ she said, somewhat disconcerted, but the woman was about to drop the animal if she didn’t put him down soon, so she led the way into the first consultation room and pointed to the examination table.

  The great lump of fur blinked up at her through heavy, pain-ridden eyes and Rilee felt only a moment of hesitation before she gingerly approached the table. She could hear the raspy, heavy breathing of the animal and saw the struggle it took to pull in each breath.

  ‘The vet said I should put him down…but I just can’t do it. Not until I know I tried everything possible. Is there anything you can do?’

  Rilee placed her stethoscope against the dog’s chest and listened, hearing the crackle and rasp inside his lungs. This was one very sick old dog. She looked over and saw the woman’s weathered hand stroking the animal’s soft caramel fur. Her heart tugged at the look they shared—the dog’s resigned but adoring, while the woman’s was pained, desperate to help her beloved pet find comfort. While theoretically she could use her herbs on animals as well as humans, other than Red the rooster, she’d never actually done it before—and certainly never for anything this serious. She couldn’t cure this dog, but she could maybe make him a little more comfortable for the time that he had left.

  ‘Let me see what I can do.’

  Twenty-nine

  Rilee turned her face to accept a kiss from Dan as he walked into the kitchen. ‘How was your day?’

  ‘Flat out. How was yours?’

  ‘Oh you know…the usual,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘Two cats, a dog and an enquiry about treating anxiety in a goldfish.’

  Dan laughed but stopped when he caught her unamused glare. ‘Oh come on, Ri. Animals need help too.’

  ‘I know,’ she groaned, ‘and I know I should be happy that word seems to be spreading about the practice, but I’d like to treat people occasionally as well.’

  ‘They’ll come.’

  She wasn’t so sure. She’d had to explain that while she could treat certain ailments in pets, she was not a replacement for a veterinarian—the closest being over an hour and a half away. It had opened her mind, though, to the possibility of including animals in her practice in the future and she’d made enquiries into undertaking accreditation.

  Dan sank down onto the lounge with a long sigh and Rilee crossed the room to stand behind him, placing her hands on his shoulders and gently kneading. Over the last few evenings they’d been working together preparing a business plan for his cattle venture. Rilee was impressed by the thought Dan had been giving the whole idea. This wasn’t something he’d just thrown together in his head. He knew where he wanted to go and he knew how to get there. Rilee found the experience almost as exciting as he did. She loved that they were both bringing something to the table—while Dan had the knowledge and knew how to set up the day-to-day handling of the project, he was more than happy to hand the business planning over to Rilee. Despite the fact she was also running her own business, she was filled with optimism at the prospect of their joint venture.

  She smiled as Dan let out a long, deep moan of approval and forced herself to ignore her immediate reaction to the sound. How long until this newlywed thing wore off? she wondered. She hoped it never did but was realistic enough to expect that eventually life and other distractions would get in the way of their, up to now, insatiable and spontaneous sex life.

  ‘God that feels good,’ Dan groaned, his eyes closed in a state of painful bliss.

  ‘What have you been doing? Why are you so tight?’ As her hands warmed up his tense muscles, she began to work deeper, trying to loosen some of the tension.

  ‘I had to cover for Mark and ended up shovelling the whole load of fertiliser myself.’

  ‘Why were you covering for Mark?’

  ‘I dunno, he got called home for something urgent.’

  Rilee stopped massaging and frowned. ‘Is something wrong with Shae?’

  Dan shook his head. ‘He said everything was fine once he got back, but he’s been going home for lunch a lot the last few days.’

  Rilee slowly smiled and relaxed a little. ‘Oh.’

  Dan opened one eye and turned his head to glance at her. ‘Oh?’

  ‘Nothing,’ she dismissed, returning to kneading his strong shoulder muscles once more.

  ‘I know that nothing,’ he said. ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘I have no idea.’ Well, none that she was at liberty to share with anyone other than Shae, given she was her practitioner. But she could take an educated guess that the horny goat weed supplement she’d sent home for Mark was doing the trick.

  ‘Ri? Is there something going on I should know about?’ Dan asked, turning to look at her.

  Rilee required a distraction. ‘I need you to get naked.’ And that would do it, if the look on her husband’s face was any indication. ‘Those muscles need working and I can’t do it out here. Spare room. Now,’ she instructed.

  ‘Only if you get naked too,’ he said with a slow smile.

  ‘I’m a trained professional. I’m not supposed to get naked.’

  ‘You’re not on the clock now,’ he reminded her.

  ‘Well, I guess that’s true,’ she said, pulling her T-shirt over her head and tossing it on the back of the lounge chair, before reaching behind her and unhooking her bra.

  Oh well, there was always more than one way to relax tense muscles, she thought as Dan swooped her into his arms and carried her into their bedroom.

  The phone rang as they lay together a little while later. ‘Just let it ring, pretend we’re not home,’ Rilee said when Dan moved to get out of bed.

  ‘Can’t, it might be important,’ he said with a grin as he disentangled Rilee’s fingers from the sheet that covered them.

