Muriel was on the verge of a nervous collapse herself. Both were taken by ambulance to the Albury Base Hospital.
‘Come on,’ Francis urged. ‘Aunt Win wants you to come home with us Eddie. Gran just rang here to see if everyone was alright and she wants us all back home. Hazel’s making some supper. You can phone your mother from our place and let her know why you’re late if you want.’
‘Oh yeah, she was expecting me for tea. She’ll wonder where I am. She’d have heard the sirens, so she’d know there’s been another fire!’ Eddie was still holding Kathy as he spoke. They hadn’t let go of each other since Eddie had been found.
‘Come over Eddie. If Mum said to, then it’s ok, she must want you to.’
‘Okay, come on then. I do think I need to sit down for a while, Kath.’
Everyone gathered at the Masons’, all eager to know what happened inside the stables. Eddie was too shaken at first to tell anyone exactly what had happened.
‘Well, young man, you sure did a brave thing tonight. You could have lost your life,’ Digger said sincerely. He was in two minds about this bloke now.
‘What the hell happened in there, Ed?’ Karl asked. He was also looking at Eddie in a new light.
Eddie explained that when he ran inside, the smoke was so thick it was impossible to see. He called Mr Hansen, who was still struggling with the stallion. The fire had terrified the horse and it was giving him trouble. He simply couldn’t get it out of the stables. It reared up and knocked an overhead beam, which didn’t need any help to come falling down, landing on Walter.
Eddie had to struggle to lift the beam from him. At that moment, the horse bolted. Then Eddie finally managed to lift the beam enough for Walter to crawl out from under it. Eddie yelled at him to get out then the rest of the roof started to cave in. He felt his way along the back wall and found the stable window already smashed. He pulled himself up and escaped through that.
‘And that’s how I got out, just in time. After that things went a bit awry though. I remember pulling myself up through the window, and next thing that fireman was there,’ Eddie explained.
To everyone waiting outside, it had seemed a long time, but all in all it was really only about five minutes that he’d been missing.
Everyone knew that Kathy had been petrified that she’d lost Eddie. Emmie cuddled her granddaughter and kissed her face. ‘God was with him, darling. God was watching over him!’
Kathy felt tears run down her cheeks again.
Eddie squeezed her hand gently. ‘Here, drink your cuppa, Kath, before you cry in it!’
When Win phoned the hospital, they informed her that Walter had broken ribs and was suffering smoke inhalation. Thankfully, he would recover. His heart was okay; the pain he had experienced wasn’t a heart attack, it was just coming from his broken ribs. He would be in hospital for a few days and then complete bed rest was vital.
Murial was kept under observation. She had collapsed after the fire and she had to be checked over as well for severe shock.
There was a noise at the back door and Sam and Eric came in, followed by Arthur and Robert.
‘We just got back from Gerogery. What’s happened here? Is everyone okay?’ Sam asked in his booming voice.
‘It’s all okay now, mate,’ Karl growled. ‘The bastard’s done a number on Hansen’s this time. We could have had two tragedies and a dead stallion.’
‘Nearly bloody did,’ Digger agreed.
Ellie came in. She’d already heard about the fire on the car radio. It made her flushed in the face and anxious. Digger and Karl explained the events of the night.
‘Eric, go over to Hansen’s with Tammi and Laura to get Laura’s things, will you? She’s very upset and she’ll be staying here a couple of nights. We can’t have her over there on her own.’ Emmie was concerned for Laura as well.
Now the firebug had targeted the Hansens, this told the locals that the maniac was out to destroy
everyone
in the valley.
It was anyone’s guess as to where he would strike next!
Kathy and Eddie went out onto the veranda, arm in arm. ‘Eddie, I was so frightened. I really thought you’d been killed.’ Kathy’s voice was full of emotion.
‘I had to try to save him, Kath… I didn’t stop to think, I just went in. I didn’t think of anythin’ except gettin’ him out
and
the poor bloody horse.’
‘You’re here now, that’s the main thing, and you’re not hurt. You’re a hero, Eddie!’ Kathy pulled him to her.
He took her face in his hands and kissed her, chuckling. ‘Should see your face… It’s black.’ He wiped at her face with his thumbs.
‘I don’t care,’ she said, squeezing him tighter.
‘Don’t you ever frighten me like that again, ok?’ she whispered to him as they began to devour each other with kisses.
The house was in darkness as Harvey pulled into the driveway.
