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November was a busy time in New Zealand. It was the last month of spring with warmer weather and longer daylight hours interspersed with occasional cooler weather and, in Auckland, thunderstorms. At Joseph Ward Senior High School, the fifteen to eighteen year-olds had NCEA examinations and in Ava's case, scholarship exams that the more capable students sat.
When she came out from the three-hour physics exam, Jeff waved out and gave a small toot on the Mazda's horn. She turned, smiled and walked towards him. Everything was back to normal between them...well almost normal but the problems, if they could be called that, were in their parents' court. Neither his mum nor her dad had made any mention of where or even if they would move in together but the baby was due before Christmas and Chloe was huge.
"Hi there," Ava said as she jumped in the sports car. "Dad dropped me off so I haven't got my own car. Too hard getting a park."
"How was the exam?"
Ava grimaced. "Pretty straight forward though I think I bumbled on one compulsory question. I'm sure the diagram was wrong."
"So what did you do?"
"Redrew it on my exam paper, noted the errors and answered the question using my corrections."
"Cheeky."
Ava laughed. "So how's Chloe?"
"The police called Mum earlier. There has been no sign of my father over the last ten days and they've upgraded the investigation."
"To what?"
Jeff shrugged. "They call it Disappearance in Suspicious Circumstances. This could be anything from him purposely wanting to disappear to suicide or murder. Apparently though, his passport, credit cards or bank accounts haven't been touched. Nobody has seen him since the night after the court case."
"Not even Nicole who he is living with?"
"No but they've had her in for a long interview. I reckon the cops think she might be involved." He grimaced. "Apparently he was back to his old habits and belted her up a few times."
"Okay but what can we do now? We've got the whole afternoon and neither of us have any exams tomorrow."
When there were no exams to take, the senior students didn't have to attend school.
Jeff grinned. "Want to see the places the court said I now own?"
Ava raised her eyebrows. "Everything's come through?"
"Not really but Mum's lawyer who is also handling my side said I can go ahead and check the places out. My father's disappearance won't alter the ruling except that the time he has to contest it may be extended. Apparently one of the rental firms runs the apartment rentals. They called and want me to call in to sign something so they can continue on. "
"And the house in Mount Albert?"
Jeff pouted. "That's a strange one. There's a woman living there but the rental firm is not handling it. Our lawyer said he'd look into it but Dad's disappearance has held everything up. I thought we could visit the place and check it out ourselves."
"Why not?" Ava said. "But how about some lunch first? I'm starving."
*
THE HOUSE IN MOUNT Albert was in a pleasant street of wooden houses built in the nineteen thirties. A hedge surrounded Jeff's one with the lawns freshly mowed and there was a reasonably modern car parked in the driveway.
"Well, this is it," Jeff said. "What do you think?"
"It's a nice street and the house looks well maintained. The hedge could do with a trim, though."
"Well, shall we call in?"
Ava grinned. "It took us ages to find it so it's a bit silly to just drive off again. Remember, you own the place. With a car in the drive, someone is probably there."
"There is," Jeff said. "Hear the lawnmower in the back yard?"
Ava nodded. "Could be a neighbour's property."
Instead of going to the front door that had a veranda with a couple of deck chairs on it, they walked up the drive and around a modern looking garage attached to the house itself. This was different from the other houses in the street that all had old type garages at the end of concrete driveways that were usually squeezed in between the house and a boundary fence or hedge.
There was a narrow path beside this garage that led to a back yard where the lawnmower noise became louder. Someone was definitely mowing the back lawn. Ava noticed that the garden was well maintained with spring flowers beside the garage and a small well-cared-for vegetable garden. The whole section was typical of thousands of similar ones in suburban Auckland.
They walked around to see an old fashioned rotary clothesline with clothes hanging out to dry while behind it was a woman mowing the lawn. The woman who was facing away from them and dressed in a casual top and shorts was probably in her late twenties. After she turned the lawnmower she noticed them. For a moment she appeared surprised before she stopped the mower and walked towards them.
"Sorry I never heard you. Just mowing the lawn..."
"Looks nice," Ava said when it appeared that Jeff wasn't about to say anything. "I'm Ava and this is Jeff Sutton ..."
"David Sutton's son?" the woman gasped and sort of stepped back before she wiped a hand across the brow and glanced at the ground.
"And you are?" Ava asked.
The woman smiled slightly. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting anyone from his family. I'm Terrie Cox and rent this property from David." She sort of bit on her bottom lip as if nervous but recovered and continued talking. "Come inside and I'll put on the kettle. That last bit of lawn can wait for now and I was about to have a coffee when I finished it, anyway."
"Thanks but there's no need..." Jeff muttered but Ava gave him a discrete dig in the back and smiled at Terri.
"We'd love a cuppa," she interrupted and caught Jeff's eyes. Now why would this woman appear so nervous when Jeff's surname was mentioned? She was also curious to see inside. She continued to chatter about nothing in particular as they walked towards a sliding door at the back of the house. Like the garage, this looked modern compared with the house itself.
When they walked into an open-plan kitchen and living room there was a distinct smell of new paint present.
