The Patterson Girls (13 page)

Lucinda took a deep breath, wiped her cheeks again and summoned a smile. ‘I know you're right,' she said. This was what she'd needed. Her smart, capable older sister to tell her that some stupid curse wasn't responsible for her inability to conceive.

‘Of course I am. And who wears the trousers in your relationship anyway?' Madeleine gave her a mock-reproving glare. ‘Tell Joe I've referred you both to a fertility specialist and he can shut up and attend the appointment if he knows what's good for him.'

Lucinda actually laughed. ‘I will. And thank you.' She started to heave herself up off the grass and realised what a sight she must look. ‘I suppose we better go back inside and see how Dad's going. I'll be in there as soon as I've cleaned myself up.'

Chapter Eight

The sisters left the hospital just after eight o'clock on Christmas night. They dropped Aunt Mags off at her ‘entertainment centre' and then drove home in relative silence. Abigail tried again to bring the curse into conversation but Madeleine shut her down and by the time they pulled up outside the motel, she was almost asleep. It had been a long, exhausting, depressing Christmas and she couldn't wait to fall into the shower and then into bed.

The motel was in darkness except for a few lights on in the guest rooms and she considered how lucky it was that Dad's emergency had occurred on Christmas Day—the only day of the year when they didn't open the bar or the restaurant. When they'd left in a hurry that afternoon, Lucinda had scribbled her mobile phone number on a piece of paper and pinned it to the reception door but no one had bothered them for anything.

Abigail yawned as she climbed out of the van, calling over her shoulder as she started towards her motel room. ‘Well, guess I'll see you lot bright and early tomorrow.' With Dad out of action and Lucinda having given Mrs Sampson the week off, there'd be plenty to keep the four of them busy. In a way she didn't mind—busy meant she'd have less time to think about her depressing life.

‘Actually,' Lucinda's bossy voice cut through the still night, ‘I was thinking we should discuss how we're going to help Dad.'

‘Now?' Abigail couldn't help screwing up her nose. Why couldn't they have ‘discussed' it during the journey from Port Augusta?

‘You heard the doctor,' Lucinda said as she locked the van. ‘Dad's been overdoing it and he has to slow down or next time he really will have a heart attack.'

Madeleine nodded. ‘And now's as good a time as any. Lucinda can make us some of her awesome hot chocolate.'

‘Good idea.' Lucinda smiled at Madeleine. Charlie also nodded her approval.

Abigail glanced from Lucinda to Madeleine and back again. Something bizarre was going on. She couldn't remember the last time her two oldest sisters had agreed on anything. Usually there was this tense vibe hanging in the air whenever they talked, because although Madeleine was the oldest, Lucinda always acted as if she were.

‘Whatever,' she said eventually and headed towards the house. If she kicked up a stink and said she wanted to go to bed, they'd only tell her to stop acting like a spoiled child. Besides, she did care about Dad—he'd scared her today—and they needed to work out a game plan.

Lucinda unlocked the door and Charlie started flicking on lights as they all headed for the kitchen. They worked in unusual harmony to get hot chocolate and biscuits on the table before all sitting down around it. Abigail drew her mug into her hands and relished the comforting feeling of the warmth transferring from the china to her fingers. On a warm summer night, it wasn't like she needed actual heat, but it was soothing nonetheless.

‘So,' Madeleine said, reaching across the table to pick up a Kingston biscuit, ‘I think Dad's episode today proves it's a good thing he has decided to sell the motel.'

Abigail and the others nodded their agreement.

‘But,' she continued, ‘we need to be realistic. It could take months, even a year or two for a buyer to come along. Dad can't continue on his own the way he has been.'

‘Can we employ some more staff?' Abigail asked, also reaching for a biscuit to dip into her Milo. Pity they didn't have any Tim Tams left. She could really do with a Tim Tam Slam right now.

Lucinda shook her head. ‘I'm not sure that's really an option. Rob and Mrs Sampson are great, but Mrs Sampson said it's been hard to keep reliable staff. No one else is invested in the motel the way Dad is, the way we are.' She paused a moment. ‘I think one of us needs to come home.'

