She glanced around the shed. ‘Tell me again how you managed to con Scotty into letting you have the party here?’ Sharna was using the shed of a young local farmer for her birthday bash tonight.
‘My womanly wiles,’ Sharna said, flicking her blonde hair over her shoulder and batting her eyelashes.
‘Yeah right,’ Amanda snorted. ‘I can’t think he was silly enough to fall for that! What did you really do?’
‘Offered him a couple of hundred dollars.’
Amanda raised her eyebrows, wondering if that would seem like such a good deal to Scotty when he saw the mess tomorrow morning. Native flowers had been collected and shaped into decorative arrangements which now hung from rafters. Small lanterns lit up the darkest corners and the mallee-root piles for the bonfire had grown since people had begun to arrive. A couple of large eskies hired from a local bottle shop sat underneath the wool table and a spread of wonderful food was warming in a bain-marie.
As darkness fell and the cars began to roll in, Sharna went over to the stereo and turned it on. Cold Chisel boomed and a few blokes took it as a signal to crack a beer. The bonfire was lit and threw hot flames into the darkness.
By teatime, there were kids running everywhere and most people had rosy cheeks, not only from the fire, but from the alcohol. Adrian, who had arrived a short time ago, appeared next to Amanda and held out a plate full of food.
Amanda was deep in conversation with another stud breeder, who was selling his ram pens. Amanda had been toying with the idea of holding an on-property ram sale instead of trucking her precious rams to Esperance, and so was considering buying them.
Absently taking the plate, she asked Rob how much he wanted for the pens.
‘How about you come and have a look at them? They haven’t been used for a while – I haven’t had a sale in four years. I know they’re still in great shape though.’
‘Why do you want the pens?’ Adrian interrupted.
‘On-farm sale,’ Amanda replied.
‘Excuse me . . .’ A lady with a camera around her neck broke into the conversation ‘Could I take your photo for the social pages, please?’
Adrian placed his arm around Amanda’s shoulder and all three smiled at the camera. Snap.
‘Thanks so much.’
‘Why do you want to do that?’ asked Adrian, picking up where the discussion had left off.‘It’s so much work, everything around the property has to look pristine. It would take a lot to get Kyleena looking like that. All those piles of wire and ring lock would need to be shifted, the shearing shed painted. Amanda, I’ve taken you to stud farms and you know what they look like – Kyleena doesn’t present like that.’
Amanda willed her face not to betray the anger she felt.
Oblivious, Adrian went on, ‘But you know, Amanda, Paringa presents well. You could have your sale at home.’
Amanda breathed a sigh of relief; it was only the way Kyleena looked he was objecting to, not the fact she wanted to hold a sale. Realistically she knew Kyleena could do with some tidying up and she was working on it, but these things took time – especially when the stock came first.
‘Well that’s not a bad idea,’ said Amanda thoughtfully. ‘Although,’ she fixed Adrian with a steely stare, ‘it’s not like Kyleena hasn’t improved since I -’
‘Of course not,’ Adrian said hastily. ‘You’ve done a marvellous job. But it couldn’t possibly be ready for a sale this year, or even next. But I know you’ll get it there. Paringa, meanwhile, doesn’t need any work. Just walk in, set the pens up and organise the auctioneer.’
‘Adrian, you’re impossible!’ Amanda said, laughing. ‘You bag my farm, tell me how good yours is and expect me to not be angry or upset with you! It’s a good thing I understand you.’ She leaned forward and gave him an awkward one-armed hug, trying not to spill the plate of food.
Surprised, Adrian hugged her back and then kept his arm around her.
Chapter 42
Kathleen gathered a small bundle of Rose’s clothes and her favourite teddy bear and wrapped them in a clean sheet. Her own small case was already packed and sitting beside her.
‘Come on, Rosie-Posie, it’s time for your bath.’ She picked up the little girl and rubbed her cheek against her daughter’s velvety skin.
Rose chuckled and banged Kathleen over the head with a small hand. ‘Bath time, bath time!’ she chanted.
