Valley of the White Gold

by Tony Parsons

  They had lunch at a trendy new bistro. The staff were attentive and the food was light and delicious. How lovely it was to be waited on, Bella thought. And the fact that she didn’t have to return to Glen Avon that night seemed to make her lunch taste even better. While she and her mother were talking about their morning’s purchases, Beth pulled a book from her bag and put it on the table between them. ‘Look at this,’ she instructed.

  Bella picked up the book and flicked through it. Then she turned it over to read the blurb. ‘Good heavens!’ she gasped, quickly handing the book to her mother.

  Dorothy looked at the photograph and nodded. ‘It’s Rod all right, isn’t it?’ she said calmly.

  ‘You don’t seem surprised,’ Beth said, watching her mother’s expression carefully.

  ‘I’m not. It stuck out a mile, really. I’m surprised neither of you woke up to what was going on. It’s a wonder that Dan didn’t either. The ‘Saxon’ was a dead giveaway – seems an obvious choice for a fine-wool man,’ Dorothy said.

  ‘If you thought it was Rod who was after Glengarry, why didn’t you tell me?’ Beth asked in astonishment.

  ‘If Rod had wanted us, or you specifically, to know, he’d have told us. I think that knowing what Dan thought of Hector, Rod was wary of letting Dan know he was so interested in Glengarry. Dan might have tried to block him by forming a syndicate with some others. You know how they hate outsiders. As it was, they all thought John Stevens would buy the place,’ Dorothy said.

  Beth looked at her mother admiringly. ‘Is that why you didn’t let on to Dad?’

  ‘You don’t tell your husband everything, dear. There are some things you keep to yourself for the greater good. I wanted Rod to get Glengarry. He’ll make a fine neighbour and, I hope, a good son-in-law one day,’ she said with a mischievous smile.

  ‘Not with Dad’s blessing,’ Beth said anxiously. ‘He’ll blow up properly when he learns that it was Rod who bought Glengarry and kept his identity such a secret. And you know what he thinks of writers.’

  ‘We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, Beth,’ Dorothy advised. ‘But in light of what we know now, I think it would be a good idea for us to get back home instead of staying away tonight. The news might leak back to your father and I want to be there to deal with it when it happens.’

  Bella was disappointed. Her precious night away from Wally was not to be. She couldn’t very well stay the night at Mattai with Glen Avon only three miles away. What would her family think? But she saw the wisdom in her mother’s suggestion. She knew her father and how he was likely to react when the news about Glengarry’s real buyer became public knowledge.

  Dorothy noted her daughter’s look of disappointment. ‘Are you keen to stay tonight, Bella?’ she asked.

  ‘I am. I was. Oh, I can understand your reasons, Mum. I just thought we could have a nice night, a dinner we wouldn’t have to prepare…’

  ‘What’s really the matter?’ Dorothy asked. ‘Is it Wally?’

  ‘I was sick of him after the first night,’ Bella said with a bitter laugh. She could keep up her pretence no longer. ‘Why? Does it show?’

  ‘I’m not blind, Bella. I must say I always had my doubts. But I left it to you. What are you going to do?’ Dorothy asked.

  ‘That’s something I’m giving a lot of thought to,’ Bella said.

  ‘Then don’t shut us out. And I’m sorry about tonight, but if you want a night away, you can always stay with us,’ Dorothy suggested.

  ‘Thanks, Mum, but I’d better go home. Wally would probably blow his top if he found out I stayed at Mattai,’ Bella said.

  ‘Stuff Wally,’ Beth said fiercely.

  ‘You aren’t married and you don’t know men,’ Bella said.

  Beth snorted. She looked at Rod’s picture and shook her head. She put the book back into her bag and turned to her mother and sister. ‘If we’re going back home tonight, we’d better finish our shopping and get going.’ Beth could hardly wait to get home to begin reading.

