Bilgarra Springs

by Rotondo, Louise

  Once the excitement of the potential fire was over the conversation had turned to the fact that the Cowboys were playing at home this weekend. Aurora had never been a football follower and was quite surprised when the group as a whole decided that they would go to the game in Townsville this weekend. From what they were saying, she gathered that the match between the Cowboys and the Warriors would be something extraordinary. Not knowing the slightest thing about football, she had stayed completely out of the conversation.

  As they talked, Aurora wasn’t sure whether she wanted to be a part of the group that went or not. She figured that she would be incredibly bored at the game. She had never bothered to watch it on TV. The State of Origin matches, supposedly the best of the best, didn’t even hold her attention. On the plus side though, she would like the opportunity to revisit Townsville. She was flying out of there when she went home, but that wouldn’t be anything like spending time there with people who were as good as locals.

  In their discussion, it seemed to be assumed that she would be a part of the group going there for the weekend and going to the game. They had factored her into it during the initial part of the conversation. When they did a final confirmation ask around she had decided that she would go and if it was as boring as she thought it was going to be there was nothing lost. There was always the outside chance that she would enjoy it.

  She was grateful that it was Heather and Con who were doing the organising of it all. Heather darted inside once final numbers were decided to call the ticket booking line. Aurora was finding it hard to meet Callan’s eyes. Revealing her vulnerability earlier had made her feel very uncomfortable around him and he seemed to be equally uncomfortable around her, assuming she was judging his behaviour correctly.

  She could also feel Fiona’s eyes on her which wasn’t helping. There was only so much emotional upheaval she could deal with at any one time and she had absolutely reached her limit. Between the revelations that she had made today and the bombshell in the journal, she distinctly felt like she was on an emotional roller coaster ride and it certainly wasn’t fun. As soon as she could do so without being rude, she excused herself and made her way back to her room.

  She had only been there for around five minutes when there was a knock at the door. Aurora opened it to find Trudy standing on the other side. A worried look on her face.

  ‘Sorry to disturb you, but you were very quiet at dinner and you are an almost ghostly pale colour. I just want to make sure that you’re okay...’

  Trudy’s voice trailed away at the end. She didn’t want to intrude into something that was none of her business, or into an area of Aurora’s life where she wasn’t welcome, but she wanted to make sure that Aurora was okay all the same. Given Aurora’s behaviour, and pallor, and Callan’s unusually subdued nature, which she would bet her life savings wasn’t due to the tiny grassfire this afternoon, there was certainly something going on, and if she could help, then she would.

  Aurora did her best to smile, which came a long way short of the real thing.

  ‘I’m fine Trudy. Just very tired is all.’

  Trudy didn’t believe her for a minute but she let the matter drop just the same. She would take it up with Callan when she got outside. She wouldn’t expect it of him, but if he had done anything to hurt that girl she was going to give him what for. She gave Aurora a smile.

  ‘No worries. I’ll catch you in the morning. Night.’

  Aurora did her best to flick a smile back and closed the door, leaning her head against it. She could just imagine that conversation had she told the truth – Actually Trudy, I have just discovered that my grandmother had an affair with your great uncle by marriage and to rub salt into the wound, Fiona kept that fact from me. Oh, and by the way, I punched your brother-in-law this afternoon, actually not once, but twice and then I told him all about my husband beating me senseless and the miscarriage, which I am assuming, has killed any feelings that he may have had for me. But no, I’m fine.

  Aurora lifted her head off the door and turned around, grabbing her pyjamas from under the pillow. The fact that she had drifted into extreme sarcasm mode meant that she was over-tired. She needed to sleep.

  Trudy, for her part, wasn’t going to be put off quite that easily. Luckily for her she found Callan in the kitchen rinsing out his glass before leaving it on the draining board. The noise from the group outside had been loud enough that he hadn’t heard her come in. She stood silently in the doorway, waiting for him to turn around. When he did he was moving his swollen nose slightly, listening for any movement in the bone. It was still incredibly sore. Aurora packed quite a punch for a girl.

  Trudy moved forward, her mission temporarily forgotten in her curiosity about his nose.

  ‘What the hell have you done to yourself? I noticed that your nose was red over dinner, but it’s also a bit swollen now that I can see it properly. What happened?’

  Cal looked up at her. If Trudy wasn’t mistaken, he looked guilty. She didn’t say anything further, just gave him the ‘I’m waiting’ look that never failed to work with the girls, or Rick for that matter. It seemed that it worked with him as well, as he only paused for a couple of seconds before he gave a grudging reply.

  ‘I got hit in the nose today.’

  Trudy’s eyebrows drew together with that.

  ‘By who?’

  Callan’s hackles went up.

  ‘Doesn’t matter. It’s just bloody sore.’

  Trudy wasn’t going to be put off that easily.

  ‘Don’t fob me off Cal. Who hit you?’

  He didn’t answer, though now he looked annoyed, not that Trudy particularly cared. She probed a bit more.

  ‘You know as well as I do Cal that I won’t let it drop until I find out what happened. Either you tell me or I will find another way to find out.’

