Down Outback Roads (25 page)

‘Kree, this is madness. Your lawyer needs his head read for going along with such a plan, not to mention his figure is way too high, even for the share you’re suggesting.’

‘No, it’s not.’ Stubbornness firmed her words.

‘I feel bad enough as it is about being unable to ask a low as possible price for Marellen, I now can’t accept your generous gesture to become a shareholder. Any financial adviser would caution you that Marellen, especially in its current state, won’t provide a good return on your investment.’

From the angle of her chin, he knew Kree still wouldn’t accept the cheque, so he placed it on the desk.

Her gaze never left him. ‘Marellen belongs to you and this is a way to make sure it always will. With your debt reduced and money in the bank, you won’t have to rely on the UltraBlacks and your crops to get Marellen solvent again. And as for financial returns on our investment, Seth and my decision to buy into Marellen isn’t motivated by money.’

She took a step closer to him. He jammed his hands in his jeans pockets to prevent himself tugging her near. He’d kept his distance over the past days and nights, knowing she needed
to paint. His longing to touch her had become a physical ache. He spoke through stiff lips. ‘Kree, your offer is too much, too … everything. I can’t take it.’

‘Yes, you can. When Dad died, Seth and I inherited a portfolio a little recent digging revealed had come from my grandfather’s estate. It’s only right such money is now invested back in Marellen.’

Kree’s warm hand curled around his forearm and he failed to stifle a shudder of longing.

Sadness tugged at her mouth. ‘I can’t know for sure, but I suspect when my mother inherited Marellen she wanted to sell so another family could fill the homestead with the laughter and love she couldn’t. And your family has more than done this. The Mackenzies are as much a part of Marellen as my family ever was.’

Ewan carefully removed her hand from his arm and entwined his fingers with hers. ‘But now you and Seth can do what your mother couldn’t.’

‘No, we can’t. Marellen is a working farm, not just a homestead. We don’t know anything about farming, let alone in Australian conditions. Seth, despite his new love for boys toys, wants to do something in the sports sciences field and possibly go to medical school. His passion isn’t driving a tractor or breeding cattle. And as for me …’ She smiled. ‘I’m an artist who can lose days painting. Marellen doesn’t need naïve or distracted owners, it needs you and the boys.’

Ewan lifted their clasped hands to kiss the underside of her wrist before letting go of her fingers.

‘I’m sorry, Kree. Buying into Marellen doesn’t make financial sense; it’s simply not the best use of your money. It could be years before you received even a cent of a dividend.’ He
headed to his desk chair and sat. ‘I’ll get a figure to you this afternoon that I can sell for, then we’ll talk. At least if you own Marellen outright, even with a manager, it would provide a better return on your capital.’

‘Ewan, our offer is as much for you as it is for us. Marellen will never be our home, no matter how much money it may return on our investment. But it is yours and the only home the boys have ever known. By us buying into the property, it’s a chance for you to stay. I know from your face you don’t want to start over new somewhere.’ Frustration flushed her cheeks. ‘I was warned your Mackenzie pride wouldn’t let you accept any help.’

His hand stilled on the computer mouse. ‘You’ve spoken to someone about buying into Marellen?’

Wariness clouded her eyes. ‘I’ve only spoken to Seth and my lawyer.’

He frowned. Neither Seth or her lawyer knew him well enough to call him proud. His Mackenzie pride had to have been part of another monetary discussion with somebody who knew him well. He came to his feet.

‘Kree.’ Her name emerged more of a groan than a word. ‘Just like you’ve hatched more plans than this one, there’s more money where this cheque came from, isn’t there?’

‘Yes.’ She briefly closed her eyes. ‘The long-haired artist my grandfather thought had no prospects was an only child from a prominent New York family.’

He shook his head. He was such a fool. Tish would have been the person to warn her about his unwillingness to accept help and their discussion would have involved another plan that had Kree’s fingerprints all over it. He stared at the cheque on the desk.

‘Travis’s money … was your money, too.’ His voice grated in the strain. ‘Tish roped Travis in?’

‘Yes, it was. And I take full responsibility for involving Tish and Travis. They’re not to blame.’

But Ewan hardly heard her. ‘The money you used for the visitor centre – was it really from selling Seth’s story?’

‘Yes … and no. I needed more than we received from the media, so I tipped a little in. I’m also paying for Beth’s friend to cater for the visitor centre opening, tomorrow night.’

His eyes never left hers. ‘The coach house? You’re the mystery buyer.’

‘Guilty again. But in my defence, I really do collect old west memorabilia. And I’m thrilled to own an original Cobb and Co. station.’

