Outback Sunset (7 page)

‘Yeah. Hi.’ Undiplomatically, Curtis came straight to the point. ‘What brings you to Amaroo, Stuart?’

‘Just a social call. Haven’t been here since …,’ he cleared his throat, ‘since Matthew died.’

‘Let’s get out of the sun,’ Nova suggested, attempting to break the underlying tension between the two men who had, for no obvious reason other than a personality clash, never got along. ‘I’m sure everyone’s dying for a cup of tea and some of Fran’s pineapple scones.’ Standing between them, she linked an arm through each of the Selby men as they walked towards the house. ‘Where’s Dad, Curtis?’

‘On the northern boundary. We’re mustering the stock there for branding.’

‘Matthew used to bring them into the yards to do that,’ Stuart remarked conversationally. He was studying the wide, low, single storey timber homestead that had been the station’s main dwelling for just on thirty years.

As a young bride, Hilary Selby had insisted that she couldn’t live in the five room stone house that Robert Selby, Amaroo’s founder, had built with his bare hands more than fifty years ago. Coming from a wealthy Brisbane family, and used to the best of everything, she knew that the Selbys were wealthy enough to afford a house to match their standing in the Kimberley. And because Matthew could deny her nothing a Perth architect had been commissioned to design and build a large, comfortable home that other station owners in the region would envy.

Designed to deflect the heat, with high ceilings, a good airflow and an abundance of overhead fans run by a petrol generator, to cool the rooms at night, it had become almost a stately mansion in this part of the world. Like most cattle stations, the kitchen was the homestead’s heart and contained a larder big enough to store food for a small restaurant. Because of Amaroo’s remoteness groceries were ordered in bulk and trucked in from Kununurra every few months. A thriving vegetable plot outside the back door and a chicken coop to provide eggs, plus the easy availability of beef for butchering, meant those on the station ate well.

Six bedrooms and two bathrooms, a timber-panelled study for Matthew, a ‘reading’ room for Hilary, and wide, shady verandahs on three sides of the rectangular shaped house that doubled as sleep-outs when it was unbearably hot, more than adequately housed the family Matthew and Hilary had had.

East of the homestead stood a fenced, much neglected tennis court and beyond the paved patio area covered by a canvas pergola, was a large hole, fenced with barbed wire. A swimming pool had been part of Hilary’s original grand plan but over the years the project had been shelved and never completed. The sturdy one-metre high picket fence around the perimeter of the homestead and the outdoor area was in need of a coat of paint. The fence kept unwanted animals — domestic and feral — off the bore-watered lawn and Fran’s vegetable garden.

‘Usually we do,’ Curtis responded to Stuart’s remark about the branding. ‘But as there’s good feed
near the boundary to the Linford Downs Station, it makes more sense to do it the old-fashioned way — this time we’re taking the branding iron and other paraphernalia to them.’

‘Ugh, even now I still hate branding,’ Nova shuddered, ‘it’s cruel.’

‘But necessary to keep track of stock.’ Curtis grinned at Nova, his hazel eyes giving her a thorough appraisal. She was petitely built. Black straight hair, cut short, olive skin from her Asian and Australian parentage and she had a trace of her Malaysian forebears in her features too. She would be about twenty-three years old now and was pretty to look at. No, more vivacious than pretty, he corrected himself. He groaned silently as he thought about the stockmen’s quarters. At present there were four bachelors in the bunkhouse, all capable of competing with each other for her attention.

Curtis, seven years older, had known Nova since she was five years old. That’s when Reg and his second wife, Fran, had come to work at Amaroo, and from an early age, Nova had a knack for creating … disruptions. As a child, her mercurial, demanding temperament had reminded him of a mischievous kitten that constantly craved attention. She had been indulged by Reg and treated with kid gloves by Fran for fear of her making their lives more difficult than they already were and had, as a teenager, used her questionable
skills
— a certain slyness and a desire to manipulate people and situations — to get what she wanted, which was to break up Reg’s marriage. That’s when Reg had taken a stand and sent her to boarding school. The
Methodist Ladies College at Claremont in Western Australia had, apparently, straightened her out. Her animosity towards Fran — Amaroo’s cook and housekeeper who was the gentlest, kindest person he knew — had lessened as Nova had matured. So, if they were lucky, Nova’s return to Amaroo might be a peaceful one. He’d keep his fingers crossed over that possibility.

