‘All right, you two! Yes, I like Luke. Okay, I really like him and your old daddy will always be your daddy. You don’t just swap daddies. But can you please stop talking now?’
‘You really, really like him?’ Meg said.
‘For a boy, he’s really nice,’ Tilly said again.
‘Yes,’ Meg said. ‘For a boy. He’d make a nice other Daddy.’
‘Will you two just be quiet?’ Emily said, lamenting that she hadn’t said no to Luke. She was nervous, like it was a first date. She began to run through what daggy work clothes she’d packed. Then she realised the only clean pair of undies she had with her were the bright-green ones with the white lettering that read Plough my patch with an arrow to the crutch. Too late to rinse her most normal pair, which had a puppy on them with Bury your bone here. They would never be dry in time. The green ones it would have to be!
‘Oh, God,’ Emily groaned, wondering why she was thinking of Luke and her undies at the same time.
‘It’s okay,’ Meg said. ‘God knows, Mummy. He knows everything.’
Thirty-four
Outside the pub, Cassy Jacobson swung the wheel of her new little green Jazz. She was furious. She’d driven all this way only to find Luke wasn’t home. Now she was searching the town for the ranger’s office.
Her eyes narrowed at the giant four-wheel drives that lined the pub. She let out a huff when she read the stickers on the back: Fertilise the Bush – Doze in a Greenie. They were also plastered with chainsaw stickers. She couldn’t believe Luke had chosen to live in this bloody town. She couldn’t believe he was still dicking about in that dump of a house by the mosquito-infested river.
Cassy dragged off her hat, which looked like a crocheted green teacosy, and ran her silver-ringed fingers through her spiked-up hair.
The store was closed and no one was in sight along the street. If she wanted to find Luke’s again by nightfall, she’d have to go in the pub. But she just couldn’t. Those rednecks would probably eat her alive. Carnivores, she thought. She looked up the quiet street. This place really was too much.
A few hundred metres up from the pub Cassy saw a sign that swung on a wooden pole. She started the engine of her little green car and drove closer. Squinting, she saw that it read Beauty in the Bush.
She parked outside the tiny cottage and went through the picket gate, knocking on the squat white door.
Evie answered. She calmly viewed the girl wearing what looked like the Aboriginal flag fashioned into a caftan and boots that could crush a cat’s skull.
‘Hello,’ said Evie. ‘If you’re after Bridie, she’s taken the girls to the river fishing.’
Cassy looked at the woman with the strange green eyes. She was wearing very daggy clothes and had her long grey hair in braids.
‘No. I just want directions to the ranger’s office.’
‘Oh,’ said Evie, ‘come in then.’ She opened the door wide and stepped back against the wall.
‘I don’t need to come in for directions, do I?’ said Cassy almost rudely.
‘No, but I do need to sit. My leg is giving me hell,’ lied Evie.
Before she knew it, Cassy was perched on a white couch with a huge fluffy ginger cat on her lap and a cup of camomile tea in her hands.
She was fuming. She just wanted to find Luke, but this old woman seemed like one of those desperate, lonely kinds. She probably shared the cat’s food out of the tin and wore the same undies for a week. Cassy decided she’d endure her for just ten minutes.
‘You’re lonely,’ said Evie.
Cassy’s eyes widened. ‘Me? Lonely? No!’
‘Then why travel so many hours to see a person who’s no longer your boyfriend?’
Cassy stiffened. Bloody small towns. Everyone knew everything about each other.
‘That’s none of your business.’ She set down the cup and pushed the cat off her knee. ‘Now, if you’ll just give me directions, I’ll be going.’
Evie looked levelly at her. ‘My name’s Evie. Would you like me to do a healing for you? No charge.’
Cassy shook her head but Evie stretched her hand out to her. The moment Evie’s palm came to rest on Cassy’s bare forearm, Cassy felt a tingle race along her skin and in an instant she was crying. Crying like a baby. She let Evie gently put her arm around her shoulders and guide her back to the couch. She offered her a tissue and sat while Cassy blubbered.
