Du Rose Sons

by Bowes, K T

  “Oh,” Hana turned back to Sylvia. “Ryan can stay. We’ll organise him a work visa. I can’t imagine he’ll want to be dragged around the country, while you try and find a suitably rich father for him.”

  Helena’s face kept its professional veneer as she spoke to Hana respectfully. “The cops are too busy to come tonight. They said to take photos and clear it up. They’ll come in the morning.”

  “Please can you organise that?” Hana asked, exhaustion leaking from every pore.

  Helena smiled and nodded.

  “There you go then,” Hana shot her last comment back at Sylvia’s angry face, “nothing to keep you here.” She smiled at the housekeeper and walked towards the spiral staircase, meeting Logan on his way back up. “I just have to do something quickly,” she told him. “You don’t need to go back in there.”

  Relief crossed Logan’s face like a mist moving across his eyes. “Ok,” he said gratefully. “I’ll get Phoe in the car. She’s upset. We can try and get her settled and then spend some time together.” His grey eyes were hopeful.

  Hana left him in the lobby, calling into the kitchen to talk to Ryan.

  “I don’t want to go,” the teenager told her wide-eyed. “I do want to stay here.”

  “Stay then,” Hana told him and to her surprise, the dark haired young man seized her slender body and hugged her hard.

  Chapter 27

  Hana emerged from the bath feeling better. She wandered down to the kitchen in her towel, struggling to keep it closed over her rounded belly and following the happy sounds issuing from that end of the house.

  Standing in the doorway, Hana observed her husband and daughter enjoying each other’s company. They were alike with their dark wavy hair and olive skin, one a carbon copy of the other. Their grey eyes shared some private joke and Hana felt a flicker of envy at their closeness. She withdrew so that only her head peeked around the corner, watching Logan’s long, capable fingers caress the guitar strings. One foot rested on the floor, the other knee bent to take the weight of the instrument. Logan’s other foot pivoted on the rung underneath the chair next to him. He plucked at a few strings and pulled a face, turning a key and playing it again. Better.

  “Nudey dudey,” Phoenix giggled, fighting the buttons on her dress. “I be nudey dudey.”

  “No,” Logan smiled. “It’s not bath time yet. Mummy’s in there.”

  “I dance,” the little girl said and twirled with her arms outstretched. “Play it nen.”

  “Ok, Miss Bossy. What shall I play?” Logan asked and strummed his fingers over all five strings, creating a slow melodic sound. Phoenix began to sing, her small, clear voice already tuneful even though her brain muddled the words. “All right then. Just let me sort the chords out for that. Hang on Phoe, not so fast.”

  Hana recognised the tune as Logan bowed his head over the guitar and began to play. She watched his fingers work their magic over the bridge of the instrument, his long forgotten skill returning the more he played. His voice was a beautiful tenor, only ever shared with his girls.

  “Pōkarekare ana ngā wai o Waiapu, Whiti atu koe hine, marino ana e.

  E hine e hoki mai ra. Ka mate ahau I te aroha e.”

  Phoenix sang along, mangling the pronunciation in her sweet voice as she held the material of her dress out with delicate hands and twirled and danced with sure footed, bare feet. It was a lovely, lyrical tune from the annals of Māori history and washed over Hana like a soft veil.

  “S’it mean, Daddy,” Phoenix asked when the song’s last note resonated through the room. She rested her tiny hands on Logan’s knee and looked up at him expectantly, one hand straying to touch the shiny surface of his guitar with tentative fingers. Logan played the tune softly and translated it into English for his daughter.

  “The waves are breaking, against the shores of Waiapu, My heart is aching, for your return my love.

  “ Oh my beloved girl, come back to me, I could die of love for you.” He hummed the last few notes and Phoenix returned to her dance floor and readied herself.

  “More Daddy. Again.”

  Logan played again for her, catching sight of his wife in the doorway as she slipped silently into the room. His eyes softened and kept contact with Hana’s as he repeated the line just for her. “E hine e hoki mai ra. Ka mate ahau I te aroha e.” Then he sang it in English to make his point. “Oh my beloved girl, come back to me, I could die of love for you.”

