Bewildered Haven

by Helen Bianchin

  Zachary shook his head from side to side. 'Jenny, Jenny,' he chided gently. 'You confound me. Half child, half woman—you employ contrary tactics, the consequences of which you're at a loss to fully understand,' he concluded wryly.

  Jenny blinked slowly, feeling immeasurably hurt that he should consider her immature, and she was only slightly appeased when his mouth descended on hers in a loss that held a tenderness tinged with exasperation. How could she ever expect to compete with his level of sophistication ? Her lips trembled beneath his and almost as if he could read her thoughts he lifted her head, his dark eyes trapping the momentary indecision in her anxiety-clouded hazel ones. Miraculously his expression softened and he brushed his lips against hers in a fleetingly sensual caress.

  'I think we'd better continue this later,' he mused somewhat thoughtfully. 'We have an audience.'

  Jenny was hardly aware of time after that, for the remainder of the evening retained a dream-like quality where she was conscious only of Zachary's presence. Perhaps it was the wine, she mused lightheartedly, or the lilting pulsing music. Whatever it was, it was something close to heaven to dance so closely within Zachary's arms—to feel loved, and wanted, and needed, and to be almost totally unaware of her surroundings.

  It was late when they left the restaurant, and as they drove Elvira Hamilton home Zachary and Mrs. Meredith graciously accepted Elvira's offer to partake coffee with her. It seemed incredible that they were at Elvira's home, for almost two hours, talking and laughing at Elvira's amusingly recounted anecdotes of her recent trip to Greece.

  Unbelievably it was almost three-thirty when they arrived home after dropping Bob off at his parents' home. Mrs. Meredith yawned prodigiously and offered several apologies in the vein that she was unused to late nights. Jane cast both Zachary and Jenny an outrageously wicked grin and disappeared from the lounge close on the heels of her mother.

  'I'd better go, top,' Jenny spoke indistinctly as Zachary drew her towards him, his hands moving caressingly down her back as his lips sought and found the nervously beating pulse beneath her throat. It seemed an age before he released her and gave her a gentle push towards the hallway.

  'I think that would be very advisable,' he teased her idly, and his voice softened as a tell-tale blush stole over her cheeks. 'Sweet dreams,' he bade indulgently as he bent down to push her tumbled hair back behind her ears.

  Jenny's strangled 'good night' was torn from her lips as she turned and fled, and safely in her room felt unaccountably relieved that Jane's steady breathing indicated, that she was fast asleep. A sisterly exchange of confidences in the form of an amicable inquisition was something she just couldn't face right now!

  CHAPTER 8

  The few hours spent with Aunt Madge and Uncle Dan the following day Were a delight for all concerned, and after a huge lunch Uncle Dan commandeered Zachary for a tour of inspection of the farm.

  'You'll have to do without him for a while,' he twinkled across at Jenny as she stacked plates from the table.

  'Marvellous sense of timing these men possess, wouldn't you say, Aunt Madge?' Jenny shook her head despairingly as she hid an infectious grin.

  'Oh, undoubtedly,' Aunt Madge agreed soundly. 'Wouldn't have a clue what women's liberation is all about. Doomed,' she continued complaisantly, Ho fetch and carry for them, that's to be our lifetime task.' ,

  -Away with you, women!' Uncle Dan expostulated in mock anger. 'One of the species at a time I can abide with; two, I tolerate; three, I regard with caution; but four of you altogether is a gaggle of gossiping femininity I can definitely do without!' He swept an arm to encompass the four most affectionately regarded women in his life and cast them each a benevolent smile. 'This poor misguided man at my side doesn't know what he's letting himself in for, marrying into such. a family. I reckon I'm protecting Jenny's interest by spiriting him far, far away from you all for the next hour.'

  'Out! Out from my kitchen, Daniel Farrell.' Aunt Madge shook with suppressed laughter and her eyes were bright sparkling pools of merriment.

  'You see?' Uncle Dan besought Zachary. 'Women! Never could make up their minds! Hopeless it is, to try to understand the creatures!'

  Zachary's barely concealed mirth got the better of him and he began to chuckle as he accompanied Uncle Dan from the kitchen, and the women could hear the two men's joint laughter as they left the house.

