Page 16 of Wedding Bells By the Creek

Steph wasn’t sure if it was Ed. He must have changed in the intervening years. Or … the thought suddenly struck her … perhaps it was Scott. The child she had left would be a man now. Was he still here, working with his father? Somehow she hadn’t considered that. She had assumed that she would face Ed alone. Could she cope with the strain of seeing both the husband and the son she had left behind all those years ago?

And would Ed or Scott even recognise her? She looked very different now. The dyed blonde hair was brown and she had lines on her face that weren’t there when she left Coorah Creek.

Steph’s hands started to shake. Her way suddenly didn’t seem clear any more. The car across the road drove away. The attendant had gone back inside the workshop and the garage was deserted. Now would be the perfect time. She could just start the car and drive away. She’d done it once before. She could do it again. Or she could get out of the car and walk across that road.

Or she could just sit in the car for a few more minutes, and give herself time to deal with the unexpected assault of memories and emotions that had set her head spinning.

‘There you go. Isn’t the colour just lovely?’

Helen looked in the mirror at this new, improved version of herself. Olga, of Olga’s Outback Hair Salon, had gasped in horror when Helen walked through the door and admitted that it was years since her hair had been ‘done’. Spending time and money on her hair – on herself – had seemed a terrible waste during the long years of searching for Tia. She had never given up on her daughter, but she had given up on herself. Today, after what seemed like hours in the salon, that neglect had been rectified to Olga’s satisfaction, and Helen had to admit she was pleased with the result.

Her hair had always been a mousy brown. Tia’s glorious auburn locks were a gift from her long gone father. Under Olga’s ministration, Helen’s hair now glowed with soft golden highlights. It had been trimmed and blow-dried and now framed her face in soft waves. She looked ten years younger. Felt it too.

‘That’s lovely, Olga,’ Helen said. ‘Thank you so much.’

‘It does look beaut.’ Olga’s accent was far less exotic than her name, but she certainly had a way with a bottle of hair dye. ‘And I haven’t finished yet. When did you last have a facial?’

‘That’s kind of you,’ Helen said quickly. ‘But I think that I’ll leave it with just the—’

‘Over my dead body,’ Olga said bluntly. ‘There’s no way I’m gonna let you walk out of here without a facial. I have a reputation to protect. Don’t worry – it’s included in the price. And you do want to look nice, don’t you?’

Yes, she did. Helen was still a little shocked by her sudden decision this morning to have her hair done. It was so unlike her. In a moment of honesty, she sort of admitted to herself that Ed was the reason. He’d asked her out. Well, not on a date. He’d asked her to go with him to select a new puppy. That was a pretty personal thing, so it sort of made it a date. Didn’t it?

Whatever it was, for once in her life, she had wanted to look good, and to feel good about herself while she was with a man. As for money … For more than a decade, she had saved every spare cent, just in case she needed it to find Tia. Or in case Tia needed it when she found her. But Tia was all right. Better than all right. And for the first time in many years, Helen decided she deserved to pamper herself. Just this once.

‘All right then.’

‘Ace!’

While Olga was assembling her creams and lotions, Helen couldn’t help asking,

‘I suppose everyone here knows everyone else.’

‘Pretty much.’ Olga carried a tray over. ‘It’s not gossip really. Well, not nasty gossip anyway. Trish at the pub knows everything. And what Trish knows, everyone knows.’

‘Oh.’ It suddenly occurred to her that Trish and the town might have been gossiping about her too.

‘Don’t worry, love,’ Olga patted her on the shoulder, ‘we all know about you and Tia. We’re all happy for you both that it’s worked out. Happy for Max too. He’s a good man and Tia and him make such a lovely couple.’

Helen blinked, totally at a loss as to how to answer that. Then another thought struck. If Olga knew what Trish knew, she probably knew a lot about Ed. If only Helen could bring herself to ask.

‘How long have you lived here?’ Helen asked.

‘I’ve been here since the mine came,’ Olga said as she started to apply cream to Helen’s face. ‘My old man, he’s a miner. We came here when the mine opened. I started this place not long after we got here. A good thing I did too because …’

Olga’s voice droned on, and Helen just let the words wash over her. She wasn’t really listening, until suddenly a name leaped out at her.

‘… Ed Collins and his son. Sad story that, but I guess it ended well, so that’s all that matters.’

‘What was so sad?’ Helen asked, trying to keep her voice casual.

‘You just let me do the talking.’ Olga tapped her with an admonishing finger. ‘Let that face mask set and I’ll tell you. Most of it was before my time, of course. Ed’s wife ran out on him and his son, Scott. Everyone said it was because Ed had an affair. He raised that boy on his own. It must have been a tough life for the boy, Ed being the sort of man he was.’

‘What do you mean … the sort of man he was?’

Olga didn’t press the face mask issue a second time. She was too caught up in the story she was telling.

‘He was bitter and so terribly sad,’ she said. ‘Tough on the kid. No one ever saw him smile.’

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