‘You love your bath, don’t you, my darling?’ asked Kathleen as she lowered Rose into the tin trough in her room. There was only a few inches of water in the bottom, but it was enough for Rose to be able to bang her hands down in delight and laugh as the water splashed up around her.
Kathleen bit back tears as she gently washed her daughter for the last time. She had known she could not continue the way she was. Every time she gave her body to one of Alice’s ‘friends’ a part of her died.
She had to leave – her daughter deserved so much more.
Kathleen knew that she couldn’t give Rose what she ought to have and she couldn’t take her back to Esperance. There would be too many questions asked. But there was a place that would keep her warm and comfortable.
Kathleen lifted Rose out of the tub, dried her with a rough towel, and tried to dress her. ‘Arms up, darling,’ she murmured. Rose obliged and tapped Kathleen on the head again. ‘No, Mummy.’ She tried to wiggle out of Kathleen’s grasp. ‘No dress.’
‘We need to go and see the nice ladies at the mission,’ Kathleen choked out. ‘Come on, there’s a good girl.’
‘No dress, no dress!’ Rose extracted herself from the strong grip and ran around the room naked. Then she turned back and giggled at Kathleen.
‘You naughty little girl! Rose, come here!’ Kathleen moved forward a few steps and watched as Rose ran just out of reach. She wanted to play.
Would it really hurt to play one more game with a daughter she would never see again? Of course not. She yanked the door open and chased Rose down the hall, enjoying her daughter’s giggles and screams when she was finally caught. The raspberries that Kathleen blew on Rose’s bare tummy made her laugh out loud and squirm.
‘I hope you remember this, my daughter,’ she murmured against Rose’s soft, sweet-smelling skin, trying to memorise the smell.
‘Come on now. It’s time to get dressed.’
Rose stood obligingly and let her mother dress her. Then Kathleen gathered up the bundles of clothes and her suitcase and walked out of the rented room with her head high.
A few hours later, tears streaming down her cheeks, she boarded the train to Esperance alone.
Kathleen finally arrived in Esperance, sore and weary. Her tears had long since dried, to be replaced with a sense of desolation, an anguish like nothing she had ever felt before.
Seeing the familiar Norfolk pines around the foreshore and boats in the harbour brought back so many memories. Happy times with Thomas and her mother. The sadness she felt when her father passed on. The joy when she and Michael had been together. She thought of him now – not that he was ever far from her mind – and without warning anger swept through her. For a moment she wanted to hit something, but the anger passed as quickly as it came.
When she arrived home, she was troubled for a brief moment by the note on the door of the boarding house, wondering why it was closed, but was grateful that it was, knowing that no one was at home as she slipped a note under the door.
Skirting around the edge of the garden that bordered her old house, she looked through the gap in the fence to see if Winkie, her horse, was still stabled there.
He was, along with two other horses that she didn’t know. She slipped around the back, climbed the fence and started talking quietly to Winkie as she slipped the bridle over his head and the bit into his mouth. Throwing on the saddle blanket and then the saddle, she tightened the girth, took hold of the reins and led him out the stable door, through the yard and into a tract of bush where she wouldn’t be seen. There she mounted the horse and turned him in
the direction of Kyleena. She had to see Michael one last time.
The shed was lit by kerosene lanterns when Kathleen arrived. She had tethered Winkie to a tree back on the road, followed the track to the house. Surprised to see the modifications that Michael had made since she was here last, her breath caught in her throat as she saw the swing and neatly tended garden. There was a woman here. A child here. She hadn’t known.
‘No,’ she whispered, falling to her knees.
Crawling forward, the only noise a rustling of her skirts, she peered through a window in the shed.
Michael had his legs crossed and a child sitting on his ankle. A horse ride. His smile told her everything she needed to know. Kathleen Cramm was not thought of anymore. She was just turning to leave as a woman entered the room holding a pot. Kathleen could see she was pregnant.
Stifling a sob, she stumbled towards the old hut. She spent the night inside, rocking and crying, her desperate moans heard only by the dingoes and owls. As the sun dawned, she walked to the river and sat for a little while on the rocks, listening to the water. She could tell there had been good rains this season, because the river was high and running swiftly.
