A Complicated Woman

by Sheelagh Kelly

  * * *

  ‘She’s seeing a lot of that Clive bloke,’ commented Nat, upon informing Bright that Oriel was getting ready to go out.

  His wife had just arrived home from an afternoon’s bowling and was still dressed in white from head to toe. With no offer forthcoming from Oriel he had volunteered to babysit, knowing how much his wife enjoyed this social activity. Vicky sat on his knee, practising the words he had been teaching her.

  Bright deposited her bag of wooden bowls under a table, then collapsed into a chair and slipped off her white shoes, happy of face. ‘It’s good to see her smiling. I’ve been worried about her being lonely, what with both of her friends getting married – not to mention her feeling pushed out by Vicky.’ It was obvious that Oriel had still not acquired any sisterly affection.

  Nat was thoughtful. ‘It’s not that I love this un more than Oriel.’ His wife said she understood the difficulty. ‘It’s… like having a dog right from the puppy stage.’

  She laughed, still kneading her feet. ‘I don’t think Oriel’d appreciate that comparison.’

  Nat delivered a lop-sided smile and stood the baby on his knee. ‘It’s true, though. If you have a dog right from being a puppy you feel safer with him, you know he’ll never bite you.’

  ‘Things are all right between you two now, though, aren’t they?’ There was a note of anxiety in her query.

  ‘Oh aye.’ He snuggled the golden-haired baby to his chest, his eyes turning thoughtful again. ‘I hope she isn’t thinking of marrying this joker.’

  ‘Why ever not?’ His remark had taken Bright by surprise. ‘If she does I’d be very happy for her.’

  ‘He’s not right for her.’ Nat was firm. ‘Too ordinary. She might just be grabbing him out o’ desperation.’

  ‘No! It’s more than that. I can tell by the way she smiles at him – and you couldn’t ask for a better son-in-law.’

  ‘Oh, got me married off already, have you?’ Oriel came in on the tail end of the conversation, obviously attired for an assignation.

  Bright flushed at being overheard and took up rubbing her feet again. ‘We were just saying how much we like your young man.’

  ‘Yes, he’s lovely, isn’t he?’ Her daughter smiled affectionately and launched into a commendation of him.

  Whilst his wife shared their daughter’s pleasure, Nat was noncommittal. ‘So, your mother’s right, you will be marrying this Clive, will you?’

  ‘This Clive?’ Oriel fingered her pearl earrings, feigning deep thought. ‘Oh no, I might marry another Clive if he’s more to your satisfaction – why d’you keep calling him “this Clive”? He’s just Clive. And he hasn’t asked me to marry him.’

  Her father sounded cautious. ‘If he did what would you say?’

  ‘He hasn’t so it’s academic.’ Oriel wasn’t going to look a fool by pinning her heart to her sleeve only to be rejected again.

  ‘Well, it’s not very often I give advice, but if he does ask, say no.’

  Both Oriel and her mother gasped. ‘And exactly what is wrong with him?’ snapped his daughter.

  Her raised voice alarmed the baby whose mouth turned down at the corners. Nat patted her reassuringly. ‘Nowt’s wrong with him, he’s a nice enough chap, I suppose.’

  ‘You don’t like anybody,’ accused Oriel.

  ‘I’m just choosy, that’s all.’ Her father paused. While he was speaking out, this might be just the right time to break the news he had withheld for seven months. ‘Also, I don’t want you to get settled here because we might not be here for much longer. I’ve been told I should move up to Queensland.’

  ‘Queensland!’ Both his wife and daughter echoed, frightening Vicky to tears.

  Nat stood and paced the room to try to soothe her. ‘When t’doctor was here he said if I didn’t do owt about this bronchitis o’ mine I’d be dead in a few years and I should move up there. Winters down here are no good for me, he said.’

  ‘You never mentioned anything to me!’ Bright snatched the baby from him and jiggled her.

  ‘I didn’t have the heart! You like it so much here. I’ve been wanting to tell you for months.’

  ‘Rubbish!’ yelled Oriel. ‘If you think you’re going to drag me thousands of miles up there just to get me away from Clive then you’ve got another think coming.’ Grabbing her bag she left the room. ‘I’ll wait for him outside!’

