Jessica

by Bryce Courtenay

  ‘We could go by tram to Hyde Park, talk to him in the open?’ Hester suggests. ‘Best that way, he’ll be more at ease.’

  Joe grunts, ‘Fair enough.’

  Hester turns to Meg. The venue for the meeting now decided, she expects she’ll have to do most of the talking. Joe is simply not up to it any more. ‘Meg, we’ll have to ask Mrs O’Shane for the loan of a flat iron. The creases in your blue velvet dress simply won’t fall out and we want you to look your very best, my precious.’ Meg is as pretty as a picture when they meet Jack Thomas late the following afternoon and Jack seems pleased to see them.

  ‘G’day, Joe!’ he says, extending his hand. Then he turns to Hester, ‘Afternoon, Mrs Bergman,’ then he looks at Meg and smiles. ‘Hello Meg, what a nice surprise.’ He shakes her formally by the hand then glances around hopefully. ‘Jessie not here?’

  Joe tries to smile naturally. ‘She had to take care o’ things back home. Lambing season, we’ve had some rain. Not much, but there’s a bit o’ green about, and the ewes are dropping.’

  Jack shrugs, clearly disappointed. ‘It would have been real nice to see her,’ he says wistfully.

  Meg now turns to Jack. ‘Don’t I get a kiss then, Jack Thomas?’

  Jack looks nervous, knowing the two sentries must see him and perhaps there are others watching. He pecks Meg lightly on the cheek, blushing violently.

  ‘My, Meg, doesn’t he look handsome in his uniform,’ Hester exclaims, smiling, her head to one side as she looks him over.

  Jack pulls at his tunic and tries to grin. ‘Never done so much shining in my life, boots ‘n’ brasses and the curry-comb have become my whole flamin’ existence.’ ‘We’ve only got an hour,’ Hester now says. ‘We thought a walk in Hyde Park might be nice?’

  ‘That’ll be fine, Mrs Bergman,’ Jack says as they set off for the tram stop. ‘Be good to see a face that ain’t got a cap on its head I have to salute.’

  Once into the park Joe buys ice-cream cones for them all and they find a small tree that throws enough shade for them to sit out of the sun, though it’s late in the afternoon and the heat is already gone from the winter sun. They seek the shade instinctively rather than from need.

  Joe waits until they’ve finished their ice creams and the girls have given Jack all the local gossip. He has a pain in his chest and he wonders to himself if he can get the words out proper. ‘Jack,’ he says at last, ‘I suppose yer wonderin’ why we’ve come down to the big smoke?’

  Jack looks up at Joe. ‘Well, yeah, it did cross my mind. What with shearing starting in the shed, I was surprised to see you.’

  Joe is happy to be distracted. ‘No more shearing, me back’s gorn.’

  ‘George, eh?’ Jack says knowingly, then, looking serious, adds, ‘Joe, there’s always a job for you at Riverview. It’s my property now, not my old man’s. I’ll see to it. Is that why you’ve come down?’

  ‘No, Jack,’ Hester says, growing impatient at the small talk. ‘We’ve come to give you some news,’ she looks up directly at Jack, meeting his eye, ‘good news I hope.’ Meg at her side has her hands folded in her lap and her eyes are lowered. ‘Jack, Meg is pregnant — she carries your child.’

  Hester is the only one who continues to look at Jack, who appears to be completely stunned by the news and gets to his feet without being conscious of having done so. He now stands almost at attention, looking down at them. ‘My child,’ he says, trying the words on for the first time. After a few moments, ‘My child?’ he repeats, now looking at Hester. ‘Are you sure, Mrs Bergman?’

  Hester hands him Dr Merrick’s letter and Jack unfolds it and reads it slowly, shaking his head as he reads.

  ‘Oh Jack, I am so happy,’ Meg says. Then, scrambling to her feet, she embraces him, placing her head on his chest. Jack, not knowing what else to do, puts his arms about her shoulders.

  ‘Bloody stupid thing to happen,’ Joe grunts, ‘but can’t be stopped now.’

  Jack pushes Meg gently away and hands the letter back to Hester. ‘Mrs Bergman, I don’t know what to say. I mean, the war and everything ... ‘ He wipes his forehead and grimaces. ‘What can I say?’