He scraped a hand over his face and walked to the window to stare at the park-like garden. The universe had gone crazy and he needed a moment for the world to right itself. Even now, knowing Kree and Seth could well afford to enter into a risky equity partnership, it was unthinkable he accept their offer. For so long Marellen and his family’s finances had been his sole responsibility.

Golden leaves floated to the ground as the wind buffeted the aged liquid amber the boys had climbed since they were two. Beyond the shimmering branches, green tinged the paddocks as the crops he’d worked around-the-clock to sow pushed through the damp soil. The old shade trees Kree’s grandparents planted stood like sentinels, watching over Tish’s colourful garden beds. Two different generations, two different families, and yet the garden provided living proof that two different worlds could merge.

Acceptance slipped through him. It would be unforgivable
if he didn’t accept what Kree and Seth offered, not only for Braye and Darby but also for himself. Kree was right. Marellen was his home. His mother’s music room, which had provided solace during her final months, remained as she’d left it. When he sat there in the quiet of night he swore he could sometimes still hear her play the piano. The fences he’d fixed with his father still stood arrow-straight like his hardworking father, who’d seen a future for them on Marellen. He had to honour his memory by building on the legacy he’d died leaving behind.

And then there was Kree and Seth. By agreeing to their equity partnership, they’d again be part of the home their grandparents had built for the generation they’d hoped would follow. At the same time, they’d also be free to follow the dreams their own parents would have wanted them to achieve.

‘Marellen has seen so much sadness and hurt, this is my family’s chance to make things right,’ Kree said softly. He caught the sweetness of her vanilla scent as she came to his side. ‘The bad luck you believe has plagued your family will be gone. You belong here just as much as we do, and together the Knox and Mackenzies can make sure Marellen thrives.’

He turned to her. ‘The equity partnership has to be done properly.’

Hope flared in her eyes. ‘Of course.’

‘A formal shareholder agreement, that specifies how profits and costs will be divided and outlines exit strategies, has to be in place.’

‘Consider it done.’ She stood on tiptoe and pressed a kiss to his mouth. ‘I’ll call my lawyer. He’s a night owl and will still be awake.’

The office door clicked shut behind her. Ewan didn’t move. Kree’s generosity and kindness brought him to his emotional knees.

His hands clenched by his sides. He had nothing for Kree in return for the lifeline his family had just been given. All she did was give and all he did was take. In her wake, she left happiness, hope and life.

This woman that … he loved.

‘Sis, is there something you’re not telling me?’ Seth asked from the driver’s side of his ute as they headed towards Marellen.

‘Why?’ Even as she said the word, Kree knew the heat in her cheeks betrayed she knew exactly what, or more correctly, who, Seth was referring to.

‘You’re fidgeting worse than me and it’s not because you’ve eaten a bag of candy, as the one I bought you didn’t make it past the Blue Mountains.’

‘Yeah, thanks for that.’

Seth grinned. ‘Well, I was hungry and didn’t want to stop to grab something to eat because I was so desperate to see you.’

Kree rolled her eyes and laughed. ‘Your charm’s wasted on me, little brother.’

‘I know, I never could sweet talk you.’ He shot her a sideways glance. ‘I also know when something’s up, and something’s definitely up.’

‘Okay. Yes. Something’s up.’

Seth’s exuberant, ‘I knew it,’ was accompanied by a huge grin. ‘Just for the record, you do realise I’m the person responsible for getting the two of you together.’

‘Well, don’t claim credit too soon, we’re not exactly “together together”, we’re just taking each day as it comes.’

‘I like him.’ Seth’s now serious gaze touched hers. ‘And I know Dad would have liked him.’

She nodded, throat tight. ‘Mum, too.’

Marellen’s red roofline came into view through the tops of the trees. Seth drove past Ewan’s shed and then followed the arc of the circular driveway around to the front of the homestead. He parked the ute.

‘Brace yourself,’ she said with a chuckle as Freckle and Fudge dashed down the verandah steps. She reached for the door handle. ‘And, Seth, please act your age. No winking at me when Ewan isn’t looking.’

‘But that’s what little brothers are for, to pay out their big sister. Can’t I even do a little of this?’ He waggled his eyebrows.

She smothered her smile. ‘If you want the last of the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, definitely not.’

To Kree’s relief, when Ewan approached from around the side of the house, Seth’s face remained straight. Ewan’s steady grey gaze met hers for a long second before he turned to Seth and shook his hand.

‘Nice ute. It doesn’t look as bad as I thought it would.’

‘Thanks. I think.’

Kree picked up Freckle as he chewed the toe on her boot, before she bent to pat Fudge’s small head to stop her head-butting her knee.

