The Ripple Effect Part 19

He was dead right. She had found another guy. "Yes," Joelle said. "Except he's not just any guy, he's my brother."

"You don't have a brother," he exclaimed furiously.

"I discovered recently that I'm adopted, Paul. And I do have a brother. He found me." This was like the confessions recovering alcoholics make. It was rather a cathartic experience, Joelle discovered. "I'm sorry for not returning your calls but you can see why I've been distracted."

"Christ. Adopted?"

"Yes. It's been a very emotional time."

"Fine. Right, well. I suppose you have been a bit...listen, give me a call sometime."

"Maybe. Good bye, Paul."

"Bye. I guess I'll see you around, Joelle."

Joelle replaced the receiver gently on its cradle. "Well well," she said, quite bemused by his reaction and his swift retreat. "Fancy that. He couldn't get away fast enough when he heard my news. Why would that be?"

"I think the word *emotional' probably did the trick," called Mel from the balcony where she was sitting with her bare feet up on the railing.

Joelle came to lean on the railing and stare at the view. Lights were beginning to twinkle out along the sea front and over on the distant headland. The last red and purple rays of the setting sun spread out over the still flatness of the dusky grey ocean.

"The last girlfriend a jerk like Paul wants is an emotionally needy wreck."

Joelle laughed. "Thanks a lot. There's so much wrong with that statement I can't begin to comment."

"You can't deny he likes uncomplicated fun with his uncomplicated women."

"How do you know so much about him?" Women? Plural? What was Mel on about? Hadn't she been his only woman? To the point where they were invited as a couple and Viv expected a proposal any day?

"I get around. I hear things."

"Have you dated him?" asked Joelle, her voice almost rising to a surprised squeak.

"Not b.l.o.o.d.y likely. Give me a break. No, Annie told me about him and I've seen him at a few of the clubs."

"Not with me, though." He'd never mentioned going clubbing and never suggested it either. So much for Paul's devotion.

"No. He spreads himself around."

"Good, I don't feel half so bad at giving him the flick now," Joelle said grimly. Perhaps if she'd been more enamoured she would have noticed something.

"I doubt he'll be pining away, Jo."

"Certainly doesn't sound like it."

Darkness had stolen in while they'd been discussing Paul. A cool breeze sprang up from nowhere, rustling amongst the treetops, causing Joelle to shiver involuntarily. She rubbed her bare arms.

"I'm going in. I have to write an ad."

"For Graysons?" Mel swung her feet down from the railing and hoisted herself out of her canvas chair.

"No, for the shop." Joelle waited for Mel to leave the balcony then slid the gla.s.s door closed. She headed for her bedroom to change into something warmer. "Tracey wants to go part time which is a real pain because she's terrific. She's moving in with her father. He's having a series of operations."

"I could do it." Mel had followed Joelle and now leaned against the doorframe.

Joelle glanced up from pulling on a sock. "Look after Tracey's father?"

"No. Work in the shop."

"But you're..." Joelle hesitated. She looked at Mel's face and saw an unaccustomed expression-apprehension mixed with eagerness and a touch of desperation. Instead of finishing the sentence she'd started-*you're unreliable and unqualified and generally hopeless'-she adapted it. "I suppose it could work out," she murmured. "Tracey said for a few months until her Dad gets back on his feet so that would suit you."

"I could do with the money," said Mel. "I quit my other job at the pizza place."

And the one at the newsagent and the waitressing and the one at the motel and the list went on.

"You'd have to turn up regularly," said Joelle sternly. "And work hard and do what you were told. It'd be mornings. You could come in with me and finish at one. Plus you'd be on Sat.u.r.day mornings. And you have to be polite to everybody-stupid, rude or whatever."

Mel beamed. "I would, Jo, promise. Pregnancy has made me more bovine. Lucky I don't get morning sickness, isn't it?"

Joelle smiled and slipped a sweater over her head. Mel couldn't do too much damage while she and Viv were there. Pregnancy had changed her, she was right about that. "You'd do deliveries and serve in the shop seeing as how you don't know about floristry."

"I can do that. Cool. Thanks, Jo. When do I start?"

"I'll ring Tracey and tell her I've got it covered. Maybe Monday."

"What's the pay?" asked Mel and ducked as Joelle tossed a slipper at her.

Shay slogged through his work at the practice and his shifts at the hospital. Easter approached at a snail's pace. Talking to Joelle on the phone and via email was a poor subst.i.tute for seeing her pretty face smiling at him with such wonder and excitement.

They alternated their calls-he rang one time, she rang the next. Since their day together, they called each other every couple of days, slipping quickly into a comfortable and natural routine. She was his confidante, his friend, in a strange way far closer than his other siblings had ever been. Far closer than any of his girlfriends. The tie of a common blood pulsing in their veins. How had he ever managed without her?

They barely discussed the missing relatives. It didn't seem very important now that they'd found each other. It would take a lifetime to discover all there was about this wonderful girl, his sister, without complicating the issue so soon.

Fortunately, Mel had proven an enthusiastic a.s.sistant in the Grayson search and, apart from the ads he'd already placed in various newspapers around the country, he'd happily turned over most of the work to her. Now the letters were in the mail their contact was minimal. Mel told him she'd put Joelle's as the return address so she could monitor the results.

Joelle told him in their last phone conversation she'd employed Mel part-time in the Garden of Earthly Delights.

"She's going well at the moment. I think she's on her best behaviour," she said. "The customers seem to like her which is the main thing and I know she's honest. That's one thing about Mel, she'd never steal anything from anyone."

"That's great you've given her a job," said Shay. "It's good for her self esteem. I don't think she's as self-confident as she pretends."

