Barra Creek

by Di Morrissey

  ‘Dad, Yvonne is very happy with Lachlan. But that’s not a life for me.’

  ‘You love the horses, the Hunt, what we’ve built here. I don’t have a son. I thought you might be the one to carry on with the thoroughbreds. With the right man beside you of course,’ he said.

  Sally nearly said something about Rob, about his natural gift with horses, what he’d done with Jasper, how horses were his passion. But instead she merely shrugged. ‘Dad, please, let me be. I wish Mum wouldn’t keep interfering. I’ll find my own husband, thanks.’

  Her father was silent for a moment. He had told his wife to ease up on the blatant introductions but he couldn’t resist adding, ‘Well, Sally, your track record of dating suitable young men hasn’t been very responsible so far.’

  ‘I’m twenty-one now. You have to cut the apron strings, you know.’

  ‘That may be so, but you are still my daughter.’

  She gave her father a quick kiss. ‘Trust me. The right man’s out there somewhere,’ she said lightly, thinking to herself, but probably not around here.

  She’d had a long talk with Sean and felt better. She had poured out the story of her great love for Rob and how he’d hurt her and also her attraction to Hal Lee. Now she didn’t know what to do with herself. But a trip away to England still seemed the best alternative. She talked to her parents and said she was going to sail to England and work for a year and then come back and settle down.

  Her mother looked relieved. ‘I do hope so, dear.’

  Her father gave her a quizzical look. ‘What sort of work?’

  ‘I have a whole range of new talents, Dad. I can muster a mob of cattle, break in a horse, speak pidgin, and at a pinch, stitch up someone’s head.’

  ‘Very useful in the Old Dart,’ he commented dryly and returned to his newspaper.

  Sally wrote a long letter to Lorna outlining her plans. She knew Lorna had been worried about her. She wrote brief letters in which she gave Sally the latest news about the property, little Jilly who was such a quiet baby she was no trouble at all, unlike Betsy’s little girl who was an energetic baby named Daisy. She never mentioned Rob other than it was quiet with all the men gone out mustering. Tommy was a good correspondent. Ian would sometimes scrawl a hasty note at the end of his brother’s long letters. They were home for the holidays and Ian was glad to be at Barra Creek but Tommy wrote that he missed Sally and Rob, his mother was preoccupied with their little sister, and Ian and his father were ‘still fighting’. He begged Sally to stay in England so he could go and visit her over there. ‘I really want to see all the places we learn about. I don’t want to spend my life at Barra Creek . . . but Dad expects us to be here and help him. Ian says Dad should give it away and hand it over to him when Jilly is ready for school.’

  Sally poured over Tommy’s letters. How she missed the boys. How she missed the activity, the smells and the vibrancy. How she missed Rob. She shook herself, refusing to mope. Now she must get on with her life.

  *

  Sean invited her to lunch at his flat. They thought it safer to meet at his place than at a restaurant in town where they might run into friends of Sally’s parents. She had decided to fly to England, her father relenting and agreeing to pay half the airfare. ‘I think they think it’s a safer bet I’ll get there this time,’ she said, laughing.

  Sean was due to go to Australia for ten days on business, so they were treating this as a farewell lunch. Sally was setting the table when Sean cried out and came into the small dining room with his hand wrapped in a tea towel. ‘I’ve cut my finger. Sliced the top almost right off.’ He looked shaken.

  ‘Ooh, let me see.’ The tea towel was soaked in blood. ‘Gawd, you have done a job on yourself. I’d better drive you to the hospital. Come on.’

  They had to wait a short while as an accident victim was trundled in from an ambulance and whisked behind a curtain. Then Sean was attended to by a young Indian doctor, who deftly stitched his finger back together. Sally stayed out in the waiting room of the busy casualty ward. She watched as a patient, hooked up to monitors and machines, was wheeled in on a bed. Next to him a young girl was lying still, her frightened eyes darting between her mother and father, who sat on either side of her holding her hands. A nurse paused by the girl’s bed. ‘The specialist is on his way down. You’re lucky he happened to be in the hospital seeing another patient.’

  ‘There you go, sir. It will be fine now,’ said the doctor as he and Sean walked out from the surgery.

  ‘Sorry about all this,’ Sean said when he joined Sally. ‘It was probably best we came in. I needed five stitches.’