As he let himself in the front door, he fumbled for the light switch. ‘Mary, are you home?’ he called.
‘She must be,’
he thought
. ‘Her car’s here.’
Harvey walked up the long hallway and into the bedroom, taking off his coat as he went. ‘Mary!’ he called again. ‘Mary, are you here?’ He flicked the bedroom light on. Mary was sitting up on the queen size bed she’d insisted on having in the new home, even though Harvey slept in the spare room. She had made everything seem normal to any visitors who might come to their home.
‘Decided to come home, have you Harvey? That’s a lot of overtime!’ Mary slurred.
Harvey groaned. ‘Here we go.’ Still, he attempted to sound normal.
‘What’re you doin’ sittin’ here in the dark?’
‘Waiting for my
husband…’ she hissed.
‘You’ve been on the grog again, Mary,’ he accused.
‘You’ve been fucking Ellie again,
Harvey
.’
‘What did you say? Hey, what’re you doin’? Get back, Mary! You’re crazy, woman!’
Mary leapt at Harvey, viciously clawing at his face. ‘You think I sit out here getting so drunk that I don’t know what you’re up to?’ she screamed, pushing him hard enough to make him stumble against the dressing table. The lamp crashed to the floor.
‘You think the drunker I get the better? You stupid bastard. I’m not oblivious to what you’re doing!’ she shouted at him.
‘Mary, stop it!’ he yelled, managing to grab her wrists and hold her sharp nails away from his bleeding face.
‘You haven’t fucked me in years. You haven’t even come near me since I told you I couldn’t have children!’
‘Mary, stop it!
Now…
’ Harvey was becoming angrier. This wasn’t the Mary he knew. The Mary Harvey knew was a quiet, religious lady, not this drunken, screaming shrew, swaying unsteadily in front of him.
‘Come on, Harv. Make love to me then. Now! Come on. I’m all yours, or haven’t you got it in you? Did darling Ellie wear you out?’ Mary ground out the words from between clenched teeth.
‘You’re sick, Mary. You’re not yourself. Lie down. I’m gettin’ the doctor.’
‘Ha! The doctor… The bloody doctor can’t fix me, you cheating arsehole. I need my husband, not the bloody doctor!’
Harvey let her wrists go and she dropped her hands to her sides. She turned away from him and reached for the whiskey bottle.
‘Harvey, you don’t know what you’ve done to me. You and dear precious Ellie won’t get away with this, I’ll see to that.’ She slopped some more drink into her glass.
‘Mary, don’t drink any more, please.’
‘Why not…? Why not, Harv…? What’s it to you?’
Mary’s voice sounded strangely calm as she put the drink on the dresser. In one swift movement, her nightgown slid to the floor. She was standing naked in the dim light. She swayed towards Harvey. He stood there looking at her, a stunned expression on his face.
‘Come on, Harv. My body must be better than hers.’ She cupped her breasts in her hands as she spoke. ‘Seeing I’ve
never had a baby
, my body
must
be firmer than
hers
.’ She ran her hands over her body, stopping at her groin. She let her fingers travel between her legs, slowly massaging herself while her other hand went back to work on her breast. She threw her head back and moaned. ‘I can pleasure myself Harv… I’ve become an expert over the years,’ she said huskily, continuing her display to a shocked Harvey.
He backed towards the door. He wasn’t sure how to treat Mary. She wasn’t at all herself. He’d never seen her like this,
ever
!
‘Mary… Mary, get dressed. We’ll talk. Just get dressed. You’re being silly.’ He spoke softly, hoping to snap her out of her stupor.
Mary immediately ceased her sex show. ‘Silly! You call me
silly
,’ she screeched. ‘You mean you don’t feel a thing when I stand here naked touching myself, you rotten bastard?! I hate you!
I hate you!’
As Harvey turned to go out the door, she snatched up the fallen lamp and threw it, just missing his head. It smashed against the door as he closed it. Mary fell to the floor in a hysterical heap, crying pathetically.
‘My God, I’ve got to do something here. I can’t take this anymore!’ Harvey muttered to himself as he held his handkerchief to his bloodied face.
‘She’s mad. She’s stark raving mad!’
***
Harvey slowly stirred as the sun crept between the curtains. He’d slept on the couch all night. Mary must have fallen asleep; he hadn’t heard any more from her. He sat up, dazed, and looked at the clock on the kitchen wall. He was late for a meeting.
