by Shirley Wine
‘I know all this, but it doesn’t change anything.’
‘And has beating yourself up over it altered what did happen?’
Dumbfounded, she slowly shook her head.
‘You didn’t hold a gun to my head.’ Frank’s voice was testy with impatience. ‘It was my decision to invest our retirement savings in Thornton’s schemes, not yours.’
Brooke sighed, unable to let go of the guilt. ‘I guess saying I’m sorry won’t change anything?’
Frank’s gusty sigh trailed a warm breath across her face. He lifted a gnarled hand and curved it around her cheek. ‘You have nothing to apologise for.’
The air of heaviness and sorrow in his tone made her heart skip a beat. She lifted a hand and covered his. ‘What is it that you’re trying to tell me, Dad?’
‘The truth?’
She nodded, too aware of the painful thud of her heart against her ribs.
‘I believed Thornton’s promises because I’d already lost most of our retirement savings in a couple of bad investments.’
‘True?’
‘It’s true enough, and when Thornton came along touting his scheme—guess I should have heeded the old adage, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.’
She’d guessed that this was where this conversation was heading, but to hear her father confirm that desperation had driven him to believe her lying ex dealt Brooke a solid blow, enough to make her doubt a long-held belief that she alone bore the responsibility for her parents’ plight.
How do I feel, knowing this?
She sucked in a deep, slow breath as she tried to control her careening emotions and steady her voice. There was no way she could, or would, blame her aging father.
‘You thought you could recoup your losses?’
‘That’s about the guts of it.’ His hand on her cheek dropped away and he avoided meeting her gaze. ‘For years you’ve been sending your mother and I a good portion of your wages so we could stay here and live in reasonable comfort, and I’ve lacked the courage to tell you the truth.’
As she digested her father’s words and saw his shame, a weighty burden slid off Brooke’s shoulders.
‘Dad, how it happened doesn’t matter—’ she tightened her grip on his hands, ‘—I could never see you or Mum want if it was in my power to help.’
At her vehement words, tears overflowed his rheumy eyes and trickled down timeworn cheeks. Frank turned his good hand over in hers and gripped it tightly. ‘I love you Brooke, and there’s never been a time when you haven’t made me proud to be your father. Nothing Thornton or anyone else has ever said or done, could change this.’
A sound in the doorway caught her attention and she looked up to see Luke standing there, his expression impassive.
How much of that conversation did he overhear?
Annoyance and trepidation made Brooke squeeze her father’s hands and rise to her feet in one smooth, graceful movement.
‘Did you want me, Luke?’
His vivid eyes sparkled with sudden laughter at her unwitting innuendo. For long breathless moments he held her impaled on such a knowing look that her pulse scrambled. Heat spiralled through her, imbuing the moment with an intimacy she found impossible to break.
Damn the man!
She needed to move—now, before she did something really foolish—like make a pass at her employer and kiss him senseless.
Frank cleared his throat. ‘I’ll get out of your way.’
The sound of her father’s voice jerked Brooke back to awareness that they were not alone. ‘You’re never in the way, Dad.’
‘Can you spare me a few moments?’ Luke asked, an unmistakable undercurrent of laughter in his voice.
She lifted her chin, glaring at Luke. The darn man could rattle her with no more than a look.
‘Of course.’ She turned to her dad and laid a hand on his arm, giving it a gentle squeeze. ‘Remember what I said. Don’t overdo it.’
She turned and walked through the door ahead of Luke as he led the way into a room in the rambling house that she’d never been in before.
‘This is a pleasant room,’ she said, searching for a neutral subject, desperate to break that moment of intimacy.
‘Yeah, I snagged it as my den as it’s much smaller than the lounge and less businesslike than the office. And now, with you, Frank and Rio here in the house, I really appreciate the privacy.’
‘You furnished it?’
‘Not likely,’ he snorted. ‘I lived in a bachelor apartment, but fortunately the foreman’s residence came partially furnished. Matt and Charlotte helped too, by donating excess furniture they had in storage.’
