Outback Ghost (24 page)

Occasionally it is a living person who is keeping the spirit from passing on. This can occur for a number of reasons – the living may feel things have been left unsaid and they may wish to make right with the past. Sometimes people become almost obsessed with their grief and until they recover, the spirit is not able to settle.

As she read this last bit, she thought of Esther. Heidi had said Lily-Blue spoke of her mother's sadness. Could she feel that? Did she make appearances at the main house too? Or was Lily-Blue here because something awful had happened to her in this cottage? Stella's spine tingled at the thought and she glanced around the room wishing the walls could talk.

The fact was, whether she liked the idea or not, she could no longer deny that she believed Heidi was talking to something real. She'd felt it herself and was now certain she'd heard it before tonight as well. This spirit or whatever it was might not physically harm her daughter – she truly didn't believe Lily-Blue meant any danger – but Heidi would remain emotionally scarred if they couldn't help. For that reason alone, Stella couldn't bury her head in the sand about this.

She had to do something to help. The question was what?

By rights, Adam should feel like a zombie. Although he'd eventually made himself go to bed in the early hours of the morning, he'd been too buzzed to sleep. Despite this, he'd leapt out of bed with the sun, cooked and devoured a full breakfast and was driving around the farm aimlessly, wondering what he should do before six o'clock. Mutton snored loudly in the passenger seat, no doubt wondering what had gotten into his master.

‘Just wait till you learn about the wonders of the opposite sex.' Adam laughed as he reached over and ruffled Mutton's fur. He reckoned sexual satisfaction could give caffeine a run for its money as a stimulant. The dog glanced up, frowned in the way that only puppies could and promptly fell back to sleep.

Even though harvest had finished, there were plenty of jobs that needed to be done, but Adam couldn't settle to any of them. What he really wanted was to drive over to the cottage and give Stella a good morning kiss. He grinned and his body tightened all over at the thought of surprising her. Of throwing rocks against her window and sneaking in before Heidi woke up. Yet, as much as the idea appealed, he had the feeling Heidi would already be awake. From what he'd heard most kids were insanely early risers. No doubt after the night they'd had Stella needed coffee and something to keep Heidi occupied more than anything else.

Having stalled the ute, he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and stared out across a paddock filled with grazing sheep.
Animals
. More than once Stella and Heidi had mentioned the little girl's love of all things with feathers or fur and last night they'd spoken about how much she'd love to meet Ruby's horses. Adam wanted to do something special for Stella and in the light of her mum-status, doing something for Heidi might be better than organising a picnic or asking her to go see a movie. It would also seem less like a date and they'd both been clear that, whatever this thing was between them, it wasn't heading into relationship territory.

Inspired, he dug his mobile phone out of his pocket and found Ruby's number.

‘Hello?' She sounded sleepy when she answered a few moments later.

‘Good morning.'

‘Is it? I thought it was still the middle of the night.'

He glanced at the clock on his dashboard. ‘Shit, sorry. I didn't realise how early it was.' He felt like he'd been awake for hours.

‘That's okay. I'm awake now.'

‘And so am I,' he heard Drew, Ruby's fiancé and also a local cop, growl in the background.

The way he was feeling, Adam couldn't summon any remorse.

‘What can I do for you, Adam?' Ruby asked.

Two hours after Adam had finished his call with Ruby, he finally allowed himself to head on over to the cottage. He'd worked hard in those two hours, checking sheep and even getting in some paperwork, so that his conscience and schedule were clear for the rest of the day. Mutton, knowing a playmate resided here, scrambled over Adam's lap in an attempt to escape as he parked in front of the picket fence. Adam had barely pushed open the driver's side door before Mutton dashed up the path to signal their arrival. He followed not far behind but the screen door was flung open before he reached the porch steps.

‘Mutton! Adam!' Heidi, wearing her hair in the cutest pigtails ever, dropped to her knees to cuddle the puppy and looked up at Adam. The genuine excitement in her eyes warmed his heart.

‘Hey Heids. Is your mum around?'

She nodded. ‘In kitchen.'

