Confessions
Mrs Hense bobbed up from behind the hedge. ‘Hello, dear, how are we doing?’
Ava returned the perfunctory greeting. ‘Very well. Lovely day.’
The villa she’d thought would be her tiny oasis was beginning to feel smaller still with its common wall and the nosy neighbour, who kept the dividing hedge on the front veranda too well pruned.
‘How was book club today, dear?’
‘Excellent, thank you for asking.’ Ava wrestled with the small key in the screen door lock. ‘Today we discussed a murder-mystery that plays out in a small villa complex. One in which the antagonist in the story is a woman who meets with foul play.’
‘Sounds ghastly, dear.’
‘Never fear, the book has a happy ending.’ Although keen to get inside, Ava paused and looked across the hedge at her neighbour. ‘The antagonist is eventually cornered and taken out by a group of residents. Stabbed by hedge-pruning clippers,’ she added. ‘They cut her up into little pieces to fit in the wheelie bin and the neighbourhood celebrates with a huge party, then everyone lives happily ever after.’
‘Oh, well, as long as there’s a happy ending. I do love those stories. Speaking of… ’ That was Mrs Hense’s usual method of introducing gossip, because they were never, ever speaking of anything even closely related to what followed. ‘You’ve had a long-lost friend come calling while you were away.’
‘Is that so? Well, a true mystery indeed, Mrs Hense. I can’t for the life of me think who that might have been, but thanks for keeping an eye on things, as always.’
Ava was about to close the door when she heard the woman call out. ‘Ah, your mystery solved, Ava dear.’
‘I’m sorry?’
Mrs Hense smiled, nodding. ‘There’s your friend coming up the driveway now.’
Ava recognised the woman, who was barely five metres away, her steps slowing.
Oh dear.
Did Katie’s presence explain why Miriam had been so cagey on the telephone when Ava had rung to ask where Nina was and why she wasn’t responding to messages? With Katie now stopped at the bottom of the villa’s concrete ramp, Ava steeled herself. She could tackle this situation in any number of ways, but one thing was for sure: she would defend her daughter whatever Nina was up to.
‘Hello, Katie, would this visit mean you’ve met my daughter?’
‘You knew she was going out to Ivy-May?’
Ava took a breath. ‘I didn’t know until you showed up just now. Can’t say I’m surprised.’ She looked over Katie’s shoulder towards Mrs Hense, whose pruning shears had stilled. ‘I guess you’d better come inside.’ She held open the front door and beckoned Katie to enter ahead of her. Then she watched her eyeing the small, open-plan living area, while dropping her handbag to a chair. ‘You’re welcome to sit, Katie.’
‘These days, to everyone but family I go by Kathryn. Still a Tate,’ she added. ‘I’ll always consider myself a Tate. Having produced an heir I’ve earned that right.’
‘I see.’ What she called herself made no difference to Ava, who still saw shades of the girl who’d barged into the cook’s cottage to set Ava straight on a few things, at the same time claiming her position in the Ivy-May hierarchy. Ava had been too naïve to realise she’d been claiming John. ‘Kathryn suits you better than Katie-from-next-door. We’ve all grown up. Some of us older than others.’ A smile tried, unsuccessfully, to break the ice.
Their ten-year age gap had once placed Ava as the more mature grown-up. Now, stylish in a khaki skirt and jacket, set against the backdrop of knick-knacks and the typical grandma gallery of family photos on the wall, Ava felt ancient. She and Katie had been friends once, albeit briefly. At least, Ava had tried until she’d realised she was the enemy and her relationship with John a threat.
‘I met your son,’ Ava started.
Katie looked surprised, and not in a good way. ‘When?’
‘I went out to Candlebark Creek last month. I saw John under the pretence of sitting for a portrait. While I was there I stayed at Blair’s Retreat. Your son is delightful and very handsome.’
The compliment seemed to soothe Katie. ‘Blair is a special boy. He has a beautiful nature and all the local girls are vying for his attention… but, Ava, they’re girls who understand the realities, not simply the romance, of country life. Living on the land is not for everyone.’
