Adam's Thorn (16 page)

Satisfied with that finally
sorted, she got back into the car and completed the trip to her sister’s house.

Pulling up in the driveway, she
saw her parent’s car parked beside Melissa’s Holden.  Darn.  Not that she
wasn’t glad to see them, it was just that she’d hoped to talk to her sister
first.

She’d just have to put it off for
another time.  No hurry, she was going to be in the city for a few days yet.

Knocking on the door, she waited
for Melissa to open it.  When her sister did, Melissa whispered, “Sorry, they
turned up about ten minutes ago.  I couldn’t deny them entry.”

“Be a bit suspicious if you did.” 
Barbie laughed.

Her parents were delighted to see
her, her Mum hugging her close, while her Dad, never one for a lot of show of
affection, patted her shoulder.

“Diet Coke?” Melissa queried,
bustling around with a kettle.  “Hot drink?”

“Diet Coke, thanks.”

“No worries.”  Popping the tab on
a cold can, she handed it to Barbie.  “Let me just finish telling Mum and Dad
about Bill’s promotion, and then you can tell us everything about what you’ve
done at Great Aunt Penny’s house.”

Seated at the table, Barbie
listened as Melissa continued talking to her parents.  Her Dad winked at her,
her Mum smiled, and Melissa ruffled her hair as she walked past.

Gradually their voices dimmed as a
well of emotion surged up inside Barbie.  Her throat tightened, tears pricked
her eyes, and grief almost threatened to crush her.

At first she didn’t register her
Dad’s voice, didn’t feel her Mum taking her hand, but when she drew a deep,
shuddering breath, trying to control her emotions to push down the sobs that
suddenly, stupidly, threatened, she looked up and saw them watching her,
concern and love so apparent in their faces, no judgement, just total, loving
acceptance, and she broke down.

Tears burst forth, wracking sobs
that shook her so hard as all determination to remain calm dissolved.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” was all
she could gasp out as her Dad eased her up and held her close, hugging her against
him, smoothing her hair as he’d done all those years ago when she’d been a
little girl and had fallen over and cut her knee for the hundredth time.  Safe
in his arms, she cried her heart out, all the time sobbing, “I’m so sorry.  I’m
so sorry.”

They were there, her sister
patting her back, her Mum  kissing her cheek and telling her how much they
loved her, her Dad just silently holding her and letting her cry into his
shirt.

Between her sobs she managed to
blurt out enough for them to know what she was crying about, and it was Melissa
who took her next, rubbing her back like she did her kids when they were
upset.  “Oh, Barbie, you duffer.”

By the time her tears dried, she
was exhausted, and it was her Mum who took her to the spare room for a lie
down.

Lying on the bed, Barbie gazed up
at her mother who sat beside her, smiling tenderly.  “I’m so sorry, Mum.”

“We know.”  Her Mum nodded. 
“Baby, we know.  We’ve seen you change, grow, become a woman we’re proud of. 
We know how sorry you are.”  Leaning down, she kissed her cheek.  “You’ll
always be our baby, Barbara.”  Standing up, she walked to the door, stopping to
smile at her over her shoulder.

“I love you, Mum,” Barbie
whispered.  “I love you all.”

“We know.”  She closed the door
behind her.

Closing her eyes, Barbie drifted
into exhausted sleep.

When she awoke, she heard voices. 
Sitting up, she scrubbed at her face before standing and walking to the door. 
Placing her ear against it, she wondered if Bill was home.  Bad enough that
she’d broken down in front of her parents and Melissa, but she didn’t want Bill
to see her heavy eyes, tear-stained cheeks, and wrinkled clothes.

The sound of a door shutting.  Barbie
glanced at her watch, surprised to find it was just after lunch time.  Opening
the door a crack, she peered out.  Melissa was walking back into the kitchen,
but everything else was quiet.

“Um…Mel?”

Her sister whipped around, her
gaze worried.  “Are you all right?”

“Ah - is anyone else here?”

“No, just you and me.”

“Okay.”  Easing the door open, she
bit her lip.  “I’m just going to the bathroom to freshen up.”

Melissa nodded.

The mirror showed that she wasn’t
far off her mental picture of herself.  Grimacing, Barbie washed her face,
using Melissa’s hairbrush to tidy her hair.  There wasn’t much she could do
about her blouse and pants, so she ran her hands down the front of them before
taking a deep breath and leaving the bathroom.