  Rilee pouted as he stood up, but consoled herself by enjoying the view of her naked husband strolling through the house on his way out to answer the phone. Her smile soon melted when she heard him mutter a low curse.

  ‘What?’ she asked, disappointed when he didn’t return to bed but started getting dressed instead.

  ‘I forgot all about dinner tonight.’

  ‘No,’ Rilee said, glaring up at the ceiling.

  ‘Come on, Ri. It’s my fault. Mum sent me a message when I was on the way home but I got distracted when my wife lured me with the promise of a massage and forgot all about the fact we were supposed to be getting ready for dinner.’

  ‘I’m tired, Dan. Why do you always say yes? Can’t you just for once say no thanks when she invites us to dinner? Or at the very least ask me first before you accept?’

  ‘I thought I was doing you a favour.’

  ‘How do you figure that?’

  ‘Well, since you’ve been busy all week with work and stuff, you’d leap at the chance not to have to cook dinner.’

  ‘She’s j
ust…such hard work,’ Rilee sighed.

  ‘I know. But they’re my parents, Ri. It’s what we do.’

  She knew she sounded petty and mean when she protested about accepting dinner invitations, but that was just it—a normal dinner invite was one thing, Ellen’s invites were summonses. To anyone else, turning down dinner wouldn’t be an issue. To Ellen it would be a personal insult, and it drove Rilee up the wall.

  Rilee knew the moment they walked into the dining room that they were in the poop. Ellen and Jacob sat at the dining table, where they’d been waiting on Rilee and Dan, and one glance at Jacob’s empty Scotch glass and Ellen’s tight smile was enough to alert her that they were in for an even cooler evening than usual.

  ‘Sorry we’re late,’ Rilee began.

  ‘Yes, well…it’s lucky it’s a cold chicken salad then, isn’t it,’ Ellen answered curtly as she picked up her cloth napkin and gave it a crisp flick before placing it on her lap.

  Jacob reached for the decanter and poured himself another Scotch.

  Rilee raked her mind for something to break the tension in the room but she had a feeling, in Ellen’s current mood, anything she said would only cause more irritation, and so she followed her mother-in-law’s lead and busied herself with placing the napkin on her lap and making sure she had all the creases out of it.

  Mrs Pike wheeled the little trolley in with their plates, and Rilee marvelled at how the older woman could go about her duties without a blink of an eye at the thick silence which hung in the room.

  It was a relief to have the meal to focus on, and Rilee dug into her chicken salad with enthusiasm, anything to avoid the uncomfortable disapproval radiating from the woman across the table.

  ‘I received a phone call earlier today from Betty Stetton,’ Ellen threw in casually as she sliced through a portion of chicken on her plate. ‘I believe you paid a visit to their store a few days ago, Rilee.’

  The tender chicken, which had moments earlier almost melted in her mouth, instantly became dry and tasteless as she tried to swallow it quickly. ‘Yes, I did.’

  Beside her Dan looked up warily.

  ‘Would you care to explain?’

  Rilee set down her cutlery and rested her folded hands on the table, striving for calm. ‘What exactly do I need to explain, Ellen?’

  The older woman’s eyes narrowed and her tone was sharp. ‘The reason you felt a need to verbally abuse Errol Stetton in his store would be a good start.’

  ‘I did not abuse him, I simply stated that he was being unprofessional.’

  ‘You cannot go walking around town dishing out whatever opinions you think you’re somehow entitled to.’

  ‘I’m not entitled to an opinion? That’s funny, everyone else around here seems to think they are.’

  ‘These people are upstanding members of our community. They’re also personal friends and fellow parishioners in our church. Do you have any idea how embarrassed I was to have to apologise to Betty today?’

  ‘There was no need for you to apologise. It had nothing to do with you, Ellen. If she wanted to make such an issue out of it then she should have called me.’

  ‘It has everything to do with me. Everything you do reflects upon this family. I’ve put up with the natural medicine thing, and all the whispers around town regarding that. I’ve embraced you as a member of our family.’ She waved a hand blithely, ‘I even threw you a party to acknowledge you as our daughter-in-law, and then you go and do something like this without even a shred of remorse.’

  ‘Mum,’ Dan tried to intervene but Rilee cut in.

  ‘Are you serious? You think I should feel bad for calling out a supposed health professional for refusing care to vulnerable members of this community? I can’t believe no one had the guts or sense to it before now.’

  ‘Errol Stetton and his family have been pharmacists in this district for generations,’ Ellen snapped.

  ‘And unfortunately Errol Stetton seems to believe he’s still living in a bygone era, and this town has been suffering because of it.’

  Ellen wiped at the corner of her mouth delicately with her napkin. ‘I’ve never had an issue with Stetton’s pharmacy,’ she said dismissively.

  ‘And you’re never likely to, as long as you and Errol continue to believe in the same things.’

  ‘He’s a chemist, not a doctor—I don’t see what the big deal is,’ Jacob put in from across the table, topping up his glass yet again.

