Read Online Home Before Sundown by Barbara Hannay - Free Book Online

dinner.’
    â€˜I vote we have something easy tonight,’ said Liz. ‘I’d be happy with sardines on toast.’
    Ewwww! Bella had been fondly remembering her mum’s delicious roast dinners. ‘I don’t mind cooking. Mum said the freezer’s pretty full.’
    Heaving her pack from the boot, she went up the steps.
    â€˜What’s this?’ Liz called from the shadows behind her.
    â€˜Just a minute.’ Bella was fumbling at the front door, trying to find the right key. Finally she got one that turned in the old, heavy lock.
    The front door creaked a little. Bella stepped inside and flicked a switch, letting light flood the hallway and spill onto the verandah, bringing to life the familiar row of pegs hung with battered Akubras and coats.
    For an insane moment she was hit by an urge to bury her nose in those rugged coats, to smell the waxed cotton and maybe a little dried mud or a whiff from the cattle yards.
    Abruptly she turned back to Liz who was examining the contents of an esky on the verandah.
    â€˜Looks like someone’s left us food,’ Liz said.
    â€˜Really?’ Not Gabe, surely?
    â€˜There’s a casserole and a cake. Chocolate cake by the looks of it.’
    â€˜How thoughtful. But I wonder who left it.’
    â€˜There’s a note.’ Liz straightened, unfolding a sheet of paper and scanning it. Her face broke into a delighted smile.
    â€˜Dear Liz and Bella,’ she read. ‘Welcome home. I know we haven’t met, Bella, but Virginia was so kind to me when I first arrived at Mullinjim, I hope this food will be useful. Hope to catch up soon, Zoe.’
    Zoe?
    Bella stared, open-mouthed.
    â€˜Isn’t that thoughtful of her?’ Liz said. ‘She must have driven over from Coolabah Waters, hoping to catch us.’
    Bella nodded, but she was too surprised to speak and slightly thrown by this act of kindness from a half-sister she’d never met.
    Liz was lifting the lid on the casserole dish ‘Mmm. Rich beef. I think I’ve rediscovered my appetite. You know Zoe’s a fully qualified chef.’
    â€˜Yes, so I heard. Nice that she’s putting her talents to good use.’
    â€˜Lucky us. Let’s have our dinner in reverse. Tea and a slice of cake first while we’re reheating this lovely casserole.’
    â€˜Good idea. I’m dying for a cuppa.’
    They went inside, down the timber-floored passage that opened onto the lounge and dining rooms. Bella’s nose twitched. ‘First thing, we open windows. It smells a bit stale in here.’
    â€˜Those dead flowers won’t be helping,’ Liz said, nodding towards a drooping arrangement of dahlias and gerberas on a sideboard in the dining room.
    The strong aroma of the decaying flowers shouldn’t have upset Bella, but her mother was usually so fussy about such things, and their drooping heads and fallen petals were such clear evidence of the emergency that had interrupted her parents’ lives.
    In the kitchen it was even sadder. The table was still set for breakfast with the big jar of her mother’s homemade muesli sitting waiting to be used, and there was a pot of cold tea and unwashed cups on the draining board.
    Liz set the esky at one end of the big kitchen table and she and Bella both stood gazing sombrely at the two yellow placemats and cheery crockery, ready for a meal that had never been eaten.
    Bella imagined her mother’s terror as she waited for the Flying Doctor. Had she sat with her dad the whole time? Wiped his brow? Held his hand?
    â€˜It couldn’t have happened at a worse time,’ she said. ‘There was no one else here on the property. Luke was at Charters Towers. Even the fencing contractors had left.’
    And I was probably drinking myself silly in a bar in Val Cenis.
    Giving herself a little shake, Bella crossed to the sink and pushed the casement windows open. The welcome scent of the frangipani