by Tony Parsons
‘Also, you have to consider Catriona’s feelings,’ Anne went on. ‘A lot of the gossip would come back to her, and how do you think she would feel? I realise you think it’s unfair, but why create a potential problem? There must be young men who are just as qualified and competent as Sarah.’
‘That isn’t the point, Mum. If everyone took that view no girl would ever be employed. I think Sarah has a lot in her. She says she isn’t interested in men and wants to help her mother breed top thoroughbreds. They’ve had a tough time since Rod’s death. You know I helped them by employing Dianne to do our books. What’s so different with Sarah?’
Anne looked at Kate and smiled. ‘First, as for Sarah not being interested in men, there is hardly a woman in the world who isn’t interested in men – or a man, anyway. Once the right man comes along, Sarah will react in the same way as any other young woman. David, it’s your mother talking to you. I have to say this: what Catriona is concerned about is that Sarah might become too interested in you. Young women fall for older men and you’re still a very presentable and impressive fellow.’
David shook his head. ‘I’ve only ever been interested in one woman and I’ve got her. Kate, what do you think?’ he asked.
Kate, thus appealed to, responded in her usual forthright manner.
‘I agree with you, David, that it seems a great shame you can’t employ Sarah because she is female. It certainly isn’t fair, or logical for that matter, that Sarah should be denied employment because of possible gossip. Yes, I can understand Catriona being apprehensive about the situation. It’s only natural that a happily married woman would feel that way about her husband working with a young, attractive woman. You would have to consider Catriona’s feelings, David. It isn’t inappropriate for Sarah to be employed here. Young women work in all kinds of situations today. They’re in all the armed services and although it must be very awkward for them at times, they have the right to be there.
‘You’re right about not being able to refuse a woman a job on the basis of sex, David. You can opt to employ a man if you feel he is the best candidate for the job but what you can’t do is refuse a job to a woman simply because she is a woman. A woman can have you on toast for doing that. What you have to decide is whether there is a position here that Sarah could fill. You need a manager for Molonga and Wirrewarra but you could hardly send Sarah out there.’
Although he had spoken to Catriona about possibly sending Sarah to the new properties, he had never really been serious about it.
‘I appreciate all that, Kate. I could use Sarah, no doubt about that. To employ her I’d have to shift Greg out to the new places and he may not choose to go. So, until I speak to Greg I can’t say that I’d have a job for Sarah.
‘What I’m looking for, what we’ve always looked for, are reliable, capable people for the job at hand. We gave Don Morgan a go at Aberfeldy following Tim Sparkes’s death and he’s been terrific. Likewise, Greg Robertson and Shaun Covers. And, not to put too fine a point on it, you, Kate, as well. You’ve come up trumps, Kate. Now I’ve got new plans and I see Sarah Matheson fitting into them very well, but I’m told I can’t use her because she’s a woman. Did you ever experience any problems with men while you worked here and at Glen Morrison, Kate?’ David asked.
‘Not here, David. But I wasn’t married, and you are. Personally, I think it’s between you and Catriona. As much as you might like to employ Sarah, if it is going to affect your relationship with Catriona, you might have to give it a miss,’ Kate said. ‘If you can work that out satisfactorily then I’d say go ahead and employ her.’
‘I suppose if Sarah had a face like a horse and was three axe handles across her backside, nobody would object to me employing her,’ David said vehemently. ‘Sarah is being penalised because she’s attractive. What’s in her head doesn’t matter.’
‘It’s not Kate and I that you have to convince, David,’ Anne said. ‘I’m all for women being given every opportunity to advance. But human nature being what it is, people will talk. They don’t need an excuse to gossip, but if you give them one they will gossip even more. You might be able to ignore the gossip – and men seem to acquire an added lustre if thought to be randy – but it could be very hurtful to Catriona. Besides, no woman likes to think of her husband being with another woman. So, as much as we’ve moved on a very great deal in so many ways, the fact is that men and women still get up to hanky-panky and always will.’
