Blackpeak Station (22 page)

Jen reined in beside her. ‘Goat guts for me, then. Again.’

Slowly, the track rose towards Two Burn Hut. As they climbed, the tussock land opened up, rolling like rumpled gold velvet, stock dotting the shallow valleys, the small creeks glinting silver in the sun.

Once they’d crossed the first burn, they dismounted and let the horses drink. Then, leaving Archie and Ted with their heads down in the grass, they walked up to the hut. Actually, it was pretty neat. No unpleasant surprises inside. The hunters had cleaned up their mess this time.

Sniffing, Jen circled the outside. ‘All good — that little chat you had with them last time must have worked.’

Charlotte sat down in the grass, looking over the view. To left and right, the two creeks cut their meandering courses through the tussock, merging below the hut in a widening shingle fan. From the far bank, a cow and yearling calf watched her curiously. They looked in good condition. Above, the ridge rose its last twenty metres or so, tipped in gold, the shadows already lengthening on this side, the distant snow-caps behind it still drenched in sun.

She picked up a rock and tossed it in her hand. It would still be here long after she was gone, and all her problems with her. All of this would.

Well, okay, not the cow … But
a
cow. Unless DOC got their way …

It made you think, though — that was the point.

Jen squatted beside her. ‘Ready to head back down?’

On Monday morning, Charlotte was holed up in the office — she never had got onto the bloody GST. The phone rang.

‘Charlie? Michael Crompton.’

Ugh. Really? Now?

‘I heard about you and Luke.’

Charlotte pulled a face. Please no. She wasn’t having this conversation. No way.

‘Look, you might think this is none of my business—’

Um, yuh-huh.

‘—but I don’t think you should be too hasty. The guy’s really cut up. He’s nuts about you. He just made a mistake, that’s all. It doesn’t mean anything. He’d been banging that girl for donkey’s years — he was going to stop, he just hadn’t got round to it yet.’

‘He
what
?’ Oh God, she was going to throw up again. ‘What girl?’

‘Suzy Liddell.’ There was an awkward silence. ‘Isn’t that why you dumped him?’

‘No.’

The silence returned.

‘So why did you, then?’

Jesus! ‘Because I found out about the resort, actually — I suppose you know all about that too.’

‘You didn’t know?’ His voice was incredulous. ‘I thought that’s why you wanted to buy in. So … what are you saying — you’re not onboard with it, then?’

‘Um, put it this way — over my dead fucking body.’

Crompton whistled. ‘Christ. This is more of a mess than I thought.’

Half an hour later, Charlotte still had her head in her hands when Andrea walked in with a cup of tea. ‘Here we are — I’ve brought you a date scone as well. They’ve just come out of the oven.’

She looked up at her mother.

‘Oh no.’ Andrea put the plate down. ‘What’s happened now?’

‘Well’ — she rubbed the bridge of her nose — ‘it turns out Luke was cheating on me all along.’ And that was the good news. ‘Plus, Michael Crompton’s calling in my loan.’

‘No! Did he actually say that?’

Well, his
actual
words had been, ‘I don’t give a monkey’s crap who’s been banging who, I want my fucking money out’. Charlotte gave the ghost of a smile. ‘Yeah, pretty much.’

‘Can he do that?’

She shrugged. ‘I called my lawyer. Turns out he can. I’ve got ninety days.’

Andrea sat down. ‘So what can we do?’

Charlotte sank her head back into her hands. ‘I’ll have to talk to Nick, I guess. I’ll call him tonight.’ It was all just too awful — she clutched at a joke. ‘Let’s hope he hasn’t been shopping.’

‘Oh, darling, you shouldn’t have to deal with this now. It’s not fair.’ Getting up from the chair, her mother perched on the edge of the desk, stroking Charlotte’s hair. ‘Nick will be here in a few days — why don’t you wait till then?’

‘They’re still coming?’

‘They decided they might as well — their tickets were non-refundable.’

Charlotte groaned.

‘Besides,’ Andrea continued quickly, ‘they really want to be here for you. Flavia feels terrible. Nick was desperate to talk to you on Friday night, but I didn’t think … well, you were finally asleep, and I didn’t want to wake you.’

Thank God for that — she couldn’t have talked to anyone on Friday night. Especially not Nick. She wasn’t too keen on the prospect of doing it tonight, either. He’d told her and told her not to trust Luke, and she hadn’t listened,
and now it wasn’t just her life she’d messed up — God, what if Nick really had spent the money? Or he just didn’t want to give it back? She’d have to find a buyer for her share, that’s what. In less than ninety days.

‘I think he needs to know straight away, Mum.’

