Before the Storm

by Di Morrissey

  ‘You don’t even remember me, do you?’ she said in a calm voice.

  Ronan blinked. ‘Why? Should I?’

  ‘You should, but I know you don’t. There would be no reason for you to think of me. But I’ve thought about you, too much – far too much. I’ve tortured myself and others in my life because of those memories, for years. Ever since the night you tried to rape me.’

  Ronan reared back as if stung. ‘Bullshit! I’ve never done any such thing.’ He lifted a shaking finger. ‘Listen, don’t you start blackmailing me or whatever you think you’re doing. You’ve caused enough trouble.’

  His voice was angry and hard, but frightened. There had been other girls, Ellie guessed. He stepped back again and Ellie had the sudden feeling that if they’d been outside he would have run away. She was sure he wanted to escape, but she was closer to the door. And she wasn’t finished.

  How many other women had felt like this? she wondered. Slowly, anger mingled with an ache for the young girl who’d dreamed of love and tenderness, a handsome boy who would open doors to a magical life. She was angry at herself as much as with this shell of a man; a ghost who for years had haunted her, frozen her heart in fear and shame, and over whom she’d wasted tears, anger and stress. But no more.

  ‘I’ve heard of women who try this. Don’t think you’ll get anything from me. Because I won’t give you a cent,’ Ronan began, then stopped as he saw the disdainful look on Ellie’s face. His babbling threats hung in the air, leaving only the sound of the steady rain outside.

  Ellie stared unflinchingly at him. ‘I wouldn’t take anything from you, ever. I just want you to know that I see you for what you are now. You have a daughter, don’t you, Ronan? I hope she never knows a man like you.’

  Calmly she walked from the room, closing the door gently behind her.

  ‘Hey, there you are, I was looking for you. C’mon, have some birthday cake,’ said Patrick, coming towards her down the hallway. ‘The storm is finally blowing away.’

  ‘I know,’ said Ellie, linking her arm through his.

  *

  The mains power had come back on, and they could hear the aftermath of the storm rumbling in the distance. The atmosphere in the large room was happy and friendly, and Kathryn looked delighted at the attention. Susan and Ronan were nowhere to be seen. Heather told Ellie that Cynthia had taken the children to eat and go to bed.

  Ellie was hungry. She took a small plate of hors d’oeuvres and sat down next to Ben. Sally was talking to friends.

  ‘What a night. Your grandmother looks so happy,’ said Ellie.

  ‘Yes, she really does, doesn’t she? It was such good luck that Dad made it back in time. That was the icing on the cake,’ he said with a smile. ‘And I had a good chat with Grandy. It’s the first time I’ve seen her properly since the hospital. She said she didn’t realise I’d been trying to ring her. She’s invited Sally and me here for dinner tomorrow.’

  ‘That’s so good, Ben.’ Ellie suddenly realised that she now had a fair idea why Ben had been kept at arm’s length from his family. Given his good relationship with Kathryn and Sally, plus his easygoing manner, he might have been far too likely to mention the rumours about the caravan park development to Kathryn – especially as he was living at the park while he was in Storm Harbour. Ellie bit her lip. It wasn’t her place to tell Ben what had just happened in the library – she was sure he’d hear soon enough.

  Ben glanced around the room. ‘We had a high school formal dance in here one year. Did you come to that?’

  ‘No. I must have been back in Melbourne.’

  ‘It was fun, but I preferred the woolshed dances. This is a great old property, though. Lot of history here.’ He paused, looking thoughtful. ‘Actually I think my father mentioned that Craigmore is coming up for its 150th birthday soon.’

  ‘That’d be a great story for Sally to do for the Chronicle,’ said Ellie.

  ‘Yeah, it would,’ Ben said, grinning. ‘She’s so keen to go back and work with you all. She loves that paper. It turns out radio wasn’t her thing. Well, not that particular station, anyway.’

  ‘She’ll be welcomed back with open arms,’ said Ellie.

  Ben nodded, then stood up. ‘Well, I have to go help Grandy decide where to hang her portrait while Heather’s here,’ he said, and Ellie returned his broad smile as he turned and walked away.

