Page 21 of Wedding Bells By the Creek

He didn’t say a word. His eyes, still flecked with the dark gold of a Banksia flower, were fixed on her face as if he found it hard to believe she was there. She shouldn’t be surprised. She found it hard to believe too.

‘I’ll just … leave you two …’

Ed finally moved as Helen turned and almost ran from the room. He made as if to follow her, but stopped. He ran a hand over his face and turned back to Stephanie.

‘Stephanie?’

‘It’s good to see you, Ed.’ She made her voice soft and hesitant.

‘I don’t understand. How long have you been …? And what … why?’

She lowered her eyes from his face and clasped her hands in front of her. She waited a few seconds before answering. He had every right to be shocked. She was far more affected by this meeting than she had ever imagined she would be.

‘I just got in today,’ she said quietly. ‘Just a little while ago. I …’ She stopped speaking, suddenly aware of the silence around her. Every eye in the bar was carefully looking elsewhere, but she knew every ear would be trained on their conversation. Coorah Creek had changed since she left – but not that much.

‘Is there somewhere we can go? Somewhere private?’

Ed glanced around, and frowned, as if suddenly realising where he was. He turned abruptly and she had no choice but to follow him. He walked through into the empty lounge and glanced around to see if they were alone. They were.

Stephanie led the way to a table in the corner of the room and lowered herself into a chair. Ed had no choice but to follow. He hesitated before he too sat. Stephanie breathed a little sigh of relief.

‘How are you, Ed? You look good.’

‘What’s going on, Stephanie? Why are you here? After all these years.’

His face was closed. He wasn’t going to make it easy for her. That was fair enough. She didn’t deserve any better.

‘The ad. In the paper. I saw it.’ She wouldn’t tell him that she saw the ad several weeks ago. Nor that she had simply stuffed it into a drawer and forgotten all about it. It would still be there and she would still be back in her lovely home in Brisbane, if things hadn’t changed. If she hadn’t been forced to come back.

‘So you know what I’m doing.’

‘Yes. You’re divorcing me.’ Her voice trembled. ‘I cried when I realised that.’

‘Steph, it’s been fourteen years. Not so much as a single word in fourteen years. For all I knew, you could have been dead.’

‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered. ‘I really am so terribly sorry.’

‘You didn’t have to come back. I didn’t ask you to come back. The lawyers are handling everything.’

‘I wanted to come back. I wanted to see you again, Ed. To talk to you and ask you to forgive me. I wanted to see Scott, if he was still here.’ She looked up at Ed, her voice hesitant. ‘Is he here? Scott. I’d give anything to see him again.’

‘No. He’s in England.’

Stephanie was rocked by the harshness in Ed’s voice. ‘How is he? Is he married? Is he happy?’

‘Steph, he’s fine. No thanks to you. You almost destroyed that boy when you walked out on him. On both of us. For a long time …’ Ed’s voice trailed off and Stephanie began to glimpse just how much pain she had caused her husband and her son.

‘I’m so sorry, Ed. What can I say? I was young and stupid. I never meant to hurt Scott. Or you.’

‘But you did.’ Ed’s voice was hard. ‘Why have you come back, Steph?’

‘I wanted to say I’m sorry. I wanted to see you again. Thinking about the divorce … it made me realise how wrong I was to leave you. It was a mistake. I wish I could turn back—’

‘Stop it.’ The sound of Ed’s chair scraping on the lino floor was harsh. ‘Just stop it. Stay. Go back. I don’t care. It doesn’t matter to me. Not any more. Let the lawyers sort it out now.’

‘But Ed …’

It was no use. Her husband turned and walked out of the door, his back ramrod straight. Stephanie sat staring after him, struggling to keep her emotions under control. She had known it wouldn’t be easy. She deserved every bit of Ed’s anger and hatred. But that wasn’t going to stop her. It wasn’t a big step from desperate to determined. And she was both.

---