Time Will Tell Read online

  Time Will Tell

  Fiona McCallum

  www.harlequinbooks.com.au

  Also by Fiona McCallum

  Paycheque

  Nowhere Else

  Wattle Creek

  The Button Jar Series:

  Saving Grace

  Fiona McCallum lives in Adelaide, South Australia, and works full-time as a novelist. She is the author of four Australian bestselling novels: Paycheque, Nowhere Else, Wattle Creek and Saving Grace. Time Will Tell is her fifth novel and the second in The Button Jar series (the first being Saving Grace).

  More information about Fiona and her books can be found on her website, www.fionamccallum.com. Fiona can also be followed on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Fiona McCallum.author.

  In loving memory of my aunt, Anne de Wit, who was also a very dear and special friend.

  Acknowledgements

  Many thanks to editor Lachlan Jobbins for bringing the best out in my writing and to Sue Brockhoff, Cristina Lee, Michelle Laforest and everyone at Harlequin Australia for continuing to believe in me, make my dreams come true, and turn my pages into beautiful books.

  Thanks also to Jane and Emma at Morey Media for spreading the word and to the media outlets, bloggers, librarians, booksellers and readers for your support. It means so much to hear of people enjoying my books.

  Thank you to members of the Gemmological Association of Australia SA Division Inc. for help with research and for very generously showing me some diamonds in the rough. Fascinating! Any errors of fact are my own or down to me taking creative liberties.

  Finally, a huge thank you to my oldest and dearest friends Carole and Ken Wetherby, Mel Sabeeney and Arlene Somerville for being the best friends a person could ever hope to have.

  Contents

  Also by the Author

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter One

  Emily Oliphant and her best friend Barbara stood on the verandah, staring out into the still country evening. Birds rustled in the trees, settling themselves for the night, and a multitude of insects chattered and sang in the summer air.

  ‘What a gorgeous evening. And what a really lovely spot, Em,’ Barbara said with a sigh.

  ‘It is, isn’t it?’ Emily reached down to pat her border collie pup, Grace, who was at attention by her feet. ‘I could stay here forever.’

  They were out the front of Emily’s house – the house that would be hers if she accepted the Baker brothers’ proposal. She thought of all she’d been through in the last two months – leaving her husband, meeting Barbara, saving Grace. And now, finally, settling into a home of her own. Could she find the courage to do this too?

  ‘Seriously Em, you can do this – the house, everything. Don’t let fear stop you. And don’t worry about your mother.’

  Emily nodded. Her friend was right; being offered the house was one hell of a Christmas present. And not too shabby as a thirty-second birthday gift either. Forget what Enid had to say about it. This is my life.

  ‘Well, I’d really better go before they send out a search party,’ Barbara said, kissing Emily on the cheek.

  ‘I’m so glad you stopped in.’ The two friends hugged, neither wanting to be the first to let go. As always, Barbara had turned up at just the right time.

  Finally they broke apart, and Barbara made her way down the steps and over to her car. ‘See you Saturday,’ she called.

  ‘Don’t forget the tinsel,’ Emily called back sardonically.

  ‘No fear there. And the champagne; we’re going to celebrate.’ She got in the car with a wave of her hand.

  Emily watched until Barbara’s tail-lights were out of sight. She smiled wryly. Her mother would indeed have a fit when she found out she was buying the run-down old place.

  Thankfully it didn’t matter what Enid thought. It was to be Emily’s home and no one else’s.

  As she stared out into the last fading light of the warm summer day, her head began swimming with possibilities, risks, and calculations. The chance to buy the house really was a huge opportunity, if a little daunting – well, very daunting. But it was meant to be, wasn’t it? A home of her own.

  A home that was as much Grace’s as hers, she thought, looking down at the small black and white dog beside her. Grace was a typical border collie except for the missing white ring around her neck. Emily still found it hard to believe it was only six weeks since the day she had picked her up as a tiny puppy – it felt like Grace had always been a part of her life. And Barbara; they’d become firm best friends almost instantly. She was so blessed to have met her. Along with Grace, Barbara had been her saviour; her rock, her voice of reason.

  She bent down and ruffled Grace’s ears. The puppy looked up at her with love and adoration. Emily smiled. That look would melt anyone’s heart. Well, except her estranged husband’s.

  At the thought of John Stratten, her face clouded. Thankfully the bully was now out of her life. He’d completely ripped her off in the financial settlement, but at least he was gone.

  ‘Come on Gracie, let’s go inside.’

  They made their way down the hall, Grace’s claws clicking on the bare floorboards punctuating Emily’s thoughts.

  Why didn’t I leave him sooner?

  Her mother had told her that once she had made her bed she had to lie in it. If only she had ignored her. It was the twenty-first century for Christ’s sake, not the nineteen-fifties! How could I have been so damned gullible?

