Riding the Storm

by Heather Graves

  ‘There won’t be,’ Glen muttered. ‘Soon as the roads were open again, looters came in from everywhere; vultures picking over the ruins. They seemed to know when a place had been abandoned.’ He paused for a moment, giving the younger man time to take in what he had seen and collect his thoughts. ‘So what is your thinking now, Ryan? Are you willing to sell to me now? Or do you still need more time?’

  ‘There’s no point in further delay. I’ll never live here again,’ Ryan said, forgetting all about his boasts to Chrissie of driving a hard bargain. ‘Even visiting here has been a mistake.’ He looked at the stable block, thinking of Sprite, who would no longer whinny a greeting from the doorway of her stall. ‘I wish I’d never come.’

  ‘No.’ Glen wasn’t unsympathetic. ‘I think you needed to come back and see the old place as it is today. Only then can you move on.’

  ‘I’m sure you’re right.’ He lowered his head to hide the tears as he turned back towards Glen’s car. He had seen enough.

  ‘Come on, we’ll get over to my place and look at the paperwork. I don’t know if you drink, Ryan, but you look as if you could use one.’

  Back at the Harrison home, Ryan started to feel better. Glen’s smooth-running, polished environment was just as he remembered and somehow comforting – especially without the abrasive presence of Fiona. As if reading his thoughts, Glen mentioned her.

  ‘I have to thank you, Ryan, for opening my eyes and helping me to get out of that woman’s clutches. Believe me when I say it’ll be a long time before I let another one get that close. You can tell that to Mike when you see him; he never liked Fiona.’

  Ryan flushed and looked away.

  ‘Oh no,’ Glen said. ‘What’s he done this time? You used to be the one friend he didn’t alienate.’

  ‘Honestly, it’s nothing.’

  ‘I think it is. Or you wouldn’t look so uncomfortable.’

  ‘All right. He tried to hit on my cousin and I didn’t like it because I—’

  ‘I get it. Mike was up to his old tricks, trying to muscle in on your girl?’

  ‘It didn’t matter before. Mike has always been better-looking than I am. I never used to care that he got all the girls.’

  ‘Until you found this one. I do hope he didn’t succeed?’

  ‘No.’ Ryan laughed shortly. ‘And that didn’t suit him, either.’

  ‘It’ll do Mike good to get one or two knock-backs. He doesn’t appreciate girls because he can get them so easily. My fault too, I suppose. Letting him run around in sports cars as soon as he could drive.’ Glen paused to take a gulp of whisky. Ryan had scarcely touched the one poured for him. ‘Make no mistake, I’m proud of my son, Ryan. Most people see just the playboy, but he’s working hard now he’s studying medicine. Doing well, too. Eventually, he’ll make a brilliant surgeon.’

  ‘Yes, I know.’

  ‘Make it up with him, if you can. I know how shallow and flippant he can be but you mean a lot to him, really. I wouldn’t like to see him lose you.’

  Ryan nodded but he was making no promises.

  ‘And now let us get down to business.’ Glen clapped his hands, shifting quickly from concerned father to super salesman. ‘I’ve done my researches and I know what your property’s worth.’

  ‘Good. Because I don’t. And I suppose you’ll think I’m stupid to be that honest.’

  ‘No. I respect you for it. And because you saved me a lot of money by opening my eyes to that parasite, Fiona, I’m prepared to pay well over the market price. My solicitors have drawn up the contracts and as there’s no mortgage or finance broker involved, we don’t have to wait.’ And he opened the briefcase by his chair and pushed the contracts over to Ryan. ‘I don’t expect you to sign today. Take them to your father’s solicitors and let them confirm what I say.’

  Ryan’s eyes widened when he saw the amount. ‘It seems like a lot of money for our poor, broken house.’

  ‘I wouldn’t be offering it, if I didn’t think I could make more. I’m hoping to get planning permission for a luxury guest house. That’s why I want to widen the road and open the access. It’ll make all the difference.’

  Ryan did drink the whisky now and it made him cough.

  Later when he saw his father’s solicitors, they advised him to take the offer and sign immediately. Glen Harrison didn’t usually have the reputation of being so generous.