‘Yes,’ sighed Andrea. ‘Well, I suppose he does.’ Her hand dropped to Charlotte’s shoulder. ‘Why don’t you let me call him, though? You can talk to him properly next week — you’ll feel a bit better by then.’

Charlotte looked up at her in disbelief.

‘You will, darling,’ Andrea smiled. ‘I promise.’

Would she? She couldn’t see it. Seventy-two hours ago she’d had a fiancé and a station … now she had one and half million dollars less than nothing at all.

Jesus, what had she done? She’d risked everything — and she’d lost everything. She’d thought life without Luke was going to be hard, but this? Selling up to a stranger, being nothing more than hired help in her own home, replaceable, dismissable — it was unthinkable. Undoable. She’d rather die.
Over my dead body
. It was becoming the theme of the day. But what choice did she have? The wheels were already in motion, and her body, dead or alive, wouldn’t put much of a bump in their way. If only she’d thought to take out life insurance …

‘Darling, don’t look like that.’ Her mother gave her shoulder a gentle shake. ‘It’s not the end of the world. You’ll see.’

Charlotte sank her head back into her hands. Unless Nick was willing to give Crompton’s money back, it might as well be. It was the end of her world, anyway. The only other person who could save her now was … gone, in a flying Range Rover and a shower of gravel.

Chapter
NINETEEN

‘
Cara!
’ Flavia swept out of the car — beating even Caddy this time — and gathered Charlotte into her arms. ‘I am so sorry … it is all my fault. Well, apart from Luca — he is his own fault, and very bad. But for the rest, Carlotta, oh’ — holding Charlotte back at arm’s length, Flavia, with a worried smile, searched her eyes — ‘what should I say?’

Charlotte felt the familiar lump rising in her throat. Bugger. And she hadn’t cried in almost three days.

‘Hey, Charles.’ Prising her away from Flavia, Nick hugged her too. ‘Are you all right?’

She shook her head. ‘Not really, no.’

‘Hello, darling.’ Slipping an arm through hers, Andrea turned her towards the house. ‘How’ve you been getting on?’

With a bit of a jolt, Charlotte realised how much she’d missed her mother this last week. ‘Okay,’ she lied. Except that nothing seemed to matter terribly much any more, everything was dandy.

‘You look tired.’

Yeah, that would be the lack of sleep kicking in. Although, to be honest, waking up was usually the worst part. ‘I’m okay,’ she repeated.

‘How about a nice cup of tea?’

Obediently, Charlotte put the jug on — she even remembered to get the teapot out.

‘So,’ sighed Nick, a few minutes later, putting down his empty cup.

She took a deep breath. Last week, he’d said he needed time to think about what he wanted to do. Here it came — her sentencing.

‘So,’ Flavia interrupted, ‘Carlotta, why don’t you show me our new sheep while Nick does the unpacking?’

Charlotte looked at Nick, who rolled his eyes and shrugged. ‘Go on. I guess I’ll get our bags.’

‘Would you bring my gumboots,
caro
, while you are there?’

Booted up, Flavia followed Charlotte out to the ute and opened the door. Sparing a thought for Flavia’s
expensive-looking
jeans, Charlotte leaned across to sweep a few chunks of dried silage off the passenger seat and chucked the stray bits of baling twine over her shoulder. Flavia slid her long legs in, arranging her feet to either side of the wire-strainer on the floor.

It was a glorious autumn afternoon, and as Charlotte pulled out of the drive, they both wound their windows down. Flavia leapt out to get the first gate, and they bumped off on the track to the terrace block in companionable silence.

‘Is that them?’ Flavia sat forward.

‘Some of them, yeah.’ Charlotte pulled up beside the fence. On the other side, the stud ewes she and Rex had selected for artificial insemination were fattening up on Blackpeak’s best feed. In the end, she’d decided to hedge her bets and use a mix of the new, finer-fleeced ewes she’d managed to buy in along with the finest left in the old stud. ‘About half.’

Flavia got out for a closer look. ‘Which ones?’

Following her, Charlotte peered, head to one side. ‘That’s one there, on the right. And there, behind it.’

Flavia studied them closely. ‘You can tell, just like that?’

‘Pretty much. They’re different bloodlines to ours, so the conformation’s a bit different, too.’ She leaned on the gate. ‘Plus — they’ve still got their old ear tags.’

‘You are teasing me,
cara
,’ Flavia smiled.

‘Only a little bit.’ Charlotte smiled back — you couldn’t not when Flavia did. ‘They really do look different.’

‘So what will you do with these ones?’

‘We’re getting them ready to AI with the Australian sire.’

