Island of escape (19 page)

Ellis frowned. With shearing over, she couldn't see that there was anything Leanne couldn't handle, but on the other hand, it did seem Steve was being unnecessarily harsh, particularly if his brother's marriage was at stake. She said at last, 'Charlie, why don't you leave here and go to Koolong? That's what Leanne wants, isn't it? And you must know practically everything about sheep raising now.'

`I need to know a whole lot more before I can hold my own at Koolong. The others have been in the game for years—Colin, and Di's husband as well. I was the rebel of the family, I'm afraid. I didn't want to know about sheep farming when I finished my education. I lived at Koolong a while and drove everyone mad, then I shot off to Melbourne and got through a whole heap of money doing nothing.' He sent Ellis a wry grimace. `By the time I came to my senses, Colin didn't want me

around the place, but Steve took me on here. I still have to prove I have the right to go back where I belong—this place doesn't belong to the Gascoyne family, you know, Grandfather left it to Steve.'

`I know,' Ellis said slowly. `But—but doesn't Leanne understand?'

`She doesn't see it the way I do,' Charlie said broodingly. 'Her heart's set on Koolong. It's partly my fault —I let her know when I asked her to marry me that we'd live there eventually. We'd make out in the meantime if she and Steve got on together better, but he's so determined she should accept everything and shut up that it gets her down.'

`Why is he like that, Charlie?' Ellis asked without really meaning to.

Charlie frowned and moved his cup a little, then glanced up at her. 'I don't usually discuss Steve's private life, Ellis, but—well, you're a nice girl, and maybe it will help if I answer your question. You see, he took a pretty nasty knock when he was in his early twenties. I was a kid away at school and Colin was still at university—and Steve was working for Father on Koolong. He got engaged to a girl and then shortly before the wedding he discovered she was pregnant. The man was—' He stopped and chewed at his lower lip, then resumed, 'It was someone she'd known before she met Steve.'

`That must have been terrible for him,' Ellis breathed. `He—he didn't marry her, of course?'

`No. The general idea seemed to be that she'd set out to win Steve because of Koolong. It was pretty disillusioning for him. I suppose he'd really been in love with her, but it seemed she didn't care tuppence for him—except that he was the eldest Gascoyne, the one

who'd be running the show. Steve cleared out and more or less made a hermit of himself on that island he owns. He didn't want any more to do with women—I guess he didn't trust them. He worked like mad—bought cattle, built himself a bungalow, added a few rough comforts. I reckon he was all set to spend the rest of his life there when Grandfather began to fail and he came over to Warrianda to help the old man—who left the property to him, instead of to Colin, as he'd originally intended.'

`I see. And he doesn't ever think of going back to Koolong?' Ellis asked.

`That would be the last place on earth he'd go to,' Charlie said forcibly, then before Ellis could ask why he was so vehement, he continued, 'So that's why he has this thing about a woman marrying a man for what

Hecan get out of him—and he takes it out on Lee.' He pushed back his chair, then instead of standing up, he asked Ellis unexpectedly, 'Look, Ellis, can I tell Lee when I ring her tonight that you'll still be here if she comes back? It's the only way I can think of to persuade her to come. I'm at my wits' end, as you can imagine.'

Ellis stared at him. She'd made up her mind she was leaving, but how could she refuse Charlie? It took her only a second to make up her mind, and tell him yes, she'd be here.

`You're an angel,' said Charlie, immediately looking a whole lot happier. He went off then to see how Steve was making out with the generator, and Ellis finished her tea thoughtfully. She was committed to stay now, but she wasn't going to let Steve think it was on his account. She was going to tell him why she was staying --and as well, she'd tell him what she thought of him

Her opportunity didn't come till that night when she was cooking the dinner, as Steve had spent most of the day getting some sheep ready for trucking to Lady Barron.

He looked into the kitchen to tell her, 'Come into the office, Ellis, and I'll let you have your pay cheque.'

