The Pearl Sister (The Seven Sisters Book 4), page 26
‘For pity’s sake, Kitty, spit it out.’
‘Just like I felt His love, I love you, Drummond. And I believe I have done so since the first moment we met.’
Kitty reached for the bottle of wine but Drummond snatched it away from her. ‘No more of that, missy. It brings back far too many bad memories. And’ – he grasped her wrist – ‘I want to believe you mean what you’re saying.’
‘I mean it. Yes.’ Kitty laughed suddenly. ‘And no, I am not drunk on a thimbleful of wine, but on relief! Have you any idea how exhausting it has been to deny my feelings for the past few weeks? Please, I beg you, Drummond, can we simply celebrate the joy of being alive? In this moment? And not worry about tomorrow, or what’s right or wrong . . .’
After a long silence, he finally spoke. ‘You have no idea how happy your confession makes me feel. However, putting aside the small glass of wine you’ve just drunk, I think that you are perhaps more drunk on life itself, having so recently almost lost it. As much as I am desperate to love you in all possible ways, I suggest that for your sake, a hiatus is required. Some time for you to regain your strength and contemplate what you have said to me tonight. And the ramifications it would have for both of us and our family.’
Kitty stared at him in disbelief. ‘Here I am, wantonly offering you my body and soul, and you choose this moment to be sensible! Time is a luxury that is finite and, my God, I do not want to waste another second of it.’
‘And by taking some of it to think about what you have said, it will not be wasted. If you’re still of the same mind in a few days, well—’
‘Now I am speaking from my heart, you from your head . . . Good grief!’ Kitty wrung her hands. ‘Do you always find a way to be contrary? Or is it perhaps because seeing me so sick, and my body . . . out of control, has changed your mind?’
‘I have seen every inch of your body, I can assure you it is quite beautiful.’ Drummond reached out his hand towards her, but she refused it and stood up on her still weak legs.
‘I am retiring to bed.’ She walked to the door, as straight-backed as she could manage, but an arm grabbed her and pulled her to him.
‘Kat, I . . .’ Then he kissed her roughly and her already giddy head spun even more. When he removed his lips and released his grip, she almost sank to the floor.
‘You are as insubstantial as a ragdoll,’ he said gently as he supported her weight in his arms. ‘Come, I will escort you along the hall and up to your bedroom.’
Outside the door, he paused. ‘Have you the strength to undress yourself or should I help you?’ He gave her a wry smile.
‘I do,’ she managed.
‘I must know you are sure, Kitty, because I cannot come back from this once it has begun. Ever.’
‘I understand. Goodnight, Drummond.’
* * *
The few days he had asked for passed as slowly as watching a large boulder become sand. Luckily the children had their hut in which to play – Kitty had little idea of what they actually did together in there, but a stream of high-pitched giggles emanated from it whenever she went to check on them.
Drummond had announced he had some business to conduct in town for his father and had absented himself from the house for most of the time, leaving Kitty to pace restlessly, mad with the oppressive heat and feverish desire. No matter how many times she told herself to ‘think’, as he had asked her to do, her rational brain seemed to have completely deserted her. And even when a loving telegram from Andrew arrived, she could not muster the necessary guilt to dominate her treacherous thoughts.
TRULY RELIEVED YOU ARE WELL AGAIN STOP GLAD DRUMMOND WAS THERE STOP HOPE TO RETURN WITH GIFT FIT FOR A QUEEN STOP ANDREW STOP
* * *
Two days later, Kitty could stand it no longer. Lying in bed, she heard Drummond’s door close. Since Andrew’s departure, she had taken to lying naked with only a sheet to preserve her modesty. Waiting until the grandfather clock in the entrance hall struck midnight, she stood up and put on her robe. Closing the door gently behind her so as not to disturb Charlie, she tiptoed along the corridor. Without knocking, she entered Drummond’s room. He hadn’t closed the shutters, and in the moonlight glinting through the glass panes, she saw him splayed naked on the bed.
She untied her robe and let it drop to the floor. Walking towards the bed, she reached out her hand to him.
‘Drummond?’
He opened his eyes and stared up at her.