"No, I've realised that too. She's trying so hard to be responsible for her baby."

"Any word on the father? What did you say his name was?"

"Luke. No, she hasn't mentioned him again. I'm not game to push it any more."

Shay settled himself more comfortably on his couch. His feet were up on the coffee table. "I wish Easter would hurry up," he said. "I want to show you off to my parents."

"It's only a fortnight. You sound like a little kid waiting for his birthday."

Her voice sounded warm and intimate in his ear. Shay laughed softly. He already had his present. Joelle. "They'll love you," he said. "Lisa and Ben are coming home too, to meet you. Evan wasn't sure where he'd be but he said he would come if he could swing some leave. He's in the Navy."

"I'm amazed they want to travel so far just to see me. Hope they're not disappointed when I turn up and they see how ordinary I am."

"You're not ordinary at all. You're my sister, how could you possibly be ordinary?"

"How indeed, Mr Wonderful?" Joelle laughed. "It's still so odd. You don't seem like my brother even though I know you are." She paused and said hesitantly, her voice husky, "You seem..." The words trailed away.

"How do I seem?" Shay leaned forward pressing the receiver close to his ear. He realised he'd lowered his voice and it was husky too, like hers.

"I don't know," she whispered. "Not like a brother."

Shay's chest tightened and his throat suddenly clogged. He closed his eyes. He could hear her breath feathering against the phone. Those gold blonde tendrils of hair would be falling about her smooth cheeks, her brow would be furrowed as she concentrated on-him. Hot blood surged through his body.

They mustn't do this!

He hardened his tone deliberately and sat up straight. "It's because we're comparative strangers," he said. "We didn't grow up together. We find each other fascinating, that's all. It'll wear off and we'll end up treating each other the way we treat our other brothers and sisters."

He heard a swiftly indrawn breath, followed by a split second silence, followed by a shaky, "I suppose so."

"When can you get away at Easter?" he asked. "I'd like to leave on the Thursday to beat the traffic. Can you manage that? It'd be best if you came here on Wednesday night and we left first thing the next morning. Back on Tuesday."

"Yes, I think I can organise that. Mel can do full days and Tracey can come in. They'll manage."

"Great."

"I have to go, Shay, someone's at the door and Mel's out."

"Okay. Talk to you later."

Shay hung up with a broad smile. Five whole days together. Stan would love her. Shay couldn't wait to see his face. And Olive's. In fact, most of Birrigai knew the story. Joelle was almost a celebrity but he wasn't telling her that, she was nervous enough as it was. Silly girl. She was gorgeous, sweet and loveable and he'd never been so proud of anyone in his life.

Late that night the phone rang. Shay, mostly asleep, groped about with one hand, knocked his book to the floor, tangled his other arm in the doona and at the same time struggled to sit up. Doctors had to get used to these midnight calls he supposed but it would take him a long, long time. Twelve thirty-one. Cripes.

"Lo," he grunted. He reached over and flicked the reading light on.

"Shay?"

"Joelle." He blinked widely and rubbed a hand over his face. "Anything wrong?"

"I'm-not sure-I needed to talk to you. Tonight when I had to answer the door? Remember?"

"Yep."

"It was Dad." Her voice was flat. He couldn't tell what she was thinking. Can't have been an easy meeting.

"How did it go?" he asked.

"I didn't say much. He came to see Mel. He was terribly upset; he didn't know where she was after she left the group house."

"Didn't she tell her parents she was with you?"

"No."

Shay sighed. Joelle hadn't told them either. The family was being ripped apart.

"It's partly my fault," he said sadly. "If I hadn't turned up the way I did you could have been a buffer between them. Helped."

"It's not your fault at all," she cried fiercely. "It's not. It's theirs. And I am helping Mel. They turned her away and I took her in."

"So what's happening now?"

"Mel was out when he arrived. I had to sit there. I could barely look at him, Shay. I really didn't want to be in the same room but I had to wait for Mel to come home. I couldn't refuse to let him see her. Luckily she'd only gone to the video shop. When she got back I left them to it."

"So they've sorted it out?"

"I guess. Mel and Dad have, at least. She told me Mum doesn't know he was looking for her. They haven't learned a thing, Shay. Can't he see they need to tell each other everything? Can't he see that it's these secrets that cause all the trouble?"

"People work out their own way of dealing with things. They have a strong relationship regardless of what someone else may think of how they resolve their problems."

"When I get married I want complete honesty. I don't want my husband keeping things from me," she said defiantly.

"I agree. It's the way I was brought up." A pang of such intense jealousy shot through him he almost gasped. The idea of a husband sharing the intimacy he had with her made him sick to the stomach. He drew his knees up and wrapped his free arm around them, drawing the doona closer.

"You were lucky," she said.

Defiance replaced by resignation now. It hadn't escaped him she'd used Mum and Dad to refer to William and Natalie where previously she'd either not referred to them at all or called them by their first names. On the whole he thought it probably a good thing she'd seen William and also seen his attempt to make amends with Mel.

"So were you," he replied gently. "They're not monsters, Jo. Just confused human beings like the rest of us."

He heard a heavy release of air as she sighed. "I know."

Shay lay back down. He stretched out and pulled up the covers.

"Are you in bed?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Did I wake you?"

"Yes."

"Sorry."

"It's okay. We missed out on things like this when we were kids."

"Midnight snacks and stuff, you mean?" She giggled softly. "Bridge and I got into awful trouble once because we ate half a chocolate cake in the middle of the night. We'd been reading Enid Blyton's Famous Five books. In that, kids were always doing things like that. Secret meetings and midnight raids on the kitchen. Lashings of ginger beer."