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Rain was forecast. Just an eighth of an inch. Usually an amount like that would be disappointing but still welcome amidst the post-war drought. But rain wasn’t welcome today at the Bradfield homestead. Hannah was coming home, and Melanie Bradfield had organised an outdoor party for her returning daughter. The townsfolk were curious to see what a stint at a finishing school in Brisbane might have done for the teenager who always seemed to prefer roustabout duties on the property rather than dressing up for Saturday night dances at the town hall.
“Better move the whole thing up under the veranda,” husband Eric suggested to Melanie. “Then you can be sure it won’t rain.”
Melanie smiled. “S’pose you’re right,” she said. “But there’s hardly enough room for everybody. It’ll be cheek to jowl.”
Tye helped his father move the large trestle table to the veranda while Dot brought out the paper plates and cutlery. “She’ll be all snooty now,” Dot complained, sounding like she didn’t really believe her older sister could have changed that much.
“Snooty?” Tye responded. “We’ll soon knock that out of her. Couple of days back on the horses.”
Melanie and Dot spent the next twenty minutes loading up the table and arranging chairs. Melanie tried to imagine how the crowd would cope. There would be the inevitable jostling for food, led by the strapping young cattlemen from the surrounding district, several of whom had betrayed their interest in Hannah by becoming embarrassingly awkward and shy in her presence.
“Where do you want these streamers?” Tye asked his mother.
“Oh, I don’t care. Just make sure we don’t have to fight our way through them to get to the refreshments.”
“Beauty,” Tye said. He proceeded to launch the streamers at various points around the veranda, chuckling as the small coils of paper unfurled and latched around posts and rails until their blues, reds and yellows criss-crossed to transform the scene into a wonderfully festive sight.
Eric was inside filling the bathtub with ice for the dozens of bottles of beer when Melanie shouted from the living room: “I’m driving out to get her. Keep the kids busy while I’m gone, the guests will start arriving soon.”
“Yeah, right-o,” Eric muttered.
As Melanie climbed into the Holden, she yelled to the kids, “Keep your father busy while I’m gone, the guests will be here soon,” before gliding down the long driveway and on to the road that would take her to Charleville airport. The kids watched her disappear into the distance, the dust slowly settling in the wake of the Holden’s tyres.
“You reckon she’ll blubber up when she sees Hannah again?” Tye asked his sister.
“Course she will,” Dot said, almost annoyed. “Give me a hand carryin’ out these cakes. And don’t grab any until Mum comes back.”
“She’ll never miss one,” Tye said, dutifully assisting Dot to transport the huge tray of freshly-baked cup-cakes.
“When have you ever stopped at one?”
Eric appeared on the veranda, wiping his brow. “Give me a hand with the beer, will ya Tye?”
Tye shook his head with despair. “Where’s the dog?”
“Why?” asked his father.
“Must be someone here I can boss around.”
Dot looked at her father and laughed. “He’s cranky ‘cause I wouldn’t let him sample the cakes.”
“Well he’s not sampling the beer either.”
Tye suddenly brightened as the distant drone of an aeroplane interrupted the conversation. The three Bradfields began urgently scanning the skies.
“That’ll be QANTAS,” Eric said.
“Yeah, the DC-3,” Tye said, excitedly pointing eastwards. “There it is! There’s Hannah.”
They stared up into the sky together, in complete wonderment as the plane threaded its way through the clouds above them. “Can you believe she’s sitting in that little spec way up in the sky?” Dot said. “Wonder what things look like from up there?”
“Highest I’ve been is the top of the water tower in town,” said Tye. “And even that was pretty impressive. Can’t wait to fly in a plane.”
“You’ll never get me up in one of them things,” Eric said.
“You dunno what you’re missing,” Tye said.
“Well, as a matter of fact, neither do you.”
Tye’s shoulders slumped and he began to walk off. “Goin’ to get the beer,” he said. As he left them, a black Buick turned into the driveway and Eric watched it closely as it approached. After it pulled up near the homestead, Jeff Thornleigh the solicitor extracted his tall frame from the driver’s seat and walked towards Eric, his right arm extended.
“G’day Jeff,” Eric said as they shook hands, “you’re a bit early.”
“Yes I am,” Jeff said. “Wanted a chat.”
“Is that right. About what?”
“Hannah. I want to offer her a job, but I had to make sure it was alright with you first.”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Well, some people have plans for their offspring. You know how it is. They want them working on the property, helping out.”
“What sort of job you offering?”
“Well, I’m looking for a replacement for Ginny McDonald. She’s retiring in a few months and now that Hannah’s been off getting a bit of refinement, I reckon she’d fit in to the office real well.”
“Office girl.”
“It’s a good job,” said Jeff. “She’d learn a lot. I’d train her on conveyancing for a start. She’d be earning good money for an 18 year-old.”
“Never saw her as an office girl,” Eric said.
“I ran into Melanie in town the other day and mentioned it to her.”
“She never said anything to me.”
“Melanie said to clear it with you first.”
Eric scratched his brow, then gave a deep sigh. “If it’s what Hannah wants…”
“Alright then. I’ll ask her when the time’s right.”
“Yeah, you do that. Go and see Tye, he’ll get you a beer.”
Dot appeared from inside the house as Jeff made his way around the back to find Tye. She approached her father gingerly. “Dad, you reckon Hannah’s gunna go for it?”
