The Three Miss Allens, page 15
‘“It’s all the rage on the French Riviera,”’ Ruby said with dramatic flair, her arms stretched out to her sides. ‘Or so Adeline says. What do you think? Tell me honestly.’
Clara studied Ruby’s long legs, the curve of her hips and the swell of her breasts encased tightly and provocatively in the new suit. ‘Father is going to be apoplectic.’
Ruby sighed. She knew Clara was right. Her sister was a quiet, circumspect sort of girl, which was perhaps understandable given that she’d grown up in Adeline’s shadow. That reserve made her a keen observer of people and their habits. She wasn’t a huge conversationalist and always preferred to sit in the quiet corner of the drawing room at home, sketching or reading, but she would follow every nuance in the conversation being conducted around her. Good listeners had many secrets. She knew that their father, steeped in the morality of Victorian England, even though he was born eight thousand miles away, would never approve. He took enormous pride in being from a pioneering Adelaide family that enjoyed middle-class respectability. And respectable men such as he were more concerned with the Freemasons, the Anglican Church and his positions on various charity boards more than he was ever concerned with the activities of his daughters.
Except, of course, when it became time for them to marry. He heartily approved of Adeline’s engagement to James and had decided without consulting her that Edwin would make her a perfect husband. All those things whirled around in Ruby’s head. And thoughts of Edwin, her father and then, secretly and thrillingly, Cain Stapleton made her suddenly cross and stubborn. ‘Well, father’s not here, is he?’
Then she stopped before she blurted out the words that would give her away. And neither is Edwin.
‘This is our summer holiday, Clara, and I don’t want to walk around town looking like a widow from the war or a member of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union,’ she huffed. ‘I’m young. Or I was last time I looked.’
Clara walked to her sister, took her hands. Ruby’s heart lurched when she saw the expression on her sister’s face. It was a sad resignation. ‘You look wonderful, Ruby,’ she said quietly. ‘Go and swim and have some fun.’
A surge of guilt flooded her. Adeline was off with James and she was about to meet Cain. What was Clara to do? She knew how upset her sister had been and she was going to leave her alone? She studied Clara’s face. She still looked pale.
‘You don’t want to swim? You’re going to look wonderful in your swimsuit. Why don’t you come with me?’
Clara let go of Ruby’s hands and went to her bed. She lay down and turned away from Ruby to face the wall. ‘I won’t be swimming these holidays.’
‘Oh, come on, Clara,’ Ruby pleaded. ‘You can’t stay cooped up in this room.’
There was no answer from Clara. She lay still, her thin shoulders rising and falling in a sigh. Ruby didn’t want to push and she didn’t want to fight. She checked her watch. It was almost time.
‘If that’s what you want,’ she said finally.
When Clara didn’t answer, Ruby slipped on a light cardigan and a pair of loose silk trousers: another new purchase for their holiday. Some called them beach pyjamas, which Ruby thought slightly ridiculous, but they were comfortable and modern and wearing them made her feel as if she were in St Tropez rather than Remarkable Bay. She closed the door quietly behind her, leaving Clara to rest—or to stew—and went downstairs.
The beach at Remarkable Bay was a blaze of colour. A rainbow of umbrellas dotted the sand and groups of young children were gathered around deep holes, digging out spades full for their sandcastles. Picnic blankets decorated the scene and there were clusters of young women in the new bathers sunning themselves in the baking sun, their legs spread out in front of them, big floppy hats on their heads.
Ruby sauntered through the crowd, stopping to chat with some of the other guests from Bayview, until she eventually made her way to the other end of the bay, where a young Norfolk Island pine had been planted in the bare sand hills just that year. This was the spot Cain had suggested they should meet and as she slowed to look around, setting her towel on the sand, she spotted a man emerging from the water. Her heart leapt into her throat when she realised it was Cain. He jogged up the sand to her, his body glistening with tiny grains of sand caught in the fine hairs at his chest. He was wearing his black swimming trunks and the first thought to pop into Ruby’s head was: he’d never get away with that at Glenelg. And thank goodness for that.
