by Miranda Lee
'There, there, don't distress yourself any further. You've found her again, haven't you? And if I know Gemma, she will have no feelings for you but love. She's a daughter to be so proud of, Celeste. One in a million.'
Celeste drew back, dashing away her tears and looking almost imploringly into his eyes.
'I. . .I'm so glad you think that, Byron. I was hoping you would, because you see ... you see ... '
'What?' he asked, an instant wariness zooming into his eyes.
But as Celeste struggled to make that final shocking confession, the penny dropped and his eyes flared with shock. 'No,' he rasped. 'No .. .'
'Yes!' she cried. 'It's true. Gemma's your daughter, Byron. Not Stefan's. She's yours!'
For a few seconds, his face far surpassed the way it had looked before, till a dark fury filled his cheeks and a wild glittering began blazing away in his bright blue eyes. 'My daughter? Gemma's my daughter?'
Oh, God, Celeste agonised. He's not going to believe me.
'Yes!' she insisted fiercely. 'I was no longer on the Pill when we made love that last time. I didn't need to be. There'd been no one else but you.'
He pushed her away, marching across the room before spinning round and glaring at her. 'And you didn't tell me? You let that mongrel bastard steal my daughter away and you didn't tell me?'
This totally unjustified slap in the face revived some of Celeste's old fighting spirit. 'Don't you take that tone with me, Byron Whitmore. You know damned well you wouldn't have believed me if I'd come to you and said I was expecting your baby. Not that I didn't think of doing it. My God, I probably still would have if I hadn't by then been overseas in the hands of a man so vicious and vile and cruel that I lived every day in fear of my life.'
'Then why go with him in the first place?'
'Because he wasn't like that at first, you stupid man! He seemed sweet and kind and gentlemanly, the complete opposite to the man I was in love with but who wanted nothing to do with me!'
Byron groaned.
'He said he loved me,' Celeste swept on. 'Said I was his ideal woman. He asked me to marry him and on the rebound from my last encounter with you I agreed. We were on our way to Sweden to visit his family when he found out I wasn't a virgin. I'd just realized I was pregnant with your child, you see, and in a panic I decided if I went to bed with Stefan he wouldn't know it wasn't his child. It was a stupid thing to do but I did it anyway. You do stupid things when you're nineteen and mixed-up and dreadfully unhappy.
'Anyway, Stefan went off his brain when he realized he wasn't the first. He beat me so badly that I had to stay in bed in the hotel room for two weeks. He didn't even call a doctor. I've never been so terrified in my life. Or so intimidated. God, I know now why battered wives don't leave their abusive husbands. You become too frightened. And you lose all your confidence. After that, Stefan decided I wasn't fit to be his wife, but by then he'd become sexually obsessed with me. Every night, I would have to submit to him or be beaten. I was so terrified I let him do whatever he liked, but even then sometimes he still hit me. It was as if I had to be punished for his wanting me all the time. Finally, when I could safely convince him it was his child I was carrying, I told him I was pregnant.'
'Did he believe you?'
She nodded. 'The beatings stopped then, although the threat was always there. He took me to this remote mountain village in Spain to have the baby, and a week after she was born he stole her from me.'
'My God, if the bastard wasn't already dead,' Byron ground out, 'I'd go and kill him with my bare hands.'
Celeste's tormented eyes flew to Byron. 'You ... you believe me now?' she choked out.
'You're not angry with me any more? You understand what happened?'
His shoulders sagged, his face full of anguish and remorse. 'Do you think so poorly of me, Celeste, that you imagine I have no feelings? No heart? No conscience? Of course I understand. Only too well. I drove you into the arms of a monster, but I'm the one who's the monster for turning my back on the only woman I ever really loved. I didn't have the courage to live what I see now could have been a beautiful dream, simply because I feared it was my worst nightmare.'
Celeste heard nothing except that she was the only woman he'd ever loved. Her heart swelled to bursting point and with it the tears flowed anew. Byron strode back to gather her in and if she hadn't known better she might have thought he cried too for a short while.
'I did fall in love with you,' he admitted huskily. 'So wildly and so passionately that it worried me sick. I always thought that kind of love was like a disease, an unhealthy thing that made men do wicked and reckless things which had the potential to destroy their own and other people's lives. I was a ready and willing victim for Irene's lies about you-oh, yes, I can see now that they were lies-and I sought refuge from my feelings by escaping into a marriage which could never make me feel the same earth-shattering madness I felt when I was with you. I know people said I married Irene for Campbell Jewels, but that's not true. I married her because I thought it would make me safe from the type of love my father had felt for my mother, the consequences of which have haunted me all my life.'
Surprise had Celeste pulling out of Byron's arms. 'But people always talked about your mother and father as being the perfect couple. What was wrong with their love for each other?'
