by Trish Morey
‘No. She broke that off. She ended up married to a banker from the city,’ Nan said, now reaching into the fridge. ‘Very well to do, he was too. Big society wedding. It was a huge scandal when the news broke that he already had a wife and two children tucked away somewhere over in Victoria.’
‘He was a bigamist?’
‘There’s nothing new under the sun,’ she said, coming back with another carton in her hands. ‘The way people go on these days, you’d think this generation had invented everything, including, well, you know what. Here’re your eggs,’ she said, putting the carton down on the table.
‘Thanks, Nan, but you already gave me a dozen.’
Nan looked at the two cartons on the table. ‘No, I’d remember if I had. That one must be empty. Look,’ she said, lifting the lid to find twelve eggs staring back at her. ‘Oh,’ she said, momentarily thrown, ‘you should have told me you’d already helped yourself!’
28
Nick
Naturally enough, Min wanted to keep all the kittens the moment Penelope dropped her home and she laid eyes on them. ‘Not happening,’ said Nick as he watched his daughter stroking the tiny mewling creatures. ‘You can keep one, but we have to find homes for the rest.’
‘But, Dad …’
‘But Dad nothing,’ he said, putting his foot down. ‘We’re going to put an ad up in the post office and advertise them. Free kittens to good homes.’ If he had his way, he’d hand them all over to Penelope as a not-so-subtle warning about gifting Min with any other supposedly male, desexed pets, but he knew they’d bounce right back when it was time for Min to come home again.
Min looked horrified. ‘Free? You’re going to give Fat Cat’s kittens away for free?’
‘Okay, how about we say five dollars each?’ Damned if he was going to charge so much that he ended up stuck with them. ‘You can have it for pocket money.’
Min clapped her hands. ‘’Cept we can give one to Ms Faraday for helping out, can’t we?’
Now there was an idea. He’d been blindsided by Sophie’s news—so blindsided that he’d let her walk away without considering probably the most important person in this equation. He watched his daughter sitting cross-legged on the floor, stroking Fat Cat behind the ears and thoroughly captivated by the kittens as they blindly stepped over each other in their quest to find and attach to a nipple.
But there was another important person in all this. Sophie’s baby. Their baby. Who would grow up with no input from his or her own father, like he couldn’t be bothered or simply didn’t care. Like some deadbeat dad who turned his back and simply walked away.
He watched his daughter petting Fat Cat and cooing over the kittens. He wasn’t the kind of man who could do that.
No, Sophie hadn’t thought this through at all.
‘Good thinking, Minnie Mouse. I think that’s an excellent suggestion.’
Min beamed.
‘How about we keep it our little secret,’ he added, ‘until the kitten is old enough to leave its mother? We’ll give Ms Faraday a big surprise.’
Min grinned some more and Nick found himself grinning with her. After all, given the surprise she’d bestowed on him, it was the least he could do. Not that he’d be waiting that long before he talked to her again. Not by a long shot.
29
Hannah
‘Penny for them?’
Hannah looked up as Declan put two coffees on the small table between them on the verandah, before sitting down in his chair. ‘Sorry?’
He smiled, the brackets around his mouth deepening. ‘I was wondering what you were thinking about. You looked miles away.’
‘Oh,’ she said, giving the pouch on her lap filled with the sleeping kangaroo one more hug before she slung it over its stand. ‘Not much. Just some family stuff going on.’
‘Like what,’ he said, blowing over the top of the coffee cradled between his big hands, before taking a sip.
She shrugged. She’d been feeling unsettled since Sophie had revealed the news about her pregnancy. But that was only half the truth. She’d been feeling unsettled ever since Lucy had dropped her unexpected bombshell at Pop’s birthday party, Sophie’s news had just compounded it. There was nothing like ripping a plaster off to make a wound sting. ‘Nothing much. Just the usual.’
‘Ah, you see, I wouldn’t know about that.’
