Woman at Willagong Creek

by Hart, Jessica

  She flushed, furious with herself for allowing him to intimidate her just then. ‘David’s too small to know what’s best for him,’ she said sharply.

  ‘You’re the one who wanted to settle this amicably,’ he reminded her unpleasantly. ‘All I’m asking is that you come to Willagong Creek with an open mind.’ He paused. ‘You might find it rather difficult to see David otherwise.’

  Olivia glared at him. His meaning was quite clear. As far as he was concerned, David was safely tucked away in the outback, and she would have no idea how to go about finding him. ‘I thought we weren’t threatening each other,’ she said, lifting her chin and meeting his eyes bravely.

  ‘I’m not threatening you.’ He returned her gaze blandly. ‘I’m merely inviting you to visit us.’

  Stifling the sharp retort that sprang to her lips, Olivia bent her head and stared at her hands, clasped together to stop them shaking with angry frustration. Her hair swung forward in a smooth fall of gold. It glinted in the light through the window and hid her expression.

  Suddenly she felt very tired. She was still suffering from the effects of the long flight from London, and she hadn’t bargained on such a hostile reception. A tide of resentment washed over her. It wasn’t as if she had ever wanted children. She had her job, and, until a couple of months ago, she had had Tim. She hadn’t wanted anything else.

  Their relationship had dragged on for years, with neither of them prepared to commit themselves to marriage at the same time. Olivia had been as guilty as Tim of putting career first, and she was unprepared for the gap he had left in her life when he quite suddenly announced that he was going to marry someone else. She was unprepared too for the humiliation. They’d still had to work together, meet at the same parties, and in many ways her guardianship of David had allowed her an honourable escape to Australia for a few months.

  She would have come anyway, Olivia told herself hastily. Diane had been the dearest of friends, and she was resolved to do her utmost for David - and that didn’t include abandoning him to the outback and the unsmiling man sitting opposite her. Once she had made up her mind, Olivia could be stubborn, and she was not prepared to throw up all the practical arrangements she had made to care for David in the best way possible just because of one man’s opposition.

  Still, it was stupid to have allowed Guy to rile her. There was no point in things getting out of hand. The best thing to do was to go with him to Whatever-it-was-Creek. She wouldn’t change her mind, but at least she would see David, and perhaps they would be able to talk more reasonably …

  ‘All right,’ she said, coming to a reluctant decision. She lifted her head and faced Guy squarely, a hint of challenge in eyes which had deepened back to an intense blue. ‘Thank you. I’d like to come.’

  ‘Is this it?’ Olivia climbed awkwardly out of the plane in her tight skirt and manoeuvred herself gingerly to the ground. Looking around, she could see nothing except scrubby gum-trees, a few tussocks of dry grass and red earth. And flies. They buzzed excitedly about her face, and she waved them away in disgust.

  ‘This is it,’ Guy confirmed, swinging himself easily down off the plane’s wing. He glanced at Olivia, standing straight and slender in the sunlight, dressed in an absurdly inappropriate cream linen skirt and an olive-green silk top, appalled fascination writ large upon her face. His gaze took in the matching green high-heeled shoes, the linen jacket slung over one shoulder. Wear something comfortable to travel in, he had said. He sighed.

  ‘Welcome to Willagong Creek.’

  ‘But where’s the house?’ Olivia was finding it hard to believe that anyone would choose to live out here.

  ‘The homestead’s a couple of miles away.’ Guy nodded his head at a dilapidated-looking vehicle which stood in the shade of a gum. ‘We’ll go in the ute.’ He cast a disparaging glance at her shoes. ‘Lucky for you we don’t have to walk!’

  Olivia merely gave him a cool look and refused to admit that her feet were already swollen uncomfortably in the heat. She was wondering if she would even make it as far as the ute.

  This was even worse than she had imagined! She had had no idea how far everything was in Australia. When Guy had picked her up that afternoon, she had been ready, cool and polite, and affronted when he demanded rudely what she thought she was wearing.

  ‘Travelling clothes.’ She had glanced down at herself, wondering what all the fuss was about. It was only when she tried to clamber up on to the wing of the little plane that the disadvantage of narrow skirt and high heels had dawned. ‘You might have told me we were flying,’ she complained. ‘I thought we’d be going by car.’

