Kitty

by Challinor, Deborah

  But the blood continued to pour out of Wai so heavily that the sheet beneath her very quickly turned dark red.

  Rian strode into the room and grabbed Doctor Ffitch by the front of his shirt. ‘Do something! You’re the sodding doctor!’

  Doctor Ffitch tore Rian’s hand off him. ‘What? There’s nothing I can do!’

  ‘Stop the bleeding!’

  ‘How, man? I’m not God, for Christ’s sake!’

  Rian glared at the doctor, then looked back at Wai. Haunui was behind her again, propping her up. Her eyelids were fluttering and her eyes were beginning to roll back in her head.

  ‘God Almighty, she’s going,’ Rian said.

  Wai whispered something in Maori. Haunui bent his head and she said it again.

  ‘Give her the baby,’ he said. ‘She wants her baby.’

  Kitty snatched the infant from Mrs Byrne and placed him in his mother’s arms, tucking Wai’s hands under the bundle so she couldn’t let go. Wai kissed the top of the baby’s damp head, then her eyes closed and she lay back.

  They watched, the four of them, as the life bled out of her and, finally, Wai stopped breathing.

  Mrs Byrne made the sign of the cross.

  There was complete silence for a long moment, then Haunui threw back his ugly head and howled.

  ‘Taku kotiro!’ he cried. ‘Taku kotiro ataahua!’

  Kitty and Rian met each other’s eyes, both shocked to the core.

  ‘Wai was his daughter?’ Rian whispered.

  Kitty covered her face with her hands, the pain in her heart almost too terrible to bear.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Wai’s mother, Hareta, grew angry with Tupehu over the years,’ Haunui said simply, as though he’d accepted that there wasn’t any point to keeping the secret any longer. He glanced over at the still, cold form of his daughter laid out on the day bed, stripped now of its blood-soaked sheets and blankets. ‘She became tired of his ill-humour and his arrogance and she turned to me for comfort and affection. I was happy. I had loved her since the day my brother married her.’

  ‘And he didn’t know that Wai wasn’t his child?’ Kitty asked.

  She gently massaged her eyelids, sore and swollen from crying almost continuously since Wai had gone. She had managed to sleep for a few hours last night, but when she’d awoken it had been with a dreadful sense of something being wrong. She remembered, and the weeping began all over again.

  Haunui shook his head, almost but not quite smiling. ‘He would have had my head if he did. Better now if he never knows. There is no point.’

  Rian pushed Bodie off his knee. ‘You understand that we can’t take her home?’

  ‘Yes,’ Haunui said. ‘The voyage is too long. And Tupehu still will not accept her, even dead.’

  Kitty sighed, unable to believe that anyone could be so bitter and stubborn. ‘But what about him?’ she asked, nodding at the baby nestled in Haunui’s lap. ‘Will Tupehu accept him?’

  Haunui shook his head again. ‘No, still because of the shame. If Hareta was alive it might be different. But she is not.’

  ‘So what will you do?’

  ‘Stay here, raise the child, take Wai home when it is time.’

  Kitty knew what Haunui was referring to, even though the whole concept was rather distasteful to her. Wai would be buried here in Sydney somewhere, and left until the flesh had dissolved from her bones. Her bones would then be disinterred, cleaned and taken back to the Bay of Islands to a final resting place. But not among the rest of her family, thanks to Tupehu.

  She regarded the dishes of food crowding the table. Mrs Doyle had brought some over, as had the woman from upstairs and Pierre. She and Haunui would never manage to eat it all before it went off. ‘What are you going to call him?’ she asked eventually.

  ‘I have thought about that, and I have decided Huatahi—Tahi for short.’

  ‘Huatahi.’ Kitty let the name settle in her mind for a moment, and decided she liked it. ‘Only child. It’s sad, but it’s nice.’

  ‘Ae. He is Wai’s first and her last, as she was mine. It is a good name.’

  Rian nodded, agreeing. ‘Did Connie Byrne sort out a wet-nurse?’

  Kitty said, ‘Yes, one of her new mothers offered, Beata Tyler. She had twins but one died so she has plenty of, er, nourishment. She only lives at the end of the lane and she comes whenever she’s needed.’ She felt a little embarrassed, discussing wet-nurses with Rian. She bent and carefully rearranged the shawl about the baby’s face. ‘He’s very good, really. He sleeps a lot and he hardly ever cries.’