‘And the others we bought? Where are they?’

‘A bit further on. We’ll put our new ram in with them next week — he’s not as fine as the Aussie ram, but AI doesn’t have a great pregnancy rate. With our guy, we know we’ll get lambs on the first cycle.’ They’d better. If not, she was bloody well taking him back, after what they’d paid.

‘Ah! The
magnifico
ram! Can we see him?’

‘Absolutely.’

They climbed back into the cab. Turning the Hilux around, Charlotte headed down to the woolshed.

‘
Che bello
,’ Flavia breathed, leaning on the ram paddock gate a few minutes later. ‘Beautiful.’

Charlotte, leaning beside her, wasn’t sure she’d go that far. But he certainly was a magnificent beast. As if reading
her thoughts, the ram looked up from his grazing and fixed them both with a regal eye.

‘Look at how proud he is!’ Flavia declared. ‘He is worth every cent.’

God, she hoped so. He’d been the finest ram up for auction that year, and the Sammartinos had paid a record price — she suspected his breeder might still be in the bar to this day. With a dismissive snort for his audience, the ram went back to his grass. Charlotte nodded. That’s it, mate — you keep your strength up.

‘
Cara
.’ Flavia turned to look at her. ‘You are very sad. I do not like to see you like this.’

Really? She’d thought she was doing pretty well. Just as well Flavia hadn’t been there last week.

‘Which thing is making you most sad — is it Luca? Or the money?’

‘The money.’ Absolutely. Hands down. Every time she’d asked herself which she’d rather have back, the answer was always Crompton’s loan.

Flavia beamed. ‘That is excellent news. Because money, it can always be fixed.’

Charlotte sighed to herself. Maybe for Flavia, it could.

‘You know,’ Flavia continued, turning back to watch the ram’s slow progress around his domain, ‘Fratelli Sammartino would never have backed Luca against you and Nick. You are not in danger from us. We do not want a resort, or anything, here. I encouraged Luca because I thought he was doing this work for you, that is all. It was very stupid of me.’

‘You weren’t the one being stupid.’

‘What you want here, in this place, it is what we want, too. It is not only money. It is …’ Pausing, Flavia waved her hand, taking in the peacefully grazing ram, the woolshed, grass, sky and hills. ‘
This
.’

Charlotte smiled. Yeah, it was.

‘I hope you trust us.’ Flavia’s hand came to rest on Charlotte’s arm. ‘
Cara
, I hope you trust me.’

‘Of course I do.’ At least, as much as she trusted anyone, these days.

‘I am glad. You are more than business. You and Nick — you are family.’

‘Thanks.’ Charlotte patted her hand awkwardly.

‘I am so sorry your heart is hurting.’ Flavia frowned. ‘That Luca tried to do this thing to you.’

‘Maybe it’s just as well he did.’ She sighed again. ‘I mean, at least I found out what he’s really like. Imagine if he hadn’t — if I’d married him, and all the while he was—’ She broke off.

‘He was doing what?’

Susannah Liddell, for starters. ‘Oh … lying to me, cheating on me …’

‘It is too easy for men like Luca,’ said Flavia gently. ‘They have the beauty, the charm, the — other things — too. They forget they are not like your magnificent
ariete
there. That they do not always have to use them.’ She smiled. ‘Italy is full of Lucas.’

Was it? Bloody hell.

‘Do not worry,
cara
— we only catch a man like that once. After that, we are immune.’

‘So …’ Nick, battling his jet lag on the sitting room sofa, opened his eyes and yawned. ‘How were the new sheep?’

‘Like the old sheep.’ Flavia tucked herself under his arm. ‘Only better.’

‘I’m pleased to hear it.’

Taking a chair by the fireplace, Charlotte watched her
brother. There was really no point putting it off — she did need to know if he was going to buy her share of Blackpeak back. Or not. Especially not. Ugh, it looked like her father had been right all along — she should never have been allowed a share. How long had it taken her to lose it? Not even six months …

Okay. Time to find out. Let the axe fall. Should she wait until Flavia left the room? Being ‘family’ was all very well, but bankrupt relations — maybe not so much.

‘There you all are.’ Andrea wandered in, a bottle of pinot gris in her hand. ‘I thought we might like a glass of wine while dinner’s cooking.’

Nick checked his watch and groaned. ‘Is that really the time?’

Andrea got out four glasses, then paused. ‘Where’s Jen?’

‘She’s gone into town for the afternoon — she had to take Patch to the vet’s.’ Uh-oh, she’d forgotten all about that. ‘Um, sorry, Mum — actually, she rang a few hours ago to say she won’t be here for dinner.’

