Chapter Twenty-Five

Kitty heard the midwife’s voice through a haze of pain. “Push, come on now. Harder. Push! Harder. Harder. Push, push!”

Panting, she pulled even harder on the leather strap attached to the headboard as she tried to obey the order. Perspiration poured down her body. Bella wiped her face again with a damp cloth.

“And again…you’re nearly there…I can see the head. Come on now…another one. Push, push. Good girl…it’s coming. Push! Push!”

Kitty made one more almighty, heaving effort, and suddenly she felt the baby slither out. Thank God. It was over. She lay back gasping. Then she heard a baby’s cry, followed by the midwife’s voice.

“You’ve got a lovely baby girl.”

Kitty raised her head and tried to push herself up on her elbows. Bella slipped a pillow beneath her head and pushed her gently back. “Lie back,” she told her, and before Kitty could argue, the midwife was placing the baby on her chest. Kitty gazed in wonder at her daughter. Red faced and screaming, with her hair plastered to her scalp, she looked the most beautiful thing Kitty had ever seen.

“You just stay there, like that,” came the midwife’s voice, “until I fix the afterbirth.”

A few moments later another pain came, not as severe as before.

“Right. Another push now.” Another slithering sensation then, “All over now,” came the satisfied voice of the midwife. “We’ll just clean up and then it’s all over.”

Bella took the baby. “I’m going to wash her now, then I’ll bring her back. You just rest for a while.”

Obediently, Kitty let her eyes fall shut, and the next moment she drifted into sleep.

****

Kitty woke feeling wonderful, totally refreshed. She sat up and looked into the crib alongside her bed. The baby lay there, fast asleep, only her head visible above the covers. As Kitty gazed into her daughter’s face, her eyes opened and from her tiny mouth came a loud scream. Bella opened the door and came into the room.

“Oh, so you’re awake. How do you feel?” she asked above the noise, moving over to the crib and lifting up the howling baby.

“I’m fine, but there must be something wrong with her to cry like that,” Kitty said anxiously.

Bella laughed. “She’s hungry,” she replied, placing her in Kitty’s arms.

The baby turned her head from side to side, nuzzling into Kitty’s breast, yelling. As soon as Kitty dropped her nightgown, the baby’s screams cut short as she took the nipple in her mouth and sucked energetically.

Bella stood for a moment, watching. “Well, it looks as if you’re managing perfectly well, so I’ll leave you alone for a little while to get to know your daughter.”

Kitty watched the baby in awe as she fed greedily. She had heard that nothing could compare to a mother’s feelings for her child, but had been totally unprepared for the wave of love that overcame her. Finally the baby, sated, stopped suckling and her head lolled to one side, a trickle of milk dribbling from her mouth. Tenderly, Kitty wiped it away with a bib before carefully unwrapping her and examining the tiny feet and toes, counting to see they were all there. Then she did the same with the fingers. After that, she lifted the dress and the singlet beneath it and examined her carefully from head to toe. Satisfied that everything was as it should be, Kitty wrapped her again and leaned back against the pillows, cradling the baby in her arms.

Breathing a deep sigh of happiness, she gently stroked the clean, soft hair and thought she had never felt so content in her life. This little scrap of humanity, so beautiful, so absolutely perfect in every way, was actually hers. Hers alone. How different would it have been if William were alive? Remembering his attacks and rages, she was not ashamed to acknowledge not feeling sorry at his absence.

“From now on,” she whispered to the sleeping infant, “it’s you and me, my little petal. I’ll see that no one ever harms you, ever. You’ll grow up safe and well looked after, and you’ll never know what it’s like to go without. We’re secure and safe here at Redwoods, and here we’ll stay. No one can ever take it from us.”

When Bella came back a little later, Kitty smiled happily at her.

“Oh Mother, isn’t she beautiful?”

Bella laughed. “I think she’s probably the most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen.” She crossed the room to sit on the end of the bed. “With the exception of yourself, of course.”

Kitty shook her head. “No. Never as beautiful as this.”

“What are you going to call her?”

“Well, I planned to call her Marguerite, after your mother, but she’s brought so much joy to my life, that’s what I’m going to call her,—Joy.”

“Joy?” Bella said slowly, considering, head on one side, then she nodded. “Mmm…yes. Joy. I like it.”

“Joy Marguerita Barron. How does that sound?”