  Back at Mattai, Beth was in an agony of suspense all through dinner and while they did the washing up. It was easy to plead a headache and escape after their long day. She had a quick bath and got into bed, reading late into the night. For Love Alone was a pastoral saga telling the stories of several families, but the main plot involved the romance between an American film actress and a younger Australian stockman. The education of the younger man in lovemaking by the former actress was one of the racier parts of the book. Some of it was very hot indeed and caused Beth to blush more than once. Other parts of the story dealt with the contempt men had for their wives and for women generally and of how they used them. Many of the male characters lied and cheated on their wives and girlfriends. There were female characters who were just as disloyal and selfish, but on the whole they were portrayed in a much better light than the men.

  Beth blinked back sleep and laid the book to one side. It was the way Rod explored and revealed the women’s minds that intrigued her, just as it had intrigued nearly every other woman who had read the book. Surely no man could understand women so well unless he had known a lot of them. Women would have had to confide in him intimately. She didn’t want to think about Rod in some of the steamier encounters he’d written about. Indeed, it was very difficult for Beth to reconcile the writer of For Love Alone with the man who had put so much effort into classing their clip.

  Saxon was the name on everyone’s lips, especially on every woman’s lips. The fact that the author of a racy bestseller was to take up residence in the valley of the Half Moon had to be the most fascinating prospect anyone could have imagined. Although they would not confess it to their husbands, a large percentage of the district’s women were pro-Saxon before he moved to Glengarry. All the females who rushed to read his new book were enormously impressed. Some of them maintained that Saxon was the only male writer who had succeeded in getting inside a woman’s head to understand her feelings and to meaningfully and sensitively illustrate why women thought so differently to men. The Country Women’s Association maintained a ‘no comment’ stance on the subject and only the local booksellers were aware of just how many CWA members purchased copies of the book. The bookstores soon ran out of stock and the local library had a waiting list so long it would take months to clear.

  It was now quite evident to Beth why the young woman at Doyle’s had asked for Rod’s autograph and why people said his face was familiar. There must have been plenty of publicity in the national newspapers and magazines (virtually no one in the Half Moon read these) before the book’s release, and perhaps they’d read Rod’s first novel too. The more of his writing that Beth read, the less she felt she knew him. But had she ever really known Rod Cameron? Now, she wasn’t so sure.

  Beth woke when the sun streamed through her window. It promised to be a fine, clear autumn day, a good day for an early-morning ride. She got up and took her clothes from the drawers of her cupboard. She gazed again at Rod’s picture on the novel and sighed before hiding it beneath some cardigans. How long would it be, she wondered, before her father knew the true identity of Glengarry’s new owner?

  After breakfast, Beth saddled her bay gelding and rode out to inspect the ewes for an hour or so. She then rode on to where the Mattai boundary fence came closest to the Glengarry homestead. Here, she stopped her horse and looked across the paddocks to the slope where the large homestead was sited behind its thick windbreak. She tried to imagine Rod living in the homestead she knew so well. Then she tried to imagine Rod and herself living there and this made her cry. She realised that all of her dreams were hopeless.

  Beth mulled over the situation for two days before deciding it was time to take action. The next morning she waited until her father and Jim had left the house and her mother was in the garden before ringing the first of the numbers Rod had given her. When a woman’s voice answered, she asked if she could speak to Rod Cameron.

  ‘I’m sorry, Rod isn’t here at the moment,’ the woma
n said.

  ‘Do you know where he is?’ Beth asked.

  ‘He should be at Yass. There’s a number I can give you. Is it urgent?’

  ‘Not exactly urgent, but I need to get in touch with him. It’s Beth Stafford here. Rod might have mentioned me.’

  ‘Of course, Beth. I’m Rod’s mother, Eleanor.’ The woman’s voice had instantly become warmer.

  So Rod had mentioned her to his mother. That was something. Beth told Eleanor that she had the Yass number, thanked her for her time, then rang off.

  Rod was just finishing a late breakfast, said his brother-in-law, who picked up the phone at Yass. ‘I’ll get him for you,’ he said.

  ‘Rod, it’s Beth,’ she began when he arrived at the phone.

  ‘Beth, is anything wrong?’ he asked, immediately hearing the seriousness in her tone.

