Country Roads

by Nicole Hurley-Moore

  ‘You going to that?’ Mick didn’t look up from his plate.

  ‘Yes, I’m going to my sister’s birthday party. I promised her that I would.’

  ‘She’s not—’

  Zane didn’t let him finish the sentence. ‘Yes, she is my sister, and I’ll be going next weekend.’

  ‘What, the whole weekend? There’s a hell of a lot of work to do.’

  ‘And I reckon it’ll still be here when I get back – it always is.’

  ‘So how old is the kid going to be?’

  ‘Seven.

  Look, Dad, I know there was a lot of shit between you and mum but honestly, it’s got nothing to do with Stacey.’

  Mick shrugged his shoulders as he concentrated on his dinner. ‘I suppose you’re right. I hope the kid has a nice day then. Is your mother still with that guy?’

  ‘By that guy, I guess you mean Peter? And yes, she is – just like she has been for the past nine years.’

  Mick gave a disgusted sort of grunt and the rest of the meal was finished in silence.

  ‘Listen, I reckon I’ll go into town for a bit. Meet up with a couple of the guys at the pub. Do you want anything?’ Zane said as he stood up from the table.

  Mick shook his head. ‘Nah – I’ll see you later.’

  Zane was relieved when he finally managed to get the hell out of there. He knew his dad well; Mick would stew and be silent for the rest of the night. That’s what any mention of Janet did to him.

  Zane didn’t head into town. Instead he drove the old ute down by the dam, just where the weeping willows skimmed their branches over the water. He parked by the edge of the dam before going and sitting on the back tray of the ute. He looked at the stars in the clear night sky, and the breeze blew across the surface of the dam, causing the dark water to ripple. This was his spot – the only place in Cara Downs that really felt like his.

  Years ago he had run here when his parents were fighting – and they had always been fighting. Mick was a difficult man, exacting, stubborn and old school (not in a good way) when it came to his perception of women. Zane’s mum had tried really hard to be everything that Mick wanted but she’d needed more than just being here at the farm. Perhaps if Mick had included her more in the decision-making about the property then things might have been different – but maybe not.

  His father had always made a point of telling people that Janet had abandoned her boy, abandoned them – but Zane remembered it differently. He had never once felt abandoned by his mother. Was he sad that she’d left and the family was broken into pieces? You bet. But inside he knew that his mother had wanted him to come with her. She loved him and he’d never doubted it. The decision to stay had been his. Even at the age of fourteen he’d known that his father wouldn’t handle it if they both left. Yes, his father doted on him, and if you asked anyone in White Gum Creek, they’d say that Zane was a spoilt brat. And it was true to a point, Zane wouldn’t deny it. One way that Mick liked to show the town that he was succeeding was to flash money around. It was all wrapped up in that weird competitiveness that he had with Jack Duprey. Mick always wanted to better Jack at every turn. Zane was not a hundred per cent sure why, but it went way back. When they had first come to the area, Grandad had scraped a little money together and managed to buy a few acres next to Bluestone Ridge. He’d started with nothing but slowly he and Mick had managed to build it up and eventually buy more land. There’d been talk at the time that Sam Turner would never be the grazier that the Dupreys were – it was in their blood, while Sam was an upstart with visions of grandeur. It was harsh, but then gossip usually was. Perhaps that’s where Mick’s obsession with besting Jack Duprey had started.

  The Turner family had had a coup when Bluestone Ridge had run into trouble from a series of bad runs. Mick had been fifteen at the time. The Dupreys had been forced to sell part of their spread, and Zane’s grandfather had begged and borrowed until he’d managed to buy a couple of paddocks which bordered their land. It was a triumph that neither Mick nor Jack Duprey could forget. Over the years Jack had approached Mick to buy back the land, but Zane knew that was never going to happen. Maybe it was all rolled up in Mick feeling the need to prove himself, but either way, Cara Downs always came first – and if it came at the expense of the Dupreys, all the better.

