Riding the Storm

by Heather Graves

  CHAPTER FOUR

  ROBERT TOOK HIS time on the return journey, feeling happier than he had in days. From time to time he let out a bellow of laughter, pleased with himself for acquiring the horse he had wanted for so long and with the added bonus of getting the better of his nephew. He had enjoyed seeing the dejected slump of the young man’s shoulders when he realized he was defeated; it made all his plotting worthwhile. His foreman in Melbourne had already texted him to say that Hunter’s Moon had arrived safely and was settling into his new quarters as if he had been there all his life. As a precaution, he had called the vet, who examined him thoroughly, pronouncing him fit, in spite of the fact that he had been living and exercising in what Robert described as relatively primitive conditions.

  Delighted that he had accomplished his goal more easily than he had expected, he decided to make a detour to Sydney to give himself a small reward. There was a woman he sometimes visited when he was there on his own. It would be wrong to call her a prostitute but in return for good food and expensive presents, she was generous to a select group of men friends. Sensibly he decided to call before arriving on her doorstep unannounced.

  ‘Why, Robert, what a pleasant surprise.’ She did indeed sound genuinely pleased to hear from him. ‘I love to see you when you’re in town. Come over right away. I’ll put some champagne on ice.’

  Driving down unfamiliar roads, looking out for a flower shop and anticipating the good time he was about to have, Robert ignored a red light. He knew something was wrong only when he heard the noise of air brakes applied far too late and the frantic blaring of a semi-trailer’s horn. Had he been driving the car on its own, he might have got away with it, but the horsebox took the full impact of the collision, making the car swing around and crash into the truck. His last thought before blacking out was that he wouldn’t get to see Meriel after all.

  It was Chrissie who took the call from the hospital in Sydney, relaying the message to Val.

  ‘But what on earth was he doing in Sydney?’ This was her mother’s first reaction before she realized that her husband could be in real danger.

  ‘He’s been involved in an accident, Mum, and they don’t know how serious it is. We’ll have to go up there at once. He hasn’t come round yet and he’s still in intensive care.’

  ‘My God. I didn’t realize. I thought it was just a minor bump in the car. He is going to be all right?’ Val was finding it hard to believe such a thing could happen to her seemingly indestructible husband.

  ‘We won’t know the whole story till we get there.’

  ‘Well, obviously you can’t go. You’ve enough to do here with the wedding coming up—’

  Chrissie shrugged. ‘I dunno. Until we know what’s happening with Dad, we might have to postpone it.’

  ‘Don’t say that. You’ve the honeymoon booked. It’ll upset all of your plans.’

  At that point, it didn’t occur to either of them that Robert’s condition could be critical and that he might die. This was only brought home to Valerie when she walked into the ward to find her husband unconscious and hooked up to various instruments monitoring his condition and with a nurse assigned to his sole care. A tall, severe-looking woman with her hair scraped back from her face, she was busy making notes on his chart.

  ‘He – um – he will be all right, won’t he?’ Val asked.

  ‘Hard to say. We’ll know more if and when he regains consciousness.’ The nurse took down some more notes from the instruments beside the bed. ‘The police will want to talk to him then. The truck driver says your husband drove through a red light.’

  Val stared at her. ‘I don’t know what he was doing in Sydney. He was supposed to be on the highway, coming home.’

  The nurse shrugged. ‘We see this sort of thing all the time. People distracted, talking on mobile phones.’

  ‘How do you know he was on the phone?’

  ‘It was still in his hand. Look, I shouldn’t be discussing this. It’s a matter for the police. The truck driver was pretty shaken up, too.’

  It occurred to Val that there was a lot more sympathy for the truck driver than for her husband’s plight. She booked into a cheap motel not far from the hospital and reported the news – or rather the lack of it – to Chrissie.

  ‘Stay just as long as you need to, Mum. And don’t worry about things here. Sam and Bill can take care of the horses – for the time being, anyway. I’m going into town to see Tony tomorrow to give him the heads-up that we might have to postpone—’

  ‘Oh, Chrissie. I hope it won’t come to that.’

