RIC didn't go back to the office. He was in no mood to face Kathryn or anyone else. Having retrieved the Ferrari from the basement car park, he drove home to his Woolloomooloo apartment where no one would bother him.
The view of Sydney Harbour from the picture windows in his living room reminded him of Lara's view from the Vaucluse mansion. He'd barged into her life that morning—uninvited—and demanded that there be truth between them. Nothing hidden.
Was that why she couldn't live with him now? Easier to hide?
Ric still couldn't get his mind around it. He told himself it was a futile exercise even trying to work it out. She'd stated categorically—no future together. There was no choice but to let her go. And that final insult, wanting to pay him…pointless to struggle for understanding when she clearly had no understanding of him.
The bond he'd felt had to be fantasy. Time to close the door on it.
Get out of Sydney, too, right away from Lara.
New York. Things were always jumping in New York. A city where anything could happen. Easy enough to get back in the social swim there, maybe even find a woman who'd move him past Lara, give him a reality check.
He was reaching for the telephone to book a flight when it rang. He automatically snatched up the receiver, not remembering he didn't want to speak to anyone until he'd lifted it, and then it was too late. The voice of Johnny Ellis boomed into his ear.
'Hey, man! Glad I caught you somewhere! Here I am in downtown Sydney with a night to spare before I fly home to Gundamurra. Any chance of you joining up with Mitch and me for dinner tonight?'
Ric hesitated, hating the thought of having to speak of Lara, knowing she would inevitably be brought up somewhere in their conversation. He'd borrowed Johnny's plane for her escape. Mitch had been privy to the whole affair, though that was mostly confidential. But not Ric's part in it.
On the other hand, be damned if he'd shut the door on an old friendship because of her! Mitch and Johnny had proved true over the years. He could always count on them. And the three of them didn't get together much.
Stupid to knock back this chance, letting Lara get in the way. Mitch and Johnny would still be figuring in his future, long after today.
'Sure, Johnny,' he answered strongly. 'That would be great. Have you got a restaurant lined up?'
'I called the Italian joint you like, just below your apartment. Otto's.
Eight o'clock okay?'
'Fine! Look forward to it.' The boys from Gundamurra…
To Johnny it was home, the only place where he felt a real sense of belonging. Like Ric he had no family, and the two of them always went to Gundamurra for Christmas, Johnny visiting more often during the year.
They'd been made to feel part of the Maguire family, welcome whenever they wanted to come.
Ric wished he hadn't taken Lara there now, though it had seemed the right place at the time—in fact, the only place which could have guaranteed her safe refuge. Even if Gary's plane hadn't crashed, Patrick would not have allowed Lara to be taken. But that was all academic now. The problem was, Ric knew he'd never be able to go there again without thinking of her.
Get over it, he savagely told himself.
He'd done the right thing in rescuing her from an abusive husband. What happened after that…well, it just hadn't worked out the way he wanted. Patrick had warned him of that, right from the beginning. So move on past it. You're a survivor, remember?
When he met up with Johnny and Mitch in Otto's that evening, Ric had managed to push Lara into a mental compartment with fortified walls. He ended up having to refer to her, as expected, but the emotion she'd stirred was safely contained. He brushed quickly over the whole issue, declaring it over and done with. Lara could resume her life. He could resume his. In fact, he was off to New York at the end of this week.
Mitch proved a ready ally in steering Johnny back to regaling them with tales of his music world and the evening was mostly filled with news of his most recent tour in the U.S., all amusingly told. Johnny had the knack of
making fun out of everything. Ric even found himself laughing. No doubt the alcoholic haze of several bottles of great wine helped to relax him. And the company was good.
The next day he worked hard with Kathryn, tying up the managerial loose ends in the Sydney office. He'd be basing himself in New York for the next few months, flying out tomorrow afternoon. He wondered how Kathryn's new relationship with Mitch was working out but didn't ask.
Personal business was personal business. Privately, he wished them both well. Good people.
The telephone in his apartment started ringing just as he opened the door. Frowning over who the caller might be—a glance at his watch showed six-fifteen—he kicked the door shut and strode quickly to the wall phone in the kitchen.