Besides, with Bren away he had enough on his plate without having to referee a family that couldn’t get along. Grimacing to himself, Curtis scraped dirt off his boots on the back verandah step and stood back to let everyone else enter the house before him.
Referee
, that was a role he was becoming increasingly familiar with because his mother, as much as he loved her, was a difficult woman. Manipulative, prickly, she wore her widow’s discontent like a badge of honour and sometimes nothing the family did made her happy for long. He knew she missed his father. Hell, he missed him too. But, as his father had said when he was alive, ‘Life goes on and you’d better get on with it before it passes you by’. He smiled as he remembered his father’s words of wisdom. It was a credo he was trying to follow in spite of personal problems — a broken marriage and losing substantial contact with his daughter.

As they sat around the table in the roomy kitchen, cups of tea in front of everyone and a fresh tea cake sliced and half demolished, Stuart got the conversation going. ‘How’s your mother, Curtis?’

The question broke through Curtis’s reminiscing. ‘She’s well. Lauren and the boys are with her at the moment, taking a break from station life.’

‘Bren? Where’s he?’

‘You haven’t heard?’ Fran Morrison, slender and grey haired, and as tall as the men in the room, put in dryly as she placed a batch of scones — she baked a dozen and a half every day — on the table. ‘Bren’s in London, been there more than two weeks.’

‘Good God! What’s he doing there?’ Stuart queried.

‘He fancies himself in love,’ Curtis’s reply was sharp. Everyone other than Fran looked at him expectantly which forced him to relate the tale of Bren’s infatuation with the English actress, including his plan to win her love.

‘How wonderfully romantic,’ was Nova’s comment. ‘I didn’t think Bren had it in him.’

‘The boy’s off his head,’ said Stuart Selby, put out by his other nephew’s behaviour. ‘Should have more sense. There are plenty of Australian girls for him to fall in love with.’

‘I saw her act in Sydney,’ piped up Rolfe Weston. ‘Vanessa Forsythe is an excellent actress. She’s very talented.’

‘Yeah, that’s what worries me,’ Curtis’s tone was frank. ‘I hope her acting finishes at the stage door. I don’t want her
pretending
or play-acting that she’s in love with Bren.’ He shook his head in disgust. ‘He’s bloody serious about her.’

‘Oh, don’t be so down in the mouth,’ Nova chided. ‘Bren’s in his thirties, it’s time he settled down and this … Vanessa could be the right woman for him.’

‘Maybe. But he’s needed here. Decisions have to be made regarding stock, and the breeding program we want to introduce is behind schedule.’

‘And — it’s not
your
place so you don’t want to make decisions by yourself,’ Stuart put in succinctly, a smirk on his face.

Curtis’s sideways glance at his uncle told everyone that he didn’t appreciate the remark. ‘That’s right.’

‘You have my sympathy. I was in the same position after Matthew inherited Amaroo. That’s why I got out.’ Stuart grunted as he recalled. ‘The best decision I ever made. Now I have more money than I know what to do with.’ How typical of Stuart to rub everyone’s noses in his inordinate tourist success — it was one of his less admirable traits.

Stuart’s gaze locked on to Curtis’s. ‘Perhaps that’s the kind of decision you should be making. You have the funds to, don’t you?’

‘My money’s tied up in a venture with Lauren, besides, I’m not interested in leaving Amaroo. It will always be home to me. I can’t imagine living anywhere else.’

‘Even though you’ll never own the place?’ Stuart put in slyly. He leant back in his seat to wait for the answer.

‘Being here is enough,’ Curtis’s answer was direct. ‘I don’t cast envious eyes over Amaroo. It’s Bren’s and I’ve accepted that.’

Nova glanced from Curtis to Stuart. She shook her head at them. ‘You two! Amaroo, Amaroo … Can’t we talk about something else?’

Curtis gave her a cheeky grin and with a twinkle in his eye, teased, ‘What else of mutual interest is there to talk about?’

Exasperated, she picked up a half-eaten piece of cake and threw it at him. It landed on his chest and he promptly popped the remains into his mouth.

‘Pig!’ Then in typical Nova style, she changed the subject. ‘I saw Georgia in Sydney when I was there.’

‘And …?’

She’d known the mention of Curtis’s ex-wife’s name would get his attention. ‘Georgia looked fantastic. She asked how you were.’

