The Secret Chord
Table of Contents
Synopsis
Praise for Virginia Hale
Other Books by Virginia Hale
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Synopsis
When Kate York accepted a temporary position as the music teacher at her former Catholic boarding school, St. Joan of Arc, she expected to deal with rowdy adolescents, strict nuns, and memories of her intense friendship with her old roommate, Tilly Wattle. The last thing Kate expected, however, was for Tilly to show up as the substitute teacher.
The last time the two had seen each other, Tilly had her heart set on joining the sisterhood of nuns that had raised her as an orphan. Tilly longed for a simple life devoting herself to God while Kate longed for a simple life devoting herself to Tilly. Now, twelve years since she forced herself to say goodbye, Kate realizes that she never really got over her sweet, beautiful friend—or the secret kisses they shared as girls.
In her heart of hearts Kate believes that Tilly can match her passion with equal intensity. When Tilly steadfastly refuses to talk about their past, what choice does Kate have but to try to control her own longings and concentrate on renewing their friendship?
But what if Kate isn’t the only one desperate to hide her true feelings…
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Praise for Virginia Hale
Echo Point
…is a lovely Australian romance that has a lot of things I love: an ice queen that thaws, an age gap between the leads, and it takes place in a small town. The writing is smooth, the characters are compelling, and the pacing works very well. It also feels very Australian, rather than being a story that feels like it could be set anywhere. If you’re looking for a new comfort read, I totally recommend it.
—The Lesbian Review
This is Hale’s debut novel and she’s got a great career ahead of her judging from this one. It’s a story of recovery, redemption, and how you deal with unexpected tragedy that changes the trajectory your life was taking. I read this book in pretty much one sitting, which speaks volumes of firstly, how well it’s written, and secondly, how much the story pulled me in. In terms of quality of writing, Hale’s style is for beautifully written scenes that flow superbly...It’s a great book, definitely not a fluffy romance but the romance it contains is wonderful. Highly recommended.
—Rainbow Book Reviews
Echo Point is a debut novel by Virginia Hale, but without any of the typical first novel shortcomings. It is a warm story of love, loss and family, set in the town of Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, a region west of Sydney in Australia’s New South Wales. The setting is really interesting, very well described, and plays a nice role in the narrative. Overall, this is a lovely book, full of feeling and very well worth reading. A very solid novel which definitely did not feel like a debut. I very much liked it and recommend it.
—goodreads, Pin’s Reviews
Beautiful love story set in the Blue mountains near Sydney in Australia. This is not just a romance: it’s a story of loss, family ties and redemption. The author’s description of the landscape is vivid and picturesque. The bushfires and intense heat are a metaphor of the passions at stake. Ms. Hale knows how to build up the tension and the chemistry between Bron and Ally rages like a bushfire: uncontrollable, hot and consuming. Overall, a very solid debut novel and a highly recommended romance.
—goodreads, Gaby’s Reviews
The best way to describe this is a pure romance. While you are reading about characters dealing with a great loss of their loved one, this really is a feel good book. The characters are normal people with real issues. This book is not filled with unnecessary drama and angst, it is a really well written pure romance. I can absolutely recommend this to romance fans. I know people are going to enjoy this. Hale writes really well. This is great for a debut book, and great for a seasoned author. I will not hesitate one bit to read anything else by Hale.
—goodreads, Lex Kent’s Reviews
Where There’s a Will
I was also a big fan of the characters. Both have their flaws and were actually a bit opposites attract but I really liked them as a potential pair. …I have to give Hale props for not waiting to the 90% mark to mess with her characters. Her characters have drama, this is not an angst free book, but the way Hale did it is the way I wish romance authors would tackle this issue. The book flowed so much better for me the way Hale wrote it. If you are looking for a romance and storyline this is different than the same old, get this book. Hale is a quality author and I can’t wait to see what she puts out next.
