Inheritance (31 page)

‘I am pleased with them, Gary; you’ve done a great job.’

As she headed back home, well pleased with the project, she realised she felt better now she had taken some decisive action. Work would provide the antidote to her anguish.

Cassie sat at her desk and made a list of all the things she needed to do.

The first one was to order a new buggy. Picking up the phone, she did this straight away.

Next, she turned her attention to the travel agents; all the local agents must be advised of the cabins’ completion. The first one she phoned was Ian Walker, whom she had met at the pool party.

He sounded pleased to hear from her. ‘Cassie, of course I remember you! How are you going with your cabins?’

‘They’re almost finished and they’ll be ready for guests in…say…three weeks.’

‘Wonderful. We’re receiving more enquiries than we have places for, so I’m sure we’ll have no trouble renting them. I need you to send me all the details and when I’m up your way, I’ll call in and have a look. Do you have brochures ready yet?’

‘No. I’ve been waiting for the cabins to be completed so I can take photos.’

‘Yes, of course, but you could have the text prepared now, so all you have to do is add the photos. Do you have someone in mind for the brochures?’

‘No, not yet.’

‘I can recommend the printer who does my work, if you’re interested.’

‘Yes, I am.’ He gave her the details. ‘Thank you, I’ll call him today.’

She gave Ian a description of the cabins and he promised to call in the next few days to look at them. Ringing off, she felt well pleased with his response.

Cassie realised she had a lot of work to do in order to be ready, now she had made a firm commitment relating to time. She made several more calls to other agents, receiving a positive response from them all.

At lunchtime, she spoke to Rosie. ‘I’d like you to keep yourself free as much as you can from now on to help me prepare the cabins. There’s an awful lot to do in the next two or three weeks.’

‘You can count on me. When do we start?’

‘As soon as they finish the painting inside. That should be in about three days, we can start then.’

‘Great.’

‘We’ll need one of the men to put up the tracks for the curtains.’

‘I’m sure Daniel could do that.’

‘Perhaps you could ask him?’

‘Sure.’

Next, Cassie made a call to the printer. After explaining what she wanted, he suggested she email him as much information as she could so he could put together some words. As soon as one of the cabins was completely ready, he would send a photographer to take some shots, not just of the cabin, but also the homestead and the rest of the station.

‘But it’s all so dry now, it’s not looking its best,’ she protested.

‘Don’t worry; we’ll soon green up the grass in the shots. That’s our job. It’s all part of the service. Now, we need to arrange a day for a photographer to come. Would next Thursday suit you?’

‘Yes. That’ll be fine.’

‘Good. As soon as I finish the copy, I’ll email it to you and you can let me know if you’re happy with it. You may have some ideas of your own you want to include in it.’

‘Yes, I probably will.’

‘Then, when it’s ready, we’ll make an appointment for you to come in to see a ‘mock up’ of the brochure. We can discuss then what type of paper we’ll use and select colours. A lot will depend on what sort of shots we have. It’s a competitive market out there; we have to present everything to its best advantage.’

‘Goodness, it sounds as if you go to a lot of trouble.’

‘We certainly do. It’s all part of the service,’ he added, as he said goodbye.

Cassie wondered how much all this service would cost. She was to wonder this often over the next few days as she wrote cheques. After she paid the builders their final payment, she still had to pay for the new buggy, the minibus and the boardwalk.

Two weeks later, Cassie sat at her desk again and reviewed progress. The boardwalk was under construction. The cabins were finished and the furniture arranged and positioned. Tom and Daniel were putting up tracks for the curtains now; Rosie and Lorna would help her to hang them and arrange the finishing touches tomorrow.

The buggy and the mini bus had both been delivered and she had returned the other buggy to Binbin. Yes, everything was going according to plan, all would be in readiness for the first guest.

When she checked on the financial side of the project, anxiety gnawed at her again. Her resources were perilously low. The money from the sale of her investments had all gone. Fitting
out the cabins had exceeded her budget, as did the estimated cost for the brochures. What if the agents were all wrong and she didn’t have any guests? What if she had invested all her money in something that turned out to be a white elephant?

