Breaking/Making Up: Something Borrowed\Vendetta (10 page)

‘You know what, Mother?’ Jake said wearily. ‘I actually agree with you. And who knows? Maybe, in time, he’ll get rid of that corrupting creep and eventually meet a girl like my Leigh and fall in love.’

Suddenly Nancy’s icy control cracked. ‘Do you think so, Jake?’ she choked out. ‘Do you really?’

Both Ashleigh and Jake looked at each other in amazement when Nancy burst into tears, her slender, almost frail body racked with heart-rending sobs.

Ashleigh’s soft womanly heart was moved, and she stepped forward to take the distressed woman in her arms. ‘There, there, Nancy,’ she soothed, hugging her and patting her on the back. ‘James will be all right. Either way he’s a good man, and I love him dearly, just as you do, just as his brother does. We all want to protect him from hurt, don’t we, Jake?’

Jake looked at her and sighed. ‘I guess so, but not at your expense, Leigh.’

‘Then why don’t the three of us go inside and think of some way out of this mess? Glenbrook is our home, Jake. We want the right to be able to come here occasionally and visit, without undue scandal and gossip.’

His eyes narrowed to stare at her. ‘Come back, Leigh? That suggests leaving in the first place. Does that mean...you
are
going to come with me?’

If Ashleigh had ever had any doubt about her love for Jake it vanished at that moment. To see him looking at her like that. So hopeful...so tense...so vulnerable...

This was not the same arrogant young blood she’d once known. This was a sensitive human being, who’d been to hell and back and somehow survived. But not without a great deal of damage. He was so right when he said he needed her. She could see it in his strained face, and in the way he wasn’t breathing while he waited for her answer.

‘Of course, Jake,’ she whispered, a lump in her throat. ‘You were right all along. I love you. And I want to be your wife, wherever that takes me...’

They stared at each other over the bowed head of his weeping mother, and neither needed to say a thing. It was all there, in the intense relief in his eyes, and the glistening love in hers.

‘I hope we can come up with a damned good solution for all this mess, then,’ he said in an emotion-charged voice. ‘Because I want everything to be right for you, my darling. You deserve it.’

Kate stared at all three of them across the large kitchen table. ‘I still don’t believe it!’ she exclaimed. ‘When the telephone rang in the middle of the night I was sure there’d been some terrible accident. I would never have dreamt...’ She darted another wide-eyed glance Jake’s way, then shook her head. ‘I should have known,’ she muttered under her breath. ‘So damned masterful... Not like James at all...’

‘You weren’t the only one who was fooled,’ Ashleigh said, throwing an accusing though indulgent look Jake’s way.

‘Really?’ Kate speculated. ‘When did you—er...?’

Her voice trailed away when Ashleigh looked daggers at her.

‘Yes, well...best I don’t ask that, I think. Just as well I moved out of home and into the small flat above my salon,’ she went on blithely, ‘or I’d have had to explain to my mother why you were dragging me out in the middle of the night of your wedding, Ashleigh. Come to think of it, why
have
you? I mean, I’m glad you told me the rather astonishing truth about everything, and I think Jake’s switching with James is rather romantic in a weird sort of way, but what can I do to help?’

‘I want you to make sure the whole town knows the truth. No, not about James,’ she quickly amended, hearing the gasp of shock from Nancy, ‘but about Jake’s having taken his brother’s place at the wedding. You can act as if the families and close friends were all in on it, but didn’t say anything at the last moment for fear of causing an uproar among the more elderly guests. Relay all this confidentially to some selected customers of your salon, adding that James and I were already having doubts about our marriage and that when Jake arrived home for the wedding I realised he was still the man for me. It probably won’t occur to anyone to question how we got a licence so quickly, but if they do just say we told the authorities a mistake was made with the names...’

When Kate looked totally perplexed James explained to her about how Jake was another form of John and that he and James actually had the same names, only reversed.

‘Goodness!’ she exclaimed. ‘Then when the celebrant said John James at the ceremony he really meant it. It wasn’t just a boo-boo?’

‘No boo-boo,’ Jake confirmed. ‘I wasn’t about to promise to love, honour and cherish my darling Leigh here in another man’s name.’

Kate looked very impressed.

‘Then after you’ve spread all that around, Kate,’ Ashleigh continued, ‘you’d better also add that James decided he was still in love with some girl he’d been seeing in Brisbane last year and was going off to try and win her back.’

