Tallowood Bound E-Book

Karly Lane

• Herausgeber: Allen & Unwin
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 437

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

When Erin Macalister leaves the city to take care of her beloved grandmother, she's relieved to be escaping the remnants of her broken marriage. Arriving in the small rural community she grew up in, Erin finds nothing much has changed - including Jamie McBride, who is still as ridiculously good looking as he was when they were seventeen and madly in love. Leafing through old photo albums evokes vivid memories for her grandmother of a soldier she once loved. Erin's curiosity about this mysterious soldier deepens when she finds an engagement ring he once gave her grandmother. Meanwhile, Jamie seems intent on rekindling his relationship with Erin, even though she's not at all sure she wants to risk heartache again.

Leseprobe

Karly Lane lives on the mid north coast of New South Wales. Proud mum to four children and wife of one very patient mechanic, she is lucky enough to spend her day doing the two things she loves most—being a mum and writing stories set in beautiful rural Australia.

ALSO BY KARLY LANE

North Star

Morgan’s Law

Bridie’s Choice

Poppy’s Dilemma

Gemma’s Bluff

First published in 2015

Copyright © Karly Lane 2015

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to the Copyright Agency (Australia) under the Act.

Arena Books, an imprint of

Allen & Unwin

83 Alexander Street

Crows Nest NSW 2065

Australia

Phone: [phone]

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.allenandunwin.com/uk

Cataloguing-in-Publication details are available

from the National Library of Australia

www.trove.nla.gov.au

E-book ISBN 978 1 92557 587 3

Typeset by Bookhouse, Sydney

Cover photographs: iStock and Cultura RM/Masterfile

Cover design: Nada Backovic

To the Townsville years, 1997–2004

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-three

Chapter Twenty-four

Chapter Twenty-five

Chapter Twenty-six

Chapter Twenty-seven

Chapter Twenty-eight

Chapter Twenty-nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-one

Chapter Thirty-two

Chapter Thirty-three

Chapter Thirty-four

Chapter Thirty-five

Chapter Thirty-six

Chapter Thirty-seven

Chapter Thirty-eight

Chapter Thirty-nine

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty-one

Chapter Forty-two

Chapter Forty-three

Chapter Forty-four

Chapter Forty-five

Chapter Forty-six

Chapter Forty-seven

Chapter Forty-eight

Chapter Forty-nine

Chapter Fifty

Chapter Fifty-one

Chapter Fifty-two

Chapter Fifty-three

Chapter Fifty-four

Chapter Fifty-five

Chapter Fifty-six

Chapter Fifty-seven

Chapter Fifty-eight

Chapter Fifty-nine

Chapter Sixty

Epilogue

Acknowledgements and author note

Gemma’s Bluff

Poppy’s Dilemma

One

Erin dropped her head onto the steering wheel and closed her eyes as she summoned the energy to get out of the car.

She hated this place.

Gran hated this place.

It wasn’t that the nursing home was terrible. In fact, as far as nursing homes went, it was rather nice: the grounds were immaculate, the staff were friendly, and the rooms were clean and modern. She didn’t hate it, just what it represented.

She’d been coming here for the last week and each day was worse than the one before. Her grandmother, Evelyn Macalister, had always been such a proud, independent woman. It was hard to watch her now, trapped inside a withering body, slowly losing her memory. Up until recently her gran at ninety-two had still been doing her own housework, until Erin finally convinced her to get some help and arranged for a local lady to come and clean her house once a week. However, a nasty fall had sent Gran into hospital and then to the nursing home for medical treatment.

If that hadn’t been enough to deal with, the doctors had diagnosed Gran’s occasional bout of forgetfulness as rapidly progressive dementia. Now she was confined to a bed and forgetting everyone and everything around her a little more each day.

A week ago the nursing home had called to inform Erin that Gran had suffered a fall and that they hadn’t been able to reach Erin’s mother. Erin had dropped everything in Sydney and headed up to Tuendoc, relieved she’d arranged to be listed as an emergency contact given her mother’s habit of disappearing without letting anyone know. Erin’s mother, Irene, or Serenity as she now preferred to be called, owned a private health retreat in far northern New South Wales. She was also the benefactor of a foundation to protect orangutans in Borneo and Sumatra, and she went off overseas at the drop of a hat, rarely informing Erin when she was leaving. Erin often only found out her mother was away if she happened to ring her from some remote corner of the world. And this time, despite having tried all week, Erin had so far failed to locate her.

Erin gathered the photo album from the passenger seat and locked the car. Visits were getting harder. While her grandmother had seemed her same old self when Erin had first arrived, she’d been rapidly deteriorating ever since, sinking into a deep depression. She wanted to go home to her beloved farm and the house she’d lived in for the last sixty-five years.

Erin could understand Gran’s love of the old house at Tallowood. The lowset, sprawling weatherboard, surrounded by verandahs on all sides, was in need of a new coat of paint, but it still looked as neat and tidy as the day her grandfather had built it. Gran always took great pride in the gardens, and the yard was chock-full of old-fashioned plants not often found in modern gardens—tall brightly coloured sweet peas and snapdragons, hydrangeas with their bright blue and purple clusters of flowers, and Gran’s favourite: roses, every colour and scent under the sun. Tallowood was where Gran needed to be.

Erin had spoken to the doctor about getting her released, happy to take care of her for as long as she needed to, but the doctor explained that her grandmother’s hip was too badly broken and she would require high-level care for quite some time, so going home wasn’t an option for now.