  On reflection, Chrissie was surprised to find out how little she cared. It had been several weeks since she had seen Tony, who had given up calling her every night as he used to do. She had the feeling he was beginning to take her for granted.

  At the end of twenty-four hours, Robert regained consciousness but he seemed vague, having no memory of the accident or how it occurred. He seemed surprised to see Val and wondered why she was there. His doctors told her that while his injuries seemed to be relatively minor, the horsebox taking the main impact of the collision, the shock of the accident had caused him to suffer a minor stroke. And although they expected him to make a reasonable recovery, he would be confined to a wheelchair in the immediate future. His medical insurance would cover the cost of an ambulance to deliver him back to Melbourne where his own doctor would take over, referring him to a specialist who would monitor his progress. It was suggested that Val should consider hiring a nurse. She reported all this to Chrissie, who sighed.

  ‘I’ve already talked to Tony and arranged to see him tomorrow. Looks as if we’ll need to rethink our plans.’

  ‘Really? You don’t sound all that put out.’

  ‘Don’t I?’ Chrissie sounded flat. ‘I’ll know more after I’ve spoken to Tony.’

  As she drove into town the next day, Chrissie had time to consider her relationship with her fiancé and how it had changed. Having met him in college, he was her first love and she had assumed she would love him forever, although the excitement seemed to have gone out of the relationship in recent times.

  They had been best friends long before they became lovers. She had always been the smart one, lending him her notes and letting him copy her work. At one time she was even accused of copying his, but eventually the truth came out when Tony couldn’t help revealing his lack of application and he was politely advised to leave. Even then, Chrissie remained loyal, doing her best to ‘stand by her man’ while he made a new beginning in the hospitality industry. This suited him better as he had the knack of charming people to do things for him all the time.

  If Chrissie was wearing her reading glasses when he wanted to kiss her, he used to take them off and say she was beautiful. She had believed him, too, and was thrilled when he asked her to marry him although other people – mostly girls – said he was unreliable as well as being a serious gambler, too. He had been seen playing poker not just at the casino but at some of the less well-regulated clubs. Chrissie dismissed these rumours as founded in jealousy, although she did know about his gambling and had sometimes helped out, paying his debts. He always promised it wouldn’t happen again – until the next time.

  After the wedding, they were planning an extended trip to London and Paris. There weren’t many girls who could boast of a honeymoon in Paris, the city of romance. But now, because of the news about Robert, these plans were all up in the air. And, even if Val hired a full-time nurse, Chrissie knew she couldn’t leave her mother to cope alone with a man who was sure to be the most overbearing and demanding of patients.

  Chrissie had arranged to meet Tony for lunch at the hotel where he worked on probation as an assistant manager. It was one of the newer ones at the top end of town, patronized by politicians and show-business celebrities.

  She knew something was wrong as soon as she saw him coming towards her. He was handsome as ever, well groomed and his blond hair gleaming, but he seemed to have lost weight since she
last saw him and his smile was strained, a small muscle twitching beneath his eye. As a rule, Tony sailed through life on a golden cloud, never letting anything trouble him. He was the prince of charm and took it for granted that everyone loved him. He could have the grumpiest of hotel guests eating out of his hand in moments.

  She moved into his arms and raised her lips for his kiss but he pushed her away with a brief peck on the cheek before steering her towards the dining room and the private alcove where they were to dine. She tipped her head to one side, considering him.

  ‘Come on, Tony, I know that look,’ she said. ‘What is it this time? Not losing at poker again, I hope?’

  ‘Oh, Chrissie.’ He glanced aside, looking mildly irritated. ‘You know very well I’ve given that up.’ And he hid his expression by picking up the menu, giving his full attention to that instead.

  ‘What will you have?’ he said from behind it. ‘The chef’s doing fresh crayfish today and I hear that it’s good.’

