Mud and Gold

by Shayne Parkinson

  ‘Thank you, Lizzie, that’s very encouraging,’ Lily replied, laughing. ‘We were going to leave the wedding until February—do you think we should have it as soon as possible, before Bill gets tempted to run away from home?’

  ‘You should have it in December, as soon as school’s finished,’ Lizzie pronounced. ‘No sense keeping everyone waiting—you two have been slow enough already.’

  When Lizzie became aware of her pregnancy, she was more pleased than ever that she had urged Lily into an early wedding. ‘I might be too big by February, I could have missed out on going to it,’ she said to Frank, indignant at the very thought.

  ‘That’d be a bit rough, eh?’ Frank agreed. ‘Specially when it was all your idea.’

  Lily insisted on a small wedding, her own determination not to make a show of herself strengthened by the discovery that Bill was putting up with a good deal of half-serious complaints from his father over the fact that it was Arthur who would have to pay for the occasion.

  ‘Your father’s always charming to me, but he’s said some dreadful things to Bill,’ Lily said to Lizzie. ‘He told him no wonder Bill was marrying an orphan, he’d never get any girl’s father to let him have her.’

  ‘I’ve never heard anyone call Pa charming,’ Lizzie sniffed. ‘He thinks a lot of you, Ma told me. Right after that first time you went around there for lunch, he said you’ve got plenty of sense.’ Lizzie did not bother to quote her father’s comment in full: that Lily was not very young, but she seemed to have a good head on her shoulders.

  ‘Did he? That was nice of him. Bill said your father told Alf and Ernie they’d better make sure they didn’t marry orphans or he’d be bankrupt. Bill says he’s joking, but I don’t want to cause any trouble, not when I’ll be living with them soon enough. Just your family and your Uncle Jack’s, that’s all we’ll have at the wedding.’

  ‘Pity that means you’ve got to have Charlie as well. Haven’t you got anyone of your own to invite?’

  ‘I don’t really have any relations. I’d better send an invitation to Uncle Fred and Aunt Helen—he’s the one who paid for me to go to school. I’m sure they won’t come, though, I haven’t seen them in four years, and even then it was only for afternoon tea the day before I left Auckland for good.’

  ‘Yes, make sure you invite them,’ Lizzie agreed. ‘They’ll probably send a present.’

  Sure enough, a few weeks before the wedding a parcel arrived at the Post and Telegraph Station for Miss Lily Radford, care of Mr F. Kelly.

  ‘It’s from Uncle Fred,’ Lily said when Frank placed the parcel before her. She ripped open the outer layer of brown paper, revealing a large envelope and a well-wrapped package. ‘Well?’ she asked Frank and Lizzie, her eyes sparkling with amusement at Lizzie’s eager expression. ‘What shall I open first, the letter or the present?’

  ‘The present,’ Lizzie said. ‘Letters can wait, I want to see what your rich uncle’s sent.’

  ‘It won’t be anything much, Lizzie, he’s not really an uncle, remember.’ But Lily duly unwrapped the layers of paper until she had uncovered a neat enamelled box and a small silver dish. She studied the gifts with her brow furrowed, opened the box and drew out one of the small pieces of cardboard it held.

  Lily looked at the card in disbelief, smiled, then laughed aloud. ‘Oh, Aunt Helen,’ she gasped out through her mirth. ‘Whatever possessed her?’

  ‘What are they?’ Lizzie asked. She picked up one of the cards and peered at it. ‘ “Mrs William Leith”,’ she read aloud. ‘That’s nice, that’ll be your married name.’ She passed the card to Frank, who looked at it equally blankly. ‘But why would you want a lot of cards with your name on?’

  It took some time for Lily’s merriment to subside enough for her to explain. ‘They’re visiting cards, Lizzie. They’re for women who’ve nothing better to do than parade around town paying calls on other idle women.’

  ‘Why do you need bits of card to do that?’

  ‘Well, this isn’t going to make much sense because it’s really just a lot of nonsense, but I’ll do my best. The idea is that you call on someone when you know she’ll be out—probably paying calls on someone else, in fact. Then you leave one of these cards to let her know you’ve called.’

  ‘But why do you call when she’s out? And couldn’t you just tell whoever comes to the door?’

