Past Remembering

by Lyn Denison

  “It’s so nice to see you smile again, Peri,” Vivienne said softly.

  “I’ve told you I’m fine, Viv.” Peri’s husky voice dropped lower. “I just have to, I don’t know, perhaps find my new path.”

  “I know, my dear. You know, if I were a violent person I could just slap that ex-fiancé of yours and your friend Janet quite senseless.”

  “Ex-friend,” said Peri flatly. “And let’s say they were both senseless to begin with.”

  Vivienne laughed again. “I don’t think you’d find a soul to disagree with you on that score.”

  There was a moment of silence, and Asha could hear the faint sound of movement coming from what must be the kitchen.

  “I wouldn’t have believed it of Janet,” Vivienne said. “She seemed so—”

  “Sensible?” Peri put in, emphasizing each syllable, and Vivienne chuckled again.

  “You have a wonderful sense of humor, my dear. And I’m so pleased to see it again. You’ve been so serious these past months.” There was the sound of movement. “I wonder if Asha’s lost her way. Maybe you should go and find her, Peri.”

  Asha drew a quick, steadying breath and continued along the hallway. As she stepped into the doorway, she made herself smile.

  “Asha! There you are! Peri was just coming to look for you. Come on in, my dear.”

  Peri Moyland stood across from Vivienne, leaning on the high back of another of the antique chairs.

  “Sorry I’m late,” Asha said evenly. “I could barely draw myself away from the fantastic view upstairs.” She focused on Mrs. Chaseley, making sure she didn’t make eye contact with Peri Moyland, in case she gave away her antipathy toward the woman.

  Vivienne Chaseley beamed at Asha. “That view is wonderful, isn’t it? I never tire of it.” She indicated the comfortable-looking chair opposite her. “Now, make yourself comfortable, dear. Margo’s just delivered the tea.” She turned to Peri. “Come and sit down, too, Peri. Would you like to do the honors and pour?”

  Peri Moyland walked around and sat in the third chair pulled up around the coffee table. As she lifted the antique silver teapot, Asha glanced around at the enchanting room. Vertical boarding covered the lower half of the walls. A silky oak dado separated it from the rest of the plastered walls, while the cornices and ceiling rose were beautifully patterned. She turned back to Vivienne and exclaimed over the beautifully furnished room.

  “All family pieces,” Vivienne said, “but we like to use them. It’s our home, after all, and there’s no point in turning the place into a museum.”

  “Viv tells me you’ve been living on the Gold Coast, Ms. West,” Peri Moyland said, handing Asha an eggshell-thin china cup and saucer.

  “Thank you.” Asha took it, as carefully as Peri was obviously being to ensure their fingers didn’t touch. “And yes. I’ve been living down there for a couple of years.”

  “And you worked in a library?”

  Asha laughed quietly to herself. It seemed the distrustful Peri Moyland was going to conduct her own third degree. “Yes again. I was in charge of one of the Gold Coast City Council’s branch libraries.”

  “Did you enjoy library work?” Peri sipped her tea.

  “Very much.” Asha made herself smile at the other woman. “Besides a large retiree population, we had a number of schools nearby, which meant lots of young families as well. So the library was used by very diverse groups of people.”

  “Libraries are so technical these days,” said Vivienne, “what with their computers and everything. I had to get the young staff members to help me out for a while until I got the hang of it. But I still yearn for the old card catalogue and the more personal face-to-face service.”

  “I think a lot of the members of my library felt the same way. I know my stepmother says as much every time she visits her library.”

  “So why did you leave your job there?” Peri Moyland asked, not to be deterred.

  “Now, Peri,” Vivienne admonished lightly. “I told you Asha just wanted a change of scene.”

  Asha turned to look at Peri Moyland and she levelly held her gaze. “That’s right. I felt I needed a change of scene.”

  Peri raised her eyebrow, and Asha read skepticism in every line of her body. Asha mentally drew herself up to her full height. She saw no need to tell Peri she already had a job to go to.

