Bella shuddered. “Nah, sounds too icky. My friend Rachel’s older sister has done it, and she told Rachel that it hurt and was messy.”
Ava’s body went weak, and she dropped onto the bed. “Promise me you won’t think about doing anything until you’re forty-five.”
Bella laughed.
“I’m serious. Promise me.” She tried putting on her serious lawyer face.
“You’re so funny.”
Lawyer face didn’t work. “Okay, promise me it won’t be for a few more years and you really have to love the guy.”
“Okay, I promise.”
Ava heaved a sigh of relief. “Good. Now let’s talk about why it was so urgent for you to see me.”
Averting her gaze, Bella paid close attention to the non-existent lint on her jeans.
“What’s going on?” Ava asked.
“Dad hasn’t been feeling well lately,” she finally answered.
“Has he got the flu or something?” If she’d called her here to deal with the man-flu, she wouldn’t be happy.
“Umm, no, it’s worse.”
“What is it?”
“He umm…” If Bella kept picking at her jeans, she was going to tunnel through them, though it would match the hole in the other leg.
“Spill it, or I’ll ask him myself.”
“He has cancer.”
“What?” Ava snapped as she sprang from the bed. “Why didn’t you say so when you called?”
“Because I didn’t think you’d care enough to come.” She bit her trembling lip, and a stab of guilt for snapping at her pierced Ava’s heart.
“Of course I would’ve come,” she said in a softer tone and sat back down on the bed. “I’m not a heartless bitch. How bad is it?”
Bella shrugged. “I think it’s bad. I think he’s dying.”
Ava might not have the greatest relationship with her father, but hearing that he could be dying was like a blow to the heart. “I need to talk to him and Olivia for the details, make an appointment to speak with his doctor.”
“No!” Bella cried and latched onto Ava’s wrist, stopping her from going anywhere.
Ava stared down at her curiously.
“They don’t know I know.”
“So how do you know?”
“I overheard them talking about it.” Bella’s gaze darted away, and Ava wondered if there was something she was keeping from her. Maybe it was just hard for her to talk about.
“If I can’t do or say anything, why did you want me to come here?”
“I didn’t want to go through this alone. I heard them saying they’re going to tell me in a couple of days, and it will help if you’re here.”
Ava’s heart broke for her baby sister. She should have been around more, so Bella wasn’t alone so much and dealing with this kind of stuff on her own. Ava knew it wasn’t easy growing up like an only child. She pulled Bella in for a hug. “It’ll be okay. I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think. Dad’s as solid as an ox. He’ll be fine.”
Grayer hair and with extra wrinkles, but he was still as strong and handsome as ever. Not looking sick or frail at all. He could be in the early stages, and if that was the case, maybe they caught it in time and Bella misunderstood.
“What kind of cancer does he have?” Ava asked.
Bella bit the inside of her cheek and glanced around the room as if she was trying to locate the answer written on the walls. “Stomach.”
Ava couldn’t put a finger on it, but something about Bella’s demeanor was odd.
“Do you really have to go in two days?” Bella asked with a sad expression.
She would have been making her way back home already if she hadn’t gotten stranded at Nick’s. Just thinking about him caused her heart to skip a beat, and she took a steadying breath to get it back to its normal rhythm. God, she hoped that would stop soon.
“If I can reschedule some work stuff, I could probably stay a few extra days. If Dad doesn’t mention the cancer, I’m going to have to approach him about it before I leave. I need to know the details.”
“Okay, great!” Bella bounced from the bed, waking up Harry who’d dozed off with his legs stiff in the air. “I’m starving. See you in the kitchen.” And she raced out of the room. Harry flew off the bed like he was Super Dog and ran after her.
Ava stared at the doorway they’d scurried through, trying to understand what had happened. One moment Bella had been close to tears, and the next second, happy because Ava was staying. She shook her head. “Teenagers.”
* * * *
Crap, crap crap! The words bounced through Isabella’s head as she scurried down the stairs. What was she thinking?