‘I have thought. And I am here.’
18
‘You well now, Missus Kitty,’ Camira commented a week later. ‘You mended good, yes?’
‘I’ve mended good,’ Kitty repeated as she drank a cup of tea on the veranda, looking at her demolished rose bed and wondering whether it was actually worth the effort of planting another. She gazed dreamily at Camira, who was sloshing water onto the caked red mud and scrubbing it off with a hard brush.
‘You different.’ Camira leant on her brush and contemplated her mistress. ‘You lit up likem star!’ she said, then carried on scrubbing.
‘I am certainly relieved to be well again, and perhaps we have seen the last of the heavy rains for this year.’
‘Dem all good reason for happy, but I thinkum Mister Drum makem you happy too, Missus Kitty.’ Camira tapped her nose, winked and went off to get a fresh pail of water.
Kitty’s heart missed a beat at Camira’s words. How did she know? Surely she could not have seen anything – they were both so careful, leaving any affectionate embraces until after Camira was in her hut with Cat, and Charlie fast asleep in his bed. Yet the sound of laughter as Drummond teased her per petually, or tickled Charlie until he begged for mercy, was different. The house had a new energy and so did she. In fact, Kitty mused, she felt properly alive for the first time in her life.
Day and night, her body tingled with longing for Drummond, whether he was present in the room with her or tucked away in her imagination. Even the simplest pursuits now gave her pleasure if he was by her side. The merest touch of his hand shot a wave of electricity through her, and she’d wake up in the morning already longing for the evening to arrive so she could go to him and share their secret world of ecstasy.
After that first night, they had made a pact to simply live in the moment, not to let thoughts of the future destroy what they had found together. Kitty was amazed and ashamed at how easily she’d been able to do this. Though the rational part of her mind knew that Andrew would be returning in less than a month, its far more powerful emotional ‘twin’ overrode it. She justified her actions with the thought that Drummond’s presence during the long rainy season had not only saved her life, but been a blessing for Charlie too. Drummond’s inventive mind could turn a chair into a ship filled with pirates and treasure being tossed on the sea, or a table into a hut in the jungle outside which lions and tigers roamed. It made a welcome change from the monotonous card games that Andrew always suggested when it rained.
Drummond’s a child himself, Kitty thought to herself as she watched him crawl along the hall, growling fiercely. But at night, he was very much a man . . .
Since the weather had cleared, there had also been trips to Riddell Beach and in the furthest corner, shielded by the rock formations, Kitty had joined Cat, Drummond and a now proficient Charlie in the gorgeous aquamarine waters.
‘Mama! Take off your bloomers!’ Charlie had shouted at her. ‘Uncle Drum said clothes weigh you down.’
Kitty had not gone that far in front of Charlie, and had sworn him to secrecy about the swimming trips, but on a couple of occasions, she had left Charlie with Camira on the premise of business in town. She and Drummond had taken the cart to the beach and swum naked together. As he’d held her in his arms, kissing her face, her neck and licking the salty water off her breasts when they arrived back on the sands, she knew that no future moment she experienced could ever hold more happiness.
* * *
‘Darling,’ Drummond said at the end of February as they lay together in his bed, Kitty half drugged from their lovemaking. ‘I have received a telegram from my father. He wishes me to join him and Andrew in Adelaide at the end of next week when they return from Europe. It’s to do with the Mercer business empire. He wishes to apportion his interests to both Andrew and me so there will be no confusion in the event of his death. I must go home to Alicia Hall to sign the legal papers with the solicitor, and Andrew and I will draw up our own wills.’
‘I see.’ Kitty’s heart, so recently full of love and contentment, plunged down to her stomach. ‘When will you leave?’
‘I catch the boat in two days’ time. Won’t you ask what he is giving me? Find out what my prospects are?’
‘You know I care not a jot about that. I’d live with you in a gum tree with nothing if necessary.’
