Meant To Be

by Fiona McCallum

  ‘I was just wondering that exact thing,’ she said. It had sounded so much more straightforward back at the house.

  Perhaps they should just load it all into tipper trucks and hide it back behind some scrub somewhere, like so many farmers seemed to do.

  ‘I’m only teasing,’ Jake said. ‘It’s not as bad as it looks. It’s not unlike starting a jigsaw puzzle, really. Separating the timber and other stuff from the rock will be like taking out all the edge pieces.’

  That made sense. ‘Okay, so what shall I do?’ Emily asked.

  ‘Put your gloves on. I’m going to show you how to clean up the stone while we wait for David.’

  ‘Okay.’

  ‘Right. First, get it so it’s comfortable in your hands.’ Emily watched while Jake turned a stone around in his hands before picking up the special mason’s hammer.

  ‘Being old mortar, it’s pretty loose and crumbly. All you should have to do is gently tap on it and it’ll come off.’ He tapped with the hammer, a lot more gently than Emily thought would be needed. Sure enough, the mortar just fell away.

  ‘Just keep turning it and tapping away until the rock is clean. You’ll get the odd stubborn bit. With these, you just use this chisel-shaped end, find the seam where it joins the rock, and tap. Again, you don’t need brute strength. You don’t want to crack the rock, just gently prise the mortar off. It’ll make more sense when you start doing it. Here, you give it a go.’

  Emily accepted the rock and hammer Jake handed her. She turned the rock over, chose a spot to start on, and tapped. A large chunk of mortar came off and shattered in the bucket below her. She grinned up at Jake.

  ‘See, not so hard,’ he said. ‘You’re a natural.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Emily said. It wasn’t hard, but she did have to keep her wits about her or else she ran the risk of banging her fingers with the hammer.

  Jake wanted the smaller rocks separated from the larger ones, and put examples at Emily’s feet.

  They were umming and aahing over what to do with the waste when Emily wondered aloud if it would work like gravel for filling potholes in the farm tracks. There was also an area at the back of the sheep yards that she knew got boggy in winter.

  ‘Perfect!’ Jake declared.

  ‘Okay.’ Emily was getting more confident. ‘For now, why don’t we fill the trailer and then dump it behind the sheep yards? Then we can use it to fill potholes later.’

  So there she sat on an upturned bucket, picking up rocks, gently but firmly chipping the mortar off into another bucket, and then tossing the clean rocks into one of the two piles depending on their size.

  The first time Emily stood up and tried to lift her waste bucket to empty it into the trailer, she thought her arms might drop off. She sheepishly called Jake over to lift it. She’d thought she could lift a three-quarters-full bucket, but had totally overestimated her strength and underestimated the weight of the mortar.

  ‘Maybe in a few days when you’ve built up your muscles,’ Jake said encouragingly, neither mocking her nor being exasperated by her needing his help. ‘Until then, perhaps just fill it to half.’ He smiled kindly.

  Emily got into a rhythm and was able to block out all the goings-on around her. She liked the simple monotony of the task, the little bit of thought required, and the feeling that she was actually achieving something. They had a hell of a long way to go, but she could see she was making slight headway. Slowly but surely. That’s what Gran would have said.

  At one point she heard a vehicle coming in off the road towards them. She glanced up and saw David’s ute, with Grace on the back. Her heart swelled. She’d really missed the little dog. When she looked back down to her piles of cleaned rock, she was pleasantly surprised and quietly chuffed with her efforts. But, by golly, would she need a long soak in a hot bath later – her back was already starting to ache.

  That night after a warm bath and dinner, she lay on the bed for a massage. Jake said in a serious tone that it would help her muscles recover so she wouldn’t be too sore to do it all over again tomorrow. She played along, soaking up his touch, and by the time he moved on to areas that had nothing to do with muscles she’d used in her manual labour, she was almost too relaxed to respond.

