“Don’t look now but I think we’re being followed. Don’t look,” Katie hissed as she linked arms with Rhiannon. “We might have to make a run for it but I don’t think so. Let’s make for the breakwater.”
“But the convict gang is working down there.”
“Yes,” Katie agreed. “And we’ll be safer there. The overseer will see to it that we are. Whoever’s following us won’t try anything when there’s others around.”
“Is it Seamus’s father?”
“It is. Walk a little faster. He’s gaining on us.”
Increasing their walking pace was easier said than done. Their feet sunk into the sand making walking difficult. Suddenly Rhiannon cried out, “Race you,” and took off toward the sea.
“Rhiannon! What are ye doing?”
“Come on Katie. I’ll race you.”
Katie stood and stared at her friend, then glancing behind and seeing how much distance their pursuer had gained, Katie lifted her skirts and took off after her friend, her feet sinking into the ground at each step. But in moments she found herself on firmer ground, and picking up her pace, caught up to her friend in no time.
“Keep going,” Rhiannon sung out.
Katie ran. She forgot the man who’d been following them. She forgot her fears. Instead, the roar of the sea, the salt in the air, the squawking of seagulls, the feel of the sand underfoot, filled her senses and made her feel glad to be alive.
When they were within calling distance of the gang working on the breakwater, Rhiannon suddenly stopped and doubled over.
“That was fun.”
“Are ye insane?” Katie gasped out.
“Can you see him?”
Katie turned around. “No. I think he’s turned back.”
“Good. We’ll wait here and turn back when the gang returns to town.”
“Are ye insane?” Katie repeated.
“What would you prefer? To be followed by a man who claims to be Seamus’s father and who seems intent on intimidating us into giving Seamus up, or to follow a convict gang back into town? We’re safer with the work gang. You said so yourself. Not one of the men would dare threaten us while the overseers are here. If we return now, he could be lying in wait somewhere. So we stay here.”
“I guess ye’re right.”
“Of course I’m right.” Rhiannon sat down and removed her boots.
“Are ye going to tell yer parents?”
“About that man?”
“Him, yes. But also that ye ran un-lady-like along the beach and that we followed along with a convict gang.” Katie started laughing.
Rhiannon’s smile faded. “It doesn’t sound good when you put it like that. I guess I will have to tell them. But what will Mother say?”
“I can tell ye what she’ll say: ‘Rhiannon what am I going to do with ye? Will I make a lady out of ye yet?’”
Rhiannon laughed. “Take your boots off and let’s paddle. Surely we can’t get in any more trouble.”
Katie bent down to undo her laces. “I wouldn’t count on it.”
Rhiannon’s Journal
February 24, 1830
It does indeed appear that the man claiming to be Seamus’s father is following us. Today Katie and I were walking along the track at the top of the cliffs just before it meets the track leading down to the Sergeant’s barracks when we saw him. We debated what to do at the time and decided to just keep walking. He didn’t come any closer but I know he was watching us. Katie thinks we should tell Mother and Father but it will just worry them so.
They were so upset when they heard about the way we’d been followed on the beach the other day. Although, as Katie pointed out to me afterwards, Mother seemed more upset that we’d been running and paddling out in public. Honestly, if growing up is all about a list of things we can’t do I don’t know if I want to ever grow up. It would be so … inconvenient.
“Renton, I’m concerned.” Esther Sanford poured from the teapot that had once belonged to her grandmother and then held the cup out to her husband. She usually delighted in using this particular tea set but today she could’ve been pouring out of a rusty old watering can and she wouldn’t have noticed.
“Because of this man claiming to be Seamus’s father?”
His wife nodded. “Perhaps we should …” She stopped and covered her face.
Immediately the doctor was on his feet and around the table. “What is it?”
“I’m worried about the girls’ safety. He’s followed them at least three times that we know of and I suspect there have been more times that they haven’t told us about. I can’t go on like this – worrying if he’s going to do some harm to them like what happened to poor Seamus’s mother. Perhaps we should let him take Seamus.” She burst into tears.
The doctor looked at his wife appalled. “You can’t be serious.”
“I can’t bear it any longer. If he wants Seamus then … I don’t want Rhiannon or Katie hurt.” More tears followed.
Her husband patted her shoulder. “We’re not giving him Seamus. Not without a fight. Nor will we give him an opportunity to hurt the girls. From now on, they must never leave this house alone.”
“Oh Renton.” She squeezed his hand. “I wonder …”
“What do you wonder?”
“If we moved – if we went some place where he couldn’t find us – if we’d be safe?”
The doctor returned to his seat and drained his teacup. “I don’t think that’s necessary. However I will go and visit with the magistrate again today and see how he’s progressing on this case. And before I go I’ll inform Rhiannon and Katie not to leave the house.”
“They won’t like it.”