Kathleen slipped off her boots and stood, then took off her dress. Feeling the hardness of the granite under her feet, she walked slowly towards the water.
She walked and walked and gave herself up to the rushing river.
Chapter 43
Amanda was sitting at her computer with Mingus at her feet. Outside, the wind was howling and rain blew horizontally against the walls of the house. Occasionally, there would be an extra heavy squall and Mingus would lift his head, listen, and then put his head back down on his paws and sigh, his eyes on Amanda the whole time.
Amanda had been searching the web for information on the piece of land with the old hut on it, but without success. She sighed and tapped her finger on the desk. Aunty Di and Uncle James hadn’t known anything about it, though James had suggested she could hire a solicitor to do a title search. Suddenly she remembered that she still had all the paperwork from her parents’ probate. There would be a solicitor in there she could use. She was just hauling the files from the filing cabinet when it occurred to her that before she forked out for a solicitor, she really should have a look in her father’s office for the title deeds.
The phone rang and she looked at the clock and realised that Adrian would be arriving to pick her up any minute now. They were supposed to be going to a fertiliser information night.
‘I’m just leaving Paringa, Mandy. I’ll be there in about twenty minutes.’
‘Adrian, do you mind if I don’t go? It’s so cold and rough outside, I just don’t feel like it. I’m just as happy to stay here and curl up in front of the fire, watching some TV.’ She didn’t mention her search of the title deeds. Adrian had made his thoughts on her obsession – his words, not hers – quite clear.
‘Well I guess so,’ he said slowly. ‘I was looking forward to seeing you tonight though.And you’ve paid to go,’ he reminded her.
‘Yeah, I just don’t feel like it tonight,’ said Amanda, aware he was a bit miffed.
‘Right-o. Are you sure I can’t come and get you?’
Amanda wavered, then said, ‘Yeah, I’d like to stay home.’
‘Well, I guess I’ll see you when you feel like it,’ he said shortly. ‘Bye.’
‘There you go, Mingus,’ Amanda said. ‘We’ve got the whole night to ourselves. What shall we do? Tea and then let’s have a look through Dad’s office to see if we can find any interesting snippets of info, there.’
She had hardly entered Brian’s office since he had died, and it was strange seeing it so cold and empty. But, spurred on by her curiosity about the hut, she turned on the bar heater and sat down at her father’s desk.
An hour later, she’d learned more about Kyleena’s accounts than she’d ever known, but it was all from Brian’s own management of the farm, nothing from earlier times when her grandfather would have been about. She closed the handwritten cash books with a sigh and rolled her shoulders back, trying to loosen the muscles that had tightened while she was hunched over reading the faded script. Staring at the familiar handwriting had made her feel the loss of her father more keenly than she had in some time. A wave of sadness washed over her and she sighed and closed her eyes – only to jump up with a start as the sound of shattering glass echoed through the night air.
Mingus barked frantically and, after a second’s pause, Amanda ran along the hallway to the lounge. She stood still as she took in the rock on the floor, surrounded by shattered glass, the curtains flapping as the cold winds rushed through the opening.
Amanda grabbed a torch from the kitchen and, with Mingus at her heels, went out into the blackness of the night. She scouted the garden, then the sheds. Nothing. The wind continued to howl and occasionally a light shower rained down.
Shivering from cold, and fear, Amanda made her way back to the house and picked up the phone to call Adrian.
‘Why would someone throw a rock through my window?’ Amanda asked for the third time. She was sitting in the lounge room at Paringa with a glass of wine in her hand.
‘Mandy, I really believe someone is just trying to frighten you because you’re living by yourself. That’s all. You’re not the sort of person who has enemies. It’s probably just young kids who haven’t grown up enough to realise how terrifying their actions would be to a woman on her own,’ said Adrian.
‘Who’s got young kids around this area though? I know some of the neighbours have got kids of about sixteen or so, but none of them would have licences yet.’
