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He clung grimly to a topic that could divert him. ‘As to “since when”, a letter arrived from him yesterday. My son, Michael…’ he shook his head as if still unable to believe he was a father ‘…apparently was adopted by his maternal grandparents not long after his birth, when his mother was killed in an accident. Until they died, and he came across his birth certificate, he didn’t even know he had other parents. He only mentioned that he’d discovered his real mother was long dead and the letter was to let me know my ex-wife had died. “In case I wondered”, he added, and he might come to visit me in a month or two. He doesn’t seem very keen to meet me.’
Scott turned back to Bella and the sympathy he saw in her face made him fiercely regret telling her. ‘Considering I’ve done nothing for him, I’m not surprised, of course.’
Bella shook her head. ‘If you didn’t know about Michael then someone made it hard for both of you. Why didn’t his mother tell you?’
‘That’s not something I’m ever likely to find out. We were totally different and never really understood each other. She probably thought I’d be as useless as a father as I was as a husband.’ He saw her flinch at the bitterness in his voice. What did she expect? All those extra years he had on her were filled with mistakes.
Bella’s voice was reasonable. ‘As you’re not useless at anything else you attempt, I find that hard to believe.’
‘That’s a compliment, considering I’ve been less than pleasant to you since you came back.’
Bella patted the chair and encouraged him to sit down again. ‘We’ll talk about that another time.’ When he walked past her to his chair she touched his arm fleetingly and this time there was healing in her sympathy. To his relief she didn’t pursue the subject.
Bella outlined a few changes she was looking at for the ward and the time passed swiftly. Before he knew it, she’d glanced at her watch and stood up. ‘Let’s go drive a bus.’
This time, as they circumnavigated the town, surprisingly there was little strain—on Bella’s side anyway. More young people got on and off than the last trip and they all knew Bella.
Scott tried to concentrate on where they were driving and not the driver. He’d been aware of the bus campaign but was amazed at how much the service was used. No wonder the number of teen car accidents was down if this many kids weren’t driving the streets.
When they returned to Bella’s house the lights were out in Sophie’s rooms. They were the only ones awake in a sleeping house and there was one more run to go. He felt his inner tension increase another knot and his steps slowed.
‘Do you want to go back into the study and have some coffee?’ Bella didn’t appear to notice as she stifled a yawn.
Scott pictured another episode of trying to extricate himself from the carnivorous chair and, despite its diversional properties, he couldn’t face it. ‘Can we sit in the kitchen?’
Bella stared at him for a moment and the laughter in her eyes told him she’d guessed about the chair.
‘Certainly.’ She led the way into the old-fashioned kitchen and indicated a huge boiled fruit cake under a glass cover in the middle of the scrubbed oak table. ‘I’ll make coffee and you can cut us some of Vivie’s cake. Then you can tell me about your marriage.’
She looked so innocent as she assumed he’d just do as he was told and bare his soul. For some reason her assumption chipped a little more at his composure and he couldn’t help his need to try and regain some control.
Bella wondered if she would get away with it. Hopefully Scott wouldn’t take offence at her question. It would be nice to know more about the man she’d once thought she loved. Someone, she realised now, who’d always treated her like a child.
Without warning, he caught her arm as she moved towards the sink to halt her progress away from him. Apparently, Scott wasn’t ready to discuss his marriage any further. It was the first time he’d touched her in twelve years and he wasn’t touching her as if she were a child. Bella’s pulse jumped with the unexpectedness of it.
‘Who says I want to talk about my marriage?’ His voice was deeper than usual with a touch of danger that accelerated her heart rate even more. ‘You’re being very bossy all of a sudden. When did this shift in power happen?’ he asked with gentle sarcasm.
This was a startling side of Scott she’d never seen. Bella looked down at her own pale wrist captured by his much larger hand and then up at his face.
Her mouth was dry and she moistened her lips with her tongue, lost for words. Suddenly he was staring down at her like a dying man in a desert without water. The air crackled with tension and she could almost taste the scent of the storm to come.