‘Goodness, Leigh, how inventive you’ve become over the years,’ Jake said with some amusement in his voice.

‘Not at all, Jake,’ Kate denied drily. ‘She’s as disgustingly practical as always. Believe me, this is her idea of forging her own destiny.’

‘Sounds good to me,’ he grinned. ‘As long as I’m in there somewhere, she can forge away all she likes.’

‘Be quiet, the both of you,’ Ashleigh reprimanded. ‘I’m thinking... Yes, and it might not be a bad idea to also let drop some “hush-hush” news about how Jake was wrongly convicted all those years ago and that was the real reason why the Thai government eventually released him. No one will bother to check, and if you tell everyone it’s supposed to be a secret it’ll get around like wildfire.’

‘I’ll tell Mrs Brown. She has her hair done on Monday.’ Kate’s eyes glittered with relish at the task. ‘Oh, and Maisie Harrison. She’s coming in on Tuesday and has just been elected president of the local ladies’ guild. Don’t worry. There won’t be a soul in town who won’t know everything within a day or two.’

‘Now, Nancy...’ Ashleigh turned to the woman sitting next to her. Jake’s mother was still very pale, though she had pulled herself together once she’d known Kate was on her way over. ‘You’ll have to ring my father in the morning and get him over here on a house call. Say you feel ill. That way, when you tell him the truth about James and Jake and everything, he won’t be able to tell anyone because of his having to keep your confidence. I’ll write a letter as well that you can give him, explaining my feelings for Jake and that I’ve gone off with him. I think he’ll be understanding.’

Privately Ashleigh knew her father wouldn’t be too broken up over his daughter’s leaving Glenbrook, other than how he and his partner would be inconvenienced till Stuart joined the practice next year. In her letter she would suggest he hire a woman locum to fill in, warning him that if he didn’t watch out a smart woman doctor would set up practice in Glenbrook and steal half his patients.

‘But where will you and Jake go?’ Kate asked.

Ashleigh looked at Jake. ‘Darling? Where are we going?’ she smiled at him, and when he smiled back an incredible sensation of bonding wrapped tentacles around her heart. He was so right. They did belong together. How could she ever have doubted it? Here in Glenbrook or out the back of Bourke or over in a small village in Thailand in an old grass hut. It didn’t matter, as long as they were together.

‘To Brisbane first, I think,’ he said. ‘I’ll ring Rhys—he’s staying at the Glenbrook Hotel. He’ll drive us to Brisbane Airport, where we can see about booking tickets to Thailand. Have you got a current passport?’

‘Yes.’ Ashleigh tactfully declined mentioning that part of her honeymoon had been arranged for Hawaii. ‘It’s in my black handbag in the car.’

‘Good, then there’s no reason why we can’t fly out to Bangkok straight away. My home is not far from there. Oh, and, by the way, it’s far from a grass hut. It’s quite grand, in fact. You see, Aunt Aggie left me all her money when she died, didn’t you know?’

Ashleigh was taken aback. ‘No,’ she confessed. ‘I didn’t.’

‘Neither did I!’ Kate pronounced, sounding affronted that a piece of interesting gossip had somehow eluded her.

‘I wrote to her when I got out of prison, telling her the whole truth. The old dear must have felt sorry for me and what I’d been through, and made me her heir. Six months later she was gone, and suddenly all my financial worries were over. Not only that, but I was also recently paid a packet for the film rights to a book of mine that’s about to go on the stands in America. I’m loaded, my girl. Do you honestly think I’d expect you to rough it out in the wild somewhere? Not that I’m not flattered that you were prepared to.’

‘Rhys told me that he was going to make a movie in Thailand,’ Kate said with a frown. ‘But I didn’t make any connection with you, Jake.’

‘Just as well,’ Jake returned with feeling. ‘As it is, I told Rhys not to talk about Thailand, but that man can’t stop gabbling on about his damned movies.’

‘You know he said if I ever wanted a job with his company as a hairdresser on set he’d be only too happy to oblige. You know what? I think I’ll take him up on it.’

‘What kind of book, Jake?’ Ashleigh asked, a well of emotion filling her heart. He’d always said he’d be a great author one day. How proud of him she felt!