  ‘I’ll finish cooking lunch,’ she said. ‘You can have a drop of something medicinal.’

  Sally glanced back at the young girl as a nurse hurried in saying, ‘Here is the doctor,’ and pulled the curtain around the bed. But not before Sally had seen the caring face of Doctor Hal Lee.

  She clutched Sean’s bandaged arm, which he was holding upright. He glanced at her. ‘It’s not that bad. Don’t worry.’

  ‘I don’t believe it,’ she murmured.

  ‘What’s up?’ He stopped and looked at her shocked expression.

  ‘I just saw Hal Lee. The doctor I met in Darwin.’

  ‘The handsome devil of the Singapore orchids?’

  ‘Yes.’ Sally had shared everything with Sean now. ‘He must be a specialist here.’

  ‘Let’s go back and find out.’

  ‘No. He’s with people. I’ll ring up.’

  ‘If you say so, but wouldn’t it be easier to ask in there? Come on.’ Sean swung back through the swing doors marked Emergency Only.

  They were immediately accosted by a nurse. ‘I’m sorry you can’t come in here. Wait outside and you’ll be called.’

  ‘I’ve just been treated in here. We thought we saw Dr Harold Lee. Could we speak to him, please?’

  ‘Dr Lee is with a patient. He doesn’t work here, he’s a visiting specialist.’

  ‘Oh, I see. But this young lady is a friend of his.’

  ‘Dr Lee has rooms in Papanui Road. You can contact him there.’

  Sally turned away murmuring, ‘Thank you.’ She was still stunned to see him, and in Christchurch of all places.

  Sean was about to follow her when the curtain was pulled back from around the girl’s bed and Hal was smiling and shaking the father’s hand, both parents looking relieved. He walked away and Sean quickly caught up with him.

  ‘Dr Lee. Excuse me, there’s an old friend of yours over there, she didn’t want to interrupt you.’

  Hal turned around, a faint frown creasing his forehead. Seeing Sally his face lit up and he walked straight over to her. He took her hands and smiled. ‘Well, this is a surprise. I thought you were still in Australia.’

  ‘I came home for my sister’s wedding. My contract is finished. How long have you been here?’

  ‘Just a month. In fact I sent you a note to Barra Creek saying I was moving here. I thought you might be able to recommend some good restaurants and places to go.’

  Sean smiled at them both. ‘She certainly can. I’m Sean Flanagan, an old friend of Sally’s. She kindly drove me in – I had a slight accident.’ He held up his finger but Hal was looking at Sally.

  They just had time to exchange phone numbers before he was whisked away by the Registrar.

  Sally put her sunglasses on as they stepped into the parking lot and Sean took her arm.

  ‘Your glowing description of the good doctor didn’t mention that he is part Chinese. He’s a very attractive man.’

  ‘It didn’t seem important. Yes, he is nice. What a surprise.’

  Sean opened the car door for her. ‘Do you mind driving again? My finger is really hurting now. You are going to show him the sights, I hope?’

  ‘Yes, I will. I’m glad you grabbed him. I might not have bothered to track him down.’

  ‘All part of that other life?’ Sean asked gently. And as Sally nodded and eased the car out o
f the parking lot, he touched her arm. ‘He might be able to heal that hole in your heart, Sally . . . give it a chance.’

  She glanced at him and smiled. ‘You’re a good friend, Sean.’

  ‘Always will be, me darlin’.’ He smiled to himself and wished he could be there when Sally’s parents were introduced to Dr Hal Lee, as he felt sure they would be eventually. If they thought him unsuitable because he was Irish, what would they make of the prospect of Asian blood in the family? Good on you, Sally, he thought fondly. It was one of the things he loved about her – she was always unpredictable.

  The courtship of Sally by Doctor Harold Lee was swift, subtle and sensitive. Sally was ready for his gentle romancing. She was lonely, her friends and her sister had all moved on in their lives and she was looking for some direction too. Barra Creek had bitten deeply into her heart and soul. While those at home had written it off as ‘Sally’s little adventure’ or ‘Sally’s bush job in Australia’, no one in New Zealand, apart perhaps from Sean, knew how much her time there – and her love affair with Rob – had affected her.

