A Second Chance (48 page)

David looked up from his task. ‘So you know
what he told me.’

‘No, I don’t. Richard won’t let on about
things to do with doctoring, even when it’s family. And you don’t
have to tell me, either. But if you want to talk, I’m listening.’
He leaned back against the wall of the shed and waited.

David seemed to be giving all his attention
to a roughness in the wood, rubbing vigorously at it. The sandpaper
slowed to a halt, and he turned to face Frank, a haunted look in
his eyes.

‘Richard said having the baby’s just about
sure to have made Beth’s heart weaker,’ he began in a low voice.
‘He said she’ll be all right as long as…’ He trailed off, then the
words came out in a rush. ‘He said she mustn’t ever have another
baby. He said if she does, it might kill her. I asked him, and he
said women can keep having babies till they’re over forty. Beth’s
only seventeen now. That’s thirty years! Thirty years for me to
mess things up. And it’d be my fault. If I mess up, I’ll have
killed Beth.’

Frank stared at him, shaken. He wished
Richard did not take his duty of respecting confidences quite so
seriously, so that Frank might have been prepared for this
revelation.

This was his Beth whose life might be at
risk. A small part of Frank wanted to encourage David to think that
it would be his fault if she ever conceived again; to make him even
more fearful of the very idea. But one look at David’s eyes told
him that the boy had no need of anyone else to make him feel the
burden; he was being more than hard enough on himself.

‘That’s a hard thing for you to hear, Dave.
I don’t know what to tell you. I wish I did.’

David dropped his gaze. ‘Thought you might
want to take her back home once you found out.’

‘I suppose I do, in a way. She’s my
daughter, and I’ll never stop wanting to look after her. But that
wouldn’t be right.’ Frank gave a rueful smile. ‘Even if I could
talk her into it, and we both know I’d have no show of that. Beth
wants to be here with you, and I know you want to take good care of
her.’

‘But what if I don’t take care of her?’
David said, raising his eyes to show that same haunted look. ‘What
if I kill her?’

‘Don’t go saying things like “kill”. It’s no
good talking like that.’ Frank racked his brains for a response
that would not be completely inadequate. ‘You know, your Aunt
Lizzie was really crook years ago, when Joe was a baby. I don’t
know if you’d remember—no, you were just a baby yourself, now I
come to think about it. Your ma had Joey up here for a long while,
she was feeding the two of you at the same time.

‘Your Aunt Lizzie had this thing wrong with
her insides—she was really bad with it. I thought I was going to
lose her. It was the worst time of my life.’ The memory still had
the power to make his chest tighten. He had to wait a moment to
recover himself before he could go on.

‘Well, she came right in the end—and that’s
as much thanks to your ma as anyone else. But I was still worried
about her, she’d been that crook. So I decided she’d better not
have another baby for a good long time, give her the chance to get
her strength back properly.’ He snorted at his own misplaced
confidence. ‘We had another baby before the year was out. So I’ve
no business getting all high and mighty with anyone else. But you
know what, Dave? That was how we came to have Beth. I know this
sounds a bit dopey, but it’s as if… well, it’s as if it was meant
to be. It turned out all right, because we were meant to have
Beth.’

David had listened politely, but Frank could
see that his story had not made much of an impression. ‘I know it’s
not the same thing, Dave, and… well, I don’t know what I’m trying
to say,’ he admitted. ‘But all you can do is your best. That’s all
anyone can ask of you. I trust you to do that—I think you might
make a better job of it than I did, come to that.’

David made a movement somewhere between a
shrug and a shake of his head, but said nothing.

It was all the encouragement Frank could
find to offer, and he knew it was not enough. He let the subject
rest, and thought of one that might raise David’s spirits.

‘You know, I’ve been thinking lately, I
never did get around to giving you and Beth a wedding present.’

David roused himself enough to respond. ‘But
you paid for the wedding. You don’t need to give us a present as
well.’

‘There was precious little needed paying
for, just a bit of food. I didn’t even get to buy Beth a new dress.
No, I’ve thought of what I want to give you. How about we build you
a new house?’

He had David’s attention now. ‘A… a new
house?’ he echoed. ‘You mean it?’

