Twenty-six

Hayley read over Del’s proposal and was impressed by how thorough it was, not to mention how successful her reception centre was. During the spring and summer months the place was booked solid. Winter was a little quieter but autumn wasn’t too far behind. People, it seemed, loved a rustic wedding.

The more she thought about it, the more Hayley was excited by the prospect of adding accommodation to the place. It would be included in any packages Del sold to her wedding clients, but it would also draw in other tourists: the daytrippers who decided to stay overnight, the city folk who were looking for a short getaway not too far from the city, for a romantic weekend perhaps, or maybe she could even advertise it as a retreat for writers.

She had enough to pay for the renovations, thanks to her latest royalty cheque and her investments, so money wasn’t a real issue, but it would mean she’d be running a business as well as writing, so effectively she’d be juggling two careers.

After two days of deliberating, Hayley knew she couldn’t turn the opportunity down. She called Del and invited her over for coffee and then called Jason to tell him she wanted to go ahead with the project. This was good, she thought firmly that evening as she got up from the sofa to go to bed. The busier she kept, the less time she had to dwell on anything else, and that included Luke Mason.

She’d spent the last few days moping and had had to give herself a mental shake. There was nothing to mope about—she and Luke had barely even had a relationship to end, and yet she here she was burying her misery in front of the television, alone with her four cats, watching sad movies and eating ice cream. But it could have been something, a little niggle reminded her. Maybe. But then she’d revealed her crazy attachment issues to a guy who’d been dead a couple of centuries, oh, and who also happened to be his ancestor. Not to mention she’d been an eyewitness to a double murder that history had apparently gotten wrong. Oh lord, she groaned, no wonder the guy didn’t want to be around her…she sounded like a fruit loop.

Grabbing the remote, she switched the television off, gathered the now empty container of ice cream and sidestepped playful kitten paws reaching out for her. A relationship was the last thing she wanted right now. She had her career to focus on and a host of exciting new business opportunities. She didn’t need a man.

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Luke knew it was going to be a crap day when he spilled his first cup of coffee all over his kitchen table and then couldn’t find one of his boots because his father’s new cattle dog pup had obviously been doing the rounds again and decided to carry it off somewhere. All before six in the morning.

The main house was a flurry of chaos with the wedding of his mother’s big client about to unfold, and as Luke walked inside he found Del in her usual work-focused zone. She could never think about anything else on wedding days, so there was no point even attempting a conversation with her.

‘Dad, you need to do something about that pup. It’s been taking off with shoes again.’

‘Well put your shoes away,’ he said without looking up from the newspaper at the table.

‘I thought you were training it.’

‘I am. He’s a smart one that little fella. He’s gonna be even better than his great-grandfather, Ironbark Jim,’ his father boasted, and Luke tried not to groan out loud. He was in no mood to hear the legend of Ironbark Jim, the best stud cattle dog ever known to mankind.

‘Yeah, well keep him locked up at night, I’m sick of buyin’ new boots.’

His father opened his mouth to protest but was interrupted by the ringing of the house phone. He flicked his paper with an insulted glare and went back to reading.

‘No, really, don’t get up. I’ll get it,’ Luke muttered, stalking towards the phone on the kitchen counter, snatching it from its cradle and saying a curt, ‘Lochmanning Estate.’ His irritated scowl slowly transformed into something worse as he listened to the speaker on the other end of the line. ‘Yeah, no worries. I’ll send someone down there to let you in.’

Luke let out a short sharp curse and his father frowned as he looked up from the paper once more. ‘Who was that?’

‘You need to head down to the front gate and let in the auditor.’

‘The what?’

‘They’re doing an audit drop-in. Checking that we’ve complied with the biosecurity regulations.’

‘Tell ’em to piss off,’ his father muttered.

‘Yeah, that’d go down real well,’ Luke said, running a hand through his hair. ‘Dad, this is serious. You need to go let him in. I have to find the bio plan files and finish them before he gets up here.’

‘He can wait till I’ve finished my cuppa.’

‘Dad!’ Luke yelled.

‘Well, he shoulda made an appointment if he wants us to jump when he flamin’ says so.’

‘The whole point of a surprise audit is that they turn up unexpectedly. To make sure we’re complying with the rules.’