  Mick’s unswerving focus on their land was one of the reasons Zane’s mum had eventually left. Mick would rather see his last five dollars go into the farm than into his family’s bellies. In the early days it had happened more than once, and Janet could never understand how he could put the farm before his own son, and why he had an incurable need to always best Jack Duprey.

  Zane hadn’t regretted staying with Mick, because deep down he knew that his mum was the stronger of the two and at the time, even though he would never admit to it, Mick had needed Zane to survive. It was a hard call because there were days when he’d wished he was still with his mum. He hoped that he’d done the right thing. He liked to think he always tried to do the right thing, but more often than not he managed to cock things up. Just look at the mess he’d managed to make with Bec. He did regret that, the whole being engaged to one woman and sleeping with another thing. It certainly hadn’t been one of his finest moments. He put it down to – well, just being young and kind of a dick.

  Bec had deserved better treatment. She was good and decent, and could be funny sometimes. If he had been thinking with his head he would have seen that marrying her would have been the smart thing to do. It was all very well being able to look back with hindsight and to see your mistakes glaring like a neon sign back at you.

  He didn’t love her – but he liked her, and maybe that could have been enough. But he’d burned that bridge, which was a pity because sitting here tonight it was pretty apparent that Bec Duprey was still the only smart marriage choice in the whole damn shire.

  Chapter 6

  Zane was sitting in his lounge room. A large bank of windows looked out upon the rolling paddocks of Cara Downs, but the normally engaging view wasn’t holding his attention today. Mick Turner was leaning against the old sideboard looking at his son.

  ‘What exactly are you saying, Dad?’

  ‘That it’s a terrible shame that you never made peace with Bec.’

  ‘Oh, I’ve tried, but as you can imagine, I’m not her favourite person.’

  ‘That was a long time ago. You were just a couple of kids back then. Maybe it would be a good time to try and mend the fences between you two.’

  Zane rolled his eyes heavenward. ‘Dad, she caught me doing Tanya. Bec’s got every right to be as mad as hell. Besides, it’s too late – it’s been almost four years. Whatever we had, it’s gone and it’s not coming back.’

  ‘Well, it won’t with that attitude.’

  ‘She barely acknowledges me. I swear if I spontaneously combusted she’d throw another couple of logs my way. Bec pretty much hates me, and you know that. Why is it so important that she forgives me?’

  ‘I just thought it might be helpful to us and Cara Downs in the future. You know that you should always keep your options open – you never know when you’re going to need them again.’

  Zane studied his father. The old man was side-stepping something. ‘Why would we need Bec? Don’t get me wrong, I want her to forgive me and all. I mean, every time I see her I get this bloody stab of guilt. Maybe I was young and stupid and didn’t love her, but the way she found out about Tanya was pretty scummy.’ He sat forward on the couch and a frown creased his brow. ‘The farm’s doing alright, isn’t it? I know the drought last year hit us hard but it’s holding its own, right?’

  Mick looked away. ‘The problem is that before the drought we . . . I overextended. Bought that new tractor, replaced the fences on the top paddock and the shearing shed. Put a lot of money into increasing the size of the mob and then had to sell half of them off at a loss because we didn’t have enough money to buy in the extra feed as the drought wore on.’

  ‘I knew it wa
s bad but . . . geez, Dad, are we actually going to lose Cara Downs? Is that what you’re telling me?’

  For a second Mick couldn’t meet Zane’s eyes. ‘It’s not great, and that’s the truth. I reckon we can ride it out but it’s going to be tight. The insurance payout from the fire will help.’

  The concern in Zane’s eyes eased a little. ‘Okay, so we save money wherever we can – that’s doable. I never thought I’d say a fire would be lucky but I suppose it was.’

  Mick paused for a moment before he answered. ‘Yes, I suppose it was.’

  ‘We are going to replace the shed and the rest of the stuff, aren’t we?’

  ‘Yes, of course we are, but we might hold off on it for a bit. Besides, you never rode that old motorbike anyway.’

  ‘No, I didn’t. We don’t have to get another one. So, we’ll be alright, you reckon?’

  ‘If next year is a good year, then we’ll be fine. But if there’s another drought, well . . . I just don’t know.’

