Page 50 of The Girl from the Tea Garden
‘Smile,’ he ordered on the spur of the moment, focusing on her.
Adela laughed and pulled a pose. Then he was pointing the camera back at the Gaddi shepherds, before they disappeared from view.
‘Can we get nearer their camp?’ she asked.
Sam nodded, stringing the camera round his neck and securing the ponies to a nearby tree. They set off on foot across the high meadow. The wet grass soon soaked Adela’s shoes, but she didn’t care; she was spellbound by the sparkling dew and the carpet of starlike white and yellow flowers. The whole hillside glittered like a jewel-studded blanket.
At the far side they could see the glow of early fires and smell sweet woodsmoke. Women in gaudy flared skirts belted with woollen rope were already out foraging for kindling and cutting sheaves of grass for the animals. Adela went near enough one group to hear their chatter and see the glint of silver jewellery at their wrists as they worked their knives.
Impulsively, she ran forward to greet them, pressing her palms together.
‘Namaste!’ she called out.
They stopped and stared. A rapid conversation ended in a peal of laughter, and then a young, pretty girl with braids of black hair stepped towards her and returned the greeting. She ran to an elderly woman who was cooking at an open fire and came back with a flat steaming chapatti– unusually golden in colour– and offered it to Adela. A gaggle of children crowded around her.
Adela turned to Sam and beckoned. ‘Come on, let’s share it.’ She tore the hot bread in two, stuffing a piece into her mouth. It tasted strongly of corn. ‘Delicious,’ she said, beaming.
The women laughed and pulled their shawls over their hair as Sam came striding towards them, grinning. Munching some chapatti, he struggled with a few words, which made them laugh harder.
‘What did you say to them?’ asked Adela.
‘I was trying to thank them,’ Sam murmured, ‘but maybe I’ve just proposed marriage.’
Adela laughed. He reverted to Hindustani and thanked them again. One of the little boys hung on to Sam’s hand and pointed at his camera.
‘Would you like me to take your photo?’ he asked. The boy grinned. Sam asked permission of the women. There was much loud discussion, and then one of the older women decreed that he could.
Quickly he took pictures of the children, and then the young woman who had given the chapatti stepped forward and solemnly posed, regarding the camera with bold dark eyes. The older women upbraided her and chased her inside the tent.
‘Time to go,’ Sam said, swiftly packing away his camera in the hard brown case, ‘before the men find us distracting the breakfast makers.’
Adela, wanting to give them something in return, pulled an embroidered handkerchief out of her pocket and held it out to the older woman who had sent Chapatti Girl indoors and seemed to be in charge.
‘Please,’ she said, smiling.
The bemused woman took it, running her work-roughened fingers over the flowers that Clarrie had once embroidered in bright silk threads. She gave Adela a gap-toothed smile of thanks. As Adela and Sam retreated, the woman was handing around the handkerchief for the others to admire.
Back at the treeline, they retrieved the horses. The sun was now up.
‘Sorry I’ve made you late for the clinic,’ Sam said with a rueful look.
‘I’m not sorry at all.’ Adela smiled. ‘I wouldn’t have missed this for anything. You’ll show me the photographs someday, won’t you?’
‘Of course. It’ll give me an excuse to come into Simla and see you.’ He winked.
Adela’s stomach fluttered. ‘I’d like that.’
He gave her his hand and helped her up into the saddle, even though they both knew she didn’t need it. She held on to his strong grip, looking down at him.
‘Auntie said you called at Briar Rose Cottage while I was away at Belgooree. Did you come to see me, Sam?’
She saw the colour creep into his jaw. His hazel eyes held her look.
‘Yes, I hoped you would be there.’
She squeezed his hand. ‘I’m sorry I wasn’t.’ A muscle twitched in his lean cheek, as if he struggled with whether to tell her something.
But he dropped his hold and turned away. ‘Better get you back to the mission before Fatima sends out a search party.’
