Nate walked into the main house and was greeted by the familiar scene of his family’s morning routine. As always his mum was flitting around the kitchen getting breakfast ready with one of the twins in her wake.
She smiled as he stepped into the kitchen. ‘Morning darling, how are you?’
Nate walked over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. ‘Fine, how are you going?’
‘Running a little late but other than that I’m okay. Now, would you like some breakfast?’
Nate looked over and saw eggs and bacon and French toast. He’d already had a bowl of cereal but the aroma was just too much to resist.
‘I won’t say no,’ he answered with a smile. ‘If there’s enough.’
She patted his arm. ‘Of course there is. Sit down and I’ll grab you some.’
‘I can do it,’ Nate said as he took a step towards the stove.
‘No, no, sit down,’ his mother assured him.
His father glanced up from his newspaper as Nate pulled out the nearest chair.
‘Where were you yesterday afternoon? Did you forget that the Turners were bringing two horses to be stabled?’
‘Of course I didn’t forget. I got the two stalls cleaned and ready before I left,’ Nate said as he reached for the jug of orange juice in the middle of the table. ‘I figured you would have seen that.’
His father studied him for a moment before continuing. ‘I did.’
Nate sighed. ‘So, what’s the problem, then?’
‘The problem is that we advertise this place as a family-run establishment. The Turners expected to see you when they dropped the horses off.’
Nate sat back in his chair. ‘Yeah, right, do you mean the Turners or their brat of a daughter, Penelope?’
Em giggled from somewhere behind the kitchen bench.
‘That’s no way to talk about our customers,’ his father said firmly.
‘Oh, come on, Dad. Mr Turner couldn’t give a damn if I was there or not—this is all about Penny,’ Nate said with an air of exasperation. ‘She’s a spoiled brat who has a thing for me. I’ve never encouraged her.’
‘You could do worse,’ his father replied. ‘The Turners aren’t short of a penny and they seem to like you.’
‘So, am I meant to marry them or Penny? Seriously, Dad, you sound like someone out of the Dark Ages.’
‘Look, all I’m saying—’ Sam began but Jackie broke in.
‘Sam, Nate’s not interested. Penny is a nice girl but she can be difficult at times—you know that,’ she said.
‘That’s an understatement,’ Lia mumbled beneath her breath, but it was loud enough for her father to give her a look. ‘She’s totally up herself and a pain in the arse. Look how she carries on at every horse show—like she’s the only one who can ride a horse.’
‘Lia!’ her mother admonished. ‘Is that how we speak about people?’
Lia wrinkled her nose and pursed her lips. ‘I’m just being honest, Mum. You might think she’s nice but she isn’t. Em and I are friends with her little sister, Bethany, and she’s just awful to her.’
‘It’s true, Mum. She is pretty terrible,’ Em added. ‘And according to Bethany, Penny has wanted Nate for years. She’s always talking about him and Bethany reckons she’ll do anything to get him.’
‘Aw, cut it out, Em—you’re making me feel like some sort of hunted animal,’ Nate said with a laugh. ‘I think I can take care of myself.’
‘Yeah, well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.’
Sam set aside his newspaper. ‘You still haven’t said where you were?’
Nate took a deep breath. ‘I was helping Berry paint.’
‘Oh, right,’ his father said. ‘Because spending time with her is more important than being present in the family business.’
Nate bristled at his father’s tone and implication, but before he could respond, his mum chirped in.
‘I’m so glad they’re going to keep the farm.’
Sam stared at his wife. ‘What?’
‘They’re going to keep Stone Gully Farm. I stopped at the servo on the way to pick up the girls from netball—Ken told me,’ she explained.
Sam frowned. ‘How the hell would Ken know?’
Jackie shrugged. ‘I don’t know—I guess he heard it from someone.’
‘Probably just a baseless rumour,’ her husband said as he picked up his coffee cup.