  Ryan returned to Melbourne with more money in the bank than he had seen in the whole of his life. His mind was whirling with plans of what could be done with it and he couldn’t wait to discuss them with Chrissie. He knew he couldn’t be truly happy unless he could marry her but was that really what she wanted, too? When Val had discovered them in bed together, there had been flippant talk of casual relationships and one-night stands so what did Chrissie really want? Would the spark of passion that had grown up between them die a natural death when it was no longer forbidden fruit? He couldn’t make any more plans for the future until he found out. They needed to sit down and have a serious talk.

  As arranged before, Chrissie met him at Tullamarine Airport and he thought she looked tired and a little strained. She greeted him with a kiss that was warm as ever but behind it, he was sensing a new reserve. So what was the matter now?

  ‘I’m happy for you,’ she said when she heard how smoothly the sale had gone and the generous sum now sitting in his bank account. ‘You’ll have enough money to get your own place now. If that’s what you want.’

  ‘And is that what you want me to do?’ he asked. Unreasonably, he felt a frisson of anger towards her. Obviously, she couldn’t wait to push him away. ‘Chrissie, we can’t talk about serious stuff like this while you’re driving. We need to stop for a coffee and thrash this out.’

  ‘We’re always doing this, Ryan. Stopping in the middle of some journey.’

  ‘I don’t care. We need to have a serious talk and we can’t do that in a car – we’ll end up wrapping it around a tree.’

  ‘We’d be together for all time then, wouldn’t we?’ She considered the thought. ‘I wonder if there is an eternity?’

  ‘You’re in a strange mood today, Chrissie. Not like yourself at all. Why?’

  She sighed. ‘You’re quite right. We do need to talk without Mum listening in. We should do it before we get home.’

  His heart sank as he sensed an ominous meaning behind her words. She didn’t sound at all like a woman in love.

  They found a roadside café and sat at the far end of it, which was deserted, so that other people wouldn’t hear what they had to say. Ryan wanted to shake the story out of her immediately but he waited until there was a mug of strong coffee in front of both of them. He leaned forward, trying to read the expression on her face, which was carefully blank and telling him nothing. She pulled a face at the coffee, not really wanting to drink it.

  ‘Right,’ he said. ‘Whatever’s the matter, give it to me straight. As I see it, we should be leaping for joy, throwing our caps in the air. We’re not even half related. I have more money than I’ve ever seen in my life and we’re in love. Don’t you like being happy? Because what can possibly be the matter now?’

  She astonished him by bursting into tears. Not knowing what else to do, he went and gathered a pile of napkins from a dispenser, handed them to her silently and waited for her to get over this storm of weeping. One or two people glared at him, thinking he must have upset her.

  ‘Chrissie, what’s wrong?’ he said at last. ‘This isn’t like you at all. You’re usually so amazingly brave. Has something happened to your mother? Is she ill?’

  The girl wept for a while longer, still unable to speak. Finally, she blew her nose noisily and took a deep breath. Then she looked up at him, trying to smile.

  ‘No. Mum’s fine. In fact she’s more than fine. There was a man – someone from England that she was in love with once. She thought he was married but he’s not. And he got in touch as soon as he heard my father was dead. He’s flying over to see her �
� might even be on his way now.’

  ‘But that’s a good thing, isn’t it? Aren’t you happy for her?’

  ‘Oh, yes. I’m not crying about that. It’s me – I’ve been an emotional mess lately.’ Tears welled in her eyes once more, making him reach out to take her hands to steady her. ‘I’m so sorry, Ryan. I should have been more careful. But I’m pregnant.’

  He stared at her for a moment, taking it in. This was the last thing he had expected.

  She misinterpreted his astonished expression. ‘No. It’s all right, you don’t have to worry. I’m not expecting you to marry me or anything. You’re so young and you have your whole life ahead of you—’

  ‘You have to stop harping on about how young I am. Why on earth did you think I wouldn’t be pleased? Oh, Chrissie, this is wonderful news. A new life – a child of our own.’

