by Janet Gover
Deimos responded instantly when she closed her legs against his side. She turned him in a smart half-circle at a walk, then pushed him into a trot. His ears pricked as his strong, even stride carried them in a half-circle around the ring. His transition into a canter was everything Liz could have hoped for.
As they curved into a figure of eight, Liz felt the moment when Deimos seemed to hover in the air for a heartbeat as his legs flashed with a flying change of lead. Her heart soared with him. The colt effortlessly stretched his legs into a hand gallop along the far side of the ring. She closed her legs hard against his side and called for a halt. Deimos tucked his hind legs beneath him, flung his head up and slid to a stop. A twitch of the reins and he was galloping in the opposite direction.
The last test came as Liz pulled him to a halt once more. She was breathing heavily, but Deimos hadn’t even raised a sweat. At her command he stepped smartly backwards. One … two … three … Liz counted the six steps in her head and told him to stop. She let out her reins, allowing the horse to stretch his neck and relax. As she pushed him into a walk towards the judge, Liz put the reins into her left hand as with her right she shook out the stock whip she had carried all through the workout. She raised the handle and swung the whip. A loud crack echoed across the ring, and another and another. Deimos kept up his steady walk, a slight twitch of one ear his only reaction to the movement and the noise.
The judge was nodding in approval as Liz stopped to salute at the end of her round.
As she left the ring, she was greeted with similar nods from the stewards, other competitors and people who had just been watching. She smiled in return, but mostly she just wanted to find a quiet corner to await the results. Once there, she slid out of the saddle and wrapped her arms around Deimos’s neck.
‘That was wonderful. You were perfect,’ she told him as she buried her face in his mane and breathed deep while her heart seemed ready to burst with pride.
Liz loved horses. Being with them, training them, riding them and competing with them. She always had and she always would. But as she heard the judge call her and Deimos back into the ring for the awarding of ribbons, she realised that she hadn’t taken this much joy in her life and work for a very long time.
CHAPTER
37
Kayla stood back and viewed the statue with a critical eye. Jake Ellis had finished his work and he’d done an exceptional job. New life had been breathed into the stained old fountain. Water flowed again, the sound of it cascading into the stone basin an almost bell-like counterpoint to the stillness of the afternoon. It would be a perfect place for bridal photographs.
The phone in the pocket of her jeans buzzed. She pulled it out and saw a message from Pascale.
How is it going? I have a potential client.
Already? Kayla shook her head. Pascale had never been one to take things slowly. Kayla inspected the work that had been done. Now that the fountain was ready, the grounds were almost complete. More work was needed on defining a car parking area, but depending on the kind of wedding it was going to be, that might not be an insurmountable problem.
She looked up at the homestead. The painters had finished yesterday. The wrought iron on the upper balcony gleamed faintly, the brickwork had been cleaned and the grand staircase to the front door once more looked well-kept and stylish. Kayla smiled faintly. Her mother would have been pleased to see it looking like this. The wide, shady veranda offered a refuge from the afternoon sun, and the beautiful dark-wood doors glowed softly with much polishing.
Kayla walked inside to be greeted by a cacophony of sound and the smell of fresh paint. The two main rooms on the ground floor were almost finished. The bride’s retreat featured carefully lit make-up mirrors. There was a gilt-edged full-length mirror for the inspection of bridal outfits, and her own special touch: a gold and cream brocade-covered chaise longue that she had found at a nearby antiques shop. Well, second-hand furniture and junk more than antiques, but now that it was re-upholstered the chaise looked wonderful and, at this moment, particularly inviting.
She was exhausted after four weeks of running to Sydney and back, working her normal weddings as well as supervising the refurbishment at Willowbrook. Living with Liz hadn’t exactly been easy either, but there had been good moments too. They had celebrated Deimos’s first competition win together. The celebration had featured beer, not Champagne, but they had done it together. That meant something.
