Bring Me Sunshine Page 7

  Lian Chang put her bag down on her bunk and looked around. The cabin was tiny. Even smaller than she had expected. Cabin 320 was an inside cabin, which meant no porthole. No daylight. It was well lit but just a bit claustrophobic. Still, it had been the cheapest cabin she could get. This trip was all about timing and money.

  It didn’t take her long to unpack. Her case held mostly jeans and jumpers. She grimaced slightly as she put the jeans away. She wouldn’t grow out of them in just three weeks. Would she? She laid her hand across her stomach. No bump. Not yet. She wasn’t sure when it would start to show. Hopefully not too soon. Not before she got to the ice. To Colin. His photograph was in the bottom of her bag. She sat down on the bed and stared at his face. Colin had such beautiful blue eyes and a shock of sun bleached blond hair. By comparison, her hair was long and dark and straight, her eyes so brown they were almost black against the golden tones of her skin. Everyone said they made such an attractive couple. Everyone except her parents. They’d never met Colin. They would be horrified to think of their daughter with a gweilo. A ghost. A foreigner.

  And now …

  She put her hand on her stomach again. For her conservative parents, marriage to anyone other than the son of a good Chinese family was out of the question. And if they knew …

  But they didn’t. At least, not yet. They didn’t know she was on board this ship. They thought she was up in Queensland, visiting the Gold Coast with her girlfriends. By the time they found out she wasn’t there, it would be too late. She would be on her way to find Colin. She would tell him about the baby and they would announce they were engaged. Would her parents accept a white son-in-law and a mixed race grandchild?

  ‘They have to,’ she whispered. ‘But it doesn’t matter if they don’t. We’ll love our baby.’

  Of course they would. Even though the baby was an accident, Colin would love it. She was certain of that.

  Almost certain.

  Lian got to her feet. Sitting here moping was doing her no good at all. The ship was due to sail in a little while. Maybe she should go up on deck to watch. It wasn’t as if her parents were about to appear and drag her off the boat. And if they tried – well, she was twenty-one years old. That was old enough to make her own decisions! Not even her parents could override the law in their adopted country.

  As she set off down the passage towards the lifts, Lian spotted a crowd of people in the entrance area. More passengers arriving, she guessed. The third deck was the poor end of the passenger accommodation, but it was also the lobby and reception desk. Once they were away from port, she guessed – she hoped – that most of the passengers would remain on the upper decks. She was looking for a little peace and quiet.

  ‘Sorry,’ a tall gangly youth with a huge rucksack tried to push past her. For a few seconds they did a tiny dance in the hallway.

  ‘Hey! Barstow! What are you doing to that poor girl?’ Another youth appeared. This one was shorter, but solidly built. ‘Hello there!’ he beamed at Lian. ‘Is this chap bothering you?’ Lian wasn’t sure if the upper crust English accent was real or just put on.

  ‘No. Really. I was just heading to the lifts.’

  ‘Are you down here with us?’

  With the arrival of the third youth, Lian suddenly realised that they all had something in common. Each was wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with some sort of crest. She looked more closely at their faces. Seventeen, she guessed. Maybe eighteen.

  ‘I say, Barstow, she’s far too lovely for you,’ the newcomer angled his body between Lian and the tall youth. ‘She’s obviously a girl of taste and discernment, so you’re out too Miles. I am, on the other hand, just …’

  ‘Gentlemen. I hope you’re not bothering that young lady!’

  ‘No, sir.’ The three youths almost snapped to attention as an older man approached.

  ‘All right, why don’t you go and find your cabins. Then round up the rest of them. Let’s meet in the lounge on deck five in fifteen minutes. I want to do a head count as we depart – just to make sure no one has fallen overboard before we even leave port.’

  ‘OK.’ With an assortment of grins and winks, the three youths vanished down the corridor. Lian could hear them laughing as they went.

  ‘I hope they didn’t upset you,’ the older man said courteously.

  ‘No. It’s fine, really,’ Lian assured him. ‘Are you all really English?’