  While pretending to study the menu herself, Chrissie felt someone’s stare and looked up to catch the eye of a slender blonde who was serving behind the bar. She had that smooth, heavy hair that fell forward on either side of her face; the kind of hairstyle that looks simple but can take half an hour to prepare. She looked away as soon as she realized Chrissie had seen her, a faint blush staining her cheeks.

  ‘Crayfish would be great,’ Chrissie said, snapping the menu shut. ‘But first things first. I wanted to ask if you’ve given your notice yet?’

  ‘Actually, I haven’t.’ Tony bit his lip, once more failing to meet her gaze.

  ‘Good,’ she said, making him blink in surprise. Briefly, she gave him an outline of what had happened to Robert and apologized for delaying their wedding plans. ‘It won’t be forever,’ she concluded. ‘Just until we find out how he’s going to be.’

  ‘Right,’ he murmured, staring at her. She could tell he was more immersed in his own thoughts than in what she had to say. ‘Sorry to hear about your pa,’ he mumbled almost as an afterthought.

  ‘Where are you, Tony?’ She sat back, regarding him. ‘I can see you’re not here with me.’

  ‘No. Yes. Sorry, sorry.’

  She closed her eyes, trying to contain her impatience. ‘Tony, will you please stop saying “sorry” and give me your full attention.’

  ‘Yes. Chrissie, I’m sorry.’ The words came out in a rush. ‘I feel awful doing this to you when you’ve got so much else on your plate. But I can’t marry you. Nor can I leave my job and take off for Europe – not now or any time soon. I’d be giving up too much here.’

  ‘I see.’ She paused, wondering about this sudden turnaround. After all, he was the one who had suggested the overseas trip. ‘OK. Maybe it’s for the best in view of what’s happened. I’ll tell them at work about these changed plans.’

  ‘Yeah.’ He looked considerably relieved. ‘You do that. And thanks. Thanks for taking it all so well.’

  ‘I don’t know so much about that,’ Chrissie said, surprised and a little hurt that he should fall in with her suggestion so easily. Did he really not care?

  She became more and more aware of somebody watching them. The blonde behind the bar was now staring openly, making no attempt to disguise her interest. Chrissie turned in her seat to look at her directly but immediately the girl looked away, pretending to wipe the bar.

  ‘Who is that girl, Tony?’ she said. ‘And why is she so interested in us?’

  ‘That’s Alison,’ he mumbled, refusing to look at her. ‘She’s new.’

  ‘Doesn’t she know that it’s rude to stare?’

  ‘Oh, Chrissie, I’m so sorry.’ He sat back in his seat, looking defeated. ‘I feel such a heel when you’ve been so wonderful to me always.’ He reached across the table, trying to grab her hands, but she snatched them back out of the way. ‘I really hate letting you down, especially at a time like this, but I can’t help it. I’ve fallen in love. Really in love this time.’

  ‘Yeah. With that blonde airhead over there.’

  His surprise was almost comical. ‘How did you guess?’

  ‘Because I’m psychic, you idiot.’ At that moment, Chrissie was too angry to feel any pain. ‘And I’m not hungry just now. So if it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll pass on lunch.’ Feeling a buzzing in her ears, she stood up to leave, wanting to put as much distance between them as she could.

  ‘Chrissie, please.’ Tony stood up. ‘We have so much history together. Let’s behave like civilized people. Please stay and have lunch as we planned. I don’t want us to part bad friends.’

  ‘That’s just it, Tony, isn’t it?’ She looked at this handsome, spoilt young man as if seeing him properly for the first time. She took off her engagement ring and pushed it towards him. ‘We’ve always had an uneven relationship. I give – you take – and I don’t think we’ve ever really been friends.’

