Chapters (53)
- Cover
- About Alison Stuart
- Also by Alison Stuart
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Prologue
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Author’s Note
- Acknowledgements
- Preview of The Goldminer's Sister
Danny considered the distant figures of Bert and his mates, still joshing each other as they wove down the road. Bert frequently came to school with a black eye and bruises on his arms and legs and a story about tripping and falling down the steep path from the family hut.
‘Have you written any more stories?’ Caleb asked.
Danny shook his head. ‘No.’ He screwed up his courage and looked up at Caleb. ‘I—I thought you … and Mama—you kissed her.’
‘Ah.’
That was not the answer Danny sought.
Caleb removed the pipe and tapped it against the heel of his boot, which looked every bit as dusty as Danny’s. He produced a tool from his seemingly capacious pockets and scraped at the bowl of the pipe, dislodging the singed tobacco. ‘Your mama and I … You know how you feel when you don’t have any friends? Well, I’m guessing that it’s pretty much the same for grown-ups. Your mama’s been by herself for a very long time—’
‘She has Netty,’ Danny interrupted.
‘Yes, she does and Netty’s a real good friend, but it’s a different sort of loneliness, Dan. I don’t expect you to understand but your mama and I we are—were—both lonely, and for a little while there we could have been a little more to each other than just friends.’ Caleb ran a hand through his hair. ‘But she’s got your Uncle Richard now and there’s something special about someone who’s known you a long time.’
Danny stared at Caleb in disbelief. ‘Do you think he might kiss her?’
‘I’m sure he’d like to.’
‘And will that mean Mama won’t be lonely any more?’
‘I hope for her sake it does, Dan.’
‘But—’ Danny broke off. He couldn’t put into words the hope that had kindled in his heart that Caleb might have been the one to stop Mama being lonely.
He hadn’t written any stories since the day he had shared his notebook with Caleb because the shadowy figure who had been his father had begun to fade away completely, replaced by this tall, fascinating American. When Danny had closed his eyes at night and prayed for his father, it was not the vanished Mr Greaves but Caleb Hunt he saw in his imagination.
‘But?’ Caleb prompted again.
‘Nothing.’
Danny wriggled off the bench and hopped down on to the road. He turned to wave at Caleb.
Caleb returned the wave with a salute.
Danny grinned and turned for home with more of a spring in his step. Things always seemed much better after talking to Caleb.
He makes Mama laugh …