One Hour to Midnight (28 page)

"This was my favourite book when I was your age. I've read it to my class several times."

That perked his interest. She handed him the book watching as he thumbed through it.
 

"Let's get comfortable."
 
Without fuss she led him to the wide, softly upholstered swing seat. Jordan could rest as well here as on his bed. The change would do him good.
 

Veronica opened the book and began to read.
 

One page in and the story's magic gripped Jordan.
 

He sat up, eyes brighter, as he listened intently. Veronica gave a satisfied smile. It never failed. The adventures of five orphaned cousins being raised by their uncle and great aunt on a North Island sheep station was a perennial snapshot of old New Zealand.

Jordan snuggled ever closer, curling up his legs on the swing seat. Then he lifted Veronica's free arm and nestled underneath, his head resting on her shoulder.

Veronica's voice grew husky but she concentrated on reading. Jordan yawned and then went lax.
 

Veronica looked at him and smiled. He was asleep, soothed by the gentle rocking and the soft cadence of her reading. He moved and his head settled closer into her breast. With great care, she cradled him at a more comfortable angle, and leaned back to savour this precious moment.

For the first time since he was a new-born infant, she held her child in her arms.
 

Not since that awful day when she'd given her baby to Julia, had she held Jordan this close to her heart.
 

The tight ache in her chest and the sting of tears were warning enough of an emotional overload. This was the moment she'd ached for since the day Leon had brought her home to Claremont
.
 

Emotion almost overwhelmed her.

She took a deep breath, then another, counting until her breathing settled into a steady rhythm. With their heads resting on each other, she gently rocked on the terrace glider.

The hush in the house had a soothing serenity.
 

Leon closed the door silently not quite sure why, but a sixth sense made him take extra care. Sensing he was not alone he looked up. Cassie was in the hall dashing tears from her eyes.

Instantly concerned he crossed to her side and laid a hand on her arm. "What is it?" he asked in a hushed murmur.

"Shhhh."
 
She put a finger to her lips and beckoned him.
 

Mystified Leon followed her down the hall and into the family room. From there he could see out into the loggia.

Veronica sat on the glider cradling Jordan in her arms as she gently rocked.
 

The fierce guilt that slammed into him almost forced him to his knees.
 

Emotion clogged his airways as he looked at that timeless cameo, a mother and her child.
 

I was seventeen, Leon, and vulnerable, a girl you and Julia found so easy to exploit
.

Her tortured words echoed exacerbating his guilt. No matter the rationality, then or now, Leon was forced to acknowledge an unpalatable truth.

Julia and I robbed Veronica of her child
.
 

Julia had the baby she so desperately wanted. And Veronica was left with a broken heart.
 

Cassie moved away, leaving him alone with his demons.
 

Veronica turned her head slightly and he saw the silver tracks of tears on her cheek. Her pain and grief was a heavy weight in the hot air.

As if she sensed his presence, Veronica opened those fathomless sea green eyes. His involuntary step forward halted mid stride.

The emotion and enmity in that clear gaze, quite terrifying. He would infinitely prefer facing down a tigress with cubs than suggest he lift his son from his wife's arms. The offer to carry Jordan to his bed died stillborn.
   

Her expression clearly said
mine.

For long timeless moments Veronica held him impaled on that clear gaze and then, with a sweep of dark lashes, shut him out.
 

Leon stood rooted to the spot, shocked and bewildered. He'd never experienced such discomfort. Shaken, he strode down the hallway to his office. There he raked an unsteady hand through his hair.

What the hell had happened out there?
 

He shivered, goose-bumps crawling across his skin. The enmity in her eyes left him smirched.

Leon was not a vain man, but a life time of female adulation had not prepared him for being regarded by his wife a lower life form.
 
With one searing glance, she reduced him to uncertainty and, before Veronica, he'd never been uncertain. Always, he'd known exactly what to do and how to go about it.
 

But, as so often happened with Veronica, he sensed he was walking blind in an impenetrable maze.
 

He walked across to the window and stood staring out. Hands clenched, he wished, and not for the first time, that he could have some quality time with his brother. He'd beat the bastard to a pulp for what he'd done to Veronica. The last mess Yannis left him was a doozy and ten years on, the fallout was still raining debris.

Leon turned back to his desk, sat down, opened a drawer and pulled out the photo of Julia he kept there. For a long time he stared at it, brows knit.
 

Did Julia pressure Veronica to give up her baby when she was pregnant? Had his wife, as Veronica claimed, colluded with his brother over her pregnancy?
 

He didn't think so, but the possibility that she may have done so, hollowed out his gut. And remembering Julia's obsession with becoming pregnant, he could no longer dismiss Veronica's accusation out of hand.
 

If she had—he refused to finish the thought.
 

Surely his Julia would never do something so underhand. And then, in his mind's eye, he saw Veronica hugging Jordan's teddy.
If I'd sent it to Claremont he would never have seen it.

Hell, I knew that! That's why I never told Julia Ricki had bought that teddy.
 

He couldn't change the past so why was it giving him no peace? Why the hell was he driving himself crazy over something that was done and dusted?

While Veronica's in my life, the past will never be finished until I find the truth.

