Her Galahad (29 page)

"It is to us," Tessa flashed. "I don't care about the case, I want information on Emily! Our daughter's in danger, Rod, in case you've forgotten!"

"Sorry," Rod replied, in quick sincerity. "I was thinking like a lawyer." He shrugged, reading the single sheet. "This is just the legal partnership between Duncan Earldon and Cameron Beller at Keith Earldon's retirement Beller was made a full partner six years ago. Now he's a co-owner of the firm."

Tessa felt the blood drain from her face, sidetracked for a moment from her desperate fear. "So it was all a lie," she whispered. "Cameron never owned Earldon Associates. Dad knew. My own father blackmailed me into marrying Cameron!"

Jirrah said quietly, "Don't think about it yet, Tess. There's nothing here on Emily—that's what counts. We have to find her fast. Beller probably knows where she is by now."

Tessa squared her shoulders, tossed her braid back. There was only one reason Duncan left that paper behind: to let her know her father was in on the bigamy. A last-ditch effort to stop her from pressing charges. "Then we'll see my father. He'll know where she is, if anyone does."

Jirrah's mouth quirked. "Are you okay with that?"

She shrugged, to cover the deep sense of shame and pain the thought of facing her father evoked. Seeing the guilt in his eyes … or worse, no guilt at all. "I have to be, don't I?"

Rod left for his office, and Jirrah and Tessa headed north, to Keith Earldon's exclusive beachside property.

The housekeeper let them in, welcoming her home with genuine pleasure. "He's upstairs in the solarium, Mrs. Beller," Joan said, with the formality Keith Earldon insisted on despite more than ten years of service. "I'll bring you some coffee. Shall I show you up first?"

"No, thanks. We know the way."

With a curious glance at the man she remembered, and had also believed dead, Joan retired to the kitchen.

Tessa's first sight of her formidable father in over a year came as a shock. Her heart twisted. He sat in a large padded rocking chair covered in a blanket. His gaze was to the world outside, watching dark clouds racing over the Tasman Sea toward the coastline. He looked every single one of his sixty-eight years. He was thinner than the fine, robust figure of a man she'd seen last; his hair was closer to white than iron gray.

Was that a tremor in his hands?

But the hawklike face that had terrorized many witnesses in court, though more lined, perhaps a little sadder, was as sharp and haughty as ever.

"Hello, Dad," she said quietly.

Keith Earldon turned his head, his eyes alight with eagerness. "Theresa, baby, you came back…" Then the flicking glance took in Jirrah standing protectively behind her, and his expression turned cool, assessing, with a hint of pain in their depths. "I see." He paused. "You're only here for answers, I take it."

More taken aback than she'd ever admit by his out-front admission that he'd known Jirrah was alive, she nodded. "I need to know if you helped them to hurt David."

"It's all right, Tess," Jirrah interrupted her. "I'm sure Beller keeps him updated. He must know my new name by now."

She stared at him for a moment, then turned back to her father. "Did you help get Jirrah imprisoned?"

"No." Her father looked out the window. "I told them this scheme would backfire one day. So I didn't get involved."

"But you knew." She sat beside his chair, just out of reach. "You knew Jirrah was alive, and you let me grieve. You made me marry Cameron, even though you knew I was committing bigamy!"

Keith shrugged, in the gesture of a tired old man. "I knew, yes. I had nothing to do with their plans, though."

"Why, Dad?" she whispered. "You broke the law you've upheld for forty years. You were an accessory by your silence. How could you know what they did to him, and not put a stop to it?"

He turned to look at her then. "That man could never he what I wanted for you, Theresa."

"What
you
wanted for me. What about what
I
wanted, Dad? What about ruining Jirrah's life? You helped send an innocent man to prison by your silence!" she replied passionately. "Why didn't any of that count with you?"

His hand trembled as he reached out to lay a hand on her hair, but revolted, she moved out of reach. "So like your mother," he murmured, dropping his hand. "Rachel had such glorious passion for life—such intense feeling. I loved her from the moment I saw her on a stage in Montreal, talking about indigenous rights." He added, with a sigh, "Cameron worshipped you the moment he saw you. Just like I did with your mother."

Knowing her father well, Tessa said nothing, waiting.

"We promised him," Keith sighed. "We promised he could have you when you were old enough."

"And what about me? What about what
I
wanted? Did that ever occur to you and Duncan?"

Her father, the man who'd been the center of her world, looked at her in solemn tenderness. "Of course it did. I wouldn't have dreamed of agreeing with Cameron's scheme if you hadn't forced my hand. If you'd chosen another man. One worthy of you."

"You married someone the same yourself. My mother was Native Canadian! How can you hate Jirrah for being what my own mother was—for what your children are?"

He shrugged. "I made a mistake," he stated simply. "One I wanted to save you from repeating. We should breed the bad blood out. It's foolish to marry outside your social sphere. Passion dies in the end, and all you have left are the differences. They can't be better people—they can't change what they are."

In sorrow, Tessa realized her father had no idea what he'd said, and he probably never would.

She turned to look at Jirrah. He hadn't stiffened at Keith Earldon's unthinking arrogance. He wasn't displaying any signs of anger. He waited in silence, understanding her need to talk to her father, ready to protect her if need be. Her heart swelled in tender gratitude for the only man who respected her enough to believe she could handle her own life.