‘Bugger over-sleeping, I have to meet Mike,’ he growled.
He quietly opened the door to Mary’s room. She wasn’t in there.
‘Hell, where is she?’ he said aloud. He looked in every room of the house. Mary was nowhere to be found.
‘Her car…’ He remembered, running swiftly to check the garage. ‘Oh shit, it’s gone! Where the fuck has she gone? Bloody hell, Mary, I hope you didn’t take off drunk!’ He ran his hand through his bed hair.
Harvey quickly showered, dressed and drove off towards the Gap Road, hoping he wouldn’t find Mary’s car smashed on the way. He knew the lethal capacity of the Gap Road. If she’d driven while she was drunk… that was a thought he didn’t want to entertain.
***
‘Dear Lord, please help me.’ Mary was quietly sobbing. ‘I need help, Lord. I’ve been such a fool.’ Sobs racked her body as she contemplated her situation. She believed that only divine intervention could salvage her life.
St Mark’s Church was in the opposite direction to that which Harvey had taken. She’d left home about an hour before Harvey had woken. Mary had driven to the only place where she felt someone would truly understand how she felt. She was very humiliated and regretted her behaviour of last night. She had no answer as to why she had behaved in such a manner. It could only be years of emotional turmoil and… the drink. Everyone else seemed to believe she and Harvey had the perfect relationship. Mary had put on a front for years and finally her pent-up emotions had been released. This didn’t give her any comfort though. She was experiencing a side of herself she had never known and she didn’t like it.
Harvey couldn’t find Mary but he was satisfied that she hadn’t driven over the gap or hadn’t had an accident from what he could see. He headed off to meet his work colleague.
He also had a phone
call to make.
***
‘I’m sorry, Ellie. It’s better than not at all, I’m sorry honey. Once a week is better than nothing, isn’t it?’ Harvey spoke softly from the phone box near Flynn’s.
He had just broken the news that they would have to cut their rendezvous to once a week until he could settle Mary down.
‘Of course, Harv, I can understand that.’ Ellie fought to keep her voice normal. Although she was extremely disappointed – she’d gone to all that trouble setting up their ‘love nest’ –
this was the last thing she wanted to hear.
‘The way Mary went on last night really worried me. She was strange, Ellie,
really strange
. I’m going to have to do something; I know that, I just need some time to figure it out.’
‘Do you think she’s going to be alright, Harv? I never thought she would react this way but then… if I were in her position… I don’t know what I’d do,’ she responded quietly.
‘Ellie, darling, we’ll sort it out, but it’s best we leave it a little while. We can meet early next week, by the way. What happened up there last night? From what I heard on the news, the fire sounded very bad.’
Ellie explained about the fire and about Eddie and Walter. Harvey promised to contact her again as soon as he could. He reassured her again that they would meet again next week.
‘Who was that you were talking to for so long?’ Win asked casually, not wanting to pry but aware of a certain controlled emotion in her sister.
‘It was Harvey, Win. There is no use my denying it. You knew anyway, didn’t you?’
‘Yes, I guessed there was something going on. I know it must be hard for you but
he is
married and that’s all there is to it. What future have you got with him? Mary will never let go!’ Win hoped Ellie would see the situation objectively and not allow herself to be blinded by passion.
Ellie sat down in the big armchair, dropped her head into her hands and wept.
‘Everything’s so mixed up, Win. Why can’t things just go right?’
‘What’s happened, Ellie?’ Win asked kindly. ‘Come on, you need to talk. Maybe I can help.’
‘Harvey thinks Mary’s going mad. From what he just told me, she’s drinking too much. She actually attacked him last night. She told him she knows what’s going on with us. He says she’s really gone off the rails. What I don’t get Win, is the fact they
don’t
have a marriage, so why hang on like this?’
‘I’m buggered if I know either, Ellie. It doesn’t make sense, does it? So what now?’ Win asked.
‘Well, he says we’ll have to cut down seeing each other. I’m not happy about that. I know it’s not right, I do, but Win, we
do
love each other! How the
hell
did I let myself get in this situation? My life was so uncomplicated until… until…’
‘Until Harvey came back on the scene…’ Win finished for her.
‘Yes, that’s right, Win, but I can’t change my feelings. I’ve always loved him, damn it!’
Knocking at the front door interrupted the conversation. They heard Hazel answer it and her voice carried up the hallway.
‘Mary! How lovely to see you. Come on in. Win and Ellie are in the lounge room.’
