by Isobel Chace
“For other people,” Helen added dryly.
Anita’s eyes widened dramatically. “Do you mean to say—” she began. “I suppose she must have,” she went on thoughtfully. “But you must admit that she did it most frightfully well!”
“Oh yes, I’ll grant you that!” Helen agreed lazily.
Gregory grinned at them both. “There doesn’t seem to be much love lost between you and the old lady,” he said suddenly. “I always got the impression that Michael was quite fond of her.”
Anita looked quite abashed. “Oh, we shouldn’t have said anything!” she said, acutely embarrassed. “I’d forgotten for the moment that you don’t know her. You have made me feel so very much at home, you see. I’m so sorry!”
“You don’t have to apologise to me,” he said easily. “I was surprised, that’s all.”
Helen sat up very straight, making herself as tall as possible. “You wouldn’t be if you ever met her,” she said solemnly. “She is—she’s awful!”
He laughed. “A typical mother-in-law?” he suggested.
Helen frowned. “Hardly that!” she muttered.
Gregory looked surprised. “I believe you really mean it! Didn’t you like her at all?”
Helen shivered despite herself. “No, I can’t say I did,” she said.
“It’s all right for you,” Anita put in with a sad smile. “You don’t have to go back to her. I have to keep remembering that I’m only here for a time. When it’s all over, I shall go back to England, and that will be that! I’ll never have any life of my own ever again!” Her eyes filled with tears and she sniffed pathetically. “Never mind, I shall make the best of the time I have,” she added bravely. “And—I’ll work very hard for you, Mr. de Vaux.”
“I’m sure you will,” he agreed in kind tones. He stood up, ducking his head so that he didn’t hit it on the upper deck. “I’d better go above and see what’s happening. Helen will tell you about the Islands and what you need to know, I expect. I’ll be seeing you.” He went off, whistling a catchy little tune under his breath.
Damn the man, thought Helen. It was unnecessary for him to be so attractive! Now he had Anita catching her breath whenever he hove over the horizon as well as—no, she was not going to admit that he affected her in any way at all! She would not!
“Oh, Helen, it’s so lovely to see you!” Anita exclaimed as soon as Gregory had gone. “You look a wee bit tired, if you don’t mind my saying so. Do you have to work most frightfully hard?”
Helen pokered up. She hadn’t noticed how tired she was and she didn’t want to notice. With Anita looking so pretty and gay, the last thing she wanted was a picture of herself as worn out, with her hair sticky from salt water, and with precious little control over her emotions to boot! How odd it was, she thought dispassionately, that having spent all this time since Michael’s death in an emotional limbo, she was now as edgy as a young girl waiting for her first date. She would have to do better than that, she told herself sternly, if she was going to be any good to Anita—or be able to do the job she had undertaken. She sighed. She had forgotten what painful things emotions could be. She had been much better off without them.
“Helen, you’re not listening! What are you dreaming about? My, I thought I was the dreamy one! Don’t you think Mr. de Vaux is a dreamboat of a man? Is he always as kind as he has been today? I thought you found him rather unyielding—you know, that he didn’t like women much—”
“Whatever made you think that?” Helen put in quickly.
Anita considered the point. “I don’t know,” she said at last. “It was something you said on the phone. Then you do like him?”
Helen shrugged her shoulders. “He’s all right,” she said inadequately.
“All right!” Anita screamed with laughter. “Helen have you looked at him? I think he’s beautiful! Really beautiful!”
“You’re just starry-eyed about everything,” Helen told her firmly. “You wait until he’s yelling at you because you’ve forgotten something that he needs at that particular moment!”
Anita looked prim. “I don’t believe he would yell at anyone!” she defended him, quite cross that Helen should make such a suggestion.
“Oh, wouldn’t he!” Helen retorted.
“Even if he does,” Anita continued defensively, “it would only be because you deserved it. I’m sure of that! I think he’s as nice as anything!”