Years of hurt came rising up from within. Her father leaving her, the strong disapproving tones of her mother who had tried to buy her love every step of her life, the way the negatives of the world had weighed upon her since she was a little girl. She realised it had been the purity of Luke’s spirit and his unhurried ways that had captured her. She now saw he didn’t love her. But, more importantly, she realised she didn’t love him. She just loved the idea that she was cared for by him. That simple fact had made her feel less intense, not so anguished. Not so … so … her hateful, hopeless self. Twisting the tissue, Cassy watched as Evie shut her eyes. The old lady’s eyelids began to flicker and she inhaled deeply through her nose.
‘God says you are loved.’ This statement prompted a whole torrent of further crying from Cassy. ‘He also says to get a sense of humour.’
Cassy looked at Evie, wanting to slap her, but there was something about her that made Cassy realise she was for real. She was connected to something. Though what that was, Cassy couldn’t say. She certainly didn’t believe in God. Cassy looked up at the white pressed-tin ceilings of the old cottage. She was beginning to get the creeps.
‘There is nothing to fear,’ Evie said in a voice that sounded strangely altered.
She was silent for a time and Cassy wondered if she had finished what she had called the ‘healing’. But then Evie spoke again.
‘God is showing me injured wildlife. Burnt wildlife. You are there. In the centre of them all, caring for them.’
‘Wildlife?’ Cassy queried. She’d never had much to do with wildlife, really, except for dressing up as them for the protests.
‘God said your path is with the animals.’
‘The animals? But what about Luke?’
She watched Evie’s eyes roam from side to side behind her eyelids as if scanning something.
‘God says I am not a clairvoyant and if you want one, go read Cleo.’ Then Evie burst out laughing, her eyes still closed. ‘Oh, he’s a funny bugger this God.’
Cassy stood. ‘You’re taking the piss out of me. This is all crap. I can’t believe you sucked me in.’
But Evie didn’t respond. She sat with her eyes still shut. ‘God says remember your sense of humour. He says you will do good in the world, but this town is not your place. Luke has a soul-connection to another.’
Cassy again felt the emotion rise and tears well. The woman was right. What the hell was she doing here? She’d been hanging on to Luke for months now, and he’d been trying so gently to let her down, to lose her. She shut her eyes. When she opened them Evie’s intense green eyes were on her.
‘Okay?’ she asked gently. Cassy nodded. Evie gave her a glass of water and then, without a word, ushered Cassy from the cottage.
‘Travel safely,’ Evie said.
On impulse, Cassy gave her a quick hug and thanked her. Then she got in her car and drove away from Dargo, feeling all of a sudden enlivened and empowered. She had asked for directions, and Evie had certainly given her that! Wildlife. She would work with injured wildlife and she would start this summer during fire season. She squealed with excitement and turned her CD of world music up full-pelt.
Thirty-five
As Emily pulled on her clothes that morning she berated herself for having worried what undies she was going to wear. As if Luke Bradshaw would even get a look in! She wasn’t going to show him, even if he was interested.
Outside, the sun was gently hitting the eastern walls and roof, so the high-plains homestead was alive with creaks. It was going to be a warm day. Emily could hear the girls waking, stirring, t
alking to each other, slowly remembering that today was the day they were going to Evie’s, who was taking them into Dargo to do the shopping. Before the excitement led the girls out of bed, Emily made her way along the hall to the bathroom to clean her teeth. Fresh breath in case he kisses me, she thought, before shoving the thought away.
In the gloom of the bathroom, Emily stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes, big and wide and dark, her glossy black hair, now longer, framing her face. Her skin was clear and smooth. Perhaps Luke could like her, she wondered? As she bent to reach for her toothbrush she caught sight in the mirror of a woman standing behind her. A flash of white nightgown, a sweet smile, long, dark-grey hair hanging soft around the woman’s face. Emily spun around, knocking over the cup of brushes and toothpaste with a clatter.
There was no one there.
‘Okay, Emily,’ she said, calming herself. ‘It’s just normal nowadays. Get used to it. Eh, Granny Emily? I know you’re there. But what is it you’ve come to remind me? Is this the work I’m supposed to do? Playing tour guide to a VPP ranger?’