  Vicky had stopped crying now, her wide blue eyes looking from one parent to the other. Bright sat back on the sofa cuddling her. Finally she spoke to Nat, her face bereft of emotion. ‘You’re not just making it up, are you?’

  ‘You think I’d uproot us just because I don’t want our Oriel to marry Mr Personality?’ He sounded hurt and then eventually conceded, flopping down beside her and patting her white pleated lap. ‘Aye well, it does sound that way, I know – but honestly I’ve only waited till now ’cause I didn’t have the guts to tell you, and t’doctor did say if I stayed here I’d die. And I don’t want to, lass. Not now I’ve got you. Would it be such a wrench? I mean you left England easy enough.’

  ‘It wasn’t easy! Anyway, I had no friends to leave there, no one was speaking to me.’ She delivered a petulant kiss to Vicky’s golden head.

  ‘But you haven’t that many friends here.’

  ‘Thanks for nothing!’

  He looked wan and tapped his foot at the air for a while. ‘We don’t have to go if you don’t want to.’

  She turned to study him seriously. ‘Is that what the doctor really said, that you wouldn’t live very much longer if you stayed here? Did he honestly?’ When her husband nodded, Bright tilted her jaw and said resolutely, ‘Well, then, I don’t have much choice, do I? Wherever you go I go. But don’t expect Oriel to come too.’ Oh dear God, I’m going to miss her, came the thought! What a dreadful end to a perfect afternoon.

  Nat damned himself for letting his daughter get too entrenched in the partnership before divulging his intentions. Had he only succeeded in pushing her into a relationship that, if left, might have run its natural course? Would she consider matrimony just to spite him? He asked his wife, ‘D’you think it’s wise to leave her behind?’

  ‘Wise or no I don’t see as we’ve much choice. She’ll be safe enough with Clive. I’ll be glad to see her settled.’

  ‘He’s not right for—’

  ‘I know, you’ve said!’

  Following a long silence, Bright gave a big sigh and asked, ‘Whereabouts in Queensland are we going?’

  ‘Dunno.’

  ‘You can’t just head off without a direction.’

  ‘Why not? That’s what I did when I first came here. I didn’t know Melbourne from Wetwang. I’m not reckoning on going right up top end. We’ll just go as far as we have to, to escape winter. Stick a pin in t’map and see where it takes us.’

  Bright marvelled at his sense of adventure, but there was no more arguing. She had come to this country to be with Nat, and be with him she would, whatever the cost.

  * * *

  ‘My father’s talking of going to live in Queensland,’ Oriel announced to Clive the moment she got into the car and he commented on her angry expression.

  His piercing blue orbs displayed concern. ‘I don’t want you to go.’

  ‘Don’t worry, I won’t!’ Her face showed resolve. ‘I’ve got money, I’ll buy my own house down here. I’ve already got the land – I’ll just build on it. He’s not bullying me into anything.’

  ‘I wouldn’t let him.’ Clive tussled with the gearstick and set off, looking to right and left before pulling out of the drive and heading for the main highway.

  Oriel’s tone showed she had been exaggerating. ‘Oh, he’s not really. The reason he’s going, so he says, is to cure his bronchitis. But I’m not going. I’m really not. I want to stay here with you.’

  Clive appeared highly pleased at this, but there was concern in his next sentence, which was delivered whilst waiting to pull out on to Point Nepean Road. ‘You’re probably
wondering why I haven’t taken you to meet my parents when I’ve met yours.’ When she merely smiled he turned thoughtful eyes on the road. ‘I don’t know how to put this. Dorothy must have told you I was engaged to Laura for a long time?’ When he glanced at her she gave a quick nod. Suddenly jealous, she did not care to be reminded. ‘Well, Mother got very close to Laura.’

  And I’m not going to measure up, thought Oriel, and looked away as he was finally able to negotiate a right turn.

  Clive’s face was worried, juddering as the car wheels bumped over the tramlines. ‘I have to warn you that she’s really soft-hearted and I know she’d get fond of you too, I couldn’t bear to see her hurt again. So if you’re not serious I’d rather you didn’t meet her.’

  ‘I am,’ came the instant reply.

  His hands were steady on the wheel but his face lacked confidence. ‘You’re not going to get fed up of me after a few months?’

