‘I’ll take them,’ Ned said, grabbing Cane’s collar.
‘Thanks,’ Lawson and Meg said in unison, then smiled at each other as Ned led the dogs along the verandah towards the side gate.
‘Come on.’ Lawson took Meg’s hand again. ‘Let’s go whip some cream.’
They went inside and set to work doing the last-minute jobs, which stopped Meg from biting her nails as the time ticked down to the official opening hour.
When it was one minute after their ten o’clock opening and not one person had walked through the door, her heart sank, and she went across to the table in the corner where they’d set up a tea pot with a cup and saucer. A sign sat in the middle of the table—Reserved for Eliza.
She slunk into one of the two chairs and sighed deeply. ‘I’m sorry, Eliza. I tried.’
Then the little bell above the door ding-a-linged and Meg turned so fast she almost gave herself whiplash to see Beth and her husband tottering in through the door.
‘My my,’ Beth exclaimed, pausing in the doorway and glancing around, ‘you’re a miracle worker. Look what you’ve done to this old building.’
Meg, tears sprouting in her eyes—she’d become quite the crier since moving to Rose Hill—leaped off the chair and rushed across to greet her first customers. She threw her arms around the old woman, who’d remained a supporter even after the truth about Megan McCormick had spread around Walsh. ‘I’m so glad you could make it.’
Beth chuckled and patted Meg on the back. ‘I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. I even made sure Howard wore his Sunday best.’ She pulled back out of Meg’s embrace. ‘Howard, meet Meg; she’s a very special girl and a dear friend of mine.’
Meg shook Howard’s old, papery hand and then linked her arms through both of theirs. ‘Where would you like to sit? You get first choice of a table.’
‘Oh, no,’ Beth said, shaking her head. ‘First I need to have a proper look around.’
‘Okay, then.’ Smiling, Meg led the elderly couple around the tea room so they could admire the old photographs of Rose Hill and Archie’s paintings, which hung on the walls. ‘There are more in the gallery—those ones are for sale and all proceeds go towards our new charity.’
In addition to renovating the general store and getting ready for the launch of the tea room, Meg had finished her memoir and started doing drug awareness talks at schools in the region. Her book was now under consideration with a publisher and, inspired by the positive feedback she’d received about the talks, she’d recently started a charity to help survivors of drug and alcohol abuse get back on their feet. It was early days but she finally felt as if some good might come out of all the bad that had gone before.
Halfway through showing Beth and Howard around, Meg had to stop to go and greet the next arrivals. As predicted, Funky walked in the door, followed by his whole extended family, which included a number of nieces and nephews who immediately found the kids’ corner she’d set up with paper and coloured pencils. She barely had time to greet them all before Ethan arrived pushing an elderly woman in a wheelchair.
‘Gran!’ she exclaimed, rushing over to greet Lawson and Tabitha’s grandmother. She threw her arms around the woman who’d become like a surrogate grandparent to her these past few months. ‘I’m so glad you could come.’
Gran chuckled softly. ‘I wouldn’t miss this for the world.’
Meg pulled back, giving the older woman a chance to look around.
‘I’m sure your Eliza would be very happy with what you’ve done with the place,’ she said with a nod. ‘Now, when do I get a cup of tea? My throat is parched.’
‘Coming right up,’ Meg said and went off to fulfil her very first order.
After that, the people just kept coming.
Meg had hoped the opening would be a success, but she’d never dreamed she’d have to feed that many people. She, Lawson and Tabitha were so run off their feet taking and delivering orders they had to put Funky to work washing up in the kitchen and Ethan and Ned in charge of the ice-cream bar.
Every now and then, Meg paused for two moments to survey the dream-like scene in front of her—a café full of people laughing, talking, eating and admiring the locals’ arts and craft.
‘Are you going to say a few words?’ Tabitha said, coming up beside Meg with a tray of used plates as she headed back into the kitchen.
‘Oh yes, I’d almost forgotten that part.’ Meg’s stomach jumped again with nerves, but she wanted to thank all these people for their support.
Tabitha had a way of commanding attention and a few minutes later all eyes were on Meg as she stood just in front of the cake display cabinet and addressed the crowd.
‘I …’ She’d planned a speech but now, with all these people smiling at her, she couldn’t remember a word of it. ‘I just wanted to say thank you for coming and I hope you enjoy the food and beverages. I can’t express how much you all being here means to me and—’ She couldn’t say another word, but nobody seemed to care. They all stood up and applauded.
Lawson came to stand beside her and then, just when she thought she truly could not take another hit to her emotions, he tapped a spoon against a glass and everyone went quiet.
‘I just want to add to Meg’s thanks. It means the world to me as well as her because this is the woman I love and want to spend the rest of my life with.’
Then, he turned to her and she gasped as he got down on one knee and presented a small black box.
