I smiled and nodded.
He wiped his hands on his ruined shirt and climbed the steps two at a time until he reached the veranda. William cupped my cheek in one hand and kissed me tenderly. His other hand slipped between the buttons of my dress and caressed my belly. "So do I, lass." A feeble fluttering started under his fingers and I knew the response didn't come from me. William evidently hadn't felt it, though, and he returned to his mechanical work.
I touched my midsection and felt her answering protest. We'd been home two weeks and she'd surely grown in that time, for Sarah measured my belly every week and told me so. Had my first daughter moved at three months? I dredged through my memories, but I couldn't remember. All I remember of that time was being sick with grief at the loss of Giuseppe and the screaming agony of her birth had seemed like a fitting punishment for the woman who'd killed her father. But it wouldn't be like that with William and our daughter. In only six short months, he'd hold her in his arms and we would truly be a family.
And William...William while he was working was mesmerising.
"Maria! Maria!"
I blinked the sleep from my eyes at the sound of my name. Where had the day gone?
"You really shouldn't sleep out here. Didn't I tell you an hour of bed rest every afternoon?" Sarah demanded.
I shrugged. "You did. But William was..." I waved vaguely in the direction of his motorcycle. Squinting into the sunlight, I realised the Triumph was whole again and the tarpaulin, tools and William were gone, along with my afternoon.
Sarah made an impatient sound in her throat that I knew meant she thought I was crazy. Whether crazy for loving him or something else entirely, I wasn't sure.
"See you tomorrow, ladies," Anne called, heading back to her house.
Sarah and I farewelled her before Sarah started shooing me inside. Tonight's excuse was mosquitoes; yesterday's had been the possibility of catching a cold. As always, I responded that these things didn't bother me, as long as I was there to greet William when he came home.
"You know, there's a black mark on your face. You should go wash up before dinner."
My hand flew to my cheek and sure enough, came away with a faint greasy smudge. I trudged inside. A quick glance in the mirror explained Sarah's bad mood – the black mark was a handprint down one side of my face that looked almost like a bruise. As if William would ever strike me. Dutifully, I took a washcloth and started to scrub.
The sound of raised voices made me drop the cloth and hurry to quell the escalating argument.
William stood in the doorway, soaked to the skin and dripping on the floor, while Sarah called him a coward and a bully and a few other things in what I presumed was Scottish that sounded equally uncomplimentary.
I waited for her to pause for breath before I interjected, "Sarah, it was just dirt. Nothing more." I turned my face to the light so she could see I spoke the truth. "William, why are you all wet?"
He gave me a grateful smile. "I can now say I've survived swimming with sharks." He held up his hands. "But I'll tell you both about it at dinner. After I'm out of these wet things. And not before I've kissed my wife." William winked at me and trudged to the bathroom.
Twenty-Five
William cleared his throat. Sarah and I turned in our seats to see my freshly-dressed husband enter the dining room. None of us had dressed formally for dinner. Sarah said it was a waste of time and refused to go to the trouble, though I suspected she'd only brought the one evening dress and she kept that for our occasional dinner invitations with the Jacksons; so William and I...well, in his case I think it was more a matter of comfort than solidarity, though he said he would leave decisions about dinner and dress up to me, depending on my health. My morning sickness didn't show any signs of fading yet, though I'd learned I could keep it confined to the mornings if I avoided tea.
Amah ducked her head to William and disappeared into the kitchen, leaving the three of us alone.
William grinned and leaned over to kiss me. He didn't stop at a peck, either – his tongue stroked mine as his fingers gently massaged the back of my neck. I sighed blissfully, relaxing into his caress.
Sarah made a sound of disgust at our public display of affection.
William winked and captured my lips with another passionate kiss, as if inflaming his sister's ire was his intent. Maybe I should have been angry, but he'd been doing this more and more, riling her up with his less than proper behaviour in the house, and I enjoyed the absence of his grumpy façade. Not to mention the frequent kisses and contact that set my heart aflutter as if it was the first time. Perhaps it was my pregnancy that had made my love for him bloom at the slightest touch. Not to mention my raging desire, roiling beneath the surface...
