The Maxwell Sisters (38 page)

He touched his forehead to hers. ‘Just the way I like it.'

‘Why didn't you tell me you knew?' She thumped his shoulder. ‘Here I was trying so hard not to look green in front of you and hoping you wouldn't notice that I wasn't drinking the wine any more.'

‘I didn't want you to feel pressured to be with me because of the baby. I wanted you to choose to be with me because you love me. And because we're meant to be together.'

She kissed him quick. ‘Good answer.'

He smiled. ‘But I am excited about having another child with you too.'

She liked that he'd said ‘another'. Tracing a pattern on his suit pants with her finger, she asked tentatively, ‘You're not worried?'

He squeezed her tight. ‘I'm prepared and I'm ready.'

As she shared his gaze, a sense of well-being fizzed through her. ‘Me too.' Her lips curved. ‘Me too.'

Three Years Later

‘Is it just me, or does this wedding seem a little quieter than the last one we had at Tawny Brooks?' asked Phoebe from her position in front of the mirror. She was putting the finishing touches to her make-up. Her hair had been stunningly styled in loose ringlets by the hairdresser about half an hour earlier.

Tash leaned over her to pick up a sprig of baby's breath on the dresser. ‘Don't jinx it, Phee.' She turned around and gestured to a little girl with long dark hair and eyes so similar to her own, she could have been looking into a mirror. ‘Here, Grace. Come here. Let's put this in your hair.'

‘Will it look nice, Mummy?' the little girl asked tentatively.

‘It'll look gorgeous,' Tash enthused. She didn't look half bad herself, Phoebe noted, in a beautiful floor-length burgundy-coloured gown.

‘Sorry,' Phoebe apologised, returning her attention to the mirror and patting a stray strand of hair back into place. ‘I just feel like we've had extra time to get ready.'

‘Why?' Tash smiled as she dressed her daughter's hair. ‘Because Eric hasn't locked us in the shed again?'

Phoebe grinned and then stood up with a groan. She pressed a hand into the small of her back, sticking out her round belly. ‘This does get easier, right?' she queried. ‘My back is killing me.'

‘Well,' Tash winked, ‘you know what they say: the only cure for pregnancy is birth.'

‘Thanks,' Phoebe returned sardonically, but she was smiling as she rubbed her hand over her protruding stomach. Her gown was the same colour as Tash's but obviously not the same style, given Tash's wonderfully slim silhouette and Phoebe's ample girth.

‘When are you having another?' Phoebe grumbled. ‘I'm feeling terribly fat today.'

Tash's lips twitched. ‘I don't know. Still trying to get used to the first one.'

As if on cue, Heath entered the room, splendid in a black tux and burgundy waistcoat. When he saw his daughter, he immediately dropped to a squat, holding his arms out wide. ‘All ready, darling?'

‘Daddy, I look pretty.'

‘Yes, you do.' He glanced up with laughing eyes at his wife. ‘Should I take her to the sitting room? The Greeks will love her! And Daddy and Uncle Spider seriously need a distraction from the conversation about Aunty Athena's varicose-vein surgery.'

‘For sure,' Tash nodded. ‘She's all set.'

They were just about to leave when Eve burst into the room, her heavy stride in direct contrast to the floaty gown of white satin and chiffon that swirled about her ankles.

‘Eve, you look breathtaking!' Phoebe gasped.

‘Forget about that.' She tossed the comment aside, panic in every line of her face. ‘Has anyone seen Mum? She's missing.'

‘You see,' Tash threw at Phoebe, ‘you've jinxed us.'

‘Ssshh,' Phoebe hushed her and came over to Eve. ‘Calm down, love. I'm sure she's around somewhere. The hairdresser only just left.'

‘I've searched the house.' Eve threw up her hands. ‘I'm wondering whether I should run down to the restaurant.'

‘Not in that, you're not.' Phoebe shook her head. ‘I'll go.'

‘No, I will.' Heath stopped her with a glance at her stomach. ‘In your condition there's no way you'll be running anywhere very fast.'

He strode from the room and everyone turned back to Eve. ‘Don't worry, honey,' Phoebe hugged her briefly. ‘I'm sure she's fine.'

‘You know how upset she was this morning,' Eve leaned into her. ‘Thinking about Dad and how he would have loved to have been here.'

A silence fell between them as they thought of their father, who had died last year after a two-year battle with bowel cancer. He'd been cheeky to the end, even when he was completely bedridden, always trying to make light of his situation when deep down they knew how much he hated being so helpless.

All three girls had moved back to the region to help care for him – a circumstance he loved and felt guilty about at the same time. They had to assure him repeatedly that Tawny Brooks was where they wanted to be, not just because he was sick.