  *

  The storm had dwindled to a light rain buffeted by a slanting southerly when guests began to say their goodbyes and head for home. Looking around as she walked to the car with Patrick, Ellie noticed debris from trees and gardens, and that some of the caterers’ boxes and food covers were scattered about the grounds, but there didn’t seem to be any major damage.

  ‘Ready for take-off?’ she asked as Patrick buckled his seatbelt.

  ‘You bet. I feel rather weary. But it was an interesting evening,’ he said, yawning.

  Ellie smiled. ‘Yes, it was, in more ways than one.’

  ‘The main thing is that Kathryn enjoyed it, and all the drama happened out of her hearing. I don’t think Seamus or anyone in the family wants her to know anything about this. Even an abridged version,’ said Patrick.

  As they headed onto the coast road, the big swell of ocean was lit by a pewter gleam when the pale moon broke through scudding clouds.

  ‘Bet there’ll be a few stars out by the time we get home,’ Patrick said. ‘Sam will be happy to see us.’

  And he was, giving them a bit of a chastising bark as they came inside.

  Ellie yawned, suddenly feeling exhausted. ‘Right, Poppy, I’m going to bed. Good night.’

  ‘’Night, love,’ he said. ‘We’ll have to write an article for the paper about tonight.’ He chuckled. ‘I’ll write the polite, censored version, but it will be great to publish the story of saving the caravan park.’

  ‘That’s what we’ve been waiting for!’ Ellie said, smiling and heading up the stairs. As she passed Patrick’s open bedroom door, she noticed Sam sleeping on his favourite blanket on the floor beside his master’s bed, snoring gently.

  *

  The unusual sound of a chainsaw woke her, and Ellie dressed quickly and hurried into the kitchen.

  ‘You’re up early after a big night, Poppy. What’s going on with the chainsaw? I hope the tree-loppers from the electricity company you told me about aren’t back?’ Ellie asked, sitting down at the table.

  ‘Don’t worry, it’s just Mal clearing the fallen branches. I’ve got those electricity fellows under control now. Their company brought in a decent arborist to talk to them about koalas and the best way to prune trees near the powerlines instead of just hacking at them indiscriminately,’ Patrick said, putting the kettle on to boil. ‘Mal runs a mowing and pruning business. A big branch came down in the storm, so I rang him first thing this morning and now he’s cutting it into firewood. Sorry to wake you, kiddo.’ He turned to her and smiled.

  ‘You’re very chirpy.’

  ‘Yes.’ Patrick chuckled. ‘There’s a certain satisfaction in knowing you’re starting the day with a win. In fact, I’m heading out now to meet Seamus in town.’

  ‘Let’s wait until Seamus signs the papers and it’s all finalised before gloating,’ suggested Ellie. ‘Who’s going to write the story? When is Sally starting back at the Chronicle?’

  ‘She said she was ready to start work anytime, so I’ve asked her to come in this morning. We need to figure out the story for Wednesday’s paper but I haven’t told her anything yet about what transpired last night,’ said Patrick. ‘Ben will have told her about it, of course, assuming he’s been informed himself. I want to give her all the details we know in person rather than load her up with that news over the phone.’

  ‘Good idea,’ said Ellie, accepting the cup of tea Patrick handed her. ‘Thanks, Poppy. Well, at least we know that if Seamus renews the l
ease, the caravan park will most likely be safe for the next fifty years,’ she added.

  ‘That’s right. I’m going to call Meredith and update her,’ Patrick said. ‘Want to meet us for lunch?’

  ‘Thanks, Poppy, but I think I’ll relax at home this morning. Mike said he’ll be here in time for a late lunch, so I’ll go into town then.’

  ‘Ah, yes. It will be good to see him again,’ said Patrick.

  ‘Now don’t you go telling him the same old war stories,’ Ellie said, laughing.

  ‘Oh no, I have heaps of others I haven’t told you both.’

  ‘Save them for your book, Poppy.’ She stood up and gave him a hug.