‘Miss Allen,’ Cain said with a beaming smile as he approached her.
She looked him up and down and propped her hands on her hips. ‘I thought you agreed to call me Ruby?’
‘Ruby,’ he said slowly and deliberately and she decided she liked the sound of it on his lips. No one had ever said her name that way before. She knew in that instant that she would be hearing it in her dreams for the rest of her life.
‘Hello, Cain.’ Ruby stood nervously near him. She placed a hand atop her head to keep the wind from blowing off her hat and glanced out to the water.
‘I hope you’re hungry,’ he said. ‘I have some bread in a basket right over there, with some butter I churned myself this morning.’
‘From your own cows?’ Ruby laughed.
‘The very ones. And I have some sweet strawberries, fresh from my mother’s garden.’
The mention of food had Ruby’s stomach growling. She didn’t care now about missing Mrs Nightingale’s afternoon tea of scones with fresh cream and strawberry jam. This would be a hundred times better, sitting on the beach with Cain Stapleton and feasting on bread and butter.
‘It sounds delicious.’
‘And.’ He stopped and was he blushing? ‘These are for you.’ He took a step towards her and proffered a small bunch of white carnations.
Her nerves began to jangle. ‘You brought me flowers?’
‘Yes. Although they’re not very fancy. I’m sorry they’re not roses.’
‘Oh no,’ Ruby said, and without thinking about it placed a reassuring hand on his bare arm. Her heart skipped at the feel of his skin, warm and strong. ‘I love carnations. They’re my favourite flower.’
‘I’ll remember that,’ Cain said with a warm smile. ‘Do you want to eat first or swim?’
‘Swim, definitely,’ Ruby replied. At that moment, it seemed like the most marvellous thing in the world to do on a hot day in Remarkable Bay. Although she wouldn’t have minded if he watched her, Cain discreetly looked away while Ruby slipped off her beach pyjamas and her hat.
‘Let’s go.’ Ruby ran towards the water, the sand hot on her toes, and when the first wave lapped against her feet she squealed. ‘It’s so cold!’ She looked back to see where Cain was. He hadn’t followed her, but was standing by the basket filled with food and flowers, staring at her. He hadn’t taken a step.
Ruby shielded her face with her hand. ‘You coming in?’ She was suddenly nervous, wondering if perhaps he’d changed his mind. But his smile told her he hadn’t. He took slow steps towards her at first, and then picked up his pace, and when he reached her he grinned wildly and ran out into the waist-high water, extending his arms in front of his body and diving into a wave like a sleek dolphin. Ruby laughed and laughed, watching the waves, wondering where he would bob up, and then gasped when he appeared with a splash right in front of her.
‘You scared me,’ she giggled, and splashed him. The water sprayed up in an arc across this chest and his mouth and he spluttered and came closer.
‘I should dunk you for that,’ he said, mock-seriously.
‘You wouldn’t dare,’ she said, lifting her chin in dramatic defiance. She met his eyes, so blue, so breathtaking, as blue as the water itself. The droplets of water on his chest caught the sun and sparkled like diamonds. He looked like an ancient Greek hero. Poseidon, perhaps. God of all of the seas.
He looked down at her, his breath erratic, his chest rising and falling. ‘I would.’
This time, Ruby took a step closer and Cain’s eyes drifted down to her breasts and her new swimsuit.
‘And if you did, I would exact my revenge, Cain William Stapleton.’
‘Sounds interesting. How might you do that, Ruby Allen?’
‘Like this!’ And quick as a flash, Ruby ducked down under the water and pulled one of Cain’s legs out from under him. He toppled backwards and then he too was underwater, and the sand had clouded up like fog and she couldn’t see where he was, but she quickly felt two firm hands on her waist, and then she was above the water line, breathing hard and laughing all at the same time.
‘I see you play dirty,’ he said with a smirk.
‘A lady has to defend herself these days, you know.’ Ruby brushed off his grip and swam out further, liking this game, until she was just deep enough that she could stand with the water lapping at her shoulders. A part of her knew she should be thinking of Edwin, but she didn’t want to.
