CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO.

For the rest of the day Georgie attached herself to Minnie who kept the youngster occupied with kitchen activities supposedly contributing to the big dinner that evening, but which simply created an enormous mess all over the floor. Olivia and Minnie stepped over it all with good humour as they cooked and polished gla.s.s and silverware and dug out the linen from a camphorwood box.

Maya arrived home late in the afternoon, excited and exhausted at what the day had brought. 'If I don't have a rest and a bath I'll die,' she groaned happily as she sipped a cold drink in the kitchen. 'It has just been the most glorious day. My father's so wonderful, isn't he?' Olivia smiled and Maya went on, 'It's better than the best dream, Olivia.'

Soon after sunset Tyndall arrived, dressed in his whites and carrying a brightly wrapped parcel. The two women were relaxing on the verandah and rose when they saw him swing through the gate. Maya ran inside to find Georgiana and Olivia greeted him at the top of the steps.

'Welcome back to the verandah, John,' she said warmly. 'It's been a long time.'

He took her extended hand, then leaned forward and impulsively planted a small kiss on her cheek. 'Thanks, Olivia. Thanks for so much. You've no idea what the day has been like. But then, perhaps you do.' Before she could respond Maya came through the front door carrying Georgiana, and stopped a few steps from them. No one said a word, and the little girl stared at the stranger in white with big brown questioning eyes, and the stranger stared back, but with eyes that smiled.

'Georgiana, this is your grandfather,' said Maya softly.

Georgie said nothing but there was a flicker of a grin and those big eyes went on sizing him up.

'h.e.l.lo,' he said at last. 'I'm very pleased to meet you. I hope you'll like the present I've brought. Would you like me to help you open it?' He reached out a hand and with a big smile she leaned forward in her mother's arms towards her grandfather. As he swept her up he gave Maya a big wink over Georgiana's shoulder. Together they unwrapped the gift and Maya's hand flew to her mouth as she recognised the toy lugger she had played with as a little girl.

The dinner was a huge success. Olivia helped with the serving and deliberately let Maya and Tyndall set the flow of conversation, joining in occasionally with stories of Shaw House or memories of the early days of the pearling venture, a subject Maya found absorbing.

Olivia was pleased when Tyndall offered to take Maya and Georgie for a sail in one of the luggers, but no sooner had she expressed her delight than a sudden surge of guilt made her stiffen. Memories of those distant days at sea with Tyndall and acknowledgement of Gilbert waiting in Fremantle clashed with the violence of a tropical cyclone. It was a struggle to keep her turbulent emotions under control and as soon as the tea was served she picked up her cup and rose from the table. 'I think the three of you should have a little time together before Georgie falls asleep, which I don't think is very far off. I have to write to Gilbert and tell him all about the day and I want to catch the mail before the steamer goes. I'll see you before you go, John.' She kept up a facade of forced calmness until she closed the door of her room, then leaned against it, shut her eyes and began to weep quietly.

Maya looked after her and back to Tyndall. 'Will you get around to telling me about you and Olivia? I sense there is a lot I don't know about you both.'

Georgie was almost asleep on Tyndall's lap and he pushed back his chair and hoisted her to his shoulder where she nestled her head and toyed with his pearl earring. 'Yes, I will, Maya. It's right you know everything. And I think it will make me feel better too. It's hard keeping things inside you that you can't share with other people. Now, lead on to the sleeping quarters for the small wretch here.'

The news of Tyndall being reunited with his daughter and that he also had a granddaughter gave the town something cheerful to discuss other than the gloom of falling business due to the drop in pearl sh.e.l.l prices. Taki decided to return to j.a.pan when his contract was up and there was a farewell party for him at the j.a.panese Club where several other divers and tenders announced they were also going back to their villages. Yoshi had made one more trip back to j.a.pan over the years to bury his father-in-law. Now he hoped to eventually retire and run a small business, perhaps a little noodle restaurant, with his wife Sachiko and his son.