  Cal was generally pretty easy going, but Trudy could tell that she had just hit a nerve with him, which only served to make her even more curious. She was starting to wonder if it had anything to do with him punching Keith last weekend. Cal’s voice was sharp when he replied.

  ‘You do realise that it’s actually none of your business, don’t you?’

  Trudy gave him a knowing look and chuckled.

  ‘Of course I know that it is none of my business. That won’t stop me finding out though. So we either do it the easy way and you tell me, or we do it the hard way and I keep asking the others until I find out.’

  Callan positively scowled at her.

  ‘You do realise that you missed your true calling don’t you. You should have moved to the States and joined the FBI, or one of the overseas groups that use thumb screws or water torture.’

  Trudy wasn’t going to let him get to her.

  ‘Well, that is always an option if I get sick of it out here. It would probably pay better too. So...’

  Cal by this stage had quite a head of steam up and the infuriating woman had the audacity to stand there with her arms crossed and her eyebrows raised, tapping her foot. Rationally, he knew that at 38 years old he didn’t have to answer to her, but he also knew from experience that if he didn’t tell her she would find out and if she started to talk to the others he would end up fielding a whole stack more questions than if he just told her outright, and for Aurora’s sake, the less people that knew the better. Cal hesitated a moment too long and Trudy cut in again, her eyes narrowing.

  ‘It wasn’t Keith was it?’

  That really infuriated him.

  ‘Of course it wasn’t Keith. That little dweeb wouldn’t get close enough to me to actually manage to land one on me, not to mention the fact that he wouldn’t be game. If you must know, Aurora hit me.’

  Cal at least had the satisfaction of seeing the total surprise register on Trudy’s face. Her eyebrows nearly hit her hairline.

  ‘Aurora hit you?’

  Cal wiggled his nose again.

  ‘She sure did.’

  Trudy’s eyes narrowed so far that her eyeb
rows nearly met in the middle and she took a step towards him.

  ‘Why? What did you do to her?’

  She was really starting to piss him off now. If she jabbed her finger in his chest he didn’t want to be responsible for his actions.

  ‘I didn’t actually do anything to her.’

  ‘Come off it Cal. She’s a lovely girl. She is highly unlikely to just waltz up to you and hit you for no reason. So, what did you do to her?’

  Cal’s voice went flint hard.

  ‘As I already told you, I didn’t do anything to her. We just had a little misunderstanding, which we have now sorted out. And, if you don’t mind, for Aurora’s sake, I would like to keep this conversation between us.’

  Trudy looked intently at him.

  ‘Does your grandmother know about it?’

  Cal huffed out a breath.

  ‘No she doesn’t and I would like to keep it that way.’

  This time it was Trudy’s turn to huff.

  ‘She will be furious if she finds out and you didn’t tell her.’

  ‘I realise that but she won’t find out because, as I already said, it’s sorted and she doesn’t need to know. You didn’t need to know either for that matter, but it was easier to tell you and let it drop, than for you to stir everybody up and for me to have to answer all their questions as well.’

  With that Cal left the kitchen. Trudy watched him go, wondering what on earth was actually going on and whether he was genuinely protecting Aurora or merely covering his own butt. She had never known him to lie or manipulate. He was a fairly straight up and down kind of guy. She would have to keep her eyes peeled and her ear to the ground.

  Silently though she applauded Aurora for hitting him hard enough to do some damage and her face creased into a huge smile. He had obviously deserved it at the time and it would do his ego good to be whopped by a girl. That thought gave her a chuckle and she rejoined the others grinning from ear to ear. She had already been thinking that the two of them would be a good match, now she was certain. She just hoped that they could see it before it was too late.

  After breakfast the next morning Aurora went out to the front verandah, eager to look for any signs of the Jacaranda tree. She was completely lost in thought when she felt a hand on her shoulder and she jumped with fright. She turned to find Fiona’s smiling face and immediately turned back to surveying the front yard.

  ‘Sorry love, didn’t mean to scare you.’

  Aurora didn’t turn to face Fiona when she replied. She still had enough resentment bubbling under the surface to not care if she was rude.

  ‘You didn’t frighten me as such. I didn’t hear you approach and wasn’t expecting it.’

  Aurora’s tones were clipped, a fact not lost on Fiona. A sadness crossed her features and she seemed to summon an inner strength before continuing.

  ‘Love, you have been avoiding me. I think we need to seriously talk.’

  Aurora twisted around to look Fiona straight in the eye. She hadn’t intended to talk to her yet about Gran and Will, but as they were alone out here and she had brought it up, it seemed as good a time as any. Aurora’s voice was matter-of-fact with an angry undertone when she replied.

  ‘You didn’t mention Gran and Will, Fiona. Not once. You could have quite easily when I brought the photo out to you on the verandah last week, but you didn’t. How exactly do you expect I am feeling? It’s bad enough that Gran chose this method to spring this little secret, well maybe not so little if I am honest, on me. You could have at least warned me.’

  Fiona didn’t react to the anger that had started to flow out of Aurora.