“Geez, I dunno love,” Eric said. “Never saw Hannah bein’ in an office. But this refinement stuff mighta changed her outlook on things.”
“I don’t wanna get refined,” Dot said.
Eric laughed and put a protective arm around his daughter. “Don’t you worry about that. But you might feel different in a few years.”
“Don’t count on it.”
As cars and trucks full of guests began to arrive at the homestead, Melanie arrived at the airport, just as the QANTAS DC-3 landed. There were a few dozen others waiting outside the tin shed that served as the airport terminal, watching with anticipation as the plane taxied towards them. Melanie got out of the car and saw the plane come to a smooth stop, the propellers spinning ever more slowly after the engine turned off. She walked briskly to the shed. When she saw the plane door open and the air stairs deployed, tears began to streak down her face with the realisation she was about to see her daughter for the first time in many months. The first passengers to alight were an old couple who took some time to navigate the six short steps to the ground. They were followed by another older couple and then a young woman with a baby. A man in a business suit was next, and then…Melanie’s face turned white and she had to hold on to a nearby post as her eyes returned to the woman holding the baby. It was Hannah.
Hannah broke into a huge smile when saw her mother, waving joyfully as she approached, keeping the tiny baby tucked under her left arm. Melanie prised her quivering body from the post and managed to stand on her own two unsteady feet.
“Mum, it’s so good to be home,” Hannah said, her voice beginning to crack.
Both were crying as they hugged, causing the baby to let out a small whimper.
As she separated from Hannah, Melanie felt suddenly faint again and had to momentarily hold on to her daughter for support. “I feel all giddy,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting this...”
“I’m sorry, Mum,” Hannah said quietly. “But I just couldn’t do it. Isn’t she beautiful?”
Melanie looked at the baby and tried to smile, even though her heart was pounding. “Yes, she is.”
“I’ve named her Ruby.”
“Ruby. That’s a nice name. We’d better go to the car.”
Melanie thought she could hear whispers behind them as they walked from the terminal to the Holden. She opened the passenger door and Hannah got into the car and sat very straight with the baby in her lap. “Once I saw Ruby, I knew I couldn’t give her up,” Hannah said.
Melanie started the car and drove very slowly back towards the road. “You should have told us,” she said.
“But I really didn’t know until I saw her for the first time.”
“You could have telephoned. So we could have been prepared. There are a hundred people waiting for us at the house. I organised a surprise welcome home party.”
Hannah let out a shriek of laughter. “It’ll be a surprise, alright.”
“It’s not funny, Hannah. Jeff Thornleigh will be there and he was going to offer you a job in his solicitor’s office. Would have set you up for the future. And now what’s going to happen?”
“I’m sorry, Mum. I know it’s terrible for you.”
“Your father is going to be mortified.”
“Are you mortified?”
“I think I’m in shock. Probably shouldn’t be driving.”
“You just need time to get used to it. When I got on the plane, I was so anxious about coming home. Worried about how everyone was going to react. But once we were up there, way up in that sky, and I looked out and saw how small everything really is…it made me calm. Made me realise what all those little people down there on the ground think isn’t so important after all.”
“What about the father? Are you going to get married?”
“Oh, God no. It would be a disaster.”
“So can you tell me now who he is? I think I deserve to know after all this time.”
“It wouldn’t be helpful, mother. I’ll make my own way.”
“Easy for you to say. Most girls in your position don’t get to decide whether to keep the baby. They don’t get a choice. Can you imagine how it is for them?”
“You make it sound like me being able to make a choice is a bad thing. Like it makes you angry. I know it’s going to be embarrassing for everyone, but why should it be?”
“I just want you to understand how lucky you are to have parents with the means to support you. Do you know how much your accommodation and tutor cost us for all those months?”
“I’m very grateful. The time wasn’t wasted. I learned a lot.”
“You know your whole life has changed now. With this decision.”
“Mum, please stop the car.”
Melanie gasped. “What are you going to do?”
“Please, just pull over. I’m not going to jump out.”
Melanie eased the Holden on the gravel at the roadside and stopped the car. Hannah reached across and handed her the baby. “Hold her Mum,” she said. “Look at her.”
Melanie held the baby in her arms and watched her sleeping peacefully. After a while she turned to look at Hannah and gave her a brief smile of acceptance. She gently handed back the baby and then started the car. “Well…here we go,” she said with sudden determination.
After they pulled back on to the road, they could see John and Isabel Mason in their Ford approaching from up ahead. Melanie steeled herself. As they passed, John and Isabel waved excitedly on seeing Hannah, unable to see the baby in Hannah’s lap. Hannah waved back and Melanie smiled affably. “If only they knew,” she said.
Hannah chuckled lightly. “Everybody will know soon,” she said.
At last they arrived at the homestead driveway, and they could see the veranda filled with guests of all ages eagerly awaiting them. Melanie drove closer to the house and stopped at the end of the long row of parked vehicles. People gathered at the veranda railing, smiling and waving furiously.
“They all look so happy,” Hannah said. She looked at her mother. “Are you ready?”
Melanie took a deep breath, then reached across and grabbed Hannah’s hand. “I’m ready. But I want us both to remember this moment, Hannah. Because after they see us get out of this car, they’re going to be talking about it for the next twenty years.” |