  Not wishing to be the pivot of attention, Jenny skilfully drew the conversation from herself and Zachary to Jane and her proposed Australian trip, and Aunt Madge voiced her support for the venture. Having spent two years in Australia on a working holiday in her single days, Aunt Madge proved to be a valuable ally, and by the time the men returned over an hour later Mrs. .Meredith was convinced Jane couldn't put a foot wrong.

  Zachary had no hesitation in insisting that Aunt Madge and Uncle Dan be present at the register office for the wedding, and he was cordially adamant that they make use of his home for that weekend, along' with Mrs. Meredith and Jane. Jenny had the distinct impression that her loving family were as. determined for her to marry Zachary Benedict as Zachary himself She perceived that in the face of such unity she didn't stand a chance of not becoming Mrs. Zachary Lucien Benedict!

  Zachary drove them back to Tauranga after they had eaten a light evening meal, and as there was need to rise early the next morning to ensure they reach Auckland before nine o'clock it took little encouragement for them all to retire within half an hour of arriving home.

  Jenny found the long drive back to Auckland in the early hours of the morning strangely refreshing, considering her hectic weekend and surprising lack of sleep. It was almost magical to witness the earth come alive as they sped through the slumbering countryside. The first flush of spring was already past, but the whole of nature's beauty was there for the eye to see. The cheeping of young chicks and the protective clucking of a mother hen could be heard as they passed a farmhouse close to the road, and in a nearby paddock young calves shied and ran, unsure of their direction on long spindly legs. Miles further on lambs gambolled and skipped with gay abandon, energetically climbing the gentle green-grassed slopes. The recent rains of winter were responsible for the lush pasture, and as the road swept deep into the country away from the townships, it was possible to reason why the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman on discovering this land named it Nieuw Zeeland after the Netherland province of Zeeland. 'New' Zealand—for even today there lingered a newness in virgin bush where rare native birds nest and few men have ventured.

  Away from the steel and concrete jungle of the cities there rested an almost lazy, peaceable air—a kind of 'tomorrow will come, but it can't be hurried' feeling that reflected itself in the unruffled speech of the true countryman. Tranquillity was becoming increasingly difficult to find, but in a country which depended largely upon its farming exports to survive, it was still possible to find relatively secluded beaches in the height of summer. True, the get-away-from-it-all place? were becoming further away from the cities than they used to be, but a single hour's drive from the centre of any of New Zealand's cities could bring seclusion. The pride and intelligence of the Maori placed him equal to his white brother, the Pakeha, and it is something of national pride that the average New Zealander can explain the meanings of Maori place-names. Soft-sounding and lyrical, they roll smoothly off the tongue and personify the very nature of the Maori people themselves. Of all nature's ocean jewels, New Zealand was indeed an emerald isle.

  Jenny almost viewed with regret the outlying townships as they neared Auckland, The southern motorway was heavy with city-bound traffic, the noise of a teeming metropolis becoming more apparent as they passed through the heavy industrial areas of Penrose and Otahuhu. The inner city seemed to be a crawling mass of slow-moving vehicles en route to car-park buildings and private parking facilities. It needed a knowledge of various traffic lanes, a definite destination in mind, and a wealth of patience to negotiate the inner city with any success.

  As Zachary parked the car
Jenny glanced at her watch, and was surprised that it was only a quarter to nine. In a way she felt guilty that she had offered little by way of conversation during the drive from Tauranga, but their silence had been a companionable silence shared with ease. As they walked put on to the pavement outside the parking building Zachary Caught fast her hand in his.

  'I've a busy day ahead of me, Jenny. It would be impossible to try to meet you for lunch, and I doubt I'll have the opportunity to telephone at all. At the end of the Hay come up to my office and we'll have dinner somewhere in town before going home.'

