Moonlight Plains (19 page)

Townsville, 1942

Everything changed on the day they went to the island.

Kitty suspected that Ed had done extra duty in order to have a whole day free with her, and she wanted everything to be perfect.

Luckily, the weather was magical on this last weekend in April – still sunny and tropical, but without the energy-sapping humidity of summer. The tang of salt spray filled the air as they sat on the rear deck of the ferry boat
Malanda
and watched the rushing white wake, while Townsville’s shoreline slipped further and further behind them.

Everything
was
perfect. The clear, bright blue of the sky above was reflected in the sparkling sea. A brisk breeze blew, and the island lay ahead, green and hilly, with its enticing fringe of pretty bays.

They’d brought a picnic basket and a thermos, swimsuits and towels, and Kitty’s stomach tightened with mounting excitement as the mooring ropes were thrown ashore and the boat rocked against the shell-encrusted timbers of Nelly Bay’s jetty.

On land they walked in bright sunlight, surrounded by smooth boulders and soaring hoop pines, while below, through the cracks in the jetty’s boards, they could see the clear water and colourful fish swimming between clumps of coral.

‘We should swim at Arcadia,’ Kitty said. ‘It’s the next bay, and it’s like this one only prettier. Just a short walk.’

‘Arcadia?’ Ed grinned. ‘How aptly named.’

When they reached it, he stood for a long moment with a broad, happy smile on his face. He took in a deep breath of pristine air as he surveyed the blue and white curve of the tiny bay, with its fringe of coconut palms and boulder-studded headlands.

‘This is paradise,’ he said softly.

‘You could almost forget there’s a war on,’ Kitty agreed, even though there were plenty of reminders on the island, with military personnel dashing about in jeeps and heavily armed forts set on the headlands above Florence Bay.

Ed’s ebony eyes sparkled, however, and as they walked down to the beach, he slipped his arm casually around her shoulders. She could sense a change in him, as if he’d left his cautious, slightly serious self behind. The island was already working its magic.

Kitty found it rather nerve-racking, though, to emerge from the changing rooms in her swimsuit. She was worried that her costume was too old-fashioned and unflattering, but Ed’s admiring smile quickly melted her fears. And as soon as they’d dumped their gear at the base of a coconut palm, they ran together across the warm sand to the cool, startlingly clear water.

Bliss.

I don’t do this often enough, Kitty told herself. She’d almost forgotten how wonderfully sensuous it was to dive into the cool, clear sea and to feel the water all over her skin and to roll onto her back and float, gently rocking, looking up at the pines on the headland.

She was constantly aware of Ed, of course. Each time she saw his dark head and bare chest emerge from the water and saw the flash of his smile, she felt a rush of happiness.

He was never far away – and yet it was just when she least expected it that he caught her hand, pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

Kissed her on the lips, while their semi-naked bodies pressed close.

Kitty thrilled to feel his mouth seeking hers in a cold, salty kiss, and to feel his hard muscled chest, his strong thighs. Lightning jolted through her as she felt his unmistakable arousal.

She was bereft when he released her again, but she caught the burning intensity of the smile he gave her before he dived beneath another rolling green wave.

After their swim, they ate their picnic lunch on the beach. Ed produced a cold roast chicken, an astonishing luxury, and Kitty didn’t like to ask how he’d acquired it. Afterwards they lay on the soft grass looking up through graceful palm fronds, listening to the soft rise and fall of the sea and the trilling of cicadas in the nearby shrubbery.

Kitty couldn’t stop thinking about Ed’s kiss. It was a new obsession to recall the taste of his lips and the sexy shock of his erection pressing against her.

Eventually, keeping her gaze on the sky overhead, she said boldly, ‘So now you’ve kissed me on the lips for the first time.’

When Ed didn’t answer, she turned to look at him. Saw his slow smile.

‘You did realise it was the first time, didn’t you, Ed?’

‘Of course.’

‘I was beginning to think it might never happen.’ Their goodnights at the front gate in Mitchell Street had been so chaste. ‘Have you been worried that Geoff might be spying on us from the verandah?’

