The River Charm by Belinda Murrell Page A

for the next seven years.’
    Charlotte sucked in her breath. Emily leant forward and clasped her mother’s skirts. James frowned and put down his net. Louisa picked up her doll and began to play again, rearranging the petticoats and velvet pelisse.
    â€˜Not in our interests ?’ asked Charlotte, her voice rising. ‘But this is our home! You and Papa built Oldbury when I was a baby – we’ve always lived here.’
    James stood up, the yabby lines forgotten. He ran his hand through his thick brown hair, mussing it up on end. ‘They can’t do that,’ he said firmly. ‘Papa left Oldbury to me. I’m the boy – it’s mine and I want to live here with you and the girls.’
    â€˜It must be some kind of mistake,’ suggested Emily, her face hopeful. ‘We just need to explain that we are happy here. We belong here.’
    Mamma slipped the pebble back in her pocket and rubbed her eyes, blinking rapidly. ‘Darlings, I know it is difficult, but we don’t have any choice. The executors control all the money and how it should be spent until you come of age. They have appointed an auctioneer to sell everything except the property itself so that they can hold all the money in trust for when you are older. The property has already been advertised in the newspapers.’
    Emily’s eyes filled with tears. James walked over and kicked over the remaining yabby lines, his lip pouted.
    â€˜I don’t like the executors,’ said Louisa. ‘They are horrid.’
    â€˜How can they do this, Mamma?’ asked Charlotte, her voice trembling. ‘This is our home. Papa meant for us to live here forever. How can they sell our sheep? Our cattle? Our horses? They can’t mean to take Ophelia and Clarie! Where would we go?’
    Mamma held out her arms to the children, her face pale with grief. ‘I do not know,’ she confessed. ‘I do not know. I have written and begged and pleaded, but nothing I say will deter them. I do not know what else I can do.’
    Emily fell into Mamma’s arms, followed by Louisa and then James.
    Charlotte knelt on the rug all alone, her mind churning. There must be something Mamma can do? Surely it is not possible for total strangers to turn our lives upside down on a whim? Surely the men far away in Sydney Town cannot dictate how our lives should be lived? Why did Papa have to die? Why did Mamma have to marry Mr Barton?
    â€˜It’s him , isn’t it?’ accused Charlotte, glaring at Mamma. ‘It’s all his fault we have to leave Oldbury. If he didn’t steal our money and sell our livestock, the executors would not be doing this.’
    Mamma bit her lip. ‘Charlotte, my dearest . . .’
    Charlotte stood up, her body trembling with rage, and cried, ‘They can’t make us go. I simply refuse.’
    â€˜Charlotte –’
    Charlotte turned and ran, her eyes blinded by tears. She ran through the gardens, in the front door and upstairs to her bedroom. She lay on the bed, her face buried in her pillow, and became lost in thought. There must be something we can do? There must be something that will change the executors ’ decision?

5
    Mr Barton
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    The table in the breakfast room was set with floral china and bone-handled silverware. A bowl of pale-pink cabbage roses stood in the centre. Bridget carried in a basket of hot, steaming rolls straight from the oven, their warm, yeasty scent making Charlotte’s mouth water. Mamma poured out cups of milky tea from the polished silver teapot into delicate china cups.
    â€˜Today, Mamma, can we go searching for tree frogs down in the swamp?’ asked James, spooning some strawberry jam onto his plate. ‘I want to catch some to keep in the terrarium.’
    â€˜Not today, dearest,’ Mamma replied with a fond smile. ‘You all need to do some arithmetic, then we are going to study the North