Approaching footsteps made William break off the kiss and slide into his seat. "Later, lass," he murmured, as if he could read my thoughts.
Sarah shook her head, muttering about the difference between wives and drums.
Fortunately, Amah returned with a tray of food, the smell setting off my other ravenous appetite. With the evening ebb of my nausea came the desire to eat far too much and Cook delighted in providing me with food I simply couldn't resist. Tonight's roast pork was no exception – she'd seasoned it with spices that reminded me of Singapore food stalls and made my mouth water all the more.
Sarah inhaled blissfully, smiling despite her annoyance with William. She seemed to appreciate the flavours of Cook's creations almost as much as I did, which left only William to object to receiving more exotic fare than he was used to. My gaze rested on him as Amah served his meat, but William's happy smile was reserved for me. He didn't even glance at the contents of his plate or notice the drip of his damp hair soaking through his shirt collar.
My curiosity won. "William, will you tell me now why you're all wet? Where were the sharks?" And why did you swim with them without me? I added silently.
"The coolies asked for extra pay and food rations because they couldn't go fishing in the evenings. Apparently, they're scared of some huge shark that lurks at the mouth of Flying Fish Cove, stealing their catch or frightening it away. They asked Jackson first, who refused, so then they came to me."
Interesting. Despite the company hierarchy placing Jackson higher, the miners believed the real power rested with William.
William swallowed a forkful of dinner, then gulped down some wine. "I thought of refusing, too, but it was only the kampung miners asking – not the ones at South Point. So I asked them to show me the shark."
I closed my eyes, trying not to say what I was thinking. Sharks were the death of Giuseppe, my first love, and for a long time, William believed the beasts had killed me, too. How could he do something so stupid?
A warm hand landed on my arm. "I'm sorry, lass. I didn't believe there was a shark. Truly, I didn't."
I gazed into his penitent eyes and nodded.
Sarah's voice cut across our private moment, reminding us that we weren't alone. "But the shark was real?"
William chuckled. "Hold your horses, Sarah. You always wanted to skip to the end of the book when we were kids, too. Maria appreciates a good story and I'll tell it the way she likes it."
Sarah snorted but I just smiled.
After another sip of wine, William resumed, "So after work finished for today, I headed down to the cove with the coolies. Their fishing boats – kolaks, they're called, though I'd call them outrigger canoes – were all lined up on the beach, ready to go. We climbed in, two men to a boat, and paddled off out of the cove. We rounded Smith's Point and headed for what they swore was the best fishing spot along the reef. I'm surprised they didn't swear me to secrecy, too, they seemed so anxious about the spot, but never mind.
"We sat there for...oh, must have been fifteen, twenty minutes, and nothing happened. So they started setting up their fishing gear, baiting the lines and all, and lowering them over the side. It wasn't more than a couple of minutes later that a second reef rose up on the ocean side of the boat. A big, da
rk grey one – must've been forty feet long and six feet wide, covered in white spots that I thought were some sort of barnacle.
"Something that large...I mean, all of us froze. They'd seen it before, but a shark that huge was bloody frightening. I thought it was a whale, but the men kept saying it was a shark and pointing to its tail. I didn't know sharks could get that enormous. I remember seeing basking sharks back home in Scotland, but the biggest of those was only half as big as this bas – er, fellow. And when he opened his mouth...it was big enough to swallow a kolak, outriggers and all. It looked like he wanted to do just that with one of them, so while he was distracted with the canoe, the men aboard leaped into the water. The shark didn't like the taste of it, though, so he turned to swallow the men instead. One of them swam away, toward another boat, but the second man just floated there, paralysed with fear.
