The Secrets Mothers Keep

by Jacquie Underdown

  “I was going to take one of my sons with me, but I think I want to get all the details before I tell them about Rebecca. Depending on what I hear, I may never tell them.” She pauses to give time for Mary to make a response. Does she think Grace is being unfair to keep something like this from her children?

  “That decision is up to you.”

  Grace nods. “I was hoping, if you don’t mind, that you could come with me to meet her. I really need someone supportive who isn’t overly emotional. I thought of June, but she’ll get as worked up over it all as I will.’

  “When?” Mary asks.

  “After Christmas. That way if the news is unfavourable, it won’t ruin Christmas.”

  Mary places a hand on Grace’s shoulder. “I’m sure whatever Rebecca has to say will be fine. Try and keep your chin up. Worrying about it won’t change matters.”

  Grace nods, willing herself to believe Mary’s reassuring platitudes, but the clenching in her belly is evidence enough that she has her doubts. Perhaps if John wasn’t so strange towards the end of his life, she wouldn’t be too concerned.

  But she had witnessed him morph into someone else. Someone she didn’t really like. It now makes her believe that he was capable of hiding a whole other side—perhaps even an unpleasant one.

  “So will you come?”

  “Of course. Book the flights. It’s best we get this over and done with.”

  The lightness of her relief spreads across her shoulders while the nerves in her stomach flutter more strongly.

  “But for now, go and grab a hat, some gloves and a stool. I’m going to show you how I prune the roses and fertilise them. It will help keep your focus off your thoughts.”

  Grace looks up to the blue sky and breathes in the floral perfumed air. A distraction at this time is vital. She is beginning to see why Mary adamantly protects this garden.

  Chapter 29

  Lily-Rose

  Lily-Rose finishes a call with her publicist. What was revealed has left her muscles tensing and her blood rushing through her body. She rounds the corner into the kitchen, nostrils flared, breaths heavy.

  Pia is sitting at the table by herself.

  “I need you to help me with something,” Lily-Rose says with urgency.

  Pia doesn’t respond. Her distant gaze conveys distraction, but Lily-Rose doesn’t have time for this. “Pia?”

  Pia frowns as she peers at Lily-Rose. “Mum. Hi. What’s going on?”

  Lily-Rose shakes her head and makes a disgusted growl. “Bloody women’s magazines are at it again. There is a four-page spread with defamatory accusations.” Her lips are trembling as the agitation explodes into full-blown hatred.

  What traitors they are.

  Pia sits up straighter, more alert now. “What have they said?”

  “There’s some bullshit story by a man here in Tasmania claiming to be my biological father or some such nonsense.” She runs a shaky hand through her hair. “I swear, these lunatics will be the death of me. Do they have no self-respect at all? Seriously, selling their lies to make money. It’s beyond appalling.”

  “Oh god, Mum, I’m so sorry. That’s horrible.”

  “I need you to come with me to the newsagency to pick up a copy. I need to see it for myself.”

  Pia gets to her feet. “Of course. But do you think it would be best to ignore it?”

  “No way. I’m suing this time. That weirdo, I’ll sue him for slander or defamation or whatever the hell I can.”

  “Do you want that stress along with everything else going on here?”

  Her nose wrinkles with distaste. “I’m not going to sit back and take it.”

  “It’s your call. Do we want to drive to the newsagency or walk to blow off some steam?”

  “Drive. The quicker I can get my hands on this magazine and enforce damage control, the better.”

  They pass her mum and Aunt Grace in the rose garden on their way out, but she doesn’t stop to say good morning. She’s on a mission and no one is going to distract her.

  When at the newsagency, Lily-Rose waits in the car while Pia quickly runs in and buys three copies of the magazine. She hates to support the publication by giving them sales, but she needs to know exactly what she is dealing with and have proof for her lawyers.

  With twitchy hands, she holds the magazines closed on her lap until she arrives home.

  She races up the front path towards the house. Mum pauses to examine them as they rush by. “What are you two doing? You look like you’re about to kill someone, Lily-Rose.”

