by Darry Fraser
In the morning he stood at the end of the bed and dragged on his breeches. He looked back at her as she sat up, blinking sleep away. ‘I need to return to Melbourne and I have to leave today, but I think a wedding very soon would suit. I’ll leave the timing up to you.’ He threw open the curtain. ‘I will visit as soon as I am able.’
Sharp daylight pierced her eyes. She clutched the sheet to her chin. ‘Oh. There’s no need to rush. I want a little more time to think.’
‘Don’t think too long, Georgina.’ He turned back to her, a frown creasing his brow.
‘I really do have to think … It’s hardly been enough time since—’
‘I expect to announce our engagement when I get back to Melbourne, or at least very soon after. You’re not going to refuse me, now?’ The dark look remained, the shadow of his day-old beard swarthy on his features.
‘I will take all the time I need, Dane MacHenry,’ she said and answered his glare with one of her own. ‘I will not be pushed by a man growling at me in my own bedroom as if I’m a possession.’
He snorted. ‘You have never been, nor ever will be, my possession. But you will be marrying me very soon. Make no mistake about that.’ He faced her over the end of the bed. ‘I suggest you get yourself dressed and see me off.’
Georgie lay down again. ‘I intend to sleep some more.’
He continued to dress, shrugging into his shirt and stuffing the tails into his pants. ‘I will have your answer.’
‘You will. But not yet.’
‘And it will be the answer I expect to have.’
Georgie simply looked at him. She lifted her cheek as he came to kiss her.
‘Goodbye for now, Georgie.’ He turned and left her room.
Moments later Georgie heard the front door slam. She sat up, swung her legs out of the bed and reached for her nightgown on the floor. She wriggled into it and padded to the window to watch as Dane strode towards the town, no doubt to pick up the return coach to Melbourne.
She wasted no time washing and dressing. There was much she had to do today.
Deborah arrived at the house mid-morning, full of apologies and excuses. Georgie dismissed her with a few coins in her palm.
Manning would be paid off by a note in the mail sent to the Foley residence.
And now, she had a letter to write to Kate and Angus.
Kate took the letter into Angus as he sat in his office with the day’s newspaper. He glanced up.
‘From our sister-in-law,’ she said, waving the page at him.
Angus took the pages from his wife, shifting his spectacles further up his nose. He leaned towards the window for better light and read a few lines before harrumphing.
‘Now she’s on the see-saw again, is she?’ Angus said, and shook the letter at his wife.
‘Keep reading, darling.’
Georgina apologised for not writing sooner. She wished to visit and to stay at the big house and would arrive in a month’s time. She looked forward to seeing them. She added a couple of lines about Dane’s visit, and his offer of marriage, which she had not yet considered.
‘For pity’s sake. If she doesn’t voluntarily marry MacHenry this time I shall organise it myself,’ Angus grumbled. ‘The fellow has been after getting himself between her legs for ages.’
‘Angus.’
‘She should marry the man,’ he said. ‘All this—’ he thumped Georgie’s letter on the table, ‘—is a bloody sounding board for her—excuse my language, darling—and I won’t have a bar of it. I will no longer offer to control her financial affairs, and I damned well won’t stand for this rot.’
‘Keep your voice down.’
‘She’s clinging to some idiotic idea that—’
‘Angus, she’s a young, rich widow and she’s been shunted left, right and centre all her life and none the least by this family. Now just be a little more tolerant.’
‘I will advise her to marry him the moment I see her.’
‘You’ll do nothing of the sort, Angus. I will. And it won’t be friendly advice.’
Georgie and Kate were coming back from the garden, heading up the bluestone steps of the big house that marked its entrance. Nothing Kate had said so far had moved Georgie to agree to marry any faster than she intended. She was obstinate. She would take her time to decide.
‘And I’ve been back in this house two weeks with nary another visit from him, so I expect he’s actually forgotten all about it.’ Georgie glanced at Kate, stopping on the steps as a peculiar palpitation fluttered through her. Perhaps she’d put him off after all, being so free with her affections. Her stomach lurched. That didn’t sit well with her. She frowned and ran a hand along her throat.
