Ironbark (35 page)

For one moment Daniel Browne's air of authority wavered. Keziah saw a flash of genuine sorrow in his eyes.

‘I told her art was my mistress. She agreed that when she became my wife she would always respect my mistress.' He turned his head away as if to regain control and his mouth hardened. ‘Saranna was devoted to me. She'd do anything I asked and so will you. Tomorrow you will apply for permission to marry me.'

Keziah gave a scornful laugh. ‘Over my dead body!'

He leaned across the table and gripped her arm. ‘Make no mistake. You have two choices. Our marriage will gain my transfer from Gideon Park. I'll be legally assigned to you, the so-called
respectable
schoolteacher who came free.'

She stared back at him, her heart racing. ‘And if I refuse?'

‘Your safe little world will collapse like a house of cards. You'll lose your son, your livelihood, your good name. Marriage, the custody of my body and soul, is what the late Saranna agreed to. You stole her life. So it's only fair you also inherit me.'

Keziah gave a derisive snort. ‘Saranna was a lady. Far too good for the likes of you!'

Daniel retaliated. ‘You might fool everyone in this backwater that you're a lady. These colonials know no better. In English eyes you're nothing but a vagabond Gypsy!'

The words hit their target. Keziah could no longer control her rage. She leapt at him, her hands clawing for his face, but he managed to pinion her arms to her side. He crowed in triumph.

‘You carry off your masquerade because it's in the blood. Generations of Gypsy liars!'

In vain she struggled to break free but finally knew she was beaten. ‘State your terms.'

Daniel Browne released her and looked relieved that he'd won. ‘That's more like it. Marriage leads to my ticket-of-leave, free to work for wages. As my wife you gain my protection and add my income to your poor farmers' coins. I'll be your son's stepfather.' He looked pointedly at her slim figure. ‘Hobson's Cockney girl told me you'd
adopted
a foundling. Some fools will believe anything, eh?'

Keziah felt herself blanch.

‘Mind if I smoke?' Daniel asked. Without waiting for her reply he lit his clay pipe.

Keziah tried one last desperate ploy. ‘I can't marry you. I'm married to Gem Smith.'

Daniel started in recognition. ‘Gem Smith the Gypsy bushranger? So it was a Romani marriage?'

‘Of course!' said Keziah but instantly realised her mistake.

‘So it isn't strictly legal. Anyway, married to a bushranger you'll soon be a widow.'

Keziah flinched but tried to call his bluff. ‘My husband would kill you first!'

‘I doubt it. Gem knows full well a convict will do
anything
to escape Gideon Park!'

‘You're crazy to think I'd allow
you t
o share my bed.'

He equalled her contempt. ‘What makes you think I want to? We'll share my name and your house in the eyes of the law. That's the price of freedom for both of us.'

Daniel closed the deal. ‘Saranna Plews was unmarried so there's no
impediment. I'm told it doesn't take too long for Governor Gipps to grant permission. Once he does, banns are read on three consecutive Sundays. Then we marry or I'll expose you as a charlatan, a
bushranger's doxy
.'

Keziah was in inner turmoil. But one thought was paramount.
He knew Gem at Gideon Park!

Daniel idly picked up his pencil and sketch pad. ‘Before I go you will do one more thing for me. Unbraid your hair. I want to capture the
real
you.'

Keziah hesitated then allowed her hair to cascade over her shoulders.

‘That's a good girl. You see? We're going to get along just fine.'

When he smiled at her for the first time Keziah hated him even more.

In the hours after Daniel Browne rode off in the direction of Gideon Park, Keziah rushed around the house casting every known spell to bring Gem back to her.

Although she'd had to concede temporary defeat and accept Daniel Browne's plan, she was desperate to buy time to foil it. Escape was impossible. If she bolted again, Gem would never find her.

Through the window she watched the home paddock where Gem's gift of the brumby was frolicking beside the Shetland pony that Jake had given Gabriel.

If only Jake were here! He had the comforting ability to fix anything.
But even I can't predict his movements. No doubt he's chasing up some clue to Jenny's whereabouts.