‘Are you volunteering?' Abigail blurted. Her heart beat hard and fast in her chest. She could do it. She could come home and help Dad because, unlike her sisters, she had no ties or commitments now. Hell, she didn't even have a job and if she didn't get one soon, she'd also have nowhere to live. But that would mean telling them that she'd cocked up. Big time. Could she bear that?

‘Right now I'm just putting the problem out there,' Lucinda said. ‘I don't know, maybe I could stay till the end of the school holidays and then one of you could take over.'

‘No.' Madeleine put the biscuit she hadn't eaten down and tapped her fingernails on the table. ‘You and Joe need to be together right now.' She looked pointedly at Lucinda. ‘I could maybe do a couple of weeks but I can't see how Abigail and I can do this without serious ramifications at work.'

Which only left …

Abigail, Madeleine and Lucinda all looked to Charlie. She'd been quiet throughout most of the discussion but that wasn't unusual. Charlie had never been a big waster of words.

‘I'll do it.' She voiced what they'd all been thinking. ‘I don't need to give much notice at the café and …' Her voice drifted off as if there was no point listing her other little odd jobs.

‘Are you sure?' Lucinda asked.

Charlie squeezed her lips together and nodded. ‘It won't be forever.'

She didn't look sure and for one split second Abigail almost volunteered, but Madeleine raised her mug of hot chocolate and spoke before she had the chance. ‘To Charlie, for saving the day. Thanks sis.'

And just like that it was sorted. Charlie would move back to Meadow Brook for as long as it took to sell the motel, Lucinda would go home to teaching and to Joe, Madeleine would continue the important task of bringing babies into the world and Abigail, well, she'd fly back to London and try to build something from the shattered pieces of her career.

‘Charlie!'

At the sound of her name, Charlie slowed at the entrance to the motel reception. Because she recognised the voice, she turned and smiled. ‘Hey, Mitch.' She waved as he jogged towards her. ‘I've been meaning to call you. Thanks so much for saving Dad's life yesterday.'

He shook her compliment off with a wave, a shake of his head and a change of subject. ‘Is it true what I hear on the bush telegraph? You're coming home?'

‘Good news travels fast,' she said dryly. It was only Boxing Day, not even lunchtime. She'd barely gotten her head around the fact herself.

‘I called to see how Brian was and Abigail told me you were moving back to help with the motel.'

She nodded, not brave enough to say anything for fear whatever she did say would sound bitter. Even though she'd already made the decision to come home, she hadn't liked how the conversation had gone down last night. Lucinda and Madeleine had made superficial remarks about trying to do their bit but Abigail hadn't even bothered. What would they have done if it was only the three of them? If they didn't have a sister with such an unimportant life that she could drop everything so that they didn't have to?

Mitch reached out and put his hand on her arm. ‘Are you okay with this?'

A lump formed in her throat. He was the only one who wanted to know how she really felt. The only person who didn't take it for granted that Charlie would do whatever they needed her to do. ‘Yes. It's easier for me to come home and I want to be here for Dad.' At least that last bit was true.

‘Well, I think it's great.' He grinned down at her. ‘I can't wait to have my best mate back in town. Movie nights, pool at the pub, drag races down the main street …'

She laughed, her head filling with memories of the crazy things they'd done together when they were younger. Hanging out with Mitch would be one of the positives about being back in Meadow Brook. Growing up, she'd always thought this would be her home forever but when Mitch had gotten serious with a local farmer's daughter named Lara Coates, Charlie had been like a third wheel. The coupling had changed the dynamics in their friendship and she'd found herself at home alone of an evening far more often than she'd liked.

Madeleine had been living in Melbourne by then and after visiting her for a weekend and falling in love with the eclectic city, Charlie decided maybe she should try something new as well. Broaden her horizons so to speak. If she stayed in Meadow Brook, she'd likely work in the motel with her parents until retirement. What kind of a life was that?

She'd gone home and announced that she was moving to Melbourne. That was seven years ago and although Mitch and Lara had lasted less than a year, Charlie had never regretted the decision to spread her wings. She felt like her own person in Melbourne, whereas in Meadow Brook she'd always felt overshadowed by her more ambitious sisters.

