Pearls (6 page)

Flynn released a thunderous belch, but at least had the manners to hold his soiled napkin over his mouth as he did so. Her own refinement had been instilled by the nuns at a Perth convent school; Mother Superior would have had you for breakfast, she thought, watching her father lick his fingers.

'That was a damned good feed,' Flynn said, and then, bowing his head in Elizabeth Niland's direction, 'begging your pardon, ma'am.'

George turned to Kate. 'I think I'll step out onto the veranda and have a cigarette. Would you care to join me, my dear?'

Kate hated being referred to as 'my dear', but she smiled and said: 'That would be most pleasant,' as she was supposed to do, and followed George outside. Henry and Elizabeth looked aghast at being abandoned to Flynn, who had already launched into a long and convoluted tale about his early days on a trans-Atlantic ketch, the punch line to which Kate knew was not repeatable in mixed company.

George stood under the gas light. A small ruby gleamed in his tie pin. He was wearing a charcoal grey Saville Row double breasted suit. A gecko watched him from the rafters.

He seemed nervous. His fingers were trembling as he lit his cigarette.

'Did you enjoy your dinner, my dear?'

'Do stop calling me 'my dear',' she said. 'I hate it.'

George flushed with embarrassment. 'I'm sorry. It's just ... that well ... I've grown very fond of you.'

'Then I wish you would find some other way of showing your affection.' As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them.

'Do you really mean that?'

She took a deep breath. 'Look. George ...'

'No, please, let me finish. We've known each other for a long time and ... you must know how I feel. I was wondering if ... well, as I said, I have grown very ... that is, I would like ...''

Kate had been expecting this; she had just not expected him to look so forlorn as he made his proposal. 'Are you asking me to marry you, George?'

'Well ... yes. My father will be retiring soon and I will have sole control of ...'

'No.'

' ... of Niland and Company here in Broome and ...' He stared at her. 'What?'

'Thank you, George. You do me a great honour in asking me. But I must refuse.'

'No?'

'I don't love you, George.'

George put his hands on his hips. For a long time the only sound was the hissing of the gas lamp. 'How dare you,' he said, finally.

'George?'

'I am the most eligible bachelor in Broome. How dare you refuse me.'

Kate stared at him, astonished.

'When my father retires I will be the most important man in Broome. I can give you anything you want.'

'Except love.'

'But I do love you!'

'But I don't love you.'

George threw his cigarette into the garden in an uncharacteristic display of petulance. 'You ungrateful little ... ' He turned away, thrusting his fists deep into the pockets of his trousers.

Kate gave a small shrug and went back into the dining room where Flynn was regaling Henry and Elizabeth with the story of how he had once eaten a live cockroach for a bet. She supposed they would both be thankful they need never have her father's knees under their dinner table again.

***

'You ... you ... you refused him?' Flynn was almost speechless with fury. The polished jarrah floorboards shook as he stalked the living room of their bungalow. 'But he's the most eligible man in Broome!'

'Yes, that's what he said.'

'Then why did you turn him down for God's sake? I had to endure four hours of Henry Niland droning on about his dreary book-keeping methods! Why in God's name did you say no?'

'Because I don't love him.'

A vein in Flynn's temple formed itself into a hard, bulging knot. 'What's that got to do with anything? Marrying George Niland would assure a future for both of us! I'd become a partner in one of the biggest pearling companies in Australia and you'd be the wife of the man who owned it! What more do you want, you stupid girl?'

'There's more to life than money,' Kate said. She turned on her heel and went into her bedroom, slamming the door.

'No there isn't!' Flynn screamed after her. Then he took off his shoe and threw it.

Chapter 9

Her secret life.

He came every night, an hour after dark. If her father was home - and that was rare enough these days - she would not come out. If Flynn wondered why she no longer berated him for spending every night at the Bosun's Regret he never said.

She would see the glow of his cigarette in the darkened garden from her bedroom window as he waited for a while and then left. But most other nights they talked in low whispers on the darkness, the smell of tobacco on his shirt and frangipani in the air. She could talk to him about anything, the way she had never talked to anyone in her life.

He had seen worlds she longed to know about - Glasgow London Inverness Singapore Hong Kong and Manila. She loved to listen to him; it didn't matter what he said. She loved the rich music of his voice and his accented brogue.

He brought the world alive for her, from the cold dark lochs to the green and shadowy deeps of the Lascepedes. Listening to him, she could almost feel the scratchy wool of the jumpers they wore under their diving suits, the drag of lead boots on her feet, the hiss of bubbles in the helmet valves. She was in awe of his courage.

She once asked him if he ever felt afraid. 'Afraid? Aye but a man cannae afford to feel afraid.'

'But isn't everyone afraid of something?'

'What are you afraid of, lass?'

'I'm afraid of being trapped in a marriage with a man I don't love. I'm afraid that if I love someone I'll lose them.'

He rolled a cigarette one handed. A match flared for a moment in the dark. 'That's always the risk with loving. Loving too much and not loving enough. It's a fine piece of balance and it seems to me not many manage it.'

'It seems that way.'

'So you want to love and be loved back. It does nae seem much to ask of life, does it?'

'I've not known many who have done it. What about you Cam?'

'You know what I want.'

'A pearl.'

'And the respect it will bring me.'

'Is that why you risk your neck up here in the middle of nowhere?'

