Eumeralla - Secrets, Tragedy and Love

by Joanna Stephen-Ward

  “I’ve decided to sell my unit,” Fiona announced when they were having dinner. “I want you to put the money into Eumeralla.”

  Eleanor envisaged all the improvements that could be made. To her dismay, Greg, Tom and Neil had decided what to do with the money Keith was putting in without consulting her. Once she had decided that Keith could buy into the property, Greg had discussed the financial aspect of the partnership with his sons. They would buy a new tractor, stock saddles and a truck. A new toilet was not even on the list. She was adamant that this time her wishes would be fulfilled. ‘We could have a new bathroom,’ she thought when she heard how much Fiona’s unit was worth. ‘And we could buy a new bed and paint the inside of the house.’

  “Fiona, you don’t have to contribute financially, this is your home,” said Greg. “Anyway look at all the things you’ve bought.”

  “But I’ve got a unit, and money in the bank lying idle. It’s getting interest, but – ”

  “Look,” said Greg. “You might start missing your friends and tennis, going to the movies and out to dinner. I hope you don’t, but you might.”

  Fiona shook her head. “Never.”

  “I know what Dad means,” said June. “At the moment all this is new, but you might get sick of it – Hazel did.”

  “I’m not Hazel.”

  “Thank God,” said Tom. “Sis. You’ve taken to everything here well, but give it a year. Wait till you’ve experienced the heat and the spiders, snakes and mozzies, then sell your unit if you want.”

  Eleanor saw her wishes slipping away. “We must – ” she began.

  “Tom’s right,” said June. “I stayed with a friend in Brisbane when I was fifteen. The novelty soon wore off and after a week I was so homesick I was nearly demented.”

  Fiona grinned. “Okay. But I’ve got lots of money in the bank and I’ve decided what to do with some of it.”

  “What?” asked Eleanor hopefully.

  “I’ll pay to move that house in Dalby to here.”

  “Ah, Sis, would you really?” said Neil. He nudged Tom. “A house of our own. No more waiting in a queue to get into the bathroom!”

  On the verge of screaming with frustration Eleanor went into the kitchen.

  Eumeralla

  May 1972

  Hazel came for the weekend. She’s elated that Keith’s moving to Eumeralla. She said he’s the best looking guy she’s ever seen.

  Tomorrow I’m going to the cemetery with Eleanor. It’s the date of her parents’ wedding anniversary – my grandparents. No one else ever goes with her. Tom and Neil reckon it’s morbid, Juju says it’s spooky and reminds her of where she’s going to end up, and Greg thinks visiting a grave is a waste of time because the dead don’t know you’re there. But I’m looking forward to going. It will give me a chance to be alone with Eleanor. I don’t know how she feels. I’ve not been paired with her on a rota yet, so we haven’t had much time to talk.

  Eleanor didn’t want Fiona to come with her to the cemetery. In many ways she was pleased to have her on Eumeralla. Her good cooking made mealtimes more pleasant and varied, and now the person on home rota was never alone, which eased the loneliness and made the tasks easier. But Fiona’s rapture about the lack of electricity frustrated her. The sophisticated city veneer had almost vanished. She had slipped into life on Eumeralla with the ease of a chameleon. She knew that if Fiona sold her unit the money would not go into anything Eleanor wanted, but would be absorbed into the land. They had already paid for the house in Dalby to be moved to Eumeralla and she was furious that Greg was enthusiastic about it.

  “They need some independence,” he had argued when she protested.

  As they drove to the cemetery she suspected that Fiona would bombard her with distressing questions. ‘But Johnny was her father ... it’s natural that she wants to know all about him,’ she thought.

  When they reached Jonathan’s grave Fiona looked at her intently. “What was he like?”

  She tried to think of a reply that would satisfy Fiona and stop further questions.

  “Eleanor, I’m sorry. Does it upset you to talk about him?”

  “I’ve never talked about him.”

  Fiona looked bemused. “Not even to Greg?”

  “Just that he’d left me because he thought I couldn’t get pregnant.”