Spider and Phoebe lived in their house in Dunsborough, Eve moved back into the family home with their mother. And Tash and Heath had sold their house in Sydney and moved to the sticks. They'd bought a property on the beach and Heath was starting his own building company in Busselton.

When John Maxwell finally passed, it had been both a relief and a great loss. There was no doubt about it, they all missed him madly. But his deterioration, especially in his final days, had been very difficult to watch. In the end, they knew his time had come.

‘Eve,' Tash came over and put her arms around her, ‘he's here, watching over us. I know he is. He wouldn't miss this for the world.'

Eve hugged her back. ‘It's just so hard, you know, especially today.'

‘I know.' Tash rubbed her arms. ‘I miss him terribly too.'

‘Yes,' Phoebe sighed. ‘I always used to rely on his insight. He always knew what to say when no one else did.'

‘Chenin blanc,' Tash whispered.

Eve looked up. ‘What do you mean?'

‘The grape variety he planted when he didn't know what else to plant.'

Eve frowned. ‘No, that's not the way the story goes. He didn't plant an eighth variety. He ran out of time.'

Phoebe grinned. ‘He told me it was tempranillo. Mum helped him choose it over dinner.'

They looked at each other and then, with tears in their eyes, reached out and held each other's hands.

‘Mummy,' Grace said, ducking under Tash's arm and pressing her little body into her mother's side. ‘What's wrong?'

‘Nothing.' Tash was smiling but her eyes were glassy.

They had only just realised what their father had done. He hadn't told them the story that had occurred but the story they'd needed to hear.

‘Trust him to do that to us,' Eve shook her head. ‘Do we even have eight grape varieties on this property?'

In that moment, their mother walked in with Heath hot on her heels. ‘No, love, there are nine,' she said. She looked very stately in a pale pink lace skirt-suit, a dignified string of pearls about her neck. Her hair had been curled and stylishly framed her pale face.

‘Mum!' The Maxwell sisters let go of each other to embrace her.

‘Where were you?' Eve demanded. ‘I couldn't find you anywhere.'

‘I was in the garden, just soaking in some of your father's presence. I also got this from his study.' Her eyes glistened slightly as she held up a long box to Eve. ‘Your father knew he wouldn't be here for your wedding. So he left this for you, darling. So that you would know that he's with you on this day just the same.'

Phoebe held her breath as Eve took the box and slowly opened it. On a bed of white velvet lay a delicate gold bracelet of a fine link design, studded with small sapphire stones.

‘It's gorgeous.'

‘Not as gorgeous as you.' Anita reached up and pulled her down to her level so she could kiss her forehead and then both her cheeks.

Tash sniffed and wiped away a stray tear.

‘Are you okay?' Phoebe whispered.

‘Yeah, fine,' Tash nodded quickly. ‘I've just seen that bracelet before.'

As Phee looked about the room at the rest of her family, she realised that if their father was looking down right now he would be smiling because everything that he had wanted, everything that she had promised him three years ago had come to pass. Her family was no longer broken, they were stronger than ever and she could see only happiness in their futures.

‘All right then,' Anita pulled away from Eve. ‘I better let you girls finish up. Don't keep Adonis waiting, Eve. He's nervous as anything already, poor dear.'

‘I won't,' Eve nodded, as Phoebe helped her put on her new bracelet.

Her mother, Heath and Grace disappeared out the door and she turned to her teary sisters. ‘So now thanks to Dad I've got something blue and new. What about something old and borrowed?'

‘Well,' Tash suggested with a wink, ‘I could always lend you some of my lingerie again.'

‘No way.' Eve held up her hand. ‘That got me in enough trouble last time.'

‘Besides, you shouldn't be lending out stuff like that to anyone who asks,' Phoebe protested. ‘Lingerie is very personal.'

‘Here, here,' Eve put in sternly.

‘Of course,' Tash assured them, ‘I wouldn't do it for just anybody. But sisters are different. Especially the Maxwell sisters.'

Phoebe and Eve smiled back at her.

‘For sure,' Eve confirmed. ‘Club members only.'

Tash grinned. ‘Precisely.'

There are so many people I need to thank for their contribution to
The Maxwell Sisters
, which has been a project I've been working towards for quite some time.

Firstly, I must thank my dedicated team of critique partners, Nicola E. Sheridan, Karina Coldrick and Marlena Pereira, who generously fit me around their own work and writing to give me invaluable insights into my manuscript. I am so grateful for their feedback and support. Thank you, guys.

I must thank Ben Gould, my very own winemaking expert from the Margaret River wine region, who generously provided his time and advice whenever I needed it. Without his knowledge and expertise, this book would not have the authenticity that it does. Thank you so much, Ben, for your kindness and patience, particularly with reading my manuscript and sending me notes. I cannot stress more how appreciative I am.

