Chapter Nine
Lucy asked Garth to drop her at the front gate, and he leaned over and took her hand before she opened the door. When he’d dropped his bombshell about the cattle theft, she’d quickly finished her coffee and asked him to drive her home. She’d been quiet on the half-hour trip home, and still hadn’t decided whether to tell him she’d be staying at Prickle Creek Farm for a while. She had some thinking to do, as well as some investigation into his allegation.
“I’ll talk to Sebastian about taking some preliminary photos tomorrow afternoon,” she said. “Just before sunset when the light’s a bit softer.”
“Okay.” He squeezed her fingers. “At my place?”
“How about we meet you down by the bore? I’ll get the key and unlock the back gate and you can come the short way.” She stood and watched until Garth’s ute had disappeared down the road and the red dust had settled before she walked through the gate, brushing the flies from her face.
She was greeted by the smell of barbecuing meat as she pushed open the gate in the fence. Gran insisted on keeping the working dogs away from the house lawn and her garden. Lucy took a deep breath as she crossed the grass. The smell of meat was overlaid by the fragrance of the flowers of late summer. If she ignored the red dust backdrop and looked straight ahead, it was like being in an English cottage garden. Gran had grown up in England and followed Pop to Australia when she was only nineteen. When she was little, Lucy had loved to sit on Gran’s knee and listen to the story of how they met. They’d both worked as volunteers on a kibbutz in Israel. Harry, the young Australian farm boy from Western New South Wales, and Helena, the pretty social butterfly from Notting Hill in London, had fallen in love at first sight.
“He was a fine, strapping young man.” Gran had looked affectionately at Pop while a young Lucy had sat on her knee, enthralled by the story.
“And I still am,” Pop would say with his cheeky smile. But Lucy always remembered the way Gran had looked at her Harry in those days. The love had shown on her face, and at that time, Lucy had vowed that she would never get married until she could look at a man like that.
“I missed him so much when he went home to Australia, I followed him to see this Pilliga Scrub he went on about.” Lucy had sighed when Pop bent down to kiss Gran. “And I fell in love with that, too.”
So romantic. They’d had a huge social wedding in London, and Gran had moved to the old farmhouse at Prickle Creek Farm. Lucy had grown up believing in romance and happily ever after, but her recent relationships had soured that belief. The men she met in the city were focused on their careers, and she had yet to find one who rated her needs as more important than his career.
Memories of how soft and loving Gran had been before she and Pop had lost their three daughters came back to Lucy as she crossed the garden. The lawn was green and lush and edged with fragrant gardenia bushes, snapdragons providing a colourful edge between the graceful white flowers and the emerald green lawn. The scent of lavender filled the air, and Lucy picked a head from the bush and rolled it between her fingers as she crossed to the steps. Gran had kept in touch with her English heritage with her beautiful cottage garden.
A rush of love for the sad woman ran through Lucy, and regret that she had stayed away for so long pierced her chest. Voices and laughter met her as she pushed open the back door and stepped into the cool air-conditioned kitchen. Jemmy was sitting at the bench with Gran, shelling peas, and another wave of nostalgia hit Lucy. Seb and Liam were out on the back verandah standing companionably by the barbeque. She crossed the room and put her arms around Gran from behind and kissed her soft cheek. “I’m sorry, Gran.”
Gran put down the vegetables she was holding and turned to her with a frown.
“Sorry? What for? What have you done?”
“I’m sorry for staying away for so long.” She hugged her grandmother tightly. “I do love you, you know.”
“And I love you, too, Lucy. All of you.” Gran sniffed and brushed a hand across her eyes. “I’m sorry for being such a cranky old thing, but I’ve been worried about Harry…the farm.”
Lucy hugged her one more time before she crossed to the sink and washed her hands. “So green pea and mint salad? Yum!”
Gran put her head down and kept shelling the peas, and Jemmy caught Lucy’s eye with a smile and a nod. Dinner was a happier affair, and while they were having a cup of tea—no coffee in Gran’s house—Lucy broached the subject that had been on her mind.
“Gran, is there a manager on the farm?”
As she watched, Gran’s shoulders slumped. “There is. And that’s one of the first things I want you boys to check on. I think I might have been a bit harsh on young Mackenzie.”
Lucy narrowed her eyes. “Harsh?”
“I didn’t believe him. He came over here a couple of weeks ago and in a roundabout, polite way, he told me that he suspected Brian was stealing cattle. In the next breath, he offered to buy the farm, and I thought he was trying to undermine Brian for his own purposes. I sent Brian down to padlock the gate after that.”
Liam leaned forward with a frown. “And now you think he’s telling the truth?”
“As much as I hate to admit it, I think young Mackenzie may be right. While you were all down at the bore last night, I had a good look at the books. Harry usually looks after all that, but he’s been preoccupied lately, trying to cope with the pain.” Her face wrinkled in a frown, deepening the lines in a complexion ravaged by fifty years of hot western sun. “There is a huge discrepancy between the calves born last season and the steers sold at the last few sales.”
“Maybe he’s been fattening them for the next sale? Waiting for prices to go up?”
Three mouths dropped open, and Gran smiled as everyone turned to Sebastian.
“Thus speaks the country boy.” Liam’s voice held no sarcasm this time; it was full of admiration.
A flush settled on Seb’s high cheekbones. “Just because I live in the city doesn’t mean I’ve lost touch with the ways of the country.”
“Me neither,” Liam added with a guilty smile. “I checked the cattle prices every day I was in England. Streamed ABC Radio on the internet.”
“What about the time difference? Wasn’t that the middle of the night over there?” Seb sounded sceptical.
“Midnight in London,” Liam said with a smile. “Brought me home each night before I went to sleep.”
Seb looked at him thoughtfully, and a smile tilted Gran’s lips. “So you’re both well placed to start learning the daily routine. Your grandfather will be very pleased.” She stood, and Seb and Liam jumped to their feet. “No time like the present. Let’s go to the office now and you can tell me whether you think Brian McDermott has been dudding us.”