So Erin had to find different ways to occupy Gran and take her mind off her surroundings. Yesterday Gran had been talking about Pop, as well as a few people Erin didn’t know, and she’d seemed happy all of a sudden. It had been good to see her looking more positive and to hear her talk about the old days.

Over the years Erin had heard bits and pieces of what life had been like for Gran as a young girl, but she hadn’t truly appreciated these stories. It had always seemed as though Gran would be around forever—her father had lived to be ninety-nine and her two older brothers had both made it into their late eighties—but over the last few days Erin had come to realise that her grandmother might not have much time left. She wanted to find out everything she could about Gran’s life before the opportunity was lost forever.

It was hard to take in, though. Gran had always been there for her. All through Erin’s childhood, while her mother had been busy building up her business, she had spent school holidays in Tuendoc. Gran had always given Erin her full and undivided attention, something she’d rarely experienced with her mother, and Erin had always treasured that.

Her mother had been a strong role model, as had Gran in her own way. Erin’s grandfather had died before she was born. There were no cousins, no brothers and sisters. Now, with the thought of Gran leaving her, Erin realised she was running out of family.

She’d always thought she’d marry and have lots of children because she hadn’t wanted any child of hers having the lonely time she’d had. But those dreams had come crashing down in her mid-twenties when doctors had discovered the ovarian cysts. She’d had multiple operations and then contracted an infection that had caused such damage she’d had to have one of her ovaries removed. She’d been told that the degree of scarring meant she was unlikely ever to conceive. No longer able to dream of a house full of children, she’d thrown herself into her career instead.

That was when Phillip had come along.

She met him one evening at a friend’s dinner party. He was a university professor twenty years older than her, attractive, charming and intelligent, and he made her feel special. When things started to look as though they might become serious, Erin was surprised when he refused to take her usual brush-off. And when she eventually came clean about her infertility, he didn’t blink an eyelid.

They were happy together; their life was full and they had everything they needed. Well, almost everything, but Erin was too afraid to continue wishing for the one thing she wanted more than anything: a baby of her own. Instead they had holidays overseas, lazy weekend sleep-ins, two incomes and careers they both loved. However, after the death of Phillip’s older brother a few years into their marriage, Phillip tentatively broached the subject of IVF. Erin tried not to get her hopes up with each attempt, but time after time it failed and each time a little piece of her heart died. Eventually, when she couldn’t take any more cycles of hope and then despair, Erin refused further treatment.

Then everything started going pear-shaped. Phillip became distant and their relationship began to change. It was all so pathetically clichéd, really; the professor and his attractive assistant having an affair. The affair was bad, but it was nothing compared to the soul-crushing sense of betrayal that followed Phillip’s confession on the night he walked out of their apartment.

‘She’s having your child?’

Phillip ran a hand through his usually impeccable head of hair and began to pace. ‘I didn’t mean it to happen like this, Erin. But I’m fifty years old, and now that Charles has gone I’m the last of my line. Don’t you understand?’ he said, his eyes imploring. ‘My branch of the tree ends with me. This is my only chance to have a child. Dakota has given me that opportunity.’

She could see. She did understand, but it still hurt like hell to have the man she loved, the man she’d made a life with, suddenly decide he needed to trade her in for a younger working model, named after a state that had four dead presidents carved in a rock.

She wished she could say she’d walked away with her head held high, that she’d stayed composed and dignified. But she hadn’t. She still cringed when she recalled how terrified and pathetic she’d been. ‘I don’t care about the affair. I forgive you. I’ll do anything,’ she’d pleaded. ‘We still have our name on the list for adoption, it could still happen for us.’

‘No, Erin, I don’t want to adopt,’ Philip said. ‘You’re missing the point. I don’t want my family name to die with me. I want my own child. My own blood.’

It wasn’t fair! She wanted her own child too.

Erin stood staring on in shocked silence as her husband packed a bag and walked away with a woman half his age who was having his baby.

Two

As she headed towards her grandmother’s room at the end of the corridor, Erin shared a smile with a nurse bustling past. Inside, she found Gran staring out the window from her bed. Gran had been such a lively woman, no one ever believed she was in her nineties. She was always baking a sponge or putting on the kettle after a long morning in the garden. She wasn’t this small hunched woman staring out the window with a blank expression.

‘Gran?’

Her grandmother slowly turned her head and looked at her. Erin waited for Gran’s familiar welcoming smile, but for a long moment there was no smile, no recognition, not so much as a blink of the eye.

‘It’s Erin,’ she said hesitantly, unable to believe she was introducing herself to the woman she’d loved her entire life.

Slowly a smile of recognition tugged at Gran’s dry lips before she gave a small sigh and lifted a hand towards her.

Erin stepped closer and took her hand, noticing how cool it felt. ‘Do you want me to get you another blanket, Gran?’

‘No, dear. I’m all right. Just tired,’ she said, looking out the window again.

Erin pulled a chair closer to the bedside and looked down at the hand she still held. Her grandmother’s hands, which had spent a lifetime working in the garden and on the farm, were thinner than Erin remembered. The network of blue veins and tiny bones stood out beneath the pale, paper-thin skin.

‘I brought your photo album in. I thought you might like to look through it with me,’ said Erin, placing the album on the bed.

Her grandmother remained staring out of the window, seemingly disinterested in anything else.

Erin opened the album and turned to the first page. ‘You were such a beautiful bride, Gran. And look at Pop, he was so handsome.’ The photo of her grandparents standing beside an old car made her smile. She looked up in surprise when Gran reached over to turn the album slightly so she could get a better look.

