O, Fortuna

Chapter 20

The next three days at Faridah passed more quickly than Grace might have thought possible, though sleeping through half of Sunday with a hangover certainly helped speed the process. She did venture into Monteny to look at the markets that afternoon but with the sun glaring down tauntingly, she retreated to the shade of an enormous fig tree in the civic park to sit down with an icy pineapple drink and watch the crowds pass by for nearly an hour. The town itself was pleasant with its small, busy shops and cafes and the stalls doing as brisk a trade but Grace found the old trees lining the thoroughfare of the Monteny were by far its most beautiful feature. Where much of the settler’s architecture of the town had been lost or altered by the passing styles of the decades, outside them the jacarandas and gums had only grown stronger and taller as the years moved on.

Grace remained at Faridah for the rest of her stay. While the Phelps' went about their own duties from dawn til dusk and emerged up at to the house for lunch and dinner, she did not have the opportunity to enquire any further on the subject of June, or to find out if Liam had finally gotten around to admitting he was leaving or what had distressed Deanna so much Saturday evening out on the veranda. If Rosa knew of anything untoward, she did not let on, merely continued on with her usual tasks which Grace now understood included afternoon tea with the lady of the house, a ritual Grace had to admit she could easily get used to. The housekeeper remained enthusiastic about the prospect of Grace's friends coming over at the end of the year and asked dozens of questions about them, as well as what Grace might like to do to entertain them. If there was one thing Grace was sure of, it was that Rosa and Sid would get along famously, both loved their music and had a fondness for the crooners and Sid was an apprentice chef in Grace's favourite Moroccan restaurant in Fremantle.

As she had promised Rosa, Grace cleaned June's bedroom and ensuite, covered all the furniture with sheets, closed the curtains over and the door to the room, casting the ensuite door a final thoughtful glance when she recalled the safe in the vanity unit. Nothing had been mentioned of it and though Grace was certain that something so heavy would not have been easily smuggled into the house, she could not dispute there would be many opportunities to do so when all the family were busy with their duties away from it. Maybe something would come up about it from Thomas or Rosa in the future or she would find the combination elsewhere. Though Grace had been made all the more intrigued about her great aunt's past, she was beginning to see the sense in Liam's wisdom that it did not actually matter anymore now June was gone.

On Tuesday, with the Phelps’ and Rosa bound for Nambour and their visit to the solicitor, Grace took a seat at the desk in the library and began opening the drawers, only to find meticulous organisation once again, all of the stationary ordered smartly in trays, pencils all sharpened and, as she discovered, all the pens even appeared to be working, but nothing of importance. She turned in the swivel chair to face the west wall of the study, trying to determine where the history section was and, behind it, the safe. The thick spines of biographies, even from across the length of the room, made the task easier but Grace still did not have that combination either, nor had she felt comfortable asking for it. Sitting resignedly back in the swivel chair, she had to acknowledge a secure place that others, if only a trusted few, could access was hardly going to be the sort of place a woman was likely to conceal her most treasured personal items.

As ludicrous as it was, as foolish as she felt doing it, Grace asked aloud

"June, if you're still here, it would be nice if you could it explain..everything." The request went unanswered, only the birds outside offered anything resembling conversation and Grace shook her head "You might have thought perhaps I wasn't a total arse but when it comes down to it, I'm not that clever..and if you were trying to make some point, I can't bloody see it!" Still no answer, which vexed Grace a few moments until she realised she was trying to commune with the dead. Her mobile phone had had no signal for days now, in spite of a tower being just a few kilometres south-east; so if the spirit world had issues getting someone who had been dead a few weeks on the line, that didn't seem that unreasonable.