by Sasha Wasley
‘Listen,’ he said. ‘There’s an outdoor movie night this Friday, at the foreshore. Are you available?’
Free’s jaw dropped. ‘Me?’
He chuckled. ‘Yes, you. Why are you so surprised?’
‘Um, I just thought maybe our, um, political views weren’t very compatible. On stuff like environment and society . . .’
His eyebrows rose. ‘Why would that matter?’
‘It matters a lot,’ she said, her voice firm. This was the one thing she knew about relationships.
He shrugged. ‘We haven’t had much of a chance to discover whether we’re compatible or not. This could be an opportunity.’ He waited.
Spending a Friday night with Aidan did not appeal. With a gasp of relief, she recalled that she was otherwise committed.
‘I’m sorry, Aidan. It’s my sister’s wedding this Saturday and I’m tied up for the whole weekend.’
‘Ah, okay. I’ll work out another date, then.’ He dipped his rice paper roll into a pot of chilli sauce. ‘Watch this space.’
Beth collected Free for the drive to Paterson Downs on Friday afternoon, bridesmaid dresses hanging from the window hooks in the back seat of the Beast.
‘How’s work?’ Beth asked as they turned onto Herne River Road.
‘It’s fantastic. I love it.’
‘That’s great.’ Beth switched on the headlights. ‘I thought you’d be good at the job. The kids like you, yes?’
‘It’s a pretty special bunch they’ve given me,’ said Free. ‘I’m lucky.’
‘It’s only one extra year at uni to do a diploma of teaching, you know,’ Beth said. ‘That’d be a good fallback if you find it hard to make an income from your art.’
‘I don’t make much,’ Free admitted. ‘But if I can pick up the odd contract like this, then I’ll make enough to scrape by. And Dad says he doesn’t care if I never earn a cent because I’ll always be welcome at Patersons.’
A smile touched her sister’s lips. ‘I bet he does. I just meant, you know, if you wanted more financial independence.’
Free twisted her mouth, considering it. ‘I’m not sure I’d want to be a schoolteacher. I enjoy the job so far, but it’s really hard work, teaching. Curriculum and all that. You’ve got kids’ futures in your hands.’
Beth shrugged. ‘Okay. Just a thought. Keep your mind open. You might be better suited than you think.’
‘Maybe. Hey, what shoes are you wearing tomorrow?’ Free asked.
Beth shot her a frown. ‘Silver sandals, of course. That’s what we all agreed.’ Free went into a momentary panic. When the hell had they agreed on that? ‘You were in that chat, I know it,’ said Beth.
Free thought furiously. ‘Oh, yes. I saw a chat happening during the week. Tanya suggested nude heels, right?’
‘Yes, but Willow thought silver sandals would be better. She didn’t want us attempting heels in the dirt.’
Free hadn’t read that far into the chat. She contemplated the shoes she’d brought along. White pumps from Perth, natural leather sandals she’d picked up in Rio, or sequined thongs from Delhi. Oh, why had she left her gorgeous strappy silver sandals back at the unit? The thongs were silver, she recalled. Maybe she could get away with that?
She shook herself. What the hell was she thinking? You didn’t wear thongs to a wedding. ‘Um —’
‘Free, please tell me you brought silver sandals of some description to wear in the bridal party at your sister’s wedding,’ Beth said, a sigh in her voice.
‘Of course I did,’ Free snapped.
Beth raised her eyebrows but said nothing. They lapsed into silence as Free wondered what on earth she was going to do about shoes for the next day.
By the time they’d arrived at Paterson Downs, she was no closer to a solution. Free kissed Willow and her father, then hid in her bedroom to panic in privacy. She had silver acrylic paint, she realised, catching sight of the surplus art supplies she’d left at Patersons.
And a pair of brown leather sandals.
Half an hour later, she left the newly silvered sandals to dry on her windowsill. She went out through the yard to say hello to Devi, her closest friend at the station. Devi was a dorm assistant but could usually be found helping Jean in the station kitchen.
Free joined her family on the patio. ‘Are the Forrests coming over tonight?’ she asked. ‘And where’s Tanya?’
‘They’ll all get here soon,’ Willow told her. ‘Tom’s collecting Tanya from the airport as we speak, and the Forrests are coming for dinner. It’s just a barbie.’