  The traffic lights changed, and the pedestrian 'cross now' signal' became illuminated, and the jostling crowd of people didn't allow much chance for conversation. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry, and as Jenny stood beside Zachary in the downstairs entrance foyer of their office building she felt extraordinarily sensitive to the curious glances cast in their direction. She could almost imagine What they were thinking—'there stands Zachary Benedict, but who is the girl at his side?' Nor could she hide the almost forlorn look in her eyes as she stepped out from the elevator and turned back to smile a hurried 'goodbye' to Zachary. For some strange reason she felt unprotected and very vulnerable. 'Ridiculous,' she mentally chided herself. 'You're being absolutely ridiculous.'

  There were butterflies fluttering about inside her stomach and she felt like a scared schoolgirl on a dreaded visit to the dentist as she stepped through the door into the outer office. Her sudden engagement, the need to give Grant Ogilvie notice of her intention to leave work the following Thursday, and what loomed perhaps as the worst ordeal of all was explaining her forthcoming marriage to the other girls in the office— especially revealing just who she was to marry. Unconsciously Jenny braced herself as she walked into the office Suite and forced a ready smile to her lips.

  Suzy was busy on the telephone transferring a call and Judy was at her desk uncovering her typewriter. Of Lise there was no sign as yet, and Jenny felt slightly relieved. Grant Ogilvie arrived late, and Jenny lost no time in acquainting him with a few pertinent details regarding her need to leave the firm's employment the following week. He seemed genuinely delighted and congratulated her warmly, offering her time off should she need it. The firm had connections with an excellent employment agency which specialised in. supplying temporary secretarial staff at short notice, he elaborated, and Jenny felt slightly overwhelmed.

  It didn't take long for Judy to sight the magnificence of Jenny's engagement ring, and there were surprised murmurs of congratulation from Judy and Lise, and Suzy's ecstatically voiced felicitations brought a laughing smile to Jenny's lips. There was one bad moment when, after being sorely pressed to reveal her fiancé's identity, Jenny felt honour-bound to disclose that the man in her life was none other than Zachary Benedict. Lise's lips tightened into a thin, almost cruel line and her blue-grey eyes held a chilling glint before Jenny deliberately looked away and voiced the need to carry on typing from the dictaphone. Judy's suggestion that the girls should have lunch together by way of a celebration was enthusiastically received by Suzy, but as Jenny expected Lise coolly declined. There were sparks of barely concealed animosity in the depths of Lise's eyes, and Jenny tried desperately to ignore it, assuring herself for the most part that it was her own imagination.

  However, towards the end of the day Jenny had had enough of the occasional cool stares and calculatingly insinuative remarks Lise directed towards her, and Jenny was becoming increasingly angry. Determined not to reveal exactly when she was due to leave the firm, she successfully managed to allude to a possible date in the vague future,, but she had reckoned without Lise's dogged persistence and by the time the girls stopped for their afternoon-tea break Jenny was heartily tired of trying to keep the wedding date a secret.

  At a few minutes after five she placed the cover over her typewriter with a feeling of extreme relief, glad to be able to escape to the women's staff powder room down the hallway outside the office suite. Thank heavens the day was over! She would freshen her make-up and re-do her hair, then take the elevator to Zachary's office. It was bliss to unpin her hair and brush it with long careful strokes, and gradually she began to feel the tension ease. Another minute in the explosive atmosphere Lise had created would have had Jenny boiling into angry speech!

  'Oh, I thought I'd still find you here.' The voice was coolly indifferent, and Jenny felt a surge of extreme irritability as she turned to see lose move towards her and place her bag on the shelf above the washbasins and peer intently at her reflection in the wide mirror running the width of the room.

  'I really can't imagine how you managed to snare the head of the Benedict empire,' Lise observed unflatteringly as she examined the polish on her nails.

  Jenny tried to contain her temper, rationalising that the other girl was a victim of her own jealousy. 'Lise, I—' she began matter-of-factly, but she was rudely interrupted as Lise turned and viciously attacked her verbally.

  'Oh, don't bother explaining any of that romantic twaddle to me!' Her eyes flashed dangerously as she jabbed the air close to Jenny's face. 'He'll soon tire of your charms, just as he's tired of the countless women before you. So he's prepared to put a ring on your finger —so what!' She almost spat with derision. 'Divorce is a fact of life these days. Personally, I'll give you six months —if you should be so lucky.'

