Heartbreak Homestead (Hearts of the Outback Book 2)
Page 14
She forced her jelly legs to stand and turned to Alex. Pressing her hands over her stomach, she breathed through her mouth to quell the sensation of nausea. “Thank you for helping us. When do you plan to leave?”
Alex frowned and reached for her hands. “I think I made a hash of that. I want to rip up our agreement to end this marriage after six months. Lizzy, unless you don’t want me, I’m not leaving. I love you and late or early, I want all my bedtimes with you. What do you think?”
She flung her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. “I love you too. I want us to be a family. I can’t think of anything I want more than to make a home together.”
Chapter Nineteen
Across the table in the Red Earth bar, Caleb Richards raised his beer glass to Alex. “You’d make a good detective.”
Alex shook his head and watched Lizzy wend her way with Dan from the baby change room back to where he and Caleb sat. “It was blind luck. Your team tracked the communications to my Indonesian business partner. They had no idea they were being manipulated.”
“That only happened after you put us onto Sanderson Tait. He’s so full of hate for all things Campbell, there’s no way now the DCS could support their application for custody of Dan.”
Lizzy slipped in beside Alex and lifted Dan from his carrier. “Is that certain, Caleb? Have they said that in writing?”
“Linda Minchkin told me her recommendation will be in by the end of the week. Sanderson Tait will most likely be convicted and get a prison sentence.”
Alex passed Lizzy’s glass of wine to her. “He must have gone straight from abusing Donna to poisoning the dam. Jeb’s notes from the day he left to assist with the cow’s birth and those he made after he got home make it clear the water was contaminated in that small window of time.”
“Combined with the emails and the testimony from Mr. Sukaharta in the Indonesian office about Tait’s phone conversations with him, the evidence against Tait is strong.” Caleb checked the time on his phone and slid it back into his pocket.
Alex checked his watch. They had thirty minutes before the dinner reservation he’d booked to surprise Lizzy. He patted his pocket and the small jeweller’s box inside and turned to Lizzy. “Jeb’s notes were thorough. Your brother was a great business partner and I reckon he knew what he was doing when he left ‘Craeborn’ to you.”
Lizzy’s smile was tinged with sadness. “I’m glad it’s over, at least for us. But I feel sorry for Tait’s wife and Sarah. They’ve done nothing wrong through all of this but they’ll continue to suffer the consequences of his actions.”
Caleb nodded. “That’s the way it is.”
“Who’s going to run their place? I heard Helen Tait might return to her family in Adelaide and Sarah has her own business to run.”
The detective drained his glass and put it to one side. “There are two other sons who are prepared to pick up the management of the property. Sarah will live there when she’s not working out of the state. Will you allow them access to Dan?”
Lizzy looked down at Dan playing with a set of plastic keys. Her face softened into a smile. Under the table she ran a hand up and down Alex’s thigh. “Family can be a pain in the butt at times but how can I deny him the right to know his mother’s family? No, I want to try to heal the rift between our two families.
“I just wish I’d had the chance to know Jeb as an adult. I can’t believe he let us think he’d hurt Donna. I wish I’d tried harder to talk to her about him but I accepted the rumours that Jeb was like our father.”
Sympathy softened Caleb’s voice. “Like most people. I don’t know how much comfort there is in knowing he took his own life.”
Alex covered her hand and squeezed gently. “Jeb must have loved Donna very much to have taken his life when he thought he’d lost her.”
Pressing her lips together, Lizzy turned her hand beneath Alex’s and threaded their fingers.
“Do you have time for another round?” Caleb stood and looked from Lizzy to Alex.
“I will.” Alex accepted Caleb’s offer as Lizzy shook her head and sipped from her glass of wine.
Caleb picked up the tray and headed for the bar.
Alex raised Lizzy’s free hand to his lips. She had a lot of guilt to overcome and more healing to do. But he’d be beside her every step of the way.
“According to Pete, Jeb wasn’t an easy man to live with, but he loved Donna. Pete thinks Jeb felt he’d failed his wife by failing to protect her from her father and that was why he didn’t try to convince her to return to ‘Craeborn’.”
Lizzy turned her hand under his and linked their fingers. “And maybe because he didn’t come for her, she thought he didn’t love her anymore. What a sad situation. Who said nobody ever died of a broken heart?”
“There’ll be no more heartbreak at ‘Craeborn’, Lizzy. If you want to stay there, we’ll fill it with good times and make new memories.”