‘I really hope that dress fits Tanya.’ Beth sounded a little fretful, which wasn’t like her.
‘Did you hide the dresses?’ Willow asked. ‘I want them to be a surprise for Tom.’
‘They’re all hanging in my room, door shut.’ Beth was still chagrined about the dresses, Free noted, with a flicker of mischievous glee. But her amusement vanished when Beth leaned close to Free’s ear and said, ‘Tanya and I both got gifts for Willow. You could give her the horseshoe in the morning, when we give her our presents.’
Crap! Free had been tasked with buying a little satin horseshoe for Willow to carry down the aisle, but in the craziness of starting work that week – and other stuff – she’d forgotten. Good Lord. First the sandals, now the horseshoe. And there was nowhere Free could get one, either. The only horseshoes around Patersons were the iron ones in the tack room. She was such a damn screw-up. And she couldn’t fix this by painting something.
Wait.
Free thought about the row of ancient, rusted horseshoes that lined the Patersons’ tack room shelf. She excused herself and slunk with utmost stealth into the relative gloom of the stables. The stablehand, Kira, was filling hay nets, the air thick with the scent of chaff and manure.
‘Hi, Free,’ the girl said, noticing her. ‘Do you need something?’
‘Uh, yeah.’ Free made her odd request and Kira only stared a little bit before she showed Free her options. Free selected the smallest, lightest-weight horseshoe on the shelf and dashed back to her bedroom. She rubbed it down and opened the silver paint again. Minutes later, a shining silver horseshoe rested on the windowsill next to her sandals.
This might just work.
Tanya was full of excitement and wanted to open the champagne as soon as she arrived at Paterson Downs. They all drank a glass on the patio and tucked in to the delicious thick steaks and field mushrooms Tom had cooked, but tiredness hit everyone soon after dinner. The Forrests made a move to leave, so the Paterson household went out the front to say goodbye.
It took some effort to get Tom into the car since he’d suddenly decided he had private things to say to Willow before they tied the knot the next day. He took her a little way down the driveway to murmur with her, until his father gave a particularly long blast of the horn. Tom jogged back and scrambled into the rear of the vehicle, grinning like he’d won the lottery. Willow returned to join them on the porch, trying to conceal a smile, and Free glowed inside. It filled her with joy to see Willow looking so loved and blissful after all those years of being tense and serious. Her thoughts drifted sidewards to Finn saying, ‘You’re really sweet.’ She’d hardly seen him since that lunch. Hopefully, she’d randomly bump into him again on Monday. If not, she’d arrange things so she did.
They tidied up and carried cups of tea out onto the patio.
‘Oh, I need to pick your brains, girls,’ Free said as they settled back into the old cane chairs with their father. ‘We need a title for our tile wall project.’ She told them about Tia’s cultural heritage concept.
‘I love that idea,’ said Willow. ‘What about Land of Colour?’
Free tapped it into the memo app on her phone. ‘Good one. I need a few suggestions.’
‘Um, how about Cultural Kaleidoscope?’ offered Beth. ‘Diverse-City? Like a play on words.’
‘Kimberley Rainbow,’ Tanya broke in.
Free kept tapping and they threw out a few more suggestions. ‘I’d love
to use something that really captures the idea of putting down roots in Mount Clair. You know, how everyone’s from different backgrounds but we’ve joined together and become part of the place. Some of us were already here, some came as part of colonisation, and others are still arriving, you know? Something that captures that.’
‘Right, I see,’ her father said musingly. ‘Something that says born and bred.’
Free stared at him. ‘Dad! That’s awesome! Born and Bred. It’s short, snappy, and says exactly what I want it to say. You’re brilliant!’
He chuckled in surprise but her sisters agreed that it was just right.
‘You’re a bush poet, Barry,’ Tanya declared. ‘You’ve got a way with words.’
‘Bullshit,’ he said, but he looked pleased.
‘This time tomorrow, Willow will be married,’ Beth announced. She caught Willow’s eye. ‘We’re going to make sure tomorrow’s perfect for you.’
‘Perfect?’ Willow gave a laugh. ‘I’ll settle for pretty good. It’s just a ceremony and a party. Ultimately, it doesn’t make any difference, does it?’
