Heart of the Cross

by Emily Madden

  Scarlet Alliance … one of Rosie’s charities.

  And that’s when it occurred to Brie that in a lot of ways, Rosie had told her about her past. It was in the way she had brought Brie up, the stories she had told her, the values she had instilled in her.

  Rosie had given her clues all along, and any resentment Brie felt towards her faded with the remaining daylight.

  Thirty-six

  Brianna

  East Canton Texas, USA, Three Weeks Later

  ‘You come from a line of strong women, Brianna Hart.’

  Sinead Kelly’s words echoed in her mind as she rubbed her gritty eyes. For the past three weeks, Brie had gone from covering a devastating landslide in Mocoa, Columbia, to floods in Lima, Peru, and now, she’d just spent the better part of the day hanging out of the side of a helicopter, photographing the damage from a freak tornado.

  In this moment, she wasn’t feeling particularly strong. She was bone tired and she couldn’t remember the last time her hair had been washed.

  ‘Hey, didn’t I see you in Michigan last week?’

  Brie sighed. ‘Ty, you asked me that yesterday.’

  ‘I did?’ he asked innocently.

  Brie chuckled. Ty Blake was a journalist who worked in the Dallas bureau. He seemed like a nice guy, definitely dedicated to his work.

  ‘Yeah, you did. And then I asked to borrow your iPhone charger, which reminds me—you never let me use it.’

  ‘I’ll let you use it on one condition.’

  ‘You said that, too, and I already had a beer with you.’

  Ty shook his head. ‘Fine, I’ll bring it to you in five.’

  Ty was good on his promise, and within minutes her phone was lighting up with messages.

  The night she had read about Rosie and the brothel, Brie had got the call to fly out to Columbia. So used to leaving on a whim and not telling anyone where she was or when she was coming back, she hadn’t expected the barrage of messages and calls.

  Tam was the worst offender with no less than one text a day, even after Brie had told her where she was. Today was no different.

  When are you coming back?!

  And then less than an hour later: Are you coming back? Please tell me you’re coming back.

  Brie chuckled and tapped out her response.

  Yeah. Should be in Sydney by Friday.

  It didn’t surprise her when the three little dots appeared as Tam replied.

  Yay! I’ll be at yours with a bottle of wine by five!

  Brie laughed out loud.

  Go to bed, you nutter! I know it’s after midnight there.

  She had a missed call from Sylvie, but even before she played the message, Brie knew what it was about.

  Shit, shit! A couple of days after she’d left, Sylvie and Harry had asked her to be Leon’s godmother. The christening was on Saturday, and she’d promised to touch base with them when she knew she would be home. Knowing it was too late to call, she messaged telling them she would be there, that nothing would stop her from being Leon’s godmother.

  ‘Hey, Brie.’ Ty appeared, suddenly remembering her name. ‘There’s talk of a super-cell thunderstorm forming in Olustee, Oklahoma. Fred says he can chopper us there in just under two hours, but we need to leave ASAP. You in?’

  Normally, Ty’s question would be a no-brainer. She would be packed and ready to go in ten. But this time was different.

  She had a flight out the next day from Fort Worth that would take her straight to Sydney. She did the mental calculation. If she went to Oklahoma, she would need to catch at least one connecting flight to even have a chance of getting home in time for the christening.

  ‘Sorry,’ she said, ‘no can do. I need to be back in Sydney by Saturday.’

  ‘Huh. You got a hot date or something?’

  ‘Yep. His name is Leon.’

  ‘Lucky Leon,’ Ty muttered, turned to leave and then paused. ‘I heard talk of a position going in New York. You thinking of going for it, Brie?’

  Brie opened her mouth to say she most definitely would, but something stopped her. Instead of a definite For sure, she found herself saying, ‘I’ll think about it.’

  And she did. She thought about it all the way as she drove to Fort Worth, then as she flew home, certain that by the time she reached Sydney she would have an answer. Only she didn’t.

  * * *

  Brie’s high heels echoed as she descended the wooden stairs and out into a crisp, sunny autumn day. Wisps of soft clouds sat high in a cerulean sky. It was as if someone had grabbed a brush and painted the heavens. Gingerly, she peered inside the café that was bustling with Saturday-morning trade. When she saw there was no sign of Josh, she headed in, desperately craving caffeine.

