And Those Who Trespass Against Us (5 page)

Katherine sank into her chair. "I'm sorry I didn't mean for it to sound like that, but it's, oh, I don't know." She put her head in her hands. "The situation I've found myself in is not what I expected it to be."

"I'm sorry I was so abrupt," Catriona softly replied. "I think I understand how you must be feeling. It's a long way to come and be met the way you were yesterday. I understand enough of your religious life to know it's centred on a set of common principles. At the moment I expect you feel as if those principles have been scattered to the four ends of the earth." Catriona's face softened. "But please don't let that prejudice your overall opinion of Sister Coreen, Alexander, or me. How about I fix us some breakfast and we can talk some more."

Katherine's head remained in her hands.

"Whether you believe it or not you're wanted and needed out here. I saw you working yesterday. You've a natural affinity with the people of this town. They opened up to you and, believe me, it's not something they do lightly. Don't go until you've at least had time to see the town in a better light. As for your accommodation, you're welcome in this house for as long as you wish. Please think about it while I make you some breakfast."

No words passed between the two while Catriona prepared breakfast. She busied herself with frying up two generous slices of bacon, whilst searching her own thoughts. Why do I want her to stay? Is it because, recently, other than Susan and Coreen, she's the only other woman I've felt comfortable with?

Catriona placed a plate with a mound of eggs, bacon and tomatoes in front of Katherine and slid another across the table to her own place. "I hope you're hungry. Alexander and I usually only have two big meals a day--breakfast and dinner."

Katherine blinked and she looked up at Catriona. "Thank you. I am quite hungry."

Catriona lifted the hot fry pan off the top of the wood oven. Out of the corner of her eye she realised Katherine was waiting for her to take her place at the table. "Don't let your food get cold. Please go ahead."

"I was waiting for you to sit down so I could bless the meal."

"Then I suggest you start eating now. Since the death of my parents, I've never had my meals blessed, nor have I entered a church. I am one lost soul you'll never retrieve,
Sister
."

"So be it. I'll bless my own," Katherine said while Catriona continued to clean up the breakfast mess she'd made.

Silence hung between the two as they ate. Taking the opportunity the silence presented, Catriona surreptitiously viewed Katherine. Her face sported a scant sprinkling of freckles, the supposed bane of every good lady. Her brown, curly hair was cropped in a manner normally associated with women in religious orders. By the looks of her face and given where she's come from, she can't be more than twenty-five or twenty-six, Catriona thought. If she wants to maintain such a complexion then she's going to have to find something more to protect her than her veil and wimple. And who cut her hair? I could've done a better job with a pair of sheep shears. The most amazing thing about her though is her eyes. They look like the deep green emeralds my mother used to wear on special occasions.

Catriona realised she'd been caught staring and gulped down the last of the mouthful she'd been chewing for the past minute. "How's your breakfast?"

"It's fine, thank you. You're quite a good cook. Unfortunately, I've never been able to master the art of cooking. The nuns who trained me found this out early in my training and ensured I was never relegated to kitchen duties. Mind you, it did take one meal for them to realise this." Katherine placed her knife and fork beside the plate. "I'm sorry for my reaction earlier. I didn't allow you to finish the rest of your story. How did Father Cleary react to the news about your brother and Sister Coreen?"

"At the beginning he was all thee's and thou's, fire and brimstone, as you were a moment ago. He warned Coreen against the dire consequences of divorcing the church to marry a man. When he finally saw them together he realised their relationship wasn't just a stage in Coreen's life. Under the auspices of his own church, he couldn't condone the union. However, he did advise the two of them. He advised Coreen she shouldn't rush into such a marriage, no matter how right it felt. He asked her to wait until you arrived and she could discuss the consequences with you. His advice to Alexander was to find a church and priest willing to marry them. I know Alexander found this hard to accept, but decided to go along with the father's decision. In fact that's where he is now, attempting to find a priest.

"Don't get me wrong. He's not desperately scouring the countryside. If they couldn't find someone local, then they intended to go to Sydney and get married. Once they were married, it wouldn't matter what the people thought. And, truth be told, it certainly wouldn't have bothered them."