'Ric Donato,' he rapped out, wondering if Kathryn had thought of something he'd forgotten—more business to be attended to in the morning before he left.
'Johnny here, Ric.'
He was surprised. 'You didn't get to Gundamurra today?'
'Yes, I did. Flew in this afternoon. Sat in the kitchen with Evelyn while she fed me her carrot cake, freshly made and iced with cream cheese and walnuts.'
Ric smiled, picturing the scene. 'I trust you fully appreciated your welcome home.'
'Had three big slices. But that's not the point of this call, Ric.' 'What is?' Some problem at Gundamurra? Patrick not well?
'Well, I might be treading on sensitive ground here, but neither you nor Mitch mentioned it, and Patrick tells me he didn't know…'
'Know what?' Ric cut in impatiently, his gut contracting at the thought this might be something about Lara.
'I'm sorry if I'm out of line…' 'Get to the point, Johnny.'
A big breath. 'The point is…I remember that Lara Seymour was a big deal for you, Ric, and I figure, with all you did for her, getting her out of a bad marriage, bringing her here…well, I think you ought to know there could be a good reason why she didn't stick around for you to come and collect her after the guy got killed.'
'A reason,' Ric repeated flatly, fighting against rising to a bait that might give him false hope.
'Didn't make sense to me that she'd give you the flick,' came the painful remark. 'Anyway, I was chatting to Evelyn…'
Ric gritted his teeth. Of course, they would talk about him and Lara— the big drama on the station this year. He could see them sitting in the kitchen, eating carrot cake, tongues wagging between bites…
'Now you know nothing gets past Evelyn, Ric,' Johnny went on. 'And she told me straight-out that Lara was pregnant.'
Pregnant!
'Must have happened just before you got her away from her husband because Evelyn said she wasn't far along. Wasn't even showing—at least not obviously—when she left Gundamurra.'
Three months…four months now…seated at the restaurant, not wanting him to see her arrive…the loose jacket…not drinking any wine…
'Anyhow, Evelyn said the shock of the plane crash made Lara real sick.
Looked like she was going to faint. Had to be put to bed. Evelyn was worried about the baby and she reckons Lara would have been, too, on account of her last baby had been stillborn.'
Last baby?
Ric's mind was reeling. He hadn't known Lara had given birth to a stillborn child. But when had they had the chance to talk about such things? In the limited time they'd spent together, she hadn't wanted to discuss her marriage with him. Her subsequent e-mails had contained only news of what she was doing at Gundamurra. And the cheerful chattiness of those had started dwindling off…
When?
It hit him like a sledgehammer.
When she realised she had to be pregnant!
'Ric…are you there?' Worried tone.
He realised he'd stopped breathing and expelled the air caught in his lungs. 'Yes, I'm still here, Johnny.'
'Is this news to you?' 'Yes.'
'Okay. Well, Evelyn's guess is, Lara went back to Sydney as soon as she was well enough to travel because she wanted a medical check on the baby. Which all makes sense to me.'
And to Ric. Devastating sense.
'She might be rid of the guy,' Johnny went on. 'But she's having his baby, Ric. Puts her in a bit of a dilemma, doesn't it?'
'You could say that,' Ric answered grimly.
Was it Gary's child? Did Lara know that with absolute certainty?
'Just thought you should have the full picture. Mitch said…well, never mind that.'
The two of them had shared a taxi from the restaurant last night.
Obviously they'd shared more than a ride.
'Hope I haven't trod where I shouldn't,' Johnny added apologetically. 'But if it was me…I'd want to know the ins and outs of it.'
Ric didn't hold anything against his old friends. They cared about him.
He'd thought he hadn't showed he was hurting, but…
'It's okay, Johnny. You're right. It's better to know. Thank you.' 'Hard call to make. Take care of yourself, Ric.'
'Will do,' he answered automatically.
Yet his world was now tilting to a very different angle. Ric knew, even as he put the receiver down, he wouldn't be flying off to New York tomorrow.
Lara was pregnant.
He'd used no protection that night.
She might well have lied about taking contraceptive pills.
If she could be pregnant to Gary in that time-frame, she could be pregnant to him, too.
Either way, Ric wasn't about to go anywhere without settling that question first.