Andrea rolled her eyes and poured the wine. She handed the glasses round and took the other armchair.

Charlotte couldn’t help but be reminded of the last time they’d sat in this room drinking wine — her mother, Nick and Flavia, her and Luke … and then, after they’d all gone to bed, that was the chair … God, there were so many doors in this house she shouldn’t open. Literally. Just walking past the billiard room made her feel ill. In fact, it might as well be a Chinese restaurant, really — she could never go back in there anyway.

‘Have you started?’ Andrea looked at Nick.

He shook his head. ‘I was waiting for you.’

Right. Charlotte pulled herself together. So it looked like Flavia was staying, then.

‘Do you want to do it?’ Andrea asked.

‘No,’ Nick smiled briefly. ‘You go.’

Oh God.

‘Darling, about your loan …’

Ugh, would she just get on with it?

Andrea put her wine down. ‘I’ve had a word to the bank, and they’re prepared to lend you up to five hundred thousand dollars.’

Well, that was a couple of hundred thousand more than they’d told her two years ago, but she’d already known the bank was no use.

‘I’ve also talked to the solicitors, and they agree with me that, as things stand now’ — Andrea smiled at Flavia — ‘Blackpeak is an excellent investment. We’re willing to put in the whole trust fund.’

Wow. Seriously? That was another five hundred grand, give or take a few bonds! Double wow. So she was only half a million short? That was doable, surely! Charlotte’s mind raced to the van der Velden sketches out in the hall. She didn’t like looking at those any more anyway. But no — bugger it, all the good stuff was Nick’s. It went with the house. How much was a kidney worth these days?

‘That’s fantastic, Mum,’ she said gently, a lump in her throat. ‘Thank you so much … but …’

‘Mum thought if she mortgaged her house,’ Nick broke in, ‘and sold a few things, she could scrape up the rest.’

Charlotte bit her lip. No …

‘But I had a better idea,’ said Flavia. ‘Fratelli Sammartino also thinks that you are a very good investment. We will put in the rest.’

‘But I can’t—’

‘You will pay us back when you can.’ Flavia waved an airy hand. ‘When the station has a surplus.’

Well, that wasn’t going to be for a while. Not with her salary. And the budget for improving the stud, and … ‘What about the Overseas Investment Office?’

Flavia shrugged. ‘This is an agreement between friends. It will not be registered on the title.’ She sipped her wine. ‘We do not wish to increase our ownership,
cara
. We wish to invest in the land. In you.’

‘I don’t know what to say.’

Nick raised his eyebrows. ‘I think “thank you” might be traditional at such times.’

God. ‘Thank you!’

‘Thank your mother,’ Flavia beamed. ‘She has done everything.’

‘Mum.’ Lurching out of her chair, Charlotte threw her arms round Andrea’s neck. ‘I can’t believe you did all this … and you were going to …’ She pulled back, her eyes welling up. No words would come.

‘You know, it was surprisingly easy, dear.’ Andrea looked very pleased with herself. ‘And really, it would have been no problem at all. It seems I’m very lowly geared.’

Charlotte closed her eyes. She felt — what
did
she feel? Like a bungy cord had snatched her back up just before her head hit the water. Grateful. Relieved. Happy, of course. But mainly, bloody exhausted.

After dinner, Nick and Flavia crawled straight off to bed, and she could have been right behind them. She waited up just long enough for Jen to get back from town.

‘There you go!’ Jen — who was looking surprisingly smart — rushed round the kitchen table to give her a hug as soon as she’d explained. ‘I knew it would all work out!’

Charlotte smiled. ‘I’m glad somebody did.’

‘Didn’t I tell you?’

‘You did.’

‘And am I not’ — Jen grinned — ‘always right?’

‘You are.’

‘That a girl. Now go to bed, you look like you’re ready to drop.’

In her room, Charlotte undressed slowly. It was cold tonight — they might get the first frost. She got her old flannelette pyjamas out of the drawer. Pulling them on, she crawled under her duvet and was asleep in less than a minute.

On the morning of May 15th, Charlotte was awake before her alarm. She picked up yesterday’s clothes from the floor, pulled them on and, slipping through the quiet house, unlocked the kitchen door. In the porch, she tugged on her boots and bush shirt.

‘Going somewhere?’

She turned. Jen, in sheepskin boots and dressing gown, stood in the doorway behind her.

‘Just out for a bit.’

Jen studied her face. ‘Want me to come with you?’

‘Thanks.’ Charlotte smiled. ‘But it’s okay. I just need …’ What did she need? ‘To do something. By myself.’