She knew he was divorced with no kids, but no more than that. ‘You don’t have any family?’
‘My folks, yeah, there’s them. I had an older sister, Niamh, but she died when I was six. Leukaemia.’
‘That’s sad.’
‘Aye. She was only ten years old.’
‘Do you see your folks much?’
‘They’ve been out a couple of times to visit. They loved the sunshine, so I suggested they move out and join me. But they can’t do it. Mam can’t leave Niamh behind. It’d be a wrench for her, for sure.’
Hannah sipped her coffee while the black cockatoos screeched their way home. ‘I get that. My mum lives in Zurich.’
‘But not your da?’
She shook her head. ‘He died twelve or so years ago in a quad bike accident. Mum remarried a couple of years ago and Dan, my brother, runs the orchard. He’s the eldest, recently married to Lucy. They’re expecting their first baby in April. Then there’s Beth and Sophie. Beth’s my twin, Sophie’s the youngest.’ She paused. ‘She’s just found out she’s pregnant, too.’
‘Twins, eh? You and Beth must be close, then.’
Hannah screwed up her nose, not sure how to tackle that question. They had been close once upon a time. Inseparable. But then Beth had met Joe and Hannah had taken off for Perth to study to be a vet, and everything had gone belly up. ‘We’re not identical.’ She put her empty cup down on the table. ‘Thanks for tonight. I better get going, I’ve got a big day tomorrow.’
He stood and clasped both her hands in his, pulling her chest to chest with him, a frown knotting his brow as he leaned down and kissed hers. ‘Have I made you sad? I didn’t mean to.’
Lord, no, he was the one thing in her life making her happy. ‘I’m tired,’ she said, rising to her tippy toes to press a soft kiss on his lips, ‘that’s all.’
‘Then I’ll see you again.’
She smiled. ‘Nothing surer.’
30
Beth
The latest MasterChef episode’s credits had rolled and Siena had dragged herself off to bed, deciding it the lesser evil between that or doing the dishes.
‘She’s a credit to you, that girl,’ said Harry, following Beth into the kitchen and picking up a tea towel.
‘What are you doing?’ said Beth, filling the kettle, not wanting to touch his compliment.
‘Helping you with the dishes, what else?’
‘I was going to do them after we had coffee.’
‘I can’t leave you with this lot.’ He gestured towards the mountain of dishes and pans stacked by the sink. ‘You wash, I’ll dry.’
She had to hand it to him, he knew how to appeal to a weary woman. She’d been on the run all day at work before stopping at the shops on the way home. She wanted to make something a bit more substantial than her usual, so she’d picked up gravy beef and a bag of potatoes and carrots and frozen peas, and the meat had cooked to perfection, rich and full of flavour, but now all she really wanted to do was sit outside and relax for ten minutes.
Though if she did that, she had no doubt the dishes would still be mocking her at six tomorrow morning when she had to start all over again, and then at four when she finally got back home, and the last thing she’d feel like tackling would be a crusted-on mashed potato saucepan, when she’d much rather spend some time out in her studio.
So instead, she said thank you and together they got to work. So many dishes, so many more than when she did a quick one-pot meal, like tuna mornay or a casserole with leftover barbecue chicken. But Siena had loved it. She really should make the effort to cook something different more often.
<
br /> ‘That was a delicious dinner, Beth, thank you.’
‘My pleasure.’
She slotted a dish into the rack the same time Harry reached for the next, and their hands touched. ‘Sorry,’ she said, pulling hers back at the jolt. Harry looked equally uncomfortable.
‘Thank you,’ she said, snapping on the kettle when the last of the pots and pans was washed and dried and put away. ‘How about that coffee, now?’
‘I might take a raincheck, if it’s okay with you, Beth. I really should be going.’
‘Oh, okay.’
And as she watched his taillights head down the driveway, Beth couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.
