Secrets of riverside, p.1
Secrets of Riverside, page 1
MANDY MAGRO lives in Cairns, Far North Queensland, with her fiancé, Des, their daughter, Chloe Rose, two adorable pooches, Sophie and Sherlock, and the largest personality of the household, Charlie the cockatiel. With pristine aqua-blue coastline in one direction and sweeping rural landscapes in the other, she describes her home as heaven on earth. A passionate woman and a romantic at heart, Mandy loves writing about soul-deep love, the Australian way of life, and the wonderful characters that call the country home.
Also by Mandy Magro
Rosalee Station
Jacaranda
Flame Tree Hill
Driftwood
Country at Heart
The Wildwood Sisters
Bluegrass Bend
Walking the Line
Along Country Roads
Moment of Truth
A Country Mile
Return to Rosalee Station
Secrets of Silvergum
Riverstone Ridge
The Stockman’s Secret
Home Sweet Home
Savannah’s Secret
Road to Rosalee
Back to the Country
Jillaroo from Jacaranda
Gum Tree Gully
One More Time
www.harpercollins.com.au/hq
For Des and Chloe, my family, my world … 143,
to the moon and back, I love you both with all my heart,
always and forevermore. xx
There is the kind of fire, lit by man’s hand, that can warm or consume us, mesmerise or terrorise us. Then there is the kind of fire that smoulders inside all of us, one that craves to be ignited by another’s sparks … both are forces to be reckoned with.
CONTENTS
Also by Mandy Magro
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
PROLOGUE
Blue Mountains, Christmas Day
This can’t be real, this isn’t happening. Wake up, Amelia, please, wake up!
Try as she might to claw her way out of what seemed like a terrifying nightmare, fifteen-year-old Amelia Price was already wide awake. Now seated out of harm’s way, with the kitten her mum and dad had gifted her only hours earlier cradled tightly in her arms, she felt paralysing fear hanging heavy in the air as the emergency crews hurried around her. Amid the mayhem, a familiar voice wavered into her hazy awareness, the woman trying to soothe her as a blanket was placed over her shoulders. Her kitten was gently lifted from her lap and into Mrs Strathmore’s arms as her neighbour and best friend, Ebony Strathmore, wriggled even closer to her.
With her vision blurring, she tried to blink the horrific images of smouldering rubble and coiling hoses. But she couldn’t. She rubbed at her stinging eyes with her fists. It was meant to be the happiest day of the year. She should be sitting at the dining table now, with her family, eating the roast turkey her mum had been slaving over since they’d finished opening their Christmas presents bright and early that morning.
But her family was gone forever.
And now she was forever alone.
This despairing thought pounded over and over in her dizzy head as she winced at the recollection of her little brother Zack’s desperate cries for help and her mother’s tortured shrieks. Just like theirs had been, her own heart-wrenching screams were now silenced, and although the flames had licked at the suffocating air like some ravenous fire-breathing demon as she’d frantically tried to reach her family, she couldn’t feel the pain of it any longer. She also couldn’t tell the police who the person was that had carried her to safety. Other than that it was a youngish guy, with strong arms and a calming voice.
What she was acutely aware of right now was Ebony’s supportive presence at her side, her own ragged breath, her swirling nauseated stomach, and the tears streaming down her cheeks, and yet, at the very same time, she felt oddly numb. It had been so suffocatingly dark within the fire’s wrath, and she’d truly believed she was going to die, but then someone had scooped her up and carried her to safety. Who would risk their life to save hers, only to disappear into thin air? The whole scene before her was whizzing by, but at the same time moving in such painfully slow motion. She wanted to look away, to squeeze her eyes shut.
But she couldn’t.
‘Why don’t you come inside, Millie?’ Ebony’s voice was soft, kind. ‘So my mum can take care of you.’
Biting her bottom lip, Amelia shook her head.
‘Okay then, I’ll stay here with you for as long as you need me to.’