‘Thanks.' He ruffled her hair, pulled off his boots and then let himself into the house. He headed to the kitchen and as he turned in the doorway, he froze at the sight of Stella leaning over the sink washing the morning dishes. She wore an over-sized T-shirt and not much else. His gaze dropped to her bare legs and he found himself unable to resist.

‘Good morning,' he announced as he crossed the room.

She spun around, blinking her eyes in shock. ‘Adam?'

‘You must have been lost in some daydream if you didn't hear me thumping down the hall.'

She opened her mouth but before she could explain herself, he stepped right up close, planted his hands on her bare thighs and pulled her against him. He claimed her mouth with his, following through on the good morning he'd been dreaming about since he'd gotten out of bed.

Her wet palms came up and thrust against his chest. ‘Adam,' she squealed as she tore her lips from his. Red flashed on her cheeks making her look even more gorgeous than usual.

‘Sorry.' He dropped his hands and held them up in surrender. ‘I couldn't help myself.'

She smiled. ‘Heidi might have seen you.'

He shrugged and looked unashamedly down at her delicious legs. ‘If you want me to behave myself, you should wear pants.'

‘I am!' Her eyes widened.

‘I meant as in shorts or trousers.'

She rolled her eyes and hissed, ‘If I'd known you'd be dropping in at such an ungodly hour, I'd have worn full body armour.'

‘It's after nine o'clock. The best part of the day is half gone.'

As if she didn't believe him, she turned her head to look at the clock on the microwave. ‘Wow, I thought it was earlier. I've barely slept a wink.'

‘Me neither.' The grin he'd been wearing since last night widened. ‘Look why don't you sit down and I'll make you a coffee. It's the least I can do considering I'm partly responsible for your sleepless night.'

As if in a trance, she nodded slowly, pulled at a chair and then sank into it. Resisting the urge to kiss her again, Adam got busy making coffee. When he had two mugs filled with what he considered the nectar of the gods, he took them to the table and sat down alongside her.

‘Heidi? Where's Heidi?' Stella shot to her feet.

‘Relax.' He stood again and placed a hand on her arm. ‘She's on the veranda playing with Mutton, but I'll go check on them again. I really think you need this.'

She looked as if she might object but finally sat back down and lifted the mug to her lips. As promised, he checked on Heidi, told her not to leave the veranda and went back to Stella. ‘Is that helping?' he asked, gesturing to her mug.

‘A little. I'm…' Her words died and she looked at him as if she had so much to say she didn't know where to begin.

He placed his hand on top of hers on the table. ‘You're not feeling awkward about last night, are you?'

‘No.' She linked her fingers with his and met his gaze with a smile. ‘That was amazing.'

His body heated up at her words but he heard little feet pattering towards him down the hallway. Stella snapped her hand away and returned her attentions to her drink as Heidi came into the kitchen and climbed onto one of the chairs.

‘Have you two got plans today?' he asked them.

‘No.' Heidi said. ‘Why?'

Chuckling, he looked at Stella. ‘I've got a surprise. How long will it take you to get dressed?'

‘I'm not sure I like surprises,' she said, looking at him with suspicion.

He grinned. ‘That's okay because this one is more for Heidi.'

At that news the little girl bounced in her seat and clapped her hands. ‘I love surprises.'

‘Great.' Adam nodded at her in approval. ‘Then tell Mummy to drink her coffee quickly and get dressed so she doesn't miss out on all the fun.'

‘Mummy, drink coffee quickly. Get dressed.'

Stella sighed. ‘I can see I'm fighting a losing battle here. Give me five minutes.'

While Stella went off to get dressed, Heidi took Adam's hand and insisted he go with her into the lounge room. He guessed she wanted him to watch a favourite television show but she surprised him, leading him to the corner of the room.

‘I making nest for Whiskers.' She pointed to where she'd dragged the coffee table into the corner. Draped over the top was an old, multicoloured crocheted blanket and underneath a pile of cushions.

‘She having babies,' Heidi continued.

‘Is she?' Adam hadn't paid much attention to the old stray but now that he thought about it, she had seemed a lot fatter when she'd been sprawled on the couch last night.

