by Gloria Bevan
"They came late last night. I got the boys to give me a hand to arrange them."
She glanced into a small kitchen with its orange table-top and matching chairs, bamboo-coloured painted cupboards, small refrigerator and electric stove.
In the bathroom the primrose shaded bath and basin were matched by a shower curtain printed in a design of the tiny tropical fish that swarmed in the waters of the reef. It was all fresh and attractive, a delight to the eye.
Back in the lounge room she put out a finger to touch a line of 'switches on the wall. "For goodness' sake," she marvelled, reading out the printed notices, "dry cleaning, laundry, hairdressing, room service — there'll be a knob to press for baby-sitter wanted next !"
"There is, second to the left."
"You'll need an awful lot of staff to run all these different services —"
"We' he corrected gently. "We'll get them. Why don't you try the end button and see what happens?"
For answer she touched the switch and immediately the soft strains of Fijian music with its haunting cadence fell around them. She turned towards him, smiling, "Or would you rather have —"
"This !" He took a step towards her and at the brilliant intensity of his gaze she felt again that wild sense of excitement. Then, "I thought I'd find you here," said a cool voice from the doorway, and Robyn's dazed glance took in the immaculately dressed girl who stood observing them.
"Ni sa bula, welcome to Fiji ! " It seemed that nothing could throw David, not even the mocking glance of those lively hazel eyes. Or could it be, Robyn wondered over a stab of pain, that he was genuinely pleased to see Maria, for who else could it be?
"The old dear in the kitchen told me I'd find you up here, and I didn't see any 'do not disturb' notices around." She had a clear ringing laugh, even when there was nothing to laugh about, the thought flashed through Robyn's confused mind. "And anyway, I thought you'd be glad to see me, David, any time at all !"
"Of course. When did you get in?"
"Five minutes or so ago, on the local plane. I would have let you know of the change of plan, but Ann rang me in Sydney to say she was making the trip to Fiji too and I couldn't miss out on the chance of coming with her!" Again that peal of meaningless laughter.. "I knew you wouldn't mind how early I turned up !" All at once Robyn felt left out, of no importance — worse, in the way. Maria was running on, she thought angrily, just as though Robyn weren't in the room. Did the other girl in her sophisticated black outfit mistake Robyn for one of the maids? Certainly that was the impression she managed to convey.
At last in a pause in the flow of words David said in his deep quiet tones. "Maria ... Robyn Carlisle, the owner. I told you about her when I rang through to you, remember?"
Just how much had he told the other girl, Robyn wondered, of the true position at the motel?
"Owner!" Light pencilled brows rose in surprise (or was the astonishment simulated? Robyn asked herself.) "Oh yes," the careless tone dismissed her with a word, "you're so young, aren't you?" She made it sound like a crime, Robyn thought furiously. "Wasn't there a brother somewhere in the picture?" Her tone implied that a bachelor brother was infinitely more interesting than a freckle-faced girl with sand-encrusted bare brown legs and little to say for herself.
"Is he around?"
"No, he —" All at once Robyn caught the mocking expression in the lively hazel eyes. She knew. Someone must have told her about Johnny, and who could that "someone" be but David? It seemed that Maria was deliberately trying to humiliate her. If Maria and David were friends, perhaps even something more than friends, wouldn't that explain the other girl's openly contemptuous attitude towards her? Whatever the reason, she doesn't like me one little bit. Well, that goes for me too !
"He's away just now," David came to her rescue.
"But he'll be back, once we're in business again," Robyn put in quickly.
"Will he? You're his sister, you should know!" Maria smiled her gay assured smile. "I certainly hope you're right, but —" glancing towards her in swift apprehension, Robyn caught the flicker of feline malice in Maria's gaze, "from what I've heard he isn't all that interested in the place. I mean, maybe he's looking for an easier way out of his troubles !"
Robyn swallowed the hot words of denial that choked in her throat. What use to argue the matter? Maria's knowledgeable smile would defeat any excuses she might offer in defence of Johnny's behaviour. David must have told her all the facts of the matter. Robyn's cheeks burned at the thought of the other two discussing the feckless Carlisles, now totally dependent on strangers to rescue them from their financial difficulties.
