by Trish Morey
‘You’re not gay?’ said Hannah.
‘Of course she’s not gay!’ said Pop, having conniptions.
‘The very idea is ridiculous,’ added Nan. ‘Call me old-fashioned if you like, but I don’t know, I still really like the idea of a bride and a groom at a wedding. It’s a funny old world, this one.’
‘Times have changed,’ agreed Beth. ‘But there’s nothing wrong with change.’
Pop snorted and shook his head. ‘Well, be that as it may, not our Sophie, thank you very much.’
Sophie held up one hand. ‘Relax, both of you. I just decided to enjoy being single.’ She looked to her twin sisters. ‘If you like, I’m taking a leaf out of your books. I’ve decided I’m not going to rely on some guy to make me happy. I’m going to stand on my own two feet a while and enjoy life on my terms, and my terms alone.’
‘Wow,’ said Beth, carrot stick in one hand, her eyes narrowed in appraisal. ‘That was some speech. That break-up with Jason must have really shaken you up, huh?’
‘I guess that’s part of it,’ Sophie said. ‘I just got to thinking afterwards that it was time I took my independence a little more seriously while I have the chance, before the right guy does happen along and messes it up.’
‘That all sounds eminently sensible,’ said Nan, fidgeting with her marquisette watchband. ‘And I know you all say times have changed, but I for one am very glad I don’t have to admit to the girls on the community bus that one of my granddaughters is, well, you know, that way inclined.’
All the sisters smiled at that, knowing ‘the girls’ on the community bus Nan took to the nearest supermarket once a week were all, like their grandmother, at least eighty not out. Sophie patted her nan on the back of her papery-skinned hand. ‘Glad I saved you from that, Nan. But I’m sure you’d still love me anyway.’
‘Of course I would,’ Nan conceded, ‘but I’d rather pretend you’d fallen in love with some lovely fellow.’
‘You expecting a call, Han?’ Beth asked. ‘You keep checking your phone.’
Hannah jumped. ‘Just checking,’ she said, trying not to sound flustered, ‘in case anyone needs me.’
‘Animals don’t know our Hannah’s got the day off,’ Pop said.
‘That’s right,’ she agreed, forever grateful to her grandfather. She slipped the phone into her bag. There was no point checking it. Declan had taken her at her word and he wasn’t going to call. That was good, wasn’t it? That was what she’d wanted?
The screen door behind them squeaked open. ‘Hi, everyone! Happy birthday, Pop!’
‘Hey, y’all!’
Dan and Lucy appeared full of smiles, both looking tanned and relaxed and supremely happy. From where Hannah was watching, waiting to give the returning couple a hug, it looked like they were almost glowing, and she was happy for them both and that they’d found each other. It said something about her brother that he’d been desperate to sire a new generation of Faradays whom he could one day pass the orchard to, as his father had done to him, and Clarry had done before that, and yet he’d put that aside for love, choosing Lucy first and foremost. There couldn’t be too many men who would do that.
It was a long round of greetings and welcome homes before everyone fell on lunch, especially Siena, who loaded her plate like she hadn’t eaten for a week.
‘So maybe you lovebirds can finally fill us in on where you ended up going for your honeymoon,’ Beth asked between forkfuls. ‘We all had bets. The winner gets a free pass from hosting Christmas lunch this year.’
‘There’s a lot riding on it,’ stressed Hannah.
‘I want to go first,’ said Sophie, ‘because I reckon I’m going to win this. Given how you both look fabulous, like you’ve been lying around on a sun lounger alongside a pool or a beach somewhere gorgeous, I bet you went to Hawaii, right?’
‘No, my money’s on Broome,’ said Beth. ‘Those camel rides at sunset on Cable Beach. I know Lucy would love that.’
‘Lord Howe Island,’ said Hannah, butting in. ‘Remote, lots of tropical mountain walks and amazing food, by all accounts. No contest.’
‘What about you, Pop?’ said Dan, smiling widely. ‘Did you and Nan have a bet?’
The old man grunted, his clasped hands once again resting on his stomach as he leaned back in his chair after a big lunch. ‘Gold Coast. Joanie and I saw a program about it on the telly, and you’d be mad to go elsewhere, we reckon.’