Kate brought the bouquet of roses and lilies she had gathered to her nose and breathed in the scents. ‘Contrarily, it sounds to me you’re just a little disappointed he hasn’t pressed his suit more ardently.’
The heady perfume reached Georgie and her nostrils filled with overly sweet scents. Her belly rolled. ‘Oh dear.’ She swallowed once or twice, fearing she was coming down with a fever. She pressed a flat palm across her stomach. ‘I don’t know, Kate. Marriage … He is so fierce and so strong.’ And I am so uncomfortable. Am I going to be sick … ?
‘And so are you.’
‘I thought I was.’ Georgie looked away, swallowing the bile as it rose in her throat. ‘I don’t want to make any more wrong choices. I want to be sure, clear-headed. My choices in the past have not been so good.’
But Dane was far away. In fact, she had no idea where he was. He hadn’t called on her, so perhaps he really had given up on the idea of marriage.
In any case, her life no longer had the same dreary monotony of the days before Conor’s death. She was independent, and financially comfortable. She would direct her energy to something constructive and interesting. She had contacted Miss Goldstein to offer her services to the cause of the suffrage. She had thought to involve herself in a new idea Miss Goldstein had spoken of: a school for the children of women who had fallen on hard times. It was some time off yet, but she had toyed with the idea of a riding school for youngsters.
Georgie had been in contact with Jemimah again. After exchanging long letters, they had agreed to meet, their estranged relationship mended. Perhaps Georgie could visit Swan Hill?
And she was riding every day—
Oh, my stomach—
She ran back down the steps and brought up her breakfast in the rose bushes.
Thirty-One
Kate folded her petit-point in her lap. ‘Twice in a row?’
‘I’ve never missed before … and I’m sore here.’ She touched her chest. ‘I’m vomiting every time I turn around.’
Kate softened. If only Georgina would stop fighting her fate. ‘Oh, Georgie, don’t do it to yourself. You must call him back to you. You must.’
‘He trapped me,’ Georgie blurted. Her face contorted.
‘How? The man loves you.’
‘He knew I would—would become … He asked after my health … ’
‘Perfectly natural.’
‘You know, like that,’ she said, pointedly. ‘He said I would marry him.’
‘Well, could it be so bad? You have obviously consummated the—’
‘Oh no, no, no. Don’t say it.’
‘When Angus hears of this, there’ll be no other way out for you.’
‘Angus cannot—’
‘He would be relentless in protecting your interests. And believe me, when he hears this baby is Dane MacHenry’s—’
‘No one will know it’s his baby,’ Georgie protested.
The embroidery dropped to the floor as Kate jumped to her feet and strode across the room to shake Georgie’s shoulders. ‘You will not talk of such a thing! It’s not a game any longer! You are having Dane MacHenry’s baby and I’ll not hear another word. You sit right there and write that letter to him and call him back here. Do you hear me? I will not have this nonsense go on any longer.’ Sh
e wagged a finger under Georgie’s nose. ‘You will not dare to live a life in this society unmarried and with a child. I will not have the widow of my brother bringing shame to our name.’
Georgie gaped at her. ‘I was not thinking of your—’
‘If you do not write this letter, I will personally deliver you to Dane MacHenry.’ She bent and snatched the petit-point from the floor then crossed to her writing table. ‘You will sit here and you will do it now. Your child will have its proper name and you will ensure it is so. You would not survive the wrath of society no matter how much money you think you have.’
Georgie swallowed. ‘Yes. You’re right. The baby must have its proper name.’ She stood up and eased her way to the table to write. Tears squeezed out despite her determination not to cry.
As Kate blotted Georgie’s face with a napkin, so too did she blot the letter numerous times before Georgie had finished. Kate ordered her to rewrite it without the tell-tale blotches.
‘Now, read it back to me.’
