Authors: Di Morrissey
Maya, too, was affected and leaned over and murmured to Olivia, ‘I remember. I remember.’
Olivia had not told anyone she was coming. She wanted to be the one to bring Maya and Tyndall together. But looking along the foreshore she realised many of the luggers were still at sea. Others, laid up through the war, remained shrouded in hessian, stranded and neglected along the mangrove creeks. They went to the Continental and as they passed along the familiar streets Olivia noted new buildings, but saw that some were closed. The war had taken its toll. Businesses and families had not recovered from the industry’s recession. Olivia knew, too, that the pearl shell stored through the war because of the collapse of the market had just been sold in London and New York for a fraction of its value. She had written to Tyndall suggesting they might have to look to other enterprises, but he had been emphatic that pearling was his life and all would be well after the war.
Despite the recession Olivia couldn’t halt her spirits soaring as they walked through the hotel gardens and onto the verandah for morning tea. A few familiar faces nodded and greeted her with surprise
but she merely smiled, murmured pleasantries and didn’t pause. She’d sent word to Toby and Mabel and hoped they were in town and able to join her as soon as was convenient. She’d been in regular contact with them since she left. Mabel had written to her about Amy’s defection and the tragic details and Toby had sent her a valuation of the missing pearls.
Olivia had just settled herself to pouring tea when the Mettas bustled along the verandah, Mabel with arms outstretched exclaiming in delight, ‘Olivia! Why didn’t you tell us! What a wonderful surprise!’
They embraced with affection.
‘Are you alone? Where’s your wonderful husband?’
‘He couldn’t come. But I’m not alone.’ She turned to the beautiful young woman and little girl sitting at the table. ‘Do you know who this is?’ she asked.
Mabel was staring thoughtfully at the young woman who shyly smiled at her, not sure if she should know the plump dark-skinned lady. ‘She reminds me of … ’
While she groped for the connection, Toby said quietly, ‘Niah. She looks like Niah.’
The Mettas stared in shock and Olivia triumphantly lifted the young woman’s hand. ‘Yes. This is Maya, Tyndall and Niah’s daughter. And this is her daughter—Georgiana, or Georgie as we call the little rascal.’
The Mettas drew up chairs and they all began talking at once. While Olivia began to tell the story, Maya took the now fidgety Georgiana down to explore the waterfront.
‘I noticed some of the fleet is still outside. John
and Ahmed … when are they due back?’ asked Olivia.
‘Any day,’ answered Tobias.
Olivia hesitated, then asked, ‘How is John? He hasn’t been in touch. I should have told him I was getting married … but I just didn’t know how to tell him. Things happened quickly. The war took our minds off things … ’ she finished lamely. She didn’t have to explain to the Mettas. They understood and knew how hurt and angry Olivia had been over Amy, how anguished over the death of Hamish.
‘He’s changed a little. Only natural I suppose. Hard times for us all. In so many ways,’ said Toby softly. ‘But he remains ever the optimist.’
‘He has been wrapped up in Star of the Sea and nothing else,’ added Mabel pointedly. ‘It’s kept him going. This will be wonderful news.’
Toby changed the subject. ‘Are you happy? Is the life you have down there satisfying?’ he asked with warm concern. ‘It seems so different to what you had here. I can’t help feeling … ’
‘Now, Tobias, that will do,’ cut in Mabel swiftly. The kindly couple had been stunned at the news of Olivia’s marriage but at the time thought it was probably for the best. How were any of them to know Amy would turn out to be so unpredictable or that she would disappear? The Mettas had found it heartwrenching to see Tyndall return from Fremantle so deflated and depressed at losing Olivia.
‘Happy?’ answered Olivia thoughtfully. ‘I am slowly coming to terms with losing Hamish. So many others have lost sons. I only wish … oh, let’s
not talk about regrets and what ifs. We can’t change anything but only press on and try to make our lives meaningful day by day,’ said Olivia.
‘That seems to be John’s philosophy as well. You know he took the news about Hamish very badly. He hoped Doctor Shaw was a comfort to you. But like you, he has come to accept what life has dealt him. If you ask me he leads a sort of waiting life. He goes through the motions but it’s like he is waiting for something, waiting for his real life to begin,’ said Mabel.