Ed rolled onto his side, facing her, and lifted his hand to gently stroke her cheek, her neck. His fingers lingered, lightly teasing her collarbone.

‘There’s a very good reason why I’ve never kissed you properly,’ he said, now tracing the line of her jaw. ‘I knew that if I started, I’d never want to stop. I’d need to kiss every enchanting inch of you.’

Kitty shivered. ‘I wouldn’t mind.’

‘Kitty.’ His voice held a warning now.

‘I’m not a virgin,’ she whispered daringly, thinking this might be what had held him back. ‘I slept with – with a fellow before he joined up. But it was just, you know, a kind of goodbye.’

‘And then your grandfather banished you to Moonlight Plains.’

Kitty gasped. ‘How did you know that?’

‘So I’m right?’ Ed asked now, instead of answering her.

‘Yes, but how did you guess?’

‘Something your great-uncle implied. That you were sent out there to get away from the American invasion. He thought it was ironic. Reading between the lines, I guessed there might have been a problem in Townsville.’

‘So you haven’t kissed me because you’ve wanted to protect me from gossip and from my grandfather’s wrath?’

Ed shrugged. Clearly he wasn’t going to admit this.

‘You’re very noble, Ed.’

Now he laughed. ‘There’s nothing noble about my thoughts.’ And she saw an intense look in his eyes that contradicted his laughter.

Picking up a strand of her drying hair, he rubbed it between his fingers, loosening the salty stiffness left by the seawater. ‘You know this talk of kissing is playing with fire, Kitty.’

She looked directly into his dark gaze and smiled. ‘That’s what I was hoping.’

His throat worked nervously as he swallowed.

‘Actually . . . I have a key,’ he said. ‘There’s a hut. I believe it’s close by, but it’s very rustic.’

‘How did you get the key?’

‘One of the perks of being an officer. Our air force has requisitioned several places on this island.’

Her heart was racing. ‘Shouldn’t we take a look?’

The hut was indeed rustic. Set back behind a screen of palm trees, casuarinas and bright flowering hibiscuses, its windows were made from corrugated iron that pushed out on timber props.

The floor was bare concrete and the furnishings were simple: a double bed with a faded blue chenille spread, a small cane table and two chairs, a spotted mirror above the table, a cupboard with basic crockery. Another small building at the back housed a shower.

When Ed propped the windows a little way open, dappled green light filtered into the room.

‘It’s lovely,’ Kitty said as she set her picnic basket and beach bag on the floor. ‘You can hear the sea from here.’

Ed smiled. ‘And the sounds of the parrots and the cicadas.’

‘And the geckoes,’ she said as he reached for her and nuzzled her bare neck.

‘What are geckoes?’ he asked, trailing warm kisses along her jaw.

‘Funny-looking lizards.’ Kitty arched, wanting his lips everywhere.

‘Noisy lizards?’ He kissed her throat.

‘Uh-huh.’

He chuckled. ‘I
lurve
the tropics.’

His hands framed her face now and there was no more chuckling or talking as his lips found her lips, gently teasing them apart.

Kitty’s eyes widened as she felt his tongue touch hers, but after her momentary surprise, it felt completely natural and perfect. Winding her arms around his neck, she let him take the kiss deeper.

Oh, my, she thought as her skin tightened all over.

Ed was unhurried, almost lazy in the way he kissed her now, but he was most definitely in charge as he slipped his fingers beneath the straps of her swimsuit.

‘You must tell me if you want me to stop, Kitty.’

‘All right.’ She already knew she wouldn’t want him to stop.

His dark eyes sought hers. ‘I mean it.’

Then he peeled the swimmers down and kissed the tops of her breasts, lighting flames of longing.

‘I don’t want you to stop,’ she whispered, although she gave a small gasp of surprise when he peeled the fabric lower, following with his lips. But then she was seized by curiosity and a new kind of wildness. This was what she wanted – these lightning bolts of desire, his kisses all over. Everywhere . . . 
everywhere
.

I’m a changeling, she thought as she quivered and arched. This wanton creature can’t really be me.

