In the hours after Daniel Browne rode off in the direction of Gideon Park, Keziah rushed around the house casting every known spell to bring Gem back to her.
Although she’d had to concede temporary defeat and accept Daniel Browne’s plan, she was desperate to buy time to foil it. Escape was impossible. If she bolted again, Gem would never find her.
Through the window she watched the home paddock where Gem’s gift of the brumby was frolicking beside the Shetland pony that Jake had given Gabriel.
If only Jake were here! He had the comforting ability to fix anything. But even I can’t predict his movements. No doubt he’s chasing up some clue to Jenny’s whereabouts.
She prayed out loud to her ancestors. ‘Please bring Jake Andersen back to Ironbark. I need him!’
Each night her sleep was haunted by nightmares and she woke each morning in a state of exhaustion. At times she could sense that Gem’s aura was close to her. But although she searched all the tracks she usually took, there were no further patrins to prove Gem had her in his sights.
Keziah sensed the hand of baxt on the day she saw Nerida returning with the two little boys from a walk in the bush. She knew something important had happened and ran out to meet them.
Nerida silently handed her a silver filigree ring. It looked like one Keziah had seen in Sunny Ah Wei’s collection of silver jewellery.
‘Nerida, where did you find this?’
‘Stranger riding black horse give it me. He said gift is for you. In place of ring you had to bury.’
Keziah gave an involuntary cry. Her wedding ring was buried in Bolthole cemetery on Saranna’s corpse. But who else knew that?
‘What did he look like, Nerida?’
Nerida didn’t need to describe more than the single gold earring and the coins on his waistcoat before Keziah gave a cry of joy, begging Nerida to recount everything Gem had said and done.
‘Did Gem say when he would come to me?’
Nerida nodded. ‘Before the moon is born again.’
It was second nature to Keziah to watch the sky and be aware of the phases of the moon her Puri Dai had taught her. She knew the next new moon would make its first appearance in five days, but would be invisible to the naked eye for a day and a half before that. She felt a surge of energy, along with a wave of anxiety, as to what she would say and do at her reunion with Gem. It crossed her mind to hide Gabriel in Nerida’s goondie, but she dismissed the thought. Gem knew her better than anyone. He would know that an adopted child would be as dear to her as any natural child. There was nothing she could do but continue to follow her instincts.
• • •
Keziah’s nerves were stretched to breaking point. Two days passed without any sight of Gem. Late that afternoon, after leaving Nerida to bathe and bed Gabriel down in his little boxroom, Keziah returned to the schoolhouse for some papers.
As she headed towards it the high-pitched screeching of an unknown bird gave her a heightened sense that something unusual was about to occur.
She had hired Big Bruce as ‘caretaker’ to help him continue to attend school and contribute to the family income. As she entered the schoolroom he was moving the last row of seats into place.
‘Thank you, Bruce, you’ve done a fine job. Go home now, your mother will be needing you.’
He paused in the doorway, nervous. ‘Nothing to worry about, Miss, but there’s a great black stallion grazing down by the creek. I saw a man watching your cottage.’
‘Did you recognise him?’
‘He had a gold earring and coins on his waistcoat. Like they say that bushranger The Gypsy wears,’ Bruce said excitedly.
Keziah froze. The lad could unwittingly endanger Gem by informing his mother he had seen his bushranger hero.
‘I’m not asking you to lie, Bruce, but …’
Bruce lowered his eyes. ‘No need to worry about my mouth, Miss. Pa was a transportee. We MacAlisters don’t rat on our own kind.’ And he was gone.
Keziah hurried back to her cottage. Her front door had been forced open and hung from one hinge. What did that matter? Her great love had found her.
She closed the door as best she could to screen them from the outside world, then feasted her eyes on him.
Gem sat in the carver’s chair, waiting. Everything about him was larger than life. The flash clothes, the silver and gold on his belt, waistcoat and in his ear. The rings on each hand – the gold band she had given him on their wedding day. His white teeth glistening against the dark olive of his skin. The wild black mane of hair. His silk shirt open to reveal the edge of what seemed to be a tattoo.
Just for a moment all was quiet and still. Gem broke the silence.
‘No matter how long it took, I never doubted you’d come to me.’
Time. Keziah had precious little of that to heal their lives. She abandoned words and ran into his arms, determined to bind him to her.
He touched her cheek. ‘Why are you crying, little witch? Isn’t this what we both want?’