  ‘I guess we work hard and cross our fingers, that’s all we can do.’

  ‘Not exactly. We could future-proof the farm. Maybe we could think about selling off the old cottage by the creek. I’ve been toying with the idea for a while now. It would get us some funds and it wouldn’t impact the rest of the property too much.’

  ‘Sell off Grandad’s place?’ Zane said, appalled at the idea.

  ‘Well, we have to do something. Look, it would cost money to subdivide the land, but it’s got a workable house with all the utilities. We could throw in a few acres and sell it as a farmlet. It’s not an ideal situation but it could save us in the long run. It would give us some money to play with.’

  ‘I don’t know, Dad – selling it kind of hurts. Is there anything else we can do?’

  ‘No, unless you marry Bec and get your hands on Bluestone Ridge.’

  Zane blew out a breath and fell back against the back of the couch. ‘I keep telling you, that’s not going to happen. She won’t have a bar of me – not that I blame her. Besides, I don’t see how marrying her would improve things. Surely her place would have been hit just as hard as ours.’

  Mick shook his head. ‘Nah, you know how canny old Duprey is. I hate to admit it because he’s such a skinflint but this time it’s paid off. Jack Duprey guards his money like a dragon guards its gold. He’s overcautious when it comes to spending. The whole town knows that Bec’s been wanting a new tractor for the last couple of years and let’s face it, she could do with a little hired help to run the place, too. He’s got the money but he hangs on to it. They were touched by the drought just like everyone else around here but did you see him sell off half his mob for less than he paid for it?’

  ‘Look, even if that’s true, I don’t see how me marrying Bec is going to help – well, not in the short term, anyway. Even if by some miracle we did get back together, do you really think Jack Duprey is going to hand over the entire management of the farm to me? Let’s face it, he won’t give the damn place to Bec, so why on earth would he trust me with it?’

  ‘He would have to be persuaded to hand over the reins, but he’d do it. Especially if we stressed how important it is to groom the next generation so the property won’t ever be lost.’

  ‘I still don’t see how that’s going to help our situation right now.’

  ‘It’s not, but I can hold off the bank for a while. Running Cara Downs is going to be tough for a year or so. We can do it if we pare things back to the essentials and live on the smell of an oily rag. And I’m sorry about Grandad’s place, but I think we’re going to have to sacrifice it. What is vital is that no one, and I mean no one, finds out just how close to the edge we are. If the town gets a sniff that we’re holding on by a thread then they’ll start circling like vultures. Our accounts will be suspended and we’ll lose the whole bloody lot.’

  ‘But people talk. What do think they’ll say when they find out we’re selling off chunks of our land?’

  ‘I’ll spread the word that we’re trying to raise funds so we can buy Bluestone Ridge. They’ll accept that – everyone knows I’d do nearly anything to get it.’

  Zane frowned. ‘Maybe it would work,’ he said uncertainly. ‘But Dad, look, I’m sorry, but I still don’t quite get it. I don’t see how getting control of Bec’s place is going to help. Cara Downs would still be in trouble, we’d still have debts that had to be paid.’

  ‘Bluestone Ridge would give us the funds to pay off the debts. It would be easier to secure loans and basically get ourselves out of the shit. Added to that, once the two properties are joined our prospects will be a whole lot rosier. No matter how much I wish it were different, the Dupreys have the oldest and most respected sheep run in the entire district, not to mention the best prize-winning stock. We can trade on their name and the provenance of their brand. Cara Downs comes close, but who wants to be in second place? I want us to be the best bloody sheep run in the state and have as many blue ribbons and awards as Duprey. To do that, I need to keep the farm afloat and hopefully you can romance your way back into Bec’s heart.’

  ‘Dad, you’ve got to let this one-upmanship with Jack Duprey go. It’s eating at you and there’s absolutely no reason it should. It’s not a race and it’s not like you’ve got anything to prove. Yes, his place is the oldest and most established farm in town, but that doesn’t mean ours isn’t any good. We’ve put years and years of hard work into this place – you, me and Grandad. And that counts for something.’

  Mick was silent for a moment. ‘Yes, it counts for something, but he’s got everything.’

