Sensible Plans, Unplanned Hearts

Chapter 1

The Bennett family had long been settled in Wattle Vale, New South Wales, Australia.

John Bennett’s father, William, had grown up in the little village halfway between Sydney and Canberra, as had his father and his father before him.

So it was perhaps precisely because of this that Elinor Bennett had long had a hankering to live elsewhere.

Anywhere. Small towns could be so very small-town, after all.

And now, travelling back on the train to Wattle Vale after a glorious two weeks in England visiting her eldest sister, Olivia, and Liv’s fiancé, Liam, Ellie was realising afresh just how contained and small her world could be.

Trees flashed by, white-trunked eucalypts boasting their grey-blue leaves, the oils in the leaves giving rise to the blue haze that gave the nearby Blue Mountains their name.

And while some might call this phenomenon pretty, she was so used to the sight that it barely registered.

It wasn’t like the soft pastel greens and blues of English countryside, nor the flashy bright lights of London, that was for sure.

Next to her, her sister sighed.

Ellie suppressed a smile. Katie’s sighs had come in greater frequency since their arrival at the airport after a day’s worth of flying, to discover nobody was there to meet them.

The second-eldest Bennett sister, Emma-Jane, was in New York for an important meeting for her dating app, Dream Match.

And their parents had an important doctor’s appointment with Dad’s cardiac specialist, which had been rescheduled, resulting in an unfortunate time clash with their delayed plane’s arrival.

Thank heavens for their cousin Annabelle, who had agreed to step in once again and help keep The Silver Teapot running. Nobody was as capable as Annabelle.

Katie’s sigh expanded into a yawn. “Oh, I’m so tired. I feel like we’ve been travelling for days.”

“Because we have.”

The hours in a car from Hartbury Hall, Liam’s family mansion, to London.

Then the flight from Heathrow to Singapore via an unexpected overnight stop in Baku, Azerbaijan, when a dire medical emergency forced their plane to divert to the nearest airport that could take an Airbus A380.

And while everyone had been understanding at first—a woman’s elderly husband had been distraught—the airport’s inability to cope with hundreds of unexpected passengers had soon worn that sentiment thin, as delays due to a lack of communication, visa issues, and missed connections ate at people’s peace of mind.

Having experienced their own family’s cardiac event not so long ago, Ellie knew how trying this could be and tried to help where she could.

Fortunately for Ellie and Katie, a delay of a day or so didn’t affect either of their work schedules, and the chance to see a city perched between Iran and Russia, the desert and the Caspian Sea, was an opportunity they’d likely never have again, so they’d made the best of it and tried to help those with families by entertaining their children with things learned over years of leading Sunday school.

Ellie’s faith had certainly grown, as she’d needed to pray for more patience many times.

After spending a night at the Marriott, with its view towards Baku’s iconic Flame Towers, they’d finally boarded a new plane and travelled to Singapore before the final eight-hour leg back to Sydney.

Only to learn (as soon as their mobile phone reception allowed) that nobody was there to meet them, so they would have to take the train to return home.

Still, they had so much to be grateful for, so Ellie wouldn’t complain.

Not when Katie was doing her best to express her every emotion, as was expected.

“I really hope that lady is okay,” Katie said now. “It must be so scary to have to land in the middle of nowhere and not know anyone, don’t you think?”

“She does have her husband,” Ellie pointed out.

“Well yes, but he didn’t look like he’d be much help. He was so upset, poor thing.”

“I’m sure the British consulate will be able to help them,” Ellie soothed. “We should pray for them. Worrying accomplishes nothing.”

“Yeah.” Katie yawned again, discontent written in the lines pleating her forehead.

Ellie stretched her stiff fingers. Lord, be with him and his wife, and heal her and give them peace.

“Tell you what—I’m so glad we got to stay at the Marriott. Imagine being like some of those passengers and having to stay at the alternative.” Katie shuddered. “It sounded like a dirty dive of a hotel.”

“We have a lot to be thankful for.”

Katie stretched her arms, the sudden movement drawing startled looks from some of the elderly passengers on the train. Katie quietly snickered as she completed her stretches. “Honestly, it’s like some of them haven’t seen a person move in years.”

“They perhaps aren’t expecting someone to be quite so obvious about it.”

“Please.” Katie rolled her eyes. “When half of them seem to think the way to answer a phone is to stick it on speaker so the whole train carriage hears their conversation.”