‘And we are. They wanted a lock on the entry gate. We put a lock on the entry gate. Now they can’t get in till we decide to unlock it,’ his father said with a smug smile. ‘Let ’em wait.’

Luke didn’t have time to argue with him, he still had to finish filling out the last of the report and he needed every second he could get. Eventually he heard his father’s ute start up and head down the driveway as his fingers fumbled across the keyboard entering in the information required.

He’d just hit print when he heard the sound of vehicles coming towards the house. He grabbed the sheets of paper and shoved them into a folder, just as he heard heavy footsteps out on the verandah.

He walked out, a friendly smile plastered across his face, and extended a hand to the small man in a very large hat, who was looking more than a little out of sorts.

‘Luke Mason, how are ya, mate.’

‘Brian Morrison,’ he said briskly.

‘You want a cuppa?’ Luke asked, wishing his mother wasn’t so preoccupied—she always knew how to smooth over ruffled feathers.

‘No, thank you, I’ll just go about my inspection and be on my way.’

‘Okay. Well, here’s our biosecurity plan.’

‘Right, I’ll look this over. In the meantime, I’ll need to have a look around, check your washing bay area and make sure stock can’t access sheds, take a look at your dump site and check your chemical storage, then check it all off against your records,’ he said, holding up the file Luke had just given him.

‘Tell you what,’ Patrick said, grabbing Luke’s ute keys off the hook, ‘I’ll even come with you. Now that I’ve got one of you blokes here, face to face, there’s a few things I want to discuss with you.’

‘I’m not sure—’ the man started, but Patrick just took his elbow and pushed him towards the door.

‘There’s no point wasting all that time we’d have to take washing down your vehicle, is there? You would be washing down your vehicle, wouldn’t you?’ Patrick asked pointedly.

‘Well, of course,’ the man stammered.

‘That’s what I thought,’ Patrick nodded, and continued walking, ‘so we may as well take the work ute. Makes much more sense, doesn’t it, Brian?’

Luke was feeling just as apprehensive as poor old Brian was looking. Christ, his father alone with the bloke doing his audit—what could possibly go wrong? There was nothing he could do about it now, he thought as he headed outside to make sure everything was up to code that Brian might check.

He was heading towards the bar to find Grant and let him know about the audit but turned as he heard his mother calling, waving frantically as she ran towards him. What now?

‘Luke, it’s a disaster,’ his mother started.

‘Mum, calm down. What is?’

‘The gate. It’s locked.’

‘Dad unlocked it,’ Luke said, frowning.

‘Then relocked it, apparently. I just had a call from the bride and her family. They’re waiting to be let in. I can’t find the key.’

Luke swore beneath his breath but it still earned him a look from his mother. ‘Okay, I’ll look for the keys.’ It really hadn’t been a challenge to the universe when he’d asked how much worse today could get.

He followed his mother back to the house and headed for the key rack, not seeing the set marked front gate hanging in its usual spot. ‘There’s a set in the office,’ he said, leaving his mother, who had begun doing some deep breathing techniques. He pulled open the desk drawer and rummaged through the spare keys he kept there, but came up empty. ‘Damn it.’

His mother gave a small whimper when she saw he’d returned empty-handed. ‘Don’t panic,’ he soothed.

‘I have wedding guests, Luke, waiting to come in and set up for the biggest wedding I’ve ever hosted,’ she said, pacing the room. ‘Where’s your keys?’

‘In the ute that Dad took,’ he added pointedly.

‘Well, then, where’s your father’s set?’

‘Probably in his damn pocket. When does he ever hang them where they’re supposed to be?’

‘My car’s in at the mechanics…I’ll race over and get Grant’s set,’ Del said, turning to leave, then stopping, putting a hand to her head. ‘Olivia’s gone into town,’ she groaned. ‘My guests! What am I supposed to tell them? They barely even speak English. How am I going to explain this?’

‘I’m calling Dad,’ Luke said, already scrolling to his father’s number. ‘I’ll get him to drop them back.’ The call went straight to message bank and he briefly shut his eyes, opening them again in shock when he heard his mother let out a curse. This was serious. His mother never swore.

