Saving Grace Read online

  Moments later she was quite devastated to learn that the prince in question had died a mere five years ago. And that was the end of that.

  Ordinarily Emily loved a good mystery, but now she found herself frustrated; there was no way of solving this one. If there had been diamonds, they would have been sold or fought over and distributed long before now. And asking her mother or aunt would be like opening a huge can of worms.

  For some reason, the secret had been kept. And she would continue to keep it, she decided, refolding the letter and putting it aside. Though she couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed.

  Emily got up and went to the bathroom. While washing her hands she stared into the mirror. She’d been told so many times, mainly by Gran’s friends, that she had eyes the exact hue of her grandmother’s. She’d always hated her dead straight, mouse brown hair that she kept just below her shoulders, but she liked having eyes that were a little different. People always had difficulty putting a name to the colour – they were not really blue and not really grey – and Emily liked that.

  So what had happened to those diamonds that were supposedly the same colour as Gran’s eyes, and therefore her own? Damn not knowing. Damn Gran for dying and not telling her.

  Emily splashed cold water on her face to ward off the threatening tears, just as the phone began to chirp. She dragged the handtowel from the rail and hurried to the kitchen to answer the call.

  ‘Hello, Emily speaking.’

  ‘Emily, it’s your mother.’

  Emily swallowed hard, trying to push the lump forming back down her throat.

  ‘Are you there?’

  ‘Yes, sorry, I’m here,’ she said, her voice coming out as more of a croak.

  ‘You sound terrible – you haven’t got a cold, have you?’

  ‘No, I’ve been sorting through the things of Gran’s I brought home.’

  ‘Load of old rubbish – don’t know why you bothered.’

  Emily sniffed.

  ‘No point crying over spilt milk, she always used to say.’

  ‘I don’t think her death could be considered spilt milk, Mum.’

  ‘She lived a full life. Now she’s gone – no point dwelling on it.’

  Emily wondered if it was all an act or if Enid really was this cold; she was talking about her own mother, for goodness sake.

  ‘Well, I miss her.’

  ‘Emily, you do realise she probably didn’t even know who you were from one day to the next, don’t you?’

  ‘She remembered lots from her early life. I loved listening to her stories.’

  ‘You can’t possibly have believed a word she said for the last ten years – the woman was gaga.’

  ‘She seemed pretty sure about some things to me.’

  ‘One of them being some Indian prince sending her diamonds as a wedding gift, I suppose?’ The sneer in her mother’s tone was obvious.

  Emily’s heart skipped a beat. ‘You know about …’

  ‘Oh Emily, don’t you think if it were true someone would have actually seen them?’

  ‘I suppose so. But why didn’t anyone ever say anything?’

  ‘Because it isn’t true, that’s why.’

  ‘Maybe Grandpa was jealous and didn’t want it mentioned or something.’

  ‘Oh Emily, you really do have far too vivid an imagination,’ Enid Oliphant said with a brittle laugh. ‘Face it, darling, you were duped like the rest of us. Look, I really must be off – Janet will be here in a tick to drive me to lunch. Bye for now.’

  ‘Bye.’

  Emily hung up, but stood staring at the phone in her hand. Her mother hadn’t said why she’d phoned. She shrugged. Probably just checking I haven’t done anything to embarrass her, like leave my husband, she thought with another shrug, and let her mind go back to the diamonds.

  Gran hadn’t told her about the gift – the diamonds – from the prince. She only knew about it from reading the letter, which her mother didn’t seem to know anything about.

  She’d said, ‘duped like the rest of us’, which suggested the rest of the family had heard the story. That still didn’t explain why she hadn’t. Perhaps it had been consigned to the gaga bin along with Gran when no evidence was found to corroborate it.

  But why wouldn’t Gran have told her? They’d spent hours candidly discussing her life, especially the early days. How could she have left this out?

  Emily’s heart sank. Her mother was right: she’d been duped. But in a different way. A lump lodged tight in her throat and tears burned her eyes. Part of her wanted to sit and have a good sob, but another part of her was too angry to give in.

  Grace was demanding attention at the glass door. Emily, welcoming the distraction, headed outside to join her.

