The Patterson Girls

by Rachael Johns

  Charlie frowned and placed a hand on her stomach. ‘Actually, I am feeling a little under the weather.’

  Lucinda crossed to her sister and put a hand on her forehead. ‘You’re a little warm. Maybe you should go inside and lie down.’

  ‘Are you sure you can manage without me?’

  ‘Of course. You’ve been nose to the grindstone these last few months. Maybe you just need a day off.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  Charlie turned to go and Lucinda added, ‘But remember, we’re going to Wanda’s this afternoon. Don’t want to miss that.’

  Madeleine woke up disorientated. It took her ten seconds to place herself. She was home … back in Meadow Brook, back where it all began. Her head throbbed more than a little from last night’s drinking with her sisters but she couldn’t deny it had felt good to let loose. Travelling with Abigail and then last night with Lucinda and Charlie had reminded her that, if you let them, sisters could be the best kind of friends.

  Maybe it was because they were all misery guts at the moment and could sympathise with each other’s feelings of woe or maybe it was something else. Something more primal. She could only imagine how things might have turned out if she’d confided in Lucinda or Abigail or even Charlie about her desire to have a baby, instead of laying it on Hugo and Celia.

  What had she been thinking? Could she really have coped with a baby on her own? And at the same time maintain such a demanding career? She thought back over the past year—the shock of losing her mother and then the weirdness of finding out about the Patterson curse. Would she have even contemplated getting pregnant if it wasn’t for all that?

  She couldn’t deny the curse had made her start thinking about her ticking biological clock. She’d always hated the idea that she couldn’t have something if that’s what she wanted. Her mind went to the man she’d left in Baltimore. Had that been part of Hugo’s attraction too?

  At that thought, she shuddered as if a red-back spider had crawled into bed with her.

  It was bizarre not to have to rush out of bed, not to have appointments to get to or babies to deliver. She’d never been good at taking holidays because being idle made her twitchy. She guessed it wouldn’t be very long before she was chomping at the bit to get back into some kind of work.

  And no, she didn’t think pouring beer in the bar or changing dirty bed linen would suffice, but she could probably handle a few days while she worked out what to do next.

  Never one to lounge around for hours after waking, she tossed off her blankets and climbed out of bed, glad that for today at least she had something to do. As much as she didn’t want to believe in the curse, it was like a little ticking clock in the back of her head that wouldn’t shut up and she hoped their visit to the old woman would give them all something to go forward with.

  *

  The house was silent when Charlie snuck back inside, and thankfully, when she shut the door to the motel behind her, the stench of bacon and sausages disappeared. She took a deep breath and headed for the kitchen, hoping a cup of herbal tea and some plain toast would settle her stomach. The last thing she needed was a bout of gastro because she had her first online exam in a couple of weeks and needed all her energies to study.

  Only Mitch knew about the course and he’d been a great encouragement, but she’d never been good at tests and hadn’t done anything like one since high school, so maybe it was simply the stress of the unknown combined with last night’s wine that was making her queasy. She thought of Lucinda’s excitement when she’d reminded her about going to see Wanda and shook her head in irritation. For years her sisters had teased her about her belief in supernatural, new age-type things and now they were all gung-ho over this so-called curse.

  If only she hadn’t been trying not to throw up, she’d have told Lucinda she wouldn’t be going with them. The others might have nothing better to do than harass old ladies but Charlie had plenty. Possibly she believed in the curse but she was philosophical about such things and didn’t want to get consumed with negativity like her sisters.

  They’d been so caught up in their scheming last night that they either didn’t care or hadn’t noticed her reticence. Probably the first—her sisters had never rated her opinion highly as she didn’t have a university degree to back it up.

  But had they listened to themselves?

  She’d almost told them about she and Mitch, simply to shut them up. Her confession would have put an end to their ridiculous notion that this was a love curse as well as a fertility one, but something had made her hold her tongue. She didn’t want to sully their love with crazy curse talk, and the way Lucinda and Madeleine had been carrying on, they wouldn’t have listened anyway.