  ‘No!’ She clung to his arm. ‘You’re more likely to get sick of me.’

  ‘No danger of that.’ Clive looked relieved and pleased, then laughed. ‘I’ve no earthly idea where I’m going, I got so preoccupied.’ When Oriel gave fond instructions for him to keep driving, for any journey was pleasant in his company, he added, ‘I’d better just pull into this garage and fill up then.’

  Whilst the car was taking sup from the bowser Oriel moved away to avoid the unpleasant odour of motor spirit. Clive waited by the car. Returning his warm smile, she was struck by an overwhelming compulsion to utter words which she had never uttered to Errol, and once they were on the move again told him, ‘I love you.’

  He looked abashed and changed gear. ‘You don’t have to go that far. You’ve only known me a month.’

  She was deeply wounded, but tried not to show it. How could he be so caring of his mother’s feelings and disregard her own?

  ‘I think it’s a bit early for us to be talking in those terms,’ he added.

  What a paradox he was, thought Oriel. On one hand demanding her commitment, but unwilling to reciprocate. Knowing how much he had been hurt by his fiancée’s rejection she forgave him, though she was quiet for a time, head nodding as the car tyres encountered a bumpy patch.

  ‘You see, I’m worried things are moving too quickly, that we might be seeing too much of each other,’ explained Clive after a while. ‘I don’t want you to get fed up of me like she did. So, I’ve been thinking we might cut down the nights when we meet and see more of our friends.’ He kept his eyes on the road. ‘It’s not a good idea to lose touch with them. That happened to me when I was engaged to Laura. When we split up I was left twiddling my thumbs, all my mates had their own interests. Some of them thought I was just using them when I had nothing better to do.’

  Even though there was sense in his words Oriel was bitterly disappointed. It seemed to her as if Clive had been drawing her in just to shove her away. ‘I’ve no one I really want to go out with but I suppose I could tag along with Dot’s friends next time they go dancing.’

  His face dropped and he ceased to concentrate on the road, almost running into a cyclist. ‘Dancing? You mean with other men?’

  Confronted by this air of jealousy, she said appeasingly, ‘I can just dance with one of the girls.’

  ‘Oh, don’t let me stop you enjoying yourself! But I was thinking more along the lines of you going round to Dorothy’s to keep her company.’ Wanting to please him, she delivered an amicable shrug.

  ‘Tell you what.’ He took one hand from the steering wheel and patted her. ‘We could arrange to see each other, say, Tuesday and Thursday nights and Saturday afternoon and night.’

  ‘All right.’ Regarding this as yet another rejection, she could barely speak for fear of crying but tried to issue the words cheerfully and smiled as Clive put his foot down, accelerating the car towards heaven knew where.

  * * *

  There was even worse to come on Saturday when Clive told her, ‘I won’t be able to see you next week, I’ve been asked to go camping with Eddie and Phil. I’ve managed to get a week off. You don’t mind, do you?’

  What could Oriel say but no? When she spent the following week alone without giving explanation, Bright was worried and after asking roundabout questions discovered the truth.

  ‘He’s just gone on holiday with two pals,’ divulged her daughter matter-of-factly. ‘He’ll be back on Saturday.’

  ‘Holiday, with two blokes?’ scoffed Nat. ‘If I’d just met a young lass I wouldn’t be wasting me time with blokes.’

  ‘He’d already arranged it before we met. Besides, we don’t want to spend every hour of the day in each other’s pockets.’

  It was a miserable week for Oriel, a week in which she wondered just how Clive felt about her. After all she had confided in him, would he be like Errol and not return?

  However, he did return, blue-eyed and tanned from his camping trip to Lome. Overjoyed that he was back, Oriel hung on his every word as he told her all about it, wishing her parents weren’t there. Bright did her best to get Nat off to bed but he was having none of it and Clive was forced to leave at eleven, for his parents always worried if he were out late in the car. Bitterly disappointed, Oriel followed him outside to the verandah, closing the outer door behind them.

  ‘I love you,’ said Clive.

  It was so totally unexpected that Oriel responded with a simple, ‘Oh!’

  ‘I didn’t really enjoy the holiday. From the very first day I realized I’d rather be with you. I missed you.’ He took her in his arms and kissed her fiercely.