‘It’s not,’ Nate said. ‘Berry and her family are keeping the place. They decided the other day.’
‘And you’re only telling us now?’ Sam said.
‘She only told me yesterday. I didn’t think it was a big deal. I’m happy with the decision—it means that Berry has a reason to keep coming back to Harlington.’
His father studied him for a moment and then slowly nodded. ‘Ah, I see. You like this girl, don’t you?’
All of a sudden Nate felt the need to inspect his glass of juice more intently and the sound of both his sisters sniggering didn’t help.
‘I get it now—that’s why you’re not interested in the Turner girl,’ Sam replied as if he’d just uncovered a great mystery. ‘Well, you might have said something earlier.’
Nate glanced at his sisters and saw that he’d get no help from them at all. He sighed and put his glass down. He might as well own it.
‘Yeah, I do like Berry. Is that a problem?’
‘No, it’s your life—it’s got nothing to do with me,’ his father answered.
Nate heard the words but doubted their sincerity. If there was one thing he knew about his father, it was that he needed to control Tarantale Downs and everyone in it. For a second he held his breath and waited for him to say something else; probably about how rich Penny Turner’s family was. Or that there wasn’t any scandal attached to them, unlike the McCalisters. He waited but the words didn’t come, which was even more perplexing.
‘So, are you seeing her today?’ his mum asked as she handed him a plate full of food.
‘Yeah, I’ll head over there later,’ he said. ‘Thanks, Mum.’ She placed her hand on his shoulder. ‘I know it sounds like we’re prying—we don’t mean to, sweetheart. I just want you to be happy,’ she said before walking back towards the stove.
He glanced back to his father only to see that he’d picked up the paper again and was immersed in it. With another barely audible sigh, Nate started eating.
Berry yawned as she looked over the paddocks. She’d stayed up too late going through her father’s paperwork, but as drained as she was she could sense spring in the air.
As she stared across the rolling hills, she could almost see a little boy running through the paddock towards the bush. She smiled—she was being fanciful, but the story she’d read last night kept playing on her mind. It was silly, really, she knew that the little boy had lived through his ordeal and gone on to have a long life—Young Ned was testament to that. But the thought of the little kid being out there in the bush all alone pulled at her heartstrings.
However, the one question she wasn’t any closer to answering was why her father was so interested in this story.
The contractors had already been hard at work by the time she arrived. She was off to a late start and there was an entire house to paint, but Berry was finding it difficult to work up the energy just to walk into the house. She looked down at her watch and saw that it was already ten-thirty. Her grandma would say the morning was nearly over, and that’s kind of how Berry felt.
She yawned again as she stretched her arms over her head. Staring off across the paddocks or mentally painting the walls wasn’t going to get her anywhere. Using up a considerable amount of willpower, Berry headed towards the house and hoped that Nate would turn up and save her.
She wasn’t disappointed, because not long after lunch Nate arrived with coffee. For a second Berry wasn’t sure if she was more excited to see him or the steaming cup of coffee—nah, it was him.
‘Hey, I thought you might need this,’ he said as he strolled into the newly painted room.
Berry grinned as she reached out and took the coffee. ‘You have no idea.’
‘So, it looks as if it’s coming together,’ Nate said as he surveyed the paint job.
‘Yeah, I’m really happy with it, and thanks for helping out yesterday. One room down and only … well, the rest of the house to go.’
‘Well, I guess I’d better get on with it, then,’ Nate said as he walked over and snatched up a brush. ‘Where do you want me?’
It was an innocent enough question, but all of a sudden Berry found the room a little warm. ‘Um, well, I guess we just have to finish around the door and then move on to the next room.’
‘Right, I’m on it,’ Nate said.
‘Nate, do you know much about that story Young Ned was telling us in the pub? You know, the one about his grandfather?’ Berry asked.
Nate laughed. ‘That’s the only story he tells once he’s got a couple of pints in him.’