Ava couldn’t understand why the woman was harbouring resentment after all these years. ‘Can I get you some tea, Katie? A glass of water?’
‘Water, although I don’t want to put you to any trouble.’
‘Water is doable.’ Ava smiled. ‘If there’s any joy to villa living it’s having everything within reach.’ She left her visitor to her forensic investigation of the compact living space that must have felt like a matchbox compared to sprawling Queenslanders like Ivy-May. ‘I’ve never bothered with big houses.’ Ava spoke louder over running water. ‘Life is too short and I’m too busy to spend a second of mine cleaning unused rooms.’
‘You still go by Marchette?’
Ava told herself that life was also too short to second-guess the purpose behind Katie’s visit, deciding to maintain a balance of courtesy and caution.
‘I never married.’ She returned to the living area. ‘I wanted to find someone I truly loved, so I waited.’
Looking everywhere but at Ava, Katie finally said, ‘John was in love throughout our entire marriage.’
‘Oh?’ Ava wondered how long she intended dragging this out. Part of her wanted to shout: No need to rub salt into still raw wounds, Katie. You won.
‘Yes, my husband was very much in love – and still is, only he’s never figured out who with.’ Katie was looking at Ava now. ‘As much as I wanted it to be me I’ve always known better.’ Her eyes were growing damp. ‘You probably still think me weak and insincere. I was once. Weak and stupid enough to be influenced by Marjorie Tate.’
‘I never saw weak or stupid when I looked at you, Katie. I saw a youthful eagerness and determination. I knew a lot about that myself. Then, on the morning after your eighteenth birthday, I saw fear and desperation. I knew about that too. That’s why I wanted to help.’ Katie said nothing. ‘When I landed in Candlebark Creek last month, I barely recognised the main street, except the pub, of course. Can you tell me what happened to Rick Kingston?’
‘He died,’ Katie said. ‘A bar fight and a broken bottle.’
‘So, someone finally gave Rick what was coming, eh? I think he and Colin—’
‘No.’ Katie’s head snapped up, her face contorted. ‘I’m not interested in talking about Rick or Colin, or in reminiscing with you, Ava.’
‘And yet,’ Ava spoke slowly and deliberately, braced for another retort, ‘for some reason, here you are.’
Katie dropped onto the sofa. Ava sensed a confession of some sort, or maybe she’d finally get an apology. Why else had the woman come looking for her today? Surely it wasn’t to tell her to control her curious daughter, or to warn her that she planned to run Nina out of town, like Marjorie had with Ava.
No. Even today she didn’t believe Katie was like her mother-in-law had been. Katie was a victim but right now she looked ready to confess, just as she’d looked ready to admit some terrible truth on the morning after her birthday party, crying alone in a paddock. The only bragging being done back then was by Rick Kingston, who’d joined the party late, observing the carry-on from sober sidelines. ‘A free feed and a sideshow’ was how he had referred to it.
Something else Rick had told Ava fell out of the memory strongbox from that day, something so shocking she’d never wanted to imagine it was true; something about Katie getting what she wanted, only not the way she’d wanted it. While Rick had made out he knew something, his stories were always more fiction than fact. But could he have been telling Ava he knew who had slept with Katie that night? Rick had said Marjorie had taken the O’Briens home after the party had broken up. He’d also insinuated he’d seen John come and go from Ava’s cottage. But what had he really seen? Who else had been at Ivy-May after the party?
‘I need a drink,’ Ava told Katie. ‘Give me a minute.’ More than tea, Ava needed time to unravel that recollection and quell the anger that Rick’s image always provoked.
*
Ava had known only about Rick Kingston’s status as the town’s colourful raconteur. The few occasions they’d spoken while she was Ivy-May’s cook, she’d always thought him friendly and amusing. When he’d found her crashed on the roadside, weak with misery following Marjorie Tate’s dismissal, she had let herself be saved. Only after she’d refused to sleep with him did she discover he had a dark side. When he didn’t get his way, Rick Kingston turned tyrant, hurling abuse, accusations and a whole lot more.