  ‘You look beautiful, Brie.’ Leticia smiled as she saw her approaching. ‘You must be going to the same christening as Josh, no?’

  ‘Yes. Is he … has he been in this morning?’

  ‘You just missed him.’

  Brie sighed in relief. Seeing him today was a given, she just didn’t want to be confronted with him sooner than she needed to be, and when she did see him, she wanted it to be on neutral ground, not on his turf.

  ‘I guess I’ll see him soon enough,’ she said politely as Leticia slid over her coffee. Brie hadn’t been to the café in weeks, and even before then Leticia had only made her coffee a handful of times, and yet she knew her usual. ‘Thanks.’

  With her coffee in hand, Brie headed towards St Patrick’s.

  ‘Brie!’ Sylvie called out as she climbed the church stairs, her long dark hair whipping around her face as she cradled a sleeping Leon in her arms. ‘I’m so glad you made it back in time.’

  ‘I’m sorry that I stressed you out, but I wasn’t going to leave this little guy without a godparent.’ She gently stroked Leon’s soft cheek and his tiny yet chubby hand reached out to wrap tightly around her finger. He’d grown in the few weeks she hadn’t seen him, a sure sign that he was developing at a normal, healthy rate.

  ‘I had every faith in you being here. I knew that you wouldn’t leave Leo with only one godparent. Anyway, I hope that you’re okay to share the limelight with Josh.’

  Brie felt her smile freeze. ‘Josh?’

  ‘When we were thinking about who we wanted for Leon’s godparents, it was clear that it would be you and Josh. I just hope that you’ll visit more often so it’s not only Josh that Leon gets to know.’

  Brie couldn’t believe that it slipped her mind she wouldn’t be Leon’s only godparent.

  Sylvie looked at her face and furrowed her brows. ‘Oh, Brie, I’m sorry. I thought Harry spoke to you about it.’

  Sylvie didn’t need her making a drama out of this. ‘No,’ she said, ‘you’re absolutely right. It makes sense to have Josh as Leon’s godfather.’

  ‘The way I see it, you’re the important one. Everyone talks about having fairy godmothers, no one talks about fairy godfathers now, do they?’

  Brie loved Sylvie for trying to make her feel better.

  Leon let out an almighty roar, reminding them both that he was the man of the hour.

  ‘Come on, I’d better feed him before we get the show on the road. The last thing you need is a screaming child.’

  Leon was an absolute angel throughout the ceremony. He wasn’t the boy causing her stress and anxiety. That honour was left to the man standing to her left. Josh greeted her with a polite nod, and as he took his place next to her, she felt his cool reserve.

  ‘You’re back,’ he said simply, and Brie was unsure if there was more surprise or resentment in his tone.

  ‘I wasn’t going to miss this, Josh.’ She couldn’t help being defensive.

  He didn’t say anything, but from her peripheral vision, she spotted his raised brows. Brie trained her gaze forward and kept it there for the rest of the ceremony.

  Sylvie and Harry had arranged lunch at The Bathers’ Pavilion in Balmoral. It was a gorgeous location and Brie was grateful it was a small affair—
besides Harry and Sylvie’s family, it was just Max and Avery, Josh and her.

  The sound of chatter and merriment caught her attention. She watched Avery, Sylvie and Harry laugh at something Max was saying, and it hit her just how much she would miss them. She would miss Tam, too. In the short time she had known her, they had become quite close. It was the first time she had come home after an assignment and felt like she was coming home to something. When Josh joined them, he too was laughing at whatever Max had said.

  Earlier that morning, she’d received an email from the New York office, asking if she wanted to be based out of the United States. Brie almost had emailed back to accept the position, but just as she did when Ty had mentioned it, she’d hesitated, telling herself she would answer when she got home.

  And now she knew what was causing her hesitation.

  The sound of her phone buzzing pulled Brie to the here and now. She was surprised to see it was Joe. She took herself outside to answer the call.

  ‘Joe, hi.’

