Her stomach plummeted. ‘You’ve changed your tune since we last spoke in Sydney. Then you placed no restraints.’
‘I wasn’t fully aware of your father’s health problems then,’ he whispered, glancing at the women still talking. ‘Why did you keep it from me? I felt like a fool when I found out. I had a right to know his heart is not good. And now this. I know you’re keeping something from me. If you can’t be trusted, I will not hesitate to take control.’
She took a step back, disgusted. ‘Control? Your rights? Why is everything about you?’
‘Don’t treat me like an idiot. Gerald’s health changes things. If he dies, that leaves only you to manage the stud.’
‘Who do you think has been managing it thus far? You think I couldn’t continue to?’ She raised her eyebrows, wanting to scratch his eyes out. ‘Don’t pretend you don’t know the truth of the matter. Father told you I was managing the stud when you arrived.’
‘But I thought as a man, he had some influence.’ He gave a mocking laugh. ‘I should’ve known better. You must have everything your own way, as always.’
‘I’m doing very well at the stud,’ she ground out through clenched teeth.
He nodded. ‘I believe it. Actually, I think you’d do a better job of it than Gerald would, but the point remains you would be solely in charge – a woman alone. Men don’t want to discuss business issues with a woman. The venture will fail and—’
Before he could finish his whispered tirade, Gil stepped around Grant and came to her side, smiling, but in his eyes she read his unspoken query. He clasped her elbow, giving her the strength she so desperately needed against Grant.
Gil held out his other hand to Grant. ‘Mr Lindfield, I must say farewell.’
Grant looked from one to the other and then inclined his head. ‘Until tomorrow then, Mr Ashford.’ He moved back to the women and Pippa let out a pent-up breath.
How would she cope having Grant in her valley for a few days? The thought made her ill.
‘Talk to me.’ Gil bent his head closer, his gaze questioning. ‘Do I need to call him out?’
‘This isn’t a joke, Gil. He owns my valley.’
Suddenly serious, Gil took her hands in his. ‘It’s your valley. I won’t let you lose it. I’m here to help you, you must know that by now?’
‘Thank you, and I hope your instinct is right and the speculation pays off so I can rid that man from my life once and for all.’
‘Oh? He’s that bad?’
‘I must destroy all trace of him from my business and my life.’
‘I will help you with whatever you need. You can rely on me, Pippa.’
Pippa smiled despite the resentment and anger bubbling in her chest. She ignored Grant’s insufferable presence and slipped her hand through Gil’s arm; not for the first time was she thankful to have met this brilliant man. ‘Thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow evening. Tell Augusta that we must have dancing after dinner.’
‘You know where I am if you need me.’ His tone sent her a message of concern. He brought her hand up and kissed it.
She smiled in gratitude; with Gil she didn’t have to watch her every word or act to be other than what she was. ‘What a lucky woman I am to have you as my dear friend.’
He hesitated for a moment, frowning, but then laughed. ‘You’re a very lucky woman, indeed!’
Travelling back home in the carriage, Gil’s mind fixated on the newcomer, Grant Lindfield and the hold he had over Pippa. That the man was rich and powerful didn’t bother him, Gil had dealt with those kind of men all his life, yet there was something else that troubled him about Lindfield. Pippa behaved differently whenever his name was mentioned. A coldness came to her tone whenever she discussed him. Her father owed the Lindfields money, that he knew. However, something else worried him, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
‘You are quiet, my dear,’ his mother said as they turned into the gates of their home.
‘Just thinking.’
‘What about?’
‘Pippa.’
His mother turned to him, ignoring the fact the carriage had stopped in front of the house and the groom had opened the door. ‘Why? Has something happened I’m not aware of?’
‘I want to marry her, Mama.’ He smiled sadly. ‘But I don’t think she’ll have me.’
‘Why wouldn’t she? You both get along so well.’
‘She is too independent. She isn’t ready for marriage yet. She wants to prove she can be successful.’ He climbed out of the carriage and then handed his mother down. ‘And I don’t think she sees me as a possible suitor but more like a brother.’