‘What about your sister’s stuff?’
‘Rose and Otto wanted to bring their own bedroom furniture with them, and a few other items they considered special. The rest of their parents’ possessions are packed and in storage for them until they‘re older.’
‘I’m sure they will appreciate your thoughtfulness.’
‘Yeah, well I wasn’t at all comfortable at the thought of using Jenn’s and Ian’s things.’
As he closed the door it took all her self-control not to fidget under his searching look.
‘What were you and Frank discussing so earnestly?’
The abrupt question brought her chin up. ‘That was a private conversation.’
‘Thornton got away with your parents’ money?’
The confirmation that he’d overheard her talking to her father made Brooke angry. ‘I never pegged you as a snoop.’
He ignored the caustic comment and stood there, watching and waiting.
Brooke caved first. ‘Among others,’ she admitted.
‘There was no mention of that in the official reports.’
She shrugged and turned away, the lump in her throat aching and bitter. ‘Why am I not more surprised?’
Luke caught her shoulder and gently turned her to face him. ‘What happened, Brooke?’
She resisted the urge to look away despite his searching scrutiny. ‘Brad talked Dad and a lot of other people around here into investing in a sure-fire money-making venture.’
Luke winced. ‘Aren’t they all?’
‘It turned out that this scheme was little more than an exercise in money laundering.’ The bitter words rolled off her tongue as she vented years of pent-up rage. ‘His investment scheme was a cover for his drug dealing.’
Luke’s eyes went dark. ‘Your folks were investigated?’
‘They were, and so were a lot of others.’ She pushed a lock of hair back behind her ear. ‘And too many people around here have long memories and sure know how to carry a grudge.’
‘Against you?’
She closed her eyes tightly for a moment, then resolutely opened them again and nodded. ‘I brought him here, so ergo I’m responsible for their misfortunes.’
‘That’s ridiculous. You and Thornton’s family were cleared of any involvement in his drug dealing—’
‘Tell that to the people who consider I have a nerve to dare show my face in Sweetwater.’
Too clearly, Brooke recalled the many vicious comments she’d overheard, despite her best efforts to ignore the gossip.
‘Yet you returned to help your father?’
She nodded. If it were not for her dad, she would never have returned. Her father’s stroke had forced her hand.
‘Was this why you agreed to move out here?’
‘One of them.’ She crossed her arms and tucked her hands under her armpits.
‘You considered it less likely out here to meet anyone involved in Brad’s schemes?’
Luke Calloway was too perceptive by far.
‘That’s about the guts of it.’
He watched her for long moments before he said, ‘Sweetwater is your home, Brooke, and you’re as entitled to be here as much as anyone else.’
She gave him a pitying look.
She’d returned for her father. Period. Even though such a move meant she no l
onger drew the handsome salary from the clinic and this made life difficult financially for both of them. A carer’s pension only went so far.
‘You’ve been subsidising your parents all these years?’
She made an impatient sound. ‘I owed them, big time, so don’t make me into any sort of hero, save that for someone far more deserving.’
Chapter Nine
Luke met Brooke’s gaze with unwavering intensity as the silence stretched way beyond the point of discomfort, but he needed answers. He wasn’t prepared to delve too deeply into the reason, but Brooke’s association with Thornton festered like a thorn in tender flesh, a sensation that both annoyed and dismayed him.
Brooke hid her secrets well and her emotions better. The wall of her reserve was well-nigh impenetrable.
Despite a rigorous background check, he’d not discovered that she was financially supporting her parents. Was this the reason for her impecunious situation, and not living the high life as he’d assumed? What other erroneous assumptions had he made?
‘Why did you want to see me?’ Brooke broke the tense impasse.
Luke wasn’t ready to drop the subject. ‘How did Thornton con your parents?’
‘That is none of your business.’
