‘Mary, I love you!’ Jessica calls after her, surprised at the strange look on the Aborigine’s face as she shouted her warning. Why would Mary look at her like that? The black people know things, but Joe has given his word her baby will be safe and she knows he won’t go back on it, no matter what Hester wants.
Joe arrives in the sulky with Hester and Meg just after midday. Jessica is seated in the shade with her back against the big river gum and hears them coming some way off. Earlier she made a brush broom and swept the clearing again. The offending rock still lies at its edge, though she wonders why she’d bothered with it at all — there’s plenty of room for a picnic blanket and clear ground beyond in case of snakes.
She places her baby, dressed in his little Chinese outfit, snugly in a pillowcase. Now he lies in a carefully made towelling nest between two above-ground roots of the big gum tree. Jessica’s cut some of the mosquito net and fashioned a little tent over him to keep the black flies away. Little Joey sleeps to the sound of the creek water gurgling over rock.
At the approach of her family Jessica takes the still sleeping baby from the pillowcase and lifts him into her arms, clutching him against her breast. Then she stands in the centre of the clearing and waits for them to arrive.
She’s washed
her face and brushed her hair and put on a clean cotton dress and her best Sunday boots. And she’s wearing one of the special pinnies Hester made for her with Meg’s rosebud embroidered on the large front pocket. Mary’s bush medicine has helped her no end, and while she is still pretty tender, she feels strong and well rested. Jessica knows she will make a very good mother for young Joey Bergman who, unconcerned about being moved, sleeps contentedly in her arms with his thumb in his mouth.
Joe pulls the sulky to a halt outside the hut, not seeing her at first. Hester and Meg are both carrying parasols and are dolled up to the nines in their Sunday best, though Jessica can’t imagine why when it’s so bloody hot. As Meg steps down from the sulky, Jessica sees immediately that her stomach has grown, though she expected it to be a lot bigger. They now all stand in the bright sunlight and are temporarily blinded, not able to see her in the shade of the big river gum until she calls out.
‘Oh, there you are,’ Hester says, turning in the direction of Jessica’s voice. ‘Merry Christmas, my dear.’ Hester’s voice has already taken on a more imperious tone and Jessica realises she’s getting ready to be the second mistress of Riverview homestead. Poor bloody Jack — not only Meg but also Hester to contend with. Joe unharnesses Napoleon and leads the pony to the creek to drink while Hester and Meg walk towards Jessica with their parasols held high, picking their way daintily along the creek bank. Neither of them is looking over to where she stands. Jessica wonders briefly if they feel any guilt for leaving her to fend for herself in the tin hut. Indeed, how would her precious sister feel if it were done to her? But she refuses to be angry, to spoil her news and her special Christmas present to Joe. The baby suddenly cries out and it is Meg who looks up first, for she and her mother have reached the clearing and are now only a few feet from where Jessica stands.
‘Eeeeek!’ is the only sound that comes from Meg’s mouth as she clutches at her chest in astonishment.
Hester looks up. ‘Oh my God!’ she gasps. ‘Oh, oh, what have you done, girl?’ she exclaims, taken completely by surprise.
‘Why, Mother, I’ve had my baby.’ Jessica turns the tiny infant’s face so that her mother can see it more clearly. ‘See.’ Then she says, ‘It’s a boy. His name is gunna be Joey, Joey Bergman.’
‘Take that ridiculous thing off him, he’s not Chinese! Where on earth did you get it, child?’
At that moment Joe has come up so Jessica doesn’t have to explain. Her father’s big shambling shape is trying to run, for he’s heard the baby cry out as well. ‘Jessie, what in Gawd’s name!’ he bellows.
Jessica now holds her son up for Joe to see. ‘It’s a boy, Father,’ she says happily as Joe reaches the picnic clearing.
‘Oh my God,’ Hester says again, bringing two fingers up to her lips.
‘I’ve made a place for the picnic,’ Jessica now says, for neither Hester nor Meg ventures forward to take a closer look at the baby and Joe’s expression is a mixture of utter confusion and just dawning delight.
