White Feathers (4 page)

James looked very embarrassed. There was an awful silence, which Andrew broke by saying rather coldly, ‘Actually, Joseph is a Boer War veteran, Captain. He’s a very experienced soldier and has already served the Empire with some distinction.’

‘Yes, quite, James told me about that,’ said Tarrant. ‘But surely an all-native contingent won’t be expected to fight alongside, well, everyone else?’

Joseph finished chewing a mouthful of food, swallowed and took a small sip of wine. ‘And why would that be the case, Captain?’ he asked evenly.

‘Well, I suppose there mightn’t be a problem if the contingent were to be under non-Maori command, but, well, you have to admit that most Maoris haven’t had much experience fighting in a real war and it’ll be pretty serious over there.’

Oh my God, thought Tamar, closing her eyes.

Jeannie, equally appalled, pushed back her chair and said quickly, ‘I’ll just ring for Mrs Heath, shall I, and tell her we’re ready for the second course?’

At the same time Lachie loudly asked Ian if he had finished moving the sheep out of the top paddocks, even though he knew he had, and Tamar asked Lucy what she was planning to wear on her wedding day.

Lucy replied, ‘I brought two dresses with me, Mrs Murdoch, but I’m not sure which one to wear. I was hoping to ask for your advice on that, if you don’t mind. James said you’re very knowledgeable about fashion.’

‘Of course, Lucy. I’d love to and I’m very flattered, but it’s your wedding day and you must wear what you feel best in.’

Tarrant suddenly cleared his throat, turned to Joseph and said abruptly, ‘Look here, old man, I apologise if what I said sounded patronising. I certainly didn’t mean it that way.’

Joseph returned his gaze for several seconds, then replied, ‘No offence taken, Captain. You’re right, in fact. It may not be easy to combine the two fighting styles, but I’m sure we’ll all manage when it really matters.’

There was another short silence, then Lachie said, ‘Our boys seem to be doing well in Samoa.’

‘Well, they should be,’ replied Andrew. ‘We sent nearly fourteen hundred troops just to capture a wireless station on an island occupied by eighty Germans and a handful of reservists. We’d be looking rather silly if we weren’t doing well, wouldn’t we?’

‘Is it true that when the New Zealand Government asked the British War Office about the German defences in Samoa, they said to look it up in
Whitaker’s Almanack
?’ asked Lucy. ‘I read that in the papers,’ she added hesitantly.

James smiled at her fondly, ignoring Tarrant’s look which
suggested that pretty young ladies should not confuse themselves by trying to keep up with current affairs. ‘Well, that’s the story going around, but I wouldn’t think it’s true.’

‘No, I doubt it,’ laughed Tarrant. ‘I’m positive the intelligence we had on Samoa would have been a little more specific than that. Britain hasn’t taken the decision to enter this war lightly, as you must know, and certainly wouldn’t send one of her best colonial forces into a potentially dangerous situation unprepared. No, the Empire and her soldiers are much more wily than that,’ he added bombastically, ‘and I’m predicting that the Kaiser is in for a very rude shock. You don’t antagonise Britain and her colonies without paying a very hefty price.’

Tamar wished she felt as confident as the captain sounded.

‘In fact,’ Tarrant continued, ‘I’d like to raise a toast to both James and Lucy’s marriage, and to all of us who are going off to war. I’m sure that the former will be a very successful union, and the latter, well, victory can be the only conceivable outcome.’ He stood and raised his glass. ‘To James and Lucy, and to the Dominion’s soldiers, heroes to a man!’

Making herself comfortable on the guest room’s upholstered couch, Tamar watched as Lucy carefully withdrew two dresses from a suitcase that looked far too full for a short visit and laid them across the bed. One, in cream chiffon, had a nipped-in waist under a neat box jacket with full lace sleeves. The other, less formal in design, was a pale blue silk with a high-waisted straight skirt that fell softly from a fitted bodice to just above the ankle.

Lucy sat on the bed and asked shyly, ‘What do you think, Mrs Murdoch?’

Eyeing the two dresses critically, Tamar said, ‘Well, which do you prefer?’, then moved over to the bed to inspect the gowns
more closely. She didn’t like the cream chiffon, which was rather old-fashioned for her tastes, but it was Lucy’s wedding and she might prefer something traditional.

Lucy hesitated, then said, ‘I like the cream.’