31
Nick
Nick parked his ute at the far end of the school behind the pine trees and watched from a distance as Min ran down across the asphalt to meet her mother parked at the other end. It was her week with Penelope. He hated the fact that he couldn’t call out and say hello, but he didn’t need Min around to witness what he had to say.
He waited another ten minutes in his car while the car park emptied before he climbed out of the car and took the path across the oval to avoid any stragglers. He wasn’t in the mood for small talk.
All but deserted now, the hallway was already strung with colourful chains and lanterns in preparation for Christmas. The librarian darted out of one room carrying an armful of books, nodding a quick hello, before disappearing just as quickly into the library. He snuck a glance in Sophie’s classroom and found her there alone, stacking puzzles in the open shelves lining the walls.
‘Hello, Sophie,’ he said, closing the door behind him, suddenly feeling like Gulliver in a world of tiny chairs and desks so low, there was an entire ocean of airspace above them.
Airspace that crackled into life as her brown eyes flared in recognition. ‘Nick. What are you doing here? I thought—’
‘You thought it was Penelope’s week to have Min? It is. I’m actually not here about Min.’
She blinked and licked her lips, her eyes looking towards the door and escape. ‘Sorry, this isn’t a good time. I have to go—’ But she couldn’t go anywhere because he stood between her and the door, and damned if he was moving. Besides, he got the distinct impression that it was a desire to flee that was behind her need not to hang around, rather than any pressing appointment.
‘We need to talk, Sophie.’
She kicked up her chin and crossed her arms with the puzzle box held against her chest like a shield. ‘About what?’
‘About this baby. If, as you say, it’s really mine—’
‘It’s yours.’
‘Then I want to be involved.’
She turned her back to him, shoving the box in a space. ‘No.’
‘That wasn’t a question.’
She spun back around, tossing her head and making the ends of her hair flick out. ‘My answer’s still no.’
‘Listen to me, Sophie, you don’t get to decide that.’
‘I already have. I’m not going to rely on you or anyone else. I’m not asking or expecting you to help. I’m going to stand on my own two feet for once.’
‘Christ Almighty, Sophie, this is a baby we’re talking about. Not some high school personal development program. So you can stand on however many feet as you like, but you can’t have this baby in a vacuum.’
She sniffed, but still he sensed that he was getting through to her. ‘I want to be involved, and given this baby is half mine, don’t I have that right?’
She closed her eyes and when she opened them again she’d found a bucket load of defiance from somewhere. ‘God, Nick. It was a one-night stand. We don’t mean anything to each other. I thought once I told you, that would be the end of the matter.’
‘Then you thought wrong. You can’t tell me you’re having my baby and then slam the door in my face. It doesn’t work that way. Just because we’re not together, doesn’t mean we can’t share the responsibility for a child. Nobody expects you to do this on your own.’
‘Beth did.’
‘From what I know, Beth didn’t have a choice. You do, and I’m offering my help.’
‘But, Nick—’
‘No. This is my baby, too. I want to be involved and I want to be kept informed. I want to come with you for your doctor’s appointments and scans.’
Her eyes skidded sideways. ‘I already had a scan. There’s nothing to worry about.’
‘What? When were you going to tell me this?’
‘It was at seven weeks! Of course I wasn’t going to tell you about it. I wasn’t telling anybody I was pregnant until I’d had the scan and knew for certain.’
‘Well, given that we know for certain, I want to be involved.’
‘I honestly didn’t think you’d be interested in a child you didn’t want to believe was yours.’
‘Come on, Sophie, you drop a bombshell like that when you know we used protection, of course it’s going to be hard to swallow. So, give me some credit for being here now and stop trying to freeze me out.’
She swallowed against a desert-dry throat, the action kicking up her chin. ‘Okay, for the record, it was all very routine and the baby is doing all the right things it’s supposed to be doing. I’m ten weeks along and the baby is due in late June. Satisfied?’
He blinked. She might as well have been delivering a half-term report. Johnny is a pleasant child who has performed to a satisfactory standard in all areas of the curriculum. ‘Thank you for that dispassionate report.’
