Hester Waring's Marriage by Paula Marshall

Author:Paula Marshall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2000-02-14T16:00:00+00:00

They had been married for nearly two months when Tom came home early one afternoon and told Hester that, when he had been going down King Street earlier in the day, one of the aborigines had stopped him and told him that there was going to be a great storm that night.

Most of the Europeans would have laughed at such a prophecy, but Tom had learned in his hard life that nothing was to be ignored. Aborigines had told him similar things before, and they were usually right. He had tossed the man a coin. He had shown his teeth at Tom, and said something in his own language which Tom hoped was thanks, but thought was more likely to mean ‘you poor white fool’.

‘In case he’s right,’ Tom said to Hester, ‘we’ll drive out with a picnic and have a look at the storm in the open. Have you ever seen one, Hester?’

Hester confessed that she had not.

‘Well then,’ said Tom, ‘there’s nothing to lose, and if there’s no storm we shall have had a pleasant evening out.’

His man of all work, Miller, harnessed the big carriage, and Tom brought food from Sydney for the picnic. He drove them through the bush to an open space, well beyond the town, which overlooked the sea on one side and the distant mountains on the other.

At first, as Hester said, it was all a hum. There was no storm. But they ate the food and drank the wine which Tom had so thoughtfully packed.

‘More wine!’ exclaimed Hester. ‘You are turning me into a toper, Mr Dilhorne.’

‘But you hold it so much better now,’ said Tom, who never tired of plying her with food and drink and little attentions these days. He put her shawl on and let his hands linger on her neck. He felt her shiver at his touch and asked her anxiously, ‘Do you feel cold, Mrs Dilhorne?’

In reply, Hester flushed slightly and said ‘No’, but leaned ever so slightly against him while she did so.

If propinquity was affecting Tom, it was affecting Hester even more. Her fear of all men had begun to disappear, and what she was beginning to feel for Tom was far removed from fear.

To enjoy a picnic meal on the edge of the bush which they often did—for Tom liked eating in the open—meant Tom feeding Hester titbits, and Hester managing to lick his fingers when he offered them to her. Just as though I were an intelligent horse, she thought with amusement.

The ogre Dilhorne had long since disappeared from her internal monologue, to be replaced by Tom, who brought her presents and thought of so many amusing and interesting things to do.

He had promised her that they would go swimming one day, and then had said slyly, ‘But seeing that we’re not really married, Mrs Dilhorne, the question of what to wear becomes difficult.’

Hester had fallen straight into the trap.

‘Oh, why is that, Mr Dilhorne?’

‘Well, swimming is only worthwhile when one isn’t burdened by clothes.

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