She and Lorna were seeing a bit of each other, as Lorna was up and down to her dentist in Tamworth. Sometimes she would ring Kathleen and they would meet for lunch at the Telegraph Hotel in Gullumbindy. Last time they met she told Kathleen that Maddie was enjoying being at university down in Sydney.
‘She’s planning on being a teacher,’ she said proudly.
Kathleen was pleased for Lorna and Brian that Maddie had settled down.
But then one afternoon, when James was away in Brisbane with Brian looking at a new stallion, Kathleen went along to the manager’s cottage where Jack was now living. She had made an apple pie, Jack’s favourite, and saved him a large piece. She also wanted to check how Jack was keeping the place, as she hadn’t been down for quite a while. When she knocked on the door Jack came outside. As he did, Kathleen couldn’t help notice that there was a girl inside.
‘I didn’t know you had anyone else living here,’ Kathleen said.
‘Maddie caught the bus up a few days ago,’ Jack said. ‘I picked her up in the ute from Gullumbindy.’
‘Maddie?’ Kathleen exclaimed. ‘Maddie Medlow?’
All Kathleen could think of was Lorna asking her to try to keep Jack at Eureka Park and away from Maddie, and how proud she and Brian were that she was at uni, studying to be a teacher.
‘And you didn’t tell us she was coming here?’
He looked sheepish. ‘No. I sort of snuck her in. I was going to tell you when Mr O’Sullivan came back.’
‘So her parents think she’s still down in Sydney?’ Kathleen knew she sounded cross.
‘Yeah. Reckon so.’
Kathleen sighed. ‘Honestly, Jack. How could you?’
‘Would you like to meet her, Mrs O’Sullivan?’
Kathleen thought of saying no, but then decided it was best she did at least meet the girl. Then she could report back to Lorna.
She nodded. ‘I suppose so.’
‘Maddie,’ Jack called out. ‘Come meet Mrs O’Sullivan.’
When Maddie appeared at the door Kathleen’s heart missed a beat and she found it hard to swallow. There was little doubt that the tall, dark-haired girl standing in front of her was not only very pretty but also wearing a wedding ring.
‘You’re married?’ Kathleen exclaimed.
‘We eloped,’ Maddie said, giggling. ‘We got married at a registry office in Sydney.’
‘But you’re far too young!’
‘I’m eighteen. And dressed up I look much older, don’t you agree?’ Maddie smiled.
Kathleen shook her head. ‘Jack, Maddie’s parents will kill you.’
‘Don’t be cross, Mrs O’Sullivan,’ Maddie said. ‘Jack says we’ll live here if that’s okay.’
Over the last two days the phone lines had been down due to the gale-force winds and torrential downpour they’d had. Even the crossing on the road into Gullumbindy had flooded and they were more or less stranded at Eureka Park. Freddie couldn’t get to school and Lillie and Marcus, who was now also living with the Thompsons and going to the Christian Brothers, might not get home on the weekend. So, much as she wished to reach for the telephone at the moment, Kathleen couldn’t ring Lorna.
‘I’ve absolutely no idea if it’s okay or not,’ she finally stammered. ‘But one thing I do know is that as soon as the phones are working I’ll need to let your mother know you’re here.’
She then almost threw the piece of apple pie at Jack and stomped back to the homestead. She’d been cruel to the young couple, but Jack had taken advantage of the trust they’d shown in him by giving him the house and allowing him time off to go down to Sydney. And Maddie had let her parents down in the worst possible way. She wondered how she would react if it was Lillie who had eloped. In a way Kathleen thought she would cope better if it were Lillie. It was just that Lorna had asked her to keep an eye on Jack. And she had let her down.
The next morning the phones were back on and Kathleen braced herself to ring Lorna. ‘I don’t know how to tell you this,’ she began, ‘but I’m afraid Maddie’s up here.’
‘Bloody hell,’ Lorna exclaimed. ‘What in God’s name is she doing there?’
‘She came up on the train. She’s in the manager’s cottage with Jack.’
