Going Home by Valerie Wood Page B

a side avenue which would take her up towards the rough climb which eventually led to Creek Farm.
    She was hot and sticky by the time she arrived nearly an hour later. She was nervous as always, for the road wasn’t used much and it was not wise for a woman to ride alone. It wasn’t her first time, however, and she knew that Meg Hawkins drove down it regularly whenever she came into Sydney. But then Meg Hawkins was a different type of woman from her. Strong, wise and braver. Much braver.
    Pulling in through the gate, she drew upby the veranda and gave the reins to a dark-skinned boy who came to greet her. ‘Is your mistress at home?’ she asked.
    ‘Oh, yes,’ he grinned. ‘Missy Meg always at home. She cooking good dinner.’
    The house had been extended considerably since Meg and Joe Hawkins had first come to live there. Though the front façade retained its simplicity with its open veranda which commanded a view over Sydney, two wings had been added to increase the size of the rooms and the rear extended to make a large kitchen, which Meg still supervised, and to include a dairy and a laundry room.
    Lucinda Boyle climbed the steps and knocked on the open wooden door, then called. ‘Meg. Meg! Are you there?’
    Meg came through from the kitchen into the cool hall. Her hands were floury and there was a smell of beef cooking. ‘Mrs Boyle!’ she greeted her. ‘This is nice. Come in.’ She noted her visitor’s flushed face and that her fair hair was wet beneath her hat. ‘It’s far too hot for you to be out! There’s nothing wrong, is there?’
    ‘Oh, no,’ Lucinda breathed, and gratefully took the chair which Meg offered. ‘Nothing is wrong. But I had to tell somebody my good news.’
    ‘And you chose to tell me?’ Meg said with pleasure in her voice.
    ‘Why yes, because I knew you would bepleased for me. Some ladies would not be as happy for me as I know you will be.’
    Theirs was a strange friendship; one, born a lady, wrenched from her homeland on her husband’s decision. The other, from the most wretched of backgrounds, torn from it on the decision of the law. They had an affinity born originally of loneliness and the need of another woman to talk to, which they had recognized years before as they waited for their children outside school.
    But theirs was a secret friendship. Lucinda Boyle knew that should her husband find out, he would immediately ban her from calling on Meg. Today was the first time she had dared to visit whilst the Captain was at home and not at sea.
    Meg smiled and sat beside her. ‘So what have you to tell me, Mrs Boyle?’ She was always formal. She could never bring herself to call her friend, who was undoubtedly a proper lady, by her first name.
    Lucinda took hold of her hand. ‘I’m going home,’ she said softly. ‘I’m going home – to England.’
    Meg squeezed her hand. ‘Oh, I’m so glad.’ Sudden tears wet her eyes. ‘Oh, so glad for you! But I’ll miss you.’
    Lucinda nodded. ‘I shall miss you too, Meg. I heard’, she said, ‘that Ralph was travelling to England too. Phoebe heard it from some of her friends.’
    ‘Did she tell you why?’ Meg asked softly. ‘Do you know why he’s going?’
    ‘To see his aunt? Your husband’s sister?’
    Meg shook her head. ‘No, that’s not ’real reason, though he’ll visit Emily and her family whilst he’s there. He doesn’t remember her of course, he was very young when she went home.’ She looked pensively into the middle distance for a moment, then got to her feet. ‘But I’m forgetting myself. You must be parched. I’ll get us some tea.’
    ‘In a moment.’ Lucinda stayed her. ‘Tell me why he’s going. You’re upset, Meg. Don’t you want him to go?’
    ‘I’m afraid he won’t come back,’ Meg said in a low voice. ‘I’m afraid of what he’ll find when he gets back to his roots.’
    ‘I don’t understand,’ she questioned. ‘To his roots?’
    ‘I mean that he’s going to search for