“Queensland’s so warm compared to Victoria. Even at this time of the year we have our meals on the verandah, we only eat inside if it’s pouring with rain.”
“How are the horses, Kim?” asked David.
The rebuff angered Stefan. Fiona said nothing more until they were having coffee and liqueurs in the lounge. When Ruth went to bed, and Alex left a few minutes later, Stefan was surprised that Fiona stayed. She stood with her back to the fire and from the sofa where he was sitting with Catriona he had a good view of her face.
“Is there a ride on tomorrow?” she asked.
“Not a public one, but if the weather’s good we’ll be going,” said Kim. “So you might as well leave after breakfast – we won’t be home till after five.”
“I’ll come too,” said Fiona, sipping her curaçao.
“You can’t,” said Kim scathingly.
“Why not?”
“You can’t ride,” said David.
“Oh, I can sit in a saddle now.”
Kim smirked. “Was it on a horse?”
“We do hard riding – not just walking round the paddock,” said Catriona placatingly. “We go over the GreatDividingRanges – it’s steep and can be hazardous.”
Fiona wandered over to the coffee table and took a chocolate mint from the silver dish. “I’d like to try.”
‘She’s acting,’ thought Stefan. ‘Like when she let them know her father was a hero not a coward. She’s got the same expression as she had then. She can ride now and probably quite well. Good for her.’ Then he felt appalled by his disloyalty to the family. David’s next words soothed his conscience.
Looking at Fiona with derision, he said, “You can sit in a saddle. Yippee. It’s not sitting in it that counts – it’s staying in it.”
‘You idiot,’ thought Stefan. ‘Why are all these usually kind, discerning people, imbeciles when it comes to Fiona?’
“Try me out on a gentle horse tomorrow morning,” she said sweetly.
“I will,” said David. “You’re not riding anywhere without my permission. I’m not having my insurance premiums skyrocketing because you fall off and break something. And I don’t want you screeching and frightening the horses.”
‘I’m looking forward to tomorrow,’ thought Stefan, pleased that Catriona had not joined in the sarcasm. ‘But here I am again taking Fiona’s side against theirs.’
On their way back to the cottages Kim said, ‘Didn’t Fiona look like a tart? If that skirt had been any shorter you would have been able to see her knickers.”
“I suppose everyone wears that length in Melbourne,” said Catriona. “If I wore dresses I’d probably wear them short.”
Stefan hugged her. “So would I.”
Catriona laughed and after a few seconds so did Kim. But their laughter sounded forced.
“Anyway, Kim, I’ve seen you in a mini-skirt,” he could not resist saying.
The next morning Fiona arrived at the stables dressed in jodhpurs, a white shirt and riding boots. Stefan, thinking how much the outfit flattered her, saw her wink at Alex.
Catriona handed her a hat. “This should be your size.”
“I don’t want a hat.”
“No one gets on a horse without a hard hat,” snapped David.
Fiona shrugged and put it on. Ruth, looking anxious, helped her adjust the chin strap.
David led a horse over to her. “We’ll put you on Sugar.”
Fiona stroked the horse’s nose. “Hello.”
“Mount and ride to the paddock,” ordered David.
Fiona, apparently unaware of the audience, went on stroking the horse.
“Hurry up, we haven’t got all day,” said Kim.
“Just getting to know Sugar,” Fiona said.
As soon as she turned her back towards the horse’s head, Stefan knew she could do it. New riders invariably faced the wrong way and put the wrong foot in the stirrup. In a flowing movement she swung herself into the saddle. Inexperienced riders hopped around on one leg unable to find the strength to haul themselves up.
David looked dour. “Come to the paddock.”
Obeying his instructions Fiona walked, trotted and cantered. Stefan had never seen anyone look so chic on horseback.
She rode back to David with a triumphant expression. “Well?”
He turned away. “Right, everyone, we’re leaving in ten minutes.”
Fiona’s expression changed to anger. “Uncle David!”
He turned round.