“Wonderful. But first, we have a honeymoon to enjoy.”
##
Lizzy shut the door of the cold storage as Alex came into the kitchen. “That was a car pulling up. Are you expecting someone?”
“No. Why don’t you go and see who’s here. I’ll put the kettle on.” He gave her a quick kiss and, with his hands on her bottom, gave her a gentle push out of the room.
“Who would be visiting us the day we return from honeymoon? I suspect you’re lying Alex Carter.”
“So sue me.”
Lizzy wandered up the hallway and pushed the screen door wide. Amy and Dan, Johnno, Terri and their boys, and Aunt Trish stood on the veranda. “Surprise! Happy birthday, Lizzy.”
“Come in, how lovely to see everyone.”
Alex slipped an arm around her waist. “I didn’t lie. I wasn’t expecting ‘someone’ but lots of someones.”
“Splitting hairs there. But I forgive you.” She pulled his head down and kissed him full on the lips. “Any more surprises while you’re about it?”
“Wait and see. Dan, Johnno, why don’t we get the barbeque going?”
He tossed a can of beer to each of them, grabbed one for himself, and the three men headed outside, quickly followed by Terri’s boys. Lizzy pulled Amy into a hug. “I hear congratulations are in order. You and Dan, hey? About time.”
Aunt Trish appeared with young Dan in her arms. “I hope you don’t mind, Lizzy. I heard him talking to himself and couldn’t resist bringing him out to join the fun.”
“Six months old and he can’t resist a party.”
Terri joined Trish and traced Dan’s chubby cheek with one finger. “Gosh, hasn’t he grown big. You forget how quickly they change at this age. My turn for a baby fix after you, Trish.”
Terri lifted the lid on the camping esky the men had carried in. “I’ve got salads, curried eggs, an antipasto platter”—she pulled box after box from the esky and passed them to Amy who set them on the table—“and the piece de resistance, birthday pavlova.”
Johnno sidled past Lizzy and opened the cold room door. “I’ve been tasked with getting you out of the kitchen with a drink in your hand. Here’s the drink.” He took a bottle of white wine from the new wine cooler Alex had installed, and passed it to Lizzy. “If you lovely ladies would like to bring glasses, we’ll reconvene on the side veranda.”
Offering his arm, Johnno escorted Lizzy to her favourite part of the house, if she discounted their bed. Nowhere beat that, in her book.
As they stepped through the doorway, she walked into a sea of balloons and streamers. Fairy glitter covered the floor and everything took on a shimmer as she wiped her eyes. “How did he do this without me knowing?”
Alex appeared on the other side of the screen wall, wielding a pair of tongs in one hand and a beer in the other. “Do you like your surprise?”
“It’s wonderful. Thank you, darling.”
Terri’s boys raced past the veranda to the newly repaired swing in the corner. It would be a while before Dan was big enou
gh to enjoy it by himself but Alex had restrung the rope for her. Tomorrow, when the party was over, she would go and sit there alone and listen for her mother’s gentle voice on the wind. But today was for her family and friends to celebrate life.
And new beginnings.
She placed a heart over her still flat stomach. Alex wasn’t the only one handing out surprises today.
Her heart swelled with love for this man who had promised her six months and given her back her home and her childhood. With him she would make happy memories for Dan and the child just begun and already precious.
Alex caught her eye and raised his can and grinned. What more could she want? She smiled back at her forever husband.
About the Author
Born and raised in Toowoomba, Susanne is an Australian author of contemporary and suspense romances set in exciting and often exotic locations, and rural romance set in Australia. She adores travel with her husband, both at home and overseas, and weaves stories around the settings and people she encounters.
Her heroes have to be pretty special to live up to her real life hero. He saved her life then married her.
Susanne is a member of the RWA and was a finalist in their 2011 Emerald Award. She placed third in the 2015 Pan Macmillan short story competition with Chez Romeo. Mentoring aspiring writers, and working as a freelance editor keeps her off the street! She loves connecting with readers and fellow writers.
Hearts of the Outback: Book 3
Sarah and Caleb’s story:
Chapter One
Camera flashes blinded Sarah Tait and she gripped the reins as the big bay mare tossed her head in protest. Sarah tipped her head to one side then the other and tried to ease the tension that came with being the centre of attention. At least these well-wishers had come to see her off on her charity ride, unlike the mob outside the court house a few months earlier.