  ‘Geez, Dad – how can you even say that? The poor bastard has been in a wheelchair for the past few years. I hardly think he’s got everything.’

  ‘You don’t know what it was like growing up with him. It’s been an upward battle against the Dupreys ever since your grandfather scraped together enough money to buy this place. We were seen as upstarts, not like the Dupreys, who were here even before the damn town was settled. Every improvement to the land, wool cheque or even the blasted number of head we run has always been measured against the Dupreys’ achievements. I want to show everyone that we’re just as good as they are. I want to prove to them that Cara Downs isn’t a poor imitation of their place.’

  ‘Who compares us to the Dupreys?’

  ‘Everyone in town.’

  ‘To hell with them. White Gum Creek isn’t happy unless it’s got something to gossip about. I don’t give a damn who talks about us – they don’t matter. The only thing we need to concentrate on is us and the farm.’

  ‘Easier said than done.’

  ‘Hey, Cara Downs isn’t anything like Bluestone Ridge,’ Zane said. ‘And that’s because it’s ours – our blood, sweat and tears have gone into this place. You shouldn’t compare it, because they are two very different farms.’

  ‘Jack Duprey was the bloody golden boy, not just of his family but the whole damn town. He was everything I wasn’t. He was handed a viable working farm with an established flock and name. He just couldn’t do any wrong, plus he ended up with Maggie Sinclaire.’

  ‘You liked Bec’s mum?’ The news sort of stunned him for a moment.

  ‘I swear Maggie was the most gorgeous girl in the whole district, she really was. Maggie was beautiful; she looked like Bec does now but a sweeter, softer and prettier version. She had that dark blonde hair and those golden brown eyes, and she’d make my heart race every time she looked at me. But she only ever had eyes for Jack – the lucky bastard.’

  ‘Dad, I’m sorry that things didn’t pan out the way you wanted, and as much as I’m enjoying this trip down memory lane the whole idea about me and Bec isn’t going to work. Besides, I’m kind of creeped out thinking about you and Maggie Duprey. Bec is never going to trust me again, let alone marry me and hand us Bluestone Ridge on a silver platter.’

  ‘You’ve got to try. We’re in this for the long term and I need you to see the big picture. One way or another, Cara Downs has to be futur
e-proof and I plan to use all my abilities to make sure that happens. I’m sure as hell not going to be known as the guy who lost the family farm, and I thought you of all people would appreciate that. This is your legacy we’re talking about.’

  ‘Dad, it just won’t work. She won’t listen to me – she won’t have a bar of me.’

  ‘Well you’ve got to bloody well change her mind. You could at least bloody try!’

  ‘Alright!’

  ‘I’m just thinking of your future. Do you want to be left with nothing?’

  ‘I said alright, didn’t I? I still reckon Bec will see through me, but what exactly do you want me to do?’

  ‘Well, getting Bec to forgive you would be the first step – and make sure you stop seeing that little bitch Tanya.’

  ‘Hey, Tanya’s alright. No need to call her names.’

  Mick looked his son in the eyes. ‘Do you love her?’

  ‘No, not really.’

  ‘What does that mean?’ Mick eyed his son.

  ‘Oh, I don’t know. I don’t mind spending time with her. We’ve been on and off for years. I care about her, but . . .’

  ‘Then finish it. If you loved the girl you would have married her when the engagement ended with Bec.’

  ‘You know she expects us to get married one day.’

  ‘It’s not going to happen, though, is it?’

  Zane shrugged. ‘No, it’s not. Tanya’s a habit, and one that I can break.’

  ‘Then do it. It’s partly your fault that we’re in this mess anyway.’

  Zane shook his head. ‘Hey, I don’t control the rain, and let’s remember that I’m not the one who overextended.’

  ‘No, you’re right, that was me. But the farm did so well the year before last, I thought we’d be okay. I didn’t know we were going to suffer a drought for as long as we did. But you’re right, that’s on my head. However, stuffing up the engagement to Bec and letting the one chance we had to get Bluestone Ridge slip through your fingers was on yours.’