'Kate, I was born in a slum. My father cannae read nor write. I know what I was meant for and I will nae have it. I know I was born for better things and I mean to have them but not because I'm in love with money. I want ...'

'Want what?'

'To be as good as anyone else.'

'But you are.'

'Aye? Tell that to George Niland and the like.'

'Is there place for a woman in this picture?'

'A woman like you, Kate? Flynn would call the police if he knew I was even talking to you.'

'Well you did break his nose. Not that he hasn't had it broken before. But you could bury the past if you wanted.'

'Why would I do that?'

'For my sake.'

She wondered if he was telling the truth about the pearl. She loved Flynn but she imagined it was the kind of thing he might do. But he was her father and just talking to Cameron was disloyal.

'Aye. For your sake I well might.'

'He's my father, Cam. Right or wrong, he's all I have.'

'Aye, I understand.'

'Do you miss your family, Cam?'

'My brothers, especially Lachie and Douglas. They were a wee bit older and always looked out for me. And my Ma. She was a good woman, God knows she'd have to be to put up with my da'.'

'You're the only one of hers that left.'

'Aye I am.'

'She must worry.'

'Aye, she does. I am her blue eyed boy, right enough, even though my eyes are nae blue. I think a part of hers proud, the other half wishes I could be more like my two younger brothers and work in the shipyard offices. My da' calls them girls on account of they can read and add up without using their fingers. But you have to be true to yourself, Kate. You have to know your own character and not try to be someone else.'

'Well, yes. I suppose that's true.'

'Have you nae thought about that?'

'My father says I'm stubborn and wilful. I always thought it was a bad thing.'

'There's a fine line between stubborn and determined. I can be pretty stubborn myself.'

'Did your father try and talk you out of the Navy then?'

'He dinnae care what I did as long as I was nae burden to him. My ma dinnae want me to do it. You have to understand, Kate, there's nae tradition of seafaring in the McKenzies. My great-grandfather was a sharecropper. She wanted me to work in the offices that was like being a toff to her. But me, I've no head for figures. Two things I could do well as a kid, that's fight and read.'

'You read?'

'Still have a dog eared copy of 'Treasure Island' in my kit bag. So sixteen I applied for the Royal Navy cadets and I was away to sea and I've nae been back since. Nae to live anyway.'

'What about your sisters?'

'My little sister Beth took it hardest. You can't go to sea, she said, it's full of water! God bless her. She'll be grown by now, have boys chasing after her I shouldn't wonder.'

'It's a long way from Glasgow to Broome.'

'Aye, it is. But there's money to be made her, lass, if a man's got the belly for it. More than I'd make in a year in the shipyards. I promised my ma that when I went home I'd bring her a string of pearls and I intend to keep my word.'

'And is there any other woman back home pining for you back home?'

'Who'd have me?'

She tilted her head to the side. 'Well, that's the question, isn't it? Are you wondering if I will?'

'Maybe.'

'Well you've sat on my back porch six nights in a row. A girl has to think a man might be interested. Or is it just a girl in every port for you?'

His fingers touched hers on the step. 'I've nae seen any girl as beautiful as you, in any port anywhere.'

'Beauty's not everything.'

'Nae, but it's something to start with. Don't tell me you'd be waiting out here every night if I was five foot four and wore glasses.'

She laughed at that.

He leaned towards her and she felt his warm breath on her cheek. She would have turned her face towards him but at that moment they had heard Flynn's horse and trap pull up outside. There was a yell as Flynn fell out of the seat.

'Every time he does this! I think it's deliberate!'

She pushed him away into the dark. One of these nights she thought, I will let him kiss me. But I'm afraid that if I do, I won't ever want him to stop.

***

Liddy Punyulpilpil muttered darkly to herself as she cleared away the dinner things from the table.

'What's the matter, Liddy?' Kate asked her.

'Not right.'

'What's not right?'

Liddy lowered her voice, though it was quite unnecessary. There was no one else in the house. Flynn had still not returned home. In all likelihood he was still at the hotel, drinking or gambling the season's profits away.

'I see you b'long him,' Liddy said, rolling her eyes. 'I see you belong that one white boss. Liddy see you from house b'long her.'

Kate grabbed the other woman's wrist. Liddy was a recent convert of the local Catholic missionary and the young Bandi girl had since dedicated her life to the hunting down of sin of every kind. 'Liddy, you are not to mention this to anyone, do you hear?'

Liddy shook her head. 'I doan know about that one. All same sin, all same work b'long debil-debil!'

Kate grabbed her by the arm and shook her finger at her. 'You breathe a word of this to anyone and I send you to a hot place b'long debil-debil, you hear?'

Liddy was not impressed. She crossed herself and went into the kitchen. Kate heard the dishes crashing into the sink. She slapped her hand petulantly on the arm of her chair and went outside.

The Wet was coming. Ominous black clouds were gathering on the horizon and lightning flashed across the sky like distant shellfire. There were no stars and the clouds seemed close enough to touch. Kate leaned on the veranda rail to wait.

***

Tom Ellies would only work on a pearl after he had examined it in the soft light of early morning. Only then were its secrets, the hidden ridges and whorls, clearly visible. He turned the stone slowly between his index finger and thumb and gave a soft sigh which could have meant anything.

Flynn twitched, like a wild horse. 'What?' he said, leaning towards Ellies. 'What?'

Ellies cautioned him to silence with an impatient movement of his hand. George patted Flynn re-assuringly on the arm. 'Let the man do his job Patrick.'