  Almost, but not quite…

  Chapter Twenty

  Thankfully the predicted wet weather didn’t occur and over the next few days they got into a great routine, leaving the house straight after breakfast with an esky of food, thermoses of tea and coffee, and a large bottle filled with ice and water. It was better to get a full day in, and there were times when Emily knew if she went back to the house and sat somewhere comfortable she might not be able to get up and return to the work site. It was hard but satisfying work. She still sometimes worried about Jake, but rather than nag him, she decided to keep an eye out and make sure he took enough rest breaks.

  The same went for Des. Emily had accepted her father’s offer of help, but emphasised that he wasn’t expected to put in a full day’s manual labour. He had been popping by now and then – the first two times right at smoko time. Though he tried to hide his disappointment at only finding sandwiches, she noted that his arrivals then tended to be after lunch.

  On the morning of their first full day, a hire toilet had been delivered. Emily had no idea where it had come from, though there were probably all sorts of local businesses catering to the needs of the building industry. She’d just never needed to know about them before.

  The more services and tradespeople Jake unearthed, the bigger the district seemed to get. It was like there was a whole subculture going on she didn’t know about.

  It took David and Jake three full days to separate the debris from the stone. Wood they stacked into the shed for safekeeping. Other debris, like the horsehair and plaster ceilings, they took to the council’s refuse dump.

  Luckily they hadn’t had asbestos to deal with – the original cottage predated its use, and had never been renovated or extended. They had made an allowance in the budget to get professionals in should any be found, so they saved quite a bit of money there.

  But Jake warned Emily not to get too excited as sometimes other areas blew out down the track – like the travel and accommodation expenses they’d had to since factor in. What mattered was how the figures looked at the end, he said, adding confidently that his projects usually came in on budget.

  After the first week, Emily’s muscles had settled down and she was starting to feel tight and well toned rather than sore. Gradually she increased the weight in her bucket, which saved her a little time by not having to get up and empty it so often.

  On the ninth day, Jake, Emily, Des, and David were sitting on their row of upturned buckets, chipping away at mortar. They mostly worked in silence – with the tapping of hammers and the radio in the background, they had to raise their voices to have a decent conversation, so they tended not to.

  Every so often they broke into song when a favourite tune came on, but mostly they were content to be lost in their tasks and own thoughts. Emily was really enjoying the routine and sense of accomplishment, especially working alongside the guys and being considered an equal.

  With them spending most of their time on the building site, there was little news from town. Jake and David had brought back groceries after their visits to the dump, but Emily now needed to do a decent shop. As much as she was looking forward to a change of scenery for a few hours, she didn’t like the idea of her share of work stopping. But there was no choice; they needed to eat.

  The sound of a vehicle in the distance distracted Emily from her thoughts. When it became clear the vehicle was approaching, she looked up. Barbara’s car was turning in.

  They hadn’t been in touch for more than a week, and Emily missed her friend. She felt a little guilty about not checking to see how Barbara’s pregnancy was going, but she had been falling into bed each evening not long after eating. Her face lit up into a broad grin as she watched her friend get out of the car.
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  ‘Hi everyone,’ Barbara called, as she walked towards them carrying a cardboard box. ‘Having fun yet?’ David quickly vacated his bucket seat, relieved his wife of the box, and urged her to sit down.

  ‘It’s so good to see you!’ Emily cried. She was about to pull Barbara into a tight hug, but took a quick glance down her front, which was filthy with dirt, spiders’ webs, and mortar dust. Instead she stepped back and raised a hand in a lame, helpless sort of greeting. Barbara smiled in return, but she really wasn’t her usual bouyant self. Perhaps the pregnancy was making her feel tired.

  As Barbara sat down beside her, Emily thought she detected the smallest of baby bumps.

  ‘I come bearing gifts,’ Barbara said wearily from her spot perched on the bucket. ‘Thought you people might like some cake and scones since you’re probably living on sandwiches. I got bored with resting and watching daytime television.’

  ‘Ooh yeah,’ David said, rubbing his hands together.

  ‘You little ripper,’ said Des.

  They all ate greedily, devouring scones with cheese and tomato, and cheese and gherkin, and others with jam and cream, tossing Grace the occasional morsel. They left the cake until last.