'Didn't your father ever tell you, Celeste? You must have wondered what happened between Stewart Campbell and David Whitmore to start off such a vicious feud in the first place. After all, they'd been best mates ever since they met on the boat that brought them to Australia as emigrants from the UK. They did everything together. When times got tough and jobs were hard to come by, they went mining together. Didn't you ever wonder what could have happened to destroy such a strong bond? It wasn't some silly argument over that opal, I can assure you.'
'Of course I did. But Dad never talked about the old days. He always clammed up whenever I asked him. All I know is he was still best friends with your father when the war broke out because they joined up together.'
'They were best friends up till the time my father was wounded in 1943 and was sent home early.'
'But how would that have ruined their friendship?'
'Your father sent my father to his own home to recuperate. To his wife.'
'His wife?' Celeste was confused. 'But Dad didn't marry Irene's mother till after the war.'
'He was married to my mother first,' Byron said drily.
Celeste gasped her shock. 'You don't mean .. .'
'Yes, that's exactly what I mean. Can you imagine what your father felt when he came home on leave to find his beloved Lucy with me growing in her belly?'
'Oh, God, Byron. Knowing his pride and his ego, he would have been devastated. And so hurt! No wonder he hated your father with such a passion.'
'And no wonder he kept the real reason a secret. My own father did the same, but when I was about twelve your father came round to see my father. They had the most awful row. It started about their business rivalry but soon all the old ugliness came out. I couldn't help but overhear every word and it made a big impression on me at the time. I was utterly appalled at my father, who'd always been so strong on morals, yet he himself was nothing but the worst kind of adulterer. All he could say to excuse himself was that he couldn't help himself. He'd fallen madly in love and that was it. He made it sound as though everything was totally out of his control. And he did something that shocked me even more. He started to cry, blubbering away that he was sorry. He begged your father to accept the Heart of Fire as a symbol of his sorrow and remorse apparently he'd found it while your father was still at the front and this was the second time he'd offered it but your father spat on him and stormed out.’
'I decided that very day that that kind of love had to be the worst thing in the world. I vowed never to succumb to such a destructive disease. Never would a woman be able to make me do anything against my better judgement. Never! And I managed very well, till I was twenty-seven y
ears old. Then, one day, this vision of loveliness walked into my office and I was a goner .. .' His expression was apologetic and rueful at the same time. 'So you see, Celeste, there are excuses for what we both did, don't you think? Can we perhaps forgive each other and start again? Or is it too late for that?'
'It's never too late to love one another, Byron.'
His relieved but joyous smile was rather wonderful, she thought. Suddenly, she glimpsed the real man behind the arrogant and sometimes impossible facade. Byron had more strength and passion in his little finger than most men had in their whole bodies.
As if to confirm this unspoken realization, he swept her into his arms and kissed her with a hunger that was as catching as it was comforting.
'You know, Celeste .. .' he murmured some time later.
They were curled up on the sofa together, Celeste half on Byron's lap, her head on his chest, her arms around his waist. 'I knew last night you weren't the woman you'd projected all these years. I saw you with Gemma, being so kind and caring, and I said to myself ... that's no hard-hearted, sex-mad bitch there. That's a good woman, a woman worth loving. Naturally, I panicked anew and set out to prove once again that there was nothing to my feelings but lust. Till you put me in my proper place,' he added with a dry chuckle.
'Oh, and where's that?'
'Under your heel?'
'I thought you once said it was in your bed.'
'And so it is. But only if that's where you want to be too.'
They looked at each other and Celeste felt an intense surge of desire. Maybe Byron was right. Maybe their love was a bit of a sickness. But if it was, it was a terminal one, for both of them. It had survived all these years and remained as powerful as ever to this very day. The thrill of being in his arms was a strong as it had been the first time.
'I want to be there every night of my life,' she whispered.
His head dropped to kiss her very, very slowly. 'You do realise my family is going to be scandalized if I marry you,' he said softly against her tingling lips.
'My family is going to be scandalized if I marry you.'
'Looks as if there are going to be a lot of scandalized people around Sydney, then, aren't there? Because I am going to marry you, Celeste Campbell. I'm going to do what I should have done over twenty years ago. Make an honest woman out of you.'
'Don't ask for miracles, Byron,' she teased. 'Marriage won't necessarily make an honest woman out of me.'
His head jerked back, his face stern. 'If you look at another young man again,' he warned, 'there's going to be hell to pay.'
'There's nothing wrong with looking, Byron. After all, that's all I've ever done.'
His face was both disbelieving and shocked. 'Are you saying ... ?'
'It was all pretence. I never slept with any of them.'
'Not even that hunk of a chauffeur you batted your eyelashes at and flirted with like mad?'
'Why do you think I had to let him go? I pretended so well he thought he was on to a sure thing.'
'What about that smarmy-looking Luke in the office?'
'Luke is a very clever, ambitious young man who only has designs on Campbell Jewels, not the boss.'
'God, I'm glad to hear that.'
'Say you love me again,' she rasped as she drew him down on to the sofa with her.