  ‘But it’s too soon. You need to have fun – to—’

  ‘To do what? Go to discos and dance with vapid girls? I’ve done all that already with Mike and it wasn’t much fun, let me tell you.’ He paused, struck by a thought that made him uneasy. ‘You do want to keep the baby? You wouldn’t be thinking of – of—’

  ‘No way.’ She understood him immediately. ‘Oh Ryan, how could I have doubted you even for a moment?’

  ‘We’ll get married right away. There doesn’t have to be a fuss. Just a quiet civil ceremony.’

  ‘No one would expect anything else – not after what happened to Dad. Will Mike come and stand up as a witness for you?’

  ‘I can only ask. His father wants me to make it up with him. But when I think how he left you alone in the street to be grabbed by those kidnappers—’

  ‘They would have found another way to get at me if he hadn’t. You can’t hold Mike responsible.’

  Ryan shrugged.

  ‘Come on.’ She smiled, almost herself again. ‘Best friends aren’t that easy to come by. You can ask Mike and I’ll ask Michelle. Mum says she’s back from her trip overseas. She’s a little acid drop but I think you’ll like her. She never liked Tony.’

  ‘Oh, now I’m really worried. Supposing she doesn’t like me?’

  But Michelle did like him when they all met at a popular café in town. She had changed her appearance since Chrissie last saw her. The long blonde hair had been cut short and turned into boyish tufts that stood out all over her head, making her look younger than ever, like a cheeky Peter Pan.

  ‘You lucky old thing,’ she said, nudging Chrissie as they watched Ryan leave them to fight for more drinks at the bar. ‘He’s just gorgeous.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know that he’d like that description,’ Chrissie laughed.

  ‘Well, he is. Chunky and there’s just no other word for it – gorgeous. Don’t you know that sandy-haired men are all the rage now? Taken over from the tall, dark and handsome. They say it’s all because of Prince Harry. Your guy reminds me of Channing Tatum – did you see him in that film about male strippers?’ Michelle’s eyes sparkled. ‘Oh yeah.’

  Chrissie giggled. ‘Michelle, that’s enough! You do talk a lot of rot. And hands off. I saw him first.’

  ‘Yeah, dammit,’ Michelle teased before becoming serious. ‘It’s obvious that he adores you, Chrissie, and that’s nice to see.’

  ‘Oh, Michelle, you don’t know how I’ve missed you. And you will come to our wedding, won’t you? It’s going to be very low-key.’

  ‘Yes. Long as Ryan turns up with a best friend for me.’

  ‘But his best friend is last year’s model. The tall, dark and handsome variety. Medical student.’

  ‘Wow! I can’t wait.’

  ‘But the package comes with a strong warning concerning reliability.’

  ‘I don’t need him to be reliable. He has to be more exciting than the dull accountant types I’ve been dating lately.’

  Chrissie laughed. ‘Mike Harrison may be many things but he certainly isn’t dull.’

  Walter Mannion wasn’t dull either, although his appearance was a surprise to Chrissie when she and her mother went to meet him on his arrival at Tullamarine Airport. She thought Val would want to meet him alone, but her mother insisted that she should be there in case there was any awkwardness between them after all this time.

  Val needn’t have worried. Although it was many years since she had seen him, Walter seemed astonishingly unchanged and she could only hope he felt the same way about her. Well dressed in smart but casual clothes, he was a small, compact Englishman who had been a jockey before becoming a trainer and then turning his talents towards breeding horses. Before saying anything, he swept Val into a warm embrace as if he had seen her only yesterday and Chrissie was slightly bemused, watching her mother bloom under this man’s obvious admiration. Walter wasn’t a man who would ever take her for granted. In the end, Chrissie realized that, apart from acting as chauffeur, there had been absolutely no need for her to be there. Val and Walter sat together on the back seat, talking endlessly and holding each other’s hands as if they would never let go.

  ‘I have a confession to make,’ he told Val at last.

  ‘Oh no, Walter, don’t spoil it. You really don’t have to tell me anything.’ Val was suddenly afraid this reunion was going to be all too good to be true.

