Authors: Rosie Goodwin
‘Why, you dirty little bastard. What did yer think yer were about?’ Robbie roared as his fist slammed into Lennie’s face.
Kitty had dropped to her knees beside Isabelle now, and as she held her protectively Lennie spat out a tooth and shouted, ‘She’s me woman. Let me be, yer barmy bastard!’ Blood was pouring from his nose and mouth from the blow and he was trying to hit out at Robbie but the bigger man had him firmly by the scruff of the neck and Lennie’s feet were dangling inches from the floor.
‘That’s the same bloke that attacked Maria while we were aboard the
Northern Lights,’
Kitty informed Robbie.
‘Is it now?’ he bellowed. ‘Then in that case we’d better deliver him back to the Port Arthur authorities, hadn’t we? They don’t take kindly to deserters, an’ no doubt he’ll feel the length o’ the whip again. He won’t be so keen to attack helpless women when he’s had another couple o’ dozen lashes once they return him to the ship.’
‘No!’ Even after what he had tried to do to her, Maria could not bear the thought of him being flogged again. She still had nightmares about the way his body had jerked like a puppet’s as the lashes rained down on his bare back, and the way his blood had puddled on the deck. ‘Just let him go,’ she whimpered, but Robbie was resolute.
‘I’ll deliver him back to the port an’ then it’s up to them what they do with the lowlife,’ he growled. ‘What kind of man would try to do such a thing to a woman?’
Their attention was diverted then as Isabelle, who had stopped screaming, suddenly gasped loudly. They looked across at her and saw that she was standing in a puddle of water. The girl had gone deathly pale.
‘Jesus, her waters have broke,’ Kitty mumbled. She had witnessed childbirth many times back in Hatter’s Hall and realised instantly what had happened.
Maria staggered drunkenly to her feet, clutching the front of her torn blouse together, as Robbie manhandled Lennie out of the room. ‘You can cool yer heels in the barn till the young mistress has been seen to,’ he told him grimly. Then turning back to Maria he said, ‘Soon as I’ve got this chap tied up I shall be ridin’ across to the ranch to fetch Binda back. Can you two manage meanwhile?’
‘Yes, we can,’ Kitty assured him as she took Isabelle’s elbow and began to lead her gently back to her room. ‘But hurry, Robbie, please.’
Robbie nodded as he pushed Lennie ahead of him. Now that she was alone again Maria sank onto the nearest chair and began to tremble uncontrollably before forcing herself to go and get changed so she could sit with Isabelle and Kitty.
It was almost an hour later when Robbie’s horse slewed to a stop in front of the verandah. Binda was sitting behind him and she slithered to the ground quite gracefully for someone of her considerable size.
‘Hot water and towels, many of them,’ she told Maria as she raced towards Isabelle’s room, wiping the rain from her face as she went. It was lashing down outside and beating a tattoo on the wooden roof.
‘Go, let me look at her,’ she told Kitty firmly as she entered Isabelle’s room and the girl went quietly. Somehow she sensed that it would not be wise to argue with Binda.
‘How is she?’ Maria asked faintly as Kitty came into the kitchen. She had needed to sit down for a while.
‘It’s hard to say – she’s very quiet. But how are
you
now?’ Kitty saw that Maria was almost as pale as the mistress, but then that was hardly surprising after what had happened. She was just thankful that she had heard Isabelle’s screams or God knew what might have happened.
‘I’m all right,’ Maria answered shakily. ‘But I find it almost impossible to believe that Lennie followed us all the way here from Melbourne. He thought that I was still carrying his baby and even though I explained that I had miscarried aboard ship, I’m not sure that he believed me.’
‘Well, don’t you go worryin’ no more about him. Robbie’s got him trussed up like a turkey cock in the barn an’ there’s no way he’ll get out till Robbie wants him to.’ Kitty’s small hands balled into fists of anger. She loved Maria like a sister, and at least she was safe now. Robbie was going to deliver Lennie back to the port, and with the authorities taking over, she had an idea that he would not find it so easy to escape again.
The two young women sat quietly for what seemed an eternity, the tension eating into them until eventually Binda appeared looking concerned.
‘There is no sign of the birth pains,’ she commented. ‘That is bad, very bad. If they do not start soon, the missy will have dry birth.’