‘You done it yourself, girlie — all by yerself?’ He shakes his head, not yet fully comprehending. ‘Jesus Christ, I take me hat off to yiz, Jessie.’ Joe turns suddenly to Hester and Meg, his expression defiant. ‘The girl’s got more guts and character than the lot of us put together!’ He turns back to Jessica. ‘It’s time to come home, Jessie — you can look after the little bloke better at the homestead.’
It’s clear from the way he says this that Joe has decided Jessica can keep her baby, come what may. He’s seen the look on her face, her love for her child, and he’s not prepared to steal it away from her whatever may become of them as a family. ‘I’m proud of yiz, Jessie, dead proud that you’re me daughter, proud to have the young bloke as me grandchild just the way he is.’
Jessica looks directly at Joe and he sees the stubborn Bergman look he knows so well. ‘I’m not coming home, Father.’ She turns and looks at her sister. ‘Not till Meg has her own child and she and Mother move to Riverview.’ She points to the tin hut. ‘That’s my home. You all sent me there and that’s where I’ll stay put. It’s where my son were born, and I’ll not leave it until Meg’s left for Riverview Station.’
Meg drops her parasol, bringing both hands to her face and stumbling towards the river gum. She stands with her forehead pressed against the smooth, grey bark and bursts into tears, banging both her fists against the tree. ‘No, no!’ she screams.
Hester, totally taken aback, vents her frustration at Joe. ‘Now look what you’ve done!’ she shouts, then drops her parasol and goes over to the sobbing Meg, placing her hand on her daughter’S shoulder, trying to comfort her.
Meg jerks her shoulder away, rejecting her mother’s embrace. ‘It’s not fair! It’s not fair! Father said he’d do it!’ she howls. She turns her face from the tree and looks tearfully at Joe. ‘You said!’ she screams and then turns back and sobs uncontrollably with her forehead once again hard against the trunk of the tree.
After Meg’s anguished appeal to Joe, Jessica looks anxiously at him, puzzled. But Joe still wears this big grin on his gob — his pride in her is unconfined. Jessica knows suddenly that Joe still loves her and is back on her side at last.
She moves over to stand in front of her father and offers him her baby. Joe hesitates, then accepts the tiny bundle awkwardly, holding it cupped in his big hands and away from his body, not knowing what to do and terrified he might drop it.
‘It’s the boy you always wanted, Father — merry Christmas,’ Jessica says softly, then she grins and reaches out and, with the tip of her forefinger, lightly touches the crown of her baby’s head. ‘See his hair, Father. He’s a Bergman, not a Heathwood, and he’s bloody perfect.’
Jessica undresses her baby and puts him back into his pillowcase. The picnic that follows is a strained affair with very little Christmas good cheer. Hester tries to cover up for Meg who sniffs throughout, her eyes fixed on her lap never once looking up, and refusing to eat anything. ‘She’s worried about her own child,’ Hester explains to Jessica. ‘Especially now that yours is so healthy. It’s only natural she’d be concerned.’ ‘It’s me what had the narrow hips,’ Jessica says, trying hard to conceal her pride. ‘Meg is made to have babies, you’ve said it yourself, lots of times.’
Hester sighs. ‘It’s a difficult time, that’s all. It’s her nerves, what with Jack gone overseas.’
Jessica looks at Hester anxiously. ‘Have you had a letter? I mean, has Meg? Has Jack written to say where he is?’
Joe turns his head away so Jessica can’t see his expression. Without knowing he’s doing it, he clears his throat, and Jessica knows for certain that Jack’s written to her. Hester sniffs. ‘We’ve had no news except what’s in the newspaper. That’s a good part of what ails your sister. Your father says sometimes the army won’t let troops write home for fear they’ll give away vital information.’ She turns to Joe. ‘Isn’t that true, Joe?’
‘Yeah, right,’ he says and Jessica hears the lack of conviction in his voice. Joe, like herself, is a poor liar. Keep things straight, girlie, can’t get into no trouble that way, he’s always told her. Now she wonders what’s going on in her father’s mind, for Jessica senses that Joe is not taking his own advice and is ashamed. She concludes it can only mean that she’s got a letter from Jack and Hester is concealing it from her. Jessica has been alone now for so long that she can much more clearly pick up the meanings in Hester’s voice, and Joe has never been much good at concealing things from her.