Once or twice, his kisses were so intimate that she knew she was blushing, and she wondered, Am I supposed to ask him to stop now?

But any possible protests were so hazy and barely formed that they drifted away like smoke on the wind. After all, this was Ed, and he was every kind of wonderful and there was no stopping the blaze that engulfed her.

Kitty felt rather dazed as she lay beside him.

‘Hey,’ he said gently. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Yes, of course. Just a little stunned. I had no idea.’ She smiled at him shyly. ‘I didn’t know it could be like that.’

‘Neither did I,’ Ed said softly.

‘But . . . ’ Kitty frowned. ‘But you knew what to do.’ He knew
so
much. Everything.

He smiled and kissed the tip of her nose. ‘Doesn’t mean it’s ever been like that before.’

She tried to take this in as she lay there, feeling like a much more grown-up and womanly version of herself, watching the patterns of light on the walls, while Ed idly played with strands of her hair.

After a bit, she asked, ‘What are you thinking about now?’

‘About you. About how wrong it would be to take you away from all this.’

His words both thrilled and chilled her. Was he already thinking ahead to the end of the war, to a future in Boston that couldn’t include her?

‘Perhaps you’ll have to stay here then,’ she said, half-joking.

‘Perhaps I will.’ He sounded very pleased with that thought and he was smiling as he began to kiss her again.

Close to dusk, they walked along the beach, hand in hand, their bare feet leaving prints in the shiny wet sand. The ferry had left long ago, packed with tired and sunburned day-trippers, its decks loaded with cases of pineapples from the island’s farms. Kitty had felt extremely audacious when she hadn’t gone with them.

She and Ed were staying on the island till morning, stealing one glorious,
precious
night from the war.

‘Do you remember your parents?’ Ed surprised her by asking.

‘Yes, of course. I was ten when they died.’

‘Do you have happy memories of them?’

‘Very happy.’ Kitty smiled, remembering the uncomplicated joy of her childhood. The little red-roofed house in Penshurst, her mother singing in the kitchen, her father whistling as he came home from his work in the city. She remembered his nightly ritual, calling, ‘Where are my two special girls?’ Remembered him swinging her into his arms, holding her on his hip as he kissed her mother, not wanting Kitty to feel left out.

‘I knew that my parents loved each other and loved me. There was a lot of laughter in our house,’ she said. ‘At mealtimes, all the time. That was what I missed most when I moved up here to live with my grandparents. They’re not big on laughter.’

The sea and the sky were pearly-grey now, with splashes of pink and mauve from the sunset.

‘What about you?’ she asked Ed.

‘Not much gaiety in our house, I’m afraid.’

‘But your parents are happy together, aren’t they?’

He gave a soft, huffing sound that wasn’t quite a laugh. ‘Oh, yes, definitely. In our circles, everyone is happily married. It’s the done thing. They’re far too refined to fight.’

‘But there are no displays of passion?’ Kitty asked.

‘Absolutely not,’ he said glumly. ‘That would be undignified.’

‘They’re not at all like you then.’

That won her another smile.

Moonlight Plains, 2013

‘I’m afraid this is a begging phone call,’ Luke told Zoe McKinnon. ‘I’m after a little catering advice.’

‘Are you catering for another stock camp?’

‘Not this time.’ Luke smiled, remembering how he’d met Zoe, a fully qualified chef, when he’d hired her as his camp cook for a muster at Mullinjim, the family’s station. At the time he’d never dreamed she was his half-sister in search of her family.

‘I haven’t been within cooee of a stock camp all year,’ he said now. ‘This is for the bash here at Moonlight Plains.’

‘The party to celebrate finishing the homestead makeover? Hey, that’s great. We were really excited to get our invitation. So are you nearly finished?’

Luke looked around at the frames for the kitchen cupboards still waiting for doors and bench tops, the holes where the stove and dishwasher were yet to be fitted, the wires hanging from walls awaiting an electrician. From the bathroom across the hall, he heard the sounds of the tiler at work. ‘Getting there,’ he said.