Bunching her hair in one hand like the mane of a beloved horse, Gem turned her mouth to meet his own. Keziah had forgotten the power of his kisses, the way he whispered the ardent love words that for years she had hungered to hear. Strange words in English but in the Romani tongue they were tender and passionate.
‘My darling, I eat your lips, I eat your eyes.’
He tossed her down on the bed, tore off his waistcoat and unbuckled his belt. He was laughing, panting in anticipation.
‘By The Del, I’ve waited for you so long, I’m going to make you die with pleasure in my arms all night.’
‘Yes!’ she cried, remembering the prediction that she had thrown at her mother-in-law, Patronella. I will lie again in Gem’s arms.
When he ripped off his shirt Keziah gasped at the sight of the barely healed lash scars that traversed his back. But it was his gaol tattoo that broke her heart – the letter K inside a heart shape tattooed beneath his heart. Gem would bear his love to the grave. If only she had been worthy of it.
Gem pushed her down on the bed, eager to claim her. His tongue filled her mouth with passion, silencing her questions as his hand moved to her breasts.
Suddenly his eyes flew open, staring straight into her own.
‘What is that noise?’ he demanded.
Keziah turned cold with fear as he grabbed his pistol, strode across to the boxroom and kicked the door open. He aimed the weapon at the cot where little Gabriel in his nightshirt was rattling the bars as he sang.
Gem’s shaking hand waved the pistol. ‘What’s going on? He isn’t that black girl’s kid, is he! He’s yours!’
Keziah sprang forward to shield Gabriel.
‘Listen to me! He’s my legally adopted son. Gem, I swear By My Father’s Hand, I only ever loved one man in my life. You!’
Gem’s face was blank with shock. ‘Do you think I’m blind? He has your eyes!’
Keziah followed him as he retreated to the other room, tossing the pistol aside. She sank to her knees, grabbing at his hand, his trousers, any part of him in a desperate attempt to delay the loss of him yet again.
‘My love, you must believe me. That babe did not come by my invitation. I hate the man who fathered him. All I ever wanted was you! To cross the seas and be with you, Gem!’
‘Oh yes? Carrying your bastard in your baggage!’
Keziah wrung her hands. ‘It’s not little Gabriel’s fault! He didn’t ask to be born. I didn’t want him but he’s here now. An unwanted gift. I can’t pretend I don’t care about him.’
Gem moved towards her, his hands flexing with rage. Keziah told herself he had never hit her before, no matter how uncontrolled his jealousy, but this time was different. She was guilty.
‘How many more men were there?’ Gem demanded.
Her throat constricted. ‘None! It was only one night! Gem, I beg you to forgive the unforgivable! I’ve loved you all my life. Please find it in your heart to understand and to absolve me from my guilt.’
‘Guilt, eh? A moment ago you pretended your innocence! The babe didn’t come at your invitation, eh? How many lies must I swallow? Answer me! How many more gaujos have paid to use my wife?’
‘Gem believe me! I have never in my life loved anyone but you!’
He threw back his head and laughed. The sound was one of such pain and violence that Keziah felt as if he had physically struck her. Despite this she clung to him, trying to block his exit.
‘What the hell do you want from me, Keziah?’
Her voice was raw with passion. ‘Gem. If I could only find the way back to make you love me again, I would spend my whole life devoted to your happiness and your pleasure. I beg you, give me the chance to prove my love!’
He spat through the window in contempt. ‘And if I refuse?’
‘Mi-duvel! Give me a little time, I beg you. Remember that day in court? You cried out that no beak could ever keep us apart? You were right! I crossed the world to come to you. I’m your woman now – and always will be.’
‘And what’s that worth? To let myself be contaminated by a woman who is mahrime?’
Keziah closed her eyes, praying to her ancestors to give her the chance to cool his rage.
‘Gem, I’d give my life to save you.’
‘Too late. You’re already dead. Remember? Keziah Smith is dead and buried in Bolthole cemetery where she belongs.’
Keziah was shaken to the core. ‘I wish I had been the one to die. But baxt chose me to live. If you can find it in your heart to forgive me, I’ll wait for you – no matter how many years it takes. But I must protect this babe and the life I’ve made for him. Above all I honour our Romani wedding vows. No matter what the gaujo law says, I could never marry another man. Unless you divorced me under Romani law, our way.’
‘Divorce you? What madness is this?’ Gem yelled as he pushed her aside. ‘So the truth is out! You’re already hot to marry some gaujo fool?’
