He nodded towards Bella and his silver-grey eyes seemed to smoulder, but his voice was relaxed enough, so it shouldn’t have been an awkward moment. Zoe, however, could feel unmistakable vibes of tension. And yikes, she could practically see the electricity sparking between this pair.
‘Damon has been visiting his grandmother,’ Bella said.
‘And you ran into him while you were visiting your grandfather. What a lucky coincidence.’
‘Yes.’
An elderly woman, shuffling past with a walking frame, beamed a radiant smile on the three of them.
‘Well … as I said, I was on the way to the newsagents,’ Zoe continued. ‘So if you two have more catching up to do, I can wait for you there, Bella.’
‘It’s OK. I’ll come with you now. Damon and I have said our hellos.’
Damon frowned and Zoe sent him another friendly smile. ‘Will we see you at the wedding?’
‘Sure.’ He swallowed uncomfortably as if there was a painful constriction in his throat. ‘Kent kindly emailed an invitation. Asked me to the bucks’ party as well.’
‘Great. We should run into you again, then, either some time next weekend, or on the big day.’
‘Absolutely.’
The girls had driven into town in separate vehicles, so there was no chance for an in-depth conversation during their shopping jaunt or on their separate journeys back to Willara Downs. And for the rest of the weekend they were so busy, making decorations, or party favours, or cooking sweets and canapés to be stored or frozen that they didn’t have time for an in-depth talk.
It was Sunday afternoon when they were heading back down the highway to Brisbane before they were alone and the subject of Damon could be properly aired.
Not that Bella was in a talkative mood. From the moment they left Willara, she seemed to slip lower and lower in the passenger seat, slumped in despondent silence.
‘Missing Kent already?’ Zoe asked tentatively.
Bella gave a guilty start and she frowned like a sleeper waking from a dream. ‘Sorry … what did you say?’
‘I asked if you were already missing Kent.’
‘Oh … yes … of course.’
‘At least you’ll only have to wait two more weeks and then you can be with him all the time.’
‘Yes,’ Bella said softly.
Zoe had used every ounce of her inner strength to remain upbeat and supportive about Bella’s good fortune, despite all the worrying niggles. Surely her friend could try a bit harder to act happy. Instead of rallying, however, Bella seemed to sink into even deeper misery.
By now, they were heading down the steep Toowoomba Range, and Zoe couldn’t take her eyes off the road, but she had the horrible feeling that Bella was on the verge of crying. Then she heard a definite sob.
Casting a frantic sideways glance, Zoe saw tears streaming down her friend’s face. Her heart gave a sickening lurch.
‘Bell,’ she cried, keeping her gaze fixed on the steep, winding road. ‘What’s the matter?’
‘I’m OK,’ Bella sobbed. ‘I’m just being an idiot.’
Zoe couldn’t help wondering if Damon was somehow the cause of these tears, but she had no idea how to ask such a probing question. Besides, it was her duty to keep Bella focused on Kent.
‘It must be awful to have to say goodbye to Kent every weekend.’
‘Oh, Zoe, don’t,’ Bella wailed.
Don’t? Don’t talk about Kent?
Thoroughly alarmed, Zoe held her tongue as she negotiated a particularly sharp hairpin bend. Out of the corner of her eye, she was aware of Bella pulling tissues from the bag at her feet and wiping her eyes and blowing her nose.
It wasn’t till they reached the bottom of the range and the road levelled out once more that Zoe stole another glance Bella’s way. Her friend was no longer crying, but her face was pale and blotchy and she still looked exceedingly unhappy.
‘I really don’t want to pry, Bell, but is there any way I can help?’
Bella released a drawn-out sigh. ‘I don’t think so, thanks.’
‘I mean—tell me to shut up, but if you want to talk—about—anything—it’s the bridesmaid’s job to listen.’
This was greeted by a shaky little laugh. ‘Oh, Zoe, you’re such a sweetheart.’
A nice compliment, but not exactly true. A sweetheart did not fall for her best friend’s fiancé.
A few minutes later, Zoe tried again. ‘So … I suppose it’s just tension. You have so much on your plate just now—worrying about your dad, and so many jobs crowding in with the wedding so close.’
