For the women of the Cleary family, the first week on Drogheda was hard work. The Head Stockman's house had been empty for nearly three months and in that time thick layers of dust had spread over the little furnishings which had been left. The intense heat forced them to keep a window open at all times which brought the flies in. This meant all food had to be prepared and stored the night before, and the men, who had immediately launched themselves into learning the running of the paddocks, always returned home in the evening tired, hungry and dirty. Fee of course carried on as she always had done, accepting her lot and the work without comment or complaint. Meggie, anxious to help her mother and the entire family settle more easily, took control of the baby and did everything for him bar feed him. The heat brought out his temperamental nature; he had a big voice for such a small person, and therefore she was constantly in demand of his attention.
Mary Carson kept her distance, slightly wary of Fee. She had quickly surmised that her brother's wife was far better born than the Cleary's and a little careful probing on her part had made discoveries which put her in mind of the situation. Why Fee had married Paddy and why she seemed to walk about in a constantly state of untouchable martyrdom, Mary didn't know or care. Being placed beside a true lady, however far she may have fallen, made Mary even more conscience of her own poor start in life, the knowledge of which she had worked so hard to suppress.
Her housekeeper, Mrs. Smith, visited often and was a great help. Puzzled though she was by Fee's lack of openness and enthusiasm, the promise of the children, especially baby Hal was all the encouragement she needed. She had given Fee her sewing machine and together the two women, sometimes assisted by Meggie, made up dark curtains for the windows and new clothing for all the family, light and cool to combat the Australian climate.
On her third visit Fee and Meggie were surprised to see Mrs. Smith walking up from the big house with someone else in tow. Rosina, clad in riding jodhpurs and muddy boots, her golden locks covered by rough bandana, her face fresh from her ride, came upon the Cleary's house with an open smile and easy manner.
'I'm so sorry I've been neglectful of my neighbourly duties', she said cheerily to Fee, 'school work'. As always she spoke clearly and precisely, as though she were in an elocution lesson, it made her difficult to make out, but that was the intention, even if it was an unconscious one.
The girl pulled off her boots, leaving them in the doorway, and skipped into the house. She got to work immediately at scrubbing the windows, which seemed to become more grimy with each humid evening. She whistled and hummed to herself, with the energy of one who had been confined for a long time.
Meggie observed this stranger with a mixture of curiousness and mistrust. She had never encountered this kind of femininity before. The only girl in a family of boys she had looked to her mother as the role model for her future. In her limited experience girls grew to be women who would be wives and mothers, subject to their men folk, not unhappy in their homes and children, but surely not with this vitality and performance. By the end of the afternoon however Rosie had won her round, partly on account of her eagerness to help and partly due to the lumps of toffee she slid to Meggie while the older women were occupied.
'Strange girl', Mrs. Smith observed to Fee, looking over at teenager now pulling a face at an unimpressed Hal, 'I can't imagine how she will cope if she ever catches a husband. Apart from a generous bequest from Mary, and that which is hers from the late Mr. Carson, she has nothing you know, the family is almost bankrupt, she'll need to find a good match or they're done for'.
'Well she's attractive enough on the outside and her youth will appeal to someone', Fee replied with a hint of bitterness, 'Once she's been caught she'll have to measure up to her husband's wishes, although I'm sure whoever he is he'll enjoy enforcing them upon her'. It was unusual for Fee, who mostly kept her private thoughts to herself, and the other woman glanced at her wondering she was speaking from experience.
Frank had managed to escape from the paddocks earlier than he should, his father being far off at the time. He knew there would be an amount of trouble when Paddy came back to the house, but the half an hour he would share with his mother was worth it, there was so much she had to do it was unfair that none of the men would lift a hand to help. He entered the house and was greeted by the sound of high girlish giggling. On rounding the corner he saw that it was Meggie and Rosina, the girl he had seen at the big house, drying up the crockery and cutlery. Evidently he had interrupted some private joke for they stopped when they caught sight of him, Meggie ran over to him.
'Look what Rose gave me, I saved some for you', She slipped the last pieces of toffee into his hands.
He looked up uneasily into the eyes of the young woman, at a loss as to how he was supposed to greet her, to him she could have been a duchess or a princess, and the wide grin she was wearing as she noted this odd shyness did nothing to ease him. In the end he settled for merely nodding quickly and averting his gaze before pulling playfully at his sister's pigtails. But Rosie had warmed to the entertainment the young man provided and slid the bowel of water that she and Meggie had been using to shine up the cutlery along the floor towards Frank with her foot. He nearly tripped over it and looked at her startled. She giggled and nudged Meggie who looked between the confused. Frank did not like being made fool of and any man who would have dared to try would have found themselves on the receiving end of the man's vicious defensiveness.
'You know Meggie I don't think we should give your brother any sweets if he isn't going to say thank you properly', the cheeky grin was almost splitting her face.
