Ironbark (70 page)

Jake tried to suppress the bleak feelings the grog had aggravated.

‘Maybe Scotty's mob can raise an army to spring Kez out of the Factory.'

He was only half joking. Daniel looked serious. ‘There's more than one way to skin a cat, Jake.'

Jake could see Gabriel and Pearl were struggling to keep their eyes open, so he shepherded them off to bed. They looked like babes in the wood in Bran's big iron bed. On his return Daniel presented him with the Belgian pistol and Jake tested the spring bayonet. He made a genuine show of gratitude, balancing the weapon in his hand to get the feel of it.

‘Best firearm I've ever had. Can't wait to use it.'

Daniel and Bran were both watching him. It was obvious something was afoot. Both were aware of his plan to fight like hell for Keziah's release while giving his kids some semblance of family life until her return.

‘All right, you two. Spit it out. What's up?'

‘Bran and I have a bold plan we want to put to you. It
sounds
crazy but hear me out before you piss yourself laughing.'

‘All right, I'm listening,' said Jake, wary he was about to be hit with some half-baked scheme.

‘The best we can hope for is Keziah's early release from the Factory, right? So the trick is to keep up a respectable marital front in the eyes of the authorities. We help build a cottage for you and the kids on your derelict property, then we build a forge and living quarters in the far corner where it fronts the Sydney Road. Next Bran quits Gilbert Evans's forge here and serves the community
there
. Naturally he'll do all your smithing work. You'll realise your dream to breed thoroughbred horses. Me? I'll work in a studio in the forge house but I'll be your spare hand whenever you need me.'

Jake gave a hoot. ‘That's a nice pipedream, mate. How do I build this bloody village? Print my own money?'

‘No need, I'll finance it.'

Jake was stunned. ‘Right. When do you intend to bail up a bank?'

Daniel leaned forward. ‘Listen, it's all above board. After my testimony in court and Mary Iago's revelations about the abominations practised by Iago, I expected my career as an artist would be over, that
the gentry would shun me. I hadn't counted on Jonstone's support. Maybe he feels responsible for leaving so much power in Iago's hands – an overseer
he
appointed. Whatever the reason, Jonstone's publicly sticking by me. He's announced plans to hold an exhibition of my work next year and Lady Gipps has agreed to open it. Jonstone's rallied the gentry and already two more of his friends have commissioned portraits of their wives. And Terence Ogden is celebrating his success in packing his wife off to England for good by commissioning me to paint a pair of life-size equine paintings of his champions.'

Daniel caught his breath. ‘You see? In death the Devil Himself has actually boosted my career.'

Jake knew Daniel's mocking laugh covered his acute embarrassment.

‘I'll have a good income,' Daniel continued, ‘so will Bran. With us behind you, what have you got to lose?'

They both looked so keen about the idea that Jake made the only response he could think of – he refilled their glasses.

‘Sounds like you've gone into this partnership business pretty damned thorough.'

‘We have. I'll be your silent partner. Further down the track when you begin selling horses and winning races, you can pay something off the loan if you want. Come on, what do you think?'

Bran's silence was eloquent as he pushed his blueprint across the table.

Jake studied it. ‘
And?
What's the bloody catch?'

‘None. Your whole farm remains in your name, your legal property, but in the eyes of the community you and I are partners. I pressure the authorities to have Keziah assigned to
me
, her legal husband – who's to know the truth? In reality Mrs Browne and her kids live under Jake Andersen's roof at the other end of the property.'

Jake was quick to ask, ‘Which bed does she sleep in?'

‘Yours, you idiot.' Daniel was flushed with grog. ‘Legally and
publicly Keziah must be seen to be
my
wife. In private she's
your
wife.'

Bran nodded emphatically. Daniel attempted to look like a master magician who had pulled off his best trick, but Jake saw he was cracking his knuckles from nerves. All their lives hung in the balance, waiting on Jake's decision.

He felt stymied. ‘The whole thing is totally outlandish. There's got to be a hole in this plan somewhere. What happens when Keziah wants more kids? She's dead keen on that.'

