LAURA could feel the vibrancy in Sarah the minute she swept through the door. Sarah looked on top of the world, beautifully strong and womanly. She even moved as if beautiful music was going on in her head. Music she could dance to.
“Gosh, you look happy!” Laura could see Sarah was excited. Colour spread over her high cheekbones. Her dark eyes glittered.
Sarah turned to beam at her. “I’m like a new woman. Full of wonder and delight.”
“That’s lovely,” Laura’s voice was gentle. She was moved by such happiness. “How nice of you to find the time to call.”
Sarah dropped her shoulder bag onto an empty hook on the hall stand. “I wish I could have come sooner, but so much has been happening. You’ll be amazed. I’m still in a state of shock and euphoria.”
“So tell me,” Laura invited, quickly leading the way into the parlour.
“First I want to see what you’ve done here.” Sarah glanced around with genuine admiration. “You are a homemaker.” Laura had accomplished a great deal without obvious expense. She had used a light palette of colours and a mix of furnishings and had managed to make them harmonious. “You’ve made it very comfortable and attractive, Laura. I’m so pleased for you.”
“These are the chairs I told you about. A house-warming gift from Evan. Do you like them?” Laura inclined her head towards the front window, where two light-grained polished wood chairs flanked a small circular table.
“I do, indeed.” Sarah moved to take a closer look.
“They add a touch of class, don’t you think?”
“As does Evan.” Sarah laughed. “He certainly is multi-talented. He’s a fine musician too, did he tell you?”
“Cello,” Laura confirmed. “His mother taught him when he was a boy. I have an idea she’s well known, but he didn’t want to be drawn.”
“That’s Evan.” Sarah shrugged, sinking into one of the comfortable armchairs. “How’s the friendship progressing?”
“Time will tell.” Laura smiled. “He may tire of being a Good Samaritan, but I’m revelling in having him next door. There’s nothing he can’t fix. Colin used to call in a professional to change the halogen lights. I have to say the ceilings were very high, but I can’t imagine Evan doing any such thing.”
“No.” Sarah grinned. “He certainly exudes competence. There’s a lot of emotion behind those dark eyes, don’t you think?”
“A lot of strength and a love of beauty,” Laura finished off. “I’ve decided he’s a man of strong passions but they’re clamped down tight.”
“That makes sense when one is trying to get one’s life back together. Kyall thinks Evan’s a man who has removed himself from some crisis situation. We’d all like to know what, but Evan’s not talking. I suppose he will when he’s ready. The Outback isn’t his world.”
“It’s offering him solace,” Laura offered. “Like me.”
“I’m pleased to say you’ve lost that look of stress,” Sarah approved. In fact, Laura looked glowing.
“I do feel better. More relaxed. It’s comforting to know Evan Thompson is right next door. All six-four of him. He’s taken on the role of big brother.”
“Does that bother you?”
“No. It’s a bit of a game we’re playing. He doesn’t want to see me as a woman; he prefers to see me as a mixed-up teenager. Fewer complications.”
“You still haven’t been able to approach the subject of Colin?” Sarah watched Laura as a friend and as a doctor.
“I’ve answered quite a few of Evan’s questions, but no. My spirit is healing, especially when I look up at the Outback stars at night. the sheer numbers, the brilliance and the closeness. I don’t want thoughts of Colin to slow the process. As for Evan, I have to think he’s very much at home interviewing people.”
“A Pulitzer Prize winner?” Sarah suggested with a smile.
“It wouldn’t surprise me. It wouldn’t surprise me either to find out his name is something quite different from Thompson.”
“I suppose if he doesn’t tell us one day we’ll stumble on his identity,” Sarah said. “One thing we can be sure of—he’s a man of integrity. One recognizes the quality right off.”
“You look so happy, Sarah.” Laura was struck by her friend’s incandescence. “Radiant would have to say it. And Kyall mirrors your happiness. I’m so glad for you both.’ She remembered her manners. “Could I get you something?” She half rose in anticipation. “Tea, coffee, a cold drink?”
“No, thanks, Laura.” Sarah waved her back into her chair.” Kyall and I have many things to attend to. A trip to Wunnamurra is first on the agenda. I can’t stay long but I wanted you to hear my news, then I’m off. It will all be public soon enough.”
“Okay, I’m all ears.” Laura leaned forward, feeling a tremendous sense of kinship with this beautiful woman.
“It’s altered everything—our whole lives, our plans—but we’re thrilled about it.” Sarah’s expression was exalted.
“So tell me?” Laura pleaded. “I can’t stand the suspense. I recognized something wonderful had happened to you the moment you danced through the door.”
“That’s it! I feel like I’m walking on air. Do you believe in God?” she asked Laura, very earnestly.
“I do.”
“So do I now. I wasn’t sure. You’re going to be stunned.”
“If it makes you look this good, stun away.”
Even then Laura couldn’t begin to take in the story Sarah began to unfold.
In the quietness of the afternoon Sarah told of the close childhood bond between her and Kyall McQueen, of the opposition from Kyall’s family, most significantly Kyall’s grandmother, Ruth McQueen, the family matriarch. The result of that intense relationship—an unplanned pregnancy when she was still at school.
