and sticky, not to mention covered in burrs, she finally reached the pool where the water cascading down from the lagoon came to rest before trickling on past the village to the sea.
She breathed in the humid air, catching scents she couldn’t quite identify, resting for a moment before turning towards the waterfall.
‘You’re being silly,’ she told herself, speaking the words aloud in the hope they might stop this trek back into the past.
Didn’t work, and she kept going, arriving eventually at the hidden space behind the waterfall, the water making music all around her, the thick fern growth giving the space a special magic.
He’d married someone else.
She told herself this was okay, only to be expected—of course he would have married, and it was only the small child she’d once been that was bleating But he’s mine deep inside her head.
She sat on a rock, her clothes damp from spray, and tried to make sense of her life as it was—not as she’d once imagined it would be.
‘Caro, are you in there?’
Keanu’s voice.
How had he guessed?
And of course it wasn’t anything to do with linked thoughts.
‘Caro,’ he called again, and this time she knew she’d have to answer.
‘I’m in the grotto,’ she called, and within minutes he was there beside her, sitting on what had always been ‘his’ rock.
‘How did you know?’ she asked.
‘It was obvious that someone had been along the old track and as you were the only one stupid enough to be coming down here on your own, I just followed your trail.’
‘Stupid enough?’ she demanded, angry but not sure whether it was because her thinking time had been interrupted or because his presence always caused her tension.
‘There could have been a landslip or a bit of the track washed away.’
‘Well, there wasn’t, and I’m quite safe, so you can go off and do whatever you were planning to do with Reuben.’
‘Which was to come and see you,’ Keanu told her, not as excited now as he’d been earlier, not quite as sure she was going to like the idea. And he’d already decided that now was not the time to mention his divorce. Other matters were more urgent after all.
‘I was talking to Reuben about the mine. I talked to the elders about it yesterday, and spoke to your father this morning. Something you’d said about finding someone to invest in it—once we knew how much we needed—sparked a kind of shadow of an idea in my head, and it wasn’t until yesterday at the funeral that I worked out what it was.’
He paused, waiting for a comment, perhaps a little excitement, or even a cool ‘And?’
But there was no response so, feeling even more uncertain, he ploughed on.
‘Reuben isn’t the only islander with a son making good money on the mainland, so it seemed to me that the islanders themselves might like to invest in the mine, form a company of some sort, a co-op perhaps—and take it over.’
‘Take it over?’
Caro’s voice was scratchy.
‘Completely?’
‘That’s why I had to talk to Max. I knew he’d know which way to go, the company or whatever, and of course he’d have to agree to the idea.’
‘And he did? He’s happy for the islanders to take over the mine?’
Keanu was worried now. He’d really expected excitement that he’d sorted out the problem, perhaps a little hesitation as Caro considered it. But not this flat, unemotional questioning.
Unable to work it out, he went with answering.
‘Yes, of course. He was annoyed he hadn’t thought of it himself. Of course, it can’t happen overnight, but within maybe six months we could have the mine up and running again and money going into the hospital—that would still be part of the arrangement—with the shareholders benefiting as well.’
‘And you never thought to talk to me about this?’
Not flat and unemotional now—no, now she was upset, although he couldn’t fathom why.
‘There’s been no time,’ he said, hoping to sooth whatever was bothering her. ‘As you can imagine there’s still so much to do. It’s mainly been just contacting people.’
It was hard to see her expression in the gloom, but he saw the way she stood up, and knew from the way she held her body that she’d be glaring down at him.
‘Contacting everyone but me!’ she said. ‘Do I not count? Wasn’t I part of this save-the-mine project from the beginning? Wasn’t I the one who got the books and put the figures together? Then suddenly it’s all “Don’t worry your little head about it, the men will fix it” and you don’t even mention it to me?’
He stood too, and put a hand on her shoulder—a hand that was quickly shrugged off.
‘Caro—’ he began.
But she was already walking away, pausing only to say, ‘You could have mentioned it as we sat on the swing, as we talked about love and what love was. I thought it was sharing, doing things together—not everything, that would be silly—but this was a joint project at the beginning, then suddenly it was all yours. I don’t know how to feel, Keanu. I don’t even know why I feel the way I do, when obviously it’s the ideal solution for the mine, but right now I just have to get away by myself and try to work out what I really want from love.’
And with that she disappeared from the grotto, not going back along the track but climbing the rocks at the side of the waterfall.
She was as sure-footed as a cat, so he didn’t worry about her going that way, and he knew it would be pointless trying to argue with her in the mood she was in, so he sat on his rock in the place where they’d practised getting married, and wondered just how things had gone so wrong.
She climbed the rocks to the top, skipped over the flat rocks where she’d sat with Keanu—had it been only a few days ago?
Keanu.
He’d sorted out the problem at the mine—or would eventually—and he’d spoken to her father.
But not to her.
Did he really know her so little he’d thought she wouldn’t want to know?
After all the work she’d done on the figures, of course he had to know. Had to realise the responsibility—family responsibility—she felt towards it.
And didn’t he even consider just how hard this might be—hearing that a chunk of her life, her heritage, had been taken from her without any discussion?
It wasn’t