  Hana smiled at him and kept her towel hitched up above her breasts. Logan’s eyes strayed to her shapely legs and he shot her a covetous look filled with desire. “Hey, Phoe,” he said to the child, without removing his eyes from his wife’s face. “Tell mummy what hana means in Māori.”

  “Oh,” she skipped with excitement, her grey eyes wide and twinkling. “Fame a wed hair.”

  Hana smiled encouragingly and looked to her husband for help and confirmation. The scar underneath his right eye crinkled as he narrowed them and fixed her with a penetrating intensity. “It means flame, warmth. It also means radiance.” His eyes were sultry and alluring. “Phoe thinks it’s because you have red hair,” he smirked. “It means you’re hot and your name is hot.”

  “Did you just find that out?” Hana asked him and Logan’s eyes danced.

  “No. I’ve always know what hana means to me.”

  Of course he would know. Logan grew up with Māori as his first language. It caused a strange ache in Hana’s soul that her name meant so much to him and a piercing pain reminded her of what she had almost thrown away. Her face became thoughtful and her brow furrowed.

  “Mummy,” Phoenix’s voice was a whisper and she put her hand up to cover her mouth before she told the secret. “Daddy say youse bootiful.” Her eyes twinkled with mischief and she jerked her head comically towards her father without looking at him, sharing a joke with her mother. Logan smiled and laid his guitar gently on the table.

  “Come on, miss,” he caught his daughter up in strong arms and she squeaked. “Let’s get you ready for bed before you give any more of my secrets away. You’re a rubbish confidante.” Passing Hana he leaned in and kissed her slowly on the lips. It held the depths of promise.

  “I left the water,” Hana said, stroking Phoenix’s soft cheek. “But it’s deep so you need to let some out and put more hot in.”

  “Hot in,” the little girl repeated and placed a smacking kiss on Hana’s palm. “Fanks. Luff oo Mama.”

  “Love you too, baby,” Hana replied as Logan bore his daughter down the hallway to the bathroom on one strong arm. Hana’s body froze in place at her child’s next words.

  “Who teached a song, Daddy? Who dun it?”

  Hana heard the plug being pulled in the family bathroom and water gurgling underneath the floor as it travelled to the septic tank under the driveway. She held her breath as Phoenix persisted with her childish innocence. Then Logan replied, “My daddy taught me that and lots of other songs. Mainly old stuff because the chords were easy.”

  “Poppa Alfie?” Phoenix said with childish astuteness.

  “Na, not Poppa Alfie,” Logan said. His voice held no trace of emotion and Hana heard hot water tumble into the deep bathtub. “Poppa Reuben was my daddy.”

  “Where he? My see ‘im?” Phoenix persisted.

  “He died, darlin’,” Logan answered. “Before you were born. But he knew you and he loved you.”

  “Luff me? Phoe-phoe?”

  “Yep. Sure did.”

  “Nen, I luff ‘im,” Phoenix replied, reciprocal affection as natural as breathing. There was the sound of a grunt as Phoenix managed to successfully shuck her dress, stamping excited feet and a plop as she sat down in the bubbly water.

  Hana stood with her head leaned against the wall, deep in thought. She deeply regretted the cruelty which had caused the thing in Logan to snap open, but the man he was becoming was so much more because of that single, traumatic event. She had never heard him acknowledge Reuben Du Rose before and it was a massive step fo
r him, confessing his parentage to their daughter. Logan seemed softer and more open and it was intoxicating and heady. Hana ran her hand lightly over her stomach and felt the boy inside kick her hand. Perhaps there was hope for this family yet.

  Chapter 28

  “So when’s Lucy coming up?” Hana asked, faking innocence. “Would you be able to help me make up the spare room?”

  Tama looked hard at her and then nodded. “Yeah I can, but it’s got all Logan’s stuff in it.”

  “Yeah, I wondered if you’d help me move all that back into our room. I think he’s got the message. The spare bed and mattress are still in the garage and I haven’t been able to drag it in by myself. Are you free to give me a hand or do you have places to be?”

