“Surely you don’t expect me to stay cooped up in the house all the time?” she said, the fight draining out of her. She was very conscious of Jake’s proximity, his musky aftershave. Perhaps he felt something too as he removed his hand quickly. Once they were in the hall, he frowned down at her.
“No, of course not. That was never my intention. Saturdays are your own time as was agreed,” his voice mellowed. “I’m aware there’s not a lot for a young woman to do around here. Next time I go to Darwin and take the kids with me, Harry can run you into the local township. When you’re more confident with the conditions, perhaps you can drive yourself.”
He paused, as his gaze traveled over her, taking in her unsuitable attire, her bare midriff and legs. She felt herself flush. “I can’t deny I was delighted at the prospect of having a qualified teacher here for Elizabeth and William. But at the same time I felt uneasy about hiring someone who doesn’t understand this country and can’t ride. Don’t let me down, Caitlin. If you go off
anywhere
by yourself, have a plan, tell someone where you are going and do it when there’s plenty of daylight left. Do you understand?”
“Perhaps, if you’d been here to explain all this when I arrived, Mr. Monterey,” Caitlin said, fighting to keep her voice even toned. “We might not be having this conversation. And I need to talk to you about the children, when you have a moment.”
He frowned. “You have a problem?”
The inference that she wasn’t handling her job hung in the air. She spoke quietly lest Elizabeth hear. “I am worried about Elizabeth. She suffers from nightmares.”
“I know. Elizabeth has an overactive imagination, like most eight-year olds,” he said stiffly.
She would not spare him. “And she cried for you.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” He turned away without further explanation and left her alone in the hall.
In her room, Caitlin rocked her rocking chair as if it would magically take her away. Jake Monterey was a patriarchal monster who clearly thought her a helpless female. She’d fought too hard for her independence to stand for that. She could leave. Find another job. But the thought caused more pain and fear than staying to tough it out. First chance she got, she would go down to the stockmen’s quarters, find Harry and take him up on his promise. Riding would give her some measure of autonomy. And she wouldn’t be telling Mr. Mighty Boots, Jake Monterey, anything about it until she could ride extremely well, indeed.
Chapter Three
Jake took Vanessa home the next morning. She’d complained about the heat and the ineffectual air-conditioning until even he seemed frustrated. Just before they left, Caitlin overheard Vanessa outside her room speaking on the phone to her mother. “Don’t worry, Mum, when we’re married and the kids are in boarding school, we’ll spend most of our time back there in Darwin. Jake can find someone to run this place for him.”
Caitlin wondered if Jake would agree to that. Although Vanessa was persuasive, Jake would be a difficult man to manipulate.
When she and the children went to the kitchen for their morning tea, Angela asked, “How’s your Nanna, Elizabeth?”
“Daddy brought her home from hospital. She has plaster on her leg and I’m going to write my name on it when Daddy takes us to Darwin.”
While Jake was still away, Caitlin went in search of pencils in his office, a building separate from the house. It was very orderly, folders labeled and stacked neatly onto shelves, but somehow that didn’t surprise her, he certainly liked to be in control of things.
On the huge old cedar desk sat a framed photograph of the children with a woman who must have been their mother, Caroline. Caitlin felt like an intruder, but couldn’t resist taking a closer look. Caroline smiled a sweet indulgent smile of love at the person taking her picture, and Caitlin wondered what awful fate befell her. She could ask Angela, of course, but she didn’t want to be seen as gossiping about the boss behind his back. She guessed she’d find out soon enough. Caroline was pretty and fair like Elizabeth. And Caitlin bet she had freckles.
* * * *
Caitlin’s routine with Elizabeth and William went relatively smoothly, although her uneasiness over Elizabeth didn’t dissipate. It seemed that the little girl just went through the motions, not relating to anyone around her, except her father to whom she clung.
Jake was gone the best part of every day. At four o’clock, he’d come home and Caitlin would go off for some free time on her own. She would do her washing, or some reading, constantly thinking of new things to stimulate and amuse the kids, to make learning a joy. At night she dined with the family, but Jake would have a tray sent out to his office. Caitlin strongly disapproved of this, but held her Irish temper in check. After their bad beginning, she wanted to be sure of her position before inviting another tirade from Mr. Monterey. Since that first day, he was always unfailingly polite, but she couldn’t help feeling that he was keeping his distance from her.
