The Tender Winds of Spring (10 page)

‘It was Abel,’ she called too brightly. ‘Who will share their lunch with Abel?’

They all offered, but not for Abel’s sake, Jo suspected, but because they didn’t want to eat any more.

Sukey for the first time in her uncommunicative stay here helped out a bad moment.

‘Amanda cooked the cuddled eggs,’ she told Abel. ‘I can cook. I can cook toast.’

They had already gathered bark, bird-nested and dammed the creek, so after lunch they all went back to Tender Winds.

The children disappeared at once into the garden and into a tight, forbidding huddle. Abel Passant took something from a flask, put it in a glass and handed it to Jo. ‘Drink,’ he ordered.

‘But—’

‘Drink, girl, you look as though you’ve seen a ghost, too, though it was only me. Drink. Then we’ll talk.’

Jo drank, for she did feel drained-out, then she allowed Abel to push her into a chair and she watched him as he drew one up for himself.

When he spoke he did it very matter-of-factly.

‘Imagine a page in a ledger headed Amanda,’ he started off. ‘A debit side. A credit side. Got the idea?’

‘Yes, except Amanda’s a person, not a page in a bookkeeping journal.’

He ignored that.

‘On the debit side against Amanda there is the fact that there was no one there in the banana house.’

‘No, not when you were.’

‘I was at the old Ark a few seconds later, a few seconds before you came.’

‘It could go into minutes. I had to run up a hill.’

‘All right then, but for “him”, a so-called “him”, to have disappeared in that short time makes him a very slippery Sam indeed.’

‘Only he’s Mark, not Sam, isn’t he?’

‘I don’t know. Did Amanda say so?’

‘She said “our father” ... “him”,’ Jo persisted.

‘But she didn’t say Mark?’

‘Abel, what are you talking about?’

‘A ledger. A page headed Amanda. Well, now we have our debit side entered, and it’s Amanda’s lie, intentional or unintentional, so we’ll leave that for the present, and come to the credit side. Amanda, I have rather gathered, is
not
a fanciful girl.’

‘Not in the least.’

‘A practical girl. A girl dealing in actualities.’

‘Yes.’

‘Yet I did not see or hear anyone, so what sum total do we get out of that?’

‘I don’t know. I don’t know what to think, save that these children have been through a very great strain and they could have suffered a trauma, even practical, actual, unfanciful Amanda.’

‘Yet only Amanda has reacted.’

‘She was the only one to see the—the—’

‘Go on,’ he said.

‘The man. Also, Abel, hers was not the only reaction. The other two, when she told them, were visibly shocked.’

‘Shocked, you say? Not excited? Not eager for a reunion? Not sentimental? Emotional? But shocked. The shock of finding someone alive whom they believed was dead?’

‘No—not that kind of shock.’

‘Then? Tell me. Tell me, Josephine.’

‘It’s silly,’ she said sheepishly.

‘Tell me, anyhow. Tell me anything at all.’

‘They—they were terrified.’

“Terrified?’

‘Yes, frightened. Terrified. Only not ghost-terrified but kind of physically-terrified. Oh, I know it sounds crazy, but you did tell me to tell you.’

‘Yes, I told you, little one,’ he said quietly, and it was an odd quiet. What was Abel thinking?

‘I suppose,’ sighed Jo, ‘this cancels out the good you accomplished with the flip in the Cessna. I suppose next time you make an offer they’ll be right back at the beginning again, their old ungracious selves. Probably they’ll refuse.’

‘No,’ said Abel thoughtfully, ‘I don’t think it will happen like that. I think they’ll agree. I think they’ll even
want
to go. We’ll try, anyway. And this time it won’t be just a flip, it will be a definite journey. Perhaps to a working mine somewhere. A mine could serve two purposes-—a flight for them, information for us. And I know just where to go. We could do it nicely there and back in a day with time off for an inspection and lunch.’

‘Cuddled eggs,’ said Jo a little tremulously. What would she do, she was thinking gratefully, without a man like Abel to help her?