  ‘Yes. It’s gap year for them … They are taking a year off between school and university,’ he explained when he saw Lian’s frown. ‘I’m their teacher. I’m also supposed to be the chaperone.’

  ‘Good luck.’

  ‘I might just need it.’ A sudden yell echoed from further down the corridor. ‘They are harmless really. Well, mostly harmless and they will settle down. But if you do have any problems, don’t hesitate to come and find me.’

  ‘I’m sure they’ll be fine. Thanks.’

  Lian resumed her journey. A group of hormone-fuelled teenagers wasn’t her first choice for travelling companions, but it didn’t really bother her. They might be a bit noisy, but perhaps having some cheerful voices and all that youthful exuberance nearby would take her mind off things once in a while.

  The lift had just deposited another two passengers when Lian arrived in the lobby. She quickly jumped aboard and pressed the button for deck seven. She guessed she’d get all the fresh air she needed up there.

  At deck five, the lift paused and the doors slid open. An elderly woman clutching a huge purple handbag smiled at Lian as she joined her. A few seconds later, they had reached deck eight.

  ‘Thank you,’ the elderly woman said as Lian stood back to let her alight from the lift. Lian followed her, a little surprised to see someone of her age on board the ship. Still, she thought, she was hardly the right person to question anyone’s motives for making this journey.

  A huge crowd of people had gathered at the dock to wave farewell to the Cape Adare. The first sailing of a new, luxurious cruise ship to the most remote place on Earth was news. From her vantage point on the eighth deck, Jenny saw a sea of faces smiling up at her. People below were waving at friends and relatives on board the ship, while the hinged section of the great steel hull slowly folded back into place, sealing the gangway entrance against the ocean. Uniformed men scuttled around the dock, releasing the huge ropes that had held the ship fast. All it needed now was a brass band to give it a real sense of occasion.

  She could hear the ship’s engine, a low background noise, but at first there was no real sensation of movement. A thin gap appeared between the ship’s hull and the dock, gradually growing wider. Then the ship began to move slowly forward. It had docked facing up the river, looking towards the graceful arc of the Tasman Bridge that spanned the estuary. Now, slowly, the Cape Adare began to turn, pointing her eager bow to the south.

  The crowd on the dock was beginning to disperse, but not so the crowd on the observation deck. Jenny could see bright smiling faces all around her, people eager for adventure. They were a mixed group, of all ages, although no children were allowed on the cruise. She’d heard quite a few English accents, particularly among the lads leaning precariously over the side railing. There were quite a lot of couples, holding hands and smiling at each other in anticipation of the adventure ahead. Jenny sighed as she looked at them. If only … she thrust that thought aside. This wasn’t a time for self-pity. She had an adventure ahead – and who knew what was in store for her. She let her eyes wander once more over the excited and happy crowd.

  The face she was looking for wasn’t there. The man from cabin 642 obviously had no one to wave goodbye to him from Hobart dock. She wondered if there had been anyone at Sydney to wave him away on his journey – or had he also spent that departure alone in the confines of his cabin?

  Chapter Six

  ‘I’d like to welcome you all on board the Cape Adare, for this expedition to the last great wilderness on the planet.’

  Captain Haugen’s words drew a sma
ttering of cheers from the people gathered in the observation lounge.

  ‘During the next twenty days, you will see the place described by Captain James Cook as a country doomed never to feel the warmth of the sun – but to lie forever buried under snow and ice. Cook felt that any man – or woman – who ventured there was quite welcome to the experience. But fear not – for there were other early explorers who felt the Antarctic was full of wonders beyond our powers to imagine. And I, for one, agree with them.’

  Jenny looked around the crowded lounge, but she didn’t see the face she was looking for. Her tall, dark and handsome ‘friend’ was probably the only passenger not present for the captain’s pre-dinner welcome. The passengers were there for the free cocktails, and to find out what lay ahead of them. Jenny, like the rest of the expedition team, was there because it was part of her job. And, like the other crew members, she would be toasting the success of the voyage in soda rather than champagne. Despite that, she was rather enjoying herself. In some ways, she was finding it surprisingly liberating to be among total strangers. No one here had any expectations of her, apart from doing the job she was being paid to do.

