“So what can I do for you, ladies?” Although Wakefield included Kiren in his glance, he focussed his attention on Nina.
“I’ve come to you with an offer.”
His smooth face didn’t change. “Come to your senses? Well, I’m not sure the previous offer is still on the table. The real estate market is in a decline at present. Prices aren’t what they were. Growth has slowed, particularly in the less desirable outer suburbs such as yours.”
“Really? That’s not what my research has led me to believe. I read in our local paper that you’re looking for a site for a shopping centre, service station, and transport hub.”
“You can’t believe everything you read in the papers.”
“I don’t. I do, however, believe that it’s not a coincidence that one of your cronies has been blocking my driveway for most of a week. He picks a strange place to read the paper. The CCTV in my farm shop also shows someone breaking in and vandalising the place. They have your build, Jon.” She measured him with her eyes. “Your height pretty much exactly.”
It was a bluff, of course. There was no CCTV, but she hoped Wakefield didn’t know that. “Jellybean is okay. No thanks to you.”
“Jellybean? A strange nickname for your daughter.”
“The pony that got out when you cut the fence.” Nina glanced at Kiren. Her steadiness reassured her. “Thing is, Jon, I’m sick of this. I want it over with.”
His expression hardened. “I can offer you one point eight million. Settlement within thirty days.”
“One point eight? That’s even less than the last time.”
He shrugged. “Take it or leave it.”
“I’ve spoken with a real estate agent. He said my land is worth, at a conservative estimate, nearly four million.”
“Ah, Nina, you fell for that? Agents will tell you anything to get you to sign up.”
She shot him a pointed stare. “Yes, they will, won’t they?”
He ignored her. “One point nine. If you sign today.”
“I have something rather different in mind.” She sat without waiting for an invitation and put the briefcase on the desk.
“I don’t think you’re in a position to bargain, Nina. Not the way things are at the farm. That poor child.”
So Leigh’s right, and he doesn’t know Billy’s claim is over. She supressed a smile. This made things easier. Her fingers stilled on the strap of the case. “I prefer Ms Pellegrini, coming from you. And things are fine at the farm.” She pulled out a thick sheaf of papers that Leigh had prepared at breakneck speed that morning and pushed them across. “I want you to leave the farm alone. I will never sell it to you—ever. I want you to not come within fifty metres of it again. You will not approach me, my daughter, or anyone else with the aim of reaching me.”
Wakefield ignored the papers. “It’s a free world, love.”
She shrugged. “Your choice. You can do as I say—but if you don’t, I’ll send these papers to the New South Wales Police.” She sat back. “Take a look. It’s the documents to file charges against you for insurance fraud.”
Wakefield picked up the papers and read through the first pages. Colour drained from his face. In a couple of minutes, he ripped the papers in two and dropped them on the desk. “That’s bullshit.”
“Is it? I don’t think so. We have a witness.”
“Stella’s lying.”
“So you know whom I’m talking about. Interesting, as her name isn’t on this document. But since you’ve mentioned Stella, if you don’t want these papers given to the police, then you agree to leave Stella alone too. You don’t approach her. And you certainly don’t bully her into repaying your ten grand.” She smiled. “Do we have a deal?”
Wakefield picked up the papers again and ripped them into smaller and smaller pieces. “Blackmail’s a crime.”
“Those papers weren’t the originals. Those are safe with my lawyer. And I’m merely asking you to stop your criminal behaviour against my business. That’s not blackmail.”
“Two million. My final offer.”
Kiren laughed.
Nina shook her head. “You don’t get it, even now. Do I have your agreement? You leave me, my family, the farm, and Stella alone, and these papers will remain in safe custody with my lawyer. You break the agreement, and they’ll be in the hands of the police before you can say two million dollars.”
There was a knock at the door, and the receptionist entered. She set a tray with coffee and biscuits on the desk.