  But of course Emily knew. It had nothing to do with gullibility and everything to do with that old chestnut that shaped your life growing up in a small country town: what will people say? What could possibly make a woman like her give up a marriage to one of the wealthiest farmers in the district?

  She cast her mind back to the afternoon she had finally decided to leave him. John’s threat to shoot Grace had been the last straw. A shiver ran the length of Emily’s spine. At least she had saved her from the brute.

  Forty thousand dollars?! It wasn’t fair. Perhaps if she’d known she was going to be offered the old house to buy she might have fought for more in the settlement.

  Emily sighed. At t
he time she’d just wanted to get it over with, to get on with her life and never have anything to do with him again. She had hoped that feeling would last; that when twelve months had elapsed it would just be a matter of the divorce papers being signed and rubber-stamped.

  She paused in the hallway and looked around her. The old place had so much potential. She’d love to turn it into something worthy of Home Beautiful. But her meagre funds would barely cover updating the kitchen – even the most basic design.

  The Baker brothers were only asking for ten thousand up front and then ten thousand per year for twenty years – and the costs associated with subdividing, however much that would be. It was a bloody good deal in anyone’s book, but still felt precarious to Emily in her current situation.

  She had approximately forty-seven thousand dollars in savings, but no job, and nothing on the horizon thanks to the Global Financial Crisis and a couple of years of drought since.

  But she was going to stay positive. ‘Fake it till you make it,’ Barbara had said not so long ago. She had to have faith that it would all work out. Really, what else did she have?

  She could see now that Barbara had really been gently telling her to stop feeling sorry for herself and get her act together. It was something Emily’s gran might have said if she’d been born fifty years later than she had. As it was, Granny Rose would have been more likely to say something gentler, like: ‘Put on a happy face, dear. No one likes a sourpuss.’

  With that thought Emily hoicked up her shoulders and carried on into the kitchen.

  She filled the kettle and waited for it to boil. She really had to start believing that good things could happen. Like her cousin Elizabeth turning up with a friend who just happened to be an architect and a qualified builder; what were the odds of that?

  Jake would be able to give her a good idea of how much the house would cost to fully renovate. He’d certainly indicated it was worth looking into. And he wasn’t just humouring her or being polite. He was genuine – the gift and proceeds from the jam he had sent were proof of that. It was such a pity that he lived so far away in Melbourne.

  She looked across at the old Bushells coffee jar on the kitchen table. It was an almost identical match for the original jar from the nineteen-thirties. Even the tone of the faded red tin screw-top lid was the same.

  The night before she died, Granny Rose had given Emily her button jar. The thought of how serious Gran had been – her insistence that she take good care of it – still brought a sad smile to Emily two months on. The Alzheimer’s had made her wise old gran say the strangest things.

  The jar was precious to Emily too. It had been since she’d first seen it as a four year old. She’d always loved the bright colours and the rattle it made when gently shaken. She’d especially loved the weird tradition that buttons were constantly put in on top, but none ever removed, nor the contents ever tipped out and rifled through. Since Gran’s death, she had felt a sense of comfort whenever she held it.

  And she felt dreadful that in just a few months it had got broken. She still had no idea how the jar had fallen from the bench to the floor in the middle of the night. It would remain one of life’s mysteries.

  Emily forced thoughts of Gran aside – she was getting too melancholy thinking about her – and wondered if she should phone Jake again. She’d rung him earlier to thank him, but had got his voicemail. She could try again later.

  No, that would be weird and stalkerish. You’ve already left one message, she told herself. But I’m really grateful to him. The replacement jar was such a thoughtful gift.

  The roaring kettle distracted her and she set about preparing a mug of Milo.

  At the kitchen table sipping her drink, she looked around the large space and wondered who else she could ask for advice about the purchase. Her dad would be her first port of call – he’d already helped her repaint the inside of the house and sand the floorboards – but he wasn’t in the actual building game, so he wouldn’t know about how much things would cost.

  Suddenly Emily yawned. It was only eight o’clock, but it had been a big day; with the funeral for Barbara’s father-in-law and the Bakers’ visit afterwards. She was weary, but her brain was still spinning a little too fast and her thoughts were too disconnected. She needed some down time to let it all seep in.

  She would have loved to soak in the tub for a while, but still didn’t like the idea of lying naked and vulnerable in the bathroom outside on the back verandah.

  As she brushed her teeth and waited for Grace to have her last pee for the night, Emily found herself daydreaming of a plush ensuite, right off her bedroom, with plenty of heating for the cold winter months. When the time came, and funds permitted. That would be a long way off, she thought pessimistically as she followed Grace inside and closed the kitchen door behind them.