Blinking back heavy tears, Amelia nodded, grateful for her one and only true friend.
As Ebony’s fingers interlaced with hers, she drew in a long, deep breath and watched the black smoke twisting and twirling upwards from what had once been her home, and into the dead of night. The sirens had long been silenced, but the blue and red spinning lights still flashed over the smouldering debris.
Only hours ago, her mother had hugged her close and kissed her cheek. Only hours ago, her father had lifted her from the floor and spun her in giggling circles. Only hours ago, she’d been playing with Zack, their laughter and Christmas music reverberating through the house. She wanted to believe her family had been as lucky as she had, that they’d been rescued too, and taken to someplace safe that she was yet to discover. But that wasn’t going to be the case. She knew that in her heart of hearts. She was alive. They were dead. Other than Ebony, she had nobody now. She was very alone. She was very scared. And she was terrified of what was going to happen to her. And with that very thought, she was pulled down in engulfing darkness, to a place that was filled with nothing but resonating emptiness.
CHAPTER
1
Sydney, fifteen years later
An electrical storm had cut all electricity to the Sydney suburb of Parramatta, leaving Amelia’s tiny bedroom hot and humid. It had been hard enough falling asleep at midnight, but now she couldn’t rouse herself from her torturous slumber. Her exhaustion from the aftermath of her persistent nightmares had become a burden too heavy to carry any longer. With her sweaty limbs thrashing beneath the sheets, she felt the constricting grip of the ghosts of her past closing in on her. Reaching for her, their clawed fingers pressed through her flesh and clenched her insides, squeezing her racing heart so tightly she could barely take a breath.
Wake up Millie, please, wake up!
With every bit of might she tried to heave herself from the horrors of her dream. But just like every other time, the looming shadows had her at their mercy, the faceless beings skilfully pulling her under. Terrified, she scratched and clawed at her unconsciousness, desperately trying to climb to the surface. She didn’t want to go through this anymore. But just like when her worst nightmare had become her reality all those years ago, she was stuck in a kind of hell, and it was dark, so damn dark, and scorching hot.
Helplessness consumed her and she slipped further into darkness. A strangled sound escaped her as everything spun in crazy circles. Then the fiery floor she was scrambling upon gave way, and she was tumbling defencelessly into an even blacker abyss. Thick grey smoke furled around her like a giant snake, asphyxiating her. Over her wheezing breaths, she could hear her father’s frantic roars, her mother’s bloodcurdling screams and somewhere in the fire-engulfed house her little brother, Zack, was crying out for help. Begging for her to save him. She tried to suck in a breath, and then another, so she could call out to him, so she could somehow soothe him, but there was no oxygen left. Her lungs burnt with the lack of it. She had to get to him. Or die trying.
On her hands and knees, she endeavoured to crawl beneath the flames devouring the walls, so she could get him, but there was nowhere left to go. There was no escape. She was trapped. Powerless. Dying. Backed into a corner where the red-hot flames stretched and reached from the walls, licking at her skin, scorching her, melting her flesh right through to the bone. The pain was excruciating. She wanted to die, so the hurt would stop. There was a loud boom, and the flames got closer, bigger, ravenously engulfing her world. Crying out, she tried to shield herself with her arms, hoping it would somehow help her survive the roaring fire that was swallowing her home, her family, and her breath.
‘Millie!’ Her name carried, echoed, bounced off the fire-consumed ceiling. ‘Millie, wake up!’
Over her laboured breath, Millie heard the flick of a switch and then an overhead light burned to blinding light, searing through her fastened eyelids and drawing her towards the beautiful, iridescent surface. She instinctively knew there was peace to be found there. But would she make it? Could she? Then hands were upon her, shaking her. Begging her.
‘Millie, you’re having another nightmare, please wake up.’
Ebony’s shrill voice grabbed her and quickly lifted her to the surface of reality.
