Beyond the Sunset (32 page)

The journey was uneventful, and Leo and Bert arrived back at Westview at about two o’clock in the afternoon a week after leaving Mount Barker. They drove up the slope and were met by Reece and the Southerhams, all eager for news of Pandora. A young girl who hadn’t been there last time stayed by the cooking area, watching them.

‘I have to see to the horses,’ Leo said at once.

Bert smiled to see the frustration on his companions’ faces. He was used to Leo’s single-minded attention to the animals now. ‘Give them the letters first, lad.’

Leo stopped. ‘Oh, yes.’ He pulled out two crumpled letters from his pocket and passed them to Reece, then went to unharness the horse.

‘They got on the ship safely,’ Bert said. ‘I didn’t see them do it myself because of this.’ He waggled the rapidly healing arm still in its sling. ‘But a fellow from Mount Barker went with them for the last stage of the journey.’ Another waggle of the arm drew their attention to the cart. ‘We had a bit of an accident. Wheel came off.’

‘Pandora wasn’t injured?’ Livia asked sharply.

‘No. Just me.’

Francis was paying more attention to the livestock. ‘The horses are not in bad condition, considering. Kevin and Conn will be pleased. And the cart’s been well repaired.’ He clapped Leo on the shoulder. ‘I’m glad to see you back. We’ll have to introduce you to Patty, who’s come to help my wife.’

Leo ignored the reference to the new maid and repeated, ‘I have to look after the horses now.’

‘And you’ll be helping Reece about the place from now on.’

More nodding. ‘I like him.’

Reece looked at the letters, which were addressed to his wife. He was itching to find out what was in them, but they were addressed to her. ‘You’ve got enough help for the next hour. I’ll take these across to Cassandra and let Kevin know you’re safely back. I’ll drive his cart round there tonight by road after I finish work.’

‘Can’t you read the letters now?’ Francis asked in surprise. ‘You’re her husband, after all, and we’re dying to find out what happened.’

‘No. They’re addressed to her.’ He knew most husbands wouldn’t hesitate, but he would never open something addressed to her.

Cassandra looked up to see Reece hurrying along the bush path. ‘Is everything all right?’

‘Yes. Leo and Bert just got back and they brought two letters for you from Pandora.’

She tore open the first one, scanning its single page quickly. ‘They had an accident with the cart, but she and Zachary weren’t hurt and went on to Albany the next day. She thought they’d be in time for the ship.’ She passed the letter to Reece and opened the second one, letting out an exclamation of shock.

‘Is something wrong?’ he asked.

‘Pandora and Zachary have got married!’

They stared at one another for a moment open-mouthed, trying to take in the news.

‘She says she loves him. See.’ Cassandra passed the letter to Reece.

‘It happened very quickly. I hope he’s not after her money.’

They both had a think, then shook their heads at almost the same time.

‘No, I can’t imagine him marrying her for money,’ she said. ‘He has such an honest face.’

‘I really liked him.’

‘And she wouldn’t lie to me. If she says she loves him, then she does. Oh, I’m so glad for her.’ Cassandra went to link her arm in Reece’s and lay her head against his shoulder. ‘It’s wonderful being married to the man you love.’

‘And to the woman you love.’ He kissed her very gently. ‘You look tired.’

‘I’m tired all the time now. I don’t think it’ll be long.’

‘I’d better go across to the shop and see if anyone else can help you. Mrs Moore will be at her other birthing. Maybe I should bring one of your sisters back. The girl I brought to help the Southerhams is too young to know anything about childbirth.’

‘I think we can wait a day or two yet. We’ll see how I go.’

Eighteen days after leaving Point de Galle, Zachary and Pandora arrived in Suez. They’d had a pleasant voyage with a group of polite people, which included some of their former travelling companions. It seemed hotter here and even Zachary, who tolerated the warmer weather far better than his wife did, felt as if he could hardly breathe. Pandora wilted even before they arrived at the port, lying exhausted on her deckchair, eating little, tossing in her bunk at night in the slightly larger cabin they were occupying on this leg of the journey.

He forgot his own discomfort in trying to help her, making sure she got plenty of water to drink, which Mr Plumley said was the most important thing.

‘Some people,’ the old man confided one night as they stood together by the ship’s rail, ‘just can’t cope with heat. Your wife is one. I should keep her in England and the cooler countries from now on, if I were you.’