  ‘You’ll marry her, of course. Meg’s not to have your bastard child, Jack Thomas.’ Hester’s voice is grown suddenly hard, her lips drawn tight. She’s determined not to take a step backwards.

  ‘Oh, Jack, I love you so,’ Meg says, bringing her hands together as though in supplication. ‘I do so want your child.’ She clutches melodramatically at her stomach. ‘I must have your child.’ She smiles up at Jack, her pretty head to one side. ‘It will be a boy, I know it will be a boy as handsome and strong as his father.’

  Jack now has his head bowed, his hands behind his back. Without raising his head, he looks at Meg. ‘You said it was between us, that nobody’d know.’

  Meg’s pretty dark eyes take on a distressed look and she pouts defiantly. ‘Jack, I didn’t know this was going to happen. I just wanted to love you, to say goodbye.’

  She pauses for a moment. ‘Because you see, I do! I love you with all my heart. If you’ll marry me I’ll be the best wife a man could ever have.’ Meg begins to sob softly.

  ‘Oh, Jack, I didn’t mean this to happen, honest I didn’t.’ Jack looks at Joe, not quite knowing why. Joe is confused and feels ashamed and embarrassed at Meg’s outburst. He thinks Jack’s a fine-looking, decent young bloke and that he deserves better than his elder daughter. ‘Jack, we hope yiz’ll do the right thing by Meg,’ he says slowly without enthusiasm.

  Jack stares down at his polished riding boots. ‘I’ll have to ask my CO. — you see, we’ve got to get permission to marry,’ he explains. He looks back up at Joe. ‘He’ll have to see you all, I guess. Interview you.’ Jack seems to hesitate a moment then says, ‘I think I told you he’s my uncle — not that it counts,’ he adds hastily, ‘I haven’t even met him since I’ve been down here.’

  Colonel Septimus Cunningham-Thomas, Jack’s commanding officer and his uncle, is a Sydney barrister in civilian life. He is a tall man with steel-grey hair and a clipped moustache almost matched in size by thick eyebrows turned salt and peppery that give him a most imposing appearance. He and his brother George are chalk and cheese in their looks and stature and George has long since dropped the hyphen from his name so that he won’t be disadvantageously compared with his older brother. Jack’s commandant is known appropriately enough by his men as Cunning Tom, because little escapes his notice and, in the terminology of the army, it is very difficult to ‘put one over him’. In this, he and his brother are similar. He sees the Bergmans without Jack being present and addresses himself to Joe first.

  ‘Mr Bergman, it is my duty to take care of the best interests of the men under me. I am charged by virtue of my commission to be, not only their direct commander in battle, but also their surrogate mother and father.’ He purses his lips in a practised and perfunctory manner. ‘Though the regimental sergeant-major might quarrel with me about this particular duty.’

  He pauses and picks up a paper-knife on the desk behind which he is seated and twiddles it absently. ‘I am also obliged to admit to a particular and personal interest in Trooper Jack Thomas. I believe he has mentioned to you that I am his uncle and, of course, I know about the tragic circumstances surrounding the death of his mother and two sisters.’ The colonel leans forward slightly as if to emphasise his next statement. ‘I want you, in particular, to bear this in mind and to understand that his welfare is of the utmost importance to me as he and his father are .. .’ the colonel seems to be searching for a word, ‘ ... at loggerheads. I have heard what Trooper Thomas has to say and I have decided under the prevailing circumstances to grant him permission to marry your daughter.’ He puts down the ivory paper-knife and holds up his forefinger. ‘But there is a proviso.’ The colonel pauses and now, for the first time, looks at Hester. ‘While you seem a decent family and have a le
tter from your family doctor,’ he pauses and glances sternly at Joe, ‘which I believe to be genuine, the army nevertheless instructs that I must take due care in these matters.’

  He turns to Meg, who blushes violently the moment his stern eyes come to rest upon her. ‘Trooper Thomas admits readily enough to having had sexual congress on a single occasion with your daughter. But it is my experience that one swallow does not make a spring and despite the good doctor’s letter to say that she is pregnant, the army manual states that three weeks is not sufficient time to be certain whether this condition is established. ‘

  Jack’s C.O. pauses and looks at each of them in turn. ‘So it is my duty to instruct Trooper Thomas in his rights under the law. I also remind you that, being a legal man, I have the knowledge to do so and the power as his senior officer to add a legally binding proviso to the marriage contract. I have spoken at length to Trooper Thomas and taken instructions from him, which I admit have benefited from my past knowledge in such matters. Together we have drawn up a document which you will be required to sign before he consents to the marriage.’ Colonel Cunningham-Thomas now pushes his chair slightly backwards, opens a drawer to the desk and takes out a manila folder which is tied with pink legal tape. He places it down in front of him and carefully unties the tape and then opens the binder. ‘Before I read it to you I will paraphrase the contents.’ ‘Paraphrase?’ Joe asks.

