Previously:

Rita hugged me and said. “Thanks Sis. I'm glad your my little sister. I hope that the doctor in Brisbane can make sure you stay that way.”

“Well”I said, “If she can't then I would rather be with Jean.”

“Don't say that Carla —you're freaking me out with that stuff.”

“Don't worry Sis. Jean is right here with me and can hear everything that is being said.”

Rita said “I wish I could communicate with her too -- I'm her sister too you know.”

I replied “When it is all quiet tonight before we go to sleep, why don't we both concentrate and see what happens when we hug real tight? It might work.”

Mummy said “Ok girls, seeing we have got a few hours before we have to get ready to go to church, lets clean this place up.”

“Yes Mummy.” we both said with a sigh.

We had to be at the church at five, and it was three pm already so Mummy said, “You girls had better start thinking about what you're going to wear to church, because I don't want the same silly drama we had this morning, Ok?”

We both replied “Yeeees Mummy.”

“Don't you mock me you little monkeys!!!”

“Sorry Mummy.” we said as we ran out of the kitchen to our bedroom and looked for some things
to wear.

I said “We had better have a shower now, before Daddy comes home so he can make Mummy
squeal again.”

“Yeah they like being in the nuddie don't they?”replied Rita.

I said, “They really love each other don't they?”

Rita said “Mum deserves to be happy after everything that she has been through and Bill is a really nice man.”

“Do you think they will get married?” I said.

“Can't 'till Mum gets a divorce can they?”Rita replied. “Anyway Dad might not want to. Hey!”

Mummy was standing at the door and said, “Already did last night!

“Oh Mummy you said 'yes' didn't you?” I squealed.

Just then Daddy came from behind the door and put his arm around Mummy and said, “Donna!! what was your answer again?”

Mummy said “What do you reckon girls? Should we make him your real Daddy for keeps?”

“Oohhhh yes please!” we said.

“Well as soon as I can get the divorce papers signed by you know who, we will set a date.” she replied.

“Mum!” said Rita, “How will they find James to get him to sign anything? He and John could be anywhere!”

Daddy said “Oh! they'll find him alright. The copper in Charleville got all the details we need to track them down.”

Then Mummy said, “As soon as I ring the lawyer in Charleville tomorrow morning I 'll tell him to get cracking with the legal papers and then it won't take too long to get things organised.”

Rita and me looked at each and said in unison “What will we wear to the wedding?”
.
Mummy said “Listen you two - what about finding something to wear to church today and worry about the wedding later?”

By this time we only had three quarters of an hour to get ready for church, so Mummy chose what we were going to wear and said “You’ve got ten minutes so hurry up,- if you don't want me to get mad.”

“Yes Mum,” Rita replied, and looked at me and said “Wedding —YEEES!!”

I was nearly falling over trying to put my pink denim skirt on and had to slow down. I was so exited about Mummy and Daddy going to get married.

I thought, ''Bridesmaid, Shopping, Brisbane.'' when Rita said. “Lets go Carla. Mummy is in the car waiting.”

I said, “Aren’t we walking?“

“No Carla, too late for that. Hurry up.” replied Rita.

We arrived in plenty of time and I said, “What’s the rush? People are even later than us.”

The service this afternoon was not a mass but a special service that Brian would probably be in trouble for with the his boss the Bishop and could even be sacked. Brian was a bit of a a rebel and eventually left the priesthood to go back to being a lawyer.

Mummy looked at me and said “You're not going to be late for my wedding I hope?”

I said, “Nah! I'm goin' to be in the wedding party so I can't be late can I?”

Mummy and Daddy laughed at that and said “Bridesmaid eh?”

Rita said “Make that a double!”

Daddy said “What scotch?” and laughed at his own joke.

I didn't get the joke. What has Scotland got to do with what Rita said I wondered.

“Alright, time to go into the church” said Mummy.

“I can't see Ricky anywhere!”

“I expect they are inside already.” replied Mummy.

We went into the church and found the Smith family sitting in the same place as the last time we were at church. It looked like people had left the pew behind them empty so we could sit there. ''Strange or what?”

The priest entered from the presbytery and went straight to the pulpit to greet the congregation and delivered his sermon, and we stood and sat at the appropriate times. Only Daddy was Catholic. We are Lutheran and only went to church when we were on holidays or away from River Downs. But the School of the Air had religious lessons once a week if you wanted to join in, which I did because I believe in God and Jesus and all that stuff, 'and Angels'' — like Jean. Did I tell you I'm heavily into Angels?

Anyway after an hour of sitting, standing, and singing hymns, we all looked around at each other and said “Peace be with you.” and shook the hand of the person next to us, It felt really nice being part of all this I thought to myself.

When we filed out of the front of the church where Father Brian Allsen was talking to Helen, he said,
“G'day I'm Farther Allsen,” looking at Mummy, “but everyone just calls me Brian” he said with a big smile on his kind face. Helen said “Brian, this Donna White and her two daughters Rita and Carla and of course you know Bill.”