‘Maybe,’ he said softly, ‘but I still want to know.’
‘Why?’ She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. ‘It no longer matters. And the brotherhood always protects the brotherhood—’ her voice dropped, ‘—even one who turns bad.’
Luke caught the muttered words and frowned. What did she mean by that? Far from protecting any cop who broke the law, the Force went after any member who crossed the line with extraordinary vigour.
‘What does it matter now?’ She turned away and crossed to the window on jerky steps. ‘It’s water well and truly under the bridge.’
Questions still nagged at him, but something in her tense stance made him think better of pursuing the subject. ‘As you said, it’s past and done with. Come and sit down.’
Brooke turned slowly, and he winced at her composed expression. Whatever her thoughts about their conversation, she had now retreated behind a barrier of icy calm. Without speaking, she sat in one of the well-worn leather chairs to one side of the log burner, crossed her legs, folded her hands primly in her lap and looked directly at him.
‘You asked to see me. About what?’ Her brows rose in unconscious hauteur.
The curt question brought his chaotic thoughts into clear focus and he scowled. He sat in the chair opposite, wishing he didn’t feel quite so uncomfortable. Her cool gaze made his temper spike, but with considerable effort he pushed it down. ‘I’ve had a call from Ian’s parents demanding that they either visit Rose and Otto here or that I allow the kids visit with them in Auckland.’
‘Demanding?’ Her eyebrows rose again. ‘That sounds very much like you don’t want the children to have any association with their grandparents.’
‘I don’t,’ was his blunt and uncompromising response. Luke was damned if he could see a single reason why he should welcome Duncan or Margaret McLellan here on his turf. Nor was he prepared to allow Rose or Otto to visit their grandparents, unsupervised. If they were determined to challenge his custody, why should he make it easy for them?
‘Do you think that’s wise?’
The question annoyed him. ‘If I had my way I’d serve them with a trespass order and bar them from setting foot on Whitby, but …’ His words trailed off under her steady, disapproving gaze.
‘But?’
‘Matt would never allow it for one,’ he growled, wishing the whole situation would somehow miraculously resolve itself.
‘What does Daintry have to do with the children’s grandparents visiting?’
It was a fair question; the answer was anything but straightforward.
‘Matt and Charlotte are turning themselves inside out to attract visitors to the station.’ He leaned forward in his chair, his hands hanging between his knees. The situation was so damn complicated. ‘The Whitby Garden Party is next month, and they’re throwing the gates open to every man and his dog to attend the extravaganza.’
‘The Whitby Garden Party has been reinstated.’ She stared at him in disbelief. ‘Since when?’
‘You must be the only person in Sweetwater who hasn’t heard about it,’ he said dryly. ‘It’s Matt’s brainchild to host a garden party to showcase the launch of their new venture: Whitby Prime Angus beef.’
‘The garden party here was once the social highlight of the year. My mum used to rave about it, and the Daintrys’ fabulous garden.’
‘So Matt has given me to understand.’ Would Brooke be receptive to helping him?
‘You could’ve knocked me down with a feather when Dad told me Matt was not only back on Whitby, he was married to Charlotte.’
‘You and a lot of other folk, too!’ Luke grinned and shook his head. ‘How Charlotte kept their marriage a secret for so many years beats the hell out of me.’
‘Are you afraid the children’s grandparents will take advantage of Whitby’s open day to visit and stir up trouble? Is this why don’t you want them here?’ Brooke asked, drilling him with a cool look.
‘Knowing them, I wouldn’t put anything past them.’
‘You surely don’t think they’d try to kidnap the children.’
‘No. Old man McLellan is far too crafty to try anything illegal.’
‘I’ve given this a lot of thought since you first raised the issue. Tell me, why do you consider visiting with their grandparents to be such a bad thing? It may well not be the disaster you imagine.’
Luke scowled. Whose side was she on? ‘I think it could be disastrous.’