There was the inevitable gossip in the white community about Olivia's return and speculation about her relationship with Tyndall. As always, they chose to ignore this and kept to themselves. They did not appear in public together but he resumed his habit of calling by each evening for sundowners and to play with Georgie.

Maya spent almost every day with him and Tyndall had taken great delight in seeing how she enjoyed Ahmed and Yoshi and asked them to teach her about the practical side of diving and the luggers.

'She has a good grasp of figures and bookwork. The nuns taught her well, though she says she hated the schooling at the time,' observed Olivia.

'Poor kid, going from a good home here to barefoot in the bush and then having to knuckle down alone under the nuns. The Barstows should take more pride in her, she's turned out well. But I feel b.l.o.o.d.y dreadful about the whole thing.'

'John, there wasn't a thing you could do about it. I've told her how you tried to find them after Niah went bush. But there's nothing life can throw at Maya that she won't be able to handle. She suffered so much and yet she can still smile her way through the days. She's been an inspiration to me,' said Olivia quietly. 'I just wish Hamish was here to share in all this ... '

'I sometimes feel he is,' said Tyndall with understanding. 'But Maya will need a man's hand in Georgie's upbringing, that's for sure.'

'Gilbert and I have offered Maya a home, but I imagine you have other plans,' said Olivia.

'Yeah. I'm working up to asking her to stay here. Would you have any objection to her coming in to help with the business?'

'Not at all, it makes sense. She'll be able to take over my role soon enough.'

'Oh no, Olivia! I don't want you to leave Star of the Sea! We need you.' Tyndall looked distressed. The business was his link with Olivia.

Olivia was relieved. In her heart she realised she didn't want to sever the ties that linked them. But another voice in her head whispered that perhaps she should cut the mooring ropes. Tyndall now had a new life just as she did. But Olivia was uncomfortable with the thought and pushed it to one side.

The days slid by. Maya and Georgie moved in with Tyndall. Rosminah and Yusef had had another baby and Georgie spent hours playing with the baby girl. Olivia helped Maya settle in and together they decorated rooms for her and Georgie. They spent part of every morning in the office and in the evenings Tyndall continued to ensconce himself on Olivia's verandah with a drink. She was intrigued with his stories of the time with Mikimoto and they discussed at length the feasibility of setting up a cultured pearl farm in or near Broome.

'Why don't we sail up the coast a bit and look for a site in remote river and creek inlets? You haven't been sailing for a time and I know you love it.'

'We'll take Maya and Georgie too,' added Olivia hastily. 'Oh, yes, we'd all like that.'

On the morning they planned to sail, Yusef ran down to the little jetty where Tyndall was helping stow Olivia and the gear. Yusef had been delegated to get Maya and Georgie to the boat after breakfast but arrived with bad news.

'Georgie little bit tummy sick and hot. They no go. Maya say she stay and look out for her. You go. She say to tell you that Georgie not big sick.'

Olivia wanted to return home and stay ash.o.r.e, but once they had seen Maya and were rea.s.sured that Georgie was only mildly ill, Tyndall insisted they go ahead with the trip.

'All this preparation. And you were so looking forward to it, Olivia. And it will be useful. If we find the right place, we could think about leasing land.'

She reluctantly agreed, concerned at being thrown together with Tyndall and knowing how confusing her emotions had been since she arrived in Broome.

But once they were clear of the bay and heading up the coast in the schooner, Mist, which Tyndall had bought to replace the shipwrecked Shamrock Shamrock, all of her reservations fell away. She found the pleasure of being at sea overwhelming. It was as if she was sailing away from her troubles.

'Where are your sailing pyjamas?' asked Tyndall with a cheeky grin.

'Threw them overboard years ago,' she laughed. 'Won't this do?' She indicated the new shorter length cotton skirt, the long loose top with a sailor collar, and plimsolls. A long braid of hair fell from under her hat over one shoulder and Tyndall thought she looked as youthful as the day he'd first met her.

