Page 47 of Outback Secrets
Chapter Thirteen
Saturday morning, following another surfing lesson with Liam, Henri left Cecil in the car park at The Palace and began the walk down the street to the Town Hall, which she could see was already surrounded by utes and four-wheel drives.
She had what could only be described as a spring in her step when she heard her mum summon her.
‘Henrietta! Boy, am I glad to see you. Come here and help me with all this stuff?’
She looked up to see her mother’s Prado parked out the front of Frankie’s Café and jogged the next few metres to get to her. ‘Hey, Mum.’
‘You’re looking pretty pleased with yourself this morning.’
‘It’s a beautiful day.’ Henri gestured to the sky, which was as clear as the ocean, except for the sun, shining brightly and already casting a warm glow on the earth. ‘And I’m excited about wreath-making.’
‘There’s more to that smile than good weather, and as for wreath-making …’ She snorted. ‘Don’t think I’m too old to remember what young love is like. Speaking of, I had a lovely chat with your new fella last night—’
‘So he told me. I’m lucky you didn’t scare him off.’
‘If he could be scared off so easily, he wouldn’t be worth having. But I have to say, it was a good conversation.’
‘Shall we get this stuff out?’ Henri pointed to the plastic containers and baskets in the back of the Prado. ‘We don’t want to be late.’
‘Late? Everyone else is blooming early. I can’t believe I had to park so far away.’
‘Guess they’re all as excited as I am.’
As they started towards the hall, their arms laden with wreath-making supplies from her mother’s prized garden, it was impossible to miss the massive For Sale sign in the window of the café.
‘I wonder who’ll buy it?’ Fiona remarked. ‘It’ll be sad to see Frankie go—what with Simone now living in Mingenew and their mum in Perth, I guess it’s the end of an era for their family.’
‘But the Burtons are still here,’ Henri said, thinking of Adam and his parents. His mum was Simone and Frankie’s aunt.
‘Yes, you’re right,’ she sighed. ‘I’m sure they’ll be back for plenty of visits, and I think Logan still plans to help with the Bunyip News until they can find someone to take over his position. Maybe that’s something you could do?’
‘What?’ Henri was thinking about the Burtons and the tragedy that had almost torn them apart, so she must have heard wrong.
‘Well, you were quite good at English at school and it’s always nice to give back to the community.’
‘It also helps if you live in the community,’ she replied, thinking that her mother had finally, completely, lost her marbles.
‘Well, if things get serious between you and Liam, won’t you want to spend more time here? Frankie and Logan found commuting between two places too hard and they were only working half an hour apart. Liam’s a good-looking man, Henrietta, you won’t want to leave him alone too long.’
‘Right. Of course.’ Fury rose inside Henri at her mother’s lessthan-subtle reference to Max—the man who had broken her heart five years ago. She swallowed the urge to snap that no man—not even one who gave fake kisses as good as Liam—would ever convince her to ground herself, while inside terrified that it wouldn’t be a man that did the honours at all.
Tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked them away, not wanting to cry or get in an argument with her mother right now.
‘Oh, look, is that Faith Forrester?’ she said, pointing to a tall woman retrieving a tiny baby from the back of a silver four-wheel drive, not too far from the town hall.
‘Yes.’ Her mum’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. ‘Well, Faith Montgomery now. I heard she and Monty were coming home for Christmas. That must be baby Mabel. Let’s go over and help her.’
Henri wasn’t sure how they were going to do that when they were already carrying more than they really could, but she followed her over to Faith anyway.
‘Ooh, my goodness,’ her mum exclaimed, getting right into Faith’s personal space and peering down at the poor baby like it was some kind of rare species. ‘If that isn’t the cutest baby I’ve ever seen! Has she got Monty’s eyes?’
‘Hi, Mrs Forward,’ Faith smiled. ‘And thank you. Both Clancy and Mabel take after Monty. I barely got a look in. Hi, Henri, how are you?’
‘Hey. Congratulations,’ Henri said. ‘On your wedding and your two babies.’
‘Thanks. Pity you couldn’t make it back for the wedding.’