Safe Harbour in Pelican Crossing (Pelican Crossing #5)
One
Erica Masters looked down at her granddaughter lying peacefully in her pram, the niggle of unease coming to the forefront of her mind again. When she returned to her home here in Perth four months earlier, she was looking forward to picking up her old life again. Geoff, her abusive husband, was dead. He couldn’t control or hurt her anymore. She fully intended to find a nursing position and enjoy the life she’d been forced to give up when she married Geoff and moved with him to his native Perth in Western Australia. But her daughter-in-law Briony’s difficult pregnancy, coupled with her son Kieren’s request for her help had forced her to change her plans.
Now, although still living in what had been her marital home, she was beginning to wonder if all was well in her son’s marriage. Her thoughts were further complicated by the delay in finalising Geoff’s estate. It should have been simple. When she and Geoff married, they’d made wills in which each was the beneficiary of the house and bank accounts when the other passed away. The business had come later, and Erica didn’t know how Geoff had left it, but assumed it would go to Kieren who had worked with his dad in the car yard since he left school.
Each time she’d asked Kieren for information, or an explanation of why it was taking so long, he’d managed to avoid answering, only muttering about difficulties in the yard taking up his time. She had a vague recollection of some talk about invoices before Geoff died. At that time, she had been concerned her husband intended to harm her, so hadn’t paid attention, but now she wondered if he’d been involved in some dodgy dealings that Kieren was now trying to resolve. It wouldn’t surprise her. The man she’d fallen in love with, the handsome, smooth-talking guy who’d promised her the earth and whisked her off to Western Australia, away from all her friends and family, had proven to be a controlling bastard. But it had taken her years to recognise it, then admit it to herself, and for him to finally hit her once too often and force her to leave him.
‘You okay, Mum?’
Erica looked up at her daughter-in-law and smiled. She loved that the young woman called her Mum. Briony was looking tired, her blonde hair pulled back in an untidy ponytail, her tee-shirt stained with smears of the chocolate she snacked on when Kieren was at work. Erica remembered what it had been like for her when Kieren was a baby, the broken nights, the worry that she’d make a mistake. She hadn’t had anyone to help her. She’d managed. She’d had to. And Kieren had survived, survived to become so like his dad it sometimes scared her. He didn’t look like Geoff. He took after her side of the family in that regard, resembling her brother, Joe, as a young man. It was a pity he didn’t take after Joe in personality too. She sighed.
‘I’m fine, Briony. How about you? Are you getting enough sleep?’
‘Not really.’ The younger woman dropped onto the bench beside Erica. ‘Ava wakens a lot, and Kieren never gets up in the night. He says he needs his sleep as he has to go to work every day. As if I sit around doing nothing. Men!’
Erica patted her arm sympathetically. ‘Ava’s asleep now. You sit here and rest while I make us a cup of tea, and there’s some of the lumberjack cake I made yesterday. How about a slice of that too?’
‘Oh, that would be lovely. Thanks, Mum. I don’t know what I’d do without you.’
That was part of the problem , Erica thought, as she went into Briony’s kitchen to prepare the tea, the kitchen that was now almost as familiar to her as her own, she spent so much time here. It was a pleasant house with views across the city, but it wasn’t her home.
Briony had become too dependent on her, on knowing she was there to help, to take care of Ava, to step in when Kieren was too busy or too heartless to be there for his wife. It had been okay when they’d all returned to Perth for Geoff’s funeral. Erica had been too confused to think of herself, happy to support the pregnant Briony, to make meals, help with the housework, spend time with her while Kieren sorted out matters at the yard.
But she’d never intended it to continue. Now it was time for Briony to take more responsibility, for Kieren to step up to help his wife. Erica knew the local hospital was crying out for more staff. They’d be delighted to offer her a position. Then her life could go back to some form of normality. She’d still help out with babysitting, of course. She wanted to be part of little Ava’s life, but not on the everyday basis she was at the moment. She’d speak with Kieren on the weekend, she decided, ask about Geoff’s estate, suggest it was time for her to go back to work, for them to make plans for Briony to become more independent.
