Behind the Sun (46 page)
Authors: Deborah Challinor
After a year as an assigned servant to Adam and Esther Green, however, Sarah understood that Adam did genuinely care for his beautiful, bad-tempered wife; but she wasn’t sure if he loved her. Yet who was she to say what form love took? She’d never been in love, and didn’t care to be.
‘Oh dear,’ Adam said. ‘What is it this morning?’
Sarah shrugged and thought, You should know; you were the one she was shouting at last night. He’d shaved already; the pale skin on his face was smooth and she could smell the toilet water he always wore, lightly fragranced with a hint of sandalwood and lime. This morning his dark hair, which had grown really rather long and well past his collar, was not tied back.
‘Well, I expect I’ll find out in due course,’ he said.
Sarah nodded and went into Esther’s bedroom. The pisspot sat on the floor near the bed draped with a piece of cloth, which was doing nothing to contain the stink. She picked up the pot by the handle and carried it downstairs, one hand pinching her nose shut, hoping she wouldn’t meet Adam again. He knew Esther did this: it was embarrassing — for him and for Sarah. Obviously not for Esther though, or she wouldn’t do it. Dirty cow.
Outside Sarah tipped the turd down the privy and rinsed the po in the overflow from the rain barrel, then washed her hands thoroughly with carbolic soap.
At breakfast she set a covered dish containing sausage and an egg each on the table, ladled the beautifully prepared porridge into three bowls, poured the tea, then sat down.
Esther glared at her; Sarah glared back. Adam concentrated on his porridge.
Sarah knew that if Esther had her way, she would be sent back to the Parramatta Female Factory tomorrow. Esther had convinced herself that she, Sarah, was lifting her leg for Adam. She wasn’t; she
would never take such a pointless and unrewarding risk. Aside from having to endure Esther, she liked her position. Adam was a kind, intelligent and, at times, quite amusing boss, and she delighted in working with jewellery again. She was crafting her own designs now and they were selling well, and her jewels were bringing new customers into the shop and increasing Adam’s profits. Which was a good thing because she was still pilfering from him every chance she got.
And there was another reason she wanted to stay. When dear, precious Rachel had died six months ago, Esther had deliberately denied her leave to visit Rachel’s body or attend her funeral. Poor little Rachel, whom Sarah, Friday and Harrie had tried so hard to protect and care for, and whose baby, Charlotte, they were now all working to support. That had really hurt, and had lodged in her like the broken-off barb of an arrow, festering ever since.
Now Sarah wanted revenge.
Deborah Challinor has a PhD in history and is the author of nine bestselling novels.
Behind the Sun
is the first in a series of four books set in 1830s Sydney, inspired by her ancestors — one of whom was a member of the First Fleet and another who was transported on the Floating Brothel. She lives in New South Wales with her husband.
FICTION
Tamar
White Feathers
Blue Smoke
Kitty
Amber
Band of Gold
Union Belle
Fire
Isle of Tears
NON-FICTION
Grey Ghosts
Who’ll Stop the Rain?
HarperCollins
Publishers
First published in Australia in 2012
This edition published in 2012
by HarperCollins
Publishers
Australia Pty Limited
ABN 36 009 913 517
Copyright © Deborah Challinor 2012
The right of Deborah Challinor to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her under the
Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000
.
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the
Copyright Act 1968
, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
HarperCollins
Publishers
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street, Sydney NSW 2000,
Australia 31 View Road, Glenfield, Auckland 0627, New Zealand
A 53, Sector 57, Noida, UP, India
77–85 Fulham Palace Road, London W6 8JB, United Kingdom
2 Bloor Street East, 20th floor, Toronto, Ontario M4W 1A8, Canada
10 East 53rd Street, New York NY 10022, USA
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:
Challinor, Deborah.
Behind the sun / Deborah Challinor.
ISBN: 978 0 7322 9306 2 (pbk.)
ISBN: 978 0 7304 9370 9 (epub)
Female friendship – Fiction.
Women convicts – Australia – Fiction.
NZ823.3
Cover design by Nada Backovic Designs
Cover images: Woman © Margie Hurwich / Arcangel Images; Rock formations on beach © Simone Byrne / Arcangel Images; ship by tallshipstock.com; all other images by shutterstock.com
