Moonlight Plains by Barbara Hannay Read Free Book Online Page A

‘You don’t understand, Mr Martin. It’s okay. We’re getting married.’
    Kitty stifled a gasp. This was a nightmare spinning out of control.
    ‘Kitty’s my girl,’ Andy insisted. ‘She and I – we’re getting married.’
    ‘The only thing you’re getting is out of my house. Don’t you ever show your face here again.’
    Andy had the sense to give up. Kitty was grateful for the dark, so she couldn’t see the look on his face, but she heard the heavy tread of his boots descending the steps.
    She had no time to work out whether she felt sad or mad. Her grandfather turned his attention to her and she braced herself for the full force of his venom.
    She expected shouting and righteous outrage, but when he spoke, his voice was menacingly quiet.
    ‘You didn’t resist,’ he told her coldly.
    ‘But I –’
    ‘You’re a daughter of Eve. You’ve shamed us, girl. You’ve shamed your family and you’ve shamed yourself in the eyes of the Lord.’
    ‘I’m sorry, Grandfather.’
    ‘Sorry? Is that all you can say?’
    It was all she dared to say. He wouldn’t listen to excuses and she wasn’t about to lay blame. How could she explain the muddled thinking that had led her to give in to her friend?
    ‘How could you shame us, Kitty? After everything your grandmother and I have done for you?’
    His words seared her, and she remembered the first time she’d met her stern North Queensland grandparents when they’d come to collect her from the children’s home in Sydney. Her parents had both died of tuberculosis and these people were her rescuers! How she’d loved them – and despite their strict ways, they’d always been caring and kind. For the past ten years she’d been happy.
    There was the sound of a key in the lock. Her grandmother was opening the front door. Grandma turned on the hall light and it spilled over her, revealing to Kitty her crimped grey hair, her aging, pale face and wide, worried blue eyes.
    ‘Come inside, Alex,’ she said in her quiet, no-nonsense Scottish accent. ‘You don’t want to share this with the whole street.’
    Grandfather’s narrowed eyes glinted as he glared at Kitty. ‘I’ll have no temptress in this house.’
    There was a shocked gasp from the hallway and her grandmother hurried forward and pulled at her husband’s coat sleeve. ‘For heaven’s sake, Alex, you can’t throw our granddaughter into the street.’
    He blinked at his wife, taking in her words, then drew himself up tall, hooked his thumbs beneath the lapels of his coat. ‘Maybe not tonight, but the girl needs to be put away from temptation. And in his own time, God will punish her for this.’

6
    Moonlight Plains, 2013
    Sally slept and dreamed of Josh.
    They were together on Magnetic Island, on the Forts Walk, one of their favourite tracks, which wound through bushland and pockets of rainforest. Every so often the track offered spectacular views of the blue and white bays and the Coral Sea below, dazzling in the sunlight.
    Sally was trying to dawdle, giving herself a chance to look up into the gum trees for the koalas that frequented this track, but Josh was a fitness fiend, always wanting to go faster. If he’d been with his football mates, he’d have tried to run the whole way.
    So they compromised, dawdling at times and then breaking into a jog, and then stopping in the gentle winter sunlight to admire the best of the sea views.
    High on the ridge above Radical Bay, Josh stood behind Sally, slipped his arms around her and nuzzled her neck, giving her shivers of deliciousness.
    Loving the moment, she nestled into his warmth, relishing the firmness of his strong chest as she gazed down at the tall hoop pines and the huge, smooth rocks that studded the headlands at either end of the bay.
    ‘Would you like to see the Greek islands?’ she asked him. ‘They’re probably as pretty as this, but there’d be lots of lovely tavernas and gorgeous cafes along the way.’
    When Josh didn’t answer, she