As she turned aside, an inborn habit of politeness made her say, "Would you care to have a look around first, or would you rather go to your room and freshen up after the trip in the heat?"
"Do I look as if I need to?" Maria turned a laughing flawless face towards her.
Confused, Robyn muttered, "No, no, I didn't mean that."
"I'll forgive you." Maria flashed her brilliant smile. Robyn wondered if the other girl would forgive so easily the moment of intimacy she had interrupted a few minutes previously. Aloud she said, "I'm afraid there are only the old Fiji-type bures ready for living in just now. The new units smell so horribly of new paint. But if you don't mind sleeping in a hut like the rest of us . . . it will be only for a day or two."
"My dear child, I don't mind anything!" But Robyn suspected that the other girl minded very much finding her here with David. "Oh, Maria'll enjoy going native and sleeping out in a thatched hut, won't you?" He grinned towards her. "The fans are still working in the old bures, so it won't be too much of a change of climate after Switzerland."
"You know me, David, anything for a change !" The provocative smile she sent towards him wasn't exactly the smile of a woman chatting with her dead husband's friend, Robyn mused unhappily. Unless David was something more than a friend. Her mind went off at a tangent. If only Maria's appearance weren't so perfect! Short-short fitting black frock, dark stockings, black suede shoes. Cropped curly brown hair, a round face with a quick, bright expression. A laughing voice that seemed to imply so much more than the lightly-spoken words. Not outstandingly pretty by conventional standards, but her air of confidence and vivacity made her attractive —at least David apparently thought so. As to the perfection of the lithe figure, of that there could be no doubt at all.
They moved along the hall together, Maria's heels clattering on the newly-varnished timbers. At the entrance David picked up the two expensive-looking travel bags and Robyn led the way down the winding path towards the line of bures.
"You've been busy here, David," Maria was glancing appreciatively around her. "Looks like you've poured a lot of capital into the project. I hope you can get it back again."
"That's where I'm depending on you, Maria."
She turned to smile into his eyes. "Is that the only reason why you dragged me half way around the world?"
Through a fog of misery that had descended around her Robyn mused that it was a loaded question, but apparently David chose to read no particular significance into the lightly-spoken words. "When I think of what you did with that rundown old chalet up in the Alps —"
"Don't forget how much your interior design helped it along —"
"And that tourist hotel in Austria."
"Oh, I had Keith with me then."
"Remember the Italian chef we had there? Those marvellous dinners he used to put on?"
"Could I ever forget Giorgio?"
Robyn had the impression of a door being slammed against her as the other two went on to talk of a sophisticated world that she would never know.
When they reached the shabby bures, Robyn threw open a door. "I'll get Selani to bring some iced water."
Maria didn't appear to have heard. She was standing quite still looking up at the tattered thatch roofing above her head. "Isn't that rather a fire hazard ?"
"Could be, but not to worry," David assured her. "You won't be in her
e for long —"
"And Mrs. Daley told me we've never yet had a fire at the Islander," Robyn put in.
Still the other girl stood motionless. "Who sleeps next door?"
Robyn was puzzled. "I have the one beside you."
"I hope you don't smoke in bed?"
"Hardly ever."
"I'll know who to blame then if anything happens." At last Maria moved inside, giving a swift glance over the shabby interior. She turned to David. "Isn't there anywhere else?"
"It's safe enough, believe me."
Robyn's bewildered gaze went from one to the other. She couldn't understand this efficient, outgoing young woman allowing a mere possibility of danger to put her into such a state of fear. For it was fear . . . there was no mistaking the sharp note of alarm in Maria's tones.
"Look, you'll be all right. I give you my word! You'd loathe that paint smell in the new units. Tell you what, make do with it just for tonight. The other bures are open to the air and by tomorrow you can move in and chance the paint. Right?"
"If you say so, David." Her smile as she looked towards him was an arrow piercing Robyn's heart.