‘So, I’m not good enough for you, eh, Ava?’ he’d yelled after pub closing one night. ‘After all I’ve done you spit in my face.’
‘I appreciate the job and the room, Rick. I don’t appreciate the surprise kiss, that’s all.’ Ava had tried to continue cleaning the kitchen, but it wasn’t easy with him getting in her face. ‘You know I’m not interested in you that way.’
Rick grabbed the soft part of her upper arm, pinching the skin so hard that pain shot into her shoulder. ‘Then let me tell you something about that family you’re gagging to be part of.’ He jerked her into him. Thank goodness she was holding a stack of dirty dishes between them. ‘Marjorie and Colin Tate’s interest in the O’Brien property next door is no secret in this town. How far they’ll go to make it happen sure is, though, but I also know the secret, Ava, and it’s a humdinger.’
Ava shook him off and stepped back, frustration overcoming her earlier fear. ‘What secret, Rick? What are you talking about?’
‘What’s not a secret in town is you and John bloody Tate. The two of you were making goo-goo eyes across the room that night, as if no one else was there. Everyone saw. You two should be ashamed of ruining the girl’s birthday party. Poor thing had been so excited about turning eighteen. She was certain, mostly because Marjorie said as much, that John had been waiting for it to make their relationship official. Come the end of the party, John disappeared, and I know where to, don’t I?’ Rick had moved in behind Ava, his breath on her neck smelling of smoke and beer. ‘Poor Katie is so upset that night she’ll take comfort and reassurance from whoever’s offering.’
‘Rick, I’m not listening to any more of your stories. You’re making it up as you go along. You weren’t even invited to the party.’
‘Ain’t no bullshit, Ava, and I sure was there. Old Marj was angry her husband hadn’t picked up ice, cos the beer was gettin’ warm. Col telephoned me and I was more than happy to deliver, along with a carton of cold ones. Got there in time for the most awkward birthday speech ever. Thoroughly entertaining, though, and I enjoyed the free feed and the sideshow. So I do know a thing or two about all the comings and goings that night – if you get my drift.’ Rick moved to lean against the draining-board while Ava fetched more dirty dishes from the servery. ‘You weren’t the only one getting a little love action after the man of the moment spilled his beer over Katie’s pretty blue dress, then disappeared, party over.’ Ava stopped scrubbing long enough to see Rick’s wink. ‘Nothing ends a party faster than a family feud. I didn’t care. All the more food for me when the place emptied faster than a beer keg at a bachelor party. Then everyone’s best friend, Marj, drove Ma and Pa O’Brien home, probably making them a cuppa to keep in the good books and Colin disappears – gotta feel sorry for a bloke who has to put up with a ball-breaker of a wife like Marj. No wonder he’s here at the pub every weekend. Bloody hell! What he gets up to some nights would curl ol’ Marj’s hair.’
‘Like what?’
‘That’s secret men’s bar business.’ Rick’s fingers pretended to zip his lips shut. ‘So, you see, Ava, I can keep a secret. Like what happened when sweet Katie was alone in Ivy-May and needing a shoulder to cry on that night.’ His head shook as he tutted. ‘John Tate had broken her sweet little heart. Oh, sure, he apologised, but she’d wanted more. She’d needed reassurance that she was worthy. The girl needed loving.’
‘You can’t know all this.’
‘I know all the dirty lies in this town and I know young Katie was easy to comfort, never made a sound. That’s what I heard, of course.’
‘Stop it, Rick!’
‘Katie sure got what she wanted, just not the way she wanted it.’
‘I said stop. I don’t want to hear any more.’ Ava was desperate for Rick to stop talking. ‘It’s not your business.’
‘No, but it should be yours, Ava.’
*
Why was she thinking of this now? If Katie wasn’t interested in reminiscing, then neither was she. Ava was about to tell her visitor as much when Katie’s next words stopped her.
‘I tried to tell you that day in the paddock, Ava. You wouldn’t believe me.’