Bella turned away to look out of the window at rows and rows of bright sunflowers standing with their heads high like soldiers in formation.
Clearly, she wasn’t looking for a chance to talk about her problem, so Zoe drove on in silence … wondering … worrying …
Then out of the blue, as they approached Gatton, Bella sat up straighter. ‘Zoe, I think I do need to talk. I can’t deal with this on my own. Can we pull over?’
CHAPTER SIX
ZOE took the next ramp leading off the highway and parked beneath a jacaranda tree in an almost empty picnic area. At a distant table, a family were gathering up their tea things and packing them into a basket. The mother was calling to her little girl who was scooping up fallen jacaranda blossoms.
Suddenly needing air, Zoe lowered her window and dragged in deep breaths, catching the dank scent of newly turned earth from nearby fields and the sweeter scent of the flowering trees.
Her stomach churned uncomfortably and she unbuckled her seat belt. She was dead-set nervous now that Bella was about to confide her problem. Her friend’s tears pointed to a serious dilemma, and Zoe wasn’t confident she had the wisdom or the strength to advise her.
Honestly, could she trust herself to put her own silly, unwanted emotions aside?
Praying she would get this right, she said gently, ‘I’m ready whenever you are, Bells.’
Bella pulled another tissue from her bag and blew her nose noisily, then, after only a moment’s hesitation, she took the leap. ‘There’s no point in beating about the bush. I’m in a mess about this wedding.’
‘Ah-h-h.’
Bella shot Zoe a sharp glance. ‘So you’re not surprised?’
‘Not entirely. I must admit I’ve been waiting for you and Kent to show more—er—emotion about—well—everything. And right from the first time Damon made contact, it was pretty clear he made you edgy.’
Bella nodded. ‘I know. Seeing Damon again has been a kind of wake-up call.’
‘You mean you really care about him?’
‘Oh, I don’t really know, Zoes. He sends me kind of crazy. It’s like I’m still in high school. Up and down and all over the place.’
‘I’m sorry. I should never have posted that rave about your wedding on Facebook. It’s my fault Damon found you.’
‘Gosh, don’t blame yourself. I think he heard about the wedding from other people as well.’ Bella was pulling the tissue in her lap to shreds.
‘Damon’s not trying to stop you getting married, is he?’
Zoe had a sudden vision of Damon Cavello calling out in the middle of the wedding—at that moment when the minister asked the congregation to speak up or for ever hold their peace.
Bella shook her head, then, with another heavy sigh, she kicked off her shoes and drew her feet up onto the seat, hugging her knees. ‘The thing is, when Damon rang me on Saturday morning, I had to see him. I thought if I saw him just once in the flesh—if I spoke to him, I’d get the old memories out of my system. But as soon as we met—’
Hairs stood on the back of Zoe’s neck as she watched the flush spread across Bella’s face. She tried to make light of it. ‘So your heart took off like a racehorse? Your knees gave way?’
Bella nodded, then covered her face with her hands. ‘What am I going to do?’
It was a question Zoe didn’t want to answer. But poor Bella hadn’t a mother to turn to
and she was her best friend. Praying for wisdom, Zoe took a deep breath before she spoke. ‘I—I guess it all depends on how you feel about Kent.’
At first Bella didn’t answer. When she did, her voice was soft, wistful … ‘That’s my problem. I’m so worried that Kent and I are marrying for all the wrong reasons.’
‘But he’s stop-and-stare gorgeous,’ Zoe suggested miserably.
Bella shot her a sharp, surprised glance.
‘Just stating the obvious.’ Zoe’s shoulders lifted in a defensive shrug, and a dull ache curled around her heart.
‘Well, I’m not going to argue with your good taste,’ Bella said with a watery smile. ‘But I just wish Kent and I had been in some sort of long-term relationship, or had at least been dating. The truth is, we haven’t really seen very much of each other since I moved to Brisbane. We only caught up again properly when I started coming home, because Dad was so sick. We were both so worried about Dad and the farm, and Kent’s gone out of his way to help.’