—goodreads, Lex Kent’s Reviews
Where There’s a Will is a very good second novel by the Australian author Virginia Hale. The main conflict is over a murder house they jointly inherited. Dylan sees it as her everything in life, but Beth wants to sell it to get out of huge debts. This creates a conflict between these two good people. Through the resolution of this conflict, the author gives us a very satisfying ending while also creating an interesting and warm story of interpersonal relationships. With all main elements done really good this makes another solid read by the author, very well worth reading. I recommend it, and am looking forward to her next book.
—goodreads, Pin’s Reviews
Other Bella Books by Virginia Hale
Echo Point
Where There’s a Will
About the Author
Virginia Hale lives in Sydney, Australia. After a brief dalliance with Theatre Studies, she went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and a Master of Children’s Literature. Virginia’s debut novel, Echo Point, was a recipient of the 2018 Golden Crown Literary Society Award for Best Contemporary Romance (Short).
Copyright © 2019 by Virginia Hale
Bella Books, Inc.
P.O. Box 10543
Tallahassee, FL 32302
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
First Bella Books Edition 2019
eBook released 2019
Editor: Cath Walker
Cover Designer: Judith Fellows
ISBN: 978-1-64247-043-7
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
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Acknowledgments
Endless thanks to my editor, Cath Walker, whose patience knows no bounds. Cath, your guidance makes me feel like the luckiest writer in the world. To the dedicated team at Bella Books, thank you for your encouragement and support.
Chapter One
“Is something wrong, Kate?”
Kate pulled her gaze from the approaching ferry and looked to the passenger seat of the convent van parked at the pier. She forced a smile for Sister Ruth. “Nothing’s wrong.” Lying to a nun—that’s a surefire way to get a one-way ticket to Hell. She removed her black frames and buffed the lenses on the crushed shirttails of her white button-up. “It’s just that I still have so much lesson prep for this week. I’ve been so busy trying to get everything together for the VCE Literature Extension class I’m job-sharing with Tilly that I haven’t even started my lesson plan for VCE Music Performance.” She fogged the glass with her breath and rubbed at the persisting streaks. “You know what it’s like when the girls come back from holidays—I’ll barely have a second to myself to think.”
Kate pushed her glasses up her nose, the emerald hills of Mornington Peninsula suddenly much clearer in the distance. Remarkably, the nine-thirty passenger ferry was making perfect time as it tugged across Port Phillip Bay from Mornington Pier, headed straight for Lords Island. The sight of the small, coffee-coloured vessel left Kate’s palms clammy, her hands shakier than when she’d woken at seven to make up the guest room bed for St. Joan’s imminent guest. She bit back a sigh. Contrary to what she was selling—contrary to what Sister Ruth had too easily bought—Kate’s nervousness was completely unrelated to the return of three hundred students to the island within the next forty-eight hours.
As Sister Ruth wound down the passenger window, the veil of her baby-blue habit fluttered in the cool October breeze. With a soft sigh, she returned her focus to her crossword puzzle. “You work so hard for those girls.”
Kate smiled. “So do you, Reverend Mother.”
Nearing seventy-five, Sister Ruth was like an Eveready battery. She was a wonderful headmistress and maths teacher—Kate could attest to that having once been her student. Although Sister Ruth had odd ideas and an even stranger manner of articulating those ideas, the students—the twenty-five boarders, especially—adored their principal like a grandmother.
Nine months before, when Kate had arrived to assume the year-long position of music teacher at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Girls’ School, Kate’s first impression of her former headmistress was that she seemed absolutely exhausted. One of the primary missions of The Daughters of Our Lady of Mercy was education of youth. If Kate had a dollar for every time she’d had to remind Sister Ruth that it wasn’t her job to bear that mission alone, she’d have accounted for her highly coveted salary. Now, nine months into her contract, Kate often found herself awake at night wondering why she had decided to share that mission at all.
