Meg steps neatly out of her skirt as though she hardly notices it’s fallen from her waist. It is all done seemingly in one movement whereupon she reaches out and turns the lamp down and then bends over the glass to blow it out. Jack is thus presented with the sight of her pantaloons curving out from her tiny waist and pointing deliciously at him, the cotton material pulled tight and smooth over her derriere, her shapely calf and trim ankles also showing to their very best effect.
Jack senses he has one last opportunity to make his escape, but he knows as well that he will not take it. His earlier resolve has leaked from him like water through a kitchen sieve and he trembles at the knees. ‘Oh, God,’ he groans, his entire body now filled with desire. Meg is a very pretty thing indeed, well beyond the wildest dreams of most young men and she has driven him way beyond any reason.
With her back to Jack, Meg now removes her blouse and bodice then turns to face him. In the half light her lovely breasts, free of all constraints, are heaving invitingly. Meg smiles. If she is feeling self-conscious standing near naked for the first time in front of a man, she does not show it. She cups her breasts in her hands and lifts them slightly as though she is offering them to him. Jack’s mouth is dry and his tongue frantically works around the roof of his mouth, trying to regain its moisture. Now Meg’s hands leave her breasts, which drop no more than an inch, firm and round with the nipples pointed upwards. She runs her hands down the smooth curves of her waist and effortlessly slips her pantaloons down over her legs as though her hands have found them in error and they have peeled off her hips and legs as though intended to do so by nature. She steps out of her underwear to finally stand nude in front of Jack. Meg allows him but a moment to see her beautiful body before she steps forward and puts her arms about his neck and pulls him towards her. She can feel Jack trembling against her and she senses he is ready and cannot contain himself much longer.
‘Oh God, I must have you, Meg,’ he groans. ‘I must take you now!’
Meg goes onto her tip-toes and kisses him on the mouth.
‘Oh Jack, you are so handsome,’ she whispers. Jack’s hands go frantically to his belt as Meg begins to unfasten the buttons of his shirt and then pulls it over his head and casts it aside as his trousers drop to his boots. Jack, with his pants now about his ankles, sits on a small stool beside the bed, tugging desperately to remove his boots.
With the moonlight streaming through the window, Meg pulls back the sheets, her beautiful body turned half sideways to Jack. She looks over her shoulder and smiles almost wistfully. ‘Come, Jack,’ she says softly, ‘come and get your going-away present.’ Then she slides between the fresh sheets, holding them up to her chin. ‘Come now Jack Thomas, my soldier of the King,’ Meg giggles. ‘Show me how you fire your gun.’
In the early hours of Thursday morning, as Jack sits brooding in the De Dion on the way to Riverview, he knows that the temptation had been too great for him to resist. That Meg was a dish too sweet not to savour. If it should ever happen again, he now tells himself, he will be well able to resist her future advances. But Jack senses that he is deluding himself — he knows his willpower does not possess sufficient strength to refuse a body as tempting or lips so soft. He is well aware that he has been seduced and is not so arrogant nor so stupid as to deny the pleasure he has derived from Meg’s body, or even so naive as to tarnish the experience with a fit of conscience. He has come away in wonderment at the delight of Meg’s body and her female ways, but he is also aware he has betrayed Jessica and that his manhood has ridden roughshod over his sensibilities. He knows it’s pointless to feel remorse
, though his guilt is quite clear to him. Now, with the dawn breaking, he wonders why his thoughts are not singularly of the beautiful Meg, but are instead persistently of Jessica.
Why could it not have been Jessie waiting for me? he thinks. Jack Thomas knows he does not love Jessica less for having spent the night with Meg, nor does he mean to castigate himself for his unfaithfulness. He tells himself he must first return from the war before he can claim his sweet Jessica and be true to her forever. Meg has said it will be their secret, that nobody will ever know. As Jack heads for home in the quickening light, this thought proves a balm for a conscience where the one-eyed snake is king. Hester was right.
