Page 23 of The Pearl Sister
‘Maybe,’ I said with a shrug.
‘How did you find out that’s where you were born?’
‘When Pa died last June, he left all us girls something called an armillary sphere, which had the coordinates of where he’d found us engraved on it.’
‘Where was yours?’
‘A place called Broome. It’s on the northwest coast of Australia.’
‘Right. What else?’
‘He told me I should go there and find out about a woman called Kitty Mercer.’
‘Is that all?’
‘Yes, from him anyway, but I also found out a few days later that I’d been left an inheritance.’
‘ “Curiouser and curiouser”, as Alice once said. Did you ever try to look up this Kitty Mercer on the internet?’ he asked.
‘Er, no.’ I was glad that it was dark so he couldn’t see me blush. I was beginning to feel like I was being interrogated. ‘It’s not really fair that you’re asking me all these questions when you won’t answer any of mine.’
He chuckled then. ‘You’re great, CeCe. You just tell it how it is.’ Then he rolled me on top of him and kissed me.
* * *
Two days later, I woke up realising I had no idea what the date was and knowing I’d completely lost track of time. I climbed out of bed and rifled through my rucksack to find the printout of my tickets back to Bangkok and on to Sydney. Then I checked my mobile for today’s date.
‘Oh shit! I leave tomorrow,’ I groaned, feeling horrified at the prospect. I slumped onto the bed just as Ace came through the door with the habitual tray. Perched amongst the croissants was a book.
‘I got you something,’ he said as he set the tray down.
I stared at the book. On the front cover was a black and white photograph of a beautiful woman. She was wearing an old-fashioned dress with a very high neckline, fastened with rows of tiny pearl buttons. It took me a good few seconds to work out the name on the cover.
‘Kitty Mercer, the Pearling Pioneer,’ I read out loud.
‘Yes!’ Ace said triumphantly, jumping under the covers with me then handing me a cup of coffee. ‘I looked her up on Google – she has her own Wikipedia page, CeCe!’
‘Really?’ I nodded dumbly.
‘She sounds incredible. From what I read, she achieved a lot in an age when women struggled to be in charge. So I ordered her biography and had it express delivered by speedboat from a bookshop in Phuket.’
‘You did what?’ I eyed him.
‘I’ve already skimmed through it and it’s such an interesting story. You’ll love it, really.’ He picked up the book and pushed it towards me and it was all I could do to stop myself recoiling from both him and it. I set the coffee down on the side table and climbed off the bed.
‘Why have you gone to all this trouble?’ I asked him as I pulled on my T-shirt. ‘It’s none of your business. If I’d wanted to find all this out, I’d have done it myself.’
‘Christ! I was only trying to help! Why are you cross?’
‘I’m not cross,’ I snapped, even though we both knew I was. ‘I haven’t even decided yet if I want to find out anything about my original family!’
‘Well, you don’t have to read it now, you can keep it for when you’re ready.’
Ace tried to hand me the book again and I pushed it away.
‘Maybe you should have asked me first,’ I said as I put on my shorts and immediately lost my balance, which didn’t look as dignified as I’d needed it to.
‘Yeah, maybe I should have.’