“I think it sounds wonderful. And I think Joy should go back in her bed now so you can have something to eat. Are you hungry?”

“Actually, I’m starving.” Kitty kissed the top of her baby’s head before passing her to Bella.

Later in the day, Jack came into the room.

“How are you feeling, Kitty?” he asked somewhat nervously, standing just inside the door.

“I’m feeling simply wonderful. And have you come to see your new granddaughter?”

Kitty saw a play of emotions cross his face. Surprise, awe, and finally delight.

“My granddaughter.” He spoke slowly as if savoring the words. “I never thought to hear that.”

“There she is.” Kitty gestured toward the crib.

Jack crossed the room, leaned over the baby, and gazed at the tiny face, topped by a wisp of hair, peeking out from the rugs. A look of such softness came over his face that Kitty felt a lump in her throat. In that instant, she knew Jack would be a true grandfather to her child.

****

Kitty recovered her strength quickly. She felt wonderful. Once she was up and about, her days took on a pattern. After bathing and feeding Joy in the mornings, she liked to put her into her perambulator, weather permitting, and wheel her around the garden, talking to her and telling her about the plants and the birds.

One mild, sunny day, Kitty ventured out the gate and down the track to the riverbank. Four kangaroos, feeding on the green grass a few feet out from the edge of the forest, sat up straight as she came nearer, watching her approach. She expected them to bound away, but they stayed still and alert, watching.

Kitty stopped at the stump, hoping they wouldn’t go away, she loved watching them. She lifted Joy from the perambulator and seated herself, cradling the baby on her lap. “See, my darling,” she said softly, “those are kangaroos. Oh look, that one has a joey in its pouch; you can just see its head peeping out. When you’re a big girl, you’ll know all the animals here. I’ll teach you all about them, and the birds, too. Such pretty colored birds we have, like those noisy lorikeets and the beautiful king parrots. And you’ll hear the kookaburras laughing, we have a pair living in the big gum tree in our own garden, do you know that?”

Joy lay contentedly in her mother’s arms, her eyes open, fixed on her face, and Kitty was sure she was listening to her. When she waved one hand in the air, Kitty put her finger out and the baby grasped it tightly and curled her tiny pink fingers around it. Kitty kissed the top of her head. “Oh yes, my little Joy, Redwoods is a wonderful place for you to grow up. And now that I have extra money from the sale of the diamonds, I have plans to make it even better.’

****

Kitty decided the time had come to discuss her plans with Jack. “I think we could build the business up considerably by putting in a mill,” she told him. “What do you think? Could you manage it?”

“Yes. I’ve run a mill before.”

“Good. I believe the boat builders down the Myall River are crying out for timber. I’ll go and see them and see if we can get their business.”

“You’ll go yourself?”

“Yes. If I’m to succeed, then I need to gain their trust as a business person, not as a woman.”

“It won’t be easy,” Jack warned her.

“I know that, but I have to try. If they’ll just talk to me, I hope I can persuade them I know what I’m doing.”

“Then I suggest you call on Harry Osborne first. He’s an approachable man, and he’s one of the biggest boat builders down there. If he takes us on, some of the others are bound to follow.”

****

Kitty waited until the mill was built, then one morning she dressed with extra care, aiming to present a sober and business-like appearance, and drove the buggy down to call on Harry Osborne. As she drove into his yard and reined in the horse, a young lad came across and held the horse’s head.

“I’m looking for Mr. Osborne,” she told him. “Would he be about?”

“Yes, missus. He’s in his office.” He nodded toward a small building set to one side of the yard, some little distance from where Kitty could see several men working on the hull of a partly built boat. The sounds of hammer and saw filled the yard. Floating in the river at the bottom of the yard, tied up to a landing, she saw another boat, which she judged to be a fishing trawler. Another gang seemed to be putting the finishing touches to that. A busy yard indeed.

Climbing down from the buggy she handed the reins to the boy, and stood watching the activity for a moment or two before heading to the office. Her knock was answered by a voice calling, “Come.”

Kitty opened the door and stepped inside. A large desk, covered with papers, stood beneath a window, catching the light. The man seated at it looked up from his sketching, then dropped his pencil and rose to his feet as he saw her. Kitty judged him to be in his thirties—tall and sturdy, with an open countenance, sandy hair, and side-whiskers. Glasses perched on his nose. He removed them as he stood and she thought that, with his strong physique, he would be more at home out in the yard, working on the boats, than here behind a desk.