Tamar, intent on examining the fine embroidery around the neck of the blue dress, nodded, then looked up in alarm as she heard a stifled sob.

Lucy’s hand was over her face but behind it Tamar could glimpse the tears beginning to trickle down the girl’s cheeks, pink with the effort of trying not to cry.

‘Oh dear,’ said Tamar sympathetically. ‘Something’s not right, is it?’

‘I like the cream,’ Lucy repeated, from behind both hands now, ‘but it doesn’t
fit
! I’m getting too big for it!’

Ah, thought Tamar. She sat down next to the girl and put her arm around her. ‘Do you mind if I ask
where
you’re getting too big?’ she enquired gently.

‘
Here
,’ Lucy replied in anguish, a hand moving to her belly. ‘I’m expecting, Mrs Murdoch! I’m so sorry. We didn’t mean to.’

Oh James, you careless boy, thought Tamar reprovingly. But then she was a fine one to talk. ‘How far along are you, dear?’

‘Just over three months, I think. Maybe closer to four. I’m not entirely sure. It’s James’s child,’ she said. ‘I haven’t, you know, been with anyone else.’

‘Of course you haven’t.’ Tamar sighed inwardly but patted Lucy’s shoulder placatingly. ‘Look, these things happen. It’s not the end of the world. I understand that you want to be married as soon as possible.’

Lucy sniffed noisily, extracted a lace handkerchief from her sleeve and wiped her nose. She cleared her throat, took several deep breaths and said in a rush, ‘My parents threw me out. When James talked to them about us getting married they wanted to
know what the hurry was and James said it was the war but Father didn’t believe him and I finally told them I was expecting a baby and that was that. Father has a very important job and the scandal could ruin him, and Mother always does what Father tells her to do, and now I’ve nowhere to go and James is going away soon and I’m quite frightened.’

‘Do you love James?’

‘Yes, I do, very much. He’s all I’ve ever wanted. And I believe he loves me.’

Tamar had no doubt about that; she’d seen it in her son’s eyes the minute she had opened the door.

‘How old are you?’ she asked.

‘I’m twenty next month.’

‘And there’s no chance at all that your parents will take you back while James is away?’

Lucy shook her head and blotted the new tears collecting on her long eyelashes. ‘No, they were absolutely livid. I was hoping that perhaps after the baby comes and they see it, they might change their minds, but I really don’t know.’

‘Has James made arrangements for somewhere for you to live?’

‘He’s going to send me all of his army pay so I can find a little place until he comes home.’

Tamar snorted inelegantly and said, ‘Well, that’s silly when we’ve got endless spare rooms here. You’re more than welcome to stay with us, Lucy.’

This announcement made Lucy cry even more, and Tamar waited patiently until she had herself under control again.

‘We’ll all sit down and talk about it in the morning, shall we, after you’ve had a good night’s sleep. And, under the circumstances, I think you should perhaps choose the blue for your wedding. The fall of the skirt will easily hide your little bump, if that’s worrying you, and the colour suits you better.’

‘Isn’t it worrying you?’ Lucy asked. ‘I was sure you wouldn’t want a daughter-in-law who gets herself into this sort of predicament.’

Tamar laughed out loud. ‘Then you’ve a lot to learn about me, my dear!’

Lucy nervously folded her handkerchief into a series of small damp squares. ‘James said you would be very understanding. May I ask then, well, I had noticed that Joseph, your son, he isn’t, um, he’s not the same as …’

‘Joseph is half-Maori, Lucy. He’s my firstborn, and the man I was married to at the time wasn’t his father, so I’m in no position whatsoever to take the moral high ground just because my first grandchild will be born less than nine months after the marriage of its parents. And this child will be the product of a genuine loving union, won’t it? Who could ever be censorious of that?’

‘Thousands of people, I should imagine,’ Lucy replied, pulling a wry face and displaying the first hint of a sense of humour Tamar had seen in her so far.

Downstairs, James, Joseph and Andrew sat in front of the fire in Andrew’s study, smoking cigarettes and drinking a late-evening cognac.

Joseph said, ‘I’m sorry, James, but I don’t think much of your friend Ron. He’s a bit, well, arrogant in my view.’

‘Aye, he did rather come across that way, didn’t he?’ agreed Andrew, swirling his glass and watching the way the flames added richness to the colour of the brandy.