Sleepily, Tilly pushed open the bathroom door. ‘Who are you talking to, Mum?’
Emily blinked her way into the here and now.
‘The granny, silly,’ Meg said as she bumbled her way past Tilly and picked up the toothbrushes from the floor. ‘You know. The one that watches over Mum. She’s happy about the nice man, Luke. She wants them to work together.’
‘Oh, Meg,’ Emily said. ‘What are you on about?’
‘You know, Mummy.’
Emily crouched and hugged her. ‘You just know stuff, don’t you, my little one?’
Meg shrugged and began squirting Shrek toothpaste out of the tube.
‘Hey! Not so much,’ Emily said.
As Emily sat with the girls eating breakfast she shut her eyes and pictured how things could be. She and Luke working together, deciding which part of the Parks needed grazing and which should be left for another year. Which areas needed cool burning and problem areas that required weed control. Could life really be like that, she wondered? Perhaps old Emily was telling her that. Maybe these mountains were their work together, her and Luke? Fantasy land, she eventually told herself.
After dropping Tilly and Meg at Evie’s, Emily was again inside checking her face in the mirror when Rousie barked to tell her someone was approaching. Emily watched Luke drive up in his old WB, thumping along the rutted track. She was relieved to see he was out of his uniform. When he got out and stood before her in his Wrangler jeans, boots and a woollen work jumper, Emily felt weak at the knees.
‘Morning,’ he said, reaching for his wide-brimmed cowboy hat and jamming it on his head.
‘Good morning,’ Emily said nervously. ‘Like a cuppa before we go?’
Luke shook his head.
‘Nah, let’s get cracking.’ He rubbed his hands together. ‘Can’t wait.’
‘I was hoping you’d say that,’ Emily said. ‘I’m not one to sit about. Follow me.’
‘With pleasure,’ Luke replied with a broad smile and Emily could hear the flirtation in his voice. This could work, she told herself excitedly. She led him over to the stables, her heart racing.
Inside the old stables, Emily watched as he ran his beautiful hands over the old upright posts that met with sturdy bearers beneath a lofty shingled rooftop, which had been covered over on the outside by roofing iron to preserve it.
‘This building is amazing. Look at the timber work!’
Emily glanced up as she gathered the bridles from carved wooden pegs.
‘I know. They were pretty handy in those days.’
‘Pretty handy nowadays too, from what I can tell,’ Luke said, catching her eye and hoping she’d catch his compliment as well.
‘Grandad built these stables, and out here …’ she said, stepping through a side door, ‘is where Granny used to keep her goats.’ She pointed to the solid post-and-rail fence that cornered off a high-plains meadow. ‘That old stone wall was part of the piggery. And this head bale here is where Grandad used to milk the cow when he was a little tacker.’
They rested their elbows on the yard rails, looking through them to the view of Flanaghan Station with its old shingle roof outbuildings and the homestead at its heart.
‘This place is awesome!’ Luke said.
‘It’s pretty special, yeah. You’re the first government bloke that’s been on the place in decades, you know. It’s not that we don’t ask you blokes here, it’s just none of them seem to want to come and see for themselves. It’s like they’re not interested in the history of the place. I think it’s easier for ’em if they pretend all this isn’t here.’
She turned to look at him, the morning sun falling on her smile. ‘It’s good to have a government bloke come in and see first hand what heritage the bans are killing.’
‘Emily,’ Luke said, turning to look into her eyes, ‘I’m not a government bloke and I’m not out to kill anyone’s heritage. As long as you’re here, no one can take this place from you.’ He frowned. ‘Government bloke. Ouch. That hurts.’
‘But you are a government bloke. You work for VPP.’
‘It’s a job, Emily. A ticket out of the city for me. It isn’t who I am. I was chucked off my land too, remember? The government caused that too. All those tax rules that let outsiders buy in for so-called carbon credit tree farming. It’s as ludicrous as what they’ve done to your family. The only difference is my dad gave up. Yours hasn’t.’