Leaving the bride’s retreat, Kayla walked down the hall to the ballroom. There was no furniture there yet since the newly polished floor was drying. But in a day or two, a couple of rugs and some leather armchairs in a colonial style would complete the room. The kitchen and dining facilities were another matter. Just this morning Kayla had run through a status with the workmen there, and there was quite a bit more to be done. All the food would be prepared off site, but commercial heating and refrigeration units would need to be installed to preserve the food once it was delivered. Initially the crockery and cutlery and glassware would be hired in, but in the future she might need storage cupboards for those. And the kitchen still had to function as a domestic kitchen for Liz.
As always, her laptop was sitting open on the kitchen table. She found the expected email from Pascale. A Japanese wedding tour operator had been let down by his venue. He was looking to give his six couples and about thirty guests a true outback wedding experience three weeks from now. Pascale was known for pulling rabbits out of hats when it came to weddings at short notice. If they could get the tour operator out of trouble by offering Willowbrook, it might lead to more bookings from the same company.
Kayla was about to send an email telling her partner that Willowbrook wasn’t ready yet because of the catering, but as her hands hovered over the keyboard her brain spun into high gear. If the wedding was to be a true outback experience, they could probably do it. It would just take a bit of lateral thinking. She tapped words into her search engine and, after carefully perusing the results, made a phone call. Then another. Fifteen minutes later, she hit reply on the email.
She was engrossed in her plans when a voice disturbed her.
‘When can we clear the next room?’
It took a moment for the full impact of the decorator’s words to hit home and it was a good thing Liz was out with the horses somewhere. Kayla followed her decorator into Liz’s office, the inner sanctum from which everyone had been banned, including her. Until now.
The decorator stepped into the centre of the room and looked around with something very like a curled lip. Kayla didn’t need to be a mind reader to know what he was thinking. This room was supposed to become the groom’s retreat, but it was still piled high with Liz’s paperwork and horse magazines and stud books. And, of course, her bed. Liz had so far resisted all Kayla’s efforts to move upstairs into what was to become the private part of the house. With Pascale’s request foremost in her thoughts, Kayla knew she had run out of time.
‘I’ll get this cleaned out today or tomorrow,’ she said, trying to sound certain.
‘Good. We’ve got to get this mess sorted. I really don’t know why anyone would live like this. How they could live like this.’ The decorator didn’t shudder, but it was a near thing.
There was a noise from the doorway. Kayla flinched as she saw Liz standing there, her face like thunder.
‘What do you think—’
‘Liz, I have good news.’ Kayla cut her sister off before she could go any further. ‘Thanks, Peter. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.’ Kayla dismissed the decorator, who sidled out of the room without making eye contact with Liz.
Liz folded her arms and waited for Kayla to continue.
‘I think we have our first wedding.’
‘But I thought the place was a long way from ready.’
‘Not really. This wedding will be small, and quite special. In the garden. It’s an overseas tour group who want an Australian outback experience. We can have a barbecue and roast a pig or some su
ch. They’ll love it.’
Liz was silent.
‘Liz. Come on. You agreed to all this. You need the money. I’ve got enough to do and I don’t want to have to fight you as well.’
‘I know, it’s just …’
‘Just what?’ Kayla’s voice softened. Maybe this time she and Liz could talk things through without a blazing row.
‘Forget it. Everything’s fine.’
Kayla knew that it really wasn’t, but she was going to take whatever small steps she could.
‘As you say, I agreed and I’ve taken the money, so it’s too late to stop it now. If you’ll just get out of my office, I’ll start clearing it for you to do what needs to be done.’
‘It doesn’t have to be right this minute.’
Liz ignored her. She walked over to her desk and reached for a pile of books and magazines on the shelf above it. As she did, the pile toppled sideways and started a near avalanche of the contents of the shelves. Instinctively, Kayla darted forward to stop the calamity. Her fingers closed around a china ornament as it teetered on the very brink of disaster.