*
‘Thanks, Mum. Great dinner.’ Kieren leant back in his chair, his posture so like his father’s, Erica winced.
‘Thanks, son.’ Erica knew lamb roast was his favourite. It was why she’d cooked it tonight. ‘Why don’t we take our coffee through to the living room? I want to talk to you about something.’
‘I’ll check on Ava, then clear up while you two talk,’ Briony said.
‘No, Briony. What I want to say involves you too. We’ll wait till you make sure Ava is asleep.’
A concerned expression clouding her pretty face, Briony went off to the bedroom which Erica had set up for her granddaughter, turning what had been Geoff’s study into a nursery fit for a princess.
‘What’s this about, Mum?’ Kieren asked, when all three were seated in Erica’s living room. It still held the furniture she and Geoff had chosen together and which she loved too much to part with, despite the unpleasant memories many of the pieces held for her.
‘It’s about your dad’s estate… and my future. Why is it taking so long to settle? I know you said you’re busy, but surely it’s all straightforward? And…’ Erica glanced across at Briony, ‘… it’s time I went back to work. I was speaking to one of the nurses, and they’re looking for staff. I’ve been happy to help you out with Ava, Briony, but I can’t do it for ever. I have my own life to lead, and I need to work.’
There was a stunned silence. Then Kieren cleared his throat. ‘It’s not that simple, Mum. Dad… he… Hell, there’s no easy way of putting it. The business is in a mess. We’re going to need to sell this house to keep the car yard afloat.’
Erica’s heart sank. ‘But it’s my house.’
‘No, Mum. Dad left it to me, he left everything to me.’
Erica stared at him, her stomach churning. ‘When?’ she managed to utter.
‘A few years ago. He said he’d spoken to you about it, that it would simplify things when…’ His voice trailed off.
‘He never said a word. We agreed we’d leave everything to each other, though I expected you to get the business.’ What was this going to mean for her?
As if she’d spoken aloud, Kieren continued. ‘It’s not a problem, Mum. You can move in with us. We can build a granny flat, and you can share with Ava till then. It’ll make things easier for Briony too.’ He smiled at his wife.
‘No!’ The word exploded from Erica without her volition. A granny flat! She was not yet fifty. She wanted to reduce the time she spent helping Briony, not to move in with her and Kieren, to give up her independence. Erica swallowed. ‘How bad is the business?’
‘Pretty bad. I’m still trying to unravel some of Dad’s deals, work out who he owed money to. This place will have to go.’ He gazed around the house he’d grown up in, as if calculating its value. ‘I’m sorry, Mum,’ he said as if it was an afterthought, ‘but what do you need with a big place like this, when you can move in with us? And you haven’t worked as a nurse for as long as I can remember. Dad always said you weren’t cut out to be a career woman, that you couldn’t be trusted to look after yourself. Briony needs you. Ava needs you. Can’t you see that?’
Briony opened her mouth to speak, but Kieren put his hand on her arm, squeezing it tightly, and gazed at Erica as if he could see what she was thinking and bend her to his will.
Erica felt a shiver run down her spine. The expression on Kieren’s face was so like the one she’d seen on Geoff’s, usually when he was determined to get his way. She didn’t doubt his evaluation of the business – it was just like Geoff to leave it in a mess – but Erica didn’t intend to give up her newly found independence for anyone, not even her son, daughter-in-law and her beloved granddaughter.
She didn’t say any more then and forced herself to act as usual when she bid the young couple farewell. But later, lying in bed, the moonlight streaming in through a gap in the curtains, she thought again about Kieren’s words. If what he said was true, Geoff had managed to screw her from the grave, to force her to be dependent on the good will of her son, the son who only saw her as a glorified nursemaid, who’d believed what his dad said about her. If she stayed here, she’d lose the independence she’d hoped for.
Erica thought back to the time she’d spent with Joe in Pelican Crossing, in the town where she’d grown up. She knew what she had to do. With a sense of déjà vu, she picked up the phone to call her brother.