There had still been no rain and so the station would have a loss again this year.

Cassie felt sick as she contemplated what could happen. Soon she would have to consider cutting back on staff or ask Bob Rawlings to increase the loan. The prospect of either of these moves filled her with dismay.

If only the paintings had not been stolen, she could have sold some of those. She had received no further word from the police and her hopes of ever seeing them again were fading.

***

When the curtains were hung in the last cabin, the three women stood back to look at the effect.

‘It looks beautiful, love,’ Lorna said.

Rosie added her approval. ‘I must say, the curtains set it off a treat. Good choice, number one.’

As Cassie looked around, she felt pleased with the result. She had chosen green splashed with vibrant colours for the fabric, aiming to complement the tropical setting outside the windows. The result blended the indoors and outdoors, creating a colourful and harmonious ambience in the cabin. The few accessories added individuality; a print of a green tree frog on a limb, woven reed shades on the bedside lamps, a jade green ceramic fruit bowl with beaten brass edging in the middle of the table. The overall effect was simple but stylish.

The cabins were ready just in time as the photographer arrived early next morning to take photographs for the brochures. A succession of agents followed, all anxious to inspect. The praise her cabins received quite overwhelmed Cassie. The agents assured her it would not be long before she received bookings. Her spirits rose at their words. Let’s hope they’re right. They don’t realise how much depends on it.

***

Ten days later, Cassie opened the envelope bearing Ian Walker’s logo with a beating heart. When she saw the contents, relief sang through her. ‘Rosie, Rosie,’ she called, ‘come and see what arrived in the post.’

Rosie came running. Cassie waved a cheque above her head. ‘See what I’ve got. Our first booking and our first cheque.’

‘Fantastic! What are you going to do with that? Frame it?’

‘Not on your life. This little beauty goes straight into the bank. Let’s hope it’s the first of many.’

Rosie hugged her. ‘It will be. I never doubted for a moment that it’d be a success.’ She stepped back, grinning hugely.

‘One booking doesn’t really mean success,’ Cassie spoke soberly now.

‘It’s a start. And I bet it won’t be long before there’s more.’

Rosie was right, for the next day there were two more bookings and by the end of the following week, several more.

Over the next few weeks, Cassie worked harder than she had ever worked before. She had a great deal to organise. A light breakfast was part of the package and this included a tropical fruit platter for each cabin. After sampling fruits from many local suppliers, she finally
found one whose standard was high enough to satisfy her. Then she tried different arrangements of the fruits on the platters, until she found one that pleased her. Then she demonstrated it to the staff, who would be responsible for the daily preparations.

‘It looks like a miniature work of art,’ Jessie told her. ‘Like one of those still life paintings you see.’

Cassie laughed, but secretly she enjoyed the compliment. Everything must be the best.

Her next job was to visit the tourist information centre in Cairns and talk to the manager about the cabins and what she could offer.

Again, she received an enthusiastic response. He agreed to include Yallandoo brochures amongst the others on display and promised to draw attention to them whenever he could. Encouraged by this, she did the same at Port Douglas and Mareeba, and then visited all the surrounding small towns, calling in at those with an information centre. At all of them, Cassie received an interested reception. It proved a time consuming effort but when she finished she knew a lot of information about Yallandoo was in places where it would be available to the very people she needed to speak to, the tourists.

Next she organised guest participation in some of the activities around the station, ending with a barbecue lunch. This proved very popular, particularly with the younger guests. Then there were day trips to places of interest in the area, sing along nights and bush poets around a campfire, and picnics at the rock pool, which was already a popular spot for swimming. But undoubtedly the most popular attraction of all was a visit to the cave with the aboriginal paintings.

‘Sam, you old devil,’ Cassie said to him one day, hugging him. ‘You seem to have gained a new lease of life now you’re taking the guests up to the cave. And you do it as well as I knew you would.’

‘Sure. I tell ’em all about the paintings, all about the Dreamtime. They love it.’