"I didn't think. I jumped into the water after him and dragged him out of the monster's path. Just in time, too – the beast swept past, too big to turn quickly to snap us up. He must have known we were still there, though, because I felt the tail rasp against me. Smoother than I thought, too. I thought sharks were rough, but this monster wasn't. Better for chasing after his prey, I presume.
"We just about walked on water back to the other kolaks – I heaved him over the side of the nearest one and then hauled myself back into mine. Not a moment too late, either. The monster managed to wheel around and come for another bite, but he was disappointed.
"We paddled as fast as we could back to the cove. When we were safely back on shore, the man I'd saved thanked me profusely for saving his life, offering me all sorts of things in return, but I waved him away and sent him home to his family." William grinned. "So how's that for a thrilling story, lass?"
I opened my mouth to speak, but I wasn't sure what to say. I recognised the shark species as a harmless whale shark – the only danger it posed to them was because of its size. More than anything, I was relieved. If William had swum with one of the fifteen-foot tiger sharks that made up for their lack of size with their number of teeth and skill at hunting, he wouldn't have been so lucky. He'd have died like Giuseppe.
"How could you, Will?" Sarah burst out. "You with a wife and child on the way. To risk your life for some Chinaman – "
"He was Malay and he has a wife and three children of his own. I couldn't let the shark take him," William said quietly. His eyes beseeched me.
Once again I nodded. Then I swallowed and said, "He wasn't in danger, William. A shark that big can only be a whale shark. They don't eat people or even fish. Just the coral spawn and other tiny creatures, like whales do."
William shook his head. "You didn't see it, lass. It was coming straight for him with its mouth open. I was close enough to see it had hundreds of teeth in its mouth, just waiting to chew up its dinner. That was a man-eating shark, or it would've been, if I hadn't gotten there in time." He sighed. "Tomorrow I'll have to tell Jackson to reconsider. They can't go fishing with that monster out there. And it comes to the boats, like it expects to be a fed. Someone's pet monster – someone must have been feeding it."
Me. I'd been escorting it to the densest clouds of coral spawn. The fish's presence here was my fault and it must have come looking for me. The coral had ceased spawning when we left for Singapore – the shark must be starving. I'd have to go out and tell it to go away to Cocos or Western Australia or anywhere else it could find plankton in huge quantities. But how could I speak to it if I couldn't swim out? The dolphins would spot my pregnancy instantly and summon Mother to take me home.
Unless I wasn't in the water but on top of it...
"Take me fishing," I insisted. "Take me out in one of the boats so I can show you it's harmless. We...whale sharks used to come to Cocos and we learned how to make them go away on the odd occasions they caused trouble. Maybe I can do the same here, so it will leave the fishing boats alone."
"No, lass, you can't. Think of the baby," Sarah implored.
I was thinking of my baby. Otherwise I'd head down to shore as soon as they were asleep, shift to my tail as I slipped beneath the surface and command the fish to leave and never return.
I met William's gaze squarely. His mouth was open, probably ready to deliver an entreaty just as persuasive as Sarah's, but he seemed to reconsider. He knew me better than Sarah did. "You're not getting out of the boat. I'll take you out there to see it, but once it appears, we're headed right back to shore. I won't put you in danger, lass."
I nodded. "No, I won't be in danger. Whale sharks are harmless. I'll show you."
Twenty-Six
The ocean seemed to agree with Sarah, kicking up a swell that kept ships out of the cove and the kolaks firmly on the shore for over a week. For the first time in my life, I craved a calm sea. I'd never been in such a small boat before. Even my lifeboat from the Trevessa had been larger.
When a day dawned without surf pounding the cliffs below our house, I knew it was time.
William brought tidings of the flat sea in the cove over breakfast, but he didn't want to venture out until late afternoon, once the work day had finished, so some of the coolies could come out with us in case of a mishap. I wanted to protest William's precautions, but if it made him feel safer in the face of non-existent danger, then so be it. I didn't need guards from a whale shark and he'd soon see that.