  “Actually, I’d wanted to come back home for a while,” she found herself adding. “I always planned to anyway, after I’d gained a few years experience. Then I felt it was time to move on.” Asha looked down at the cup in her hands. Breaking up with Tessa had only precipitated her move. “So I decided to come back to Brisbane.” She raised her eyes and gave a little shrug. “Now I guess you could say I’m taking a sabbatical.”

  Peri set her own cup and saucer on the coffee table. “So you’ve given up your job before you found another one. That’s taking something of a chance, isn’t it, in today’s employment climate?”

  Asha shrugged again and smiled at Vivienne. “Well, I have this job at the moment, thanks to Vivienne. And afterward, I’m sure something will come up. What about yourself, Ms. Moyland? What do you do?” Asha put the ball firmly back in Peri’s court, and again Peri’s eyebrow rose.

  “I’m taking a little sabbatical myself,” she said carefully.

  Vivienne reached over and patted Peri’s knee. “Peri owns a very successful temp agency.”

  “Oh.” Asha took a sip of her tea. “As in, you find positions for office staff?”

  “Yes. Mainly. But we fill other positions as well.”

  Asha could see Peri wasn’t keen on sharing information with her. That was mutual.

  “I know!” Vivienne’s eyes crinkled with amusement, and she winked conspiratorially at Asha. “Maybe you could find a job for Asha, Peri.”

  Asha knew Vivienne was aware she had a new position to go to, and she tried to prevent a chuckle escaping. She somehow thought Peri Moyland wouldn’t find Vivienne’s suggestion, even though it was made in jest, at all palatable. In fact, something along the lines of Not bloody likely! was probably hovering on Peri’s tongue. Asha slid a glance at her.

  Peri’s expression was difficult to read. Her gaze seemed to have settled on Asha’s lips, and all at once, Asha drew a shallow, slightly flustered breath. Suddenly, the politely formal equilibrium of the air between them changed almost imperceptibly and was replaced by a totally different tension.

  Asha felt a dull flush color her cheeks, and she knew she should look away. But she couldn’t seem to.

  Then Peri’s startled eyes met Asha’s, and Asha watched with fascination as a myriad of emotions fluttered across her face, settling so fleetingly Asha was hard-pressed to interpret them. Just as suddenly that same icy barrier fell into place and the familiar cool, withdrawn Peri Moyland stared back at Asha. Asha struggled with a rush of bewilderment. Had she simply imagined that ephemeral moment? But no, why would she have?

  “But not until she’s finished my project,” Vivienne continued, and Asha and Peri both looked at her in surprise. “Getting Asha another job,” she elaborated. “Not until she finishes my research.”

  “Oh.” Peri absently passed Asha a plate of delicious petit fours. “And how long will that take you, Ms. West?”

  “Asha. Please.” Asha took a tiny fruit tart. “I won’t know until I see what information Vivienne already has. People can spend a lifetime researching their family history,” she said, and watched with satisfaction as Peri’s eyes widened a little. “So I guess I could be here for oh, what, twenty years or so, Vivienne?”

  Her eyes twinkled again, as she too watched Peri’s expression.

  This time Asha couldn’t prevent herself from chuckling. She took pity on the so-serious Peri Moyland. “It depends on how far back you want to go and how easily researchable your family is. It shouldn’t take me all that long to do what Vivienne has in mind, I don’t think, as she just wants to concentrate on the Chaseleys since they arrived in Australia.
According to Vivienne she’s found a lot of family birth, marriage and death certificates, which will help immensely.”

  “Ah. The chest we found in the attic.” Peri nodded and gave Vivienne a quick smile. “Viv was very excited about that.”

  “And rightly so. Every family historian would kill for such a collection.”

  “So how do you go about writing such a book?”

  If Asha hadn’t known better, she would have thought Peri Moyland was genuinely interested. “Basically, I weave the personal family history in with the history of the times.” Asha forgot Peri’s suspicions as she warmed to a subject she found so fascinating. “For instance, my mother’s family immigrated to Australia and settled in Gympie, north of Brisbane, in the late 1860s, in time for the discovery of gold and the subsequent gold rush, so my family’s history paralleled the history of those times. It’s absolutely mind-blowing to put people, people who came before me, into that scenario. My ancestors played their small part in the history of those days.”