‘I’ll drive out and find Dad and get the keys off him. You head down to the front gate and let them know I’m on my way.’

‘I’ll take refreshments,’ she said, holding her finger up as inspiration struck.

By the time Luke had located his father and retrieved the keys, the sun was already high in the sky and the temperature was soaring. As he got closer to the front gate, he lifted his sunglasses to peer at the scene before him, unsure what he was seeing.

‘Luke! Thank God you’re here,’ his mother said, rushing towards him in a fluster.

‘What the hell?’ he said, climbing out of the car and staring at the scene before him in amazement.

A well-dressed woman, who he took a guess as being the mother of the bride, was straddling the top of the gate, clinging onto the top bar tightly and yelling down to her husband below in a string of Chinese that more than likely contained a great deal of abusive language if her unhappy expression was anything to go by.

‘What the hell is she doing up there?’ Luke asked.

‘I tried to explain that you were coming with the key and we had to wait, but then the father of the bride started climbing the fence, and while I was trying to get him to stop, he called his wife over, and well…’ Del placed her hands against her cheeks, ‘something was lost in translation, apparently.’

Luke gave a harsh chuckle. Ya think?

‘It’s not funny, Luke. She’s stuck. I think her dress is caught. I don’t know why he won’t go back up and help her, all he’s doing is yelling at her and she’s got herself worked into such a state. Help her, Luke,’ she said, urging him forward.

Luke gave a sigh as he approached the couple, speaking slowly and calmly in an attempt to sort out the situation. ‘I’m going to go up there and try to untangle your wife,’ he told the older man, before finding a foothold in the gate and hoisting himself up. Of course his mother had insisted on installing the most elaborate set of iron-forged entrance gates known to mankind. ‘It’s all about the first impression,’ he’d heard her say a hundred times in defence of the astronomical cost of having them installed. She couldn’t have a set of farm gates like everyone else in the district, could she? Luke thought as he climbed up level with the woman.

Taking a good look, he summed up the situation. ‘Yep, she’s stuck,’ he called down to his mother. ‘I’m going to have to try to unhook your dress,’ he said, but the woman made no indication that she understood. She just continued to stare at him, wide-eyed and terrified. He awkwardly reached around her to try to dislodge the material where it had been caught up on one of the steel spikes. He really hoped the guy on the ground couldn’t fight—feeling around under someone’s wife’s dress was likely to be frowned upon in any culture. Why the hell had they tried to climb the gate in the first place?

He finally managed to unsnag the dress and slowly guided the woman down the other side. Once on the ground, he took out the key and unlocked the gate, stepping aside so the unhappy couple could hurry back to their vehicle.

His mother was in frantic talks with a distraught bride-to-be, who thankfully hadn’t made the decision to go gate climbing, and after a few minutes she seemed to have calmed down, walking back to her parents and relaying whatever message his mother had given her.

‘They right?’ Luke asked, coming to stand beside his mother.

‘I don’t know. They’re very upset. The father wanted to call off the wedding. I’m hoping his daughter can talk him around. What a mess,’ Del sighed, before looking up at him and summoning a weak smile. ‘Thank you, darling. You saved the day.’

‘That’s me. Farmer, son, hero,’ he shrugged. ‘You want me to hang around here with you?’

‘No, it’s all right. I better go into damage control. You go on and do what you need to do,’ she said, patting his arm and walking towards the car in the driveway with a charming smile.

Later when Brian Morrison came back, Luke held his breath as he handed over a checklist with only a few minor things that would need attending to before the next inspection, then wasted no time beating a hasty retreat.

‘What did you do to him?’ Luke asked warily as his father came to stand beside him, watching the auditor drive away.

‘We just had a bit of a chat. He explained a few things to me, I asked a few questions. He’s not a bad bloke really. I think we both got something out of the experience,’ Patrick said with a decisive nod.

Luke could only stare in wonder. Still, maybe there was method in his madness. If it had made the auditor want to get the inspection over with as quickly as possible then who was he to argue? ‘Good work, Dad,’ he said, slapping him on the shoulder as he turned away.

Now maybe he could finally start the jobs he was supposed to be doing. God, he hoped the rest of the day involved a little less drama. He wasn’t sure he could cope with much more.