Free Bilgarra Springs by Louise Rotondo

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five

    S trangers
    Aurora was trying desperately to keep her attention focused on her book. She must have read the same two paragraphs at least three times and it just wasn’t going in. Her mind kept wandering. She had caught herself unconsciously looking at the bottom drawer a couple of times. She finally gave up on the book and put it down. This time she deliberately looked at the bottom drawer. Should she open the journal and have a read? As she lay there for a few minutes a battle raged in her mind. There were reasons both for and against reading it and they were as equally compelling as each other. She also had to admit that she was a little hurt by the fact that Gran had never mentioned this place or the people. She had thought that she and Gran had been close. To find out that there was a seemingly large part of her life that Gran had not shared had injured her feelings more than a little.
    In the end she got up and retrieved the journal from the bottom drawer. She sat cross legged in the middle of the bed and laid it on the quilt in front of her sticking her hands in her lap. She looked at the book. It couldn’t be that hard to open it, surely. She gingerly reached out and opened the front cover brushing her fingertips over the words ‘Isabella Lily Munro’ . She drew in a deep breath and turned the first page over.
21 December 1945
Tomorrow we marry. I have been a little cheeky in writing my married name inside this journal, although I think that no harm will come from it. After tomorrow I will no longer be Isabella Lily Frances. I am both excited and terrified: excited over a new beginning and terrified at launching myself into a new life. It’s not that things will change dramatically, but they will change. Charles has organised a woman to do the cooking, cleaning and general domestic things and he already has a gardener/maintenance man for the outside and heavy work. Ma and Pa are still, not in favour of our match, even though Charles has proved that he will provide more than adequately for me. They still maintain that I am marrying beneath me and that I would be better off to marry somebody of equal standing. It is a continual argument with no outcome. I am resolved to wed Charles tomorrow. Marriage is not only about duty, love must come into it. So tomorrow I walk up the aisle of the cathedral and marry my lawyer. The bells will peal and we will be a new family. My new life may not have the blessing of my parents, but it is what I want. Twenty-three isn’t too old to marry despite the continual reminders that I could have married Reginald Wyatt four years ago whilst still in the ‘blush of my youth’. They don’t understand that it would have made me desperately unhappy. Reginald cared more about his Springer Spaniels than he did me. That small fact didn’t seem to matter to Ma though... Aurora reread the first entry.
    Crap.
    Gran had come from money.
    She had never known that and she also hadn’t known that there had been an issue over the marriage. As to who Reginald was, no idea and no way to find out unless there were more journals stored somewhere at Gran’s house. Or maybe Google him, that was a thought. Something to do when she got home.
    Wow.
    It never occurred to her that there were issues and intrigue in her grandmother’s past. She supposed that in the way of all children she had never thought of her parents, or in this instance grandparents, having a life apart from what she knew. Her initial reticence to read the journal was forgotten as she quickly moved to the next entry.
    22 December 1945
This is it. At 2pm this afternoon I will become Mrs Charles Munro. Eight hours from now to be exact. All the fussing starts later in the morning. Ma insisted on the lavish silk gown. It has long sleeves that come to a point over my hand, so there is no need for gloves, a fitted bodice with a circular band that runs from shoulder to shoulder, the band heavily beaded in pearls and crystals. From