Ewan looked between Kree and Seth, his expression
serious. ‘I want to thank you both for buying into Marellen. We’ll have a cold beer later and make a toast to a long and productive partnership.’

‘Sounds good,’ Kree said as she shot Seth her best ‘don’t you dare’ look. She was sure she’d caught his eyebrow wiggle.

Behind her, Braye yelled her name as he and Darby charged across the lawn. They hugged her and then stared at Seth. Freckle squirmed in her arms and she placed him on the ground. He scampered off to sniff the ute tyres.

‘Boys, this is my brother, Seth. Remember we spoke to him on the computer and woke him up?’

Darby nodded. ‘He had crazy hair.’

Kree touched Braye’s tousled head. ‘Seth, this is Braye, and this …’ she brushed Darby’s shoulder, ‘is Darby.’

Seth gave each boy a high five.

‘Hey, Braye,’ Seth said, ‘what do you have there?’

Both boys giggled.

‘You talk weird, like Kree,’ Braye said with a grin before holding out the small stock whip.

Seth crouched to examine the redhide kid’s whip and the boys crowded around him. Already, their animated faces indicated Seth had been elevated to hero status.

She glanced at Ewan, who watched her and not the boys. The fixed intensity of his eyes caused her stomach to flutter. She smiled and his mouth curved in return.

The explosive sharp crack of a whip spun her around.

Seth stood away from the boys, swinging the whip alternately around his head and his body. With every shot of sound his arm appeared to move faster. The ricochet of noise brought Whiskey and Midget tearing out of the garden and sent Fudge and Freckle running to the verandah. Without
slowing, Whiskey launched himself at the whip end, trying to catch the cracker. When Seth cracked the whip a final time and allowed the end to rest on the ground, Whiskey sank onto the lawn, eyes trained on the plaited leather, ready to play again.

Ewan chuckled. ‘I’ve never seen a dog like whips as much as Whisk. He’ll wait all afternoon now for someone to crack it again.’ He nodded across to Seth. ‘You know your way around a stock whip.’

Seth grinned but as he looked at Kree, his smile turned sheepish.

‘Seth Garrett, is there something you’re not telling me?’ she asked.

‘Not at all,’ he said. ‘As if I could leave that bull whip from your old west collection in its glass case. It was just begging me to crack it when you went out.’

‘But I hid the key.’

‘I know.’

‘Please don’t tell me you also played with the flick stick cane with the concealed blade.’

Seth tapped the side of his nose and grinned at the boys. ‘Just for the record the “concealed blade” isn’t concealed very well.’

Kree looked skywards and shook her head. ‘What am I going to do with him, boys?’

Braye and Darby laughed.

Tish walked towards them, her flour smudged pink-and-green-striped apron over her gardening clothes. ‘So, you’re the noisy whip cracker?’ She smiled and held out a hand to Seth. ‘Hi, I’m Tish.’

He smiled in return, shook her hand and then passed the
whip to Braye. Whiskey whined. Braye wriggled the whip on the grass for Whiskey to chase.

‘It sounds like you’ve quite a collection of old west memorabilia,’ Tish said as she stood beside Kree.

‘It’s nothing too big, just a few things.’

Seth smothered a fake cough.

Kree grinned. ‘All right. I do have more than just a few things. I can sometimes get a tad carried away adding to it.’

Again Seth smothered a cough. ‘Sometimes? How about all the time?’

Tish laughed as she gazed around the extensive and much-loved garden. ‘There’s nothing wrong with getting a tad carried away with something.’ She glanced at Kree. ‘You must be looking forward to heading home and finding more old west items for your collection?’

To her right, Kree sensed Ewan stiffen.

‘Not at all,’ she said, speaking slowly. ‘To be honest my collection, and even heading home, hasn’t been on my mind.’ Warmth crept from her throat into her cheeks. ‘I’ve been enjoying the outback too much to think about leaving.’

She turned to look at Ewan but he’d headed towards the white ute, Seth and the boys in his wake. Ewan propped open the ute bonnet and they all leaned over to inspect the engine.

‘Cuppa?’ Tish asked with a sigh.

‘Make that two,’ Kree answered with a rueful smile. ‘Something tells me this secret men’s business will take a while.’

Ewan watched the red trail of dust behind Seth’s antiquated ute until it merged with the cherry-streaked evening sky. Even knowing Tish was peering at him out the kitchen window
wasn’t cause for him to leave his post. Heart heavy, his boots remained fastened to the ground. Kree was gone. Again.