‘Dear Mr MacHenry, I accept your offer of marriage. I find the idea more suitable to me now that I am once again residing temporarily in Melbourne and somewhat more settled in my frame of mind. Would you please, at your earliest convenience, communicate with me. Sincerely, Georgina Foley.’
Kate ignored the jagged sob that caught in Georgie’s throat.
Within the hour the letter was despatched to Dane MacHenry, Cawley Residence, South Yarra.
It was another month before a reply arrived. Both ladies fidgeted and fretted in a state of nervous agitation. Georgie believed Dane had deliberately left his letter writing until the last possible moment, most likely because he guessed her reason for writing.
However, his reply letter left her more infuriated than his tardiness. ‘That incorrigible, devious, mean-tempered—’ Georgie ripped the letter in half and tossed it on the floor
‘Now, Georgie,’ Kate said. Kate picked up the two pieces of paper and pressed the seething Georgie into a chair. ‘Calm yourself.’
Georgie’s temper had soured as the days progressed with no answer forthcoming. With Georgie’s waist expanding, life was becoming difficult for both of them.
‘Read it.’
‘My dear Mrs Foley, your much welcomed communication has unfortunately caught me by surprise—’
‘Liar,’ Georgie exploded.
‘—and as I am on the river, I regret to say I cannot come to Melbourne for at least three months due to the pressure of business—’
‘I will be out here,’ Georgina wailed and held her hand about two feet from her belly. ‘And nearly six months gone, the low scoundrel.’
‘However, I would be immensely pleased if you would consider coming to Echuca to make good our nuptials there at your very earliest convenience. So, he’s been in Echuca all this time, dear,’ Kate finished.
‘Goddamn him.’ Georgie swore very quietly.
‘You will have to go there, Georgina.’
‘And the sooner the better.’ Georgie’s condition could not be kept a secret for much longer.
As it was, Kate was beginning to have difficulty hiding the truth from Angus and Angeline, and was desperately trying to hide everything from the community at large. She had tried to interest Georgie in other suitable men, but to no avail. No one appealed to her, she said, and Kate was sure she knew why. ‘Georgie, my dear, I really do think you love him.’
‘I hate him,’ she cried, tasting the creeping nausea at the back of her throat again.
Kate shrugged as if preoccupied. ‘That’s close enough, I suppose.’ Georgie gave her an exasperated look and Kate burst out laughing. ‘Oh dear Georgie—do save those fierce looks for Dane MacHenry.’
Georgie tested another scowl, then let slip a laugh at Kate’s amused face, despite her lurching stomach.
Another letter went back to Echuca, and two weeks later his return letter informed her he would expect her within the fortnight, that they would be married immediately upon her arrival.
Even as Kate was displeased at that, Georgie would at last be made respectable.
Displeased was not a word Georgie would have used.
Thirty-Two
Dane met her dutifully at Echuca Station. He kissed Georgie’s cheek and held her longer than he needed to. His arm went around her and he pressed her body to his.
‘I am so very happy to see you, Georgie. And I see you have something to tell me.’
She was about to hiss at him, but he interrupted. ‘You must be extremely tired after your journey, but I meant what I said about our being married immediately. Our witnesses and a church man await us now.’ He ushered her to a waiting sulky, helped her aboard then flicked the reins over the horse. He headed to his house on the north side of town.
Georgie was scarcely breathing she was so exhausted, and fearful each lungful would cause her breakfast to reappear. Tired as she was, she was pleasantly surprised: the house looked delightful from the outside. Inside, it was sparsely but tastefully furnished, clean and tidy. It was not a grand house, but simple, its stone walls cool and inviting.
He ducked back out to the sulky to retrieve her bags, which he dumped in the vestibule. He helped her out of her coat and led her to the dining room. There, three others awaited them.
Dane’s introductions were friendly, and his voice held a smile. ‘This is Georgina Foley. Georgina, these are my very closest friends, Reuben and Amelia Cawley. They have graciously accepted the invitation to witness our wedding.’