  ‘Sorry to call on a Saturday, but I thought you would want to know. It’s over, Brie. The judge heard the probate yesterday and ruled in your favour.’

  She closed her eyes. ‘Thank God.’ In the end, it was clear-cut. When she discovered that James Fuller was actually Rosie’s estranged husband, Joe was confident he wouldn’t have a case. And by coming forward and exposing his real identity, the matter of Jack and Jimmy’s drowning had resulted in a warrant for James Fuller’s arrest.

  ‘The estate is all yours. Any idea what you’re going to do with the flat in the Cross?’

  Brie’s gaze drifted to where her friends stood, letting it linger on one man. ‘Yes, Joe,’ she said. ‘I think I do.’

  Leon’s christening wasn’t the only reason she had needed to come home. She needed to get back to Sydney because she still had the whole business with the will to sort out. She needed to get back to Sydney because she was yet to decide what to do with all of Rosie’s possessions. She needed to get back to decide if she was going to contact her father.

  Most of all, she needed to get back because it was where Josh was. If she didn’t tell Josh how she felt, Brie knew she would regret it for the rest of her life.

  ‘You come from a line of strong women, Brie Hart.’

  Yes, she did. But she also came from a line of women who’d had their share of heartache and regret. Heartache and regret were powerful beasts and Brie didn’t want either of them in her life, not anymore.

  Catching Josh’s gaze, Brie sent him a tentative smile. He held up his hand, miming a drink motion. She nodded and a moment later he came out carrying two glasses of wine.

  ‘Sylvie said you were in the US.’

  Brie sipped her wine. ‘I was in Columbia, Peru and then the US. When we were wrapping up in Texas, there was talk of a super storm brewing in Oklahoma. I was asked to go along and normally, I wouldn’t have batted an eyelid, I would’ve just packed up and gone. But I didn’t.’

  ‘Because you needed to get back for Leon.’

  ‘There were other reasons for me coming back,’ Brie said softly, hoping he could read between the lines, but he gave her nothing. She should’ve known he wasn’t going to let her off the hook easily.

  ‘Like what?’ Josh looked at her intently over the rim of his glass.

  Brie took another sip, hoping it would give her the courage to go on. ‘Since I was a little girl—growing up without my mother, not knowing who my father was—I felt disconnected from the world. Like there was nothing tying me to one place, or even one person. But this time, it was different.’

  ‘How so?’ he murmured.

  ‘When I finish an assignment, I’m always looking for the next thing, the next place I can go to, the next disaster to cover. I would often be asked if I ever got homesick and I would say, without missing a beat, that you needed to have a home to be homesick. This time, all I could think of was how much I wanted to get home—to see Tam, Sylvie, Harry and the baby … and to see you.’

  Josh’s head tipped towards her, his eyes full of hope, a hint of a smile on his lips.

  ‘You were right, Josh. What I was looking for, it was here all along. It took me a while to get here, but I finally know. This is my home. This is where I belong. I belong with you.’

  Brie sucked in a breath and waited. Covering every type of natural disaster Mother Nature could unleash, she’d often placed her life in danger. But never had she exposed her heart. Never had she laid her soul bare. It was the biggest risk she had ever taken and she was yet to discover if it would pay off.

  When Josh remained silent, she fiddled anxiously with the stem of her glass, resisting the urge to down the rest of her drink in one shot. ‘Are you going to say something?’ Brie asked nervously.

  Wordlessly, he plucked the wine from her fingers and placed both glasses on a side table. Then he took her hand and led her towards the beach.

  ‘Where are we going?’ Brie asked, each step filling her heels with sand. ‘Josh, seriously, you need to slow down.’ Unable to bear the grittiness, Brie toed off her shoes, struggling to keep pace.

  He stopped a few feet from the edge of the water, where the waves lapped gently against the shore. ‘See that?’ He pointed out to the horizon where boats bobbed in the water. ‘What do you see?’

  ‘Um, Middle Harbour?’

  ‘If you went past Middle Harbour and kept going, you’d eventually reach somewhere across the sea.’

  ‘Okay,’ Brie said carefully, unsure where he was going with all this.

