by Margaret Way
'You'll look better with a little make-up,' said Sandra. 'I can't offer you foundation. We're all very fair and you're olive. But I've got everything else. You have a beautiful skin, in any case. I never can tan.'
Someone knocked on the door behind them, then Claire entered, a vision in a lapis blue evening shirt, with padded shoulders, and matching trousers.
'Boy, have we got a problem,' she said.
Sandra nodded. 'Camilla's here.'
'You have to come and do something! Mamma is being charming, but I know she's annoyed. You would think Camilla would let us know, instead of turning up on the doorstep.'
'Where's Ty?'
'He's not in yet. There are so many things that have to be discussed. The stakes are very high for Camilla now. I'm sure if she could she'd throw a lasso around Ty...'
'The question is, does he care about her?' Sandra asked. 'Morgan said he told her he should be married to Camilla by now.'
'Go on, Morgan,' Claire invited, taking a deep breath.
'Nothing to go on about. He simply made that remark.'
'How shocking!' Claire plonked down beside her twin.
Morgan studied them for a moment, admiring the golden aura that surrounded them. The beautiful Hartland twins. Now they looked most disturbed. 'I must say, I thought you two were one hundred percent for Camilla.'
'I told you, all that has changed. We've come to see what Camilla is really like. She's all over us, and I'll have to admit we were blinded by it, but we've had plenty of opportunity to observe her manner with those less fortunate.'
'She speaks about you, too, Morgan,' Claire said angrily. 'For a long time now she has spoken as though she's in competition with you over Ty. What I'm really trying to say is, she's jealous.'
'For God's sake, what brought on these feelings?' Morgan's green eyes flared. 'It doesn't exactly make sense. Ty and I are more likely to fight than anything else.'
'But it's strong emotion, Morgan,' Sandra told her. 'You may not realise this, but everyone else does. Both of you are more intense talking to each other than at any other time. Ty only has to say the least little thing and you respond at once. His natural tendency is to curb your real recklessness. I know he worries about you. That feeling, the anxiety and the caring, Camilla hates. She sees you as a real force in Ty's life, and why not? Something binds you.'
'Because we're family.'
'If that were all, why isn't he the same way with Lucinda and Helen? They're Hartlands, too.'
'I think his relationship with E.J. played a part in it. Ty has a very protective streak. You obey him out of love and respect. He arouses a whole lot of conflict in me.'
'Trust him,' Claire said. 'That's very important. He controls all our lives. Don't you think it a miracle he's motivated by love? Ty would never hurt you, Morgan, just as he would never hurt us. Such a thing is unthinkable. You grew up trying to copy Ty.'
'What?'
'Don't you think you did?' Claire wavered at Morgan's sharp, shocked tone.
'I've never for one moment considered it.'
'Consider it now. I would say some conflict is inevitable. Unless you come to terms with being a woman, your self-esteem will always be threatened. In a sense, we've all been dominated by E.J. and Ty. We could never win. Not in any real sense. It's understood the man is the symbol of power. E.J. and Ty were like two giants facing each other. I think men are fearful at times. They need women to give them balance. To make them better people. E.J. had no woman in his life, more's the pity. He just got harder and harder, and eventually we all rejected him. I'm sure if he'd been happily married he would have acted differently. As it was, he was the arch-type of a tyrant.'
'Not that it matters now,' Sandra sighed. 'What do you think of that dress on Morgan?'
'Great!' Claire inspected Morgan's slight, petite figure from head to toe. The shoes will have to go.'
'I think I can do something about them,' Sandra said. 'Morgan is considering coming to Sydney with us.'
'Oh, do come, Morgan,' Claire urged. 'You have to move beyond this restricted life. Personally, I think you need total change for a while. All you've ever done is work, work, work. How you've never seriously injured yourself I'll never know.'
'How long is Camilla staying?' Sandra asked. 'Did she say?'
'Doubtless she'll tell us in her own time. Mamma put her in the bedroom above the landing. It's the most glamorous, after all, and far enough away from us all. Don't tell her we intend to go to Sydney. She'll be over at Jahandra like a flash, you know if Ty decided to marry her there's absolutely nothing we could do.'
There's something I could do,' Morgan said fierily. There's no way I'm going to share my home with Camilla Ogilvie. Pushy as she is, she'll never get the best of me. Ty will have to consider someone entirely different if he wants any peace.'
'Hear, hear!' said the twins.
Chapter Five
Camilla was charming. Her conversation was honeyed and entirely without sting. She was as tall as the twins, ultra slim but strongly boned, with a shoulder-length bronze mane and a fire in her golden-brown eyes. Like the twins, she dressed beautifully at all times and she had the same polished aura money ensured. But, whereas the twins were very 'relaxed and confident in their manner, Camilla's confidence veered towards arrogance. Mercifully it was not in evidence that evening. When she put her mind to it Camilla Ggilvie could be excellent company. She was well educated and much travelled. Her family had a secure position in society, but outside her own circle Camilla's dyed-in-the-wool snobbery did her no credit. Only certain people in her view were born to inherit the earth, and she had no wish to make the acquaintance of the rest.
Ty appeared to be relishing her company. Her golden- brown gaze was very frank and direct. It was obvious she found him attractive, the whole package spiced by his overnight rise to great wealth and power. Dinner passed very pleasantly, a grand affair in Morgan's experience. E.J. liked to be silent at dinner. They had never done anything so cosy or informal as dining in the morning-room, much less the kitchen. They used the formal dining-room under a great glittering chandelier, E.J. at one end, Morgan miles away at the other. It had been her private joke to hold conversation with herself, but there was nothing like that tonight. There was much laughter and talk. The table looked superb. Beautiful ivory linen place mats and napkins, heavily laced and scalloped around the edges, Wedgwood dinner ware, ornate silver, the sparkle of Waterford crystal, single white roses in tail slender vases along the length of the table and the romance of candle flames reflected in the tall giltwood mirrors that hung above the sideboard and the white marble fireplace. It was a far cry from dinner at Jahandra, a deadly dull meal for as far back as Morgan could remember.
'What are you thinking about, Morgan?' Camilla asked lightly. 'You've gone very quiet.'
'I was thinking how lovely everything is.' Morgan's great eyes were, for once, very soft and misty. 'It occurred to me I've developed no great talent for living.'
'My dear, you weren't given the opportunity, that's all.' Cecilia, in shimmering blue, smiled at her. 'You have a great sense of beauty. I, too, was watching your face.'
'My grandfather took all the fun out of life, didn't he?'
'He certainly did!' Camilla seconded and laughed. 'It will be a real challenge for Ty's wife to turn that immense shrine into something charming and livable in. All that heavily carved Victorian furniture, drapes and cushions that look as if they'd turn to dust. It's a colossal place really for these days. I always found it incredibly intimidating, especially when I happened to encounter E.J. on the main stairway. He was so grim, yet dignified in a remote way. Essentially a warrior prince. Someone royal, anyway. There was that aura of isolation. Whatever woman handles the restoration, she will have to have a marvellous sense of scale and colour. The place is so gloomy.'
'Cecilia and I will be doing it up,' Morgan announced, totally unaware of her own regal air.
'Really?' Camilla lost her smile. 'You wouldn'
t wait for Ty's wife?'
'As far as I know, Ty hasn't found one. In any case, Jahandra is mine too. If I'm not up to running a mighty pastoral empire, I am up to refurbishing the mausoleum I've lived in all my life.'
'But surely you won't always live there?' Camilla asked, the golden bronze of her dress reflecting her glittering eyes.
'Oh, I expect so,' Morgan said lightly. 'As you said, it's a huge house. There's a good deal of room. One could live there for years without passing on the stairs.'
The first cracks began to appear. 'I expect Ty's future wife might be a bit upset about that,' Camilla suggested rather acidly.
'Oh, I hope not,' Morgan replied. 'I only want to love her.'
'What do you think, Ty?' Camilla asked.
'It's as much Morgan's house as mine.' He glanced at Morgan sidelong.