“Interesting, isn’t it?” she said. “How I learnt to ride when I had a good teacher?”
“Shame she didn’t fall off and break her leg,” Kim muttered.
Ruth, who was about to mount her horse, glared at her. “You spiteful girl!”
Kim went red.
“I’ll enjoy riding with my daughter,” said Alex as Fiona came through the gate.
Catriona trotted over. Stefan could see she was torn between the insult to her father and the need to be sporting. “Well done,” she said neutrally.
‘Fiona is May and she’s going to tear this family apart,’ Stefan thought. ‘And they’ll give her the means. Should I tell Tree who May is or will that make things worse? Can premonitions change anything? Did Oliver tell Kim about the snake or did she see it and imagine that he told her?’
“You look pensive,” said Catriona.
“How old was Kim when she said Oliver told her about the snake?” he asked.
“Three. Why?”
“I was thinking about her May premonition.”
“We still don’t know who she is,” said Catriona. “Let’s go.”
Stefan guided his horse towards the track wondering how she would react if she found out. ‘Should I tell Fiona and ask her to stay away from Kingower? It’s seeing her that makes me have these treacherous feelings,’ he thought.
“You did well going up the mountain,” Alex told Fiona as they rode side by side through the gum forest. “I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks, Dad. I’d only ever ridden on the flat before.” She sniffed the eucalyptus-scented air. “Tree was helpful. Do you think we can ever be friends again?”
Alex looked doubtful. “Kim’s still hostile.”
“She really believes I tried to nick her fiancé. Funny, now I can ride she loathes me even more. It hasn’t endeared me to Uncle David either. I thought he’d admire me.”
“David hates being wrong.”
“Did you get on well when you were young?”
Alex shook his head. “He was very much the older brother, even though there are only three years between us. I loved Kingower as much as he did and regretted that I wasn’t the heir. When I met Laurence and Johnny, I envied the way they shared everything. They were going to inherit Acacia jointly and it occurred to me that David and I could do that. When I suggested it to him, he reacted as if I’d said something obscene. Things got worse when I married your mother. He doesn’t like her, he prefers passive women.”
Fiona knew that the words ‘your mother’ were a test, so she chose not to react.
“They tolerated each other till after your first riding lesson,” he continued. “She accused him of being a useless teacher. She’s been proved right, hasn’t she?”
“Well, I am the only failure he’s ever had.”
“That’s charitable of you.”
“It’s the truth. He was okay for everyone else. Dad, why do you come to Kingower so much?”
“To ride, but mainly to see Margot,” he said as they guided their horses through the shallow stream. “She was like a mother to us younger ones when Mum died.”
Catriona trotted up to them. “This is where we have a race,” she said, as they approached a clearing. “Do you want to join in, Fiona?”
She nodded. “I’m sure I’ll come last, but I don’t care.”
“Sugar’s speedy,” said Alex. I’ve been on her a few times.”
When they rode into the clearing the horizon was stained red fro
m the setting sun. Fiona saw six kangaroos at the water hole. She felt ecstatic as she watched them bound away. “What a breathtaking sight.”
“Line up for the race!” called David.
Alex pointed. “See that tree ... that’s the finish. It’s half a mile.”
“Ready – go!” said David.
When Fiona found herself in the lead she put her head down over Sugar’s neck. “Come on, girl!” She finished second, beaten by Catriona.
“Congratulations, Fiona,” said Stefan.
“I don’t think I really came second ... they must have let me.” Then she saw the expression of rage on Kim’s face. She knew she shouldn’t gloat, but the opportunity to get back at Kim for her gibes the night before, proved too great. “My brother’s a fantastic teacher. Do you want me to ask him to give you some lessons?”
Stefan laughed.
Kim was furious with herself. She knew that it was her own fault she had lost Stefan’s respect and affection. On Sunday night after he had left for Melbourne, she walked with Margot back to her house. “When Fiona beat me in the race I wanted to kick her. Now she can ride I hate her even more. If I was a good person I’d be pleased.”
