Tracks of the Heart by Heather Garside

Author:Heather Garside [Garside, Heather]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Short Stories, Rural Romance
ISBN: 9780992492496
Publisher: Clan Destine Press
Published: 2014-07-09T03:45:02+00:00

Coming Home

Kirsty's spirits lifted as she spied the familiar mailbox and the property sign etched in peeling letters. Nearly home, she thought.

Braking, she turned off the bitumen. As the car shuddered over an iron grid, the noise startled a flock of Rainbow Lorikeets into a flashing swirl of blue, green and orange. Her hands, clenched tightly on the steering wheel, relaxed as their beauty assailed her and she smiled faintly, her mental anguish pierced by a memory from long ago. She had once rescued one of these lorikeets, half-drowned in a stock-water tank, and had tended it until it was able to fly. She'd wanted to keep it, but her parents had said it was cruel to confine a wild bird.

Today they were at the house-yard gate to meet her, smiling their welcome. For the first time she realised how grey and wrinkled they'd become, both subtly frailer than when she'd seen them last.

Her mother enfolded her in comforting arms. 'I'm glad you got here safely.'

Never one to say much, her father hugged her, then drew back to smile down at her. 'How are the kids?' he asked at last.

The mention of her children provoked that customary tug of love and loss. 'They're both well, but too busy with their own lives to need me.'

'They'll come running when they do.' Her mother urged Kirsty to the front door while her father grasped her suitcase in his gnarled, age-speckled hand.

'I'm glad you decided to come home.' Her father's voice turned grim. 'I can't understand Eliot behaving like he did.'

Oh, but I can, Kirsty thought. She'd been a doormat to her husband for so many years. Perhaps he wouldn't have cheated on her if she'd had more faith in herself, if she'd stood up to him occasionally, if… But there were a thousand 'ifs'.

'I haven't met Eliot's new lady, but apparently she's the party type. Perhaps she'll suit him.'

'Humph! There's more to life than parties.' Her mother was firmly on her daughter's side, as always. Though she'd never said so, Kirsty thought her mother guessed how Eliot's expectations had eroded her confidence.

'How's Clayton these days?' she asked diffidently. The thought of facing her father's new station manager had almost kept her from coming home. Clay was a local, and many years ago he'd been her first boyfriend. He was always a favourite with her parents and they'd been upset when she'd forsaken him for Eliot and the city. She hadn't seen Clay since, but she realised with the perspective of maturity she'd treated him badly. She was yet to discover if he bore a grudge.

Her father looked up from filling the kettle. 'He's doing a good job with the cattle. You knew we'd started a feedlot, didn't you?'

'Yes, you told me.' Perhaps her parents had been right all along. Eliot hadn't made her happy, but how could she regret the two beautiful children they'd made together?

Later, she unpacked in her old bedroom with its pale lemon walls and frilly curtains. Hanging above the bed was one of her paintings, featuring a large gum tree and a Brahman bull.

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