David shook his head. ‘I’m perfectly happy with Catriona. The fact is, as I said to Cat, I reckon Sarah would make a great mate for one of the boys. She’s a bit older than Angus but younger than Dougal.’
‘You can’t make plans for other people, David,’ Anne said, and touched his arm affectionately. ‘Not with the best will in the world.’
‘Perhaps not, but if you put two people together there ought to be some chance they will hit it off,’ David said, grinning.
‘You are a real schemer, David,’ Kate said.
‘I want this place and the other properties to be in good hands after I’m finished here. A decent wife is worth more than winning several lotteries. A man needs the right wife to make a proper go of things. Dad knew what he was about when he picked you, Mum.’
‘And didn’t I worry until I knew he did want me,’ Anne, said, and laughed. ‘Your father didn’t try to kiss me until the day he asked me to marry him up on Yellow Rock! Mind you, when he did kiss me I thought all my birthdays had come at once,’ Anne said, and winked at her sister.
‘Now the secrets are coming out, Kate,’ David said, and grinned. ‘Well, I reckon I picked a pretty decent wife myself. And if picking the right women is a trait that we MacLeod men excel at, you will understand why I think Sarah Matheson is too good a prospect to let slip through our hands,’ he said.
‘You’ll have to sort that out with Catriona. She’s the one who will be most affected if you choose to employ Sarah, both personally and by the inevitable gossip. However, for what it’s worth, I applaud your motives,’ Anne said.
David got up from the table and bent and kissed his mother and then his aunt. ‘I couldn’t have had a better mother or a better aunt,’ he said. The two women both felt there was a catch in his voice as he spoke. Together, they watched his tall figure walk through the orchard to the dog yard.
Anne sighed. ‘What a boy he was, and what a man he has become. Andy would be so proud of him.’
‘Andy was proud of him from the day he was born, Anne. He couldn’t have been any prouder of David than he was after he won the National,’ Kate said. ‘Oh, dear, growing old is such a nuisance. I would so much like to go on for a long time yet. I hate the thought of leaving all this behind. Do you understand what I mean, Anne?’
‘Of course I understand. I think about it every day. Do you think I want to leave this place that has meant so much to me for so long, the people I love? If I could be sure I was going to be with Andy again I could face the future with greater fortitude, but I can’t be sure of that, Kate. Through all the years since Andy left here I’ve felt that he was very close to me. I can still picture him as he was when I first came here. The first time I saw him at that dance something inside me turned over and I said to myself “There’s the man I want”. I think Andy must have felt the same way. What a man he was, Kate.’
‘He sure was, Anne. If you had turned him down, I would have snapped him up quick sticks,’ Kate laughed, with a twinkle in her eye.
‘I knew that, Kate. But I’ve got to say that as good a man as Andy was, David has surpassed him. Andy battled to pay off High Peaks and then Poitrel, and now we’ve got six properties.’
‘David has great vision, Anne. For a person who didn’t go to college or university, David is quite remarkable.’
‘Yes, of course you’re right,’ Anne mused. ‘Will the boys be as successful? Angus is very gifted with animals, but a bit wild. He needs a strong woman to take him in hand. Dougal is very clever and will no doubt become an excellent
vet. His future is assured. As for Moira, who can say? She adores her father and has a lot of his gifts.’
‘Of the three children she is perhaps the pick,’ Kate added, ‘though one shouldn’t say so. Strong, spirited women are certainly a force in this family.’
Anne sighed, and smiled. ‘Certainly, but I have a lot of time for Dougal because he was strong enough to stand up to David over his choice of career. Ah, Kate, it’s all so very satisfying. When I came to Merriwa to teach I never envisaged my life would proceed as it has done. Well, I must say it has all been rather wonderful. Losing Andy was a great blow, but I couldn’t show what I really felt because I knew what David was going through. He missed his father terribly and it would have been worse for him if he hadn’t had Catriona.’