'I guess you pa.s.s muster,' he said nonchalantly.

Two days later they found an inlet that opened into a small deepwater bay with a rocky sh.o.r.e and a flat scrubby area suitable for a work base.

Tyndall and Olivia rowed about the bay and wandered through the scrubland, finding a small freshwater creek that had meandered down from the hills that protected the bay.

'It's very remote and private. Could be a smugglers' cove,' said Olivia.

'If we set up an experimental pearl farm up here, I doubt anyone would know,' said Tyndall. 'It's certainly worth an experiment. Our golden-lip pearl sh.e.l.ls are much bigger than the j.a.panese Akoya pearl sh.e.l.l. Our waters are warmer too, so I reckon if we can seed our pearl sh.e.l.l they'll grow pearls that are bigger, fatter and faster,' declared a buoyant Tyndall.

'And they're still real pearls?'

'Of course. We're tricking the oyster into making a pearl. It's just trying to get rid of an irritant, same as it would in the ocean.'

'You make it sound easy.'

'I know it's not. Mikimoto and others have battled for years and still haven't perfected it. Not to say we can't have a go, too.' He grinned at her, and she shook her head, amused at his boyish enthusiasm.

The sun was hot and the bay looked inviting. Several of the crew had already dived off the schooner into the clear warm water.

'Want to swim?' asked Tyndall.

'What will the crew think? Though I do have my bathing costume.' Olivia lifted her string dillybag.

'You think of everything. Well, I don't own one of those new fangled suits.'

Olivia disappeared into the scrub to change and Tyndall stripped off to his underwear and dived in.

They splashed and tried to dive to the bottom, though Olivia was not much of a swimmer. Treading water and floating they chatted about trying to find someone in j.a.pan with pearl-seeding experience to come and work with them.

'This is the way to do business, eh?' chuckled Tyndall. 'I seem to remember we used to do this quite a bit. But without bathers.'

'Things are different now,' said Olivia, her ebullience fading.

'Are they? Really?'

She didn't answer for a second then, not looking at him, said quietly, 'John, please ... don't.'

'Don't what, Olivia? Don't say what we both know?'

'This isn't fair. Not here, please ... don't.'

'Because you can't run away from it here. Olivia, it's just you and me. Tell me you've never stopped loving me. I know you haven't.'

Olivia sank beneath the water to avoid his words. She popped up a few seconds later and began splashing towards the sh.o.r.e. Tyndall was beside her in several easy strokes.

Persistently, he continued, 'Tell me you don't love me, Olivia. Look at me and tell me and I won't pester you any more.'

Her toes sc.r.a.ped the rocky bottom and she spun around to glare at him. 'I don't ... I don't ... ' She looked away, angry and confused, and stumbled out of the shallows, falling to her knees. Tyndall reached out and gathered her in his arms, and fell back on the water's edge.

'Ouch,' he said as his head struck the rough sand, but he didn't relinquish his hold on Olivia. Holding her on top of him, their faces almost touching, he gave her a small grin. 'You can't say it, can you, Olivia?'

'I fell over,' she said weakly.

'There's nowhere left to run, my darling.' Gently he drew her face down to his and, oblivious to the water lapping over their bodies, the rocks scattered through the sand under them, their lips, hearts and bodies came together as one, as if they'd never been two separate beings with all the differences that had kept them apart for so long.The following day, swept up by love, enthusiasm and joie de vivre joie de vivre Tyndall decided they should dive together. The schooner was fitted with two new motorised pumps and divers' suits. Tyndall decided they should dive together. The schooner was fitted with two new motorised pumps and divers' suits.

'All right, why not!' answered Olivia, responding to the challenge.

As they were about to lock on the helmet Tyndall gave her a quick kiss. 'Don't be nervous, I'll be right beside you.'

She did find her heart beating quickly and the rush of air told her she was breathing heavily from nervous tension. But once settled on the bottom, her air pressure adjusted and with the comforting bulk of Tyndall beside her, she relaxed. He held out a gloved hand and, matching the pace of their footsteps, they set off together.