‘No! Gem, I want you more than anything in the world. Please try to forgive me, but if you can’t, then set me free from the promise I swore as a child to love you unto death.’ She cried out in desperation, lying at his feet. ‘Love me. Hate me. But I beg you, just lay with me tonight, my Gem.’
Gem’s anger suddenly cooled. ‘You clever little bitch. Here I am on the run from the traps. I risk my life to spend a single night with you, knowing that informer Evans is breathing down my neck. And what do I get? Lies and betrayal – and this gaujo brat!’
He gestured towards the cot where Gabriel was cheerfully clapping his hands and singing in a bid to attract Gem’s attention.
Gem punched his fist through the front door that had hung on one broken hinge since his entrance. Then he faced Keziah and flashed his familiar smile that always made her heart leap.
‘The day we met you were five years old. Your father, Gabriel, visited our camp to show off his adored, blue-eyed posh rat. Your smile was pure sunshine; innocent yet seductive.’ Gem examined his hand as if discovering it for the first time. ‘You placed your hand in mine. From that very moment you held my heart in the palm of your hand.’
Keziah cried out at the power of that shared memory. ‘I loved you from that moment too, Gem. You know I did!’
‘My mother took one look at you and ran to my father. She warned him that I must have a true Romani wife because “Whores only breed whores”.’
Keziah really did want to die. Now her mother’s shame compounded her own.
Gem’s voice grew soft. ‘My gift to you, Keziah, is this.’ He hissed Patronella’s darkest curse – a spell so potent Keziah needed two lifetimes to escape its vengeance.
As he galloped away, Keziah called out his name in a broken cry, powerless to hold him. How could her life have any meaning without Gem at the heart of it?
Her sobs became so frenzied that they frightened little Gabriel into adding his terrified cries to her own. With her face red and swollen from crying, Keziah carried him out onto the veranda to calm him in the cool night air.
‘There, there, it’s all right now, my little Rom. Who would believe you are the man who wrecked my marriage?’ She kissed the little hand that patted her face, comforting her. ‘Perhaps you are man enough to forgive me? When I said I didn’t want you before you were born, it was true, but I didn’t know you then! You are the world to me, Gabriel.’
She sat him in her lap and clapped his hands. ‘I don’t know how to solve this terrible mess but if I died tomorrow, I’d swear the truth on my deathbed. I love Gem with my whole heart. But if he cannot accept you, I could never, never give you up. You are the one thing in my life that really makes sense!’
As she carried him inside the cottage she tried but failed to close the broken door behind her.
• • •
In the darkness outside Keziah’s cottage Jake swore under his breath as he watched the retreating figure of the fugitive Gypsy Gem Smith gallop over the horizon. Jesus wept! What do I do now?
He had ridden up to pay Keziah a visit but halted at the sight of the stallion tethered in the shadows. Should he stay or should he go? He had overheard the tail end of Gem’s enraged fight but the touching scene of Keziah comforting little Gabriel had been enough for him to piece together the story. Jake was honest enough to know his feelings were biased. Keziah was his mate, but if he stood in Gem’s shoes, could he forgive his wife for bearing a babe to another man while he was in prison?
In one sense, Jake realised he was standing in Gem’s shoes. What the hell would I do if Jenny pleaded her love for me like Keziah did to Gem?
There was no answer. It was growing dark so he decided it was time to take action. He rode off to Ironbark Farm’s assigned men’s quarters. When the door was opened by Sholto, the huge tattooed Glaswegian convict looked ready to throttle him.
‘Miss Plews has a problem, mate, I need your help.’ Jake offered the man his tobacco pouch. Mollified, Sholto took it and led him to the toolshed.
On his return to Keziah’s cottage, Jake propped casually against the doorframe. ‘Just passing, mate. Noticed your front door’s given up the ghost.’
Without another word he set to with the tools and soon had her door in working order. If only her love life was as easy to fix.
‘Kind of you, Jake,’ Keziah sniffed. ‘I’ll fix you something to eat.’
Jake eyed her as she poured tea. Some women, like Jenny, looked heartbreakingly pretty when they cried. Not Keziah. Her eyes were bloodshot from howling. Jake had seen prize fighters who looked more attractive after thirteen rounds.
He folded his hands behind his head and settled back in his chair with a show of confidence. He decided to play his cards close to his chest and pretend he hadn’t been witness to Gem’s violent exit.
‘All right, mate. Out with it. What’s up?’
‘You can’t fix the mess I’m in, Jake. Not this time. No one can.’
‘You reckon?’ he said. ‘Try me.’