‘A fictionalised version of my experiences in Thailand. Not all bad, either. It’s a great country, you know, despite everything it put me through. Not that I can really blame the authorities. The man responsible for my imprisonment was damnably clever.’

‘Yes, I’d like to know more about that,’ his mother joined in. ‘How
could
heroin get to be in your luggage without your knowing?’

If there was still a truculent note in her voice Jake was man enough to ignore it. He gave a nonchalant shrug. ‘It was a simple yet clever ruse,’ he explained. ‘There was this fellow Australian named Doug, staying in the same hotel in Bangkok. He was always reading, great, thick tomes in hardback. He’d been wading through one on the day before our flight home, raving on about how great it was, even to showing me a particular passage he found very moving. I politely read it, not thinking much of it myself, but not saying so.’

Jake’s laugh was rueful. ‘Little did I know that this was just to reassure me it was a real book with real contents. When he complained the next day that he couldn’t fit it into his luggage, and that he really wanted to read the rest when he got back to Australia, I let him stash it in mine; unbeknown to me the middle section was hollowed out and stuffed with heroin. Just enough, unfortunately, to upgrade my crime from possession to trafficking. Naturally, when I was picked up at the airport he conveniently disappeared, with my not even knowing his full name.’

‘But didn’t your lawyers try to trace him?’ Ashleigh asked.

‘They said there was little point, since I had no independent witness to any of this. It would just be my word against his.’

Nancy was beginning to look guilty. ‘That still sounds negligent to me,’ she muttered. ‘They should have tried, the same as your father and I should have tried to find better lawyers for you, Jake. I...I’m sorry, son. We...we let you down...’

‘It’s all right, Mother. We all make mistakes in life, and we all have expectations of people that cannot sometimes be met. I was a difficult, selfish, rebellious young man back then. I can see that now. But I have matured and mellowed, I hope, even to trying to understand and forgive James. He only did what he did where Leigh was concerned because he was trying to live up to other people’s expectations of him. Tell him when you see him, Mother, that you will love him, no matter what he is or does. That’s very important. If you don’t there’s no hope for him. No hope at all.’

Nancy was not about to concede she had failed her favourite son in any way whatsoever. She stiffened, then stood up, proud and straight. ‘I have a very good relationship with James. We love and trust each other. He...he didn’t tell me about his...problem, because he knew it was just a phase he was going through. I’m sure he’ll be fine once I can get him away from that wicked man.’ She turned to face Ashleigh. ‘I will try to explain all this to your father in the morning. Leave your letter here, on the table, and I’ll give it to him. But, for now, I...I must go to bed. I’m very, very tired.’

Ashleigh also got to her feet. ‘I’ll walk up with you, Nancy. Jake...perhaps you could ring Rhys while I’m gone.’

‘Right away.’

The two women did not speak as they walked side by side up the stairs. They stopped outside Nancy’s bedroom door. ‘Don’t worry about Jake and me, Nancy,’ she said in parting. ‘We’ll be fine...’

Nancy gave her a rueful look. ‘Oh, I can see that. You and Jake were somehow meant to be, Ashleigh. He was your destiny.’

‘Maybe, Nancy. Maybe...’

Ashleigh turned away with an ironic expression on her face. Destiny had nothing to do with it, she still firmly believed. One made choices in life. Tonight she had
chosen
to spend the rest of her life with Jake.

She walked briskly along the corridor and turned into the bedroom at the top of the stairs, where she retrieved the locket from under the bed and the chain from the chest of drawers. Clutching it tightly in her hand, she made her way downstairs, where Jake was just hanging up the telephone in the foyer.

‘Rhys is on his way,’ he said, his eyes searching her face as she joined him. ‘Are you sure, Leigh? I’m not rushing you, am I?’

‘Of course you’re rushing me,’ she laughed. ‘But no matter.’ She moved into his arms and raised her face for him to kiss her.

He did so, gently and reverently. ‘I really love you. You must know that. It’s not just sex.’

‘I know,’ she admitted at last, and, taking his hand, pressed the locket back in it.

‘What’s this?’

‘I’m giving you my heart again,’ she said softly. ‘But not on loan this time. This is for keeps.’

He stared down at the delicate locket and thought of all the long, lonely nights he had held it to his own heart and cried for the girl who’d once given it to him. Well, there would be no more lonely nights, no more despair. He would gather this lovely, loving woman to his heart and treasure her till his dying days.