Whimpering, she finally woke, and before she could form words in her dry mouth, Ebony’s arms were around her. ‘Shhh, Millie, I got you, hon,’ she cooed, rubbing her back. ‘It
Her hands coming to rest on her flat, empty belly, Millie’s attention snapped to what had become her heartbreaking reality. A renewed rush of profound sorrow overcame her. Somehow, she’d rather be back in her nightmare than having to face the raw emotions over her miscarriage.
As she pulled back a little to look her in the eyes, Ebony’s expression was one of complete sadness. ‘I’m so sorry you’re going through this, Millie, I just wish there was more I could do to help you come out the other side of this incredibly hard time.’
‘You’re doing everything you can, Ebs.’ Beyond grateful for her one and only true friend in what had proven to be a big bad world, Millie fell against Ebony’s shoulder as her hands came to grip the back of her friend’s nightshirt. ‘Thank you for letting me stay here while I figure things out.’ Her words were muffled. ‘I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you.’
They stayed like that for a few moments more, two broken, deeply connected souls holding one another tight, until Millie’s tears slowed and she untangled her arms from Ebony. ‘I’m so sorry for waking you up again, Ebs.’ Sniffling, she wiped at her tear-stained cheeks. ‘I swear these bloody nightmares are going to be the death of me one day.’
‘It’s all good. I get it, and I got you, always and forever, my darling friend.’ Ebony smiled sadly. ‘After what you’ve been through lately,’ she rested a hand on Millie’s bouncing leg, instantly steadying her, ‘and with what happened to you as a child, well, they are things most people could never dream of going through.’ A frown creased her forehead. ‘Add in the living hell your bastard of an ex has put you through the past few years, and then losing your baby because of what he did, well … let’s just say you know how much I wish I could make him pay for treating you so horribly, and I don’t mean in a legal sense either.’
‘I know you want to hit him where it hurts, Ebs, but violence doesn’t solve anything.’ God only knew just how much she was aware of this after being Jason’s punching bag for way too long.
‘Yes, I know, but it doesn’t stop me dreaming of doing to him what he’s done to you.’ Ebony tucked wisps of copper hair behind her pixie-shaped ears that were dotted with a myriad of piercings. ‘And just for the record, you don’t have to keep thanking me for helping you. You’ve done your fair share of being there for me when my world fell apart too, don’t forget.’
Looking into her friend’s desolate gaze, Millie briefly recalled the night they’d gotten the call four years ago, telling them that Ebony’s parents had died in a light plane crash, but she quickly swallowed down the heart-wrenching emotions that came with the recollection. ‘Yeah, I know we’ve both been each other’s rocks, and partners in crime sometimes too, over the years.’ She nodded, trying to smile while sniffling. ‘But with the shifts you’re pulling at the hospital and then over at the youth centre, you need your beauty sleep when you can get it, instead of being up at all hours consoling me.’ Ebony had been saving money for her dream trip to Africa, and Millie was excited for her.
‘Meh, I’ll sleep when I’m dead.’ Ebony grinned then nudged Millie’s arm. ‘And for your information, Miss Price, I don’t need beauty sleep, I mean, just look at me.’ She pulled the most grotesque face possible. ‘I’m gorgeous just as I am, don’t you reckon?’
‘Oh my gosh, you loon.’ Chuckling, Millie kissed her friend’s cheek, and then gave her a playful shove, unwittingly propelling Ebony from the edge of her bed and to the floor. ‘Oh crap …’ Flopping to her side, she hung her head over the edge of the bed and matched Ebony’s sassy grin. ‘Sorry, I honestly didn’t mean to do that.’
‘Yeah, right, just come right out and admit it, you’re jealous of my insane beauty.’ Ebony pulled the same humorous facial expression again, sending both of them into uncontrollable laughter.
Gathering what she could of herself, Millie wiped tears of both misery and mirth from her cheeks as she rose from the bed and offered Ebony a hand up from the floor.