Dan looked at Lucy and smiled. ‘Shall we tell them?’
‘Hey,’ interrupted Siena. ‘You haven’t heard my bet.’
‘You’re right, we haven’t,’ said Lucy. She grinned at her new niece. ‘Where do you think we went for our honeymoon?’
‘Where anyone who knew anything would go,’ Siena said, rolling her dark eyes. ‘Disneyland, of course.’
‘Aw, dang,’ said Lucy, turning to Dan. ‘How come you didn’t think of that?’
‘Next time,’ he promised with a smile.
Dan put his hand around Lucy’s shoulders and pulled her close for a kiss, and Hannah half suspected that aliens must have kidnapped her grumpy big brother and replaced him with a clone, because ever since Lucy had turned up, he was a different person. ‘So,’ she said, because there was only so much lovey-dovey she could bear. ‘Did any of us guess it right?’
‘Nan and Pop were closest with the Gold Coast,’ Dan said, ‘but you were all kind of right.’
‘Yeah,’ Lucy chimed in, counting off on her fingers, ‘we had beaches and walks and romantic sunsets and awesome food and a lot of lounging around.’
‘So where did you go?’ Beth prompted. ‘Spill.’
Dan laced his fingers with Lucy’s. ‘Port Elliot.’
‘What? You are kidding me,’ said Hannah. ‘You were an hour away at the coast, this whole time?’
‘We could have come down and visited!’ protested Siena. ‘Couldn’t we, Mum?’
Beth snorted. ‘And wouldn’t that have made your day, bro?’
Dan smiled and somehow managed to look suitably repentant. ‘Sorry, Siena. I didn’t think.’
‘But seriously,’ Sophie said, ‘you really went to Port Elliot for your honeymoon?’
‘Why not? We spent a day down there last cherry season when I had to do a delivery to Victor Harbor and we had a magical day and we thought, why the hell not? So, I rented us a house close to the beach with amazing views but totally private.’
Hannah chuckled. ‘Handy.’
‘Well, I think it sounds perfectly lovely,’ said Nan. ‘We celebrated one of our wedding anniversaries down there with the family, didn’t we? Which one was it again, Clarry? Our fortieth?’
Pop grunted. ‘Hundred and tenth?’ he said, earning himself the evil eye from Nan. ‘Well, it’s just there’ve been so many, how’s a man supposed to remember the details of each and every one of them?’
‘We can soon put a stop to them,’ Nan warned, ‘if it’s a problem for you, Clarence Faraday.’
Pop patted the back of her hand. ‘Get back in your box, Joanie. Just a bit of harmless ribbing. I do recall that day as it happens. Bloody good spot down there, too. Glad you kids had a good time.’
‘It was totally gorgeous,’ said Lucy. ‘We went body boarding at Boomer Beach and had fish and chips on the deck watching the sunset, but the best thing, the really best thing ever was the dolphins.’
‘You saw dolphins!’ said Siena, eyes wide.
Lucy nodded. ‘Heaps of them right by the shore. They were catching the waves and surfing, and sometimes you’d see five or six of them in the wave and then leaping out the back of it before the wave crashed. It was awesome!’
‘Can we go, Mum?’ pleaded Siena. ‘Please? I want to see the dolphins.’
‘Maybe.’
‘It was whales we saw that day,’ said Pop. ‘Remember? Biggest damn things I’ve ever seen, like dirty great black bricks floating on the sea.’
‘I’d forgotten about the whales,’ said Nan, blinking, ‘that’s
right, we did too.’
‘Can we go?’ said Siena. ‘Can we have a holiday there?’
‘We should all go,’ said Dan. ‘Make a day of it.’
Siena clapped her hands together. ‘Yay! When?’
Dan shrugged. ‘How about Christmas Day? You guys were all right about where we went in a way—why can’t we all have a day off for Christmas this year?’
Pop grunted. ‘What about the cherries?’
‘I was thinking the season’s shaping up like last year, so might be done by then. Otherwise, we can still slide down to the coast for the day,’ Dan said, ‘order some barbecued chickens and salad for a change and make a day of it at the beach. The cherries will still be there when we get back.’
And that’s when Hannah knew for certain that aliens had abducted her workaholic brother. ‘Lucy, what have you done with the real Dan? This new improved version is all well and good, but I’m missing the grump.’
