The Heart of Deception

Chapter 20

Lauren still felt a little off colour that day, but tolerated some tea and dry toast. And, by the second day, she was back to normal again. Between Helen’s shifts, and general housework, the two women spent much of their spare time preparing for Christmas, which was only weeks away. As they chopped the fruit and nuts for the cake in affable silence one afternoon, Lauren’s mind began to wander. This was going to be her first Christmas alone. No Dad, no Max, and now no Kurt, or Jessica or Helen.

She gazed pensively at her little niece. Diane has almost missed her entire babyhood, she thought sombrely. Jessica’s grown so quickly. She’s only six months old, and she’s almost crawling. A sad smile played on her lips. The baby had been sitting in front of a pile of plastic odds and ends, slowly examining each item for taste, texture and colour. It must have been exhausting work, because Jessica was now lying on the floor, with a tumbler in one hand, fast asleep.

“A penny for your thoughts.” Helen’s voice brought her attention back to the present.

“They wouldn’t be worth a penny,” she sighed listlessly.

“No? Then why do we now have ground macadamias, instead of chopped ones?”

Lauren glanced down at the chopping board. Sure enough, she had pulverised the nuts into almost a powder form.

Her face coloured with guilt. “Oops!”

“So, what’s up,” Helen grinned. “And don’t tell me it’s nothing. I wouldn’t believe that either.”

“I’m just having morbid thoughts about Christmas.” Lauren put down the knife with a wry smile. “You know, before this whole debacle started, I was looking forward to a traditional white Christmas in England, with my friends.”

“And now?”

“Now I know I’m going to be miserable.” She glanced over at the sleeping baby. “All I want is to be here for Jessica’s first Christmas.”

“Are you sure it’s only Jessica you’ll be missing?”

She shook her head slowly. “No, I’m going to miss you too. You’ve been a great friend. It’s depressing to think we’ll never see each other again once I leave here.”

“What about Kurt?”

“I can’t bear to think about it,” Lauren whispered, as she dropped her head onto the kitchen counter. “What am I going to do? I’d give anything to be his wife. Why did he have to meet Diane first? Oh Helen! I wish that I’d never agreed to this charade in the first place. I had no idea that loving someone would hurt so much.”

Helen rested a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder. “Maybe once your holiday in the UK is over, and things have settled down here, you could come back for a visit.”

Lauren shook her head miserably. “Kurt may be blind, but he’s not stupid. Once he sees the two of us together, he’s bound to suspect something. Then where would Diane be? All this heartache would be for nothing. No Helen, you know I’ll never be able to come back -ever.”

She was playing on the rumpus floor with Jessica the next day, when Helen arrived home from work. She called out to Lauren as she walked. Then, bounding into the room waved a cream coloured envelope in the air.

“Look here, you’ve got snail mail. Or rather, Diane has.” She looked down at the elongated envelope in her hands. “Addressed to ‘Mrs. Diane Palmer’, from a ‘Miss Lauren McAllister’. It’s from Britain. Why didn’t she just send you an email?”

Diane must be coming home early!

Lauren’s heart sank. So why wasn’t she feeling as happy as she should? She should be feeling elated. Soon, she’d be winging her way to a holiday of a lifetime. After all, Britain’s where she should be. Then, everything here at Canoorah, would be back to normal again.