‘You mean that you were pregnant?’
‘You thought I was being naïve, but I knew the moment I woke up in Ivy-May. Somehow I knew I was different and that night would change everything.’ There was no anger, her voice more that of a child who knew she was in trouble. ‘I couldn’t tell you the truth about what happened. You would’ve told John and I couldn’t bear that.’
‘Whatever you told me, I would have kept the secret, especially from John. But I could’ve guided you, and if you’d needed options, Katie, they were there. Why didn’t you take one?’
‘I went to Marjorie.’
‘Did she not help you?’
Katie shrugged and another tear landed as a dark stain on her skirt. ‘If by help you mean take charge, I suppose she did. I told her what had happened, thinking she’d help me get to a doctor and have an abortion. Instead she told me if I was pregnant I’d be keeping the baby and John would marry me. We’d be a family. Next thing I know you and John have disappeared, and when he did come home from hospital, not remembering anything about his birthday, or you, or—’
‘You won,’ Ava sighed. ‘He was yours, at last.’
Katie looked up, her cheeks wet with tears. ‘It wasn’t how I wanted things, Ava. It certainly wasn’t how I’d dreamed my marriage would start.’
‘Then why?’
‘It was John’s fault.’
Ava was getting more confused by Katie’s ramblings. ‘How?’
‘John hurt me that night at the party. I was angry. Marjorie told me she saw you and John together and I got so mad. It was my party, my time to feel special. When Colin found me crying in the office, and he was so caring and he said things that made me feel loved and wanted and grown-up, I…’
Ava’s brain had been in a spin since her visitor’s arrival but the mention of Colin slammed it into a brick wall. Shock and disbelief, rather than friendship, pushed her onto the sofa beside Katie. Ava had been about to defend the quietly spoken man she’d known, when she heard Rick’s words: Any man with a ball-breaker wife like Marj will find ways to assert his power, and always on the weakest, easiest victim.
‘Marjorie knew?’
‘Yes, but she wasn’t a bad person.’
Ava recoiled, bitterness was a rare taste in her mouth. ‘The woman made you raise her husband’s baby and lied to her son about it, and you say she wasn’t a bad person?’
‘She was a mother needing to replace a lost child, Ava. My baby did that for her.’
‘I’m confused, Katie. Marjorie didn’t lose John.’
Katie sniffed, clearly surprised. ‘Did John not tell you he wasn’t an only child?’
‘I, er…’ Ava couldn’t recall.
‘John had a brother, Ava, five years older. Peter died and it was a shocking death, which was why people in town thought nothing of Marjorie’s over-protectiveness. Peter’s ashes were scattered under the big tree on the ridgeline. She never got over the loss until my pregnancy filled that void.’ Katie stopped to blow her nose and take several more tissues from the box. ‘Marjorie was city-born and she once told me Peter had arrived at the perfect time and made her isolation on the land bearable. She insisted that having children was the most important job a woman could do. The second-best thing was making sure that they formed a strong connection to the land and to small-town life so they grew up and stayed and small towns prospered.’
‘What happened to Peter? How did he die, I mean?’
‘Peter was five and in the yards with his father when he somehow got caught up in the crush with a bull. Marjorie blamed Colin and Ivy-May’s remote location equally. Help was too far away. It took too long. She told me how she’d sat in the yard for hours, just her and, in each arm, a son. One was squirming and screaming, the other still and silent.’
The sadness of the story, the image of a young mother mourning, made Ava’s heart pound. She didn’t want to listen to Katie talking about Marjorie Tate and making her care. She didn’t want to think kindly towards the woman who’d thought nothing of putting her own selfishness before her family and crushing Ava’s heart.
‘Peter’s death destroyed their marriage,’ Katie was saying, ‘but she and Colin stayed together because that’s the type of woman Marjorie was. She went on to fight for the town’s infrastructure and services, and she encouraged me to run for the council. She wanted Ivy-May to grow so her family would have a secure future. To do that Candlebark Creek needed to thrive. She tried to do the right thing by everyone.’
