A Family Affair - First Born by Marilyn McPherson Read Free Book Online Page A

He was outside a service station near the small rural town of Donald in regional Victoria. To the occasional farmer or townsperson who passed him, nothing looked out of the ordinary. He was just a man who had put petrol in his car, now taking a moment before driving away. But this was not an ordinary man in an ordinary situation. Ted was in the process of making a very important decision.
    He had been keeping a low profile ever since he’d released the girl. The coppers were looking for him – there was no doubt, but their hounding of him was unfair. He hadn’t hurt Colleen’s daughter. He’d kept the girl only a week. They should all be thanking him for trying to stop it. A daughter marrying her own father was sickening.
    But they weren’t thanking him, he knew. They wanted him back in jail, but they hadn’t caught him yet. He’d moved from town to town, taking odd jobs from the type of people who would be unlikely to dob him in. In fact, he was on the way to a shearing job two hundred kilometres further inland. The farmer was offering good money, as it was hard to get people to live in such an isolated place. Isolation suited Ted just fine at the moment.
    It was a strange sensation to be sitting here in his car not moving. He had been in a hurry only minutes before. He’d been walking towards the counter to pay when he’d glanced at the rack of magazines and newspapers. The girl – Ellen, his Colleen’s daughter, was going to marry the makeup man. It was unbelievable. The newspaper’s front page announced it, so it must be true. How could the girl have decided to marry him? After everything he’d told her. It didn’t make sense.
    There was a decision to be made here in this car, at this very moment. Ted could feel the importance of this decision rippling through his body. His decision would change lives.
    One option was to forget the girl; to pretend she never existed, and keep driving towards the job. The other option was to turn the car around, drive to Melbourne and stop this sham of a wedding.
    The second option was more risky of course as there were more coppers in the city. His picture was probably hanging in all their police stations. But the idea of the girl getting married was infuriating. She was acting as if everything was right in the world, as if Col hadn’t been murdered by the makeup guy.
    Their wedding would be hard to ignore if he kept driving towards the shearing work. It would eat him up inside. Ted had to do something. He had to set things right once and for all. The newspaper people needed to know the truth.
    He slammed his hands on the wheel in frustration and gritted his teeth. There was no choice for him, not really. He started the engine, reversed the car, and headed back in the direction he had come from. This farce of a wedding had to be stopped, one way or another.
     
     

Chapter 10
    Three weeks later and Ellen knew there was no denying it. Her period was late, and it was never late. Four days to be exact. The obvious couldn’t be denied any longer. Ellen grabbed sunglasses, a cap, her bag and coat, and headed for the nearest chemist.
    “Please don’t be pregnant! Please don’t be pregnant!” she told her body.
    She didn’t know if Kane had used protection on that one horrible night. It was such a hazy memory. She hadn’t seen him since leaving his apartment in shame the next morning, although he had started calling every day – sometimes twice per day. She never answered. Sooner or later she knew the calls would stop. He was going to get the message. Her night with him was a tragic mistake. It was Tom she loved, and as if to prove it to herself, she had no intention of ever seeing Kane again.
    While in Switzerland, Tom had talked of the future that he saw for them as a couple. He wanted a family and for him and Ellen to raise happy and well-balanced children together in harmony. Ellen wanted to make him happy, but also to go to university. If she hadn’t met Tom,