The plan was to get Ava here so she could try to rebuild their family. She was so sick of feeling like an only child. She wanted her sister around more often, but whatever the problem Ava had with their father was keeping her away. She thought if she told her Dad was sick she’d worry about him and forgive whatever problem she had against him. She never thought Ava would ask so many questions. Dumb, dumb, dumb! She should have known.
Plonking on the bottom step, Harry nestled on her lap, and she stroked her fingers through his fluffy fur. “What am I going to do, Harry?”
He licked her hand as if comforting her.
“She’s going to kill me when she finds out the truth.”
But she had a few days to figure out a way to get them back together as a family, and when she told Ava the truth, maybe she wouldn’t be mad. Her stomach twisted with unease.
“I’ll keep my fingers crossed and pray.”
Chapter 13
The table in the main dining room, which Ava’s mother had always insisted be set with their finest china for all meals, sat empty. Instead, the small, scarred, timber table in the warm, sunny kitchen held an array of mismatched plates and glasses. A vase of yellow and white wildflowers that grew in the paddocks sat in the center. Not an artful arrangement delivered weekly from the local florist.
Then Ava counted four place settings. Surely Olivia didn’t bother setting a spot for her father. He would never stop working in the middle of the day for lunch. He always said it was a waste of valuable work time. There must be someone else joining them.
Bella was already seated, and Harry sat at her feet with a hopeful expression as he eyed the platter of cold meats Olivia placed on the table. Ava stood in the doorway of the kitchen, uncertain if she should really be here. Funny how being away for so long now made her feel awkward in the house she grew up in.
“Is there anything I can help you with?” she asked. She couldn’t stand in the shadows all day.
Turning, Olivia smiled warmly and shook her head. “No, honey, everything’s ready. Just waiting for your father.”
Father? They had a better chance of Santa Claus showing up for lunch than her father joining them for any meal. But she kept her opinion to herself as she sat next to Bella. After all these years, wouldn’t Olivia be fed up waiting for him? Surely she’d given up hope of him ever taking time away from work to sit for half an hour with the family.
As Olivia placed a basket of warm bread rolls on the table, heavy footsteps sounded behind her.
“Am I late?” The distinctive voice of her father filled the room.
“Just in time, Bernardo. Take a seat,” Olivia said, then blushed prettily when he gave her a lingering kiss on the lips.
“Yuck, guys,” Bella complained. “Do you always have to be so gross?”
“Yes, we do.” He kissed the top of Bella’s head, patted her cheek, and sat on the other side of her.
If Ava wasn’t completely floored at having her father join them for lunch, watching the display of affection toward Olivia and Bella had totally shocked her to the very core.
Not once had she witnessed a loving gesture between her parents, only hateful glares and harsh words. Nor had her father ever kissed her as easily as he’d just kissed Bella. The kiss he’d given Ava outside when she’d arrived was so stiff and
robotic. Perfunctory, like they’d always been throughout her life.
“All settled in your room, Ava?” her father asked as he piled his plate with salami, ham, and cheese. Cutting open a bread roll, he smothered it with butter and stuffed it with olives. Did someone with stomach cancer have such a big appetite? She needed to google the symptoms.
“Yes. Though it surprised me to see it looking the same as I left it.”
He didn’t look at her when he said, “Didn’t need the room for anything else.” And then he cut open another roll, spreading more butter and filling it with the cold meats and cheese.
“Should you be eating all of that?” Ava couldn’t help questioning. Stomach cancer or not, all that processed meat, butter, and bread couldn’t be good for him.
He paused with a roll to his lips. “Why? What’s wrong with it?”
“Dad always gets hungry after he finishes work. Don’t you, Dad?” Bella cut in.
He frowned at Bella. “No more than usual.”
“Does all the processed meat upset your stomach?”
The frown given to Bella was now aimed in Ava’s direction. “Why would it? I’ve been eating this stuff all my life.”