Cain swam to her side, ducked under the water and then flicked his head back, and brushed his hair off his forehead. They floated in silence for a while. With no one else in the water, they were alone at this end of the beach. The crowd of people was at the western end of the bay, where there were public facilities and organised activities.
‘You said you were a university student?’
‘Yes,’ he answered. ‘And I hope to be again soon.’
‘You didn’t like studying?’
‘No, it wasn’t that, at all.’
Ruby had loved school; had loved filling her mind with new ideas and history and facts to challenge everything she knew about the world around her. She’d excelled at French and History and had loathed Latin. It had been four years since she’d completed her secondary schooling at the finest ladies’ college in the state and, although she’d been dux of her school, her father hadn’t thought it necessary that she attend university. Although some women had already been studying at the university and doing brilliantly, her father didn’t believe it was a place for a young woman like Ruby. He thought it would turn her into a bluestocking.
Ruby not only missed the learning, but the routine of it, and the camaraderie of being with her friends. Her life had become small: filled with church activities, outings with her mother and sisters, tennis on Saturdays (which she loathed), gardening and reading. Most of the time she felt as if she was growing up in a Jane Austen novel. It may have been 1934, but her parents still held firmly on to the morality and mores of another era altogether. The only daily excitement had been the arrival of the postman.
Oh, how she envied Cain. ‘Why haven’t you finished?’
He moved his arms in the water between them; it created a rippling wave which cooled her shoulders. ‘I really loved university and I loved living up in Adelaide at the residential college. But things got tough a few years ago. Not just for my family, but for everyone. My father had a few labourers on the farm, local lads, but he had to let them go. I was cheap, you see. So I deferred my studies and came home four years ago. Lucky for me, things have picked up and I’m going back in February.’
‘What were you studying?’
‘Science. Agriculture, specifically. I always wanted to learn everything I could and then come back to the farm, so I could put into practice everything I’d learnt. It’s a hard life running a dairy farm. I thought I might be able to change things for the better. Make life easier for my father. And my mother, of course.’
‘How does your father feel about that? New ideas. You changing things.’ She knew exactly how her father would feel.
Cain smiled, pleased with himself. ‘He’s proud of me. My mother, too. I’ve talked about it with them and they think my ideas could really work. If we had a bigger herd, we could produce more, but only if we invested in generators for milking machines. We’re still milking seventy cows by hand, morning and night.’
Ruby glanced at his shoulders. She now understood why he was so strong. ‘Your parents sound like lovely people.’
He looked at her for a long while. ‘They are. So. What about you, Miss Ruby Allen? What fills your days?’
She rolled her eyes. ‘Not university, that’s for certain. My father made sure of that. I’m …’ She hesitated. She didn’t want to tell him about Edwin. What would he think of a young woman who was almost engaged to one man to speaking so intimately with another?
‘My parents want me to be married and have children. What point is there in an education if that’s my future?’
Cain looked incredulous. ‘That’s rather old-fashioned thinking, if you don’t mind me saying.’
Ruby looked down into the water. They were barely moving and it was so clear she could see Cain’s body, the black smudge of his trunks, his long legs, his hands, flowing back and forth in the water between them. He was so close that if he moved six inches towards her they would be touching. The thought alone made her catch her breath.
‘Yes. Well. That’s my father.’
‘Ruby. Is there something I should know?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Do they have anyone particular in mind for you to marry?’
Ruby couldn’t hide the truth. ‘Yes. The son of a business acquaintance of my father’s. The brother of my sister’s fiancé.’
A dark look shadowed Cain’s face. He didn’t speak for a long moment. ‘Are you telling me you’re engaged, Ruby?’
Her heart thudded. ‘No, no, I’m not,’ she protested. Looking at Cain, she was more confused than ever. ‘I’m in a terrible position. He has asked but I have not given him an answer. I’m down here for the summer to decide what to do. There is so much expected of me but I don’t know if I can be the daughter my parents want me to be. Dutiful. Good. Obedient.’