The magic of the strange world of underwater cast its spell over Olivia once more. The mysterious beauty of the underwater growths, the landscape of reef formations, the oblivious darting quest of coloured fish, the activities of sh.e.l.lfish and coral was like looking from s.p.a.ce at a miniature planet. They kept pointing things out to each other, exchanging delighted smiles through the gla.s.s panels of their helmets. Olivia had the strange sensation that this was the beginning of time, that for she and Tyndall this love of theirs was being born and they were not only connected to the umbilical cord of the real world above them by their air hoses, but they were somehow connected by an invisible glue like the water that surrounded them. Beneath the sea was a world of its own, an escape to a world of different creation where one could leave the everyday human world behind. Tyndall had always understood the lure of underwater for certain kinds of men. Men who could cope with the solitary, intensely personal self-sufficiency required for the loneliness of underwater work. Fear and claustrophobia affected many who could not take the long hours alone on the seabed.

A large brightly coloured fish with rainbow eyes touched Olivia's helmet, peering in curiously at her, making her smile. Then Tyndall took her hand, put his fingers to his helmet indicating she should be still. A shadow changed the colour of the water and Tyndall pointed slowly upwards. Pa.s.sing above them were two devil rays, each almost a ton in weight and close to twenty feet across. They lazed and swayed their bat-like black wings as if balletically ch.o.r.eographed. The flash of white belly, a glimpse of h.o.r.n.y mandibles, the trailing whip and razor-sharp tail and they were gone. Tyndall knew the horrors and tales of devil ray attacks where divers were swept up in their powerful wings, lines severed by the tail, the gnashing of a giant mouth. They could breach close to a lugger, landing like a thunderclap when hunting fish and in a pack were a powerful enemy. But to Olivia they were a fascinating sight, just one of many that made her lose track of time. They watched an octopus stalk and devour a sh.e.l.lfish, squirting a cloud of ink as it scuttled away after a kick from Tyndall's boot. They trudged through clouds of weeds whose blades all faced the direction of the tide, and other small plantations of weird sea plants.

When Tyndall indicated they should rise, she was reluctant, but they gently rose in tandem on opposite sides of the boat. Olivia broke the surface and was helped up the ladder. As her helmet was unscrewed and she took her first gasp of fresh air, Olivia felt a strange depression. Which was the real world? Down there, she and Tyndall were safe, together and un.o.bserved. Now reality hit her and she sat quietly on the deck sipping tea as Tyndall changed and regaled the crew with devil fish stories.

When, two days later, they returned to Broome, the time beneath the sea, Olivia's time with Tyndall, seemed a dream. She was prepared to pretend nothing had happened; that the rekindling of their pa.s.sion was a lapse under bewitching circ.u.mstances. However, in the privacy of Olivia's house they shared sunset drinks and fell into each other's arms. She was helpless in the face of this overwhelming love and pa.s.sion. Her devoted but pedestrian relationship with Gilbert was pushed to the recesses of her mind. Tyndall dominated, swallowed her up, and swept her away.

They talked of the cultured pearl farm experiment, of Maya working in the company, Georgie starting school, travelling to Europe to investigate further sales potential for mother-of-pearl.

'You know they started using it for compa.s.s faces in the war. It doesn't have to be just for b.u.t.tons,' said Tyndall.

'Do you really think plastic will take over completely?'

'We're going through a bad patch. Things will get better, you'll see. Broome isn't bust yet.' Tyndall leaned over and tweaked her nose and gave her a quick kiss.

How different Tyndall and Gilbert were, Olivia thought. Gilbert was always very balanced, objective, quietly consultative and, in his own way, loving. While she was devoted to their work, Olivia realised how much she'd missed the thrill of pearling. The dangers, the unpredictability, the characters, the challenges, the wild and almost intoxicating lifestyle of the north-west coast. No wonder it attracted the people it did. People like Tyndall.