‘Gawd, you’re so unromantic,’ Tanya groaned. ‘It’s not just a party. It’s an opportunity to be the princess for the day, look beautiful and have all eyes on you.’
Dismay crossed Willow’s face and Beth snorted a laugh. ‘I don’t think you’re selling it to her, Tan!’ She got to her feet. ‘Well, I don’t want bags under my eyes so I’d better get to bed. I’m wearing a dress that looks like I’m going to my Year Ten formal tomorrow, so I’m going to need a youthful complexion to pull it off.’
Free glanced anxiously at Willow, hoping she wasn’t hurt by Beth’s barb. ‘Oh, Beth, you look great in the dress,’ she said. ‘Hot. It shows off your legs.’
‘Whatever,’ said Beth, but she had a half-smile that showed she was joking. ‘Goodnight, all.’
Free set an alarm for seven, and the minute she woke up she checked the state of the silver sandals and the horseshoe. They were completely dry.
‘Hallelujah for that,’ she muttered.
Willow was outside working with the cows and Free could hear that Beth was up, chatting with Tanya in the kitchen as they clanged about with dishes and breakfast. She dug in among her textile scraps and found a piece of natural leather string left over from when she’d gone through a jewellery-making craze. She looped it through the topmost nail holes in the silver horseshoe. Next, she used a silver texta to pen Willow and Tom with the date on a little piece of white card, hole-punched it and threaded that on too, then tied off the ends of the string. She wrapped the whole thing in tissue paper and joined the others for breakfast.
It was midmorning when Willow finally stopped working and came inside to shower. Upon the arrival of the hairdresser they’d booked to work on their hairstyles, Barry declared it a ‘bloody danger zone’ of women running around, semi-dressed, and shut himself in his bedroom. Tanya painted Willow’s nails while she sat in the kitchen with hot rollers in her hair. Free watched the process, updating her Instagram with her latest river photo. It came from her trusty store of favourite pictures in case of days like this, when she couldn’t get out there to take a new one. The photo had captured the red riverbed, just starting to peep out from under the wet season’s gradually diminishing flow. She tapped out a caption.
The Herne’s water levels are just beginning to recede as the end of the wet season comes into sight. Always full circle. #Herne365 #NaturesWisdom #NoFilter
‘That stuff dries your nails super fast,’ Tanya told Willow. ‘Touch them. They’re fine.’
Willow tested her nails’ dryness. ‘Oh, good. I don’t have the patience to wait for nail polish to dry.’
‘If they’re dry enough,’ Beth said, ‘then I think it’s bubbly time!’
She poured the drinks and they chorused a cheers, clinking glasses.
‘While you’re held captive in the hairdressing chair, Willow, we’ll give you our wedding-day prezzies,’ Beth informed their sister. ‘You go first, Free.’
Free went to her room for the tissue-paper package, returning a moment later to thrust it into Willow’s hands. Willow protested that they shouldn’t have bought presents, but when it was unwrapped, she gazed at the horseshoe in delight.
‘Free, where on earth did you find this? I didn’t even want one of those poncy bridal horseshoes but this – this is gorgeous! Did you get it custom-made?’
Free could not have been more pleased with Willow’s response. ‘I made it. It’s one of our horseshoes from the stables.’
Willow peered at it more closely. ‘Oh my God. I think it’s one of Tuffie’s!’
‘It was the smallest one I could find.’
‘Then it’s definitely Tuffie’s.’ Willow’s eyes shone. ‘Free, how did you even think of this?’
Beth glanced at Free with a grin. ‘I knew I could smell fresh paint last night. Necessity is the mother of invention, hey, Free?’
You don’t know the half of it, Free thought, remembering her silver sandals.
Beth presented Willow with a pair of little stud earrings that were almost an exact match for the old willow-tree pendant their sister always wore – originally a gift from their mother. Free had often wished she had something like that necklace to remember their mother by. Beth must have searched high and low to find such a gift.
‘I couldn’t let you wear your boring sleepers to your own wedding,’ she said when Willow thanked her, her face glowing.
‘You girls know me so well,’ she said with a chuckle that had a bit of sadness beneath it. Free blinked back her own tears, avoiding Beth’s eye.