  “Were they gold miners?” Peri asked, her eyes watching Asha’s face.

  “Two of the boys tried their hands at mining, not all that successfully, but the family were farmers. Descendants of the original family still are.”

  “And all our ancestors played their small part in history, too,” Vivienne said. “In fact, we today are doing the same.”

  “Mmm.” Peri murmured dubiously and Vivienne tut-tutted.

  “I think we’re going to have to work hard to convince our skeptical Peri, don’t you think, Asha?” she said, and Asha just smiled.

  For the next couple of days Asha worked with Vivienne Chaseley sorting out the contents of the family chest from the attic. It was certainly a treasure trove of official certificates, a few letters and lots of old photographs. In the evenings she dined with Vivienne and Peri, the meal prepared and served by Joe Deneen’s Aunt Margo. Peri continued to remain aloof, and Asha told herself that was fine by her. The more grating Peri Moyland was, the easier it would be for Asha to convince herself the spark of awareness she felt toward her was the acknowledgment that Peri was simply a very attractive woman, and nothing more.

  One morning Asha was working in the study doing some preparatory work on Vivienne’s book when there was a light tap on the open door. She looked up to see Peri standing in the doorway. She wore tailored dark slacks and a very pale pink, long-sleeved, cotton knit shirt. Her fair hair was neatly coiled on her head.

  “Hi!” Asha said, struggling with that same disconcerting frisson of awareness Peri seemed to stir inside her. Being attracted to a straight woman had Asha faltering in uncustomary confusion. Yet if Peri hadn’t been straight, Asha knew she could have … Could have what? Made a move on her? Asked her out? But Peri had been engaged to be married, and what could be straighter than that? She was definitely heterosexuality personified.

  “Vivienne suggested I might be able to help,” Peri said without conviction.

  “Actually, I’m doing quite well,” Asha told her. “There’s so much information already collected”—she indicated the piles of birth, death and marriage certificates—“it makes my job so much easier.”

  Peri reluctantly stepped into the study and sank down in the chair opposite Asha.

  “That’s all the stuff from the old chest Viv and I found in the attic?”

  “Yes. Apparently someone knew how valuable they’d be and kept them safe.” Asha smiled. “I know I would have given my eyeteeth to uncover such a box of treasure relating to my family.”

  “I suppose you need a lot of information before you start the book.” Peri was perched on the chair, not exactly at ease.

  “The more information I have the easier it is. Vivienne has all the relevant certificates, saving me lots of time researching, and of course, there’re all these wonderful photographs I’m in the process of sorting out.” Asha warmed to her subject. “There are photos of Richard Chaseley and his wife and children and their children. And there are even photos with this house in the background, showing how it’s evolved over the years. For example, this one”—she indicated a very old photograph—“has written on the back, ‘Richard’s cottage before building began.’ I suspect it may be the original building where Tyneholme now stands. It’s very exciting.”

  “But it’s so faded,” Peri said as she leaned forward to look at the photograph Asha indicated.

  “Not so badly that I can’t fix it up a little. I have a couple of amazing computer programs to help me restore old photographs like this one. Just wait till you see the finished product.” Asha smiled and Peri held her gaze for long moments before she looked quickly away.

  “Viv seems to have been very impressed by the book you did for her friend Betty Peterson,” she said after a moment

  Asha wondered derisively how hard it was for the reserved Peri to voice what was, for her, a positive comment. Then she told herself she was being ungracious. She simply had to win this disapproving woman over. Although why she felt compelled to do so she couldn’t, or wouldn’t, have said.

  “Well,” Asha began enthusiastically, “the book I did for the Biddle Reunion, that’s Betty’s family, was such an interesting project. Betty’s English great-great-grandmother Eliza was the daughter of a very well-to-do landowning family. She fell in love with James, a gardener working on her father’s estate. Of course, Eliza’s father forbade her to see him, so they eloped and escaped to London.