  She’d always thought her sisters were smarter than her, but right now they weren’t acting it. They were almost like three vigilantes, planning to storm over and confront that poor old woman. She could only imagine what Dad would say if he found out. He hadn’t wanted them to know about the curse and now she understood why. Mum had been right to want it to be forgotten.

  Things were getting out of control.

  Shaking her head, Charlie stuck two pieces of bread into the toaster, made tea and then lathered on butter and Vegemite when the toast popped. Feeling suddenly exhausted, she took her breakfast through to Lucinda’s bedroom and closed the door behind her. Unsurprisingly Lucinda had made the bed with hospital-corner precision before she’d left that morning, and it looked comfy and welcoming. The only evidence that anyone even occupied the room was the tiny packet of tampons that sat on the bed, open as if Lucinda had grabbed one before heading out that morning.

  Charlie put her tea down on the bedside table and then flicked the box off the bed onto the floor, a childish joy rushing through her at the thought of messing up Lucinda’s immaculate space. She plonked herself down and had already taken her first bite of toast when a thought struck.

  She stopped chewing.

  When was the last time she’d had her period? She swallowed slowly, calculating back in her head. It had to be four or five weeks, maybe longer. Definitely before she and Mitch got together. She’d never bothered much with keeping track of her cycle but she’d have remembered if she’d had a period in the last few weeks as it might have messed with their love-making-at-every-opportunity routine.

  She sat up straight, her stomach tightening as she discarded the toast and Vegemite.

  I couldn’t be. Could I?

  They’d used condoms every time … every single time, except … that first time, when, half-in and half-out of his ute, they’d both been too desperate to wait any longer. Or to think about anything quite so mundane as contraception.

  Her skin flushed instantly at the recollection, but she forced herself to think clearly. What if she was pregnant? How would she feel about that? How would Mitch feel? How would her sisters feel? Would they be happy it proved the curse nonsense, or jealous because she’d succeeded at something they’d so far all failed to do? Now that would be a turn-up for the books. She couldn’t help feeling a little enchanted by the prospect.

  Even as all these thoughts and questions whirled in her head, she found her fingers sneaking into her pocket to grab her mobile phone. She pressed dial on Mitch’s number without thinking about what she was going to say. He’d always been the person she’d called first with good or bad news. He was the first person she’d phoned when she’d found out about Mum’s death, and the only person she’d confided to about her ambitions to study.

  He answered within a matter of seconds. ‘Hey gorgeous. Your sisters still driving you wild?’

  When she’d fallen into bed with him last night, she’d told him all about the evening’s events and he’d done his best to cool her fury and restore her equilibrium.

  ‘Not exactly.’ She’d never been one for beating round the bush. ‘I think I might be pregnant.’

  ‘What?’ There was nothing sinister in Mitch’s tone, only surprise. And then, ‘Are you okay? Do you need
me to come over?’

  ‘I’m not entirely sure,’ she said and then explained how she’d come round to this suspicion.

  ‘We need to do a test.’

  She smiled—he was such a doer, always planning action and solutions—and she loved him for it. ‘We’d have to drive all the way to Port Augusta to get one on a Sunday. Maybe we should wait until tomorrow. I’m pretty sure the general store stocks pregnancy tests.’

  Wow. Were they really talking about this? She’d only just gotten used to the wonder of her and Mitch as a couple and now … this. It was almost too much to get her head around.

  ‘Meet me at my place in half an hour,’ he said. ‘I’ve got an idea.’

  He hung up before she had the chance to ask him what it was.

  The half hour dragged and Charlie, wide awake now, arrived early at Mitch’s place to find it deserted. He’d recently given her a key, so she let herself inside and sat down on his well-worn but comfortable couch. She picked up his remote and turned on the TV, but paid little attention to Weekend Sunrise, unable to think about anything but the possible new life inside her. About what it might mean to her, to them—to her sisters. Things were so fabulous between her and Mitch at the moment. Would a baby change all that?