‘But I only spoke to her a few days ago …’
‘Lorna, I think you’d best come up as soon as you can. With all the rain the crossing has been closed, but when the electricity man rang to say they’d fixed the telegraph pole that was down, he also said the crossing’s now open again.’
‘Trust Brian to be away at a time like this. And James.’
‘Yes,’ Kathleen said. ‘I wish he was here too.’
‘I’ll get in the car and come up right now. And woe betide that girl when I see her.’
But by the time Lorna arrived that afternoon and Kathleen took her down to the cottage, Jack and Maddie had disappeared. The house was empty of clothes and the ute, which Jack normally parked near the back door, was gone.
‘Didn’t you hear them go?’ Lorna asked accusingly.
‘No. As soon as I heard the crossing had opened I drove Freddie in to school. That’s obviously when they took off. Then I was busy doing bookwork, so didn’t notice that Jack wasn’t here. In any case I didn’t want to confront them again until you were here.’
‘I asked you to keep an eye on him,’ Lorna said. ‘Hold him up here.’
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t click that he was going to Sydney to see her.’ She paused. ‘And there is another thing.’
‘What?’
‘They’re married.’
‘Married? How the hell could they be married?’
‘A registry office in Sydney apparently.’
Kathleen wondered if this would be the end of their friendship as Lorna paced furiously, running a hand through her messy hair.
‘Brian will kill him,’ she said. ‘I know he will.’
‘I think they’re very much in love.’
‘That won’t stop Brian.’ She sighed. ‘I thought if he was up here Maddie would be safe.’
‘Jack’s a grown man, Lorna. I couldn’t watch him twenty-four hours a day, every day of the week. He was entitled to time off. Away from here.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Lorna said, trying a small smile. ‘I shouldn’t be blaming you. I should’ve seen it coming. I wondered why Maddie didn’t come home for her birthday. And when I suggested that Brian and I go down to Sydney, she said she was going out with her friends.’ She sighed. ‘And this has left you high and dry without anyone to look after the horses while James is away with Brian.’
Kathleen nodded. ‘I can’t believe Jack would leave us in a pickle like this. He doesn’t seem the type to do that.’
She had no sooner said that than she saw Jack drive back in his ute. But there was no sign of Maddie. She watched as he made his way over to her and Lorna.
‘Maddie didn’t want to see you, Mrs Medlow,’ he said. ‘When she heard Mrs O’Sullivan was ringing you she wanted to get out of here. I’ve taken her to a friend’s place. She’ll wait for me there until Mr O’Sullivan comes back tomorrow to look after the horses. Then I’ll go join her and we’ll head up north.’
‘Where is she?’ Lorna demanded.
‘She doesn’t want you to know.’ Jack looked her straight in the eye. ‘But I’ll look after her, Mrs Meldow. Don’t you worry about that.’
‘She can’t just disappear like that.’
‘I tried to get her to wait for you. But as you know, Maddie’s not one to be bossed about. This is what she wanted. She reckons you’d try to talk her out of marrying me …’
‘Brian will have your bloody guts for garters, young man,’ Lorna said. ‘Make no mistake about that.’
Kathleen put her hand on Lorna’s arm to try and calm her down. ‘Lorna, come up to the house and I’ll put the kettle on. In the meantime, Jack, you go see to the horses. I appreciate that you’ve at least come back to do that.’
‘We’ll let you know where
we end up, Mrs Medlow,’ Jack said. ‘I promise you that.’
Lorna shook her head and looked from Jack to Kathleen. ‘Apart from getting the police out I don’t suppose there’s much we can do?’
‘And you wouldn’t want to do that, would you? Mrs Medlow, Maddie’s old enough to look out for herself.’
As Kathleen walked back to the house with a furious Lorna, she thought how right Jack was. Maddie was indeed old enough to decide what she wanted to do. She recalled when she was not much older, all alone in India during the war after her parents had died. She had been able to make her own decisions then. As she had later on.