He smiled ruefully. “No, I imagine they won’t. But it’s for their own good.” He stood and fastened his watch chain before bending down and kissing the top of his wife’s head. “And some times we have to do things we don’t like. I’ll see you later.”
Rhiannon’s Journal
February 27, 1830
We think we saw him again today – closer to the house. As much as I hate to admit it, I think it’s time to tell Mother and Father everything.
March 1830
Chapter Three
Samuel held the sheet of paper up to the light then turned it over, a frown furrowing his brow. Three lines. That was all it held. Three lines closely written: three lines wedged closely between a greeting and a farewell – but nothing more.
He shook his head and put the paper down. But the next second he picked it up again. There must be more. But no, there was just one sheet with those three lines.
He walked to the window and looked out, letting the paper slip from his grasp. He didn’t understand. Usually Katie wrote long letters filled with news – letters filled with her voice and personality – letters that were a joy to receive and read.
But this letter was short. Brief. Cold. Detached.
He closed his eyes and thought back over the preceding months. So much had happened. The family that had taken her in when she had first arrived in this sun-beaten land had returned to England, taking her friend Judith – another convict – with them. The authorities had refused to allow Katie to return with the family but that was hardly any reason for her to be angry with him. Instead he had done what he could for Katie by proposing marriage to prevent a return to the Female Factory. The real reason he had denied to himself and he doubted she had suspected.
Was it possible that she was angry with him for proposing? But he thought she had understood why he’d done it. And she had refused him. If there was a grudge to be held, shouldn’t it be on his side?
Then there had been his providential meeting with Doctor Sanford and his family and securing a place for Katie in their home. On the trip by sea to Newcastle she had been as friendly as always. She’d even promised to write – but this letter hardly fulfilled such a promise. No, it was a mockery of such a promise.
The night he visited the Sanford family to say farewell she had bee
n quiet and perhaps a trifle cool but he had put it down to tiredness and the newness of her circumstances and not thought anything more of it. But now in light of this latest letter, he realised she had gone out of her way – or so it seemed now – not to allow him an opportunity to say any private farewells.
Friendly one day; cold and distant the next. What had changed? Something must have changed. Something had happened between their landing at the wharf in Newcastle and him leaving with the Trentham family that had made her hate him. But try as he might he could not come up with a plausible reason. What exactly had turned Katie against him?
Bowing his head, he started to pray. He had no idea how his friendship with Katie had deteriorated to such a point, but he needed help straightening it out. And he knew of only One who could help with such a mess.
“What shall we do today?” Rhiannon and Katie were sitting in the front living room that commanded a fine view of the ocean as far as the eye could see. For the past three days it had rained and Rhiannon’s father’s injunction that the girls not go anywhere without an attendant had easily been obeyed. But today, after an early shower, the sun was shining and it was already promising to be another beautiful day similar to others that they so often enjoyed at this particular time of year.
“I don’t know.” Katie was hesitant and with good reason. She had learnt that when the doctor gave an order he expected to be obeyed. She also knew that he had made the stipulation for the girls’ safety. Despite her time living in the colony of New South Wales, Rhiannon seemed to be oblivious to many of the cruel acts that mankind could inflict on one of its own and certainly seemed to have no understanding of what the man claiming to be Seamus’s father was capable of. But Katie knew and she had no desire to introduce her friend to the harsher realities of life that would certainly be the result if they crossed paths with Seamus’s father.
“I need to buy more ribbon to trim my hat. Do you remember that small shop we found a few weeks back? The one that was barely any wider than a door’s width? Let’s go and see if any more supplies have arrived yet.”
“But ye father said not to leave the house.”
“He said alone. We won’t go alone. We’ll take Lola with us.”
Lola was a convict woman who had recently joined the household as cook and general maid – a woman whom the doctor’s wife had viewed with suspicion at first and had considered entirely unsuitable as a companion for her daughter. Over time she had amended her views but Katie still wasn’t sure that she would allow either girl to go with her, especially considering recent circumstances.
Rhiannon jumped up. “I’ll just go and tell Mother where we’re going.”
Katie cut off another length of thread. She thought she knew what Esther’s answer would be and she couldn’t see the point in putting away her mending only to have to pull it out again when permission was denied. But much to her surprise, Rhiannon soon re-entered the room, fastening a rather becoming hat to her hair and swinging a small purse from one wrist.
“Yer mother said we could go?” Katie asked in astonishment, hurriedly packing up her sewing supplies.
“She was lying down with Seamus so I just told her that you and I were going to go out for some air with Lola,” Rhiannon stated airily.
Katie looked at her friend suspiciously. “Was she awake? Did she hear ye?”
“Yes, she was awake. She answered me.”
“What did she say?”
“Something about not going too far.”
“I don’t think she was truly awake. If she had been she wouldn’t let us go. I don’t think we should go.”
“Well you can stay here if you like but I’m going into town.”
“I don’t know as it’s wise.”
“Katie, honestly, you’re like an old woman the way you worry. Nothing’s going to happen. Seamus’s father isn’t going to do anything in broad daylight.”
