A Secret Vengeance

Maybe she had impossibly high standards. Her girlfriends always said she did. Whatever, her relationships never worked out.

The last one had been a couple of months ago. He’d been a footballer she’d treated for a knee injury, and he had pursued her to death after his treatments had finished, telling her he was simply crazy about her, promising her the world if she would just go out with him.

She had in the end, because she’d actually found him very attractive. She liked tall, well-built men. He was also surprisingly intelligent and seemingly sincere. Naturally, she’d made him wait for sex. She never went to bed with a guy on a first date. Nor a second. Nor even a third. When she finally had, she’d wished she hadn’t. For it had been such an anticlimax.

He’d seemed pretty satisfied, however, which was always the case with men, she’d found. They really weren’t too worried about their girlfriends’ lack of orgasms, provided the girlfriend was coming across. They always blamed the woman, never themselves. And they invariably promised things would get better.

Sometimes, if the guy was nice, Celia hung in there, hoping things would improve. But when the footballer had sensitively informed her during his second go that his previous girlfriend would have come three times by then, Celia had decided Mr Wonderful he wasn’t. Nor ever would be.

She’d dumped him the next morning.

Pity her mother hadn’t dumped Lionel Freeman the morning after all those years ago when she’d found out he was married. But then, Lionel, in bed at least, had been her mother’s Mr Wonderful. Apparently, she did refuse to see him for a little while. But the manipulative devil had wormed his way back into her bed with all those excuses and lies Celia didn’t want to hear about, and he’d been there on a regular basis ever since.

Celia didn’t doubt it was a case of true love on her mum’s part, but she would put a million dollars on it being nothing but lust on darling Lionel’s.

Celia wanted to be angry with her mother for being such a romantic fool all these years but, somehow, she couldn’t. Not today. Not when the poor woman’s heart was already breaking apart.

“Why don’t you go shower and dress while I ring Aunt Helen?” she suggested gently.

Fortunately, Celia’s aunt lived less than ten miles away, over at Dora Creek. Her husband, John, worked at the local power station. Their two sons had long grown up and left home, so they had plenty of spare bedrooms.

Her mother shrugged listlessly. “Whatever.”

“We’ll just pack you a small case of essentials for now. I can come back at a later date and get the rest of your things.” There was no real hurry. Under the circumstances, Celia couldn’t see anyone turning up here for ages. She doubted Lionel’s son ever would personally. Seriously rich people had lackeys to attend to such matters. And Luke Freeman was now a seriously rich man.

She stood up, her car keys still in her hand.

Her mother levered herself up slowly before glancing around with sad eyes. “Lionel really loved this place,” she said wanly. “He designed and built it, especially for us.”

Celia didn’t doubt it. The A-framed cabin with its glass façade and large wooden decks overlooking the lake made the perfect love nest. Remote and beautiful in setting, the open-plan interior was filled with all the romantic accoutrements lovers would appreciate. A huge sandstone fireplace, complete with deep squashy sofas flanking a plushly piled cream rug. Upstairs, the loft bedroom was dominated by a king-sized bed, with the adjoining bathroom sporting a spa bath which could easily accommodate two.

No guest room, of course. Lionel had never wanted his mistress to have guests.

Celia had never stayed here overnight. Neither did she drop in on a weekend, unless her mother gave her the all clear. Running into Lionel had been something to be avoided at all costs since she’d grown up, because Celia had known she would have been vicious to him if the occasion had arisen.

But she visited her mother at least once during most weeks. And regardless of the day, she always knew if Lionel had visited the previous weekend. He’d had this distinctive cologne that he’d always worn, and that had lingered long after he’d been gone. She could remember smelling it in her mother’s bedroom as a child, especially when she’d climbed into her mother’s bed in the morning. It always disturbed her to remember how much she’d liked the smell back then. And how much she’d liked Lionel.

“Mum, let’s go,” Celia said brusquely, and took her mother’s arm.