‘Well, I remember throwing off at you over
the state of this one when you asked for Beth. So I thought I
should do something about it. We won’t be able to make a start for
a few weeks, not till we dry the cows off, but with you and me and
the boys all on it, it shouldn’t take too long. What do you
say?’

‘That’d be really good. I’d like to have it
a bit nicer for Beth. I can put in some money,’ David added
quickly. ‘Sarah—that’s Ma’s friend in Auckland—she sent some money
for a wedding present, and we’ve only spent a bit of it so far. We
bought a new bed out of it.’ He looked away, but not before Frank
caught the hint of a blush.

‘No, I won’t take a penny of your money—it
wouldn’t be much of a present if I let you pay for it. You can
spend it on some more furniture when the house is ready. I’ll tell
you one thing I’ll put towards it, though,’ Frank said as a thought
struck him. ‘There’s some money I’ve had sitting around for a
while, because I’ve never been easy in my mind over it. I lent your
ma a bit when Mal wanted to go away to the war—he needed it for his
gear and all that. I told her there was no rush to pay it back, and
of course when we got the bad news I didn’t want to let her pay it
back at all.’ Belatedly, it occurred to Frank that reminding David
of his brother’s death was not likely to raise his spirits, but it
was too late to stop now.

‘But she wouldn’t take no for an answer, she
kept turning up once a quarter with her money. I found out she was
putting all the money your grandpa left her towards it—I managed to
put a stop to that, anyway. I told her I’d only take ten shillings
a time, and she kept at it till she’d given me back the lot. And
I’ve had it sitting in a drawer ever since. I couldn’t give it back
to her, and I couldn’t spend it on myself. You’ll be doing me a
favour if you let me put Mal’s money towards a new house for you
and Beth.’

‘I never thought of getting a new house,’
David said, sounding a little dazed at the notion. ‘Thanks, Uncle
Frank.’

‘Well, it’s not going to be a mansion. Two
bedrooms should do you to start with, so you’ve got one for your ma
as well. I can give you a hand putting another one on when…’
When you have more kids
he had been on the point of saying;
he caught himself in time to change it to, ‘when Daisy gets big
enough to need a room of her own,’ but wished he had not raised the
subject of bedrooms.

David’s shoulders slumped. ‘Maybe we should
build one on for me,’ he muttered.

‘Dave, don’t…’ Frank began, but he could
think of nothing useful to say.

When Frank shared the news with Lizzie, she
was as shocked as he had been. She considered the fact that Beth
would not have any more children as a greater tragedy than it had
struck Frank, but she agreed with him that the responsibility of
ensuring Beth did not conceive again was a heavy burden on
David.

But there was nothing either of them could
do, beyond expressing sympathy and concern. And there were more
mundane matters on Frank’s mind.

��How did it go?’ Lizzie asked when he came
home from a visit to town the week after his conversation with
David.

‘Pretty good. We shook hands on it.’

He waited until dinner time to tell the
whole family.

‘I’ve got a bit of news,’ he announced.
‘I’ve bought another farm.’

All the children (except Benjy, who sat on
Lizzie’s lap laughing and babbling away to himself) looked at him
in surprise.

‘Are we moving, then?’ asked Danny.

‘Of course we’re not,’ said Lizzie. ‘I’d go
distracted if I had to move all you lot.’

‘No, it’s as well as this one,’ Frank said.
‘I’ve bought Mr Carr’s place. He’s been trying to make a go of it,
but it’s got too much for him now he’s getting on. He’s buying a
little place in town for him and Mrs Carr and Martha.’

‘So we’ve got two farms now,’ Rosie said,
looking awed. ‘I’m going to tell everyone at school.’

‘Don’t you go getting big-headed over it,’
said Lizzie. ‘Anyway, it’ll be all over town by tomorrow, you won’t
need to tell anyone.’

‘So why do you want another farm, Pa?’ asked
Mickey.

‘Well, because of you boys, really. This one
won’t be big enough when you all get married and have families of
your own.’

‘As if anyone would want to marry those
boys,’ Rosie said, but her brothers ignored her.

‘Mr Carr’s farm’s not a bad place, but it’s
been let go lately,’ Frank went on. ‘We’ll have to do a fair bit of
work on it over the winter. I won’t be taking ownership till June,
though, so we’ve got time to make a start on the new house for Dave
and Beth before then.’