Daniel threw his arms wide in a self-mocking gesture. ‘Ironbark gossips will think I'm as randy as a bull. I'll register them as mine, same as the new little tyke. At the end of Keziah's sentence we can get a quiet judicial separation.'

Jake looked morose. ‘There's no
quiet
legal way to ditch a spouse. If there was I'd have cut loose from mine. As long as Jenny's alive my kids will be bastards.'

Daniel's fifth drink made him master of the world. ‘No! They'll be legitimate Brownes. First we get Keziah out of the rotten Factory so you can live together as a family.'

Jake felt uneasy about asking the question, but he knew he could not dodge it. ‘What happens if
you
want to take up with a woman?'

Daniel looked serious. ‘Whatever I may choose to do will be conducted
elsewhere
. I won't invite gossip. For all our sakes.'

Jake looked at Bran and Daniel in turn. ‘Frankly, I reckon the whole idea's bloody crazy. Let's do it!'

All three sprang to their feet for Jake to propose his triumphant toast.

‘Here's to the Sarishan ménage. And the great trick we're going to play on the Superintendent of Convicts and the whole bloody system!'

Riding the brumby towards the Parramatta Female Factory, Daniel's thoughts turned to Jake and the frustration he must feel each month being forced to wait at Sarishan Farm for Daniel's return with news of Keziah.

Despite the jury's verdict, endorsed by the judge at Keziah's trial, the press had come full circle from vilification of her to the widely held belief that the shock of Iago's bestiality had unhinged a delicate female mind. The colony's unofficial army of good women had elevated Keziah to the status of folk heroine. Their empathy had helped Jake enormously in collecting signatures for a petition seeking Keziah's release into the custody of her husband.

The three-storey Factory came into Daniel's view. The brick façade was not forbidding and it was well proportioned, having been built by Governor Macquarie's celebrated convict architect Francis Greenaway in 1821 during what many called ‘the good old days'.

Daniel was roughly aware of the layout. The first floor was used mainly for meals. Two top floors were sleeping quarters for female prisoners divided into three classes. As a convicted murderess Keziah was in the third class. Under normal conditions she would have been sentenced to hard labour. But nursing mothers were assigned the more pleasant work of sewing and carding and enjoyed additional indulgences, including a husband's visits.

Daniel eyed the separate buildings that housed the porter, superintendent's family, deputy, storerooms, kitchen, bakehouse, spinning room and the prisoners' privies – he felt saddened to think that these were now the limits of Keziah's world.

He hurried to the deputy's office, aware that his visit would be strategically placed to enable the woman to keep a sharp eye on him. As always she searched the contents of Daniel's hessian sack for potential weapons. He knew not to bring sewing scissors as Keziah had told him these were broken in half by prisoners to use as daggers.

‘Nothing but food, Ma'am, and sewing threads,' Daniel assured the deputy. ‘Has my wife kept good health?'

The deputy nodded. ‘Well enough, she gives me no trouble, unlike most.'

Daniel waited in a small, bleak courtyard for Keziah to be brought to him. At least the space offered some privacy. No one could overhear their conversation. He wondered if today would be the same as all his previous visits. Keziah had never mentioned Jake's name, so Daniel had always been forced to invent her words on his return home to satisfy Jake's hunger for news of his woman.

He rose at Keziah's approach, shocked by the deterioration in her appearance since last month's visit. When Keziah crossed the courtyard towards him Daniel recognised her eyes held the same lacklustre expression as his own eyes during his years at Gideon Park.

He covertly handed her Jake's latest ink-stained letter and bent to kiss her cheek.

‘The kiss is from Jake. I've had to smuggle in his letter. Wouldn't want some official to read the lust between the lines. You know Jake!'

Keziah stiffened and drew away so his kiss glanced off her cheek.

Jake's fear was right. She looks as if all hope has died inside her.

• • • 

As Keziah listened to Daniel's cheerful attempts at conversation she could feel nothing but that familiar sense of emptiness that had become her sole companion day and night.