  “Why didn’t you write to him when you realized you were?”

  “I didn’t know where he was. I was alone. The men hadn’t come back from the war, and my father was dead. We didn’t have a car.”

  Fiona put her posy on the grave. “Why didn’t you go to Acacia?”

  “That was the last place he would have gone. His father was furious that he’d left me. I knew he wasn’t there.”

  “But my grandfather would have helped you. He would never have let you stay alone on Eumeralla.”

  “He didn’t know I was pregnant. There was no phone. The distance from the front door of Eumeralla and the front door of the homestead at Acacia was over three miles. I was so ill that I didn’t feel like getting out of bed in the morning let alone walking two miles,” Eleanor said, attempting to hide her irritation. “Come on, let’s go.”

  “Why didn’t anyone from Acacia come and visit you?” asked Fiona, as they walked to the other side of the cemetery.

  “They were busy. By the time Laurence got back from wherever he’d been, he was immersed in his own unhappiness ... and he was thin and exhausted. He came a few times, but at that stage I didn’t know I was pregnant. I felt ill, but put it down to misery not pregnancy. I upset him by ranting about Johnny.”

  “It’s odd, isn’t it? Laurence, Ruth and Johnny all disappearing.”

  “Johnny didn’t disappear, he left me and I didn’t know where he’d gone. I found out later that he was in Brisbane.”

  “Did Uncle Laurence tell you where he went?”

  “No, he was peculiar about it.” Fiona’s questions had triggered a memory. “He said that he’d told someone, but they didn’t believe him, so he wasn’t going to tell anyone else.”

  “Who did he tell?”

  “I don’t know. It must have been Margot or his father, but he was friendly with the manager and the jackaroos so it might have been one of them. I should have asked him again, but I was so pleased that he was home, that I didn’t pursue it.”

  “He did get back to Acacia before Aunty Ruth disappeared, didn’t he?”

  “Yes, why?” asked Eleanor as they reached her parent’s graves.

  “One of my cousins thought they might have been going to jump off a cliff together. Maybe Aunty Ruth had amnesia.”

  Eleanor shook her head and pulled up some weeds.

  “What did Johnny do in Brisbane?”

  “Got a job as a clerk. He knew his father had disinherited him,” she said, taking a pair of secateurs out of a bag and pruning the rose bushes. “I’ll have to buy a new rose for Dad. This one only had a few flowers last year.”

  Fiona ignored the invitation to change the subject. “I bet Margot cajoled his father to cut him out of the will. Loathsome woman.”

  “I liked her.”

  “But she stole Acacia.”

  “No she didn’t,” said Eleanor. “It was Johnny and Laurence’s own fault they lost it. She was kind to me. I wouldn’t have minded if she’d been my stepmother. It used to embarrass me the way Virginia, Laurence and Johnny treated her. They weren’t rude to her – their father wouldn’t have stood for that, but somehow that almost made their behaviour worse – when they had to speak to her they were chillingly polite. It hurt her. She tried so hard to win their affection. She was an excellent rider and could break-in horses. But instead of respecting her for it they resented it. They said she should stay in the homestead and sew and manage the house instead of riding out with their father and checking the sheep and fences. But that was what Johnny, Laurence and Virginia were like – whatever Margot did would have been wrong. My dad said that if William had known how they were going
to react he would have done things differently.”

  “How?”

  “If she’d come to Acacia as an employee, they would have liked her.”

  Fiona looked skeptical. “Would they?”

  “Yes. It was because she was replacing their mother that they were against her. William would have introduced her to them as the accountant or something, and they would have got to know her. Then they could have announced they were getting married.”

  “Huh,” said Fiona. “What makes you think they would have liked her?”

  “She was sincere and intelligent,” said Eleanor patiently. “They would have realized that if they’d got to know her. They only saw her as their mother’s usurper. Things could have been so different. We had plans to turn Acacia and Eumeralla into one property. It would have been a good union.” Her old feelings of anger burst out. “They had so much in common with Margot ... the same way with horses – breaking them in by kindness not force. They could have been such a happy family ... instead we’ve all suffered because they were unkind to her.” She unscrewed the top of a bottle and poured water round the bottom of the bushes. “Let’s go – there’s heaps to do back home.”