“If she’d been a good person she would have kept her hands off your fiancé,” said Margot, opening her fly-screen door. “Come in, I’ll make us some Ovaltine.”
Kim sat at the kitchen table. “Last night I said Fiona looked like a tart in front of Stefan. How could I be so crazy? She looked classy. Her jumper looked like cashmere.”
Margot nodded and poured milk into a saucepan. “Her skirt was too short, but I’m old and shocked by modern fashions. We should have guessed she could ride when she said she could sit on a saddle, but I thought her fear of riding was ingrained.”
“So did I. Tree and I tried for years to get her to have another try, but she was too frightened. How on earth did she overcome it?”
“I’ve been thinking about that all day,” Margot said. “Everyone overreacted after Fiona’s riding lesson. Your father was furious with her for screaming and Virginia should have either stayed out of it or told Fiona that David would not have let anything happen to her. I felt sorry for Fiona that day. She was so excited about learning to ride. Virginia insisted on watching, which didn’t help ... and her blaming your father turned a failed riding lesson into a family row which festered for years because she dragged Alex and Fiona back to Sydney. No one had time to calm down and talk things through.”
Kim frowned. “I don’t remember any of this.”
“You had mumps.”
“I remember having mumps.”
“So do I,” said Margot with a grimace. “You were a terrible patient – bored, miserable and demanding. If Fiona’s riding lesson hadn’t coincided with your mumps, things might have been different. You and Catriona would have been with her and she might not have felt frightened.”
“Why wasn’t Tree with her?”
“She was with you, because you refused to be left alone. I taught her to play Canasta so she could teach you and keep you both occupied. She was as bored and miserable about your mumps as you were.”
“Wasn’t Virginia worried about her precious Fiona catching them?”
“She’d had them. I also think that Fiona associated riding lessons with quarrels. Virginia in a fury is upsetting for adults, for a child it would have been worse. When Virginia told her to pack her case she cried and said she wanted to stay on Kingower. Even Ruth couldn’t reason with Virginia.”
“Aunty Ruth heard me being nasty this morning. I don’t want her to think badly of me. If Oliver’s right she won’t be alive for much longer. Why does she favour Fiona – she’s not a Lancaster, but she defends her every time, even when her guilt is conspicuous.”
“Ruth thinks that being uprooted when she was a baby has blighted Fiona’s life,” Margot said.
Kim sighed. Until her broken engagement she had never experienced misery. Her childhood had been happy and her school-days, like Catriona’s, had been a triumph of sporting and academic achievements. Because she had what even her tutors called a brilliant brain, she had found her veterinary studies easy and university had been fun. She was popular and had many good friends. Although Catriona had been upset when her first boyfriend preferred Fiona, she quickly recovered. The experience had made her wary, not bitter. But Kim had known her fiancé since their first day at university. He had never flirted with other girls and she trusted him. Finding him and Fiona kissing had devastated her. Since then, she had had boyfriends, but none she wanted to marry.
“Things are going wrong,” Margot said, putting their mugs and a plate of biscuits on the table.
Kim put her head in her hands. “I’m sure Stefan’s besotted with Fiona. He tries to fight it, but he can’t.”
Margot nodded. “I felt that last night. I’m sure he’ll call off the wedding.”
“But what about the house they’ve bought in Whittlesea?”
“It can be sold. He can change his mind right up to the day of the wedding,” Margot reminded her.
“I feel this family’s walking along a cliff that’s about to crumble. My premonition about Aunty Ruth was precise, but the May one was hazy. ‘May is going to tear this family apart.’ How? What does it mean?” She stirred her Ovaltine. “Do you and Dad know who May is?” she asked watching Margot’s face. “You do, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Margot said after a long pause. “We didn’t know if we should tell you. Can you stop a disaster from happening?”
“I have before, haven’t I? The snake – it was a tiger snake. Tree was about to crawl into the bushes. It would have bitten her. I stopped that. And the foal – I saved her. Tell me.”