She stood silent, at a sudden loss for what to say next.

"Tess. Emily."

The quiet words drew her back from her pain' and gave her a forward direction. She flicked a smile at him before turning back to her father. "We want to know where our daughter is."

Her father's frown grew deeper. "Why? She's well and happy. If you want children, you and Cameron can—"

"Dad, you
know
I'm never going back to Cameron."

Keith Earldon sighed. "He's a good man. Wasn't he a kind and loving husband? Yet you persist with this silly fabrication of—"

"Emily, Dad," she broke in yet again. "I know you know the truth.
Where is my daughter?"

The phone rang beside him at that moment. "Yes? Duncan? You're what?" He gave Tessa a narrowed-eyed look. "Yes, she's here. I will, son. I'll be there soon." He hung up the receiver. "So you've already done you worst. You association with this person has ruined us all. You've betrayed your family. You'd send you brother, your own husband to prison for him!"

Suddenly a cold fire burned in her. She got to her feet, her pain and sorrow submerged in icy strength. "Jirrah is my husband—my legal husband," she reminded him in tones of ice. "He's done nothing wrong in seeking justice for the wrongs done to him by my family, who betrayed
me
by putting my husband in prison for a crime he didn't commit. By taking my daughter from me and giving her to strangers! How could you, Dad?" she cried in anguish. "How could you send an innocent man to prison, and give away your only granddaughter?

Did you
never
feel any conscience over what you'd done to us? How could you get rid of Emily as if she didn't matter?"

His dark-ringed hazel eyes flashed. "I know she's my grandchild. I placed her in a good home, with loving people. You think I didn't care? But I couldn't blame Cameron for wanting her gone. If you were going to settle to a happy life, a living reminder of your past mistakes was the last thing you needed."

"The only mistake I made was trusting my family," she replied bitterly. "It was all lies about Cameron saving our home, you business. You were in on the plot to make me marry him!"

"I only did what was best for you."

"No. You treated me as a prized possession, not a woman with feelings of my own. Is this how you treated my mother?"

Her father paled so fast it frightened her.

She rubbed her neck, feeling tired, besmirched by the hideous truth behind the loving facade of her family. "Just tell me where to find Emily. I don't want to look at you anymore."

"Theresa." Her father's voice quivered. "I miss you, baby. If you come home to your family, no one would mention—"

She kept facing the window, watching the breakers over the rocks of Avalon Beach to the south. "I have no home. I have no family left but my daughter. If you ever loved me at all, give me her address, and let me live my life in what peace I can find."

Jirrah saw her father flinch with the rock-hard determination beneath the dispassionate demand of her words. He almost shivered himself, in awe at her clearness of purpose, her depth of strength against the man who'd brought her up. He knew now—as Keith Earldon probably did too—what a mistake it was to underestimate a woman on a mission to find her only child.

The old man sighed and walked with slow, halting steps to his safe. He extracted some papers, then began writing on a piece of paper at his desk. He placed the written sheet on top of the sheaf. "These are her finalized adoption papers, with her family name. And this is her address now."

Tess snatched at the top paper, her vivid face filled with life in an instant. Her eyes blazed gold as she devoured the words. Then she whitened, gasped, and swayed. "This—oh, dear God—this—this must be a joke…" She closed her eyes. "Of course. When I saw the ad for the job at Lynch Hill, I thought it sounded familiar. I walked in on you with Max Farrars one day, talking about it." She turned on her father in a flash. "You were talking to him about her. You've known all along where she was. You've had me traced since I left Sydney, haven't you? How could you let me live right near my own daughter,
teach
my own child, and not tell me? Did you think it was funny? Were you laughing at me, thinking it was a good joke?"

"We didn't know where you were, Theresa! We lost you after you ran from White Cliffs until Cameron found you this week!"

Jirrah took the sheet of paper from her trembling fingers.
Tani Jones. Lot 97 Camden Valley Road, Linton via Lynch Hill.

He closed his eyes. Dear God, how this must he hurting Tess. The ultimate betrayal by those who claimed to love her the most.

But he couldn't help thinking about his daughter, too. He'd seen all of Tessa's pupils in the week he'd watched her; the tiny Outback school only had seventeen kids. She'd he five now—

The little girl he'd watched on the trampoline in Tess's kinder gym classes—the tiny, curly-haired kid with the light coffee skin and the big, gorgeous smile. Oh, yeah, it had to be her! She looked just like he had as a kid, but prettier.

Tani was his daughter! He'd seen her laugh and play; he remembered smiling as he watched her intense joy in life. She was a real cutie—and, most important, she already adored Tess. How many times during the week he'd watched Tess had he seen Emily—Tani—fling her arms around her teacher, and Tess cuddle her back?

But would she feel the same once she knew her beloved teacher was the mother who'd given her up? Would her adoptive parents let him and Tess into Tani's life? Would Tani want to know them?

The low-voiced argument brought him back from the unnerving questions in his heart. "Tess, we have to go."

"Of course." She took a deep, calming breath, then turned to her father. "Did you tell Cameron where to find Tani, Dad?"