Amber felt shell-shocked and simply nodded. She followed Zoe as she carefully maneuvered the wheelchair out of the room. As Amber opened the door and helped her over the threshold, Zoe stopped on the path.
“You have an amazing view here, right around the water to those lights in the distance.”
Zoe’s gaze lingered on the lights of Belendroit, almost wistfully. Amber stepped forward beside Zoe. She pointed to the distant promontory with its two chimneys peeping out from behind the high trees. “That’s Belendroit. One of the original homesteads.”
“Oh, that’s the place! I’ve always thought it looked pretty special. Very mysterious. And at night… those lanterns! I can see them from my house.”
“Itisspecial. Mum started it all. She died when I was twelve.” She turned to Zoe with a bright smile, forcing away the sad memories. “My mum insisted that lanterns always be lit for her children, to light their way home.” She blinked. “I never like to be far away from them. If you’re ever lonely, you’ll know a Connelly isn’t far away. In fact, you should pay Pop a visit. He loves meeting new people.”
Zoe’s face brightened. “I’d love that. I know so few people in Akaroa.”
“Well, you know me now, and I’m just around the corner, and you know Pop. Or you will do.”
“Thank you. You’re very kind.” Zoe extended her hand to Amber. “Thanks for letting me say my piece, Amber. I appreciate it. Whatever you decide over David, I hope we can catch up some time.”
Amber shook Zoe’s hand and then impulsively bent down and kissed her cheek. “That would be nice,” Amber said, speaking, as usual, from the heart and not giving herself time to think it through.
But, after watching Zoe approach the taxi and the driver help her into the car, she closed her door and couldn’t help wondering whether it would be nice, or acutely painful. Because there was no doubt about it, Zoe was a mirror image of her handsome brother. And, if she couldn’t have David, would she want a constant reminder of a love that had gone wrong before it had had a chance to begin?
10
David approached Belendroit with trepidation. He’d arranged to meet Rob there but had got held up in Christchurch. He walked up to the quiet façade of the beautiful building, its lanterns clearly visible on the vines which were only just beginning to bud, and knocked on the door.
He could hear a radio being turned off and feet stomping up the hallway. His heart sank. It had to be Jim. The door swung open and Jim stood there, his face dark with anger.
“You’ve a damn cheek turning up here!”
So, Amber had told him. Of course she had. She didn’t have secrets, unlike him.
“Is Rob here?” David asked Jim, dispensing with the usual formalities.
Jim looked grim and, for the first time, not in the least intimidated by David.
“No, he’s not. I believe he said he had business with Flo.” Jim stepped outside. “You’re not welcome here, David. You tried to use our Amber for one of your business schemes. That’s despicable. Leave here and don’t come back. You’re not welcome. And don’t try to see my daughter ever again.”
With that, Jim slammed the door closed on David’s face. David blinked at the colored paned glass which still rattled in its frame. He’d had doors slammed on him before. He didn’t get to be so rich or powerful without garnering some bad feeling, but he’d never felt so small in all his life.
“Right,” he said to himself, turning away and looking at the rutted driveway, bereft of Amber’s rundown car. “Right,” he said, looking up to the steep hills which surrounded Lantern Bay. The mist had already descended on it, blocking out any late sunshine, shrouding the whole place with a mournful light which David couldn’t help think was wholly appropriate. It was as if someone had turned off his own light, leaving him floundering, rudderless, like the pontoon out at sea where the family would swim to. Except he wasn’t moored. And, without that anchor, for the first time in his life, he felt he could easily slip away, taken by the current out to the sea, to be lost in its mad confusion.
It was a strange feeling. He’d lived a rigidly controlled life for so long that he didn’t know if he could live any other. But he had to try, because he had to face his fears, exactly as Amber had had to do. Different fears, but they could be conquered in the same way, by not allowing them to run his life. It was as if the fulcrum upon which his life was balanced had changed—it was no longer fixed into an uncompromising position, unyielding to any influence, but was a basis of what was right. At fourteen years of age, the only right he had known was routine and control. But he was older now, and he could rely on a different guide. He knew what was right now.
Flo heardthe knock on the door. He was here again. She knew it without having to see him. Rob. The man from her past, the man who’d broken her heart years before and seemed intent on not letting her forget it. She’d even kept a low profile at the French Festival the previous day in order to avoid him. But it seemed Rob wasn’t about to let her.
She busied herself emptying the dishwasher, even as she was aware of the shouts of greeting from the backpackers who were staying at her hostel. Her place was an open house. She listened to the footsteps coming toward her, ringing on the bare floorboards of the hallway. He was a tall, broad man with a steady step which quickened the tempo of her heart.
“Flo,” greeted Rob.
Flo stood up, sighed, and turned around. “Rob,” she said. “What is it you want?”
“I want to help.”
“I don’t need your help, so you can leave.”
“You’re getting it, anyway.”
“What part of ‘I don’t need your help’ don’t you understand?”
“The part which ignores the fact that you most definitelydoneed help and money. Look around you.”
