Home Before Sundown (3 page)

‘Gabe here, Luke. I've only just heard about Peter. I'm so sorry, mate. How's he faring?'

‘Things are looking slightly better now, thanks, Gabe. Dad's off the ventilator. The medicos are saying it's still touch and go, but we're feeling more positive.'

Gabe let out the breath he'd been holding. He knew firsthand what it was like to lose a father.

Worst day of his life.

The following months had been hell, too, and now, with a friend and neighbouring cattleman in ICU, he was reliving that horror stretch.

‘How are things up your way?' Luke asked. ‘Any sign of rain?'

Gabe grimaced. ‘Not a spit.'

‘Gotta come soon.'

‘You'd think so. Country's drying out. They've already had spot fires around Gidgee Springs.'

Luke sighed heavily into the phone. ‘I should get up there, I know, but I've got to sort out a problem with work commitments.'

Gabe refrained from adding to his mate's worries by mentioning the firebreaks that needed clearing on Mullinjim.

‘Has Bella arrived yet?' The question rolled from his tongue as if he'd rehearsed it.

‘Sure,' Luke responded in his easy drawl. ‘Bella and Liz got in an hour ago. Flew straight from London. Pretty buggered after the flight, of course, but it's great to see them. Bella's in there with Dad now.'

‘Peter will be pleased to see her.'

‘Yeah. Rapt. You know how he's always been about Belle.'

‘Yeah . . . ' Gabe cleared the brick that had lodged in his throat. ‘So . . . ah . . . tell her I said hi.'

‘Sure. I'll do that.' There was the slightest hint of surprise and curiosity in Luke's voice.

Gabe gritted his teeth. ‘I'll leave you to it then, Luke. I'm glad the news about Peter is better.'

‘We're keeping our fingers crossed. Thanks for the call. Keep in touch.'

‘No worries.'

Gabe dropped the phone and strode outside, needing air. He let the flyscreen door crash behind him.

Tell her I said hi
.

Shit.
Shit.
How had that slipped out? In two years he'd barely heard from Bella. No phone calls or texts. No email.

And that was fair enough after the bitter way they'd parted.

Gabe knew damn well that she'd needed to get away to find out about life beyond the bush. He'd more or less pushed her in that direction and he'd convinced himself he was glad she was out of his life.

Out of sight, out of mind, and all that bull . . .

At the far end of the verandah, his dog rose from the patch of sunlight and padded towards him, ears alert, eyes full of love, tail wagging.

For once Gabe didn't greet him. He had too much on his mind. None of it good.

‘Oh, my word, sweetheart, you look wonderful. Like Christmas on a stick.'

A big grin stretched across Peter Fairburn's face as Bella tiptoed into his room. But his grin couldn't hide how tired and grey he looked or how formidable the ICU was with beeping machines and flashing screens, like something out of the Starship Enterprise.

Throughout the long journey, Bella had been on tenterhooks waiting for this moment and so scared she'd miss this chance. She papered on a smile as she came closer and bent down to kiss her father's cool cheek. ‘Missed you, Dad,' she said softly.

He reached for her hand and clasped her tightly. ‘Missed you, too, sweetheart.'

‘They say you're improving. That's fantastic news.'

Her dad was still smiling at her fondly, his gentle gaze roving her face, as if he was drinking in details. ‘If you stay over there much longer you'll end up with a proper peaches and cream complexion.'

Bella laughed shakily. ‘I very much doubt that.'

‘Skiing must agree with you, Belle. You're glowing.'

She wished she could return the compliment. The hollowness in her father's cheeks and the pallor of his skin frightened her. Even his lips were pale.

He'd always been an outdoors man. Super fit. Strong. Suntanned.

He seemed to have aged ten years . . .

Careful not to bump tubes and wires, she took a seat beside the bed.

‘I'm sorry you had to rush back here because of me,' he said.

‘Don't give it another thought. I wanted to come. So did Liz. You know she's here, too?'

‘Yeah. They'll only let visitors in one at a time.'