‘You know, Pa, some people think winter’s
the time to have a bit of a rest,’ Joe remarked with a smile.

‘Not your pa,’ Lizzie said. ‘You won’t catch
him lazing around, any time of the year.’

‘I just hope we get some fine weather,’ said
Frank. ‘There’s a lot to do. Now, the four of us will work on the
new farm once it’s all signed and sealed—Joe and me’ll get you two
started,’ he said to Mickey and Danny. ‘The fences aren’t bad—a
couple of them’ll need fixing up before we put stock in there,
that’s all. The cowshed’s only fit for firewood, but we won’t need
to do anything about that for a while. We’ll use some of the
paddocks as a runoff, and then there’s a good flat part that’ll be
just right for spuds. We’ll have to get the thistles out of it
first, that’s the only thing.’

‘That sounds a lot of work,’ Danny said,
pulling a face.

‘It’ll keep us busy. Once it’s all cleared
and ploughed, you can get the spuds planted—no sense trying maize,
not after last year.’ The disastrous summer frosts of the previous
year had destroyed maize crops throughout the Bay of Plenty, and
Frank was thankful that he had devoted only a small area to the
tender plant. ‘Still, spuds are fetching a good price, what with so
many places having the blight, so I’ll get you to put a good lot
in. Then it’ll be up to you two to look after things till harvest
time. It’ll be your place one day, yours and Mickey’s.’

Mickey’s face brightened. ‘So can we stay
there while we’re working on it? Maybe stay a few nights a week,
anyway, so we don’t have to ride there every day,’ he added
quickly, as if afraid he had asked for too great a liberty.

‘You two, stay there on your own? Ha!’ said
Lizzie. ‘I suppose you’d cook your own meals, would you? The only
question would be whether you’d starve to death or poison
yourselves first.’

Mickey started to scowl, caught his mother’s
eye and thought better of it. ‘I thought maybe we could go into
town and have a feed at the hotel some nights,’ he mumbled. ‘Or
just go to the hotel, anyway,’ he added in an even lower voice.

‘Yes!’ Danny said, catching his brother’s
enthusiasm. ‘It’s much closer to town than we are here, it wouldn’t
take long to ride in.’

‘You boys are too young for that sort of
thing,’ said Frank. ‘Hanging around hotels at your age can get you
into all sorts of trouble.’ He hoped that what made the notion of
visiting the hotel appeal to the boys was the thought of drinking
beer with men, rather than the female company on offer at a price.
Mickey was not yet fifteen, and Danny on the point of turning
thirteen; surely they were both too young to be thinking of such
things? Frank certainly had no intention of encouraging it. ‘And
your ma’s right, you’re too young to stay at the new place on your
own. No, I’m going to rent out the house and its bit of garden,
probably with a horse paddock, too. That’ll help with paying the
bank. I don’t want the house standing empty, either, not with—’

He saw the quick, warning movement of
Lizzie’s hand, and stopped in time. It was being rumoured around
the town that Liam Feenan had been released from jail. He had been
in prison for the last six years, after breaking into Reverend
Simons’ house and beating him so badly that the old man’s life had
for some time hung in the balance, but now Liam was said to be
making his way back to Ruatane in the company of other men as
unsavoury as himself.

Lizzie had reported that Maisie, when told
of these rumours, had said little, but had clearly been upset.
There was no sense troubling her further by referring to her cousin
by name when there might be nothing to the story. ‘An empty house
that close to town, we might have kids breaking into it or
something,’ Frank said instead.

Mickey still looked mutinous. ‘I dunno why
we can’t go into town on our own. Arfie’s only the same age as me,
and Grandpa gave him some money and said he could.’

‘Yes, and Uncle Bill took it off him and
said he couldn’t,’ Danny added.

Mickey elbowed his younger brother sharply.
‘I wasn’t going to tell them that bit,’ he said, glowering.

Frank hid a smile. ‘As a matter of fact, I
already heard about that from Uncle Bill. Hard to keep secrets
around here, Mickey.’

‘And you can stop talking back to your
father, if you want to see any pudding,’ Lizzie added. Mickey
subsided into aggrieved silence.

*

The rumours were true: Liam Feenan was back
in Ruatane. At the dairy factory, Frank heard it from men who had
seen him around the town.