'But if I leave, you'll come with me?'
'Aye, this is my last season.'
She sat up in the bed. 'Cameron McKenzie. I've waited all these years. Can't you just walk away now?'
'I've signed the lease. Got my crew. I just want to give it one more season. If I can get one good lay it will set us up, we'll have something behind us.
She got up and started to dress. 'Kate, love.'
'Don't Kate love me! I should go down to Perth on my own and to hell with the lot of you!"
'Just one more season, that's all! Let me give it one last try and then I'll walk away. But I'll never be rich man skippering down in Fremantle. One last roll of the dice, Kate. Please.
'Damn you Cameron.' She finished dressing and walked out. He put on his trousers and chased after her, bare chested. Elvie was standing on the veranda.
'Elvie,' Kate said. 'Hello. I'm ...'
'You're Mrs Niland. I saw you at the hospital.'
'Elvie! What are you doing here? Why aren't you at school?'
I ran off.'
'Why?'
'One of the nuns yelled at me again so I kicked her in the shins and ran.'
'Good Lord. You'll get thrown out.'
She looked him up and down. 'Well I won't be the only one in trouble.'
Cameron scrambled to put his shirt on. Elvie looked at Kate. Do you like me pa?'
She nodded.
'You're married to Mister Niland aren't ya? Looks like I'm not the only one in trouble, then.' And she went inside.
Chapter 62
Elvie watched him light a cheroot. It was not often she saw him smoking, and only when there was something on his mind that he needed to turn over. The moon crept up the sky. Although it was night it was still breathless hot. She put an arm around his shoulders.
'What are you going to do, pa?'
'I don’t know, lass. Twenty years I’ve been at the pearling grounds now. I’ve never found my pearl or my fortune. I guess it's time I stopped.'
She rubbed her cheek against the hairs on his forearm. 'I mean what are you going to do about her.'
'Aye well, it's complicated, lass.'
He finished the cheroot and ground it out under his heel. 'You’ll be a woman soon, Elvie. You dinnae want to stay here. The town is dying. Any of the young men with ambition are leaving.'
'Are we leaving, pa?'
'I'm thinking of going down to Perth at the end of the year. There's always a job on a fishing boat down there. Mrs Niland is thinking of coming with me.'
There was a long silence. 'Mrs Niland?
'Aye.'
'Won't Mister Niland be cross?'
He stood up. 'There's something we need to talk about, Elvie. Come along.'
***
He walked down to the foreshore, past the pearler's camps, past the Governor's Residence and the Bishop's Palace, past Buccaneer Rock and the Ghost Light Beacon, slapping his broad-rimmed hat against his thigh.
He told the story of how he had met Kate Flynn, how he had loved her and how he had lost her. They walked up the hill to Rosie's grave. Five years since he had last been here. He had made a promise to himself that he would only come back when he had put the things to rights for her. He expected the grave to be overgrown with weeds, yet there it was, neatly tended, fresh flowers arranged in a lemonade bottle at the head of the grave.
He smiled. Elvie!
The headstone read:
Rosemary McKenzie
died in childbirth
1899-1926
The air was heavy with the scent of salt and mango and kerosene from the lamps now flickering to life along the foreshore.
She started to pull weeds from the red dirt. 'What if I did?
Cameron knelt down, traced the R in Rosemary with his finger. 'Elvie darling there's something else you should know. I've put off telling you this and perhaps you won't thank me for telling you now. But you'll be a woman soon, and it's time you had the truth and though it's painful one day it may serve you.'
'What is it, pa?'
He fumbled in his shirt pocket and pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to her.
'What is it?'
'It's your birth certificate.'
She stared at it. 'It had her name Elvira, and her mother's maiden name, Rosemary Janet Jones., Beside father's name was written 'Unknown.'
'Pa?'
'Aye it's true.'
She sat down on her haunches as if the bones in her legs had dissolved.
'I hope you don't think the worst of you ma or of me. She was a good woman, a fine woman, and always faithful to me. But before we were wed she ...'
He let the sentence hang. He was hoping she would not ask too much more, not now; perhaps later, perhaps never. The truth was never that clear, it seemed to him, even when you tried to explain it.
'Does the whole town know? Am I the last to know this, pa?'
'I dinnae know who knows. But you should know this. I loved you from the first day I saw you, Elvie, all wet and shiny in my arms. In my mind you were mine and always will be.'
Elvie sat with her head down, and he waited for her to ask him more, but she did not. He felt as if he had swallowed a stone.
She held out the birth certificate and he took it from her fingers, folded it neatly, and put it back in his shirt.
'Can we go home now, da’?'
'Do you not want me to tell you what happened?'
She shook her head.
'Maybe later, then.'
He pulled her to her feet. She put an arm around his waist and leaned against him. 'Goodnight ma,' she said, and together they walked home.
Chapter 63
George had gone to the office early. Jamie was on the veranda smoking a cigarette, a new affectation of his. He looked to be in a foul mood. Perhaps he had heard her and George screaming at each other in their bedroom last night. She took a deep breath and went out to join him.
'George tells me your going out fishing this season.'