  Responding, Oriel decided she had never felt so wanted.

  He drew away, laughing. ‘Eddie forgot to bring his tent so I had to let him sleep with me. I’d rather it had been you.’

  Oriel laughed, ‘Me too,’ and she pressed herself close to him. ‘I wish you could stay with me tonight. Oh, do we have to wait till Tuesday before we see each other again?’

  Clive shook his head. ‘I’ve just been daft, wanting to spend time with my pals. I’ve spent enough time with them this week to know that one day out of every seven is quite enough, thank you. If you’re not doing anything special tomorrow d’you want to come and meet my parents and have tea with us?’

  The question took her by surprise. ‘Isn’t that a bit short notice for your mother?’

  ‘No, she’s always ready for unexpected guests. Besides, she’s been nagging me to invite you,’ he confessed. ‘She’s dying to meet you. So is Gran.’

  * * *

  Oriel felt like some exhibit as she entered the Widdowes household, a much smaller residence than her own with old-fashioned trappings. Eight faces turned towards her, seven of them smiling, one remaining blank. Clive introduced her to his parents, George and Daphne; Mrs Widdowes, his grandmother; Aunt Rose, his father’s sister come to visit; his two sisters and their boyfriends who, it turned out, were brothers from the north-eastern suburb of Clifton Hill. Mr and Mrs Widdowes appeared to be a good fifteen years older than Oriel’s parents, neither having any outstanding feature except friendliness. Under their cosy patronage she began to feel more at ease, but was soon once again to be put off balance by the aura of dislike that emanated from one of Clive’s sisters, Thora, a deceptively mousy creature, and after their initial introduction Oriel took the retaliatory measure of ignoring her. Sister Mabel, though, was welcome personified, as was Mrs Widdowes, who could not do enough for Oriel, giving her the most comfortable chair, fending off silly questions from the old lady and for ever enquiring, over the tea table, if she had enough to eat. Indeed, with the exception of Thora, this seemed a warm, closely knit family.

  Clive’s grandmother was very attentive throughout the meal, seeking to offer, ‘More tea, Laura?’

  ‘It’s Oriel, Mother,’ corrected Daphne. ‘I’m sorry, dear.’

  ‘That’s all right.’ Oriel kept her polite smile whilst inwardly annoyed. ‘No, I’ve had enough, thank you. It was smashing.’

  Now that the excellent meal had been co
nsumed, George Widdowes pushed back his chair and sat like a monarch holding court in his blue serge suit and gold watch chain. ‘So, what does your father do, Oriel?’

  She had anticipated this question and had rehearsed what to say. ‘He deals in textiles, mainly.’

  ‘And do you have a job?’ George knew this already for his son had told him all about Oriel, but it helped to break the ice.

  ‘Yes, I look after the family business accounts.’

  ‘Lucky you! I wish my father could find a little job for me to save me going out to work.’ The tone of Thora’s voice was pleasant enough but Oriel took it as an insult.

  Clive saw the look on her face, knew that she was too well brought up to return the rudeness of her host’s daughter. ‘Oriel’s father employs her because she’s good at her work. She once ran the business on her own while he was away.’

  Thora raised an eyebrow which could have conveyed admiration or contempt. Sensitive to criticism, Oriel interpreted it as the latter, but gave Clive’s sister the benefit of the doubt and asked in friendly manner, ‘What d’you do, Thora?’

  ‘Oh, I’m just a humble secretary.’ She smiled at her fiancé.

  ‘Well, that’s what I am really,’ conceded Oriel.

  Thora laughed. ‘Not to my brother. He sees you as some kind of magnate.’

  ‘Magnet?’ Grandmother had misheard.

  George and Daphne Widdowes chuckled at each other. ‘Yes, she is very attractive,’ grinned Clive’s father. ‘He’s picked a good un there.’

  Oriel blushed with pleasure and smoothed her black shingle self-consciously.

  ‘Robert and I are getting married next month,’ said the other sister, Mabel, to whom Oriel had taken a liking. ‘Would you like to come?’

  ‘Thank you. I’d love to.’

  ‘Thora’s getting married the following week,’ said Daphne. ‘We thought a double wedding might be nice – two brothers marrying two sisters – but she wanted the day to herself.’