'Well...' Camilla hesitated. 'You know what they say. You can't have two women under the one roof.'
'There are going to be four of us shortly,' Sandra pointed out sweetly. 'I say that's a good idea doing up the house, Morgan.'
'Cecilia, you must help me.'
'I'd love to, Morgan,' Cecilia said, meaning it. 'Even so, I feel we need a certain amount of professional help. Jahandra is a palace compared to this. I've known the dining-room to seat a hundred people. It would be an enormous task, yet I know we would get great pleasure from it. The colours for the interior painting alone will present quite a challenge. Clearly we need expert advice, and I know just the firm to provide it. They advise on all the major houses.'
'The garden needs professional attention as well. I've always wanted to develop new areas. We need a landscape artist to help us.'
'There's a danger Ty's wife might not like what you do,' Camilla insisted.
Morgan was unhesitating. 'If the worst comes to the worst, and Ty marries someone who isn't easily pleased, he'll have to build somewhere else on the property. There are endless sites.'
'Is that so?' Ty drawled negligently.
'You're joking, of course, Morgan.' Camilla tried to smile.
'Well, you wouldn't want to move in with me, would you?' Morgan's face lit with humour.
'I certainly would not,' Camilla responded, disconcerted. 'It's quite possible you'll marry in the near future yourself. You would have a problem persuading a husband to stay on Jahandra.'
'Someone like Pat O'Donough would move in tomorrow.'
'Ah!' Camilla said in a sly voice. 'Is that the way the wind blows? I've heard rumours, of course.'
'Then we ought to sue for slander,' Ty laughed briefly. 'Morgan has no interest in O'Donough whatever!'
'Of course I have.' Morgan said.
'Shall we have coffee in the other room?' Cecilia suggested. 'Perhaps out on the veranda. The sky is brilliant tonight. There's no magic like an Outback night sky. One could almost reach out and capture a star.'
Afterwards Camilla caught Ty by the arm and drew him down into the garden for a walk, and while Cecilia and the twins organised what they wanted to take back to Jahandra, Morgan drifted into the music-room and opened up the Steinway. The twins had taken piano lessons at school and developed a pleasing talent. Morgan had real ability. Even E J. had taken the time to listen to her play. Whatever he paid for she had to excel at, but even then he had never bought her a beautiful grand piano like this.
She sat down and let her fingers move over the keys. She had not been practising of late, with so little time available to her, but now she had all the time in the world.
The opening bars of a Chopin ballade spilled into the room, the beautiful sound reduced by having the lid down. Morgan stood up and carefully removed a beautiful flower lamp, art deco in design, and three silver- framed photographs of the family: one of Ty looking stunningly handsome, one of the twins in evening dress, another of the twins with their mother. All of them looked perfectly beautiful. Cecilia was a wonderful mother. She had brought great love and joy into her children's lives. Morgan, too, had a desire for children, and she would live up to the maternal role. Marcia had only pretended to be a mother. Was it any wonder that, so abandoned, Morgan had not yet arrived at a true sense of identity?
Once she started to play, Morgan forgot everything but the music and the deep emotions within her. The music floated out into the night, contemplative and turbulent by turns. Her young fingers had lost none of their dexterity and the circumstances of her life had lent her a unique insight into the depths of the human soul. She played with great feeling and understanding, so Cecilia broke off her tasks to sit out on the veranda to listen and the twins walked to and fro, completely enchanted.
Only Camilla was uninspired by the impromptu concert. When they returned to the house twenty minutes later, Ty started towards the music-room and Camilla was compelled to follow him. Morgan, totally immersed, was only half-way through a Brahms intermezzo, but Camilla clapped wildly.
'Bravo, bravissimo!'
Morgan jumped, a little startled, and turned. 'Oh, you're back!' Her green eyes were strangely unfocused.
'You really have such a powerful touch for a woman,' Camilla carolled. 'I'm sure I couldn't get that amount of sound from a piano.'
'But then, you don't have Morgan's gift,' said Ty.
'I know. Dramatic! One doesn't expect it from such a little thing. You must have had a concert pianist in the family closet.'
