by Shirley Wine
The hush in the house had a soothing serenity.
Leon closed the door silently not quite sure why, but a sixth sense made him take extra care. Sensing he was not alone he looked up. Cassie was in the hall dashing tears from her eyes.
Instantly concerned he crossed to her side and laid a hand on her arm. "What is it?" he asked in a hushed murmur.
"Shhhh." She put a finger to her lips and beckoned him.
Mystified Leon followed her down the hall and into the family room. From there he could see out into the loggia.
Veronica sat on the glider cradling Jordan in her arms as she gently rocked.
The fierce guilt that slammed into him almost forced him to his knees.
Emotion clogged his airways as he looked at that timeless cameo, a mother and her child.
I was seventeen, Leon, and vulnerable, a girl you and Julia found so easy to exploit.
Her tortured words echoed exacerbating his guilt. No matter the rationality, then or now, Leon was forced to acknowledge an unpalatable truth.
Julia and I robbed Veronica of her child.
Julia had the baby she so desperately wanted. And Veronica was left with a broken heart.
Cassie moved away, leaving him alone with his demons.
Veronica turned her head slightly and he saw the silver tracks of tears on her cheek. Her pain and grief was a heavy weight in the hot air.
As if she sensed his presence, Veronica opened those fathomless sea green eyes. His involuntary step forward halted mid stride.
The emotion and enmity in that clear gaze, quite terrifying. He would infinitely prefer facing down a tigress with cubs than suggest he lift his son from his wife's arms. The offer to carry Jordan to his bed died stillborn.
Her expression clearly said mine.
For long timeless moments Veronica held him impaled on that clear gaze and then, with a sweep of dark lashes, shut him out.
Leon stood rooted to the spot, shocked and bewildered. He'd never experienced such discomfort. Shaken, he strode down the hallway to his office. There he raked an unsteady hand through his hair.
What the hell had happened out there?
He shivered, goose-bumps crawling across his skin. The enmity in her eyes left him smirched.
Leon was not a vain man, but a life time of female adulation had not prepared him for being regarded by his wife a lower life form. With one searing glance, she reduced him to uncertainty and, before Veronica, he'd never been uncertain. Always, he'd known exactly what to do and how to go about it.
But, as so often happened with Veronica, he sensed he was walking blind in an impenetrable maze.
He walked across to the window and stood staring out. Hands clenched, he wished, and not for the first time, that he could have some quality time with his brother. He'd beat the bastard to a pulp for what he'd done to Veronica. The last mess Yannis left him was a doozy and ten years on, the fallout was still raining debris.
Leon turned back to his desk, sat down, opened a drawer and pulled out the photo of Julia he kept there. For a long time he stared at it, brows knit.
Did Julia pressure Veronica to give up her baby when she was pregnant? Had his wife, as Veronica claimed, colluded with his brother over her pregnancy?
He didn't think so, but the possibility that she may have done so, hollowed out his gut. And remembering Julia's obsession with becoming pregnant, he could no longer dismiss Veronica's accusation out of hand.
If she had—he refused to finish the thought.
Surely his Julia would never do something so underhand. And then, in his mind's eye, he saw Veronica hugging Jordan's teddy. If I'd sent it to Claremont he would never have seen it.
Hell, I knew that! That's why I never told Julia Ricki had bought that teddy.
He couldn't change the past so why was it giving him no peace? Why the hell was he driving himself crazy over something that was done and dusted?
While Veronica's in my life, the past will never be finished until I find the truth.
Icy dread trickled down his spine. A soft knock was a welcome interruption of his thoughts. "Come in."
Cassie came in with a tea trolley and closed the door.
He sighed and laid Julia's photo face-up on the desk as Cassie poured two cups. She put his near his elbow and sat in the other chair.
"Did Julia pressure Veronica to give up Jordan?" The question escaped before he had time to censor it. The silence in the room stretched and he had his answer.
"Since she's been back, I've been forced to see Julia twisted most everything I relied on her to relay to Veronica," he admitted grimly. "Why didn't I know this?"
