11.30 a.m. Sunday…
FOR Kathryn, the weekend had dragged almost unbearably since Mitch had left on Friday night. The meeting with her parents had gone particularly well, and when she'd accompanied him out to his car to see him off, he'd kissed her with such passion, it had hurt to let him go. She should have trusted what they had together instead of worrying how her parents might view it.
At least this lunch with his sister today gave her the chance to show his trust wasn't misplaced. Somehow she would show Jenny that Mitch was not just an attractive package to her, but the man she wanted at her side because he was incredibly special.
'Mitch is here!' her father called from the living room. 'I'll carry your bag out to his car, Kathryn. Say hello.'
She turned anxiously to her mother who was sitting on her bed, watching her last-minute application of fresh lipstick. 'Do I look all right, Mum?'
'Lovely, dear.' She smiled approvingly. 'That knitted jacket looks brilliant on you. Very clever design with all the different blocks of green.'
'Not too dressy on top of jeans? It's a barbecue lunch. Mitch said casual.'
'It's classy casual. Not out of place,' came the decisive reassurance.
Kathryn took a deep breath to settle her madly accelerated pulse-rate and picked up her handbag, ready to go.
Her mother rose from the bed and linked arms with her, smiling indulgently and patting her hand. 'Stop worrying, Kathryn. It's perfectly obvious that Mitch Tyler cares about you. His sister will pick up on that and act accordingly.'
'But I want her to like me…for me.'
'Then just relax and be yourself. Come on. I'll walk you out to the car.
Say hello to Mitch, too.'
'You do really like him. You're not just pretending for my sake.' 'Kathryn…' Her eyes were warm, glowing with pleasure. 'He's the best
birthday present you could have brought me. I can now stop worrying about you. He's a good man.'
'Much better than Jeremy,' she pressed.
'Chalk and cheese,' her mother declared emphatically. 'Both your father and I feel…intensely relieved and happy for you.'
Mitch had been right. Her parents had had no problem perceiving the differences between the two men. It had been foolish of her to fret over their response to this choice. Black and white.
'Kathryn tells me you play chess,' her father was saying as she and her mother emerged from the house. 'We'll have to have a game next time you come.'
'A pleasure I'll look forward to,' Mitch answered, smiling, looking totally relaxed with the situation.
Next time.
Kathryn's heart skittered with the happy hope that everything was all right. Mitch had forgiven her for casting him in the role of secret lover.
Their relationship was out in the open now—doubly open with its being acknowledged in front of her parents and his sister.
He looked spectacularly handsome, his magnificent physique clothed in blue jeans and a royal-blue skivvy, their colour reflected vividly in his eyes, his strong face as beautifully masculine as the rest of him. Her whole body yearned for contact with him, but he was holding the passenger door open for her, and conscious of her parents watching, she simply smiled her pleasure in his company as she got in the car.
Once they were on their way, Mitch reached across and took her hand, instantly imparting a warm reassurance in their togetherness. 'Just to clear up any doubts that are festering in your mind,' he drawled, casting her a purposeful glance that raised flutters in her stomach. 'I have not taken Harriet Lowell nor any other woman to meet my sister, so you're not about to be subjected to any comparisons, Kathryn.'
'Oh!' Relief surged through her, followed by the stunning realisation that he was letting her further into his life than he had ever allowed anyone else. Which made her squirm even more over her own reservations about introducing him to her parents.
'Mitch, I am sorry about my…my misgivings. Mum and Dad think you're great,' she declared, hoping that resolved the problem she'd raised.
He smiled with a touch of irony. 'So I passed muster.' 'With flying colours,' she assured him.
'They're good people, your parents,' he said seriously. 'They care about you, Kathryn. As they should.'
It reminded her that Mitch's own father had not cared, walking out on him and Jenny, leaving a disabled wife behind, too. A really terrible desertion. Then Jenny getting raped…some horrible man not caring about what he was doing to her, taking what he wanted. Like Jeremy. Only much, much worse.
'Is your sister okay, Mitch?' she asked impulsively. He sliced her a querying look. 'Why do you ask?'
'You told me…the night you rescued me from Jeremy…you said Jenny had once been raped,' she recalled hesitantly, wondering if she was treading on highly sensitive ground.
'That was when she was eighteen, Kathryn. She's thirty-six now, very happily married, and we don't talk about that time,' he stated firmly, flashing her a look of warning. 'It's long in the past,' he went on. 'She loves her husband, adores her two children and she's looking forward to meeting you.'
Which all proved true over the next couple of hours. Kathryn instantly warmed to Jenny and her husband, Hal, both of them very welcoming and easy to chat with. Their three-year-old daughter was a very cute charmer, all over her 'Uncle Mish' who indulgently gave the attention she demanded of him. He'd be a good father, Kathryn thought, watching him cradle his nine- month-old nephew in the crook of his arm, and talking to him as though the baby understood everything he said.