  ‘He’s the only access to health care this town’s got. He’s deliberately withholding treatment based on his own personal beliefs.’

  ‘Which he’s entitled to do,’ Ellen added.

  ‘Except that he’s playing God with young people’s lives and taking none of the responsibility for his actions.’

  ‘This is all because of that dreadful abortion pill.’

  ‘It’s not an abortion pill,’ Rilee said patiently. ‘It’s taken to induce—’

  ‘I don’t wish to discuss all the details at the table, thank you very much. However, the fact still remains, these girls think they can just take care of any oversight on their behalf by taking a pill the next day. They’re treating the whole creation of life and the sanctity that goes with that as though it’s nothing more than a common cold or a headache—just take a pill and get rid of it.’

  ‘I’m not going to argue the virtues of marriage and sex, but I am going to defend any woman’s right to have access to contraception. Sex is not always consensual, Ellen. Does Errol Stetton even bother to think about this when he’s humiliating young women who come to him for help? I doubt it, because clearly if she’s had sex, then she needs to be punished for it! If you’ll excuse me, I’ve lost my appetite.’ Rilee pushed the chair away from the table and left the room.

  She was just pulling on her pyjama top when she heard the screen door open and Dan’s footsteps echoing up the hallway. Rilee looked over to find him leaning against the doorjamb watching her silently.

  ‘I’m not apologising, Dan.’

  ‘I didn’t ask you to,’ he said, shaking his head but still not moving.

  ‘She enjoys playing these power games, you know,’ Rilee said as she dragged the brush through her hair in quick, rough strokes.

  ‘Rilee,’ he sighed.

  ‘Don’t say it, Dan,’ she said, turning on him swiftly. ‘I swear to God, if you say it’s just the way she is One. More. Time. I’m going to lose it.’

  She watched as Dan pushed away from the door and came to a stop before her. ‘I wasn’t going to say that.’

  ‘What were you going to say? Because I noticed you didn’t really say anything back there.’

  ‘Like I could have gotten in a word edgeways if I wanted to.’

  ‘I’m sick and tired of being spoken to like I’m a child.’

  ‘Then stop acting like one,’ Dan said, raising his voice, surprising Rilee into silence. ‘You reckon you’re sick and tired? How do you think I feel when I’m stuck in the middle of you two? I have Mum calling me while I’m trying to work, and you when I get home, both complaining about what the other one did. I’ve just about had a gutful, Ri.’

  Dan had never raised his voice to her before and it took a moment to get her head around the surprise. ‘Well, I wasn’t the one who set up an ambush disguised as a dinner invitation,’ she said bluntly, before walking into the bathroom and slamming the door behind her.

  Rilee glared at the mirror, too furious to do more than replay the evening’s dinner over in her mind. How. Dare. She. Rilee noticed the twin spots of colour in her cheeks and turned on the cold water with a vicious twist, splashing her face and trying to wash away the humiliation of being lectured like a disobedient child at the dinner table.

  Thirty

  Rilee was too restless to sleep, but she knew Dan needed as much shut-eye as he could get and carefully eased out of bed, pulling on a T-shirt and a pair of tracksuit pants.

  She hated going to bed angry. Not that she was angry at Dan, exactly. More
that his mother had ruined what had started out as a perfect evening. She was a little miffed that Dan couldn’t see that by not standing up to Ellen he was enabling her to continue with her demanding tirades.

  She stood at the kitchen sink and filled the kettle. As she did so, she looked out the window and her attention was caught by a light on up at the main house. She turned off the tap and hesitated for a moment before replacing the kettle and heading out the back for a pair of shoes.

  The dogs over in the kennels paced up and down in their enclosures, excited by movement, but didn’t bark. She ignored them, moving through the garden gate and around the side of the house towards the dim light in the window, shining out from the office. No one worked at this hour of the night. What if something was wrong?

  She was glad she wasn’t any shorter; as it was, she was only just able to catch a glimpse in the window. Jacob sat leaning forward in his chair, arms braced along his thighs as he stared at a photo frame he held in his hands.

  It was rare to catch this man looking so vulnerable and Rilee felt a surge of unexpected protectiveness swell up inside her. He was a cranky old coot, but Rilee suspected it was a form of self-protection.

  She let herself in the back door, which was never locked, and made her way to the office. Rilee didn’t bother knocking—she didn’t want to wake anyone else and eased the door open a fraction to slip inside. Jacob was so lost in his thoughts he didn’t even glance up.

  She walked softly and the movement caught his eye, making him gasp and then let out a low string of expletives.

  Rilee pretended not to hear them, her gaze focused on the frame in his hands. It was a photo of Ellen and himself on their wedding day.

  ‘What the hell are you doing in here?’ he demanded harshly, slipping the photo frame back into the drawer of the desk.

  ‘I saw the light on,’ she shrugged. ‘Is everything all right?’

  ‘Course it is. Can’t a man have a moment’s peace without you buttin’ in all the damn time?’

  ‘Do you really want to live like this?’ she asked quietly when he glared at her.