  Fiona touched her arm. “Please talk to me. I don’t know you and I want to.”

  The intense turquoise eyes looked into hers. She sighed. “You’re so like Johnny. Much more than Juju – you’ve got his mannerisms and passion.”

  “What was he like?” Fiona insisted. “He must have had some good points.”

  “Of course he did. He was sensitive, he couldn’t kill anything. If Eumeralla had been a cattle station he would have changed it. He wrote poetry, he spent a lot of time dreaming, he was more out of this world than in it. He was terrific with animals. And women,” she added bitterly.

  Fiona looked startled. “Women? What do you mean?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?”

  “Was he unfaithful?”

  “Yes. Let’s go, or else Greg will be thinking a bunyip’s got us.”

  Today Eleanor was strange when I asked her about Johnny. I was probably too inquisitive, but I want to know about my real father. I was shocked when she told me he’d been unfaithful. I wonder if he had lots of women or just one.

  I can’t understand why she liked Margot. But if Margot was as kind as Eleanor thought she was, she would have gone to Eumeralla. Then she would have found out that Eleanor was pregnant and someone could have looked after her.

  ***

  Keith took time off work to paint the outside of his house. As soon as he finished he put it up for sale. The estate agent enthused about the polished floorboards, freshly painted rooms and the garden. As he predicted it sold quickly and for a higher price than forecast.

  “I feel a bit sad,” said Gabriella as she helped him pack. “This is where Mum and Dad lived.”

  “It wasn’t where Dad wanted to live,” he said.

  “Are you taking their bed?”

  “It won’t fit. I’ll just take the furniture from my bedroom, the bookcases, the table and chairs and an armchair.”

  “Is that all?”

  “That’s all I need. The sofa and the rest of the stuff can be chucked. Gabby, don’t look like that. Mum and Dad only had this furniture because it was all they could afford. I’m not getting rid of family treasures.”

  “I know it’s junk, but it was their junk.”

  He picked up a framed photograph of his parents. “These are what count ... and I’m taking them all. And Dad’s chess set. Think how pleased he’d be about me living on Eumeralla.”

  “Do you reckon the rumours about the owners of Acacia being nearly bankrupt are true?”

  “I hope so,” he said with a grim smile. “It’d be great if we could all buy Acacia. It doesn’t feel like a crazy dream any more.”

  Eumeralla

  May 1972

  Keith’s signed the papers that make him a one-seventh owner of Eumeralla. Greg, Tom and Keith are working on the log cabin. They’ve put in a new sink, tap, windows and fly-screens. They’ve cut the grass and made a pathway to the door. We call it Keith’s Cabin. A film company bought the dray and carriage. Before they took them they had to check there were no snakes hibernating in them – ugh.

  The water tank’s in good condition so he’ll have running water, but there’s no toilet so he’ll have to go native. I’m giving him a shovel and potty as a moving-in present! Because the cabin is so close to the creek we built a mound around it as a precaution against flooding. We’ve sown it with grass seed to keep it together. The last time the creek flooded was years ago and the floor was damaged but it didn’t matter too much as no one was living in it.

  The other day Gabby told me about her talk with Virginia. I remember my parents telling me that I was adopted and getting upset that Dad was not my real father, but being pleased that Virginia was not my real mother. Gabby told me how hurt she was. But she shouldn’t have told such terrible lies. She could have just told me that Eleanor had died.

  ***

  Tom arrived back from the gate with his hands full of birthday cards for June and Fiona. “If I’d known there’d be this much mail, I’d have taken a sack with me.”

  “Oh!” exclaimed June as she opened her card from Virginia and Alex. “Fifty dollars! I’ve hardly ever seen so much money.”

  Fiona opened her card and took out five twenty-dollar notes. The card from Ruth contained another fifty dollars. She smiled and handed it to Greg. “You take it.”

