Deception - 1. Dec Chapter 1

It was not long after I had graduated from college, after two years of studies for a Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing, that life changed dramatically for me. I had been living with my single mother, and I was told that my late father was killed in a scuba diving accident, when I was just two-years old.

While studying and since graduating from college, I have been working part time at a vet clinic and working part time at a small horse & beef cattle farm on the edge of town, to pay for my college fees, and it was when I returned home from work, that I was faced with a dramatic change in my life.

“Gres Langton?” the police officer asked me as I approached the small apartment that my mother and I shared, “Yes, what has happened? Is my mum ok?” I asked suddenly worried, “I’m sorry to inform you, that your mother had collapsed at the front of the building, she was taken to hospital, but passed away shortly after” the police officer said to me.

From that point on, everything was a blur over the next few days, I vaguely remember attending the funeral at the crematorium chapel, and some days later I woke up to the sound of a knock on the door, and I staggered through the lounge to the door, to find my boss from the veterinary clinic there, and I stepped aside to let her in.

“Gres, we have all been worried about you, as you have missed 5 days of work, and by the looks of the lounge room, you haven’t been looking after yourself either, please Gres let us organise some help for you” Marie De Santos said as she led me to a chair where I sat down and burst into tears.

I had lost count on the number of times that I had just sat down and cried, often eventually falling asleep from exhaustion. Marie went to the kitchen to make me a cup of tea. While I slowly settled down and began my drink, Marie gathered the dirty cups and dishes from the coffee table and began to wash them in the kitchen.

I heard her talking to someone on her mobile, but I wasn’t paying much attention. Sometime later, I found that three of my work colleagues had arrived, and they were all helping to tidy up the apartment. Lance Gibbons, who is a vet at the clinic encouraged me to have a shower and change into some fresh clothes, with a gentle push into the bathroom, and he closed the door behind me.

I stood there for a while not sure what to do. “Gres, are you getting into the shower? Lance said from the other side of the bathroom door, and I began to get undressed, and turned on the shower, adjusting the temperature. When I stepped out of the shower, I was feeling a lot better, as I walked down the short passage to my bedroom, with just a towel around my waist, and I was about to close the door when I realized that Lance was in my room.

“Hey buddy, I have found some fresh clothes for you, just set them out on your freshly made bed, I’ve changed the sheets, and Marie is doing the laundry for you” Lance said as he exited the bedroom to allow me to get dressed. When I stepped into the lounge room some time later, the place was spotless, and my four work colleagues were standing around smiling.

“I appreciate what you have done for me, I guess I just needed a bit of a push to get out of this nightmare” I said to them, “Mate, all you have to do is just let us know, and we will be here for you” Amanda Davis, the other veterinary nurse said, “Ok, thanks again” I said, as my work mates made their way to the door. “Make sure that you come to work tomorrow” Marie said cheerfully as she left the apartment.

I did turn up for work the next day, and my work mates kept me busy through the day, and as we were cleaning up at the end of the day, Marie’s mobile rang, which was on the office desk, and she picked it up straight away, a few minutes later she called my name, and I walked down the hall to her office.

“Gres, I’ve just had a call from Lucas Patterson, he happens to have your mum’s will, he’s asked me to be with you when he reads it to you, he’s on his way over now” Marie said, I took a deep breath and nodded my head, and returned to where I was cleaning animal cages out the back.

About half an hour later, I walked back into Marie’s office to let her know that I had finished cleaning the cages, and she was talking to a man who I had seen briefly before somewhere, Marie motioned me to come into the office and to sit. Twenty minutes later, I had been informed that my mother had left me with the apartment, which is fully paid for, along with the car and $3820 in savings, which was about all I expected, although I was a bit surprised that the apartment was mortgage free.

The lawyer also said that I was entitled to a share of a trust fund, set up by my great uncle on my father’s side, when asked how many are entitled to this trust fund and how much, I was informed that there are 5 nieces and nephews including myself, and that each have a share in a large trust fund. “Mr. Patterson, as the moment, I don’t know what I want in life, you can look into this some more if you like, but I’m not sure if I want that” I said, and I left the office and building, walking home along the beach.

It was just after sunset, so there was still enough light to see where I was walking, and when I heard some loud splashing noises nearby, I sped up to a light jog, till I came across a large object on the edge of the beach. Suddenly I was face to face with a dolphin that has beached itself, I rushed up to it and at the same time grabbed my mobile from my pocket and hit the quick dial 4 button. “Marie, its Gres, I’ve come across a beached dolphin at Benning’s Cove” I said in a hurry when she answered, “Keep her skin wet, I’m on my way” she replied and hung up.

I tossed my shoes off, and placed my mobile on top, took off my shirt and threw it on top of the pile and dashed into the shallow water. I scooped up water with my hands as I knelt beside the dolphin, covering as much of the top of the dolphin as I could, occasionally stroking the smooth surface.