"I'm sorry it's not more convenient for you." Robyn's apologies died away. It was Maria's own fault if she had to put up with a certain measure of inconvenience. She had arrived earlier than expected and before her new apartment was in readiness for her.
"I've got oodles of messages for you," Maria turned to David. "Bob's set a new skiing record. I don't think I wrote you about it at the time, but you may have read about it in the papers I sent you."
So they corresponded regularly, these two, Robyn mused. Even though it was Maria who was the stranger, she contrived to make Robyn feel that the other two were a twosome and it was she who was the outsider.
"Won't be long, David," Maria was running on. "I'll just put down my things and then you can show me around the grounds."
"I'll be waiting."
Robyn was conscious of a chill sense of dismissal. Turning away, she murmured, "I'll get along." Probably the other two would be far too absorbed in themselves and news of mutual friends to even notice she had left them.
But she was mistaken, for she had taken only a few steps along the path when David came hurrying after her. "Robyn !" She stood still, hoping . . . hoping ... Perhaps everything wasn't going to be spoiled after all. David was planning to leave Maria to her own devices and return to the interrupted tour of inspection. Then she realised that Maria had come out to the terrace and was standing watching — and listening.
"About that black velvet," David said. "You'll need a special type of velvet for the painting. I'll cable the warehouse in Sydney today and get a bolt sent over right away."
She stared up at him dazedly, pushing a long strand of hair back from her face. "Thanks, David."
The last thing of which she was aware was Maria slipping an arm through David's, laughing up into his face, her cropped brown hair very close to his shoulder. "Miss me?"
Robyn didn't wait to hear any more. She was hurrying away towards the shelter of the spreading banana palms, anywhere to be out of sight of the other two, away from the hurtful sound of the other girl's assured proprietorial tones.
That evening she decided to skip dining with the others in the newly-remodelled kitchen. She sent a message by Selani to Mrs. Daley saying that she wouldn't be in to dinner. Let David make what he liked of her absence. Not, she reflected bleakly, that he would even notice, now that his "friend" was here with him. But why give him and Maria the satisfaction of knowing that her eyes were swollen with weeping? Fool that she was, to have mistaken his friendly ways for anything more personal. David was pleasant to everyone. He radiated good temper and warmth — it was one of the traits she liked about him. It meant nothing, except in her own stupid imagination. To think she had hoped that he felt something warmer towards her! She must have been crazy to dream up such thoughts. How could she go on living here with the other two always near at hand, for no doubt David would be at the Islander more often now that Maria was here.
She stayed in her bure, restless, fighting the tide of misery that threatened to overwhelm her. Perhaps if she began work on the mural, sketched out a few rough ideas from which to choose a final design. Dropping to the floor, she lay face downwards on the matting, a sketch pad open before her, but the ideas refused to come. Instead of a tropical scene she saw in her mind the faces of a man and a woman, laughing and intimate. Still she persisted, knowing all the time it was useless, until at last she threw down her pencil and moving to the window, stared moodily outside. The soft dark night had fallen and someone was approaching along the winding path lighted by iron stanchions. In the fitful gleam of the blowing flares she caught sight of David and Maria. She threw herself on the bed and must have fallen into a doze, for some time later, turning restlessly on the pillows, she was aware of a man's deep familiar tones, "'Night," and knew that David had seen Maria back to her bure. His footsteps died away as he returned to the main building.
Less inclined now than ever for sleeping, Robyn switched on the bedside light and attempted to concentrate on a novel, but the printed words danced crazily before her eyes. At intervals as if in sympathy with her mood, shafts of lightning played over the room in brilliant illumination. At length she threw down the book and lighting a cigarette, stared unseeingly before her. How to endure being here with David and Maria tomorrow . . . and all the other tomorrows?