  ‘I’ve missed you,’ Emily finally said.

  ‘Me too,’ Barbara replied. ‘I’m so sorry I can’t be here helping.’

  ‘I wouldn’t expect you to. I’m just sorry I can’t be keeping you company.’

  ‘I’m a big girl, Em. It’s not your job to entertain me. Hopefully this time next year I’ll be popping by your gallery for a cuppa with a baby in tow,’ she said wistfully, staring down at her hand resting on her stomach.

  ‘I look forward to it, and being the best sort-of-auntie in the world,’ Emily declared.

  ‘Careful what you offer or else I might be dumping it on you when the screaming gets too much.’ Barbara laughed tightly.

  Emily wondered how Barbara was brave enough to go down that path again after losing two babies. She couldn’t imagine the pain she must have gone through. Whilst she didn’t have any direct comparisons, she knew if anything happened to Grace she’d never recover from her heartbreak. Yet Barbara was still able to be light-hearted. Was she using mild gallows humour to ease her fears?

  As a friend, she should perhaps be encouraging her to talk about it. But the miscarriages had happened before they’d met, and she didn’t want to pry.

  Then again, sweeping these things under the carpet and pretending they had never happened was something Enid would do. And such an old-fashioned response. That wasn’t considered a healthy course of action these days, was it?

  ‘Oh, no, I’m sure your baby will be perfectly well-behaved; no screaming, no projectile vomiting,’ Emily said.

  ‘Haha, one can only hope. So, you seem to be making some headway,’ Barbara said.

  ‘It’s very slow, but we are getting there. I can’t wait until the foundations are poured and the walls start going up. It’ll be wonderful to look across from the bedroom and see progress rather than a pile of rocks.’

  ‘David tells me Jake’s got some guys coming from Melbourne to do the stonework.’

  ‘Yes. They should be here in a few weeks. It’s a bit of an expensive option, but there’s no one around here who Jake knows well enough to trust with something like this. At least they’ll be staying here with us, which will keep costs down and save them time running back and forth to town each day.’

  ‘But, God, just think of the cooking involved,’ Barbara said.

  ‘Oh well, no pain no gain, they say. And I’ll need something to do to keep me occupied after being over here day after day. It’s been an experience, but somehow I don’t think I’ll miss chipping mortar off rocks for hours on end,’ Emily said.

  ‘No, I imagine not. Surely there’s an easier way,’ Barbara said, looking around and frowning.

  ‘Not if you want to reuse old stone. It’s actually not too bad, quite therapeutic in fact.’

  ‘Well, I’ll take your word for that,’ Barbara said.

  After the last of the cake was gone, they drained their cups, screwed them onto the tops of the thermoses, helped Barbara repack the box, and then waved her off.

  They had been back at work for a few minutes when Jake’s mobile rang and he stepped away to take it. Emily had got used to tuning out his conversations while she worked, and also tuning out her concerns that he was doing too much. He was looking great, and the night sweats seemed to have stopped. He’d assured her the jittery feeling had lessened too. His hands still sometimes shook a bit as he held his cutlery, but that could be put down to all the work they were doing. Her own shook sometimes as well. She looked up at hearing Jake exclaim.

  ‘We’ve done it! We’ve got council approval. We can officially start,’ he cried.

  They leapt up and jumped about – Jake, Emily, and David – dancing around in a circle like children. Des looked on, smirking and shaking his head slowly in mirth. Grace just looked confused.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  From then on, the pace seemed to go up a gear. A few days after news of the council approval, David announced that the Bureau of Meteorology’s long-range forecast was indicating that the winter crop-growing season would break in mid-April. That gave them about nine weeks to get as much done as possible before the rain came. Meanwhile, David would also need two weeks at the end of February to shear his sheep, and Emily’s. All depending on the weather of course. Almost everything to do with farm life was reliant on the weather.

  Emily hadn’t really thought about the significance of Jake’s birthday being near the end of April before – other than their apparently excellent astrological compatibility. Now she realised that, as he had promised to drive David’s second tractor during seeding, there was no point trying to organise a trip away or probably even a barbeque – he’d be too busy.