Hal and Mitch cooked prawns and swordfish steaks on the barbecue, sharing the children between them while Jenny invited Kathryn to help her with salads in the kitchen, having already prepared a big potato bake with cheese and bacon. It was a friendly open plan house with lots of sunlight coming in. A happy house, Kathryn thought, taking Mitch's point that his sister had long moved on from old traumas.
They ate lunch out on a large covered deck overlooking a sparkling inground swimming pool, and the atmosphere was so relaxed, Kathryn thoroughly enjoyed herself. She had no premonition of what was to come after the children were put to bed for an afternoon nap.
The men did the clearing up from the barbecue and Jenny led her down to a lounge setting near the pool, saying they might as well soak up the sunshine while they could. It was a glorious spring day, perfect for being outdoors. They settled down with mugs of coffee, and Kathryn wasn't surprised when Jenny used the opportunity to learn more about her.
'Mitch tells me you're Ric Donato's executive assistant in his Sydney office,' came the casual opening.
'Yes. I guess you must know Ric since he and Mitch are old friends.' 'I know of him. I've never met him.'
That did surprise her. 'You've never met?'
Jenny shook her head and grimaced. 'It goes back to Gundamurra, you see. Mitch was sent there because of me. And that's where he met Ric and Johnny Ellis.'
'Sent there…because of you?' Kathryn was intrigued. It was certainly a piece of background information Mitch had never offered. She swung her feet off the lounge, sitting on the side of it to face his sister who suddenly looked very uncomfortable about having imparted it.
'I thought you knew.' Her eyes searched Kathryn's anxiously. 'Working so closely with Ric…being with Mitch…'
Sensing retreat and eager to persuade Jenny to reveal more, she quickly offered, 'All I know is that Ric took Lara—the woman he's just married— to Gundamurra to keep her safe from her husband. It's an outback sheep station and I gathered that Mitch has been there himself. Johnny Ellis, too.'
Jenny bit her lips and stared into space for several minutes. 'He keeps protecting me, but he can't protect me from my guilt,' she finally muttered.
Definitely a reference to her brother, Kathryn thought, knowing how strong Mitch was on protection. But what was he protecting his sister from now?
'What guilt do you have, Jenny?' she asked softly, wondering if it was related back to the rape that Mitch said they never talked about.
She shook her head but was also frowning as though struggling with a decision, possibly torn between personal need and loyalty to her brother. Kathryn didn't press, sensitive to the fact she had no right to dig into what was none of her business. Curiosity could be taken only so far, especially on such short acquaintance. Better that Jenny didn't tell her anything she might regret letting out. Kathryn wanted her friendship more than she wanted information.
She sipped from her mug of coffee, trying to think of something to say that would ease the tension emanating from Mitch's sister. Jenny was a much softer person than her brother, not the female equivalent at all. She was very feminine, very pretty, with warm brown eyes and curly brown hair and a naturally giving nature. It was easy to see that she would have been a generous carer to her mother, a wonderful nurse, and now a very understanding wife to a busy doctor. Easy to also see she was the kind of person who would stir a powerful protective instinct in her brother.
'I want to know. I have to know.'
It sounded like a desperate decision, jolting Kathryn out of her own train of thought and focusing her very acute attention on Jenny as she turned to her, the lovely brown eyes dark and pained.
'How can I help?' The words spilled from Kathryn, her sympathy instantly aroused.
It triggered an outburst of angst. 'When I heard the news reports of Gary Chappel's death…in a plane crash at Gundamurra…and one newspaper said Mitch was acting for Lara Chappel… I knew it had to be all connected. I just knew. But Mitch will fob me off if I ask him. So will you tell me, Kathryn? You must know what went on.'
She had no idea what the connection was in Jenny's mind but clearly Mitch's sister was deeply disturbed by it. There seemed no reason not to tell her the whole story, beginning with the photograph that suggested Lara Chappel was the victim of physical abuse from her husband, what Ric had done about it, how Mitch had handled the legal end, then after Gary Chappel's death, Lara's withdrawal from Ric until Johnny Ellis had gone to Gundamurra and found out about her pregnancy, the DNA test which had proved Ric was the father…
'…and they got married on Friday. Mitch and I were the witnesses,' she finished.
'Did Lara look happy?' Jenny questioned anxiously.
'Blissfully happy,' Kathryn assured her. 'It was abundantly clear that she and Ric love each other very deeply.'
Jenny sighed as though that knowledge gave her some relief. 'Ric's Lara,' she murmured. 'And all three of them contributing to that end after all these years.'