Deliveries and Packages
‘Hello, Mrs Hense!’ Nina greeted her mother’s neighbour with the usual saccharine smile, but she was feeling light-hearted and even a little pleased with herself, the ring burning a hole in her pocket. ‘Your hedge is perfect, as usual.’
‘How lovely of you to say, but it’s our hedge, dear. Half Ava’s. How is your mother? I haven’t seen her.’
‘I’ve been away. Is she not home?’
‘Not very much at all of late, so I’m glad you dropped by. Another delivery arrived and with the most cellophane and ribbon I’ve ever seen.’
‘Who would be sending Mum flowers?’ Nina said aloud. Everyone knew Ava wasn’t one for floral tributes, and totally against them at funerals. She had already made a list of medical research institutions who would benefit from what she called her flowerless, no-frills funeral.
‘This is not flowers, dear, and I’m sure I don’t know who’s sending your mother things. I’m not one of those old biddies always poking their noses through the blinds,’ Mrs Hense insisted. ‘Nothing wrong with a good neighbour noticing when someone suspicious arrives, though.’
‘Suspicious how?’
‘Like a bearded bushranger who’d just stepped off a horse, and with a hat bigger than he was, grubby jeans and boots that could’ve done with a good spit and polish. Same grubby fellow who dropped off the parcel that looked like a picture. Something special, was it?’
‘That’s one word. Thanks, Mrs Hense.’
‘There’s a note attached, dear, in an envelope. A sealed one,’ she called, pointing.
Mrs Hense was right about one thing. The basket was covered with enough cellophane and ribbon to wrap a dozen bouquets.
‘I’ll make sure Mum gets it.’
After an instruction from her flatmate to take the bull by the horns – Miriam seemed to have adopted every country cliché under the sun – Nina had agreed to confront Ava with the ring. Where they’d go from there, she wasn’t sure. But when Ava wasn’t at home, Nina conceded Fate might be showing her the way. She dropped car keys, mobile phone and the note with the scratched address into the bag tucked under her armpit. Then she grabbed the basket and took it across to the kitchen counter. A quick glance determined there were no perishables, so the basket would be fine as it was.
As her bag hit the bench, her phone screen flashed up. Tony! She’d forgotten all about the regular franchisee videoconference and it would be her last before she handed the reins to Miriam while Nina took extended leave. Sonya’s words had echoed all the way back from Brisbane: ‘While there is breath in our bodies it is never too late.’ After today, Nina was even more determined to explain Conrad to Blair. But she had missed so much work time already that the meeting couldn’t wait.
*
Nina’s mind had been on everything except the bakery business so she’d excused herself from the boardroom and headed for the staff kitchen.
‘Hey, Nina?’ Miriam’s head poked around the corner. ‘You left me with that pain-in-the-butt franchisee venting his ten cents worth.’
‘Sorry, I’m busy,’ Nina said, unaware that condensation from the boiling kettle was dripping into the open canister of teabags.
‘Busy steaming open letters.’ Miriam picked up the empty envelope from the counter, her face agog. ‘Letters addressed to your mother, no less.’
‘It was a mistake. I accidentally brought the note to work in my bag.’
‘And you accidentally steamed it open, I suppose?’
‘Steaming was the easy part. Knowing what to do with the information is the dilemma.’
Some references in the letter had made little sense to Nina, but there was no denying that, whatever else had happened while Ava was sitting for the portrait, she and John had definitely reconnected.
‘Isn’t it your mother’s dilemma?’ Miriam flipped the canister lid into place. ‘If it’s a problem at all.’
‘Of course it is.’ The burst of euphoria that Nina had floated on all the way from Sonya’s flat to the staff kitchen where she’d finally read the letter had vanished, replaced by hopelessness. ‘Mum made it pretty clear the last time I saw her. She’s so upset – first over John Tate, then me and Blair – it’s like her heart’s breaking all over again. What if it’s not strong enough?’
‘Hearts don’t really break, Neens. That’s a romantic cliché. Love can actually make them stronger.’