  Since she’d found out when his birthday was she’d been unsuccessfully racking her brain for a gift. What did you get a successful guy who could probably afford to buy anything he wanted? A few days on a tractor? Well, whether he wanted it or not, that’s what he’d be getting. And probably a whole lot more than a few days. Poor fellow. She could imagine it turning into one of those ‘careful what you wish for’ situations.

  The only thing Emily remained a little concerned about was that there had been no further discussion of their engagement. It was as if it had been forgotten, or had never happened in the first place. A couple of times it was on the tip of her tongue to mention it, but each time she chickened out. She really was trying so hard to not be like Enid; just let things happen and not nag or control.

  She hadn’t had much to do with her mother recently. They’d had a brief conversation where Emily had declined an invitation to dinner – she was simply too tired from chipping mortar all day. Predictably, Enid got all huffy – it was fine for her to be busy, but apparently not for Emily – and put Des on the phone. But instead of trying to persuade Emily to change her mind, he’d chattered excitedly about the project’s progress.

  One evening Emily emerged from the pantry with her arms full of dinner ingredients and found Jake on the phone. There was nothing unusual about that, but the frown on his face as he paced back and forth piqued her concern.

  ‘Is everything okay?’ she asked when he’d ended the call.

  He ran a hand through his hair. ‘One of the Melbourne jobs has had to be halted – the client’s run out of cash.’

  ‘Oh no, that’s terrible. Does that mean you’ll lose money?’

  ‘Not a lot. At the most, thirty grand. I can wear it if I have to. Thankfully the progress payments are up to date.’

  ‘God, not a lot? Thirty thousand dollars sounds like a lot to me!’

  ‘I suppose, but not in the context of the whole job,’ he said with a shrug. ‘Anyway, it’s not something I’m going to waste time worrying about, Em, so you shouldn’t worry about it either,’ he added, grasping her gently by the shoulders and looking into her eyes b
efore kissing her on the forehead.

  God, to not have a problem with losing thirty grand! He must be very successful indeed, Emily thought, feeling a whole new sense of respect for Jake. They’d never discussed Jake’s financial situation in any great detail. If they were officially engaged, should they be discussing merging finances, getting a joint bank account?

  ‘The good news,’ he continued, ‘is that my team will be here in a few days.’

  Instantly Emily’s brain started whirring with all that had to be done to make five men comfortable. Upon first mention of the team coming across from Melbourne, she had expressed concern about where they would fit them.

  After a few phone calls, Jake had assured her they were happy to stay in swags in the shearing shed. It might be different if the weather was cold, but as it was, it would be okay. Emily couldn’t believe they would be happy to spend months in swags on a hard floor. They must really like him, she decided. They’d agreed that if it got too cold, or too much for the men, they would scout around the district and find caravans for them. And with that agreement, Emily had put the accommodation side of things out of her mind.

  They would come up to the house to eat and shower. It would be a strain, but it had to be done if the project was going to come along as quickly as possible and remain within budget. In a way Emily was looking forward to retreating to the kitchen and playing host. But another part of her would miss being in the thick of the action; making a visible contribution. Fuelling the workers was important, but it wasn’t the same as actually being out there.

  Emily also worried about backlash from businesses in Wattle Creek for bringing in labour from elsewhere. But there was nothing she could do about it. They would have hired local people if available, but as Jake had explained, stonemasonry wasn’t the same as bricklaying. They’d be hiring a local concreter, electricians, roofers, and cabinet-makers when the time came. In the meantime, they’d have to cop whatever flak they got on the chin.

  By Wednesday the twenty-second of February, David and Jake and Emily had most of the stone cleaned and divided into two different sizes. David announced that he wouldn’t be available for the next two weeks – he was shearing Emily’s sheep down here and then his own up at his place the week after. He again declined Jake and Emily’s offer of stopping what they were doing to help – he had a good team set up. David’s crew brought all their own food, so Emily wouldn’t have to feed them. Soon she would have five men to feed full-time anyway.