‘I can’t wait to see it, Luke. I know it’ll be gorgeous. You did such a great job on our place.’

‘Well, I assumed most of the family would want to see it, so I decided it was a good excuse to get everyone together. Bella and Gabe. All the uncles. Mum and my grandmother.’

‘It’ll be fabulous to see everyone. Such a great chance to catch up.’ A moment later, Zoe said in a more subdued tone, ‘But I can’t help thinking how much Peter would have loved this, Luke.’

‘Yeah.’ Luke sighed. ‘We’re going to miss him all right.’ Zoe hadn’t known their father for very long before he died and she’d found his passing especially hard. ‘We’ll have to raise a glass to him,’ Luke said gently.

‘Yes. Just a quiet one with your mum and Bella.’

‘We’ll make sure of it.’ Luke blinked, shocked to realise how the loss could still ambush him. Since he’d moved to Moonlight Plains, he’d felt distanced from his family, but a few words from Zoe had instantly reinforced how strong the ties were.

‘By the way . . . speaking of families,’ he said, brightening, ‘I’ve invited the daughter of one of the Yanks who crashed here during the war.’

‘Is she coming out for the party?’

‘I’m not sure yet, but I hope so.’

‘Wow. That’ll put us all on our best behaviour.’

‘I guess . . . I s’pose she’ll fit in.’

Truth to tell, posting the invitation to the American woman had been quite a wake-up call for Luke. The possibility of her arrival made everything real. Until then, he’d only played along with Sally’s brainwave to throw a party, and the actual mechanics of hosting the event had been little more than a vague theory. Now, he had to get cracking with putting it into action.

‘Okay.’ Zoe sounded gratifyingly businesslike now. ‘At least you’ve given me enough time to plan.’

‘I don’t expect you to do
everything
.’ Zoe and Mac had an ankle-biter now – young Callum, closing in on the terrible twos. ‘I was thinking of a barbecue, nothing too flash, or we could throw a beast on a spit.’

‘Okay. Sounds good. In either case, you’d really just need fresh salads, crusty bread and some scrumptious desserts.’

‘That would be perfect.’ Luke laughed. ‘You make it sound easy.’

‘It will be. Hey, I’m getting excited already, Luke. Does this mean I can throw my weight around in your lovely new kitchen?’

‘Absolutely. Feel free.’

‘Great. Oh, hang on a sec. Mac’s here now, and he’s demanding to know what we’re talking about.’

Luke could hear her explaining to her husband.

Next, Mac was on the phone. ‘Hey, Luke?’

‘G’day.’

‘I’ve been meaning to ring you. So you’re throwing a big party?’

‘Sure,’ Luke said with more confidence than he felt. He could already tell from his mate’s amused tone that he was in for a ribbing.

‘Can’t help wondering who put you up to it.’

Luke was glad Sally was safely outside, working in the yard. She’d arrived at Moonlight Plains this morning armed with a rake, gloves and other gardening gear, ready to clean up the disused lily pond. She had visions of it revived and beautiful for the party, stocked with reeds, lilies and fish.

‘It just seemed like a good idea,’ he said to Mac.

‘So let me get this straight. You haven’t been on a horse for bloody ages. You spend all your days sawing timber and hammering nails. And now you’re moving into big-time catering?’

Luke bit back an urge to tell him to pull his head in. ‘It’s a family get-together,’ he said patiently.

‘But if I was a suspicious type, I’d suspect a female’s hand in this. I sense a little feminine prompting. Is this another new girl, or someone we’ve already met?’

Luke gritted his teeth. Until now, he’d been happy with the way Sally had become more and more involved in his project, ringing him with thoughts about various decorating touches . . .

But now he realised that the party spelled danger, a very real chance that his family would jump to all sorts of wrong conclusions about Sally.

Their ‘strictly casual’ relationship was going well. Really well. Brilliantly. Sally had become a regular visitor and everything about being with her was way better than Luke had ever dreamed. But it would be ruined if the family got nosy, aided and abetted by his best mate playing the smartarse.