Father Allsen shook Mummy's hand and said, “I've heard Bill rave about you and your pretty daughters and I can see what he was on about, now that I have finally met you Donna. May I call you Donna?” he asked.

Before Mummy could answer Daddy said “Brian I call her sweetheart-- but you can call her Donna.” while he was looking at Mummy with a sheepish grin.

I’ve never seen Mummy blush before but she did this time and then she gave Daddy hug and said, “Bill your embarrassing Brian.”

''Nah. Takes more than that to embarrass our good priest.” Daddy replied.

Anyway, by this time Ricky and Peter were grabbing Rita's and my hand to go out the back to the games shed. When Barry, Pete's and Ricky's Dad said, “Um boys. I think Father Allsen might want to talk to Carla's Mum--so we might get going and leave them to it.

Ricky said, “But Dad, I told Carla I would play a game of darts with her after church” in a whiny type of voice.

Rita and Peter were already around the corner of the church and making their way to the games shed, when Daddy said, “Let 'em go and have some fun Barry! I'll drop Peter and Ricky home when Brian is finished talking with Donna and Carla.”

Daddy said “Let's go Rick and see if we can whip the backside off those two.

Helen said to Mummy “How about having tea at our place when you bring the the boys home?

Mummy said, “OK. Thanks Helen, that sounds great. We'll see you shortly then.”

“Right Donna and Carla, lets go into the presbytery office and have a talk shall we?” said Brian.

Mummy said “What is this all about Brian?”

“Well.” he replied “Bill has been worried about you not being Catholic and is not sure if you will want to marry in a Catholic church.”

Mummy said, “I love Bill and will marry him anywhere he wants me to, Brian.”

“Ok Donna, so what are you doing about divorcing your present husband?”

Mummy said, “Look I know you and Bill are mates, but that does not concern you till the time comes for me to make the arrangements for our wedding. I didn't think the church would marry a divorcee in any case so it's irrelevant is it not?”

Brian replied, “Well that's not quite right. The church has dispensations in these cases or we would soon have no one left in the congregation.”

Mummy then said, “Well Brian you had better get it sorted out with Bill because my divorce will be going through pretty quickly after what happened in Charleville.”

Brian said “Yes, Bill rang me this morning to fill me in and told me how he felt about you and the girls.” He continued, “When he lost Ann his whole world came tumbling down around him,and for the last two years he was a very sad man.”

Mummy said “Brian, I've tried to talk to him about Ann but it seems to upset him and I usually change the subject to make him feel better.”

Brian replied, “Donna, after he met you and your girls he came out of his depression almost the next day, because he came and told me he had met this special lady with two kids. But he wasn't quite sure whether one was a boy or a tom-boy because the young one was dressed in boys clothes; And after you said where you were from he phoned River Downs to ask Tom Granger about the repairs to the Land Rover that you said Tom had loaned you.

Seeing it was me he was talking about I said, “Excuse me I'm not a tom-boy — I'm a girl with a birth defect.”

At this stage I was already in tears, when Mummy said, “Brian what does this have to do with you or the church for that matter? I think this conversation is over! Come on Carla, lets find the others and get out of here”.

“Donna wait! You don't understand.”

“I understand perfectly well.” replied Mummy. We left Brian standing in his office with his mouth open.

Mummy was angry that he was talking about me and thought he had no right to mention anything about me at all. Anyway as we were walking out of the presbytery Daddy, Rita, Pete, and Ricky were coming to look for us. As soon as Daddy saw my tear stained face he looked at Mummy and said “What on earth happened in there?”.

Mummy said “Bill you had no right to tell a priest anything about Carla and I'm not very happy about it. Look what it's done to her? She is really upset. Now take the boys and us home please.”.

Mummy doesn't get angry very often but when she does there's no talking to her.

Daddy said, “No hang on just a minute Donna! I'm going to sort this out right now.” and he went to talk to Brian.

I thought 'this could get ugly' so I followed him and said “Daddy, please lets just go. It's ok. I don't want to cause Mummy and you to have a fight.” and started crying again, "I'm allowed cause I'm a girl."

Just then Brian came down the path and stopped dead in his tracks because he could see Daddy was angry with him. Brian held both his hands up and said, “I'm sorry Bill. I didn't mean to upset anyone, least of all Carla.”

Daddy replied, “You did a real good job of that didn't you Brian?”

Brian said “I tried to explain that I haven’t got a problem with Carla when Donna thought I was having a go at her about being a tomboy. Donna misunderstood me completely and got quite angry and left to find you.”

“Right,” said Daddy, “I want to sort this out right now because I love Donna and her two girls far too much to let the church interfere with my plans for our future.”

While all this was going on Rita and the boys backed away a little bit; because I don't think they really knew what had happened to upset me and Mummy.

Mummy grabbed Daddy's hand and said “Bill, I might have been a bit hasty and not given Brian a chance to explain what he was trying to say, because anything to do with Carla's little problem is off limits to anyone but family and her doctors.”