‘Cuddled?’ he queried.

‘Sukey’s version of coddled. She was funny about that, Abel. She said she didn’t like cuddles because they were dangerous.’

‘Are we on eggs?’ he asked.

‘We are not on eggs.’

‘Then the atom could be right, couldn’t she, who can tell what can come from a cuddle?’ he observed slyly.

‘It’s the healthy way to cook them,’ said Jo a little breathlessly. She added: ‘Now I’m on eggs!’

‘I’m glad you told me.’ He had risen from his chair and he crossed to Jo’s chair and pulled her up as well. He did it very deliberately.

His fingers on her arm were impersonal, and yet Jo knew suddenly she would feel the touch long after he had taken his hands away.

‘Josephine,’ he said softly.

‘Abel?’

‘I just said Josephine.’

‘Oh.’

He was not taking the impersonal fingers away, he was leaving them there. Jo could have stepped back and released herself from the light touch, but she did not move.

Gavin, she was thinking a little wildly, I love Gavin, we’re being married soon and there will be one out of three.

‘No, one out of
two
,’ Abel corrected very clearly, and she knew that once more she must have spoken her thoughts aloud. But one out of two?

‘Three,’ she reminded him.

‘Two. Three kids.
But two men
.’

‘Two men?’

‘That’s what I said.’

‘I’m engaged to Gavin,’ she blurted,

‘Are you?’ He was putting on a maddening ... maddening to Jo ... mildly surprised face.

‘You know I am. What is this?’ She held out her hand with its engagement ring.

‘A promise? A threat? How could I know? I’ve never been engaged.’

‘You and—’

‘I’ve never been engaged, Josephine. One out of two, I said. I meant two. Think that over, Josephine. Then when you reach an answer come and tell me.’

‘You must be mad!’

‘All the same, tell me. And if you want anything to help weigh down my side of the scales, remember this: I would take
all three
horrors.’

‘Now I know you’re mad,’ she insisted.

‘Wanting them?’

‘Pretending to want them when you think so little of them that you tag them horrors.’

‘And what have you ever tagged them? Oh, you’re lavish with your dears and pets, you scatter them around like so much largesse, but in your heart—’

‘How do you know what’s in my heart?’

‘I don’t, but I do know what’s not. Your Gavin is not.’

‘He is,’ she protested.

‘He isn’t, and I’ll tell you how I know—’

But it was Abel Passant who was told. The phone shrilled at that moment and Jo crossed and picked it up.

‘Yes,’ she said a little shakily into the receiver. ‘Yes, he is.’ She handed the phone to Abel. ‘It’s for you. It’s Erica.’

‘But—’

It was too late to do anything about it. Jo heard Abel say pleasantly enough: ‘Nice to hear your voice, Erica.’ Then: ‘Yes, I’ll be here.’ Then: ‘Yes, do.’

He put the phone down.

‘She’s run me to earth at last—aided and abetted by you.’

‘What did you expect me to say? That you’d gone again?’

‘No, that I’d married. That would have settled it for all time.’

‘Well, I didn’t, did I?’

‘No, and now we’re having the pleasure this afternoon of Miss Erica Trent and Mr. Gavin Something or other—I don’t know his name. Within’ ... Abel looked at his watch ... ‘the hour. What do you suggest, Miss Millett?’

‘Suggest?’ she queried.

‘Banana cake for a local touch? Certainly not Cut-and-Come-Again, one coming will be more than enough. The tantalising aroma of gingerbread men? Not one, not two, but a whole battalion of men?’

Jo began to flounce out, remembered that after the picnic she had nothing in the tins, so came back and crossed to the range to pull out knobs and fiddle with shelves.

She heard him laughing softly, and wondered whether the laughter would stop if instead of breaking the eggs into a basin she broke them some place else.

Like his amused face?

CHAPTER NINE

Within
the hour, as Abel had said, Gavin’s car pulled up at Tender Winds. The house was not redolent of ginger ... deliberately so to spite Abel ... but yes, there was a banana cake. As she eased it from the tin Jo watched Gavin helping Erica out. The girl looked cool, composed and beautiful, and Jo glanced down at herself and squirmed.

