Chapter 4 #2
“I assume Sabine has spoken to you about my proposition?”
“Mum mentioned someone was interested in buying, but that’s all I know,” Chelsea replied.
“What a mix-up. My colleague didn’t mention the property was jointly owned.”
A pause. “Mum won’t sell unless I agree to it,” Chelsea said.
“Ah, then Sabine is the sole owner?” Johann’s smug tone made Ethan clench his hands.
Another pause. “That is correct.”
“Perhaps she hasn’t shared the negotiations with you because she thought you’d object,” Johann continued, confidence returning in every word.
Ethan wanted to shove Johann’s glee down his throat. How dare he belittle Chelsea? But perhaps her relationship with her mother wasn’t as close as it once had been.
“Don’t presume you know about my relationship with my mother.” Though Chelsea’s words were firm, there was a hint of a waver in them.
Ethan exhaled, willing himself to calm.
“I’ve had a long day. If you access this property again without permission, I will call the police.” The door shut, a double thud as Chelsea hip-bumped it closed.
Ethan bit back his cheer and watched Johann stalk down the stairs back to his car. He’d played his cards badly. The man didn’t know how close Chelsea and her mum were… or at least they had been.
Maybe time had changed that.
But one thing he knew, Chelsea wasn’t giving up Lilydale without a fight.
And he’d do what he could to help her.
***
Chelsea stalked away from the door, her throat tight and hands shaking. The nerve of the man. She fought the urge to scream as doubts assailed her.
Surely her mother wouldn’t sell Lilydale without Chelsea’s approval.
If Johann had spoken to her stepfather, then there was every possibility Ezra had implied they would sell. He wasn’t a sentimental man, particularly not in relation to things which mattered to her, or if it was a way to earn more money.
She squeezed her eyes closed to stop the tears.
When her mother had first started dating him, Chelsea had hoped he would become the father she’d never had, but he hadn’t been interested in a teenaged child who would be an adult soon.
He’d tried to send her to boarding school, but her mother had put her foot down, so he’d had to wait a couple of years until she went to university and then he’d paid for her to stay at one of the colleges.
Her mother thought it would be a wonderful experience for her, but Chelsea had known Ezra wanted her out of the house, particularly with her mother pregnant with his first child.
She knew when she wasn’t wanted.
But she also recognised Ezra and Sabine adored each other and she wasn’t impeding her mother finding happiness.
Old hurts battered to get out, but she kept them caged as she took three deep breaths and walked into the kitchen for a glass of water, relieved they had kept all the utilities on.
She reached for a metal cup with a sailboat on the side from the top kitchen cabinet and paused. The metal cups had been for children, because they were childproof and Aunt Maggie hadn’t wanted the risk of broken glass around the house and garden.
Grief swept over her and she braced her hands on the sink, head bowed. Aunt Maggie had died too soon. She’d been so fit and healthy it had never occurred to Chelsea that she would have to deal with losing her. Chelsea had been planning to visit her next holiday, but she’d been a month too late.
Tears dripped onto the metal sink and she sniffed and straightened, pressing her hands against her eyes. She poured a glass of water and sipped. There would be time to cry later. Right now she needed to figure out her next steps.
She scanned the kitchen. Too many memories of baking with her aunt or sneaking in to pinch a biscuit.
She hadn’t been prepared for this—for the memories this place would raise.
In the three days since she’d been fired, she’d been so busy packing her entire apartment and searching for work that she hadn’t considered what it would be like being back here.
It was far too quiet.
Aunt Maggie had liked to play classical music on her record player. She’d always said it soothed the plants and encouraged them to grow.
Chelsea wandered into the living room where the roll-top desk was open and the two sofas were covered in a layer of dust. She lifted the perspex lid covering the record player.
The Best of Tchaikovsky was already in there.
Perhaps Aunt Maggie had been listening to it on the day she’d fallen from the ladder.
Gritting her teeth against the pain, she placed the needle into position and music soon filled the room. She closed her eyes as Swan Lake played.