  ‘You do tell whoever answers—probably the parlour maid if it’s someone rich like Aunt Helen. But you leave a card anyway, that’s the whole point of calling. It’s all to do with exchanging these cards, that’s why you call when the other lady will be out. You write on the card to let her know what day you’ll be “at home”.’

  ‘Eh? You mean those women are out so much that they have to write people notes to let them know when they’ll be at home? When do they get their work done? Their houses must be a disgrace.’

  ‘That’s what they have all those servants for. Not just at home, Lizzie, at home to visitors. They might decide they’ll receive callers one afternoon, and they’ll leave these cards telling all their acquaintances what day they can call. If anyone called any other day, they’d just have the maid tell the caller that Madam wasn’t home. Oh, and this little tray is to display all the cards other women have left for you. I believe the idea is that you only put the most impressive ones on show.’

  ‘What a load of rubbish,’ said Lizzie.

  ‘Yes, it is,’ Lily agreed. ‘Aunt Helen’s obviously never been anywhere like Ruatane. Ah well, I shall have to write and thank her profusely for her lovely gift. And I’d better see what she says in the letter.’

  There was a smaller envelope inside the large one, as well as a sheet of writing paper. Lily scanned the letter quickly.

  ‘They won’t be coming to the wedding, of course, but Aunt Helen thanks me very politely for thinking of them. The rest is all news of her family. Their little girl must be growing up now, Aunt Helen says she’s going to school. Such a dear little thing, Sarah was.’ She put the letter to one side. ‘Now, what’s in here?’

  She opened the smaller envelope and pulled out a folded piece of heavy paper. ‘What’s this?’ Lily asked aloud, then gasped as she unfolded it. ‘Now this is from Uncle Fred,’ she said brightly. ‘Look at this—it’s a banker’s order.’ She held the paper up to show them.

  ‘Ten pounds,’ Frank said, impressed at the sight. ‘What are you going to do with it, Lily?’

  ‘Well…’ Lily thought for no more than a few seconds. ‘I’m going to buy a wedding dress,’ she announced. ‘I wasn’t going to get a new dress, not when it’d mean Bill’s father having to pay for it, but now I’ve some money of my own I’ll be silly and have a dress made.’

  ‘That’s not silly,’ Lizzie protested. ‘It’s just sense—you only have a wedding once, you want to make the most of it.’

  ‘And I’ve waited long enough for it, haven’t I? Now, don’t look so eager, Lizzie, I’m not going to go mad. Just a nice, sensible dress that I can wear for years and years.’

  ‘You should get a good one for ten pounds,’ Frank remarked idly, thinking of how far that amount would go towards the improvements he was contemplating for his cow shed.

  ‘Goodness me, Frank, I’m not going to spend ten pounds on it! No, I suppose I’d better give the rest to Bill.’

  ‘You’ll do no such thing!’ Lizzie said. ‘You’re going to spend all that money on yourself.’

  ‘I don’t think I should, Lizzie. I mean, don’t you think I should ask Bill what he wants me to do with it? I’m afraid I’ll have to get used to asking him things like that—it’ll be quite strange, I’ve only had my own opinion to consult for so many years. I’d better get into the habit now, it’ll save trouble later.’

  ‘There’s no need to rush, you’re not married yet. Now, Lily, you’re being a bit silly over this. You know perfectly well you need all sorts of… well, not things you’d ask Bill about, not yet anyway… oh, you know,’ she ended feebly. She grimaced at Fr
ank; he knew it was a signal that she wanted him to leave them alone. Perhaps she wanted to talk about Lily’s underclothes. He grinned as he remembered the first time he had seen Lizzie’s lace-edged drawers, after having wondered for so long what she kept under her skirts; it had been a delightful revelation.

  ‘What do you think, Frank?’ Lily asked. Frank glanced guiltily at her, wondering if she had read his thoughts.

  ‘About what?’ he asked.

  ‘What should I do about the money? I thought perhaps Bill could use it towards our wedding, so his father won’t have to pay for it all. You’re a man, tell me what you think Bill would want.’

  It was a heavy responsibility, and Frank considered the question carefully. ‘Well, I can’t say for sure what Bill would think. But if Lizzie got a bit of money of her own, I know what I’d want.’