Accepting the offer, Ebony jumped to her feet and then plucked her knickers from where they’d crept up her bum. ‘Right, I’m going to go back to bed, to try and get a few more hours sleep before I have to get back to the grindstone of back-to-back shifts again.’
Millie nodded affirmatively. ‘Yes, good idea, you do that and I’ll make sure to stay super quiet while I get ready for another day spent job hunting.’
‘I’m sorry that arsehole fired you from the service station for not being able to work the days following your miscarriage.’ She huffed and shook her head. ‘I really hope you find something you’d love to do this time, like cooking or working in a quaint café, and not take any old job just to make ends meet.’
Millie crossed her fingers. ‘Let’s hope, hey.’
Ebony grabbed both of her hands and gave them a squeeze. ‘Are you sure you’re okay with money, on top of everything else? Because I don’t mind lending you some cash if you’re struggling.’
‘I’m okay, Ebs.’ She had a little bit tucked away, but a job would have to come sooner rather than later if she didn’t want to land in hot water, and she also wanted to contribute to staying with Ebony too, as soon as possible. ‘You’ve kindly given me a place to stay until I’m back on my feet again, and that’s priceless.’
‘Don’t speak of it, I love having you stay here with me, so stay as long as you want to.’ Ebony gave her a quick hug. ‘I love you so much, hon.’
‘I love you too, Ebs, to the moon and back.’ Millie smiled through her melancholy as a crazy thought came to her. ‘Hey, seeing as we don’t get to hang out much lately, how about I come with you on your jog Monday morning, so we can spend a bit of precious time together before we sail like ships in the night for the entire week again?’
‘Really?’ Ebony pulled an are-you-sure face. ‘Because you’re not really an exercise kind of gal.’
‘Yes, really.’ Millie’s trim body owed more to her having a fantastic metabolism and good genes, rather than her hitting the gym or treadmill.
‘Righto.’ Ebony smirked, and her green eyes twinkled with mischief. ‘Whatever happened to your motto of “why run when nothing is chasing you”?’
‘Ha, yeah, there is that, but I miss you, so I’ll brave breaking a sweat to hang out with you for a little bit.’
‘Alrighty then, it’s a date, my friend.’ Ebony grinned and waggled a finger at her. ‘And I’m holding you to it, so no excuses at six o’clock Monday morning, capisce?’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ Millie replied spiritedly and gave a salute.
‘Good.’ Ebony nodded. ‘Night then.’ She paused and offered a kind smile before she disappeared through the doorway.
‘Sleep tight,’ Millie called back as a drawn-out meow brought her gaze to the huge tabby cat now pressing his face up against her bedroom window. ‘Oh hey, Felix, oh my gosh, I’ve been worried about you, buddy.’
Padding over to the slightly ajar window, she pulled it up and reached out to pluck her feral, and very heavy, moggy visitor from the fire-escape ledge – the safety feature that had been one of the main reasons Ebony had snapped up the pokey rundown apartment a year earlier. Millie understood Ebony had done it for her, for the occasional nights that she slept over, so she’d feel safe if there was ever a fire. Now that she’d finally plucked up the courage to escape from her violent boyfriend’s clutches – with her Suzuki Jimny that was almost as old as she was, a backpack of clothes and personal items, and nine hundred and seventy-two dollars in her pocket, along with an empty thousand-dollar credit card – this room was her haven. And she had Ebony to thank for her new path, which would hopefully lead to new opportunities and a bright future. Her forever friend had been her driving force, and her saviour, as she’d helped her to flee like a thief in the night three weeks earlier, leaving the man who’d ruled her with an iron fist and tight money strings passed out on the lounge room floor as drunk as a skunk once again. Thank goodness those days were behind her now, gone, part of her past. But leaving the skeletons in the closet was easier said than done. To this day, she longed to know who the guy was who had saved her from the fire.