Emily smiled at him, suddenly seeing his point.
‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘You’re right. We’re in the same boat. I won’t call you that anymore.’
‘Good. I’m glad.’
There was a moment when Emily thought he might lean over and kiss her. She wanted him to, but Luke drew away.
‘Now, let’s go catch these horses. I can’t wait to see more of this place!’
As Luke threw the heavy stock-saddle up onto the gelding’s back and reached under for the girth, he watched Emily as much as he could without being obvious. He was intrigued by her. She was so self-contained. Tough, even. Not angry and hostile like Cassy, but resilient, like the landscape about her. He saw how she saddled her grey mare, the way it was second nature to her, her movements swift and confident. She talked as she tacked up, explaining how she’d liked the name Salsa that he’d mentioned on the road back in autumn but she’d settled on Bonus instead. Her chatting was fuelled by nervousness, Luke could tell. He couldn’t take his eyes from her pretty face and her competent hands that were as strong as a man’s yet still beautiful. She was being very formal, almost old-fashioned, with him. It was as if their encounter at Wonnangatta had pushed her further away, rather than brought her closer to him. He had to find a way to relax her somehow, to find an unguarded version of Emily within. As she bent to clean Snowgum’s hooves with a hoof pick, Luke caught a glimpse of bright green underpants lairing out from the top of her jeans.
‘Whoa! Interesting colour choice,’ he said, grinning.
Emily set Snowgum’s hoof down, looking at him, frowning.
‘What?’
‘Your undies.’
‘Oh, God!’ Emily flushed red as she tugged up her jeans. ‘Sorry. They’re foul.’
‘Don’t be sorry. I love green. It makes me think of grass.’
‘You don’t want to know about my undies, honestly. It’s a long story.’
‘Well, I like long stories and we’ve got all day,’ said Luke, grinning as he led Bonus from the stable. Emily was still rolling her eyes with embarrassment and smiling when she swung up onto Snowgum.
Seeing Emily astride a horse, looking so much a part of the country, Luke could barely keep track of her words as she explained where they were headed. All he caught was something about Bob’s runs and the western side of the road. He nodded, dumbstruck, wondering how he could get closer to this girl. He was besotted. But the VPP thing still seemed to sit between them like a great silent shadow.
; ‘You right to trot for a bit?’ Emily asked and she was off before he could answer, sitting easily in the saddle, the stocky mare rolling along the track, curving in and out of snowgums. The gelding beneath him was moving well. She’d done a good job on him. Bonus was responsive yet steady and he moved over the rocky, twisting track with ease and confidence. Emily must be some horsewoman! More admiration rose up in Luke for the extraordinary girl riding in front of him.
On the way, Emily pointed out trees with stories to them, plants he hadn’t heard of, and access to tracks that had never been marked on a map, nor ever would be. She told him of old-timers who had huts out here and of the best places to tickle a trout or look for gold. They rode up gentle hillsides and slid down steep tracks, Emily knowing where each fence curved away.
Every place she took him was breathtakingly beautiful. As they journeyed further into the heart of the high plains, Luke felt Emily opening up to him. She was forgetting his ranger status and talking to him now as a friend again. She spoke of Bob’s inability to farm, the way he’d done wrong by the land. She spoke of her plans to rehabilitate the damage he had done. As she talked, Luke’s admiration for Emily began to inflate like a balloon. His feelings for her swelled so that as the morning moved on, it felt like desire for her might burst him apart.
By the time the sun was high and hot, Emily led Luke to a mountain brook shaded by a dappling of snowgums. The water ran across a grassy plain and then bubbled and splashed down over a small waterfall. Emily hitched Snowgum’s reins to a sapling and unbuckled her saddlebags from the mare.
She’d packed a very special smoko. Normally she’d just shove in an apple and a bottle of water, but today, knowing Luke would be along, she’d rummaged around for as many snacks as she could find. She clambered down a small embankment and settled herself on a mossy bank beside the deep pool. Luke followed and settled next to her, watching as she took a thermos from the saddlebag and offered him a cup of tea or coffee.
The Cattleman's Daughter Page 27