Beyond the Sunset (29 page)

They both looked up.

‘What?’

‘There’s only one cabin free, because the All England Eleven cricket team is returning home on the SS
Bombay
. This cabin wouldn’t be available, either, but a gentleman who was going to England has fallen ill.’

‘Oh.’

‘I can’t let an unmarried couple have the two berths in the same cabin, though. It wouldn’t be right.’

‘Could I travel steerage perhaps and leave the cabin for Miss Blake?’ Zachary asked.

‘The ship’s crowded and every berth is taken, except for those in this cabin. If you travel steerage, it’ll upset the arrangements.’ He looked at them disapprovingly over his pince-nez. ‘It’s a good thing the other young women didn’t come. We couldn’t have found room for them all. There is a way round your problem, though. If you really are engaged, get yourselves married now and that will sort out the matter of the cabin. We don’t condone immorality on the P&O line.’

Zachary stared at him in shock, swallowed hard and saw that Pandora was looking equally surprised.
Get married!
There was nothing he’d like better. But gaining a passage was a poor reason for marrying, he thought sadly.

‘I’ll give you ten minutes to decide,’ the agent said. ‘Go outside and talk about it, then let me know what you want to do. I know ladies like to have a lot of fuss at weddings, but see if you can persuade her to do without it. Ten minutes and not a second more!’

‘But . . . how can we get married so quickly?’ Pandora faltered.

Zachary turned sharply to stare at her. Surely she wasn’t seriously thinking about doing this?

‘Any of the clergymen in town will marry you,’ the agent said in a bored voice.

‘Without calling the banns?’

‘They didn’t call any banns for my sister’s wedding,’ Pandora said. ‘The clergyman only came to hold a service once a month in the district, so it wasn’t feasible.’

The agent nodded. ‘Exactly! Here in the colonies you can’t always stick to the details of the marriage process, which was, after all, set up for Britain. The important thing is to make sure that people are properly and
respectably
married.’ He glanced at a clock on the wall and rustled some papers. ‘Nine minutes to go. I’m an extremely busy man today.’

Zachary took her outside to speak privately and they both stood on the veranda watching a light shower silver the air and feeling faint drifts of moisture on their faces.

‘We’ll have to wait for the next ship,’ Zachary said. ‘What a thing to suggest!’

‘There may not be a cabin free on that one, either. And anyway, the agent is suspicious of us already.’ Excitement began to stir in Pandora. Maybe this was the perfect excuse to get what she wanted, which was Zachary. He wouldn’t ask her to marry him, she was sure, so she’d have to do the asking. Did she dare take the risk of him refusing her? Yes, she did. She’d lost one fiancé already. Life was too uncertain not to seize happiness when you could.

Taking a deep breath she said, ‘Actually, I’d
like
to marry you, Zachary. Wouldn’t you like to marry me?’

He stared at her as if she’d suddenly grown horns.

She waited, growing more and more anxious as the seconds ticked away and he said nothing.

What would she do if he turned her down? She couldn’t even bear to think of it.

‘I can’t take advantage of you like that.’ He spoke stiffly, not even sounding like the Zachary she knew. ‘It wouldn’t be right.’

‘I knew you’d say that. But it’s
me
taking advantage of you,’ she said recklessly. ‘After all, you may not want to marry me. Perhaps I’ve mistaken what you feel?’

His voice was harsh. ‘There’s nothing I’d like better, Pandora –
nothing in the world!
I think we’re both aware of the attraction between us. But how can I marry?’

‘If it’s money you’re talking about, I’ve got enough for both of us.’

‘You think I’d marry you for
that
?’

He swung round with his back to her and she thought for a minute he was going to walk away so grabbed his arm. ‘No. I don’t think you’d marry me for my money, Zachary. But the money does make it possible.’

‘Not for me, it doesn’t.’

She spoke angrily. ‘Are you going to let your stupid pride come between us?’When he didn’t reply, just stiffened, she added more gently, ‘If you really would like to marry me . . .’

His eyes lingered on her and his voice became softer. ‘Of course I would. You’re – the most wonderful woman I’ve ever met. I can’t help loving you, even though I know I shouldn’t. But your money—’

‘Doesn’t matter to me. I’ll give it away if it stands between us. Zachary,
please
 . . .’

