LOVE & POPPIES - PART 2 OF 4

You can read Part One of ‘Love and Poppies’ here.

Belle smiled to herself as she sat with Peter and Jack at the dinner table after a long afternoon of gathering notes on the poppy farm case. Jack told stories from his recent holiday about the girl that stole his heart in Spain. Belle imagined herself backpacking through the beautiful small towns, and wondered how it might feel to be swept off her feet by a handsome man on holiday. She enjoyed the simple thought, but did not share it with the rest of the table. Jack had been spending more time with Peter since forming BJ Law with Belle, and was a good mate to Peter.

Peter was not doing very well. Suffering broken sleep and tears, he was struggling to come to terms with the idea of losing his mother to a slow and torturous battle with cancer. His mother’s illness had brought the family closer together, and that helped Peter overcome the distance he felt from his Dad. The closeness was some consolation for Peter as he felt disconnected from Belle. She had been working long hours, not only on the poppy farm case, but also establishing her new law firm and ensuring that there would be work after this first case. Belle was not avoiding Peter and his struggles, but was focused on the new business and developing a strong case against the poppy farm. Belle’s observational radar was usually very good when it came to Peter, but she had unintentionally created a distance between them. It was only after several sessions with his counsellor, where he had opened up about his feelings about his mother’s illness and her looming death, and that he felt alone dealing with this trauma, that Peter decided to talk to Belle about it.

Peter sat down with Belle that night and opened his heart to her — he told her that until he met her, he had never opened up about his feelings to anyone, and that this was breaking him. Peter needed Belle and she had not been there for him. Belle wanted Peter to confide in her, and she wanted to provide him with everything he needed. Her intentions were there but her actions lacked meaning — being present and living in the same house with the man she loved was not enough support. Belle had been too focussed on her work. She would make every effort to be the rock that Peter needed while working on the new case.

…

It had been several weeks before Belle had collected enough information on the illegal clearing of vegetation for the expansion of the poppy farm before she realised that this would be a landmark case if she could pull it off. Belle was enraged by the environmental harm that this company had caused, and she was determined to ensure that her work would change how companies developed land for commercial resources and products. She had seen so much habitat destruction and its cascading effects on animal and plant communities following clearing for developments; she wasn’t going to let it happen again. Belle and Jack were a good business duo as her passion for environmental law and his savvy skills in commercial and criminal law, provided the perfect blend of knowledge to take on this case. Although Jack had practiced law for most of his adult life, his behaviour had not always been so conservative and upstanding. Jack was a self-proclaimed “bad boy” and often joked about the times when he was off his head while travelling overseas. He did not seem to be such a party boy while back in Australia though, where he resumed his career-focused life. But that did not discount the times he entertained different girls within the space of a week. He had his fun, but he also wanted his business with Belle to succeed, and he owed it to their friendship to take the work seriously. Jack was determined to impress Belle with his input into the poppy farm case. He believed that if he could gather enough evidence on the processing and distribution of illegal opiates from the poppies, that he could raise the professional reputation of BJ Law to hold a good position for more complex environmental law cases in the future.

The information that Belle was looking for arrived in her inbox one morning as she sifted through emails. It was the first correspondence from a small community group concerned with environmental degradation in their region. They had sent in valuable knowledge on the poppy farm which made Belle believe that the farm had breached several laws under land clearing acts and native vegetation laws. This was her specialty area and she thrived in this setting – she knew immediately that she should develop a working relationship with the group and proposed to meet with them in their town to discuss the information.

…

It wasn’t a great time for Belle to be away from Peter but he reassured her that he would be fine. Peter had lived his life as an independent and strong man, and Belle loved that about him, but as he lost his sense of self, he had never felt so weak in his life. Peter and Belle had a strong love for each other and he wanted her to know that he would always be there, even when he could not be there for himself. He had convinced himself that a week on his own while Belle was away on business would do him good, and that it would be an opportunity for him to focus on himself and his family, and once again become the strength that they knew him to be.

Amanda is still working on all things shorebirdy but enjoys writing on the side.