Tears of the Moon - Di Morrissey [179]
‘And they’re still real pearls?’
‘Of course. We’re tricking the oyster into making a pearl. It’s just trying to get rid of an irritant, same as it would in the ocean.’
‘You make it sound easy.’
‘I know it’s not. Mikimoto and others have battled for years and still haven’t perfected it. Not to say we can’t have a go, too.’ He grinned at her, and she shook her head, amused at his boyish enthusiasm.
The sun was hot and the bay looked inviting. Several of the crew had already dived off the schooner into the clear warm water.
‘Want to swim?’ asked Tyndall.
‘What will the crew think? Though I do have my bathing costume.’ Olivia lifted her string dillybag.
‘You think of everything. Well, I don’t own one of those new fangled suits.’
Olivia disappeared into the scrub to change and Tyndall stripped off to his underwear and dived in.
They splashed and tried to dive to the bottom, though Olivia was not much of a swimmer. Treading water and floating they chatted about trying to find someone in Japan with pearl-seeding experience to come and work with them.
‘This is the way to do business, eh?’ chuckled Tyndall. ‘I seem to remember we used to do this quite a bit. But without bathers.’
‘Things are different now,’ said Olivia, her ebullience fading.
‘Are they? Really?’
She didn’t answer for a second then, not looking at him, said quietly, ‘John, please … don’t.’
‘Don’t what, Olivia? Don’t say what we both know?’
‘This isn’t fair. Not here, please … don’t.’
‘Because you can’t run away from it here. Olivia, it’s just you and me. Tell me you’ve never stopped loving me. I know you haven’t.’
Olivia sank beneath the water to avoid his words. She popped up a few seconds later and began splashing towards the shore. Tyndall was beside her in several easy strokes.
Persistently, he continued, ‘Tell me you don’t love me, Olivia. Look at me and tell me and I won’t pester you any more.’
Her toes scraped the rocky bottom and she spun around to glare at him. ‘I don’t … I don’t … ’ She looked away, angry and confused, and stumbled out of the shallows, falling to her knees. Tyndall reached out and gathered her in his arms, and fell back on the water’s edge.
‘Ouch,’ he said as his head struck the rough sand, but he didn’t relinquish his hold on Olivia. Holding her on top of him, their faces almost touching, he gave her a small grin. ‘You can’t say it, can you, Olivia?’
‘I fell over,’ she said weakly.
‘There’s nowhere left to run, my darling.’ Gently he drew her face down to his and, oblivious to the water lapping over their bodies, the rocks scattered through the sand under them, their lips, hearts and bodies came together as one, as if they’d never been two separate beings with all the differences that had kept them apart for so long.
The following day, swept up by love, enthusiasm and joie de vivre Tyndall decided they should dive together. The schooner was fitted with two new motorised pumps and divers’ suits.
‘All right, why not!’ answered Olivia, responding to the challenge.
As they were about to lock on the helmet Tyndall gave her a quick kiss. ‘Don’t be nervous, I’ll be right beside you.’
She did find her heart beating quickly and the rush of air told her she was breathing heavily from nervous tension. But once settled on the bottom, her air pressure adjusted and with the comforting bulk of Tyndall beside her, she relaxed. He held out a gloved hand and, matching the pace of their footsteps, they set off together.
The magic of the strange world of underwater cast its spell over Olivia once more. The mysterious beauty of the underwater growths, the landscape of reef formations, the oblivious darting quest of coloured fish, the activities of shellfish and coral was like looking from space at a miniature planet. They kept pointing things out to each other, exchanging delighted smiles through the glass panels of their helmets. Olivia had the strange sensation that this was the beginning of time, that for