Beyond Frontier - 24. BF Chapter 24

“That would be nice. I will look forward to it,” Rachel said with a big smile, and I scribbled down the address onto the back of one of my business cards and handed it to her, and said goodbye.

Half an hour later I was back at the apartment. The first thing I did was take Roey for a walk in the park for a good hour, before I emptied the fridge and gave the place a quick clean, packed my suitcase, and loaded it and Roey into the vehicle, and headed home.

I decided to go to the marina first to see how Sarah and Oscar were going, and I noticed that the trimaran was not in its mooring bay, so I went to the research vessel to speak to Simon, who I found in the lounge looking at his laptop computer. “Hey, boss. Didn’t know you were back from Perth,” he said as I walked in and sat down.

“Just arrived. Haven’t even gone home yet,” I replied.

“Jasper and crew are on a short charter from Fremantle to Busselton and back. They left last night, so as to get to Fremantle in time to start the charter,” Simon announced, answering the question that I was about to ask him.

“Good. Keeps the yacht and crew busy. Just how I like it,” I replied with a smile.

“I spoke to the Oceans Institute Director this morning. Apparently, our visit to Barrow Island has kicked up a huge stink, so all future visits to that region for research purposes are on hold till it is resolved, which mean less work for this vessel, which by my calculations is getting quite expensive to keep operational,” Simon said to me.

“Yes, Si, I am painfully aware of that, and it is why I put off advertising for extra crew until we can come up with a solution. One very strange idea came to me the other day, that I want to run by you for your thoughts,” I said. We spent the next hour discussing the idea once I had revealed the suggestion to Simon.

“Well, boss, with all of this discussion I think it is a good possibility that it will work, but we will have to take her down to Henderson and get the marine architects to assess the idea and see if it is possible to make the necessary alterations,” Simon said to me in closing.

“Very well, I will give them a call, and arrange a time and date when we can get it done. In the meantime Kirk and Leon can remain on the trimaran and you can skipper the catamaran with Finn, Lisa and Rebecca as crew. Sarah can help out where she can,” I replied. I stepped over to the catamaran where I found Oscar watching a movie and Sarah was doing some reading. “Hey, how is everyone here?” I said cheerfully as I entered the saloon.

“Hiya, boss. We are good thanks, but getting a little bored,” Sarah replied and I smiled.

“Well I may have a solution for that. As you know I am building a new administration centre, and I was wondering if you would like to be my administration manager. I will have a two-bedroom cabin built near the other cabin on my property out of town, so you and Oscar have some space, as well as Oscar having other kids around, namely Nathan and young Micah. You will be given a company vehicle to use which is my first vehicle that Jasper and family use on occasions at the moment,” I announced.

“That is a definite yes. I would love to accept that job,” Sarah said with a smile.

“Good. You start next week. Now I have to go and get a cabin organised to be transported to the property. Talk again soon. Bye,” I said as I headed outside and onto the jetty, where I waved to Simon as I headed back to my vehicle and drove to my temporary home.

Calling a transportable homes company in Geraldton I was informed they had a one-bedroom cottage like the one I was living in, plus a two-bedroom cottage, ready for purchase. I said I would buy both of them, and asked for them to be transported to Jurien Bay as soon as possible.

Next, I contacted the local building company and asked them to prepare concrete pads for two new buildings to be placed on my property out of town. I gave them the details of the transportable company in Geraldton, to get the right measurements.

When I had completed this, I walked over to the house to see if Anita was home, which she was, as were all the boys. It was very noisy when I arrived. “Hello? Anita?” I shouted as I opened the door. “Come in, Anton. Just got my hands full at the moment.

Great timing,” Anita shouted back, and as I entered the lounge area I saw Nathan, Jedd and Neale chasing each other around the room. I gave the loudest piecing whistle that I could do, and everything went silent. Even young Micah stopped crying and looked at me, as did everyone else.

“Right. Wallis boys outside now. Nathan how about you asking your mum if she needs any help. Anita, I will see you later,” I announced and I followed my brothers out the front door, closing it gently behind me. “Into my vehicle now please, boys,” I said to my brothers, and they walked down to the cottage, where my vehicle was parked, and climbed in.

