Next of Kin by Carol Preston

Author:Carol Preston [Preston, Carol]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Australia, history, convict, forgiveness, rape, love, kin, family, romance, drama, Australian history
Publisher: Rhiza Press
Published: 2015-05-01T14:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

By late April Fanny could not walk down the street without feeling every eye was on her, and there seemed to be not an ounce of compassion in any of them. Women turned to each other and hurried past as if they might catch some awful disease from her. Their ‘tsk tsk’ could be heard as they bustled off, no doubt whispering their disgust. The man serving in the general store often ignored her until he’d served everyone else, whether they’d come in before her or not.

More than once she’d had children following her as she walked home from church on a Sunday. They’d giggle and hiss, repeating words they’d no doubt heard from their parents and hopefully didn’t understand. Fanny had given up attempting to talk to people on the streets. They were either determined to punish her with their disdain, or too afraid that someone might see them talking to the ‘hussy from Hitchens’ house’, to even pause in their stride and acknowledge her presence.

At home with Aunt Rose and Uncle Henry there was barely a reference to her condition. Henry was kind to her and she often caught him looking at her compassionately across the dinner table, but he didn’t ask how she was or mention the coming baby.

It seemed to Fanny that Uncle Henry preferred to think about his garden and his animals, rather than people. No doubt they were less complicated. He’d intimated early in her stay that he couldn’t understand the fuss over one more baby coming into the world. As long as it was going to have a warm place to sleep and a mother to feed it, then nature would take its course, as happened with the farm animals.

Fanny had been relieved at the time, because she’d felt no condemnation from her uncle. But she knew that life for people was not as simple as it was for animals, no matter how much farmers like Henry wanted to pretend. People had much deeper expectations of each other, and whether because of their prejudices or their fears, they did not easily accept those who stood outside the norms, even through no fault of their own. She’d seen this often enough in others’ lives and abhorred such discrimination. But she’d never expected to face it herself.

Aunt Rose seemed to have put Fanny’s situation in a corner of her mind and made clear that it was separate from the family’s everyday life. Each evening when the meal was over, she set the children chores to do, after which she focused on getting the smaller ones into bed while Fanny cleared the table and washed up the dishes. She checked that Fanny was keeping physically well, and assured her if she felt the need of a doctor that she’d accompany her to town to see the local practitioner. But it was clear that making sure Fanny was kept busy was Aunt Rose’s way of leaving little time for ruminating about what was to come.

‘Suffice to

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.