“Thank you.” Nina flashed her a smile. “However, we won’t be staying. We either have some papers to deliver, or else we are going to resume our lives. Lives that don’t include Jon Wakefield.” She stood. “Your choice, Jon. What’s it going to be?”
“Thank you, Rose.” He waited until the receptionist left the office. “I won’t trouble you again, Ms Pellegrini. You have my word.”
“Forgive me if I don’t put much faith in that. But we have an agreement, and if you fail to honour it, then you can expect a call from the police.” She inclined her head. “I can’t say it’s been a pleasure. We’ll see ourselves out.”
“It’s done.” The relief in Nina’s voice was apparent even over Leigh’s mobile. “He agreed. Kiren and I are back at the farm now. We’re sharing a bottle of wine.”
“Well done.” Leigh rested back in her chair. “I’ll get Grizz to redraw your final letters.”
“I can’t believe it’s all finally over. Everything.”
“Believe it, Nina. That’s the end of it.”
“We must have really rattled him. The black car was already gone from in front of the driveway when we got back to the farm.”
Leigh closed her eyes and let the sweet relief sweep through her. There was something else too: anticipation. She couldn’t wait to see Nina and share in her happiness. “Will you be home later? If so, I’ll drop out with the letters. Once they’re in your hands, you’re no longer my client.”
“I’ll be home. With the wine I’ve drunk, I’m not going anywhere this evening. Phoe’s with a schoolfriend. She’ll be home around eight.”
Leigh looked at her watch. If she left in the next hour… “I’ll be with you by six.”
Grizz took one look at her face, at the elation that must be scrawled all over it, and handed her a thick envelope. “Final letters for Nina Pellegrini. Your diary is clear for the rest of the day.”
“Thanks, Grizz. I’ll head away in a few minutes.” Leigh paused. “Why don’t you come with me?”
Grizz looked down at her desk with a pleased smile. “Don’t want to be the third wheel.”
“You won’t be. Kiren’s there, and Phoe will be back later.”
“Then, thanks. I’d love to come. But I’ll take my own car just in case you’re delayed.”
“Good idea.” Leigh’s lips twitched.
A short time later, Leigh turned into the farm driveway. There was no sign of the black car. She smiled. Success was such a great thing. She drove a wide circle outside the farmhouse and parked by the steps.
Grizz pulled up in her Jeep.
Leigh lifted out her briefcase and the wine she’d brought.
“Come on up.” Nina leant on the veranda railing above them, a champagne glass in her hand. “Kiren’s here, also Stella and Billy.”
Leigh paused, her foot on the bottom step. “Then can you come down here first to sign a couple of things?” It was a technicality, sure, but she’d rather get the paperwork out of the way before she saw Stella again.
“Sure.” Nina set down her glass and bounded down the stairs. Her eyes were luminous in the late afternoon sun. She hugged Leigh. “It’s done. I can’t believe it. Your plan worked perfectly.” She hugged Grizz as well. “Thank you so much, Grizz. For everything you’ve done too.”
Leigh pulled the envelope from her
case and looked around for somewhere to spread the papers. The bonnet of her car was the only place, so she laid them out there and handed Nina a pen.
“Where do I sign?”
Grizz pointed. “Here…and here…and here.”
Nina signed with a flourish and handed the pen and letters to Grizz. “I can’t believe it’s all over. Everything. Billy, Wakefield, everything.”
Leigh’s chest was so full she couldn’t speak. Emotion closed her throat so that all she could do was stare at Nina, at her beautiful face that was now so dear to her, at her trim figure, at her hair already escaping its ponytail.
“Are you going to kiss me now? Now that you can?” Nina moved closer to Leigh and slid her arms around her waist.
Grizz cleared her throat. “I think I’ll go and say hi to Kiren.” Her feet pounded loudly on the steps as she ascended.
Leigh leant into Nina’s embrace. “It seems Grizz has finally found tact after all these years.”
“Can I kiss you now?”
Leigh curved her arms around Nina’s waist. “I don’t know what you’re waiting for.”