Soon, I had all my work mates beside me assisting with keeping the dolphin still and moist, when a couple of waves came up to us, Marie asked us to try and get her turned around so she is facing the ocean, and a few large waves later, we had her floating and slowly moving her further out to sea., until she was deep enough to swim on her own, and we watched as she swam out into the darkness of the ocean.

“Well done team, and especially you Gres, a job well done mate” Marie said with a big smile, I gave a small smile before collecting my shirt, shoes and mobile and continuing my walk home, to shower after the unexpected swim in the ocean.

The next few days seemed to pass by quickly, I had been doing full days at the vet clinic, which was not usual, but Marie asked me if I could do the extra hours and I agreed. On Thursday and Friday, I worked on the farm, the owner – Bryce Kennedy said that he was pleased to see me back to reasonably normal again, and we kept busy with mucking the stables, washing down the horses after they had been exercised, and putting out fresh feed and hay for each horse.

Early on the Saturday morning, I was woken up by constant knocking on my front door, and I staggered to the door and opened it, to find five smiling faces. “Hurry up and get dressed, we are going out on a team building day out” Marie said as she stepped forward grabbed my shoulders and spun me around and gave a little push”.

Ten minutes later, I was showered and dressed I followed my work mates to the waiting two cars, just fifteen minutes later we arrived at the yacht harbor, and I looked at Amanda to see if she knew what we were doing. I followed everyone as we made our way down to the main jetty, where there are several yachts berthed. We stopped near the end of the jetty, where a Silhouette 760 Catamaran is berthed.

We were welcomed on board by the captain, and two crew members, and we were shown around the fly bridge and main deck, plus the two rear lower guest cabins, for toilet facilities, once the tour was completed, the crew got to work to set sail for what looked like a beautiful day. An hour later we were served morning tea, with scones, cream and jam, plus biscuits and fruit, I decided to remain on the main deck indoors, as I was feeling a little sea sick, as it was the first time that I had gone on a boat of any kind in open waters.

I found that there was a small selection of reading novels available and I settled into a comfortable lounge chair on the aft main deck and started to feel a lot better. 3 ½ hours after leaving the yacht harbor, we came to a small sheltered bay, where the yacht set anchor about 50 meters from shore, and we were ferried to the remote beach by dinghy. While we explored the area, the crew set up lunch for us on the beach, with a large table, chairs and fully dining service.

We had crayfish, prawns and beef steaks cooked on the barbeque, served with fresh salads and drinks, the crew even set up a volleyball net, so we could have a good game of volleyball, with the two crew members joining in to make 4 per side, while the captain packed up the lunch and ferried it all back to the yacht. After an enjoyable two hours on the beach, we were taken back to the yacht, and we set sail back to the yacht harbor, this time I stayed on the fly bridge for the whole return journey, arriving back just as the sun was setting.

By the time I arrived back home, I was feeling refreshed but tired, I had enjoyed the whole day, and I was glad that I was dragged along to participate, I put together a small snack for dinner, and after cleaning up I had a shower and went straight to bed, hoping for a good sleep in and a restful day tomorrow.

When I arrived at work at the Vet clinic on Monday, I was feeling a lot happier and looking forward to a challenging week ahead, but at lunch time, Lucas Patterson arrived at the clinic, asking to speak to me in private. This, I was not expecting, and I was not looking forward to hearing whatever he had to say to me, as I made my way to Marie’s office where Mr. Patterson was waiting.

I walked out of the office fifteen minutes later, knowing more details of the family trust that I was entitled to 1/5^th of, I was informed that my two spinster aunts and my two uncles, who are 1^st cousins to my late mother, had been trying to convince their uncle to distribute the trust fund before he passes away, and also trying to make my share of the trust not valid, because my father had not married my mother before I was born.

They had even sent to Mr. Patterson a document for me to sign, waiving my rights to the family trust. I was upset and angry, and as I tore up the document, I informed Mr. Patterson, that I did not want to be involved in any family arguments or disputes about money, and that I would rely on him to sort it all out. I was in a bad mood for the rest of the day, Marie let me go home at 2pm, and I decided to drive out to the farm, which is just 15 kilometers out of town. Bryce was happy to see me, and put me to work right away, which I didn’t mind.

Bryce was running the farm mostly on his own, apart from the two-part time workers, with me being one of them, and 19-year-old Jacob Owens, who has Tourette’s Syndrome, and being around horses, seemed to calm him down and reduce his symptoms. Bryce was a widower of 4 years, with a twelve-year-old son – Ethan, who attends a private school in the city, and comes home on school holidays and long weekends. Bryce inherited the 2650-acre farm from his paternal grandfather, who helped to bring him up, after the death of his parents in a light aircraft accident, that also killed his grandmother.

He lost his wife and daughter in a house fire, while the family was away on holidays. He and Ethan had gone fishing early one morning, unaware that an electrical fault had sparked a fire within the house ceiling, shortly before they left the house, it was only when they smelt smoke about half an hour later and looked around that they could see the holiday house was fully ablaze, both had died of smoke inhalation.