After a day of tennis and billiards in the club, with Sarah and Anne trying to talk me out of my little sea voyage, I ensconced myself on the veranda in my sailing clothes – pants and a shirt that I'd last worn on the Stella with Tony at the Houtman Abrolhos.
William's face lit up when he spotted me from the road. "Perfect. Just like on the Trevessa, the day we were introduced. You don't look a day older, either, lass."
I remained quiet as he kissed me, but as he broke away, I said, "I hope to keep my pants on while we're on the boat this time."
To my delight, he flushed. "If you knew what I was thinking that day, you'd have slapped me."
"You were thinking about my breasts and what you wanted to do with them," I replied. "You made squeezing motions with your hands, your pants grew tighter the longer you were with me and you adjusted my shirt to hide my curves, which made you slightly more comfortable." At his startled glance, I added, "I might not have understood what you were saying that day, but I read your body language just fine. You pulled me out of the ocean. I assume you saw everything and it was preying on your mind." I winked. "Your voice and your touch had a similar effect on me."
"Tonight, I plan to have a similar effect on you," William growled, so low that only I could hear. "After this blasted boat trip you've talked me into."
For a moment, I contemplated skipping it, and just spending the afternoon with William on land, but I'd missed the closeness of the water in my land-locked cage. What was the harm in a tiny boat trip? It's not like we'd go far at all. Just outside the cove and around the point.
William took my arm and we walked down past the port. Each person we met nodded respectfully to both of us, and I smiled in return. William's curt nods betrayed his worry, but each step brought me closer to my ocean home, buoying me up as only time in the water could. Or on the water, this time.
A ship was in port, unloading more building materials for South Point, and it looked like most of the coolie population had been conscripted into acting as lumpers to get the lumber ashore before the swell returned. The beach was empty, aside from the line of kolaks. It looked like William and I would be fishing alone without an escort.
William balked when he realised. "I'll go get some of the men from the dock," he said, starting up the beach.
"You know they have to unload that ship," I said. "I can handle a boat, William. Perhaps even better than you can. More than once I skippered a fishing boat off Fremantle. With no sail and nothing but a paddle, I'll have no problems. Help me push it into the water and get in." I leaned over to roll up my pants legs so they wouldn't get wet as we waded out.
William
stared at my bare calves as if he'd never seen a woman's legs before. As if I didn't bare them every day in my most modest dresses. "I'm...I'm afraid to lose you," he said, so softly that a normal human might not have heard him.
I stretched up to lay my hand on his shoulder. "The ocean won't take me from you, I swear, William. And I can swim from the point to the beach just fine." A sudden thought struck me. "You can swim, can't you?"
He burst out laughing. "Better than you, lass, I'll wager."
I chose not to argue and tossed my shoes into the newest looking kolak. I grasped the gunwale. "On three, heave. One, two...three!" This last ended in a grunt as we shoved the boat into the water, leaving a deep groove in the sand bracketed by the tracks of the outriggers. I waded with it until the wavelets lapped at my rolled-up pants. "Right, hop in."
William stared at me. "It's always ladies first."
"You're heavier than me, so the boat will be steadier with your weight in the stern, and you're paddling, so I expect you to hold her steady with a paddle planted in the sand while I climb into the bow." I found him staring at me in wonder. "I'm sorry, William, I'm just so used to taking charge on a boat, it's like second nature. Do we have any fishing gear? It would be lovely to bring fresh fish for dinner." Not that I needed anything but my hands and my voice to catch fish, but William didn't need to know that.
"Maybe...maybe next time, lass. If you're such a mistress of seamanship as you say, we can go out every weekend, if you like." Wonder had turned to something like awe. "The number of times you've almost been lost at sea and still you don't fear it. I wish I had your courage."
I managed a smile. "I won't live my life in fear. But if we don't get going, I won't get to see your pet shark."
William gritted his teeth, nodded, and clumsily climbed into the kolak. I waited a moment for the boat to steady before I leaped in lightly after him. I settled into the bow, my face to the breeze as we set off.
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