  “I may do so yet,” Lily-Rose says, not stopping to explain.

  She marches to the living room, Pia trailing behind her. They take a seat side-by-side on the sofa. She hands one magazine to Pia and opens another for herself. Of course, she’s on the front cover … again.

  The first time she saw her face on the cover of a magazine was like tiny explosions of bliss had filled her to bursting. She and Hugh jumped up and down in the newsagency after buying a copy. It was after her first big-budget film. Over the years, though, as she has aged and the demand for hard-hitting headlines to break through the world’s eternal distractions has increased, she cringes when she finds her face on a cover.

  It doesn’t take long to find the article—page nine. For the next fifteen minutes, she reads it from front to back. By the closing sentence, her jaw is sore. Her hands and lips are vibrating. She waits silently but anxiously for Pia to finish too.

  Pia closes the magazine and rests it on her lap. She peers at Lily-Rose with a deep frown on her face. “Oh my god.”

  Tears prick Lily-Rose’s eyes. “What will Mum say about this? To bring her into this and question her integrity. To soil my father’s name …” she breaks off as tears clog her throat.

  “It’s disgusting. How could the editor print this and still sleep at night? This is the kind of crap that destroys families. Is that what they’re trying to do?”

  Lily-Rose wipes her eyes and shrugs. “It looks that way. But to suggest Aunt June is my mother—it’s not fair.” She stabs the front cover with her finger. “Some con artist out to make a couple of dollars, and this magazine jumps on board and prints this shit. Mum will be devastated. And here in a small town … everyone will read this.”

  Pia frowns. “And they’ll probably believe it. It’s well documented with ‘so-called’ timelines and pictures. Quite convincing really.”

  Lily-Rose’s stomach feels like someone has it between their fists and is squeezing. “I’m going to have to tell Mum.”

  “You will.”

  “She won’t take this well.” Lily-Rose lowers her head, face in her hands

  and groans.

  Very early in Lily-Rose’s career, she and Hugh were at the markets in Sydney. Pia was only a small baby, maybe six months old at the time. She wouldn’t settle and continued to cry, so Hugh lifted her from the pram to comfort her.

  Paparazzi, from out of nowhere, in an effort to get their first photos of Lily-Rose, swarmed them. One shoved Hugh with his shoulder so hard that he very nearly dropped Pia in his effort to stay on his feet.

  Only then did Lily-Rose ever question if acting was the right career choice.

  From that day on, she took every measure possible to ensure Hugh and Pia weren’t in the spotlight. It had taken a lot of pre-planning before every outing, holiday and flight, and it meant that she had to give the paparazzi what they needed of her. She stole the limelight to protect her family from the harsh rays.

  And now, she has let her guard down, and they are going after her family again. She will not stand for it.

  “Best tell Aunt June at the same time. This involves her too,” Pia suggests. “I’ll run upstairs and grab her if you like? But, she was acting a bit strange earlier.”

  Lily-Rose lifts her head from her hands and peers at Pia. “Strange how?”

  “I read her cards—”

  “You read her cards?”

  A small bashful grin. “Yep.
And she reacted really weird. She rushed to pack all the cards away and said I shouldn’t pay attention to them.”

  Even with everything that is going on, Lily-Rose’s desire for gossip blossoms in her chest. Maybe that’s why she is finding all these horrible pictures and articles in magazines—karma. “What did they say?”

  Pia shakes her head. “Not a lot. They were really cryptic. Something about needing to confront her past or some such thing. She seems to have read something very specific into them, though.”

  Lily-Rose nods slowly. “How interesting.”

  “I agree. But I don’t think I’ll read tarot cards again.”

  “No, best leave that for Aunt June.”

  “Do you want me to run upstairs and get her?”

  Lily-Rose sighs. “Yes, please. I’ll go collect Mum and Aunt Grace. May as well get this over and done with.”

  Her stomach is a tangle of nerves as she heads out front to the rose garden. “Ah … Mum, would you and Aunt Grace mind coming inside? I’ve … I’ve got something to tell you.”