  She’d been hurt and the kisses and caresses of Hal helped her heal. He was charming, caring and interesting. His job was demanding, but being a paediatrician was important to him, and Sally understood this.

  She liked the fact that they’d shared an experience together in Darwin, that she’d met his aunties, and that, while he hadn’t worked in the Australian outback, he knew something about it and the people who lived there. While showing him around her home, she re-discovered the beauty of the South Island. For once she was able to tell her mother that she was dating a suitable man – a doctor. However she delayed the rest of the introduction, that not only was he part Asian but a practising Catholic to boot.

  Hal had rented a pretty house on Rolleston Avenue overlooking Hagley Park and the Avon River. He and Sally began hosting Sunday lunches with a new circle of friends. She spent nearly every weekend with him and they became accepted as a couple. Sally felt comfortable and liked the compliments from Hal’s friends – mostly other doctors and their families – that they made an attractive and appealing pair. Hal was generous and Sally began to learn more details of how his family had amassed a considerable fortune. Sean was included in their social events as an old friend of Sally’s and if Hal ever suspected that she and Sean had been lovers, he never raised it. He was an attentive lover, with an attractive lean, smooth body and he devoted time to satisfying Sally’s desires – in and out of bed. There wasn’t the wild, electric passion she’d known with Rob, but slowly she was burying those feelings, putting them behind her as part of a particular phase in her life.

  While the timing caught her unawares, she wasn’t completely surprised when Hal asked her to marry him. He did it beautifully over a candlelit dinner at The Sign of the Takahe restaurant. Their dessert was served with sweet liqueurs and Hal reached over and took Sally’s hand and lifted his glass with the other. ‘Here’s to you, Sally. If I believed in my family superstitions I’d say my being here was planned by the fates.’

  She smiled. ‘Darwin then Christchurch. The fates send you to some very different places. Where next, do you think?’

  He suddenly looked anxious and put his glass down and took both her hands, then said, ‘I came over on a twelve-month contract but plans have changed.’

  ‘Oh, you’re leaving sooner?’ When he nodded, Sally felt her world suddenly fall apart. The thought of not having him around scared her.

  ‘Yes. I’ve taken a good job in Sydney, partner in a private practice. Fortunately the hospital here has agreed to let me go six months early.’

  She looked down at his hands. Sydney, maybe she should move there too. But before she could speak he said softly, ‘Sally, I hate the thought of leaving you. So I was hoping you would agree to marry me. Move to Sydney with me. Would you like that? Your family won’t be so far away. I mean, not like Darwin or Europe . . .’ he stopped, knowing he was rattling on.

  Sally almost burst out laughing at the thought she might be concerned at being far from her family. ‘Hal, I’d go anywhere with you. Of course I will. Yes, yes, I’ll marry you.’

  He smiled with relief and gave a huge sigh. ‘I’m so happy.’ He leaned across the table and they kissed. Then he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small box and a velvet bag. ‘I came prepared, just in case.’

  She opened the box and a large diamond ring winked in the candlelight. ‘Hal, it’s fabulous. Just stunning.’

  ‘It belonged to my grandmother. If you don’t like the setting we can change it, put more diamonds around it perhaps. You decide.’

  ‘It’s so big. It doesn’t need anything changed. It’s beautiful.’ The two-carat stone was bright and clear with a hint of blue.

  He pushed the velvet bag towards her. ‘I’m not big on my heritage but I think my mother and grandmother would have liked you to wear this, for good fortune.’

  ‘I feel fortunate already,’ laughed Sally.

  Inside the bag was a brilliant green jade bangle with an ornate gold clasp.

  ‘It’s imperial jade. I thought it would suit you.’

  ‘Hal, I don’t know what to say.’ Sally was thrilled and touched, and she felt very cherished. At the bottom of all these emotions was a deep sense of relief that, finally, she too had a future to follow.

  ‘You’ve said the most important thing – yes. Come on, let’s dance.’

  He held her close as they danced cheek to cheek, the lights of Christchurch twinkling like diamonds down below.

  She could put it off no longer. Hal was pestering her to meet her family. For months now she’d managed to delay this occasion with all kinds of excuses, but Hal was determined to meet her father and begin planning for the wedding. When Sally broke the news to them and showed off her ring even her mother was impressed.