She prayed out loud to her ancestors. ‘Please bring Jake Andersen back to Ironbark. I need him!'

Each night her sleep was haunted by nightmares and she woke each morning in a state of exhaustion. At times she could sense that Gem's aura was close to her. But although she searched all the tracks she usually took, there were no further
patrins
to prove Gem had her in his sights.

Keziah sensed the hand of
baxt
on the day she saw Nerida returning with the two little boys from a walk in the bush. She knew something important had happened and ran out to meet them.

Nerida silently handed her a silver filigree ring. It looked like one Keziah had seen in Sunny Ah Wei's collection of silver jewellery.

‘Nerida, where did you find this?'

‘Stranger riding black horse give it me. He said gift is for you. In place of ring you had to bury.'

Keziah gave an involuntary cry. Her wedding ring was buried in Bolthole cemetery on Saranna's corpse. But who else knew that?

‘What did he look like, Nerida?'

Nerida didn't need to describe more than the single gold earring and the coins on his waistcoat before Keziah gave a cry of joy, begging Nerida to recount everything Gem had said and done.

‘Did Gem say
when
he would come to me?'

Nerida nodded. ‘Before the moon is born again.'

It was second nature to Keziah to watch the sky and be aware of the phases of the moon her
Puri Dai
had taught her. She knew the next new moon would make its first appearance in five days, but would be invisible to the naked eye for a day and a half before that. She felt a surge of energy, along with a wave of anxiety, as to what she would say and do at her reunion with Gem. It crossed her mind to hide Gabriel in Nerida's
goondie
, but she dismissed the thought. Gem knew her better than anyone. He would know that an adopted child would be as dear to her as any natural child. There was nothing she could do but continue to follow her instincts.

• • •

Keziah's nerves were stretched to breaking point. Two days passed without any sight of Gem. Late that afternoon, after leaving Nerida to bathe and bed Gabriel down in his little boxroom, Keziah returned to the schoolhouse for some papers.

As she headed towards it the high-pitched screeching of an unknown bird gave her a heightened sense that something unusual was about to occur.

She had hired Big Bruce as ‘caretaker' to help him continue to attend school and contribute to the family income. As she entered the schoolroom he was moving the last row of seats into place.

‘Thank you, Bruce, you've done a fine job. Go home now, your mother will be needing you.'

He paused in the doorway, nervous. ‘Nothing to worry about, Miss,
but there's a great black stallion grazing down by the creek. I saw a man watching your cottage.'

‘Did you recognise him?'

‘He had a gold earring and coins on his waistcoat. Like they say that bushranger The Gypsy wears,' Bruce said excitedly.

Keziah froze. The lad could unwittingly endanger Gem by informing his mother he had seen his bushranger hero.

‘I'm not asking you to lie, Bruce, but …'

Bruce lowered his eyes. ‘No need to worry about my mouth, Miss. Pa was a transportee. We MacAlisters don't rat on our own kind.' And he was gone.

Keziah hurried back to her cottage. Her front door had been forced open and hung from one hinge. What did that matter? Her great love had found her.

She closed the door as best she could to screen them from the outside world, then feasted her eyes on him.

Gem sat in the carver's chair, waiting. Everything about him was larger than life. The flash clothes, the silver and gold on his belt, waistcoat and in his ear. The rings on each hand – the gold band she had given him on their wedding day. His white teeth glistening against the dark olive of his skin. The wild black mane of hair. His silk shirt open to reveal the edge of what seemed to be a tattoo.

Just for a moment all was quiet and still. Gem broke the silence.

‘No matter how long it took, I never doubted you'd come to me.'

Time. Keziah had precious little of that to heal their lives. She abandoned words and ran into his arms, determined to bind him to her.

He touched her cheek. ‘Why are you crying, little witch? Isn't this what we both want?'

Bunching her hair in one hand like the mane of a beloved horse, Gem turned her mouth to meet his own. Keziah had forgotten the power of his kisses, the way he whispered the ardent love words that for
years she had hungered to hear. Strange words in English but in the Romani tongue they were tender and passionate.

