Daring Masquerade (17 page)

"No, it's all right. Can you have everything delivered to the Grand Hotel in Spring Street, please, Mr. Ross Calvert's suite?"

He picked up the bill. Without so much as a flicker of surprise, he wrote out a check.

"Thank you for your help," Harry acknowledged the saleslady, wondering if the woman thought she was Ross' mistress.

"We can go out and buy some more clothes tomorrow, if you want to," he offered.

"No, this is plenty. I've never seen so many nice things."

"Just so long as you like them. Can you find your own way back to the hotel if I leave you here? I'll have to get a taxi otherwise I'll be late."

"I'll be all right. Do you know what time you'll be back?"

"No idea. Go and see your friend. I'll meet you at the hotel this afternoon."

He did not kiss her goodbye, just thrust some money into her hand and sprinted towards a slow moving motorized taxi that was heading their way. He can't wait to get away from me. She forced herself not to burst out crying in the street.

Chapter Nine

Harry caught a cable tram to the Littlejohn's and sat in the dummy. The last time she had ventured here, in what seemed another lifetime, Gil recuperated in the convalescent hospital. If they had not gone to Devil's Ridge, would he still be alive today? She lost count of the number of times she played this scenario in her head. She had known about his physical wounds, but not his shattered mind. He'd loved being at Devil's Ridge. If she didn't believe this she would drive herself insane.

Ross was right, he should have died on Gallipoli with his mates, but fate intervened and let him come home to her for a little while. So deep in thought did she become, the tram almost passed her stop before she realized it.

Alighting, she straightened her hat, and decided to go to the front door. She was no longer Harriet Martin, the skivvy, but Mrs. Ross Calvert from Devil's Ridge. She rang the bell and Elsie answered the door.

"Yes, can I help you?"

"Elsie, it's me, Harriet. Don't you remember?" Harry threw her arms around her friend.

"Harriet, oh my, you look so different I didn't recognize you."

Elsie appeared as pale faced and nervous as before. Harry owed her for what she did on that dreadful day when Mrs. White locked her in the cellar. She doesn't get enough sun, that's why her skin is so pasty.

"When do you have your lunch break? There's a little café around the corner, I'll buy you lunch."

"You look so different, Harriet. Sort of rich."

"I'm married now."

"Really! Tell me everything. I'm engaged. Ted's being shipped overseas soon. When he comes back from the war we're going to get married."

"Elsie." Mrs. White stomped up, and Elsie cringed.

"Good morning, Mrs. White," Harry said chirpily. "Remember me?"

"Yes, my girl, I remember you." Her lips thinned and her beady eyes grew mean. "Get off the premises or I'll set the police on you."

"I'm taking Elsie to lunch. She's entitled to a break."

"You insolent trollop." Mrs. White raised her hand.

"I wouldn't if I were you. I'm married now. Mrs. Ross Calvert from Devil's Ridge. I don't expect you to know the name, but Mr. Littlejohn does. They both belong to the old Melbourne Grammarians."

Elsie, stifling a laugh behind Mrs. White's back, egged Harry on.

"In fact, my husband suggested I call on the Littlejohns for afternoon tea," she lied, watching with enjoyment as Mrs. White opened and shut her mouth like a stranded fish.

"Get your hat, Else, and we'll be off. Mrs. White, I'll be giving Elsie my address, so if you feel tempted to take out any reprisals after I've gone, I suggest you don't."

After the housekeeper minced off, they both burst out laughing.

"Oh, Harriet, I don't know how you dare."

"It's easy, she's a bully."

Arm-in-arm they strolled to a little café, only a corner store but it had a couple of tables and chairs set up outside on the pavement.

"We'll have some tea," Harry decided. "What would you like to eat?"

"Sandwiches will do."

Once their food arrived, Elsie asked. "How's your brother?"

"He's dead." She told her friend the full story.

"I'm so sorry."

"I lost a brother but gained a husband. Poor Gil must have been sicker than anyone knew."

She told the other girl about Devil's Ridge and Ross, only leaving out the real reason for their marriage.

"Do you think the army will want your husband back?"