Ellis looked at him coolly—or tried to do so, but found she couldn't and had to look away again. She was becoming far too addicted to dwelling on his appearance. He stood aside for her to go through the door past him, and she pulled off the apron she was wearing and went ahead of him to the office. Then, when he had handed her her cheque across a very formidable desk, she said firmly, `I'd better tell you, Steve—I made up my mind last night that I wouldn't stay here any longer.'

His eyes flickered for an instant and she thought it was with annoyance, but before he could comment she hurried on, 'I am staying though—but not because of you. I'm staying because Charlie asked me to.'

He frowned. 'Charlie asked you? What do you mean?'

`Leanne won't come back unless you hire a woman to do the housework. I don't pretend to know why you won't, but that's why I'm staying. You mightn't care if your brother's marriage breaks up because of your—your high-handedness, but I'm not going to be a party to it.'

`Very noble of you,' he said after a moment. 'But I'm not going to hire you to do the housework, Ellis. I hate the sight of you in that damned apron. Lee will cook and clean and keep house when she comes back, because that's the way it should be. She's not here as a guest, and if she had any sort of a conscience she'd

feel in honour bound to do her share of the work here. If Charlie lets her get away with selfish behaviour then he's a fool. So I'm not going to argue with you about Leanne. I know the situation better than you do, and I know she needs a firm hand.'

'Isn't that for her husband to decide?' Ellis asked, flushing at his tone.

`And isn't it for me to decide whether or not I'm going to engage a housekeeper?' he retorted.

Ellis knew she was defeated on that point and she grimaced and turned to go when he said, 'Ellis—' `Yes?'

`You have got the situation clear, haven't you? Your name's no longer on the wages sheet at Warrianda. As from now, you're my guest. You can help Lee with her chores if you want to, but she will be responsible for getting things done, and she will be responsible for anything left undone.'

`You're very hard,' said Ellis, and when she went back to the kitchen, she thought what an idiot she was. She couldn't solve Charlie's and Leanne's problems—they'd have to do that themselves. She was only going to cause trouble for herself by staying here.

That night she wrote a letter to Jan, putting the Warrianda address at the top. 'Dear Jan—You can see from the address on this letter where I am, and I guess you're really surprised. I've been too busy to write before as I've just finished a job as shearers' cook, and now I'm staying on to help with the housekeeping. Martin says you're coming over to Flinders again, so next time we meet it will most likely be here. Give my love to Uncle Bill. I hope you haven't found it too much of a bore looking after him—he's very easy to get on with, isn't he? Please remember me to Paul.' She

signed it, 'Affectionately, Ellis,' then resolutely sealed it up in an envelope. Jan would fume when she read it —but at least she'd know Ellis was here—she'd be prepared.

ON Monday, Ellis managed-to get the old car going and went to Whitemark to post her letter. Charlie had rung Leanne, and she had agreed to come back at the end of the week. Meanwhile, Ellis was a mass of nerves, terrified that Jan would turn up before she'd got her letter, wondering why she'd been so silly as to say she'd stay. Yet it would have been on her conscience if she'd refused.

That week, the sale sheep were trucked off to Lady Barron from where they'd be taken by barge to Welshpool, and activity at Warrianda slowed down. The day Leanne was to arrive, Steve asked Ellis to come to Lady Barron with him, and she agreed, telling herself it would give Charlie and Lee a chance to conduct their reunion privately. Yet she knew very well that the mere thought of being alone with Steve again excited her. He had been pleasant to her during the last few days, but they hadn't had a moment alone. Evenings, the three of them had talked—about music, politics, books, country life—everything under the sun—and she'd found the conversation agreeable and stimulating. Looking at Steve, listening to him talk, she had wondered about him a lot. He had a fine face, except for that hard cynicism about his eyes and mouth. When he relaxed, it disappeared and he was undeniably handsome, and very very attractive, and she fell more and more deeply in love with him as the days went by.