His mother stared at him, one eyebrow raised. ‘Well then, my dear boy, you’re just going to have to be patient, or wear her down.’ She tapped his arm. ‘Pippa is intelligent. One day she will know what is under her nose.’
Chapter Fourteen
After dipping the ladle into the bucket of fresh water, Pippa lifted it to her mouth and drank deeply. Sweat from the hot September day beaded her upper lip and forehead. She used her apron to blot the moisture away. ‘Here, Millie, drink before you faint.’
‘I cannot believe how hot it is today. Anyone would think it was January. Summer has come early, I think.’
‘It doesn’t help that we’ve had such a dry winter. It’s October next week and that means no rain at all for this month and hardly any for August. All we got then were horrible gales.’ Pippa sighed. ‘Robson said if we don’t get rain soon, we’ll have to buy water and have it brought in. The well isn’t filling as we expected. The creek is so shallow now. Everything is dry and brown.’
‘The dry weather is at least good for the men building the new bridge over the creek. They don’t have to worry about the water.’ Millie dropped her scrubbing brush and leaned back on her heels. ‘Robson told me that the shepherd has taken the sheep further into the bush to find another creek for them to save the water for us to use.’ She looked around the wooden floor now clean from spilt plaster. ‘At least we’re nearly finished in here.’
Pippa nodded and poked her head through the door of the next room. The walls sparkled in fresh white plaster. ‘The men have finished.’ She sighed and pushed a strand of hair away from her eyes.
Standing, Millie shook out her black skirts and white apron. ‘The house is looking so fine, Pippa. The extra rooms make it spacious.’
Pippa gazed around the front room, still pleased that she’d made the decision to not build an upstairs floor. The money saved by keeping the house as a single storey would be beneficial to the stud. She saw no reason to go to the extra expense of a double storey house when one large, sprawling house would do the job just as well.
Once her parents and Hilary came, and then Grant and Cynthia visited so soon after, Pippa knew there weren’t enough bedrooms. Her mother spoke of building an upper floor, like the Ashfords had, but Pippa knew the expense would be too great, and instead had the right side of the house extended to an L shape to include two more bedrooms and continue the verandah around.
‘You should be so proud, Pippa.’ Millie smiled, ladle in hand.
‘I couldn’t be happier.’ Pippa grinned.
‘Philippa,’ her mother called from outside.
‘What is it?’ She and Millie stepped out onto the verandah and were buffeted by a strong, hot wind.
Esther puffed as she hurried up the slope from the hut, her knitting in her hands. ‘The furniture wagon is coming!’ She looked as excited as a child at Christmas. ‘Oh, I do hope nothing is broken.’
‘I’m sure nothing will be.’ Pippa soothed, watching the cloud of dust spreading out behind the trundling cart. ‘Is Hilary still walking with Davy?’
‘Yes, she has been teaching him the alphabet using nature, but I see them now.’ Millie pointed over to the right and down past the stables where Hilary and Davy stood tickling the ears of the two kids born a few weeks ago to the nanny goat. ‘I’ll go down to them.’
Pippa
strolled down to the footbridge, which had been replaced by a strong arched stone construction built by Barney. He and the other men were making a bigger and wider bridge a mile further down where the creek was shallower. That bridge was for the heavy transports.
‘Good lord, it is so hot.’ Esther pouted, following her. ‘Why does there have to be such heat when I’ve so much to do?’
‘Robson says it’s been uncommonly hot and dry for winter. It doesn’t bode well for summer. We need rain and a lot of it for the spring crops, which aren’t as high as they should be. Father and I inspected them this morning.’
‘Where is your father? He said he’d be back in time for the wagon’s arrival.’
‘Well, it’s good that he’s making friends and acquaintances in the district.’
Esther held her ruby skirts high with one hand and shaded her eyes with the other. ‘Be that as it may, he knew this was an important day. I’ve been waiting for weeks for our things to arrive. Now the house will be a true home with our belongings in it.’
Pippa paused to kiss her mother’s flushed cheek. ‘I’m sure with your fine taste and skills of house industry, the furniture will be in place before father returns, and what a surprise he’ll get!’
