Chapter 1

CHAPTER

1

Bree sat alone in the silent courtroom. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. She’d done her job and done it well. They had won. Why, then, was she sitting here alone and feeling empty? The rest of the legal team were outside with their clients, preening in front of the media circus. She should be with them. She was one of the key faces in the firm of Fuller and Johnston; not a senior partner, but she had the Johnston name and certain things were expected of her. Getting her face on the news was one of them.

She wasted a bit more time gathering the papers on the table in front of her onto a pile, then slipped them into her briefcase. It wasn’t as if she had taken the lead in this case; her mother had done that. Bree had been here for … she wasn’t sure quite what. Not backup. Her mother never needed backup. She was here to show the strength of the firm and of the name.

Bree sighed and got to her feet. Her heels clicked on the hard floor as she left the room without a backwards glance. The scrum on the steps of the court building was in full swing. At the top, her clients were holding forth about being proven right and having their good name restored. Her mother was standing next to them, smiling. Margaret Fuller loved to win. Bree paused a couple of metres away and listened. When it was her mother’s turn to answer, Margaret spoke in glowing terms of justice done and legal milestones. But all Bree heard was money. More money for their corporate client and more money for the firm. And, if she was honest, more money for her too. She would have preferred to feel a bit of pride in what they’d done. She’d always believed the law was about protecting people. All they had protected today was a bank statement.

This was not how she wanted to live her life.

She turned and walked away from the crowd. With luck, her mother hadn’t seen her. She’d think of some excuse by tomorrow. Her steps took her past the gleaming glass tower that housed her office. She didn’t stop. Conscious that her feet were starting to hurt, she kept walking to the smaller, slightly older building where she lived. She took the lift to her flat and, the moment she stepped inside, kicked off the hated high heels.

Wriggling her toes, she reached for her phone. Her assistant answered on the first ring.

‘Congrats, Brianna.’

‘Thanks, Ken.’ Bree walked across the soft carpet to open the sliding glass doors and step onto the small balcony with its view of Sydney Harbour. Well, glimpse more than a view. ‘Are they back yet?’

‘Yes. Your mother was looking for you.’

Of course she was. ‘I’m taking the afternoon off. Tell her … Tell her whatever you want. Text me if there’s anything urgent, but otherwise I’m off the clock.’

‘Is there anything wrong?’

That question would take a lot of answering. ‘Everything is fine. I’ve been putting in some ridiculous hours these past few days so I’m going to let my hair down for a bit. That’s all. I’ll see you tomorrow.’ Bree hung up before he could reply.

Letting her hair down was exactly what she did. She released the wild curls from their constricting pins and shook her head. That felt much better. As did the worn jeans and hand-knitted jumper that replaced her business suit. With feet now encased in comfortable hiking boots, she picked up her car keys and left the flat.

***

Just over an hour later, she had shaken off the city and was smiling as she drove through a familiar gateway and down a long gravel driveway. On either side, alpacas grazed in green paddocks or lay in the sun, napping. They were brown and white and black, and various shades between. She spotted a few she knew very well indeed and that made her smile all the more.

She parked her car near the house, but seeing activity in the yards, walked in that direction.

‘Hi, Bree.’ A woman appeared from the feed shed. ‘We weren’t sure if you would make it today.’

‘Hi, Mel. I decided to take the afternoon off. How are my girls?’

‘You’re just in time for the scans. Come on.’

Mel led the way to the yards, where her husband Ash was waiting. The two young women who worked for them were gently encouraging the alpacas to move around the yards, eventually putting a halter on each one. It was all done with the minimum of fuss and the animals didn’t look at all disturbed as they were presented to Ash. Bree recognised every one of the animals because they were hers—both the mothers and the babies following them around. With help from Mel and Ash, she’d slowly been building her herd and now had twelve breeding females boarded here. She also had three beautiful boys, although they weren’t part of today’s activity.

‘Glad you made it, Bree.’ Ash glanced up from the screen beside him. ‘We’re about to start.’ Turning to the alpaca, he gently stroked its neck, then slowly ran an electronic device under its stomach. He nodded at the screen. ‘There you go.’

Bree leaned forward to study the blurry black and white image. When she had done this with her very first animal three years ago, all she’d seen on the screen was an incomprehensible blob. She knew better now and smiled as she saw the image of the cria inside the alpaca’s womb.

‘You are such a good mum, Willow,’ she crooned. The animal turned its deep brown eyes to her and gazed at her through thick white eyelashes. Bree had fallen in love with Willow the day they met. That day, she had taken that first outrageous step and paid a stupid amount of money for an animal on display at a show. She’d known nothing about alpacas, but that didn’t matter. It felt right to buy Willow, and then Cass, followed by Sky and the rest of her small herd. She’d learned a lot since then. A lot about feeding, medical care, shearing and spinning and knitting. But mostly that she loved every minute spent with the gentle creatures.

‘Next,’ said Ash quietly. Bree took Willow’s halter and led her away, her well grown youngster following behind.

For the next hour, Bree worked with her friends, conscious of the difference between this soothing work and the cutthroat business of arguing legal precedent in court, or even at an office meeting. This was how life should be.

‘Bree. You need to look at this.’ The tone of Ash’s voice made her frown.

He was standing beside Sky, an elegant creature with a coat such a beautiful mixture of brown and cream that she looked almost pink. She was the most valuable of Bree’s herd; her unusual fleece ordered in advance each year by spinners keen to have the rare—and expensive—colour.

Bree joined him and looked at the scanner screen. She didn’t see anything for a moment, then frowned. ‘Twins.’

‘Yeah.’

‘Oh.’ Bree gently patted Sky’s face. This was not good news. Sky had conceived twins two years before and lost both of them. Twin conceptions were not all that rare for alpacas and sometimes they resulted in a single live cria. But two live births … ‘What did you tell me last time? The odds? One in ten thousand?’

‘It’s far more likely only one of them will develop and she’ll reabsorb the other.’

‘I would be pleased with one healthy offspring.’

‘We will need to keep a close eye on her,’ Ash said.

Bree nodded and stroked Sky’s neck. ‘We’ll look after you, girl,’ she whispered. ‘Don’t you worry.’

Bree, however, was worried. Her diary for the next few months was overloaded with cases. She would be working long hours in the city and would have to rely on Mel and Ash to care for Sky. That wasn’t right—they had their own animals to look after. Bree hadn’t invested her heart in these animals to see them occasionally for a couple of hours a week. She had a dream. One put on hold for far too long.

It was time to do something about that.