‘I shall,’ Zachary said.

‘It does my heart good to see how much you two love one another. Brings back memories of me and my Mary. I miss her sadly.’ He shook out a large crumpled handkerchief and blew his nose vigorously.

Zachary looked at him in surprise.
Love one another?
Why did Mr Plumley sound so certain of that?

Of course the thought of Pandora loving him, wanting to stay with him, coloured his dreams that night and he slept badly, dreaming of her and waking in a tangle of sweaty sheets.

She stared at him as they drank their early morning cups of tea, reaching out one hand to touch his cheek. ‘You didn’t sleep well, either.’

‘Like you, I’m finding the heat very trying.’

She smiled sadly. ‘It’s not the heat that’s the problem so much as your conscience warring with . . . other needs.’

He took her hand and kissed it but as she raised her face involuntarily towards his, he had to step back or he’d have pulled her into his arms and kissed her as he’d dreamed of. Going to the washstand, he stood with his back to her dabbing his face with a damp cloth. He heard her sigh. He was so tempted to turn back to her, knew she’d welcome his loving.

But his conscience stood sentinel once again, his conscience and the thought of the trust Mr Featherworth had placed in him.

The train journey to Alexandria was the next stage in what was beginning to seem like a never-ending journey. Other travellers talked of going sightseeing, some were staying longer in Alexandria in order to do so. Zachary and Pandora were in agreement that all they wanted was to get home – and he couldn’t decide which of them wanted it more, she out of homesickness, he out of frustration with their situation.

Every time the train stopped, sellers crowded round the windows trying to force goods and trinkets upon them. The men were dressed in baggy trousers, many wearing a type of hat like a flower pot. Mr Plumley called it a fez.

Zachary bought Pandora a painted fan from a seller who had a whole basket of them, and chose one for himself at the same time, thinking he’d give it to Hallie when he got back. He bought his mother a pretty shawl, so fine and light it’d be useless for keeping warm, but the blue would match her eyes and he knew she’d treasure it even if she never wore it.

When he showed the shawl to Pandora, who was waving her new fan languidly to and fro in front of her flushed face, she said he had very good taste.

‘They were all pretty, but blue is my mother’s favourite colour.’

‘How do they make the material so fine and transparent?’ she wondered. ‘What count of thread must they be using? And the dyes – they’re gorgeous.’

‘Would you like a shawl?’

‘Yes, please.’

‘What colour?’

‘You choose.’

So he found one in a deep rose pink, whose fabric glimmered as he held it up to show her.

She touched it with tears in her eyes. ‘It’s beautiful. Oh, Zachary, I’m so sorry.’

‘Sorry for what?’

‘That I’m exhausted and lethargic all the time. I can’t understand why I don’t get better.’

‘Mr Plumley says some people are like that in the heat and I’m to keep you in England from now on.’

‘Oh, yes. Even to see my family, I don’t think I can face this journey again. How my father would scold me and tell me to pull myself together! But Zachary I’m trying and I just
can’t
!’

‘I know.’ He took her hand, held it in his until the train set off again, chatted until he got her to smile, and counted the sightseeing well lost for the pleasure of being with her.

At least in Alexandria it wasn’t as hot and Pandora began to look a little better, didn’t have to be coaxed to eat and agreed to go out to see something of the city.

There was a new tram system which their guide took them for a ride on. He was clearly more proud of this than of the antiquities.

‘Very modern city,’ he kept telling them. ‘Very modern.’

Cassandra was woken during the night by a sharp pain. She waited, wondering if the baby was coming. Surely not? It’d been very quiet lately, not moving about nearly as much, and she’d begun to feel that she’d be able to last until Mrs Moore could come to help her with the birth, which would be a great relief.

Several pains later she shook Reece’s shoulder. ‘I think the baby’s coming.’

He sat up abruptly. ‘Hell! And Mrs Moore won’t be able to come for another couple of days.’ He swung his legs out of bed and went to light the candle from the embers of the fire.

Kevin came out of the other bedroom, blinking. ‘Is everything all right?’

‘Cassandra’s having the baby. Can you sit with her while I go to fetch Livia.’

‘She’s a nice lady, but she won’t be much use to you.’