  “Yeah, I can stay.” Tama looked wrong-footed but didn’t venture any of his secrets so Hana used his brawn to carry the metal bed frame into the large spare room and begin assembling it. Hana took the drawers out of Logan’s bedside cabinet and carried them into the bedroom one at a time and then came back for the frame. Tama worked busily with the spanner and screwdriver and Hana stroked his dark, wavy hair as she passed.

  “Ma?” Tama fixed his grey eyes on Hana as she bent to retrieve a pair of socks that had fallen from one of the drawers. She stood up straight and smiled at him expectantly. Tama’s fingers twisted the screwdriver nervously. “What do you do when you really love someone and things are getting in the way?”

  Hana’s face dropped and her green eyes dulled with instant sadness. “You’re asking the wrong person, sweetie. I’m love’s worst nightmare. I married a man who didn’t love me because I was pregnant after a one night stand and punished myself for years for trapping him. He had an affair which he kept from me and then died. And I just nearly threw away my marriage to Logan because I was so quick to think badly of him. You should probably ask someone who married the love of their life the first time and made it work.”

  “There ain’t nobody like that though, is there?” Tama sounded sad. “Not round here anyway.”

  Hana thought for a moment and then smiled, her eyes lighting up and her pretty face softening. “There is actually. Let’s finish up here and then we’ll go see him. I’ve got some things to discuss with him too, so that will work out great. I just need to see if Phoe wants to come with us or...”

  “I stay a Wiri,” Phoenix piped up. She had built a playhouse in the wardrobe and emerged with her hair tousled, completely naked.

  “Phoe!” Hana looked shocked. “Will you stop taking all your clothes off, please?” Hana picked up the pretty dress and turned it over. “How did you get the buttons at the back undone?” The delicate pearl fasteners tumbled to the carpet as she spoke and rolled away. “Oh, like that. Well, you’ve wrecked it now. I’ll have to stitch it.”

  “Stitch it,” Phoenix repeated, holding up the Lego car she had been making in the wardrobe. It had five wheels. Hana squatted down in front of her and admired the car.

  “Phoe, girls can run around naked, but it’s not ok unless you’re at home.”

  “At home,” Phoenix smiled and looked around the room. “At Daddy’s home.”

  Tama snorted over his task and Hana shot him a look at the same time Phoenix beamed happily at him. “Oh, come on!” He lifted his head and looked at the assembled females. “We used to run round nekid all the time.”

  “Nekid,” Phoenix repeated and smiled at the word on her tongue. “Nekid.” She bounced on the spot happily. “Nekid.”

  Hana groaned and hauled herself upright as Phoenix trotted off making car noises, her naked bottom wibbling as she moved. “Great, thanks for your input. Very helpful.”

  “Sorry,” Tama smiled, not looking sorry at all, “but it’s normal for kids to strip off. Clothes are really constricting and you can do more stuff without them.”

  “Yeah and you did a fair bit of that as I remember,” Hana retorted crossly. “Anahera offered to have Phoe the other day while I did some work at the museum and when I got there to pick her up, her and Wiri were playing in a dirt pile outside the back of the house, completely stark naked.” Tama snorted with laughter. “It’s not funny!” Hana protested. “I felt really annoyed. I never did find one of her shoes. I think they buried it. My other children never did that!”

  “You never brought your other children up here,” Tama commented. “She’s a Kiwi kid and half of us never had shoes to lose, even in winter. If you look at the adults around you, half of us would rather not be wearing them. Logan still walks around in bare feet when he doesn’t have to wear shoes and I don’t wear them in summer, even when I go out. How many restaurants have you seen signs in that say, ‘Shoes must be worn,’ or ‘Patrons without shoes will not be served here,’ and where else in the world would people need to be reminded that they’ve got nothing on their feet?”

  “Fair enough about the shoes,” Hana sighed, “but you don’t see signs saying naked people won’t get served, do you?”

  “Probably in the rainforest you do,” Tama joked and smirked at her. “Stop worrying, Ma. Don’t make her self-conscious before she needs to be. She’s a gorgeous little streak of loveliness at the moment. Don’t ruin it. Anyway, half the problem is what she’s wearing.”

  Hana looked down at the dress in her hand, the swags and bows and felt chided. “Maybe you’re right,” she conceded.