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘This is important. When I wrote to you when my wife died and you still wouldn’t join me in England, I told a lie when I said I’d married again. At that point I could see that you’d never leave Robert so I wanted you to forget me – perhaps even hate me a little.’

  ‘Oh, Walter, I could never hate you. You must have known you’d always be there in my heart.’

  ‘Can you forgive me?’

  ‘Oh, my darling, you’re here now. You came back to me. There’s really nothing to forgive.’

  Chrissie concentrated on the road, trying not to watch the two lovebirds as they clung together like teenagers. She could only wonder what was going to happen now. Walter clearly had no intention of parting from Val again; she was the love of his life. But his breeding stables and the whole of his operation was centred in England. They would have to sit down and thrash out a plan for the future if they wanted to be together.

  Walter was impressed with the Lanigans’ stables and ran a practised hand over Tommy as Ryan gave him a brief summary of the animal’s history. He left nothing out, including the rivalry of the brothers who had fought so long and hard to possess him.

  ‘But I guess he belongs to Val now,’ he said at last. ‘And it’s up to her to decide what we do with him next.’

  ‘If he wins his next race, he will qualify for the Melbourne Cup,’ Val said. ‘We can only hope there aren’t too many overseas entries coming this year. The organizers are all too ready to overlook some of our local heroes in favour of visitors and that can be frustrating sometimes. Something to do with worldwide television coverage.’

  ‘Well, let’s hope he makes it.’ Walter gave Tommy a final pat on the neck. ‘He’s certainly big and strong enough to be a good stayer.’

  The dinner party of eight around the kitchen table that evening was the largest gathering there had been for some time, the reason being to discuss the upcoming plans for the wedding. As well as Val, Walter, Chrissie and Ryan, Mike Harrison and Michelle were also invited together with Margie and her husband, Ron, making up the party.

  The registry office was considered and rejected as being too impersonal and then Margie put forward the suggestion that a less formal ceremony could take place outside on the lawn. She and her sister would be happy to cater the event as it was small.

  ‘May I say something?’ Walter spoke up at last. He had been unusually silent for quite a while.

  ‘Please do.’ Chrissie smiled at him, ready to listen to anyone who could make her mother this happy.

  ‘I haven’t asked Val about this so I really have no idea what her answer will be,’ he said softly. ‘And I know it’s not very long since your father died, Chrissie, but your mother and I have already lost a lot of tim
e. We don’t have to have a double wedding if nobody likes the idea but it would be wonderful if Val would marry me on the same day.’ So saying, he put a small black velvet box in front of Val on the table. ‘Please, my darling, say yes this time.’ And he sat back and closed his eyes, half-expecting rejection again.

  Val opened the box and everyone gasped at the size of the diamond inside, reflecting the candlelight nearby.

  ‘Oh, Walter, I don’t know. There’s so much to think about,’ she said, biting her lip.

  ‘No, it’s easy and simple,’ he said. ‘I know it’s too soon and people will talk but you do want to marry me, don’t you?’

  ‘You know I do.’

  ‘All right. Now this is the plan and I’ve been thinking about it a lot. Most of the time we’ll live in England, finding and breeding good horses to send to your daughter and son-in-law here. Let them spread their wings and realize their potential, training and racing those horses on their own; I’m sure we can get Ryan a trainer’s licence even if we have to pull a few strings. And when Hunter’s Moon has done enough, we’ll take him to England to incorporate him into our breeding programme there.’

  ‘Oh no,’ Ryan started to say. ‘After all we’ve been through, I can’t lose him.’

  ‘You won’t,’ Walter said as if he’d been half-expecting this response. ‘Because we’re not going to be strangers here. The world is much smaller than it used to be. You’ll visit us often just as we shall come here.’ He paused for a moment, looking at Val. ‘You’ve not answered me, Val. I do hope I haven’t assumed too much? Please say you’ll marry me?’

  ‘Yes, Walter, yes.’ Val could scarcely speak for the tears misting her eyes. ‘How could I refuse?’

  ‘Then let’s celebrate and congratulate the happy couples.’ Margie jumped up and went to raid the fridge. ‘I had a feeling something like this might happen, so I put two nice bottles of French champagne to cool off in there.’

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN