Secrets in Pelican Crossing (Pelican Crossing #2)

Two

Finn Hunter absentmindedly pushed his glasses onto the top of his head. He stared through the glass wall of his office to where his staff were busily composing stories for the next edition of The Crossing Courier , Pelican Crossing’s local newspaper. They were a good bunch. He was lucky they’d accepted him so readily when he joined the paper as its editor only a year earlier.

It had been an upheaval to move from Bellbird Bay where he’d led the team at The Bellbird Bugle since moving to Queensland after his divorce. But it had been an easy decision to make when he received the call from his distraught daughter telling him her husband had perished in the ocean, swept out to sea when he was trying to save his five-year-old son.

It was a fluke Sandy had survived, rescued by another swimmer when his dad was caught in a rip and carried out to sea. His body was found several days later, by which time Finn had arrived to comfort his hysterical daughter. Sandy hadn’t been aware what had happened at first and couldn’t understand where his dad was. It was only a few days later it had sunk in that the father he loved was gone for good.

Finn had only left briefly to settle things temporarily back home in Bellbird Bay, hoping Adele would be able to cope. But she was so immured in her grief, Finn could see Sandy was suffering. For the little boy, it was as if he’d lost not one parent, but two. When Finn learned that the position of editor at The Crossing Courier was open, it was an easy decision to apply .

Now he was glad he had. Located several kilometres north of Bellbird Bay, Pelican Crossing was home to a large marina and a long stretch of white beach. It was the stopping off place to several of the islands for many visitors to the region and was a larger town than the one he’d left, the main street housing a string of old buildings, many of which had been renovated over the years.

In the short time he’d been here, Finn had joined several local organisations and liked to think his influence in these and with the newspaper had made a difference to the town. He had been flattered when he was invited to play a major part in a town meeting late the previous year. It was held in an attempt to prevent a Sydney developer from buying up property and spoiling the unique nature of the town. Fortunately, it had proven successful, though not for the developer who had been involved in an explosion leading to him suffering serious burns to a large proportion of his body.

But all of that was in the past, and while the story of the development and the explosion had filled the pages of The Courier for a time, it was now old news.

Adele was gradually improving, but was still in a state of grief, leaving much of Sandy’s upbringing to her father. It was Finn who’d enrolled the little boy in school at the start of the school year and who dropped him off and picked him up every day, grateful his position as editor of the local paper allowed him the flexibility to do so.

Since his father’s death, Sandy had become afraid of the ocean and while he still enjoyed playing in the sand, kept well away from the water. It worried Finn but he was unsure what he could do to help. He was also worried about the nightmares Sandy was having recently. In the past six months, the little boy had frequently wakened up screaming in the middle of the night, seemingly reliving his near-death experience.

Some days Finn felt burdened by worry about his daughter and grandson, and it was a welcome respite to get to the office where he could put them aside to concentrate on what was happening in the town and the world at large.

But perhaps things were going to change. He thought about his conversation with Adele over breakfast that morning, while Sandy was getting ready for school .

‘I think I’m ready to look for work,’ she said, twirling a strand of hair with her fingers. ‘I feel I haven’t been fair to you, Dad. You turned your life around for me and Sandy when…’ She paused. She still couldn’t talk about what had happened. ‘But we can’t lean on you for ever. It might even help Sandy if he could see me getting on with my life.’

‘Are you sure?’ While pleased to hear Adele was considering moving on with her life, Finn didn’t want her to made decisions based on any feeling of obligation to him.

‘Yes, I am,’ she said, sounding more forceful than he’d heard her since he moved here. ‘And I’m going to start by taking Sandy to school this morning.’

Finn had watched as a delighted Sandy took his mother’s hand and the pair set off to walk to school. He hoped this would prove to be the beginning of Adele’s return to a more normal life. Now, he was looking forward to returning home to discover if her new state of mind had lasted or if she’d sunk back into one of the bouts of depression that had plagued her over the past year.

*

‘Grandy!’ A small ball of energy barrelled into Finn as soon as he opened the door.

‘Woah!’ he said, picking Sandy up and twirling him around. ‘Did you have a good day at school? Where’s Mum?’ Finn glanced around. The house was quiet.

‘She took me to school and picked me up,’ Sandy said, ‘then she went to lie down.’

Finn’s heart plummeted. This wasn’t good.

‘I’m hungry, Grandy.’

‘Right. Let’s get you some milk, and why don’t I make you sandwich?’

‘With Nutella?’ Sandy asked hopefully.

‘With Nutella,’ Finn agreed, his eyes softening as he gazed at the little boy he loved so much.

Sandy was seated at the kitchen table with his milk and Nutella sandwich, his mouth rimmed with a mixture of milk and chocolate, and Finn was debating what they had to cook for dinner, when Adele appeared in the doorway .

‘Sorry, Dad. I’ve had a busy day. I think I may have found a job, and I took a long walk along the beach thinking about Tim. He wouldn’t want me to hide away, to leave everything to you, including Sandy.’ She glanced across to where the little boy was happily munching on his snack. ‘I just needed a rest. I’m fine now.’

‘You sure?’ She didn’t look fine, her eyes still bleary from sleep. But Finn did detect a new sense of purpose about her, something he hadn’t see in her since Tim died. ‘A job? Where?’

‘It was when I dropped Sandy off at school, I heard one of the teachers mention how one of the teacher’s aides had suddenly left. Something just clicked with me.’

‘You plan to apply?’ Although she hadn’t worked since before Sandy was born, Adele had trained as a teacher and worked in that role for several years before becoming pregnant. Being a teacher’s aide was a bit of a comedown, but it was a start.

‘I picked up an information pack. I spent the afternoon updating my CV before picking up Sandy. I think that’s what tired me out. It was hard, remembering how my life used to be, before…’ Her voice broke.

‘Oh, sweetheart.’ Finn pulled her into a warm hug. ‘You’ll be a great teacher’s aide, and your hours will fit in with Sandy’s.’

‘If I get it.’ Adele grimaced, but with the hint of a smile.

‘You will. They’d be lucky to have you.’

‘Maybe. Anyway, I’ll give it a go. And I dropped into the medical centre and made an appointment with the counsellor. I know I need help.’

For a moment, Finn was too overcome to speak. Adele had been ignoring his suggestions she needed help since he came to live here. ‘Well done,’ he said, his voice hoarse with emotion. He cleared his throat. ‘No need to worry about dinner. I’ve got it.’ Finn had remembered there was some roast left over from the weekend and a pack of frozen chips in the freezer. ‘Why don’t you and Sandy go into the living room and you can hear his reading?’

Alone in the kitchen, Finn started to organise dinner. He had a smile on his face. He began to hum to himself. Maybe it was going to be all right.