‘So what's the plan? Do you need to sort some things out in Melbourne first?' Mitch asked.

‘Yes. I need to book a flight and get one of my sisters to drive me to Adelaide so I can organise everything.' The sooner the better—the other three could handle the motel duties for the next few days because before long it would be all down to Charlie.

‘I'll drive you.'

She blinked at Mitch's offer. ‘Thanks, that'd be great. Will you be able to get a few hours off work?' She'd much prefer to share the three-hour drive to Adelaide Airport with Mitch than any one of her sisters, none of whom were her favourite people at the moment.

‘No, I meant I'll drive you to Melbourne. We can take my ute or borrow one of the trucks from work if you think we'll need it. But you'll be able to bring more home this way.'

‘Really? You have time to do that?'

‘Charlie.' He gave her a mock-stern look. ‘I'll make time for you.'

‘Well, if you're sure.' She bit her lip a moment, thinking. ‘I haven't got that much furniture and what I have I was going to put in storage, so the ute would be perfect.'

He grinned again. ‘In that case … when do we leave?'

‘How's tomorrow?'

Madeleine collected Dad from hospital the day after Boxing Day and brought him home just in time to wave Mitch and Charlie off on their trip to Melbourne. Lucinda hung back as Abigail and Madeleine hugged and kissed Charlie goodbye, thanking her profusely for what she was doing.

‘This is ridiculous. You girls don't need to put your life on hold for me,' Dad grumbled as Mitch's ute faded into the distance.

‘No arguments, Dad,' Lucinda said. Knowing their father, he wouldn't take kindly to relaxing but she intended to make sure he did.

‘Doctor's orders,' Madeleine barked, before she and Abigail headed off on what was becoming their daily run. They were leaving in a few days' time and then it would be up to Lucinda to help with the running of the motel and to make sure Dad didn't overdo it until Charlie returned and Mrs Sampson was back from her much-needed break.

She didn't mind. In fact she embraced the thought of being so busy—cooking, cleaning, doing whatever else needed to be done—that she wouldn't have too much time to think. For the last two nights, sleep had been near on impossible and not only because she was worrying about Dad.

She hadn't said anything to her sisters because making arrangements for him and the motel had become everyone's priority, and there hadn't been time for anything else. Besides, they all thought it was a bit of a joke. As would Joe when—or rather
if
—she told him.

But she couldn't stop wondering … What if the curse
was
real?

Chapter Nine

As Charlie and Mitch drove away from her family, she didn't look back. The ute was loaded with an esky full of drinks and snacks packed by Lucinda, much of which consisted of leftovers from their ill-fated Christmas lunch.

‘She'll make someone a good mum one day,' Mitch said, one hand on the steering wheel, the other wrapped around a roast turkey sandwich as he navigated out of town.

‘She hopes so,' Charlie replied, not yet hungry enough to eat the salad sandwich packed for her. ‘But apparently she and Joe have been trying for a while and nothing's happened yet. I think she's freaked about the curse.'

‘Huh? What's the curse got to do with babies?'

‘Oh God, with the dramas about Dad I forgot to tell you.' Charlie settled into her seat and as they started on the road to Port Augusta, she told Mitch what they'd uncovered.

‘Surely Lucinda doesn't believe that nonsense,' Mitch exclaimed.

Charlie shrugged. ‘We haven't had the chance to discuss it much but she got really upset at the hospital when Abigail told us what Mags said. She thinks it might be the reason for her difficulties conceiving.'

‘Do you think there's anything in it?' he asked

‘Who knows? As I said a few nights ago, I don't know much about curses but I do believe in the power of the mind.'

‘Well, that old lady has certainly always given me the heebie-jeebies. Remind me to stay well clear of her from now on.'

Charlie grinned at Mitch's words and then yawned, the physical and emotional upheaval of the past few days finally taking its toll.

‘Why don't you try and get some rest?' he said. ‘You can lean the seat back a bit and I've got an old cushion—promise it's clean—under the seat.'