‘So young,’ Gran said softly. Her eyes searched the image that had gone brown around the edges. ‘I always imagined that when I married I would wear a white wedding gown.’

Erin looked back at the photo. In it her gran was wearing a demure dress that hung just below her knees, with a fitted jacket over the top. It was hard to tell what colour the dress was in the black and white photo, possibly a grey or brown. Her hazel eyes, so much like Erin’s, were indistinguishable in the old photo, but she knew they could sometimes appear green or, in certain lights, blue-grey. Her dark hair was pulled back in an elegant chignon and she looked every inch the 1940s Hollywood starlet.

‘Why didn’t you?’

‘Roy wouldn’t let me,’ her voice drifted off.

Erin frowned slightly at the strange comment but didn’t ask her to elaborate. It was hard to accept this new vagueness, when her gran had always been so alert. ‘You still looked beautiful, Gran.’

‘Such a long time ago,’ she whispered, shaking her head, her eyes watering. ‘How did it all go so fast?’

Erin swallowed past a hard lump in her throat and reached across to turn the page, hoping to distract her grandmother. She smiled at the next photo of her grandfather dressed in his uniform. ‘And this is Pop?’

‘Yes,’ Gran said eventually, studying the photo with a sombre expression.

‘Where was this taken? In North Queensland?’ Erin asked, remembering her gran had grown up there.

‘Yes. That’s where your grandfather and I were raised. We were next-door neighbours. Childhood sweethearts.’ Erin’s grandfather had died before she was born but, from the little her mother had said about him, she’d gathered he’d been a stern, rather cold man. He didn’t look that way in these old photos, but fighting in World War Two had changed a whole generation of men.

She flipped through some pages of photos of a tropical-looking town with lots of military vehicles lining the main street. The photos were filled with men in all kinds of uniforms—Australian, American and others she didn’t recognise.

‘What was it like in Townsville back then? It must have been a culture shock, all those Americans suddenly moving into town,’ said Erin.

‘Yes. It was,’ said Gran. ‘It changed everything.’

Erin considered her gran’s answer. She seemed to be almost looking through the photo, but it wasn’t the lost, blank expression she’d been wearing when Erin had arrived. ‘Tell me what it was like, Gran,’ she said, easing back in the chair.

She watched Gran’s face soften and her eyes take on a faraway look.

Three

Townsville, 1943

Evelyn pushed open the gate, hearing the familiar creak as the hinges protested, and headed into town to start her shift for the Red Cross. She’d wanted to join the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force, better known as the WAAAFs, but her father wouldn’t allow it. He considered it unladylike and was determined that no daughter of his was going to be in the armed forces. Evelyn couldn’t think of anything more exciting. She looked longingly at the recruitment posters hanging around town. Compared to the WAAAFs, with their neatly pressed uniforms and air of comradeship whenever she spotted them out and about, her work with the Red Cross seemed rather dull. Evelyn shook off the sulky thoughts and straightened her shoulders. What she did was nothing to be sneezed at. The Red Cross provided a vital service and she should be proud to be part of it.

She approached the makeshift hospital in Chapman Street, which consisted of a row of modified houses. An American nurse hurried across the timber walkway that had been constructed to join the houses together, and smiled at her absently before disappearing into the building.

It was strange, but most of the time she barely batted an eyelid at what was happening around town. It was only now and again when she stopped to think that it made her shake her head in amazement. The construction of a row of concrete slit trenches, dug into the middle of Flinders Street for air-raid shelters was amongst the first of the radical changes to their town. It seemed unlikely they’d ever be used, and a tad overcautious to many north Queenslanders, but they were now part of the landscape as was the barbed-wire fencing along parts of The Strand. The enormity of the changes was hard to digest. Townsville had lost something of its laidback innocence over the last few years. It had gone from a sleepy country town to a bustling, sprawling city within a few months, leaving the local population still scratching their heads at the speed with which their lives had been turned upside down

Americans had only ever been seen on the silver screen or in fancy magazines, then suddenly here they were, walking the streets of Townsville. It had been exciting, at first. The soldiers with their loud voices and strange accents flooding the streets, splashing their money—and attention—freely around town.

The novelty had dimmed a little over the last few months, though. Shortages of milk and fuel added to the exorbitant prices being charged for fruit and vegetables and caused a lot of strain on the local population. Blocks of ice were almost impossible to get hold of since the Americans had contracted the iceworks for the majority of the local supply, leaving the locals to line up from three in the morning in order to buy the precious commodity.

Yet for the younger generations the war had brought unexpected opportunities and it was sometimes hard not to get caught up in it all. While she wasn’t as Yank crazy as some girls she knew, she loved the air of excitement the war had brought to town. She loved talking to the nurses and staff who frequented the Red Cross dances, listening to their descriptions of their lives back home, which sounded so different to life in Australia. She loved the new ideas and latest innovations being adapted in town, milk bars popping up and new cuisine being introduced in an attempt to lure American clientele into restaurants and cafes.

Evelyn looked up when she heard her name being called. Her best friend, Dolly, was waving madly from the back of a US Army jeep. She was helped down by a soldier who, having jumped out of the back of the vehicle, lifted her out and set her down on the footpath. Dolly kissed his cheek and laughed at the chorus of catcalls and cheers that followed from the other men in the jeep before it roared away.

‘Who was that?’ Evelyn asked as she stopped in front of her beaming friend.

‘That was Larry.’

‘What happened to Reuben?’

‘He shipped out,’ Dolly said with an offhand shrug.

‘I thought you really liked him?’

