Authors: Elizabeth Dunk
He was beautiful. Not in a soft, pretty way. He was hard, and rugged, and etched like a marble statue. Edges and tone rather than flowing lines.
The way a man should be.
Sia took another sip of her drink. Just because it seemed Todd didn’t hate her any more wasn’t any reason for her to unleash the teenage crush again.
“I hope you don’t mind me barging in.” His husky voice in her ear didn’t help to change the direction of her wayward thoughts. “But I had to see you, ask you something.”
Sia slowly turned and her gaze was captured by his — pleading, unsure. She wondered when was the last time Todd Lansing had doubted what he was going to do.
Todd opened his mouth —those full, stupidly kissable lips — to speak but then something thudded on the table, knocking Sia’s wine glass and spilling the red liquid over her lap.
Her first action was to find a coaster or something to mop it up, but she stilled as she realised her father was leaning over her, glaring down at Todd.
“It’s not you,” Frank slurred. “Can’t be you, you’re too young. And you’re dead.”
Oh shit, Sia thought.
“I’m Todd Lansing Jr.” Todd responded with admirable calmness.
“The son. Right. Of course. You’re the freaking image of your dad.” Frank stood upright and swayed. He looked around, caught Sia’s eye and his first reaction was to frown, as always. Then his eyes lit up with an emotion Sia hadn’t seen for years — fear.
Frank lurched forward again to plant his face inches from Todd’s. “What are you doing with my daughter?”
“Celebrating the exhibition tonight. I didn’t see you there.”
Sia’s eyes widened. Why would Todd mention that?
“I don’t need to see her swanning around as if she’s the queen of the world, when in fact she’s nothing.”
Ten years of hearing those words should have numbed her to the impact. Would it ever happen?
“If you think she’s nothing, then you’re a fool.”
The quiet certainty in Todd’s voice warmed Sia’s heart like nothing else ever had.
Sienna stood and reached over to touch her father’s arm. “Let’s go home, Dad,” she said.
Frank reacted violently. He swung his arm up to release her and his hand hit Sienna under the chin. She fell back into her chair, grabbing her face and stared up at her father.
Frank had never hit her before. Or Brock, or Ebonny.
Only Sia.
If he knew what he’d done, he didn’t care. Instead, he thrust his finger at Todd. “You think you’re so fucking good, being a Lansing. Well, your father was a loser and so are you.” Then the finger stabbed at Sia’s forehead.
“Nothing. You think you’re so great, but you’re nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing.” Then he stumbled out of the pub.
Sia got up and rushed around to her sister. She pulled Sienna’s hands away and looked at her reddening chin.
“No cut,” she said softly. “Gonna be sore, but you’ll be fine. Charles, can you get me some ice?”
“He hit me,” Sienna whispered. “He’s never hit me.”
“I know, sweetie.” Sia kissed her forehead. “Consider it a lesson learned — you can’t get near him when he’s like that.”
“Sometimes, I thought that you deserved being hit.” Sienna’s voice was low and hoarse with shock and pain. “That was why he only hit you. I’m sorry I ever thought that.”
Charles returned with the ice and Sia pressed it against Sienna’s chin. “That will help with the swelling,” she said softly. “Let’s get you home and you can have some ibuprofen.”
“You’re not going home,” Mary said. “The two of you will sleep at our place tonight, so Frank can’t come find you.”
Sia looked over her shoulder to tell Mary it would be fine, but noted Charles and Todd whispering furiously. Sia made Sienna hold the ice to her chin, then went over to the two men. She was pretty sure she knew what they were talking about.
“No.”
They frowned at her. “No what?” Todd said.
“No, you won’t go after my father. He’s drunk and upset. He’ll sleep it off and be fine in the morning.”
“Sia, I’ve dealt with my fair share of drunks over the years, and you can’t let this continue. If he —”
“He’s upset,” Sia said. “Once he deals with what’s upset him, he’ll be fine.”
Todd frowned. “Will he?”
“Of course. You are, aren’t you?”
He blinked and his face softened. “Starting to.”
“And Dad will be too.”
Todd looked at Charles, nodded and the other man went over to check on Sienna. Then Todd leant closer.