  ‘And what do you see here?’ Josh pointed to himself.

  ‘I see you. Josh, what does this have to—’

  ‘Every time you leave and go out there,’ he pointed to the water, ‘when you come home, I will be here. Do you hear me?’

  Brie felt herself grinning from ear to ear. ‘Loud and clear. But why did you drag me all the way into the surf? The view from the Pavilion would’ve done the trick.’

  Josh smiled slowly. ‘Because back there, there are prying eyes and I wouldn’t be able to do this.’

  He kissed her then. His hands gently cupping her face, his lips brushing against hers unhurriedly, tenderly, as if they had all the time in the world. And in a way, they did.

  When they broke apart, Josh threaded his fingers with hers, and as they walked back, a single white feather swirled through the wind and softly landed at her feet.

  Lifting it off her toes, she held it against her heart and sent a silent thanks to the heavens above. Rosie was right. Hope was like a feather. Feathers are brave—they go where the wind takes them. Feathers are patient—they arrive at their destination, fall to the ground and wait. And they’re strong—just like the Hart women.

  And she should know. She was the granddaughter of a woman who lost her children, the love of her life and faith in love. She was the daughter of a woman who lost the man she loved and lost her life.

  Brie knew where she belonged and who she was.

  She belonged with Josh.

  She was a Hart from the Cross.

  Epilogue

  Mardi Gras Eve, 2018

  As the plane touched down, Brie felt the familiar tug in her chest that she got every time she landed in Sydney.

  ‘Welcome to Sydney where the time is two-thirty in the afternoon.’ The first officer’s voice came through the PA. ‘For those of you visiting, we wish you a pleasant stay, for those returning, welcome home.’

  Home. That word had a nice ring to it.

  Brie cleared customs and headed out into the arrivals area, and true to his promise he was there, waiting for her.

  ‘Hey, you.’ She grinned like a fool as Josh pulled her in for a kiss. ‘Missed you,’ she whispered against his lips.

  ‘Missed you more,’ Josh murmured. ‘Now let’s go, we have a wedding to get to.’

  Brie felt her tummy flip. She had been looking forward to this day for months. The year before, the Federal Government had held a postal survey about marriage equ
ality and changed the Marriage Act to allow same-sex couples to marry. Within minutes of the ‘yes’ vote being hailed the victor, Mike was on the phone declaring he and Byron would be tying the knot.

  ‘March second Mardi Gras eve, that way we can party all weekend!’

  Even though Brie knew Mike wasn’t her father, he had been as close to a dad as she’d ever had, and their relationship had gone from strength to strength.

  A few hours later, on a rooftop bar in Kings Cross, she was walking Mike down the aisle to a tearful Byron as a string quartet played ‘All You Need Is Love’. By the time Byron and Mike were declared husbands, partners, lovers for life, Brie was a blubbering mess.

  ‘Dammit,’ she mumbled as she rummaged through her clutch. ‘I didn’t think to bring tissues.’

  Josh looked at her apologetically. ‘Sorry, babe, I didn’t either.’

  ‘Here, allow me,’ came a voice from behind.

  Sniffling rather indignantly, Brie turned and immediately froze.

  ‘There was a time once when a girl I knew needed a tissue and I didn’t have one to give her. Since that day, I’ve made sure I never leave home without them.’ He gave her a smile, and immediately she knew that he knew.

  Brie simply stared at the man who was offering a pocket-sized packet of Kleenex.

  As he waltzed down the aisle, clutching his new husband’s hand, Mike yelled out, ‘Brie Hart, have you met Robert Ryan?’

  ‘Brie, would you have a moment to spare?’ Robert asked. ‘I’d like to have a chat, if it’s okay with you.’

  Josh gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. Since finding out his name, she had grappled with contacting her father. And now the final piece was in front of her, and it was up to her to make the move. And so, Brie Hart slotted the final piece into place.

  ‘Yes. I’d like that.’

  Acknowledgments

  Thanking the people that are instrumental in bringing a book to life is key. To the Harlequin/HarperCollins team—thank you! To Sue Brockhoff and Jo Mackay for believing in the story. To Johanna Baker for all your enthusiasm and eye for detail.