On her first day off, she told Angela she was going to see Harry. She ran across the paddock, her eyes searching for snakes and walked the mile downhill. The sun was the usual flaming ball suspended in a cloudless sky. Her jeans stuck to her legs and her feet burned in their boots. By the time she arrived at the stables and the stockmen’s living quarters, a group of wooden buildings hunkered down in the bush, she looked like an entrant in a wet t-shirt competition. She had abandoned her bra in her quest to beat the heat and looked down with dismay at the two large circles of sweat ringing her nipples, just as Harry emerged from a building, followed by two other men.
Cringing with embarrassment, she longed to cross her arms as Harry introduced the other two men, Mick and Riley. They each in turn grabbed her hand and gave it a hearty shake, grinning.
“Good thing you came down. We’ll be off mustering soon,” said Harry.
“How many cows do you have?” Caitlin asked.
They all laughed. “We have ten thousand head—takes us a while to round ‘em up.”
Her discomfort quickly faded, as she detected no sign of lasciviousness in their gaze.
“You need a decent hat, Caitlin,” observed Mick, a dark-haired young man with a cheerful, albeit pockmarked face.
“Go and grab one of those spare Akubra’s, Mike,” Harry asked him.
“No worries.” Mike walked back to the shed, kicking dirt into the air.
“I came to take you up on your offer, Harry,” Caitlin said. “If you could find time to teach me to ride, I’d be grateful.”
Harry tipped his hat back, and smiled. “The pleasure will be all mine, Caitlin.”
“I’d like my riding lessons to remain a secret. I want to surprise the children.”
“And Jake Monterey?” Harry grinned, displaying more acuity than she gave him credit for on their first meeting.
“Well … it would give me some kudos I think I need at the moment,” she said, smiling back.
“No sense in beating your head around the bush.”
“Meaning?”
Harry took off his hat and ran his hand through his hair. “I can’t say he’s not a fair man, but he’s built a wall around himself in the last few years since he came here.”
“I thought he’d lived here forever.”
“No. Tall Trees belonged to his wife’s family. Jake was born in America, came to Australia when he was a teenager.”
Caitlin had noticed a difference in Jake’s accent to other Australians. She opened her mouth to ask Harry what had happened to give Jake that scar, but Mick came back with the distinctive khaki felt hat and placed it on her head, tilting it slightly.
They all surveyed her.
“You look terrific in that,” Riley said, looking up at her with a smile, he was shorter than her by several inches.
“There’s plenty of daylight left. We’ll start that lesson right now,” Harry said. “Come to the stables and I’ll find a quiet ‘un for you.”
She hadn’t expected to be thrown straight in the deep end and her heart began to thud at the prospect. They entered the cool, dim stables.
Harry moved along the row of horses stabled there. Big, brown horse eyes surveyed her nervously, the white of their eyes glowing. She suspected this was not going to be as easy as learning to drive a car.
Harry selected a dark brown horse with a strange patterning of white, almost diamond shapes. It was the smallest horse they had, but it looked pretty big to Caitlin.
“This is Coke a Cola,” he said, throwing the saddle over and tightening the girth strap.
“Oh, I can’t call him that,” Caitlin said, putting up a tentative hand to stroke his nose.
“Coke’s a mare.”
“Then I’ll definitely have to think up a better name for her.”
Harry led the horse out into the open air and the heat and glare hit Caitlin again. She wiped her brow with the back of her hand.
“If I were you I’d cut those jeans off at the knees,” he said. “And get some shorts.”
“Shorts? Jake told me they weren’t suitable out here.”
“Did he?” Harry laughed. “I guess he had his own reasons. And I have mine.” He tied the horse up and disappeared back inside. “I’ll just saddle up Thunderbolt and be with you in a minute.”
Caitlin patted the horse’s neck. She was so pretty. “I’m going to call you Columbine,” she said softly.
“I’ll give you a leg up,” Harry said, right behind her.
“Wait … don’t you think you should give me some instructions first? Like, where’s the brake?”
Harry laughed. “You’ll learn as we go. Put your foot in the stirrup, here … and up you go.” He almost threw Caitlin up into the saddle. She perched there uneasily as he adjusted the stirrups. “Hold the reins so. Right.”