‘Yes, what a wife she has been for David. I knew you always wanted her for David but I admit that at first I had my doubts about the wisdom of that, the Campbells being so uppity. I would have given anything to be a fly on the wall the day David dressed old Angus down, telling him he was a damned snob, and worse. Well, I must say Angus and Jane turned out better than I imagined. Of course, David is a more important bush figure than Angus now,’ Kate said.
‘Yes, and didn’t Andy think it was great when David told him what he had done. I must say I wouldn’t have blamed Catriona if she had told David to get lost, he took so long to ask her to marry him. Having Aberfeldy and all that money certainly made a difference where Angus was concerned,’ Anne said.
‘The damned old snob,’ Kate said, and laughed.
‘Yes, the damned old snob,’ Anne agreed. ‘Well, Angus and David became very pally and if Angus finally wins at his last trial he will owe most of it to David. He has put in a lot of time with Angus. And with Stuart, too. Angus has been trying to win the Open all his life. And for an old silvertail I have to say Angus has been a very good neighbour. He and his father before him. It’s time that Angus retired, though. Time to feed the chooks and gather the eggs, Kate. That’s about what I’m reduced to now.’
‘At least you don’t have arthritis, Anne,’ Kate said.
‘No, thankfully – just old age and a fraction of the energy I used to have. Life is so very short, Kate. It disturbs me no end to see so many young people wasting their most precious years in idleness – or worse.’
That evening after dinner, with Moira away with an old school friend, Catriona asked David what Anne and Kate had said about employing Sarah Matheson.
David had been waiting for the question. ‘They said that by and large they agreed that a woman shouldn’t be discriminated against because she was a woman. But,’ and here he paused and looked intently at Catriona, ‘they were firm that it was really a matter for you and me to decide. I must say that they were very fair about it. They both said they foresaw there would be gossip if we employed Sarah, and they also said they understood why you would be concerned.’
‘So where does that leave you, David?’ Catriona asked.
‘I wouldn’t do anything to cause you concern, Cat. You seem to have the idea that I could be attracted to Sarah. I don’t know why you should because there were girls eyeing me off when I was young and randier than I am now and I never touched one of them. Susan was coming on pretty hot and strong for one. You were the only girl I ever wanted and, if you remember, even when you volunteered to get pregnant so we could marry, I didn’t take you up on it. I have a lot of difficulty trying to understand why you think I should be tempted now.’
David’s words beat like hammer blows against her heart. Everything he said was true. David was so much bigger in every way than her that he made her feel suddenly small and petty. How could she answer him without disclosing her lifelong fears about losing him? She knew that many men cheated on their wives and that some wives cheated on their husbands. It happened in Merriwa just as it did everywhere else. David had inferred she didn’t trust him not to cheat on her. He hadn’t said as much but what else could he imagine? After all these years and all their closeness, she didn’t trust him.
‘David, I …’ she began weakly, before her voice trailed off. She wanted to say that she loved him too much to risk losing him to a younger woman, but that again would mean that she didn’t trust him.
‘We’ll let the matter rest for a while, Cat,’ he said and picked up a newspaper and began reading it.
Next morning, David announced that he and Moira were going to Glen Morrison to meet a ram buyer, and asked Catriona if she would like to accompany them.
‘I might take Danny for a ride, David,’ Catriona answered. Danny was a bay gelding Greg had broken in for her. ‘It’s a lovely day and he could do with the work.’
David nodded. ‘We should be home for lunch at one.’
‘If I’m not here can you get yourselves some lunch, darling?’
‘I’m sure that between us Moira and I can manage some lunch,’ he replied. ‘After lunch I’m going over to see Angus.’
Catriona waited until David and Moira had left before going to the stables to saddle the beautiful bay gelding, Danny. He wasn’t up to King, but he was a nice horse Catriona knew would come better with education. He was from the first crop of horses bred at Strath Fillan and, according to Greg Robertson, probably the horse most likely to suit Catriona.
