The Shearer's Wife Read online

  ‘Ah, Ian, I bet you’re looking forward to getting to town tonight. See the new babies.’

  ‘Yes, sir, that I am.’ He nodded. ‘Just wanted to thank you …’

  Ross waved his hand, brushing away his thanks. ‘Not necessary, Ian. Anything we could do to help.’

  ‘Well, I appreciate it.’

  ‘You’ll be looking for your money.’ Ross leaned across the desk and picked up an envelope. ‘Thank you for your service here. I know you realise that we managed to finish earlier than we would have if you’d gone in to see the family. We appreciate your sacrifice.’ He tapped the envelope in his hand before passing it towards Ian. ‘There’s a little bonus in there for you, and I’ll ask you not to tell the other blokes about it. And I’ve made the cheque out to cash, so you can head straight to the bank and get the money. There will be things that Rose and the babies will need urgently, I assume.’

  Ian took the envelope, which was thicker than any pay cheque he’d ever received. He itched to look inside.

  ‘See you next year, boss, and thanks again.’

  ‘You will. With your two littlies running around, I’m sure.’ Ross nodded and turned back to his paperwork.

  Outside, Ian headed back to his car, the envelope burning a hole in his pocket. He looked up at the blue sky and felt a touch of excitement at the thought of being in town tonight. A few drinks at the pub, and the chance to see the new bubs. And he’d be back in the same bed as Rose and could relieve a bit of the tension that had been building up. Yes, tonight was going to be a good night.

  He said goodbye to Dougie, who was still packing. ‘Thanks for your wise words,’ he said, shaking the older man’s hand.

  ‘I hope you’ll heed them.’

  ‘Do my best. See you at the next shed.’ He nodded, got in the car and drove away, a cloud of dust following him.

  Rose washed the cup in soapy water, before rinsing it and placing it on the drain. She glanced down at the babies who were lying on their backs on the shaggy rug which had come with the house. Bridget was cooing, her eyes wide open, looking at her mother; Alroy was asleep.

  The last week had been a jumble of feeding, crying and sleeping. And the nappies—so many dirty nappies to change, soak and wash. The babies didn’t nap at the same time, so Rose hadn’t been able to rest when they were sleeping, as Evie had suggested. Instead, she’d been snatching cat naps while sitting in the rocking chair feeding them. Nights had been a blur of sleepwalking to the bedroom to feed. Alroy was colicky and no amount of gripe water would settle him.

  She’d been frightened that if she went to sleep her large breasts might suffocate the twins as they were feeding, but even though she tried hard to stay awake, more often than not she felt her head rolling forward, before jerking it upright and checking they were still suckling.

  Rose had pulled the plug as she finished washing the dishes and was reaching for a tea-towel when a loud knock at the door echoed through the house. She jumped and the sleeping Alroy woke, his cry loud and high-pitched. Bridget’s eyes widened and she looked startled, before starting to cry as well.

  ‘Oh, no!’ She dried her hands on the tea-towel and bent down. Putting her hand on both their bellies, she rocked them gently from side to side, hushing them. ‘It’s okay. Just a knock at the door, shush.’ In a louder voice she called out, ‘Hold on.’

  But the babies didn’t stop, seeming instead to feed off each other, so Rose went to open the door before whomever it was knocked loudly again.

  The crying followed her, making her want to cover her ears. Their screams certainly were enough to drive any mother to drink, as Evie had said to her yesterday. Rose had been quick to agree. This mothering thing was hard, especially without Ian here to help.

  ‘I’m coming,’ she called out again.

  Swinging the door open, her face broke into a smile. Ian was standing on the doorstep, cap in hand and holding a single rose.

  He held it out to her. ‘A rose for a rose,’ he said.

  ‘You’ve finished!’ A large smile broke over her face.

  Ian took a step towards her and pulled her to him. ‘I’ve finished, sweet Rosie. My Lord, you’re a sight for sore eyes, I tell you.’ Letting her go, he peered in behind her. ‘What is that noise?’

  ‘Your children!’ Rose felt giddy with excitement that her husband was finally here.

  ‘Do they always sound like that?’ A look of fear crossed his face.

  ‘They’re pretty noisy. Come on, follow me. Alroy’s got colic, so his tummy hurts a lot of the time. Bridget has a good set of lungs on her too.’