  ‘Tell you more or less what’s in it, though you will read it for yourself before your daughter and, as she is not yet twenty-one years of age, both of you as her legal guardians must sign it.’ He gives a wan smile. ‘I expect you, like most folk, become confused by legal jargon.’

  ‘Do we get our own copy?’ Hester asks, fed up with the colonel’s lugubrious tone and high-handed manner. ‘We are not ignorant and can read and write well enough.’

  Meg gasps audibly at her mother’s audacity and Jack’s CO. is barely able to conceal his surprise at Hester’s interruption. It is clear from his expression that he is not accustomed to being challenged, particularly by a member of the opposite sex. ‘As you wish, madam,’ he says abruptly. Closing the folder, he is about to push it across the desk when Joe speaks.

  ‘Please, sir, we’d like yer own words on this matter. I’m not what you’d call an educated man.’ Joe glares at Hester, challenging her to contradict him. Hester remains silent and keeps her eyes downcast.

  ‘Very well then, Mr Bergman, it is my experience that these things are generally better explained in layman’s terms.’ Colonel Cunningham-Thomas clears his throat and taps the now closed binder. ‘The document says in effect that while the marriage is a legally binding contract the property rights within it are subject to a very specific set of conditions. Your daughter Meg must comply with these if she is to obtain any material benefit from the nuptial agreement.’ The colonel looks at Hester. ‘Am I making myself clear to you, Mrs Bergman?’

  Hester shoots a glance at Joe. ‘Yes, sir,’ she says dutifully, feeling her anger growing inside her. She wishes she had the courage of an Ada Thomas to challenge the old fool.

  ‘Good. Then let me continue. If it should prove that your daughter is not pregnant, though legally married, she will forfeit any claims whatsoever to her husband’s property in the event that he is killed in action. She cannot benefit in any possible way, whether in property, goods, services or emolument. Do you understand me? I should remind you at this point that a wife cannot testify against her husband in a court of law.’

  ‘Emolument?’ Joe asks.

  ‘Money, Mr Bergman. Your daughter will inherit nothing.’ Jack’s uncle brushes his moustache across the length of his forefinger and sniffs. ‘Furthermore, your daughter may not occupy Riverview homestead until the day of the birth of her child, whereupon she may enjoy all its amenities and will be considered to be the mistress of the house, with a monthly stipend to run her domestic affairs until her husband returns to control his property.’

  Cunningham-Thomas grips the edge of the desk with both hands and leans slightly backwards and smiles. ‘However, it is not all bad news. If Trooper Thomas has a legitimate child by your daughter and he is killed in action, then his entire estate will go to your child.’ He looks directly at Meg. ‘You will be the child’s guardian and oversee the affairs of Riverview Station, which will remain in trust to him or her until he or she reaches the age of twenty-one.’ Jack’s C.O. pauses and raises one eyebrow ever so slightly. ‘I’m sure you’ll agree these are most extremely generous terms, Miss Bergman, most generous, eh?’ he asks in his patronising voice.

  Hester, unable to contain her agitation any longer, asks, ‘What if she should have a miscarriage?’ Then adds quickly, ‘Be pregnant but have a miscarriage? Does she get nothing?’ Then she further pronounces melodramatically, ‘Is that fair to the girl?’ Her expression is now openly hostile. ‘The virgin is seduced and left abandoned? The innocent young girl who, through no fault of her own, carried his child, left without a penny to her name?’ Hester then adds for good measure, one eyebrow slightly arched, ‘Whose reputation and prospects will be ruined if she is deserted by the high and mighty Jack Thomas?’ It is a performance worthy of Ada Thomas. Colonel Cunningham-Thomas is not moved by Hester’s dramatic outburst. ‘If it should be proved your daughter is not pregnant is what I think the document says,’ he repeats, one peppery eyebrow slightly raised as a caution to her not to try his patience much further. ‘Trooper Thomas has informed me that given normal circumstances he would not choose to marry your daughter Meg, but he does not want the child conceived by him to be without a father,’ he pauses a moment for the effect it will have, ‘-to be a bastard.’ He now picks up the paper-knife again and taps the ivory tip against the edge of the desk and then looks at Hester. ‘There is no intention to punish your daughter, Mrs Bergman, but rather to ensure that, as Trooper Thomas himself so aptly put it to me, “The right thing is done by all.” He asks that, in the event of a miscarriage or stillborn child, Meg remain with her parents until he returns from the war. He assumes that you will best be able to comfort your daughter in her sorrow at losing a child.