Jessica went quietly, because she knew it was for the best. There were too many memories of Lionel at Pretty Point. Too many ghosts to haunt her at night. Too many bad thoughts waiting to assail her.

She’d always believed Lionel had genuinely loved her, that his passion for her had been more than sexual.

Now, Jessica wasn’t so sure. Often, in the past, when she hadn’t seen Lionel for some time, she’d begin having these terrible doubts. But once he’d arrived and had taken her in his arms again, all her doubts would vanish.

But he would never take her in his arms again. Never make love to her again. Never tell her how much she meant to him again.

Which meant her doubts would never be put to rest. They would fester and grow like some dreadful disease.

Jessica’s heart seemed to disintegrate in her chest under the weight of this appalling prospect. For if she didn’t believe Lionel had loved her as much as she’d loved him, then what had been the point of all the sacrifices she’d made? Never to write to him, nor send him cards. Never to spend Christmas or birthdays with him. Never to go anywhere in public with him.

Never to have his child.

Had it all been a waste of time? Had his love for her been a horrible illusion? Had he really been a deeply sensitive man…or a wickedly selfish liar?

She couldn’t bear to think such thoughts. Couldn’t bear it.

Suddenly, she began to sob, great heaving sobs which racked her whole body.

“Oh, Mum,” her daughter cried and hugged her close. “You’ll be all right. You’ll see. We just have to get you away from here.”

CHAPTER ONE

“IS THAT everything, Harvey?” Luke asked, putting his pen away in his jacket pocket and pushing the papers back across the desk.

“Yes. For now,” the solicitor answered, stacking up all the forms and sliding them into a file.

Luke went to rise from his chair.

“No, wait. There is another small matter concerning your father’s estate which I need your advice upon.”

Luke sat back down and glanced at his watch. It was a quarter to one. He was to meet Isabel downstairs at one for lunch, after which they were going shopping for their wedding rings. “What is it?”

“The Friday before the accident, your father came to see me about a waterfront property he owned on Lake Macquarie.”

Luke frowned. “You wouldn’t be talking about a place on Pretty Point, would you?”

“Yes. That’s the place. Pretty Point. It’s a ten-acre holding, plus a single-bedroomed residence.”

Luke’s frown deepened. “I thought Dad had sold that old place years ago. He’d said he didn’t use it any more because the fishing in the lake wasn’t what it used to be.”

His father had been mad about fishing. He’d taken Luke fishing with him as soon as he’d been old enough to hold a line. By the time Luke was six or seven, father and son would often go away for the weekend together, mostly to the cabin at Pretty Point which had a jetty and a small runabout moored there permanently. Luke’s mother had always stayed home on these occasions. She’d hated everything to do with fish. The smell. The feel. Even the taste.

Luke had loved those weekends, but not because of the fishing. It was his dad’s company and attention he’d loved. In all honesty, Luke found fishing about as fascinating as watching grass grow.

Luke’s discovering basketball in a big way around twelve had finally forced him to confess that he didn’t want to go away fishing any more. He’d wanted to spend his weekends at the local youth club, practising his basketball skills and competing in tournaments.

His dad had been very understanding, as he’d always been understanding. He’d been a great dad. And a great husband too.

Of course, his mum had been a wonderful wife as well, one of the old-fashioned kind who hadn’t worked, and had devoted herself entirely to her husband and son, a woman who’d taken pride in keeping her home spotless and doing all the cooking and cleaning herself, even though they could well have afforded paid help.

Yet she hadn’t been the strongest of women, health-wise, suffering from terrible migraines. Luke could remember as a boy having to be extra quiet around the house when she was having one of her attacks. His father would often come home from work to sit with his wife in her darkened bedroom.

Such a devoted couple.

And now they were both dead, victims of some stoned individual in a four-wheel drive who’d crossed over to the wrong side of the road and had collected his dad’s car, head on.

Come tomorrow, the accident would have happened two weeks ago. It had been on a Saturday night, just this side of midnight. It had happened on the Mona Vale road. They’d been returning from a dinner party at Narrabeen.