  In the kitchen, she bent down and picked up her daughter. ‘Here you go, little one, meet your daddy.’

  The baby opened her mouth and screamed even louder.

  ‘No, no,’ Ian said backing away. ‘That’s okay, you hold her.’ He glanced down at the other baby, whose face was red and scrunched up as he roared. ‘Hello, down there. You’re a noisy little mite too.’

  ‘Hold her, Ian. Or pick up Alroy. Neither of them bite, they’re just noisy.’ She jiggled the baby up and down. ‘It’s time for their feed anyway. Can you bring him?’ She went to the babies’ room and sat in the rocking chair, unlatching her bra. Instantly Bridget’s cries stopped, and the sucking noises started.

  The only cries now came from the kitchen.

  ‘There, there, little one,’ she hushed. ‘Ian?’

  He appeared at the doorway, looking flustered. ‘I don’t really know …’

  Rose saw a look of revulsion cross his face when he realised what she was doing.

  ‘What’s wrong?’

  Seeming to recover himself, Ian said, ‘I don’t really know how to pick him up.’

  ‘You can’t break them,’ she said, repeating what Evie had told her the first day she’d come to visit in the hospital. ‘They’re a lot tougher than you think they are.’

  ‘And he won’t stop squawking.’

  ‘He’s hungry. Bring him to me, and I’ll stop him.’

  Pursing his lips, Ian went back out again and Rose smiled to herself. Funny man, she thought. Using her feet to push off in a gentle rocking motion, she heard the screaming increase. ‘You’ll get the hang of them quickly enough,’ she called out. Realising that her daughter had fallen asleep again, she put her in the cot and quickly walked out to see how Ian was getting on.

  Bent over the baby, he was trying to get his hands underneath the baby’s back. Rose stood in the doorway and watched.

  Getting a grip, Ian stood up, his arms outstretched, but holding the child. He looked so uncomfortable she wanted to laugh.

  ‘Try this way,’ she said, going to them. Cradling Alroy’s head, she slipped her hand along his back until the child was nestled in the crook of her arm, supporting his head. Latching him onto the other nipple, she walked back into the nursery and sat down again.

  ‘You wait,’ she said. ‘Bridget here will start again in a minute. You’ll need to pick her up and put her over your shoulder.’

  ‘What for?’

  Rose noticed he averted his eyes from her and the suckling child.

  ‘She’ll need burping. The air in her tummy hurts her otherwise.’

  ‘Right.’ He looked around. ‘You gave them the names I wanted?’

  Rose glanced up at him. ‘Of course.’

  He looked around the room. ‘Nice place. You like it?’

  ‘I love this house. Evie has been so good to us.’

  A flicker of darkness crossed Ian’s face at the mention of Evie. ‘She likes to interfere. I saw that from the moment I met her.’

  ‘Oh, no, Ian, she doesn’t. She just cares. I wouldn’t have managed without …’

  Bridget started to cry, drawing her knees up to her chest and letting them back out again.

  ‘Can you burp her?’ Rose said, then watched as he stared down at the small baby as if she were something foreign.

  ‘Ah …’

  ‘She’ll stop once you get the pain
out of her tummy.’

  ‘You’ve managed all this time.’ Ian turned away.

  She fixed him with a frown.

  ‘Ian Kelly, these are your children. You can help while you’re here.’

  Ian’s eyes didn’t stop moving around, falling everywhere except her. He moved forward and awkwardly picked the baby up, as Rose had shown him earlier.

  ‘Tell me about the shed,’ Rose said, trying to find a safe subject. ‘It ended up all right?’

  He nodded. ‘Boss was really good to me. Got a bonus and all. Speaking of that, I’ve put three hundred quid on the kitchen table. Guess you’ll be needing that.’

  ‘That’s fantastic.’ Rose felt relieved knowing there was more money. Even with her frugalness she was down to the last hundred dollars.

  ‘I …’

  Right on cue, Bridget let out a long loud burp and Ian jumped, then laughed. ‘She’s got her father’s genes there.’

  Even with the laughter, Rose could see he wasn’t comfortable, but at least he wasn’t as frightened as he’d been a couple of minutes ago, although he still wouldn’t meet her eyes.