  He was a very good baby, even if he was only twenty-four hours old. Kitty’s eyes filled with tears every time she looked at his little wrinkled face, wondering if he knew his mother had already left him. But Haunui was doing his best to take Wai’s place, carrying the baby around constantly and refusing to put him down in the drawer Kitty had prepared, preferring to have his grandson sleep in his arms. Staying as close as he could, Kitty suspected, to the living, breathing part of his daughter that still remained.

  ‘Well, that’s something good, I suppose,’ Rian said. He examined his fingernails for a moment. ‘Haunui, have you thought about where to bury her? It might not be as straightforward as you think.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘There are the cemeteries, but that could cause a problem. Later on, I mean.’

  ‘But Wai was a Christian.’

  ‘No, it’s not that.’ Rian looked vaguely uncomfortable. ‘I’m thinking about, well, when you go to get her back. The locals might take a bit of a dim view of that sort of thing.’

  ‘Why?’ Haunui said again, puzzled.

  ‘I understand you want to do the right thing for Wai, but, well, when English people bury their dead, they generally stay buried. You wouldn’t be able to open up her grave, and even if you did you’d more than likely find yourself behind bars for it.’

  Haunui shrugged. ‘Then I will bury her somewhere else. But the earth must be dry. Sandy, not swamp.’

  ‘Where do the native people here bury their dead?’ Kitty asked.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Rian said. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. ‘Gideon knows some of the local people. I think he might have given them a hand once—some trouble to do with government soldiers. I’ll ask.’

  ‘I don’t think I’ve seen any of the native people about,’ Kitty said.

  And once she had said it, she realised how true it was. There were plenty of people wandering around The Rocks, people from all corners of the world, but she didn’t think she’d actually ever seen a native Australian.

  ‘What do they look like?’ she said, embarrassed at having to ask.

  ‘Very dark-skinned,’ Rian said.

  No, Kitty definitely hadn’t seen any people who looked like that, apart from Gideon.

  The following night Kitty found herself sitting in the middle of a rowboat, Rian and Haunui behind her, Wai’s body wrapped in a cotton sheet at her feet, and an anonymous waterman at the front, rowing.

  The water was calm as they were still more or less in the harbour, but not too far up ahead moonlight illuminated breakers where the inner waters met the waves rolling in between the heads from the open sea. The man up the front must have the stamina of a bullock, she thought, because he’d been rowing steadily for over an hour. They were heading for a particular bay, and if the long, low shadows to the left were any indication, they were almost there.

  The waterman changed direction and the rowboat veered in towards the shadows. As they neared, the shore became slightly clearer and Kitty saw long slabs of rock, black in the moonlight, and a few twisted, skeletal trees.

  She asked, ‘Is this it?’

  ‘Aye,’ he said.

  A minute later the boat grounded and the waterman set down his oars, jumped out and dragged the bow further onto firm ground. Rian followed, a short-handled spade tucked under his arm, and then Kitty, splashing into the water and getting her good boots thoroughly soaked.r />
  Haunui passed his daughter’s body to Rian, who held her while Haunui climbed out of the boat. The waterman sat down on a rock, withdrew a tinderbox and lit his pipe, evidently settling in.

  ‘What do we do now?’ Kitty asked.

  ‘Wait,’ Rian said.

  Just as she was beginning to notice that her feet were going numb, a sliver of shadow detached itself from a rock and approached silently.

  ‘Evening,’ Rian said.

  ‘Evenin’,’ said the shadow.

  Rian said formally, ‘Haunui, this is Mundawuy Lightfoot, who has very kindly agreed to allow Wai to be laid to rest in his ancestral burial site, in recognition of our friendship with Gideon.’

  Haunui stuck out his hand. Mundawuy took it.

  ‘It is an honour for my daughter and for me,’ Haunui said. ‘I will rest easy now, knowing she will be safe until I come back for her.’

  The man nodded. His skin was so dark that Kitty couldn’t distinguish his features from the night around him.

  ‘Is all well,’ the man said, ‘I know. Come.’