Thankfully, Tanya didn’t notice they were having an emotional moment, and pushed in to give Willow her gift.
‘It’s for your trousseau,’ she said with a wink.
‘My what?’ Willow asked, but when she opened the box and found an impossibly tiny white lace G-string and matching teddy, she understood.
Willow was a blusher, and this made her blush. Free giggled wickedly. ‘Ply her with champagne, Tan. If we give her enough throughout today, she might even wear that for Tom tonight.’
Tanya took the hint and they all toasted Willow, sipping bubbly as they did their makeup and took their turns in the hairstyling chair. The hairdresser took advantage of Free’s natural curls to create soft tendrils around her hairline, twisting the rest of her hair up high on her head. When she was done, Free went and changed.
‘I know you always believed you were a fairy,’ Beth said when Free emerged in the powder-blue dress, ‘but dressing like one as an adult is beyond a joke.’
‘Shush, Willow will hear you,’ Free answered, but she couldn’t help a giggle. It truly was a hilarious little fairy frock. Pretty, but certainly not dignified.
Tanya appeared, smoothing down the front of her lilac dress, her face rapturous. ‘It’s gorgeous! I never thought Willow would choose something like this. I’m going to wear it to my family’s Easter party in April.’
Beth lifted an eyebrow and Free tried not to laugh again. The dress looked adorable on Tanya, and Free told her so. ‘Come on, Beth, where’s yours?’
Beth rolled her eyes and begrudgingly donned her pink dress. She looked beautiful, Free thought, although it wasn’t at all her usual style. But then, Beth would look stunning in just about anything.
They helped Willow into her sleek white gown, modelled on their mother’s wedding dress. It was a perfect style for her – simple and elegant. Thanking the universe for waterproof mascara, Free took dozens of photos while Beth fitted the veil.
At last they were all ready and Barry came cautiously out into the living area in his best pants and shirt, his shoes polished to a high sheen. He inspected them.
‘What do you think, Dad?’ Free asked. ‘Willow’s doing a pretty good Audrey Hepburn impression in that dress, don’t you reckon?’
‘Free, Bethie, Tanya – you girls look bloody lovely,’ he said, ‘but I’m sorry to say not one of you is a patc
h on Willow today.’
They all laughed as Willow denied it, but Beth scoffed. ‘Take it, Willow. That’s how it should be on your wedding day.’
Willow had been unable to handle the idea of arriving with a fanfare and had settled with Tom that the bridal party and their partners would assemble at Quintilla before the rest of the guests turned up. Patersons’ staff had cleaned out two of the farm vehicles, and now ferried them over to the neighbouring station.
Tom came outside to greet them with one of his groomsmen and Willow sent her bridesmaids out of the car first, laughing at his astonishment.
‘You wanted pink!’ she called from the car.
‘You’ve gone above and beyond,’ he called back. ‘They’re like marshmallows!’
But when Willow climbed out, Tom went absolutely quiet. Free had never seen him lost for words before and she nudged Beth and Tanya to draw their attention. Tom pulled Willow close and wrapped her up in his arms for a kiss.
Beth groaned. ‘He’ll wreck her lipstick before the ceremony.’
Briggsy and some others pulled in to the Quintilla parking area at that moment – Finn at the wheel as chauffeur. Free’s pulse jumped. She’d forgotten he was playing taxi for Briggsy. If only he were staying. Briggsy, plainly stressed, had just got off work. He hightailed it into the house to change into his best-man suit. Finn helped Kate and another woman out of the car. There were the customary hugs, kisses and ravings about how beautiful everyone looked. From the corner of her eye, Free saw Finn had his gaze locked on her, his expression dumbstruck. So he did like her, she thought, spirits soaring. Then why had he clammed up like that on their lunch date? Was he just super shy? She crossed to him and put her arms out as though presenting herself for his appraisal.
‘Finn the benevolent giant, bow before the fairy-floss queen.’
He attempted a laugh but his colour had deepened and he looked unbearably awkward, his eyes darting around the group as though he was seeking a rescuer. Everyone was chatting excitedly and no-one came to his aid. Although this reaction was as confusing as ever, Free leaned in for a quick hug of greeting, breathing in that yummy Finn-branded scent that was becoming so pleasantly familiar.