‘I’ve gone over and over it in my mind. You think you’d like to marry me because you’ve had to leave your family behind and I’m here, looking after you, being kind to you. But once we got to England, you’d regret it, I know you would. Why, you could marry well with money like that behind you, someone from one of the better families in town. No, you’d definitely regret marrying an ordinary chap like me.’

‘Are you so terrible to live with? I find you easy to get on with and kind to everyone. Look at how you rescued Leo.’

‘That’s not the point. I keep telling you: I’m poor! It’d be
your
money keeping us and that matters. People would talk, say hurtful things, upset you. It wouldn’t be
right
! And what would Mr Featherworth say? He
trusted
me to fetch you back safely.’

She was so angry at him she grabbed his hands and pulled him towards her. ‘You’re a fool if you think I’d listen to such rubbish. Didn’t you hear me? I
want
to marry you, Zachary, you and no one else.’ She could feel the heat in her face and tears of humiliation were welling in her eyes. ‘Why are you making me plead with you?’

But he still kept her at arm’s length. ‘Because I love you and want the best for you.’

‘You’re the best for me because I love you too.’

He stared into her eyes and the silence wrapped round them, a silence she didn’t dare break as one emotion after another chased across his face, such a dear face now.

Words came jerkily. ‘Give me a minute to think, Pandora. Don’t . . . say anything.’

As she let go of his hands, he turned his back on her and she watched him. It was the longest minute of her life. She tried to count the seconds as they ticked slowly away but kept forgetting where she was up to. His back was so rigid. But he did love her, he’d said so.
Please!
she prayed silently.
Please!

When he turned back, his face was set and determined, and her heart gave a skip of pure terror that he was about to refuse her.

He took a deep breath. ‘If I did agree – if we did marry – it’d be on condition that we didn’t consummate the marriage. I’ve read that you can have a marriage annulled if the couple haven’t bedded one another.’

She felt devastated. ‘Don’t you – want me in that way?’

His voice became even harsher. ‘Of course I do. But I’m
not
going to take advantage of you. Once we get back to England, I’d want you to wait a month or two and then decide whether to make it a real marriage or not.’

‘But I know now that I shan’t change my mind. I
love
you.’

‘You think you do. You’re alone in the world, with only me to look after you. No, you
think
you love me, but we can’t be sure. I want to give you the chance to change your mind.’

‘I shan’t do that, Zachary.’

‘Then if you still want to be married to me – and it’ll be your choice – we can make it a proper marriage.’

He cupped her face in his hands and bent his head, kissing her slowly and tenderly on the lips, as if she was the most precious thing in the world. She closed her eyes and gave herself up to the wonderful feelings he roused in her. For the first time in years she felt she could find happiness again – a husband, home, family.

When the kiss ended, she murmured a protest and flung her arms round his neck to keep him close.

He laced his hands behind her waist, looking at her solemnly.

‘I don’t like your conditions, Zachary. I don’t think they’re necessary.’

‘They are to me.’

She was hoping he’d kiss her again, give her a chance to persuade him that the delay wasn’t necessary, but someone cleared their throat behind them and they swung round to see the agent standing in the doorway watching them with a wry twist to his mouth.

‘I suppose this means you’ve agreed to get married.’

‘Yes,’ she said quickly.

Zachary put one arm round her shoulders. ‘Could you please tell us who to see?’

‘There’s St John’s on York Street. First church ever built in the colony, that was.’

‘I saw it. And afterwards, you’ll let us have the ship’s cabin?’

‘It’s yours as long you have the money to pay me. In fact, we might as well do that now, then afterwards you can just bring your marriage lines to show me.’ He pointed to the harbour. ‘There’s your ship. It’ll be leaving first thing in the morning, so you’d better go straight on board after you’re married.’

They went inside the office and Zachary fumbled with his money belt, taking out the necessary amount. The money Mr Featherworth had given him had seemed like a small fortune in England, but since he’d arrived in Australia, he’d been spending it rapidly, more money than he’d ever spent in his whole life before.