At some hour of the night she must have dropped off to sleep, for she found herself struggling back to consciousness, longing to return to oblivion yet pricked by an alertness of something demanding instant attention. Dazedly it came to her then that the room was pervaded by a strange smell. Smoke! Wide awake now, she realised that flames were running up the curtains and licking around the floorboards. The but was on fire ! What had she learned about fire drill? No matter, get to the door! To linger here would mean unconsciousness, followed by death. Gasping and coughing as her lungs filled with smoke, she struggled towards the entrance. Had she locked the door last night? She couldn't remember. At last, after what seemed an age, she wrenched open the door and stumbled blindly out on to the pathway. At the same time a man came running towards her and she all but fell into his arms. David paused only for a moment. His searching glance ran over her. "Are you all right, Rob?"
"I think so. I"
But with a swiftly spoken, "Call the others! I've got to get to Maria!' he had left her and hurried towards the adjoining hut.
Still in a daze, she ran to the line of bures, flinging open doors, calling loudly, "Fire ! Quick ! Get out!" In a few moments the occupants of the bures came hurrying out of the openings. Mrs. Daley wearing her long white nightgown, the Fijian boys who slept in the next hut, Selani. The men ran towards the sheds and Robyn guessed they were in search of buckets with which to attack the encroaching flames.
Shaking with shock, she watched a cloud of smoke billow from the smouldering thatch of the bure occupied by Maria. It was clear that only the last two huts in the line of bures were on fire although the next one to Robyn's, tinder-dry, was already starting to smoulder. It seemed an endless time since she had seen David kick open the door of Maria's hut. "Don't let him be hurt," she prayed. "Don't let anything happen to him !"
"Come along, Robyn," Mrs. Daley was saying, tugging at her arm, but Robyn shook her head. "Soon."
At that moment a man's figure emerged through the flames of the open doorway. In his arms he carried a small inert figure wrapped in a singed blanket. Robyn caught a glimpse of Maria's deathly-white face as he strode towards her. "Robyn ! Come along to the house, quick !"
Obediently, she found herself hurrying along at his side, like a pet dog, to be ordered about, while Maria had to be carried with the utmost tenderness in his arms. As they reached the main building she glanced back where figures were silhouetted against the red blaze as buckets of seawater were dashed on the flaming bures. Then she followed David as he hurried into the hall and into one
of the units.
He laid the inert girl on the bed. "Got any brandy?" he enquired of Mrs. Daley. The older woman nodded. "Get some into her right away, will you? I think she's only overcome with the smoke . . . should come out of it before long."
As Mrs. Daley hurried away, the blanket slipped from Maria's unconscious form, revealing a froth of nylon pyjamas and negligee. Robyn shivered to think of what would have happened to the inflammable fabric had not Maria been rescued from the burning hut.
In a few minutes David came back into the room, his anxious glance moving swiftly to the unconscious figure. Then picking up the brandy he went to kneel at her side and held the glass to her lips.
Maria choked and spluttered, then her half-conscious gaze flickered towards him. "David . ." All at once she jerked herself to a sitting position, her face alight with terror. "It happened ... the fire . ." The hazel eyes were wide with fear.
"It's all right," David seated himself at her side and took the small white hand in his reassuring clasp. "You're not hurt, Maria, no one is. There's not a thing to worry about."
Her lips were working, out of control. "But there was a fire —"
He ran a smoke-blackened hand over singed hair. " 'Was' is the word ! I've just been over to have a look at the bures, or what's left of a couple of them. The boys got the fire under control without too much trouble, even if they did have to depend on hand labour and buckets of seawater ! Not that it would have been any great loss if all those tumbledown shacks had gone up in flames. They're due to be demolished any day now." Was he talking to give Maria reassurance? Robyn wondered. To take that stricken look from her eyes? She could scarcely recognise in this abject, terror-stricken girl the self-possessed young woman of earlier in the day. It was odd, because she would have imagined Maria to have been well able to cope confidently with anything that came her way, even to a fire in her but on her first night here. Yet she was obviously in a state of shock that appeared out of all proportion to the hurt she had sustained. "I never wear nylon underwear," she spoke through chattering teeth, "but last night I forgot." She continued to cling to his hand with a compulsive grip. "Where did it start, the fire?"