Terri must have realised Ava could smell the paint for she smile almost nervously. "I've been doing the main bedroom up," she said. "David charges a low rent so I decided to do it myself. He said he'd pay for the paint."
"When was that?" Ava asked.
Terri shrugged. "A couple of weeks I guess. I haven't heard from him for a while."
"So you haven't heard?" Jeff asked.
Terri frowned. "Heard what?"
"He's left town." Ava gave Jeff a sideways glance. "Do you know him well?"
"Quite well. I work as a secretary in the firm where he's manager. He offered to rent this house to anyone on the staff and I jumped at the opportunity. Been here almost a year now." After boiling the kettle and offering them instant coffee, she produced some muffins and invited them to sit around the kitchen table.
Again after a little more small talk she turned to Jeff. "I heard about the court case and that you were granted a third of everything from a family trust. David wasn't pleased."
"And got all moody," Ava pushed.
"He could be at times," Terri admitted but glanced away and changed the topic. "Like to see what I've done to the bedroom? It had ghastly old-fashioned flower wallpaper that would be almost as old as the house itself. This end has been modernised but the front area has hardly changed. I think the bedroom was once the old living room, you know the old style houses that had them for visitors?"
Ava frowned. This Terri could certainly talk but was she trying to cover her nervousness?
She and Jeff followed her into the bedroom. It was tidy and had light cream walls. "Used one of those modern wallpapers that is self-sticking. Yolanda, that's my sister, helped me do it. She's the arty one in our family."
"And new carpet, too?" Ava added. "I like the blue colour."
"Yes, Yolanda picked it." She sort of giggled. "The old one was pretty frayed so we took the chance to do it after the wallpapering. Still need to do the door frames and windows but otherwise it's done, I've been staying with Yolanda while we've been doing it. Lucky I was here doing the lawns otherwise the place would have been empty."
After they walked back into the living area Jeff told her that as far as he was concerned she could remain in the house but he'd probably put the administration in the hands of the property firm that handled his other apartments.
"That were once your father's?" Terri asked.
"Yes, but nothing will be changed until at least the new year. You know how everything to do with court cases and so forth go into recess over Christmas?" Jeff grinned. "Well it's nice meeting you, Terri. You are obviously a very good tenant. We'll let you finish your lawns and rest assured we're not about to toss you out."
Terri nodded and thanked him. She accompanied them to the kerb, made a pleasant remark about his sports car and watched them leave.
"Pleasant person," he said as they headed home.
"But as nervous as hell," Ava said. "As soon as she heard your surname she appeared to be on the defensive and attempted to cover it by talking. And is it a coincidence that she has done the bedroom up?"
"So what do you think about her?"
"I agree that she is probably a pleasant person but did you notice her arms?"
"Didn't really Why?"
"Too busy gazing at her curves were you?"
Jeff flushed. "No, of course not but what were you going to say?"
'They were all bruised. Even her tanned skin didn't hide the bruises. Her neck had a couple of bruises, too."
"Adding up to what?"
"I think she was having an affair with your father and he set this house up for her. What's the bet it is rent free or has a ridiculously low rent?"
"But he's got Nicole?"
"And a mistress on the side," Ava retorted. "Didn't he have them when you were growing up?"
"Probably," Jeff replied. "Mum never said anything but I could ask her."
Ava reached across and squeezed his arm. "No don't. Bringing back bad memories won't help anybody." She grinned out the window. "Haven't you noticed how contented both she and my dad are? I think they're really in love, Jeff."
"So you've forgiven them and are looking forward to the baby, too."
"I like Chloe, Jeff." Ava whispered and gazed out the window, deep in thought.
Dad was right in one respect. Both Jeff and herself would be moving on from high school soon and actually nobody had commented on Chloe's condition. Even Deanne, who knew all the gossip, had said nothing. She would have told her if anything was talked about beyond Jeff's and her backs. Obviously, nobody really cared about anything that didn't directly concern themselves.
Jeff interrupted her thoughts. "Thinking about that Terri?"
Ava smiled. "No. More about Dad and Chloe actually."
*
AVA WAS ON HER COMPUTER where she was doing one last bit of swotting for her final scholarship examination on Thursday, two days away. This was Earth and Space Science, a subject that fascinated her so it wasn't as big a chore as some of the other subjects.
She glanced up when her father came in.
"I'm just nipping over to see Chloe. Do you want anything from the supermarket?"
Ava smiled. "No Dad. I'm fine. Tell her all my exams will be over by Friday and I'll visit her. How is she?"
"Coping well and never complains."
He grinned, handed her a bar of chocolate to munch and left the room. A moment later Logan slipped into her room and plonked himself on a little sofa under the window.
"Okay, what do you want?" Ava retorted. They usually got on okay and he'd done well at Joseph Ward Junior High School though he found he had had to work harder than at primary school where she knew he'd just drifted along. "Haven't you got exams, too?"
Logan grinned. "All finished. "
"So!"
Logan's face changed to a frown. "Why are you so mean to Dad?" he blurted out.
She swung her computer chair around and stared at him. "Me! Mean! When have I been mean to Dad? You're the one he has rows with."
