Chapter Seven
It was Jemima’s idea for them to head to the hot bore down at the back of the property. They grabbed their swimmers, and Liam pulled a six-pack of beer from the fridge. As Seb drove the old farm truck down the dirt road and turned into the bore paddock, they were quiet, each lost in their own thoughts. Lucy stared through the window as the lights of the Mackenzie property glowed in the distance.
By omission, Garth had been dishonest with her. He should have been up-front and told her that he wanted to buy the farm. She wouldn’t have thought badly of him. He was a kind man and was probably only trying to help. But he had lied to her, too. He’d said that Gran disagreed with his newfangled ways.
The muted sound of the headers in the front paddock was overlaid by the rushing of the hot water from the pipe into the gravel-based bore. Jemima and Lucy slipped behind the trees and pulled their swimmers on. By the time they walked across to the hot pool, Seb and Liam were up to their waists, each holding a can of beer above the steaming water.
Lucy slipped into the hot water and floated on her back, looking up at the stars. This had always been her favourite place in the whole world. At night, the flies and dust and prickles could be put aside, and the cattle didn’t come down past the wheat paddocks. The night Mum and the aunties had died, Lucy had walked down here by herself in a daze of grief. She’d slipped into the bore, fully clothed, and let the peace of the night soothe her grief.
As much as it could have, anyway. After a while, Liam, Jemima, and Sebastian had appeared, and the tears that they had shared that night had forged a bond that no amount of distance could destroy. They needed to call on that bond now to sort out what they were going to do.
The sky was velvet black, pinpointed with a million pricks of starlight. In the city, you didn’t see the sky like this. Peace descended on her, and the worry of the proposal she hadn’t worked on receded even further away to the back of her mind.
“So, what do we do?” Seb’s voice was deep and echoed across the large expanse of water. “She’s sure hit us with it, hasn’t she?”
“What do you want to do?” Liam’s lazy voice filled the night. “You were the first one to come out with the resounding no, so you must feel strongly about it.”
“I do,” Seb said. “But I don’t know if I want to put my life on hold to make it happen. What about the rest of you?”
The water rippled as Liam sank deeper and tipped his head back, one arm still holding his beer aloft. His dark eyes were shadowed in the starlight, and again Lucy picked up a sense that all was not well in his world.
But it was Jemima’s voice that brought the most surprise. “I’m in. I can take three months off and come out here. We can’t let Gran sell.”
Liam turned to Seb. “And if you want to make it happen so much, boyo, your life is going to have to be put on hold.”
“Lucy?” Seb’s voice interrupted the panic that was building in her chest. It wasn’t fair. This decision couldn’t rest on her alone.
She bit her lip as she stared at the three faces looking at her, waiting for her to answer. She shook her head to clear the confusion, and thought what it would be like not to have Prickle Creek Farm as the one steady rock in her life that would always be here. Even if she hadn’t visited often, it was still home.
“Okay, I guess so,” she said, slowly expelling her breath. But how could she make a decision like that when she wasn’t sure? They all needed to think this through so much more. “But what happens then? We all spend three months here? Who looks after the place when we all go back to our real lives? If we have to sell, it might as well happen now. Let Gran and Pop enjoy the money. They can retire and have an easy life. You know, travel, go on cruises, and everything.” She knew she was babbling. “Garth would be an ideal purchaser for the farm.”
“Still got a soft spot for Mackenzie, have you, Luce?”
She almost saw red as Liam’s words reached her. “How dare you, Liam. No, I’ve only seen him once in the last six years and that was yesterday.”
“So you already knew about his offer?” Liam’s tone was hard, and his face looked ghoulish as he stared at her from the shadows. He stood up and took a deep swig from the beer bottle.
“No, I didn’t.” Her voice quivered; she was on the verge of tears. It was so unfair of Gran to put this on them with no warning. “And you haven’t said what you think yet, anyway, Liam. Your job’s overseas. How are you going to spend three months here?”
“Leave her be, Liam. You’re being mean.” Jemima’s voice was quiet. “We have to support one another. It’s going to mean some huge changes for all of us, if we take this on.” She turned to Lucy. “Can you get time off work?”
“I’m freelance. As long as I get to Sydney once a month for the meeting, I can work from anywhere.”
All was quiet apart from the hot water splashing from the wide pipe into the bore as they were each lost in their thoughts. A fat yellow moon hung low at the tree line, and a white tawny frogmouth hooted as it flew over them. Lucy lay back in the steaming water and looked up at the stars. What did she really want to do? Could she live out here for three months to keep Prickle Creek Farm in the family? And what if none of them wanted to stay?
What would Garth think about it? Would he see her as a traitor? Why did he want to buy it, and more to the point, where would he get the money?