  *

  When Ellie walked into the office at around noon, she heard Sally and Jon laughing. Patrick was perched on the corner of Maggie’s desk talking to her, and Sam was eyeing Maggie, watching every crumb of her biscuit disappear.

  ‘Wow,’ Maggie said as she glanced up at Ellie. ‘Is that a new dress?’

  ‘Yes, I bought it here in Storm Harbour,’ said Ellie. ‘It’s that soft lightweight wool.’ She held out the delicate embroidered skirt.

  ‘Look at you!’ said Sally.

  ‘Where’s the party?’ asked Patrick.

  ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake . . . I just made a bit of an effort for a change,’ said Ellie.

  ‘Wouldn’t be because you’re meeting Mike for lunch, would it?’ asked Patrick.

  Jon smiled. ‘You look gorgeous, Ellie.’

  ‘Thanks, guys. So what’s going on? Is this a coffee break or a conference meeting?’

  ‘Both,’ said Patrick, biting into a muffin. ‘What’re you up to?’

  ‘Mike’s picking me up here. I thought I’d check in first and find out if the development article is in the works. I can imagine the headline: “The story at last: no development, council confirms no changes at the river”,’ she said.

  ‘Sally and Jon are collaborating on it now,’ Patrick said.

  ‘Yes, this has been a bit of a wake-up call, so we’re also mulling over a feature: “What does Storm Harbour want for its future growth?”’ said Sally.

  ‘Good point. Council should be considering a twenty-year plan at least,’ said Ellie. ‘It could be a really controversial and thought-provoking article. You should talk to Dave from the community bank, he has some really interesting ideas. Poppy already knows about them.’

  ‘First things first,’ said Patrick. ‘We cover the caravan park story and reaffirm there won’t be any development. There’s no need to involve the sideshow antics of certain O’Neill family members, because they have nothing to do with the town. We can’t publish any of the murkier details, anyway, since a lot of it is hearsay,’ he said. ‘We’ll write that the new lease arrangements will be finalised early this week, and the caravan park will be open for business for the next fifty years.’ He picked up a folder of papers. ‘These are the proposed plans for the caravan park site that Ronan and Susan’s developer mates were going to try to push through if they acquired the land. I think it would have been horrific. Here, Poss, have a look.’

  ‘Where did you get this?’ asked Ellie, taking the folder from Patrick.

  ‘Seamus gave it to me this morning. He told me that Susan is packing her bags and Ronan has begged forgiveness from Seamus, and hopefully from Cynthia as well,’ said Patrick.

  Ellie opened the folder and spread the plans out on the desk, then pored over them for a few moments. ‘These are hideous. They would be so out of place in Storm Harbour.’ She held up the architect’s drawing of steel and glass apartments. ‘Did Seamus share anything else with you?’ she asked.

  Patrick shook his head. ‘Nothing we can publish,’ he said. ‘Ronan declared to Seamus that it was all Susan’s idea. She had opened the first reminder letter to Seamus about the lease renewal being due and saw an opportunity. She quietly went to Ronan with an idea, he says. Mind you, we saw Susan deny that so we can’t be sure what the real story is. Besides, it doesn’t really matter whose idea it was. They were clearly both invested in it.’

  ‘Yes. They must have had some sort of relationship to join forces in a plan to go behind his father’s back,’ Sally said.

  ‘It looks that way,’ Patrick agreed. ‘I think Ronan is ambitious and greedy. He didn’t want to wait for his inheritance, which of course he’d have to share with his siblings. I think the two of them wanted to make a buck and they didn’t care who they hurt in the process or how they went about it.’

  ‘So let me get this straight,’ said Jon. ‘Susan hid the first reminder letter from Seamus, and Seamus was away and unreachable when the other letters came through. So when our council source wondered why Seamus had never answered his reminders, it was because Seamus never saw them.’

  ‘Correct,’ said Patrick. ‘Ronan and Susan were so cocky about pulling it off that they went to the expense of working in partnership with a developer to start drawing up plans. From what I can gather, they planned to sell off the land at an exorbitant price, once they’d bought it from council for peanuts.’