  ‘We’re going a bit further than the suburbs,’ Guy had said. ‘I assumed you’d realise that we’d fly when I said we’d be back at Willagong tonight. How long do you think it would take us to drive?’

  Olivia had snapped her fingers, as if remembering. ‘Damn! I left my crystal ball back at the hotel!’ she said sarcastically.

  Guy had eyed her with dislike. ‘It’s going to take us over two hours to fly,’ he’d said. ‘I’ll let you work out how long that would be in a car. Now hurry up and get in!’

  The flight had seemed interminable. From the air, the country had looked as dry and red and empty as sandpaper under the aching blue bowl of the sky. The horizon stretched into infinity in every direction. Olivia’s only consolation was that they weren’t in fact in a car. She hated to think what it would be like to drive through.

  It was a relief to be on the ground again. Sitting cooped up next to Guy for so long had made her twitchy. She had been uncomfortably aware of him, her eyes straying almost against their will to his hands, strong and capable on the joystick, and his profile, unyielding against the sky. Olivia would jerk her head away as soon as she realised she was staring and look straight ahead at the blur of the propeller instead, but before long her gaze would slide back to Guy once more. If she looked at his mouth too long she would begin to feel a curl of warmth, hastily suppressed. His lips looked firm, inflexible even; there was just something suggestive about them that left her feeling … well, restless.

  ‘By the way,’ he said, hauling her suitcases into the open back of the ute, ‘I haven’t told David you’re his guardian. As far as he’s concerned, you’re just a friend who’s coming to visit.’

  ‘How does he know I’m coming?’ Olivia asked suspiciously.

  He opened the van door with what she was sure was mock courtesy. ‘Let’s say I anticipated that you’d want to come out and see him straight away.’

  ‘And you said I pushed people around!’ Olivia said crossly, disliking the idea that she had done exactly what he wanted. She brushed fastidiously at the dust lying thickly on the bench seat before lowering herself with care on to the clean patch. It looked like the end of her cream skirt! ‘Don’t worry, I won’t spring anything on him, but I warn you that I’m not likely to forget that I’m his guardian.’

  He shrugged as he started the engine. ‘I’m surprised you’re so determined to have David. From what I’ve heard of you, I’d have thought you’d have been glad of any excuse to get rid of him so that you could concentrate on your career and your social life.’

  ‘I might say the same of you,’ Olivia said frostily. ‘It’s odd for a bachelor to want to give up his freedom for a child.’

  Guy didn’t answer immediately. ‘I like David,’ he said eventually. ‘And Pete was my friend as well as my cousin. He used to love the outback; I know he always felt bad that his job meant that David had to grow up in a town.’

  I like David. Olivia was silent, thinking about the boy she was responsible for. Would she like him? She had been so taken up with doing what Diane would have wanted that she hadn’t really thought about what David was like. She had never had much to do with children. What if she didn’t like him? What if he didn’t like her?

  ‘See that line of trees over there?’ Guy broke into her thoughts. ‘That’s Willagong Creek.’ His voice for once was warm with enthu
siasm, and Olivia eyed him curiously. What was there to love in this sunburnt country?

  True, it wasn’t quite as empty as it had appeared from the air, with the slender gums, rocky outcrops and, here and there, bizarrely-shaped termite mounds rising out of the red ground, but to Olivia, city girl through and through, the sense of space and vast silence was strangely intimidating.

  She was no more impressed by her first sight of the homestead, a long, low building set among the trees, its corrugated iron roof flashing in the fierce outback light and dipping low to shelter the house with a deep, dim veranda. A cluster of dilapidated wooden buildings stood a little distance away across a dusty yard, presided over by a tall wind tower, its arms quite still in the heavy heat.

  ‘There’s David,’ Guy’s voice brought Olivia’s attention back to the house. A small boy was sitting on the veranda steps.