  ‘How could you ask me that? I have to see you, Rod. When will you be here next?’

  ‘Tomorrow, in fact.’

  ‘Tomorrow? You didn’t let me know,’ she said sharply.

  ‘Things are bit chaotic right now. Can you meet me in town? Say one o’clock at The Panner’s Dream,’ he suggested.

  ‘I suppose so. Yes, I can.’

  ‘I’ll see you tomorrow, Beth,’ he said and rang off. She had been going to tell him that she knew about his book but he hadn’t given her time to say anything. Some boyfriend, she thought. She frowned as she put the phone down. So Rod was coming the next day. Would he have contacted her if she hadn’t rung him? It seemed to her that tomorrow’s meeting might pose the first serious test of their friendship. It could even decide whether they had a future together at all.

  The hours dragged by until it was time to leave for Mudgee next day. She left much earlier than was necessary but couldn’t stand the strain of waiting. She arrived early at the restaurant and had a glass of white wine to fill in time.

  Rod’s ute was easily recognisable as it came down the main street. Beth watched nervously through the window as his tall figure walked from the vehicle to the restaurant and she waved from the back of the room to attract his attention. He bent and kissed her, asking if she’d been waiting long.

  ‘You look a bit peaky if you don’t mind me saying. Are you okay? What’s troubling you? Why did you phone?’ Rod’s concern was obvious.

  Beth fidgeted with her serviette before taking the plunge. ‘Oh, Rod, how can you ask? Why didn’t you tell me about your book and about Glengarry?’ she burst out.

  Rod looked at her intently. ‘How did you find out?’

  ‘I was in a Dubbo bookshop when I saw your picture on the back cover. There were lots of people, mostly women, looking through it,’ Beth said.

  ‘Good. I hope they all bought a copy,’ Rod smiled. ‘Does your family know about it?’

  ‘Mum and Bella were with me so they know. Mum says she knew it was you who bought Glengarry. Dad doesn’t know yet, but you can bet it won’t be long before he finds out – and he’ll be hot under the collar about it when he does. How do you know about all those things that are in it?’ Beth asked with a quaver in her voice.

  ‘The things in the book? Well, I talk to a lot of people, and some of it I researched,’ he said. ‘I was incredibly lucky. My first novel sold much better than I expected. I met this literary agent who really believed in me and she helped me with the second book. I always planned to write a book that might sell to the US, but even in my most optimistic moments, I didn’t believe it would actually happen. But it did and that’s how I was able to buy Glengarry. I own it outright and I don’t owe a cent to anyone. I never expected that I’d get the opportunity to buy a property as good as Glengarry. It’s what I’ve always wanted and I’m damned if I’m going to apologise to Dan or to anyone else for how I got the money to buy the place. I started planning for this years ago. That’s why I turned my back on sport. My father didn’t leave us much money when he died so I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I wasn’t born into a grazing family, either, so there was no property to inherit. Hector’s nieces and nephews got a good price for it and they certainly didn’t object. I had to give up all of my sport to write, and I’ve worked damned long hours, night after night, weekends galore, too, and I didn’t make much from it until I sold this book.’ His face was flushed and his expression seemed half-defensive, half-vulnerable.

  ‘Rod, I’m not condemning you. I just wish you’d taken me into your confidence. It would have saved me a lot of stress.’

  ‘I really couldn’t risk anyone knowing, Beth. We didn’t know each other very well and I couldn’t be sure you wouldn’t tell Dorothy, who might have told Dan. There was too much at stake.’

  ‘Mum and I imagined it would be something like that,’ Beth said, smiling wryly at last. ‘I just can’t believe it, though. I don’t know whether to be happy or sad. Dad will be rope-able when he finds out.’

  Rod was silent in response, so Beth raised her head and looked into his compelling eyes. ‘I rode up to our boundary fence and looked across to where you’ll be living. I couldn’t help thinking you might as well be living in the Northern Territory for all the good it will do us now.’

  ‘You’re old enough to decide what you want to do with your life, Beth,’ Rod said quietly.