She said quietly, ‘Maybe I’ve changed and you’ve never noticed.’ This time when she ran her tongue over her lips she did it to deliberately provoke him, but his response exceeded her expectations.
Bella felt his fingers tighten on her wrist even more and her eyes widened as he pulled her all the way towards him until she was hard against the rock of his chest with her head tilted up at him.
His voice lowered and the conversational tone he used belied the hungry look in his storm-green eyes. ‘It drives me insane when you lick your lips. If you do it again I won’t be responsible for the consequences.’ Scott’s fingers loosened and he dropped her wrist to sit down.
Bella blinked and pressed her lips together, rubbed her wrist and turned away. Her mouth was dry, and a heaving, almost sickening excitement she didn’t want to feel coursed through her stomach as she filled the kettle. At least she’d found out the tiger’s tail could be pulled, she thought shakily.
When she returned to the table with the mugs of steaming coffee, Scott had cut two pieces of cake.
A tiny green flame simmered in his eyes and Bella threw up her chin at the challenge—something the Bella of a year ago would never have done—and she gloried in it. ‘So, does this mean you don’t want to talk about your first wife?’
Scott’s hand froze as he reached for his cup.
Ha. Good, she’d surprised him, she thought with sudden satisfaction, and for once she could read his mind. ‘You really haven’t seen how much I’ve changed since the court case, have you?’
Scott paled and clenched his teeth as he fought back the impotent fury that invaded his mind whenever he thought of Bella at the drugged mercy of her attacker. He took a deep breath. ‘We seem to have successfully avoided each other for most of the last year since you’ve been home. I didn’t get the impression it helped you when I was around.’
She shrugged delicately and her fragility belied the strength in her voice. ‘They say good comes out of even the worst scenarios. That experience taught me to rely on myself and not other people. And not to expect my big sister to always save me. I’ve worked on that over the last year.’
Scott frowned. ‘To say good came out of a brutal attack seems a tad forgiving of a creep who drugged and abused you.’
Bella winced with distaste and her voice shook a little. ‘He can rot in gaol, but surviving his attack has forced me to grow and learn. You weren’t here straight after the attack, but for a while I was ready to crawl away and die.’
Scott had shut off a lot of the memories of Bella’s attack because he’d felt so useless in her hour of need. He’d been away and had come back to find a shattered shell of the woman he’d known. She’d refused to see him when he’d come to offer comfort so he’d gone away again and gained what reassurance he could from information gleaned from Rohan. Scott felt he’d already hurt her enough all those years ago to feel he had the right to push his presence on her when she was vulnerable.
‘But I don’t want to talk about me, I want to hear about you…’ She trailed off and managed a small smile of encouragement.
He smiled grimly. ‘So it’s my turn, is it?’ He could see that she’d sat far enough along the table away from him to be out of reach. At least he’d made her wary but it hadn’t stopped her impudence.
‘How old were you when you were married?’ The question drifted towards him and he would have liked to know why it was so damned important for her to hear this. He considered refusing to answer but he never had been able to deny Bella anything if she wanted it badly enough.
His voice was expressionless. ‘Married at twenty, but she left less than a year later. Pretty well most of med school was spent trying to forget my marriage. We fell in and out of love very quickly. Or at least she did.’
Scott could see the brevity of his answer irritated Bella and it gave him a little satisfaction that she could be frustrated for once.
‘Then why get married?’
‘I was young and stupid and she was older and no wiser. It blew incredibly hot and then, before I knew why, our relationship was as cold as ice. She left me for another man, a man her senior who could support her, and filed for divorce.’ A distant echo of a crushing hurt was in his voice and Bella felt more mature than Scott for the first time in her life. It was an interesting concept.
Luckily he wasn’t looking at her. His voice was flat when he went on, ‘Apparently my wife was pregnant when she left me. I just wish I’d known I had a child and could have been involved in some part of his life. The last two days I’ve agonised over why she shut me out so completely. I rang and checked. I am Michael’s true father.’
He shrugged. The image of the pain in Scott’s face in the birthing suite that morning came back to her. ‘And you’ve learnt nothing else about your son?’
