Ridge Creek Reunited (Ridge Creek Duology) (23 page)

Not feeling at all comfortable with the instant onslaught of unwanted physical contact, I sway backwards out of his embrace. A fleeting look of surprise crosses Stephen’s face before his blue eyes lock on mine with concern. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I mumble as I move sideways towards the front of the car where I can now see Jake rounding the bonnet to come to my rescue. Stephen moves back to allow me some space and I move to Jake, relieved.

Jake senses my discomfort and drags me to his side. Locked in under his arm, I relax and turn my nose to draw a comforting sniff of pure Jake as everything becomes okay in my world again. He’s like my personal source of Valium.

Stephen pauses to study me for a brief moment and then starts smiling again. “Come on in, make yourself at home. Do you have bags?”

“Bags can wait,” Jake rumbles from next to me. Stephen shrugs and moves towards the door to the house, unconcerned that Jake seems unwilling to bring in our luggage.

Following Stephen into the house, we step directly into a main foyer that adjoins the front door. Gleaming white tiles sparkle up at us as they reflect the abundant light pouring into Stephen’s home through windows in every direction.

Moving quickly, Stephen leads us straight down a main hallway to the back of the house. Stepping into a huge open lounge room with French doors, I look ahead to see the room continues out onto a deck that overlooks an in ground swimming pool and a large section of Sydney Harbor. The view is magnificent.

Bright blue skies set off the picture-perfect view of speedboats, yachts and other boats of all sizes gliding around on the water. I can see how easy it could be to waste the entire day poolside just watching the view.

Approaching the French doors, I sense movement near the pool and turn to look as two large, tan colored mastiff’s come roaring along the edge of pool heading straight for us. Laughing at their enthusiasm, Stephen steps forward to open the French doors and I feel Jake tense up as the two massive dogs fly straight past Stephen and towards us.

Noticing their tails are wagging and they have huge doggie smiles on their faces, I push away from Jake to greet them. They run straight to me, slipping and sliding on the tiles as they come. Sliding to a halt in front of me, they settle instantly as I reach out to give them both a gentle rub on the head.

“Tango and Cash,” Stephen announces smiling at the two dogs. “My two best friends.”

“They’re beautiful,” I comment as I continue to rub them both as they sit quietly in front of me. “You never said you had dogs.”

“We’ve not yet had time to discuss simple matters Arianna,” Stephen looks remorseful. “Something that I’d hoped to rectify this weekend…” He continues before fading off as if he has changed his mind about saying something.

Weird.

“Where’s all the people?” Jake suddenly rumbles from beside me. “I expected the place to be
busier.
”

“Scattered,” Stephen announces casually. “They know I want to spend some quiet time with Arianna so they’re giving us some privacy.”

Twisting my head to look up at Jake I watch him relax a little. Nodding to Stephen he starts looking around the room and out towards the Harbor. “Nice.”

“Thank you,” Stephen accepts the compliment quickly, “Come through, let’s sit outside. Enjoy the sunshine. I have sandwiches and fruit ready, I’m sure you’re hungry after your flight.”

Reaching for my elbow, Jake draws me close to his side again as we move towards the outdoor area. The dogs now released from their welcoming duties trot outside and flop down near some potted plants.

Guiding us to a padded outdoor setting that is already laden with food and drinks, Stephen points to some seats before settling into one of his own. Leaning back, looking relaxed in beige cotton pants and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up, he sighs. “I love this place.”

“It’s a beautiful view,” I agree as I settle into a seat next to Jake. “A real time waster.”

“It’s never a waste of time to enjoy beauty and the simple things in life,” Stephen murmurs looking out across the Harbor momentarily before pointing to the food and drinks on the table and saying, “Please, help yourselves.”

“Business first,” Jake announces as he gives me a nudge and points towards my handbag.

Flinging him an annoyed look I shake my head.

It’s too early.

“Give it to me,” Jake says softly, “No point delaying.”

Looking across at Stephen I notice him watching us cautiously. The way Jake and I are acting, I’d be hearing alarm bells too. “He wants me to give you the DNA kit straight up,” I explain feeling embarrassed that our butts have barely hit our seats and Jake’s moved on to the main reason we’re here.

A look of relief floods Stephen’s face and he grins. “No time for pleasantries then. I can deal with that far more easily than the image I suddenly had of you pulling a gun from your handbag and handing it to Jake to shoot me with.”

Taken aback at his words, I knit my brows and blurt, “Are you serious?”

“Deadly,” Stephen replies without hesitation. “The first time I met you, you shot me. The second time I saw you, there was an unbalanced woman running around with a kitchen knife. Not to mention the old guy wielding a fire extinguisher. Now you’re sitting on my patio looking uncomfortable with your large, angry looking biker boyfriend who clearly doesn’t trust me. I thought my life was fraught with excitement and danger but you my dear, attract it like a magnet. What did you expect me to think?”

“Perhaps it’s genetic,” I mumble softly to myself as my eyes move to Jake. Scowling at him, I reach for my bag and pull out the DNA kit.

“What’s genetic?” Stephen asks reaching his hand straight out to take it from me.

“The attracting danger and mayhem thing. I was joking,” I add as I shrug my shoulders.

Smiling
, Stephen tears the kit open and pulls out one of the swabs. Not wasting any time, he sticks it straight in his mouth and scrubs. Sliding the other swab to me, I do the same. “There, done.” Stephen announces handing me his swab and the rest of the kit. “Now can we move onto more important matters.”

More important matters?

What could be more important than confirming you are my father? Patricia perhaps?

“If I were gunna shoot someone, I’d shoot your sidekick,” Jake suddenly announces from beside me as he leans back in his chair. “He’s the one who shot me, I owe
him
one.”