‘I did. But, you know, what’s a girl to do? There’s a war going on and these Yanks come and go. There’s plenty of fish in the sea,’ she said with a wink.

‘You’re terrible,’ Evelyn said with a smile and shake of her head. Over the last year or so Dolly had transformed into a blue-eyed, blonde-haired sex kitten, her outgoing personality completely suited to this new era. Evelyn’s parents had never really approved of Dolly, she’d always been a rather rebellious, outspoken child, but Evelyn liked her. Dolly said and did the things she could only dream of doing. Her friendship with Dolly had been the only thing she’d ever stood up to her parents over. She knew that underneath all that bravado there was a kind and gentle soul. However, Dolly’s reputation was becoming the subject of gossip and Evelyn’s parents had once again begun to voice their displeasure at the girls’ friendship. But really, there was little they could say when they both volunteered at the Red Cross, doing their bit for the cause.

‘There’s a group of us going to the movies on Saturday night. Why don’t you come along?’ Dolly said.

‘And watch you and Larry devour each other all night? No, thanks,’ Evelyn laughed.

‘Oh, come on, you never come out with me. Just once. Please?’

‘I’m engaged, Dolly.’ Not to mention her father’s reaction to her going out with Dolly. She knew well his views about the types of young women who went out on the town. In his mind, they were all asking for trouble. No daughter of his was safe going out on the streets with all those bloody Yanks hangin’ around.

‘Which is why you need to get out and see what you’re missing,’ said Dolly. ‘It can’t hurt to compare what’s out there. How else are you going to be sure Roy is really the one for you?’

‘I don’t need to compare anything.’

Dolly had not been overjoyed when Evelyn had told her she’d decided to get engaged to Roy before he left to serve in New Guinea. ‘Why on earth would you want to stay at home and mope when you could be out having fun?’ she said.

Dolly was loving the fact she could get all the silk stockings she ever wanted, not to mention chocolates and sweet treats from these charming foreigners. How they managed to get hold of half the things they did was hard to imagine, but they showered the locals girls with gifts. Add that to the sweet-talking and courting, and what hope of resistance did the average girl from Townsville have?

It was something that had not gone unnoticed by the rest of the community. There was an undercurrent of unease rippling throughout town. Hostility towards the Americans seemed to be simmering just below the surface, waiting for something to set it off. Food was ridiculously expensive as the district’s resources, which had previously catered for a population of thirty-odd thousand, suddenly had to accommodate an extra fifty thousand people. The logistics of feeding that many personnel were a nightmare. Shop owners were making a killing, to the detriment of their own community in many cases, and for the average local family it was becoming increasingly difficult to buy the essentials like milk, butter and fruit.

Like most families, Evelyn’s grew their own vegetables, kept chooks and had a variety of fruit trees in the backyard, so they were somewhat self-sufficient, but they didn’t have a cow to milk and they still needed staples like meat, providing they could find any ice for the icebox to keep it in. Rations were something they had all grudgingly grown used to, but it was galling that there was a very lucrative black market for those with enough entrepreneurial skills to buy and sell these sought-after items.

‘You’ll just have to cope without me on Saturday,’ said Evelyn.

‘Mark my words, you’ll look back on your life and wish you’d done something crazy while you had the chance.’

Evelyn ignored the small twinge of regret that followed Dolly’s warning. She was looking forward to married life. No longer under her parents’ roof, living by their rules, she’d finally have some autonomy. Besides, it wasn’t as though she was ever going to be able to do what she really wanted, which was to go away and study. Women didn’t need a university degree, at least that’s what her father had always said when she’d timidly brought up the subject. Sometimes she wished she was more like Dolly, who would have done whatever she pleased and not worried about who she hurt in the process. But Evelyn couldn’t do that. Her family was strict, but she knew her parents loved her and her sister very much. She’d never be able to do anything to hurt them, it just wasn’t in her.

‘Just think then,’ Evelyn said, forcing a smile and dismissing her troubled thoughts as she linked arms with Dolly, ‘you’ll be living it up for both of us. God knows you’ve been going through enough men for two women.’

The girls were still laughing when they rounded the corner and came face to face with Mrs Huxley, who ran the Red Cross volunteers with an iron fist.

‘Late again, I see, girls,’ she snapped.

Evelyn tried not to flinch under the weight of the woman’s disapproving glare. Beside her Dolly rolled her eyes and Evelyn groaned silently. Dolly seemed to enjoy needling the woman as often as possible, but Evelyn found everything about Mrs Huxley disconcerting. From the enormous bun tightly pulled back on top of her head, to the sharply angled nose that had given her the nickname of Bandicoot by those brave enough to whisper it behind her back.

‘You might try and remember that you are representing the Red Cross when you come here and conduct yourselves in an appropriate manner.’

‘Oh, come on, Mrs Huxley. There’s no law against having a bit of fun, is there?’

‘I’m well aware of what you call a bit of fun, Miss Rowland,’ she said in a distasteful tone. ‘However, I would have expected better from you, Evelyn. I’m sure your mother wouldn’t approve of you dillydallying and carrying on.’

‘Sorry, Mrs Huxley,’ Evelyn murmured, tugging on Dolly’s arm before her friend could say anything else to annoy the woman further.

‘You know, if Bandicoot would just go out and get a good—’

‘Dolly!’ Evelyn interrupted, staring at her friend with equal parts of dismay and mirth.

‘Well it’s true. You don’t see me getting all hot and bothered about someone laughing, do you?’ she said with a wink, as they entered the building and prepared for another long day.