First step was to review the house, catalogue Maggie’s things, and estimate how long it would take to pack. Next would be to call her mother and get a straight answer from her about the property. Then she’d get groceries and track down Darren, who hadn’t been home when she’d dropped around earlier.
She opened the note-taking app on her phone and moved her way through the house, making a list.
Chelsea left Aunt Maggie’s bedroom to last. It felt like such a breach of privacy to go through everything she had held so dear.
The photo of her fiancé still sat on top of the dresser in pride of place. Aunt Maggie used to brush her fingers over the frame every morning before leaving the room.
The rocking chair she’d found on a verge pickup and had reupholstered in a floral fabric. It was where she’d sit and read on a winter’s day. A small table next to it to rest a cup of tea, also upcycled from an op shop.
A bunch of photos and paintings on the walls of different gardens and of Chelsea and her mother with Aunt Maggie.
Her mother hadn’t been kidding when she’d said Aunt Maggie was a hoarder. There was so much stuff, but Chelsea had little use for any of it, and she would guarantee Ezra wouldn’t want her mother bringing much of it into his house.
She went into the kitchen and filled the kettle. No, that wouldn’t work. She had no milk. They’d cleared out the pantry and fridge of perishables after the funeral, knowing they wouldn’t be back soon. She plugged in the fridge and then sat at the kitchen table to call her mother.
“Did you get hold of Darren?” Sabine asked.
“He wasn’t home. I’ll go back after five.” She checked the time. Still an hour. “I ran into Johann Mueller though.”
“The property developer?”
“Yeah. He’d driven into the back garden and was taking photographs.” Annoyance replaced the sadness.
“That’s cheeky of him.”
“He said Ezra had implied the sale was imminent, so he was preparing.” Chelsea bit her lip, waiting for her mother’s response.
“I’d be surprised if Ezra had spoken to him, but I’ll ask. He knows I won’t sell Lilydale without your permission. It was our second home.” Her mother’s voice broke and the turmoil that had plagued Chelsea for the past hour dissipated.
She let out a shaky breath. “Thanks Mum. I was a little worried. Could you send me a copy of the proposal?” She wanted to know exactly what Johann wanted.
“Of course. I should have sent it earlier. How are you doing, being there again?”
She sighed, scanning the room. “It’s tough. There are so many wonderful memories here.”
“The best,” Sabine agreed. “Aunt Maggie was a hoot.”
Chelsea smiled. “All her colourful overalls are hanging in her wardrobe still.”
“Because you can never have too many pockets,” Sabine said.
Chelsea nodded, smiling at the words Aunt Maggie used to repeat. “I recommended overalls to a colleague of mine who’s a documentary film maker. She was complaining about not having enough pockets, and now she wears nothing but them.”
“Aunt Maggie would be thrilled to hear it.” Sabine laughed and then sighed. “I wish I could be there for you, baby.”
“It’s fine, Mum. The kids need you.”
“You’re my kid, too,” she said. “No matter how old you get, I’ll always want to look after you.”
A lump formed in Chelsea’s throat and she swallowed it down.
It had been hard adjusting, having her younger siblings take up so much of her mother’s attention after it just being the two of them for most of her life.
“I’ll be fine, Mum. It’s nice being back.
I might weed some of the garden beds around the house, and it will give me space to figure out what to do next. ”
“I still can’t believe they fired you. I’ve told Ezra his company isn’t to use them for anything.”
Chelsea chuckled at the outrage in Sabine’s voice. “Thanks, Mum. Listen, I still need to get to the shop. I’ll call you in a couple of days after I’ve got my head around everything.”
“I doubt it will take you long to have a plan,” Sabine said. “But call me if you need anything.”
“Love you, Mum.”
“Love you more.”
Chelsea smiled as she hung up, comforted by her mother’s assertion she would have a say in what happened to Lilydale.
She couldn’t wait to tell Johann.
Smiling at the thought of his reaction, she grabbed her keys and headed for the shops.