She said this in a louder voice, which drew a few more stares. Awesome.

“And they do that in a quiet carriage, no less,” Katie continued.

True, that. “People don’t seem to have as much consideration for others these days.”

“Right?” Katie heaved out another mighty exhale. “I can’t wait to get home. I feel like I could sleep for days!”

The train slowed as it rolled into another of the little towns that dotted this stretch of railway line.

Commuters, mostly, who lived on the outskirts of Sydney and preferred not to pay the sky-high costs of a mortgage closer to the city.

EJ was lucky in that she was due to inherit Great-Aunt Marion’s flat that overlooked the Sydney Opera House and harbour.

But most people weren’t so fortunate. The way Ellie’s savings were going, she might be able to afford a house of her own in two hundred years. She withheld her own sigh.

Katie’s gaze was out the window, and she suddenly jerked to attention. Then tucked her hair behind her ear, her gaze going to the door, all claims of tiredness gone, as was the usual case whenever Katie saw a male under thirty she thought was handsome.

Sure enough, a man who looked to be Ellie’s age entered, his rugby jersey and jeans not a stylish combination, but Katie apparently didn’t care, smiling at him as he passed their seats.

He glanced at Katie, then nodded, which seemed invitation enough for her to beam at him. And sure enough, he paused, then backtracked. “Is this seat taken?”

“Not at all,” Katie said, shoving Ellie’s bag from the seat.

“Hey,” she protested mildly, earning herself a brief glance from the man before Katie insisted it was free, and he slipped into the spare seat opposite them and started talking to Katie.

Honestly. The girl was a magnet for men. Ellie withheld her own sigh and settled back in her own seat. Try as she could, it didn’t seem like anything she or Liv or EJ had said about Katie’s boy-mad focus seemed to filter through Katie’s head, as per the last sister video chat.

“There are ways to let a guy know you’re interested that don’t scream obvious,” EJ had cautioned.

To which Katie had tossed her head. “I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of.”

Mm-hmm. That was up for debate.

“You don’t want to seem desperate,” EJ had said bluntly.

“I’m not going to hide who I am,” Katie had declared.

“So you are desperate, huh?”

Katie had scowled. “Just because you and Liv have found love doesn’t mean we all have.”

“Katie, you’re twenty-five. You’ve got plenty of time to find a nice man. You don’t need to settle for just anyone,” Ellie had said.

“It’s not settling to agree to go on a date. Honestly, what’s wrong with you three? It’s like you think I’m stupid.”

Not stupid. Just emotionally immature at times. Everything with Katie was either wonderful or woeful, and there seemed little in between.

“You’re the in between,” Katie had snarked when Ellie pointed this out.

Which was true. Elinor’s emotions tracked far more steadily, with only an occasional slight rise at certain times of the month before steadying again. She might be closest to Katie in age, but they seemed the furthest apart in personality.

Liv, the eldest, was the nicest one. EJ, the most blunt and direct one, although the past year had softened her a great deal.

Ellie was the sensible one, most like their cousin Annabelle in that regard.

Then there was the youngest, Katie, whose emotional highs and lows were the bane of the Bennett family’s existence.

“You can’t get too emotional,” Ellie had said. “You should learn to be a little more careful about letting people know your every thought and feeling.”

Katie simply tossed her blond braid. “I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of. I am who I am, and if you don’t like it, then that’s your problem.”

Ellie tucked a chunk of her blue-streaked hair behind her ear, watching covertly as Katie interacted with the man.

Katie’s insistence that her sisters were all the ones at fault seemed typical of a lot of people these days.

People who came across as entitled, loudly owning their own truth rather than trying to see other people’s perspectives.

And as an artist, Ellie’s whole life was about trying to find the right perspective, seeing things how others might, comparing and contrasting and finding a path in between.

Hmm. Maybe Katie’s comment tracked true because Ellie was the in-between sister, but the one without EJ’s assertive personality, who was happy to go with the flow.

Mostly happy, anyway. She didn’t have any of the privileges attached to being the eldest or youngest child.

The man stood as they neared another station, and she clenched her jaw as he and Katie swapped phone details. Ellie waited until he was out of earshot before she turned to her sister. “Seriously?”

Katie groaned. “Do you have to look so judgy? Mark is a nice guy.”