Sia was torn between being glad he had and wishing he hadn’t. Boy he smelt good — masculine and strong.
“Your safety is important.”
“My family is more important.”
“Is your father really part of your family?”
“Of course. You haven’t seen him with the children. He loves them, and they adore him. Poor Sienna’s had a bad night, but there’s still a part of her that loves her father to distraction and I want that to continue. Children deserve to be able to love their parents, don’t you think?”
“Yes, I do.” His lips twisted in a slight smile. “Everything you do is about caring for the children, isn’t it?”
“I want them to have the best life possible.”
“And who cares for you?”
The gentle question shook her and she wasn’t sure how to respond.
The door to the pub flung open, hitting the wall with a crack that drew the attention of everyone present.
A man stood in the doorway. “Come, quick. The town hall’s on fire.”
Then he looked at Sia. “It’s your dad.”
Sia ran. Out the door and down the middle of main street not caring if any cars were coming. It was a couple of hundred metres to the town hall and she could see a crowd in front of the building. No flames.
She pushed through and found her father lying on the bitumen, two men hovering over him. Frank was pointing at the building and laughing.
Sia looked over her shoulder — piles of paper rested against the door and walls of the building. Some had been set on fire and were now smouldering while the rest were still in pristine condition.
“Too late, too late,” her father crowed. “It’s gone. Everything’s gone.” Then he pointed at her and laughed louder. “All your paintings. Gone, gone, gone. Now who’s the fabulous one?”
Sia sunk to her knees, stunned by the viciousness of his action, even though she knew her work was safe. He’d tried to destroy her paintings.
Was there any hope?
“It’s fine,” one of the men said. “He’d only lit a couple and we put them out when we stopped him.”
“What about the ones at the back?” Frank giggled.
On cue, a whooshing sound and flames appeared licking over the back of the building, igniting leaves and twigs in the gutter.
“Fuck. Call the firies, quick,” someone yelled.
“Cops are on their way,” someone else said.
Sia blinked. Her father could be in big trouble. “Dad.” She reached for his hand. “Dad, we have to get out of here.”
“No.” Frank jumped to his feet. The two men who’d been hovering grabbed him so he couldn’t escape. “No, I want everyone to see. I want everyone to know. What a useless, ungrateful excuse for a daughter I’ve got.”
“Dad,” Sia whispered. She’d saved him once before — could she do it again?
“Look at you. Looking at me like you’re better than me. Well, you’re not. Understand? You’re not better than me.”
“Sia’s a million times better than you, old man,” said one of the men, who Sia now recognised as a customer at the club.
“You think so. She’s a criminal, you know. Got a criminal record. What you think of that?”
Her father’s thinking was so twisted. “Dad, you’re right. You are a good man. You are, you are.”
“Better than you.”
“Yes.”
“No.” Sienna had arrived, the group from the hotel behind her. “Sia’s a million times better than you. I don’t care about that stupid mistake when she was younger. She’s proven herself since, and you haven’t.”
Sia’s heart sank — after all the years of trying to protect her, it seemed Sienna’s relationship with their father was now fracturing too.
“You stupid bitch. You don’t know nothing. God, this bloody town lauds her for that robbery, and she didn’t even do it.”
Silence. Sia closed her eyes.
“What do you mean, she didn’t do it?” Sienna said.
“You see?” Frank’s voice rang with victory. “You think she’s done such a great job, that she’s such a wonderful person for turning her life around, but she hasn’t. She never had to. She didn’t commit that robbery. She just took the heat for it. Stupid bitch.”
“Well now, that’s very interesting, Frank.” Col Hamilton, Oberon’s sole police officer, stepped into the centre of the crowd. “Very interesting indeed.”
And just like that, all her actions ten years ago came undone.
“Sia, is this true?”
Sia opened her eyes. Her sister was looking at her with wonder and fear.
“Dad’s drunk,” Sia said. “You know how drunk people are. Can’t believe a word they say.”
“It’s true. It’s all true. I stole the stuff from old man Lansing. I hid it under Sia’s bed and when the cops came, she took the blame for it but it was me. All me.”