Similarly, to my good friend and fabulous chef, Natalie Sansom, who really helped me with the details of Eve's career, design of the Tawny Brooks restaurant and all other aspects of a chef's life. Thank you so much for answering all my questions. I know there were a lot of them!

Then, of course, there's my wonderful cousin-in-law, Dr Raphael Chee, who kindly helped me understand bowel cancer, particularly how it progresses in a patient and how to treat it. This really helped me with the timeline of the novel and I can't thank him enough for his expert knowledge and his readiness to give it in this instance. Hugs!

Thanks to everyone at Random House Australia who was involved in getting this book on the shelf, especially my publisher, Beverley Cousins, editor, Elena Gomez, and publicists, Jessica Malpass and Lucy Inglis. Your enthusiasm is such a pleasure to work with. Thank you also to my fabulous agent, Clare Forster, for her support during this time.

As a mum, with four children under seven, sometimes the most difficult thing is finding the time to write. I literally have an army of people helping me get through my week. Thank you to my mum, Aunty Moira and Uncle Richard for all the babysitting you do. Thank you to my dad, who has been picking up and dropping my kids at school every day. What a hero! To my mother-in-law, Shirley, who came to live with us (very bravely) for a week whilst I wrote non-stop for seven days to catch up on my lagging word count. To my wonderful husband, Todd, for taking time off work on several occasions to look after the kids while I retreated to the library. And finally to our nanny, Rebecca Laing, to whom the children have grown so attached. Thank you for being so flexible with your time and for bringing my children so much joy. I couldn't have found someone better than you.

As for my children, Luke, James, Beth and Michael, the brightest little stars in my life, thank you for your love, understanding and patience.

This story is set in the South-West region of Western Australia in a quiet town called Yallingup, an Aboriginal word meaning ‘place of love'. It is one of my favourite parts of Australia, to relax, to eat, to drink and to be with family.

Yallingup shares in a slice of the Margaret River wine region, an area encompassing several townships, bounded to the east by the Leeuwin–Naturaliste Ridge, between Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin, and to the west by the Indian Ocean. Some of the other towns are mentioned in this book, Dunsborough, Busselton and Margaret River to name a few. The region is most famous for its world-class wine, surfing and gorgeous natural limestone caves surrounded by beautiful jarrah-marri forest. It's a very popular holiday destination for people living in Perth or indeed anywhere around the world.

For me, setting my book here was a no-brainer. The beauty of the landscape, the romance of the winemakers and the truly Australian feel of the surrounds made it the ideal place for me to drop the mad Maxwells of Tawny Brooks Estate.

While I wanted to keep the book as real as possible for readers, I did have to invent a few places and just wanted to clarify which areas are fictional. Rickety Twigg road, which cuts from Bussell Highway to Yallingup, is not a real road, nor are any of the estates mentioned on it, such as the Oak Hills Winery. This road and the surrounds, however, are based on Wildwood Road – the real gateway to Yallingup.

All other wineries mentioned in this novel, other than the ones on Rickety Twigg road, are real and definitely worth visiting if you're ever down this way. Similarly, Canal Rocks is a true natural landform and a gorgeous spot to enjoy Australia's beautiful coastline.

The Wildwood Bakery in Dunsborough is a fictional business – however, with a sense of the real one in mind. There has been a bakery in Dunsborough since the 1940s, famous for its pastries and delicious bread, which no tourist in town has ever been able to walk past without sampling. Ben, the young man the Maxwell sisters meet when they visit the bakery, is also a real winemaker from Cowaramup, another town in the area. He has been my ‘go-to guru' for all things wine and vine. You can taste his organic label Blind Corner in many restaurants throughout Australia, including Rockpool in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne. Please do. Trust me, it's good! I relied on some of Ben's biodynamic philosophies for my character John Maxwell and his eccentric but highly successful growing techniques at Tawny Brooks. These philosophies allow for an organic, natural and sustainable wine with unique and diverse flavours to fall in love with. To learn more about Ben and his wine, or wine in general check out
www.blindcorner.com.au
.

Other than fabulous wine, great food and gorgeous scenery, I wasn't just aiming to give my readers somewhere to go for their next holiday. This book, at its core, is about family and about growing up and growing old. Not just that sense of becoming an adult from a teenager or retiring after many years of labour, but the idea that every time we go through a milestone in our life, it changes us. As we change, the people who love us have to grow with us, too. These people, our sisters, our mothers, our fathers, our husbands, our children, all put their own footprint on our lives and shape us into who we are. And it's in developing and nurturing these relationships that we become stronger and, in turn, learn more about ourselves.

This is the message of my novel and I hope in all the Maxwell family drama, secrets and humour, it will shine through.

All my love to you and yours,

Loretta Hill