Page 62 of Beneath the Sapphire Sky

Belle bit her lip. “If you do it, then at least she can be ruled out. Right, Dad?”

Her father nodded slowly. “I guess. She’s coming home today. I pick her up from the hospital at ten.”

She’d improved daily, Doctor Farrell confirming once he’d seen her yesterday and read her file that, unless something happened, she could come home this morning.

“I can go with you if you like? Then I can process the prints while she gets settled at home,” Mac said.

*

Belle leaned overto kiss her mother’s cheek. Her mother sat in the chair beside the bed, dressed and waiting for them, looking happy when they all came in the door. Her father and Mac followed the doctor into the room, her dad having signed off on the paperwork when they arrived. Jack perched on the edge of the bed.

“The wine awards are on tonight,” he said.

Jem looked over at her son and sent him a happy smile. “That’s nice, dear.”

Belle tried to gauge her mother’s mood. She’d improved a little after the deterioration the night in the national park had brought, but the good days where she could carry a lucid conversation were becoming fewer.

It broke Belle’s heart. It was the result of the series of small strokes she’d suffered a few years ago. Vascular dementia was insidious, stealing a little more each day of the person she’d known and loved as her mother her entire life.

Mum would hate this.

Belle tried to push sad thoughts from her head. This was Jack’s time to shine, and hopefully their mother would remember long enough to enjoy a cup of tea and cake to celebrate, regardless of how Jack fared.

Jack took her hands in his and couldn’t keep the grin from his face.

“We’re watching them here in the Crossing. Jonathan from Happy Valley is hosting a dinner.”

Jem’s eyes grew round in happy surprise. “That sounds like fun.” A frown marred her forehead for a moment. “What is it for again?”

Jack’s smile tightened a little. “The wine awards. I entered the international wine contest. With the Mourvèdre. The winners are going to be announced tonight.”

The wine name brightened her mother’s eyes. Recognition flared and she sat forward, gripping Jack’s fingers.

“Did we win?”

We?

She looked at her husband, excited. “Callum. Did Jack and I win the contest?”

Chills doused Belle’s spine in an icy rush.

Jem kissed Jack’s hands, so tightly holding her own. “I knew you had to add something to it. You showed me the sample. I remember you said it needed more sulphur.”

Belle gasped.How on earth had she remembered something like that?

“Mum, that was months ago. Last summer.”

Jem looked confused for a moment, then shook her head and smiled. “I fixed it for you. I put some in. I saw the bags. I fixed it,” she repeated, her smile fading as she looked around the people gathered in the room.

Jack’s mouth moved. He couldn’t seem to speak. They didn’t use powdered sulphur in the wine anymore. Jack had invested in the gas, making it much easier for him to calculate. The bags that had been dumped in it had been excess stock, used for cleaning only.

Belle ignored the roiling of her stomach and leaned over and took her mother’s hands from Jack.

“Yes, Mum. You did. You helped so much. Thank you.”

Belle glanced at the others, tears stinging her eyes. She blinked quickly and kept the wide smile on her face, not wanting her mother to see and become worried.

Murmured agreement spread around the room. Belle wanted to curl in a ball in the corner and not come out.

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