Later the same morning, though this time closer to the noon hour, Meg sees Hester’s pony trap approaching the house on her return from old Mrs Baker’s sickbed. She drops her crocheting and comes running out into the yard to meet her mother.
‘Oh Mama,’ she cries, as Hester alights, falling into her mother’s arms, ‘it was awful at first and I thought I must surely die of shame, but then it was wonderful!’ Meg pushes away and holds Hester at arm’s length. ‘I was very, very good.’
Hester smiles, collecting her bags from the trap. ‘Yes, yes, my dear, it is not seemly that you should enjoy yourself, but will you be pregnant? That is the question.’
‘Oh, Mama, it will not be for want of trying,’ Meg laughs gaily. ‘I think I shall make a splendid Mrs Jack Thomas of Riverview Station.’
‘Now, now, my dear, there is still much to be done, do not count your chickens before they hatch.’
CHAPTER EIGHT
Jessica’s vomiting continues until it can’t be ignored, and Joe decides she needs some attention.
Joe and Jessica arrive in Wagga Wagga to see the Heathwood family doctor, an old codger named Nathaniel Merrick who calls a spade a flamin’ shovel and is a man who well understands the ways of the bush.
Joe remains on the verandah seated in a wicker chair while Dr Merrick examines Jessica behind a screen in his surgery. After a thorough examination, he allows Jessica to dress while he washes his hands, then goes out and calls Joe into his surgery. The old doctor shows him to a seat in front of a battered-looking desk and then sits behind it in an old captain’s chair with a swivel base so that he appears somewhat unstable, rocking from side to side. As if to steady himself, he places his elbows on the surface of the desk and rests his chin on his clasped hands, then leans slightly forward and addresses his attention to Joe.
‘Mr Bergman, your daughter tells me she is not married.’
Joe nods his head. ‘This is true, doctor.’
The doctor unclasps his fingers and leans backwards in the chair, which squeaks in protest. He absently reaches forward and picks up his pen from the desk and places it down again.
‘Well, I have examined your girlie and she is pregnant,’ he announces.
Joe stares at the old physician in disbelief. ‘Pregnant? But she’s just been a bit crook in the guts, that’s all.’
‘Ah, a common enough occurrence with pregnancy, Mr Bergman. She is, I estimate, about two and a half months gone, if I’m not very much mistaken.’ He looks up cheerily at Joe. ‘Not enough to disgrace the lass, eh? Though you’ll want to contact the family of the young bloke concerned and make the necessary wedding arrangements.’ He pauses then adds, ‘Soon as possible, eh? These things are best done sooner than later.’
Dr Merrick notes Joe’s look of surprise and leans over and in a conspiratorial voice declares, ‘Come now, these things happen. You may count on my discretion in this matter and, when the time comes, I’ll issue a birth certificate with a notice attached to say the child is of premature birth.’ He pauses and chuckles. ‘Two months is about the average shortfall in the district.’
Jessica, now fully clothed, has come to stand to one side in front of the examination screen. The doctor seems oblivious of her presence and speaks to Joe as if she’s not there. ‘We are, Mr Bergman, famous in this district for hastily rung wedding bells, a tintinnabulation which proves to us once again that the forces of nature are always more powerful than our intellect.’ The physician smiles to himself. ‘Any doctor around these parts who mentions the word “shotgun” will, I’ll vouch, soon enough find his .practice starved of customers.’
Dr Nathaniel Merrick now hears a sob from behind him and turns, surprised. It is as though he has entirely forgotten Jessica’s presence in the room. ‘Oh there you are, Miss Bergman,’ he says. ‘Come, come, my dear, it is not such a tragedy. Take my word for it, these things generally have a way of turning out quite splendidly in the end.’
‘Thank you, doctor,’ Joe mumbles and rises and stands awkwardly, his big fists holding his money purse.
‘That will be five shillings and sixpence, thank you,’ Nathaniel Merrick says crisply.