‘I wouldn’t have a clue,’ Adrian shrugged. ‘I’ve lost track of all the teenagers around here. But I’m sure there is a simple answer to all of this.’
‘Yes,’ Amanda said, ‘there is. I’m going to go and talk to Detective Burns again. He was so nice to me last time, I’m sure that he won’t just dismiss this incident.’
‘Really, Amanda, are you sure it’s worth going to the police over one broken window? And what do you mean “again”? When did you talk to him before?’
‘Oh, I haven’t bothered you with it. I just got a couple of silly letters in the mail and I wanted his opinion, that’s all. Anyway . . .’
‘No,’ interrupted Adrian.‘Tell me. I thought we talked about everything.’
‘I know,’ Amanda said quietly. ‘But I can’t deal with this right now. Let me have my tea and talk about something else.’
There was a lengthy pause and then Adrian said, ‘Okay, I’ll get tea. Perhaps you could come and help.’ He got up and led the way to the kitchen.
‘I’ve been thinking,’ he said as he seasoned the steak for the pan, ‘about our future.’
Despite everything, Amanda smiled. ‘So have I. Now that’s a much nicer subject than what we’ve been talking about.’
‘I like the sound of that,’ he said as Amanda sat on a bar stool and began slicing mushrooms and tomatoes for a salad. ‘How would you feel about moving to Paringa?’
Amanda paused in her slicing. ‘Well, I’ve thought about it. It would feel a bit strange after putting so much into Kyleena, being there all the time and loving it the way I do. But I think that I could move.’
Adrian leaned across the bench and planted a kiss on her lips. ‘I’m so pleased you said that! I’ve got a surprise for you. Wait here.’ He left the room and came back a few seconds later with a bunch of flowers in one hand and a ring box in the other.
‘Mandy, would you marry me?’ He handed her the flowers and opened the ring box to reveal a silver band with a large sapphire encircled by a dozen or so small diamonds.
Amanda involuntarily gasped at its beauty. She reached out to touch the ring and then looked into Adrian’s face.
Her thoughts ran together. Dependable. Stable. Reliable. A good provider. And then the long-forgotten memory of her mother pushed its way to the front of her mind. ‘The lust can fade, Mandy. Life takes over, kids a
re born, work gets stressful and the sex bit fades. You’ve got to be friends, not just lovers, with whoever you marry.’
They were friends, Amanda realised. Adrian was all of those things, but above all he was a good friend. They could make it work.
Swept away in the emotion of it all Amanda answered:‘Yes’.
Adrian pulled the ring from its box and took her left hand. As he slipped the ring onto her finger, he murmured, ‘Thank you,’ and then kissed her. ‘Now, let me tell you about my plans!’ he said. ‘Tea can wait for a while.’
Back in the lounge room, he poured her another glass of wine.
‘Now, I think you should move in here as soon as possible. That will kill a couple of birds with one stone – we can stop this ridiculous carry-on of people frightening you, and we can finally be together.
‘We could have a March wedding – perhaps at the yacht club or maybe Seas, on the foreshore.’
Mandy started to laugh. ‘Hang on – we’ve got to tell people first! We need to tell Mum and . . .’ She stopped. ‘Well, we just need to tell Hannah and Jonno and all of your friends, I suppose. Neither of us have parents to tell, do we?’
Adrian was so caught up in his plans he hardly seemed to hear her. ‘And we could have an engagement party right here on Paringa!’
‘That’s a great idea,’ said Amanda. ‘Much more personal. And perhaps instead of getting married in town we could have the ceremony on the beach, or down by the river, then go into town for the reception.’
‘Mandy, I really think that a beach or farm wedding is out of the question. It may look beautiful in photos, but think about the weather – it could be too hot or cold, or too windy. You know what Esperance is like. I think we really should be indoors.’
‘I’d love a river wedding,’ said Amanda wistfully.
‘Well, we’ve got time to work that out. Why don’t we plan the engagement party first?’
They threw ideas around excitedly until finally Amanda said, ‘I’m starving. Let’s have some dinner.’
Blue Skies Page 18