  Finally both babies were asleep and Rose made Ian a cup of tea. They sat opposite each other, and it was clear to Rose that neither of them really knew what to say.

  Ian looked worn and his eyes were bloodshot. Rose suspected he’d been giving the rum a hammering while he’d been alone, and she detected the faint whiff of cigarette smoke on his clothes. He still was the handsome Irishman she’d fallen in love with, but there was an air of defiance in his stare, something she hadn’t seen before.

  ‘You got a bonus?’ Rose grasped onto something he’d already said.

  ‘A hundred quid. I’m going to shout the bar with it tonight.’ He took a sip of tea. Glancing around, he said, ‘You’ve got this set up nicely, sweet Rose, but I guess you’ll be pleased to get back on the road again.’

  Rose stilled and then took a careful sip of her tea. ‘Leave?’ she asked. What she really wanted to say was, ‘How dare you spend that obscene amount of money at the pub! That could keep us in food for nearly a month.’

  But if it were a choice between spending the money and facing the fact that Ian wanted to leave, then she’d have to deal with the leaving and let the money slide.

  ‘When we head off. I know you’ll be wanting to get back out to the sheds after all this time in one place.’

  Placing the cup gently on the table, she took a breath. ‘Actually, Ian, I don’t want to leave. The bubs and I, we’re settled here and just in the few days I’ve been home from hospital, I’ve realised how hard taking them on the road would be.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ He frowned as if he didn’t understand.

  ‘I mean I want to stay here.’ She looked at him steadily and saw him glance at her chest, and another look of disgust pass across his face. She looked down and saw excess milk leaking out through her shirt. ‘One thing I know,’ she said lightly, grabbing a tissue, ‘is that I’m a good cow! Haven’t had any trouble in feeding them both since my milk came in.’ She gave a laugh and looked at Ian, but he wasn’t following suit. In fact, he was again looking in every other direction other than her.

  ‘Right,’ Ian said.

  ‘I have a lot of milk,’ she clarified. Suddenly she realised the problem. Ian had always loved her breasts and now there were two babies at them. Maybe he hadn’t thought about that part and it was confronting for him.

  Shuffling in his chair, Ian said, ‘I have a shed in northern New South Wales in a week. We’re going to need to leave in two days if we’re going to get there on time.’

  Rose shook her head. ‘Ian, you’ve seen what it’s like in the short time you’ve been here. These babies aren’t going to be easy to take on the road. In fact, they’ll be nigh on impossible. Can you imagine driving a twelve-hour day with them screaming in the back? We’d all go insane.’

  ‘What do you suggest, then? I go without you?’

  Rose was quiet for a long time. Then she said, ‘Yes.’

  Chapter 14

  2020

  Three days after Essie was taken to Adelaide, Joan unlocked the police station door as the clock hands were dead on nine and twelve. Kim watched her from across the street, her hands tucked into her coat and her nose hidden under the bright pink scarf wrapped around her neck.

  She’d just walked Paris to school, where a curious mother had asked about Essie. It wasn’t the first time and she knew the questions would continue to come. Essie had been involved with Paris’s schooling—helping in the classroom, walking her to and from school every day and, even though she was in her sixties, Essie had been on the P&C. The parents were concerned about her.

  Over years of fostering, Kim had become skilled at deflecting queries with smiles and questions of her own. Distraction was always a good tactic, she’d discovered—what mother didn’t want to talk about her own child?

  The cold wind was blowing down the street, lifting the leaves and tossing them together, sending them dancing down the pavement around her feet. With a purposeful step forward, she started towards the police station.

  ‘Morning, Joan.’ Kim peered in the door and glanced around before entering properly. ‘Dave’s not here, is he?’

  ‘Haven’t seen him yet. I thought you’d know where he was.’

  ‘No, he left without telling me where he was going this morning,’ she lied. Kim knew Dave was on his way to Adelaide. ‘Oh well, I’ll have to make do with Jack.’

  ‘He’s out the back; you know the way. Didn’t you bring anything for us for smoko this morning?’ Joan asked with a smile.

  ‘Sorry, I was in a bit of a rush when I left. I didn’t think. I’ve just come back from walking Paris to school.’ She usually brought freshly baked pies or biscuits and Dave would always joke he could smell her coming.