When I entered the vehicle, I stared out the windscreen for a few minutes in silence, then turned around to face my younger brothers. “We are sorry Anton. We were just having fun,” Neale said to me. “Yeah, we are sorry. We didn’t realise that we were being a nuisance,” Jedd added.

“Ok, but you must remember that Anita has a very important job, as well as being a mum to two boys and foster mum to you both, so you need to start taking some responsibilities. As I said at the BBQ the other night, I will be building a new home and administration centre, and you will be moving into the home with me. You will have your own rooms with a shared bathroom, and a lounge downstairs. My bedroom, the spare bedroom, which might be a study, the kitchen, bathroom, dining room and main lounge will be upstairs.

So, until that is built and we move in, I want you to be on your best behaviour. Do you hear me?” I said to my brothers sternly. “Yes, Anton, we understand,” the boys chorused.

Once I had collected Roey, we went for a drive to the beach and we all went for a long walk. On our way back, my mobile rang. “Hi, Anton. You were a life saver. Thank-you for doing that intervention for me. I guess I was a little overwhelmed. Anyway, are you coming over for dinner? Since Jasper is away it would be nice to have you over here to keep all the boys in order,” Anita said to me.

“Sure, no problems. The boys, Roey and I have been walking on the beach. We will be back in twenty minutes,” I replied, and Anita said to just come in when we arrived back.

During dinner I mentioned to Anita about employing Sarah as my administration manager, and that I was having two more accommodation buildings arriving next week, one to accommodate Sarah and Oscar, and the other to accommodate me and the boys, while our other house was being built. This would allow for Gramps to move down to Jurien permanently into the spare cottage. Also during dinner Neale and Jedd apologised to Anita for their earlier bad behaviour, and Nathan did the same, which Anita wasn’t expecting, and appreciated.

Returning to my cabin after dinner I relaxed and read a book for a few hours before finally retiring for the night. I wondered how Emma was going down at the zoo in South Perth. With tomorrow being a Saturday I had arranged with Anita to take Nathan and my brothers out on the catamaran for a day trip while she was at work and Micah was in day-care. I sent a text to Simon after dinner to let him know of the plans and ask him to get the yacht ready for a 9am departure.

I was not able to have a sleep-in though, as the boys arrived at 5.45am, as Anita was heading to work. Once I had showered and dressed, I made the three boys some breakfast. “What are we doing today, Uncle Anton?” Nathan asked me between mouthfuls of toast and juice, and I frowned at him for talking with his mouth full.

“I have arranged with your mother to take you out on the Frontier for the day. Maybe a bit of snorkelling around the islands,” I announced.

“Yippee,” my brothers cheered, and Nathan smiled.

“After breakfast I need you to go back to the house, change into some board shorts and t-shirts, and grab a spare change of clothes each. No need for towels as we have those on the yacht. Then we will head off down to the marina where Simon and crew will be waiting for us,” I added, as I pulled out my phone to send a text to Sarah, who I had forgotten to notify. “We are taking a day trip in the catamaran. You and Oscar welcome to join us,” I texted, and moments later I received a reply.

“Yes, Simon has told us. We will be coming,” Sarah replied, and I smiled.

“Dad, I mean Jas, has let me steer the trimaran a few times. Can I try it on the catamaran today please, uncle Anton?” Nathan asked me. I was surprised firstly by 15-year old Nathan calling his step father, Jasper, “Dad” and secondly for him to allow Nathan to steer the trimaran which I was a little uncertain about.

“Well, Simon is the skipper of the yacht today, so you will have to ask him. It will also depend on the weather conditions in the open waters,” I replied, careful not to give a yes or no answer.

Once breakfast was over, and the boys helped to clean up, they headed back to the main house to get changed and collect a change of clothes, while I took Roey for a short walk. I was near the front gate when a strange vehicle turned into the driveway. It stopped as it approached me and Roey.

When the window wound down I saw Rachel smiling at me. “Hello. I thought I might surprise you. Emma is doing much better and she is missing her carer very much, so for her better chances of recovery I thought it was best to bring her home,” Rachel announced to me.

