THIRTY
NEUTRAL BAY 1910-1912
Florence and George lived in the house on Phillips
Street with Grace and William and Alexander, working and living together
without a thought of what lay over the horizon for all of them in just a few years
time.
Several weeks after she had moved in as housekeeper,
Florence moved into the bedroom with George, which he had up to then occupied
by himself. They were to all intents, married, just like Grace and William. The
affection they had found on the walk to the Neutral Bay Wharf had blossomed
into love, but a love she found different from the one with Thomas. This was a
more settled contented love, one which existed when they were just together
with each other. It seemed a logical step to all in the house, and was a common
enough situation in Australia at that time. They had had further 'walks' around
the neighbourhood and down to the Neutral Bay Wharf, and as might be expected,
they drew closer and closer to each other. The need for companionship was
present in both of them, and so, when the subject was raised by either of them,
it was accepted by both, and objected to by no one else in the house, after
all, William and Grace had not yet become married.
Her child grew, and although Florence complained in
her letters to her Ma in England about her tardiness in walking, by the end of
1910 Clyda was moving around the house on her own feet. She started to talk and
became the normal sort of chatterbox for a child of her age. George grew more
and more fond of her, and for her part, Clyda came automatically to regard him
as her father. He loved her like a child of his own, though he had none, he
cared for her in the same way as he would have cared for his own, and with
Florence, brought her up to be a good, well balanced child. Life appeared to be
good for all of them.
During the middle part of 1912, when winter had
lowered the temperatures and rain was falling heavily, Florence turned to
George one evening. They had lit the gas lights in the living room and were
seated side by side on a new sofa they had bought for the house. Clyda had been
fed and put to bed for the night. Florence turned to George, threading her arm
into his as he read the morning paper for that day.
'George' she said. George grunted in reply, intent
on reading the latest news of the build up of the new Australian navy. 'George,
pay attention for a second.' He sighed reluctantly and smiled, then tucked the
paper down by his leg against the side of the arm of the sofa.
'What my love' he said, pecking her on the nose with
a small kiss.
'We’re going to be having a baby George,' she said,
'Soon.' She added quietly. George was silent for a moment as the announcement
sunk into his brain, then he half turned in the seat and folded her in his
arms.
'That’s beaut Flo, really beaut. When is it going to
be?'
'I think about January or maybe late December, if I
got my dates right.' George kissed her gently and with affection, and felt
nothing could be better in his life, or theirs.
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