Morgan's Law (26 page)

Sarah watched the play of emotions across the old man's face and swallowed down the lump that formed in her throat. When he stopped talking she asked gently, ‘What happened?'

‘Her family forbade us from getting married.'

‘Forbade you?'

‘The Morgans at that time were one of the wealthiest families in the district. I was a twenty-four-year-old war veteran with nothing to offer their daughter.'

Sarah frowned at this, trying to imagine how society had worked back then. ‘So she left town because her parents wouldn't allow her to marry you?'

There was a movement at the door and Sarah glanced over to see Adam was there. Clearly he'd been listening for some time, because instead of coming into the room he was leaning against the door frame, seemingly reluctant to interrupt.

‘She told her father she was going to marry me, but old Morgan wouldn't have a bar of it,' William said in a quiet voice. ‘He had his sights set on a bigger prize. There was a wealthy exporter in Sydney, had a son Patrick wanted Rose for. They were all hopin' by the time Rose turned eighteen, they'd marry.

‘Then I came along and threw a spanner in the works. When old Morgan found out what was happening he told her to end it, only Rose had a bit of a stubborn streak in her.' He gave Sarah a wry smile. ‘You got more of your gran in ya than you think, girl.'

Sarah had to concede that—her mother had told her the same thing many times.

‘We used to meet down by the creek whenever we got a chance. I was old enough to know better, I knew it wasn't smart to cross Patrick Morgan, but I couldn't help myself. When Rose and I were there nothing else existed. Everything seemed simple. It was only once we left the tree that life would interfere—her family, my lack of anything substantial to offer her,' he explained sadly. ‘I had a visit from her father and brother one night and they explained the situation very clearly.' He rubbed his jaw as though recalling an old injury. ‘I knew I was never going to be able to make a go of it here with enemies like Morgan, and everything I owned was tied up in this place. If I lost it I had nothing.'

‘I'm sure Rose would have waited until you had more to offer.'

‘That's what I hoped, deep down, but Morgan warned me that if I stood in the way of Rose meeting anyone else . . . well, his threat wasn't something I'd like to repeat.' William gave a bitter twist of his lips. ‘No, I had to make it convincing to Rose that we were over and it was for the best. I must have done a pretty good job because I'd never seen her get as angry as she did that day. But she got back at me and her father good and proper in the end.' His voice faded and for a minute he seemed to forget Sarah was even there, but then he looked up. ‘So that's the whole sorry story.'

‘Do you know June Perry?' she asked, assuming he did. ‘She mentioned another man Rose was supposed to be seeing before she left town.'

‘June never did like me much,' William grunted.

‘Is it true? Was Rose seeing someone else?'

‘It wasn't serious. She was angry at me and she had every right to be. But she didn't love him, he was a nobody.'

‘He ended up dead.'

Sarah watched William closely. He switched his gaze back to the window. ‘And good riddance to him.'

‘Was she involved in what happened to Bluey, was that why she ran away from home?'

William straightened, turning to face her. ‘She had nothing to do with that bastard's death. I already told you, I don't know why she left like she did, but it wasn't over the likes of Bluey Jenkins.'

‘It seems a bit of a coincidence. I mean, if she accidentally killed him, it would have been in self-defence.'

‘She had nothing to do with it,' he repeated adamantly.

‘Well, someone killed him. If it wasn't her, then who was it?'

They stared at one another.

‘Was it you?'

Twenty-Four

For a moment Sarah thought William wanted to say something—an expression crossed his weathered old face that almost seemed like defeat—but then it was gone and he shut down on her. ‘It's not wise to stir up trouble.'

‘Stir up trouble like Jenkins did?'

The old man shook his head slowly. ‘Some things are best left alone.'

Smoothing her shaking hands down her jeans-clad thighs, Sarah glanced across at Adam and registered the closed expression she saw there. ‘Rose was seventeen when she had my mother. There have never been any photos of my mother's father. She had to be pregnant when she left here. I just don't understand—'

‘I don't know why she left town. But one thing I can tell you, when she left Negallan she was not carrying my child.' There was a hard edge to the old man's tone. ‘I loved Rose and I respected her—that's how it was back then . . . not like nowadays. Things were different back then. A man didn't disrespect the woman he loved by getting her pregnant and leaving her to fend for herself.' His gruff voice underlined the honesty of the statement.

Sarah followed William's gaze and saw that it rested on a photograph on the desk, of a man and woman on their wedding day. ‘I gave my Nelly the best life I could. She was a good woman—gave me a fine, strong son. I'd like to think she had a good life, but I think she always suspected a part of me could never quite manage to let go of Rose,' he said sadly.

‘I should have fought harder to keep Rose, there's not a day goes by that I don't blame myself for that. I should have put her before my dreams, but I was young and foolish and thought I could have both. A few good years and I'd have this place up and running and be able to give Rose a decent life. We had time, she was only young. Only I never got the chance. One day she was here, the next she'd vanished. No one heard from her—it was like she ceased to exist. She didn't leave here with a child, certainly no child of mine.'

‘All right, Pop. Come on, Sarah, I think that's enough for now.' Adam finally stepped forward to intervene.

Giving the tight-lipped old man one last glance, Sarah reluctantly followed Adam out of the room and onto the verandah. The smell of gum leaves hung in the warm air.

‘Who drew that picture hanging in the office?' Sarah asked.

‘Pop. Apparently he sketched most of the landscapes hanging around the house, but he'd stopped doing them long before I was born.' Adam took her gently by the shoulders. ‘Let's just take a breath before we jump to conclusions, okay?'