Georgie nodded at them both. This was Angeline Cawley’s son and daughter-in-law.
Amelia gripped both Georgie’s hands in hers, giving her a warm smile. The man, Reuben, beamed at her happily and his kind face brought a smile to her lips despite herself.
‘And this is the pastor. Pastor Peter McNeill.’
The pastor nodded at her, his round, young-looking face covered by a bushy beard sprinkled with wiry grey hair. His hands clutched a bible.
Georgie nodded back at him and felt a creeping heat come up her middle. This was to be her wedding day, and here she was, four months with child or thereabouts and facing up to a pastor. She bit her lip, returned Amelia’s comforting grip and together they walked into the parlour ahead of the men.
Papa Rupert was once again in absentia. And Jemimah would miss her son’s wedding, too.
Pastor McNeill directed Dane where to stand, and then Georgie, and he began the short ceremony.
Georgie’s heart thudded as she said, ‘I do.’
Dane slid a heavy gold band onto her finger and planted a chaste kiss on her nose before they toasted with a glass of champagne. Georgie could not bring herself to take a sip.
A photographer hauled in his equipment. Georgie sat for only two photographs because enough was enough. The photographer had barely unpacked before she was done.
Amelia and Reuben stayed only long enough to help finish the bottle of champagne, and then said their goodbyes. Amelia hugged Georgie, as did Reuben. ‘My mother will be green she wasn’t here … and I swear I’m as happy with this as if I were the groom myself,’ he said and then laughed at the look on both Georgie’s and Dane’s faces.
Amelia took her husband’s arm and ushered him firmly out the door, followed by the pastor, who had a large donation tucked deep into his pocket.
Dane watched from the doorway as his friends took their carriage and the pastor made haste on foot back to the main street.
He turned to her standing by the settee in the formal room. ‘Would you like to see the rest of the house now or later?’
‘I am tired now.’
‘Of course. But you look well, Georgie.’ She could tell from the expression on his face that he approved of her thickened waistline and larger bosom.
‘I am already the size of a cow. I don’t know of any other woman this big at this time in her condition and I am not happy.’ Georgie found a chair, eased into it, and stared at the gleaming band on her ring finger. ‘You knew,’ she
repeated, tapping her belly lightly.
‘Would you have written otherwise? I knew, without a doubt.’ He sat opposite her, his gaze direct.
‘Without a doubt,’ she echoed, lamely. ‘And yet you let me sit there worrying—’
‘Georgina, I had offered marriage more than twice. I was not going to continue riding all over the colony like a madman just to sleep with you. You had to come to me.’
‘Well, you got your wish.’
He reached over and took her hands in his. ‘Yes, twofold. I trust you have not been too uncomfortable?’
‘I was in a far better state six months ago.’
‘It’s not the way I wanted it to happen, I can assure you of that.’ His tone lowered and he dipped his head to catch her eye.
‘For me to be bullied, and harassed—?’
‘Hah. That was not the case. Anyway, I’ll see you have everything you want and need.’ He swept a lock of hair from her forehead. ‘Though perhaps not as grandly as you’ve had before.’
‘I have no need of grand.’ She withdrew her hands gently and slumped back in her chair. ‘And how long are we supposed to have been married?’
‘Long enough for you to have mourned your first husband and long enough for anyone to count. I also took the liberty,’ he began, taking something from his pocket, ‘of buying you a gift for the occasion.’ He held a small box out to her.
She didn’t move. He took her hand and slipped on a second ring, a large topaz set in gold.
Georgie gazed at it a second or two. ‘I have rights as a wife. And I have conditions to discuss.’ She held her hand up to the light and gave him the smallest of smiles.
‘I believe we already discussed those, my love. I will do my utmost to see they are met.’
The smile dropped and a frown gathered. ‘We can’t possibly really be husband and wife.’
He barked a laugh. ‘We are legally husband and wife, and a husband also has rights.’