"Yes, but I want him more," Harry banged the table with a clenched fist. "It isn't fair, he's done his bit."

"I know, but there have been heaps of casualties. They're desperate for reinforcements, Ted says. He'll be leaving within a few weeks."

Harry's heart constricted. If Ted was preparing to go, and Ross passed the medical, they could be leaving at the same time.

"What is it, Harriet? You've gone so white."

"If Ted's going overseas in a few weeks, Ross will probably go with him."

They clutched each other's hands for comfort.

"It's all right for the men," Elsie wailed. "They think it's a lark. We're the ones who are left behind to worry."

"Ross knows how terrible war is, but still feels duty bound to go. I'll give you my address. If the old dragon starts anything after Ted's gone, you come up and stay with me. I'm hoping we'll start a baby before he goes away. Do you know anything about children?"

"Nothing you can tell me about the little buggers. I'm the oldest of eight. Me mum just keeps popping them out. I tell her she should ask Dad to do something to stop having them, but she won't."

"Can you stop it?" Harry asked. "How?"

"Don't know exactly. Ted's mate is a doctor's son, and he said there are things a man can do so they don't make babies all the time. Before we get married, Ted's going to find out all the details. We only want a couple of the little buggers."

"If you find out, let me know, Else. If I do have a baby and I need a nursemaid I'll contact you, or you can just come anyway."

"I don't know whether I'd like living in the country. Ted grew up on a farm, though."

"While he's away I mean. After the war if he needs a job, Ross will give him one. It would be good to be together again."

"I'd like that, too." Elsie wiped her lips with a serviette.

"Remember, if you ever need somewhere to stay, even if you don't want a job, I'll always have a place for you at Devil's Ridge."

"It's nice of you, but you don't owe me anything."

"Owe you? I could have died in that cellar, if it wasn't for you letting Gil know. Mrs. White, horrible old witch, would have left me there forever."

Harry pressed a five pound note into her friend's hand. "Keep this hidden away somewhere. If you ever have to leave in a hurry, you'll have money for the fare."

"I couldn't, five pound. Oh, I couldn't."

"Yes you can. Ross gave it to me to spend, and I want you to have it. The old witch is unstable, could go off her head at any time."

"All right, thanks." Elsie hid it in her shoe.

"The tram's coming, so I won't walk back with you."

They hugged each other, and Harry sprinted off to catch the tram.

Sitting in the dummy, she watched people scurrying to and fro. Melbourne might be exciting with all its hustle, bustle and bright lights, but Devil's Ridge was the only place she wanted to be now. Its rugged grandeur and isolation soothed her restless spirit.

As the tram rumbled on, thoughts ran around in her head. Six weeks since Gil's death, nearly four weeks since Ross first made love to her. Her heart suddenly leapt. There had been no monthly ailment since before Gil died. Surely this could mean a baby. She had always been regular as clockwork. Of course, a lot of things had happened since then, huge upheavals in her life. If only she had some older woman to talk things over with. A doctor maybe? She couldn't discuss such intimate things with a man, not yet anyway, it would be too embarrassing. Maybe she should have pumped Elsie for more information. She had told her a few things in a roundabout fashion, but Harry felt nervous about asking anything too specific, in case her friend jumped to conclusions.

She beat Ross back to the Grand, even after filling in time wandering through the arcades running off Bourke and Collins Street. Walking around the city certainly wore you out. Bone weary, she didn't even have the energy to open up the boxes that had been delivered to their room.

Taking off her clothes, she thankfully slipped between the sheets, enjoying the crisp coolness against her bare back. You're becoming quite wanton, Harriet Calvert.

She must have dozed off because the door banging shut woke her. Groggily, she glanced around and saw Ross heading towards the bed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. Aren't you well?"

"I'm tired from all the walking. How did it go?" She kicked the bedclothes off and sat up, and he sucked in a noisy breath.

"Harry!"

"What!" She glanced down at her nakedness, then his face and laughed. "Have I shocked you?"

He sat on the bed to loosen his collar. "Cover yourself. We need to talk."

"Is the army going to take you back?"

