Page 52 of A Chance to Believe

‘Cassie and I were neighbours growing up. Longbourne was her family property.’

Longbourne. The extensive property Nate had bought with an inheritance from his grandmother Taite as the down payment. Shayne fixed his gaze on Cassie. ‘You grew up out west? Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘It didn’t seem important. I’ve been living in Brisbane except for school holidays from the time I went to boarding school at twelve.’

Nate chimed in. ‘We used to travel together as far as Toowoomba. Cassie went to boarding school in Brisbane.’

That made sense. Only he didn’t understand why she hadn’t mentioned she’d grown up on a grazing property. Although there was her aversion to sheep. There was more to the story, but now wasn’t the time.

‘Didn’t you say you had to go, Nate?’

Nate jumped. ‘Yes. Another time, Cass. Seriously.’ He slapped another kiss on Cassie’s cheek as he stood, and with a raised eyebrow, waved at them as he loped off with a glance at his watch.

There was a silence between the two of them after he left. The noise from the ring faded into the background as the questions churned around in his head. ‘Acacia Longifolia?’

She grimaced, a tightening of her mouth before it relaxed into a half smile. ‘School boy stuff. Once he and his brother figured out my name was Acacia Long, it was bound to happen.’

‘I remember now. You told my mother your name is Acacia.’

‘Most people assume Cassie is short for Cassandra. After the teasing I got from Nate and his friends, I prefer to keep it that way.’

‘I like Acacia. It’s pretty.’

‘The tree is pretty. I’m …’ She hesitated.

‘You are beautiful.’

She shot him a raised brow stare. ‘I am a blimp.’

‘Still beautiful.’

Her nose wrinkled. ‘A beautiful blimp. It doesn’t exactly seem likely.’

He pointed to a Dagwood Dog van with a giant lollypop on the sign. ‘More like one of those, you think?’

Cassie tossed her head. ‘It’s no use arguing with you.’

‘Not at this point. We need to move if we’re going to see Kimberley.’

She looked stricken. ‘I forgot. I’m so sorry.’

He helped her to her feet. ‘We have a few minutes. From what I can hear over the loudspeakers, they are running a little behind time.’

Her hand rested on his arm. ‘There’s something else I should tell you. I meant to tell you all this during the week, but there never seemed to be an opportunity. Then I hoped I wouldn’t need to. It was so long ago. But Nate turning up proves I’m kidding myself.’

It was a long speech and left her slightly breathless. ‘You don’t have to tell me now. We can talk at home.’

‘This matters now. My fiancé was a bull rider. It was years ago, but there could be people who remember him. People who might recognise me.’

Shayne’s chest tightened and he forced a breath. ‘Will that be a problem for you?’

‘No. Not really. But I should have told you before we came, so you weren’t surprised like you were with Nathan.’

‘I didn’t expect it. He’s family. That’s a close connection. It’s a wonder we never met. I’ve visited Nate and his family quite a few times over the years. He’s younger, but his brother Tam is my age.’

‘It’s not like we were over the fence. It’s a fair drive between the properties, though I suppose Nathan could have put in a more direct road between the homesteads. Besides, we didn’t do a lot of socialising as children. The boys were older than we were and had different interests.’

The ‘we’ was a tempting clue to follow, but they were at the entrance to the ring and he showed his pass for them to enter, finding a way through the crowd to where Ben was waiting, holding a couple of seats. Further revelations would have to wait, because the announcer was whipping up the crowd for the barrel racing.

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