All the Golden Light by Siobhan O’Brien

Author:Siobhan O’Brien
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
Published: 2023-12-13T00:00:00+00:00

12

Must Donal always use that horsewhip? From the window in her bedroom, Adelaide Blaxland eyed her husband shoving the crop into his boot and saddling his stallion, Garibaldi, beside the stables. Two weeks had elapsed and their marriage remained unconsummated. Adelaide was unclear whether he remembered what had – or hadn’t – happened on their wedding night. He scuttled out the door early in the morning to work on the tobacco harvest or to tend his horses. Then in the early evening he returned home and gave the impression he’d already had a few drinks. By bedtime his eyes were red, his speech was garbled and he passed out as soon as his head hit the pillow.

From the corner of Adelaide’s vision now, beyond the dozens of workers scattered along the driveway preparing to tend the tobacco plants and pack loads of the crop for shipping, she saw a figure riding a speckled palomino. Doctor Matheu van der Haar emerged from the gloom. He spoke briefly to Donal and then they rode off into the foothills. She hadn’t seen the doctor since the wedding.

Adelaide went to the chair in the corner of the room. Her dress was draped over it. She picked it up, put it on and wondered what the men were doing and how long they’d be. Perhaps she had time to visit Emmett.

She was devouring a bread roll in the kitchen when Irma appeared carrying a basket of eggs. Wouter came in behind her, hauling a wooden crate bursting with beetroot and cauliflower.

‘Did Donal mention when he’d be back?’ Adelaide asked.

Irma set the basket on the bench. ‘Before dinner as usual. Whatever he wants, he gets.’ She relieved Wouter of the crate and he went back outside to play with Crow.

‘I haven’t seen the doctor lately? Does he frequently hang around?’

‘Yes, like the fruity aromas of an outhouse.’ Irma cackled then examined Adelaide’s face as though she was seeing it for the first time. Her muddy-brown eyes were hard to read. ‘His parents were market gardeners. Not sure what they put in the soil up the top of the mountain, but I’ve never had produce like it.’ She broke the eggs one by one into a bowl and looked out the window towards the lemon trees. ‘Van der Haar moved back after university a few years ago. I’m not sure exactly how he fits in now, but he and the boss are always up to something.’

Adelaide picked a crumb from the yoke on her dress. ‘I have business, in town. Best not mention it. I’ll be back home before nightfall.’

‘Wouter has hardware to collect. I’ll send him along.’

Adelaide nodded and Irma followed her outside. The women passed Donal’s car in the driveway and Adelaide realised she’d never driven one. Da was a stickler for tradition.

‘Ever sat behind the wheel of one of those?’ she asked Irma.

‘I’d wrap myself around a gum tree.’ Irma chortled again. It seemed to gurgle up from deep within her and mask a certain kind of shyness.

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