‘Oh no…’ Ellie whispered, dabbing quickly at her eyes. ‘Do I look like I’ve been crying?’
‘Here, let me.’ Win wiped some mascara from Ellie’s eyes and cheeks just as Mary and Hazel came through the door.
‘Take a seat, Mary. I’ll go and tell Mrs Mason you’re here. She’ll be so pleased to see you.’ Hazel beamed at her. ‘I’ll bring back a tray of my fresh scones and some tea.’
As she left the room, strained greetings passed between Ellie and Mary.
Win quickly took control. ‘It’s so good to see you, Mary. How is the house coming along? You must love decorating it.’
Mary kept her eyes on Win, not once glancing at Ellie. Win noticed how gaunt and tired she looked.
‘Yes, I’ve been busy decorating the place. I’m sorry I haven’t been to see the family but I’ve had a terrible lot to do… with Harvey at his new job, and he has started doing a lot of overtime.’ She flicked a glance at Ellie. ‘I’m left to do most of the house myself.’
The conversation remained strained and superficial. Emmie was quick to pick up the tension the minute she entered the room.
‘Mary dear, it’s good to see you. How are you?’
Mary stood up and hugged her.
‘Emmie, it’s lovely to see you. Are you well?’
‘Yes dear, I’m keeping well. You look a little tired though. Are you alright?’
‘Oh yes, I am a little tired though. I’ve had a lot on my plate lately.’ Mary again glanced at Ellie.
Ellie met her gaze, feeling her face flush, and was glad Hazel came into the room with the tea tray.
‘I’ll pour the tea, Hazel.’ She stood hurriedly and took the teapot, glad for something to do, knowing she couldn’t leave the room as it would be too obvious. As she poured the tea, she wondered what this visit was
really
about.
‘Milk, Mary?’ Ellie asked politely.
‘Black, thank you Ellie,’ Mary answered, staring Ellie in the face.
Win and Emmie were both uncomfortably aware of the tension between the two women.
‘Ellie, you look terrible. Have you been upset or something? You look haggard, I must say! Those fires and sleepless nights really are taking their toll, arn’t they?’ Mary’s voice dripped with sarcasm.
‘Thank you for your concern, Mary,’ Ellie snapped in reply. Mary was goading her and it was working.
‘I suppose you’ve heard about the nasty fire across at the Hansens’ last night?’ Emmie cut in quickly.
‘Er, no, I can’t say I have,’ Mary stammered.
Win interrupted and told Mary about the fire. ‘It’s a wonder you haven’t heard. It’s all over the news.’
‘I went to bed early last night,’ she lied. ‘Harvey didn’t mention it when he came home… He was late again,’ she added as an afterthought.
‘I went to church early this morning. Harvey was still asleep. All this overtime is catching up with him.’ She darted another glance at Ellie.
The phone shrilled in the background.
‘Phone for you, Win!’ Hazel stuck her head around the door. Win excused herself.
‘Oh, Mary, let me give you a jar of Hazel’s relish. It’s delicious. I’ll just go and get you one before I forget.’ Emmie got up and headed for the kitchen.
‘Thank you, Emmie that would be lovely,’ Mary called after her.
Ellie sat looking out the window, thinking,
‘What now… What do I say to her?’
‘Well, Ellie, it’s just the two of us. How nice! I suppose you know how I’ve been coping. Harvey would have called and told you by now!’
Ellie looked up sharply.
‘So this is how it’s going to be. She’s on the attack!’
she
thought
.
‘Actually, yes, he did ring me. He’s very upset, you know.’ Ellie decided not to blatantly lie, but she also didn’t intend to be too honest either. She couldn’t.
‘Oh, come off it, Ellie! Poor Harvey…’ She rolled her eyes heavenward and leaned forward. ‘So what… I’m upset too! Does that bother you, Ellie? Oh… that was a silly question, wasn’t it? If you cared you wouldn’t be
fucking
my husband, now would you? Silly, silly me…’
‘Calm down, Mary. I don’t want Mum upset…’ Ellie interrupted. She didn’t know just how unstable Mary was and didn’t want the situation to escalate out of control.
‘Shut up! I haven’t finished! Why should I protect you from your mother discovering what a harlot her daughter is?
My husband
and I haven’t made love for years, as you would know by now!’ Mary took a deep breath, strode to look out the window, then spun around and stalked to the centre of the room.