CHAPTER
28
It was a wet Friday night and Lillie was lounging in a chair in front of the TV watching Billy Thorpe performing on Bandstand, her favourite program, and wishing she hadn’t got her hair cut into a bob, when her mother rushed into the room waving an aerogram.
‘Would you believe Clara’s got engaged to Charles Fitzpatrick?’ she said. ‘I’ve only just opened Jessica’s letter, which came this afternoon.’
‘Charles Fitzpatrick?’
‘Yes. Hugh’s older brother. You probably can’t remember him. He wasn’t at Drominderry House much. He lived in Malaya with his parents for years.’
‘And Clara’s engaged to him? How incredible.’
‘Here, read what Jessica’s got to say. I must admit it all sounds very romantic.’
Lillie put her bottle of Coke down, took the aerogram from Ma and started to read. Clara was doing an Arts degree in London and it appeared Jessica and Clara had gone over to Ireland again for a month during the university break. They’d taken a flat in Dublin for the week of the acclaimed Dublin Horse Show and stayed on. From there they’d driven down to County Kerry and popped in to Drominderry House. It was while they were there that Clara had met Charles, who’d recently come back from Malaya after Lord Fitzpatrick died from lung cancer. As Charles’s own father had been killed in a shooting accident in Malaya, Charles was now the inheritor of Drominderry House. And the title. His mother had chosen to live in England, but Charles was living with his grandmother in the family home, where Hugh still spent his holidays. Jessica described how the romance unfolded:
From the first moment Charles set eyes on Clara, he fell head-overheels in love. For the month we were in Dublin he drove up once a week. He’s doing a part-time course at Trinity and stays with a friend who has a flat in Merrion Square next door to where Oscar Wilde used to live. Each night he took Clara out for dinner, or sometimes they’d go for a drive into the countryside for a day. When we returned to London, Charles wrote to Clara often. Ultimately he came over to London to continue the courtship. And, my darling Kate, guess what? He asked her to marry him. At first she was hesitant. Needless to say I soon put her straight. I know she’s very young. But heavens above, a proposal like that is not to be sniffed at. Anyway, my sweet, thank God she finally agreed, so long as she could go travelling first. I think she’s bonkers to dilly dally, but there you go, that’s daughters for you. He’s such a lovely man. I know he’ll make Clara very happy. Not to mention the fact she’ll become Lady Fitzpatrick and mistress of that magnificent estate. It’s such a pity you’re not all still close by at Rathgarven, particularly as I’m bound to spend a lot of time at Drominderry.
Lillie handed the letter back to her mother. ‘Gees … it sounds as though Charles Fitzpatrick’s besotted. So must Clara be, to accept his proposal. Despite Jessica seeming to think she wasn’t so sure to begin with.’
‘She does seem young to take on so much responsibility,’ Kathleen said, folding up the aerogram. ‘But I’m sure she’ll do a great job.’
‘What do you think Ronan will make of it?’
‘I’m sure he’ll be delighted for her. As we all should be. And delighted for the Fitzpatrick family. It’ll make up for their sadness with the passing of dear Lord Fitzpatrick. And Charles’s father.’
‘You don’t think Ronan will be upset?’
‘Why for heaven’s sake would he be upset? He and Clara were friends when they were more or less children. I can’t imagine he’s given her a second’s thought lately.’
‘I suppose you’re right.’
Even so, after Ma left to tell Dad, who had come up from the stables, Lillie wondered if she should ring Ronan and see what he made of it. Apart from anything else he was bound to be flabbergasted that Clara was going to marry a lord. Particularly Charles Fitzpatrick. But as he was away on a sheep station up north for a few weeks, putting his study into practice, she couldn’t contact him anyway. She wished Jack were here so she could gossip with him about it. She really missed him. She had got such a shock when she rang home one night and Ma told her what had happened with him and Maddie Medlow.
‘Wow … So that’s the girl he was going down to Sydney to see,’ she’d said to Ma.
‘I promised Lorna I’d keep an eye on him. And what did he do? Run off and marry Maddie.’
