Du Rose Family Ties

by Bowes, K T

  “But what about Jas? I’m desperate to see him.”

  Logan nodded. “Write to him, Hana and post the letters. Keep copies so that one day when he comes looking, you can prove how you felt.” Logan’s jaw flexed and pain crossed his eyes.

  “Are you thinking of Reuben’s letters to Will’s brother?”

  Logan nodded. “Yeah. He spent forty years talking about me to his friend and I grew up believing he was the outcast uncle. It helped and took the pain away just knowing he’d loved me. That’s what you can do for Jas.” Logan tilted his head sideways. “I don’t think Bodie will stop Jas having them though. He’s not spiteful; just a big baby.”

  Hana sighed. “I wonder if that’s how Caleb feels.”

  “What? Like a big baby. Probably.”

  “No! Wanting Bobby to tell him he loves him.”

  Logan grinned. “Nice try, Hana. God loves a trier.”

  Hana pouted. “Sure he does.”

  Logan held out his hand to her. “Come on, Mrs Du Rose. Come to bed with me.”

  Hana rolled her eyes and feigned reluctance. “If I must.”

  “You do.” Logan pushed her wine glass aside and took her hands, wrapping her arms around his waist and joining their fingers behind his back. Dark curls slipped into his eyes and he smiled. His lips pressed warmth against Hana’s, soothing her battered soul from the outside in. Her soft tongue strayed into his mouth and Logan sighed. “Come on,” he whispered. “Let me love you better and then we’ll talk about Mac.”

  Chapter 49

  Cleaning Duty

  Logan’s alarm woke them at five in the morning and Hana groaned. She’d got up twice in the night to the baby and she pulled the covers over her head. “Why do you need to go to the gym so early?” she grumbled and Logan leaned sideways and kissed the back of her head.

  “Because otherwise I go at night and that leaves you alone. I try to go at lunchtime but I’ve got a duty today.”

  “You’re all heart.” Hana pushed her face into the pillow and yawned. “You kept me up half the night and now you wake me at the crack of dawn.”

  Logan snorted. “It’s not dawn yet.” He dug his fingers into her ribs and she let out a muted squeal. “Anyway, we did as much talking as romping.”

  “Yeah, we did.” Hana sat up, her nightdress on inside out and her amber curls coiffed into a messy wedge at the back of her head. “I might take a shower now before everyone wakes. It’ll give me a head start. I need to put the bins out. The rubbish truck will be here in two hours.”

  “No, it won’t.” Logan pulled on gym shorts and slipped a sleeveless tee shirt over his head. Hana watched as it rippled down his chest muscles and she patted the bed next to her.

  “Come back to bed and yes it will.”

  Logan dodged her grasping hands and laughed. “No, wahine. I need to stay fit so I can land running when we go back to the farm. I’m no good to anyone with spindly arms.”

  “You don’t have those.” Hana snorted. “And it’s bin day today. When we stayed here last year, I always forgot.”

  “I did it yesterday.” Logan bent to tie his trainers. “It’s changed since then. And we can’t leave it at the end of the drive anymore; we need to wheel it over to the school and put it with theirs.”

  “Did you do that yesterday then?” Hana’s brow knitted in confusion.

  “Yeah. And I wheeled the damn thing back again after work.” He quirked an eyebrow. “So there Hana-who-sorts-all-the-rubbish and nobody-else-bothers. Play that on your violin.”

  “Oh, no!” Hana put a hand up to her mouth, her green eyes widening and glinting in the light from the bedside lamp. “Oh, no!”

  “What?” Logan sat up and faced her.

  “I put a bin bag by the front door last night.”

  “Yeah but I’ll put it out this morning.”

  Hana shook her head in impatience. “It’s not about that. I found Caleb going through it last night because he thought it might be the weed. Apparently he brought it to Hamilton in a dustbin liner.”

  “Stupid idiot.” Logan stood and looked through the window at the blackness outside.

  “I’ve thrown heaps of rubbish away this week; people keep leaving it by the front door.”