A grin forms on Stephens lips as he realizes Jake is trying to lighten the mood in his own way. “If everyone that Ritchie has popped a cap into were to hold that sentiment, he’d be Swiss cheese by now.”

“Perhaps he needs to consider retraining his trigger finger then?” Jake chuckles a he reaches for a sandwich. Looking at the array in front of him, he eyes a wine bottle contemptuously before announcing, “Got beer?”

Stephen nods and I kid you not, thirty seconds later a young man in a black suit miraculously appears on the patio with an opened bottle of boutique beer wrapped in a serviette. Handing it to Jake, Jake lifts his eyebrow ring at Stephen. Deftly unwrapping the beer, he flings the serviette on the table and takes a mouthful. “Good service.”

Stephen nods at him before moving his attention back to me. Reaching for a bottle of red wine, he pours two glasses and pushes one towards me. “Please, eat. Drink some wine. Relax.”

Realizing I am far more unsettled than I first thought, my stomach rolls at the thought of eating. I instead reach for the glass of wine. “This is weird,” I announce suddenly shifting my attention back to the Harbor and away from Stephen’s gaze.

“I know,” Stephen murmurs quietly. “I can’t say this is how I saw our reunion going but alas it is what it is.”

“What did you imagine,” I murmur not taking my eyes from the water.

“Something a little more
Dr. Phil
,” Stephen chuckles. “Lots of hugging and tears of joy.”

“We’d do
Dr. Phil
well,” I agree instantly. “He could talk you through the emotions of being shot by your daughter during our first moments together in nearly thirty years. Perfect.”

Realizing I’ve just taken my first step toward recognizing Stephen as my father I pause. Shifting my eyes from the water and back to Stephen I see he has stopped too. He’s staring at me intently.

“We should discuss our plans to move forward,” he murmurs. “There is much to consider.

Taking a big mouthful of my wine I nod my agreeance.

Why not?

The whole conversation is like an enormous elephant at the table that needs to be dealt with.

“You first,” I encourage him as I move my eyes to Jake to see him watching me carefully. He nods his agreement as he takes another mouthful of beer and we both return our attention to Stephen.

Considering I’ve seemingly been losing sleep over this conversation, I suddenly find myself relaxing. There is a certain solace to be found when one reaches a point where they know they are about to make certain decisions that will shape what and who they are for the rest of their lives.

Sighing, Stephen places his wineglass back on the table and leans back in his seat. Rubbing his face and suddenly looking tired and worn he starts the conversation. I watch as familiar cornflower blue eyes settle on mine before he announces, “I still cannot prove Elizabeth was involved. I also cannot prove she wasn’t.”

“What does that mean?” I ask straight away placing my own glass on the table and giving Stephen my full attention.

“It means we have a problem,” Jake explains from beside me and I turn to see he looks concerned.

“It does,” Stephen agrees instantly.

“Why does it matter?” I ask, clearly missing something that both men have already surmised.

“It was a good thing you changed flights,” Stephen says directly to Jake ignoring my question.

Jake nods slowly as his eyes move to mine. “Anton recommended it. Emma supported it. We flew under false names.”

Smiling softly, Stephen’s face softens. “Worth his weight in gold that man. Keep him close.”

“I’m starting to realize that,” Jake concedes and I suddenly find myself darting my eyes between the two men as I realize that they have come to some sort of truce within a matter of seconds. With barely a word said, they both seem to be on the same page and I’m suddenly an outsider without a clue what is going on.

“Um, anyone…” I butt in. “Why does it
matter?
”

“Unfortunately,” Stephen starts slowly and I can see that his words are weighing heavily, “if I can’t prove
Elizabeth devised your disappearance as a child, I can’t make moves to disempower her. As such, she represents a serious threat to you if she discovers we have been re-united.”

“Shit,” I murmur as realize what he’s saying. Even if he is my father, we may be better-off not publicizing it. “Which means pursuing Patricia is pointless.”

“Not pointless, but I’m guessing you need more time to examine Patricia?” Jake cuts in, directing his question to Stephen.

“I do,” Stephen announces looking unhappy at his admission. “I had hoped to resolve this all quickly but twenty-eight years of deceit is hard to unravel.”

Moving his focus back to me he continues. “So far I’m exploring two different scenarios. The first, Elizabeth plotted this whole thing. If that’s the case, she would already know that you are missing from your Melbourne life and she may have her own investigators looking to find you. That’s if we assume she has a Plan Z for you that necessitates her keeping you alive, accessible but unaware of your importance to Bradford Industries. This being the case, you are likely better-off remaining unavailable to her so you don’t end up being used as some pawn in one of her future power plays.”

Reaching for his drink, he takes a small sip, wetting his lips before setting his glass back down again. “The second scenario is somewhat more disturbing. It plays out that you
were
truly abducted off that beach by a random abductor. In this case, there is just as much chance that Elizabeth saw your face on the television at the same time that I did and she now sees you as a threat to be neutralized. If this is the case, she will also be searching for you and her motives would be far more deadly. If this is the case, you are best to remain hidden from her view.”

You have to be shitting me.

Leaning forward to drop my elbows on the table I resist the urge to scream.

Is he serious?

I’m no Rhodes Scholar but even I can read between the lines of his words. After going to all that effort to track me down he’s suggesting that he’s better-off not recognizing me as his daughter anyway? That knowing him presents yet another risk to my life and I’m better-off without him?

It really is fucking
relentless
.

Covering my face with my hands I mumble against my palms. “Dear God, can’t we just shoot the bitch and have done with it?”

My words are met with silence.

“If only it were that simple,” Stephen murmurs and I hear the sound of his glass tapping back down on the table again. Lifting my head from my hands I find Stephen and Jake
staring at each conspiratorially.