The salary had been incredibly attractive—that was what she’d told her mother and sister. But the truth was that a position at St. Joan’s offered Kate an escape. If she could isolate herself on Lords, she couldn’t be tempted to spend nights in inner city Melbourne with Elodie, her kind and attentive and loyal ex who had simply envisioned a future different to the one Kate desperately wanted—a future including children. If she relocated to Lords and took on the position of housemother from Monday to Friday, the breakup would finally be final—and they could both move on. And that was exactly what had happened—they hadn’t spoken in six months.
Initially, she’d reluctantly relocated to Lords with a negative mindset. Knowing what her peers had been like at St. Joan’s in the early noughties, she had thought her decision might prove to be a nightmare. But in the decade since Kate’s graduation, the school had fostered a much more sisterly atmosphere. Kate was pleasantly surprised to find that these girls were decidedly less entitled than they had been, that the select twenty-five students who now boarded—just as Kate once had—lived almost as simply as the sisters residing in the convent beside the boarding house.
As housemother, the only noteworthy meltdown Kate had witnessed had occurred the previous month. During a ferocious storm, the Telstra tower had been struck, severing telecommunications for the entire island, including the pioneer village that sat at the edge of the two-lane causeway on the other side of Lords. With the Internet down, all hell had broken loose. Without Wi-Fi—Netflix, Instagram, Facebook—it seemed that Kate had Lucifer’s progenies on her hands. She didn’t have enough fingers to count how often one of the girls had stepped into her office and made a case to return to the mainland. Lexi, of course, had been first.
“I’m feeling really sick, Kate,” she’d said. “I’m feeling the way my Nan felt when she got pneumonia. Like real bad sort of thing. I think I need to get the ferry back to the mainland to stay at my aunt’s for a few days. She only lives a few suburbs away from Mornington. My parents would be totally cool with it…”
Glaring over the rim of her glasses, Kate had fixed her only Year Ten boarder with a look. “Lexi, I’d like to see how you would have survived Kokoda. I really would.”
“If I wanted to hear my dad say that,” Lexi had spat, “I’d live with him and not you!”
“Go for it,” Kate had murmured, returning to grading music essays.
“This island is a prison!” Grace had informed Kate the next night. “You’re the worst housemother! You run this place like a death camp!” Emma had claimed an hour before the connection returned. Like heroin addicts feeling their rush, the girls had gone from demons to angels, and once more, all was well on Lords. Lately, Kate had even found herself missing the Year Twelves who had recently moved back to the mainland to undertake VCE exams hosted at larger schools, reducing the cohort from three hundred-and-fifty to just three hundred.
Three months until Christmas and her contract would be completed, Sister Mary Patrick coming from Ballarat to take the reins in the music department next year. Kate was looking forward to returning to Melbourne, to a life where she didn’t live tight-lipped about her sexuality, endlessly longing for the weekend when she could take off to the mainland to absorb enough adult conversation to survive a five-day week of she leaves all of her hair clogged in the shower and she stole my bra and she Snapchatted a fugly picture of me even though I didn’t give her permission. As Kate watched the ferry chug closer, aware of exactly who was on board, something told her that these next three months were going to be harder than the last nine combined.
“It’s a lovely time of year for Tilly to be coming home,” Sister Ruth said, her gaze still focused on her puzzle. “Not too hot, not too cold. And the vegetable garden is flourishing like never before. Tilly will just love it! She was always an excellent cook.”
Because she had no option but to become one, Kate thought, bitterness prickling beneath her skin. It wasn’t as though Tilly had it tough but losing her parents in a car accident when she was five and being sent from England to be raised by her mother’s sister on Lords had reaped Tilly a life of responsibility unfamiliar to the other boarders. Sister Hattie had been a deeply loving aunt, but she’d also wanted Tilly to learn about duty. By the time Kate had arrived at the island at fifteen, barely able to boil pasta for herself, Tilly had been a good cook for years. The legally-blind Sister Mary Joseph had taught her, and when she’d passed away when the girls were sixteen, Tilly had taken on the cooking responsibilities—boarding house and convent—to share with old Sister Mary Claire until graduation.