She had not found time to change since the return from the valley, so was dishevelled and generally untidy. She also wore jeans, not a favourite female attire of Gavin’s. He had made a strict rule of no trousers at all for his female staff at the office, not even the neat business suits permitted in many firms these days. He preferred the femininity of skirts in every walk, and Jo had always tried to please him in this, but out here at the plantation jeans were much more in keeping. Unfortunately hers were bush-stained in many places, and there was a distinct mud patch where she had sat down unexpectedly on some wet clay at the waterfall. Looking at the immaculate picture that was Erica, Jo could have wept.

The pair came up the path, watched unblinkingly by the trio in the garden. Jo said sharply to Abel, who was reading a paper: ‘They’re here,’ and went out to the verandah to greet them.

Abel followed her.

There were a few moments of greeting. Erica kissed Abel and Gavin kissed Jo, still watched unblinkingly by the three.

The adults went inside. They talked politely for a few moments, then Gavin said quietly and significantly: ‘Josie, my dear, there’s something that attracted my attention in the garden.’

‘Yes, they were watching you,’ Jo nodded. ‘But, Gavin, I still haven’t come to my decision. I mean you did give me more time, remember?’

Gavin looked annoyed at her interpretation of what he was prefacing, but passed the annoyance over quickly and discreetly.

‘Not that, dear. I simply mentioned the garden as somewhere for us to go.’

‘Why?’

‘Really, Josie!’ Gavin had her out on the verandah in a very short time.

‘I’m sorry if I sounded short, dear,’ he apologised once they were clear of the room and Erica and Abel, ‘but that pair will naturally want to speak together.’

‘Naturally,’ agreed Jo.

‘We will, too,’ said Gavin meaningfully. ‘Oh, dear, are those wretched children still there?’

‘Let’s walk up the track,’ proposed Jo. ‘As far as the fox. They won’t follow.’

He nodded and they set off, not followed physically but certainly followed by three unblinking stares.

‘As only to be expected,’ Gavin began, ‘they have a few things to say.’

‘The children?’

‘Erica and Passant.’

‘Oh, yes.’ Jo was looking rather curiously at the ground. It had rained last night. Up here it rained frequently. The bananas would not have flourished had there not been regular falls. Because the ground was always moist every footfall left its clear picture. She could identify Dicky’s—he had stubby toes. Amanda’s—hers was a slender outline. Sukey’s, blunt. Her own. Abel’s. And another. She did not know that one.

‘So you see, dear,’ Gavin was saying, ‘we’re going to take our time over everything.’

‘What, Gavin?’

‘There, you weren’t listening. I’ll have to start again.’

‘I’m sorry, Gavin.’

‘My dear.’ He pressed her arm in forgiveness. ‘Now listen this time.’

Jo did.

‘You could describe the few days Erica has had in town as a kind of cooling-down period,’ Gavin said. ‘That is, of course, if that very self-composed, very perceptive, poised young woman ever needs such a thing as cooling down.’

‘I see.’

He went on: ‘Erica travelled up here before the respective parents—’

‘Respective parents?’

‘One parent each. Erica’s father. Passant’s.’

‘Oh, yes, Abel... Mr. Passant mentioned his father.’

‘And Erica has mentioned hers. Poor child, I’m afraid Mr. Trent has been rather a trial to her. No wonder in desperation she decided to—’

‘Yes?’

But Gavin’s good taste did not permit him to finish that. ‘As things have turned out it has all been quite advantageous, my dear,’ he said instead. ‘For Erica, to allow her a period of consideration, for you to—’

‘Make up my mind for one out of three.’ No, one out of two, Abel Passant had corrected. Three children ... but two men. What had got into him to say that?