In the kitchen her sister was
sitting at the table, a mug of hot coffee filling the air with its scent.  On
the table directly opposite her stood a can of Diet Coke, the tab popped,
condensation running down the sides.

Silently, Melissa watched as Barbie
lowered herself into the chair.  Taking several mouthfuls of the cold soft
drink, Barbie closed her eyes and savoured it, grateful for the coldness that
spilled down into her belly.

Lowering the can, she met her
sister’s concerned gaze.

“I know you said you had a surprise
for me,” Melissa said, “But geez, Barbie, I didn’t expect that.”

Barbie gave a small, embarrassed laugh. 
“That wasn’t the surprise.”

“So what was it?”

“Guilty conscious.”

“Yeah, we got that.”  Melissa’s
eyes softened.  “Has this really been bothering you that much?  All this time? 
Why did you never tell us?  Tell me?”

“I - well, it hasn’t bothered me,
as such.  At least, I didn’t think it had.”  Barbie sighed.  “I thought I had
come to terms with it.”

“We all came to terms with what
happened a long time ago.  Sis, you’ve changed so much since then, what caused
this?”

Barbie bit her lip, dropped her
gaze, fiddled with her bag which was still lying on the table.  “Um…I met Adam.

“What?”  Her sister was startled. 
“Adam?”

“Yeah.  He was born in Peeron, did
you know?”

“Yes.”

“He went back there.” Barbie
cleared her throat.  “After you both broke up the second time, he shifted
around before going back to Peeron.”

Melissa waited silently, her gaze
never shifting as she raised the mug to her lips and took a sip of coffee.

“Seeing him… It brought a lot of
things back.”  Barbie slid her fingers through the condensation on the outside
of the drink can.

“Barbie,” Melissa said gently, “that’s
in the past.”

“What I did to you, to Mum and
Dad-”

“Twelve years ago things were
horrible.  Very horrible.”

Barbie sank a little lower in the
chair.  Geez, it was true, but still…

“But that was then,” Melissa continued. 
“This is now.”

“How come you never hated me?”  Barbie
looked at her.

“I thought I did back then.  It
took me a long time to get over what you did, but when Mum had her heart attack
and I saw you turn your life around, so determined to be the exact opposite of
what you were becoming, I realised that life had to go on.  Life was too
precious.  I could waste time hating you, or I could make the best of life and
move forward with you.”  Melissa smiled.  “We both moved forward.”

Barbie hesitated.  “Can I ask you
something?”

“Sure.”

“You and Bill.”

Melissa nodded encouragingly.

“Do you think…do you think you and
Adam…?”

“Me and Adam?”  Melissa gave a
laugh.  “Oh no.  Looking back, we had something, but sweetie, what I have with
Bill is so much more.”

“Really?”  She was so hopeful it
was almost pathetic.

“Really.  I don’t think Adam and I
would have stayed together.  Besides, look what I would have missed out on.” 
Melissa pointed to the family photo on the wall.  “A magnificent man and two
wonderful children.  No, Bill is the man for me.”  She looked at Barbie.  “Adam
was then, Bill is now, and I wouldn’t change Bill for Adam.  Ever.”

“So I kind of did you a favour?”

Melissa paused.

“Okay, that’s nothing to smile
about.”  Barbie took a sip of Diet Coke.  “Adam said you and he got back
together, tried to make a go of it.”

“We tried, but too much had
happened.  It wasn’t the same.   He was always angry that I’d doubted him, and I
couldn’t explain.”  Melissa shrugged.  “It’s over.  Done.”

“Do you ever think about it?”

“No.”  Thoughtfully, Melissa ran
her beaded necklace through her perfectly manicured fingers.  “No, I don’t,
actually.”  She smiled  “I have my family, my sexy husband, my two terrible
kids.  My life is perfect.  There’s nothing in my past to draw my attention
back to it.”

“That’s good.  I’m so glad.” 
Barbie stared at the can in her hand.

Reaching over, Melissa tapped the
back of her hand.  “Look at me.”

Obediently, Barbie raised her
eyes.

“You have to get over this,” Melissa
told her gently but firmly.  “You have a life.  Adam has a life.  You’re no
longer a wild teenager, and he’s an older, wiser man.  At least, I hope so.  Barbie,
move on.”

“I have.  I do.”  She took a deep
breath.  “It was just… I guess…”

“Seeing him brought it all up
again?”

“Yes.”

