So sweet and just like Ed to offer. He’d always been the most academic of them.
“Maybe,” Lara said.
“What did you two get up to today?” Brandon asked Tess and Ed.
Ed had another week before he was due back in Perth for work.
“I took Tess to the ranges,” Ed said. “And then we went snorkelling around in Turquoise Bay.”
Georgie straightened. “See anything interesting?”
Tess grinned. “Some turtles and so many fish.” Tess was learning to swim and snorkel, but she’d taken to it enthusiastically. It was nice to see her happy, especially after the ordeal she’d been through, and the issues with her family. Ed squeezed Tess’s hand. “She’s a natural.”
They smiled at each other, their affection clear. Georgie turned away hating the jealousy shooting through her.
What she needed was time with the girls, where she didn’t have to see them with their partners. Maybe it was time for a girls’ night. There were plenty of tourists in town and she could find someone to keep her distracted for a while.
She finished her stir-fry and carried her bowl to the sink.
“Leave the dishes,” Amy declared. “Let’s get back to the journal.”
No one protested. They reconvened in the lounge room to finish reading Lilian’s journal. Her stay in Fremantle was short, only a few days. Reginald had bought the Retribution and was setting up a shipping business transporting goods between the northern ports and Fremantle. The delay was for him to find a new crew because most on board didn’t want to stay in the colonies.
“I never heard anything about a shipping business,” Ed said.
“If the cyclone story is true, that might explain it,” Darcy said.
Good point. The legend was that a cyclone had hit the Retribution and it had run aground in the gulf. Lilian and Reginald had set up the station where they landed. Georgie smiled as she read the next bit. “Guess who else was on the ship north?”
“More convicts?” Lara asked.
Georgie nodded. “But which ones?”
Tess ventured, “John?”
Georgie nodded. “He was contracted to work for a pastoralist, Mr Clarke, who had leased land up north.”
I can barely believe it. I went to watch us set sail, and I stumbled as the boat shifted and who should catch me? John. It seems Mrs Clarke took my suggestion and John, Patrick and Tom have been contracted to work with Mr Clarke. I am not sure whether this work will be more difficult than that which the chain gangs do, and I said as much. John told me he was pleased with the opportunity to see me again.
Oh, how I blushed.
Georgie smiled as she scanned ahead and noted the three pearl divers on board. She glanced at Tess. “What was your pearl diver ancestor’s name?”
“Da Lim.”
She continued reading. “There are three pearl divers on board heading to Tien Tsin and one of them is Da.”
Tess gaped at her. “We know she was on board when the cyclone hit. Her name is on the commemoration plaque at the beach.”
Which would mean the maiden voyage of their shipping business ended in disaster.
Georgie tensed as she read aloud the details of Lilian’s voyage north. After several days becalmed in the gulf, the cyclone hit.
Reginald has ordered all passengers below deck. I had time to grab my journal and ink, and a pack of cards only. The wind bellows outside, a noise so loud it hurts my ears. The sailors have curled the sails and let out the anchors, hoping we will stay in place in the middle of the bay. The waves are not monstrous, but we are being tossed about nonetheless. Everyone is silent, waiting, listening, as the storm picks up outside. Reginald is too busy yelling at the sailors to notice my fear, and John only risked squeezing my hand once.
Georgie could feel her fear. Next to her Lara clutched Darcy’s arm, her eyes wide as she listened to the tale.
By daylight it was all over and the ship was stuck on a reef on the northern side of what would become known as Retribution Island.