  Of course it would. She might not have had much to do with children but she knew from the way Kate and Lisa talked that a baby, although wonderful, altered the dynamics of a relationship. But hers and Mitch’s relationship had only changed dynamics recently and she liked the new dynamics very much indeed. Her hand kept drifting to her tummy as if she might already be able to feel movement, but that was ridiculous and she told herself to be patient, to worry about the situation when (and if) she had something to worry about.

  Finally, Mitch pulled up in the driveway and she dashed to the front door. He climbed out of his ute, beeped it locked and then strode around the front, moving towards her with cocky confidence and a smile on his face. He didn’t seem cut up about the possibility of her being pregnant.

  He jogged up the few steps onto the front verandah and she noticed the little box in his hand as he leaned forward and kissed her. Heat curled in her belly at the touch of his lips on hers but she pulled back, doing her darn best to ignore it. Now wasn’t the time for her libido to dance and shout.

  ‘Is that what I think it is?’ She gestured to the box as he stepped inside and kicked the front door shut behind them.

  ‘It’s a pregnancy test,’ he said, handing it to her.

  ‘Where did you get it?’

  Mitch shrugged out of his worn leather jacket and tossed it onto the floor near the door. ‘I saw it a while back in Kate and Macca’s bathroom cupboard, so I went over and stole it.’ The grin on his face told her he felt pretty happy with himself for this.

  ‘Is it still in date?’ She turned the small cardboard box over, searching for a use-by date.

  ‘Yep.’ He pointed to the little black numerals on the bottom corner. ‘Macca and Kate had a scare recently. You’d think after four kids, they’d know how babies are made and all but …’ He threw his hands up in the air good-naturedly, his easygoing way lessening the wild beating of her heart.

  She pursed her lips and stared down, her hands shaking as she tried to garner the courage to take this next step.

  Again, as if he could see inside her head, Mitch stepped close and took her free hand. ‘Just do it, Charles. Whatever the result, it’ll be a good one. I love you, you love me, so all is right with the world.’

  She looked up into his beautiful, big brown eyes and drank in his heartfelt words, her own eyes watering at the emotion behind them. ‘I love you too,’ she said, blinking back tears. ‘This could be nothing. I may have miscalculated my dates—you know math has never been my strong point. And if you listen to my sisters we’re all cursed, so …’

  ‘I don’t listen to your sisters. I listen to you.’ He squeezed her hand and then brought it up to his lips and lightly kissed her knuckles. ‘So let’s stop speculating and do the damn test.’

  She smiled and laughed nervously. ‘Okay.’

  Together they went into Mitch’s tiny bathroom and read the instructions more carefully than either of them had ever read instructions before. Then Mitch stepped outside, giving Charlie privacy while she peed on the stick.

  ‘Okay. I’m done,’ she called as she placed it on the vanity.

  He opened the door and then came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her and resting his head on her shoulder as they stared down at the test together, waiting for the result to appear.

  Chapter Forty-five

  Lucinda returned to the house to find Abigail and Madeleine nursing mugs of coffee at the kitchen table. They both looked tired and hung-over and for a moment she wondered if they’d changed their minds.

  ‘Morning,’ she said as she crossed the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee. ‘Did you both sleep well?’

  Abigail groaned. ‘Don’t ask.’ And then took another long sip.

  ‘About the same,’ Madeleine said, her tone dry. ‘Will you be ready to set off on our mission soon?’

  Lucinda guessed Madeleine’s cryptic question was in case Dad happened to be lingering nearby, but she knew he was ensconced in book work in the office. ‘You still want to?’

  ‘Of course.’ Madeleine stood and went to put her empty mug in the sink. ‘It’s not like I have other grand plans for the day.’

  Lucinda let out a relieved giggle. ‘I’ll just go see if Charlie’s up to it.’

  ‘Where is she?’ Abigail frowned.

  ‘She wasn’t very well this morning, so I sent her back to bed.’

  Abigail’s shoulders slumped. ‘We can’t go without her. This is a job for all the Patterson girls.’

  Nodding, Lucinda headed down the hallway and knocked once before pushing open her bedroom door. Aside from the fact that her packet of tampons was now on the floor, its contents spilling out of the open lid, it didn’t look like Charlie had even been here.