‘Nevertheless I’ll tell you. As you can well imagine, Andrew will have the Mercer pearling business transferred to him, which at present comprises seventy per cent of the family income. I am to be endowed with a thousand square miles of arid desert and half-starved cattle – in other words, Kilgarra cattle station. Oh, and also a few acres of land some hours’ journey outside of Adelaide. There’s talk of some form of mining in the region, and my father has duly signed up. It may come to nothing, but knowing my father’s instinctive nose when it comes to money, which is akin to a dingo catching the scent of a dead heifer, it will probably turn out to be profitable. I also inherit a bungalow in the Adelaide Hills and the vineyard that surrounds it. After my parents’ deaths, my brother inherits Alicia Hall.’
‘Oh! But the bungalow is so much more beautiful! I have been there, and the views are spectacular!’ Kitty said, remembering it vividly. ‘It was where Andrew proposed . . .’ Her voice trailed off in embarrassment.
‘Did he now? How very . . . quaint.’
‘Forgive me. That was tactless.’
‘I agree entirely.’ Drummond swept a tendril of hair back from her face. ‘Sadly, Mrs Mercer, it seems to me that reality is encroaching on our godforsaken love nest. However much we have done our best to avoid it during these blissful few weeks, the time has come for you to make some decisions.’
She knew it all too well. ‘And surely you too? After all, Andrew is your brother.’
‘Yes, a brother who had no compunction about snatching away my favourite toys when we were younger.’
‘I pray that I am not any form of retribution for his past misdemeanours,’ Kitty countered.
‘If you are, then all to the good,’ Drummond chuckled. Then, seeing her expression, he relented. ‘Kitty . . . my Kat, I am, as always, teasing you. Although it concerns me that I have never yet won any battle Andrew has cared to wage.’
‘Oh yes, you have.’ Kitty reached up and kissed him gently on the cheek. ‘You know how to be happy. And because of that, so do I.’
‘I’m likely to become extremely unhappy if we do not talk about our future, my love.’ Drummond cupped her face in the palms of his hands. ‘When I leave for Adelaide, do you wish it to be forever?’
‘Oh Drummond.’ She shook her head despairingly. ‘I do not know.’
‘I am sure you don’t. Good God, what a mess we find ourselves in. Perhaps it might help for me to tell you what I have been thinking.’
‘Please do.’
‘It’s very simple: I can’t bear the thought of leaving you. I may cry like a girl in front of you if you insist on staying with my brother.’ Drummond gave her a weak smile.
‘So what do you suggest?’
‘That, together with Charlie, we elope.’
‘Where to?’
‘The moon would be preferable, but given that’s even further than my cattle station and we’d have to grow wings to get there, Kilgarra is probably the best option.’
‘You want me to come with you?’
‘Yes, although I warn you, Kat, life out there is harsh and brutal. It makes Broome seem like the very epicentre of civilised society. The Ghan camel train passes but twice a year with supplies and the nearest settlement, Alice Springs, is a two-day ride away. There is no doctor or hospital, and only the outside dunny for necessities. There is one benefit, mind you.’
‘What’s that?’
‘The nearest neighbour’s a day’s ride away, so there’ll be no more interminable dinner parties to face.’
Kitty managed a smile, knowing Drummond was doing his best to lighten the atmosphere.
‘What about Andrew? How can we do this to him? It would devastate him. Losing his wife, let alone his beloved son . . .’ She shook her head. ‘He doesn’t deserve it.’
‘No, he doesn’t, and yes, it will hurt him deeply, particularly given that Andrew has never lost anything in his life. He was always the blighter at school that scored the final try to save the day.’
‘I am hardly a rugby ball and neither is Charlie.’ She eyed him. ‘Are you absolutely certain that this isn’t about you winning?’
‘Under the circumstances, absolutely not. I swear to you, Kat, despite my jesting, I love him. He’s my twin and I’d walk a thousand miles not to hurt him, but this is life and death and it can’t be helped.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I physically can’t live without you. It’s unfortunate, but there we have it. So, that’s where I stand. And now, my Kitty-Kat, to use the rugby analogy, the ball is firmly in your hands. It’s up to you to decide.’