‘What’s his name, this man you’re supposed to marry?’
Ruby shook her head slowly, regretting that she was even talking about him to Cain. ‘Edwin Stuart. He’s in Adelaide, working. This is supposed to be my last summer …’ She waited, scared of the words on her lips.
Cain’s smile had disappeared and Ruby closed her eyes. When she flickered them open a moment later, his hands were on her waist again, not lifting her up this time but pulling her closer. And she willingly took that step into his arms, her feet finding his half-buried in the sand so she stood on them, giving her a little height to meet his mouth. She pressed her wet hands on to his warm chest, excited and scared by the strength of the muscles under his taut skin, the feel of his heart pounding under her fingertips.
‘Ruby,’ he murmured. ‘Tell me you’re not in love with someone else.’
She shook her head adamantly. Droplets of water sprayed against his chest. ‘I’m not.’
And she leant up and pressed her lips to his. Ruby Allen, the oldest sister, the good girl, was claiming that first kiss she had dreamt about. When her warm lips met Cain’s, his hands moved around her back, deliciously touching the bare skin revealed by her new swimsuit, and she splayed her hands on his chest. Cain tilted his head to one side and she opened her lips tentatively, inexperienced but curious, and he deepened the kiss. Something hummed all over her body, and a trembling earthquake rose from her toes to the top of her head. At the top of her thighs, there was an explosion of sensation so unfamiliar and so thrilling that Ruby couldn’t breathe.
When she finally pulled her lips from his, she whispered, ‘Cain.’ His name, that’s all it was. So simple. One syllable. But it was a declaration of something far more.
‘Miss Ruby Allen …’ Cain rested his forehead on hers and breathed deep. ‘Please tell me we can see each other again?’
‘Yes. I do want to see you again.’
‘What are you doing for New Year’s Eve?’
Ruby tried to get her thoughts in order. What had been the plan? ‘We’re going into Victor Harbor. My mother has a bridge party with people down from Adelaide. My sisters and I are supposed to be going to the Wonderview with Adeline’s fiancé. For the dance.’
‘And he’s Edwin’s brother?’
Ruby nodded. ‘James and his family are at Sunnybrae.’
Cain narrowed his eyes. ‘I deliver milk there, too. I think I saw him today. Tall chap, dark hair. Likes a white suit?’
‘Yes, that’s him.’
‘And he’s engaged to your sister, did you say?’
‘Yes. They’re marrying in April.’
Cain thought a moment. ‘Does your sister have blonde hair? Rather tall?’
Ruby was confused. ‘No, not at all. Adeline’s petite and has auburn hair.’
His expression grew serious. ‘Oh. Forgive me. I must have mixed her up with someone else. Tomorrow night. If I saw you at the Wonderview and asked you to dance, would you dance with me, Miss Ruby Allen?’
Ruby’s heart felt light, her lips still tingled from his kiss and she wondered if she would ever feel as happy as she did at this moment. ‘Why yes, I believe I would, Mr Cain Stapleton.’
CHAPTER
15
‘Oh Ruby, look!’
Adeline slipped an arm through Ruby’s and Ruby could feel her sister shake with excitement. She couldn’t deny that a thrill coursed through her as well. ‘There must be thousands of people here. How wonderful!’
The party had taken the train from Remarkable Bay and, three stops later, they’d disembarked the crowded carriage on Railway Terrace and followed the throng of people making their way to the centre of the New Year’s Eve festivities. The main street of Victor Harbor, stretching from the grassed reserve at one end with the causeway and the water and Granite Island beyond it to the centre of the town, was a chattering, laughing party. The road had been closed to traffic for the night and it was now crowded with people in all their evening finery, coming and going to parties and guesthouses and the hotels along the foreshore. Young and old, widows walking arm-in-arm in their dour black outfits, to pretty young things in their silks and organzas. One daring young woman sauntered past wearing shorts, and Mrs Allen gasped. ‘Is she playing tennis at this hour?’