  She said goodnight to Grace, who was settled on her bed in the corner of the kitchen, and made her way slowly and heavily down the hall to her bedroom, turning off the lights as she went.

  She changed into her summer pyjamas and climbed into bed. She ignored the small wad of paper from the Bakers that contained the conditions of the purchase – she was way too tired to study it again – and picked up her book. But she couldn’t focus on that either.

  Was she about to open a can of worms by trying to buy the old place? It sure would be easier just to stay renting and trying to find a job. But wouldn’t she then be letting herself down; not fulfilling her full potential?

  Perhaps she didn’t have any unfulfilled potential. Her mother had certainly never seen her as more than wife material. And John had never let her help out on the farm. That had been her dream; for them to stand shoulder to shoulder and run the place together, as a true partnership. But he hadn’t even let her do the books.

  Oh for God’s sake, stop feeling sorry for yourself, Emily! When haven’t you been prepared to work hard for something?

  Barbara was right; she could do this. She had been brave enough to finally leave John, and she’d be brave enough to do this too. Somehow she’d make it happen. On her own.

  One of Gran’s sayings came to her now: ‘Nothing come by quickly is ever as satisfying as that which has been waited for or toiled over.’

  She was right. Yes, bit by bit, slow and steady wins the race, and all that.

  Emily banished the quotes from her head and picked up Donald and Trevor Baker’s handwritten offer. Her whole body began to tingle with excitement. She reread it carefully and was making notes and listing questions to ask – of whom she wasn’t yet sure – when her mobile chirped into action beside her. Her heart rate doubled as she saw Jake’s name lit up on the screen. Oh! She took a deep breath and pressed the button to answer.

  ‘Hi Jake,’ she said cheerily.

  ‘Hi Em.’

  ‘I got your parcel this afternoon. Thanks so much. It does seem rather a lot of money for just some jars of homemade jam.’

  ‘Well, it’s very good jam.’

  ‘Thanks. And thank you so much for the jar – I can’t believe you found one the same.’

  ‘I hope it’s the right one. The antique dealer seemed to think there weren’t many variations.’

  ‘It’s perfect. Thank you again.’

  ‘My absolute pleasure. Now I would love to chat, but I don’t have long. I actually called to ask you a favour.’

  ‘Oh. Okay.’

  ‘I’m in Whyalla – working on a project with a friend of a friend. Bit of a long story. I was wondering if I could come and stay for the weekend. You did say you don’t do anything special for Christmas, right? I’m sorry about the short notice.’

  ‘Of course you can stay – I’d love to have you!’ As soon as the words left her mouth, Emily blushed. She was glad he couldn’t see her embarrassment at her poor choice of words.

  ‘It’s just I have to be here again next week – we’re working right through while most businesses are shut – but I’d rather not spend the Christmas weekend here on my own.
I hate to impose, but this project has come together in a bit of a rush,’ he added, sounding a little breathless.

  ‘Jake, really, you wouldn’t be imposing. I’m just having Mum and Dad and Barbara and David here for lunch Christmas day, and you’re very welcome to join us. It’s just casual. And absolutely no presents are being exchanged,’ she added.

  Emily had always hated the awkwardness of being given a gift and not having one to offer in return. It had almost become a phobia. When she had invited Barbara, she had put the ‘no gifts’ rule on the table and had been relieved when Barbara had agreed, albeit reluctantly.

  ‘Okay. Well, perhaps I can have a bit more of a look at that house of yours if you like – to earn my keep,’ Jake offered.

  ‘Your timing would be perfect actually; there’s been a bit of a development on that front.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘Yes, the old brothers who own it have offered to sell it to me.’

  ‘Wow, that’s great.’

  ‘It’s a bit of a long story, but I really would appreciate your opinion on the structural aspects of the house, and any other advice you can offer.’

  ‘It would be my pleasure.’

  ‘So when should I expect you – and do you have someone with you or are you on your own?’ She hoped it was the latter.

  ‘No, it’s just me. And Saturday – Christmas day – if that’s okay? Say mid-morning?’

  ‘No problem at all.’

  ‘And I’m really sorry to have to cut this short, but I’m being collected for dinner and my hosts have just arrived.’

  ‘Okay. See you Saturday then. Drive safely.’

  ‘Thanks very much, Em, I look forward to it. See ya.’

  ‘Me too,’ Emily said quietly, but she suspected the call had already been disconnected.

  Her heart rate subsided to a thud of nervous excitement. Wow, Jake wanted to visit – alone; without Elizabeth! And for Christmas, no less! She couldn’t wait to see him. This would make the day a bit special.

  Emily was no longer tired, and in fact couldn’t imagine how she’d get to sleep at all now. She mentally ran through her list for Christmas; what she still had to do, what ingredients she had on hand and what she had left to buy.