"Yes."

She surprised them both by bursting into tears.

"Come on, don't cry. We expected it."

"Oh, Ross, I don't want you to go."

She sat on his knee, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.

"I'll have no say in it."

As he licked her tears away, she put her quivering lips to the warm flesh at the side of his throat. He gave an agonized groan, pushed her gently back on the sheets and started kissing her with a rising passion. His hand cupped her breast, immediately her nipples burst into life. Her fingers worked frantically at his shirt. He shrugged out of it and threw it on the floor, his pants followed seconds later.

No seduction this time. Their need, heightened by the black clouds of war, made them forget everything except the primeval urge to mate. They came together in a primitive, savage coupling that left their trembling bodies slicked with sweat.

"My God, Harry. What are you doing to me?"

They lay side by side for a moment until she asked huskily, "When?"

"I have to report to Broadmeadows next week. After that I'm not sure."

"There are troops leaving within the month."

"How do you know?" He cupped a breast in either hand and absently played with them.

"My friend Elsie told me. Her fiancé is going to France soon."

"England first, I should imagine. There's a large Australian training camp at Salisbury Plain. I know I promised you a week of holidays down here in Melbourne, but I need to get back home to organize things. We can stay a couple of days more, if you want to."

"No, I don’t want to stay here anymore."

He hugged her tight. "I'm glad you think of Devil's Ridge as home."

"I do, and I never want to live anywhere else."

"Good. We've been invited to a party."

"What?"

"I ran into one of the chaps I went to school with at army head quarters. His wife is throwing him a birthday party tonight, so he invited me. I said we'd go, but of course if you don't want to, we can do something else."

"No, I want to. I can wear the evening dress I bought today. Didn't think I'd be wearing it so soon, though. How many people will be there? It might be too posh for me."

"Rubbish. Sarah, that's Andrew's wife, has invited a couple of her old school chums from the Presbyterian Ladies College."

Presbyterian Ladies College, Melbourne Grammar, fear of letting him down, of humiliating him by doing the wrong thing, caused her stomach to turn cartwheels and she felt almost physically ill.

"Have a bath while I organize room service," he said.

"Tea and sandwiches for me, please." The thought of food nauseated her.

While he organized the food, she ran her own bath, having refused the offer of a maid. How humiliating letting someone dress and undress you.

She lay in the warm, soapy water. What luxury compared to the old tin bath she always used at home. At Devil's Ridge they had a large claw-foot, porcelain bathtub but had to carry in water to fill it up. Here it was all piped in.

"Ross." She remembered what Elsie said Ted told her.

"What!"

"Come in here."

He hovered in the doorway.

"Come and sit on the edge of the bath, I want to ask you something."

She felt better asking him such an awkward question when she was covered to her neck by scented bubbles.

"Elsie and I had a chat about things, she said Ted, that's her fiancé, was told by one of his mates whose father is a doctor, that there are things, that um, a man can do so he doesn't give his wife a baby all the time," she finished off in a rush.

"Harry!"

She watched in surprise as embarrassed red crept into his cheeks.

"Is there?"

He hit his forehead with his palm. "It's immoral women talking about such matters," he spluttered.

"But is there? If I can't ask my husband, who can I ask?"

"Don't you dare bring up this kind of conversation with anyone else."

"I won't need to if you tell me."

"All right, there are a couple of things, but I'll tell you when the time comes."

"I want to know now."

"It isn't decent."

"You're embarrassed," she jeered.

"All right, I am embarrassed," he admitted. Suddenly he grinned. "The only foolproof method is abstinence."

He walked out of the bathroom laughing, and she threw the soap at his departing back.

Harry dressed carefully for this party, the first of its kind she had ever attended. Her hair, having grown a little, still clung to her head in tight curls. The dress fitted perfectly. She had never worn anything so grand. It suited her, the soft folds giving her slim, boyish body a more voluptuous look. The green embroidery reflected in her eyes and they sparkled like emeralds. Without vanity, she knew she looked pretty.

"Do I look all right?" she asked anxiously.

"Yes, lovely. You'll do me proud tonight."