‘Lucky we’ve still got you, in that case,’ said Sophie with a grin.
‘Miaow,’ said Beth, but she was smiling too, and so was everyone else at the table, so there wasn’t a hell of a lot Hannah could do about it.
Nan picked up her pile of photographs then, and it was just as Hannah had predicted. Each photo had to be pored over and the family connections of everyone in it dissected and analysed before they could move on to the next.
Hannah joined Sophie and Beth in the kitchen to help prepare the dessert and birthday cake when Sophie remembered the champagne still chilling. ‘What do you reckon?’ she said, holding it up for her sisters’ inspection.
Beth’s eyebrows headed north when she checked out the label. ‘Real champagne? I thought you were kidding. Hell, why not? We’ve got plenty of reason to celebrate today.’ So, Sophie popped the cork and half filled glasses for everyone and took them out on a tray to have with dessert.
And they toasted Pop’s birthday, the happy return of the newlyweds and Christmas Day plans. Pop seemed to be acquiring a taste for French champagne despite the fact that it didn’t bear the Coopers name. ‘Have mine,’ said Sophie, pushing her untouched glass his way. ‘I dropped some painkillers before—I better not.’
‘Thank you! This is a French drop, you say?’ he said, holding up the glass. ‘It’s not bad for froggy stuff.’
Hannah sniffed, straightening in her chair. ‘Pop, you can’t say stuff like that anymore.’
‘What stuff? That it’s not bad?’
‘No. Enough with the “froggy”, all right?’
He looked taken aback as he looked at his glass. ‘It’s French, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, it’s French.’
‘There you go. Froggy. I rest my case. There’s nothing wrong with a harmless nickname. It’s just the same as calling someone a Pommie bastard or a septic tank. It’s not being rude. Just ask our septic tank mate here.’
‘Clarence Faraday!’ Nan shrieked. ‘God love us!’ And even Hannah didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as the table erupted into a discussion of political correctness.
‘Before you all finish your glasses,’ Lucy interrupted, standing up, her smile wide. ‘This septic tank proposes one more toast.’
Everyone stopped bickering and pricked up their ears. She joined hands with Dan, who was beaming up at her like the sun shone out of her, and given the way she was smiling, it could very well have been. ‘Today is a day to celebrate a very special birthday. The oldest member of the Faraday family.’ She nodded towards Clarry. ‘And Dan and I just wanted to share with you that there’ll be another Faraday birthday to celebrate, too, this time the youngest in the Faraday family, so I’d like to propose a toast …’ Lucy picked up her glass.
Water, Hannah realised, her eyes opening wide as the shock reverberated through her body. Lucy hadn’t touched her wine.
‘To the Faradays,’ she continued. ‘Who have made me feel at home from the moment I arrived. It gives me the greatest pleasure to let you know that the next Faraday will be arriving in ooh, about six months from now.’
Dan stood up next to his new wife and pulled her to him for a kiss that rivalled the one they’d had when they’d been pronounced husband and wife.
‘You’re pregnant?’ everyone seemed to say in shocked unison—everyone but Hannah—she was too blindsided to speak. But nobody noticed because the table erupted with congratulations and another round of hugs and kisses. ‘I’m so happy for you,’ said Nan, with tears streaming down her face. ‘I told you this is what every woman truly wants.’
‘I’m proud of you, my boy,’ said Pop, clapping his grandson on the back.
Meanwhile, Hannah found herself lassoed into a posse of the sisters forming around Lucy. ‘This is the best news,’ said Sophie, pulling her into a hug. ‘I’m so happy for you both.’
‘Congratulations,’ said Beth, when it was her turn, the smile on her lips tempered by the concern in her eyes and the lines drawing her brows closer together. ‘I’m so excited for you both, but please, please tell me that big brother of ours didn’t twist your arm about this, or there will be words, I promise.’
Hannah wanted to be thrilled for her new sister, but her heart wasn’t one hundred per cent in it. She was happy for them, sure, but she couldn’t help but feel almost … betrayed by the shock news. Because she’d thought she wasn’t alone, she’d thought she wasn’t the only one, and now … ‘I thought Dan had given up on having kids,’ she said. ‘I thought you didn’t want—’
‘Oh, come on, Han,’ said Beth. ‘What’s wrong with you? It’s great news.’