‘I know they do. You’re sure it doesn’t wear you out?’

Sam grinned. ‘No, I’m still pretty fit, Cassie. Don’t you worry about old Sam.’

‘I’m only allowing three days a week for visits to the cave and they’re strictly out of bounds at other times. I don’t want any damage to the environment. Are you happy with that?’

‘Sure.’

‘I see you with young guests a lot at other times. I suppose they want you to tell them stories then, do they?’

‘Yeh. The kids want to know all about us, about the Dreamtime. It’s good.’

‘When I was watching you with them today, I had an idea. How would you feel about telling some of your stories at the campfire nights?’

‘I’d feel pretty good about it.’

‘Then, if you’re sure, I’ll organise it.’

So Sam became a regular at the campfire nights.

***

Cassie now spent most of her days in the lodge, attending to her guests’ requirements, or checking that all aspects of the operation were of the highest standard at all times. She made a point of always being on hand to greet her guests when they arrived, and again to farewell them when they left. She was rewarded when they told her how much they had enjoyed their stay, many promising to return again and to tell their friends about Yallandoo Cabins.

By the end of the first three months, it seemed that Cassie’s venture was successful. With bookings stretching well ahead, including one as far forward as next Christmas, her goal seemed in sight.

Being on the go all day meant she often fell into bed at night worn out. Too busy to give much thought to her personal life during the day, it was in bed that she found herself wondering what Mark was doing. Had he found another property for his theme park? Was his affair with Stella still going strong? Cassie had no answers to these questions.

As time passed, her anger lessened. Instead, she felt a great sadness, a sense of loss for what might have been, and the pain in her heart became a dull ache.

Nadia still visited for coffee, and told her that Mark spent a great deal of time in Sydney now, but more than that she did not know.

How much sweeter her business success would be if she were as happy as she had been for that brief time when she thought she had Mark’s love.

Cassie answered the phone one morning to hear Nadia’s voice. After chatting for a moment, Nadia asked if she and Gemma could visit the next day and Cassie agreed readily. She arranged for Rosie to take her place in the lodge for the morning, and looked forward to her friend’s visit.

Greeting each other warmly, they settled themselves in their usual place on the verandah to enjoy their coffee and a chat, while Gemma and Larry went off to inspect the new baby animal zoo, which had a larger yard than the original pen and was situated further away from the house. It was built it to cater for the joey’s new companions; a calf that had been abandoned by its mother and had to be bottle fed, a young emu and another joey. The animals shared a separate open-fronted shelter shed. Hoppy’s original house had been moved too, and was now attached to the end of the shelter shed.

‘So, Nadia how are things going with you?’ Cassie asked, after she had answered Nadia’s questions about the progress of the cabins.

Nadia bit her lip. ‘Well, if you want to know the truth Cassie, they are not going very well at all. I have to tell you that these days Mark has become very difficult. Ever since his argument with you, it has been nearly impossible to live with him. Often I am pleased to see him leave for Sydney for a few days, and that has been happening more frequently. I fear he is tiring of Queensland and I had so hoped he would settle here and lead a more relaxed lifestyle with Gemma, but it seems as if he has lost interest in doing so.’ She sighed. ‘Cassie, I am so worried. That Stella Hardwick has been over to the house twice this week. They go into Mark’s study and spend a long time in there together. She reminds me so much of Rowena! I am frightened that he will marry her. I could not bear it. I know I should not bother you but I do not have anyone else I can talk to about it. I have been so hoping that you and he would marry. You are like a daughter to me. She is a…a bitch. I can say nothing else. She would be a terrible mother to Gemma.’

Cassie put her hand on Nadia’s arm, sorry to see her friend so upset. ‘Oh dear, I can see how that would upset you. But perhaps you’re worrying for nothing.’

‘I hope so, I really do. It would not be good for Gemma. But I am sorry to worry you with it. Let us talk of other things.’

***

The next afternoon, Mark was working in his office at the resort when he answered the phone and his mother’s agitated voice came over the line.