And he feels he owes your dad big-time for saving his life, Zoe wanted to say, but she kept the thought to herself.
Instead she said, ‘I never totally understood how your engagement came about. It seemed a bit out of the blue to me. What made you say yes in the first place?’
Bella looked down at her diamond engagement ring and her stunning, dark berry fingernails—enviably dramatic and gorgeous. ‘It was a bit of an emotional whirlwind. It’s not all that long since I lost my mum, and then it looked like I was losing my dad as well. The farm was going to rack and ruin. I felt like I was going under, too.’
‘And yet you never mentioned anything about it to me.’
‘Well … to be honest, I was a bit ashamed about my dad’s drinking.’
Zoe gave a guilty sigh. If she’d been a better friend, the right kind of friend, Bella might have felt more comfortable about sharing her worries.
‘I was coming home every weekend,’ Bella went on. ‘And I started seeing more and more of Kent, and he was so sweet, so supportive. He’s been running our property as well as his own. And of course we have a deep bond that goes way back. Then one weekend, he just looked at me and said “Why don’t we just do it? Why don’t we get married?"’
Bella was smiling at the memory. ‘In a flash, it all seemed to make wonderful sense. It was the perfect solution, and you should have seen the smile on Dad’s face when we told him. He was so relieved I was being taken care of.’
To Zoe it was now blindingly obvious why Bella and Kent were marrying. Kent felt a huge debt to Tom Shaw. Bella was in danger of losing her family, her farm—losing everything, in other words. Bella and Kent had a long history, a shared background that made them suited to each other in every way. Duty and friendship had won, and Kent had saved the day.
Everything might have been fine if Damon hadn’t arrived on the scene, no doubt reawakening Bella’s school-girl fantasies of passion and romance.
Oh, man … Zoe’s thought winged back to Friday night when Kent arrived home to find his kitchen filled with candles. Her skin flamed at the memory of the way he’d looked at her.
The flash of fire in his eyes had shocked her. Thrilled her. As had the roughness of emotion in his voice.
And next morning, there’d been another moment of connection down on the creek bank.
No, she mustn’t think about that now. She mustn’t let her own longings confuse Bella’s situation.
In fact, Zoe knew she mustn’t do or say anything to influence Bella right now. She had no similar experience to draw on, no wisdom to offer. Her role was to listen.
But surely Bella must see all the benefits of this marriage? Her life could be fabulous if she went ahead with it. Kent was perfect husband material. Gorgeous looks aside, if you factored in his easy manner, his beautiful home and garden, his prosperous farm and country lifestyle in a friendly, close-knit community, Willara Downs was like the closest thing to heaven.
Then again, Zoe knew that her nomadic childhood had given her a longing for security and a love of being settled that Bella might not share.
And yet, for Bella there was the added advantage that, with Kent as her husband, her father would almost certainly recover and grow stronger. Every day he would see his daughter happily married and living close by. It was such a strong incentive for Tom to throw off his bad habits and take care of his health.
Surely these were weighty plusses.
Bella, however, was sighing. ‘I was so emotional at the time Kent came up with the wedding proposal. But I know he only made the offer because he was worried about Dad, and he felt he owed something to my family. He’s always had a highly developed sense of doing the right thing.’
‘So he was being heroic instead of romantic?’
‘Yes,’ Bella admitted in a small voice.
A marriage of convenience. The thought suffocated Zoe.
Again, she forced her own longings aside. She had no doubt that Kent possessed the necessary strength of character to make a success of anything he set his mind to. Even if his marriage wasn’t based on passion, he would be a loving and loyal husband.
‘But the marriage could still work,’ she said softly.
Bella turned to her, her eyes wide with dawning hope. ‘That’s true, Zoe. Even arranged marriages can work out happily.’
‘So I’ve heard,’ Zoe agreed, trying not to sound deeply miserable. Perhaps it was melodramatic of her, but she felt as if she were saying goodbye to her own last chance for happiness.
Bella was looking down at her sparkling engagement ring. ‘So … you think I should go ahead and marry Kent?’
An agonising pain burst in Zoe’s throat and she swallowed it down. She opened her mouth to speak, but changed her mind, afraid she might say something she’d regret.
