In the Land of the Long White Cloud

second ship.
    Elizabeth found her handkerchief and regained her composure.
    “Please pardon me. But it’s only been nine months since her death, and it still upsets me.”
    “But if you’re well off, then why did you take a position as a tutor?” George asked. It was improper to press so much, but the girl fascinated him.
    Elizabeth shrugged. “Mrs. Godewind received a pension and we lived off that. After her death, we still had the house. At first we tried renting it out, but that didn’t work out. I lack the necessary sense of authority, as does Jones, the butler. The people who took the place didn’t pay rent, were rude, made a mess of the rooms, and bossed around Jones and his wife. It was unbearable. It no longer felt like our home. So I sought out this teaching position. I like looking after the children a great deal more. Also, I only spend the day with them; I can go home at night.”
    So her evenings were free. George wondered if he could dare to ask her to meet again. Dinner in the White Hart, perhaps, or a walk. But no—she would turn that down. She was clearly a well-bred girl; already this conversation in the park was pushing the boundaries of propriety. An invitation without a go-between from a friendly family or a chaperone, without the proper framework, was completely out of the question. But, damn it, this wasn’t London. They were on the other end of the world, and he didn’t want to lose sight of her. He had to take a chance. She would have to dare…what the hell, even Helen had risked it.
    George turned to the girl and gazed at her with all the charm and poise he could muster.
    “Miss Godewind,” he said deliberately. “The question I would like to put to you oversteps all convention. Naturally, I could stay true to form, follow you unobserved, find out the name of your employers, have myself brought to their home by some well-known member of the Christchurch community—and then wait for us to be officially introduced to one another. But by then, it’s possible someone else will have married you. So, if you do not want to spend the rest of your life wrestling with children like Robert, then please listen to what I have to say: you are exactly what I’m looking for: You’re a beautiful woman, charming and educated, with a house in Christchurch…”

    Three months later, George Greenwood married Elizabeth Godewind. The groom’s parents were not present; Robert Greenwood had toforgo the journey due to business obligations. He sent the couple his blessing and best wishes, and he signed over all the branch offices in New Zealand and Australia to George as a wedding present. His mother told all her friends that her son had married a Swedish captain’s daughter and dropped hints of ties to the Swedish royal family. She was never to know that Elizabeth had been born in Queens and exiled to the New Country by her own orphanage committee. Nothing in her demeanor gave away the young bride’s true heritage either. She looked ravishing in her white lace dress, whose train a well-behaved Robert and Nancy carried behind her. Helen watched the boy with eagle eyes the entire time, so George was certain he wouldn’t get up to any mischief. Since George had recently made a name for himself as a wool trader and Mrs. Godewind had been regarded as a pillar of the community, the bishop insisted on marrying the couple himself. After the ceremony, the marriage was celebrated in grand style in the salon of the White Hart Hotel, where Gerald Warden and Howard O’Keefe got drunk in opposite corners of the room. Helen and Gwyneira did not let themselves get upset by this and saw to it that, despite all the bad blood, Ruben and Fleur strewed flower petals together. Observing them together, Gerald Warden seemed to realize for the first time that Howard O’Keefe’s marriage had been blessed with a hale and hardy son, which only worsened his mood. So there was an heir for that ramshackle O’Keefe farm. Gwyneira, however, remained as skinny as a pole. Seeing Gerald sink deep into his whiskey bottle, Lucas was happy to retire with Gwyneira to their hotel room before his father’s anger exploded at high volume. That night he attempted once again to approach Gwyneira. As always she showed herself willing and did her best to encourage him. Yet Lucas failed again.

5
    I t took a long time for James McKenzie and Gwyneira’s relationship to return to normal after George’s visit. Gwyneira was angry, and