Hester turns to Meg. The venue for the meeting now decided, she expects she’ll have to do most of the talking. Joe is simply not up to it any more. ‘Meg, we’ll have to ask Mrs O’Shane for the loan of a flat iron. The creases in your blue velvet dress simply won’t fall out and we want you to look your very best, my precious.’ Meg is as pretty as a picture when they meet Jack Thomas late the following afternoon and Jack seems pleased to see them.
‘G’day, Joe!’ he says, extending his hand. Then he turns to Hester, ‘Afternoon, Mrs Bergman,’ then he looks at Meg and smiles. ‘Hello Meg, what a nice surprise.’ He shakes her formally by the hand then glances around hopefully. ‘Jessie not here?’
Joe tries to smile naturally. ‘She had to take care o’ things back home. Lambing season, we’ve had some rain. Not much, but there’s a bit o’ green about, and the ewes are dropping.’
Jack shrugs, clearly disappointed. ‘It would have been real nice to see her,’ he says wistfully.
Meg now turns to Jack. ‘Don’t I get a kiss then, Jack Thomas?’
Jack looks nervous, knowing the two sentries must see him and perhaps there are others watching. He pecks Meg lightly on the cheek, blushing violently.
‘My, Meg, doesn’t he look handsome in his uniform,’ Hester exclaims, smiling, her head to one side as she looks him over.
Jack pulls at his tunic and tries to grin. ‘Never done so much shining in my life, boots ‘n’ brasses and the curry-comb have become my whole flamin’ existence.’ ‘We’ve only got an hour,’ Hester now says. ‘We thought a walk in Hyde Park might be nice?’
‘That’ll be fine, Mrs Bergman,’ Jack says as they set off for the tram stop. ‘Be good to see a face that ain’t got a cap on its head I have to salute.’
Once into the park Joe buys ice-cream cones for them all and they find a small tree that throws enough shade for them to sit out of the sun, though it’s late in the afternoon and the heat is already gone from the winter sun. They seek the shade instinctively rather than from need.
Joe waits until they’ve finished their ice creams and the girls have given Jack all the local gossip. He has a pain in his chest and he wonders to himself if he can get the words out proper. ‘Jack,’ he says at last, ‘I suppose yer wonderin’ why we’ve come down to the big smoke?’
Jack looks up at Joe. ‘Well, yeah, it did cross my mind. What with shearing starting in the shed, I was surprised to see you.’
Joe is happy to be distracted. ‘No more shearing, me back’s gorn.’
‘George, eh?’ Jack says knowingly, then, looking serious, adds, ‘Joe, there’s always a job for you at Riverview. It’s my property now, not my old man’s. I’ll see to it. Is that why you’ve come down?’
‘No, Jack,’ Hester says, growing impatient at the small talk. ‘We’ve come to give you some news,’ she looks up directly at Jack, meeting his eye, ‘good news I hope.’ Meg at her side has her hands folded in her lap and her eyes are lowered. ‘Jack, Meg is pregnant — she carries your child.’
Hester is the only one who continues to look at Jack, who appears to be completely stunned by the news and gets to his feet without being conscious of having done so. He now stands almost at attention, looking down at them. ‘My child,’ he says, trying the words on for the first time. After a few moments, ‘My child?’ he repeats, now looking at Hester. ‘Are you sure, Mrs Bergman?’
Hester hands him Dr Merrick’s letter and Jack unfolds it and reads it slowly, shaking his head as he reads.
‘Oh Jack, I am so happy,’ Meg says. Then, scrambling to her feet, she embraces him, placing her head on his chest. Jack, not knowing what else to do, puts his arms about her shoulders.
‘Bloody stupid thing to happen,’ Joe grunts, ‘but can’t be stopped now.’
Jack pushes Meg gently away and hands the letter back to Hester. ‘Mrs Bergman, I don’t know what to say. I mean, the war and everything ... ‘ He wipes his forehead and grimaces. ‘What can I say?’
‘You’ll marry her, of course. Meg’s not to have your bastard child, Jack Thomas.’ Hester’s voice is grown suddenly hard, her lips drawn tight. She’s determined not to take a step backwards.
‘Oh, Jack, I love you so,’ Meg says, bringing her hands together as though in supplication. ‘I do so want your child.’ She clutches melodramatically at her stomach. ‘I must have your child.’ She smiles up at Jack, her pretty head to one side. ‘It will be a boy, I know it will be a boy as handsome and strong as his father.’
Jack now has his head bowed, his hands behind his back. Without raising his head, he looks at Meg. ‘You said it was between us, that nobody’d know.’
Meg’s pretty dark eyes take on a distressed look and she pouts defiantly. ‘Jack, I didn’t know this was going to happen. I just wanted to love you, to say goodbye.’
She pauses for a moment. ‘Because you see, I do! I love you with all my heart. If you’ll marry me I’ll be the best wife a man could ever have.’ Meg begins to sob softly.
‘Oh, Jack, I didn’t mean this to happen, honest I didn’t.’ Jack looks at Joe, not quite knowing why. Joe is confused and feels ashamed and embarrassed at Meg’s outburst. He thinks Jack’s a fine-looking, decent young bloke and that he deserves better than his elder daughter. ‘Jack, we hope yiz’ll do the right thing by Meg,’ he says slowly without enthusiasm.
Jack stares down at his polished riding boots. ‘I’ll have to ask my CO. — you see, we’ve got to get permission to marry,’ he explains. He looks back up at Joe. ‘He’ll have to see you all, I guess. Interview you.’ Jack seems to hesitate a moment then says, ‘I think I told you he’s my uncle — not that it counts,’ he adds hastily, ‘I haven’t even met him since I’ve been down here.’
Colonel Septimus Cunningham-Thomas, Jack’s commanding officer and his uncle, is a Sydney barrister in civilian life. He is a tall man with steel-grey hair and a clipped moustache almost matched in size by thick eyebrows turned salt and peppery that give him a most imposing appearance. He and his brother George are chalk and cheese in their looks and stature and George has long since dropped the hyphen from his name so that he won’t be disadvantageously compared with his older brother. Jack’s commandant is known appropriately enough by his men as Cunning Tom, because little escapes his notice and, in the terminology of the army, it is very difficult to ‘put one over him’. In this, he and his brother are similar. He sees the Bergmans without Jack being present and addresses himself to Joe first.
‘Mr Bergman, it is my duty to take care of the best interests of the men under me. I am charged by virtue of my commission to be, not only their direct commander in battle, but also their surrogate mother and father.’ He purses his lips in a practised and perfunctory manner. ‘Though the regimental sergeant-major might quarrel with me about this particular duty.’
He pauses and picks up a paper-knife on the desk behind which he is seated and twiddles it absently. ‘I am also obliged to admit to a particular and personal interest in Trooper Jack Thomas. I believe he has mentioned to you that I am his uncle and, of course, I know about the tragic circumstances surrounding the death of his mother and two sisters.’ The colonel leans forward slightly as if to emphasise his next statement. ‘I want you, in particular, to bear this in mind and to understand that his welfare is of the utmost importance to me as he and his father are .. .’ the colonel seems to be searching for a word, ‘ ... at loggerheads. I have heard what Trooper Thomas has to say and I have decided under the prevailing circumstances to grant him permission to marry your daughter.’ He puts down the ivory paper-knife and holds up his forefinger. ‘But there is a proviso.’ The colonel pauses and now, for the first time, looks at Hester. ‘While you seem a decent family and have a le