“The house is rented out to friends. I am in the cottage nearby. Park near my vehicle and I will be there shortly,” I said to Rachel, and she drove on as I began to walk up the driveway, arriving at my cabin just as the boys were coming down from the house. Rachel had placed the cardboard box just inside the door, and I saw Emma wandering around, no doubt trying to find me.

“You arrived just in time. We are going out for a day of sailing. Would you like to join us?” I said to Rachel.

“Yes please. Just let me grab my swimming gear and a change of clothes,” Rachel replied, and she went to the back door, where I saw a weekend bag on the back seat.

“Boys, this is Dr Rachel Martin. We were in the same classes at university. Rachel this is Nathan Adamson, oldest boy of my friends Jasper and Anita Adamson. Jasper is one of my skippers, who is on a charter at the moment, and Anita is a local sergeant at the police station. They have a 4-year old son, Micah, as well. These two brats are my half-brother’s – Neale and Jedd Wallis,” I said making the introductions. “Right, everyone into the vehicle. I will just make a quick hello to Emma, then we will get going,” I added.

As soon as I stepped into the cottage, Emma came rushing towards me. I put my hands out flat with palms up, and Emma walked right up onto them. I lifted her up and rubbed under her chin. “Hello, young lady. I hear you are a mum now. I hope you are taking good care of those eggs,” I said to Emma as I placed her on the floor again. She wandered off to her box and buried herself under the blanket and went to sleep.

I saw that Rachel had put out some water and food for her, so I closed and locked the cottage door and headed to the vehicle. A short drive later we arrived at the marina. “Wow! This yacht is yours?” Rachel said to me, and I nodded and smiled.

“He also has a larger trimaran which Jas is skipper of,” Nathan announced.

“Plus he also owns that research vessel next door,” Jedd added.

“Holy smokes! You are loaded,” Rachel said to me.

“Only because we have worked hard to get it. The research vessel I bought near the end of my university studies, as I knew that I wanted to concentrate on marine research, but it has become more of a money drainer as it is expensive to run, while the yachts are wind powered most of the time, so they cost a lot less to operate,” I said to Rachel as we walked towards the yacht with Roey obediently following me without a lead on. I picked her up to carry her onto the yacht where she lay down on the rug in the saloon and went to sleep.

The boys dumped their spare clothes in the saloon lounge and headed upstairs to the Jacuzzi where they were soon splashing around. Simon soon came down the stairs and stopped when he saw the stranger. “Si, this is a former uni class mate of mine, Dr Rachel Martin. She has been treating Emma’s wounds down at the zoo. Rachel this is my good friend and skipper for the day, Simon Adamson. He is a first cousin of Jasper’s,” I said making the introductions while Simon shook Rachel’s hand.

“We are just waiting for Finn and the ladies to return from a shopping trip,” Simon announced.

“Finn is Simon’s partner and the yacht’s chef. The ladies he is referring to are Lisa and Rebecca, our stewards and deckhands, who are also partners. This is Sarah Nichols, a friend of ours from New Zealand, who recently joined us and will be my administration manager as of next week. Her son Oscar I presume is upstairs in the Jacuzzi with the boys,” I announced to Rachel, as Sarah came downstairs from the bridge deck.

“Welcome, Rachel. Allow me to give you a full tour of the yacht,” Sarah said to Rachel with a big smile and lead the way downstairs to the guest cabins area. Fifteen minutes later Finn and the ladies finally arrived, and while Finn and I put the stores away downstairs, the ladies prepared for departure. Simon headed up to the bridge and we were soon on our way. I carefully stacked the boys three backpacks into the study, so they were out of the way, before sitting down in the formal lounge with Rachel and Sarah.

The stewards brought us some fruit cocktails and some snacks, before heading downstairs to help Finn with preparing morning tea and taking a drink up to Simon and snacks to the boys. “Well, this is nice service. I could get used to this,” Rachel said as she accepted her drink.

“It’s part of their job to keep the guests happy, and they get paid well for doing it,” I commented. Twenty minutes later the ladies reappeared and went to drop the anchors, as we had arrived at Boulanger Island.