“It was broad daylight the time he came here.”
“That was different.” Rhiannon retied the ribbons on her hat. “I’m going whether you come or not. What are you going to do?”
Katie slowly rose and brushed down her skirt. “I’m just not sure that we should be going. Perhaps ye should check with ye father?”
“Father’s been called out to see a patient. Come on, Katie. We won’t be long and I’m so tired of being cooped up inside.” As Katie seemed to hesitate, she added, “We’ll be back before you know it.”
“Oh all right then. I just hope we’re doing right.”
Within minutes the girls were suitably attired and walking down the hill toward the town with Lola and one of the men who was employed as a groom by their neighbour. Much to Rhiannon’s disgust – and Katie’s private delight – Lola had also questioned the wisdom of the two girls going into the town and had enlisted the assistance of an able-bodied man. That she might also have ulterior motives did occur to Katie – but a man to give them protection was very welcome and she chose not to question further. If Lola wanted to walk out with this young man that was no one’s business but her own.
As they approached the town the man turned them down a side street and stopped in front of the blacksmith’s.
“I ’ave an errand ’ere. It could take a while.”
“We’ll wait,” Lola stated.
“It might be an ’our.” He stood awkwardly, his hands in his pockets, obviously embarrassed to be asking them to wait and reluctant to see Lola leave so soon. “It might be best if you go on.”
Lola looked anxiously at the girls. “Do you mind waiting ’ere for a spell?”
“I have a better idea,” Rhiannon cut in. “Katie and I can go on to the haberdashery by ourselves. It’s not far. We’ll meet back here.”
Both Lola and Katie tried to protest, but it was obvious that Lola didn’t want to leave the groom and equally obvious that Rhiannon didn’t want to wait. Eventually Lola reluctantly agreed.
“You girls be careful and make sure you’re back ’ere in half an ’our.”
“We will,” Rhiannon promised.
“What do ye think ye’re doing?” Katie hissed as they moved away. “We should’ve stayed with them. Yer mother let us come on the understanding that we were with Lola. She wouldn’t want us to be by ourselves.”
“It’s just down here and around the corner … There!” Rhiannon opened the door and gestured for Katie to step inside. “What were you so worried about?”
The next half an hour was deliciously spent looking at the different ribbons and laces and trims that had arrived on the latest ship into port. Several times Rhiannon took her choice to the counter only to change her mind at the last minute. Eventually she made her purchase and the girls stepped out into the sunshine once more.
Retracing their steps to the blacksmith shop, Rhiannon pulled the ribbon out of its wrapping. “I hope I’ve made the right choice. The blue was lovely too.”
“I don’t know why ye just didn’t buy out the whole shop,” Katie laughed. “Ye must’ve dragged out every ribbon that poor woman has. It’s going to take her a good half hour to put them all back again.”
Rhiannon giggled. “It was rather awful of me. But it’s her own fault for having so many beautiful ribbons. I don’t know how anyone is meant to choose when there are so many choices.”
They stopped in front of the blacksmith shop and Katie peered inside, her eyes slowly adjusting to the dimness of the interior. “Lola and her friend don’t appear to be here.”
“But they said they’d wait here.” Rhiannon nudged her friend aside and looked through the doorway. “You’re right. They’re not here. That’s strange – it looks as if no one is here.”
“What shall we do?”
“I wonder where they went?” she asked in reply. Glancing at the outside of the building she could see no place to sit. “Perhaps we could wait inside?”
Suddenly Rhiannon felt someone grab hold of her arm and she was yanked around to face her attacker. Seamus’s father!
Rhiannon kicked out with her feet but it only served to make her lose her balance. She stumbled but he pulled her upright while all the time resisting Katie’s attacks that were now aimed at his chest. She managed to scratch his face and he retaliated by gripping her wrist even harder. She cried out in pain.
“Let us go, you – you,” angrily Rhiannon tried to ram her head into the man’s stomach. Suddenly the man was yanked backwards onto the ground, the girls landing on top of him. The next second they found themselves lying in the dust of the street as their attacker lurched to his feet and took off. Concerned faces came into view as hands reached down and helped the girls to their feet.
“Are ye all right now?” Rhiannon tried to focus on the black-smeared face before her eyes. She had bumped her head when she landed and now it throbbed incessantly. “He’s gone now. Ye’re safe.”
Someone handed Katie a handkerchief and Rhiannon noticed that she wrapped it around her wrist. Rhiannon’s sight blurred as she realised that Katie’s wrist looked rather strange. The next thing she knew, Rhiannon was once again lying on the ground but this time looking up into the frightened faces of Lola and her man friend.
I must find out his name, she thought to herself before closing her eyes once more.
“Smelling salts! Quickly.”
“You fainted,” someone explained to Rhiannon as she opened her eyes. “Just lie there. The magistrate will be here soon.”
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