  “Amazingly, her father didn’t catch up with them, and they returned to the small village where James was born and got married before setting sail for Australia. Their first child was born on the ship during the voyage.” Asha stopped, embarrassed. “Sorry. I get a little carried away when I get onto my research projects.”

  “No. Please go on. It’s interesting,” Peri said, and Asha decided to take what she said at face value.

  “Can you imagine anything worse than being cooped up on a small, small by our standards that is, on a small sailing ship, let alone being pregnant as well?” Asha shook her head. “They were incredible women.”

  “How long was the voyage?” Peri asked.

  “Usually three months or more. The Biddles arrived in Brisbane in the eighteen sixties. Queensland was only proclaimed a separate colony in late eighteen fifty-nine, so it must have been very ‘last frontier’. James eventually acquired a considerable amount of property in the Brisbane Valley. Eliza worked alongside him and had ten children, seven surviving to adulthood.”

  “Her life out here in the colonies must have been so different from the life she’d been used to if she came from a wealthy family,” Peri reflected.

  “Ah, the things we women do for love.” Asha laughed and then sobered, hoping she hadn’t stirred up painful memories for Peri. “Betty has a portrait of James and Eliza,” she went on hurriedly, “taken when they were in their mid-thirties, and it’s easy to see why James swept Eliza off her feet. He was a very handsome man.”

  Peri made no comment, that closed expression on her face again. She picked up a glass paperweight from the top of the wide desk, turned it over in her fingers, then set it down again.

  “Actually, not a lot of families have as many photos as Vivienne has,” Asha put in.

  “I suppose not. Viv tells me your father is the famous cricketer, Sean West. He’s considered by some to be Australia’s best fast bowler, isn’t he?”

  “Yes,” Asha replied carefully. “That’s right.”

  “It must have been,” Peri paused, “interesting growing up having a famous parent.”

  “It was. Sort of.” Asha was reticent talking about her father. Her stepmother had instilled in her right from the start that it wasn’t wise to talk too freely about their family. Not that there was the pressure from reporters on them when Asha was small, but by the time Michelle was born, her mother had often had to fend off zealous media people. That was one thing she didn’t envy her father and Karen having to deal with. For Sean West and his new family it was a day-to-day
battle. “I was pretty young when Dad was playing for Australia, and in those days families of sports personalities were kept pretty much in the background. I remember he was away a lot.”

  “Was that difficult?”

  Asha shrugged. “My stepmother and I, well”—Asha smiled— “I had her undivided attention. What more could a child want? In fact, I remember being very put out when Dad came home and demanded some of my stepmother’s time, spoilt little brat that I was.”

  “Viv said your parents divorced. Do you think that was because of his career in the public eye?”

  Asha hesitated and Peri looked a little concerned. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude,” she said quickly.

  “It’s okay. As long as you’re not a newshound in disguise. Even now I’m usually loath to talk about Dad, just in case.”

  “No, I’m not. Scout’s honor. Just interested,” Peri said, and Asha saw her flush a little. “I—My brother Jack has always been mad keen on cricket, and under some sufferance in the beginning, I watched cricket matches with him. Then I found myself enjoying the game, especially the One-Day matches. Just recently I watched a cricket special that included highlights of your father’s career. He was pretty impressive, and I know your father is one of Jack’s heroes.”

  “He is to a lot of cricket fans. I guess I didn’t realize that until I grew up.” Asha shrugged again. “As to why my parents divorced, I suppose Dad was never really there. In the beginning he was away playing cricket, and when he stopped playing he was concentrating on building up his business.”

  “He’s been very successful. He remarried, didn’t he? Do you see much of him?”

  “Every so often. Chelle, that’s my sister, Michelle, and I go over for dinner now and then. I get on fairly well with Karen, his new wife. She’s more … I suppose she’s the sort of wife my father should have had. Mum just wanted a quiet life. She hated the socializing Dad wanted her to do. Karen seems to thrive on it. Although when she has time with the children, I don’t know.”

  “Your father has a second family?” Peri asked and Asha laughed.