'Not that we know of.'Morgan went to get up, but Ty stopped her. 'Don't stop. The whole station is listening.' Morgan shook her head, knowing full well Camilla's dismay. 'I'm very much out of practice.'
'It didn't sound like that to me.'
'Oh, leave her, Ty. I'm sure the poor girl's tired.'
'Not at all, but I offered to help Cecilia.' Camilla's golden-brown eyes gleamed. 'What you really ought to do with Jahandra homestead is convert it into two houses.'
'Never!' Ty said with extreme distaste. 'You don't think it a gamble to move in together?'
'We get on very well.' Ty let his glance rest on Morgan's triangular face.
'You could have fooled me,' Camilla laughed. 'You and Morgan are always at loggerheads.'
'Would you rather we didn't have the family?' Morgan asked.
'What an extraordinary will!' Camilla evaded, though her slim body gave a definite frisson. 'Chaining you together in this way. It simply won't work. Each of you will very soon want to be without the other.'
'We'll get through,' said Ty lightly. Camilla's eyes flickered. 'I'm not so sure.'
'Morgan and I have to make a great many decisions together. We could even have to live together permanently.' said Ty, and he gave a playful, anguished groan.
'You're teasing, Ty.' Camilla said, brightening. 'That's the craziest thing I've ever heard!'
'Bless you.' His blue eyes sparkled. 'Morgan is quite attractive.' Camilla considered, bronze head on one side. 'It won't be very long before someone sweeps her off her feet. You ought to consider that before you start redecorating the house, Morgan. Surely that will be the right of Ty's wife? After all, he is the one who will remain on Jahandra.'
'I have to keep reminding myself of that.' said Morgan. 'Nevertheless, I've lived far too long in a way I didn't want. I think we'll do a great job of refurbishing Jahandra. For all I know Ty mightn't get married for years yet. I think forty is a nice age. By then a man should know his own mind.'
Camilla was suddenly gripped by something that looked like panic. 'You're far too attached to Ty, you know.'
'I agree.' Morgan was startled by her own admission. 'But then, he has always been in my life. Excuse me now, won't you? There's so much to do if we have to meet our schedule.'
Camilla was not to be deterred. She cornered Morgan before breakfast the next morning and asked her to take a walk down to the lagoon.
'Of course, you know the situation between Ty and me.' she said shortly, reaching out and breaking off a pink bauhinia blossom. 'You had better tell me.' Morgan raised her eyes. Camilla laughed suddenly. 'You know perfectly well. What an odd little
creature you are!'
'You obviously like to think so.'
'I mean, who are you like?'
Morgan allowed herself a wry smile. 'Probably someone on my mother's side of the family.'
'Ah, yes, Lady Ainsley. You're not really your mother, either.'
'No. It's an eye-opener all right.'
'I'm afraid it is,' Camilla returned tartly. 'Extraordinary, when you think about it.'
Morgan turned to look at her. 'It's such a beautiful morning, Camilla. I'll have to run if you're going to be difficult.'
'Not before you hear me out.' Camilla discarded the butterfly bauhinia.
'I can't imagine what it is you have to say.'
'Plenty.' Camilla's bronze eyes looked angry. This inter-relation between you and Ty I'm finding obstructive. You're perfectly well aware Ty and I are much more than friends.'
'I had no idea. Absolutely none!' Morgan lied.
Camilla was aquiver with frustration. 'I do wish you wouldn't joke. I had hoped to speak some sense.'
'That's sweet of you, Camilla, and I appreciate it. Do go on about you and Ty.'
Camilla snorted. 'We've discussed marriage,' she said in a clipped voice.
'And when was that?'
'You don't have to know. Just believe what I'm telling you.'
'Why should I? You could be making it up.' Morgan purposely looked down to check her watch.
'You're a very strange girl,' Camilla told her.
'Right now, I think you're the one who's strange. There's something you ought to know about me, Camilla, When someone tries to get at me I usually tell them to get lost. Please excuse the plain speaking, but that's the way I am. I grew up under E J. It's extremely unlikely I'd be intimidated by someone like you.'