'I love you,' he moaned. 'More than I can say.'
'Then don't say it, darling. Show me. Show me how much.'
'I love you,' she told him afterwards for the umpteenth time, clasping her to him and refusing to let their bodies separate. 'I've always loved you.'
.
Byron gave a small groan. 'Don't make me feel guilty any more, Celeste. I can't bear it. When I think of what I put you through. I don't deserve your sweet forgiveness. '
'I put your through a few things myself,' she murmured, and snuggled into him. 'Have you guessed yet that it was me who stole the Heart of Fire?'
'Good God!' Byron rolled her on top of him so he could look up into her eyes. 'You little devil! But how did that Stefan creep get hold of it?' he frowned. 'You didn't give it to him, did you?'
'Never in a million years. He found it in my things and stole it as he stole my little girl. Maybe that's why he never sold it in the end, because he was afraid I would be able to trace the sale to him. Gemma told me all about finding it in his things and bringing it to you. Wasn't that an incredible coincidence? But you've no idea how upset I was when it turned up again. I was torn between setting out on another potentially fruitless search for my baby and trying to put it out of my mind. Of course I couldn't, not when the opal's presence in Australia meant my baby might be here somewhere as well. I went to that ball, determined to find out the circumstances of its return, but found myself buying the damned thing instead, then eventually launching myself into a mad affair with the one man I had vowed never to let touch me again!'
'You ought to talk. I've been going to the dogs ever since the night you turned up at that damned ball! I haven't been able to think straight for wanting to be with you. I did all sorts of stupid things to try to put you out of my mind!'
Celeste laughed. 'We're a right pair, aren't we?'
'Yes,' Byron said with sudden seriousness. 'We are a right pair. Right for each other. Right in every way. Maybe it's taken me over twenty years to realize it but now that I have I'm never going to let you go, my darling. You're going to be mine, "for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health ... till death us do part".'
Celeste's eyes swam, her heart swelling with love. 'Ditto, my sweet,' she choked out.
'Ditto.'
'YOU'RE right about the sequence of events being quite incredible,' Byron remarked on their way to Belleview later that afternoon. 'Really, if it hadn't been for your stealing the Heart of Fire from me in the first place, that opal would never have got into Bergman's hands, which means it wouldn't have come into Gemma's possession at his death. Without it, she might never have come to us in Sydney at all. She would not have married Nathan and subsequently put the search for you into action. As I said ... amazing!'
Celeste darted him a wary look. 'So, am I forgiven for being the original thief?'
'Of course. In your position, I probably would have done the same thing. God, Celeste, it should have been you I married that day. My marriage to Irene was a disaster from day one.'
'I often wondered how you stood it,' Celeste said truthfully. 'Though I could see Irene was a different person with you than she was with anyone else.'
'I put my head in the sand a lot where she was concerned. It was easier than admitting what a horrendous mistake I'd made. That's always been a great failing of mine, Celeste, not admitting my mistakes or going back on what I've always believed. But not any more, I hope. That boating accident where Irene was killed and I was badly hurt gave me a lot of time to reevaluate my life and my beliefs. Then, something else happened to bring a different perspective into my life, and a lot of other people's lives around Belleview, I think.'
'What was that, Byron?'
He sent such a warm loving look her way, Celeste melted. 'A lovely young woman came to live with us,' he said softly, 'bringing with her so much simple joy and caring that we all began to wake up to ourselves. The more I think about it, the more I realise how much like you Gemma is, when you were her age. There is a strength and vitality about her that is so endearing. And a sensuality that can be very disturbing. It's almost a relief to find out she's my daughter. Now I can stop having wicked thoughts about her.'
'Byron!'
He laughed. 'Only teasing, darling. But it is a relief to know that that sinful brother of yours has been relegated to the role of her uncle.'
'Yes, I thought of that myself. But I think he'll be thrilled. I'm sure he genuinely likes Gemma as a person, not just as a female.'
'Well, I'll have to take your word for that,' came his dry comment. 'You wouldn't be able to talk him into going and seeing Nathan, would you? If he could convince him
that there was nothing between him and Gemma, then everything would be perfect. Gemma and Nathan would get back together again.'
Celeste stiffened. 'I'm not sure that would be so perfect for Gemma. If Nathan didn't believe her when she swore she'd been faithful, do you honestly think he'd believe anything Damian said?'
Byron's sigh was resigned. 'No, I guess not. I'll have a talk to Nathan myself once he's calmed down a bit.'
'I don't like your chances, either. The man has no trust in him. Gemma tells me he's always treated her like a child, or a possession, that he never confides in her or talks to her about things that matter. She still loves the man but she was terribly hurt by his keeping my identity from her. I'm not sure she'll ever forgive him for that.'
'Time has a way of lessening such hurts, Celeste,' Byron said with the wisdom of age. 'I'm sure there were times when you thought you would never forgive me. Yet here you are, sitting in my car, going home to have dinner at Belleview.'