  Not today. She had other things on her mind.

  Swallowing her nerves, she gave Joan a smile as she walked behind her towards the offices. ‘I’ll bring something tomorrow. Paris and I made chocolate-chip biscuits and banana cake a couple of nights ago, so there’s enough to go around.’

  ‘How is the poor little thing?’ Joan’s face sobered.

  ‘She’s a bit confused, but okay. School will be a great diversion and she’ll be with her friends.’ She pointed towards Jack’s office. ‘I’ll just catch Jack.’ Joan nodded and started to open the mail on her desk.

  Kim tapped quietly on the office door and heard Jack call out, ‘Come in.’

  ‘Hi, Jack, just me.’ She pushed open the door and stepped inside. ‘Gosh, it’s cold out there. I think it gets colder every winter.’

  ‘There’s a good reason I’m in the office this morning. I could’ve been out doing licence and speed checks, but I think I’ll let everyone get to where they need to go without stopping them. Too cold. Got a mountain of paperwork to get through anyway.’

  ‘I think I saw all the carnies packing up and shifting out today. You might have found some of their vehicles weren’t up to scratch!’ Kim pulled out a chair and sat down.

  ‘I did a bit of a run through there last night. They knew we were around. And those guys travel all the time. They know what the rules and regs are.’

  ‘How’s Zara?’ She still couldn’t get past the image of a strange man following Zara into her house.

  Jack picked up a pen, twirling it between his fingers, avoiding her eyes.

  ‘I haven’t seen her for a couple of days. She was itching to write this story about Essie.’ He changed position and tapped his pen on the desk, the way Dave did when he was worried about something. ‘We had a bit of an argument.’

  ‘Oh, no.’ Kim looked at him, ready to listen.

  ‘Sometimes I wonder if we’re really suited. She’s always off chasing the story and I’m chasing the crims. I don’t know, she’s obsessed with work at the moment.’ He shrugged and looked despondent. ‘She’s not really acting like herself.’

  ‘Like you can get w
hen you’re obsessed with work?’ Kim gave him a wry look.

  ‘Yeah, I know I can be too, but not like this.’ He stopped. ‘Anyway. That’s not why you came to see me. What can I do for you?’

  ‘Jack, you are suited,’ Kim said firmly, hoping her words were true. ‘Of course you are! A little argument isn’t a reason to throw all of this away. Couples argue all the time.’

  Throwing the pen down, Jack shrugged his shoulders. ‘I know you’re right, but this is the first time we’ve been through this type of thing—I know the answers she wants, and we both know I can’t give them to her. Then she goes off and gets drunk with some other bloke because she’s pissed off.’

  ‘Ah. Well, we all make mistakes. You’ll navigate your way through, Jack. You guys have always had something pretty special.’

  Jack smiled, and Kim saw he was looking at the photo of Zara on his desk. ‘Yeah, you’re right. We do. I should call her. Maybe I’m the one being stubborn.’ He refocused and then cocked his head to one side with a questioning look on his face. ‘To what do I owe the pleasure today?’

  A shiver of anxiety ran through Kim. ‘I know Dave’s gone to Adelaide to sit in on the bail hearing. He wanted to be there to reassure Essie if she doesn’t get it. Have you heard anything from him?’

  Jack slowly sat back in his chair and looked at her steadily.

  ‘Only that she doesn’t have the money to cover the fifty thousand needed.’

  ‘I have it.’ The words burst from Kim in a rush.

  Touching his two pointer fingers together, Jack continued to look at her without saying anything. He didn’t have to. Kim could see the question there.

  ‘I’ve got the fifty thousand,’ she said, more quietly this time.

  ‘And you’ve talked to Dave about this?’

  ‘No.’

  Jack’s eyebrows shot up. ‘You’re kidding me?’

  ‘No.’ Kim opened her handbag and brought out the title of her investment house in Adelaide. ‘You can take this. It’s worth more than Essie needs, but it will get her out of there.’

  ‘Kim …’

  She held up her hand. ‘No, Jack, don’t try to talk me out of this. I’m a really good judge of character and I know she didn’t do this. I’ve known Essie since I was a kid. She’s been through so much, what with Melissa and having to care for Paris. She needs help and I’m able to give it.’