"Yannis left one hell of a mess, Leon." Cassie gave him a measuring look. "You had so much on your plate. Stop blaming yourself for the things you didn't see."
"God, Cassie," the words were wrung from him. "I've made such a mess of things. How can I fix it?"
Cassie laid a gentle hand on his shoulder and he reached up and laid his hand over hers. He could always depend on the Scotswoman's clear sighted vision. He should have listened to her when he first brought Veronica to Claremont.
"You can't, Leon," she said with quiet compassion. "You can only build on what you do have. The present is all any of us have. Use it to best advantage."
"And how do I do that?"
Cassie leaned across and picked up Julia's photo. "Yes, Julia put unconscionable pressure on Veronica while she was here. And I was forced to bite my tongue time without number. And yes, you were too busy to notice but I was just as guilty, Leon. I was here, saw it happening and did nothing."
"It's not your place to comment?"
"It wasn't so much that, as I couldn't see what else you could do." Cassie frowned down at Julia's photo. "Outside the safety of Claremont, Veronica and Jordan would have paid one hell of a price for Yannis's sins."
"You think I didn't know that?" Leon got up and paced to the window, his back to the room. "I hate Yannis for what he did."
"And does hating your brother change anything?"
Leon turned and faced his housekeeper. "You know it doesn't."
"All you can do, Leon, is let the past go. It happened. And you need to let Julia go, too. She's dead and despite Jordan's illness, you're very much alive."
Leon gave a snort of wry laughter and paced back to the window. Do you think I don't know that! "And Veronica? Will she let Yannis go? God she had a photo of him in pride of place in her living room. She was crying out for him when she came out of the anaesthetic."
"Have you asked her why?"
"Is it any of my business?
Cassie chuckled. The sound grated on Leon's nerves. He could see nothing at all amusing in the situation. "Is it bugging you?"
"You know damn well it's driving me crazy."
"There's your answer, then.
Leon turned, frowning blackly, frustrated by another of her non-answers.
Cassie chuckled. "You'll figure it out. I have faith in you."
Chapter Sixteen
Having her own wheels gave Veronica a wonderful sense of freedom. She could come and go from Claremont as she pleased without having to bother McKenna. Leon surprised her with the keys to a sporty little Holden coupe the day after Jordan came home from hospital.
While Jordan rested, she decided to have her hair trimmed. The heat of a Melbourne summer made it necessary. After seeking Cassie's advice, Veronica made an appointment with Just Hair. It took her a while but she found a park beneath one of the many pin oaks in the city centre.
At the salon, Babs greeted her personally, with a respect that bordered on servile. Nothing had quite underlined Veronica's changed status so clearly.
"Would you like to come this way Mrs Karvasis?"
Was it her imagination or did the woman say her name with more than undue emphasis before she escorted Veronica to a chair in front of a bank of mirrors. Women in the other chairs craned their necks to catch a glimpse of her.
The hair on the
back of Veronica's neck stood to attention.
This reaction was beyond belief. Would she get used to being the cynosure of all eyes? Suddenly, she was glad of the shadowy presence of the security detail Leon insisted she have whenever she left the environs of Claremont.
A glance in the mirror assured her he was leaning nonchalantly against the shop window.
The silence and curious stares increased Veronica's discomfort. It emphasised she was no longer plain Veronica Langdon, but Mrs Leon Karvasis, the wife of one of Australia's richest men.
Would she ever grow accustomed to this?
Then she heard the whisper. "God she's nothing special to look at and yet she's had both brothers."
She tried to suppress it but a scarlet flush stained her cheeks. She met Bab's eyes in the mirror and swiftly looked away, wanting to sink right through the chair and disappear.
Then pride asserted itself. She straightened her spine, lifted her chin in a regal movement and copied Leon when faced with the often hideously intrusive questions of the press.
She refused to be cowed by a few jealous, bitchy words.
Jealousy is one of the seven deadly sins, Veronica.