  Chapter Nine

  Emily and Barbara, neatly and casually dressed in jeans and recently ironed shirts, sat across from each other at a picnic bench in the mottled shade of a large tree on the median strip dividing the main street.

  Grace lay on the ground between them, having exhausted all options for escaping the lead attached to the leg of the bench. Every now and then the dog scratched at its ears and shook its head to shoo away a fly or insect out enjoying the warm late spring day. Her tail flapped in a slow gentle beat against the dirt, which was worn into a bare shallow trench from the feet of locals and visitors over many years.

  The two women chatted easily between mouthfuls of their egg, lettuce and mayonnaise wholemeal rolls from the bakery and sandwich place across the road.

  Emily closed her eyes and sighed. She was so lucky to have met Barbara. She wondered for a moment if somehow Gran had had something to do with it, but dismissed the notion. She didn’t believe in God – in her opinion too many bad things happened in the world for there to be one – but she did believe that there was a force out there more powerful than the human race. And she believed in karma – people getting what they deserved, both good and bad.

  Perhaps she was being rewarded with a new friend because she’d been good to Gran when everyone else in the family was just interested in securing her money and keeping her out of the way.

  A shrill female voice pulled her abruptly from her thoughts. ‘Ooh, fancy seeing you here!’

  Emily closed her eyes briefly, took a deep breath, and then turned towards the voice while fixing a pleasant expression on her face.

  ‘Hi Mum.’ A slight groan escaped Emily’s lips after her greeting. She got up to accept Enid’s vague air kiss before sitting back down again.

  ‘You didn’t tell me you were lunching! You’re Barbara Burton, aren’t you? Finally we meet.’ Enid Oliphant extended a hand across the table.

  ‘Um, yes, I am,’ Barbara said, accepting the hand.

  ‘Sorry, Barbara, this is my mother, Enid Oliphant. Mum, Barbara Burton.’

  ‘Yes, thank you Emily, I think we have established that,’ Enid said, sitting down beside her daughter. ‘Terribly uncomfortable on these benches; I don’t know why you wouldn’t eat in the hotel’s dining room,’ she continued, shuffling and twisting about in an exaggerated gesture of trying to get comfortable. ‘And sandwiches really are so ordinary,’ she added, looking down her nose at Emily’s half-eaten roll lying nearby on its brown paper bag.

  Emily was about to respond when a yelp rang out from under the table. They all peered down.

  ‘Ooh, a dog! Sorry, I must have kicked it. Barbara, how sweet of you to bring it to lunch,’ Enid said, failing to completely erase the disapproval on her face. ‘Now, as President of the combined Wattle Creek and Hope Springs Lions Club, let me extend a personal invitation to you to attend our next meeting: Tuesday evening fortnight – the twenty-second. We thought we would have had the pleasure of your company well before now. Your reputation for being such an active member of your old branch preceded you, I’m afraid.’

  ‘I am rather busy with CWA at the moment,’ Barbara stated.

  ‘I’m sure you can find time to contribute to a number of worthy causes. A
nd Emily, it’s high time you started putting a bit back in to your community as well. I’ve been meaning to say something. Perhaps you’ll both come, though Barbara, I’m sorry, the little doggy will have to stay at home.’

  ‘She’s my dog, Mum,’ Emily chimed in.

  ‘Oh, Emily, whatever would you want a dog for?’ She shot Grace a look of pure distaste before continuing. ‘Well, better be off, cards at three. Perhaps you’ll consider learning to play bridge, Barbara – if you don’t already know how?’

  ‘Maybe when I have more time,’ Barbara said through gritted teeth.

  ‘Lovely to meet you. Goodbye Emily. See you both on the twenty-second, if not before.’

  ‘Bye,’ Emily and Barbara said in unison.

  ‘God, sorry about that,’ Emily said.

  ‘Don’t be, but gosh, she’s a bit full-on. I feel like a small tornado just passed through.’ Barbara grimaced. ‘Sorry, I shouldn’t say that about your mother.’

  ‘They don’t say “You can choose your friends” for nothing,’ Emily said, picking up her half-eaten roll.