As Liz fought with the piles of paper, Kayla looked at the object in her hands. The horse she’d given her father all those years ago. Memories came rushing at her, of visiting Sam in this office when she was small and being so proud that he had her gift on display. She turned it over in her hands. It was a cheap thing, old fashioned and dusty, but to her, it had its own special beauty.
‘I can’t believe you’ve kept this all these years,’ she said softly.
Liz had dragged a box from beneath her bed. It was half full of old papers and, without a word, she lifted it onto a chair and started throwing more papers into it.
‘Liz. Slow down. We never did clear out the office after Mum and Dad died. Perhaps we should do this together.’
‘You’ve got the weddings. This is all stud business. It’s my responsibility.’ Liz picked up her heavy box and pushed past Kayla, who stepped back. Her foot connected with the bed. As she tried to regain her balance, the china horse slipped from her fingers. The sisters watched as, almost in slow motion, the horse fell onto the hardwood floor and shattered.
After a few moments of shocked silence, Kayla walked away. She went to the kitchen and stared at her laptop, pretending to work while she fought tears. Breaking the horse had been an accident. She knew that. But breaking the relationship between two sisters … that was different. No one could say that was an accident. And it looked to her that it might prove the hardest to fix.
She heard a series of loud noises from the office then footsteps stomping up and down the stairs. Liz must be struggling with those heavy loads, but Kayla was not going to offer to help. Not again.
‘There. It’s done.’ Liz walked through the kitchen to the door.
‘Liz—wait.’
Her sister didn’t break stride.
‘You know, one of these days you’re going to have to stop running away.’
But the words fell into the empty space. Liz was gone.
Kayla walked into the office. It was just an empty room, the dust settling once more. Liz had swept everything away, even the pieces of broken china. Kayla wondered if the remains of her father’s horse had been thrown out, or if they had been preserved: a hundred pieces of something precious with only a faint hope of repair.
CHAPTER
38
Mitch saw her as he walked out of the saddlers carrying two new halters. Liz was driving through the centre of Scone much faster than safety, or the law, allowed. That wasn’t like Liz. She was the most cautious driver he knew. It was contrary to her nature, but after what had happened to her parents, he understood perfectly why she drove as she did. She never drove fast or dangerously. Something was very wrong. Then she jumped a red light.
Mitch sprinted for his car. He tossed his purchases onto the passenger seat of his ute and started the engine. He caught up with Liz, who was now on the highway out of town and still speeding. Mitch hung back. He didn’t want to push her to greater speed, but he was careful to keep her well in view. It took about thirty minutes to reach Murrurundi, where she slowed and turned off the highway. Mitch eased off. He knew where she was going and he wanted to give her a few minutes to calm down before he arrived. He had a pretty good idea she wouldn’t be very welcoming.
When he reached the Rosedale Equine Complex, he saw her car parked under a tree. He parked next to it, got out and looked around. Instinct led him to the grassy bank that overlooked the horse area and the mountains beyond. She was sitting on the slope, her knees pulled up tight to her chest, her head resting on her arms. And if he didn’t know her better, Mitch would have sworn she was crying.
But she couldn’t be. Liz never cried.
He approached her, making just enough noise that she would be aware of his arrival. He dropped to the ground beside her, close but not quite touching. He could feel the tension in her body and wanted nothing more than to put his arms around her and pull her close. But he didn’t.
‘Why did you follow me?’ she eventually asked.
‘I saw the way you were driving. You never drive like that. I figured something was wrong.’
‘And now you’re going to ask me what it is.’
‘No. Now I’m going to sit here and be your friend. If you want to tell me, you can. But if you don’t, I won’t ask you.’
The silence that followed was strained. He could hear her short, jagged breaths. A couple of horses wandered into sight in the paddock. A kookaburra laughed in a nearby tree as the wind gently shook the branches. Liz’s breathing gradually returned to normal.