Bella sat up straight. ‘It is the right thing to do,’ she said with sudden conviction. ‘Kent’s no fool. He wouldn’t have offered to marry me if he wasn’t happy about it.’ She shot Zoe a pleading glance. ‘Would he?’
Tension made Zoe tremble. She could feel the sharpened claws of her jealousy digging deep, but she forced a shaky smile. ‘From where I’m looking, you’ll have a wonderful life with Kent.’
She held her breath as Bella sat, staring through the windscreen, her eyes bright and thoughtful. Outside the car, the light was fading. A gust of wind sent jacaranda bells fluttering onto the windscreen.
‘But you’re the only one who can make the final decision,’ Zoe said at last.
‘You’re right. I shouldn’t be putting pressure on you like this.’ Nevertheless, a smile dawned on Bella’s face, as pretty as a sunrise. She took Zoe’s hands and squeezed them tightly. ‘I know what I must do. Damon threw me off track. He’s always been dangerous like that. But Kent and I made our decision for all the right reasons and we should stick to our original instincts.’
Leaning forward, Bella kissed Zoe’s cheek. ‘Thank you for helping me to sort this out.’
Tears stung the backs of Zoe’s eyes and she blinked madly to hold them back. ‘No problem. Point thirty-nine in the bridesmaid’s handbook. Lots of brides have second thoughts as the big day approaches.’
‘I’m quite normal, then. That’s a relief.’
Zoe tried to crack another smile, but couldn’t quite manage it.
It didn’t matter. Bella’s arms were around her, hugging her tight. ‘I’m so lucky,’ she whispered. ‘I have the best bridesmaid in the world.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
TO KENT’S relief, his bucks’ night wasn’t too extreme. He’d heard of bridegrooms being tied naked to a pole in the main street, or bundled into a crop-dusting plane and transported to a remote outpost.
Fortunately, his best man, Steve, wangled just the right tempo. He’d done a great job of rounding up Kent’s mates and the party was a blast. Not a city-style bash with strippers and pranks—just blokes enjoying themselves in a quiet country pub. Actually, the quiet country pub was growing rowdier by the minute,
but the revelry was harmless enough.
There were the usual games with drinking penalties. Right now, anyone who raised taboo topics—cricket or football, the bride or her bridesmaid, the share market or politics—had to down his drink in one go. Merriment by the bucketful.
Later they’d sleep it off in the Mullinjim pub, and there’d be a few sore heads in the morning, but at least there was still a full week before the wedding.
Of course there were all kinds of comments flying about Kent’s last chance for freedom.
It was a phrase that made him distinctly uneasy—but he wasn’t prepared to dwell on that. He imagined most guys felt the cold snap of an iron noose about their throats whenever they thought too hard about the doors closing behind them when they stepped up to the altar.
One week to go … He’d be glad when the tension was behind him, when he and Bella were safely settled.
Tonight, however, he had to put up with the good-natured ribbing from his mates, had to laugh as he agreed that his days as a carefree bachelor were numbered. But he wondered what the others would think if they knew how often his thoughts trailed back to earlier this evening when he’d driven through Willara and caught a glimpse of the girls at the pub.
Already in party mode after the bridal shower, Bella’s friends had all been there, in shiny strapless dresses in a rainbow of colours. Looking like gaudy beetles, they’d wolf-whistled and waved glasses of pink champagne at Kent as he drove past.
He hadn’t seen Bella, but she would have been in the mob somewhere, no doubt sporting a mock bridal headdress concocted from a piece of mosquito netting and a plastic tiara.
The girl he had seen and noted was Zoe.
She’d been standing in a doorway, chatting with a friend, and she was wearing a dress of striking tangerine silk, an exotic colour that highlighted her dark hair and slim elegance.
For a split second as Kent flashed past her eyes had met his. Startled, she’d half raised her glass.
He’d only caught that fleeting glimpse of her in the bright dress with one shoulder bared, but the image had shot a scorching flame through him. He’d remembered her in his kitchen, surrounded by four dozen smart candles and he’d felt that same thrust of longing he’d felt then.
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