  Logan shook his head. “Why would he bring weed in a bin bag?” He lifted his hand and performed a corkscrew motion next to his temple. “Bad news, Hana. I don’t think he’ll make it to twenty. Kid’ll fall off the flat earth and end up in space.”

  Hana’s eyes narrowed at a faint memory. “Oh crap! I think Wiri did it. Remember when Bodie picked a fight with me and Wiri came in for Leslie’s keys? Caleb got him to get something from her car. A couple of times Wiri’s mentioned taking a bag away from Caleb because he doesn’t like him. If he helped him inside with the dope, he’d know where to steal it from. What if he put it into the dustbin to spite him?”

  Logan rolled his eyes. “Kid’s got brains.”

  “Don’t be dismissive!” Hana’s face clouded. “I’ll bet that’s where it went. What if it’s found at the landfill site and traced back here? Logan, what if the cops turn up?”

  He shrugged. “Then they’ll turn the school inside out looking for a marijuana plantation.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “Priceless.”

  “I need to ask Wiri if that’s what happened.”

  “No, don’t. Leave the kid alone, Hana. He’s got enough worries and it serves Caleb right.”

  Hana huffed. “Then at least I should hose out the wheelie bin in case they send the drug dogs here again.” She shivered at the memory of another time and a scary Alsatian eyeing up her pram.

  Logan nodded, his face still wearing a smirk. “Bleach it out and use the hosepipe from around the side. I’ll do it later if you can’t manage it.”

  “I’m doing it now!” Hana leapt from the bed and ran around finding clothes.

  “At five past five in the morning?” Logan checked his watch and raised an eyebrow. “Want me to set up flood lights so you can create more suspicion?”

  “Shut up!” Hana slapped his bum as she passed him on the way to the stairs. “It’s not funny.”

  “It’s bloody hilarious,” he laughed. “I wish I could hang around to see it.”

  She took an hour and Hana fell into the dustbin twice trying to wipe around the bottom. She appeared in the kitchen looking like a banshee and the children giggled at her hair. Leslie plopped toast onto Wiri’s plate and put her hands on her hips. “Where’ve you been, kōtiro?”

  “I fell in the dustbin.” Hana peered at the stains on her sweatshirt. “It was difficult to get out, but I managed it easier the second time because there’s a knack to it.” She wiggled her fingers. “You have to do this thing with your legs and it falls over, but it hurts.” She rubbed her stomach.

  Logan managed to keep a straight face as he walked into the kitchen. Sweat darkened his tee shirt in a long stripe along his spine and his hair looked slick to his head. “Did you hose yourself down too?” he asked.

  Wiri laughed, the action explosive enough to shower the table and everyone nearby with half-chewed toast. Hana pouted and glared at her husband. “I’ll leave you to clear that up!” she snapped and exited, taking her last shred of dignity with her.

  She left her dirty clothes on the floor and winced at the piece of onion skin clinging to the back of her track pants. Scooting to the bathroom in a towel, she wondered how to remove the traces of marijuana scent from the hiding place beneath the stairs. She pondered it as the hot water soothed her tired muscles and washed tomato sauce from the side of her face.

  “Move over.” Logan stepped over the side of the bath in all his glorious nakedness and Hana glared at him.

  “Stop doing that!”

  “What?” His eyes crinkled with mischief and he pulled her towards him.

  “Unlocking doors; it’s rude. Now wash my hair,” Hana demanded, wriggling out of his grasp and turning her back on him. “I swear I mopped that thing out
with the back of my head.”

  Logan snorted and massaged shampoo into her scalp. His strong fingers made her relax and she put her head back and closed her eyes. “I found a photo last night in the diary you lent me. You’re in it.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Logan’s hands strayed to her shoulders and then lower and he seemed more interested in his findings than hers.

  “Your dad’s there too. Alfred’s holding you and Kane’s standing in front of Reuben. Lincoln’s there with what looks like his father. I can only see the word ‘Haines’ on the back. The names have rubbed out.”