  Within a few minutes, everyone is seated together in the living room. Lily-Rose hands them each a magazine. “It’s probably best if you read it for yourselves.”

  Lily-Rose waits, wringing her hands together as her mum and aunts read the article. She watches Mum intently, searching for any kind of negative reaction.

  But there isn’t one.

  Not even a couple of fast blinks, a jaw tic or a sharp intake of air. Nothing.

  On the other hand, Aunt Grace is exclaiming, gasping and throwing her hands to her chest with shock. And Aunt June is … scared?

  Mum closes the magazine on her lap and looks tight-lipped at Lily-Rose. She doesn’t say anything, which is worse than any anticipated reaction.

  “What do you think?” Lily-Rose asks after the long stretch of silence becomes too unbearable.

  Mum shrugs. “It’s typical women’s magazine lies.”

  “Absolutely. But I won’t stand for it, Mum. Not when it’s dragging you and Aunt June into it. I’m going to see a lawyer, and I’ll be suing for defamation. Raquel Martin recently won a similar case after they lied about her age. There’s precedence.”

  Mum stands and lets the magazine drop onto the couch. “The best thing you can do is ignore it, otherwise this will be dragging on for years. And to be quite honest, I’d like it to disappear as soon as possible, and the only way to do that is to not fuel it. Like all rumours, it will be yesterday’s news soon enough.”

  “But, Mum. It’s the principle. How dare they write this rubbish about us?”

  “Oh, please. This is not the first time; it won’t be the last. The only difference is that now we are about to open a business. This needs to be a distant memory by that time. If you drag this through the courts, it will hurt us all more. If you’re happy bringing more pain, then go ahead. But if you have any sense, you’ll leave this to die.”

  Lily-Rose’s chest is rising and falling with each ragged breath. She thought Mum would have jumped at the chance to teach this magazine a lesson. Especially with all her endless preaching about one letter being able to change the world.

  But maybe Mum is right, and this will hurt everyone more if she fights the lies and prolongs the rumour’s life. This isn’t all about her. This includes Mum and Aunt June. To go ahead with legal proceedings, she would need their support and consensus.

  “Aunt June, what do you think?” Lily-Rose asks.

  Aunt June shares a glance with Mum. “I agree with your mother.”

  Lily-Rose deflates. “I guess it’s two against one.”

  Aunt Grace leans forward and peers at Aunt June. She taps at the article. “I remember this guy. He went to school with you. Wasn’t he your boyfriend?”

  Aunt June shrugs. “Gosh, Grace, you’re asking me to remember back fifty years. He might have been. I can’t remember. I just can’t believe someone would make up such nonsense.”

  Aunt Grace narrows her eyes. “You know, I remember him clearly because after you left to live with Mary here, he kept coming by the house, asking where you were and when you were coming back. He kept asking if you could ring him. He was obsessed with you. Dad ended up having to give him a kick up the arse.”

  Aunt June’s eyes grow wide, as do the others in the room.

  “So this Joshua person was a foolish boy and now he’s a foolish man,” Mum says. “Nice to know he hasn’t changed. As if anyone could possibly mastermind such a charade, let alone hide it for so many years. Absolute juvenile nonsense and everyone will do well to forget about it,” Mum says with a deep, stern tone and marches out the room, shaking her head and mumbling under her breath.

  Lily-Rose sighs. “Mum’s right. Of course she’s right. I shouldn’t have got so worked up over something so obviously ridiculous. Nobody is going to believe such pathetic bullshit. I’m sorry I blew it all out of proportion. And I’m sorry I stressed you all like this.”

  Aunt Grace shakes her head and comes and sits beside her, giving her a cuddle. “Don’t you feel guilty about this. We’ve known for a long time what the media are like with celebrities. They want this to drive a wedge between us all, then they’ll have further gossip to print. It’s best if we stand together as a strong family unit.”

  Aunt June stands too, sitting on the opposite side of Lily-Rose, and wraps her in her embrace. “Try and put it to the back of your mind. We’re strong enough to cope with this, so don’t you dare give it a second thought. All the townsfolk know us and will write this article off as mere fabrication. Okay?”