  ‘So that’s why that architect and the surveyor guy Jon and I met were snooping around, waiting in anticipation. They thought the deal was in the bag!’ said Ellie.

  ‘There’s more,’ said Patrick. ‘Meredith rang me this morning before I had a chance to call her, and it seems dear old Councillor Lowe is suddenly suffering some health issues and is going to resign. Meredith is surprised but delighted he’s quitting.’

  ‘I bet,’ said Ellie.

  ‘The main thing is, Seamus is meeting with his lawyer today and plans to sign the lease first thing Monday morning. When he’s with the lawyer, he’s going to revoke the power of attorney he gave Ronan before he went away on his cruise.’

  ‘Do you think Seamus might take shorter holidays from now on?’ Maggie said dryly.

  Patrick shrugged and smiled. ‘Nothing anyone can do about hurricanes! But Susan and Ronan definitely capitalised on Seamus being away. It was always easy for them to keep things from Kathryn, with Susan as gatekeeper. By the way, Seamus has made it absolutely clear that Kathryn is not to know anything about the swindle her grandson was trying to pull off.’

  ‘And luckily, we know Kathryn never reads the paper,’ said Ellie.

  ‘What does Ben think about all this, Sally?’ Ellie asked.

  ‘I haven’t had the chance to talk to him about it apart from one quick phone call as I was driving home last night. He was angry about something but there wasn’t time to talk. I didn’t want to stay over at Craigmore and Ben said he needed to keep his grandmother company on her party night. So I drove home as soon as the storm died down,’ Sally explained. ‘I didn’t know any of the details till I came in this morning.’

  ‘I wonder how Ben’ll take it,’ Maggie said, standing up to return her mug to the kitchenette.

  ‘Why don’t you ask me?’ said a voice from behind them, and they turned to see Ben in the doorway. ‘I suppose you’re all sitting around discussing my family.’ He turned to Sally, a pained expression on his face. ‘You reported on the development ages ago, Sally. Did you know any of this then? Did your source ever mention that my family was involved?’

  Sally jumped up, her face creased with worry. ‘Ben, I didn’t know anything more than what I said on the radio. I promise you, I had no idea Ronan was involved.’

  ‘Oh yeah?’ he said, but the sting had gone out of his voice.

  Ellie broke in. ‘Ben, Sally’s right. None of us had any facts. All we had were a lot of rumours and suspicions, that is, until a whistleblower contacted me about the lease. I promised him I wouldn’t reveal his identity so he wouldn’t lose his job. It’s a basic tenet of journalism to protect our sources. Otherwise people won’t speak up.’

  ‘I’m really sorry, Ben. If I had known about your family’s involvement with the development I would have to
ld you,’ said Sally.

  Ben looked at her, then finally exhaled and said, ‘I just didn’t like the feeling of there being secrets between us, Sal.’

  ‘Oh, Ben.’ Sally hugged him. ‘There won’t be.’

  ‘So, have you two got any plans for the day?’ asked Ellie, trying to shift the mood in the room.

  Ben nodded. ‘Sure have. My father asked me to go over to see Cassie and Steve and give them the good news that there is nothing to the development rumours. They’ve got the next fifty years here if they want it.’

  ‘They’ll be so relieved. As will everyone at the caravan park,’ said Ellie.

  Ben dropped his arm around Sally’s shoulders and looked at them all. ‘I haven’t told you my big news. We had a family meeting this morning, but without Grandy as Dad doesn’t want her to know what Ronan tried to do to our family. Anyway, Dad has decided to send Ronan back to the cattle property in Queensland. He’ll be close to Cynthia and her family so maybe they can work things out between them.’

  Ben gave Sally a big smile. ‘And he has asked me to move to Craigmore permanently and help him run things there. I told him I couldn’t give him an answer until I’d talked to you, Sal, and you’d had time to think about it, because I’d like you to move there with me.’

  Sally leaned against him and gave Ben a kiss. Then she turned to Patrick.

  ‘Patrick, after Jon and I have written this piece we’re working on today, do you mind if I take a few days off before I start back here?’ Sally asked.