‘You’re wasting your breath,’ he told Mac tiredly, as if bored with this conversation. ‘Our entire family has a vested interest in Moonlight Plains and we have to work out what to do with it now. If we’re going to have a gathering to discuss its future, we may as well turn it into a bit of a party. It makes sense.’

‘Okay. Fair enough. I guess I was just enjoying the idea of a girl behind the scenes.’

‘Sorry to disappoint. And for what it’s worth –’

‘Hey, Luke!’ Sally yelled from the front verandah.

Luke spun around.

Sally stood in the doorway, dressed in shorts and muddy work boots, Jess at her side, tail wagging a greeting.

‘I was just wondering if you could help me –’ She’d raised her voice to reach him, but then she saw the phone in his hand. ‘Sorry, I didn’t realise you were busy.’

‘Who’s that?’ demanded Mac from the other end of the line.

Luke grimaced. No way would he incriminate Sally. ‘The tiler.’

‘You have a female tiler?’

‘Yeah. What of it?’

There was a snort of laughter. ‘Okay, mate.’ Mac could barely speak now between chuckles. ‘Say no more.’

‘Thank Zoe for her offer to help, will you?’ Luke responded tightly. ‘I’ll get back to her when I have firmer numbers.’

‘Sure. And I’ll leave you to your lonely, monastic existence. Good for you. All the best.’

Fuck
. Luke pressed the button to end the call, pocketed his phone and crossed the bare wooden floors to Sally.

As always, the sight of her cheered him. She’d pulled her hair up into a butterfly clip, but strands had slipped out and now lay in curls at her neck, so bright in contrast to her pale skin. He wanted to hook his finger into a curling fiery wisp, to feel its silky softness.

‘Sorry if I interrupted something,’ she said.

‘Not really.’ Luke shrugged the phone call aside. ‘Were you looking for help?’

‘Yes, please. There’s an old concrete pipe in the pond, but it’s filled with mud and it’s too heavy for me to lift.’

‘No worries. I’ll take a look at it.’

As they went down the steps, Sally sent him a sideways, searching glance. ‘Everything okay, Luke?’

‘Sure. Why?’

‘I thought you looked a bit pensive.’

He gave a shrug. ‘I’m fine. Everything’s fine.’

But it wasn’t the truth. Mac’s teasing was a timely reminder that his family would almost certainly pester him about Sally when they met her at the party. If it was any other girl, he wouldn’t care, but Sally was different, still grieving. He would have to warn her, work out a strategy.

Right now, however, he had to deal with the pile of rubbish she’d dragged from the silted pond. ‘Bloody hell.’

Along with rocks and rubble and piles of mud, there were filthy beer bottles and cans, an old boot, a rotted wooden crate, and what looked like the bottom section of a metal-mesh garden seat.

‘An archaeologist would have a field day with this lot,’ Sally said with a laugh.

‘It’s disgusting. But you’ve done an amazing job, Sal.’

‘Thanks.’

She looked so pleased and pretty, despite the mud smears, that he couldn’t resist giving her a kiss. When she melted against him, responding with her usual enthusiasm, their kiss took a lovely long time.

‘That’s better,’ she said, smiling into his eyes. ‘You look much happier now.’

Luke kissed her again, couldn’t help it. But then he dragged his attention to the almost empty pond. Stepping down onto a muddy island, he tried to lift the concrete pipe. ‘That’s well and truly stuck. Reckon I’ll need a crowbar.’

Sally nodded. ‘So maybe I could make a start on clearing all the grass away from the edges.’

‘You don’t have to. It’s a big job.’

‘But I want to. I can’t wait to get a proper look at all the stonework and paving. I’ve never done anything like this before and I’m having a ball. Honestly.’

Her warm brown eyes were shining and she looked so genuinely happy Luke felt his throat constrict.

‘You know you’re one in a million, don’t you?’

‘Of course,’ she said with a cheeky grin and a tempting wiggle of her hips.

Somehow he resisted the overpowering urge to kiss her again. Three kisses within as many minutes might be breaking their ‘strictly casual’ boundaries.

‘I’ll get that crowbar and back the ute up so I can cart this mess away,’ he said instead.

