her hand. “The past is done with. Although I was sceptical at first, and disbelieving of her intentions, Mother has done everything she can to make things right again between us. We must accept Mother’s apology and forgive her. She is trying to make amends and I cannot reject her.”
“I have forgiven her, but it is hard to forget her coldness sometimes. My childhood, and yours, was quite ruined because of her and father.”
He glanced out the window, remembering his childhood and the loneliness of it. The bond he always wanted with his father would never be now, but he had a chance with his mother, and despite the pain she inflicted on him as a child, he couldn’t refuse her offerings of love now. He’d waited too long for it. “She says she has changed and she is trying to show us. Can we turn our backs on her when she is trying so hard to make it up to us?”
“It wasn’t easy, Nat, when she first came. I expected the worst.”
“You weren’t alone in that.” He’d spent many sleepless nights curled up with Nicola, wondering at the change in his mother. Weeks of her showering love on him, showed him how wonderful it was to be cherished by a parent. Now, the love he’d always wanted to give his mother came pouring out. In part, he had to thank Nicola for change within himself, because her affection and devotion had shown him that to love another is not only fulfilling, but also healing.
“Sometimes I fear all this happiness won’t last, Nat,” Fran whispered. “I’m not used to it.”
“Nor I, dearest.” He squeezed her hand. Then, as the carriage slowed to a halt at the top of George Street, he opened the door for her. “I’ll be home at five.”
Frances paused half out the door. “Oh, before I forget, has there been any news on Lombard?”
Nat kept his expression neutral and lied through his teeth. “Nothing substantial yet.”
As the carriage rolled away down the street, he let out a breath and thought of the distasteful business ahead. If Lombard thought it safe to return to town, then he was greatly mistaken.
Peering out of the rain splattered window, Nat recognised the grim old buildings along the wharfs at Wooloomooloo Bay. A weather-beaten inn, with the grand name of The Shining Star Hotel stood at one end of an ugly street and here Timms halted the horses. Nat climbed down and shivered in the cold rain-filled wind blowing off the water.
“Is this the right place, Mr West?” Timms called down.
“I believe so, Timms. Stay here, I’ll be back shortly.” Nat crossed the road and headed into the hotel. Inside the doorway, he paused to allow his eyes to adjust to the murky room. Smoke from the ill-kept fireplace and the patrons’ pipes hung in a thick pall at ceiling height. A few villainous looking men straddled chairs by the dirty window, each had a grubby hand around a tankard. Quietness settled over the room as the barman and his two other customers turned to stare at him from their position at the bar.
“Can I help you, sir?” The barman, a big, balding man with a long black beard, leaned his podgy hands flat on the bar top.
Nat stretched to his full height, giving each man in the room a careful assessment. “Indeed you can, friend.” He stepped to the counter, slid his hand across it towards the barkeeper and lifted up his fingers to reveal the wad of money under his hand. “A simple transaction, my good man,” Nat murmured.
The barkeeper’s eyes grew wide at the amount of money he saw. “Which would be?”
Nat leaned closer, dropping his head and shoulder to shield them from the others. “Tristan Lombard.”
The barman straightened, grabbed a cloth from beneath the counter and plucked a glass from the shelf behind him, which he wiped vigorously. “Can’t recall him.”
“Is that so?” Nat grinned, knowing the game. “Very well. I’ll have my friends, the town’s officials, close down this hotel by tomorrow night until they have checked your licence and who knows how long that might take.... Good day.” He turned to leave.
“Wait.”
“Yes?” Nat lingered a moment as the barman shifted his weight from foot to foot, swallowed and then ever so slightly tilted his head to the right, indicating the door in the corner.
“Thank you.” Nat slid his hand across and placed the money near the cloth on the bar. Without looking back, he left the