  'And will you stand in line to pick up the pieces?' Jenny asked with deceptive calm, inwardly just barely controlling a primitive urge to slap the girl. 'I should warn you that you'll have a mighty long wait—for ever, in fact,' she concluded with sincere conviction.

  'I can see why he chose you,' Lise's voice thickened with fury. 'You come on very strong as the ideal mothering type—babies, and slippers warming before the fire. That will pall before long, and then you'll sit at home night after night wondering who his latest mistress is!'

  'Will you leave—or shall I?' Jenny asked coldly. 'This room suddenly seems overcrowded.'

  Lise grabbed up her bag, carelessly sweeping Jenny's shoulder-bag from the shelf on to the floor so that the contents spilt out and rolled in all directions. Without a word of apology the other girl crossed the room, kicking away any articles that happened to lie nearby, and flounced out of the door.

  Jenny pressed shaking fingers to each temple in an attempt to shut out the scene. Such hatred! Unenviable vindictive vengeance rearing its ugly head in a deliberately cruel attempt to upset another's happiness.

  It took several long minutes before Jenny gathered her shattered wits together and bent down to collect the scattered contents back into her bag. Luckily nothing was broken, although the plastic top of her lipstick had cracked and no longer fitted firmly, but that was only minor compared to what could have happened, she thought shakily. Several attempts were necessary to freshen her make-up, for her fingers fairly shook with nervous reaction, and it was almost fifteen minutes to six before she pressed the button to summon one of the elevators to transport her to Zachary's office suite on the uppermost floor of the building.

  The front glass-panelled door of the suite was closed, but a touch on the electronic bell brought an elegantly dad woman within a few short seconds to allow Jenny entry.

  'Miss Meredith?'

  Jenny nodded and moved inside, smiling as the woman introduced herself.

  'I'm Sarah Armitage, Mr. Benedict's accountant. Mr. Benedict is expecting you, although he has a client with him at the moment. Would you care for a drink? Coffee, or perhaps a glass of sherry?'

  Sherry? Jenny felt the tension within her ease a little as she followed Sarah Armitage down the carpeted hallway to a magnificently furnished lounge with several comfortably upholstered deep-seated chairs, and what appeared to be an exceedingly well-stocked liquor cabinet along one wall.

  'A light sherry will be fine, thank you,' Jenny voiced appreciably, briefly admiring the view over the Waitemata Harbour. The cats on the harbour bridge seemed small from this distance and there were two large passenger liners berthed at Pr
inces Wharf. A fishing launch was returning from an all-day excursion, and no sooner had it pulled alongside the landing-steps than a passenger ferry moved swiftly away from its loading berth en route for Devonport on the North Shore.

  'It is a very attractive scene, don't you think?' Sarah Armitage remarked as she handed Jenny a crystal goblet of clear amber-coloured sherry. 'Please make yourself comfortable. If you'll excuse me, I'll let Mr. Benedict know you've arrived. He shouldn't keep you waiting very long,' she smiled kindly, and left the room with a gracious efficiency, a lingering faintly exotic fragrance drifting witchingly across the room and Jenny wrinkled her nostrils in appreciation. Exclusive and expensive, she perceived.

  There were a few magazines in a neat pile on the long low mahogany table and Jenny selected one and sank into a luxuriously sprung armchair by the plate-glass window, idly flipping through the numerous glossy pages devoted in the main to attractively displayed advertisements. She sipped the sherry gratefully, feeling its light potency begin to relax her still jangling nervous system. Dear heaven, she exclaimed silently-— if she had to encounter any more Lise-type reactions she was going to need the patience of a saint!

  Zachary's enforced absence during the next week didn't bear thinking about. Jenny was unsure whether to view it as a blessing in disguise, or a burden to be impatiently borne. For one madly impulsive moment she considered going to Wellington with him, even if it meant literally walking out on her job. Then reason ruled, and she sighed fatalistically. It wasn't part of her personality to walk away from anything with an unclear conscience. Jane was due in Auckland on Friday for the weekend, and perhaps a telephone call to Dianne and George would bring an invitation to visit one evening through this week—that would leave only a few evenings unoccupied.