Their lips met and melded in a heated rush of passion. A spiral of delight coiled through Leigh’s body, warming and heating as it went. Nina kissed with a confidence, a delight, and a playfulness that had been absent from their earlier encounters. It was as if now that her problems had been resolved, she was free to indulge, to be herself. Leigh parted her lips to allow Nina’s tongue entry, and for long moments, they tasted and supped as passion surged between them.
Nina was the first to draw back. “We have friends waiting.”
A burst of laughter from upstairs reinforced her comment.
They ascended the stairs to the veranda.
“Here they are!” Grizz came up and pressed glasses of sparkling wine in their hands.
Leigh smiled her thanks and glanced around the room. Stella stood off to one side. When Leigh caught her eye, she gave a tentative smile.
A blond child came up to Leigh, holding a plate. “Hello, I’m Billy. Would you like a cheesy cracker? I cut up the cheese all by myself.”
The slices were ragged, but Leigh set down her glass and took one. “Thank you, Billy.”
She looked around. Grizz was talking with Kiren.
Billy ran off and slipped his hand into Nina’s. Leigh heard him asking loudly when Phoe would be home.
Stella still stood by herself. Leigh picked up her glass and went over. “Hello, Stella. How are you?”
“Good. Thanks.” Stella clutched her champagne glass hard enough that her knuckles whitened.
“It’s good to finally meet Billy.” Leigh gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile. Law wasn’t personal, but Stella probably didn’t realise that. “He’s got a wonderful confidence.”
Stella’s face lit up in a smile that transformed her. “He has, hasn’t he? I don’t know where he gets it from.”
“It sounds like he’s happy to be back here.”
“He is.”
“It’s a special place.” Leigh placed a hand on Stella’s arm. “I’m glad that Billy’s okay and you and Billy have come back to the farm. I hope you know that.”
Stella’s gaze flew to Leigh’s face. What she saw must have reassured her. “Thank you. I hope I’ll see you around too?”
“I volunteer here, so I’m sure you will.”
Grizz came up with Billy hanging on to the back of her shirt. “Billy’s promised to show me how to send a chicken to sleep.”
“Not now.” Stella took Billy’s hand. “In the daytime.”
“It will be harder then.” Grizz winked at Billy. “As the chooks won’t want to go to sleep. Maybe they’d rather watch TV.”
Billy giggled. “Don’t be silly. They don’t have ’lectricity in their house. And you just stroke them a special way, and they go to sleep.”
“I must try that on you sometime, Billy.” Stella pulled him into a hug, and they moved away.
Nina came up to Leigh and handed her a plate of Billy’s cheesy crackers. Their fingers brushed, and the touch was as charged, as electric as the first time they’d touched.
“What are you thinking about?” Nina asked. “You look a million miles away.”
“I’m thinking how glad I am I took your case on. I nearly didn’t, you know. It seemed too risky, too much being the big, bad lawyer trying to shaft a hurt kid. But when you showed up in my office and refused to leave, and you so obviously cared about Billy as well as the farm, well, it changed things.”
“I’m glad.” Nina leant against her.
For twenty minutes, Leigh chatted with the others. But always in the back of her mind was the knowledge that now she and Nina could be whatever they wanted to be. No restrictions. No limits. Whenever Nina passed on her way to the kitchen or their orbits intersected, Leigh reached for Nina’s hand, a brief squeeze, a touch of fingers that reassured her that yes, Nina was still there.
Then Grizz cleared her throat and set down her glass. “I better be going. Bryan will have my dinner ready.” She came over to Leigh and Nina. Her glance flicked over their linked hands, and she smiled. “When did you say Phoebe would be home?” Without waiting for an answer, she turned to Kiren. “I must get that book you’re going to lend me sometime soon. It sounds good.”
Kiren’s gaze, too, passed over Nina and Leigh, and she didn’t miss a beat. “Have you got time to follow me home now and get it?”
“Sure,” Grizz said. “Stella, how did you and Billy get here? Do you need a lift?”
