Tears of the Moon - Di Morrissey [107]
‘You are being very boorish, John. And downright rude,’ she snapped.
He ignored her, and took another drink from the bottle.
Olivia leaned across the desk, grabbed his shoulder and forcefully spun him around in the swivel chair to face her. Hushed with anger she shouted, ‘John Tyndall, you’re … a … an ill-mannered oaf.’ She turned and stomped out of the office, leaving a stunned and silent Tyndall clutching his bottle and feeling more than a little embarrassed.
Olivia sighed with frustration and went down to the shell shed and looked for Ahmed. He and Yoshi had taken it upon themselves to start loading the Conrad and the Shamrock.
‘You tell tuan we got to go?’ he asked.
‘I did. Don’t know that it had much effect. He’s drinking. And he’s mad.’
‘No can wait for Niah come back. We gotta get up the coast quick smart. Mebbe we shanghai skipper and leave.’
Olivia gave a faint smile. It was the best suggestion to date.
Ahmed studied her for a moment, then asked, ‘You think Niah come back with Maya?’
‘Yes, Ahmed, I do! It’s only natural she went. She wanted to see her people, and the Captain hadn’t been paying her a lot of attention.’
Ahmed saw the fleeting guilty expression in Olivia’s eyes. ‘Tuan got many troubles and too much business. Niah want everything to be round Niah. She bored. She be back at end of season and everything be number one again.’
‘I hope you’re right, Ahmed. Is there any news of Captain Evans?’
‘No, mem. No worries. He at sea, working. Soon need supplies from tuan.’
Without saying so, both Olivia and Ahmed were glad their new white skipper was unaware of Tyndall’s state.
Thomas Evans was born and educated in Liverpool, but put to sea as a lad before the mast on the Sinclare Line. Eventually he worked his way up in ships trading to India and Australia. The lure of gold and dreams of a fortune attracted him to the Marble Bar goldfields. He made no fortune and missed the call of the sea, so returned to Broome and skippered luggers. A quiet and sober man, he was a mason of Roebuck Lodge No. 56 and had known and respected Conrad Hennessy.
Consequently, Tyndall and Olivia had been delighted when Evans accepted their offer to skipper the Annabella.
Now if only Tyndall would come to his senses and focus on the business at hand, thought Olivia. She could understand him missing Maya and his frustration at not being able to reach them. She decided he needed a diversion and to heal the wounds of their recent falling out she sent him an elegant handwritten invitation to dinner.
He confronted her at the foreshore camp, producing the invitation card from his pocket.
‘What’s this, Olivia? What’s the occasion?’
‘Dinner, John. Please come, let’s say it’s a bon voyage and to wish Star of the Sea a good season.’
‘I hate stuffy dinner parties. All that wah-wah chit chat. Can’t stand ’em.’
‘I’d really like you to be there. Please.’
‘I might disgrace myself. Insult someone’s wife, tell off a stuffed shirt, drink too much.’
‘You can be fiendishly charming and beautifully mannered on occasion. Don’t be late,’ she said brightly, ignoring his gruff grunt as she left him, her fingers secretly crossed.
He arrived a little late, deliberately, but was decked out in his formal whites to please the hostess. At the gate it occurred to him that it seemed uncommonly quiet for a dinner party venue. There were no sulkies belonging to other guests and he wondered if he had got the time or date wrong. He fumbled in his pockets for the invitation card but realised he had left it at home. So he climbed the steps and was greeted by Minnie with a large smile.
‘You on deck duty tonight, eh, Minnie?’
‘Just little time. Help cook, then go home.’
Tyndall walked into the dining room and stopped in astonishment.
The table was set for two. Candles and flowers in the centre flanked by the best china and crystal. Olivia, dressed in a flattering gown of soft material in pale pink, her hair prettily coiled to one side of her head came to him with a mischievous smile.
For a moment Tyndall was at a loss for words. ‘Where