Beyond the Sunset (31 page)

‘I am. I’m not usually so tired.’

‘Well, you’ve only just recovered from an illness and a tiring journey.’ He found his nightshirt and blew out the lamp.

She let her eyes close and found it comforting to hear him moving nearby. The bunk frame moved as he climbed into the top bed and she smiled again.

He was here. She was safe. Sleep wrapped itself round her like a cosy blanket.

It took him a lot longer to get to sleep. Hearing her soft breaths below him, remembering the feel of her lying against him gave him a restless hour before he settled.

Leo and Martin arrived back in Mount Barker late that night after an uneventful journey. Bert was glad to see them.

‘We’re setting off back as soon as that damned cart is mended,’ he announced.

Leo ignored this, his mind on one thing only. ‘I have to see to the horses.’

When he rejoined Bert in the public room, supper was almost ready.

‘Did you hear what I said? I want to set off tomorrow as soon as the damned cart is mended.’

‘Let me look at your arm first.’ Leo took off the cloth sling, his hands gentle. ‘It’s healing properly.’

‘It’s not hurting as much.’ Bert hesitated then added, ‘Thanks to you.’ He knew how lucky he was to have had someone who knew how to set the arm properly.

Leo nodded absent-mindedly, concentrating on tying the sling, tongue out at one corner of his mouth.

Bert watched him, not interrupting until he’d finished. ‘Can you manage the horses and driving without my help, lad? It’s not going to be easy and it’ll be at least a week’s travel.’

‘Oh, yes. They’re good horses.’

‘Fine. That’s settled then.’

They sat and waited for the landlord to bring their food across. It was good, Bert thought, to have a companion who didn’t talk at you all the time.

At last the food arrived. ‘Mr Carr’s already paid the bill,’ the landlord said, ‘even remembered to pay for the repairs. It was a pleasure to do business with someone like him.’

Martin came in to join them. ‘I can attach the new wheel as soon as it’s light. The rest of it’s been repaired already. You were lucky there wasn’t more damage done.’

‘Good.’ Bert tackled his food one-handedly, with renewed appetite.

‘Did I tell you Zachary and Pandora had got married in Albany?’

Bert nearly choked on a mouthful of potato. ‘They didn’t!’

‘Yes. They had to do it to get the last cabin. That P&O agent is a real stickler. Still, they were engaged, weren’t they?’

‘They love one another,’ Leo said. ‘I’m glad they’re married.’

‘Me and Mum acted as witnesses. Oh, I nearly forgot.’ He pulled a letter out of his pocket. ‘She wrote to her sister. Can you take it back?’

Leo reached out for it. ‘I’ve got another letter to her sister. I’ll keep them together.’

Martin put a forkful of meat into his mouth.

Without being asked, Leo reached across to cut up Bert’s meat.

Bert was relieved. He was sick of trying to manage one-handedly, but Leo had already done one or two small tasks for him without being asked. He was a strange lad, but good-hearted. They’d have been lost without him on the journey. He’d even prevented the accident going from bad to worse.

It just went to show you shouldn’t judge people by their appearance.

Bert cleared his plate without more conversation, though Martin yabbered on a bit. Luckily there was another traveller who was happy to chat to him. Bert liked to chew his food in peace.

The first morning on the ship Pandora woke with a start, uncertain where she was for a moment or two. Then it all came rushing back to her. She was
married
. On her way back to England.

‘I’m awake,’ Zachary said quietly from above her head. ‘Do you want to get dressed first or shall I? If we ring the bell, the steward will bring us some hot water.’

‘You’ll need to shave while the water’s hot. I’ll wait to get up.’

She watched him shave then he hesitated and looked at her, so she turned her back to the room and waited for him to finish his ablutions. A tear trickled down her cheek. This wasn’t what she’d expected of marriage, or what she wanted.

‘I’m ready now, Pandora. I’ll go and wait for you in the day cabin.’

She tried to speak cheerfully. ‘I won’t be long.’ But she didn’t feel cheerful. She felt disappointed. Bitterly disappointed. She didn’t want him being all noble about their marriage. She wanted . . . him. Properly.

Not all the cabin passengers were there for breakfast, one or two being ‘indisposed’, though the sea wasn’t really rough, just ‘a bit lively’ according to the steward.

