Tears of the Moon - Di Morrissey [100]
Olivia nodded her approval. ‘She sails well, looks good. I think Conrad would be pleased.’ It was the first time she had uttered his name without choking up. She gave Tyndall a grateful smile.
He smiled back and patted Hamish’s fair head.
From the shore, Niah watched the new lugger skim across the bay. She was annoyed at being left behind—since Conrad’s death, Tyndall had divided his life as if he had two families. She understood Mem Hennessy was part of his world of luggers and pearl shell, but now Tyndall was taking an interest in the boy, giving him more attention than Maya. His obsessive devotion to his baby girl had been diverted, as had his interest in Niah. He was preoccupied with work, the new boat, with Mem Hennessy and the crews. Only at night when he was sober and attentive to her, did Niah feel her power and place in his life restored.
Niah walked back towards Tyndall’s bungalow. She looked down the length of the sandy street to where the ribbon of road led to the pindan and the coastal country of her people.
Changing direction, she went to the Hennessys’ and found Minnie in the laundry sorting clothes for ironing. Niah sat on the steps, Maya sitting next to her.
Minnie glanced at Niah, stopped what she was doing and eased herself onto the step below her. She smiled at Maya and spoke a phrase in their language, then lifted Niah’s hand and held it. She patted it gently, the gesture heavy with meaning to the forlorn young woman.
Three years passed, and the relationship between Olivia and Tyndall tightened—their bond through the business giving them mutual ground and interests to share.
Tyndall’s respect for Olivia’s business acumen, her judgement, and negotiating skills grew to the point where he admitted to her one day she was ‘just as good as a man’. Olivia accepted the comment as a compliment but it irritated her. While she was one of only several white women who were involved in the business and professional world of Broome, she saw no reason why women shouldn’t take their place alongside men if they had the inclination and ability.
Tyndall sometimes accompanied Olivia during the pearl sale negotiations with Monsieur Barat, but sat back and let her handle the delicate interplay and exchanges before agreeing on a price. Then Tyndall would step in and take over the social exchange. The friendship that had developed with the French pearl merchant was one that both Olivia and Tyndall valued.
Olivia had come to understand Tyndall’s nature much better as she observed him through his working day—dealing with, on one hand, a bureaucratic, petty customs officer, barely controlling his impatience with the man’s arrogance and obsession with unnecessary details, then displaying gentle humour and appreciation of craftsmanship in his dealings with a Malay sailmaker.
She didn’t approve of, but tolerated, his occasional drinking bouts, accepting that in Broome the male-to-male way of doing business often involved a bottle.
They had become an effective business team but she had also come to treasure his emotional support and friendship. Tyndall continued his habit of dropping by for a sunset drink on Olivia’s verandah as he’d done when Conrad was alive. Now it was Olivia and Tyndall who discussed business, made plans, and exchanged bits of news about people and events in the town. Occasionally some news from abroad and the southern cities provided fresh subjects for conversation but for most of the time the world beyond the magical waters of Roebuck Bay was barely acknowledged.
Niah and Ahmed seemed more laterally attached to Tyndall while Olivia had gradually become the core of his functioning life. Olivia came to rely a lot more on Minnie, who ran the house and watched over Hamish along with his amah, Rosminah, a