The day they drove to Lady Barron was blue and sunny, and after they'd passed Mount Strzelecki, Steve

took the coast road that ran along by Adelaide Bay, so that they could enjoy the sight of the black swans and the pelicans sailing along over the clear green water. At the jetty in Lady Barron there were a couple of crayfish boats as well as the big barge that was taking sheep and cattle and other goods to Welshpool on the mainland.

They left the car and walked along by the yards where the stock was held before being directed into a narrow race that led on to the barge and the temporary pens there. Ellis loitered, watching some cattle being hunted along the race. One huge beast, its bulk reaching almost from one side to the other, refused to budge and had to be prodded most
urgently
before it lumbered on unwillingly. Steve meanwhile had sauntered on and was talking to the captain, but he rejoined Ellis after a moment and presently they went back to the car and drove to the top of Vinegar Hill. From there they could see away across Franklin Sound to Cape Barren Island.

Steve pointed out the wreck of the barque, the Farsund, her hulk still wholly visible and looking almost seaworthy though she had gone aground in
1912
.

`There are over a hundred wrecks in the waters round the Furneaux Group,' he told Ellis. 'That's mainly due to the Roaring Forties, though it's said that some ships were lured to their destruction by adventurers who set themselves up here as sealers in the early days. There's no more sealing nowadays, and even muttonbirding is declining. I went after muttonbirds with my grandfather a few times when I was a kid. Moonbirds, the old man called them,' he added with a faint smile. 'They come down to Bass Strait in thousands in September, to clean out the burrows they used the year before. Then they go out to sea and come back

late November to lay their eggs. The parents feed the chicks so well on the food they gather from the sea that the fledglings are as fat as butter by April, when they're left to fend for themselves. That's when the birders harvest them—scoop the helpless creatures out of their burrows. If you're experienced, you can tell by the warmth just inside the burrow whether you're likely to get a chick or find yourself mixed up with a ,snake.'

Ellis listened interestedly, and found herself remembering the night he said she reminded him of a moonbird chick—when she'd gone to his suite wearing her black skirt and her high-necked blouse. He said into her thoughts, 'I don't know that you're really as helpless as one of those chicks, you know—I think you're pretty well able to fend for yourself. But I don't have any intention of scooping you up and eating you, my dear.' He put his arm around her shoulders and added softly, `I wouldn't do that to you, Ellis. I'd put you in a golden cage.'

It was an odd and unexpected thing for him to say even though his voice was a trifle sardonic, and Ellis felt confused. He'd been—different to her lately. If he could have been like that in Hobart, instead of so hard and cynical. And it was all because of that other girl, years and years ago.

She asked him musingly, 'Where's your island, Steve? Can you see it from here?'

`No, it's some distance away. I'll take you there one day—it has a lot of attractions despite its name. Would you like that?'

He spoke as if she'd be here for some time yet, and again she was disconcerted, because she was quite positive she wouldn't. Once Jan came, everything would blow up. She said a little uneasily, 'I'm interested. Tell me about it. Why—why did you go there?'

He shrugged his broad shoulders. 'I had my reasons. I wanted to get away from the world—come to terms with the fact that life wasn't a fairy story.'

`What did you do there?' she asked after a moment, and knew she badly wanted him to tell her about it, as if it might prove something—that he trusted her, for instance.

`I ran cattle and I built a house,' he said disappointingly.

`You used to live at Koolong, didn't you?' she persisted. 'Why—why did you leave there?'

He looked at her quizzically. 'I'll tell you the story of my life some day, Ellis—but not till I've persuaded you to marry me.'

She bit her lip. 'That will be never,' she said, her voice low.

He raised one eyebrow and said dryly, 'You've given me a new weapon, Ellis. Women are said to be very curious ... At all events, it's time we collected the car you're to drive home.'

`What?' She looked at him stupidly.

`Oh, didn't I tell you? I ordered a car from Launceston the day you flew over to Flinders with me. It's at last arrived—on the barge today. You didn't think I'd want you to go on struggling with that old heap you've been using, did you?'