‘This reunion with Maya and his granddaughter will bring him back to life again,’ enthused Toby. ‘Will they stay here? Where is her husband?’
Olivia took a deep breath. ‘There’s more to this. Not only have I found Maya, but have just discovered Hamish is the father of her child. They planned to get married after the war. She didn’t know she was pregnant when he left. She came to Shaw House and only ever knew me as Mrs Shaw. Hamish, of course, kept the Hennessy name.’
The Mettas stared at her in stunned silence and Olivia went on.
‘They met in Albany when he was there in the Naval Brigade for a year. That’s where her adopted family are.’
‘So the little one is your granddaughter, too … ’
‘Naturally Gilbert and I want them to live with us. But John has to know about it all and the final decision will, of course, be Maya’s.’
‘How sad for her, but God certainly works in mysterious ways. He’s brought you all together.’
Mabel patted her hand. And the three of them sat in silence for a moment, all thinking of Hamish.
Toby spoke first. ‘The fleet will be back in a day or so. What are your plans, Olivia? Why are you here at the Conti and not in your house? Does Minnie know you’re back?’
‘No. I’m about to go around. I didn’t tell anyone I was coming. I’d have to go into why and it just seemed easier simply to come and bring Maya. Seems a bit strange now I suppose.’ She gave a small shrug. ‘And I was thinking I’d sell the house up here. No reason for me to keep it on and what with the setbacks in the business and the cost of setting up in Fremantle, I need the money. I have to cut my ties here, my future is down south now.’
‘Not a good time to try and sell, Olivia,’ said Toby. ‘People are leaving Broome, not moving here. We, too, have thought about leaving. I could get work elsewhere, but this is our home. We’ll hang on. Tyndall is convinced things will pick up. He predicts the twenties are going to be great years.’
‘I certainly hope so,’ Olivia answered wistfully.
It was sunset when Olivia took Maya and Georgie to her house. Maya had been quiet and said that she was simply feeling ‘crowded’. So many memories were coming back to her. Seeing Georgie rush into the pearl shed and clatter amongst the bags of pearl shells stacked in the dimness of the shed, the light falling through the high open squares that served as windows beneath the tin roof, was like seeing a picture of herself. While the shed was silent and empty, she
looked at her daughter running about and heard again the singsong voices, smelled the pungent odours of oysters, and remembered a tall man’s laugh.
Olivia glanced at Maya as they stopped outside the gate. She gestured towards the garden and the sweep of the vine-shaded verandah. ‘Do you remember this place? Your father brought you here almost every evening.’
Maya shook her head. ‘No. But it feels familiar. I feel I have been here before.’
At that moment Alf came around the side of the house and stopped in his tracks, then with a smile splitting his face, he hurried forward. ‘Mem! Strike me down, Minnie didn’t tell me yer was coming up.’
‘She doesn’t know. It’s a surprise.’
A voice rang out. ‘I see you and I don’t believe my old eyes. Them not so good no more. I think mebbe I seein’ t’ings. No, by crikey it’s mem talkin’ to Alf jist like old days.’ Minnie was stepping stiffly down from the verandah and hurrying to the gate as Olivia stepped into the garden. With her arthritis it was painful to move so hurriedly but Minnie didn’t want to risk this apparition slipping away. She wanted to be sure that this was really her beloved Olivia standing there smiling.
The old woman felt a rush of affection and she started to shake as she flustered, ‘Why you and Mollie no tell us? Never mind, you here, and dat’s good news, eh?’ But she hugged Olivia tightly and Olivia felt tears rush to her eyes. Minnie had always been a key part of her life in Broome.
‘I’ve brought someone to meet you, Minnie.’
Georgie ran forward past Minnie and onto the verandah. ‘That’s Georgie,’ said Olivia with a laugh. Then turning towards Maya started to say, ‘And this is … ’ but stopped as she saw the expression on Minnie’s face change.