‘You put it badly, dear,’ Gavin tut-tutted, ‘but still you put it right, I suppose. What I really want to say is that you can take your time, Josie, I won’t be worrying you, poor child. A lot of my worry’ ... apologetically ... ‘was your absence from the office. Really, Josie, we’ve been greatly inconvenienced by your being away as you have. Then Erica, bright girl, came up with this very splendid idea.’

‘What idea?’

‘I felt sure you wouldn’t mind.’

‘What, Gavin?’

‘We’re short in the office, to put it briefly, dear. One very good worker short.’ Gavin pressed Jo’s shoulder in appreciation. ‘I didn’t like to complain, Josie, but I’ve been really desperate for help. Skilled help.’

‘Poor Gavin!’ she sighed.

‘Yes, poor Gavin, but not poor any longer. Erica has come to the rescue. It seems she’s a trained secretary. It would give her something to do while she—well—’

‘While she considers?’

‘Exactly. And it would help me out. But it all depends, of course, on you.’

‘On me?’

‘On whether you—’

‘Whether what, Gavin?’

‘Well, dear, you mightn’t care for the idea.’

‘Why?’

‘A pretty girl like Erica taking your place.’

‘That’s all right,’ Jo assured him.

‘Also you might not need the delay I’m offering. You naught have come to your decision and be ready to return to town with whichever one you—er—er—’ Gavin said carefully.

‘But I haven’t come to a decision, Gavin, and I would appreciate more time.’

‘Then you won’t mind Erica taking over your duties while you’re making up your mind?’

‘Gavin, I would be very grateful,’ she told him.

‘You know, I thought so,’ said Gavin delighted. ‘I even assured Erica beforehand. Erica seemed to think you might be—that you might think—’

‘I am very grateful,’ repeated Jo.

‘Dear girl!’ Gavin gave a quick look round, then kissed Jo. Jo staring at the ground again at that unidentified footprint, kissed him back absently. Who has been walking along here? she was thinking.

‘I believe we can return now,’ Gavin said cheerfully. ‘They’ve had their opportunity for a little chat.’ He tucked Jo’s arm in his and they started back. ‘Remember that outstanding account of the Tutwells, Josie, and how we simply couldn’t get any further with it? Well, Erica has come up with a bright idea, and I believe we might be recovering every cent.’

‘Splendid,’ said Jo.

As they entered Tender Winds again, Jo could not see the children. That pleased her. At least, she thought, they have done something on their own, they have disappeared. It was good to have them do something, even a deliberately naughty thing like this, for she had particularly told them that visitors were coming and she expected them to be there to be introduced.

Jo also saw that whatever Erica and Abel had had to say to each other was now finished. They were both seated in the lounge and talking trivialities. Neither seemed particularly dismayed with their discussion.

Jo made tea and sliced the cake. She went to the verandah and called: ‘It’s on. Come and get it! If you won’t come, then you’ll find it on the bottom step.’

‘Isn’t that spoiling them?’ Gavin disapproved with a lift of his brows.

‘They’re shy,’ said Jo.

‘They won’t get over it like that,’ Erica advised. ‘They should be made to behave properly.’

Abel came in: ‘They’ve had a bad trot. They’ll be all right.’

Across the room Jo’s eyes met Abel’s blue eyes, and they were kind ... kind. She looked gratefully back at him.

Presently Erica and Gavin left for the coast again. Jo and Abel waved them off, noting that the cake plate on the bottom step was now empty, then they came back into the house.

‘I think,’ said Abel, looking at Jo estimatingly, ‘you got what I got—a reprieve.’

‘I got nothing of the sort.’ Jo felt in all loyalty she had to say that. ‘Gavin is simply and very kindly giving me more time, and Erica, also very kindly, is substituting for me while I’m out here.’

‘In what capacity?’

‘What on earth are you talking about? In the office, of course.’

‘So long as you’re quite clear about that.’

‘I am quite clear.’ A pause. ‘And what about you?’

‘Well, it’s hard to say. Erica did come here originally with the intention ... I mean, she meant to—’

‘Go on,’ said Jo.

‘But now, like Gavin, she is all for a stay of procedure.’