  She left the table with her head high, knowing it was unlikely that she would ever see him again. He was probably already cracking a bottle of champagne, celebrating his freedom with his new love. She wondered, rather unkindly, how the new girl would feel when he asked her to help him to pay for his gambling debts. When her initial indignation subsided, she was surprised to find she wasn’t as upset as she expected to be. She was her own woman again – she was free. Tony was a luxury she no longer needed to afford. As she took the road home towards Cranbourne, she put on a new CD and sang along with it, enjoying a sense of freedom and independence, feeling more light-hearted than she had in years.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  THE WIND WAS already howling around the house, gusting strongly enough to make the windows rattle. The sound was disturbing and, with increasing apprehension, Ryan listened to the latest news bulletins on the radio warning people that an intense tropical cyclone was heading for the coast of North Queensland and that it was unlikely to miss. More often than not, a cyclone would veer off out to sea or lose intensity before hitting the mainland, but not this time. Even the newsreader sounded tense and on the verge of panic.

  ‘Residents are urged to head for the Evacuation Centres without delay. The weather bureau cannot advise exactly when the storm will hit but no one should be caught outdoors, as flying debris will be the least of your troubles—’

  He realized he should have woken her earlier and left home before.

  ‘Mum.’ He crouched beside her chair, shaking her gently so as not to alarm her. ‘Wake up. We really do have to leave now – we should have gone hours ago.’

  ‘What for?’ Joanne awoke with a start, looking bleary-eyed. ‘I don’t want to be caught outside if it’s going to rain. And if we leave now, I’ll miss my favourite soap.’ She sounded petulant as a child. ‘Rose’s daughter is getting married this week and you know how I’ve been looking forward to it—’

  Ryan closed his eyes, praying for patience. ‘It’s just a story, Mum. Those people aren’t real.’

  ‘Not to you maybe.’ Joanne’s lip trembled and her face fell into sulky lines. ‘They’re like family to me.’

  Ryan said nothing, suppressing the angry response that would only make her cry. If she were upset, it would be that much harder to get her to move. He glanced around the room, checking that he’d done as much as he could to make everything secure. He had pushed the dining chairs under the table and tied all their legs together so that nothing would move and pushed the larger pieces of furniture back against the walls. Everything that would fit had been stuffed into chests and the drawers taped shut. He had already turned off the power, knowing the electricity company would be closing it down at the mains.

  While Joanne was sitting there sleeping, with her little dog in her lap, Ryan had been busy making the house secure, taping all the windows to stop them from shattering in the expected high winds. He could only hope that this old weatherboard home, built on stilts like most traditional Queenslanders’, would be capable of withstanding the worst of storms.

  Joanne continued to stare at the
blank television set, willing it to come back to life and entertain her.

  ‘Mum!’ Ryan tried again. ‘The electricity’s off, anyway. We must go now or we won’t get to the Evacuation Centre in time. Once it’s locked down, they won’t open up for anything and the storm’s on its way. It will be here quite soon.’

  ‘I don’t care.’ She pouted like a child, angry about missing her show. ‘And anyway, you’re just a boy. It’s not your business to tell me what to do.’ She drew herself up and looked down her nose at him; a new habit she had developed when she wanted to pull rank. ‘I’ll leave when I’m good and ready and not before.’

  ‘Oh, Mum.’ He sighed. ‘Please don’t be difficult. Not now.’

  ‘I dunno what all the fuss is about. We’ve seen storms before – it’s a hazard of living here. It’ll be a bit of a blow, that’s all.’ She smiled up at him, abnormally serene. ‘Look at you, darling. Getting all hot and bothered over nothing. Anyone would think we’re about to face World War Three.’

  ‘I don’t have time for this, Mum. I don’t want to scare you but right now there’s a storm heading this way and it’ll be a lot more than just a blow. A full-blown cyclone, category four and gathering momentum even as we speak. It’s massive and nobody knows what will happen when it hits. It will be stronger, larger and wider than anything we’ve seen before.’

  ‘So what?’ His mother was still unimpressed. ‘It is February, after all. The wet season. Storms are to be expected at this time of year.’

  ‘Not like this one. Don’t you see how quiet it is out there? Can you hear any birds?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘That’s because they’ve all left. Birds and other wild creatures sense these changes in the weather. They know when it’s not safe to stay.’