All Alone - 32. Alo Chapter 32

I then need my house to be thoroughly cleaned, as in spotless, as that will be the accommodation for the guests, I will have to bunk down in the loungeroom in the apartment, the same with the spare room in Dave and Sue’s place, so as to accommodate the pilot.

I won’t be up until tomorrow morning, so you will have to greet Mr De Paul, his personal assistant and pilot at the airfield, and I want you to be very respectful, as he is related to the Grimaldi family, and whatever they ask for you need to give them” I said to Matt.

“Wait, are you meaning Grimaldi, as in Monaco in southern Europe?” Matt asked, sounding shocked, “Yes that is correct, he is a 2nd cousin to the Prince, also make your Colorado available for them to use, you may want to get your brother to be their guide and driver, now get started, and I will see you when I arrive” I said and I ended the call, before dialling another number.

“Dave, I understand that you are still in Carnarvon, we have some VIP guests flying into the station in just over an hour, I need you both to do a speed shopping to get anything up market as possible, cheeses, wines, red and white, fresh fruits like melons, grapes, mangos if you can find any good ones, although I doubt it, and top quality cold meats and the best cuts of beef and lamb, and fresh salads, including olives, tomatoes and olive oil too.

There is just three of them, but I want the very best for them, I have already spoken to Matt, he is cleaning out my house for them, and the pilot will have to stay in your spare room, which I have organised them to clean, once my house is done. See if you can be up there in less than three hours, as I need Sue to be the hostess until I arrive tomorrow” I said, not letting Dave speak until I had finished.

“Is that all boss?” Dave said, “Yes I think so, this VIP is a relative to the Grimaldi family of Monaco, so everything needs to be perfect, ok?” I said, “Wow, that is something new for us, ok see you tomorrow, bye” Dave said, and he ended the call.

It was after 10am before we finally left our overnight stop, and I wished that we could have stayed longer, but I knew I had responsibilities waiting for me on the station. When we reached Carnarvon, I took Angus for a long walk first, then headed over to the accountant’s office to speak to him. “Ah the traveller returns” he said as I stepped into the airconditioned office, and Angus flopped down onto the cool tiles, and began to snooze.

Stepping around Angus, I followed the accountant to the small conference room. “Now, I have a few things to report, settlement for Doorawarrah, will be in just three weeks’ time, so you may need to think about what to do once that happens, as he is selling the station to you walk in walk out, so apart from all the machinery, you also have about 15,000 head of cattle to look after, and there are already two station hands that work there” I was informed.

“Ok, I think I will have Dave and Sue Henderson, taking up as managers there, so that is covered” I responded, “Good, I presume from the lack of follow up, that the other two stations are of no interest to you?” I was asked, “Yes that is correct, and Mary Springs is no longer for sale, as they withdrew it from the market, as soon as they learnt that the man leasing the farm next door, is no longer there, and that I would be taking over control of the farm” I said.

“I see, and what about your brother in law and his son?” I was asked, “They are on the main farm, working as my caretakers for the property, so that Alistair is close to a school, to continue his education” I replied, “Good, things seem to be slotting into place nicely, and what about this big farm, what are you going to do there?” I was asked.

“Well once all the mess is cleaned up, and now that there is only crop stubble, I am going to have the boundary fences strengthened, and eventually I will have cattle on the property, once I have established some pasture on it” I answered.

“I did as you requested, when I last saw you, and the owners of Mia-Mia Station are all too happy to buy the section of land, on the eastern side of the Minilya Exmouth road, of Coral Coast, especially when there is a fence line already there, and I have already spoken to the Pastoral Board, and they have given approval for the change of ownership to go ahead” I was told, and I smiled.

“That is good, I am pleased with that, as there is no point in bringing stock back onto the station, until it has recovered from the cyclone and the two fires” I said, “Yes, I see your point, but what about the rest of the station?” I was asked.

“That is around 162,000 acres, of which almost half of that is under quarantine, because of fire damage, I think I will wait and see if we get any more rain or not. I think the longer that we keep stock off the land, the better it would be for the land in the long run.

