Seaside Manor Bed and Breakfast

by Lilly Mirren

  “He looks much better,” said Mick, slumping into an armchair with a hot cup of soup in his hands.

  Sarah nodded. “He is. Thanks to you.”

  She joined Mick on the couch, as Oscar nibbled at his dinner. He set the soup on the coffee table and slipped an arm around her shoulder. His face hovered over hers as his green eyes crinkled around the edges, gaze locked on Sarah’s. The way his two front teeth crossed a little bit in the front was so cute she couldn’t resist kissing him.

  “You’re welcome,” he said, kissing her in return.

  She grinned. “I’m so happy he’s home, and you as well. I was worried about both of you. You didn’t have to do that… but I’m so glad you did. Thank you.”

  “Of course,” he replied. “I’d do anything for you Sarah… you and Oscar mean the world to me. I hope you know that.”

  She nodded, unable to speak around the lump in her throat.

  Mick extricated himself and set about building a fire in the hearth. With everything going on, Sarah had let it die out. He had it roaring again in no time and stood with his hands outstretched, warming them. By now the sound of rain on the roof had dimmed to a patter, but the wind still screeched as it closed around the cottage coming directly off the ocean below and up the steep cliff face.

  He faced her with a smile. “I love you, Sarah Flannigan.”

  “I love you back, Mick McIntosh,” she replied with a catch to her voice.

  He knelt in front of her, took her hands in his. “It’s why I want to spend the rest of my life with you — you’re my family already, I want to make it official. I can’t go on living somewhere else when my heart is here. Say you’ll marry me.”

  She nodded, tears filling her eyes. “Yes, I’ll marry you. I don’t know why I hesitated, you’re so different to my dad and to Jeremy. I love you, and I know you’re the right man for me.”

  He laughed once, out loud, then cupped her cheeks with his hands to kiss her passionately on the lips. Sarah couldn’t think of anything other than his lips on hers, the promise of their lives together stretching out ahead of them — pure, hope filled and driven by love. She hadn’t expected to find someone in the Cove, someone she could share her life with. She’d left the city and moved home to get away from someone, but instead she’d run smack into Mick and had loved him before she was even aware it was happening. It was a surprising thing to find herself in love with a man she’d known since she was a child, someone she’d never have considered when she was younger but now knew was a perfect match for her in every way. She couldn’t wait to get started on their new life together.

  Chapter 29

  Emily

  The phone rang as soon as she put it down and Emily found herself booking a couple for the following weekend in the newly renovated upstairs room at the Manor. She smiled as she hung up the phone — bookings were up, she felt as though she was on top of most things now and everything was running like clockwork.

  With a hum she jumped to her feet and skipped to the kitchen. The oven dinged as she reached it, and she pulled the cinnamon tea cake from it with her floral mitts, inhaling the delightful aroma as she did.

  The entire ground floor smelled of baking, upstairs guests were settling into their rooms, and the cleaner had left the place sparkling only a half hour earlier. Life was good.

  No sooner had that thought entered her mind than an image of Ethan followed it.

  Of course, whatever was going on between her and Ethan complicated things. She liked it, liked him — there was no question about that. But they were business partners, they worked together at the Manor every day. What if things turned sour between them, it could ruin everything.

  Now that she’d been living at the Manor for two and half months, she’d fallen in love with the place all over again. She’d adored it as a teenager, had looked forward to every summer her mother had allowed her to stay with her Auntie Di and Uncle Rupert… her heart fell, tears filled her eyes.

  Uncle Rupert.

  She missed him so much already. It felt wrong for her to be happy, to smile, when he was gone. It’d been three days since her aunt called to tell her the devastating news. Poor Auntie Di was beside herself. Emily had never seen her that way before. She’d always considered her aunt to be stoic, reasonably unemotional, or at least not expressive. But she hadn’t been able to stop crying — on the phone call or when Emily had visited the house later with flowers.

  Emily sighed, shaking her head. She was baking things now, trying them out for the wake, which they planned to hold at the Manor after the funeral. So far, she’d baked cheesecake, scones, caramel tart, and lemon meringue pie — all of Uncle Rupert’s favourites. And the Manor’s guests certainly weren’t complaining about her experimentation. She had the menu planned out and intended to make certain everything was done so that Auntie Di didn’t have to do a thing but show up and grieve with her family and friends.

  Even thinking about the funeral reminded her of her mother’s — her throat tightened at the thought of seeing the casket, Auntie Di crying, and hearing those hymns again. The memory of saying goodbye to her mother was seared in her brain, and even though it’d been years ago, she couldn’t think of it without tears blurring her vision and her heart constricting in her chest.

  Ethan burst through the back door, dressed in jeans, a white button-down shirt open at the collar, and blue canvas sandals. His hair was brushed to one side and his light brown eyes sparkled.

  “Good morning, Em,” he said, sweeping her up in his arms and kissing her full on the lips.

  She blushed under his gaze as he pulled back to drink her in. “Good morning. You seem chipper.”

  He grinned. “It’s because I get to see you.”