“Well,” Brian said before Daddy could say anything; “When you lost your son Paul I was there for you as well as when we buried Ann; so why would I not be right behind you when I can see how happy you have been the last few weeks with your new adopted family?”

“Ok, I was a little bit hasty, but Brian you made Carla cry, and when that happened I got angry. She is going to have enough to cope with as it is.”

Brian said “Look Donna, I have known Bill for a very long time. In fact we grew up together, so you can trust me completely with anything concerning Carla. I will help in any way I can legally or spiritually because before I became a priest; I was a lawyer and still handle all the legal stuff for this church.

Well after a while all was forgiven and it was smiles all round; so we said 'bye to Brian.

Mummy even gave him a hug and said “We need to talk more Brian If I 'm going to let you marry me and Bill.”

Brian said “Any time you're ready Donna, and you too Carla” and he came and gave me a hug as well.

“Right, that's sorted. Lets go and see what these lads' Mum has cooked for us.” So we all got into Daddy's car and went to the Smith's for Sunday dinner. Ricky was holding my hand all the way to his house but didn't say anything. Rita was in the front and dropped her hand behind the seat and held Peter's hand.

Mummy and Daddy looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders and smiled and said “Young love.”

Daddy parked the car, and we all stopped holding hands long enough to go inside the Smith residence for tea. Helen had a roast chicken and baked vegetables all ready to dish up; so we all sat down at the dining room table.

Barry asked what took so long at the church, Daddy replied, “There was a bit of a misunderstanding about Carla's medical condition, but it's all sorted now.”

Mummy said “Yeah, I got a bit annoyed about Brian not being careful how he mentioned Carla being a tom-boy, because Carla was crying at that point.

“Mum” said Peter, “I thought Uncle Bill was going to snot Father Allsen before things quietened down.”

Helen replied “That would have been unfortunate wouldn't it Bill?”

Daddy said, “Yeah, but my girls are not to be messed with as anyone will find out.”

Barry said, “But Brian and you are mates from way back. You wouldn't have hit a priest would you Bill?”

Before Daddy could reply Mummy said, “Most of what happened was my fault and I feel just awful that Bill might have gone that far.”.

Helen lightened the mood and said, “Ok guys let's hit the food instead of people.”

The conversion then went to Mummy and Daddy getting married in the Catholic church; and how long it would take to sort out all the paperwork for that to happen.

Seeing it was work time tomorrow morning we didn't stay too late and got home by eight o'clock. I had to do my school work so Mummy got all my lessons sorted for the next week; and said I had better get on the radio in the morning to get some help from the School of the Air as well. Daddy was going to sort out stuff for the garage, so he would be gone before we even got up in the morning. Mummy and Rita were going into the restaurant and sort out the menu for tomorrow night and start preparing food; It wouldn't be as hard for Mummy now that Linda and Alice were there to help out.

By nine o'clock we were all ready for bed so Mummy and Daddy said good night and disappeared into their bedroom. I thought Daddy might be grovelling a bit that night if he wanted lots of hugs!!.

Rita said, “Carla! Tomorrow when you have finished your school work, get the bike out and ride down to the restaurant and meet Alice. You will like her.”

I replied, “Yeah, I want to go for a ride on my bike anyway; it's been sitting in the shed since the mail truck brought both our bikes back from River Downs.

“Yeah I know,” said Rita “I want to do some riding as well and lose some of this waist; or Pete won't want to be my boyfriend any more.”

I replied, “Yeah but don't lose any off your tits, because that's what he looks at most of the time you know!”

Rita said, “Go to sleep Carla, you're only jealous!”

“Yeah you bet.” I replied. We both had a giggling fit and went to sleep.

I was dreaming about being a bridesmaid at Mummy’s wedding when Jean decided to talk to me. She hadn't been communicating with me since the incident at the airport in Charleville. She seemed to be sitting on my bed and was still wearing that beautiful gown.

She said with a clear voice that sounded just like mine “Carla, I want you to concentrate on Rita to see if I can talk with her through you.” As this was happening I woke up but kept my eyes closed and kept thinking as hard as I could to just see Rita in my mind without opening my eyes.

I don't remember anything after that; because the next thing I knew it was morning and Rita was shaking me and, she was trembling just like I used to when Jean first started to communicate with me.

I quickly hugged her and held on to her and said “I know Rita! Jean was in your dream wasn't she?”

All she could say was “Wow she looks just like you and was wearing the most beautiful gown I have ever seen and; she said in my mind “Hello Rita” and then she just faded; that's when when I woke up with the shakes and thought I had better wake you up to see if you saw her too”

“I saw her before she appeared to you in your dream and she asked me to concentrate on you as hard as I could. It must have worked because if that’s the first time she appeared to you in a dream; it will get stronger every time it happens.” I said, “Wait till you can actually hear her talking Rita. That will freak you out because she sounds just like me.”

Rita said “I sort of heard her in my mind but not her voice.”

I said “You will in time.”

It was time to get up have a shower and start a new week.

To be continued

Next time I meet Alice at the restaurant and the three school girls at the park.