‘The right thing?’ Ava huffed. ‘I don’t care what she did or didn’t do for the town. I’ll never believe Marjorie Tate was a good person or a good mother. Never. Her determination that John would marry you tied her son to a lie – so many lies. I knew that morning in the paddock you weren’t telling the truth, yet I still asked John. I wish I hadn’t.’
Panic lit Katie’s face. ‘You asked him what?’
‘I was never convinced he hadn’t found you to apologise after everyone else had left the party. I asked him to swear he’d never slept with you. He stood in the hotel room in Brisbane, looked me in the eye and said, “Cross my heart and hope to die.”’ Ava fought back tears at the contrast between his sweet smile and, an hour later, the prone and bloody body in the bathroom.
She wiped her eyes. Had she never asked that question of John, their last words would not have been angry ones, and she would not have gone out to jog away her bad mood. Instead, she would have been there when he collapsed. She might have got him help faster. She might have saved him.
‘He almost died that day, Katie. I know I felt like I’d died both times Marjorie marched me off the property.’
‘I remember that last morning when you came to Ivy-May, Ava. Marjorie told me she paid you to go away and you did. I wondered how much you could love him.’
‘Somehow I managed to stop thinking about John and started my life over. I’ve grown older and wiser, Katie, and when I think back to that morning in the paddock…’ Ava was standing in front of the family photo gallery, straightening the crooked picture of the twins on their first day at school, ‘… you were so distraught. I should have realised something wasn’t right. Where was the glow of a woman who’d just made love with the man she hoped to marry? Where was the girl with the smirk who’d got her man? But, Katie, you were so upset. Had I been thinking clearly I would have known John’s answer without ever having to ask the question.’
‘I grew up that day too, Ava, and at times I hated myself and had to distance myself from everyone at Ivy-May, including my son. I hated Colin and that house, so I made myself busy elsewhere.’ Katie blotted fresh tears with a new tissue. ‘At least when Colin died I no longer had to look at him. Finally, I could sleep again and only Marjorie and I knew the truth. By then Blair was grown, and while people in town would say he looked like John, all I ever saw was…’
‘You saw Colin,’ Ava finished.
‘I tried to make it up to Blair, to be a good mother. One day he came to me and asked why Grandma cuddled him so hard and called him Peter all the time. Marjorie had even insisted I christen him Peter but… I stood up to her.’
Too little too late, Ava wanted to say. ‘How did Marjorie die?’
‘Angry, senile, and always muttering under her breath, which helped me explain away the Peter thing to Blair.’
‘And you said Colin died?’
‘Years earlier, drunk and behind the wheel of a car. Good riddance!’
‘So you buried them both along with the truth, Katie.’
‘I had to,’ she replied. ‘I couldn’t let myself believe anything different. I was so ashamed. I’d wanted it to be John’s child so I convinced myself, and Marjorie helped me believe it, all the while pushing me to have another baby.’ Katie’s sigh shuddered a little. ‘We tried for years, until John came back from a medical check-up and told me he was sterile. I could see how upset he was at the news. I prayed the doctor had said his condition was caused by something to do with his head injury, or the meds, or post-traumatic stress. Something. Anything.’
‘You didn’t ask him?’
‘I couldn’t. I didn’t want to have to confront the possibility that he’d always been that way.’
‘Because he’d know Blair couldn’t be his?’
Katie nodded. ‘They were so close, Ava. They still are.’
‘I think John would choose to believe a miracle happened that one time.’
With Katie sobbing uncontrollably, Ava went to fetch more tissues from her bedroom. Why she rushed, she didn’t know. Surely she should take her time. She could do with a few minutes to come to terms with Katie-from-next-door confessing to such a shocking secret.
The shrill whistle of a boiling kettle got her moving again. She returned to the kitchen and made tea. She plunked the plastic milk bottle and the sugar canister onto a tray with the mugs and the tissue box, then slid it onto the coffee table in front of the sofa.
