Page 94 of The Pearl Sister
She received two telegrams a few days later, one from her husband, telling her he had docked safely in Adelaide and that Stefan would be returning to Broome with him and Drummond on theKoombanato see his grandson.
The other telegram was from Drummond saying the same, and adding that the ‘legalities’ were progressing nicely. The Mercer men were due in Broome on 22ndMarch –only ten days away,Kitty thought.
That night, she began to pack her trunk, needing to make what currently felt surreal, real.
‘Whattum doing, Missus Kitty?’ a voice came from behind her.
She jumped a mile in the air and wished for once that Camira did not move around with the silence of a cat.
‘I’m packing away some of Charlie’s baby clothes,’ she improvised, and let the lid of the trunk fall closed.
‘But that shirt, it still fittum him good.’
Kitty felt Camira watching her as she stood up. ‘Isn’t it time the children were in bed?’
‘Yessum.’ Camira made to walk away, then turned back towards Kitty. ‘I see every little thing, I knowa why you packum dat trunk. Jus’ don’t forget us. We come alonga you, an’ Fred protect you from bad blackfellas.’ With that, she left the room.
Kitty shook her head in wonder and irritation. Camira seemed to intuit her inner emotional machinations by an invisible osmosis.
At night, her head spun with feverish plans, trying to think of everything that could go wrong and factoring it in. The one thing she knew for certain was that Drummond would never let her down, and once she was safely in his arms in Darwin, all would be well.
She wrote heartfelt letters to her mother and Mrs McCrombie, asking for their forgiveness and understanding, then secreted them in the lining of the trunk. She then began a letter to Edith, but decided against it, as there was simply nothing she could say to make the situation better. Edith would at least have the comfort of knowing she’d been right all along. Kitty was her father’s daughter through and through.
‘I could not be more prepared,’ she whispered.
Another telegram arrived for her the next morning from Andrew.
WILL SURPRISE YOU ON ARRIVAL IN ALL SORTS OF WAYS STOP FATHER CAN EXPLAIN STOP LAST-MINUTE ERRAND BUT WILL BE HOME SAFE AND SOUND STOP LOVE TO YOU AND CHARLIE STOP
Kitty frowned, wondering what on earth Andrew meant, but then Charlie came in for a cuddle and a story and she thought no more about it.
* * *
The night before her planned escape, the weather was in sympathy with Kitty’s roiling emotions. The clouds hung black and foreboding in the sky and thunder shook the earth, bolts of lightning tearing the sky like a ripping seam. Kitty paced the house, the shuttered windows rattling with the effort of keeping out the elements.
She rose along with the rest of the town the next day, and stepped outside in relief to see that the storm had been all bark but no bite. Her roses were still standing, and Fred commented that the winds had exhausted themselves over the Pindan sands in the south. Not that she had slept a wink – theKoombanawas due to arrive in Broome that evening, and she knew that even after she had told Andrew she was leaving, there was a long and arduous journey ahead of her to Darwin. And she still felt occasionally nauseated, her stomach unsettled, which Dr Suzuki had assured her was the aftermath of her illness.
Should I tell Andrew tonight, or perhaps tomorrow morning?Kitty asked herself for the umpteenth time. It hardly made things easier that Stefan would be here in Broome too, and she would have to wait until he was out of the way. Kitty’s hands shook visibly as she washed and dressed. She found Camira in the kitchen, making eggs for Charlie’s breakfast.
‘You look white, like-a dem spirits up in the sky, Missus Kitty,’ she commented, then patted her shoulder. ‘Dun worry, me an’ Fred, we takem care of Charlie on beach when you wanta talk to Mister Boss.’
‘Thank you.’ Kitty covered Camira’s hand with her own. ‘And I promise to send word to you and Fred once we are safely out at Kilgarra.’
‘We come wid you,’ Camira said with a nod. ‘We-a here for you, Missus Kitty.’
‘Thank you, Camira. Truly, I do not know what I would do without you.’
* * *
TheKoombanawas due to dock with the evening tide, but when Kitty – by now in such a state of agitation she’d had to resort to a nip of brandy to calm her nerves – reached the harbour there was no sign of the ship out in the bay.
‘There’s been a cyclone,’ the harbour master was telling those already gathered there. ‘We think she might have taken shelter in Derby to wait out the storm. No point hanging around here, ladies and gents. Go to your homes and come back later.’
Kitty cursed the bad weather for striking on the very day she had so carefully prepared herself for. On the train back along the jetty neighbours greeted her, making small talk about the storm the night before and how many of the boats had taken shelter. Mr Pigott, one of Andrew’s fellow pearling masters, sat down next to her.
‘Hope that ship comes in soon. It’s got half my family upon it. Yours too, I hear.’
‘Yes. You think theKoombanais safe? After all, she’s the newest in the fleet.’