In the mean time we can develop more of the southern coastal section for tourism, which has already received the approval of the Parks and Wildlife, and some of that work has already began, with the northern section, now completely locked off, to keep visitors out of the northern area” I replied.

“Can you organise for the purchase of a Holden Colorado, and have it trucked down to Chilimony farm asap, so that Davis has a decent vehicle to use, as he has nothing but bikes there at the moment” I asked, “Yes, I will get right on it, anything else?” the accountant replied, “Not that I can think of just now, I was planning to stay overnight here, but we have some VIP guests arriving, and I need to be back there as soon as possible” I said.

After giving Angus a drink and a bit of a walk around, we headed north again, with just two hours of the journey remaining, and soon after leaving town, my mobile rang, with Matt’s ID coming up on the screen. “Hey boss, just letting you know that the plane has just landed, and only just managed to stop in time, I have Anne with me in her vehicle to greet them and to carry their luggage” Matt informed me.

“Good thinking, I am just leaving Carnarvon now, and Dave and Sue should be arriving there any moment now, with extra supplies, as I said before, give them anything they want, and also make the kayaks available for them to use, and give them unlimited access to the main homestead beach, that way they have complete privacy from the rest of the visitors” I said.

“Will do boss, see you when you get here… it looks like Dave and Sue have just arrived, so I better get cracking, bye” Matt said, and he ended the call. I stopped just once to allow Angus to have a toilet break, before we drove into the station, and Angus could sense that we were back on the station, as he stood on the seat, with his front paws on the dashboard, eagerly peering through the windscreen.

When I reached the turnoff to the airfield, I turned down it to see where the jet was, and it was now parked beside the water tank, and it had pegs in the ground and straps securing the plane to the ground, to stop any gusts of wind damaging the plane. Heading back out, I was soon at the visitor centre, where I unexpectantly saw our VIP guests looking round the centre’s information and souvenir’s area, and Sue was at the counter.

“Ah Lloyd, you are here already, that must have been a very fast trip” Mr De Paul said when he saw me enter, “Yes sir it was, I made sure that my stop in Carnarvon was very short, is there anything that I can help you with?” I replied, “No, your lovely assistant is being very helpful” Mr De Paul said.

“Sue is my station managers wife, and she also manages this visitors centre for me” I responded, “I see, well she is good at her job, I am very impressed with your setup here, considering its remoteness” Mr De Paul said to me, “That is good to hear, please don’t hesitate to ask for anything, if you haven’t been informed, we have a private beach reserved for you, along with some Kayaks to paddle around in, just don’t go to close to the reef.

Greg our youngest station hand, and brother of Matt, will be available to drive you around the southern part of the station, the northern section is off limits to visitors and staff, as it was damaged with the latest two wildfires” I said, and I made my way through to my office, with Angus following close behind.

A few minutes later, Matt arrived, “Hey boss, everything is in order, as per your requests, and also I forgot to mention, that there is a delay in the arrival of the mechanic, he won’t be here till Thursday next week now” Matt said to me, and I groaned. That was one thing that I had total forgotten about, “Ok, put the pilot in the workers cottage, that way Dave and Anne can have their place to themselves.

I need all staff to meet here at 6pm tonight, as I have a few things to discuss” I said to Matt, “Yes boss, I will let everyone know, and now that Greg is on standby as driver for the guests, I getter go and do a patrol for the south end of the station, before dark” Matt said.

A few moments later, Greg entered the office, looking very uncomfortable dressed in black trousers, white shirt and black shoes. “Wow, you look very smart, have you always had those clothes?” I said to Greg, who blushed, “No, Anne bought them today in Carnarvon, after getting my clothes and shoe sizes, and I feel like a penguin” Greg replied, “and a very cute penguin at that” I responded which made Greg blush an even deeper red, and I laughed.

“No need to get embarrassed, it’s all part of your new duties, as VIP Driver, and I will even give you a raise for doing all of this extra work” I said to Greg, “That is generous of you, boss. I just wish I didn’t have to wear this get up” Greg said. “All part of providing a good service to our VIP Guests, and you deserve the raise, considering it is a little bit out of the normal duties” I said to Greg.