‘My darling, I eat your lips, I eat your eyes.'

He tossed her down on the bed, tore off his waistcoat and unbuckled his belt. He was laughing, panting in anticipation.

‘By
The Del,
I've waited for you so long, I'm going to make you die with pleasure in my arms all night.'

‘Yes!' she cried, remembering the prediction that she had thrown at her mother-in-law, Patronella.
I will lie again in Gem's arms.

When he ripped off his shirt Keziah gasped at the sight of the barely healed lash scars that traversed his back. But it was his gaol tattoo that broke her heart – the letter K inside a heart shape tattooed beneath his heart. Gem would bear his love to the grave. If only she had been worthy of it.

Gem pushed her down on the bed, eager to claim her. His tongue filled her mouth with passion, silencing her questions as his hand moved to her breasts.

Suddenly his eyes flew open, staring straight into her own.

‘What is that
noise
?' he demanded.

Keziah turned cold with fear as he grabbed his pistol, strode across to the boxroom and kicked the door open. He aimed the weapon at the cot where little Gabriel in his nightshirt was rattling the bars as he sang.

Gem's shaking hand waved the pistol. ‘What's going on? He isn't that black girl's kid, is he! He's
yours
!'

Keziah sprang forward to shield Gabriel.

‘Listen to me! He's my legally adopted son. Gem, I swear By My Father's Hand, I only ever loved one man in my life. You!'

Gem's face was blank with shock. ‘Do you think I'm blind? He has
your eyes
!'

Keziah followed him as he retreated to the other room, tossing the pistol aside. She sank to her knees, grabbing at his hand, his trousers, any
part of him in a desperate attempt to delay the loss of him yet again.

‘My love, you must believe me. That babe did not come by my invitation. I hate the man who fathered him. All I ever wanted was you! To cross the seas and be with you, Gem!'

‘Oh yes? Carrying your bastard in your baggage!'

Keziah wrung her hands. ‘It's not little Gabriel's fault! He didn't ask to be born. I didn't want him but he's here now. An unwanted gift. I can't pretend I don't care about him.'

Gem moved towards her, his hands flexing with rage. Keziah told herself he had never hit her before, no matter how uncontrolled his jealousy, but this time was different. She was
guilty
.

‘How many more men were there?' Gem demanded.

Her throat constricted. ‘None! It was only one night! Gem, I beg you to forgive the unforgivable! I've loved you all my life. Please find it in your heart to understand and to absolve me from my guilt.'

‘Guilt, eh? A moment ago you pretended your innocence! The babe didn't come at your invitation, eh? How many lies must I swallow? Answer me! How many more
gaujos
have
paid to use my wife
?'

‘Gem believe me! I have never in my life loved anyone but you!'

He threw back his head and laughed. The sound was one of such pain and violence that Keziah felt as if he had physically struck her. Despite this she clung to him, trying to block his exit.

‘What the hell do you want from me, Keziah?'

Her voice was raw with passion. ‘Gem. If I could only find the way back to make you love me again, I would spend my whole life devoted to your happiness and your pleasure. I beg you, give me the chance to prove my love!'

He spat through the window in contempt. ‘And if I refuse?'

‘
Mi-duvel!
Give me a little time, I beg you. Remember that day in court? You cried out that no beak could ever keep us apart? You were right! I crossed the world to come to you. I'm your woman now – and always will be.'

‘And what's that worth? To let myself be contaminated by a woman who is
mahrime
?'

Keziah closed her eyes, praying to her ancestors to give her the chance to cool his rage.

‘Gem, I'd give my life to save you.'

‘Too late. You're already
dead
. Remember? Keziah Smith is dead and buried in Bolthole cemetery where she belongs.'

Keziah was shaken to the core. ‘I wish I
had
been the one to die. But
baxt
chose me to live. If you can find it in your heart to forgive me, I'll wait for you – no matter how many years it takes. But I must protect this babe and the life I've made for him. Above all I honour our Romani wedding vows. No matter what the
gaujo
law says, I could never marry another man. Unless you divorced me under Romani law, our way.'