‘What’s there to learn? He’s a man now. I imagine from his side I’m the father who’s done nothing to help him. It must be more of a shock to him than it was to me.’
Bella drained her coffee and set the cup down. She glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall. ‘It’s almost time for the bus run again.’
Scott gave her a wry smile and stood to pull out her chair. ‘Well, that will end our session of truth and dare for the night. Thank goodness.’
‘It’s not healthy to keep all this stuff bottled up, Scott.’ Bella was stern in her new role. ‘When the shock wears off, you’ll be glad you told me.’
‘Right,’ Scott said cynically, and waited for her to precede him out of the room.
When they’d settled in the bus and Scott saw Bella stifle another yawn his original misgivings came back to him. ‘This is ridiculous. You shouldn’t be driving this bus. Can’t you find someone else to do it?’
Bella shook her head. ‘The government has promised funding for next year. That includes the employment of a salaried driver. I can survive until then.’
‘But why is it your problem?’
Bella shrugged. ‘Because if I didn’t do it, no one else would. I agree with my sister in the basic goodness of the younger generation. The advantages of the service are worth the effort.’
The conversation came to a halt because the bus had reached the first stop. A large group of young men and women clambered on and the noise level in the bus made conversation between Bella and Scott impossible, which was OK because he had enough to think about. Not the least was how soft Bella had felt in his arms and how hard it had been to let her go. Her support for his dilemma with his son was also surprisingly comforting.
At each stop the bus became more crowded until finally people started to get off and head home. By the time Bella had arrived back at Chisholm Road there were only Melissa and a young man left.
Bella had glanced in the rear-view mirror a few times. Blake—Bella assumed it was the Blake Melissa had befriended—had a sweet smile and laughter-filled eyes. In fact, Bella had liked him on sight.
When they moved to the front of the bus to alight, Melissa’s pleading eyes left Bella in no doubt of the young man’s identity.
‘This is Blake, Bella.’
Bella swivelled in her seat and held out her hand. Blake’s long brown hair looked clean and his goatee was interesting, though she wasn’t sure if she was thrilled with the small scorpion tattooed on his wrist or the skull and crossbones piercing his eyebrow. Scott’s going to love this, she thought.
She met the young man’s green eyes and nodded. ‘Hello, Blake.’ Blake shook Bella’s hand. ‘This is Dr Rainford.’ The two men nodded at each other but neither held out their hand. Bella smiled wryly to herself. ‘Perhaps you could come and see me tomorrow and we can discuss Melissa’s idea.’
Blake nodded. ‘Thank you. I will.’ He glanced at Scott once more and then followed Melissa out of the bus, where they went into a huddle for a minute before he headed off down the street.
Bella realised she’d been swayed to coolness by the fact that Scott was there, and the thought irritated her.
‘What was all that about?’ Scott’s timing was way out.
‘Nothing important.’ She put the bus into gear and reversed it carefully down the driveway. ‘Let’s get this bus parked. I’m tired. It’s been a long day.’
He waited until she switched off the engine in the garage before pushing his luck. ‘For nothing important, there was a lot of eye contact going on all round. What does he want?’
Bella stifled a sigh and measured her answer. ‘Blake has offered to do odd jobs around the house in exchange for lodging. I’m thinking about it.’
Scott frowned and shook his head. ‘I can do odd jobs around the house. I don’t think introducing a young man as a boarder is a good idea.’
Bella held back the comment that it was none of his business. Her voice was sweet. ‘And here I was thinking that having a large country medical practice and most nights on call would be enough to keep you busy. I must start a list of repairs for you.’
She stood up and eased herself from her seat. ‘Goodnight, Scott.’
He followed her out and towered over her beside the bus. ‘I enjoyed your company, Bella. We must do it again.’
‘Any Friday and Saturday night,’ Bella said dryly, and walked away.
Scott’s firm voice drifted across. ‘Then I’ll see you at seven tomorrow night.’
Bella thought of those moments in the kitchen and how much she had cared about Scott’s distress over his son. She closed her eyes and didn’t look back. ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea,’ she whispered to herself.
CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_564a2537-bb15-57e6-8719-cbd94fdc87f0)
Saturday
‘BELLA, Blake’s here.’ Melissa’s voice drifted from the front door. Bella put down the morning newspaper and stood up from the kitchen table. She met Vivie’s eyes and Vivie shrugged.
At breakfast, Bella had spoken to Aunt Sophie about the possibility of a male boarder and her aunt had sent the ball back into Bella’s court with a noncommittal shrug. ‘If he’s likeable and honest, it’s not a bad thing to have a man about the house,’ she’d said.
All the other girls except Vivie had met Blake previously and thought it ‘cool’ that he might move in with them. Bella had had to bite back a smile as they’d unanimously agreed to hand the mowing and the garbage-bin duties over to him if he joined the household.
Bella walked into the hallway and smiled at Blake. ‘Come through into the kitchen, Blake, and we’ll have a coffee and see if we can work something out.’
Blake shot a glance at Melissa who nodded encouragingly and hung back to watch them go.
Vivie brought the coffee-pot over and when they were all seated at the kitchen table, Bella looked across at the young man. Tall and good-looking under the ponytail and eyebrow stud, there was something about the square chin under his goatee that invited a smile.
She couldn’t help but like him. ‘You haven’t met Vivie, have you, Blake?’
Blake smiled at the young woman. ‘Hello, Vivie.’
Vivie nodded but didn’t say anything.
‘Vivie runs the house. She shops and is a fabulous cook and we’re very lucky to have her. That’s why she’s in on this discussion.’ Vivie blushed and looked down at the tablecloth.
Bella moved on. ‘If we were to think about inviting you to move in, Blake, it’s only fair that we’d run through the expectations we have for everyone in the household.’
Blake nodded that he understood.
Bella continued, ‘Melissa said you might be willing to do some odd jobs around the house.’
Blake shrugged. ‘I don’t have employment at the moment, and I get bored if I’m not busy. I’d enjoy the chance to do some work around here. In Sydney I worked for the Salvation Army Depot and restored furniture, so I can fix most things.’
Bella nodded and considered his answer. ‘Why did you move to Gladstone?’
He grimaced. ‘When my parents died I went off the rails a bit. The guys I was with started to get into some heavy stuff and I didn’t want to go there.’ He looked embarrassed. ‘I thought it might be a good idea to leave town while I could still drive away. I ended up here.’
Blake smiled sheepishly. ‘I thought if I went to a country town there was more chance of a fresh start. I like the idea of moving into the house.’ He couldn’t keep the anxiety out of his face.
Bella held out her hand. ‘We’ll go for a week’s trial and we’ve room for another car in the garage besides the bus. My car’s just died a decrepit death and it can be relegated to the back shed.’
Blake smiled a huge smile and he didn’t notice that Vivie looked ready to pass out with the brilliance of it. ‘You could drive mine. Maybe I could fix yours, too. I like mucking around with cars.’
‘Don’t give yourself too much to do or we’ll miss you if you decide to move out.’ Bella smiled. ‘Welcome to the house, Blake.’
She looked at Vivie. ‘Would you like to show Blake his room? He can have the end room at the back of the house. That one has its own bathroom, even though it’s pretty rough.’ She looked at Blake with a challenging stare. ‘You clean your own bathroom every week. We don’t do men’s rooms.’
‘I’ll show you how.’ Vivie managed to enter the conversation finally. ‘When you get your stuff I’ll make the room up for you—then it’s up to you. You get clean sheets on a Friday.’ Vivie had moved into housekeeper mode and Blake followed her out of the room.
Bella could hear Vivie explaining about mealtimes and how he had to tell her if he wasn’t planning on being there for a meal. It would do Vivie good to have some male company other than her year-old son, Bella thought with a smile. Vivie had been on the receiving end of a bad experience, like Bella herself, and she needed to practise her feminine wiles. Bella had decided she didn’t need her wiles.
Later Bella was stepping out of her front door for the first bus run of the evening when Scott fell into step beside her.
‘Good evening, Bella. Here we are again,’ he said.
‘So I gather. Hello, Scott.’ She looked up at him. ‘This really isn’t necessary you know.’