  ‘But, Sally, why haven’t you brought him home before this? I know you said he was busy but we had no idea it was this serious. Well, we’ve got oodles of time to get to know him. It’ll take months to get the wedding planned.’

  ‘Mother, no. We don’t want a large wedding. Hal is moving to Sydney soon, that’s why he proposed. He wants to buy a house in the eastern suburbs, overlooking Sydney Harbour.’ She quickly threw that in to notify her mother that they wouldn’t be staying in Christchurch.

  ‘But surely that’s no reason not to have a proper wedding, dear.’

  Sally took a deep breath and blurted out the next bit of bad news. ‘He’s Catholic.’

  Her mother’s hand flew to her mouth. ‘Oh, dear me. What about the children? I hope you haven’t promised to bring them up Catholic. They always want that, you know.’

  ‘Mother, I’m not even married yet. I’ll deal with that much, much later. I don’t think it will be a problem. Hal doesn’t come from a big family himself, just a couple of old aunties.’

  Her father spoke up. ‘Well, there goes your big wedding, Emily. I look forward to meeting your Doctor Hal.’ He paused, ‘By the way what’s his surname? Where’re his family from?’

  ‘Lee. Harold Albert Lee,’ said Sally quietly.

  ‘Lee? You’ll be Mrs Lee?’ said her mother looking faintly puzzled. ‘It sounds . . . foreign.’

  ‘He’s part . . .’ Sally hesitated, wondering which part to mention first. ‘He’s English and a little bit of exotic Chinese. His family were wealthy merchants in Darwin.’

  ‘Chinese!’ wailed her mother. ‘Oh my Lord, you mean with slant eyes?’

  ‘By merchants, do you mean, shopkeepers?’ demanded her father. ‘We’d better meet him, I’m not sure if we can approve of this engagement.’

  Sally shut herself in her bedroom. She could hear her distressed mother bleating on the phone to Yvonne. The words ‘Chinese’, ‘Catholic’ and ‘pigtails’ were mentioned.

  She finally had to sit Hal down and explain that her parents weren’t thrilled at the idea of their engagement. ‘They wanted me to marry, you know, a sheep farmer. Someone l
ike them.’

  Hal laughed gently. ‘You mean they hadn’t considered an Asian for a son-in-law. Don’t fret about it, I’m not. We’ll get along, don’t worry.’

  ‘I hate to say it but my parents are snobs,’ said Sally.

  ‘So were mine,’ said Hal, and they both laughed.

  Hal charmed Emily and Garth Mitchell, and the knowledge that he was very wealthy helped them to accept him.

  Emily had one niggling worry that she finally, awkwardly, whispered to Sally. ‘About any children, dear. With his background, they, they don’t throw back, do they?’

  Sally smothered a laugh and patted her mother’s arm. ‘Don’t worry, Mum, I’m not going to have little coloured babies with squinty eyes. In fact, I believe we’ll have beautiful children.’

  ‘I hope so. For their sake, as much as yours,’ she added unconvincingly.

  For a little while Emily had to endure the whispers about Sally’s seemingly hasty wedding but it soon became evident there was no scandal.

  Sally and Hal’s wedding was very low key compared to Yvonne’s. Thirty guests gathered at 6 pm for the nuptials at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Moorhouse Avenue. Because it was a ‘mixed’ marriage they weren’t wed at the altar but near the baptismal font at the entrance to the cathedral.

  Sally, unpredictable as always, bought her wedding gown from Balentine’s – a shell pink georgette, which was soft and slinky, showing off her curves. She wore high silver sandals and flowers in her hair with no veil. She looked gorgeous if, in her mother’s mind, inappropriately dressed. A reception was held in a private room at the Clarendon Hotel. For Sally her wedding was a joyful event, made even more so by the presence of Lorna and John Monroe. They were in Sydney with Jilly seeing the boys and had left Jilly with a close friend of Lorna’s to fly over for the wedding. Sally was sorry the boys couldn’t be there but knew it would be hard for them to take time off school.

  Garth Mitchell made a short, formal toast to the bride and groom, the only planned speech. But John Monroe rose to his feet and, grasping his champagne glass, made a warm, funny speech, and claimed responsibility for bringing the two love birds together by sending Sally to Darwin. Lorna had warned John to behave, he wasn’t letting rip at some outback gathering, but his cheerful, laconic speech was the hit of the reception.