‘And that’s not a cliché, Miriam?’ Nina smiled, glad to have someone she trusted to bounce things off. Until she’d had a chance to sort through the misunderstanding with Blair she couldn’t tell him. Eventually she hoped to share everything with him, because she didn’t want to begin a relationship with a secret. Right now Nina needed her best friend to help her work out what to do with the letter John had sent Ava. Getting the ring back to him, without too many questions being asked, would be the next problem. ‘Anyway, Miriam, Mum’s not interested in falling in love at this stage in her life.’
‘Hon, Ava’s not past it. Sex, I mean.’
‘Oh, lordy, I’m not even thinking that. I can’t.’
‘Because she’s your mother?’
‘Because John Tate is Blair’s father.’
‘Relax, it’s not like you’re related, or anything.’
‘But Blair is still John’s son, and John and Mum were… And now Blair and me are… You know? And…’ Nina looked at her friend. ‘I’m being stupid, aren’t I?’
‘You’re being Nina,’ Miriam said. ‘You’re over-thinking things, looking for excuses, being cautious, and keeping an out up your sleeve as usual.’
‘An out?’
‘Yeah, the cowboy’s been fun, but he can’t be anything more because of some obscure connection between your mum and his dad a hundred years ago. A serious relationship with Blair would also mean a shift away from your very predictable and comfortable life.’
‘That’s just it, Miriam. I don’t think I want an out with Blair. And, believe me, life has been anything but predictable of late. This letter is proof of that. But I have to tread carefully. This sort of information might be too much for Mum and I doubt John Tate realises the impact such a letter would have on her at this point in time because no way would Mum have let on about her condition to a complete stranger. That’s all he is, really. I’m afraid I’ll need to intervene.’
‘Hang on a sec. The man isn’t a stranger to Ava and you don’t know what really went on during the sitting. By the way, Neens, the other word for intervening is interfering. Remember the Marchette family motto?’ Miriam stopped to take a clean mug from the dishwasher. ‘Strong people save themselves, and your mum is the strongest woman I know.’ She stuck a teaspoon into the Milo tin and scooped chocolate powder into the mug. ‘You love your mum, Neens, and you want to protect her, but this has to be her call. Boardroom Ava has been making her own decisions all her life. That heart of hers might be affecting her physically, but her ability to think and choose is not compromised. You’ve done all a daughter should do – which, by the way, does not include steaming open a note addressed to her mother.’
‘All I should, or could I do more?’
‘That depends.’ Miriam poured the still-steaming water from the kettle into the mug and stirred vigorously. ‘Your choice in the end. Do what feels right, hon.’ She took four marshmallows from the Tupperware container and dropped two into the hot chocolate. ‘What John’s written to Ava in that note requires no reply on her part. Your mum will be none the wiser if you want to whack it through the shredder, right over there.’ She stabbed the teaspoon at the adjacent utilities room. ‘What to do with the ring is another matter.’
‘I have to give it back to John, somehow. Maybe I can slip it into a drawer or something in Ivy-May.’
‘Yeah, that’s not taking the safe option, I suppose.’
‘What else do I do? Rock up and say, “Oh, by the way, John, here’s the ring you were going to give to my mother thirty years ago”?’
‘When you put it that way…’ Miriam said. ‘So, what about the letter you’re holding?’
‘Undecided.’
‘Hmm, maybe put yourself in Ava’s shoes. Give me your phone.’
‘Why?’
‘Just give it to me,’ Miriam said, munching through a third marshmallow while opening a text, the last Nina had received from Blair. He hadn’t texted her since the cyclone. ‘How would you feel if I intercepted Hunky Cowboy’s messages, like this one, and deleted it?’ She jerked the phone away when Nina reached for it. ‘Wait a second, what the hell is this message?’ She squinted at the screen. ‘Just castrating more bulls and thinking of you. Wishing you were here. Wow!’ Miriam mumbled through the fourth marshmallow she crammed into her mouth. ‘How romantic.’
‘I happen to like that he was reminded of me. Kind of like prairie oysters remind me of marshmallows, all white and squishy.’ Nina managed a small smile as she left her friend gagging into the sink.
I wish I was there, too, Blair.