  Olivia took a long breath, stupidly nervous now. She would hardly have recognised him. The chubby five-year-old had grown into a thin, gangly child with stuck-out ears and a rather serious face. But his eyes were Diane’s and his smile, as he saw Guy, was Diane’s too. Olivia swallowed, her heart twisting with the memory of her friend.

  Glancing over at Guy, in an unconscious appeal for support, she stopped dead, the breath driven from her lungs as if by a kick in the stomach. For he was not looking at her. He was looking at David, and he was smiling. The brown man, the ordinary man, had snapped into colour. His teeth were very white and his smile was warm, deepening the creases in his cheeks and at the edges of his eyes.

  Thrown off balance by her unexpectedly physical reaction, Olivia looked away. It was only a smile. She began to breathe again, very carefully. In, out. In, out. Easy.

  ‘This is Olivia. She was a great friend of your mother’s.’ Guy had his hand on David’s shoulder as he turned him to face her. He wasn’t smiling now.

  Olivia pulled herself together. ‘Hello, David,’ she said gently. ‘You probably don’t remember me.’

  David shook his head, too young for diplomacy. ‘No.’

  ‘Well, perhaps we’ll be able to get to know each other again.’ Olivia smiled awkwardly.

  David didn’t seem to think this required a reply. There was a pause. Olivia bit her lip. Somehow she had imagined that she and David would rush into each other’s arms for comfort, but there was an air of tension about the little boy that warned her against any affectionate demonstration.

  Instinctively, she glanced at Guy again, and this time he responded. ‘Olivia’s going to stay a few days,’ he said. ‘Why don’t you find her a bedroom, David, and show her the homestead, while I go and talk to the boys? There are sheets in the cupboard in my bedroom. I’ll bring the cases in later.’ With a nod, he reached into the cab of the ute for his hat, settled it on his head and strolled off, leaving Olivia and David looking after him rather uncertainly.

  Olivia found her voice first. She was surprised that Guy had left her alone with David so easily. She had almost expected him to try and make things difficult for her. She glanced down at David. ‘Well - er - lead on, David!’

  She followed him up the steps and into the dark cool of the house, dismayed by peeling paint and evidence of neglect. Once inside, she stared around her, appalled. ‘Have you been living here?’ she demanded. It looked as if it had not been cleaned for at least twenty years. Cobwebs shrouded the ceiling and thick red blanket of dust lay eerily over everything. The only sign of life was the trail of footprints connecting the bathroom, two bedrooms and the veranda. Guy and David were obviously creatures of routine.

  David looked about him in surprise, wondering why she seemed so horrified. ‘Guy and me sleep here at night,’ he told her, ‘but we have all our meals in the cookhouse with the ringers.’

  ‘Ringers?’ she queried.

  ‘They’re the stockmen. There’s Corky and Ben and Darren and Joe. Ben takes me out roo shooting sometimes.’

  ‘What?’ Olivia exclaimed in horror. ‘You mean you shoot kangaroos? How could you?’

  ‘Roos are a pest,’ he informed her kindly.

  ‘I see.’ Olivia’s lips tightened. These were no conditions to bring up a child. Not only was David living in filth, but he was being taken out and shown how to kill innocent animals with a gun! The sooner she got him out of here the better!

  ‘What do you do when you’re not sleeping and eating?’ she asked.

  ‘I go riding with Guy sometimes. Sometimes I go down to the creek.’

  ‘Don’t you ever … I don’t know … sit and read? Watch television?’

  David looked blank. ‘There isn’t a television.’ He scratched his nose, trying to think of something else they did. ‘We sit on the veranda and have a beer every evening before supper.’

  ‘Guy never gives you beer!’ Olivia’s voice rose slightly.

  ‘Sometimes he lets me have a bit,’ David amended reluctantly. ‘Mostly I have lemonade.’

  Relieved, Olivia opened a door into a large, bright bedroom. One of the shutters was falling off and it was shrouded in dust like everywhere else, but the bed looked solid enough. ‘I’ll have this as my bedroom, shall I?’ She looked down at him wryly. ‘I don’t suppose you know where there’s a brush?’

  ‘Yes, I do.’ David heaved a big sigh. ‘Guy makes me clean my room out every day.’