‘So we don't tire you.'

Peter grunted and shrugged as if he couldn't understand all the fuss. He smiled at Bella again. ‘Your mum tells me there's a young French bloke on the scene.'

‘His name's Anton. Anton Bazile. I met him at Alpazur, at the ski resort.'

‘Nice bloke?'

‘Lovely.'

‘Hmmm . . . ' Her father's eyes were shrewd as he watched her. ‘Speak much English?'

‘Yes. He's really good as a matter of fact. Much better than I am at French, although I'm improving.'

‘Well, there you go,' he said with a smiling shake of his head. ‘Our little Bella and a Frog. Plenty of blokes here keen on you, but you had to go hunting in the snow for one.' He gave a soft chuckle. ‘I guess Aussie blokes can't compete with a dashing Frenchman swooping down the Alps to rescue girls from frostbite.'

Bella laughed, too, but the laugh was a little shaky. Sitting here with her dad in ICU, Anton and the French Alps already felt so far away. Almost unreal. Jetlag wasn't helping. It was making her tremble. Nothing here felt very real – although the coldness of her dad's hands was real enough.

‘Is he important to you, Bella?'

Yes, of course he is
.

She opened her mouth to assure him that Anton was incredibly special, but somehow . . . the words wouldn't come. Already everything felt so different here and her priorities were rapidly shifting. It was happening almost beyond her control, just as Aunt Liz had warned her.

‘It – it's still early days in the romance department,' she said lamely.

Her father nodded and seemed happy with the answer. ‘I tried skiing once. Had so many bruises from coming a cropper. I'd rather ride a bronco bareback.' His smile faded. ‘Won't be doing any of it now.'

Bella swallowed. ‘I hope you're not worrying too much. Every­one's certain you're getting better.'

‘Yeah, well, I'm a realist, Belle. I know I probably should have gone with the first attack and if it wasn't for Mac McKinnon––'

‘Don't talk like that. It can't be good for you.' She was trembling more than ever now, fighting hard to keep herself from falling to pieces. ‘Maybe you should rest.'

Her father's hand tightened around hers, his grip surprisingly fierce. ‘I'm not worried about myself. It's Mullinjim.'

‘Why should you worry about Mullinjim? Luke will look after everything until you're well again. He did a great job last time.'

But Peter Fairburn was shaking his head. ‘Luke's a good son and I know he'd rush back to Mullinjim in a heartbeat if I asked him to. But it wouldn't be fair to drag him back now.'

‘Drag him back?' Bella felt as if she'd stepped off the edge of a cliff into thin air. ‘I don't understand.'

What hadn't they told her? Of course Luke would step in. He'd always been their dad's right-hand man.

‘Luke needs to make his own life,' her father said now. ‘Doing more than just raising cattle.'

‘Really?' Bella's voice squeaked with shock. ‘Are you sure?'

‘You know how keen he is on carpentry and building.'

‘Well . . . yes.' She
had
known Luke was brilliant at woodwork, but she'd never given it much thought. It was simply Luke's
thing,
his hobby.

Years ago he'd made a doll's house for her. By the time he'd actually finished it, she'd grown out of playing with dolls, but she'd loved the house and she'd been old enough to appreciate the skill involved in crafting proper windows and doors, and a fitted kitchen with tiny cupboards that opened and shut, a spiral staircase.

‘Your mother's helped me to see how important that work is to Luke,' her father went on. ‘I'm slow to pick up on these things and I guess I'm old-fashioned, but I'm coming to terms with it.' He stopped and closed his eyes.

He looked exhausted.

‘Dad, you should rest. We can talk about this another time.'

She'd rushed home to focus on her father's fragile health, not her family's succession plans. Shocked to feel tears on her face, Bella swiped at her cheeks with the heels of her hands. ‘You have to stop worrying, Dad. Just get better. Listen to the doctors and do what you're told. Okay?'

Leaning close, she hugged him gently, and then she remembered that she'd come all this way to utter the words she so rarely used. ‘I love you, Dad.'