Maria and Kitty glanced at each other and then Kitty suggested, ‘Would yer like me to get Robbie to ride into Hobart for the doctor?’
Binda shook her head. ‘Not yet. There is still time and anyway, it is doubtful that anyone could get through with this rain. The paths will be muddy. But she is asking for you.’ She nodded towards Maria. ‘Go and sit with her, and fetch me if the pains start.’
Maria did as she was told. On entering Isabelle’s room, she found the girl staring towards the door for a sight of her. ‘Maria.’ She held her hand out and Maria instantly grasped it in her own as she sat down in the chair at the side of the bed. ‘I’m so glad you came. I need to talk to you.’
‘Why don’t you save your strength?’ Maria suggested. She was still badly shaken up, and despite knowing that Lennie was securely tied up, she could still feel his presence, as if the stink of him was still upon her, despite changing her clothes and washing herself.
How could I ever have thought that I loved him?
she asked herself, but her thoughts were brought sharply back to the present when Isabelle increased the pressure on her hand.
‘Maria,
please.
There are things that I must say.’ Sweat was standing out in glittering beads on her forehead and yet she was deathly pale and her hand was clammy.
‘Very well then, what is it?’
‘I . . . I want you to promise me something,’ Isabelle said. ‘I want you to promise me that when the child is born, you will take her home to Mama in England. Josh will accompany you.’
‘But I thought that your uncle was going to find a home for the child when it is born?’ Maria said, confused. ‘We agreed that we would wait until after the birth before you made your decision.’
Isabelle smiled weakly. ‘Ah, but things have changed now.’ She stroked her swollen abdomen.
‘I
have changed since I felt this little being moving inside me. I realise now that she deserves the best chance that we can give her, and Mama will ensure that she gets that, if you can only get her home.’
Maria chewed on her lip as her brows puckered.
‘But if you feel so strongly about this, why don’t you take her home yourself? And what about your father?’ Maria rushed on. ‘What will he do if you turn up back at home with a child that has been born out of wedlock? He would never countenance it.’
‘He will,’ Isabelle assured her. ‘Once Mama has met the child she will persuade him to accept her.’
‘You seem so sure that the child will be a girl.’
Isabelle nodded. ‘She will be, but will you promise me this one thing, Maria?’
Seeing no alternative without upsetting her, Maria nodded. After all, once the birth was over, Isabelle might have yet another change of heart or decide to take the child back herself.
‘Very well,’ she said reluctantly. ‘I promise. But stop fretting now and concentrate on the birth ahead.’
Above them, the rain was drumming relentlessly down on the roof. Maria had never experienced anything like it. The rain seemed to come down in a solid sheet, drenching everything in seconds and turning the roads into muddy rivers. As Binda had already pointed out, the roads into Hobart might already be impassable; there would be no way of getting a doctor to Isabelle should there prove to be complications. All they could do now was pray that the birth went smoothly.
It was then that they heard the door into the passage open and then someone tapped on Isabelle’s door. It was Josh, soaked through and tormented with worry.
Maria’s heart jerked as he moved quickly towards the bed. ‘How are you, my darling?’ he asked his sister tenderly. ‘Have the pains started yet, my dear?’
She smiled wearily up at him. ‘No, not yet. I am quite comfortable.’
Seizing her chance, Maria slipped away, leaving the brother and sister to speak in private.
‘Anythin’ happenin’ yet?’ Kitty enquired, the second she set foot back in the kitchen. She was answered by the look on Maria’s face.
Binda was at the table grinding up leaves and all manner of strange-looking plants and roots with a mortar and pestle.
‘It will hurry the birth along,’ she informed Maria when she felt the girl watching her. Maria was becoming accustomed to Binda’s strange customs now and nodded absently.
Minutes later, Esperanza also appeared and Maria wondered how she still managed to look so beautiful when she was soaked to the skin. She was wearing a dark green cord velvet riding dress that dragged wetly across the floor, and her hat was flattened to her head, but she merely tore it off and tossed it aside as she asked, ‘Isabelle’s baby – it is coming, yes?’
Binda pursed her lips as she stared back at her mistress, ‘She should be well on the way now, but as yet there is no sign.’
‘But surely this is normal with a first birthing?’ Esperanza raised a fine brow questioningly as Binda shook her head.