The hazel eyes hardened. ‘I’m sure she did. She’s making a nice income with the child allowance I pay, on top of what she earns as a freelance journalist-photographer. It’s in her best interests for me to be in good health.’ His tone changed, softened. ‘Was Regan with her?’

‘No, it was night time, at a pub in The Rocks. She was with a few people who were farewelling her before she flew to Paris for the spring fashion shows.’

‘And dragging Regan with her, no doubt.’ Curtis shook his head. ‘That’s no life for a young kid.’

‘Curtis, you have to accept that you’ve lost Regan. I know it’s hard, but it’s a fact,’ Stuart put in quietly. ‘Georgia built up a lot of resentment over the divorce, mostly because you fought tooth and nail to have sole custody of your daughter by implying that she wasn’t a fit mother because of her affairs. That made her mean enough to make it difficult, almost impossible for you to see a lot of Regan.’

Curtis gave him a withering look. ‘Easy for you to say, Stuart. You have four daughters, two of whom are in your various businesses where you see them
regularly and the two youngest still live at home. I have one child and if I’m lucky I see her for two weeks of every year.’

The phone rang and Fran got to it first. She looked at Curtis. ‘It’s Linford Downs Station. Bit of a problem, I think.’

Glad for the diversion, Curtis scraped back his chair on the vinyl as he rose to answer the call.

‘What’s up, Simon?’

‘Curtis, one of our men has just ridden in from the range bordering our properties. Your stockman, the one named Tony, has had an accident. His horse spooked and he came off. Reg is pretty sure he has a broken leg,’ Simon Johns reported. ‘He said to relay that Tony’s in a lot of pain, too much to be put into splints then on a horse and brought in.’

‘Okay, I’ll come out in the chopper. Where exactly are they?’

‘Approximately ten kilometres north of where Gumbledon Creek runs into the Chamberlain River.’

Curtis knew the place. He checked the time on the kitchen wall clock. He would have to fuel up the chopper before take off. ‘I can be there in an hour or so. Thanks, Simon. Bye.’

He glanced at those seated at the table. Now he had a good excuse to be up and away, literally! ‘Got to go. One of our men’s had an accident. I’ll have to fly him to the hospital in Kununurra.’

‘What bad luck,’ Nova said. ‘I’d like to see Dad. If there’s room on board, can I come too?’

‘Sure,’ Curtis shrugged a shoulder at her. ‘We’ve a Robinson 44 now, it’ll take the three of us, with
Tony in the front seat. You can even play nurse if you want to. Tony would probably like that.’ She pulled a face at his sarcastic tone and he grinned.

Curtis shook hands with his uncle. ‘Hang around if you want, but I’ll be away for several hours.’

‘It’s all right. We’re on our way to Darwin anyway and just called in to break the journey.’ He gave his nephew a casual salute. ‘I’ll be seeing Hilary while I’m there. Want me to pass on any messages?’

‘Give her my love, and tell her that everything’s fine here.’ Curtis, with a goodbye nod, went out the back door without wasting any more time, with Nova trailing behind and doing a slow jog trot to keep pace with him.

Vanessa chose a CD, popped it into the hi-fi and pressed the play button. Spanish music filled her redecorated living room. She loved the new look Maxine Richards had created for her.

The building had central heating so Maxine had opted to pull up the carpet in the living and dining area, polish the floor boards and spread two subtly patterned Turkish rugs across the floors. The colour of the walls was a soft apricot-orange and the new sofa had apricot tones with several loose cushions in cream and varying shades of apricot. Over the fireplace stood a large gilt bevel-edged mirror and two exquisite chandeliers, plus several strategically placed table lamps to provide adequate lighting. Two one-metre high, hand-painted Greek urns, a glass-topped mahogany coffee table and a nouveau Provincial French bureau completed the look of
understated elegance. As she caught the tempo of the music, Vanessa began to dance.

Around the sofa, past the window, pirouetting sensually to the tango beat, her invisible partner was Bren.
Bren
… They had become almost inseparable apart from career commitments … but, they hadn’t made love! Kerri, busybody that she was, constantly asked, ‘Have you done it yet?’ Embarrassing, really. If she wasn’t such a good friend she’d have told her in no uncertain terms to mind her own business.

She was waiting for Bren to pick her up. They were going to take advantage of Ronnie’s offer to use his houseboat. Three carefree days during which her understudy would play her role in the play while she and Bren sailed down the Thames, and along a series of canals to Oxford. There was no telephone on board and no fax machine, and no curious Kerri! Just the two of them.