"I don't know what the father expected me to do. It's very likely Coreen wouldn't have listened to me anyway. Besides, what business of mine would it have been to come all this way and stop her from marrying your brother? I'm sorry for my abruptness earlier, especially given how you must be feeling about the loss. Have you given much thought to what you propose to tell your brother when he returns?"

"I haven't, and I'm not exactly sure when he'll be home. Hopefully between now and then I'll come up with some way to break the news." Catriona rose to clear the table. "I expect there are more immediate things to think about, like washing up and getting back to town. There's still a lot to do."

"You're right." Katherine rose. "I'll help you if you like, and then I'll get dressed for the day."

WASHING UP FOR two wasn't like some of the wash ups Katherine had endured at the convent. The chore had been the bane of her existence in Ireland, but she didn't feel right leaving Catriona to look after the mess. Once finished she returned to her room with a pitcher of water and filled her hand basin to attend to her own ablutions. Having read her daily passage from the Bible, she turned, somewhat reluctantly, to place on her number two habit. "I can't possibly wear the one I arrived in, given how stained and dirty it is." She sighed. "I expect it won't be long before they're both as dirty as each other."

Using the remains of the water in her basin, she attempted to sponge off the stains on her soiled habit. Satisfied she'd done as much as she could, she carried both the water and the habit out the back of the house and looked for somewhere to hang the garment.

Catriona had hitched the horse to the wagon. The wagon itself was indicative of most things Katherine saw around the farm. Its primary conventional purpose was clearly to carry stores and produce, with its secondary purpose being the transportation of humans. Katherine hung her habit over the clothesline to dry and headed toward Catriona to see if she could lend a helping hand.

"Right, that's done." Catriona turned and almost ran into Katherine. "I'm sorry. I didn't hear you coming. Are you all right?"

Katherine straightened her veil and wimple. "I'm fine, nothing broken."

"If that's the case, I think it's time we educated you on the ways of the bush. Today I'm helping with the rest of the cleanup in town, and this will give you the opportunity to meet the town's matriarchs."

Katherine frowned. "How do they know I'm here?"

"I sent a messenger to them yesterday to let them know you'd safely arrived and that I'd bring you into town today. Anyway, I don't go into town on a regular basis and when I do it's normally astride a horse. You, on the other hand, will find your trips around the immediate countryside to be a lot more frequent. So, your first lesson will be how to manage a horse and wagon. I'll leave the more difficult task of rigging them for travel for a later time. On the table on the verandah is a pair of gloves. I suggest you wear them, for the reins can cause quite a few blisters on soft hands." Catriona placed a mechanical implement in the back of the wagon. "Is there anything you wish to take into town with you?"

"I don't think so," Katherine called over her shoulder while she looked for the pair of gloves. She put them on and made her way back toward the wagon.

"The first thing you have to learn is to use both hands when getting on and off. That was your mistake last night, trying to get off too quickly. Now hop up there and we'll start lesson number two."

Katherine gathered her habit and hitched a small length of it into her belt to ensure her feet were unimpeded. She grabbed the wagon with both hands and climbed aboard. "Sorry about last night. I was a bit terse. But then I'm not used to falling off wagons."

Catriona eased into her seat and grasped the reins with both hands. "I don't think anyone is, are they?" They shared a laugh. "The second thing to learn is how to hold the reins. Don't hold them too far apart or the horse won't know what you want him to do. He relies on you, through the reins, to direct him. If they're too loose he'll wander." Catriona handed over the reins to her. "Now you try. Hold them like I did and you shouldn't have a problem."

Katherine attempted to weave the leather through the third and fourth finger of her hands like Catriona had demonstrated. She initially found the procedure quite difficult, but after some amount of floundering she was satisfied she'd succeeded. Turning to Catriona for assessment was the worst thing she could have done. The motion of her turning body resulted in the lines of the horse being snapped accidentally, causing horse and wagon to lurch forward. The horse, assuming they were on their way, broke into a light canter.