  Lily-Rose nods and offers a relieved smile. She had underestimated the strength of these women.

  “Good,” says Aunt Grace. “Now, June, come help me make some morning tea because I have a hankering for bacon and eggs.”

  When Lily-Rose’s aunts leave the room, Pia takes a seat beside her, smile warm as she says, “That went better than I anticipated.”

  With that monkey off her back, relief finds her. As much as Mum can get on her nerves, she has always been so great at diffusing Lily-Rose’s outbursts. She’s grateful for that. “I do always underestimate Mum’s resilience, rationality and ability to cut through the bullshit.”

  Pia giggles. “With the force of a sledgehammer.”

  “That’s Mum. No tact.”

  She eyes the length of Pia, noting her pale pink ballerina slip-ons, tight denim jeans and a lovely pink, slightly see-through blouse. Her face has a touch of make-up, highlighting her big blue eyes. “What are you doing today?”

  Pia squirms in her seat before saying, “Luca’s going to take me to an antique shop in town to see if I can find some pieces for the manor and maybe something for my apartment.”

  “Really? You think it’s wise to be seeing Luca?” The moment the question leaves her mouth, she wants to reel it back in. She forgot that Pia doesn’t know she is privy to the pregnancy secret.

  Pia offers an impatient sneer. “You do take after Nan, don’t you? Both busybodies who are seeing too much into what is only and will only be a friendship.”

  Quite an overreaction. She studies her daughter’s defiant expression with curiosity. “All I’m going to say is be careful.”

  Pia scoffs. “You of all people are telling me to be careful?”

  All the air rushes from Lily-Rose’s lungs. She slumps back against the couch. Hugh has certainly thrown the affair back in her face before but never Pia.

  “I’m sorry,” Pia says quickly. “That was not right. I shouldn’t have said that.”

  Lily-Rose attempts to hold her head high, but she can’t quite manage to do it as though all her strength and self-preservation has flitted away on Pia’s words. She waves a dismissive hand. “Don’t worry about it.”

  Pia leans over and kisses her cheek. “I’m really sorry, Mum.”

  “That’s fine.”

  But deep inside her heart, she isn’t fine. Not one bit. Her heart thrums with pain, so much it takes her breath away.


  Is this why Pia told Hugh about the baby first? Has her daughter lost all respect for her too?

  Chapter 30

  Pia

  Pia sneaks out the back door before Nan can spy her and put a stop to her clandestine date with Luca. It’s not like they are doing anything wrong by shopping together, but with the way Nan feels about her and Luca, the best option is to keep their excursion on the down-low.

  Luca is packing his tools into his triangular roofed builder’s trailer while chatting with his employees as they stack loose bars of timber and reorder work benches and electrical cords. Shaven curls of timber blow along the gravel drive. Sawdust fills the tiny gaps between the beige stones.

  She strolls towards him with a smile on her face. “I’m so glad you organised an outing for this afternoon because I so desperately need to get out of this house.”

  His smile flitters away. “Why? Is everything okay?”

  “Not really. I’ll tell you about it on the way.”

  “Give me five minutes to get cleaned up and change, and then we’ll head off.”

  Pia waits for him, scrolling through her social media until he arrives back. He’s dressed in a pair of pale blue jeans and a white T-shirt that accentuates his tan.

  With a hand to her lower back, he leads her to the passenger side of the ute, opens her door and doesn’t remove his tender touch until she has climbed into her seat.

  They head off together along the relaxed roads. The midday sun spills through the windscreen, spreading warmth along Pia’s flesh.

  “Were there some problems today?” Luca asks, big hands gripping the steering wheel. She admires them as they curl over the leather, as well as his powerful arms.

  “You know how you mentioned that old houses like Viewtree have secrets?”

  He takes his eyes off the road for a brief second to meet her gaze. “Yep.”

  “I think you might be right.” She recounts June’s strange reaction while reading her cards earlier that morning. “Then to top that off, a terrible article was written about Mum in a magazine. Involves Nan and Aunt June too.”