  ‘However, in the event that Trooper Thomas is killed, he has allowed, should the circumstances be as you have just suggested, that. your daughter will receive the Riverview homestead with five hundred acres of riverfront land attached to it. This allows for irrigation and, if judiciously worked, will supply a generous living and prove a more than adequate dowry should she decide to remarry. Would you not agree that this is a fair settlement?’

  Jack’s uncle does not wait for a reply. ‘Furthermore, under the same circumstances, that is that your child is stillborn or miscarried and its father is killed in battle, there is a second five hundred acres of irrigation land which is to go to .. .’ Cunningham-Thomas opens the folder and flicks through several pages and then allows his finger to run down a page and come to rest, ‘ ... Ah yes, here it is.’ He looks up from the page. ‘Miss Jessica Bergman, whom he tells me he had hoped to take as his bride if he returned.’

  There is a loud gasp of astonishment from Meg and Hester, though Cunningham-Thomas may have anticipated it, for he seems deliberately to ignore it. ‘The disposal of the remaining land under these specific and prevailing circumstances is not of your concern,’ he concludes.

  The colonel now closes the manila folder and carefully ties it with the pink tape before pushing it over to rest on the desk in front of Joe.

  ‘You’ll find there are four copies of the same document. I want you to go away and read it and then, if you agree to the conditions, return with it to me at the same time tomorrow and be prepared to sign each copy. One of the copies will belong to you, and the others will be lodged with Trooper Thomas’s legal firm in Narrandera and his bank in Sydney, and I shall retain a copy in my own files. Lieutenant Ormington will be one witness to your signatures and I shall be the other. Do I make myself quite clear?’ ‘Yes, sir,’ Joe says.


  ‘Do we have a say, I mean if we object to something?’ Hester asks.

  Cunningham-Thomas shakes his head slowly and with just the hint of a smile says, ‘If you want the marriage to proceed you will need to sign it as it is.’

  ‘Thank you, sir,’ Joe says, rising from his chair, and he indicates that Hester and Meg should follow suit.

  ‘Oh yes, there is one more thing.’ Colonel Cunningham-Thomas waits so he has their full attention.

  ‘It is customary for the army to grant the groom twenty-four hours’ leave in order to,’ he clears his throat, ‘consummate the marriage.’ He looks directly at Hester.

  ‘Trooper Thomas may marry in the barracks chapel if he wishes, or alternatively at the Registry Office in the city, but he will have to report back to the guard room an hour after the ceremony and will be granted no further leave.’ ‘You mean they will not be allowed to be together?’ Hester exclaims, showing her consternation. In her mind she had always imagined that if they could force Jack into marriage there would be other opportunities afforded him to make Meg pregnant before he left for the war in Europe, or for training.

  ‘That is exactly what I mean, Mrs Bergman.’

  ‘But that’s not fair. Isn’t my daughter entitled to spend the night with her husband?’ Hester ventures.

  ‘As I understand it, the union has already been consummated,’ the colonel barks, for a moment showing his anger. ‘Not to put too fine a point on it, isn’t that why we find ourselves here in the first place?’

  ‘Well it just seems unfair,’ Hester mumbles, ‘unfair to them both.’

  Colonel Cunningham-Thomas regains his composure. ‘Trooper Thomas does not feel the same way, Mrs Bergman, and my duty is first and foremost to my men. I shall send his squadron commander, Lieutenant Ormington, along with him as his best man or, if it is to be a civil wedding, as his witness. He will accompany your daughter’S husband back to the barracks immediately after the wedding service and the toast to the King and the drinking of the wedding cup is concluded.’