“That’s because you’ve obviously
been carrying around some guilt.”

“Guess so.”

Melissa looked seriously at her. 
“You’re the only one.”

Now that’s where her sister was
wrong, but Barbie kept silent.

“Move on and stop lingering in the
past.”  Melissa cut her hand suddenly through the air.  “It’s done, over.  In
the past.”  She tapped her forefinger on the table briskly.  “This is now , the
future.  Get with it, sister.”

Barbie couldn’t help it, she
started laughing and Melissa joined in.  

“For a big sister, you’re okay,” Barbie
informed her.

“For a little sister, you’re a
pain in the arse.” Melissa winked.

Barbie looked searchingly at her. 
“So we’re good?”

“Bet your arse.”

They smiled at each other for
several seconds before Melissa raised one eyebrow.  “Now, where’s my surprise?”

More relaxed and happier than she
could remember, Barbie reached for her handbag, pulling out the cloth bag that
was snugly sitting inside.  Drawing it out, she opened it up and carefully
poured the contents out onto the table.

“Great Aunt Penny’s jewels,” she
explained when Melissa gasped in delight.  “Or at least, I guess they’re all
hers.  These I found while going through the bedrooms at the old house.”

“Wow.”  Melissa picked up a
necklace.  “These are so old-fashioned.”

“I know.”

“What are you going to do with
them?”

“I took some pieces, and I thought
you and Mum might want to take what you like before I go to the antique dealer
and sell them.”

“Really?”  Melissa smiled in
pleasure.

“Yep.”  Picking up a pair of jet
black dangling earrings, Barbie held them up.  “Take what you like, and then I’ll
go around to Mum’s and see what she wants.”

“This is like Christmas all over
again.”

Chapter 5

Beside the patrol car, Lori stood
in her usual quiet fashion, fuelling the car, minding her business, doing her
job.  Not saying a word.

Not one damned word.

From where he was leaning back
against the side of the patrol car, Adam glanced sideways at her.

Nope, Lori Mackay always minded
her business.  Working in the only service station in town, she was in a prime
position to know just about everything going on with everybody.  Everyone
called in here to fuel up, chat while they were at it,  pick up a cold drink or
a bit of fast food.  He knew for a fact that Lori knew a lot about things happening
in town, but did she say anything to anyone?  Nope.

If anyone knew where Barbie was,
how long she’d be gone, and when she’d return, it would more than likely be
Lori.  But would she spread it around?  Not a Mackay sister, they were well
known for being tight-lipped, which was probably why people told them things.

Adam really wanted to know what
had happened to Barbie.  Guilt complex?  Family emergency? One minute she was
at the house, the next thing she was gone. 

Tracking the progress of a passing
Ute, he raised his hand to return the wave sent by Tommy, the driver, and also
the owner of the only café in town.  In the passenger seat of his car sat
Harriet, his much older girlfriend by fifteen years.  Now that had caused a
stir in town just a few weeks back.

Kind of like when Barbie showed up
and they’d struck sparks off each other.  The local gossip brigade had been all
agog.

The car disappeared down the road,
leaving him with his thoughts

Remembering their last
conversation, the sadness in her eyes, the way they’d parted, he frowned
slightly.  He’d had every right to be angry still, yet somehow after he’d
driven home and had time to think, to sort through his own emotions and her surprising
confession and reaction, he’d realised a few things.

One of them was that his fury
wasn’t as hot as he’d thought; instead, it was somehow now just a warm ember. 
Cooled by time, experience, being older and wiser, and probably…well, yes, he had
to admit it.  Cooled by Barbie herself.  Her blunt honesty and heartfelt
apology.  There was no denying the sincerity in her eyes and words.

And that included her assurance
that she’d stay out of his way until she left town.

His eyes tracked another car
passing the service station, obviously someone passing through as he didn’t
recognise the car, and he knew just about every car and Ute in the area.

Rubbing his hand across his jaw,
he frowned inwardly.  After their confrontation the previous night, he’d gotten
into his car the next morning to drive to work and spotted the yellow slip of
paper with his phone numbers on it lying on the dashboard.  A woman alone in a
big house outside town, who’d experienced disturbances but stubbornly refused
to call the police for what she’d convinced herself was just her imagination,
had deliberately left it behind.  Setting his jaw, he’d driven straight out to
her house, intent on giving her the paper and ordering her to call him and not
be so bloody stubborn, only to find everything locked up and the place
deserted.