‘You do use odd words, Abel. It sounds more like a law thing than a—’

‘Romantic happening?’

Jo ignored that.

‘As I told you, Erica is helping Gavin out until things are settled,’ she said. ‘After all, it’s such a short time since it all happened. You can’t expect everything to fall into a pattern at once.’ A pattern. Quite inconsequentially Jo was looking at Abel’s boot, at the pattern on the rubber sole. That other had been a different design.

‘Well, so long as you’re happy—’ Abel shrugged.

‘No, not happy.’ A pause. ‘Never
happy
any more, I think. But accepting.’

He was looking across at her and his eyes were gentle, gentle, anyway, for Abel.

‘You will be happy, Josephine,’ he said. ‘As for accepting, will you accept the invitation I gave you earlier?’

‘The flip to some mine?’

‘Yes.’

‘I’d love it.’

‘The children will, too. I’ve already had a word with them. Part of their alacrity is an eagerness to get away from here, I feel, but quite a big part, too, on Dicky’s side, anyway, is an eagerness to fly again. So it’s agreed?’

‘Agreed. When?’

‘Tomorrow. We’ll cross the Gibraltar Range and head for Lightning Ridge.’

‘That far?’

‘As the crow flies,’ he reminded her.

‘But can we still do it in the time you say?’

‘ “How many miles to Babylon?” ’ he recalled for her. ‘Yes, we can be back by candlelight.’ He added fancifully: ‘Banana candlelight, for they are candles, aren’t they? Yellow candles in a green world.’

Jo did not answer his fantasy; her mind was on facts. ‘Lightning Ridge! I’ve never been there. All I know is its opals.’

‘Some very fine opals have been won there,’ he nodded. ‘It’s not underground living like at Coober Pedy, but it has plenty of colour. Let’s hope it’s the right colour tomorrow, not potch.’

‘Potch?’ she queried.

‘Worthless stuff but sufficiently attractive at times to fool the amateur.’

‘How did the children take the news that you were going to a mining place?’

‘Like mummies, as usual. But I’m going to keep a sharp eye on them when we get there tomorrow, and I want you to do the same. See if you can catch them out in a look, in an obvious pre-knowledge.’

‘It mightn’t have been an opal mine their father was interested in.’

‘Still watch,’ he advised.

Jo said she would, adding that she had better think about tomorrow’s lunch.

‘No need, we’ll be having a counter tuck-in at the pub.’

‘Is there one?’

‘Swing doors, good beer, all you ask of a country hostelry.’

‘But the children—’

‘Can have pop,’ he assured her. ‘No worry, Josephine, just have the nippers and yourself ready by sun-up.’

‘Done,’ Jo agreed.

There was no trouble waking the children in the morning, they were more than eager to be gone. Eagerness for another flight? Curiosity over an opal mine? Or—or escape? Escape from something ...
someone
... whom Amanda had said she had seen, then studiously had not mentioned since.

But not to worry over that now. Instead give yourself up to the pleasure of driving through the bush again to the plateau, of taxiing once more down the small runway, then finding wings and turning due west over the ramparts of the Gibraltar Range.

Then after the range, foothills, then tablelands, then plains. Then once across the Darling River the sunburnt country that stretched, Abel called aloud, up to Queensland, and in the centre of it the opal town of Lightning Ridge.

Very little town, no lightning and no ridge, they discovered later, but holes everywhere. While they tried their luck on the piles of waste, for there were countess stories of what had been picked up by new-chums after the spoil had been discarded by the professionals, Abel gave them all a quick resume.

You made a claim, he said ... he looked keenly at the children’s faces for any change of expression ... then you dug. And you dug. Dug.

False sandstone came first, then real sandstone, then followed solid stuff. When you reached this solid stuff you used gelignite. Then you dug again and you might, or might not, get it. Probably might no.t. Anyone for lunch?

They were all for lunch, and had a great deal of fun over it. If diggers were not always successful people they were cheerful, ever anticipating that next turn of the earth. ‘It feels like crunching into glass, striking opal,’ they described.