Home to Eden by Margaret Way

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention the fight to Mother. Lord only knows how she’s kept that sweet innocence. Joel had a few drinks, and some guy at the Koomera pub made him furious.”
    â€œWhat did this guy say? Any idea?”
    â€œNo.” Siggy looked down at her weathered hands with their blunt nails. “I asked, but he wasn’t interested in telling me.”
    â€œMaybe the guy made a pass at him. Asked him if he wanted to move in.” Bemused, Nicole attempted black humor. “It had to be something really untoward to start a fight. I hear they don’t want Joel at the pub anymore, and Mick’s pretty easygoing.”
    â€œNothing to it!” Siggy said. “They’ll let him back in soon.” She didn’t sound confident.
    â€œJoel can’t do this.” Nicole looked directly into heraunt’s eyes. “I won’t have it. Had he been an ordinary employee, he’d have been told to pack up and leave. Granddad was very proud of the station’s good name.”
    â€œSure. That’s what got Heath off the hook. The Cavanagh name.”
    Nicole reached out and gripped her aunt’s wrist.
    â€œOuch, that hurts! For a featherweight, you’re strong.” Siggy sounded very hard done by.
    â€œI’m not releasing you until you tell me exactly what you mean by that.”
    â€œDon’t take any notice of me.” Siggy’s shoulders drooped. “The older I get the more garbage I spout. I’m a bit like you, Nikki. The way we lost your mother and that prize dope, David, pushed me over the edge. Poor old Heath had nothing to do with it. He was miles away.”
    â€œOnly one person could vouch for that and he’s dead.”
    â€œThat was the man’s third accident on his motor-bike. He was no Evel Knievel. Away from Eden he drank heavily. He once came back from Darwin wearing a big silver hoop earring in one ear and a really weird headband made out of crocodile skin. Alan liked it so much he actually sent for one. But the man didn’t lie about your father. Actually, I’m very proud of you for giving your father refuge. The way you strode off from our first meeting last week had Mother and I really worried. We thought you were determined to throw him out. Maybe by yourself.”
    â€œNo one could throw him out the way he looks,” Nicole said, her expression bleak. “I think he should be hospitalized.”
    â€œWould you want to die in a hospital when you could die at home?”
    â€œI guess not.” Nicole sighed deeply.
    â€œJust thought I’d ask.”
    â€œI don’t know what it is, but you’ve always had a crazy soft spot for Heath.” Nicole sought her aunt’s eyes.
    Siggy flashed a wry grin. “If I did, it was a big mistake. People were having it off all around me. I missed all the action.”
    â€œOh, Siggy,” Nicole breathed, “what lives we’ve led! It might come to hospital for Heath all the same. I can’t believe the change in him. The way he used to look, the way he looks now.”
    â€œHe was the handsomest man I’d ever seen,” Siggy reflected. “So macho. Those eyes of his would have lured any woman into his bed. No wonder Corrinne went temporarily insane. That was your father in those days.”
    â€œWere you in love with him?”
    â€œAs if I would tell you,” Siggy said, brushing the question off.
    â€œHe was never very kind to you.”
    â€œWell, who cares! That in itself doesn’t mean a great deal.” Siggy’s thin cheeks grew flushed. “Things being what they were, Heath was married to my sister. I kept my wild fantasies to myself.”
    â€œAbsolutely wise, considering you were married to Uncle Alan. By the same token, I have the unsettling feeling you’re not telling the truth.”
    Siggy started to haul herself up. “Bless you, you should have been a