‘Megan McCormick,’ he said, his own voice a little shaky now, ‘there are no words for the light you’ve brought back into my life. I love you with everything I’ve got and I was wondering if you’d do me the massive honour of becoming my wife?’
Yes! Of course! She wanted to scream her positive answer so that people all over Australia would hear it. But she couldn’t seem to speak at all. With tears streaming down her face, she nodded violently instead and dropped down to the floor to join her future husband.
He laughed, his eyes also glistening, as he slipped the most beautiful diamond ring onto her finger. Meg gazed down at it—she would have been happy with a plastic band from the two-dollar-shop if it meant getting to wake up next to Lawson for the rest of her days—but it fit perfectly.
Applause sounded around them again, but Meg barely heard it as Lawson’s lips met hers. When they finally came up for air, Ned was standing beside them.
‘Onya, Dad,’ he said, raising his hand for a high five to Lawson.
Then, he stepped right up to Meg, threw his skinny arms around her neck and hugged her hard. Lawson’s arms came down around them both and they stayed there, snuggled together in one tight unit until someone from the crowd called out.
‘Can I get a photo for the Walsh Whisperer?’
Meg didn’t need to look up to know the voice was Adeline’s but she did look up and she smiled, knowing how difficult this must be for the other woman. In the last year, they hadn’t exactly become friends—she wasn’t sure they’d ever get to that—but they’d learnt to be civil. Adeline had accepted that Meg was part of Lawson’s life, part of the town, and Meg had realised that she couldn’t blame the other woman for her grandmother’s sins. However untoward, Adeline had genuinely had Lawson’s and Ned’s best interests at heart when she’d dug up the dirt on Meg.
‘Congrats, you guys,’ Adeline said, lifting her camera to aim. ‘I’ll put this on the front page.’
And for once Meg didn’t mind her life making the news. In fact, right at that moment, she was happy to be the talk of the town.
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements are one of my most favourite things to read in other author’s books—I’m fascinated by who has helped an author in their research and who supports them through their writing on a daily basis. As an author, though, acknowledgements are one of the most difficult things to write—I’m always terrified I’ll forget a VIP.
This book is my tenth full-length novel with Harlequin Australia and during this
time so many people have formed the team that bring my books to you. Each and every one of those amazing people have worked above and beyond and I want to thank them all. It’s too hard to name everyone because there are so many, but I want to thank Sue Brockhoff and James Kellow for leading such a fabulous team and for their personal enthusiasm towards my writing.
Talk of the Town was edited by the brilliant Annabel Blay and the equally brilliant Kate O’Donnell—thank you both for helping me strengthen my story and make my words sparkle.
As always I want to thank my incredible agent Helen Brietweiser—you’re there with me from the beginning to the end of every book and your support is priceless.
To all my wonderful writing friends—thank you for your constant support and the emails that help me procrastinate every day. Over the years we’ve been writing together, you have become some of my best friends. A special mention to Beck Nicholas—YA author extraordinaire and the absolute best critique partner a girl could ask for. Beck has read every one of my published books prepublication, offering her advice, wisdom and encouragement, and I wouldn’t be without her. Thank you, my love!
Each book requires a little bit of research and a few special people helped me with the factual details of this one. As usual any mistakes are mine, not theirs. Thanks to Bec B for giving me insider info into what life is like in an Aussie high security prison; to the Pitter family and Peta Sattler for offering me a hands-on dairy experience and also to Peta for reading my draft to make sure I didn’t get anything too wrong; to Carla for answering my questions about the current state of the dairy industry; and lastly to my fabulous ex-boss, the one-armed wonder woman, Lorreen Greeuw—if my character Tabitha comes across half as amazing as you are, I’ve done my job!
And a special shout out to Julie Hutchins—who read the beginning of this book in the very early stages and told me it wasn’t absolutely rubbish, which gave me the confidence to continue.
Finally, I wish to thank my family. It isn’t always easy being the husband, son or mother of a writer, but my tribe take it all in their stride. I’m running out of words to describe how much you guys help me to achieve my dreams … but know this, I love you and am grateful for you all every single day.
Connect with us for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!
Subscribe to our newsletter
Share your reading experience on:
Harlequin Books
Facebook
Twitter
Watch our reviews, author interviews and more on Harlequin TV
ISBN: 9781489220592
TITLE: TALK OF THE TOWN
First Australian Publication 2017
Copyright © 2017 RACHAEL JOHNS
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher:
Harlequin Mira
An imprint of Harlequin Enterprises (Australia) Pty Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth St
SYDNEY NSW 2000
AUSTRALIA
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business
establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
® and ™ are trademarks owned by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its corporate affiliates and used by others under licence. Trademarks marked with an ® are registered in Australia and in other countries. Contact [email protected] for details.
www.harlequinbooks.com.au
Talk of the Town Page 37