‘Gosh, Ma, you couldn’t help that.’
‘No, I suppose not.’
‘But what will Dad do without him?’
‘Arthur’s coming back. He rang your father a few weeks ago to see if there was any work. He was always good with the horses and it was only that we couldn’t really afford to keep him on.’
Then last weekend Ma had told her that Lorna Medlow had rung and said that Jack and Maddie were living on a cattle farm up in the Mapleton area in the hinterland behind the Sunshine Coast. Jack was working on the farm and Maddie was now pregnant.
‘I think Lorna’s more or less come to terms with it now,’ she told Lillie. ‘She even said she promised to go up and help out when the baby’s due.’
Lillie had been pleased that they’d worked it out. She really liked Mrs Medlow. With her swearing and knockabout way of dressing, she was different to Ma in many ways, but she and Ma got on really well and she always made time to talk to Lillie when she popped in to Eureka.
Now she thought of Clara living at Drominderry House. She didn’t really remember the place that well, but Ma had always said how magnificent it was. Lillie tried not to be jealous that Clara would be living there on the Kenmare River with Maisie and Paddy. But she was.
What would Ronan think? He was sure to be a bit upset, even if it was a long time since he’d seen Clara.
Two weeks later when Lillie rang home, Ma told her she had had a letter from Clara, asking if she could come and stay at Eureka Park. She was going to India first, then Hong Kong and finally to Australia.
‘Won’t it be lovely to have her?’ Ma was thrilled. ‘I hope you don’t mind if she shares with you, darling.’
‘No, of course not.’
Inwardly Lillie thought: I bet she’ll come with all the best clothes and make me feel dull and fat again. Even so, she was looking forward to hearing what she thought of marrying Charles Fitzpatrick and going to live at Drominderry House. In a way it was a bit like a fairytale.
* * *
That weekend Ronan was back and Lillie had her chance to ask him about Clara when the two of them were down in the stables feeding the horses.
‘So, what do you think of Clara marrying Charles Fitzpatrick and going to live at Drominderry House? She’s certainly taking a step up in the world, eh?’
‘I’m sure she’ll be very happy.’
‘And what about her coming here?’
‘It will be good to see her again,’ he said, stepping over to the hessian bag of chaff in the corner and filling up a steel bucket.
‘You’re not jealous she’s marrying Charles Fitzpatrick?’
‘No. Why should I? We were childhood friends, Lillie. And, as everyone knows, you grow out of childhood.’ He took the bucket over to the stable of a grey mare that was about to foal. ‘Besides,’ he said, turning around, ‘I’ve met a really nice girl at uni. I’ve been taking her out for a while now. So why would I be jealous of Clara marrying Charles Fitzpatrick? I’m actually very happy for her.’
> ‘I didn’t know you were dating someone.’
‘Did you expect me to put it in the newspaper? The dashing Ronan O’Sullivan’s dating a girl?’
‘Ha ha. Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit. Anyway, what’s she like?’
‘She’s good fun. And what’s more she likes watching me play rugby. More than I can say for you, li’l sis.’
‘I would watch you, but I’d have to catch the bus up.’
‘I know. Only joking.’
Lillie wondered if Ronan had sex with his girlfriend. It wasn’t something she could come straight out and ask. All the same she was curious.
‘Imagine Maddie Medlow getting pregnant so quickly after getting married.’
‘If they hadn’t wanted to they could have used something.’
‘Oh! Like what?’
‘A condom or something.’
‘Do you use one?’
Ronan shook his head. ‘Gees, Lillie. How many times do I have to tell you to mind your own goddamn business?’
So he probably does have sex. Maybe I’m the only girl in the whole of New South Wales who hasn’t had sex. Apart from Deb, that is. Lillie was pretty sure Deb hadn’t had sex either, or she was bound to have told her.
That night after dinner Ma got up from the kitchen table to answer the phone. When she came back she was smiling. ‘That was Clara. She’ll be with us in the New Year, in six weeks’ time. Isn’t that exciting?’
The Homestead on the River Page 26