By the end of the day, the pond and the circle of crazy paving that edged it were cleared. Luke and Sally sat in canvas camp chairs, enjoying a cold drink – beer for Luke and white wine for Sally – as they admired the results of their labours and made plans. They couldn’t fill the pond yet; it needed a new liner, which Luke would get from the local hardware store. Meanwhile Sally was going to check out Townsville’s nurseries for the most suitable water-loving plants.

‘What about fish?’ she asked.

‘They’re easy. I’ll catch rainbow fish from the river.’

‘So I can dangle my feet in here and have a pedicure?’

‘If you like.’ Luke shot her a grin. ‘And when you’re not here the fish can eat the mosquito larvae.’

‘Now you’ve spoiled the romance. So you don’t want goldfish?’

He shook his head. ‘They’d be a problem if the pond overflowed in the wet. We wouldn’t want goldfish washing down into the creeks.’

‘Pity. Goldfish are so pretty.’

‘Yeah, but this country already has enough problems with aquarium fish escaping into natural waterways.’

Sally pulled a face. ‘I didn’t know you were a greenie.’ But she countered this with another smile. ‘Actually, you’re right. Goldfish would look out of place here, anyway. They belong in cities.’

So do you, Luke almost said, but he refrained and downed the rest of his beer. Sally was staying the night and there was no sense in spoiling their happy mood with a chilling dose of reality.

Sally watched as Luke stood at the two-burner stove that was perched on the makeshift shelf where the flash new Italian five-burner would eventually sit. He was stirring scrambled eggs with a frown of deep concentration, and she decided he looked incredibly cute in his jeans and ratty old T-shirt, making sure that their breakfast was just right.

She couldn’t resist slipping her arms around him from behind and giving him a hug.

These days, just being around Luke made her feel incredibly happy. Last week, she’d even confessed this during another beach walk with Megan, and her friend had been so excited that she’d done cartwheels, literally.

‘It’s still only casual,’ Sally had warned her. ‘We’re not getting serious.’

Megan, who’d recently announced her engagement to Barney, had rolled her eyes, but at least she hadn’t tried to argue.

Now, however, Sally suspected she had a problem. She was beginning to doubt her own hype. Surely, if her interest in Luke was merely casual, she wouldn’t be thinking about him constantly. Surely, she shouldn’t live for these visits to Moonlight Plains. And most certainly, she shouldn’t feel deeply depressed about leaving Luke here and driving back to Townsville.

She wondered if she should raise this with him some time soon. After all, she’d originally gone to great lengths to make it clear they had no long-term future. She’d insisted that their relationship could only ever be casual, and Luke – nice guy that he was – had respected her wishes.

Problem was, she’d been so bossy about this she’d left herself no avenue for learning how Luke honestly felt. He showed all the signs of liking her very much, but he never talked about their future, just took each day as it came. Which was exactly what she’d asked for.

She was still mulling over this catch-22 when he turned from the little stove with a smile of triumph.

‘
Voilà!
’ He held out two plates of toast topped with perfectly scrambled eggs.

‘Sensational,’ she told him.

He winked. ‘Can you bring the cutlery and cracked pepper?’

‘Sure can.’

They’d set the card table and chairs on the verandah where they could dine with a view of the paddocks and the bush while Jess remained close, snoozing in a patch of sunlight.

Sally carefully cut a wedge of toast and egg and took a bite. ‘Wow, this is delicious, Luke. Perfect
issimo
.’ Playfully, she rubbed her bare foot against his ankle. ‘A man of many talents.’

A brief quarter-smile flickered in his face then disappeared almost immediately. To her surprise, he looked unusually serious and his gaze didn’t quite meet hers.

Retracting her foot, she cut another corner of egg and toast. Luke was turning pensive again and his thoughtful frown unsettled her more than it should have.

If she probed him about it she’d probably annoy him. He’d been pretty quick yesterday to shrug it off. So she continued to eat, cutting dainty portions, paying careful attention to the paddocks and the flock of cattle egrets that took off, snowy-white against the trees.