The Blue Mountain Affair

Reunion

 Reunion 

The smell in the small home was intoxicating, sweet, sugary apple pie and some sort of savoury stew made from the meat they brought, stirred Peter's stomach something fierce, and he was sure the whole household could hear it calling to be fed.  He sat near the hearth, listening to Joe and Charles talk about the men who could be wandering through the forest, right to the Marsden’s home, right now.  The only reason that they knew where to go was because of Lane and her Pa’s map. Joe said there shouldn’t be any reason they would want to head this way, because they talked about Black town and Sydney, which was the other direction, unless of course they got lost, and started heading in the wrong way.  Which they agreed they weren’t going to put past some of them.

Peter watched his brother liven up, when he spoke of what Gregory and his comrades had planned to do, and also about their own plans, once they were able to claim their tickets of leave. Joe was always so focused on work it worried him.  Sure they hadn’t had things easy but Joe was like this before they got transported from England and he flourished in the labour they had to do out here, when others just keeled over with the effort.  That’s why Joe was bigger that Peter, well that and they both learnt what was edible.  They both would add to their meagre fair with what they could forage for throughout the day, the forest was rich with food, you just had to look.

Peter noticed on one or two occasions throughout the conversation that Joe would look over to the kitchen, whether he was anticipating the pie just as much he was, or looking at Lane, Peter couldn’t be sure.  His arm was throbbing so bad, he was happy to sit back and let Joe explain their circumstances, but Charles Marsden was determined to have him join the conversation.

“What do you think Peter?” He asked.

“The same as my brother, but I would still be on the weary side.” Peter sank farther into the chair hoping that would discourage anymore questions.

“What’s wrong, is your arm hurting?” Lane asked.  Peter looked over to her and knew she could tell  he was in some kind of pain.  “I’m going to get you some tea made up alright, for the pain and maybe a touch of something to help you sleep.”

“That’s sound good Lane, I feel as though my brain is going to pound out of my skull, but not the sleep stuff I don’t like feeling out of control.”

“You should have spoken up.” Charle's said, with slight impatience.

“I’ve lived with the pain for this long it didn’t make a difference.”

“Do you want to lie down?” Penny asked.

“No, no, I’m waiting for Lanes pie.” He said, smiling at Lane as she turned to get the tea.

“Pa I think we may have some company soon I found…” Five sets of eyes locked on the man that suddenly charged into the room through the front door.  Joe was almost on his feet before Charles laid a hand over his arm to halt him “Or we may have already received them, what’s going on Pa?”  This was Shawn, Peter presumed. He didn’t know what he was expecting but the young man standing in the open doorway wasn’t it.  He was perhaps a bit younger than Joe, extremely tall and seemed as though he was still doing some filling out, it would explain why the pants fit though.  This time, both he and Joe stood up along with Charles to greet the newcomer.

“Shawn, this is Joe and Peter, they're going to stay with us for a while, they saw Lane to us safely.” Charles said.

“Lane?  Where’s Lane?  I haven’t seen her in over a year I think.” Shawn said, forgetthing about Peter and Joel for the moment, as he turned about the room. He was searching for Lane so fast he almost fell over his own feet, and when he found her, Peter didn’t think the young man knew what to do with himself “You’re not Lane, Lanes smaller.” He practically squeaked out.