  “Mmnnnn.” Logan lifted her clean hair and kissed the back of her neck.

  “You’re not interested, are you?”

  “Not one little bit right now.”

  Hana inhaled and exhaled a scream as ice cold water doused her from above. She almost flattened Logan in her attempt to get away from it. Her breath caught in her throat as she shivered on the bathmat, trying not to break her neck on the soaked floor. Logan laughed and stepped under the spray, soaping his broad chest and flexing his muscles to irritate her. “You’re such a bloody townie,” he jeered. “Have you never had a cold shower under a rusty hosepipe in a cow shed before?”

  “No!” Hana snapped. She snuggled herself up in his towel as well as her own and glared at his shape through the flimsy curtain.

  “Sorry!” Leslie’s voice floated up the stairs. “I put the washing machine on and forgot it took the hot water. Stupid front loaders!”

  Hana shook her head and warmed herself up enough to clean her teeth. Logan turned off the water and stepped onto the mat. “Please can I have my soaking wet towel back?” he asked, his lips quirking into a smile. Hana let him take it and spat toothpaste down the plughole.

  “What about under the stairs? Won’t there be residue?” She gnawed the side of her cheek with an expression of anxiety. “When it happened before, the dog tracked right to that spot underneath the dining table.”

  Logan sighed. “There won’t be any dogs, Hana. The guys at the rubbish depot won’t even notice it amongst all the other crap.”

  “What shall I tell Lincoln if he comes back?”

  Logan’s face lost its humour as though an unseen hand wiped the smile from his lips. There. Gone. “Tell him to see me.”

  “What will you do?” Worry turned Hana’s pupils to black dots, accentuating the emerald of her eyes. She turned to watch her husband’s spine grow rigid as he daubed the towel against his extremities.

  “Just leave it.” Logan ran the towel over his face and neck, patting his underarms and down over the rugged scar beneath his right armpit.

  “I don’t like it when you say that.” Hana swallowed back dread. “It’s dodgy.”

  “Dodgy?” Logan snorted.

  “Yeah.” Hana widened her green eyes in fear. “Dodgy. Once you said I should leave it and you ended up in police custody.” She shivered out of the damp towel and reached above her head, scooping her hair into a knot. She jabbed a finger in his direction. “Then there was that other time when you got pushed into Hamilton Lake and almost drowned.” Hana shook her head. “I’m not leaving it, Logan. Not this time. We’re in this together or not at all.”

  Logan’s pupils dilated and he stared at her, his face moving through a mix of emotions. Then he smiled. “I can’t take you seriously while you’re standing there naked with your arms above your head.” He lurched for her and Hana squeaked as he pushed her back into the shower and turned the water on. He lifted her up against the wall of cold tiles and smothered her cries with his lips.

  Chapter 50

  Missing

  “Hana!” Leslie’s voice squawked up the stairs like nails on a blackboard. “Hana!”

  “What now?” She pulled her sweater over her head and buttoned up her jeans. “I’m getting dressed. Please, can you wait home with Macky while I run the others to school?”

  “No. I’ll take ‘em. Your daughter wants a kiss.”

  Hana scampered down the stairs in her socks, almost breaking her neck on a slippery one at the bottom. “I’m here now.”

  “Kiss, Mama.” Phoenix stood in the hallway with her coat and rucksack on while Wiri tied her laces with painstaking slowness. She puckered up her lips and closed her eyes in expectation and Hana bent and placed a gentle kiss on her mouth.

  “You’ve got trainers for kindy,” Hana said, her brow furrowing. “They’re your best shoes.”

  “I’m not going kindy, member?” Phoenix replied. “I going take Wiri to school.”

  “Oh, yeah.” Hana pulled her wet fringe away from her forehead and smothered her embarrassment. Logan’s ministrations had a tendency to make her forget which day of the week it was. “I’ll be fine; we’ll all go.”

  “Nooooo!” Phoenix complained. “I wanna go wiv Nonie peese.”

  “Can’t I come too?”

  “Nope.” She delivered her verdict and softened the blow with a beautiful smile. “Luff you Mama.”