‘Really?’
‘Yep, the old guy is fixated on what happened. I get it, but sometimes I think that he tends to live in the past rather than the here and now. Look, I could be wrong but Ned is desperate to convince everyone that the story about the gold is true.’
‘And it isn’t?’
‘I can’t say either way. I guess there’s a grain of truth in it. I mean, the little kid did go missing, but as to finding Harlington gold, I not so sure about that,’ Nate said with a shrug.
‘What makes you think he didn’t find it?’ Berry asked.
‘I guess if it were true, someone would have found it by now. Have you read any of the reports about what happened?’
‘I have. From what I can gather, the kid wandered off from home and there was a big search party formed to find him—and it took two days before they actually did.’
‘Hmm, not quite. According to the accounts I’ve heard, most of the people in the party were really worried that they hadn’t found him by dark. He was only six or something. I guess they were lucky it was summer and the nights were warm, but still you could only imagine all the terrible things that could have happened. You’re right about the search party but they never found him,’ Nate replied.
‘What? I mean, what happened to him?’
‘Apparently, Little Neddy managed to get almost home on his own. He ran into the search party not far from his own gate. And that’s where the story about the gold first appears and is a bit sketchy.’
Berry put down her paintbrush. ‘Why’s that?’
‘Because the kid told everyone about the gold he’d seen, but couldn’t tell anyone where it was. My favourite bit about the whole story is when they asked him how he found the gold, he said that the rabbit showed him,’ Nate said with a grin. ‘I mean, surely that’s enough for most adults to realise that the kid made the story up.’
Berry paused for a moment in thought. For reasons she couldn’t explain she felt compelled to defend the boy. ‘That’s a bit harsh, isn’t it? I mean, the poor little thing was lost for two days. I’d find it hard to believe he’d make up a story just to trick people.’
‘Okay, you’re right,’ Nate conceded. ‘I don’t think he did anything malicious. Maybe he saw something and took it the wrong way, or hell, maybe he dreamed it. Anyway, after the story came out there was a rush to go and find the gold. According to legend—or, more importantly, editorials in the local paper—half the town went gold mad. They scourged the area from the hills behind Sunlight Flat to Patterson’s Gorge and everything in between.’
‘And no one found anything, right?’ Berry asked.
‘That’s right—not a seam or a nugget or even a damn speck. This entire area was meant to be goldmining country; back in the 1850s, there was a gold rush and towns were founded and then prospered because of it. Castlemaine was one of the epicentres and that’s not too far away from us, but Harlington hasn’t been blessed with even a pinch of gold dust,’ Nate said.
‘So, if there was gold out there, you’d think someone would have found it by now,’ Berry said as she settled down next to the paint tin and reached for her coffee.
‘Exactly. People didn’t stop looking once the story died down. We’ve had prospectors here, both local and blow-ins, all searching for Harlington’s gold on and off for years. Every now and again if the story is mentioned or gets a bit of exposure, there’ll be another wave of gold hunters turn up with their metal detectors.’
‘Annoying?’ Berry said.
Nate gave a shrug. ‘Oh, I don’t know. It usually doesn’t last long, and they bring business to the town. The Cumquat fills up, so do the couple of spare rooms at the pub, and the servo and shop get an increase in trade—so it’s not all bad.’
Berry took another sip of her coffee. ‘I suppose we’d better get on with the next room,’ she said with a sigh. ‘Personally, I’d rather sit here, drink coffee and listen to Harlington gossip, but I suppose that won’t get the house painted.’
Nate flashed her a smile. ‘You might be right about that.’
Berry stood up and stretched her arms before glancing back at Nate. ‘So, I have another question for you,’ she said.
‘Oh?’ His eyes lit up with expectation as he turned his head and focused his gaze on her.
Berry paused and teasingly let the moment linger for a second and then another. ‘Do you want to paint the window frame or roll the wall?’ she asked with a grin.