Not entirely true, Sia thought. The goods had been on her father’s mattress when she got home from school. He’d been in the kitchen, drinking and panicking. Frank Collins had done the occasional piece of petty larceny, but breaking and entering was a new thing for him and it wasn’t sitting well.
Sia had put the stuff under her bed, so her dad wouldn’t have to see it. Then they’d been sitting at the table, trying to work out what to do, when the cops came.
It had been instinct to have her stand up and say the goods were hers when they were found. Instinct to keep her father out of jail and at home, caring for eight-year-old Sienna.
He was still needed at home. She still needed to protect him.
“Not true,” she said. “I did it. I was convicted, remember?”
“It was me. It was me!” Frank screamed.
“Well, this was certainly you,” Col said. “Frank Collins, you’re under arrest for arson.” He pulled out the cuffs and slipped them on.
“What’s the bond?” Sia said.
“I’ll call you tomorrow with the details,” Col said as he pulled Frank away.
Sirens announced the imminent arrival of the fire brigade. Everyone moved away, across the street, to wait and watch and hope the building could be saved.
A hand took her elbow and drew Sia to the back of the crowd. She found herself facing Todd.
“It’s true, isn’t it? It wasn’t you. It was your father. You’ve been covering for him all these years. Like you were about him hitting Sienna. Like you tried to just then.”
The weight seemed so huge that Sia felt like she was being crushed by it. She looked up at the man most affected by her lies and said, “Yes. It was my father, not me.”
The weight fell away and she felt like she was flying, soaring with relief that finally, someone knew her secret.
“But no one can know,” she said. “Not even Sienna.”
“I think Sienna knows.”
“I’ll convince her otherwise. For the family’s sake.”
Todd gently touched her cheek and shivers ran over her body. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “All this time I’ve hated you, blamed you and you weren’t involved at all.”
“I’m sorry that it caused you so much pain.”
Todd cupped her jaw tenderly. “You are a remarkable woman, Sia Collins.”
It seemed he moved forward and she thought — hoped — he would kiss her, but he pulled away. “You’d better get Sienna to bed, and get some sleep yourself.”
Sia turned and saw Sienna standing at the edge of the crowd, staring at them. From the determination on her sister’s face, she guessed it was going to be a hard road to convince her of their father’s innocence.
Funny, how life can change in just an instant.
The first thing Todd did when he got home was go to his father’s office. He sat down at the desk — it still felt wrong, to be sitting here. He looked around the room and his brain tried to settle everything it now knew.
It hadn’t been Sia who’d climbed in here and taken some of his father’s precious belongings. It had been Frank, and she’d done the same thing then she was doing now — protecting him for the sake of her family.
She’d taken on the reputation of a criminal, and she’d had to fight to gain the respect and admiration he’d seen tonight when it shouldn’t have even been in question.
And he’d chased her from school — fuck knew if she’d managed to finish her education. He’d spent the best part of the last two weeks plotting ways to destroy her life when she’d never, ever done anything wrong. Had always been the funny, sweet, hot girl that had featured in several fabulous teenage dreams of his.
Then he’d become a cop to catch people like Sia. People who destroyed other people’s lives and seemed to get away with it. Except — it turned out Sia wasn’t one of those people at all.
How had the police at the time not realised Sia’s confession was false? Had they been too overworked to properly investigate, deciding they’d make do with Sia’s confession?
“Todd?” His mother’s voice was surprisingly strong even though it came from down the hall.
Maria was lying against her pillows, her eyes wide and alert. She was pale, but otherwise seemed well.
“Why are you still up?” Todd sat by her hip and kissed her cheek.
“Not still up. Slept, now awake. What you doing in your father’s office?”
“How did you know that’s where I was?”
“I know angle of light from this bed. Saw it over the years.”
Todd picked up his mother’s hand. “Just thinking. About Dad.”
“What thinking?”
“How mad I was at him, for dying before I had a chance to fix things with him. I was going to tell him that I’d go to business school.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“I wasn’t going to actually do it, just let him think for a while I was. Give him something to be happy about.”
Maria squeezed his hand. “Never understood you. Paul, straight away. You like me.”
“I was so mad that he was taken from me, and I blamed Sia.”
“Now?”
“It wasn’t her fault.” He wasn’t going to tell his mother everything — not now — but it felt good to say it.