  ‘Dad’s the boss and, if I want to stay at Mattai, I have to live by his rules. If I choose to keep on seeing you, Dad won’t stand for it. There’ll be a big split and Mum will have to take sides. I’ll make Mum very unhappy and I’ll make Jim very unhappy, too.’

  Rod shook his head. ‘But, Beth, how do you feel? Does my book make such a big difference to you? I’ve given you my side of things. When I left Mattai, I was simply a woolclasser. Now I’m an author and the owner of Glengarry. But essentially I am still the same person. I’d like to go on seeing you, with or without Dan’s approval. If, as you suggest, he reads the riot act to you, things will be in your court as to whether or not you want to be involved with me,’ Rod said with a half-smile.

  Beth threw her hands up in the air in frustration. ‘Of course I want to continue seeing you! Oh, let’s just see how the situation develops,’ Beth said. ‘Dad will realise soon enough that I’ll want to visit you and he’ll make his position very clear then.’

  Rod nodded his agreement. ‘We’ll let the pot simmer for a little while. I’m shifting here in a few days so you know where I’ll be – not far away.’

  Beth’s frustration seemed to diminish a little. ‘I never imagined for a moment that it would be you adjoining us. I’m thrilled, really, and I’m not going to let Dad tell me what to do, though I do need to consider his wishes.’

  ‘Are you seeing anyone else?’

  ‘I’ve had a few dates, but I’m not really interested. How about you? Are you seeing anyone else?’

  ‘Only my literary agent,’ he said with some ambiguity. Beth could interpret that how she liked. He hadn’t worked things out with Sheilagh and until he did he wasn’t prepared to get too serious with Beth, as much as he might have wanted to. She was too nice a girl to mess about.

  After they left the restaurant, Beth pondered why Rod hadn’t been as warm to her as she’d hoped he would. She tried to appease herself by considering how busy he’d been. It was understandable that he hadn’t been able to devote much time to her. She was being generous, because she at least felt better for having seen him. Rod was ambitious and wasn’t letting the grass grow under his feet. He was going to provide some real competition for her father. The future was going to be far from dull. But it wouldn’t be an easy time for the Stafford family. Beth could see that a mile away.

  Chapter Seventeen

  It was the local wool representative, Bill Stratton, who let the cat out of the bag to Dan Stafford about the real identity of Glengarry’s new owner.

  ‘I’ve just come from Glengarry,’ Bill said.

  ‘Have you?’ Although he tried to act like he wasn’t interested in what was happening next door, Dan was anxious to know more about his new next
-door neighbour.

  ‘It must have been a real shock to you to find out that your classer had bought it. I’ll bet you never thought he had that sort of money,’ Bill said.

  Dan, who’d met Bill at the back gate while on his way to the ram shed, stopped in his tracks. ‘What do you mean, Bill?’

  ‘Don’t tell me you don’t know?’

  ‘Your mob told us that a writer bloke by the name of Saxon had bought Glengarry,’ Dan said, his forehead creased in confusion.

  ‘That’s sort of right. Glengarry was purchased by the Saxon Pastoral Company, which is actually owned by Rod Cameron. I heard the new owner was in residence, so I called in to have a yarn to him because I thought I might secure his clip. It was Rod, sure enough. When I asked about his writing, he told me he wrote under the pseudonym of Julian Saxon. Saxon because of the sheep, of course. Crikey, Rod’s a goer. He’s made some big changes already, with lots of small paddocks for stud sheep. There’s two sheds going up, too. One is for show sheep and the other’s for sale sheep. Everything is connected by lanes so you can move sheep easily and under cover,’ Bill said enthusiastically. ‘And, according to Rod, there’s a good supply of underground water near the house – if he can access it, he can grow cutting and grazing lucerne. Of course, he knows the fine-wool game backwards. I had a look at a few of the sheep he’s brought up from Yass. Bloody trimmers, they are. Two of the best ewes I’ve ever seen. Big ewes with lovely wool. There’s a third ewe that’s not as big as the other two but she’s got a terrific fleece.’