  ‘More fancy cows,’ Lizzie put in, raising her eyes heavenwards. Frank ignored her pert remark.

  ‘I’d want her to spend the lot on things for herself, the sillier the better. Heck, Lily, Bill doesn’t want money from you—he’d probably be a bit put out if you offered it to him. So would Arthur, come to that. I think you should buy yourself a whole lot of pretty things. Bill will enjoy seeing them,’ he added daringly before leaving the two women to plan Lily’s trousseau in fine detail.

  *

  December brought the end of the school year, and two weeks later came the day of the wedding.

  The warm, golden light of the late afternoon sun gave a richness to the green of the valley as Frank drove the family up to Arthur’s house, Lily on the front seat beside him in her dove grey silk dress while Lizzie and the children squashed themselves into the back seat for the short drive. The small group of guests was waiting on the lawn when the Kellys arrived. Frank saw Bill smiling at them from the verandah, Alf looking uncomfortable in his good suit at Bill’s side. Lily’s cheeks were pink and her eyes shining as Frank helped her down from the buggy. She took Maudie by the hand, and slipped her other arm through Frank’s.

  Lizzie gave Lily a kiss, issued a stern warning to Maudie, who was the bridesmaid, to walk like a little lady, then shepherded the other two children over to the knot of guests.

  ‘Ready?’ Frank asked. Lily nodded, fixing him with a brilliant smile, and for the first time Frank decided that perhaps she was just a little bit pretty. ‘I didn’t think I’d be giving any girls away for a few years yet, you know,’ he told her with a grin. The three of them began their stately procession across the garden and up to the verandah where Bill waited.

  After the service, the Leith family began the celebrations welcoming their newest member. Despite his grumbling, with such a small wedding Arthur had found little enough to spend money on. The bulk of the food had been produced on the farm, and killing one more sheep than usual was no hardship; nor was serving up one of the large hams from the larder. Edie had used a vast amount of dried fruit for the wedding cake, but that was the only thing she had had to buy specially from the store.

  Determined to show that he welcomed Lily’s arrival, Arthur had been careful to provide a generous amount of beer; far more than the eight grown men at the wedding could reasonably be expected to consume. It was not his fault that one of the men had no intention of being reasonable.

  Amy had been pleased at the chance of an outing with her family, but she almost wished she had not come when she saw how heavily Charlie was drinking. She turned her back on him, determined not to let him spoil the day for her.

  Not that it was ever possible to ignore his brooding presence completely. She could not show any but the coolest of interest in her male cousins, and had to duck her head away when Bill attempted to kiss her, instead taking his hand and shaking it. She had laid down one new rule of her own for her marriage, but she would still do her best to obey all the rest of Charlie’s orders, however unreasonable they were. To flout any of his rules would be to risk goading him into breaking hers.

  She found plenty to talk about with the other women; getting permission from Charlie to leave the house was always haphazard, and over the previous three weeks he had decided to be more difficult than usual, refusing even to let her visit her father’s house. Lizzie had been too busy organising Lily to have had time to come and see Amy, so she had had no congenial adult company for some time.

  Amy thought she detected a slight bulge in Jane’s front, so it was no great surprise when Jane whispered to her that she would be having her third baby the following June.

  ‘Madam’s got wind of it,’ Jane said, indicating Susannah with a toss of her head. Susannah glanced over at them from where she sat with Edie, and Amy saw her purse her lips in disapproval. ‘She said to me the other day what a shame it was that I wouldn’t be able to come to this—she looked down her nose well and truly when I told her I was coming all right, but I just gave her a look like this.’ Amy laughed at Jane’s fierce grimace. ‘I’m not showing yet—well, not so that men would notice, they’re half blind about that sort of thing. I told Harry that Madam didn’t think I should come—you should have heard what he said about her. I had to tell him off, using language like that in front of the girls. It’s a good thing he doesn’t speak to Susannah, or she’d learn some new words.’

  ‘I don’t know, Jane, I think he used them all to her face before he stopped speaking to her. I bet he’s pleased about the new baby.’