“Hey, smile this way, love.” Brent Wilson, the local television cameraman was a friend of her youngest brother, Josh, though he wasn’t here to support her. Neither of her younger brothers had left the property since the trials, and Sarah’s mother was licking her wounds in Adelaide.
“That’s her. Father and brother went to prison a few months back for major crimes.” Behind her, a woman’s voice elaborated on her family’s criminal history as Sarah turned to face Brent. She lifted her chin and stretched her lips, hoping she presented a grin and not a grimace.
Publicity was necessary if her charity ride was to succeed, but since her father’s and brother’s trials and imprisonment, Sarah had shied away from public events. And such sideways looks and snide comments about ‘balancing the ledger’. It didn’t matter that their crimes involved no money. Only by declaring donations were going directly into the charity’s coffers had her much-anticipated endurance ride survived to go ahead.
Refusing to acknowledge the snide woman by so much as a glance, Sarah thanked Brent and patted Tabitha’s neck. Five more minutes until the shire mayor declared the ride underway. Three hundred seconds and counting down. She could do it.
She turned to check Tabitha’s girth strap for the umpteenth time, pressing her cheek against the warm body and breathing in the horsey smell of her four-legged friend. As she fiddled with the strap, a pair of dusty boots attached to long, denim-clad legs stopped beside her. Wanting to be left alone, to escape onto the long, solo ride ahead of her, she took her time unnecessarily adjusting the buckle before standing. The boots hadn’t moved.
Her gaze travelled up long legs, past slim hips, an Eagles’ T-shirt and snagged on a pair of shoulders and chest she recognised all too well. Handcuffed and choking on dust, she had futilely beaten his chest. Hard.
“What do you want?”
Detective Senior Sergeant Caleb Richards tipped his Akubra up with his thumb and patted Tabitha’s neck. “She looks good. How far do you plan to ride each day?”
“None of your business. Go away. Unless you plan to arrest me again? What could it be this time? Riding under the influence?”
“Arresting you was a fair cop last time.” Caleb crossed his arms over his chest and glanced over his shoulder before his dark brown gaze returned to her face. “It was one of my more memorable arrests.”
The desire to thump him again surged in Sarah and she clenched the reins tightly. Tabitha tossed her head and stamped her hoof.
Turning her back on the detective Sarah stroked the mare’s neck. Tabitha turned her head and nuzzled Sarah’s hand on the reins and huffed out a breath. “Hush, beautiful, it’s fine.”
Over her shoulder, Sarah glimpsed Caleb’s grinning face. Damn the man for enjoying her discomfort. And damn her for wasting time on him. “I told you I was bringing the baby out but you handcuffed me. You threw me in the dirt and stuck your great big knee on my back. And now you are harassing me. If you’re not going to arrest me then get out of my life, Richards. I’ve got a ride to get underway.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted two middle-aged women keenly observing her exchange with the detective. They shuffled a half pace closer.
Caleb’s hand slid along the saddle and his voice dropped to a murmur as he moved into her personal space. “I’ll be parked ten kilometres out of town behind the baobab tree. Meet me there.”
Seriously, what is his problem? Curbing the desire to poke his chest and laugh in his face, she lowered her voice. The old biddy wouldn’t get anything salacious from her. “Thanks for the warning. I’ll be sure to give it, and you, a wide berth.”
“I want to talk to you. Don’t fight me on this, Sarah.”
“Seems I’ve been too subtle, detective. Let me put it into words even you can’t misunderstand. Piss. Off. Now.” She tugged Tabitha’s reins.
His hand shot out, tanned and warm, and covered hers.
Glaring at it had no effect. She lifted her gaze and opened her mouth to tell him where to go but he was quicker.
“Sarah, meet me please. I need your help.”
More Books by Susanne Bellamy
Just One Kiss- Hearts of the Outback Book 1
Second Chance Love (Aust store)
Second Chance Love (A Bindarra Creek Romance)
Second Chance Café
Four Short Stories by Susanne Bellamy, Elizabeth Ellen Carter, Noelle Clark and Abbie Jackson
Sunny with a Chance or Romance
One Night in Tuscany
One Night in Sorrento
Winning the Heiress' Heart (The Emerald Quest)
A Season To Remember: Four Short Stories For Christmas
by Susanne Bellamy, Elizabeth Ellen Carter, Noelle Clark and Eva Scott
Engaging The Enemy
White Ginger
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