‘I know who this is. You don’t have t’introduce me to my own family. This be Maya growed up.’ The older woman reached out to the shy young woman. ‘You still got your totem your mumma get you, eh?’
Maya looked confused for a moment then touched her chest and lifted the pendant that hung around her neck. Minnie glanced at it and nodded with a small murmur of satisfaction. ‘I better make tea, we got a lotta talkin’ to do. Place all locked up, but we fix t’ings up no trouble.’ She marched ahead catching Georgie and sweeping her into her arms. ‘Watch you step, Missy. I kin see you gonna have to mind Minnie now.’
Maya and Olivia exchanged a smile as they went into the house.
By the following evening, with Rosminah and Yusef helping, they were all settled into the house. It felt strange to Olivia, strange because she felt so at home once more. There were only good memories here, some tinged with sadness true, but it was the happy times she relived … her ordered life with Conrad and Hamish, the excitement of setting up Star of the Sea, of Hamish playing with baby Maya, the twilight evenings with Tyndall on the verandah, good friends like the Mettas, and always, the talk of pearls, diving, luggers and adventures. How sedate her life in
Fremantle was … at this point Olivia forced herself to stop reflecting on the past, and ran through for the umpteenth time how it would be when Tyndall found his daughter was returned to him.
Maya asked no questions about him, so no one pressed facts, anecdotes or information on her. Instead, the demanding, wilful Georgie kept everyone occupied.
‘She trouble that one,’ said Minnie privately to Alf. ‘She like stone in the shoe. Dunno where she come from. I reckon Georgie belong some other tribe. She’s a wild one.’
‘She’ll grow up, Minnie. She’s only a little one,’ replied Alf.
Yusef had been detailed to watch for the return of the fleet. And so one morning as the damp mist cleared from across glassy gold water that silently swallowed the mangroves, he saw the shimmering silhouettes of three luggers. Their fat jarrah hulls were low to the water as they headed for Dampier Creek to unload the haul of shell.
Yusef trotted back through town to tell Olivia that Tyndall, Ahmed, Yoshi and Captain Evans were on their way to the foreshore camp.
Now that the occasion had arrived, Olivia was nervous. Glancing at Maya, she realised she was too. They’d decided Minnie would look after Georgie. So Olivia and Maya set off.
How many times Tyndall had looked towards the shore and remembered Olivia standing there, hair
blowing about her face, hand shading her eyes as she watched them sail in, desperate to be close to him, anxious for news of their haul. And there she was, just as he’d imagined a hundred times. He shook his head. It was one of those hot mornings where mirages often materialised over the water.
He looked at the shore again. The low line of the sheds of foreshore camps hunched in a smudgy line, a scatter of palm trees sentinel against the morning sky.
She was still there. And walking to her side was the slim figure of another woman. Waist-length dark hair blew around her shoulders and for a second a past image of Niah, hanging over the side of the
Shamrock
with her long hair framing her face, covering her breasts, came back to him.
But these were real people, for now Ahmed came aft and stood next to him as they sailed in. He spoke almost to himself. ‘Mem come back. Who she bring, tuan?’
Tyndall shrugged and didn’t answer. The sight of Olivia, the knowledge she was watching them come in, that she was here, had stunned him. A faint, excited stirring in his heart gave his skin a tingling sensation.
He busied himself with the moorings and didn’t look up again until they were ready to go ashore in the dinghy.
With his pants rolled up his legs, Tyndall stepped over the side of the dinghy and squelched through mud and onto the shore where Olivia, now alone, waited.
It was a walk that seemed a thousand miles. Tyndall locked eyes with Olivia and was drawn to
her as if in a trance. She’d had time to prepare for this moment and smiled gently and appeared calm, trying not to show the physical pull this man had over her. He took her hands but didn’t embrace her, afraid he’d crush her to his chest and never let her go. ‘Olivia … your turn to surprise me. What are you doing back?’
The years dropped away, each ignoring the small physical changes in the other.
‘How are you, John?’
‘Good … good. All things considered.’
‘How was the trip?’
‘Better, but I’m afraid it’s going to take another season—and decent prices—to make up our losses.’
They turned away and walked towards the shed and crews’ camp.