  The captain had finished his speech, and now it was Karl’s turn to outline the programme for the expedition, and the rules. Most of it was familiar to Jenny. She’d been reading up on such things during the past day and a half at sea, when not fighting with a life jacket or exploding coke cans in front of handsome men. She looked around the room again, as Karl announced a full lifeboat drill for the next morning.

  ‘No one is excused,’ the expedition leader said loudly. ‘This is a safety requirement under maritime law. The good news is that despite the many, many times my crew has run this drill, we’ve never had to use if for real … yet.’

  The listening passengers laughed on cue. So did Karl’s team who had no doubt heard the line before.

  ‘After the drill, the first seminar of the voyage will take place in the Wilkes Lecture Theatre on Deck Four. You’ll be hearing from Jenny Payne – who’ll be talking about our first destination – Macquarie Island. We’ll reach the island early the next morning – so you want to be prepared.’

  Jenny felt a few eyes turn her way. She smiled and nodded confidently.

  ‘Each evening, the next day’s schedule will be available from the expedition desk which is also on deck four, and conveniently close to the bar.’ That gave rise to another round of laughter, but the passengers were getting restless. It was time for that pre-dinner cocktail.

  As if sensing the moment, Karl finished his speech by inviting all the passengers to the bar for a complementary drink. Jenny stepped aside in case she was trampled in the rush. As she did, she kept her eyes open for a shock of dark hair.

  ‘He isn’t here then, dear?’

  ‘Sorry?’ Startled, Jenny looked down at the speaker. The woman had to be seventy if she was a day. She was short, and almost as round as she was tall. Her eyes were a much darker grey than her hair, and they twinkled as she spoke. She was clutching an enormous purple handbag.

  ‘You were obviously looking for someone. I assume anyone who could cause that much interest in a young girl like yourself must be a man.’

  ‘I … I was just wondering who I might have on my table for dinner,’ Jenny replied, clutching at straws. Each of the expedition team was assigned a table for lunch and dinner, where they were expected to chat to the passengers. It was just part of the job. Jenny was starting to realise there would be no ‘days off’ during the next three weeks, and very little personal time. That wasn’t such a bad thing, though. If she was busy, she wouldn’t be worrying about what the hell she was going to do when she made it back to dry land again, or thinking about Ray … or …

  ‘Of course you were,’ the elderly lady continued in a conspiratorial tone. ‘Tell me, is he frightfully handsome?’

  Jenny started to smile. There was something in the woman’s face that made it hard to do otherwise. ‘I’m not telling you anything about him,’ Jenny said with mock severity. ‘You’d probably steal him away from under my nose.’

  ‘In my youth, I might have done just that,’ the older woman replied. ‘But I’m afraid my stealing days are over.’

  They both laughed.

  ‘You’re Jenny – our lecturer tomorrow, aren’t you?’ the woman asked.

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘It’s nice to meet you, Jenny. I’m Vera Horsley.’

  Something about the name seemed vaguely familiar to Jenny, but looking down at the woman, she knew they’d never met before. ‘Welcome on board Mrs Horsley.’

  ‘Please call me Vera. Do you have some gruesome tales for us? Shipwrecks? Cannibals perhaps? There’s nothing like a bit of death and disaster to set the pulse racing.’

  ‘You’ll just have to wait and see,’ Jenny said.

  ‘I’ll be in the front row,’ Vera promised. ‘Now, Jenny is that the ship’s doctor I spy over there. That charming gentleman with all the gold braid?’

  Jenny followed Vera’s nod. ‘Yes, that’s him. Are you feeling unwell? I’ll go and get him …’

  ‘No. Don’t worry. I’m fine. I just want to have a little chat with him about amputating frostbitten toes.’

  Of course you do, Jenny thought as Vera and her purple handbag set off across the room. What a strange woman. Nice – but strange. Jenny wasn’t at all sure if she wanted Vera on her table at dinner, or not. Conversations about surgical procedures were not exactly the sort of table talk she was looking for.