Icy dread trickled down his spine. A soft knock was a welcome interruption of his thoughts. "Come in."

Cassie came in with a tea trolley and closed the door.
 

He sighed and laid Julia's photo face-up on the desk as Cassie poured two cups. She put his near his elbow and sat in the other chair.

"Did Julia pressure Veronica to give up Jordan?" The question escaped before he had time to censor it.
 
The silence in the room stretched and he had his answer.
 

"Since she's been back, I've been forced to see Julia twisted most everything I relied on her to relay to Veronica," he admitted grimly. "Why didn't I know this?"

"Yannis left one hell of a mess, Leon." Cassie gave him a measuring look. "You had so much on your plate. Stop blaming yourself for the things you didn't see."
 

"God, Cassie," the words were wrung from him. "I've made such a mess of things. How can I fix it?"

 
Cassie laid a gentle hand on his shoulder and he reached up and laid his hand over hers. He could always depend on the Scotswoman's clear sighted vision. He should have listened to her when he first brought Veronica to Claremont.
   

"You can't, Leon," she said with quiet compassion. "You can only build on what you do have. The present is all any of us have. Use it to best advantage."

"And how do I do that?"

Cassie leaned across and picked up Julia's photo. "Yes, Julia put unconscionable pressure on Veronica while she was here. And I was forced to bite my tongue time without number. And yes, you were too busy to notice but I was just as guilty, Leon. I was here, saw it happening and did nothing."

"It's not your place to comment?"

"It wasn't so much that, as I couldn't see what else you could do." Cassie frowned down at Julia's photo. "Outside the safety of Claremont, Veronica and Jordan would have paid one hell of a price for Yannis's sins."

"You think I didn't know that?" Leon got up and paced to the window, his back to the room. "I hate Yannis for what he did."

"And does hating your brother change anything?"

Leon turned and faced his housekeeper. "You know it doesn't."

"All you can do, Leon, is let the past go. It happened. And you need to let Julia go, too. She's dead and despite Jordan's illness, you're very much alive."

Leon gave a snort of wry laughter and paced back to the window.
Do you think I don't know that!
 
"And Veronica? Will she let Yannis go? God she had a photo of him in pride of place in her living room. She was crying out for him when she came out of the anaesthetic."
 

"Have you asked her why?"

"Is it any of my business?

Cassie chuckled. The sound grated on Leon's nerves. He could see nothing at all amusing in the situation. "Is it bugging you?"

"You know damn well it's driving me crazy."

"There's your answer, then.

Leon turned, frowning blackly, frustrated by another of her non-answers.
 

Cassie chuckled. "You'll figure it out. I have faith in you."

Chapter Sixteen

H
aving her own wheels gave Veronica a wonderful sense of freedom. She could come and go from Claremont as she pleased without having to bother McKenna. Leon surprised her with the keys to a sporty little Holden coupe the day after Jordan came home from hospital.

While Jordan rested, she decided to have her hair trimmed. The heat of a Melbourne summer made it necessary. After seeking Cassie's advice, Veronica made an appointment with Just Hair.
 
It took her a while but she found a park beneath one of the many pin oaks in the city centre.

At the salon, Babs greeted her personally, with a respect that bordered on servile. Nothing had quite underlined Veronica's changed status so clearly.

"Would you like to come this way Mrs Karvasis?"
 

Was it her imagination or did the woman say her name with more than undue emphasis before she escorted Veronica to a chair in front of a bank of mirrors. Women in the other chairs craned their necks to catch a glimpse of her.
 

The hair on the back of Veronica's neck stood to attention.
 

This reaction was beyond belief. Would she get used to being the cynosure of all eyes? Suddenly, she was glad of the shadowy presence of the security detail Leon insisted she have whenever she left the environs of Claremont.

A glance in the mirror assured her he was leaning nonchalantly against the shop window.

The silence and curious stares increased Veronica's discomfort. It emphasised she was no longer plain Veronica Langdon, but Mrs Leon Karvasis, the wife of one of Australia's richest men.
 

Would she ever grow accustomed to this?

Then she heard the whisper. "God she's nothing special to look at and yet she's had both brothers."

She tried to suppress it but a scarlet flush stained her cheeks. She met Bab's eyes in the mirror and swiftly looked away, wanting to sink right through the chair and disappear.
 

Then pride asserted itself. She straightened her spine, lifted her chin in a regal movement and copied Leon when faced with the often hideously intrusive questions of the press.
 

She refused to be cowed by a few jealous, bitchy words.

Jealousy is one of the seven deadly sins, Veronica.

Kathleen's words ghosted through her mind and she recalled the older woman saying if you want the latest gossip, visit the hairdresser. Obviously as true here in Melbourne as it was in Auckland.

The thought made her grin, and as she met Babs' eyes in the mirror, she tilted her chin a little higher.

Once finished at the salon, Veronica decided to have a latté at the café down the street. She placed her order and sat at a kerbside table. Her coffee and cake arrived. She'd taken her first sip when the chair opposite was pulled out.
 

And Andreas Karvasis sat down.

Although he was only fourteen, he was almost as tall as Leon. When he filled out and was fully grown he would be as big a man as his uncle. His black frown increased his resemblance to Yannis, but his lighter coloured hair he owed to Sonia.