  He turned and the three of them followed, Wai in Haunui’s arms. Mundawuy led them up a very narrow track between two great slabs of rock, then ducked under an outcrop and made a sharp turn to the right. They walked in single file, stooped beneath the red rock that had probably been there for eons. Kitty bumped her head once but kept going, squinting at the ground to make sure she didn’t put a foot wrong and tumble off the track.

  They walked for some distance, then came to an open space, where they stopped so that Haunui could straighten up and stretch his back. After a minute Mundawuy started off again, and then they were going downhill, their feet slipping on loose scree and dirt. Kitty heard the gentle hissing of waves below her and realised that they were coming back down to the water.

  At the bottom of the slope she sensed rather than saw that they were on the shore of a very small cove. The shadow that was Mundawuy beckoned, then disappeared.

  Rian swore. ‘Where the hell is he?’

  ‘Inside the rock,’ Haunui said calmly.

  Kitty looked to where Haunui was pointing but couldn’t see anything, only a wall of darkness. But, trusting him, she followed him as he moved towards, and then through, it.

  The darkness closed in and became almost solid. Kitty raised her arms to protect her face. There was the scrape of a flint, and suddenly for a moment she was blinded.

  ‘Jesus Christ,’ Rian said, shielding his eyes.

  They were in a cave. The ceiling closed in about ten feet above them, and the walls extended into flickering shadows in both directions. There was an odd, dry smell, slightly eye-watering. Bats, Kitty thought nervously. But more disconcerting than that was the man holding the lamp, who was perhaps one of the most exotic-looking people Kitty had ever seen.

  Mundawuy’s skin was almost black and his bushy brows so prominent that they formed a shelf over his glinting raisin eyes. Broad cheekbones spread out on either side of a flat, very wide nose that still managed to be bulbous at the tip, and a heavy, wiry moustache hung over full lips above an even heavier beard that reached to his chest. He looked old, yet his skin was smooth and had a sheen to it. A shapeless hat was rammed onto his head, he wore a loose shirt and ragged trousers, and his broad, flat feet were bare.

  And then he grinned, and Kitty was treated to the sight of the widest, most dazzlingly white smile she had ever seen.

  ‘Scary, eh?’ he said.

  She caught Rian’s eye and tried not to laugh.

  ‘Burial place up here,’ Mundawuy said, and began to climb a set of rough steps hewn into the rock at the back of the cave, the lamp held above his head to light the way for the others.

  At the top another opening was revealed, narrower than the one below but possibly deeper; Kitty squinted but couldn’t see an end to it.

  When Mundawuy lowered the lamp shadows scampered across the ancient walls and Kitty glimpsed drawings of some sort—simple lines depicting animals, fish and people.

  ‘Back there,’ he said, pointing. ‘There is the place.’

  Towards the back of the cave he came to a halt, set the lamp on the ground and crouched down, his hands outstretched. He remained that way for some minutes, perfectly balanced and utterly motionless. Then his hands started to move and Kitty could hear him sniffing, which brought more unpleasant images to mind.

  ‘Here,’ he said finally, pointing at a flat piece of sandy ground. ‘She go here.’

  Rian offered the shovel to Haunui; he set Wai’s body gently down and took it. Kitty knew that Rian was giving his friend the last opportunity to do something for his daughter, and she silently thanked him for it.

  Haunui began to dig, the sand quickly piling up on either side of the hole, Mundawuy muttering strange words in a low, flat monotone the whole time.

  When the hole was deep enough Haunui set the spade aside. He gathered up Wai, pulled back the shroud and kissed her cold forehead, and carefully lowered her into the ground. He bent his head then, and said a long karakia.

  Kitty bit her lip until she tasted blood, but it still wasn’t enough to stop herself from letting out a sob. She felt Rian’s warm, strong hand slide into hers and squeeze gently. She glanced at him but saw that he was looking straight ahead, at Haunui. She squeezed back.

  When Haunui had finished, he asked Kitty, ‘You do something? From the church?’

  Surprised, Kitty hesitated. Wai had been baptised and had taken her new religion very seriously. Perhaps if she hadn’t, she might not be here now, lying in a lonely piece of ground that wasn’t her home. But she nodded and, for Haunui’s sake, began:

  I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Amen.