Catriona rode down to the creek, crossed it, and then headed up the paddock towards Yellow Rock. It was all uphill and fairly tough going for a horse. When she got to where the track cut across the face of Yellow Rock, Catriona dismounted and hitched Danny to the branch of a kurrajong. It was at this very spot that she had paused all those years ago to ponder whether to take her grey pony across the mountain, or simply wait for David to join her. Now she set out on foot to walk the track she had ridden Princess on before they both fell over the ledge.
It was David who had come to her rescue back then. He had sent a dog down the ledge to stay with her and had then ridden for home to get help. Later, before anyone could get to her, he had come down off the ledge by rope to be with her. Later still, when everyone else wanted to destroy her pony, David had ridden Princess off the ledge and brought her back to High Peaks. Just a little boy and he had behaved like a man. It was from that time that she knew in a girl–woman way that she wanted him to be her boy.
Catriona’s thoughts then turned to the night the two Missens and their odious mate, Stanley Masters, had tried to rape her. It had happened the night of the Debutantes’ Ball and Roger Cartwright had been her escort. The trio had forced their car off the road and they had hit a post. Roger had concussion, and was no help. The young men had dragged Catriona from the vehicle and stripped off her lovely white gown. That was as far as they got because David arrived on the scene and took on the three men. One of them had hit him over the eye with a branch and opened up a big gash that bled profusely but he had beaten the three of them and locked them in their vehicle until her father and Stuart and the police arrived. If David had not intervened her life would have been very different.
Catriona looked up at the vast expanse of blue sky and sighed. This matter of Sarah Matheson was, she recognised, a defining moment in her married life. She had already hurt David by intimating that she didn’t trust him with a younger woman. He had never given her the slightest cause to doubt his love for her, yet she had hurt him. She knew that by his silence.
As Catriona stood there on the face of Yellow Rock, she realised that if she was to regain her husband’s respect, she would have to take the lead in the matter of Sarah just as she had done when she and David had their first big row over the children attending boarding school. This time it could not be solved by daytime lovemaking and telling David that she needed him. She would have to overcome her long-held fears about losing David by agreeing to employ Sarah Matheson. This decision would be the real test of her married life. It would prove whether their love meant anything. It would also prove whether David was as fallible as other men when a younger woman appeared on the scene.
For one last time Catrio
na looked at the mound of rubble below her. She owed David more than she could ever repay, and the thought that she might lose him to Sarah was like a knife thrust through her heart. Life without David would hardly be life at all. Her marriage had to survive this new challenge.
Catriona retraced her steps down the track. Danny was standing patiently where she had tethered him and she gathered the reins and vaulted into the saddle. The downhill trip was easy after the uphill slog. Catriona’s mind was also easier now. She had come to a decision and she would make it known to David.
Back at the homestead, David and Moira had had lunch and cleaned up. David had left a note telling her that her mother had been asking for her. It was signed Love, David. Catriona studied the note. It was just a simple message, yet the last two words seemed especially significant today. David had left notes before but not for some time. Was he trying to tell her something?
Moira was with them for dinner that night. Moira was experimenting with new recipes and was anxious to try them out on her parents. Catriona had told her several times that David didn’t like fancy Asian and Italian dishes but Moira kept stretching his taste by trying new cuisines.
‘Darling, I’ve been thinking about Sarah Matheson a lot today,’ Catriona began. ‘I agree it would be unwise to miss out on employing her – she would be very handy with all this new work you’re doing with sheep. I’ve got reservations about sending her out to Molonga, but perhaps that is a matter for Sarah to decide. I realise you need a manager out there but I wouldn’t feel comfortable sending any single woman to such a place,’ Catriona said.
David looked at her intently before he answered. ‘I wouldn’t put her on without your complete agreement,’ he said.
‘Then you have it,’ she said quickly. ‘I realise women should be given every opportunity to get on. And besides, who knows? Angus may fall for her,’ she added, with a wicked smile.