‘I know, but—’
Lucy smiled and gripped Hannah’s hand. ‘It’s okay, I know you’re only worried about me. But Dan’s been the best. He told me it didn’t matter if we never had kids and there was no pressure, and for a while that was enough. It was my decision to try. In the end, I just know I love him so much, I want to have his babies.’ She sucked in a sudden breath. ‘Or at least to try. But neither of us expected it to happen so quickly and that I’d be ten weeks gone by the wedding.’
‘And you’re okay?’ Beth asked, ever the medico. ‘You’ve seen a doctor?’
Her smile wavered at the edges. ‘Yeah, because I’m scared, of course I am. But the doctor said that’s normal and that there’s no reason to think I won’t carry this baby to full term. Fingers crossed, hey.’
‘And toes,’ said Beth.
‘Of course you’ll be fine,’ Sophie added, pulling Lucy into a hug. ‘Congratulations, sister. You were already the best thing to happen to this family in years. This news is the icing on the cake.’
‘It is too,’ Hannah said, doing her best to share the joy, even if she felt her emptiness more keenly in this moment than she had before Lucy had broken her news. Because it wasn’t like that for Hannah. She couldn’t just change her mind. And no matter how much she told herself that she didn’t care that she would never have children, would never be a mother, she had to think that way or risk being swamped by regrets, and the heavy weight of guilt at what she’d done.
At what she’d brought on herself.
Siena stood by watching, taking it all in. ‘Am I going to be an aunty?’
‘No,’ Hannah said with a sniff, trying to snap out of her funk and inject a degree of enthusiasm for the news. ‘You’re going to have your very first cousin. How cool is that?’
‘A girl cousin or a boy cousin?’
‘We don’t know,’ Lucy offered. ‘We might have to wait until the baby is born to find out.’
Siena thought about it for a moment or two before she sighed. ‘Yeah, pretty cool, I guess. Though I’d rather have a pony.’
14
Beth
Beth drove home later that afternoon, working out what she had to get done today, while Siena prattled on beside her about what Lucy and Dan should call the baby. She made sure she inserted the appropriate noises every now and then so it sounded like she was listening, while she was busy sorting the list. First off was getting the was
hing in and sorting Siena’s school uniform, and hers, for the coming week. Next was getting stuck into a batch of meals and snacks for the freezer, because she knew for sure that if she didn’t cook ahead, they wouldn’t eat, unless it came out of a can or a jar or courtesy of the nearest drive-through.
And then it was probably time she ran the vac over the floors again. Maybe give the bathroom a quick once-over as well. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d paid it too much attention. So long as she could find some time to escape to her studio and get some ‘me time’ in, although with the stuff that needed doing, that might require a raincheck.
Bugger this concept of work–life balance that people banged on about. People who had time to talk about it had way too much time on their hands. She blinked as she turned into their street. Something was wrong with the skyline ahead. It looked different somehow, like something was missing.
‘Mum!’
‘What?’
‘You’re not listening. I asked you a question.’
‘Sorry, I was thinking. What was it?’
‘Do you want another baby?’
‘What?’ Beth turned to her daughter, a bubble of laughter beneath her words. ‘Why would I want to do that?’
‘Why not?’
‘Because I’ve got my hands full juggling everything as it is.’
‘But it would be kind of cool, though, wouldn’t it? If I had a little sister, I mean.’
‘What? Cooler than having a pony?’
‘No way!’ Siena’s face lit up like Sydney Harbour Bridge on New Year’s Eve. ‘Could we really get a pony?’
Snort. ‘No!’
The fireworks on her daughter’s face snuffed out. ‘Then I guess a sister will have to do.’
‘Siena,’ she said, turning her eyes towards her daughter as she changed down gears on the approach to her driveway. ‘It’s not going to happen.’ But Siena wasn’t looking at her, she was looking ahead, her eyes as big as plates.
‘Stop!’ she screamed. ‘Mum, stop!’
Beth looked. ‘Shit!’ she said, and slammed on the brakes. Because the driveway was all but gone, disappeared under a fallen tree.