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Ava pressed end on the call and her step was lighter. It was the first time they had spoken where their conversation wasn’t shrouded in secrecy and nerves and fear.
She sat in contemplation for a moment, reflecting on the telephone call. Then, her fingers scrolled her phone, checking social media sites, something she had avoided for months for fear of being traced. So much had happened, or she grimaced, not much at all as people she’d once known were still attending the same restaurants, visiting the same movie theatres, taking candid happy snaps at the beach, at the shops, at parties.
Next, she checked her mobile banking app and dropped the phone. It clanged to the ground with a thump. Picking it up, she checked for cracks in the screen and wiped the glass with her shirt to remove smudges. Had she got that wrong? Blinking over the numbers in her bank account again, she blew air into her cheeks, stood up, sat down.
The man she’d once loved was not a monster, even though he had let her down in the most painful of ways. But he was attempting to make amends, was perhaps turning into someone she could rely upon, believe in. Glancing down at the phone screen again, she couldn’t believe it. There had been a significant deposit into her bank account. An addendum to the deposit said: donation to fund research into the fossil found by Ava Montgomery, archaeologist.
This money would allow her to fulfil her dreams of a culture centre, right here in the lower paddocks. Her mind whizzed but then a car horn sounded and she heard voices. ‘Yoo, hoo!’ singing out.
Ish rushed out of his bedroom. ‘They’re here, Mumma!’ His friend, Jack was coming to play. Ava pocketed her phone and beamed as her friend, Bec arrived on her back deck—perhaps she should simply seal shut her front door—or just get used to country ways? ‘Bec, hi. Hi Jack! Time for a cuppa?’ This time she would welcome a chat with Bec and enjoy catching up on old times.
Hours later, Ava savoured the peace and quiet. The solitude as she sat in her new workspace. Bec had suggested she take the boys out for ice-cream and to the new, local water park. It was the first time Ish had been out of her sight since the Summer Festival and she didn’t quaver at his whereabouts and his safety this time.
Now she had a few precious hours to develop her plans, to finally, think about and get excited about the future. First, she scribbled down her ideas for the history centre and the work she could do to improve their knowledge of the local past and find and collate dossiers on the returned serviceman.
Above her, the rows and rows of shelving provided space for her belongings, her equipment and tools as well as the odd finds, some quirky things. Now, she reached for the postcards and fossilised opals. They might discover some incredible plant, nature and animal fossils, she hoped so, but nothing, surely, could be as beautiful as these gems. The colours always shone and sparkled in the dappled light. While there were high-power fluorescent bright lights for her special and finely detailed work, Noah had also had the foresight to instal skylights that covered the span of the ceiling space and illuminated the area during the day. She loved the effect of being protected from the sun but feeling the outdoors at the same time. He was clever that man.
It was also a warm space, a shed she was drawn to with a large and spacious functional desk, bigger than a usual office and an area with a colourful woven rug and armchair for reading or contemplation. The walls remained corrugated iron and the floor concrete and completed its rustic work design.
She would see through her vision for the history centre if the town approved her idea. It was her way of giving back to Bellethorpe, to honour these previous residents, to acknowledge how the town had welcomed her and never made her feel like an outsider, just like she imagined they did all those years ago.
Before anything, she’d share her ideas with Noah and gauge whether it was too outlandish, too modern and innovative and once they’d discussed it, she’d take it to the town council. She imagined the mayor, Jacqueline Kennedy swallowing up this idea, whole.
Reaching for another notebook, Ava opened a fresh page. This was her dig site pad. No suitable or appropriate name had come to her yet, but first priority was the site. Making it a fully functional, working site to make it easy to excavate and preserve whatever they found. Once established, it would be an ongoing live site until they were confident nothing else was hidden amongst the dirt.
On a clean and blank page, she sketched a rough idea of what her future museum might look like. Nothing fancy or too modern, a real, working building with a platform to view the dig site and watch the experts and a specially constructed area where guests could try their luck at searching through mounds of tailings to discover their own gem or fossil.
She was dreaming of a café and gift shop when she heard shouts behind her and banging on the shed door. Her heart accelerated in fright.
‘Ava!’ It was Matthew. She shot out of her chair and raced outside.
Matthew stood there waving his hat. ‘You’ve got to come and see this!’ His smile was as wide as the Cheshire cat. Grabbing her third notebook, this one a detailed and in-depth record of their finds, she threw on her cap and they raced back down the hill.
Epilogue
Twelve months later
‘It is with enormous pleasure that I unveil the monument to the returned servicemen who made their lives here in our region after the Great War and also, to officially open the newly refurbished history centre.’
The entire population of the town gathered on the expanse of green lawn and clapped as Jacqueline Kennedy cut the ribbon and the red linen cloth fell to reveal the names inscribed on a plague affixed to a granite boulder. The form of monument had been hotly debated, as only Bellethorpe folk could do, and this final design had won; the prominent rock symbolising the terrain that dotted the area and the bronze plague naming the men identified so far, with room left to add more as they were discovered.
The tribute stood outside the entrance to the history centre, same location, same church building that had been extended. By Noah, of course. By agreement, the complex had kept the similar façade and historic feel, but inside, there were dozens more exhibits of relics found, not only by Ava, but by the community. Rather than being piled one atop the other ad hoc, they sat in a neat order, lining glass shelves and inside cabinets for those more precious. Next to her carefully preserved coins, postcards and old newspapers were other donations. After putting out the call, the locals delivered, often what they thought was rubbish, and Ava had tirelessly sorted through the items, most of the prized possessions being a gateway to learning about their settlers. The dossiers in the back room were growing; her soldier now had a history:
Edward George Adams
Occupation: Blacksmith
Born: 19 July 1899
Enlisted: 16 June 1917 (aged 18 years)
Rank: Private
Regiment: Light horse regiment
Later married with two children, George and Alice
Discharged: 29 September 1919