‘The birth waters have broken. There should be signs of the birth pains by now. But I am mixing her something that will help her along. We must do what we can but the spirits will decide.’ She then strained the juice from the mixture into a cup and padded off towards Isabelle’s room, while a silence settled on the room, beneath the drumming of the rain on the roof.
The storms intensified over the next twenty-four hours and soon the road to the ranch was impassable. And still Isabelle lay with no sign of her contractions starting.
Robbie took food into the barn at regular intervals for Lennie and led him outside to do his toilet on the rope that bound him to one of the wide beams. Each time, Robbie’s appearance was met by a stream of abuse, but the Scotsman simply ignored it.
‘Why can’t that fuckin’ bitch bring me food?’ Lennie stormed. ‘It’s her fault I’m here in the first place. She’s nothin’ but a whore.’
Robbie would just stare at him coldly before fastening him to the beam again, but despite his brave words, Lennie did not try to fight him. One brush with Robbie was quite enough; his strength was no match for the red-haired giant.
‘Shouldn’t we allow him to come into the homestead?’ Maria questioned nervously at one stage as she gazed towards the streaming windows.
‘He’s fine where he is,’ Robbie snapped. ‘It’s dry in there, and he has blankets and food. He’s lucky I haven’t tied him up outside in the storm after what he tried to do to you.’
Maria was still jittery and almost jumping at her own shadow, so she nodded feebly. She was also desperately worried about Isabelle, so when on the second night Binda stood up and made a decision, she was relieved.
‘It is time to help nature along,’ the woman told them solemnly.
‘What are yer goin’ to do?’ Kitty asked.
Binda merely stared at her before ordering, ‘Take hot water and towels to the missy’s room.’ She rolled up her sleeves, washed her hands thoroughly then disappeared off into Isabelle’s room as Kitty rushed to do as she was told.
Joshua was sitting at the side of her bed holding Isabelle’s hand and Binda told him, ‘This is woman’s work now. Go and wait in the kitchen.’ Esperanza had returned to her own home the evening before, but Josh had stayed on, napping in the chair in his sister’s room.
Bending to plant a gentle kiss on her forehead, he nodded then rose and left the room.
When Maria carried the water into the room, Binda said immediately, ‘We need to raise the missy’s knees.’
‘Very well.’ Maria whispered to Isabelle, ‘Binda is going to try and hurry things along now, dear.’
Isabelle smiled weakly. Then Binda bent over her and began to knead her stomach.
Isabelle screamed out in pain, but worse was to come.
‘I am going to try and feel the baby’s head,’ Binda told them as she peered between Isabelle’s legs – at which the screams intensified. At last Binda stood back with sweat on her brow. ‘That should do it,’ she stated – and she was right, for within half an hour the contractions started.
Isabelle’s baby was born late in the afternoon of the following day as the light was fading. Maria had not left her side and was nearly dropping with exhaustion, but even so when she caught sight of the newborn she cried out with delight.
‘Oh, Isabelle, you were right. It’s a dear little girl,’ she told her as she bent to kiss her feverish forehead, then to Binda, ‘Is the child all right?’
A tiny wail was echoing around the room now as Binda cut the cord and handed the bloody little bundle to Maria.
‘She seems to be. Very small though – she will need careful tending.’
She was bending to Isabelle again now and the smile died on Maria’s face as she noted her expression.
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
‘Missy is bleeding badly.’ Binda tutted. ‘We must deliver the afterbirth and try to stem it, otherwise . . .’
‘Otherwise what?’
Binda did not answer as she waved Maria away, telling her, ‘Take the child and bathe her. There is nothing more you can do here now. Just tell Kitty I shall need more towels.’
Maria rushed away with the precious bundle wrapped in a linen sheet she had had all ready.
Josh cried openly at the first sight of his niece and watched in amazement as Maria gently washed her in a tin bowl in the kitchen. Maria then dressed her and wrapped her in a shawl before handing her to him, touched at the look of awe on his face.
‘She looks more like you than Isabelle with her fair hair,’ he smiled as he cradled the child against his broad chest. She stared up at him and his heart was lost, while Maria looked on with a lump in her throat.
‘I believe the colour of a baby’s hair and eyes are prone to change as they grow,’ she told him softly as he stared down at the tiny miracle in his arms.