  ‘Is she always so, urn …?’

  ‘Caustic? Bossy? Aggressive? Yes, all of the above,’ Emily said.

  ‘Sorry, but I don’t think I could spend a lot of time with her.’

  ‘Let alone a lifetime?’

  ‘Well, yes.’

  ‘Now you see why I was so desperate to get married.’ Emily couldn’t believe she was being so candid.

  ‘What about your dad?’

  ‘Henpecked. We get on pretty well, but I wish he’d stand up to her occasionally.’ Emily didn’t like to think disrespectfully of her father, but she couldn’t help it: Enid bullied him and he just seemed to take it. Why didn’t he stand up for himself, or leave?

  ‘Perhaps it’s easier for him to just keep the status quo,’ Barbara offered.

  ‘Hmm. There’s probably a bit of that in me too. So are you close to your parents?’

  ‘My dad died years ago …’

  ‘Oh, I’m sorry.’

  ‘Don’t be, it was a long time ago.’

  ‘What about your mother?’

  ‘Usual story: drives me mad too – why do you think I live over here? We get on quite well now we never see each other,’ Barbara said with a laugh. ‘Did you hear they did a study around the complexity of the mother-daughter relationship and found that the problem comes from being either too alike or too different? What a ridiculous conclusion.’

  ‘Hope they didn’t spend a lot to find that out.’

  ‘Anyway, let’s change the subject. How is John?’

  Emily groaned audibly.

  ‘You’re really not happy with him, are you?’

  ‘No, big mistake – I think the phrase is “From the frying pan into the fire”,’ Emily said quietly. She still couldn’t believe she was saying all this. Her mother would have a fit if she knew.

  ‘How long have you been married?’

  ‘A bit over three years.’

  ‘You know they’re saying three and a half years is the new seven-year itch – apparently because of the fast pace of life these days. Maybe you’ll be through it and blissfully happy again soon.’

  ‘Actually, I’m struggling to remember what it was I fell in love with,’ Emily said.

  ‘Probably the idea of him – of being married, setting up house, getting away from home, you know. I did the same thing, but was just lucky David turned out to really be the one.’

  A wave of envy and longing washed over Emily.

  ‘That’s not to say it’s always perfect. We’ve had some ripper fights, don’t get me wrong. But I wouldn’t stay if he didn’t make me happy most of the time. Well, anyway, it’s only just over a year for us,’ she added, noting Emily’s downcast expression.

  ‘I’m sure if I left John, Mum would physically drag me back, tell him I made a mistake and beg him to give me another chance.’

  ‘So you’ve thought about leaving?’

  ‘All the time, lately.’ Shit! She hadn’t meant to say it.

  ‘Not waiting until he hits you so you can justify it to your mother – and yourself – are you?’

  Emily stared down at the table, her face beginning to flame with embarrassment.

  ‘It doesn’t have to be physical to be abuse, you know.’

  ‘I know.’ Emily thought back to her conversation with Liz at the funeral. It was like hearing an echo. ‘But where would I go, what would I do for money?’

  ‘You’d come and stay with me, for one.’

  ‘Thanks, you’re too kind. But I mean long-term.’

  ‘I don’t know, but remember, whatever money he has is half yours.’

  ‘There isn’t any. We’re practically broke. Don’t tell anyone; he probably would hit me if he knew I’d said anything.’

  Emily felt tears fill her eyes and was glad she’d kept her sunglasses on despite the heavy shade under the tree. God, what is with me? She seemed to burst into tears at the drop of a hat these days.

  ‘I’d be happy to loan you some money if it would help.’

  ‘Thanks, but I couldn’t. I’ve got a couple of grand of my own tucked away.’

  ‘You don’t have to wait for something major to happen, though I suppose it would help justify things if you have a reason,’ Barbara said thoughtfully.

  ‘No reason would be good enough for my mother.’

  ‘So there’s no point waiting then, is there?’ Barbara said brightly.

  ‘I’m sure it’s not as bad as I’m making it out to be – my marriage, that is. I’m just being a drama queen. Everyone goes through their ups and downs.’