Tenderly he touched her face. ‘I love you too, sweetheart.'

‘See you tomorrow.' She stumbled from the room in a tear­blurred daze.

‘Would you like a coffee or something?'

Luke was sitting with Bella in the ugly hospital waiting room while their exhausted mother rested at the motel. Liz was in with Peter.

Bella wondered what her aunt and father were talking about. What did siblings say to each other when one of them was facing the possibility of death? She shuddered at the thought and Luke slipped his arm around her shoulders as if he somehow understood.

They weren't a family of huggers, but it was incredibly comforting to bury her face against her big brother's bulky shoulder, to feel his youthful strength and comforting warmth as he held her.

‘Thanks,' she said. ‘I needed that.'

Luke nodded. After a small pause, he said shyly, ‘He's a special dad, isn't he?'

‘Yeah.' To her surprise Bella found herself smiling. ‘We're very lucky.' Her dad had always been a steadying rock in their lives, a figure of safety and security. And love.

‘Remember that time he got gored in the leg by the bull?' Luke said.

‘Yes, it took ages for him to recover and he never whimpered or complained once.'

‘And he knows everything there is to know about the bush.'

Bella nodded, thinking about the long golden days of their childhood at Mullinjim. ‘He's always given us so much freedom.'

‘You're not wrong. Even when we were kids he'd let us saddle up our horses and head off, and we could go anywhere we liked on the property.'

‘On one condition.'

Luke's smile tilted crookedly. ‘Home before sundown.'

‘And we almost always were.' Bella was sniffling again.

Watching her, Luke said, ‘You need coffee.' He was already getting to his feet.

‘Actually I think water is what I need. Planes can be so dehydrating.'

They found a drink fountain in the corridor. Bella downed two paper cups of chilled water and began to feel better.

‘Sounds like you've been having an amazing time over there,' Luke said.

She nodded. ‘I love it. It was a big surprise to find out how much I love the big cities and all the go, go, go.' It now seemed important to make sure Luke really
got
how exciting her new life had been. ‘It's such an experience, Luke. You get to meet so many different kinds of people and you should see the lifestyle Liz has in London. So glamorous – jetting off to concerts in Vienna, Paris and Milan. She took me on a couple of jaunts.'

Luke's smile now looked a tad worried and Bella realised she'd gushed enough about herself.

‘Dad tells me you've got some great new job,' she said. ‘Where is it?'

‘Charters Towers. Working with a registered builder, restoring a fabulous old heritage building that's been there since the gold rush days.'

‘Wow. So . . . how long have you been working there?'

‘Little over a month.'

It was about the same amount of time that she and Anton had been together. A lot of things could happen in a month. A lot of changes could take place . . .

‘I guess an old building will need a lot of work.'

‘Stacks.' Luke's eyes shone as he said this.

He was living his dream, she realised – hammering and sawing to his heart's content.

‘So . . . you're really enjoying it there?'

‘Like you wouldn't believe.'

But even as Luke said this, the light in his eyes died and he looked away, crushed his paper cup and tossed it into a rubbish bin. Bella didn't miss the way all trace of his smile disappeared.

‘It seemed like a fabulous opportunity when I signed the contract. I never dreamed . . . ' He shook his head. ‘There's so much to be done at Mullinjim.'

An anxious band tightened around Bella's chest. She knew Luke was right. There would be masses of work waiting at Mullinjim. It was November, the end of the dry season, unless the rains came early. Calving time too. A particularly busy time on a North Queensland cattle property.

‘I guess . . . if you broke the contract . . . the builder would have to find someone else?'

‘Yeah, but
he
has a contract with the government and there's a fixed time frame, a fixed pay scale and everything. And these days, most tradies are heading for the mines, so he might take a while to find someone.'

‘So what's the alternative? I suppose you'll put a manager in at Mullinjim.'

‘Yeah.' Luke pulled a face. ‘But it won't feel right somehow.'