‘Indeed, my dear.’ Her mother sighed with a smile. ‘What a pleasing thought. I am rather happy with our house. Despite its strange shape, the rooms are large and airy. Mrs Ashford said exactly the same when she viewed it yesterday. I’ll feel more comfortable, too, the next time Grant comes to stay, for we’ll have the rooms to accommodate him and Cynthia properly.’
Pippa sniffed with displeasure at the mention of Grant being in close company again. She’d only just tolerated his last visit, which, thankfully, was very short.
‘One’s house reflects one’s status, you know that.’ Esther peered at the wagonload. ‘There is nothing more embarrassing than living in a house with small, poky rooms. Do you remember my old aunt Bess? She detested tiny rooms, refused to enter one—’
‘Yes, Mother.’ Pippa greeted the driver, effectively cutting off her mother’s opinions of room sizes. She moved to the cart and lifted the canvas flap to view the stacked furniture. ‘Oh, look, the dining table. It’s been so long since we saw it last. It doesn’t seem to have suffered damage on the voyage over.’
‘I’d demand compensation from the ship’s captain if sea water had stained it.’ Esther ran her finger over its polished legs. ‘Everything is coated in an inch of dust.’
‘It’s been stored in a warehouse, Mother.’ Pippa shook her head and craned to look at more of their belongings not seen since they were taken out of their house in England over a year and a half ago. ‘There’s the trunk with the china service in it.’ She pointed to a brown trunk half-buried beneath an assortment of chairs and bed frames.
‘How lovely it will be to use it all again. I do hope nothing is broken, for we could never replace it. Most of it belonged to my mother and is the only tableware we have of value, really. And when are the women servants coming? Your father sent out advertisements weeks ago.’
‘Next week.’
Esther folded her hands together. ‘They must come soon. Cissie cannot do it all herself. And I want to make certain they are of a good standard before we hold our dinner party the week after. I never thought we’d be so busy.’ She drew herself up straighter, pride shining in her eyes. ‘I never imagined that in the country we would have such a wide range of friends as we do in Sydney with the Talbots. Three dinner parties last week, two this week, and one next week.’
Pippa sent a murmured thanks to the fates that had allowed her mother to settle into the area so well. Within days of her arrival she had received callers, and after their first dinner party as a family, hosted by the Ashfords, Esther had behaved as though she’d always lived in the valley and immediately began calling on the new friends she’d made through the Ashfords. And although the Merediths weren’t as high on the social ladder as the Ashfords, her mother had become friends with them, also.
‘I’ll go up to the house and decide where everything is to go.’ Esther nodded, turning away. ‘Would Millie help me, do you think?’
‘Of course, Mother. Millie would do anything for us.’
‘Yes, but she has her own home to see to.’ Her mother frowned. ‘It is hard for me to place her, Pippa. She is neither servant nor family.’
‘She is my dear friend, Mother. One I couldn’t do without.’ She knew it was hard for her mother to fit Millie into a comfortable role within the valley. After the men built Millie a two-room cottage on her parcel of land, Millie spent a great deal of her time tending to her home and garden. For income she sold produce from her surplus vegetables and eggs from her poultry.
A tug on her skirt alerted Pippa to Davy and she smiled down at him. ‘Run and get the men for me, darling. We’ve got much to do today.’ She looked back to the driver. ‘You can begin unloading now. Everything is to go straight into the house up there.’ She waved behind her.
‘Yes, miss.’
‘Pippa.’
She turned to Millie, who’d come to help, but the look on Millie’s face froze her. ‘What is the matter?’
Millie looked towards the west, the entrance to the valley. ‘There’s smoke.’
Pippa glanced over her shoulder and frowned. A murky brown cloud hung over the top of the ranges. ‘Douglas must be burning off his fields.’
‘In September? On a hot windy day like today? I doubt it.’
‘Miss Noble!’
She whipped around at the urgency in Robson’s voice and blanched at the strain on his face. He skidded to a stop in front of her and pointed to the ridge. ‘Bushfire. From the west. I’ve sent Colin to saddle a horse and ride up to the road to see how far away it is. But we must prepare.’