  Emily busied herself setting the cake out to cool, her face burning. She wasn’t accustomed to being adored by anyone, and certainly not the way Ethan expressed his adoration on a regular basis with no guile, nothing holding him back. It touched her heart and made her uncomfortable all at the same time. This thing that’d developed between them was so unexpected, she wasn’t sure where it was going, and she hated to think that it could end — but experience told her it probably would.

  “Would you like a slice of cake? Fresh out of the oven…”

  He licked his lips. “Yes please. That smells amazing.”

  She sliced two pieces, poured them each some coffee and sat with him at the kitchen table. He ran a hand down her arm, giving her goosebumps, then dug into the cake with his fork.

  “Did you hear back from your solicitor friend?” she asked, taking a sip of coffee.

  He nodded, swallowed. “Yes, apparently the police were happy with my statement, so they won’t be pursuing charges against me.”

  She laughed. “Thank goodness. That is very good to hear. I’m so happy for you.”

  “Me too.” He took another bite. “But that reminds me, I have to talk to you about something.”

  “Oh no, not more legal issues…” She was joking but she hoped that was behind them. It seemed, with Ethan, anything was possible.

  He chuckled. “No, nothing like that. But I do think we need to plan for things possibly going wrong. I mean, if something happened to my finances, it could impact on the Manor, and I don’t want that. So, I’ve applied for a job at the Murwillumbah Council.”

  She frowned. “Doing what?”

  “Engineering,” he replied. “Like I was doing before, but more low-key.”

  “I didn’t know you’d started looking for work yet.”

  “I hadn’t really… but then this opportunity came up and I thought - wouldn’t it be great to be able to stay living in Emerald Cove, and commute to Murwillumbah for work?”

  So he wouldn’t be moving away — the thought buoyed her spirits. All this time she’d assumed he’d head back to the city at some point and the two of them would have to figure out how they would make things work, or if they would even try.

  Emily surprised herself by leaning forw
ard to kiss Ethan. Sparks ran through her body sending tingles down her legs and out her toes. She smiled against his lips, then leaned back in her chair.

  “I think it’s a great idea.”

  “You do?” he asked. “Because I was worried you’d think I was leaving you with the Manor to run on your own…”

  She shook her head. “No, it’s fine. You’ve done a lot around here and I can’t expect you to put aside your career goals and be my handyman. We can hire someone local to do that.”

  He inhaled a deep breath. “I’m glad you feel that way.”

  Emily nestled into the crook of Ethan’s neck, and listened to his heartbeat as he took another sip of coffee. She’d thought their relationship would cause her more stress, that it’d only be trouble. But in that moment, all she felt was peace. She cared about him more than she’d realised she could care about anyone. The things in their past that she’d held onto for so long in order to push him away had been misunderstandings — letting them go had been a relief. And she’d found love and affection had taken the place of the bitterness and anger that’d been lodged in her heart for so long.

  Chapter 30

  Rebecca

  The rabbit warren hallways, lifts, escalators, and rooms that made up the Tweed Heads hospital were familiar to Rebecca now. After three days of driving Franklin to see his dad, bringing him meals, visiting him with messages from the office, she knew exactly which turn to take, which stairs to climb, and which door to walk through.

  She strode ahead with purpose, stopped, and knocked on the door.

  Peter, his father, was awake but not responding well to anything the doctors or his friends and family asked him yet. The doctor had assured Franklin that it might take some time, but Rebecca could see the concern in her boss’s eyes.

  “Hey boss,” she said.

  Franklin glanced up at her from the newspaper he was reading to his father’s still form. He grinned.

  “Proby, there you are. I was beginning to think you’d gotten lost on your way here.”

  She shook her head. “Nope. And don’t whinge, I’m right on time.”

  He stood then kissed his father’s forehead. “Dad, I’m heading to work. I’ll be back to see you again tonight. Okay?”

  They walked to the cruiser together. She was glad to see that Franklin had showered and was wearing a fresh change of clothes. His car was parked next to the cruiser she’d brought over from the office.

  “So, I’ll bring you back here after work, then?” she asked.

  He nodded. “That’d be great, thanks. I’ll spend some time with him during visiting hours and head home after that.”

  “How’s he going?” she asked as she climbed into the passenger seat.

  “Better I think,” he replied. “Although, he’s not talking or anything. But the doctor seems to think he’s improving. It’s hard to tell.”

  “Any chance he’ll come home soon?”

  Franklin started the car’s engine, then huffed out a small breath. “Uh, I don’t think so. Doc seems to believe the best we can hope for is some kind of nursing home.” He swallowed. “But I know Dad would’ve hated that idea.”

  They drove to the police station, chatting about the weather, Rebecca’s boxing class, anything other than his father. She knew what it was like, having a sick father — she’d been through it herself and what she’d needed at the time was for people to treat her like they normally did, and to talk about something other than the grief she was experiencing.

  Back at the office, after the initial enquiries about his father’s health, everything returned quickly to normal, and she could see Franklin’s shoulders slowly loosen as he dove back into work.