She noticed Daniel's hair had grown longer, his English complexion now had a light tan and he seemed more like a Currency Lad each visit.

She was suddenly aware of the letter he had handed her and his words echoed in her mind.
‘You know Jake!'

Daniel continued. ‘The kiddies ride Pony to school. Gabriel has taught himself to play
The Wild Colonial Boy
on his violin. Pearl's new spectacles opened up a whole new world for her. And she pressed this red rose from the garden just for you because it's your favourite colour.'

Keziah glanced at the rose. She knew she should say something but she couldn't find the words. Instead she continued to devour the cheese and fruit he'd brought, relieved that she didn't need to explain. Daniel knew she must eat these luxuries immediately to prevent their theft by her fellow prisoners. Each visit she saw him try to conceal his recognition that she had grown less human. She shied away from the pain in his eyes.

I know what he's thinking. I eat like a hungry animal. Well I don't care. The only thing that matters is having enough food to keep my breast milk flowing.

When Daniel ran out of news and began to flounder he asked permission to sketch her. She tried to close off her mind to the way his artist's eye translated on paper every detail of her deterioration. The patch of hair burned in the fire had re-grown in tight ringlets but her calico prison dress was frayed and she knew her eyes were ringed by the shadows that had never left her since the trial. She sensed Daniel was ashamed of his compulsion to record her gaunt, degraded state but he was driven to record the truth.

‘It's all right. I don't care,' she said. ‘You must do the right thing by your mistress.'

‘Ah yes, art.' Apparently startled by her insight he tried to cover it with a bright commentary. ‘Last week Jake did some more work at Terence Ogden's stud. Did I tell you that on his return from Cornwall Ogden was furious that his manager had refused to employ Currency Lads in his absence. So Ogden's now throwing lots of work Jake's way to make up for his loss of income. When one of his thoroughbred mares dropped a filly with a club foot and Jake chose her in lieu of payment. He said to tell you he really needs your magic to heal her.'

Mention of the lame filly caused Keziah to feel a faint flicker of interest.

Daniel lowered his voice. ‘You do know how desperately Jake wants to see you? He works like crazy for your release, collects names for his petition, corresponds with Joseph in Sydney, haunts the magistrate's office. Next he plans to win Mrs Hamberton to your cause.'

‘Never!' Keziah cried out in anger.

Daniel looked bewildered but stumbled on. ‘I keep reminding Jake he must keep up the respectable façade that
I'm
your husband.' He gave a self-deprecating laugh. ‘If you can call
me
respectable by any wild stretch of the imagination.'

‘You are a true friend!' Her words rasped out in his defence seemed to surprise him.

‘I have you to thank for my freedom, Keziah. I'll do my damnedest to return the favour and get you safely back home with Jake.'

Mi-duvel, will he never stop talking about Jake?

When she turned her head away, Daniel's manner changed to one of confrontation.

‘We need to get something straight. It worries me that ever since you've been here, for seven months, you've never mentioned Jake's name. Why not? Is it because of what I told you about my feelings for him? It was true then, is now. Maybe always will be. But I want you to know you've no cause to fear I'll wreck things between the three of us.'

Keziah watched him but she kept eating the last of the fruit. Daniel tried again.

‘I love Jake for what he is – a man born to love women. One woman. You. I'm very fortunate to have his friendship. He accepts me for what I am. His friend. True blue.' He paused. ‘Do I need to spell it out to you? I won't ever let “my needs” get in the way. My love – lust or what you will. Think of it as an underground creek in drought country – no one can see it. Only you and I know it's there. Jake needs all his friends. I'll never be more or less than that. I'm content just to be around him.
You're my family, Keziah. I'll never do dirt. Never hurt you, Jake or the children. Please don't send me away.'

He angrily brushed away a tear. ‘For pity's sake, Keziah, say something, will you?'

Keziah looked at him long and hard. ‘I envy you, Daniel.'

‘How can you say that? I'm less than a man. I'm living a lie.'

‘You can feel love – lust. It doesn't matter.' She leaned forward. ‘I feel
nothing
!'