  The spare room looked fresh and clean once they finished and potentially ready for Lucy’s visit, although Tama seemed doubtful she would ever come. Leslie had Wiri at the hotel and he and Phoenix greeted each other with enthusiasm. “Are you sure you don’t mind?” Hana said guiltily as the children skipped into Leslie’s apartment hand in hand.

  “Got pantsies on,” Phoenix told the tousle-haired boy and he duly admired the leggings. Hana still hadn’t been able to persuade the little girl to wear anything on her feet though.

  “Got nothing else to do now, have I?” the old lady smiled, hugging Hana against her large body when her face dropped. “Get on with ya, Alfie and I love havin’ them. They keep us young. We’ll do some baking for when you get back.”

  “She just wants to be with Wiri all the time,” Hana apologised. “She could have come with us but didn’t want to.”

  “It’s fine,” Leslie said at the top of the stairs. “I’ll be having Wiri most days until he goes to school in a few months.”

  “I didn’t think Anahera worked,” Hana commented and Leslie looked shifty.

  “She don’t, but she’s not feelin’ too well at the moment.”

  “Pregnant?” Hana asked but Leslie shook her head.

  “No, no. Not pregnant. She won’t tell me what’s wrong but she’s behaving a bit like...like Miriam used to before she got real sick sometimes.”

  “Bi-polar?” Hana asked and Leslie nodded.

  “Just crying all the time and stuff. Nev asked me to keep the boy because she’s not lookin’ after him, or herself properly.”

  “Well, has she ever been like this before?” Hana asked and Leslie shrugged.

  “Not to my knowledge. And I’ve known the woman her whole life. Her and her sisters lived up the road from me in the township. She always seemed like a happy little thing. Same age as my Nina.”

  “So she’s not a Du Rose then?” Hana asked, “Some cousin twelve times removed or something?”

  Leslie laughed. “No, definitely not.”

  Back in the car, Hana relayed the conversation for Tama. “Don’t you think that’s a bit odd?” she asked him and he shrugged, driving the expensive ute up the long driveway to the main road and turning left.

  “I dunno,” he sulked. “You women are all weird. I never understand what you’re up to.”

  “What do you think of Asher? I saw him glowering at me from the paddock behind the house when I was trying to dig my daughter out of her rabbit hole. I get the feeling he hates me and Loge.”

  “He does.” Tama made another turn onto a dangerous single lane road that ran clockwise around a mountain and Hana�
��s stomach lurched as she looked down the washouts littered along the way. She stared a little too long at the plunging depths a few centimetres away and felt sick. Distracting herself, Hana pushed Tama for more information.

  “What did we do?”

  “You stopped Nev selling up. Asher’s convinced there would have been a lot of money handed out once it was all carved up and he wanted his share.”

  “But it was all debts!” Hana exclaimed. “Doesn’t he know that? Reuben hadn’t paid any bills or taxes on that property for about ten years. Logan bought the farm for what he agreed with Nev and then still had to settle debts on top of that. Some of them only came to light when Nev handed him a court letter after the sale had gone through. They were going under, that’s why Logan...”

  “I know,” Tama held up his hand to stop Hana’s tirade. “But Asher won’t believe anyone. He’s convinced the developers would have cleared all that and he’d still have got a pay-out. He feels robbed and the idiot started spending it and now has some mighty debts of his own.”

  “Like what? And how do you know all this?”

  “Like that flash car he’s driving around and can’t make the repayments on and I know because we grew up in the same house. He’s a few years older than me and Anahera was the only female in the house, so she kind of brought us up together.”

  “Like brothers?”

  “Yeah, sort of. Although it was different for him because he was proper family and I wasn’t. I didn’t know that; I genuinely thought Kane was my dad for years. But he wasn’t and they all knew that. I spent too much time with Kane, smoking, drinking and trying to get close to him. Gradually they pulled back from me, I guess. I can see why now because I was out of control, but at the time it was just another rejection. Logan paid for me to go away to school and then made sure I had Michael’s room down at the hotel when I came back. It saved me countless beatings. Miriam knew I was Michael’s son so she treated me well.”