  The day passed by quickly and Rebecca drove Franklin back to the hospital. She parked in the lot beside his car. It was dark outside and streetlights glowed, casting shadows on the bushes and shrubbery that surrounded the hospital building in long, winding garden beds.

  “Thanks for the ride, Bec,” he said, gathering his things together.

  She nodded. “You’re welcome.”

  “It feels so good to get back to work.”

  “I’ll bet it does.” She smiled, climbing out of the vehicle.

  Franklin always liked to drive whenever he was in the car, but she’d switch seats with him to take the cruiser back to the station.

  He climbed out too, a satchel slung over one shoulder. There were dark smudges beneath his eyes.

  “You should head home and try to get some sleep tonight,” she said as she walked around to the driver’s side.

  He nodded and yawned. “I will.”

  “Good.”

  He grinned. “Oh hey, we were talking about something when I got the phone call about Dad. Something that was bothering you. Did you figure out what to do?”

  Rebecca had thought about it a lot over the past three days — what would she do if her ex came calling? She’d prepped her house in case he showed up there. But if he came to the office, she’d need some support. Perhaps she should tell Franklin more than she’d hinted at earlier, although he had enough to deal with in his own life.

  “Yeah, I think I’m on top of it. The thing is…” she sighed; it was so hard to bring herself to say the words. She’d hidden the truth from this community, from her colleagues, for so long. Fear stabbed in her chest. “It’s my ex-boyfriend… he might be coming to see me, and I don’t want him to.”

  Franklin’s eyes narrowed. He dropped the satchel to the ground and crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned against the car. “Okay, spill. What’s the deal, proby?”

  She sighed. “I know you’ve been interested in finding out more about my past, and I haven’t exactly been forthcoming…”

  “That’s an understatement,” he said.

  “There’s a reason for that… a reason corporate covered for me as well.”

  He arched an eyebrow but didn’t speak.

  She swallowed. “He’s violent, a criminal. They caught him a few years ago, and I testified against him, but he managed to skip out on the charges… none of the other witnesses came forward, surprise, surprise! Anyway, he’s never forgiven me for that, or for leaving him. I moved here to get away from him, to start a new life under a new name…”

  Franklin’s eyes widened. “What? Wow. Bec, I wish you’d told me…”

  “I couldn’t, that was part of the deal. I couldn’t tell anyone… haven’t even been able to call my mum or my sister. They don’t know where I am. Anyway, somehow he’s figured it out, he sent a message to my work email a few days ago, and I know it sent him an autoresponder with my name, work address and phone number… so, there’s no doubt he knows who I am and where I am…”

  Franklin scrubbed both hands over his face. “Wow, Bec… I’m sorry.” His eyes darkened. “What do you think he’ll do?”

  She shrugged. “He’ll send a few more threatening letters, make me uncomfortable for a while, then probably show up and try to convince me to go back to Sydney with him.”

  He reached for her, placed both hands on her arms, and met her gaze with his own earnest stare. “Keep me up to date on this, and let’s get the forensics team in Sydney to take a look at that email. We should be able to make a case to have him followed.”

  He dropped his hands to his sides, his lips pursed. “And I suppose this will mean it’s time for you to move on, start over somewhere else.”

  Her throat ached. “I don’t want to. This is my home now, I’m sick of it — sick of pretending to be someone I’m not, sick of letting him have power over my life. I’m not going anywhere.”

  After Rebecca dropped the cruiser back at the silent police station, she climbed into her car and drove home. Her thoughts flitted back and forth between fear, anger, and concern for Franklin. She was exhausted by all of the emotions that’d trolled through her body over the previous days, and ready to go to be and sleep for as long as her body would let her.

  She’d had enough of being afraid. If J
ake wanted to go back to playing his games, she wasn’t about to join him. He could play them alone as far as she was concerned.

  The town was bathed in darkness, only streetlights blinked as she rounded the corner to where she lived. She parked in the underground parking lot, switched off the car’s headlights and climbed out with a yawn. Her bed was calling her name.

  Rebecca’s footsteps echoed throughout the garage as she strode for the staircase. She recalled the feel of Franklin’s hands on her arms, the way he’d gazed into her eyes — his own full of concern, dark with empathy.

  He was such a wonderful guy, even if he did give her a hard time as her boss. The fact was, he didn’t know anything about her, but he’d accepted her and taught her how to be a police officer when he hadn’t wanted to. She’d taken the place of his best friend, his former partner, and yet he’d been there for her when she needed him. His gruff exterior was that — a mask. Beneath the surface, he was kind, warm, and interested in his staff. He cared about people, that much was clear in the way he approached his job. The people he went out of his way to help. It was why the town loved him so much.

  She knew he didn’t see her as anything but an employee, but she couldn’t help imagining what it might be like to kiss him, to feel those strong arms around her, holding her close.

  She smiled to herself as she climbed the staircase, then fished in her purse for her keys. She was being ridiculous. He was her boss, nothing more than that — except perhaps a friend. And she could definitely use a friend right now. She missed the people she’d left behind but was grateful for the new relationships she’d built in the Cove.