After breakfast, Pandora went to stand by the rail, waiting for her husband to join her. She found herself surrounded by young men and didn’t know how to tell them to go away. She didn’t want to offend anyone, but she’d never learned how to flirt and wasn’t going to start now. It turned out they were the All England Eleven and had been in Australia to play cricket.

She was relieved when Zachary joined her, summed up the situation at a glance and said cheerfully, ‘Thank you for keeping my wife company, gentlemen, but I’ll take over that pleasant task now, if you don’t mind. After all, we are on our honeymoon.’

With murmurs of regret they moved away.

‘I was so glad to see you,’ she confessed in a whisper. ‘I didn’t know what to do. They were saying such silly things.’

‘Just smile and let them do the talking. You must expect to attract attention, you know.’

She looked at him in puzzlement.

‘You’re a beautiful woman, Pandora.’

‘Oh, that. I wish I wasn’t. I don’t like to attract that sort of attention. Anyway, don’t let’s talk about them any more. Did you fetch our books?’

‘Yes. We’ll find a sheltered place and read.’

‘That’ll be lovely.’

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had nothing pressing to do and could simply sit down to read a book. But she found it hard to settle today. When she looked up after reading the first couple of pages a second time because nothing seemed to be going into her mind, she saw him staring into the distance, making no attempt to read.

He turned to her. ‘You don’t have to stop reading just because I’m too lazy to concentrate.’

She laid her book down and leaned back, closing her eyes. ‘I feel lazy too.’

After a few moments of silence, he asked abruptly, ‘You’re not regretting anything, are you?’

‘Getting married, you mean?’

He nodded.

‘How many times do I have to tell you that I wanted to marry you?’

‘I have to be sure.’ He reached across to clasp her hand for a moment, then they lay quietly on the deckchairs, resting.

She woke with a start, realising she’d drifted off. Zachary was still there, smiling at her. ‘I can’t believe I fell asleep,’ she said in bewilderment. ‘I’ve only just got up.’

‘You’re still pale. I’m sure a long rest will be good for you.’

‘How long does it take to get to Point de Galle?’

‘About a fortnight, I think.’

That evening, he asked about the whole journey and several people chimed in with information.

‘About fifteen days to Point de Galle. Nice place to stop, that.’

‘About seventeen or eighteen days to get to Suez from there.’

‘Six weeks in all to get to England, give or take a few days.’

Pandora knew her map of the world and frowned. ‘How do we get from to the Mediterranean Sea from there? Is there a road?’

One man laughed. ‘It’s all very civilised these days, my dear young lady. We go by train to Alexandria and that takes only a couple of days, as long as the train doesn’t break down. In Alexandria we take another steamship.’

An older man smiled reminiscently. ‘The first time my wife and I went to Australia was by sailing ship. Later we went via Egypt, using the overland route. She was an intrepid traveller, my Mary. We went back to England several times. We had to go by horse and carriage from Suez to Cairo at first – about eighty miles but it felt more like five hundred. Dreadful roads, they were. We were black and blue from the jolting by the time we arrived. The next stage was down the Nile in a filthy old steamer. Mary suffered dreadfully from bug bites, poor thing, but she always laughed about that sort of thing. And finally, the last stage was in a stuffy canal boat to Alexandria.’

Some of the older passengers began to exchange anecdotes of the old days and Pandora was content to listen.

That night at bedtime Zachary again went out for a walk on deck and it was so long before he came back that she could feel herself falling asleep.

She woke in the night to hear his slow, steady breathing above her and sighed. She wished he was holding her in his arms again.

The old gentleman who’d travelled by the overland route in the old days asked if he could sit with them the following morning, clearly longing for a chat. Pandora put down her book in relief. She kept finding herself watching Zachary instead of reading, wondering what he was thinking.

‘I’m going home to live permanently in England,’ Mr Plumley confided. ‘I have two sons in Australia and two in England, grandchildren in both places. But since my wife died, I long for the old country. Foolish, isn’t it?’

‘If you’re foolish, so am I,’ Pandora said. ‘I was so homesick I couldn’t wait to leave Australia, even though my three sisters are still there.’