Kathleen's words ghosted through her mind and she recalled the older woman saying if you want the latest gossip, visit the hairdresser. Obviously as true here in Melbourne as it was in Auckland.
The thought made her grin, and as she met Babs' eyes in the mirror, she tilted her chin a little higher.
Once finished at the salon, Veronica decided to have a latté at the café down the street. She placed her order and sat at a kerbside table. Her coffee and cake arrived. She'd taken her first sip when the chair opposite was pulled out.
And Andreas Karvasis sat down.
Although he was only fourteen, he was almost as tall as Leon. When he filled out and was fully grown he would be as big a man as his uncle. His black frown increased his resemblance to Yannis, but his lighter coloured hair he owed to Sonia.
Her security detail stepped away from the storefront and took a step towards her. Veronica looked at him and shook her head. At the subtle signal he went back to his indolent pose. She did not want him overhearing this conversation and reporting it back to Leon.
She was quite capable of dealing with this angry teen and if things got out of hand she knew her bodyguard would swiftly intervene.
Andreas scowled at her, his eyes a chilling silver-grey.
Veronica's heart raced. The hand holding the latté trembled. There was something overtly menacing about this teenager she found unnerving. She glanced at her security and the man gave a subtle nod and moved closer. She eased out a relieved sigh as she met Andreas's insolent stare head on.
"I wasn't expecting to meet anyone I knew." She tried to inject a little normality into this meeting. "Shouldn't you be at school?"
Andreas made a rude finger gesture, lip curled in derision as he demanded, his young voice as deep as his uncle's, "Why have you come back into our lives?"
Playing for time, Veronica sipped her coffee looking at the angry teen over the top of her cup. With a nonchalance she was far from feeling, she set the cup on its saucer. "I returned to help your brother, Andreas. Would you prefer that Jordan had died?"
The teen flushed crimson. Her acid words hit a sore spot.
"Jordan's my cousin," he corrected truculently.
Veronica smiled at him. "Jordan's your cousin by adoption only, your half-brother by blood. He's also your father's son, Andreas."
For one startled moment Veronica half expected smoke to pour out his ears. This youth obviously had some serious issues with the past. Her skin crawled at his enmity.
"Whatever! I'm glad for Jordan," he said and leaned across the small table, his eyes turning pewter with such hatred she was suddenly afraid. "But we don't need you here on a permanent basis."
Veronica weighed her words, not about to let him intimidate her. "And what precisely does that have to with you? Besides is that your call to make?"
He flushed, eyes sparkling with anger. "I care about our family even if no one else does?"
Is that what this was about?
"I care about my family, Andreas," she said with biting softness. "Whether you like it or not, your uncle Leon is my husband, your half-brother is my son. Those are the facts. Deal with them."
"I don't know how Uncle Leon could marry my father's whore?"
Heat suffused Veronica's neck and face at the studied insult. She leaned across the table staring into the teen's angry eyes.
"You are way out of line, Andreas. My past has nothing whatsoever to do with you. But let's get this straight right now, boy," she said emphasising the last word. "I have never been any man's whore. Your father deceived me, when I was a girl little older than you are now. Not the other way around."
"That's your story," he said standing up scraping his chair on the pavement. "My father died because of you. I will never forgive you for that, bitch!"
On the hissed insult he stalked off.
After he left, Veronica slumped and her hands began to shake. The cup clinked loudly as she put it back in the saucer. The encounter destroyed her appetite and she left the remainder of her afternoon tea untouched.
Did Leon know how much his nephew hated and resented her?
Walking along the street window-shopping, Veronica struggled to control rioting emotions. If this was the sort of vitriol Sonia had poured in her son's ears, small wonder, Leon wanted both children to step away a little from their mother's orbit.
Should she tell Leon of that encounter?
After thinking it over, she decided to it best to let the unpleasant incident slide. Andreas was only a boy, surely he would grow out of his anger.