'On the Rose. Ramatzu's skipper. I don't know enough about it. But I'll open all the shell and keep an eye on them. Someone has to. Father's been too trusting over the years.'
'Promise me you won't dive.'
'I've not a care to. It's a filthy job, I'll leave it for the Japs.'
'I still don't understand why you're doing this. It's hard work and it's filthy work. You should be at university.'
'Father needs me right now. I don't intend to let him down.'
Let him down. She felt the barb was aimed at her. 'So what's wrong, Jamie? I thought you'd be happy about this.'
'Was this what you two were fighting about last night?'
'One of the things. I always begged him not to let you go pearling and he always swore he wouldn't. But he has never listened to me about anything.'
'He was rather upset this morning when he left for work.'
'Was he?'
'He said you're leaving us.'
'I'm leaving him, Jamie. Not you.'
'If you leave Broome it's the same thing.'
'Jamie, you're a man now.'
'I shall never forgive you for this.'
'My God, you're like your father.'
'My father's weak. I'm not.'
'You don't really know your father,' she murmured.
'McKenzie, you mean?'
Oh God, he knew. She sat down heavily on one of the chairs. She didn't know where to look.
'Did you think I didn't know? The whole town knows about it apparently. Did you think people would forget. Not here. They remember if you spilled a drink on someone's dress in 1922.'
'How long have you known?'
'Years. Father told me.'
'George? He told you?'
'He made me promise not to say anything.'
'What exactly did he say?'
'That you went behind his back with McKenzie. That he forgave you and took you back when even grandfather wanted to disown you.'
Unbelievable. Had he really sa
id that about her? No wonder Jamie hated her.
'That wasn't the way it was,' she said.
'What's your version then?'
'Your grandfather thought he was a good catch. Instead I fell in love with Cam ... Mister McKenzie. When I fell pregnant with you ... he had a feud with your grandfather over a pearl. They fought in the street. Things were said. Public things. I felt humiliated. I broke it off with Mister McKenzie and George rather rescued me I suppose. He is your father in all other respects. He was the one who raised you and put a roof over your head.'
The rain burst over their heads. James' face looked greenish in the storm light.
'What must you think of me?' she said.
'Do you still love him?'
'Yes.'
'You've always loved him?'
'Yes.'
'Well, that's something,' he said. 'That's just ... just wonderful.'
'I love you, Jamie. I have done my best here but you're a man now, you don't need me anymore. I stayed for you. I have never loved your father the way I should, the way a woman should love her husband. I need to find some happiness for myself now. Please understand.'
'All I understand is that you're running out on us when we need you the most.'
'I will stay for one more season. Then I intend to leave.'
He stood with his back to her for a long time. Finally: 'I heard he murdered grandfather.'
'He was officially pardoned. A Manilaman did it over a snide pearl. He confessed and was hanged. Didn't George tell you that bit?'
'I know a snake when I step on one.'
'He's a good man, Jamie. You have no right to talk about him that way.'
'Well, I only have your word for that.' He tossed his cigarette into the garden and walked off into the rain.
'Where are you going?'
'I'm going to get drunk,' he said.
Chapter 64
And two hours later Jamie Niland was drunk, good and drunk. He propped himself against the long bar in the Bosun's Regret and dropped some coins into the barmaid's jar to get her attention. She hesitated, then turned to big John Hagen, the manager. He walked up the bar and said, in a gravelly whisper: 'You've had enough, son. Go home now.'
'Get me a beer.'
'Look, I shouldn't be serving you at all, at your age. I don't want no trouble with the coppers.'
'A beer.'
Hagen shrugged. He was George Niland's son, after all. 'Get him a drink, Bessie.'
Jamie downed the glass in one swallow. Damn his mother. How could she do something like this? How could she do it to her father, and how could she do it to him?
He slammed the glass on the counter. Two more pennies dropped in Bess's jar.
At that moment he heard a familiar voice and someone clapped him on the shoulder. 'Jamie! I've not seen you in here before. You sure you're old enough?' Cameron dropped some coins in Bessie's jar. 'One for me and one of whatever he's having,' he said.
'She told me. Everything.'
Cameron sighed, pushed his money across the bar. 'Better make it two double whiskies, Bessie.' He turned back to Jamie. 'What did she tell you?'
'You're not my father.'
'She told you that?'
'George is my father.'
'Fair enough then. Because I agree. No matter who's blood you have in you, it's George that raised you.'
He put a hand on his shoulder again and Jamie shrugged it off. 'Get your hands off me.'
'Okay. Easy. Settle down, son.'
'I'm not your son!'
'It was just an expression.' He raised his glass. 'Cheers.'
Jamie waited till he put his glass down. 'Cheers,' he said and swung his fist into Cameron's face. Cameron lurched backwards, tripped on the brass foot rail and fell.
A hush fell over the room. The crowd moved back and formed a circle. No one wanted to miss this for anything. Jamie brought his fists up in front of his face.
'Get up,' he said to Cameron.
Cameron slid a finger inside his mouth. 'Now, look! You've loosened a tooth.'
'Get up.'
Cameron was helped up and Jamie charged again, swinging wildly. A fist caught Cameron on the side of the head but this time he didn't go down. Another wild swing put Jamie off balance and Cameron had to catch him by the arm, to keep him from crashing headlong onto the floor.