  Olivia lifted an eyebrow in surprise. Cleaning didn’t seem to be a priority round here. ‘I’m glad to hear it,’ she said in a dry voice.

  Chapter Two

  David found her the broom and even volunteered to sweep the floor for her. Olivia was touched, watching him manfully wield the long broom, and tactfully she didn’t point out all the places he had missed. She was delighted that, after his initial air of reserve, he seemed to have opened up as he chattered about the ringers and riding and exactly how many different species of insect there were to be found down in the creek.

  ‘What about your lessons?’ she asked, then cursed herself as a shadow crossed his face.

  He bent his head over the broom. ‘I used to go to school in Brisbane, but I don’t go any more.’

  ‘Shall we go and find some sheets?’ she said gently, dropping a hand on to his shoulder. Now was not the time to bring back painful memories of his parents’ death.

  Guy’s room was further down the corridor. Olivia was curiously shy of entering, but she was anxious to divert David. Hesitating on the threshold, she looked about her, as David began foraging in the cupboard. This room at least was scrupulously clean. It was typical of the man, she thought, plain and uncompromising. No pictures, no decoration, no clues to his personality.

  Her eyes slid to the heavy iron bed and then away. She didn’t want to think about how Guy would look in bed.

  Restlessly, she walked over to the window. The afternoon was fading rapidly, the harsh light softening to a glow. In the distance she could see Guy standing by the stockyards, talking to two men. They were all dressed identically, in jeans and shirts and hats, but even at this distance Guy’s aura of quiet, coiled strength was unmistakable.

  As she watched, he nodded, said something to the two men and turned to walk with that peculiarly deliberate pace towards the homestead. Hastily she stepped back from the window. She didn’t want him to think she’d been staring at him.

  ‘I’ve got the sheets.’ David was looking at her with an odd expression. ‘What were you staring at?’

  ‘Oh - er - just the trees.’ Olivia took the sheets from him. ‘Thank you for your help, David. Just show me where the shower is and I’ll look after myself.’

  The screen door creaked as she pushed it open and stepped out on to the veranda. Guy was leaning on the rail, looking out at a dramatic red sunset, a can of beer in his hand. He straightened and turned as he heard her, then put the can very carefully on to the rail. For no reason Olivia felt her blood begin to pound slowly, insistently, through her veins.

  Wrapping her arms about her, she advanced almost nervously. Her cases had appeared in her room whi
le she was showering, so that she had been able to change into a deceptively simple black T-shirt dress, cinched at the waist with a wide leather belt. Her hair, newly washed, hung shiny and silky to her jaw.

  There was a momentary silence as Guy’s eyes rested on her, then flickered away. ‘Find everything you needed?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes, thank you.’ Olivia wandered over to the rail to stand a little way away from him. ‘I thought I’d find you here. I gather you don’t use the rest of the house.’

  ‘Not at the moment. It’s not in a fit state for much.’ He picked up his can again. ‘It’s a long time since there’s been a woman at Willagong Creek.’

  ‘You don’t need a woman, you need a dustpan and brush!’ Olivia pointed out sharply.

  ‘And time,’ Guy said. ‘I only bought this property last year.’

  ‘Oh? I had the impression you were born and bred in the outback.’

  ‘I was. My family have got a place near Cloncurry. It’s a good property - one of the best - but I wanted to make a go on my own.’

  ‘Didn’t you ever want to do anything else?’ Olivia asked, interested despite herself.

  ‘Like what? Sitting in an office?’

  ‘There are other options,’ she pointed out.

  Guy leant on the rail once more and stared out to where the gums cut off the distant horizon. ‘I know. I did an engineering degree, and worked in South Australia for a couple of years, but my heart wasn’t in it. The land pulls you back. It’s hard to explain. It’s just part of you.’

  ‘But don’t you ever get bored?’ Olivia gestured at the silent view. ‘Don’t you ever want to go somewhere new, see something other than dust and gumtrees?’

  He glanced at her, a tug of amusement, or maybe contempt, at the corner of his mouth. ‘Is that all you see? Dust and gums?’ He shook his head. ‘I go to Europe and America occasionally to buy bulls or meet the buyers, but I’d be just as happy to stay here.