  ‘Only you know how bad the downs are. But remember, I’m only a phone call away if you ever need me,’ Barbara said, patting Emily’s hand.

  Emily swallowed hard. ‘Thanks, but I’m sure everything will be fine.’ Just how long had she been saying that to herself? ‘Gosh, it’s almost three,’ she said, checking her watch. ‘I’d better get cracking.’

  ‘Yes, I’ve still got to get the groceries done and catch the butcher,’ Barbara said, leaping up.

  Barbara scrunched their lunch wrappers up and tossed them in the nearby bin. She then gave Grace’s head a ruffle and said to Emily, ‘It really was lovely to catch up – let’s do it again soon.’ She strode off after giving Emily a tight, lingering hug.

  Emily waited for a few cars to pass. As she watched Barbara wave and drive off, she felt a heavy sadness engulf her.

  When her throat tightened and a couple of tears escaped, she told herself sternly to get a grip; she was being ridiculous, there was nothing to be upset about. She’d had a lovely lunch out with a friend. And now she was going home.

  ‘Come on, Gracie, let’s get you home,’ she said, untying the dog and trying to feel as enthusiastic as she’d made her voice sound.

  Emily felt a familiar sense of dread biting at the pit of her stomach. It wasn’t normal, was it, to feel like this, returning to your home and husband? She pictured Barbara beaming as she threw her arms around David, who’d be standing on the verandah awaiting her arrival.

  ‘Beware the green-eyed monster,’ Gran might have said. ‘You’ve made your bed, now you must lie in it,’ her mother would have added.

  Chapter Ten

  The closer Emily got to home, the heavier the feeling in her stomach became. She was beginning to find it difficult to breathe. It had never been this bad before.

  Talking had made everything she’d been trying so hard to suppress bubble up to the surface. It was now just waiting to spill over.

  Suddenly Emily found it hard to see. Everything before her through the windscreen was a blur. She pulled over to the side of the road and wiped her hands across her face, startled at how shaky they were.

  Now she was stopped and didn’t have the vibrations from the corrugated dirt road pounding through her, she noticed how hard and fast her heart was beating. What was happening to her? Grace looked up from where she’d been sleeping on the
passenger’s side floor, her head tilted in question. Emily reached down to offer reassurance. The dog licked her shaking hand and gave a couple of whines before settling back down onto her front paws.

  Okay, breathe in, slow, out, slow, Emily silently instructed herself. It took a few full minutes for the panicky feeling to recede.

  She’d driven home from town hundreds of times before. What was she so afraid of today? That he would actually hit her? Then she’d have the bruises to prove he was a bully and would be able to leave. Wouldn’t she?

  Emily’s heart sank further as the reality set in like a cold fog rolling across a paddock in winter. She couldn’t leave him.

  Having her mother tell her she was a failure, or worse, not tell her – just give the look – was too much to contemplate. That would be worse than the whole town talking behind her back, taking the side of their wealthiest family.

  Why not leave the area altogether, then? But where would she go? Hope Springs and Wattle Creek were all she’d ever known.

  Melbourne, she could go to Melbourne – Elizabeth had offered. But there was no way she’d be able to keep up with Elizabeth’s legendary spending habits, and she couldn’t bear being paraded around as the poor hick cousin whose marriage had just ended and who didn’t have a clue what to do next.

  And of course there was Grace to think about. As if sensing her gaze, the pup looked up and wagged her tail. She hopped onto the seat and put her head in Emily’s lap. No, there was no way she would do anything that didn’t include Grace.

  When her breathing returned to normal and she could see clearly again – though she now had a cracking headache – Emily put the car into gear. Had she just had some sort of mental breakdown?

  No, it was probably just an anxiety attack, she told herself. People have them all the time. I’ll be fine; it’ll all be fine. Though the nagging feeling remained, telling her that if it was to be fine, something had to change – things just could not go on the way they had been.

  As Emily rounded the first of the sharp bends two kilometres from home she realised what she needed to do. She had to get a job. She’d just have to present the idea to John the right way. If nothing else, surely he’d appreciate the extra money.