  ‘That’s odd,’ she said to herself as she returned to the kitchen. ‘She’s not there,’ she told the others.

  Madeleine shrugged one shoulder. ‘Maybe she felt better and went to continue her decorating or whatever it is she’s been doing lately. We haven’t seen her all morning.’

  Feeling a little irritated—she’d had to work hard on her own in the kitchen with the motel being fully booked—Lucinda dug her mobile phone out of her pocket and dialled Charlie’s number. It rang out.

  ‘You know, she didn’t seem all that keen last night,’ she said, putting her phone down on the table and glancing between her sisters. ‘Maybe she doesn’t want to come with us.’

  They were discussing whether or not they should go ahead without her when the door opened and Charlie appeared, followed by Mitch. She looked anything but unwell. In fact, her whole face was glowing. So that explained it. While Lucinda had been slaving away over a hot stove, washing dishes and then scrubbing toilets, Charlie had been getting up to who knows what with Mitch.

  ‘I thought you were sick,’ she snapped, unable to keep her annoyance to herself.

  Mitch put a hand on Charlie’s shoulder and glared at Lucinda in a way that made her straighten up and blink.

  Before Lucinda could respond, Charlie said, ‘You haven’t been to see Wanda yet, have you?’

  ‘No,’ Lucinda said. ‘We were waiting for you.’

  ‘Oh, thank God.’ Charlie breathed out deeply and pushed Mitch further into the house. ‘Where’s Dad?’

  ‘In the office.’

  ‘Good. There’s something I need to tell you all, but he needs to hear it too. Be right back.’ Charlie rushed off through the house and disappeared into the motel.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Abigail asked, looking to Mitch.

  He simply shoved his hands in his jeans’ pockets and grinned, his smile stretching almost from ear to ear. No one said anything for the minute it took for Charlie to return with Dad.

  ‘Co
me into the lounge room and sit,’ she instructed everyone, an uncharacteristically bossy and confident edge to her voice.

  Curious, Lucinda did as she was told and so did the others. Once again Abigail and Madeleine commandeered the couch and Dad sat in his favourite armchair. Mitch and Charlie didn’t seem inclined to sit down, so Lucinda sat next to Dad in the second chair and looked to Charlie expectedly.

  ‘I’m pregnant,’ she announced, her eyes sparkling and her smile almost as crazy-wide as Mitch’s.

  The words sank into Lucinda’s head but she found it hard to digest them.

  ‘Who’s the father?’ Even as Abigail asked this question, Lucinda knew it was a stupid one. The answer was obvious.

  ‘Mitch.’ Charlie looked at him, her face radiating warmth and love.

  He grinned back, his eyes saying what Lucinda had always known. Those two were meant for each other. They were like two peas in a pod and she was happy they’d finally got it together, but … a baby! Her chest muscles tightened, making it difficult to breathe.

  ‘How long have you two been together?’ Madeleine asked.

  ‘Since …’ Charlie’s voice trailed off.

  ‘Forever,’ Mitch finished, taking hold of her hand.

  Charlie laughed and a tear trickled down her cheek. ‘But it took us about twenty years to get our act together.’

  ‘Better late than never,’ Mitch added.

  Everyone remained frozen in their seats, staring at Mitch and Charlie as if they couldn’t believe the news. And then something inside Lucinda snapped. She leapt from her chair and rushed across to her sister and her old friend.

  ‘That’s wonderful,’ she said, drawing them both into a hug as tears of relief flowed down her cheeks. ‘I’m so happy for you.’

  She kissed them both and then pulled back, grinning.

  ‘Are you sure you’re okay about this?’ Charlie asked.

  ‘Okay?’ Lucinda swallowed. ‘I’m over the moon.’ And she meant it. This sense of pure joy surprised her. She felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She always thought she’d be plagued with jealousy if any of her sisters managed to get pregnant so easily when she hadn’t been able to, but the relief was stronger than any other emotion. She couldn’t say anything in front of their father because he didn’t know how much they knew about the curse, but this proved Mum right.