She propped her elbows on her knees and her chin on her hands. ‘Luke, they are the children’s grandparents, and regardless of how you feel about the situation, they do have legal rights.’
He scowled again, raking a hand through his hair. ‘I do know this.’
‘Do you?’ She frowned, creating deep creases between her delicate brows. ‘Surely you would do better to try to build a bridge with Ian’s parents rather than clash with them, head-on? Have they have actually threatened you with a custody suit?’
Hearing Brooke put his fears into words hit Luke like a solid punch to the gut. ‘That’s what I’ve taken out of our last two conversations.’
‘Then it’s even more important that you invite them to visit with Otto and Rose,’ she said, her voice quiet and even, her expression thoughtful. ‘By doing so, you will be strengthening your hand if they do challenge your custody.’
Luke became defensive. ‘I’m only thinking of what’s best for Otto and Rose.’
‘Are you? Or are you considering what’s convenient for you?’
‘What are you implying?’ Luke’s already short temper began to fray.
‘That your attitude may well give Ian’s parents the very ammunition they need to challenge and win custody.’
The breath left his lungs in a resounding whoosh. Winded, he sank back in the chair and tipped his head back to study the ceiling. ‘You think?’
‘I do.’
He sat bolt upright, his fists clenched. ‘Shit.’
‘Look at it this way—’ she leaned forward and laid a hand on his knee, ‘—If the situation deteriorates and Ian’s parents do challenge your custody, a judge may take a very dim view of you not allowing Rose and Otto the chance to visit with their grandparents.’
Her soft voice of reason added to his inner turmoil. ‘I never considered that. So what do you suggest I do?’
‘Ask them to come visit and stay for a few days.’
The idea of sharing his house with Duncan McLellan, even for a few days, made Luke’s skin crawl. ‘Do you think they’d accept the invitation?’
‘That’s up to them, but you’re not responsible if they do turn down the invitation.’
‘They can always claim I refused to let the children visit with them.’
�
�Which you can very easily rebut: Rose and Otto are still convalescent. At the moment, their most pressing needs are daily physiotherapy sessions and catching up on missed schooling, needs you have ensured are being met. Besides, travel is not an easy or practical option for either child at present.’
Luke grinned, shaking his head. ‘Are you sure you’re not a lawyer masquerading as a physiotherapist?’
‘No, but you’d be surprised how many clients pour out their troubles to me during therapy sessions,’ she said, smiling ruefully. ‘And a certain amount of it does stick. Don’t for one moment think your situation is unique.’
‘I’m not that deluded,’ he said slowly, giving her a wry smile as he poked at her words from every angle, ‘but I’ve not thought it through like this.’
He well remembered as a young detective complaining to his sister about the difficulty he faced in a case where a man was pestering elderly women and yet no-one was prepared to talk to Luke when he questioned them. As clear as yesterday, he recalled Jenn’s answer … If you need information Luke, make time to have your hair cut at the local hairdressers. You’ll be amazed what people will share freely while sitting in a hairdresser’s chair.
Jenn’s advice had stood him in good stead then, and in the intervening years.
He’d not thought to apply this advice to therapy sessions. ‘I guess this makes sense.’
‘One other point you need to consider. Grandparents have a part to play in a child’s life.’ Brooke leaned forward in her chair, her expression calm and serious. ‘If you refuse Rose and Otto a chance to visit with them, you do run the risk of the kids imbuing Ian’s parents with the allure of forbidden fruit.’
‘Heaven forbid.’
This was something else he’d not considered, and he sure as hell didn’t need to hear now. Much as he hated to admit it, Brooke’s suggestions made sense.
‘So let’s get this straight. Unless I allow Margaret and Duncan to visit Otto and Rose here, I run the risk of looking the bad guy if a custody battle does eventuate?’
‘That’s right.’ She leaned across the space and put her hand on his knee. ‘It’s in everyone’s best interests to do whatever it takes to avoid an ugly custody wrangle.’