Bella wished she could think more clearly, but her head was spinning. Once upon a time, she might have jumped at this opportunity to show her family that
she
could run a cattle station. But she'd eventually accepted there was no role for her there, and she'd spent the past two years letting go of her past and striking out on undiscovered roads.

In Europe she'd encountered a new sense of freedom and fun. A totally different kind of adventure. She'd tried all kinds of jobs – as a barmaid in Kent, WWOOFing in Portugal and most recently at the ski resort.

Overseas, she'd felt braver and bolder, and she'd mixed with so many fascinating young people – jaw-droppingly attractive and stylish Brazilians, crazily funny, super-savvy Scandinavians, Anton and his friends, as athletic and brave in the Alps as any bull-chasing Aussie cattlemen.

She'd wandered through ancient ruins and art galleries where she'd been overawed by history and stunned by human talent. She'd sat in glittering concert halls, listening to her aunt play so beautifully that she'd wept and felt jubilant in the same breath. And she'd witnessed the massive audiences, equally rapt.

Now, she carried all these wonderful new experiences inside her, certain that they'd subtly changed her. She was light years away from the country kid who'd been crazy about horses and the bush.

‘By the way,' Luke said, breaking into her thoughts. ‘Gabe says hi.'

Zap
.

The mere mention of Gabe's name was like running smack bang into an electric fence. Bella couldn't think of Gabe Mitchell without feeling pain and shame. She could still see his angry sneer.

Go off and have your bloody adventures. And while you're at it, try to grow up.

Luke was looking at her strangely. ‘I never really got what happened between you and Gabe.'

That makes two of us.
Bella folded her arms tightly over her chest. ‘Can we change the subject now?'

‘Are you okay, Bella? You look pale.'

‘I think jetlag's catching up with me.'

Thank heavens she had something to blame.

At the motel her mother was in her room, making lists of everything she still had to do – bills to be paid, phone calls, appointments. Virginia Fairburn had always been a list-maker, especially when she was stressed. Bella suspected it gave her a reassuring sense of control.

This afternoon she looked tired, despite her afternoon nap. Bella thought she'd aged, too, with more grey in her hair, more lines on her face and a disturbing new stoop about her shoulders.

‘So how was Peter when you saw him?' her mother asked.

Bella hesitated. ‘Not too bad, I guess. More talkative than I expected.'

‘Oh?'

Bella hadn't meant to say anything, but the conversations with her father and brother were weighing on her heavily. ‘He's very worried about Mullinjim and that can't be good for him.'

Her mother sighed heavily. ‘I know. We have to get it sorted fast. I really don't want to drag Luke away from his new job. I've rung Jim McMahon, but he's busy so I'll have to try––'

‘Mum, I could do it.'

The words burst from Bella before she'd really thought the idea through. And now they seemed to tremble in the air. She felt her knees shake.

Am I mad?

‘Darling.' Her mum's smile was instantly wide and sunny. ‘You'd take care of Mullinjim?'

‘Yes. I know what to do.'

‘Of course you do. That would be wonderful.'

Bella gulped. She'd been expecting protests. Claims that this wasn't really women's work. At the very least . . . hesitation.

Her mother's eyes were bright. ‘I know you've always loved working with the cattle.'

I used to love working with the cattle.

Bella bit back the correction. She wanted to help – of course she did – she just wished she'd given herself more time to get used to the idea. She felt as if she'd stepped off the plane into a whirlwind.

‘I suppose you'll miss your French boyfriend,' her mother said as if the decision was already finalised.

Bella nodded. Yes, of course, she would miss Anton. If she stayed here indefinitely, she'd miss everything about her overseas life. It wasn't going to be easy to slip back into her old ways as if the past two years counted for nothing.

But she wanted to help out. Before she went away she'd been hurt by her parents' heavy reliance on Luke. It left her feeling she could never really be useful on the property and now she felt an urgent need to prove to everyone that she could do it – just till her dad got better.

She smiled at her mum. ‘You'd better start making a new list. For me.'

‘So you definitely want to do this, Bella?'

‘Yes, Mum, I do.'