Katie’s words were muffled by tears. ‘Because he couldn’t remember, John would joke about missing out on the joy of losing his virginity. Of course I laughed with him, unable to tell him his father had robbed me of the same.’
‘Colin was not a good man, Katie. Raping you when you were so vulnerable was unforgivable.’
‘If throwing yourself at a man can be called rape,’ she said. ‘I was eighteen and drunk out of my mind. I’d learned that the boy I loved was kissing the cook on the very night I’d been told to expect an engagement ring, so I took a bottle of champagne into the office and hid.’
‘Katie, Colin took advantage of you in the worst possible way. You did nothing wrong. You have to believe that, like I believed it wasn’t John you’d slept with that night. And I did.’
‘I knew you knew, too.’ Katie shook her head. ‘Then John had his accident, and when Marjorie sent you away I thought that was that. My secret was safe. Having you back in our lives after thirty years – not only you, but your daughter – I don’t know what to do.’
‘Katie, if you’re to learn anything from Marjorie’s scheming, surely it’s that we can’t do anything. Parents can only guide. They shouldn’t interfere.’
‘The moment I saw Nina looking so like you and sitting at the table in Ivy-May’s sunroom, I was terrified history would somehow repeat itself.’
‘I see.’
‘Do you, Ava? Please understand, I won’t have Blair’s heart broken by another girl who can’t take to country life, or whose only interest is leading my son on or ruining my relationship with him.’
Both women stood, heads high, like a couple of scrub pythons protecting their nest.
‘Nina is a woman, not a girl,’ Ava said. ‘And I do my best not to interfere, but I will tell you this, Katie. Any man would be lucky to have my daughter.’ Did she want Nina any more involved in the Tates’ lives? Did she have a choice? As much as she might’ve wanted Conrad to be the one, she knew better. She’d known that day in the café, seeing Nina’s discomfort with that ring. Her daughter was not ready to settle with the man, no matter how impressive the diamond.
‘If your daughter staying at my son’s retreat is a happy coincidence, that’s one thing, but she’s there now, delving into the past and involving herself in things that are none of her business. What you tell your children about your past is up to you, Ava, but keep her away from my son and from John. They can never know – never.’
‘Is adding more lies to keep a secret really the best thing, Katie?’
‘You don’t know what’s best for me, Ava.’
‘Granted, but I do know you were a young girl taken advantage of by a man you’d trusted. Those who love you will understand. It might hurt for a while, but the hurt fades eventually and you find the strength. I know this to be true. To move on, I told my daughter things from my family’s past that I’m not proud of, but I felt I had to while I had the chance. Admittedly the portrait John did of me forced my hand to some degree so I chose to use the painting as a portal to the truth while I’m still on this earth to tell it.’
‘Nina said you were unwell.’
‘Unwell? That’s one word. I have an inoperable condition that means my heart will one day stop without warning. Think about what it means to be gone at any moment, Katie. What goes with you is the opportunity to right a wrong or tell a truth.’
‘Why is your daughter at Candlebark Creek?’
‘Nina’s restless. She’s trying to discover who she is and what she wants out of life. In doing so she’s decided to see the place where I worked and, if I know Nina, the man I loved.’
‘You told your daughter everything about John?’
‘Nina is struggling with her own life choices, a proposal of marriage from a lovely man, so I wanted to tell her I’ve known love and been loved deeply in return and to trust her own heart. Our past is what makes us the people we are today. Candlebark Creek and John are part of my history. And that, Katie, happens to be important to my daughter. I did leave out the things I considered not worth repeating, but our children are usually smarter than we think. If she was to ask me anything, whatever it is, there’ll be no more lies.’
‘So, you’d tell her what you know about Blair?’
Katie’s question hung in the air.
‘Blair is your son, there’s no taking that away, but you need to make things right for his sake and for the sake of your grandchildren.’
‘But, Ava, how do I admit to such a thing after all these years?’
‘You have to know the kind of man John is. The news won’t change how he loves Blair. He’s his father in every way. I saw that when I was at Ivy-May. Some kinds of love won’t change for anything. Wishing things were different doesn’t work either. I discovered that when my doctor broke the bad news about my dodgy heart.’