Veronica paused outside a pet shop and then walked inside. She needed to get Mutley a collar. She hated him catching birds. Cassie suggested a collar with a bell to warn the birds.
Approaching the counter, she passed a large straw covered boxed-in compartment with several kittens.
"Aren't you sweet," she murmured, as a jet-black kitten with a snowy white tuxedo and a white patch over one eye scampered towards her. He climbed up the glass yowling to catch her attention. Veronica leaned a hand over the top and the kitten jumped up at her hand. He was enchanting.
The idea leaped out at her full-blown. We've never had any pets.
Every child needed a pet. Jordan loved Mutley, but the big cat was hers. A boy needed a kitten, a young thing like himself.
"Can I have a look at that kitten?" she asked the assistant. "The black and white one."
Holding her breath she watched as the other woman lifted the kitten out of the enclosure and handed it to Veronica.
"It's a male, and is now thirteen weeks old," the assistant began her sales pitch. "He's been wormed and had his shots."
"Has the vet checked him over for any hidden nasties?" Veronica knew she couldn't be too careful.
"What sort of nasties?" The assistant raised her eyebrows in incredulous disbelief, cheeks flushed with anger. "We don't sell animals with diseases."
"Look, I'm not casting aspersions on your quality control here," Veronica said quickly trying to diffuse the woman's outrage. "My son has recently undergone a bone marrow transplant and I want the kitten for him. We can't afford to risk infection in any shape or form. Can we get it vet checked?"
"Oh I see," the woman calmed down. "I'll ask my manager."
Veronica stroked the kitten while the woman went off to find out. A woman tapped Veronica's arm and she looked up.
"Hello I'm Jill Cochrane. I overheard you talking." She smiled at Veronica, eyes filled with an avid curiosity that made her uncomfortable. "Are you Jordan's mother? My son, Elliot, is in his class at school. How is he?"
"Cranky and fed up with himself," Veronica said humorously. "I'm not sure this is a good idea." She stroked the kitten debating whether she should ring Leon and ask his opinion.
"I'm sure Jordan will love it." The other woman stro
ked the kitten's head. "Is he allowed visitors yet?"
Veronica hesitated, and then followed her instincts. Something about this woman bothered her. In that instant she decided she'd consult Leon before issuing any invitation to visit Claremont. He would know which people were bona fide friends, and who were merely gossip mongers on the lookout for insider gossip.
"Not for a few more weeks. The risk of infection is too great. I'll be sure to tell Jordan you're asking after him."
The shop assistant returned. "I've talked to my manger and she's arranged for the kitten to have a complete vet check including blood work."
"Thank you. How soon can we get it done?"
"If you want to take him to the vet, he will do it now." Veronica paid for the kitten and the assistant gave directions to the vet clinic as she put the kitten in a cardboard box. The vet checked the kitten over and declared it healthy.
By the time she left Veronica had food and other supplies.
Jordan, sprawled on the Blue Room floor building a Lego city, looked up when Veronica came in, a huge grin split his face. "Where've you been?"
"I needed a haircut." She grinned, her excitement contagious. "But that's not all I've got."
"Did you bring me home something?"
"You are such a boy," she teased suddenly light hearted. Would she ever get enough of this? "I'm not sure you've been good enough for a prezzie?"
"Aw Veronica, lighten up." He grinned at her.
"Lighten up is it?" She couldn't resist leaning over and ruffling his hair. "If you want to go wash your hands I'll decide if you've been good enough for a surprise."
Jordan was off like a shot and Veronica quickly put the kitty carton in the middle of his Lego city and then sat back in the chair to wait. He raced back, cheeks flushed and eyes shining. She had a vivid flashback to that pale listless boy she'd found when she arrived in Melbourne and her heart filled with warm gratitude that she'd been able to help restore this child to health.
"Wow what's that?" Jordan picked up the box.
"Careful, sweetie," Veronica warned. "Don't hurt it."
Jordan opened the box and Veronica pulled the camera out of her pocket. This was one snapshot she didn't want to miss.