Kitty took the initiative. “Good morning, Mr. Osborne,” she said as she walked toward him. “I’m Kitty Barron. I own the timber property Redwoods, at Bulahdelah and we’ve recently installed a mill to finish the timber on the premises. I’m calling on you today to see if we might be able to do business together.”

Harry Osborne looked startled at her words, but recovered himself quickly and gestured to the chair in front of his desk.

“Won’t you please take a seat, Mrs. Barron?”

“Thank you.”

Osborne resumed his seat, sitting back and regarding her. “I heard of your husband’s tragic death in the floods. May I offer my condolences?”

“Thank you, Mr. Osborne. It was, of course, a great shock, but life must go on. Fortunately, I worked with my husband, attending to all the bookwork, so I am conversant with all those aspects of the business. And I’m fortunate in having a very capable manager in Jack Morgan. He’s managing the mill for me now, and while we’re processing mostly our own timber at the moment, we’ve also started to receive logs from other estates.”

“I see.” He picked up his pencil and twiddled it in his fingers. “It’s most unusual for a lady to be involved in such a business, as I’m sure you realize, Mrs. Barron.”

“Oh yes. My bank manager made that quite clear to me. He suggested I should sell Redwoods and return to England, to lead the life of a genteel widow in the bosom of my husband’s family.”

A smile flickered on his lips. “And I take it you didn’t like that idea?”

“Definitely not. This is my home now. My daughter will be brought up in Australia, where she was born. We both belong here now.”

“Well, I must say you seem very certain about that.”

“I am indeed. And I’m just as certain that I’m capable of running my own business, and I intend it to be a success. Now, Mr. Osborne, if we can discuss what timber you’ll need in the next few months, I’m sure I can give you an attractive price, and I promise you my service will be excellent.”

He seemed bemused by her direct approach and tapped his teeth with the pencil for a few seconds while he studied her.

Kitty met his gaze levelly, saying no more. He dropped the pencil, opened a drawer in his desk, and took out a large leather-bound book. Placing it on the desk in front of him he opened it and turned the pages until he found what he was looking for.

“Well now then, let’s see what we’ve got coming up, and you tell me what you can offer me.”

When Kitty left his office, she carried with her a substantial order for timber.

****

As Kitty sat on the verandah with Joy beside her a few days later, a commotion along the track made her look up from the book she held. A wagon and four horsemen approached slowly, with Jack leading the way. They passed the house and headed down toward the river. The horsemen dismounted there and, going to the back of the wagon, returned with axes and saws and began clearing a path through the forest. It was the mining gang.

Kitty wondered if Rufe’s plan would work. Would he really be able to implicate Craddock, and, perhaps, even the Arnolds? Now she had Joy it was more important than ever to be free of the danger of her past catching up with her.

****

Apart from the sounds of pick and shovel, and an occasional miner riding past the house, touching his hat as he passed, the track leading into the forest was the only indication of the miners’ presence.

They were on tenterhooks, waiting for something to happen, but had to wait almost two months before Jack brought Patrick home one night so they could both report on progress.

“What’s happening?” Kitty asked them.

“Well, quite a bit, really,” Jack told them. “Our workers all know we’ve supposedly found a mine, where the flood washed the soil away, and of course they’re all agog to know what’s happening, what’s been found. They’ve all been told it’s out of bounds, but they’ve all visited the mine on the sly, as we knew they would. And one of the miners let drop early on that it’s diamonds they’re looking for and that they’ve found some of decent size. So there have been some nice rumors flying round the town.

Patrick took up the tale. “Because they know me and Mary are walking out together, they keep pestering me to find out more for them. So I’m dropping little bits at a time, that Mary told me you’re all excited about there being diamonds, and she thinks it must be something big. Then another time, that she overheard you talking about how they’ve found ‘the big one,’ and it’s going to be time to send a shipment down to Sydney before too long. And of course I’ve been telling my contact that comes to the pub the same things, so we know it’s reached the ears of the right people.”

Kitty took a deep breath. “So it’s all going according to plan?”

Jack nodded. “Yes. Providing nothing goes wrong, and I can’t see that it will, we’re well on track. Jason, the leader of the miners, told me that tomorrow he’ll be sending Rufe a cable with a pre-arranged message about goods being ready for delivery any time now. This’ll cause a bit more of a stir up here, the postmaster won’t be able to keep it to himself, and it’ll let Rufe know all’s well.”

