Page 26 of Outback Secrets
‘Mace isn’t feeling well, so I had to pick her up from school. But we’re crazy busy in the shop this arvo, so I hoped you wouldn’t mind if she hangs out with you, Mum?’
‘Course not.’ She let go of Henri’s arm and went forward to take Macy’s, pulling the girl into her side. ‘Come on, sweetheart, let’s get you into the house and settled on the sofa. But don’t think this lets you off the hook, Henrietta.’
‘What’s going on?’ Tilley asked, looking between them all.
‘Haven’t you heard?’ Callum snorted. ‘Henri’s shacked up with the publican!’
She glared at him. ‘I have not shacked up with anyone.’ And they wondered why she usually only came home for a few days at a time.
‘Oh my God,’ Tilley exclaimed. ‘So that’s where you stayed on Saturday night?’
‘She didn’t stay with you?’ their mum asked.
Tilley shook her head, grinning widely. ‘But I should have guessed.’
‘What do you mean by that?’ Henri frowned.
‘Well, the two of you were getting along very well at the pub Saturday night. I could have fried an egg on the heat zapping back and forth between you. In hindsight it’s obvious that’s why you didn’t want to leave when the rest of us did.’
Henri bit down on the impulse to tell her that she’d been annoyed because of the way she’d felt almost bullied about her love-life by her and their friends, but instead she said, ‘To be honest, I wasn’t sure anything was going to happen then. I was just enjoying our conversation … but, well …’ She felt her cheeks heat with the lie she was about to tell. ‘Some things are just hard to fight.’
She expected her siblings to burst out laughing and call her bluff, and her mother to accuse her of telling porkies and threaten to wash her mouth out with soap, but miraculously they all beamed.
Fiona pressed her free hand against her heart. It looked as if she was close to tears. Oh God. Henri swallowed the pinprick of guilt—she’d started something now, so she may as well follow through. At least this would take her mind off the mess inside her head.
‘I felt exactly the same way when I met your father,’ her mum said. ‘All he had to say was four little words and I was a goner. I’d have married him right there on the spot.’
‘What were the four little words, Granny?’ asked Macy.
‘You can’t swim there,’ she replied, smiling tenderly at her granddaughter. ‘Granddad was a lifesaver for the summer on the beach, you see, and—’
While her mother began a story they’d all heard a zillion times before, Henri took the chance to escape into the house. She went straight into the kitchen and started to make herself a sandwich—stress made her hungry. The last six weeks her appetite had gone bonkers.
‘Hey, good for you, little sis,’ Andrew said, pulling Henri into his side in a rare show of affection. ‘I’ve always thought Liam was a good bloke.’
‘Yeah,’ Callum agreed as he deposited Joe in the highchair and gave him another piece of slice that Henri was almost certain his mother wouldn’t approve of. Hannah was a nutritionist and kept a very careful eye on how much sugar her kids ate.
‘Yeah, he is.’ Henri took a bite of her sandwich so she didn’t have to elaborate. Probably the less she said, the better.
‘So,’ her mother began as she arrived in the kitchen with Tilley and Macy, who didn’t look too sick to Henri. ‘Is this thing between you and Liam serious, then? What does he think about you being away so much for work?’
It was clear where she was going with that and although this was what Henri had intended when she’d come up with this harebrained plan, she didn’t want to lead her family on any more than was strictly necessary to make it through the next couple of weeks. ‘We’ve only just hooked up, Mum. It’s not like we’ve had much of a chance to talk about the future yet.’
‘So, Hens, I want all the details. What’s Liam like …’ Tilley wriggled her eyebrows suggestively. ‘You know?’
Henri glared at her sister. Had she totally forgotten the presence of little ears? Not to mention their brothers and their mother. Faking a relationship was one thing, pretending to share Liam’s bed was part of that, but talking about their non-existent carnal adventures was simply not going to happen.
‘I thought you were busy at the shop this afternoon,’ she said pointedly. ‘And Macy is looking pale. Maybe we should get her settled on the couch in front of a movie?’
Tilley sighed and glanced at her watch. ‘Yes, no rest for the wicked. Will you be okay, Mace? I’ll come get you later. Try to get some rest and drink lots of fluids.’ Then she thrust her index finger at Henri. ‘Don’t think this conversation is over. It’s my right as big sister to all the juicy details.’
‘Goodbye,’ Henri replied as Tilley walked out the back door.
‘I’ve always liked Liam,’ her mother announced. ‘Some say he’s a bit of an odd body, but he’s never been anything but pleasant to me. And he cleaned up the pub in a way I could never have imagined possible when Arthur owned it. You could do a lot worse, darling.’
Henri didn’t trust herself to do anything but smile.
‘We’ll have to have him round for dinner. Or maybe we can have a barbecue one night? James and Tilley can come out, and we can have it at your place, Andrew—you have that newfangled barbecue.’