“It’s Fiona. When she was born her name was May.”
Kim stared at her in horror.
“Some people cause destruction,” Margot said slowly. “And fate helps them.”
“Then we’ve got to stop her coming to Kingower.”
“Difficult considering the way Alex and Ruth feel about her. And she’s coming to the wedding.”
“Then after the wedding she must be told that she can’t come here any more.”
“Oh, Kim, I don’t know. Sometimes it’s lethal to push against such people. It’s wiser to get far away from them so they can’t touch us.”
“But we can’t escape,” Kim whispered. “She comes to us. What happens, will happen here – because of her.”
CHAPTER 18
Fiona stared at the plate of porridge in front of her. “I’m too nervous to eat. My stomach’s knotted.”
“Don’t waste good food,” said Greg.
“What’ll will we do if we don’t get Acacia?”
Tom pushed the milk jug toward her. “Same as we’re doing now. Tomorrow morning we might own it or we might not, but we’ll still be sitting here having our breakfast.”
“I hope no one else comes,” said Gabriella who had stayed the night on Eumeralla. “Just us and the auctioneer.”
Fiona looked at Keith. “How can you be so calm?”
June laughed. “You’re too nervous to eat ... he’s too nervous to talk.”
“I’m not happy about the Clarkson contingent coming to the auction at all,” said Greg. “I’m sure you’ll get too excited and bid. Why don’t you all stay here?”
“No!” they protested together.
“Come on, Sis, eat,” Tom urged her.
She sighed. “I’ll be sick if I do.”
“Don’t vomit anywhere near me,” said Gabriella. “Stop the melodrama. We’re going to an auction not a hanging.”
“If we don’t get it someone else will, so just pray that they will be better than the last lot,” said Greg.
“And also pray,” said Tom, “That they’ve got two gorgeous daughters – one for Neil and one for me.”
“And two eligible sons,” said Fiona. “One for ...” she trailed off, regretting her thoughtlessness.
“One for you,” Gabriella sai
d with a smile. “And one for me.”
For the first time Fiona reflected on a positive outcome of losing the auction.
They arrived at Acacia so early Fiona had thought they would be the first. To her dismay the area around the new homestead, where the auction was being conducted, was crowded.
“Hell,” said Keith. “Let’s wander round ... it might be our last chance.”
When the auctioneer walked up the steps to the verandah, Greg pointed to Keith, Gabriella and Fiona. “Why don’t the three of you go back to Eumeralla and wait?”
“No,” they said.
“I’ll do the bidding. Is that understood?” he demanded.
They nodded.
“Don’t look at the auctioneer, and if you do don’t move your heads,” said Tom.
Greg led the way to the back row.
“Aren’t you sitting in the front?” asked Fiona.
“No,” he said softly. “The less people who know I’m bidding the better.”
As they sat down, Keith took out a good luck card.
“Who’s that from?” Fiona asked.
He gave it to her and she opened it.
To you all, I’ll be praying on the day. Love, Virginia.
Feeling a rush of emotion she handed it back to him.
At first the bidding was slow. Fiona’s hopes soared. She wished she could see if Greg was bidding, but he was sitting slightly back at the end of the row. Aware of Tom’s warning, she was too frightened to move. She knew he would only bid if the auctioneer’s hammer was about to come down. They still had not reached their limit, and the hammer had almost come down four times. Clenching her fists so tightly they hurt, she gazed at the pattern of horseshoes on the card Keith was holding.
The price crept up to their limit.
And reached it.
And passed it.
Fiona buried her head in Keith’s shoulder. She felt his arm go round her. Virginia’s card fell to the ground. When the auction ended June flung her arms around Keith.
Tom put his fingers under Fiona’s chin and gently lifted her head. “We’ve still got Eumeralla. We’ve lost nothing. We just haven’t got what we wanted.”
Eumeralla - Secrets, Tragedy and Love Page 24