‘Kayla has had people working at Willowbrook. Turning it into a wedding venue.’
‘I know. It’s a small town. People talk.’
‘She says it will make money. And I really need the money.’
Mitch didn’t say anything.
‘It’s a horse stud. It’s my home, but these past few weeks it’s been full of strangers, changing everything. I don’t want strangers wandering around. And I don’t like weddings.’
There it was. The one thing they could not talk about. But he had to say something.
‘When is the first one?’
‘Not that far off. The place isn’t ready yet, but she says it’ll be some outdoor touristy Australiana thing. It sounds awful.’
Mitch chuckled. ‘It does a bit. You know, if you want to get away from the wedding, you can always come over to my place.’
Liz froze, then he heard her breathe again. ‘I don’t think so,’ she said quietly, then continued in a firm voice, ‘Anyway, I don’t want to leave them alone. Without me there goodness only knows what they’ll get up to. I have to make sure the horses aren’t disturbed.’
‘I’m sure Kayla has thought of that.’
‘She has. She’s thought of everything. She’s controlling everything now. I don’t feel like it’s my place any more. I’ve lost it.’
‘No, you haven’t. Willowbrook is a part of you, Liz. Even if you left, which I don’t imagine you will ever do, you will not lose Willowbrook. Ever.’
They sat in silence for a while. The tension in her body seemed to have faded a little.
‘You know, Dad was part of the organising committee that planned the very first King of the Ranges,’ Liz said thoughtfully. ‘He was the one who convinced the council that it would be a good idea. Tourist money and all that.’
‘I know.’ Mitch was surprised by the turn of the conversation. Liz never talked about her father and the accident. The changes at Willowbrook must have rattled her more than he’d thought.
‘And he never got to compete. That seems so unfair.’
‘I think he and Apollo would have won hands down.’
‘Are you entering next year?’ Liz asked.
‘Yep. I guess you are too.’
‘Yeah. That colt, Deimos, has all the potential in the world, but I don’t want to rush him. We’ve done a couple of small shows and he did all
right. He’s not a champion yet, but maybe one day he will be. I have to get him out more. He’s a bit green for the King of the Ranges, but we’ve got some time. If he puts up a good showing, he might attract a few mares.’
‘I might be interested in sending a mare to him.’
‘Don’t. I don’t want your pity.’ Her voice hardened.
‘It’s not pity. It’s business. I wanted to send a mare to Apollo, but Deimos carries his bloodline.’
The silence that settled over them now was peaceful. The long twilight was falling and the heat of the day had dissipated.
At last Liz got to her feet. Mitch did too and they walked to their cars. Mitch didn’t try to open her door, he knew her better than that.
She stood with one hand on the door and for the first time looked him squarely in the face. ‘Thank you.’
‘What for?’
‘This. For being my friend … despite everything.’
‘I am here any time you need me, Liz.’ He wanted to say so much more. That he would be more than a friend to her if she would let him. But this was not the time. Such a declaration would scare her away just when she was taking the first tentative steps back to him.
Mitch was a patient man.
CHAPTER
39
‘Come on,’ Lizzie whispers as she leads the way through the trees. It’s almost six o’clock, and the first dawn light is beginning to appear. Her breath steams in the freezing air. Mitch is dressed in his best clothes. He’s warm inside his sheepskin coat, but shivering with anticipation. Or maybe nerves.
‘Let’s take a shortcut through here,’ Lizzie suggests, reaching for the gate to one of the foaling paddocks.
‘But the grass is wet. It’ll be a bit muddy too. What about your dress?’
Lizzie looks down. She’s not used to thinking about clothes and shoes. The hem of a dress peeps out from under her long coat. She’s wearing her riding boots, but she’s carrying another pair of shoes in a bag. Those are certainly not for riding. Her heart thumps a little. She hopes Mitch will like what she has chosen to wear today. She doesn’t want her dress to get messy either. After all, today is special.
