Page 97 of Thursdays at Orange Blossom House
All right, Dorothy says.What’s your plan?
Cornelia looks pleased with herself as she starts to sign.I could move in with you. Then I could help you all the time.
Dorothy’s mouth drops open and she knows that Cornelia will notice because she observes everything about people’s faces. It’s how she works out tone and meaning.
What she’ll read on Dorothy’s face is surprise, probably mixed with irritation. Because Dorothy’s first thought is that she and Frederick will never be alone with their baby – or each other – and given how many extra hours he’s going to spend working they will start to feel more like housemates than husband and wife.
You don’t like the idea, Cornelia says.
It’s a surprise, Dorothy says truthfully.Can we talk about it once the baby arrives?
She avoids Cornelia’s eyes because she doesn’t actually want to talk about it ever again, but she’ll have to, because Cornelia will feel slighted if she doesn’t.
Cornelia nods and turns towards the kitchen door, through which their mother emerges carrying a tray of cake and coffee.
‘You’ve been quiet,’ their mother says, looking meaningfully at her daughters.
‘Just having a chat,’ Dorothy says, then she changes position on the chair.
‘How are things at the café?’ Clara says to Frederick.
‘They’re good,’ Frederick says quickly, then he catches Dorothy’s eye. ‘And we have something to tell you.’
We?Dorothy knows what he’s going to say, but there was no discussion about this beforehand. She can’t say anything, though, because she has to stand by her husband even if she doesn’t agree with him. That’s what her mother has always done with her father.
Not that it ever seems to work the other way – Dorothy can’t think of a single instance when her father changed his view to align with her mother’s. Not because he’s not a good man, or because he’s unsympathetic. No doubt it’s because it’s never occurred to him.
‘Was ist das?’ her father says.
‘There’s a place in Port Douglas,’ Frederick says, sitting forwards. ‘We have the chance to buy it. To run it.’
‘As well as the one in Cairns?’
‘Yes.’
Clara frowns as her eyes meet Dorothy’s. ‘But you’re about to have a baby. How are you going to manage this?’
‘It’s too good an opportunity to refuse.’
Frederick’s voice is alive with enthusiasm, and this is why Dorothy hasn’t pushed back harder against him when they’ve gone over and over this subject. Frederick is so passionate about it, and made so happy by it, that she doesn’t want to crush him. He has supported her these past few months and never complained. She knows what Grace Maud would say – that it’s his baby too so he shouldn’t complain. Yet Dorothy knows what Grace Maud doesn’t: that Frederick’s had to live with her mood swings and doubts and fears. He’s held her in the night when she’s been desolate about things she can’t name because she’s not sure what they are. So she doesn’t want to tell him that he can’t do something that excites him, no matter how much it scares her.
‘So you will work in Port Douglas?’ asks Dieter.
‘Yes. At least to start with. And we’ll put in a manager here.’
Dorothy’s parents look at each other, then away, but they don’t look at her or Frederick.
‘We’re not here to ask for money,’ Frederick says. ‘I should have made that clear. You’ve already been very generous. I’m going to take out a loan.’
‘We’regoing to take out a loan,’ Dorothy says. They’re both in this, even if the new dream isn’t hers.
Clara is still frowning. ‘As long as you’re sure,’ she says to Dorothy.
Dorothy wants to say that she’s not sure. That she’ll never be sure. But she won’t do that to her husband.
‘It’s a risk,’ she says instead, ‘but so is having a baby. If we don’t take risks we won’t achieve anything.’ And she partly believes it’s true.
‘All right,’ Clara says softly.