Their work with the Red Cross was important, Evelyn knew that, but it really wasn’t very glamorous. They packed comfort parcels for the men overseas, sold cakes to raise money and rolled bandages and collected medical supplies headed for the front lines, but she wished she could do something . . . more.

She could be a driver, work in transportation. She’d even written to Roy and asked him to write to her father and convince him, but Roy hadn’t been overly supportive either. Why would you want to drive around a bunch of hobnobbing officers? Or worse, drive trucks? he’d replied. The fact was she didn’t quite know the answer to that, why it was she wanted more from her life. All she knew was that the WAAAFs would have opened up a whole new world for her. She might have ended up anywhere, and that possibility would have been thrilling had there been even the remotest chance her father would allow it.

Swallowing back a frustrated sigh, she ducked her head and hurried around the ever-disapproving Mrs Huxley to get to work.

Four

The next morning a knock at the front door surprised Evelyn: visitors to the Ward house rarely knocked. She opened the door to find a tall stranger in uniform standing on the front step.

‘Hello, miss. I’m wondering if you can tell me whether I have the right address. I’m looking for Miss Evelyn Ward.’

She pushed the screen door open cautiously. ‘I’m Evelyn.’

The stranger’s serious face broke into a sudden grin and Evelyn found herself distracted by his good looks.

‘Hi, my name’s Jimmy Crenshaw,’ he said, swapping his cap to his other hand before extending his arm.

Surprised, Evelyn hesitated before reaching out to shake hands. ‘Hello.’

Reading the confusion in her face, he said, ‘Sorry to drop in unannounced, but Roy asked me to stop by when I got to Townsville and let you know that he was doing fine.’

‘Roy?’ Evelyn was even more confused. How on earth did an American airman, by the look of his uniform, know Roy?

‘My squadron just got in from New Guinea. I met Roy up there.’

‘Oh,’ Evelyn said. ‘Well, that was very kind of you. His family live next door. I’m sure they’d love to see you while you’re here. Any friend of Roy’s and all that.’ She felt unexpectedly nervous as she looked into his eyes. They really were very attractive: framed with thick, dark lashes, they were a lovely deep chocolate brown, like the colour of those fancy dark chocolates she and Dolly had drooled over last Valentine’s Day in the shop window downtown.

‘I was just over there, but no one was home. I’ll try them again later.’

‘Oh. Would you like to come in for a cuppa then?’

‘A cuppa?’ he said, a little unsure.

‘A cup of tea? Or a cool drink? I know most Yanks prefer coffee, but I’m afraid we don’t have any.’

‘A cold drink would hit the spot just fine, thank you kindly, ma’am,’ he said, before offering her a lopsided grin. ‘And I’m not a Yank, I’m from the south.’

Evelyn smiled. ‘Well, to an Australian you’re all Yanks.’ She led the way down the hallway to the rear of the house and into the kitchen. She poured some freshly squeezed lemon juice into a tall glass and topped it up with water. ‘How are you handling the heat?’ she asked as she handed him the drink and showed him to a chair at the small kitchen table.

‘Better than some, I guess,’ he grinned. ‘I’m from Louisiana, I’m used to the heat. Besides, New Guinea’s much worse.’

‘So I’ve heard. Roy said in his letters that it rains all the time. It comes out of nowhere the same time every day and then, as if someone turns a tap off, it just stops.’

‘Yep. Just like that.’

It was odd having a stranger sitting in the kitchen, and an American one at that, but what else could she do? It would have been rude not to invite the man in when Roy had asked him to call on her.

‘So, you’re in the air force?’

‘Yes, ma’am. I’m a pilot.’

‘It must be a wonderful feeling, being able to fly.’

He smiled again and tilted his head slightly. ‘There’s nothing quite like it. The world looks different from up there. You suddenly realise just how small we all really are in the grand scheme of things. Have you ever been in a plane before?’

Evelyn shook her head regretfully. ‘No. Never.’

‘Well, if it’s any consolation, now is not exactly the best time to be up there. It kind of spoils the enjoyment when you have a Jap on your tail trying to shoot you down.’

He was making light of it, but Evelyn thought it must play constantly on his mind. Almost daily there were reports of aircraft either being shot down or crashing. It was not a career for the faint of heart.

‘You’re here for some R&R?’ she asked, changing the subject.

‘Partly. Our aircraft are undergoing some modifications, so we have some work to do, but then we get some time off.’

The front screen door creaked and then banged shut, announcing the arrival of her parents and sister who had been in town. A flutter of unease started in her stomach as she heard their footsteps approaching the kitchen, but she pushed them away. Why should she feel uneasy being found with a visitor?

‘Evelyn.’ Her father said her name more as a statement than a greeting.

‘Dad, Mum, this is Jimmy Crenshaw. He’s a friend of Roy’s.’

‘Our Roy?’ her mother asked, surprised.

‘Sir. Ma’am,’ Jimmy said, standing to shake her father’s hand and nodding to her mother. ‘And who’s this?’ he asked, turning his smile towards Evelyn’s younger sister.

‘I’m Betty.’ The younger girl said quickly and batted her eyelids at him. Evelyn inwardly rolled her eyes.

‘I hope this isn’t too much of an intrusion, but Roy wanted me to come and check on Evelyn and remember him to you all while I was in town.’

‘How do you know Roy then?’ her father asked. Mick Ward had returned home from the Great War with shrapnel in his leg which had left him with a permanent limp, but it was his years working on the railway that had toughened him up. It was hard work and bred even harder men. He ruled his house with the same iron fist he used with his men.

‘We often work with the Aussies on certain missions. And Roy plays a mean hand of cards. When he heard I was headed to Townsville he asked if I’d stop by.’

