Call of the Kiwi by Sarah Lark Read Free Book Online Page B

looked up when Miss Coleridge opened the door. Gabrielle was hanging up her school uniforms in one of the four narrow wardrobes. Another girl—Gloria recognized a petite blonde who had been with Gabrielle in the entrance hall—appeared to have already finished putting away her things. She was placing a few family pictures on her night table.
    “Fiona, Gabrielle—this is your new roommate,” Miss Coleridge said. “She’s fro m . . . ”
    “New Zealand, we already know, Housemother,” Gabrielle said, curtsying politely. “We met her when we arrived.”
    “Well, then you all already have something to talk about,” Miss Coleridge said, clearly happy not to have to break the ice between the girls. “Please accompany Gloria to dinner.”
    With that, she left the room, shutting the door behind her. Gloria stood awkwardly at the entrance. Fiona and Gabrielle had already claimed the beds by the window, so she plopped down on the bed in the furthest corner, wishing she could simply pull a blanket over her head and hide. But the other girls did not intend to leave Gloria alone.
    “Here we have our blind little bird,” Gabrielle remarked nastily. “Though I’ve heard she can really sing. Isn’t your mother that Maori singer?”
    “Really? Her mother is a niiigger.” Fiona dragged the last word out. “But she doesn’t even look black,” she added, looking Gloria over intently.
    “Maybe a cuckoo’s egg?” Gabrielle giggled.
    Gloria gulped. “ I . . . w e . . . back home there aren’t any cuckoos.”
    She had no idea what she had done to become the object of ridicule without cause. But she understood that she was stuck.
    And there was no chance of escape.
     

5
    C harlotte Greenwood arrived at Kiward Station with her parents a month after she had met Jack in Christchurch and following a formal invitation from Gwyneira McKenzie. The official occasion was a small celebration for successfully herding the sheep down from the highlands. Although this was a routine occurrence and not normally cause for celebration, Jack had hounded his mother to come up with a reason to invite the Greenwoods, and this was as good as any other.
    Jack was beaming as Charlotte alighted from the coach. She was wearing a simple, dark-brown dress that highlighted her hair, and her huge brown eyes shone.
    “Did you have a pleasant trip, Charlotte?” he asked.
    Charlotte smiled, and dimples appeared in the corners of her mouth. Jack was once again smitten.
    “The roads are much better than I remembered,” Charlotte replied in her melodious voice.
    Jack nodded. He yearned to say something intelligent, but he could not think clearly in Charlotte’s presence. Everything in him wanted to hold this girl, protect her, bind her to him, but if he did not manage to say something intelligent, she would think of him as the village idiot.
    Nevertheless, he managed to introduce the girl to his parents, at which point James McKenzie expressed precisely the gallantry that had escaped Jack.
    “A boarding-school education in England suddenly strikes me as a very good idea,” James remarked, “if it produces women as charming as you, Miss Greenwood. And you’re interested in Maori culture, is that right?”
    Charlotte nodded. “I’d really like to learn the language,” she explained. “And since Jack speaks fluent Maor i . . . ” She gave Jack a quick look that James couldn’t help but notice. He had already noticed the light in his son’s eyes. But now he saw that Charlotte appeared to be interested too.
    “He’ll no doubt spend the next three months teaching you words like Taumatawhatatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoroukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu. ” James winked at her.
    Charlotte bit her lip. “They have words that long?”
    She furrowed her brow in that manner that had charmed Jack when they first met.
    He shook his head and reassured the girl. “That’s a mountain on the North Island. And even the Maori think it’s