“Mikky!” Rafe interjected hastily.
“—ridge. The bastard!” She was off, bright red ponytail bouncing with each stride. They all watched as she headed down the footpath, then she called out, “Hey!” A man, who was leaning against the rock wall separating the path from the sand, looked up,straightening hastily as she approached. From where William stood, it looked like Mikayla was about to hit him, but then she ran the last few steps and threw her arms around his neck. The man, for his part, caught her adroitly and spun her around twice before setting her on her feet. When she found her feet, she placed both hands on the man’s chest and shoved, hard.
“Who’s that?” William asked. Mikayla now had the man by the hand and was dragging him up the path.
“Her brother,” Juniper answered, in some amusement. As they approached, William was surprised to feel a small hand pulling on his. He looked down to see Billy looking at him anxiously. Going on instinct, he put his hands out, offering to pick him up.
CHAPTER 5
Juniper
Juniper watched as Billy raised his arms and William scooped him up. She knew he could be anxious when meeting new people, but she was fascinated that he would turn to William for reassurance. She didn’t have time to follow that line of thought, however, because Mikayla had arrived, with her brother firmly in tow.
“William, Leah, this is my bastard of a brother, Callum, who has been away for two years and has returned today without so much as a text message to let me know.”
“It was meant to be a surprise,” he replied, shaking first William’s hand, then Leah’s. He gave Juniper a kiss on the cheek and hugged Rafe, affectionately slapping him on the back.
“Well, it was! Do Mum and Dad even know you’re here?”
“Not yet. I parked at their place and walked down. I literally got in about ten minutes ago.”
“They’re probably at the pavilion. We were just heading there now, so let’s go.”
In her usual whirlwind fashion, Mikayla was off, pulling them all with her, except Leah. “You okay, honey?” Juniper asked. She looked like she’d seen a ghost. “Do you know Callum?”
“Ah, no, not really. I mean, um…no. No, I don’t know him.” She seemed to give herself a shake before mustering an uncertain smile. “We’d better catch up.”
Juniper followed her with a perplexed frown. Although she didn’t know Leah that well, from what she could tell, she was quite shy and maybe lacking in confidence. Callum was a famous musician so meeting him could certainly intimidate her, but it seemed more than that. There wasn’t much she could do to help, though, so she just followed behind Leah as they caught up with the group.
The local sports oval had been repurposed into an outdoor music hall. A large marquee was at one end with a raised stage for the musicians and a dance floor laid out in front of it. Plastic tables and chairs were then scattered around at random, with tablecloths and flowers in glass jars on top.
“There they are!” Mikayla pointed to her parents, pushing Callum in their direction. Juniper couldn’t help but smile at their reaction to seeing their prodigal son. She absolutely adored Mikayla’s parents and almost thought of them like her own Mum and Dad. They had looked after her so much after Billy had been born and acted like surrogate grandparents to him. God knows, her own parents weren’t at all interested, so to Juniper, Nora and John were an absolute blessing.
“William, hi.”
“Hi, John.”
“You two know each other?” Mikayla asked, the surprise in her tone obvious.
“We sure do. William’s got my crew working like drovers up at the lighthouse,” John replied with a wink.
William laughed. “They’re a great crew, I certainly don’t need to push them.”
“Dad, do you know who William is?”
“Sure, poppet, he’s the man who owns the lighthouse,” John replied, with some confusion.
“He’s also the man that stopped to help Juniper deliver Billy.”
“Is he now?” Nora exclaimed. “Well, that deserves a hug.” She stepped forward and pulled William into a tight embrace.
“Well, if I’d known that, I would’ve given you a discount on the job.” John put his arm around Juniper’s shoulders, pulling her against his side as he shook William’s hand enthusiastically. “Words can’t describe what you did for our girl.”
Juniper smiled at the simple truth of the words, then she was intrigued to see that William looked a little uncomfortable.
“It was nothing, really.”
“Not to me it wasn’t,” she said softly. He might be standing in front of her now in his fancy shoes and expensive sunglasses, all slick and smooth, but she knew who he really was. She almost laughed at herself for questioning it. The man that had held her that night, cradled in his arms, whispering soft words of encouragement, was the real William Locke. With a flash of insight, she knew that this William was a façade. She tilted her head to one side, a smile curving her lips. There was some digging to do here and looking at him, standing there with a soft ocean breeze playing with his hair, eyes clouded with confusion while he watched her watching him, she felt more than happy to pick up a spade and get digging.