‘Well, you boys seem to be doing a fine job up north.’

‘We’re certainly doing our best, sir. Plan on turning those Japs right back around.’

Over a cup of tea Mick and Jimmy talked at length about the war, and Mick tried to explain the finer points of cricket to their American guest. Eventually, as the afternoon grew later, Evelyn’s mother asked Jimmy to stay for dinner. Evelyn alternated between listening to the men’s conversation and helping her mother as she bustled around the kitchen. She found Jimmy’s accent fascinating, with the slow drawl of the south but a hint of something else, which Jimmy told her was Cajun, the French-Canadian influence that remained strong in some parts of Louisiana. There was a quiet watchfulness about him. He wasn’t like some of the other Americans she’d come across. He seemed content to sit and listen most of the time.

Evelyn’s father was one of the many of his generation who weren’t excited about the Yank presence in Townsville. For Jimmy to have won over the usually reserved man spoke a lot about his polite charm.

Evelyn caught Jimmy’s eye and they shared a smile. She was worried about her father boring him, but he seemed genuinely interested in their conversation. At dinner he complimented her mother profusely and made the older woman blush. ‘Oh, it’s nothing special. Just a baked chook.’

‘Chicken,’ Evelyn added when he looked up from his plate, puzzled.

‘Well, it’s the best meal I’ve eaten in months.’

‘It’s always nice to cook for an appreciative audience,’ her mother said, patting her hair demurely.

‘I always appreciate your cooking,’ her father said, scowling.

‘You’re not a guest, dear.’

Evelyn bit back a smile as she listened to her father muttering about smooth-talking Yanks and saw that Jimmy was also doing his best not to smile or make eye contact with anyone.

‘You mentioned earlier that you missed your family gatherings. What kind of meals do you have back home?’ her mother enquired.

‘Well, ma’am, the thing I miss the most is a good ol’ crawfish boil. We boil up a whole heap of crawfish, corn on the cob and potatoes in big pots and then we cover a table in newspaper and just dump it all out in the middle and eat it hot.’

‘You eat everything straight off the table?’ her mother gasped.

‘Yes, ma’am. Ain’t nothing tastes better,’ he said with a shake of his head, before suddenly remembering his manners and adding hastily, ‘Except for the meal we just ate, of course.’

Her mother took a moment to digest this news before curiosity got the better of her. ‘What other types of food do you eat?’

‘The south is renowned for its food. We eat lots of gumbo, with shrimp, oysters, crabmeat, and sometimes with chicken. Crawfish étouffée and jambalaya. That’s like a big stew with rice,’ he explained when he caught her mother’s confused expression. ‘You can make it with sausage, chicken, turkey and even alligator.’

‘Alligator!’ her sister squeaked.

‘Yep, alligator. We’ve hunted and eaten gator for generations where I come from.’

‘Is it really like chicken?’ Betty asked.

‘I guess, if chickens had a whole bunch of sharp teeth and a surly attitude,’ he grinned.

Evelyn laughed and Betty scowled at her.

After the men had been shooed from the kitchen, the two sisters began clearing the table while their mother prepared a pot of tea.

‘Isn’t he a dreamboat,’ Betty said wistfully as she wiped the plate Evelyn handed her.

‘He’s far too old for you, young lady, and I wouldn’t let your father hear you talking like that,’ their mother scolded.

‘He’s not that old,’ Betty pouted. ‘Besides, I think an older man is romantic.’

‘I think you should spend more time watching what you’re doing with the good china and less time with your head in the clouds.’

‘Oh, Mum, I’m almost fourteen. I’m not a child, you know.’

Evelyn and her mother shared an amused smile.

‘Here you go, take this out to the men.’ Evelyn’s mother handed her a tray with the tea and cake carefully set out on it.

‘I’ll take it,’ Betty said quickly.

‘No, you’ll finish those dishes, young lady.’

Evelyn smiled to herself as she headed down the hallway towards the sunroom at the front of the house. Her sister was becoming a pain lately, trying to imitate the older girls she knew around town. Evelyn didn’t understand her younger sister’s need to act so grown up. When she’d been fourteen she’d still been climbing trees in the backyard. They were as different as two siblings could be. Betty was interested in fashion, gossip and movie starlets, and would sit in front of her mirror for hours, recreating the latest hairstyles of her favourite idols. Evelyn was more at home pottering in the garden. Nothing quite beat the feel of dirt between her fingers, the satisfaction she got from picking vegetables which she’d tended and nurtured from seeds.

Evelyn put the tray down and poured two cups of tea, handing one to her father and the other across to Jimmy. Their fingers touched briefly as he accepted the dainty cup from her. Evelyn gave a start and Jimmy quickly gathered the cup in his big hands, saving it from spilling. Flustered, Evelyn felt her cheeks heat up and she dropped her gaze to the cake she hurriedly dished up.

By the time her mother joined them, she’d gotten herself under control and the evening continued without any more awkward incidents.

‘Well, I guess I should be going,’ Jimmy said eventually, sounding more than a little reluctant. ‘Thank you once again, ma’am, I truly did appreciate your kind invitation to dinner,’ he smiled and took her mother’s hand, kissing it before shaking her father’s hand heartily and thanking him for the conversation. Evelyn couldn’t believe how easily the man seemed to have charmed her parents within the space of one afternoon.

‘I’ll walk you to the door,’ Evelyn said, leading him from the sunroom and out onto the front verandah.

‘You have lovely parents.’

