If she’d stayed here, she might not be working as a vet at all. Claire shuddered at the thought. She may not have much in her life besides work, but she loved her work. She couldn’t imagine being happy without it.
And in Bindallarah terms, being single at twenty-nine made Scotty the male equivalent of a spinster. Was that why he and Nina had got engaged so quickly? Did she tick most of the boxes on his ‘Dream Wife’ checklist, so he figured he’d better stop wasting time and lock her down?
Vanessa cleared her throat. ‘Scotty and Nina live at Thorne Hill, Claire,’ she said.
Without warning, a wave of nausea washed over her. She stared at Scotty, open-mouthed. ‘You do not.’
He looked down at his plate. ‘I was going to tell you,’ he mumbled.
Nina’s head swivelled between Scotty and Claire as though she was watching a tennis match. ‘You know Scotty’s farm?’ she asked, her eyes as round as horseshoes. ‘Sorry, our farm?’
‘Thorne Hill is my place. My family’s place. I mean, it was. It’s where I grew up.’ Claire turned to face her aunt. ‘But you said the McGraths next door had bought it,’ she accused.
‘The McGraths did buy it,’ Vanessa said patiently. ‘But Annie passed away last year and it was just too much land for Brian to look after on his own, so he sold it to Scotty . . . this past winter, wasn’t it?’
Scotty nodded. ‘Not long before we reconnected, Claire,’ he said, and she heard the note of pleading in his voice. He wanted her to understand. ‘I actually thought that might have been why you got in touch again after such a long time. I assumed Vanessa must have told you I’d bought it.’
Claire set her jaw. ‘Well, she didn’t.’
She felt betrayed, though she knew she had no right to. She hadn’t wanted the responsibility of the family’s dairy farm when Jim had died. Even Scotty’s plan that they marry and run it together couldn’t persuade her. Her father’s increasingly desperate attempts to make it profitable had pushed his own marriage to the brink, which in turn had been the reason Claire was banished to boarding school. Well, part of the reason, she admitted, as from the corner of her eye she watched Scotty watching her. She closed her eyes and was drawn back to her final summer at Thorne Hill, when Scotty had been a frequent visitor under the cover of darkness. She shivered at the memory.
Claire had left Vanessa to arrange for the farm to be sold while she escaped to California after her father’s death – one more thing she’d selfishly expected her aunt to just take care of. When she had found out the true extent of Jim’s financial woes, Claire had told herself she was doubly glad to be rid of the place. As long as the meagre proceeds of the sale cleared his debts and covered her college tuition, she had decided she didn’t care who bought the property. But a small part of her had been glad when she’d learned Jim’s neighbours were the farm’s new owners, instead of some developer looking to carve up the hundred acres of rolling green hinterland to build holiday cottages or something equally depressing.
‘I don’t get it, Scotty. Why would you buy the place? What are you going to do with it?’ That he hadn’t thought to mention he and his future wife would be beginning their married life in her childhood home was shocking enough, but what Claire couldn’t get her head around was why Scotty would want Thorne Hill at all. Her father had failed to make it profitable and it had proved too much for Brian McGrath. How was Scotty going to run both a farm and his vet clinic?
‘I’ve always liked Thorne Hill,’ he said. ‘It’s a beautiful spot up there in the hills and I don’t think its potential has ever been, uh, fully explored.’ He was choosing his words carefully, Claire could tell. She knew Scotty didn’t want her to think he was criticising her father – as if everyone in town wasn’t already well aware of Jim Thorne’s shortcomings as a businessman. ‘I wasn’t really looking to buy such a big property, but when I heard Brian was selling I realised it was too good an opportunity to pass up. I’ve got a lot of ideas for the place.’
‘Like what?’ she said, trying to pretend she didn’t notice Nina looking increasingly uneasy as her fiancé talked about the farm.
Scotty opened his mouth, but before he could reply Gus reappeared holding a stack of magazines. ‘Ta-da!’ she said triumphantly, dumping them on the table next to Nina’s plate. Nina looked startled. ‘Every issue of Cosmo Bride since 2010. You’re bound to find your dream dress in there, Nina.’
‘Gus, why do you have nearly a decade’s worth of bridal magazines? You’re only eighteen. You don’t even have a boyfriend,’ Claire said.
‘Thank you for pointing that out, Claire.’ Gus’s reply was tart. ‘You are correct. But I do have a very clear picture of what my wedding will look like when I do find Mr Right.’ She pushed the stack towards Nina. ‘Go for your life.’
Nina flicked half-heartedly through the top copy and exhaled, blowing out her cheeks. ‘Gosh, I don’t even know where to start,’ she said. She held up a picture of a ballgown-style dress with a bejewelled bodice and a skirt consisting of acres of gauzy tulle. ‘I doubt I’d be able to get anything this . . . weddingy in time
