Life Support: Escape to the Country by Nicki Edwards Page A

try to take it from you.”
    Emma raised her eyebrows. “What? Why would they want a farm in Birrangulla?”
    Andrew sighed wearily. “When they see Lexton Downs, they’re going to want it. That’s why I said they can’t find out about you wanting a divorce or about Lleyton and me. If they ever find out, you’ll have one massive fight on your hands. I’ve known the family for a long time and they fight dirty.”
    Emma crossed and uncrossed her legs before planting both feet on the ground and leaning forward. “Where do I sign?” she asked, with a voice full of determination.
    With another small smile Andrew pushed the paperwork across the desk to her and indicated where to put her signature. She accepted the pen he handed her. There was no way she would let the Chirnside family beat her.
    “What about the divorce papers?” she asked.
    Andrew pulled open another drawer and withdrew a thin folder. It was labeled in neat handwriting “strictly confidential.”
    “This is the only hard copy of them. I’ve deleted everything from the computer system.” He stood, went across to the long credenza and opened a cupboard. Inside was a paper shredder. “Would you like to do the honors?”
    Emma looked at him with a new sense of appreciation. “Why are you doing this for me?”
    “Because I loved Lleyton too and I hated what his parents did to him. I hated that he felt he had to live his whole life shrouded in secrecy.”
    For the next few seconds the only noise was the shredding sound of paper being destroyed. When the room was silent they stared at one another in mutual agreement and understanding. Emma stood and gave Andrew an awkward hug.
    “Thank you Andrew. Thank you for everything. I’m sorry life turned out this way for you too.” She dragged the set of keys toward her, hoping she hadn’t scratched the surface of his desk. She placed them in her handbag and fixed it on her shoulder. “You’d better give me the address for this place. I’ll go and check it out. I can’t promise I’ll stay there forever, but I can promise you I’m never going to let Mary-Margaret get her hands on it.”
    Emma left Andrew’s office weighted down with a huge responsibility, and yet at the same time it felt like he’d removed a massive burden from her shoulders. She clutched the printed directions to Lexton Downs in her hand before folding them and stuffing them in her bag.
    First things first she needed to quit her job. Then she needed to pack. It was time to put away the memories of her short married life.
     

Chapter 8
    Emma headed west, then turned north on the highway, knowing that if she didn’t stop, she could travel fourteen thousand kilometers and circumnavigate Australia on the same stretch of road. This time though, she was doing what she never expected to be doing – she was heading back to Birrangulla, taking the familiar highway out of Melbourne, through Victoria and across the border into central New South Wales. Home.
    In the ten short weeks since Lleyton’s funeral, everything had changed. She’d said her good-byes and walked away from their house, her job, her work colleagues and their few friends. Now, on this sunny first-day-of-spring day, she knew there was no turning back. She’d placed their furniture into storage until she decided what to do with it, and all she had with her were two massive suitcases packed with her clothes and half a dozen boxes of other bits and pieces she couldn’t part with.
    She exhaled. It didn’t matter whether she was having second thoughts about what she was doing, she had no choice but to keep going. With each passing kilometer doubt gnawed away at her insides and worry settled heavily on her shoulders. Was she doing the right thing? She hadn’t told anyone she was coming home, not even her mum and dad. What if Lexton Downs was nothing like Andrew had described? She’d have a house and plenty of money but no job and no plan B if everything failed.
    For the next