Helen sighed. “Good,” she said finally. She cleared away their glasses, pumping up some water into the sink to wash them up. The Sweet Promise was the most beautifully equipped boat she had ever been on, she reflected. With a little money spent on her, to provide a few luxurious touches and to paint her outside and in, and she would be worthy of a millionaire and smart trips around the Mediterranean. Perhaps it was as well that she had to earn her living after all, for here, in the Pacific, she had to do that or Gregory wouldn’t have been able to keep her.
“Helen,” Anita said suddenly, her voice breathless and dismayed. “Oh, Helen, do you think I could possibly be seasick?”
Helen turned and looked at her with alarm. It was true that she looked more than a little green. “You’d better go on deck,” she advised briskly. “Do you think you can get that far?”
Anita nodded desperately. She ran to the companionway and hurried up the narrow steps with Helen close behind her.
Taine-Mal looked first of all anxious and then, when he saw what was happening, he roared with laughter with the full-throated laugh of the Polynesian. Anita gave him a look of dislike mixed with fear. “D-did you see his teeth?” she shuddered, holding Helen’s arm so tightly that it hurt.
“Hush, he’ll hear you,” Helen whispered.
“I don’t care if he does!”
“But I care,” Gregory said relentlessly. He had come towards them, his feet completely silent on the canvas deck. “What’s the matter? Helen, get her below! Haven’t we got enough amateurs playing at working on board this boat, without having bad sailors amongst them? Well, haven’t we?”
Helen bravely stood her ground. “If you’re referring to me,” she said distinctly, “I reckon I gave you a pretty fair day’s work today.”
Gregory relaxed, the tautness leaving him as suddenly as it had come. “You’re right, of course,” he apologised. “You mustn’t mind me. I find employing females an added responsibility I hadn’t looked for, that’s all.”
Helen turned her back on him, to show her disapproval more clearly. “We can look after our selves!” she said.
“Are you sure?” She knew he was laughing at her, but she didn’t care. She was there and so was Anita, and that, for the moment, was enough for her.
“We’re quite sure!” she said.
His laughter followed her down the companionway making her feel uncomfortable. In fact, she had quite forgotten what had taken them on deck in the first place until she caught a glimpse of Anita’s pale face. “Are you feeling any better?” she asked her, wondering at her own lack of sympathy that her attention should have been distracted so easily.
“A little,” Anita said uncertainly. She took a deep breath. “Who was that man?” she added in a hushed voice.
Helen smiled. “He’s one of the Polynesian sailors. They’re two brothers. You mustn’t mind them, they’re very good at their work. And they’re so jolly!” she added, remembering their easy laughter.
“But his teeth!” Anita shuddered.
Helen shrugged. “I suppose it’s some kind of tribal mark,” she suggested. “It does make them look pretty fearsome, but I hardly notice it now. The Island people are some of the nicest there are. You mustn’t be frightened of them.”
“I’ll try not to be,” Anita agreed meekly. “But I do hope that I don’t see them very often!”
“You’ll have to see Taine-Mal fairly often,” Helen told her dryly. “He keeps the boat supplied and you’ll be getting the supplies from the hotel. In fact you’ll have to work with him—”
“I�
�ll try,” Anita said immediately. “I will try, Helen. Only I’ve never had to earn my own living before. You will help me, won’t you?”
“Of course I will, dear!” Helen agreed willingly. “It will be quite easy, you’ll see. Besides, you’ll like Peter Harmon—he’s the manager of the hotel— and he’ll help you with anything you don’t understand.”
“Was it he I spoke to on the telephone?” Anita” asked timidly.
“That’s right,” Helen nodded.
“He’s an American,” Anita muttered, without enthusiasm. “I could tell by his accent!”
“It’s an American hotel!” Helen said carefully, her patience fast evaporating.
“Mother—” Anita began, and then she stopped, blushing faintly at the expression on Helen’s face. “I’m sorry,” she said unhappily. “Only I lived with her for such a long time and one gets into bad habits!”
And of course Michael’s mother didn’t like Americans, Helen remembered. But then whom did she like? she asked herself with wry humour.
