She shook her head. “He didn’t mean to. It was a mistake and you always say people are allowed to make mistakes.”
Jay smiled at her. “It’s OK, Lara. What I did requires punishment.”
“Does it have to be gaol?” Lara asked. “Isn’t that dangerous?”
Darcy sighed. “It’s probably not safe for him out here if Stonefish keep threatening his son.”
Nhiari held the door open for them.
“I’ll be in touch,” Dot said.
Perhaps Dot could help Jay and Cheryl in some way. Some kind of protective custody.
“Faith, do you want me to tell the others the riding session is cancelled?” Dot asked.
Darcy glanced outside. It still poured with rain, and he didn’t want Faith driving into town. “I’ll call everyone now,” Faith said. “Thanks for reminding me.”
“No problem.”
Cheryl said a tearful goodbye to Jay, clinging to him for a moment, and then she ran through the rain to her caravan. It would be difficult for her, but Dot had told her to call the police if she was contacted by Stonefish again.
“Anyone hungry?” Amy asked.
“We need chocolate cake,” Lara suggested.
Lara’s answer to everything. Today she could have whatever she wanted. “Absolutely. Let’s get the ingredients.” He squeezed Faith’s hand. “Why don’t you make those phone calls and then join us?”
Faith nodded.
Darcy blew out a long breath as Matt and Brandon called out suggestions for what to have for lunch. Lara was safe, and the ordeal was over. Hopefully Jay’s and Roger’s evidence would provide enough to lead back to Stonefish and they would stop being harassed.
Maybe get their money back.
But either way, they would get through this.
***
By Sunday afternoon Darcy hadn’t had a chance to sit down with Lara alone, and talk to her about Faith. He’d had to check the livestock and fix what the flood water had damaged. He arrived back at the house where green shoots already appeared all over the ground from the rain. It would be good for the sheep. The sky was blue and most of the signs of yesterday’s downpour were gone. Lara and Faith gave Amy lessons in the horse yard.
His gaze shifted to Cheryl’s caravan. The car was there, but Cheryl wasn’t sitting under the awning like she had a habit of doing. Dot had called earlier to tell him she was waiting to hear from a couple of contacts in the city. Stonefish Enterprises fell under organised crime, which meant they were much bigger fish than Dot could catch on her own.
Darcy didn’t want Cheryl on his property, but Lara had begged on her behalf. He wasn’t as forgiving as Lara, though he tried to be for her sake. Yesterday could have gone far worse than it had. His muscles tightened. He could have lost both of the people he loved.
As he got out of the ute, Bennet jumped down from the tray. Darcy didn’t want to break up the riding party, but Lara spotted him and ran over. “Dad!” She hugged him. “We’re giving Amy lessons. Faith says I’m an excellent teacher.”
She’d recovered fast. Perhaps allowing her to be there while Jay explained his motives had been a good thing. She had insisted on sleeping in Darcy’s bed last night, which left Faith to sleep in Ed’s old room, but neither of them minded. Which brought him to what he wanted to talk to Lara about.
“I’m going to check the wetland. Come with me?”
“Can Faith and Amy come too?”
He shook his head. “Actually, pumpkin, there’s something I want to talk to you about in private.”
“OK.” She hopped into the passenger side of the ute.
“We’ll be back shortly,” he called to Faith.
She waved.
