When James finished with her, Catherine turned away, brought her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around them. She drifted off to sleep, but first prayed she would not be with child.
Up before sunrise, she left James asleep in their bed. She washed and dressed. Creeping out of the house, she sat in her chair on the verandah, taking in the sights and smells of Hobart Town as it woke. Autumn was her favourite season in Van Diemen’s Land, the temperature didn’t fluctuate as much as it did in summer and the land was easier to till after more consistent rain. But this was a summer morning. There was no sign of rain; the sky was cloudless, and the sun rose with a vengeance, heating the roads, the trees, the people, the animals, the plants as it worked its way up from the horizon.
With