Before Laura could recover, Sarah swept on. “Needless to say Ruth was beside herself with anger and outrage. I wasn’t going to be allowed to ruin Kyall’s life. I understood that. My own life would be for ever changed, but Ruth had no concern about that. I was so young. Mum and I didn’t have much, only each other. I was terrified that what Ruth was saying was the truth. The McQueens have always been regarded as very special people. They practically own the town. My father—he died early—used to work on the station as a shearer. There was no question of a serious relationship, let alone a match.”
“So what happened?” Laura was finding it unbelievable that the serene, composed Sarah had been caught up in such drama.
“Ruth bundled me off to a little coastal town to wait for the birth. She wanted me to have an abortion, but I refused. When the shock of finding I was pregnant settled, I wanted my baby. I held her for a few minutes after she was born. She was perfect. Ruth told me the next morning my baby had died.”
“Ah, Sarah!” Laura felt the shock right through her system.
“But she didn’t die,” Sarah told her friend quickly, seeing the stricken expression on Laura’s sensitive face. “Ruth McQueen deceived me. She deceived my mother. Kyall was never told.”
“But that’s monstrous!” Laura understood instantly. “It puts my story into perspective. You must hate her? To do something like that— But how?”
“Cold-bloodedly and without a moment’s thought for what her actions were going to do to me. My baby was exchanged with an infant who did die of respiratory problems. Ruth paid a nurse to make the change.”
“Sarah, what can I say? I can scarcely believe this.”
“It’s all true.” Sarah gave a short laugh. “It could easily have remained true, only for the grace of God. Kyall and I have only now discovered our daughter. As fate would have it she’s staying on a schoolfriend’s property for the holidays. I was called to a very serious accident on the property that turned out to be fatal. Kyall and I went back to the homestead for a cup of tea, and our daughter walked into our lives. Living proof after years of hell.”
“But how did you know?” Laura’s voice reflected her stunned emotions.
“Laura, she’s the image of me,” Sarah said simply. “The woman who took her home and reared her, very successfully, is the same woman who was in the small maternity hospital with me. I’ve never forgotten her name. Stella. Stella Hazelton. It was Stella’s little baby who died. But Fiona’s our daughter, Laura. We want her.”
“Of course you do.” Laura’s reaction was strong. “It’s so sad, though. It will involve—”
“Pain for the ‘parents’ who reared her?” Sarah spoke out as Laura hesitated. “That’s the hard part. The Hazeltons did a fine job. For that we’ll be everlastingly grateful. Fiona has been very loved and Fiona loves them. Why wouldn’t she? Her parentage was never in question. Until now. Fiona is our daughter. Kyall’s and mine. We missed the first fifteen years of her life, irreplaceable years, but we’re not missing the rest. Between us all we came to a decision Fiona should come to us, her true parents. That will happen when she’s ready to make the adjustment. Oh, Laura, she’s perfectly beautiful.” Sarah’s velvet-brown eyes filled with emotional tears.
“If she’s like you she must be.” Laura leaned over and squeezed Sarah’s hand. “This is a truly amazing story.”
“In confidence, for the moment.”
“Of course. I won’t breathe a word.”
“It will get around soon enough. Harriet knows. I never did feel in my deepest being my baby had died.”
“And Kyall? You never told him?”
“I know what you’re thinking. He should have been told.” Sarah’s eyes darkened.
“I’m making no judgements, Sarah,” Laura answered at once. “I don’t know the circumstances but I do know you must have been subjected to tremendous emotional stress. You thought you’d lost a child. The greatest grief a woman can suffer.”
Sarah’s golden head was downbent. “The shock has been greatest for Kyall. I’ve lived with the loss of my baby for half my lifetime. Kyall never knew he had a child. I thought I was sparing him the agony. That’s my only explanation. He took it very hard. I don’t think he’ll ever get over it—except we have our daughter.”
“But what of his grandmother? Are you going to confront her?”
“This very day.” Sarah’s musical voice turned uncharacteristically harsh.
“Oh, Sarah! It will be a ghastly business.”
“I’m sure. But Judgement Day is at hand for Ruth McQueen. Kyall has been very close to her all his life. He’s the one person in the world Ruth loves. All the rest are peripheral figures. But there are different kinds of loving.”
To men like Colin it meant possession, Laura thought. Ownership of a woman’s body and mind.
“Ruth’s brand of loving is destructive,” Sarah said. “While she proclaimed her great love of her grandson she robbed him of his child. She feels no remorse. That’s the sort of woman she is.”
Laura had to look away. “How very strange.”
“Strange doesn’t say it, Laura. When Ruth McQueen is crossed she becomes a devil.”
Laura had some experience of devils.
It had taken many years for Sarah to deal with her traumas. By the grace of God they were in the past. Now it’s my turn, Laura thought. If Sarah could live with the hell of a lost child, survive and become a fine doctor, surely she could change the terrible mess she had made of her life by marrying Colin.
One didn’t become strong overnight, not after all the awful fear she’d been living with, but there was some magic about this town. The very sunlight had healing power. The friendliness of its people. A woman like Sarah. Evan. She had come to depend on his friendship. Since coming to Koomera Crossing her life had irrevocably changed course.