  Eleanor snatched it back. “No! Buy something for yourself.”

  “What?”

  “You know what I dream of having?” June said excitedly. “Jodhpurs and riding boots.”

  Eleanor nodded approvingly. “Yes. Let’s go into Brisbane and get some tomorrow. We can have a day out and have lunch with Hazel.”

  Eumeralla

  1st June 1972

  Today is Juju’s birthday. Yesterday it was mine. But I wanted us to celebrate on the same day. So we tossed a coin and we celebrated today. It was fun opening our presents together. We went into Brisbane yesterday with Eleanor, and Juju and I bought ourselves jodhpurs and riding-boots. All the others are envious – I know what I’ll be buying them for their birthdays. Buying a present for Juju was almost as hard as buying for a man. She doesn’t use perfume or wear jewellery and she only buys men’s shirts. Her pyjamas are wearing out so I bought her new ones and three shirts. I also got her some moisturizer and hand cream.

  Keith and Gabby came to dinner and everyone got on well. Neil made us a birthday cake, he iced it in white and wrote our names in blue. Having my name and Juju’s on a cake gave me a real feeling of belonging. Hazel brought twenty-six candles and two bottles of champagne. She flirted with Keith, but he didn’t react.

  Last birthday Virginia and Dad bought me a stereo and Aunty Ruth gave me a cameo brooch. We all went out to dinner at The Windsor Hotel. The surroundings were sumptuous, but I enjoyed this birthday far more. It was warm enough to have dinner on the verandah, but we had to wear jumpers.

  Hazel commented that it’s strange having twins born in different months. Tom pointed out that twins could be born in different centuries.

  Keith is moving into the cabin at the weekend.

  CHAPTER 13

  Margot was given the task of telling her nieces about Fiona.

  Kim looked at her in astonishment. “A twin sister? She’s gone to live in Queensland?”

  “Was this Eumeralla place near Acacia? asked Catriona.

  “Yes.”

  “Ah, I understand now,” Catriona said. “Aunty Margot, who died of snakebite on Acacia?”

  “What are you talking about? No one was bitten by a snake.”

  Catriona smiled knowingly. “Years ago you told me about Aunty Ruth disappearing.”

  Margot was bewildered. “So?”

  “You said that when Ruth turned up, no one asked her where she’d been because you were in the middle of a crisis,” said Catriona. “You looke
d flustered. Then you told me that someone had been bitten by a snake on Acacia, but that wasn’t the crisis, was it? It was because Fiona and her twin had been born.”

  Margot nodded. “You’ve got an excellent memory.”

  “Not really – it’s been bugging me for years.”

  “What’s that got to do with Aunty Ruth?” asked Kim.

  “She wrote and told us she was arriving in Brisbane,” explained Margot. “She was waiting at the station and we forgot to meet her because of the twins. No one knew Eleanor was pregnant.”

  “Golly,” said Kim. “Eleanor’s the alcoholic?”

  “Well, that’s the other thing. She’s not and never has been. I liked her very much.”

  ***

  Stefan drove through the gates of Kingower, dreading the weekend. The incessant talk about the wedding irritated him. Last weekend he had been unable to face two days of discussion about invitations and reception arrangements. On Friday morning, safe in the knowledge that it was a pony trekking weekend and Catriona would be too busy to come to Melbourne, he had rung her and told her he had the flu. Her sympathy increased his guilt. As he drove towards the cottages, he wondered if he would be more tolerant if he had never met Fiona.

  There was no one in whom he could confide, because all his friends and family thought Catriona was amazing and that Stefan was fortunate to have met her. ‘They’d only tell me I was suffering from wedding nerves and if I told them about Fiona they’d think I was infatuated.’ He knew if he called off the wedding and never saw Catriona again, he would regret it, but to marry her while he felt like this about her cousin would be reprehensible. “If I never had to see Fiona again I could suppress my feelings, but she’ll be at our wedding,” he told himself, pulling up in front of Catriona’s cottage.