*
Katie had felt like screaming until she heard Ava’s news about her health.
Then came silence.
No talking.
No drinking tea.
The pair of them just stood opposite each other, Katie avoiding eye contact for fear she’d start crying again. She hadn’t sought Ava out to confess. Now Ava knew her deepest secret.
‘You have to understand this cannot get out, Ava. I hold public office. I’m Basmorra’s mayor, for God’s sake. The truth will ruin everything I’ve achieved, everything that’s important to me.’
‘You and your career are the furthest things from my thoughts, Katie. In case I haven’t made it clear, I’m the one with the shortened life expectancy.’
‘But I’ll never be able to show my face in town again. Blair will hate me and the truth will kill John.’
Ava could barely contain herself. ‘You don’t die from a secret and the truth can’t kill. What can hurt is the lifetime of lies you leave behind, and Fate has a way of conspiring against us to reveal our secrets whether we want them out or not.’
‘Fate, Ava?’
‘While Fate can alter our lives in ways that make us question our existence and our endurance, it can also unite us, Katie. Nina is the perfect example.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘All it took to unravel your world was a complete stranger, my daughter.’
‘But, Ava, if you hadn’t approached John for a portrait in the first place…’
‘Maybe so, Katie, and we can play the blame game until the cows come home. Look, I didn’t tell John anything during the sitting. I went there because I wanted to see him. I wanted to know he’d been happy and lived a good life. And as much as I might want to, I’ve decided I’m not going to see him again.’
‘You’re not?’
‘Maybe it was wrong of me to return to Ivy-May last month, but no more wrong than Marjorie sending me away. I’m glad I went back. I had no expectations – I’m very different from the woman he knew – but I’m certain I saw shades of memory buried deep inside him.’
‘He might not remember you but he still sees you, Ava.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘I saw it in his face when he looked at your daughter, as clearly as I saw the way he looked at you thirty years ago. He could fall in love with you all over again.’
‘If what you say is true, I have even more reason not to go back to Ivy-May. I’m also certain that once my daughter’s curiosity is satisfied she’ll be happy to move forward, accept Conrad’s proposal and settle down.’
‘Is that so?’
‘What is it, Katie? Your face just now… You look like the weekly chook-raffle winner at the club.’
Katie closed her mouth and adjusted her expression. ‘Of course I won’t pretend to be anything other than glad to hear that we won’t see you in Candlebark Creek again, Ava, but I remain curious.’ Katie stared hard, as if she might find the real answer to her question in Ava’s eyes. ‘Why not go back?’
‘John doesn’t need any more uncertainty in his life and that’s all my heart can offer. That’s not to say I’ll disappear from your family for ever.’
Katie heard the veiled threat and she braced herself, prepared to argue her case. ‘After all these years and no contact I really don’t see how my family can be your concern.’
‘Unlike Marjorie Tate, I don’t meddle in the affairs of my children or presume to know what will make them happy,’ Ava said. ‘But if what you say is correct and Nina is spending time with Blair, she will not be leading him on and that significant detail makes your family very much my business. Now, I think we’re all done here.’
*
‘Ava, dear, are you and your friend all right in there?’
‘My friend is just leaving, Mrs Hense,’ Ava said. ‘She has important mayoral things to do. Goodbye, Katie.’
Mrs Hense almost had her nose knocked off when the screen door flew open. At the same time as it slammed closed behind Katie, Ava shut the front door and fell back against it, hearing her neigbour’s voice. ‘Oh, my, you look like you need an ear, dear. Can I make you a cuppa? I’m right next door.’
‘Oh, bugger off!’ Katie snapped.
Ava did a little fist pump like her grandkids had taught her. ‘Yesssss!’ But any elation over the small victory faded, her heart beating erratically as she picked up the to dial her daughter. She didn’t want to lay down the law, but she saw no good coming from Nina’s involvement with Blair Tate. Oh, Nina darling, what’s happening? What are you up to? And what am I going to do about it?