The Lies We Tell (17 page)

“I’m choosing my family over sex.”

“Fine. Hope that keeps you warm at night.” Todd turned and stalked toward his car.

Sia rushed back inside. Frank was still standing at the end of the table.

“Dad.” Sia came toward him, smiling tentatively. “I —“

His hand moved so quickly she didn’t have time to avoid the blow. His palm cracked her across the cheek and Sia cried out, falling onto the table.

“I told you not to see him. This time, you will obey me or you will be out of this family.”

Sia lay on the table, eyes closed, panting as she controlled her reaction to the pain. She heard her father leave the room, the slam of his bedroom door.

Thank goodness she’d had Sienna take the kids to a movie, she thought as she slowly stood. She’d hate for them to witness that.

She went to the bathroom to inspect the damage. Her cheek was red and starting to swell and her lip was cut. She got some ice and put herself to bed, hoping the worst would be gone by morning so she wouldn’t have to explain to Sienna.

How had that gone so wrong? How could Todd have gone against her wishes like that?

She’d been stupid to think that just because they matched so perfectly sexually that they matched in other ways as well. Lesson learnt, she thought. Next time, she wouldn’t let a man dazzle her with his skills in the bedroom.

She refused to cry and lay in abject misery until finally she fell asleep.

On Monday, Todd took his mother into Bathurst for tests. He was desperate for any sort of diversion to take his mind from Sia.

They hadn’t spoken since Friday night. Todd had started the weekend convinced that he was right. By Sunday evening, he was considering apologising regardless, just to have her smile at him again.

Dammit, why couldn’t she see that he was trying to protect her? Why couldn’t she see that she was doomed to failure when it came to resurrecting her relationship with her father?

Maria’s test results were amazing, and the specialist was very pleased with her. Todd was too — she was walking now, and had regained enough use of her hand to feed herself.

“You should go back to work now,” Maria said as they drove back to Oberon.

“Trying to get rid of me, are you?”

“Of course not. Nothing would make me happier than for you to stay here forever. But I know how important your work is to you. You’re like your father in that respect.”

Mention of his father had Todd thinking of all the secrets he was keeping from his mother. Some of which it was probably safe now to talk about.

“Mum, there’s something I need to tell you. It wasn’t Sia who broke into our house all those years ago. It was her father.”

“I know that.”

The car swerved and Todd quickly corrected.

“Try not to kill me, please, Todd.”

“You know? How long have you known?”

“From the beginning. Nellie Simpson was very clear that she saw a man climb out of the window, not a girl. Besides, I was at the school that day, dropping Paul off after a dentist appointment and I saw Sia catching the early bus home. Well after the time the robbery took place.”

Todd’s hands shook on the steering wheel. “Why the hell didn’t you say something?”

“Language. I didn’t say anything because your father convinced me that it was better for Sia, a young girl with no record, to have a misdemeanour counted against her name than for her father to go to jail and leave two young girls without any parents. I could see the sense in that, so I did what I could to ensure that Sia wouldn’t be censured by the town for her supposed action. You don’t really think I’d have become friends with her if I thought her guilty of robbing my husband?”

Nice one, Dad, Todd thought. Covering your own butt by ensuring Mum didn’t push the point and inadvertently reveal the truth.

“Well, you could have told me,” Todd said. “I ran her out of school because I thought she’d killed Dad.”

“You did that? Todd, that’s very unlike you.”

Todd decided not to tell Maria about the embezzling, or his father’s gay lover. Not just because he thought it might upset her — he didn’t want to hear that she knew about all that as well.

“So, will you go home?”

“In a few days.”

“I imagine you’re aching to get back to work.”

“Actually, no. Lately, I’ve been less than enthused about continuing as a police officer.”

“I’m not surprised,” Maria said. “What surprised me was how long you stuck with it. You were always a peace-maker, understanding of nuances and accepting people’s frailties, rather than acting as the arbiter of the law. Personally, I always saw you going into something like counselling or advocacy.”

Todd thought about the pain his father had been in and how much easier it might have been had there been someone to talk to. “I think you’re right.”

Maria patted his hand. “Go back to work for a few weeks. Make sure this isn’t just holiday blues. If it’s real, then do what you need to do to make yourself happy. Life is too short to live a lie.”