“I just thought it might not sit well now that—”
“Ava stayed at Nick Williams’s house for a couple of days when she couldn’t get into town because of all the rain,” Bella blurted.
Ava inwardly groaned at her sister’s not so subtle change of subject. Once Ava would have had the pleasure of announcing it herself and watching her father’s face turn dark red whenever she spoke Nick’s name. It was her way of rubbing it in his face. Now, with maturity and a life away from home, she didn’t feel the need to do so anymore. She had her own life, and what she did with it was no one’s business.
“Is it true?” A red flush crept up her father’s neck.
“It is.”
“Are you seeing him again? Because if you are, it would be a big mistake.”
“Bernardo, honey, Ava’s a grown woman. She can do whatever she likes.”
“Well, are you?” he asked, ignoring Olivia’s attempt at mediating. His Spanish accent was always more prominent when he was mad.
Ava fired Bella a disgusted look for bringing up Nick, and she at least had the good grace to duck her head and look guilty.
Pulling her shoulders back, Ava tilted her chin. “What if I am?” Nope, apparently she couldn’t hold back the teenage girl who wanted to rub bad boy Nick in her father’s face.
“He’s trouble. Stay away.”
Ava’s head dropped back, and she stared up at the ceiling for a beat before she said, “I’m not eighteen anymore, Dad. You can’t tell me what to do.”
“You never did what I asked when you were eighteen.”
True.
“Maybe you’ll begin listening to me now.”
Not likely, and him telling her to stay away had the opposite effect, like it did all those years ago. Although, she never needed to rebel to want to spend time with Nick, nor did she now, but her father didn’t need to know that.
“I’m a grown woman, Dad. You can’t tell me who I can or can’t see. I’ll make those decisions for myself.”
“He’s married.”
“Was married. He’s divorced.”
“Because he put his wife in a rehabilitation center.”
The need to defend Nick grew stronger by the second. “Because she had a drug problem. He’s getting her help.”
Her father smacked a hand on top of the table and cutlery bounced. “Why do you think she has a drug problem?”
“Bernardo, please calm down. Let’s talk about something else.”
Again, Olivia’s attempt at soothing him fell on deaf ears. Not waiting for Ava to answer, he continued, “Because he drove her to it. Treated her like dirt and only thought of himself. Any story he’s told you is a lie.”
The word lie ricocheted through her skull, and fury bubbled fast and furious in her veins. “You want to talk about lies? Let’s talk about the doozy you told Nick and I ten years ago.”
With a clenched jaw, her father’s eyes narrowed, and he didn’t say a word.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Bella pick up Harry and hug the puppy to her chest. Guilt tugged at her stomach for behaving this way in front of her, but she couldn’t back down now.
“You have nothing to say? Well, let me remind you. You offered Nick money to stay away from me, but when he refused you told me he snapped it up and ran. And you told him I took off with Lachlan Ranger.”
Olivia’s eyes grew large with surprise. “Bernardo, is this true?”
A vein pulsed in his jaw, and he nodded.
“How could you?” Olivia cried. “What were you thinking?”
His eyes snapped toward his wife. “I was thinking of getting my daughter away from the town’s troublemaker.”
Ava scoffed. “Oh, please. You could hardly call Nick a troublemaker.”
“He wasn’t good for you.”
“Why? Because he was a farmer’s son? That farmer’s son is doing well for himself these days.” By the looks of his caryard and workshop she’d driven past it was true. When her father didn’t speak, only stared, she added, “I’m just here for a few days, stay out of my business.” Rising, she turned to Olivia. “Thanks for lunch, but I’ve suddenly lost my appetite.” And she stormed out of the house.
Outside, the smell of country air mixed with the scent of horses filled her senses. Tilting her face toward the sun, Ava closed her eyes and breathed in the familiar smells. When things were bad inside, which they frequently were, she always found comfort outside with the horses.