Katherine whipped her head and eyes around to the front. "What do I do now?"

"Unless you wish to go straight through the fence, you'll have to wheel the horse's head," Catriona said, her voice laced with amusement.

Katherine swung the reins above her head, in attempt to regain control of the horse. "Wheel! What do you mean?"

"It means turn the horse." Catriona calmly grabbed Katherine's hands and placed them in her lap. "Keep your hands close together, down in your lap, not above your head as if you were dancing a jig. Move one of the reins slightly toward you and, most of all, don't shout. You'll scare the horse. Right, now pull the left rein toward you and you'll see the horse's head will turn."

Katherine who had never controlled any form of gig was amazed. The horse's head turned and so the wagon followed.

As the horse lightly trotted in ever decreasing circles, Catriona eased Katherine's left hand back toward her right. "You've skipped a number of lessons, so we'll go back to your final lesson on the wagon and that's how to stop it. Slowly ease both reins toward you. At the same time, tell the horse you wish to stop by saying 'whoa.' Then I'll put the brake on." Catriona guided Katherine's hands back.

"Whoa!" said Katherine. The horse slowed and came to a complete halt. "That was exciting. I've ridden in coaches when I was at home, but I've never actually driven one. It can be most invigorating."

Although they had stopped, Katherine looked down to where Catriona's hands still held her own. Her hands were so delicate, compared to Catriona's. "Shouldn't you be putting the brake on now? Catriona, are you all right?" Katherine's eyes alternated between Catriona's face and their hands.

Catriona released Katherine's hands as if they were hot coals. "I'm fine. I was daydreaming." She pushed on the brake with her foot. "Based on the success of today's lesson, I better drive into town today. Don't worry though. You'll be doing this soon enough, especially if you're going to stay here for any amount of time."

Katherine smiled. "Thank you very much for the first lesson. At least with you driving I'll be able to concentrate on where we're going. Last night was far too dark for me to see much of anything."

Leaving the property, Katherine saw the countryside to the right of the wagon primarily consisted of gently undulating hills, covered with a brown-yellow straw-like grass. "What's that?"

"It's wheat. It's a staple crop in this part of the country."

The wheat undulated with the wind's hypnotic dance, swaying in time to an invisible beat. It made the paddock come alive.

On the other side of the uneven road, the grass was a brown-green colour. "That's the same colour grass I saw when I woke up this morning. Is the colour because of the lack of rainfall?"

Catriona nodded.

Katherine shrugged, assuming Catriona's nonverbal answer to mean she was more pre-occupied on the task at hand. She continued to look around.

Affording minimal shade in the paddock were groups of trees, which couldn't honestly be called a copse in the Irish sense of the word, and grazing away in the middle distance were a group of the most unusual animals Katherine had ever seen. She'd first seen them on the train trip. Having stood up from her seat to stretch her legs, she'd gone out onto the train's back platform in time to see these great grey creatures with two legs and a massive tail bounding up the hill away from the train. At that exact moment, the conductor had come to the back platform and told her they were kangaroos.

The kangaroos didn't sense danger from the passing wagon, instead content to graze on what sparse vegetation abounded in the paddock. Only one kangaroo paused in his repast. Lifting his head, he looked in their direction. Obviously satisfied by the absence of an immediate threat, he lowered his head and continued to graze.

CATRIONA WAS LOST in her own thoughts. She'd seen this countryside too many times to longingly gaze at it every time she travelled across it. Its purpose was to maintain cattle and grow wheat along with other crops. The countryside's aesthetics rarely entered the equation. And this morning she paid it even less attention.

Although outwardly calm and composed, her mind was racing. It's happening again! It had felt like a lifetime since she'd felt the same stirring of emotions she was experiencing. Although she'd hated her first governess with a passion, the same couldn't be said of her second governess. When her mother realised she wasn't growing out of the normal tomboy stage most girls brought up on a farm go through, Adele Cooper had been employed by the Pelham family to refine Catriona. Elizabeth Pelham had realised, if Catriona were to have any chance of securing a husband, she would first need the rough edges removed.