Page 52 of Return of the Outback Billionaire

‘Nothing,’ Tom rasped after long moments. ‘But every time I look at you I feel ashamed at what I’ve put you through. The trial. Your sentence. The impact it had on your parents and your brother. On you. I’d go back in time and do things differently if I could, but I can’t, and it pains me. It pains me to look at you and know in my heart what your generosity has cost you. I don’t know how to make it up to you. So I try not to look at you at all.’

‘Come home.’ Judah didn’t want Tom Starr exiled from the life he’d once loved. ‘Take a look at what we’re building here. Be a part of it again. And if your conscience is troubling you, we can sit down together, with Bridie, and tell her what really happened that night.’

Silence.

‘Is that a no?’

‘Why?’ He could barely hear the other man. ‘Why on earth would you want to do that?’

‘Did you keep secrets from your wife?’ Judah snapped, losing what little patience he had left. ‘I don’t want to marry your daughter and have to lie to her about that night for the rest of our lives,’ he said, abandoning all pretence that he gave a damn about Tomas’s conscience. He wanted his own conscience clear. He wanted Bridie to know what she was getting when she chose him. ‘Is that really too much to ask?’

He blundered on. ‘What if we sat her down and explained everything and that we did what we did to protect her? Surely she’d understand.’ And be okay with a father who’d killed to protect her and a future husband who hadn’t, but at least there’d be no more lies.

Tom Starr didn’t reply.

‘Can you at least think about it?’

‘You gave me your word.’

‘I know. And I’ve never broken it, even though you broke yours when you told my father what you did. But you could release me from my vow.’ He couldn’t see the other man to read his face. He had no idea what Tom Starr was thinking. There was just this sea of silence.

‘We need to think about this.’ There was a world of weariness in the older man’s voice. ‘If word ever got out I could go to prison. You could go back to prison. Is that what you want?’

‘Word wouldn’t get out because Bridie wouldn’t tell anyone.’

‘Are you sure about that? Because I’m not. Do you really think we should burden her with a secret she can never share without her whole world crumbling? And we’d be making her an accessory after the fact. Is telling her the truth really worth all that?’

The older man was right. He was being a fool. A romantic, idiotic fool. ‘You’re right.’

‘I’m sorry, son, but I just don’t see the sense in telling Bridie what happened that night and dragging her into the pit with us. You promised to protect her.’

‘I know.’

‘You gave me your word.’

‘I’ll keep it.’

‘I know you will.’ There was an ache in the older man’s voice that he didn’t know what to do with. An ache in his own heart because there was no way around this. Tom Starr was right and that was the end of it.

Their secret had to be kept.

Gert was baking and Bridie was stacking groceries; music was blaring and the sun had yet to sap the will to move. All in all, Bridie decided, life was good and she’d never deny it.

‘Have you met the new people over at Jeddah Creek yet?’ asked Gert.

‘Yep.’ A couple of times over, plenty long enough to form some opinions. ‘Mary the bookkeeper is a sweetheart, but she’s kind of shocked by outback living. I don’t know if she’ll stay.’

‘What about the young one?’

‘Kaylee? She’s a hoot. Big laugh, can-do attitude, tough as nails. And grateful, y’know? In that way that says she’s seen a lot of rough road in her life. I have a feeling she’ll stay—at least for a while. Her little guy’s not even two yet. Cute kid. Judah and Reid are so protective of him. You should see them.’

Gert snorted. ‘Sounds about right. They have that ruling class serve-and-protect mentality, same as their grandfather did. And their father did too, before his liking for a drink ruined him.’

‘Yeah, maybe.’ Bridie didn’t know what bits of Gert’s conversation she was agreeing with, but it probably didn’t matter.

‘You expecting visitors?’ Gert asked next.

‘Nope.’

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