When the guests had left the centre, Sue came into the office, and a few moments later Dave appeared, and they both sat down. “I guess you are wondering, what has been decided concerning our trip south” I said to them both, “Yes, we were actually” David replied, “Well in three weeks’ time, the settlement for the purchase of…Doorawarrah station will take place, and I would like you guys to take up the positions of Managers of the station” I announced.

“Well, that is good news” Sue said and she glanced over to her husband, “and we would love to be your station managers at Doorawarrah” Sue added, “That is good to hear, as Doug said, it is 542,900 acres in area, and it is a walk in, walk out deal, so you will have a large herd of cattle already there.

You will also have two station hands already there, who have been with Doug for the past 3 years, they are first cousins, James and Nathan Lynwood, so they know the station inside and out, and are happy to continue working for you.

In regards to your farm, next to mine north of Northampton, as you know, I have my brother in law, Davis caretaking my two farms, and I am sure he would be happy to keep an eye on yours as well, if that is what you want.

I have arranged to sell about half of Coral Coast, the land east of the Minilya Exmouth road, to Mia-Mia station, so with that soon to be finalised, and with the northwest corner quarantined due to the fire, that is not much else to do here, except tourism, and I will be working on that for the time being.

Doug is expecting your arrival, a week before settlement, so you can be familiar with everything, before he leaves, which gives you just two weeks before you start. With the north end closed, I will get Anne to take over your place here so if you can show her the ropes, that would be great please, and Chris will be assisting the lads with building improvements and patrolling the coastline.

“What are your plans for Chilimony farm and Galena Estate?” Dave asked me, “Well, when all the mess is cleaned up, I will get a local fencing contractor, to upgrade the boundary fences, then we will bring the cattle down to Galena, to fatten them up, before sending them to market in Geraldton, Davis is a truck driver by trade, so I will have to find someone to manage the farm operations down that way” I replied.

After the meeting with Dave and Sue, I headed to the apartment, to relax for a while in the lounge, and I saw a note on the kitchen bench. “Hey boss, you can have the master bedroom, while you are staying with us. Matt & Greg” I smiled when saw this, and I was about to sit down when Angus barked from the other side of the door, protesting that he had been left out of the apartment, so I opened the door for him, and he immediately flopped down on the tiles in the centre of the lounge room, and began to snooze.

When Matt returned, he came straight into the lounge and sat down, “All is good on the south end, Troy and Rebecca have everything under control down there, and Sue is currently cooking for the VIP guests. As I unpacked my luggage from the recent trip, I found a sealed envelope at the bottom, with my name written on the front.

“Dear Lloyd, I write this letter, knowing that I may never see you again, and my heart breaks knowing this. I need to put something straight between us (pardon the pun), the two times that I separated from you, during our marriage, I was pregnant both times. We are the parents of two healthy boys, Toby Carter Templeton and Isaac Carter Templeton, and they both look very much like you in so many ways.

Davis is not aware of his two nephews, only my Aunt Gloria, who has temporary custody of the boys until a year after my passing, that is when I instructed Davis to give you this envelope and letter, which he does not know, what it contains.

I am sorry that I have deprived you of seeing the boys growing up, but I felt that a stable home life with my Aunt Gloria, Uncle Tim and their two children is important. If you want the boys to be with you, after reading this, I am sure that Davis will assist you to arranging for them to travel from Queensland to Western Australia.

When I handed Davis the envelope to deliver to you, I made him promised to me, that he would do anything to assist you, with whatever is stated in this letter, you just have to show it to him, and he will understand. Thank you for a wonderful life together, even if it was short and a little bumpy on along the way. All my love for ever, Love Sarah”.

I had tears flowing down my cheeks, as I finished reading the letter, and I forgot that I had not closed the bedroom door, so when Matt saw the state I was in, he rushed to my side, and gave me a hug, “Are you ok boss, can I help you with anything?” Matt asked me.

“You remember when you filmed me releasing the ashes of my late wife, into the ocean a year ago, well it appears she has left me a letter, to be opened one year after her passing” I stated.