‘It’s tragic how families are torn apart by distance.’ He shook his head sadly. ‘When you’re young, it’s a big adventure to travel and settle in another country, but as you get older you long to see the old places, old friends too, those who are still alive, that is. I doubt I’ll ever see my Australian children and grandchildren again, unless they come to visit me.’ He brightened. ‘My Paul may do that, though. He’s done well for himself and he takes after his mother, loves seeing new places. But I doubt I’ll see George again. He’s a homebody. I don’t know how we got a son like that.’

They sat with Mr Plumley quite often after that and accepted with great relief his offer to guide them through the process of finding a ship for Suez in Point de Galle. He didn’t seem to mind when she fell asleep on him, just said if she’d been ill her body needed peace and quiet to repair itself.

It was a comfort to chat to him during the day, but nights were still fraught with sudden tensions and Pandora sometimes longed to shout at Zachary and ask him what was wrong with her that he didn’t even want to touch her.

But pride stopped her doing that. Pride, and his gentle courtesy. It created a very effective wall between them, as if they were strangers somehow.

17

Z
achary stared in delight across the pale turquoise water as a warm wind blew around them. How different it was here at Point de Galle from the English Channel, where the water had seemed dirty brown. Inland stood a range of mountains with one sitting proudly higher than the rest. Below that sat a huge fort overlooking the harbour and town of Galle.

Pandora echoed his thoughts. ‘Isn’t it beautiful?’

‘Very.’ He longed to put his arm round her shoulders or take her hand, but wouldn’t allow himself to give in to temptation.

She fanned herself with a piece of folded paper, moving it languidly to and fro in front of her flushed face. ‘I wish it wasn’t so hot and humid, though. That makes me feel tired all the time.’

Indeed, she was still so lethargic he was worried about her health. He heard her sighing and mopping herself with a damp cloth during the night to get cooler. But when he asked if anything was wrong, she said she was all right. Only, he knew she wasn’t. She was nothing like the vibrant, energetic young woman he remembered seeing in Outham.

As their ship was eased into the deep, sheltered water of the harbour, Mr Plumley came up to them. ‘Ready to disembark? It’ll take a while, so don’t get impatient.’

‘We’re grateful for your help,’ Zachary said.

‘It’s good to have some young company.’ He gestured to the ramparts. ‘We’ll take a walk along those later, once it’s cooler. They’re a favourite promenade for travellers.’

In a confusion of shouting, what seemed like hundreds of dark-skinned men poured on to the ship and began moving luggage and cargo off it. When the passengers disembarked, Mr Plumley took the Carrs straight to the P&O agent and waited patiently with them for Mr Bailey’s attention.

‘We shouldn’t take up your time like this,’ Zachary said to their companion.

Mr Plumley smiled. ‘What else should I do with it but help my fellow human beings? Besides, seeing things anew through your eyes adds to my own pleasure.’

To Zachary’s relief, there was a ship leaving for Suez in two days’ time and it had a cabin free, so all that remained was to find somewhere to stay until they could board it. Once again, this was easily accomplished with Mr Plumley’s help. Then, as the sun began to slip below the horizon with tropical swiftness, they all took a gentle stroll along the ramparts.

‘What do you want to do tomorrow?’ the old man asked.

‘See as much as possible,’ Zachary said.

‘As long as I can stay out of the direct sun,’ Pandora added.

‘We can hire a vehicle and keep you in the shade for most of the time,’ Mr Plumley said. ‘If you’re too hot, we can easily bring you back. Well, we’ll come back during the middle of the day anyway. It’s too hot to stay outside then.’

So for the first time in his life, Zachary saw coconut palms and breadfruit trees, tasted strange spicy dishes which made Pandora fan her mouth and laughingly confess that she preferred plain food. It was fascinating to hear people speaking in a variety of different languages, for there were travellers from many countries wandering the streets while their ships took on coal.

And it did seem that Pandora perked up a little as they did the sightseeing.

But the main problem had not been solved for Zachary. Why he’d been foolish enough to agree to this sham of a marriage he couldn’t now understand. A temporary attack of madness caused by intoxication with her, not so much her beauty, but her very self.

No, not intoxication, just plain, old-fashioned love.

But he loved her too much not to give her the chance to change her mind when she was in a more rational state, however many restless nights it cost him. He couldn’t live with himself otherwise. His mother had often teased him for having such firm principles, but that was how he was made.