  Rian didn’t say amen, and neither did Mundawuy.

  Haunui took out his greenstone earring and laid it on Wai’s breast, above her heart. Then he began to move sand back into her grave, flinching as every shovelful landed on her small body.

  In a few minutes she was gone.

  June, 1840

  Kitty gazed straight ahead, dodging the other people on George Street and wondering what to buy from the butcher; she wanted to get Haunui a treat, to tempt him to start eating properly again. They’d both been off their food since Wai died, but if they were to look after Tahi properly they needed their strength.

  It took her a few moments to realise that someone was calling her name. She stopped and it came again.

  ‘Kitty! Kitty Carlisle!’

  She looked across the street and there was a man, waving madly at her. He dodged out in front of a horse and cart, ignoring the ripe curse from the driver, and ran towards her.

  ‘Kitty, it’s me!’ he said breathlessly.

  Kitty nearly dropped her shopping basket. ‘Simon?’

  Grinning, he picked her up and whirled her around, her bonnet coming askew and falling over her eyes.

  ‘Put me down!’ she complained. ‘People are looking.’

  He set her back on her feet. ‘Haven’t changed much, have you?’ he said, laughing. ‘Still worried about what other people will think.’

  Kitty shunted her bonnet back into place. ‘Simon, what on earth are you doing here?’

  ‘Bit of a long story, really.’

  Kitty smiled, genuinely delighted to see him. ‘Go on, then, tell it.’

  ‘In a minute. Really, it’s marvellous to see you. You look good. A bit tired, though. Why is your hair so short?’ He scrutinised her intently. ‘No, I take it back, I think you have changed. It’s in your eyes. What’s been going on, Kitty?’

  She wasn’t sure where to start. He had been fond of Wai. ‘No, you first.’

  ‘Well, I’m supposed to be at the mission station at Parramatta, learning about sheep husbandry! I’m off out there tomorrow afternoon. But unofficially I’m here first, looking for you.’

  ‘Me? How did you know I
’d be in Sydney?’

  ‘A lucky guess. I knew you wouldn’t have gone too far, not while Wai’s, well, you know, expecting. Sydney just seemed the logical place to look. I didn’t imagine I’d just bump into you on the street, though! How is Wai? Has she had the baby yet?’

  But there was something Kitty desperately wanted to know before she told him. ‘What happened at home, Simon, after we left?’

  ‘Well,’ he said, rolling his eyes, ‘there was certainly hell to pay. It was the talk of the Bay of Islands for weeks and weeks. I’ve never seen the like of it.’

  Kitty was getting impatient now. ‘But what about Tupehu—what did he do? What happened with Uncle George?’

  Simon looked uncomfortable. ‘I have some bad news about your uncle, Kitty. I’m afraid he seems to have disappeared.’

  Kitty frowned. ‘What do you mean, disappeared?’

  Simon shrugged, obviously not sure himself. ‘From what I’ve heard, after you and Wai got away on the Katipo, Tupehu went to your house looking for him. But somehow your uncle got wind of it and ran off into the bush. And no one’s seen him since.’

  Kitty stared at Simon, perplexed. ‘He just…ran off?’

  ‘Well, I wasn’t there, but yes, apparently that’s exactly what he did.’

  ‘And he hasn’t been back?’ Kitty couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

  Simon shook his head. ‘This is nonsense I expect, but they’re saying out at Pukera that Tupehu cursed your uncle and he vanished into thin air.’

  ‘Well, has anyone looked for him?’

  ‘Oh yes, and Reverend Williams sent messages to all the other mission stations, but there’s been no word. It’s all very strange.’

  Everything Kitty could think of to say might sound rather uncharitable, so she asked, ‘Well, what about Aunt Sarah? Is she all right?’

  ‘Your Aunt Sarah is a different woman, Kitty. Oh, she mourned to start with, and she’s still wearing her widow’s weeds, but I’ve never seen a person change so much in all my life. She’s positively blossomed. She’s teaching at the mission school now—your students, actually—and she smiles and laughs and does all sorts of things a happy, contented woman should do. It’s extraordinary, really. Pardon me for saying so, Kitty, but your uncle must have been a misery to live with.’