  ‘You tell me what you think I should have done. Aurora, if Isabella hadn’t already told you, who was I to break her confidence? Just because she is not longer with us is not a good enough reason to do that. I knew that you would find out for yourself. What good would it have done for me to mention it? Please, tell me in what way I have failed you...’

  Aurora’s shoulders drooped as the anger drained away. If she were honest, she had been looking for someone to blame, and Fiona had been as good a candidate as anyone. The old lady’s eyes were full of sadness and compassion. Aurora pushed her hand through her hair before placing it back on the railing and looking out. Fiona came to stand beside her.

  ‘I’m sorry Fiona. I have been acting like a spoiled brat, I know. It’s just...the entries in Gran’s journal have sort of rocked the foundations a little. I have had to doubt the solid marriage that I thought that my grandparents had.’

  Aurora paused for a few seconds.

  ‘And being here, amongst you all, now knowing that Gran also spent around a month here and was in love with Will...in my mind that sort of makes you all a bit guilty too, even though I know that isn’t logical.’

  Fiona placed her hand on Aurora’s forearm.

  ‘Come and sit down love and I will tell you what actually happened.’

  Fiona gave Aurora’s arm a gentle squeeze before making her way over to the Adirondack chairs and settling herself. Aurora followed, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees, staring at the ground. She couldn’t miss the sadness in Fiona’s voice when she started to speak.

  ‘You’ve read already how Isabella and Charles came to be here. Her first week with us after Charles left was an eye opener for everybody. We couldn’t believe the life that she had come from and she couldn’t comprehend the lifestyle that we led. To give credit where credit is due, she was bright and a hard worker and she learnt fast. There was nothing that she wouldn’t try and whatever she did, she gave it her everything. As you know, when you are all together all day every day a closeness develops, even if you don’t want it to. None of us noticed what was happening between Will and Isabella until it was too late. To be honest, I don’t think that they were aware of what was developing between them. Will always kept to himself. He was never one for socialising, not that we get much chance out here, but even on the odd occasion, he was still quite reserved. He noticed everything and said very little. There were women who had tried to snag him before your grandmother came along, and there were several after, but she was the only one who really caught his eye. He wasn’t himself for a long while after she left.’

  Fiona paused for a moment.

  ‘I won’t lie to you Aurora, and I can’t speak for Eloise and Harold, although I think they had their suspicions, but Arthur and l knew what was going on but we chose to overlook it. Whether we were wrong or right in doing that, the way we saw it, love like that doesn’t come along very often and sometimes there really is no choice in whom one falls in love with. Cut off out here as we were, it was easy to forget that she had a life somewhere else, with someone else. And she changed so much. The city girl socialite was, I think, probably gone forever. The way I figured, Isabella had a choice to make. She could either stay, which would have given Charles grounds to divorce her, or she could return home. As you know, she chose the latter. I don’t envy her having to make that decision. It was a no win situation. It didn’t matter what she did, somebody was going to pay the price. I know it sounds wrong to you, Aurora, but I loved her like a sister. All I wanted was for her to be happy. Personally, I think she would have been happier had she stayed, but it wasn’t my choice to make.’

  Fiona let out a huge sigh.

  ‘I only ever saw her again once after she left here. I would have loved to see her in Sydney, and she had issued an open invitation, but there was always something too much work going on, too wet to be able to get out, young children. She came back for Will’s funeral. He was only 59 when he died. You wouldn’t remember, you were only a toddler at the time. She grieved his loss more than all of us put together. In the cemetery, she walked up to his casket, unclasped the gold heart locket and chain from around her neck and threw it on top of the rose petals that we had thrown there. It broke my heart. She told me later that he had bought her the locket on the day that he had taken her to the train so that she would always have something to remem
ber him by. He took her in to be photographed so that he would have something to remember her by. She had it on in the photo. As silly as it sounds, it was the only link left between them.’

  Fiona looked at Aurora, tears glistening in her eyes.

  ‘I found the photo after Will died. I had worked out what must have happened and your grandmother confirmed it. He kept that photo in the drawer beside his bed. I tucked it into Isabella’s journal for safekeeping.’

  The incredible sorrow that Aurora could hear in Fiona’s voice brought tears to her own eyes. Fiona’s voice wobbled as she continued.

  ‘There’s also a letter tucked into the back of the journal. That arrived before Christmas in the year that Isabella left. I placed it on the hall stand with the rest of the mail. Will knew it was there but after a week it disappeared. I found it in the drawer with the photo. I don’t think he ever opened it. I don’t think that he could bear it if Isabella had told him that she had made the right choice. I’m only guessing though. He never spoke of it and I didn’t open it. Like him, I didn’t want to know what it said. Your grandmother never mentioned it either. It has sat here for sixty-five years. Maybe it has waited for you.’

  Fiona looked away then but not before Aurora noticed a sole tear making its way down her cheek. Leaving Fiona space to collect herself, Aurora pushed herself up and made her way over to the railing. She let a few minutes go by before she spoke.

  ‘Gran mentioned a Jacaranda tree in her journal. Where was it?’

  Fiona levered herself up and made her way down the verandah to the other side of the stairs. She lifted her hand and pointed to a spot in front of the house.