As his father had found out. “You are one hell of a woman, Mum.”

“Language,” Maria murmured with a smile.

Wednesday, Frank’s lawyer and a psychiatrist came to meet them all and prepare for the court case. The psychiatrist took Frank into his bedroom to examine him and Sia and Sienna sat with the lawyer in the kitchen.

“I want to go over your testimony again,” the lawyer said, pulling out a recorder and pads of paper. “Sienna, you first.”

Sienna was almost brutal in her rendition of events. “You can’t say that,” Sia said. “Dad will end up in jail.”

“Maybe he should,” Sienna said. “Maybe that will finally have him seeing sense.”

Sia tried to be as understanding as possible, showcasing the stress her father was under and his anger and distress on that night. By the end, the lawyer was smiling.

“I’m putting you on the stand last,” she said. “You’ll win them all over.”

The psychiatrist came out, Frank padding along behind him, dragging his feet. Her father’s pout told Sia that they had problems.

“I can’t testify to temporary insanity,” the psychiatrist said. “It’s too obvious that Frank knows exactly what he was doing, and the court psychiatrist will know that too, having interviewed him while he was in custody.”

The lawyer frowned. “He was drunk.”

“He’s a high-functioning drunk. He remembers too much of the night for him to not have known what he was doing.”

“I was upset,” Frank whined.

“Jealous of your daughter’s success? That’s not going to look good to the jury.”

“He really was upset,” Sia said. “You don’t understand what he gets like. His emotions take over and he can’t think clearly.”

The psychiatrist looked at her with a gaze that seemed to see right through her. “Just because you’ve convinced yourself that is the case doesn’t mean I’m going to get up on the stand and say it is so. I have a professional reputation to maintain. I’m sorry.”

He left and the lawyer clicked the top of her pen a few times. “Are there other witnesses as to how upset he was?”

“Lots,” Frank said. “Everyone in the pub. Everyone outside.”

“All those outside are just going to testify that you confessed to it,” Sienna said.

“Our friends can testify as to how upset he was,” Sia said.

“I really wish we had an expert. I’ll see what I can do about finding one that’s more sympathetic to our cause. Sia, can you walk me out?”

At the car the lawyer said, “You should know the money’s run out. If I’m going to continue to represent your father, I need more.”

“I’ll get it for you this afternoon,” Sia said.

She spent the afternoon in Bathurst, rustling together a few thousand dollars more. When she returned to Oberon, it was twilight.

Bubba was on the front verandah, talking to her father. Sia noticed Frank try to push his friend away, toward the car, as she parked in the driveway.

“Hello, princess.” Bubba kissed her cheek. “How’s things?”

“Fine. Dad, I’ve managed to get some more money so we can continue with your lawyer.”

“I should think so,” Frank said.

Bubba frowned at Frank then smiled at Sia. “I’ll be able to help, princess. I’m gonna come into some money soon.”

“You’d better go. Sia needs to cook my dinner.” Frank tried again, unsuccessfully, to push Bubba toward his car.

“How’s that going to happen?” Sia said.

“I’m suing the Lansings.”

Bubba’s smile was so wide, so innocent. Sia looked at her father. Frank couldn’t meet her gaze.

“Why?”

“I was David’s true love. I deserve a part of his estate. It was your father’s idea.”

“What a surprise,” Sia murmured. Frank gave her a glance that would have cut, had it been a knife.

“David’s love, the truth of who he was, should be acknowledged by them.”

“Have you done anything about this?”

“Went to see them this afternoon. Only saw the other son, Paul?” Sia nodded. “He was very nice and understanding. Wouldn’t let me see his mother.”

“That’s because she’s recovering from a stroke.”

“Really? That’s terrible news.” Bubba’s eyes slipped to Frank.

“Bubba, you should know that the Lansings didn’t get much money from David’s death. The company was in a bad way, and he’d not done well managing financially. They had to sell most of the property to get through. Even if you had been part of David’s will, you wouldn’t have got more than what’s in the storage unit. And you probably would have had to share that with them.”

Bubba turned to face Frank. “You said they were filthy rich, and that I could have it made if I took my rightful share.”

“Sia’s being dramatic,” Frank said. “You deserve that money.”