James shifted in his seat uncomfortably. ‘Yes, I’m sorry about that, Joseph. He can be a little overbearing at times and he does tend to go on about the glory of fighting for one’s country and all that, but he’s a decent sort of bloke, really. He’s an exemplary officer, enthusiastic, dedicated and very highly trained, and he’s
been very helpful to me and truly cares about his men, even if he is a wee bit of a snob. Did a stint at Staff College in England not so long ago and it’s expected this kerfuffle in Europe will be the start of a very illustrious military career.’

‘Is he married?’ asked Joseph.

‘Only to the army.’

‘He doesn’t seem to have a very high opinion of your young lady.’

‘Oh, no, he approves. In fact, he was the one who introduced us. But he does believe that women should look pretty, keep quiet and produce babies, in that order. He’s not too keen on them using their brains any more than absolutely necessary.’

‘Yes, well,’ muttered Andrew, ‘he wouldn’t last too long in this family. It’s full of women who insist on using their brains. He’d never get on with Keely and Erin, and I don’t think your mother fancied him much either.’

James grinned. ‘Aunt Jeannie gave him a filthy look behind his back as well, I noticed. Poor old Ron. He gets so carried away with the idea of being a hero and the nobility of war and all that that he doesn’t realise he’s offending people.’

‘Or boring them,’ added Joseph dryly. ‘I hope he’s not disappointed when he gets over seas. There’s a lot of “hurry up and wait” even on active service, and then when things do happen they hardly ever go according to plan.’

‘Perhaps not,’ agreed James as he reached for the decanter, ‘but we’ve been training hard out lately. We’ve practised a whole range of strategies and manoeuvres, the officers know their stuff and the men know exactly what they should be doing and when. I think we’ll be all right.’

Joseph raised his eyebrows but didn’t say anything: if his service in South Africa was anything to go by, James could be in for a very rude shock.

‘So, this Lucy of yours,’ said Andrew, ‘are you sure you’re doing the right thing, marrying her?’

‘Oh, definitely. She’s a wonderful girl.’ James paused for a moment, idly twiddling a button on his suit coat, then looked his father directly in the eye. ‘Her parents gave us permission to marry, Da, but they don’t exactly approve.’

‘Why on earth not?’ said Andrew indignantly. ‘Who could ask for more in a son-in-law?!’

‘Ah, well, it’s not
me
they’ve a problem with, exactly,’ replied James, going red. ‘It’s more to do with what we’ve, ah, done.’

Andrew looked at his son over the rim of his glass for a moment, then exclaimed in exasperation, ‘Oh James, for God’s
sake
! I expected you to have had more sense. When is it due?’

‘Some time in February, we think. Her parents went berserk. I’m delighted myself, and I would have asked her to marry me any way. The only thing that bothers me is that I might still be away when she has it, but if I am I expect I could apply to come home on leave.’

‘Well, congratulations,’ said Joseph, leaning forward in his chair to shake James’s hand warmly. ‘A child is worth celebrating no matter what the circumstances. Consider yourself lucky, James — you’ll have a loving wife and a child to come home to.’

‘Yes,’ said James, smiling softly as if this had not really occurred to him until now. ‘I will, won’t I?’

C
HAPTER
T
HREE

J
ames and Lucy were married quietly on the 19th of September in the drawing room at Kenmore, the officiating Methodist minister, Bernard McKenzie, already accustomed to marrying couples at a moment’s notice. The family regretted the absence of Thomas, Keely and Erin, but there had just not been enough time for them to travel to Napier.

James and Ron Tarrant left for Trentham the following morning, and Joseph returned to Maungakakari to wait impatiently with Wi and Ihaka for the call to go into camp.

After the Main Body of some 8500 troops had finally sailed on the 16th of October, word at last came through that the Ngati Kahungunu contingent from Hawke’s Bay would be entraining for Avondale on the 21st. Joseph, already a combat veteran, was more subdued than his companions and took a book to read on the way, much to the disgust of Ihaka, who accused him of acting as if he were going on an ordinary old trip to town for supplies, not to war.

It took a week for the First Maori Contingent’s volunteers to assemble at the tented campsite on the Avondale Race course. In the days that followed, the men milled about aimlessly, their confusion fuelled by wildly spreading rumours and long-held
intertribal rivalries that surfaced with a vengeance. Joseph watched it all patiently, with the wisdom of one who knew the idiosyncrasies of both army life and Maori culture, and waited quietly until some order had been established.