  ‘Oh, yes, men always seem to act as though they’ve done it all by themselves.’ Jane looked over at Harry, who was explaining in fine detail to Frank his plans for extending his house. ‘I hope it’s a boy this time,’ she confided. ‘Harry loves the girls, and he never let on he was a bit disappointed when Esther came along, but I know he’d love to have a son. Well, it stands to reason, doesn’t it? Men always want sons.’

  ‘Charlie did,’ Amy agreed. ‘He wasn’t interested in having daughters.’ She realised she had put Charlie’s days of fathering children into the past tense, but if Jane had noticed her slip she gave no sign of it.

  Lizzie soon joined them, and shared the news of her own new pregnancy. Amy saw the other two women study her flat belly then glance at David, now nearly four and a half. She knew her family all wondered why she had had no more babies since Alexander; she had no intention of satisfying their curiosity and thereby exposing Charlie to ridicule. Let them think she had become barren; she might as well be, since she would never bear another child.

  She looked over at the group of children running about in the garden, ranging in age from Jane and Harry’s seventeen-month-old Esther up to nine-year-old Thomas. It would be hard to watch the other women with their new babies; especially if either of them had a pretty little dark-haired girl. Now that David was so visibly a little boy, she felt as though she had lost her window on what Ann must look like. It had been a little like losing her all over again.

  ‘Amy? Are you all right?’ Lizzie’s voice interrupted her reverie.

  ‘What? Oh, yes, I’m fine.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ Lizzie pressed. ‘You haven’t been having any… any trouble at home, have you?’

  ‘No, Lizzie, I haven’t. I’m perfectly all right.’

  ‘You just looked a bit down in the mouth. You look well, though. You know, I think you’ve grown a bit taller the last few months.’

  ‘Lizzie, what a silly thing to say! I’m much too old to be growing. Anyway, I was just thinking about something.’

  ‘Something sad?’ Jane asked. ‘You looked a bit upset.’

  ‘Did I? Well, I shouldn’t have,’ Amy said. ‘Today’s a really happy day, Bill and Lily don’t want long faces at their wedding.’ She looked at the newly-weds sitting side by side on the verandah, and it was easy to smile at the sight. ‘They look so happy, don’t they?’

  ‘Mmm,’ said Lizzie. ‘They’re a good match, all right. It was silly, Lily struggling on looking after other people’s children when what she really needs is to get on and have some of her own.’

  David ran over to Amy and began
to clamber onto her lap. ‘Can I have another cake, Mama?’ he asked, looking up at her with the wide-eyed smile of anticipation that she could never resist.

  ‘Don’t climb up on me, Davie, you know Papa says you mustn’t do that any more. Of course you can have one, there’s plenty. You go inside and ask Aunt Edie—she’s in the parlour. Come out and eat it on the grass, though, you mustn’t drop crumbs on Aunt Edie’s rugs.’ She glanced over swiftly to check that Charlie was not watching, then gave David a quick squeeze and a kiss before he ran up the steps and into the house in search of his aunt.

  There was no risk of Charlie’s noticing her forbidden ‘babying’ of David; he was far too engrossed in his beer. While the other men filled their mugs from time to time at the barrel that stood under a shady karaka tree, Charlie had not moved more than a few feet from it ever since the service had ended.

  The day cooled pleasantly as the sun dipped towards the hills. The noise of the children’s voices faded gradually as, one by one, they found spots well out of the way of large, careless feet and lay down, tired out with playing.

  Amy saw Jack and Arthur wander over towards the beer, deep in conversation as they walked. Arthur filled both mugs, and the men stood under the tree and chatted for a few minutes longer. But when Charlie forced himself on their attention by pouring himself yet another drink Jack gave him a look of disgust and walked away.

  He dragged a chair close to Amy and sat down beside her. ‘How’s my girl?’ he asked, resting his arm across her shoulders. Haven’t seen you in weeks, except at church.’

  Amy leaned her head against his chest. ‘I know, it’s been hard for me to get out just lately. You should come over and see me sometimes, maybe bring Tom and George now school’s finished.’

  ‘I might just do that. I worry about you when I don’t see you, girl.’

  ‘You shouldn’t, Pa, there’s no need. Everything’s fine, really it is. You come over tomorrow—I’ll make some of those ginger biscuits you used to like if you promise to come.’