“Then can we expect things to happen soon?” Kitty asked, suddenly excited.

“Yes. It should soon be all over.”

A few days later, Kitty received a letter from Rufe telling her that he would arrive at the end of the month with an escort ready to take their first shipment to Sydney. Excitedly, she passed the news on to Jack.

“Great,” he said, “I’ll let Patrick know, and he can pass it on to his contact. He’ll say Mary told him.”

****

Startled, Kitty sat up in bed, sure she heard a gentle knocking. In the dim light coming from the night lamp she looked around. Yes, there it was again. She slipped from bed and put on her wrapper. Picking up the lamp, she hurried into the nursery. Joy was sound asleep. Making her way up the hall she paused as she heard another knock. Someone was tapping at the front door. Who could it be so late at night? Cautiously, she opened it a crack, holding the lamp high. To her amazement, Rufe stood outside.

He put his fingers to his lips. “Shh, I don’t want to advertise my presence here. Can I come in?”

Kitty opened the door wide. “Of course.”

Rufe entered and closed the door behind him. She led the way into the drawing room, where she pulled the curtains before turning up the lamp and placing it on the mantel.

“No one will hear us in here. Now, what are you doing here so soon? Your letter said you’d be arriving at the end of the month, and that’s still two weeks away. And why all the secrecy?”

“I don’t want anyone outside to know I’m here. I couldn’t trust this part of the plan to a letter, just in case it went astray or was intercepted. The arrangements for the shipment are all in place. However, laying ourselves open to attack at a time and place of the bushrangers’ choice, gives them the advantage. So I’ve decided on a change of plan. We’ll get Patrick to tell his contact that this is a particularly valuable shipment, and so it’ll be more heavily guarded than usual. He’ll also tell him he’s been able to find out where the stuff’s being kept on the property, and that he can lead them to it if they stage a surprise raid here instead. They know there are only four miners here. They’ll think that’ll be much easier than tackling a large, heavily armed escort. Then Patrick can tell us when they’re coming and we’ll be waiting in ambush for them with the police. Hopefully, we’ll catch them without any blood being spilled.”

Kitty felt a stab of fear as she thought of the danger to all those involved. “Will you be with them?”

“Yes, of course. And possibly Jan van Mayen. There’ll also be several armed police.”

“It’s still going to be dangerous, for everyone involved.”

“We’ll take every precaution, and we’ll have the advantage of surprise. Now, do you think it’s possible for me to speak to Jack now?”

Kitty nodded. “Yes. I’ll wake him.” She paused. “Oh, Rufe, I do hope no one’s going to be hurt.”

He grasped her shoulders, looking steadily into her eyes. “You just make sure you ladies stay inside with the doors locked. We’ll be all right.”

As they walked into the hall a cry came from the nursery.

“Oh dear, sounds like we’ve wakened your baby.”

“I’ll just go and pick her up.”

“She?” Rufe smiled. “So you have a little girl.”

“Yes. I’ve called her Joy, because that’s what she is to me.”

“Can I see her?”

“Of course.” Kitty led the way to the nursery. Setting the lamp down on a small table, she picked up the baby, who immediately stopped crying.

Rufe stood watching Kitty cradle her in her arms. Walking over, he gently moved the blanket aside from the tiny face with his finger. The baby immediately grasped it and held on tightly. “Well, little Joy,” he said softly, “aren’t you a darling? Pretty, too. I’m sure you’ll grow up to be as beautiful as your mother.” Carefully he disengaged his finger. “She looks like you,” he told Kitty.

Kitty felt a stab of pleasure.

He smiled at her and touched her gently on the arm. “And now, if you’ll wake Jack, I’ll let him know how he can contact me, and he’ll be able to tell you our final arrangements. Then I must go. I’m not sure if I’ll see you on the night or not, but if I don’t, I’ll be back as soon as I can to tell you how successful we’ve been.”

****

As Rufe waited while Kitty walked down the hall and tapped on the door to wake Jack, his mind whirled with the rush of feelings caused by seeing Kitty again. The sight of her as she answered the door, in her night attire, her hair tumbling about her shoulders, had caused the blood to bubble in his veins. It took all his will power to resist sweeping her into his arms then and there.

How had he ever thought his love for her had faded?