Only as he was paying the agent did it occur to him that he’d better make sure he knew the details of their journey. ‘Um – we’re paying to go to England. How exactly do we get there?’

‘This ship will take you to Point de Galle, in Ceylon. It’ll need to coal there. Then it’s going on to Bombay, so you’ll have to transfer to another P&O ship. There are plenty that stop at Point de Galle, so you’ll have no trouble finding one to Suez. Just go and see the agent. From Suez you have to travel overland by train to the port of Alexandria, which is on the Mediterranean Sea. There you’ll take another ship to Southampton via Malta and Gibraltar. They’re building a canal to link Suez to the Mediterranean, but those in my company who know about these things say it’ll never amount to anything. Too narrow.’

They exchanged startled glances and he saw her mouth the legendary place names.
Suez. Mediterranean. Malta.

‘I’ll give you a receipt for the fares, to show you’ve paid the company for the whole voyage to England. Don’t lose it.’ He opened a drawer and pulled out a piece of printed paper, picked up his pen and dipped it into the inkwell. ‘You may as well sit down. This will take me a few minutes. I’ll need some details from you.’

Zachary sat next to Pandora on a wooden bench and answered the agent’s questions. In the pauses between, he avoided meeting her eyes, staring determinedly down at his hands, which were clasped so tightly his knuckles were white.

Were they really about to get married?

When they went outside again, he looked at her and for once, let his heart have its way. ‘If you decide you want to make it a proper marriage, I promise you I’ll always do my best to make you happy. Always. I love you very much, Pandora.’

16

C
assandra was feeling very low in spirits. Not only was she missing Pandora, but she was trying to guide Livia into doing a maid’s work. With the best will in the world, Livia simply didn’t know how to do the various tasks needed, and the job of teaching her was quite arduous. Although Reece had said his wife wasn’t to carry on working, Cassandra did walk across to the Southerhams’ with him a couple of times a week, out of sheer pity for the hapless pair.

In the end Reece said. ‘This time you’re not getting round me. This is definitely your last day at the Southerhams’, Cassandra love. If Livia wants to find anything else out, she must come to Kevin’s and ask you.’ When she would have protested, he took her in his arms and said gently, ‘Do you want to put the baby’s life at risk?’

She sagged against him. ‘No. But I feel so sorry for them.’

‘I was going to drive over to the shop soon. I’ll go on Sunday and ask if anyone has a daughter who’d like to work as a maid for them, even temporarily.’

‘I doubt you’ll find anyone.’

‘I might. Some of the families we see at church are very short of money.’

Cassandra wasn’t the sort of wife to let a husband dictate to her, but she knew he was right, knew too that he only spoke from love. And she did feel exhausted even after half a day’s work. ‘All right.’

As they finished their breakfast, she couldn’t help saying, ‘I shall feel better when we’ve heard from Pandora. Surely it won’t be long now? They’ve had time to reach Albany and for Leo to be on his way back.’

‘The ship leaves today, if it sticks to its schedule, so we should see him within a week or so, if everything goes well.’

‘I keep wondering how Pandora’s feeling, what she’s doing.’ Wanting to weep, but trying not to show how sad she felt at losing her sister.

Reece said nothing, but squeezed her shoulder with one hand then said, ‘Come here!’ He pulled her against his chest as she fought for self-control.

‘Well,’ she said after a while, ‘let’s get ready for work.’

He kissed her cheek. ‘I’ll walk you across to Westview. You can stay two hours then I’ll walk you back.’

No one had ever made her feel so warmly cherished as Reece. She smiled at him mistily and took his hand. Never mind that it slowed you down to walk with hands linked. It was so much nicer like that, as if their hearts were connected by the warmth of their joined hands.

At Galway House the twins were thinking of both their sisters. Mrs Largan tried to reassure them that Pandora would be all right and reminding them that Cassandra was still a month from having the baby, but they still kept worrying.

‘I shan’t feel right till I hear Pandora got away safely,’ Maia said.

‘Well, even if she does, it’ll be a long time until we hear anything,’ Xanthe said bitterly. ‘The distances are too far for comfort here. No railways, no telegrams, no neighbours or villages even, so that news can spread. I can perfectly well understand why Pandora wanted to go back to civilisation.’