* * *
Once again, Kitty found herself in an agony of indecision, because it was not just her future she had to consider. If she left with Drummond, she knew that she would be denying Charlie the right to grow up with his father. Even more troubling was the thought that Andrew may try to fight her to claim Charlie back. At least there was no doubt that he adored his Uncle Drum and would have a loving uncle and father figure there to steer him as he grew. God only knew what she would tell Charlie when he was older; Kitty was well aware of the shock of discovering the bleak truth about a parent one had idolised.
Back and forth she went, even visiting the local church and kneeling to ask for guidance.
‘Please, Lord, I have always been taught that God is love. And I love Drummond with every inch of my soul, but I love Charlie too . . .’
As she knelt, once more she saw her father clasping Annie’s hands on the doorstep. And her poor innocent mother, also pregnant and unaware of her husband’s duplicity.
‘I am not a hypocrite and I cannot be a liar,’ she whispered to a mournful painting of angels flying the dead up to heaven. Though even now, she thought as she stood up, I am no better than my father, lying in my husband’s brother’s bed night after night . . .
‘Lord, I may have had an epiphany,’ she sighed, ‘but I seem to have broken most of Your commandments since I did.’
Outside in the sunshine, Kitty went to study the graves of the departed.
‘Did you ever love like me before you left the earth?’ she whispered to Isobel Dowd’s remains. The poor thing had died at the age of twenty-three – the same age she was now.
Kitty closed her eyes, a deep sigh emanating from inside her. ‘It has gone too far already and I will not deceive my husband for the rest of our lives. Therefore’ – she swallowed hard – ‘the Lord help me, but I must take the consequences.’
* * *
‘I have decided we will come with you to Kilgarra when you return from your meeting in Adelaide,’ Kitty said calmly as she sat with Drummond over dinner that evening.
He stared at her in surprise. ‘Good grief, woman! We were just discussing whether we should take Charlie to the beach for a last swim and you drop that into the conversation!’
‘I thought you should know,’ she said, at least enjoying the stunned expression on Drummond’s face.
‘Yes, you’re right, I should.’ He cleared his throat. ‘Well then. We’d better make a plan.’
‘I have also decided I shall tell Andrew myself when he returns home. I will not behave like a coward, Drummond. Camira will take Charlie out beforehand and I shall have a trunk packed and ready. I will leave immediately, collect Charlie from Camira and we will travel to meet you, wherever that may be.’
‘It seems you already have it all worked out.’
‘I have a practical nature and I have found that in difficult situations, it helps to be organised.’ Kitty did not wish him to see the gamut of emotions that were swirling beneath her calm exterior.
‘Am I allowed to express my complete and utter joy at your decision?’ he asked her.
‘You are, but I also wish to know where we should meet after I have . . . done the deed.’
‘Well now.’ Drummond snaked a hand to her across the table. ‘Kitty, are you sure you don’t wish for me to be there with you when you tell Andrew?’
‘Completely. I fear he may shoot you on the spot.’
‘He may well shoot you too.’
‘And it would be no less than I deserve.’ Kitty swallowed hard. ‘But I doubt it. Shooting his wife would certainly damage his reputation in Broome society.’
They both allowed themselves a hollow smile.
‘Are you sure about this, my Kat?’
‘I have no choice because Andrew deserves far better than an unfaithful wife who can never love him.’
‘If it’s any comfort, I am sure it won’t be long before the pearling mothers of Broome have their dutiful daughters lined up along the path to his front door. Now, enough of that. I suggest that I still travel on to Darwin by ship, as I’ve already told both my father and Andrew I plan to do. Then you and Charlie make your escape on the next boat out to Darwin and meet me there.’
‘Andrew may come after us.’
‘He may, and if he does, we shall deal with it.’ Drummond squeezed her hand. ‘By then I shall be by your side.’
‘Must you go to Adelaide? Surely this business meeting with your father can be conducted on another suitable date?’ Kitty could feel her resolve to remain unemotional slowly melting away.
‘The last thing in the world I want to do is to leave you here; above all, I fear that you might change your mind while I’m gone.’ He gave her a grim smile. ‘However, in order for the three of us to have any kind of future, I must go and put my signature on the deeds to Kilgarra station and the other assets. I doubt my father will be keen to transfer them once he knows the truth.’