‘Yes, and I’m wondering who they are,’ she grinned. ‘You’ve certainly managed to win them over.’

‘I wasn’t trying to win anyone over,’ he protested with a small frown that instantly made Evelyn feel bad.

‘I didn’t mean that you . . .’ she faltered. ‘What I meant was that it usually takes a lot to impress my father, and you’ve somehow managed to do that in one visit.’

‘You have no idea how much of a relief it is to be able to sit at a real dinner table and be part of a family again. It was nice, and it meant more to me than any of you could possibly realise.’

‘We’d like to think someone would do the same for Roy,’ she said, feeling a stab of guilt that she hadn’t thought of him all evening.

‘Roy’s a lucky guy,’ he said quietly, holding her gaze. The roar of a jeep down the street broke the silence and they both fidgeted self-consciously for a moment until he took a step back, shuffling his hat in his hands awkwardly. ‘Well, I better go,’ he said. ‘You have yourself a good evening.’

‘Goodnight, Jimmy.’

‘Goodnight, Evelyn,’ he said softly, hesitating briefly before turning away.

She watched as he walked down the street, eventually melting into the darkness, and tried to work out why she felt as though she’d just been hit by a train.

Five

Evelyn smiled as she placed the warm eggs into the basket and filled the water and feed dishes. She loved her girls, listening to them cluck as they scratched around in the yard. There was something about chooks that soothed her. They didn’t judge or make any unreasonable demands. They were simple, uncomplicated animals. On the outside she supposed that’s how everyone thought of her too. She didn’t like confrontation and was happy to go along with things. Even though part of her dreamed of travel and seeing exotic places, deep down she really was content with the simple things.

Roy had often talked about owing a property someday. His father had been working on a cattle property down south when he’d met Roy’s mother and moved to Townsville to be with her. Roy had always found it hard to understand why his father had given up life on the land for love. He couldn’t understand a man allowing emotion to rule his head in that way, but Evelyn secretly thought his parents’ story was romantic.

Roy was more like her father. He was a man who rarely showed his emotions and preferred to let his actions show his love. ‘A real man works hard and makes sure his family is provided for,’ she’d once heard her dad say to Roy. Still, Roy’s dream of living on the land and raising cattle appealed to her, and maybe they were right—all the romance and sweet words in the world wouldn’t put food on the table or a roof over your head.

Betty called for her from the sunroom and Evelyn put the basket of eggs she’d just collected on the kitchen bench. She heard her sister giggle as she walked down the hallway. At the doorway she froze, her eyes widening as she spotted the familiar figure seated across from her sister.

Jimmy stood and smiled, although he looked a little less self-assured than last time.

‘Miss Evelyn,’ he greeted her politely, his large hands holding his cap tightly in front of him.

‘Just Evelyn,’ she murmured, swallowing nervously.

‘Isn’t this a nice surprise, Evie?’ Betty said, seemingly oblivious to the tension in the air around her.

‘It is,’ she agreed quickly.

‘What’s in your bag?’ Betty asked Jimmy curiously.

‘Betty,’ Evelyn chided, but Jimmy chuckled and bent down to retrieve the paper bag at his feet, handing it across to her little sister. ‘Just a thank you for having me to dinner the other evening.’

‘Butter! And sugar! Oh, Evie, look,’ Betty gushed in excitement. ‘Tea and . . . What’s in here?’ she asked, holding up a small wrapped package.

‘Sweets.’

‘Sweets? Oh, you mean lollies? Evie, lollies! I’m going to show Mum.’

Evelyn stared after her sister as she ran from the room and realised she was now alone with the handsome pilot. ‘Thank you. But you didn’t have to do that.’

‘I wanted to.’

‘It really wasn’t necessary, it must have cost a fortune.’

Jimmy shrugged but didn’t comment, changing the subject instead. ‘I was wondering if you and your sister would like to go get an ice-cream with me.’

‘Ice-cream?’

‘You haven’t had ice-cream before?’

‘Of course I’ve had it before . . . just not lately.’ It was hard to buy luxuries like ice-cream when you couldn’t even get hold of fresh milk on a regular basis.

‘Then I’d like to remedy that situation immediately,’ he said with a grin.

‘Can we, Mum? Please?’ Betty’s squeal interrupted them and Evelyn looked over to see her sister standing in the doorway with her beaming mother who’d come in from the garden.

The three of them walked down Clarendon Street, along Charters Towers Road and onto Flinders Street with Betty talking almost the entire time. Usually this would annoy Evelyn no end, but today she was almost thankful for her sister’s presence. Jimmy confused her. He was so handsome, and unlike any man she’d ever met before, and she suspected she was a little infatuated with him. This was not good. In fact, this was very bad. She was not usually more than vaguely interested in the Americans who had flooded their town. She often found them a little obnoxious, despite their smooth charm and rather dashing uniforms.

She was glad she was engaged to Roy. Sensible, down-to-earth, no-frills Roy. Actually, she was surprised that Roy had even bothered giving the time of day to a Yank, let alone become friends with one. But in all fairness, Jimmy did seem different. He genuinely wanted to know about Australia and Australians. She liked that about him.

They had to line up to be served at the milk bar, one of many local businesses that had brought in American-style foods like hamburgers, milkshakes and ice-cream.

Walking from the cafe, Evelyn and Jimmy followed Betty, who had run ahead to catch up with some girls she knew from school in order to fill them in on the dashing Yank who had bought her ice-cream.

‘You realise you’ll never get rid of her now, right?’ Evelyn said dryly as she watched her sister giggling with her friends.