And where would Gran and Pop go? Her talk about cruises and holidays had been just that. Trying to see a way out of leaving her life in Sydney and having to come back here. Mum’s face came into her thoughts. Prickle Creek Farm was the one place where she had solid memories of Mum and her two sisters—her aunts.
Family holidays, Christmas, and many a weekend had been spent out here with the whole family, the three sisters, their husbands, Gran and Pop, and her three cousins. The three Peterkin sisters had stayed in Spring Downs after they had married. Lucy and her three cousins had all attended the town schools and had been inseparable as they’d grown up together.
Why had they lost touch over the past few years? Why hadn’t they been there for one another? And for Gran and Pop? Seb was the only one she saw these days. Lucy lowered her feet to the gravel bottom of the bore and looked at each of her cousins. Jemima’s makeup had washed off, and she looked like the Jemmy of old. Her cat-like eyes reflected the moonlight as she looked at Lucy and smiled. A real smile, from the heart.
Sebastian was staring up at the sky, and his mouth was set in a straight line. Lucy knew him so well, and she could sense his confusion from the expression in his eyes. He was the youngest of the four, and he’d always been the one whose feelings were easy to read. He was the softest, and they had always babied him.
Liam’s eyes were hooded, and he stared back at her as she looked at him.
“I’m in. I quit my job to come home, and I can work freelance from here for three months, too. I can look for a job in Sydney.” he said, holding her gaze steadily. “Are you in or not, Lucy?”
She tilted her chin defiantly and nodded. “I’m in.” Even as she agreed, dread rushed through her. It had been bad enough thinking of spending two weeks out here; how the hell would she cope with three months?
Two hours later, they still sat on the grass beside the bore, planning and tossing ideas back and forth. Liam had pulled an old tarp from the back of the farm truck and spread it on the grass to cover the cat’s head prickles. The night was still and warm, and a slight mist hovered over the water.
“That’s a great idea, Jemmy.” Seb’s voice had become more animated the more they had figured out a way to make it work.
Jemima seemed to ignore the old name and continued with her idea. “If we do it in pairs in two stints, we’ll be here to support the other and it will be much easier. Three months on, three months off. Gran should be happy with that; she gets each of us for six months instead of the three she stipulated.”
Lucy nodded. If there were two of them here at once, it would be easier to deal with things. “What about Pop? I wonder why she asked us without him here.”
Seb scowled. “Knowing Gran, I’d say Pop really doesn’t know anything about this. Remember what she said? He has to think this is our idea.”
“He’ll hate it,” Lucy protested. “Gran can’t make a decision like that without his input.”
“She would.” Liam nodded. “As much as I love the old stick, she certainly wears the pants in the family.”
“She’s worried about Pop,” Jemmy said.
Lucy stood and put her hands on her hips as the trees rustled above. A slight breeze had come up, but it was still hot, and perspiration ran down her back. “So who’s first?” she asked. “And then once we’ve done the twelve months, what happens then? What do we do when the property’s signed over? Do any of you really want to live here? Come on, total honesty, guys.”
“Cross your heart and spit to death–type honesty, Luce?” Liam’s smile flashed. “Okay, if we’re being honest, I could settle back out here and work the place. I’ve done my travelling the world. Jemima?” He turned to his sister.
“Possibly.” She in turn looked at Seb. “Sebastian?”
His emphatic nod didn’t surprise Lucy at all. She was the odd one out. She was the city slicker. She always had been. She preferred the hustle and bustle of the city, the vibes of city life, and she honestly didn’t know if she could do it—but it looked like she had to.
She’d give it her best shot. For Gran and Pop.
Lucy looked up and caught Seb looking at her, and a slow smile spread across her face. “Now would be as good a time as any, Seb.”
He looked at her, and his brow wrinkled. “What for?”
Lucy couldn’t help the giggle that bubbled up out of her chest. Being home was feeling good. Now that they’d gotten Gran’s news out of the way. “You made me a bet, remember?”
Jemima and Liam looked with interest as Seb spluttered. “No, I don’t remember any bet.
Lucy turned to Liam. “Seb said he wouldn’t come home unless you did.” She stood straight and watched the moonlight ripple on the small waves. “And you did, so Seb, you lost.”
“No way.” His expression was mutinous, and Lucy’s giggle turned into a laugh. “Gonna renege, are you?’
“What was the bet?” Jemima asked, getting into the spirit of the teasing.
Lucy put her finger to her lips and said slowly, “Now let me get this exactly right. What our dear cousin said was he would eat his hat and run around the paddock stark bollocky naked if Liam came home.”
Their laughter carried across the paddock and drifted into the night.
The cousins had come home to Prickle Creek, and they would make it work.
They had to.