‘I know, but there should be another woman to help.’

‘Why don’t you bring that lad with you as well? Leo’s used to delivering foals and such. Better than nothing.’

‘Leo?’

‘Can’t hurt.’

Reece was back half an hour later with Livia and Leo. The latter seemed perfectly happy to be involved, though everyone else except Kevin was dubious as to what use he’d be.

But as the hours passed and the baby didn’t appear, Reece began to feel frantic as he heard Cassandra stifling her cries of pain and saw how tired she was looking.

Leo listened and watched, then said, ‘Can I look at her? I’ve seen a baby born and I know what to do. The groom’s wife had hers in the stable. It arrived before they’d expected it.’ He smiled at the memory, then added, ‘Women need more help than animals do.’

‘The lad’s the only one who knows anything,’ Kevin pointed out to Reece. ‘You told me they wouldn’t let you stay with your first wife.’

‘They didn’t let me into the bedroom till she was dying,’ Reece said, the memories of that adding to his terror now. If he lost Cassandra he didn’t know what he’d do! She was his friend as well as his love.

So Leo went into the bedroom and Cassandra, exhausted by the pain and far beyond such petty emotions as embarrassment, let him feel her stomach.

‘I think it’s the wrong way round,’ he said. ‘See. This is a leg. We turn foals when they’re like that.’

Reece and Livia stared at him in dismay.

It was left to Cassandra to say, ‘Turn it then, Leo. I don’t want to lose my baby.’

‘We need hot soapy water, plenty of soap,’ Leo said. ‘And the farrier always made everyone wash their hands when they were dealing with new foals.’

He began to work on Cassandra, a serene expression on his face, while Reece hovered anxiously nearby as the minutes ticked slowly past.

To everyone’s amazement Leo suddenly smiled. ‘That’s better. It can be born now.’

And sure enough, within a few minutes, the head was out and almost immediately afterwards, the baby was lying there, crying lustily.

Again it was Leo who knew to tie and cut the cord.

When he’d done that, Livia wrapped the child in a cloth, tears in her eyes, and handed the baby to Cassandra. ‘Here’s your daughter.’

She’d been lying with her eyes closed, but she opened them abruptly.
‘A girl!’

Reece came to kneel beside her. ‘Yes. Still happy to call her Sofia?’

She looked at the tiny crumpled face beside her and was unable to speak for emotion. Pressing a kiss on the child’s forehead, she murmured, ‘Sofia. Yes, it’s a lovely name.’

He smiled down at them and admitted to himself that he was glad the baby was a girl. He knew he’d find it easier to love a girl than a boy.

A week after leaving Alexandria the ship had docked in Gibraltar, from where they moved out of the Mediterranean on their last leg to Southampton. Zachary was relieved not to meet rough weather in the Bay of Biscay and the last stage of the voyage passed without incident.

With the cooler weather Pandora improved quickly, regaining her old energy and looking even more beautiful than before.

At last they were told one morning that they were nearing England and like most people, they went up on deck straining to catch a first glimpse of the coastline. Pandora stood beside him, jigging about in excitement, her eye sparkling, her cheeks rosy.

When a smudge appeared on the horizon and one of the officers confirmed that this was indeed England, he saw tears well in her eyes and spill down her cheeks.

‘I can’t believe we’re nearly there.’ Her voice was husky with emotion.

As he put his arm round her shoulders, she turned in his embrace, sobbing against his chest without regard to who saw or heard her.

It was Mr Plumley who took charge. ‘Come along, my dear young lady. Perhaps you should lie down and take time to compose yourself.’

But she gulped to a halt, wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled at them. ‘I’ll be all right in a minute or two. It was just—I’ve longed for home so much, so very much.’

She went to the day cabin for luncheon, but was soon back up on deck, staring at the horizon, looking happy and vigorous once again.

When they docked in Southampton she was impatient with the formalities and ran the last few feet down to the dock, spinning round in a circle heedless of the rain that was falling on her upturned face. ‘We’re here,’ she said to Zachary. ‘We’re really here in England.’ She bent to lay her hand against the ground for a moment, then stood up, eyes sparkling with tears of joy.

‘And with a fine summer’s day to greet us!’ he teased.

‘I don’t care if it rains every day. It’s
English
rain,
English
air.’