  She need not have worried. By accident or possibly design, Vera was seated with the ship’s doctor just two tables from Jenny’s seat near the glass doors leading to a small balcony at the rear of the restaurant. Until now, Jenny had taken all her meals in the crew mess, and it was nice to enjoy the more luxurious surroundings. Her dinner companions included an English teacher, who was apparently chaperoning a group of youths on a school related adventure. The teenagers in question were seated at two nearby tables, for which Jenny was secretly glad. She hadn’t escaped her university students just to take on another group. The chaperone, Eric Dempsey looked to be about thirty. He seemed a nice man, very polite. He already knew the tiny Asian girl who was seated with them. The girl, Lian Chang, was extremely pretty, but very quiet. The food was very good, but Lian didn’t eat much. She pushed the food around her plate and sent it back almost untouched.

  ‘If the food isn’t to your liking,’ Jenny offered, ‘I’m sure we can arrange something else.’

  ‘No. That’s not it at all. I’m just feeling a bit queasy. Seasick, no doubt.’

  Jenny hoped for Lian’s sake she wasn’t seasick. The weather at the moment was good – the water quite calm. According to Karl, once they hit the southern ocean, things would be entirely different, and Jenny had already equipped herself with a generous supply of seasickness pills. The meal passed pleasantly enough, although Lian excused herself immediately after not eating her dessert. Jenny was wondering if she should offer to help the girl, when she became aware of a crowd developing around her table.

  ‘Gentlemen, this is Miss Payne. She’s a lecturer on the expedition team,’ Eric explained to the gathering of young men.

  ‘Wow. The lecturers back home don’t look like you,’ one of the youths commented.

  ‘Enough of that,’ Eric said sternly.

  ‘Sorry.’ The young man looked contrite.

  Jenny smiled to show that everything was fine. She’d dealt with more than a few over-exuberant school leavers in her day. These English boys couldn’t be any worse than the West Sydney lads, although for some reason their accents and manners made them seem older than they were. The thought did occur to her that she should have a quiet word with the hotel manager. The bar staff might need to be on the alert.

  One of the things that Vera had noticed about getting old was the fact that she didn’t sleep as much as she once had. These days, waking up at five o’clock in the morning usually meant a cup of tea in bed with a g
ood book. Not this morning though. This morning she stepped smartly out of bed and dressed quickly. Taking her cup of tea, she set out towards the observation lounge. It was just getting light outside. She thought it might be fun to watch the sun rise, while she waited for the rest of the ship to come alive.

  As she stood in the glass sided lift, slowly ascending to deck seven, Vera saw some feet on the stairs. As she went up, the feet came down, and their owner glanced at her briefly as she sailed silently past. My, she thought. He was handsome. No wonder that young lecturer was interested. Any woman who wasn’t interested in a man who looked like that was probably dead. When the lift deposited her outside the observation lounge, Vera moved quickly to the stairs and looked down. The stairs were empty. He must have stopped at deck six. Probably a passenger heading back to his cabin. Strange though that he should be up and about this early. Normally it was only old folk like her who couldn’t sleep.

  Shrugging, Vera walked through into the observation lounge. It was empty, as she suspected. She moved towards the huge glass windows that overlooked the bow of the ship, and the seemingly endless ocean beyond. In the dim pre-dawn light, the water looked dark and forbidding. Vera tried to imagine being alone out here in a small boat. Maybe adrift. Or lost. She shivered. Hic sunt dracones! Here there be dragons!

  She lowered her handbag onto a chair, and was about to sit down, when she noticed something lying on an adjoining table. It was a paper napkin, but there was something drawn on it. Vera fetched it, and sat down to study it.

  Someone had drawn a man’s hand on the napkin. Despite the flimsy nature of the paper, the hand itself evoked great strength. The fingers were long and powerful. They could have gripped a gun, or a woman, with equal ease. Vera’s eyes were drawn to the ring on the middle finger. A skull ring. It didn’t look like the sort of ring that would go with a motorcycle jacket and tattoos. The ring appeared finely crafted. A ring with a message that went beyond mere masculine posturing.

  ‘This is very good,’ Vera murmured to herself. ‘I wonder …’