“We walked, but a ride would be good if you don’t mind.”
In under a minute, the goodbyes were said, and the kitchen was empty.
Nina looked around the empty room at the mess of dirty glasses on the counter, the cheesy crackers crushed on the ground, the discarded plates. “We’ve got an hour until Phoe gets home. We could clean up…”
“We could.” Leigh wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into a sideways hug. “Or we could leave it for a bit. It’s a safe thing for us to be doing together when Phoebe stomps through the door.”
“Mm. But what shall we do in the meantime?”
“We could fill a couple of potholes in the driveway. It’s probably not too dark.”
Nina snorted a laugh. “That wasn’t what I had in mind.” Her voice dropped a few levels. “I was thinking of something a little more private, just the two of us.”
The yearning in Nina’s voice stirred something deep in Leigh. It wasn’t just the words but the timbre of her voice, the caressing tone in her hum. Nina so dear, so special. She stretched up to kiss Nina. Her lips rested lightly on Nina’s, absorbing the moment. The soft puff of Nina’s breath, the heat that emanated from her body, the strength in her arms as Leigh ran her fingers along the lean muscle.
“We could just keep kissing.” Nina’s voice had a huskiness that had been missing earlier. “Or we could move to another room.”
“I don’t think you mean the laundry.” Leigh ran a finger along Nina’s lower lip.
Nina opened her mouth and sucked gently on Leigh’s finger. “I don’t. Which do you prefer? One hour with me in the bedroom or one hour here on the couch?”
In answer, Leigh took her hand, and they wandered slowly through the living area, stopping to kiss every couple of paces. The blind was up in the bedroom, showing the gathering dusk outside. Car headlights from the road sent searchlights along the wall above the bed.
They were silent as they stripped the clothes from each other, piece by piece, a slow disrobing. The lights on the wall cast a glow on Nina’s tawny skin. When they came together in a meshing of lips, tongues, hands, fingers, and then, again, tongues once more, the perfection of the time was almost dreamlike. Leigh couldn’t speak. She absorbed the small noises of the house and surrounds, which melded with Nina’s sounds
of delight.
When Nina came, arching up from the bed, the headlights from a passing car seemed to light the way ahead, a path for both of them.
Leigh lay still, Nina’s head on her shoulder. Was this how it would be for them in the future? Scenarios ran through her head: lovemaking, cooking together, working on the farm, dinners in the city, and overnights in her modern apartment. And, too, was the other side of Nina, which Leigh very much hoped she would be a part of: Nina and Phoebe’s family life, the wider found family that was the farm volunteers and Barn Kids.
But for the moment, lying quietly with Nina in the afterglow of lovemaking was enough.
Nina stirred and pushed herself up. “Phoe will be home soon. Do you want a quick shower?”
Leigh nodded, and the next few minutes were a rush of hot water and damp skin and kisses that nearly became more, Phoebe be damned.
When Phoebe clattered her way up to the veranda, the two of them were eating a thrown together dinner of toasted cheese sandwiches.
“Hi.” Phoebe burst through the door. “That smells good. Can I have some too?”
Nina stood and flicked on the sandwich toaster again. “Didn’t you eat at Ash’s?”
“Yeah, but dinner was curry.” She wrinkled her nose. “I didn’t eat much. Hi, Leigh.” She dumped her bag on the couch and continued to her room with barely a pause.
“That’s her usual greeting. Obviously, seeing you here is nothing strange.”
“I was wondering,” Leigh said.
“Can we take it slow where she’s concerned? No announcements, just you around more often. She’ll be fine.”
“You lead. I’ll follow.”
Phoebe returned and went straight to the counter to pull out bread and cheese. She made a thick sandwich and put it in the toaster.
“How’s Ash?” Nina asked.
“Good. She’s gonna come up here tomorrow after the Barn Kids have gone so we can hang out.”
“That’s fine. Leigh might be here too.”
A Heart This Big Page 28