She found herself enveloped in one of her mum's rare hugs.

‘Liz, about our pact . . . '

Ah . . .
Liz thought.
Here it comes
. She'd been waiting for this moment ever since she'd heard that Luke wasn't available, and she'd wondered if it might arise now that she and Bella were alone in their shared motel room.

‘So what about our pact?' she asked Bella, who was sitting cross-legged on her bed. ‘Are you going to tell me that our exit strategy is already under threat?'

Bella grimaced and fiddled with her bare foot. ‘I've told Mum that I'll take over at Mullinjim.'

Liz nodded. ‘I thought you might.'

Bella looked up, eyes wide. ‘Why didn't you say something before?'

‘I didn't want to influence your decision.'

Her niece looked at her now with a knowing smile. ‘Come on, Liz. You've been a huge influence all my life.'

‘And I can only thank God you've turned out all right.'

Bella smiled again, then sighed and flopped back, staring up at the ceiling. ‘It was a shock to find out that Luke has that job at Charters Towers. I would have been more prepared if I'd known.'

‘I guess no one was expecting Peter to have another heart attack.'

‘That's true.'

Liz waited, giving her niece a chance to gather her thoughts. She remembered Bella when she first arrived in London, a shy, big-eyed country girl, rather overwhelmed by the city, but eager for adventure with a ready smile and a can-do attitude.

‘The property can't look after itself,' Bella said, as if she needed to justify her decision. ‘Especially at this time of year. Mum says the drought's pretty bad and there's no sign of a wet season yet. And it's calving time, so the cows and heifers need supplements and someone to keep an eye on them.'

She turned to Liz with a rueful smile. ‘Mum hasn't had any luck finding a manager and I know they'd feel more comfortable if I helped out, at least while Dad's in hospital.'

‘What about after he's released?'

‘I guess if he's well enough, he'll go home again, the same as he did last time.'

‘I wouldn't be too sure about that, Bella. I think Virginia would like to keep Peter here in Townsville, close to doctors.'

Bella frowned. ‘I can't imagine Dad agreeing to that.'

‘He might this time. Don't forget your parents have had a bad fright. I know your mother would be much more relaxed if they could stay in town with medical help close at hand.'

Bella dismissed this with an impatient wave. ‘I'll be a stopgap. Until they work things out. That's the least I can do. Luke deserves a break. He's set up at Charters Towers and he's as happy as I've ever seen him. Besides, he gave up his holiday in New Zealand last time Dad was rushed to hospital. It's my turn to chip in.'

‘I agree.'

Bella's eyes widened.

‘Darling, if you're looking for approval you have mine in spades. I'm really pleased that you want to help.'

‘Thanks.' Bella smiled ruefully. ‘The thing is, I've always been jealous of Luke. He was always expected to run Mullinjim, and I . . . well––' She gave a shrug. ‘I'd really like to put Dad's mind at rest. And I guess there's also a part of me that really wants to grab this chance to prove to everyone that I
can
do it.'

‘Why not?' Liz agreed. And then, fighting back a flare of raw panic, she said, ‘And I'll come to Mullinjim with you.'

‘Really?'

‘Of course.' Despite the motel's air-conditioning, Liz felt trickles of sweat running down her back. Her insides had turned to mush and she was possibly more nervous than she'd ever felt in her life. ‘I want to come.' She forced a smile. ‘I wouldn't be happy with you out there on your own.'

‘I'm pretty sure I could manage.'

‘I've no doubt you could, Bella, but you'll have your hands full just looking after the cattle. Besides, I want to do this. For Peter.'

Liz's voice almost broke as she said this. She forced a lopsided smile. ‘I've never been much of a cattlewoman. Not much of a housekeeper either, for that matter, but at the very least, I'd be moral support.'

‘What about your concert commitments?'

‘They can be cancelled. I have a very understanding agent and I've already warned him.' It wasn't quite the truth, but her agent would cope and she wanted to reassure Bella.

Her ploy worked. Bella was smiling.

‘We can share the weirdness of going back there together,' she said.