Na-Tinn’s fleshy legs appeared at the top of the companionway. By bending nearly double, he could see them without coming down any further. He grinned awfully at Anita. “Feel better now?” he asked her with real concern. “Not good sailor, no? Never mind, land coming now!” He retreated up the stains again, not expecting an answer, completely unaware of the quake he had left Anita in down below.
“Was that the same one?” Anita quavered.
“His brother,” Helen grinned. Really she couldn’t help laughing at Anita’s expression. “It won’t be much longer now!”
They came in to the jetty so quietly that down below they were hardly aware that they had arrived. It was only the blocking out of the portholes on the port side that told them they had come alongside.
“Good,” said Helen. “Now we can get you to the hotel and get a good meal inside you! I expect you’re tired after all this travelling?”
Anita nodded wearily. “I am tired,” she admitted.
“I expect it’s all the excitement of coming out of hospital and then coming straight here. But I’m all right, truly I am!”
Helen went up on deck first. She was delighted to see Miss Corrigan’s comfortable figure on the jetty, her legs stiffly apart as she tried to keep her balance on the gimcrack erection which was swaying back and forth as the Polynesians jumped up and down on it, tying up the Sweet Promise and throwing ashore the used cylinders of compressed air, to be replenished before morning.
“Where’s Anita?” Miss Corrigan called out immediately.
“She’s here,” Helen answered her. She stood aside so that the old lady would be able to glimpse Anita behind her. “How kind of you to come and meet her,” she said as she jumped down on to the jetty.
“Not kindness at all,” Miss Corrigan contradicted her. “It’s because I’m a curious old hag! I couldn’t wait to see her for myself. After all, we shall all be living in the same building, so we need to get along well together.”
Anita shook hands with Miss Corrigan demurely. She had taken advantage of the extra minute she had spent in the saloon to run a comb through her hair and to set her hat back on her head at the same jaunty angle she had had it earlier. “Miss Corrigan,” she breathed, “I’m so delighted to meet you. Helen says that you knew her father.”
“Knew him well!” Miss Corrigan agreed. “You’re a great deal prettier than I expected,” she added, her obvious delight in the other’s good looks softening the personal nature of the remark. “Are you fully recovered from your time in New Zealand? Helen was very worried about you.”
“Yes, I’m quite recovered,” Anita assured her. “Really, one is much better off without one’s appendix, don’t you think? It was a long trip today, though, and I must admit I’m exhausted after crossing that little piece of sea!”
“She was sick!” Gregory called down from the deck of the Sweet Promise. “She’ll get over it with a bit of practice!”
“Oh no!” Anita cried out “Never again! I couldn’t!”
“You won’t have to!” Helen said protectively. “Your job is to see to the supplies. It’s mine to go on the Sweet Promise—”
“She’ll love it if she comes with us once or twice,” Gregory said loftily from his perch above them. “Almost everyone is seasick at first.”
“Let me tell you that nothing would induce me to go on board that boat again! Not willingly anyhow!”
He grinned at her. “You’ll change your mind!” he assured her cheerfully. “I’ll come and look you up at the hotel, okay?”
Anita nodded and waved cheerfully. Helen hesitated for a moment longer. She wondered if she ought to ask him again to go easily on her sister-in-law, to explain how nervous she was and how easy it was to fluster her, but she decided that she had better allow him to find out for himself. At least he seemed to like Anita as a person, which was more than she thought he did her. She, Helen, he only tolerated, she knew, seeing her as a useful member of his team, but not at all as an attractive woman to dally with when neither of them were on duty.
Miss Corrigan walked between the two girls as they made their way to the hotel. Her ample figure provided a dumpy contrast to their slimness, a contrast which possibly only she appreciated.
“This is my village,” she told them with pride, as they walked through the plaited palm huts of the fishermen. “I come here often. They are an interesting people, you know. When you have time, I’ll take you about and introduce you to the headman.” She tucked her arms into theirs and gave them a squeeze. “What fun it is to have the two of you here!” she exclaimed.
Helen grinned at her, knowing exactly what she meant. “Do you ever get lonely, Miss Corrigan?” she asked her.
“Never!” the old lady affirmed immediately. “I never have! But it’s still nice to have you two young things to talk to in the evenings. Now, what I shall do is arrange a party for you both. Yes, that’s it! We’ll have a party!”