Weighing up the att.i.tudes and lifestyle of Tyndall and Gilbert was like looking at chalk and cheese. And yet both had good qualities as well as less appealing ones. Subconsciously, Olivia was allocating points for and against both of them. Tyndall certainly had flaws and Gilbert's faults were less irritating, but there was simply no contest if she was honest. Tyndall's physical and emotional pull was magnetic. He was the love of her life and she paradoxically cursed him for it.

Walking along the foresh.o.r.e after the men had left the camp, Tyndall took Olivia's hand and said simply, 'So. What are we going to do?'

'I don't know,' she said miserably.

'I do. We have to stay together ... it's meant to be. You will have to tell him. You can't live a lie.'

'Gilbert has been so good to me ... '

'Olivia, my dearest love ... if he's the decent man you say he is, all he would want is your happiness.'

She didn't answer, knowing this was true.

Tyndall took her in his arms and said quietly, 'Olivia, go and talk to him, then pack up and come back. Come home, my darling.'

With Tyndall's strong arms about her, it all seemed so easy.

Tyndall tipped back her face and looked into her eyes. 'Olivia, I've said it before, we only get one chance at happiness, and you know I'm right. You might try to cover it up, but you wear your heart on your sleeve. I suspect Gilbert has always known you love me, that there was always a chance you would come back to me. Listen to your heart.'

With this, all resistance melted away.

In the dusky mellow twilight Maya held on to Olivia as they said goodbye on the deck of the old steamer. 'Dear Olivia, come back soon. I know it will be hard, but you only find a great love once in your life ... '

Olivia smiled softly into the young woman's hair. 'And only if you're lucky. You had it once, I pray you will again, dear girl.'

Maya lifted her tear streaked face. 'Olivia, all that matters to me now is that I've found my family, thanks to you. I've always felt you were special to me, now you're going to be part of my family too. You and Tyndall belong together ... '

The loud blast of the steamer's whistle interrupted them and Tyndall suddenly appeared from where he had been chatting to the captain about ensuring Olivia's comfort on the voyage. Olivia looked at him in his white pearling master's suit, the unb.u.t.toned narrow high collar giving him a rakish air, his old skipper's hat tucked under his arm. He was smiling broadly, his face full of love.

He crushed Olivia to him. 'Be strong, my precious. If you want me to come down, cable me. I won't be able to sleep, eat, relax until I have you back. I've waited for you, Olivia. I've known since the moment I first saw you that you and I are meant to be.'

Olivia swallowed and brushed away the tears. Looking at him she thought her heart would burst. She nodded and bit her lip and Maya took Tyndall's hand. 'We'll be thinking of you.'

'Every second, my precious one.' Tyndall kissed her and he and Maya went down the gangplank.

Olivia kept her eyes on the two of them standing on the end of the jetty until the steamer was far out in the bay and the curtain of a soft night shadowed them from sight. The other pa.s.sengers moved into the brightly lit lounges and cabins but she took a deep breath and stayed at the railing watching the lights of Broome recede. She felt so loved, so lucky and so hopeful. Sadness touched her too, but in her heart she knew Tyndall was right, Gilbert only wanted her to be happy. Somehow things would work out.

She finally turned to go inside, and went to her cabin thinking how very different this departure was from the last time she left Broome. She hoped Hamish was watching over her; much as he had liked and respected Gilbert, the boy had worshipped Tyndall. She remembered Hamish saying to her once 'He's every boy's hero come to life.'

'Mine, too, Hamish darling,' she thought.Olivia knew something was amiss the moment she stepped in the door of the house, yet she couldn't put her finger on why. Maybe she should have gone first to Shaw House. Mollie, a younger plump version of Minnie, rushed downstairs to greet her, clearly distressed and wringing her hands, her words unintelligibly tripping over each other.

Olivia dropped her bag in the hall. 'Mollie, what is it? What's happened?'

'Mem, oh mem, we try get you. Doc Shaw at hospital. Something terrible happen. No good, no good ... '