‘It's pretty self-explanatory,' she said, shrugging him off. ‘Your grandfather broke Rose's heart and she left town.'

‘I think there may have been a little more to it than that, don't you?'

‘It's not just a coincidence. I mean, everything fits together—the tree having a special place in Gran's heart, the initials, her running away pregnant . . .' She looked up at him. ‘She had my mother out of wedlock. That was a pretty big deal back then. She never talked about it. I always thought it was because it was such an embarrassment or something, but now I wonder if it was something more.'

‘Did your mother ever talk about it? Surely she'd have asked questions if she didn't know who her father was?'

‘Our family philosophy is that if nobody talks about problems then they eventually go away.'

‘Look, I didn't know about any of this,' he said wearily, ‘but it's not good for Pop to get worked up like that. I don't want you questioning him any more. Let it go, Sarah. It's over.'

‘How can you say that? He knows what happened. I have a right to know the truth.'

‘It's none of your business. It was between them, and it ended when your gran died.'

Sarah flinched and Adam's voice softened. ‘He's my pop. I don't want to lose him.'

Smarting at the sting of his rebuff, she took a breath and waited for the feeling to subside. ‘Then make sure you don't have any regrets. Grandparents aren't here forever.' She took the two steps down from the verandah and made for the car.

‘Sarah, wait up,' Adam called, following her down the stairs. ‘Look, I'll come back to town later and we can talk at the pub. I can't leave him alone right now. Just give me a while to make sure he's okay.'

‘I don't think he should be alone now either. You stay here tonight and keep an eye on him. I'll see you tomorrow. Please tell him I'm sorry, okay?' Sarah said as she started the engine. She needed to leave—now, before the brimming tears spilled over. It was all too much: the pain she'd heard in William's voice; being on the receiving end of Adam's anger after upsetting his pop; stumbling upon the wishing tree. That had caught her by surprise— she'd almost given up finding it and then there it was up on that damn wall. She wasn't sure what she'd expected to find, but it hadn't been this tangle of broken hearts and lost love.

She wiped her hands across her face as she reached the front gate, waiting until she'd got herself under control before she headed back into town.

One look at Sarah's expression as she walked into the bar and Tash grabbed a wine bottle in one hand and glasses in the other, shooing her outside to the courtyard. ‘Won't be long, Dad,' she called out to Jack.

‘Okay, so tell me what's going on,' she said when they'd both sat down and the wine was poured.

‘We found the tree.'

Tash leaned forward, almost spilling her wine in her excitement. ‘Are you serious? You found the wishing tree?'

‘Yep.'

‘Well, that's great!' she cried, then frowned at Sarah's lack of enthusiasm. ‘Isn't it?'

‘Yeah, it is. It's just that instead of explaining things, it has only made things more complicated.' Sarah took a deep breath. ‘We didn't actually find the tree—who knows if it's still out there or not.' She explained how she'd come across the sketch in William's office. ‘Long story short, Adam's granddad knew Rose . . .
really
knew her. They wanted to get married but her family wouldn't agree and apparently that's when Rose vanished, changed her name and completely wiped Negallan from her life.'

‘Wow.' Tash sank back in her chair as she silently digested this latest news, then her eyes widened and she leaned forward again, sloshing wine over the side of her glass. ‘Oh my God, so do you think it was William Buchanan who knocked up your gran and not this Bluey fella?'

Sarah winced. ‘Do you have any idea how disturbing the thought of my grandmother
knocked up
by
anyone
sounds?'

‘Sorry. I mean a younger Rose . . . not your gran . . . you know what I mean.'

‘He swears he didn't.'

‘Do you believe him?'

Sarah shrugged. ‘I guess I have to.'

‘What did Adam think of all this?'

‘He warned me to back off. Doesn't want me upsetting his grandfather any more.'

‘They're pretty close. I guess it's understandable that he's worried about the old fella.'

‘Yeah. I guess. It's just that we've been getting on really well lately. These last few days have been . . . wonderful.'

A huge smile broke across Tash's face. ‘Well, it's about time! Blind Freddy could see you two had the hots for each other. I knew my diabolical plan would work.'

‘What diabolical plan?' Sarah scoffed.

‘Asking Adam to help Dad while I was away.' Tash gave a triumphant chortle. ‘I knew you two would eventually see reason if you spent enough time together.'

‘And you arranged the storm as well, I suppose?'

‘Hey, I'm good but I'm not that good. Obviously it was meant to be.' Tash smiled smugly.

Following that logic you would have to conclude that Rose and William—despite being so deeply in love—were never destined to be. But was that really destiny or simply the intervention of a meddling family?

‘So, do you love him?' Tash prodded.

Whoa! Love? She barely knew him.
You've learned
more about Adam Buchanan over the last five days than
you ever found out about Giles in the whole two years you
were together
, that little voice pointed out.

‘I—' What? She did.

‘Oh my God!' Tash sat upright in her chair, splashing wine over Sarah's arm in the process.

‘Would you stop doing that? If you're just going to slop your wine all over the place, give it to me,' said Sarah, shaking the liquid off her arm.

‘You and Adam could be . . . cousins.'

Sarah stared at Tash and froze.

Oh. My. God. This was so typical of her luck! She finally met a guy who made rockets go off with a single glance and he could be related to her!

‘But William said he wasn't the father,' Tash added swiftly following the look of horror on Sarah's face.

‘What if he is?'

‘But he said he wasn't.'

‘Oh, for goodness sake, Tash, he's a man . . . They all lie.'