"It's about Chloe and Jeff," Logan said. "You know he would have shifted in with her or brought here to live with us it wasn't for you."
Ava was about to tell him to butt out when she caught his eyes. She still regarded him as her kid brother but Logan had matured a lot over the year and was now almost as tall as herself.
"Why me?" she whispered.
"That crap about you two being like step-sister and brother if they got married or even shacked up together. He as good as told me that when I asked him about the baby yesterday."
Ava flushed. "We did talk about it ages ago but he said it didn't matter at all if we were all living at the same place."
"But you said it would and you'd have to break up with Jeff if they shifted in together, didn't you?"
"Not really," Ava replied. "It was a bit of a surprise when we found that Chloe was pregnant and if I remember, you muttered away about having a howling baby around. Again that was months ago. We're all used to the idea by now."
"I don't think we are," Logan replied. "Nothing's been talked about for ages and that is why I asked Dad straight out about what he was going to do."
"What did he actually say?"
Logan grinned. "You know Dad, he coughed and spluttered before saying he loved us all and would never do anything to hurt me, you or Jeff."
"He mentioned Jeff?"
"Yes. He said Jeff was the best thing that had happened to you since Mum died and, oh hell... he rambled on about everything you'd done for me and that I should appreciate how you looked after me." Logan glanced across at her. "I dragged him back to the topic of Chloe and that's when he confessed that if it wasn't that Jeff was your boyfriend, he'd have asked the pair of them to come and live here."
"And you think I'm being selfish and mean."
"That's about it, Ava." Logan stood up. "Don't you like Chloe?"
Ava frowned. "Of course I do. She's helped me a lot this year, too, you know.
"Then do something about it. Tell them you want them to be together and really mean it. You're off to university next year so will probably want a place of your own, anyway." He shrugged. "Or shack up with Jeff. I reckon he'd be in boots and all."
Ava was again about to tell him to stop being so crude but again stopped and studied her brother. "Thanks Logan," she instead whispered. "I'll see what I can do."
"And sooner rather than later," Logan replied before he walked out of her room.
*
IT WAS WELL AFTER ELEVEN that night when Adrian drank the last of his coffee and smiled at Chloe. On paper there was less than two weeks before their baby girl was born, she looked as if the birth was closer but sort of radiated a sense of confidence that he didn't feel himself.
"It's perfectly natural, Dear," she said as she hoisted herself out of her chair and gathered up the empty cups and plates. "Women have been having children for thousands of years, Shona is not my first child and even the fussy midwife said there were no concerns."
Shona was the name they had both agreed upon after a scan showed she was carrying a girl.
Adrian grinned. How could she be so calm when he was a bundle of nerves? He glanced up when he heard a car pull up and a door slam.
"Neighbours," Chloe said. "They're a good family but Ralph does shift work. Usually he's so considerate and is real quiet."
Her expression changed to concern when the back door rattled as if someone had stepped in without even a knock.
Adrian stood up and with adrenalin pumping through his veins, headed for the door with dour thoughts rushing through his mind. He went to fling the door open when someone else opened it before him and he just about knocked Ava over as she barged in the room.
"Oh my God, Ava!" he gasped and stood back, embarrassed about his concerns mere seconds before. "What are you doing here?"
"Jeff is in bed," Chloe looked surprised "What is it Ava? Is something wrong?"
Adrian shut the door and turned to see Ava's eyes staring at him.
"I'm sorry Dad," she whispered. "I've come to set everything right."
Adrian frowned and glanced across at Chloe who just raised her eyebrows a little. "Do you want me to get Jeff?" she asked.
"No. You're the two I want to talk to." Ava looked to be on a verge of tears but Chloe beat him in placing an arm around her shoulders.
"Sit down, then," Chloe whispered. "Like a coffee?"
Ava nodded and a moment later with a steaming coffee in her hand she fixed Chloe with an intense gaze. "I want you and Jeff of course, to come and live in our house... it's bigger than this one with four bedrooms, Jeff can have the bedroom in the attic and the baby can be in the sunroom adjacent to the main bedroom I know you love each other... I've never seen Dad so happy as he's been in the last few months... Damn what anyone else around says... Nobody really cares." She stopped, gazed at her coffee and the tears flowed down her cheeks. "I promise I'll stay away from Jeff while we're home. Logan said the only reason you haven't shifted in together was because of me and my... " She glanced up. "Well, you know! "
Adrian grimaced for that was the very topic they had been talking about earlier. It had been Chloe's suggestion that they do nothing for a few months, she'd become a solo mother and see what happened to the two teenagers. He wasn't entirely happy about her reasoning but had agreed, for what were six months in a whole lifetime? Jeff and Ava might shift out to an apartment together or drift apart and go their own ways. Most eighteen-year-olds were ready to shift out from their parents' home, anyway.
He studied the pair, his tall slim teenager daughter and rotund partner. They were now hugging each other and, oh hell; Chloe also had tears in her eyes.
He slipped out and tiptoed along to Jeff's bedroom. The lad was sound asleep so he gently shook him.
"What is it?" a groggy Jeff asked as he sat up and rubbed his eyes.
"You'd better get out here, Jeff," Adrian said. "I need a hand with two bawling females."
*