'Oh Frank isn't rude', said Meggie, clearly worried that there would be tension between her dear brother and her new friend.
'No he isn't', agreed Rosie with a smile that reached her eyes this time. And she was repaid when he blushed. She stood just half an inch taller than him, which was actually quite good, considering most people towered over him.
'Thank you', he finally got out. Fee caught his eye and he made a quick escape. Rose sat back on the floor cross legged continuing the task humming softly. Meggie's watched her wide eyed.
Frank could not avoid the newcomer for long. When the girls had finished cleaning the cutlery, Rosina went outside to dispose of the dirty water. Frank still had all the muck of the paddocks on his arms and clothes, but was unwilling to approach her to reclaim the tin bowl. As she went outside the chord of fierce stubbornness snapped and he followed her out to the pump, where she had already refilled it with clean water and lifted the heavy tub with a pretence of ease. An instinctive gentility which he had perhaps inherited from his mother's family, and which would have shocked his father and brothers, came out in him as he took the bowl from her.
He brushed her hand just once, and that was all it took. That one touch would change his life forever. He kept his eyes averted while he re-filled the bowl. He felt her eyes on him and knew he was blushing. She reached the pump before he did, and he stepped back not sure whether he wanted to touch her again.
But she just grinned her wicked smile and took the bowl from him, 'Thank you, kind Sir'.
He watched her skip back into the house. When he could no longer see her, he washed himself furiously, shaken by an such brief contact. And it was in such a state that his father and brothers saw him as they tramped towards the house. Paddy had been in mind to haul the boy over the coals for his early departure from the paddocks, but when he saw the look in the young man's eyes he bit his tongue. It was not just the usual frustration and anger, it was almost humiliation. No one spoke to him as they entered, they were used to edging around Frank but today it was almost tangible. They could feel him breathing.
Of course she had to stay to dinner. Fee expected a refusal and was a little taken aback by the girl's enthusiasm. She waited until Frank had come back inside and had taken his place before setting herself down opposite him. Throughout the prayers and the meal she never took her eyes from him. He kept his stubbornly fixed on his plate, his jaw working slowly. Paddy stared at her as though she were a demon sprung up from the earth. All the boys were on edge having this unknown female presence among them.
After the meal was done with she helped with the clearing away, attempting to keep up her former chatter but Meggie was too over awed and Fee kept up her deliberate silence. When it was all finished she looked around the room at the boys all huddled together with their hands in their pockets, at Paddy who waited by the door pipe in hand but not lit, obviously wanting her gone and at a loss as to how it could be achieved, at Fee who now was ignoring everyone, at Meggie who was self consciously impersonating her mother, loyalties now decidedly with her father and wishing Rose had never come. Frank had stood apart from his brothers at first picking up this and that in an effort to occupy his hands and perhaps appear less agitated. He refused to look at her. He wanted to shake her or hit her. she had no right to come here and disturb him, it seemed as if she could see into his thoughts, which were his last refuge from his father, and where no one could be happy to trespass. She looked at him the longest taking advantage of his gaze being fixed upon the floor.
When there were no further means of procrastinating she considered herself beaten and made a cheerful if abrupt farewell. As soon as she was gone the men all breathed a sigh of relief, but Paddy remained in a fractious mood for the rest of the evening. Frank disappeared outside as soon as he could and was absent until tiredness forced him inside to his bed. He was conscious of his Mother's furtive glances, of everyone else's awareness of the intensity that was building within him. It was worse than usual. He had just been humiliated by a girl, and the worst of it was that he didn't understand how she had done it, only that she had managed it effortlessly and in front of his entire family, including the father he despised. She had been his first encounter with a woman who was not either related to him, or too old or matronly to be considered a representative of their sex. He didn't understand women at all, but as he worked from one task to the next, he found himself beginning to understand why she had had this effect on him. Firstly he knew enough that she had wakened in him a long dormant sexual desire. It was not that he thought she was beautiful, or that any particular part of her appearance stood out in his mind. He wanted her simply because he was a grown man who had never so much as felt the accidental brush of a woman's skin and she was the first to have come close enough for him to pick up her smell, her movements. The term flirting wouldn't have meant anything to him, but somehow he knew that she was aware of the feelings she had stirred within him and had turned them on him as if she were offended by them. He also knew that it wasn't just her gender that she had used as a weapon but her class as well. Maybe it was not that she was a woman who could toy with any man as she pleased, but only those so far beneath her that they made the easiest game. Everything from his ignorance of her gender, his lack of education to his clothes, voice and mannerisms, even his home and family had made him her bait, and he had been powerless to fend her off because of his own ignorance. He let out a strangled grunt and slammed one fist against the wooden rail of the fence knocking it loose. He stood gazing out over the route she had taken back to the nig house, trying to get control over his breathing. She would not come back he told himself. She would not come back.