A few of them were out in the paddocks, so she made her way toward the stables, trying to shake off the resentment toward her father. Even as a grown woman, he was still trying to keep them apart. Warn her against Nick like she was eighteen again. Nothing was going to come out of the reunion with Nick—a beat of regret passed through her at the thought—but she wasn’t going to let her father dictate her life.
Stepping onto the cobbled stone of the stables, she took a moment to adjust to the dim interior. The smell of horses and hay was stronger inside, and she drew in a deep breath. She’d missed this place.
The first couple of stalls she walked past were empty apart from fresh hay on the ground and a trough of water. As she approached the next one a beautiful, sleek chestnut with a white stripe down its nose poked its head out and nickered.
“Oh, hello, you gorgeous thing.” The name on a golden plaque on the gate read Giselle. “Lovely to meet you, Giselle,” she said as she ran her palm along the horse’s cheek. Then she noticed her protruding belly. “You’re going to be a mummy soon. How wonderful. Too bad I won’t be around to help.”
Disappointment washed over her as she placed a kiss on the horse’s velvety muzzle. The only time Ava was ever in the same room as her father without conflicts, arguments, and snide remarks was when a horse was foaling. It was like all the hostility was dropped, and they worked as a team to assist the vet any way they could. The memory simmered down the anger burning in her stomach.
Then a high-pitched whinny filled the stable. Ava’s heart leaped into her throat. The recognizable sound could only come from one horse, but how could it be? She’d been sold. To Ava’s amazement, the head of a golden palomino poked out of its stall.
“Amber?”
The horse whinnied again as if answering.
Ava ran to the stall, opened the gate, and threw her arms around her childhood friend who she helped birth, break in, and loved more than anything in the world. Laughing, she rubbed her hands along Amber’s body. The horse nudged her shoulder and gave a low nicker.
Finding Amber there was a huge surprise. Her father had threatened to sell the horse when Ava told him she was leaving, but she never believed he’d carry out his threat. However, the day she was packing, Amber’s stall was cleaned out and empty. Once again, her heart had been trampled on.
Everything was so confusing. Coming home and finding her room looking exactly as she left it, Amber in the stall, and her father still warning her against Nick. It was like stepping back in time, and nothing had changed. But things had changed. Her room and horse might still be there, although she had no idea why, but her life had changed. She answered to no one and was free to do what she wanted. Once she approached her father about his illness and helped Bella understand the road ahead, she was gone.
Picking up a brush, Ava began stroking Amber’s cream mane. Her tail swung gently from side to side. Amber always loved being brushed.
The phone in the pocket of her pants buzzed. Putting down the brush, she dug it out and hit the answer button. This time her friend Lauren’s face beamed from the screen.
“Hey, Lauren.”
“What’s in your hair?” was Lauren’s greeting.
Running her fingers through her locks, Ava found what Lauren was looking at. “It’s hay.”
Lauren laughed. “A few days in the country and you’re looking like a farmer. Or are you rolling around in the hay with the farmer Jade told me about?”
Jade and her big mouth. “No, I’m with my horse Amber.” Ava tilted the phone to fit some of the horse’s face on the screen.
“Oh, she’s gorgeous. So you’re at your dad’s now? Why did Bella need you so urgently?”
“She thinks Dad has cancer.”
“That’s terrible! But she thinks? Doesn’t she know for sure?”
Ava shook her head. “Apparently, she overheard Dad and Olivia talking, but they haven’t said anything to her about it. I don’t know how serious it is.”
“What are you going to do?” Lauren asked.
“I’m not sure yet. Bella doesn’t want me to mention anything. She thinks they’re going to tell her while I’m here. She’s acting a little strange, like she’s not telling me everything.” Patting Amber on the cheek, she left the stall and walked outside.
“She’s young, it must be scary and confusing for her.”
“You’re probably right.” A trainer was breaking in a horse in the round yard close by, and Ava sat on a spongy patch of grass, watching the horse run around in circles.
Chasing Trouble Page 13