Despite Tish’s repeated invitation to stay for dinner, Kree had declined, saying they needed to return to Berridale to prepare for Don and Maureen’s return. They’d had a cold beer, loaded the mural panels and then all too soon Kree had headed off with Seth. Ewan swung away, filled with sudden restless energy. He wasn’t even going to think what would happen once the Tylers returned and Kree had no more real reason to stay.

Sure, they were now business partners, but seeing her close bond with her brother and hearing about her passion for the history of her birthplace underlined they were from far different places. He could no sooner leave Australia and his responsibility to Tish, the boys and now the equity partnership, than he could ask her to leave her American home. Would an annual visit from Kree to check on her investment be all he had to look forward to in the future? Would this be the pattern of his life from now on, having his heart splinter each time he watched the woman he loved leave?

He had to keep moving, so he couldn’t think and couldn’t feel. He gave Tish what he hoped appeared as a cheery wave before he strode towards the man-cave, but he soon diverted his course. His workshop contained far too many memories. The beauty of Kree’s smile. The softness of her lips. The feeling of his world being complete with her in it. Instead, he headed towards the tractor and drove it out of the shed. He’d have a late dinner and busy himself checking that it and the boom spray would be ready to spray the crop weeds as they emerged.

The starless midnight sky was as dark as his thoughts when he returned to the homestead. Fudge bleated and Freckle stirred as he walked past their bed on the back verandah. ‘I know, Fudgy, I miss her too.’

Ewan stripped down to his boxers and dived into the pool. The autumn chill of the water numbed him. He’d swim until all he could feel was the desperate need for another breath and the burn of his taxed muscles. He came up for air. Tish stood on the sandstone pool edge, a white nightdress on, her hands on her hips and determination in her eyes.

‘Okay, you. Out. No more swimming.’

Ewan blinked. He’d never known Tish to be so cross or so stern. She always stayed calm, even when three-year-old Braye had repainted his bedroom door forest-green.

‘Tish, what’s going on?’ he asked as he climbed out of the pool and wiped his face with the towel hanging on the fence before wrapping it around his waist.

‘I’m not standing by while you swim yourself into a shadow again.’

‘I’m fine.’

‘No, you’re not.’ Tish’s voice rose. ‘You’re missing Kree, and she hasn’t even left yet.’

‘Tish –’

‘All that talk tonight about Kree’s old west collection and her returning home and you just copped it on your stubborn chin. You’re not going to ask her to stay, are you?’ Tears shone in Tish’s eyes. ‘I can’t let Fergus wreck any more lives.’ She moved to the poolside table under the sensor light and sat in the closest chair as though her legs wouldn’t support her anymore. ‘Come, sit with me, I’ve something to tell you.’

Ewan did as she asked. Unease pressed in on him like the night’s cold air.

She pushed her fair hair off her face and drew a deep breath. ‘Have you ever wondered why Fergus was so adamant he had to go to town that night?’

‘He wanted to drink with his mates.’

‘Exactly.’ She hesitated. ‘But it wasn’t only his mates he’d meet in there.’

Ewan’s sleep-deprived brain struggled to follow the bread-crumb trail Tish left. ‘Was it out-of-towners? I know he liked to think of himself as a bit of a bad boy. Please tell me he wasn’t involved in stock or fuel theft?’

‘No. He wasn’t.’ Despite her affirmation, Tish’s voice remained small.

‘Okay. So who did he meet?’

‘It was just … one person. And it was a … she.’

‘Bloody hell.’ Shock held him still and then he covered Tish’s unsteady hand with his own. ‘I’m so sorry.’

‘I told him that night we were over. He didn’t believe me. He said he’d break it off with the girl in town and everything would be like it was when we were first married.’ Sadness turned the corners of her mouth down. ‘He’d said that before.’

‘God, Tish, I had no idea any of this was going on.’

‘I hid it well. At first I blamed myself for the affair. I thought I hadn’t been a good enough wife, that I’d neglected him because of the boys. But you know what? I’ve realised everyone has a choice and it was his choice to betray us. Just like it was his decision to go to town and get drunk that night. He could have driven himself in, broken off the affair, and come home.’ She placed her hand on top of his hand, which
still covered hers. ‘But he didn’t and he dragged you into his mess, even though you didn’t know it.’

‘He loved you, Tish. His last words, when I pulled him from the ute wreck, were to look after you and the boys.’

Tish’s lids flittered as she blinked back tears. ‘I know that’s what he said. That’s one of the reasons I haven’t ever mentioned the affair. I didn’t want to tarnish your memory of him.’

Tish slipped her hands from his and twisted them into a tight ball in her lap.

‘Tish,’ Ewan said gently. ‘What was the other reason you didn’t tell me?