Sia walked around to stand between her father and Bubba. “It’s the truth,” she said softly. “You’ll cause them undue pain and there will be no gain for anyone. You’ve got the wonderful memories, and everything that was important to David and his relationship with you. Let it go at that. The Lansings don’t deserve this.”

“Yes, they do.” Frank grabbed her arm and swung her around. Sia gasped from the pain of his fingers squeezing her flesh. “Stay out of the way, girl.”

This time she saw the hand coming and was able to swing back to avoid it. Then time froze as Bubba reached around and stopped Frank’s blow in front of Sia’s face.

“You were going to hit her?”

Frank pulled his hand free. “She deserved it.”

Bubba put his hands on Sia’s waist and picked her up, setting her down behind him. Then he turned back to Frank and she was protected by close to two metres of wide, black fury.

“You never hit a girl,” Bubba said. “Especially not one as small as Sia. What happened to you? Was a time you’d never dream of laying a hand on your girls.”

“Sia grew up to be a bitch.”

“Sia’s a princess. Everyone knows it. Seems to me the trouble is with you.”

“You don’t understand,” Frank sneered. “You don’t know how hard it’s been for me.”

Bubba rubbed his chin. “I’ve sympathised with you for ten years now, but seems to me I’ve been sympathising with the wrong Collins.”

“Fuck you.” Frank turned and slammed into the house.

Sia stepped around Bubba and put her hand on his arm. “It’s fine,” she said. “You go, I’ll settle him down.”

“No way am I leaving you here alone with him. Fuck knows what he’ll do to you. I’m taking you somewhere safe.”

“Bubba.” She reached up on her toes to kiss his cheek, tears prickling her eyes at his concern.

An engine sounded and she turned. Todd had just turned into the driveway. Sia’s heart thudded hard in her chest — she’d missed him dreadfully. Unsure what to say to make things right, she hadn’t said anything at all.

She turned to walk toward him, to welcome him but then he pulled back out of the driveway. Eyes wide, she stood on the verandah and watched him drive away.

“Was that Todd?”

She turned back to Bubba. “No, just someone turning around I guess.” He frowned. “I’ll just go get my things.”

“I’m coming with you.” Bubba followed her into the house. He stood behind her as she packed a bag and grabbed her toiletries. Then he drove behind her to the studio and stayed outside until she was locked safely away.

Sia dumped the bag and went up the internal stairs. Brock, Ebonny and Mary’s kids were eating dinner.

“Want some dinner?”

“No, thanks.” Sia kissed Brock and Ebonny. “I’ve got to go up the hill. When I come back, we’ll be sleeping downstairs tonight.”

“Is everything all right?” Mary said.

“No. But it will be.”

Sia went up to the Lansings, noting that Todd’s car wasn’t parked in the driveway.

Paul answered the door and shook his head with a smile. “Looks like you and Todd are going to play ping-pong with each other. He’s gone to your place to see you.”

“I know,” Sia said. “He came and went without even getting out of the car. I was hoping he’d be here, so we could talk.”

“No, he hasn’t returned, but I daresay it won’t be long. Come in.”

She and Paul sat on the couch, Maria having already gone to bed.

“Why did he come to see me?” Sia said.

“He wanted to talk to you about some guy name Bubba, who’s suing us.”

Sia winced. “I heard. Sorry, that was my father’s ridiculous idea. Bubba’s a sweet guy but easily led. I’ve talked to him and it’s all under control.”

“You’ve talked to him?”

“Yes. I was with him on the verandah when Todd came.”

“Oh, crap.”

“What?”

The phone rang. They both looked at it, then Paul shook his head. “It can go to message, this is more important. Todd was really upset when he left here. Really mad that Bubba would do this. If he —“

Paul stopped as Todd’s voice rang in the air. “Paul, it’s me. I’m on the road to Sydney, I won’t be coming home tonight. Or again for a while. It was Sia, all along. Bitch must have set us up from the beginning.”

Paul ran for the phone. Sia sat and listened to Todd’s soliloquy before it was interrupted. “I feel like such an idiot, I can’t believe that I fell for her line —“

Paul picked up the phone. “Todd. I’m here. And you should know that Sia is too. Just heard everything you said.”