Pippa’s mouth went dry. ‘Bush … Bushfire?’
Esther hurried back to them, her hand clasped against her chest. ‘Oh, my dear lord. What will we do?’
Robson took off his hat and scratched his head, his expression revealing his concern. ‘We must fill every bucket and wet down the buildings, starting with the grain store. I’ve already got Peter and Barney digging a hole to bury feed and harnesses. The water in the creek is too low to last for long. We’ll need to put valuables in the sawpit and cover it with wet sacking.’
Pippa’s mind went blank. He talked too fast for her to absorb his meaning. ‘Robson, please, what are you saying?’
He took a deep breath and then glanced away sharply as Colin galloped across the valley floor, the hoof beats thundering. ‘Miss, try to understand. If the fire gets into the valley, it’ll wipe out everything in its path. We must bury what we can. Once the fire reaches, if it reaches the valley ridge, we’ll all have to escape from the other side, and there’s no track there, so we can’t take the wagon. I’ll get the horses saddled. The ladies must pack only lightly.’
‘Escape?’ Esther swayed just as Hilary and Davy joined them.
Running his hands through his hair, Robson’s eyes implored Pippa to take action.
But she couldn’t move or think clearly. Bushfire. Escape. ‘It … it may not even come this way, Robson.’
‘I hope to God it doesn’t, miss.’
She swallowed, but her throat was suddenly dry. ‘But you think it will?’
He looked up at the large gum trees, their top branches swaying in the warm breeze. ‘If the wind doesn’t change, the fire will sweep over that ridge and head straight for us.’
‘But it’s not summer yet. You said bushfires came in January or February.’
‘Miss, we’ve had very little rain, and dead grass will burn whether it be the middle of winter or summer. We were spared fires last year, but all it takes is one spark to set the bush alight, and this wind will not help us.’ He shifted from foot to foot. ‘Please, miss, we cannot waste time talking. We must prepare—’
‘What of the horses? The mares are due to foal within weeks, they mustn’t be scared into bolti
ng.’
‘I’ll get Peter to take them to the far side of the valley. If the fire breaks the ridge, he’ll take them out and head towards Mittagong.’ He gave another nervous glance at the widening plume of smoke on the horizon. ‘Please, Miss Noble, we need to act now.’
‘Yes, go. Do what must be done.’ Pippa waved him away and turned to her family. On seeing their scared and worried expressions, she hid her fear and straightened her shoulders. ‘Come, we must do as Robson says. Pack lightly or bury what you cannot carry. Quickly, now!’
As the others turned and ran back to the house, her mother stepped forward and gripped Pippa’s arm. ‘This valley, the stud, is all we have, Pippa.’
‘Yes, Mother.’ Distracted, Pippa nodded, looking beyond her towards the scurrying men.
Esther’s hand clenched Pippa’s arm like a vice. ‘No, listen to me!’
Pippa stared at her, shocked.
‘You must not let all that we have slip from our grasp. Not now we are finally finding our way out of the depths of despair. I’d not survive another disappointment.’
‘I promise I won’t let that happen.’
Her mother’s gaze remained fixed on hers. ‘If we lose the stud, that will be the end of us. The Nobles will be finished forever.’
‘I know. I’ll do everything I can to prevent it. Trust me.’ She kissed her mother’s cheek and gently pushed her in towards the house. ‘Go help pack. Take only the most important things and hurry!’
Robson, bless him, sprang into action. He ran about issuing orders that everyone instantly obeyed; even her mother showed extreme courage and did as she was told without complaint.
Pippa knew all kinds of fear. The fear of being turned out of their house when her father squandered their money, the fear of being unloved and rejected by Grant, the fear of being in the middle of a vast ocean on an insignificant ship. Yet nothing eclipsed the fear she was experiencing now.
The terror seemed tangible, as though she could taste it, reach out and touch it. She wasn’t one to panic and hated being vulnerable, but as the wind carried the smell of smoke and the sound of crackling wood, her throat closed up through pure dread.
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