Helen saw Anita’s face crumble into near terror. “What kind of party?” she asked nervously.
The old lady looked surprised. “Why, a proper party!” she exclaimed. “I’ll talk to the headman about it tomorrow. We’ll need flowers and enough coconuts to sink a ship! And roast sucking pig! The whole works! It will be fun! I can’t wait to have it. I must consult Gregory as to when will be the best day. I don’t suppose either of you have been here long enough to have a whole lot of social engagements to contend with, but with men one can never be quite sure, if you know what I mean!”
Helen blinked. “I wouldn’t have thought there was much social life here!” she said.
Miss Corrigan chuckled. “Not at first sight,” she agreed. “But Gregory is a great favourite with all the Islanders. They never have any occasion without asking him along as guest of honour. Surely Michael must have told you that!”
“No, he didn’t,” Helen said carefully.
“My brother was rather reserved about his doings here,” Anita put in, choosing her words with a fierce concentration that made Helen laugh.
Miss Corrigan was at a loss. “Oh, dear,” she said, “I’ve put my foot in it, haven’t I? But I thought you must know because Michael went with Gregory so often. He was a great one for parties, that boy!”
Helen didn’t like to admit that she knew less about her husband than Miss Corrigan did, so she said nothing. She was glad when they reached the hotel and Miss Corrigan left them in the foyer to find their own rooms, saying that she would get Peter to put on something special for their evening meal. “We must make Anita feel welcome, mustn’t we?” She hesitated. “You don’t mind my calling you that, do you?”
Anita shook her head. “I’ve never been called anything else,” she affirmed.
Miss Corrigan shook her head sadly. “My name is Ethel,” she offered.
Both girls stood tongue-tied and awkward, abashed at the idea of using the old lady’s given name. “We’ll see you at dinner,” Helen forced herself to say quickly.
“We’ll look forward to it.”
“Yes,” the old lady agreed, “if Anita isn’t too tired. It’s been a long day for her.”
The lift bore them rapidly upwards to the landing where their rooms were situated. When the automatic doors opened, Helen stepped out first and led the way into Anita’s room. It was exactly the same as her own, though the view was slightly different. From these windows it was possible to see the long lines of palm trees and the young men climbing them to bring down the coconuts and the wide, shady leaves if anyone had need of them. Nearer, almost directly beneath the windows, was a family of pigs, rooting through the undergrowth, grunting and squealing as they went.
“Do you like it?” Helen asked Anita.
Anita smiled and Helen was immediately aware of how seldom she had seen her smile at all before. It changed the whole expression on her face, giving a pretty tilt to her mouth and showing her fine, even teeth. “I love it!” she exclaimed. “Oh, Helen, I can’t tell you how happy I am to be here!”
Helen helped her to unpack, keeping an eye on her as she did so. She could detect no particular sign of fatigue in Anita’s face and she marvelled at how quickly one could recover from an operation in these days of marvellous new anaesthetics and modern methods of surgery. Just by looking at Anita, it was hard to believe that she had been in hospital at all.
“Miss Corrigan will be waiting for us,” she said at last, when Anita had changed her dress and had unpacked everything else that she had brought with her.
Anita made a face. “Do we have to eat with her?” she asked. “I mean, do we have to every night? She’s a quaint old thing, but I was rather hoping we could be by ourselves.”
Helen turned from looking out of the window. “I think she’d be hurt if we didn’t. She’s nice. My father liked her very much and I think I do too.”
Anita shrugged her shoulders. “Oh well, if your father liked her—” she said bitterly. She tensed suddenly. “What was your father doing out here?” she demanded.
“He came here before the war,” Helen answered simply. “He was interested in the habits of sharks. They had several bad scares in the Islands, one or two people had been taken by sharks from quite close in, and so the Government sent for my father. I don’t know what he did about it exactly, but he probably gave them some advice and it worked. Anyway, he met Miss Corrigan and they did a survey on the local fishing customs. They kept up a long and rather boring correspondence ever afterwards!”