Jamie jerked free and swung again. He caught Cameron another glancing blow on the chin. 'Fight me,' Jamie breathed.
'You're drunk. It would nae be fair.'
'Coward!' Jamie aimed another blow at Cameron's head that snapped his head back. 'You're a coward!'
Cameron put a hand to his face. 'Christ, you have me bleeding all over my new suit.'
Jamie swung again, missed, and fell over.
Cameron pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and held it to his nose to staunch the flow of blood. 'I dinnae have a quarrel with you, boy.'
'I'm not a boy!' Jamie got up and threw another punch but Cameron blocked it easily. He was laughing now.
'I cannae fight you.'
Another haymaker, but this one found its mark and Cameron went down. Jamie threw himself on top of him. Cameron pushed him away. A couple of the onlookers pulled Jamie back onto his feet. They didn't want this to end. It was just warming up.
'Get up,' Jamie said to Cameron
'What's the point, lad? You'll only try to knock me down again.'
'Get up!'
There was blood pouring from Cameron's nose down his shirtfront. 'You can box, lad, and no mistake, drunk or nae. If you were mine, I'd be proud of you!' And he laughed.
Jamie seemed about to say something else but then he turned and ran out of the bar. Cameron heard him vomiting into the street.
Aye, he could fight.
Just couldn't hold his beer.
Chapter 65
Cameron only carried Elvie as far as the gate, she was too heavy now to carry the whole way. Then he set her down and strode off down the dusty road, while she ran beside him trying to keep up. 'Take me with you,' she said.
'How many times? I cannae take you with me, Elvie. A pearl lugger is nae a place for a young lady.'
'I wish I wasn't a girl. I wish I was a boy.'
'It's nae place for a boy either.'
'Assan's a boy. He's not much older than me.'
'He's Malay. Besides, he can cook.'
'I can learn to cook.'
'Aye I wish you would.'
'Please let me come!'
Cameron stopped and looked down at her eager, pixie face. 'Elvie, you cannae come and that's it.' He swung the kit bag over his shoulder. 'I'll be back before you know it.'
'No, you won't, you'll be gone for months and months. You'll stay out till Christmas, I know you will.'
'Maybe this time I'll find my pearl.' He sighed and squatted down on his haunches. 'Come here, Elvie,' he said gently. He lifted her back on his shoulders and carried her as far as the foreshore camp.
She wished he was like the other pearlers, who stayed home in their offices and their pearling sheds, checking the lay and drinking gin at the Continental. But then she supposed he would not be her pa.
***
The Essex was parked above the foreshore. Kate Niland stood next to it, staring at the whaleboat waiting for him in the shallows, two Malays at the oars.
'Right up until today I was hoping you'd change your mind, Cam.' She looked at Elvie, watching them, with her schoolbag thrown over her shoulder. 'So she's back to boarding with the nuns. She must hate that.'
'Aye she does. But I've told her this is the last time.'
'What if something happens to you? What's will become of her, then?'
'Nothing's going to happen to me, lass. I've too much to live for now.'
'You're not God, Cameron McKenzie. You don't get to decide these things.'
He shuffled his feet, eager to be on his way. He hated drawn out goodbyes. 'Jamie's out with the fleet already, I hear.'
'He left yesterda
y.'
''He has Wes with him.'
'Did you organise that, Cam?'
'Might have done. Told Wes it was my last year and he might want to settle in with another employer. He'll make sure the boy comes to no harm.'
'Come back to me, Cam.'
He grinned at her. 'I always do, don't I?'
***
Elvie stood on the beach all morning, watching the Roebuck until it weighed anchor and sailed out past Entrance Point. She waved until the mast disappeared over the bright and blue horizon of the sea and then she sat down on the strand and cried.
Chapter 66
King Sound
Jamie sat at the rail of the Rose, opening shell with an old table knife with a twine-bound handle. It was an unpleasant job, any small seed pearl or baroque had to be bitten away from the oyster after he had cut the muscle from the shell.
They were on good shell in ten fathoms. Wes was sitting on the boom with the lifeline braced across his thighs, one of the Malay deckhands taking up the slack in the air hose. They were astern first with all sails furled and a stockless anchor, the chain hitched over one fluke, slowing the drift.
The days were endless. He had never expected the work to be so monotonous. He had brought his Malay and Japanese language books along so he could learn some of the crew's jibber, as Wes called it. But most of them talked too fast for him, and he after weeks he had still only picked up a few words. It was clear that Ramatzu and the number two diver hated him. He had heard talk that they were actually reservists in the Japanese Navy, some pearlers even called them 'Jap spies'. Spies or not, they were very brave men.
'Jap diver different from whitefeller,' he said. 'You try to dive like dem yellahs, you die fer sure.'
'What about Mister McKenzie?'
'Da skip different from most whitefeller too. But he doan die no mo. Got the sickness.'
Wes quoted McKenzie - 'da skip' - all the time. One of his favourite sayings of Cameron's was: If you don't know how to do a job yourself, you'll never know if the other man is doing it right and doing it true.
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