‘Uh huh.' Heidi nodded solemnly. ‘I loves kittens.

Adam smiled. He couldn't bring himself to tell her that the stray would likely find a dark, quiet spot as far away as civilisation as possible to have her litter. ‘They're pretty cute,' he said instead.

‘What's cute?'

‘Kittens.' Adam spun round at Stella's voice. She stood in the doorway looking like sunshine incarnate in a bright orange T-shirt and tiny denim shorts, matching orange Crocs perched on her feet. He'd never known a woman to get dressed so fast and still have the power to make every muscle in his body twitch. ‘Only you could look that good in plastic shoes.'

She dropped her gaze to her feet, then shrugged as she looked back up. ‘They're the comfiest shoes in the world and today I need comfy.'

‘You won't get any arguments here. Shall we go?'

‘Yes. Yes. Yes.' Heidi jumped up and down and grabbed hold of his hand. He was getting used to her hugging him or holding his hand but what he really wanted was to hold her mum's. Still they'd agreed that whatever happened at night behind closed doors Heidi was not to know about any of it, so he resisted the urge and gestured for Stella to lead the way out of the house.

‘Where are we going?' Stella asked as she stepped out onto the veranda, then waited for Adam to tug on his boots. Her heart and every organ in her body felt all twisted up at being so close to him. She had no idea how she'd manage to spend the day or at least a couple of hours in his company and it wasn't his irresistible sex appeal worrying her.

‘I told you it's a surprise. You'll have to be patient.' He straightened and then gestured down the steps towards his waiting ute.

Her heart flipped at his sexy smile but irritation rose within her at his easy, flirtatious manner. ‘Are we driving?'

He nodded.

‘Then we can't take your ute.' Feeling like a grumpy old school marm but unable to stop herself, she crossed her arms over her chest. ‘There isn't room for us all.'

He shrugged, undeterred by this minor obstacle. ‘We'll take yours. I promise to drive safely and not cause any dents.'

Dents hadn't even crossed her mind. Him driving her car wasn't an issue – she had insurance – but being in a confined space with him was. Although her body still longed for his, things had changed overnight. She worried she might blurt out something about ghosts and Lily-Blue before she had the chance to properly think through how to approach the issue. She'd thought about nothing else all night and still hadn't come to a conclusion. Her head ached with conflicting thoughts – one moment she'd decided to come straight out and tell him everything, the next she wondered if she should tell somebody else first.

Wasn't this a police matter? Lily-Blue was still listed as a missing person. Maybe she should talk to Ruby's fiancé. And maybe he would laugh in her face. Seriously, if someone had told her she'd be thinking about going to the police with ghost stories last week, she'd have laughed in
their
face. Even if he did take her seriously, could the cops re-open an investigation because of a little girl's word about a ghost? And as far as Heidi understood Lily-Blue was a person. The only ghosts she'd ever seen were in picture books and looked like Casper. She might want to help her friend but Stella worried about the turmoil she might face if the police and other strangers started bombarding her with questions.

‘Mummy, hurry up,' Heidi shouted.

Stella looked up to see Adam had already strapped Heidi in and was sitting in the driver's seat, the car idling as they waited for her. He must have gone back inside and grabbed the keys off the hook and, so distracted, she hadn't even noticed. This worried her. She needed to get her head around this problem and work out what the hell to do about it before something bad happened because she couldn't think about anything else.

‘Coming!' She glanced behind her to check the door was shut and then hurried down the steps, realising as she got to the car she hadn't thought to bring sunscreen or a hat for Heidi. Leaning into the open passenger window, she said, ‘I've just gotta run back inside and grab sunscreen and Heidi's—' The last word died on her tongue as she saw Heidi's bright red and yellow sunhat perched on her head.

Adam held up a bottle of SPF30 and nodded behind. ‘And I've got an esky with water and fruit in the back. Anything else you require?'

At his teasing tone, she shot him a glare then got into the car.

‘I could be forgiven for thinking you didn't want to spend time with me,' he said as she clicked her seatbelt into place and he started off down the long gravel drive.