Jimmy’s soft chuckle made her insides quiver a little. ‘That’s okay. I don’t mind. She’s a good kid.’

Evelyn eyed him sideways. ‘She’s a brat.’

‘She reminds me of my cousins.’

‘Do you have a big family?’

‘Big and loud.’

‘So are you the black sheep then?’

He looked at her a little oddly.

‘You seem more content to watch and listen.’

‘Yeah, well, sometimes you learn more about people by watching. But I guess back home I’m louder.’

‘What’s it like in Louisiana?’

‘Hot. Humid like here, but different.’ He smiled at her raised eyebrow. ‘We have lots of bayous and we love our food.’

‘Is a bayou a river?’ Evelyn asked hesitantly.

‘Kind of, but they’re covered in marsh and don’t flow real fast.’

‘Like a swamp?’

‘Yeah, but the bayou is so much more than just a swamp. It’s—’ he paused and looked around as though searching for the right words—‘it’s a forest in water, full of ancient cypress and tupelo trees, covered in Spanish moss and so quiet in places it almost feels haunted. And we have green water hyacinths that smell just like watermelon when you dip the pink flower in the water.’

‘A flower that smells like watermelon?’ Evelyn laughed, caught up in his vivid description of his homeland.

‘I swear,’ he grinned, and Evelyn found herself mesmerised by his smile before realising she’d been staring and averted her gaze quickly.

They walked down to The Strand and sat on a bench overlooking the bay. Across from them Magnetic Island rose from the turquoise water.

‘We don’t have views like this though,’ he said as they sat quietly looking at the sparkle of the sun playing across the water.

Trucks, buses and planes drowned out the usual sounds of the gentle waves lapping against the shore. The port was full of naval vessels, and landing craft ferried personnel and an endless parade of vehicles and equipment to and from the big ships anchored in the bay.

‘You don’t like us much, do you?’

Evelyn looked up at his quiet words and found him studying her.

‘Us?’

‘Americans.’

‘I like Americans just fine.’

‘You don’t like the US military being here then.’

Evelyn dropped his inquiring gaze and looked out over the congested bay. ‘This isn’t our town any more.’

‘There’s a war on.’

‘Really?’ she asked, feigning surprise.

‘We’re trying to help.’

‘I know. It’s just hard to sit back while someone else turns your home into a place you no longer recognise.’

‘Things will go back to normal once we win this war.’

‘Will they?’ Evelyn had her doubts about that. Nothing would go back to the way it had been before the war. Once the war was over, she’d be a married woman, expected to settle down and raise a family. It was what she wanted, she reminded herself firmly. She wasn’t sure why she was having such conflicting thoughts lately. Maybe it was Dolly, always trying to change her mind about her hasty engagement. What else could she have done, though? Roy had surprised her with the proposal in front of both their families at his farewell dinner. Everyone had been so happy. Her father had beamed at her . . . beamed!

For the briefest of moments she’d felt cornered, but she’d quickly hidden it beneath a smile. How could she have said anything but yes? It was the next logical step for them. But since that night she’d found herself occasionally feeling like an animal trapped in a set of headlights. Then she would feel guilty and ungrateful. She shied away from examining the tightening of her chest the thought provoked.

‘You don’t wear a ring?’

Jimmy’s words surprised her and she looked down at her hands. ‘No. I . . . there wasn’t time to get a ring. It was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment thing.’ To say the least.

‘You don’t really talk about him.’

Evelyn glanced up at him sharply. ‘What do you mean?’

‘You haven’t asked much about him. Don’t you worry?’

‘Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I be worried about him? He’s my fiancé,’ she pointed out, partly to remind herself. ‘Besides, I gathered from your visit the other day that he was doing well . . . otherwise you would have said something.’

When Jimmy chuckled softly, Evelyn frowned a little. ‘What’s so funny?’

‘Aussies,’ he said with a shake of his head. ‘You know, I asked Roy if there was any special message he wanted me to pass on to you, or a letter, but he just said, Tell her I’m all right. What kind of thing is that to tell the woman you love?’

‘Well, Roy doesn’t like to make a fuss.’

‘Seems to me it’s not just Roy. Your menfolk don’t seem to know much about courting.’

‘Is that what you call what you Yanks do when you come here?’

‘I know that Aussie women appreciate men with manners.’

‘And money, let’s not forget that,’ she added dryly. ‘They appreciate what American servicemen can get them, the stockings and chocolate and all the fancy dances. Australian servicemen can’t compete with that.’

‘So Australian women are shallow?’ he asked with a twitch of his lips.

‘No more than American men are willing to overlook it to have some fun.’

‘So money, charm and manners don’t work with you?’

‘Apparently not,’ she said, realising she’d dug herself into a hole. ‘There’s more to life than sweet words and money.’

‘Like?’

‘Loyalty. An honest, hard-working man is a very important thing to have.’

‘This is true, and Roy is definitely that.’

The ground was dry beneath their feet, ants busily scurried about their work and the hum of insects could just be heard between rumbling trucks driving past and the drone of aircraft overhead.

‘I think it’s time we headed home.’ Evelyn wasn’t sure where this conversation was headed but she didn’t feel comfortable having it, partly because she felt like a fraud for defending Roy when earlier she’d been having doubts about her feelings towards him. Maybe it was a timely reminder that she needed to stop wasting time thinking about things that just weren’t possible. She’d made her choice, she’d accepted Roy’s proposal, and she would just have to forget about flowers and chocolates. That wasn’t who Roy was. It hadn’t bothered her before, so why did it suddenly feel as though she were somehow settling for less than she deserved?