Belinda gasped. “Surely not. Why would she have any reason to do that? She has those two boys to look after.”
Claire grimaced. “That’s what I told Julie. There must have been oil on the road, or it was still wet from the rain overnight.”
Belinda shared a curious glance with her husband.
“I’m sure it’s nothing. Small-town gossip.”
“Maybe I should give Matt a call,” Anthony suggested.
“Keep it to yourself,” Claire said. “No use shoving your nose in, especially if it’s unfounded. Could cause more harm than good.”
They continued to eat their meals, but the chatter melted into the background of Belinda’s mind. She was lost to her worries—mainly the phone call from The Australian Taxation Office demanding twenty thousand dollars before the end of the month to cover outstanding withholding tax.
The gravity of this existence was too much at this time of night. Belinda’s eyes stung. She rolled her neck from side to side, allowing little pops and cracks to ease the tension. She ached to jab her fingers into the hard muscle of her shoulders and knead it like dough.
“I probably should get home,” Claire said. “You look tired, Belinda.”
“Oh, no. No, that’s fine. Just a little tight in my neck. I haven’t been taking care of myself enough lately.” Unable to afford a physiotherapist or masseuse was more like it.
“And here I am taking up your time.” Claire stood and piled their empty plates on top of each other.
“Mum,” Anthony said, but Claire kept on.
Belinda parted her lips but found she couldn’t object to Claire leaving. She was utterly exhausted, needed to vent to Anthony about the phone call, cry in the shower afterwards, and then head to bed.
Claire helped load the dirty plates and cutlery into the dishwasher and cleaned down the benches.
Much like a socially aware robot, Belinda maintained a polite disposition as they walked Claire outside to her car. The September evening remained cool from the salt-laced ocean breeze.
When Claire drove away with a beep of her car horn, Belinda turned to Anthony and tears sprung to her eyes. Every last ounce of strength in her muscles dissolved, and she was no longer capable of holding her body upright. Her shoulders sagged, head drooped.
Anthony took her in his arms, held her against him. “It’s going to be okay, Bel. I promise.”
Tears ran down her cheeks and wet his shirt as she rested her face on his chest. “You can’t say that. I don’t think it is. I had a call from the taxation office—”
“I borrowed twenty grand from Mum.”
She jerked her head upward and looked at him, lips parted, eyes wide. “You what?”
“We had no choice. If I didn’t bite down my pride and ask for help, we would soon drown. You know it, and I know it.”
Belinda unravelled her arms from around him and took a step back. “But from your mother? It doesn’t feel right.”
“She was fine. She seemed happy to help. We should have the money in the bank in the next day or two.”
A part of her tingled with the relief, and yet it didn’t feel like something Anthony should have done without a conversation first. “You should have consulted with me,” she whispered, voice hoarse.
“I didn’t want to burden you with it. I called Mum on the way home from work, invited her over and asked outright.” His attention wandered to the imposing houses in the darkened street, their lights glowing through the windows. “Come on, let’s not talk about this out here.” With an arm around her back, he piloted her into the house.
Belinda sank onto the couch in the living room beside Anthony and lowered her face into her hands. “What if she tells people about this?” She gave a long-suffering sigh. “They will know we’re in trouble.”
“I asked her not to.”
She lifted her head, met his eyes. Blue eyes like his late father’s. “She’ll tell your brothers. I won’t be able to face them again if they know we’ve borrowed twenty thousand dollars.”
“Mum promised me.” He rubbed her back with a soothing hand. “Trust me. It’ll be fine.”
“You promise?”
“I do. And besides, we don’t have a choice. That tax debt is the final nail in the coffin. I had to ask Mum, or we’d sink.”
Tears welled, but she wiped them away with the heel of her hand.
“Hey, come-on. It’ll be okay. We don’t have to pay her back until we’re on our feet again. This gives us some time.”
“She said that?”
He nodded, a small smile curling his lips.
She sat up taller. “It will give us some breathing room.”
“Exactly.” His smile grew. “See, it’s not all bad.”
She leaned forward and kissed his stubbled cheek. He smelled like salt and man and subtle cologne. Even after nine years of marriage, she loved everything about him. His bear-sized height and build. His kind, gentle nature. His promise to always remain by her side. So far, he had stuck to that one hundred per cent.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too, gorgeous.”
The Secrets Mothers Keep
One Family. Three generations. A common goal to unite them. A lifetime of secrets to divide them. But could uncovering the truth be the only way that this family can finally heal?
Three generations of women find their way back home to Tasmania. They embark on a project together to renovate the family manor and convert it into a bed and breakfast.
After a tumultuous life of pain and betrayal, Mary swore she’d never let anyone hurt her or her family again. But in order to keep her word, she must guard a secret she swore to keep fifty years earlier.
But with the family now under the one roof, and the past tampered with, the foundations of this secret are shaken.
Mary always believed that hiding the truth was protecting the family, but when all is exposed, she finds that by keeping her secret, she was the one hurting them all.
The Secrets Mothers Keep is available worldwide from Amazon stores.
Download your copy here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LG13VGB
About the author
Jacquie is an Australian author who lives in Central Queensland, Australia, where it's always hot, and humidity coats the skin, summer or winter. After writing her first story over a decade ago, it didn't take long for the writing bug to take her over completely, and she happily did away with her business career. Now she spends her days wrapped up in her imagination, creating characters, exploring alternative realities, and meeting a host of characters who occupy her mind at first, then eventually her books.
Her novels, Bittersweet and One Hot Christmas, were finalists in multiple categories in the Australian Romance Readers Association awards in 2019 and 2020. Bittersweet was a finalist in the Romance Writers of Australia Romantic Book of the Year Awards in 2019.
Jacquie has a business degree, studied postgraduate writing, editing and publishing at The University of Queensland, and earned a Master of Letters (Creative Writing) from Central Queensland University. But all that means is that she's super-dedicated to writing the best books she can for readers to enjoy.
With well over a million words published, be sure to check out her many published novels, novellas and short stories.
You can find out more about Jacquie on her website: https://www.jacquieunderdown.com/
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