A Distant Journey by Di Morrissey

Author:Di Morrissey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
Published: 2016-09-14T04:00:00+00:00

8

The change of seasons came softly, sneaking in during the night, so that when Cindy woke, the air had a different smell and the dawn colours were newly bright, a melting pot of splashed paint. Watching the streaming light, she wondered again at the miraculous melange of hues. In all the years she’d been at Kingsley Downs, the unveiling of the morning always awed her.

Cindy stepped outside with her cup of coffee, claiming a moment of calm before the children’s calls and the routine of the day began. Looking at the vista, familiar now but never dull, she had an inkling of what people meant when they told her about feeling at one with a place. She wondered if it was this feeling that had made the original settlers choose this place to put down roots, to stay, battling through hard times and giving meaning to all their work, both their struggles and their joys.

She had seen the quiet pleasure and satisfied exhaustion of Murray and the other landowners when a drought broke, or floods receded, when the feed was lush and the wool clip fine and bountiful. Theirs was no nine-to-five, walk-away-at-sunset job, but a life chosen, and bequeathed, lived moment to moment, day after day, year after year, and the knowledge that this life of obligation would be inherited by her children gave Cindy a sense of belonging she had never known or ever anticipated.

But, while Kingsley Downs gave her a feeling of permanence, there was nonetheless a feeling of disruption that haunted her, just below the surface of her daily life, almost as though she were living on an earthquake fault line or beneath a dormant volcano: the ever-present Lawrence.

After the terrible row she’d had with him over Russell’s disappearance, more than eight months ago now, he’d kept his distance by simply ignoring her. When conversation could not be avoided, his obvious coolness, which bordered on disdain, irked her. Cindy knew that there was now an even higher fence between them and, although Alice had given her the strength to stand up to her father-in-law, she felt that often the best way to deal with him was simply to turn away from his challenging stare. Long-term peace was doubtful.

Murray was supportive and loving and made it clear to his father that, although he would work with Lawrence on the property, Cindy was his wife and the mother of his children and it was to her that he owed his first loyalties. Cindy was touched by his outspokenness on the subject. Sometimes she glimpsed a swift, sad expression, close to pain, in Murray’s eyes, which was never acknowledged and quickly extinguished if he realised she was looking. Occasionally she thought it might be better if they moved away and started from scratch somewhere else, but she never raised the idea with Murray as she knew it would be a difficult thing to do. She sipped the last drop of her coffee and then sighed. These peaceful moments were few and far between.

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