Page 76 of Return to the Waratah Inn

“I can’t wait to take you to the Waratah Inn to meet everyone,” Mima finally said when she stood at the door to tell him goodbye late that night to return to her hotel room.

He kissed her on the cheek. “I can’t wait to meet them, Mum.”

Hearing him call her “Mum” released a balloon of joy deep down inside her soul. She drifted back to her car to drive home with a teary grin on her face.

Chapter Forty-One

February 1998

Banora Point

The next afternoon, Mima was soaking in the swimming pool at her retirement resort in Banora Point with her friend Betty. She had a lot on her mind, but her body was utterly exhausted. She planned to do absolutely nothing all afternoon but lie in the cool blue water or in a comfortable reclining chair beside the pool and perhaps read the latest James Patterson novel, which was currently casting a small rectangular shadow on her striped towel.

Betty occupied the next chair over, her mouth slightly ajar and a soft snoring emitting from it. Betty always fell to sleep in that banana lounge. But Mima wasn’t one to sleep in public. She had no idea how Betty managed it so gracefully. The other swimmers couldn’t tell Betty had dozed off, since she wore a big pair of sunglasses to hide her eyes from scrutiny.

Everything Mima had been through the previous day kept playing over and over in her mind like a movie reel. She’d wondered if the show might have been an attempt by Luca Falco to reconnect with her due to a sense of regret over what he’d done when he walked away from her all those years ago. But she hadn’t let herself consider that her baby might still be alive. The hope would’ve killed her if it’d been dashed away again.

She should’ve considered it was a possibility at the time. They’d taken Fran’s baby—why not take hers as well? They’d told Fran to her face what they’d done. They were clearly capable of it. But to lie about Mima’s baby dying . . . that was beyond anything she’d believed the staff were capable of. She’d known them well enough to realise they could be cold-hearted, cruel even at times. Still, that level of cruelty was inhuman.

There were laws that protected her rights. It wasn’t legal to tell her that her baby had died, to hand her paperwork that signed away her rights, when she was out of her mind with grief. Someone should be held to account. But would they? Not very likely. Mima was old enough to understand how these things went. The perpetrators of crimes rarely saw justice for what they’d done after the passage of enough time. Most of them had probably already passed away. And history had never been kind to women. Especially women who didn’t conform to society’s expectations. Women who rebelled against the norms. Women like Mima.

And now she had a son. All this time, she’d longed for a family, wished she’d been able to marry the love of her life and have children together. She’d cried so many tears into her pillow and on Edie’s shoulder when Allen was out there all along, missing her, searching for her, hoping he’d someday get a chance to meet her. Life was too cruel.

“Mima!” Jack’s voice snapped her out of her reverie.

She looked across the top of the sparkling blue water and gave him a wave as he shut the pool gate behind him. He walked to the edge and peered down at her with one hand cupped over his eyes to cut the glare. “Nice day for a swim.”

She grinned at him. “I wasn’t expecting to see you today. What a pleasant surprise.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Okay, I’ve waited long enough. Come out here and talk to me. You’ve had no smart-aleck quips about my hat, or my smelly socks for ages. I don’t know what’s going on, but I think it’s time to let it out.”

Jack went to sit beside Betty while he waited. Mima inhaled a long, slow breath. He was right. She had to talk to someone about what’d happened or she’d go mad. She hadn’t wanted to burden the girls with the details—all three of them had enough on their own plates and didn’t need to worry about her. But Jack would listen and understand. He was a good friend and had been for as long as she could remember. The realisation surprised her a little. They’d always had a combative, teasing type of relationship. He and Edie were in love, while he and Mima sparred. But now, he was her rock, her confidante, the only one left from her old life, the only one who’d been with her through some of the most difficult seasons and who understood her pain against the backdrop of his own.

She gathered her things together, said goodbye to Betty, and led Jack back to her unit. It was a cosy little space with a small garden outside, a verandah, one bedroom, a kitchenette and living room, along with a neat garage for her car. It had everything she needed, including an entire wall adorned with newly framed photographs of the various seasons of her life and the people she’d loved along the way.

“I like what you’ve done with the place since I was here last,” Jack said as he studied the photographs. “Very homey.”

Mima set the kettle to boil and retrieved two mugs from the cupboard, along with some tea bags and sugar. “Thanks. I like it here. It’s not the Waratah, but it’ll do.”

She poured the tea and then carried it to the small table out on the front verandah. The shaded space was one of her favourite places to sit, read and contemplate life. She could see the other residents coming and going, could hear the splash of the swimming pool, and could feed the many brightly coloured rosellas and rainbow lorikeets that came calling with their darting black eyes looking for the birdseed she kept handy.

When they were both seated and sipping their tea, Mima cleared her throat. “I know you’ve been wondering what’s going on with me. I wasn’t ready to talk about it before. Heck, I didn’t know what to say. But now I’m ready. If you are.”

“I’m champing at the bit. Let’s hear it.”

Mima cleared her throat and set down the tea cup on the small, glass table beside her. “I have to go back to 1953 before I can tell you what’s been happening lately.”

His eyes widened in surprise, but he didn’t say a word. He simply listened as she spoke. She told him everything, leaving out no detail. There was no shame for her any longer, no need to keep the truth in the darkness where she’d hidden it for decades. The shroud of secrets, lies and disgrace had been lifted the moment she laid eyes on the tall, strong man who was her son. Who looked at her with a love that she’d never known but had always grieved missing out on. Seeing his face had opened up something in her heart that she would never allow to close again.

When she was done, Jack sat quietly for a few moments, taking in her words. Then, he stood and moved over to where she sat. He squatted in front of her and embraced her.

“You have a son?”

She nodded. “He’s incredible. Looks a lot like me.”

He blinked. “Well, strike me pink. I didn’t see that one coming.”

She grinned through a blur of tears. “Me neither. I’m not sure if I’m coming or going, to be honest.”