‘Look, I’m sorry, Nick, I didn’t think—’
‘You keep saying that. I’ll tell you something else you haven’t thought about. This baby is Min’s family, too, and Min should grow up knowing her half-brother or sister, not just as some kid in another classroom, but as family. So, spare a thought for her when you seem content to cut the both of us out like we don’t matter. Spare a thought for Min if you don’t give a shit about me.’
A look like panic skidded across her eyes. ‘What have you told her?’
‘What do you think? I figure it’s a bit early to go round broadcasting the news far and wide, least of all to Min, but sooner or later she’s going to have to be told the truth. Which means we have to work out how we’re going to deal with this.’
‘You know you’re making this so much more complicated than it has to be.’
‘No. It’s already complicated. I’m just trying to be grown up about how we deal with it. You might try being the same.’
Okay, he thought, as he marched back across the oval towards his car, Min would probably accuse him of being mean again, and maybe he could have left off the crack about being grown up given how she’d bared her soul to him that night. But how else was he supposed to get through to her except to put it in language she understood?
She hadn’t left him a whole lot of choice.
32
Sophie
Sophie was shaking on her way to her car, still rattled from her encounter with Nick. He’d stood there barring her exit with his feet apart and his arms crossed, looking like a thundercloud with eyes. Scowling eyes. Damning eyes. Eyes that skewered into her soul and made her resolve waver. The same eyes that once had looked at her with hunger.
There was no hunger today, the air fairly crackling with electricity as he’d stood there all gunslinger in a black hat ready, trigger fingers itching for the big shootout. He’d looked larger than life, dangerous. And something must be seriously wrong with her, because he’d looked sexy as all get out. She really didn’t need Nick in a classroom full of supercharged air looking sexy.
She didn’t need Nick anywhere looking sexy, for that matter.
She zapped the car lock and slid into the driver’s seat, starting the engine before dropping her head down onto crossed arms over the steering wheel. What a bloody mess.
Why did he want to be involved? She didn’t need all that sexy shoved in her face every time she turned around. She didn’t need the visual reminder and she cer
tainly didn’t need the proximity. Because she knew what would happen and next thing she’d be imagining rainbows and happily ever afters, which is what had got her into this mess in the first place. It was what she always did and she’d be damned if she was going to let it happen this time.
Why couldn’t he be one of those loser fathers who were happy to sow their wild oats and walk away?
Okay, so clearly Nick was no deadbeat, or he could have walked away from being a father to Min, but it would make things a heck of a lot easier if he was.
There was a tap on her window, and Sophie jumped. She looked up to see the principal peering inside, looking concerned. ‘Yvonne,’ Sophie said, rolling down the window. ‘You gave me a fright.’
Mrs Innstairs frowned down at her, not the least bit apologetic. ‘Are you all right? You’ve been sitting there for ages.’
‘It’s nothing,’ Sophie said, ‘just a bit of a headache.’
‘Are you okay to drive?’
‘Thanks. I’m fine, really. I think all the end-of-year stuff is getting to me.’
‘Well, that’s understandable,’ the principal said, ‘I think we’re all counting down the days. Less than three weeks to go, Sophie, hang in there.’
‘I will,’ she said, ‘see you tomorrow.’
She gave a cheery wave that she didn’t come close to feeling, jammed the car into gear, and bunny hopped her little Mazda down the road. It might be coming up to the end of the year, but Sophie knew her problems were only just beginning.
33
Hannah
Hannah dropped in to Nan and Pop’s place after work to find Beth and Siena already there busy assembling the Christmas tree. It was late November, the Christmas Pageant had rolled down Adelaide’s streets a week ago, and for Nan, that meant it was high time the decorations were up. ‘Hi,’ she said, feeling a little stab of guilt as she leaned down to give Nan a kiss. Was it her imagination or was her nan shrinking?