Read Online Beyond the Sunset by Anna Jacobs - Free Book Online Page B

We’ve arranged for my work to be taken off what Reece owes them, a day of my work cancels out half a day of his. Mr Southerham didn’t like that, but he didn’t have much choice. Reece told him straight out he wouldn’t let his wife work for nothing.’
    ‘Why they think women’s work isn’t worth as much as men’s, I’ll never know,’ Pandora said. She checked the beans that had been soaking overnight. ‘I’ll put these on to cook now, shall I? Thank goodness for dried peas and beans.’
    ‘And tins of jam. We eat a lot of bread and jam here, don’t we? I just wish there was more fruit and vegetables. Kevin’s got a lemon tree and he grows melons, too. But he only put in enough for himself this year. Reece says he’ll bring us a slice or two. They’re delicious. There are grape vines too, but they’ve not fruited yet.’
    ‘At least we get plenty of fresh meat. It’s so easy for Mr Southerham to go out and kill a kangaroo. He’s a very good shot.’
    She’d managed to speak quite cheerfully this morning, Pandora thought as they separated to continue their work. She was getting better at hiding her homesickness. Maybe one day it’d fade completely.
    It hadn’t done so far.
    Cassandra watched her younger sister put the second tin of dough into the oven, then clear up the mess of flour from the table top. Pandora’s homesickness was no better, she could tell that. But her sister was trying so hard to hide it and what good would it do to keep mentioning it?
    They must just hope she’d settle down as time passed and lose those dark shadows under her eyes. Once they started attending the monthly church services at the shop, they’d meet some eligible young men, surely. Cassandra’s dearest wish was for her three sisters to fall in love and get married, then all of them settle close to one another.
    There were supposed to be ten men for every woman here in the Swan River Colony, so it wasn’t an impossible dream, surely?
    It was three years now since Pandora’s fiancé had died. Her youngest sister seemed to have got over losing Bill. Time she found someone else.
    At least here in Australia they were all safe from their aunt. That was what mattered. If the price of staying alive was a few months’ unhappiness for Pandora till she settled down here, then it was well worth it.

4
    H arry watched Mr Featherworth and decided the old fellow was nervous. Now, why? What did they want to see him for today, anyway?
    The lawyer cleared his throat. ‘We’re concerned that there are some – um, anomalies in the accounts for groceries supplied to the maid.’
    Damn! How had they found that out? Well, good thing he’d been ready for any eventuality. These two silly old fools would never catch him out. The clerk was looking at him as if expecting the worst. Harry deliberately kept them waiting for an answer.
    ‘The biscuits, for instance, and the amounts of flour and sugar supplied,’ Ralph prompted. ‘They don’t tally with what Dot received.’
    Harry gave him a slow, confident smile and saw him blink in surprise. ‘No, they don’t.’
    ‘You admit it?’
    ‘Yes. I’ve been doing it to save money for the new owners. I can give you the real accounts, which will show how much I’ve saved. What you’ve been giving that maid was too generous.’
    Both men were frowning at him. He didn’t understand people like them. Were they so stupid they wanted to spend more of their clients’ money than they needed? They must be. Why else would they have sent Zachary to Australia cabin class. Harry hated the thought of that lanky idiot living in luxury on the Blake sisters’ money, because Harry had plans for that money himself. He intended to woo one of them, and get the rest to appoint him manager permanently. He’d do whatever it took to achieve that. He tried again to explain.
    ‘Dot didn’t need such a generous provision of food, Mr Featherworth. She’s only a small woman. If she’d complained of being