He proceeded to tell her how to lead the horse and hopefully make it stop. Caitlin seemed to be very high above the hard ground and held on tightly as the horse fidgeted. She figured it was a Catch 22. Columbine could tell she was inexperienced. It made the horse jumpy and that in turn made Caitlin even more nervous.
“Off we go.”
Harry looked like he could sleep and eat in the saddle and he probably did. He led his big chestnut out of the mounting yard and along the track. Columbine followed. Caitlin didn’t seem to need to contribute anything, apart from staying on, but this became quite a feat in itself as they began to descend a steep slope.
“You’re going to be a natural,” Harry said in an encouraging voice. He reined in alongside her. “You look good in the saddle.”
Columbine’s hooves kept sliding on the steep, dusty ground and Caitlin did what Harry advised, stiffening her legs and leaning back to prevent herself from falling over the horse’s neck. Once on level ground again she breathed a huge sigh of relief.
“You handled that well. Now we’ll try a trot.” The words made her heart begin its frantic beating again. Columbine obligingly broke into a trot following Thunderbolt along the path. Caitlin’s bottom rhythmically hit the saddle, bump, bump, which quickly began to feel like it was made out of rock instead of leather.
* * * *
That night, Jake came to eat at the dinner table with Caitlin and the children. “I believe you went down to the compound this afternoon,” he said, glancing at her as he carved the roast beef.
She felt unaccountably guilty—after all the time was her own. She moved uncomfortably on her chair, wishing she could put a cushion under her bottom. “Yes, I wanted to ask Harry if he could to take me into town next Saturday, as you suggested.”
“I’m sure he will,” Jake placed a slice of meat on her plate.
She nodded. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Jake suddenly grinned and she caught her breath. It was a very beguiling smile. “Don’t expect too much, Caitlin. It really is a one-horse town—nothing like Dublin.”
“Have you been to Ireland, Mr. Monterey?”
“It’s Jake. We’re not into formality in these parts and no, not yet.”
“It’s a completely different world.”
“You must find it strange here.”
“I’m getting used to it. Don’t worry. I don’t expect to find Dublin down the road.”
“Only those that love and live in Burrawong would call it a town. It’s just a cluster of houses and a couple of shops. The pub’s the hub of excitement around here and does a fair meal. Nothing fancy.”
“I need to buy bathers and a few things.”
“A swimming costume? There’s a store there sells women’s clothes, but I don’t know about costumes.”
Elizabeth interjected at this point. “Daddy, Caitlin has promised to take us swimming in the dam.”
The smile left Jake’s eyes. To Caitlin, it felt like a cloud had passed over the sun. “Angela might be able to find one you can use,” he said, putting down his knife and fork. “Nothing glamorous though.”
“Thank you. Is that okay?” Caitlin asked uneasily. “To take them swimming, I mean.”
“Pleeese Daddy,” interjected Elizabeth, with William joining in.
“Sure, it’s okay,” he patted William’s head as he rose from the table. Placing his uneaten meal on a tray he headed for his office.
At the door he turned, as if he’d forgotten all about her, and said, “I’ll have Angela dig those costumes out for you.”
She watched the screen door slam wondering what had just happened.
After dinner, she ran a bath and eased her aching body into it, feeling as if she’d gone a round or two in the ring with a boxing kangaroo. The bore water was quite hard, and made her hair feel stiff. She had to use loads of conditioner. As she lay in the cooling water, she thought about Jake’s reaction at dinner. His guard had slipped, if only briefly. Would the real Jake emerge more and more with time? She found it an odd situation, being isolated from the world and part of a family, yet at the same time, merely an employee. Even at his most surly he was far too attractive, and when he smiled! She sensed she would need to keep some distance from him for pure self-preservation. There would be no problem with that for he seemed intent on the same thing.
Chapter Four
Wandering around the maze of rooms at Tall Trees, Caitlin discovered a surprisingly wide-ranging library. Caroline Monterey had been its creator, she suspected, for her name was written on the fly-leaf of many of the books. She couldn’t help wondering what Caroline had been like. The many homely touches about the house and the paintings pointed to her love of craft and now Caitlin had discovered the kind of books she liked to read.