  Hana sighed. “I love you too. So, you’re not leaving me anybody?”

  “Nope.” Leslie chuckled and hoisted Mac higher onto the spare tyre around her stomach. “You got the morning to yerself. I’ll bring ‘em all back before Mac needs his nap.”

  “I’d rather be with you.” Hana pouted and the assembled group viewed her with varying degrees of surprise.

  “Oh. Well, have the morning to yerself.” Leslie spun around before Hana could comment further and whisked the little family through the front door.

  “Bye Ma,” Wiri called over his shoulder and Phoenix gave a cute little wave. Then the door closed behind them.

  “What’s wrong?” Logan clattered down the stairs behind her and stopped at her crestfallen expression.

  “I think I’ve just been ditched,” Hana grumbled. “You kept me upstairs and now they’ve gone off without me.”

  A smile spread across Logan’s lips and Hana shook her head, giggling as she backed towards the staircase. Her spine pressed against the wooden slats and she held her hands out in front of her. “Don’t you dare. Logan, no!”

  He bent and growled in her ear, catching her around the thighs and lifting her so her spine leaned against the bannister and her knees gripped around his waist. “I’m sure I can be a little late this morning,” he crooned against her neck and Hana slapped his back and kicked her legs against his butt.

  “No!” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Caleb’s not up yet. He might walk in on us.”

  “Bloody hell!” Logan groaned and rolled his eyes towards the ceiling. He let Hana slide down the rails and nuzzled her neck with his lips. “I’ll be really quick,” he promised and bit the soft skin beneath her ear lobe.

  “Yeah, you will be because it ain’t happening,” Hana giggled. “Put me down and get to work.”

  “But Hana,” Logan complained.

  “No.” She held firm and jerked her head towards Caleb’s door. “His door’s not shut.”

  “Maybe he’s not here.” Logan’s eyebrow quirked upwards and a cute dimple revealed itself in his hopeful face. He set Hana’s feet on the floor and slid away from her, nudging Caleb’s door open so he could push his face into the room. “He’s not here.”

  “Where is he then?” Hana’s brow furrowed. “Kitchen?”

  Logan checked the kitchen, lounge, downstairs laundry and the other two rooms. He returned with a smug look on his face. “He’s not here, babe. No excuses.”

  Hana squeaked and bolted up the stairs, shrieking as Logan’s feet pounded up after her. “You’re so gonna get fired,” she giggled as he pushed her onto the bed and climbed on top of her, his hands already roving beneath her sweater.

  A lazy vibration began, pushing through Hana’s leg from Logan. “Oh, baby!” she joked. “That’s new.”

  Logan groaned in irritation and rolled over onto his side. “Damn phone!” he grumbled. “What?” His voice sounded snappy and without humour as he pressed the button and listened to the caller. Hana watc
hed his brows knit in concentration and a look of dread pass over his eyes.

  “What?” she mouthed, imagining awful scenarios with the children which made her blood run cold.

  “Okay.” Logan sighed. He swore a few times before shaking his head and ending the call. He stood and tucked his shirt back into his trousers. “It’s not the kids. Anahera’s missing.”

  “But she can’t be. That place is like a museum; everything’s locked up tight.”

  “Well, she is. Went out yesterday and didn’t come back.”

  “What do you mean, she went out? She can’t go out.”

  “Of course she can.” Logan’s expression seemed dismissive. “They’re probably getting ready to send her home soon, so they must let her out on excursions just to make sure she can cope. Last I heard from Nev she was able to come and go during the day.”

  “Come and go?” Hana sounded disbelieving.

  “It’s not the middle ages.” Logan fastened his belt and looped his neck tie back into a presentable knot. “It’s a mental health facility, not prison.”

  “Did your mum spend time in one? Is that why you know so much?” Hana asked the question with sincerity but winced as Logan’s expression darkened and he ignored her.

  “Nev’s driving to Hamilton. He’s checking the places she usually goes and the hospital notified the cops. Expect a visit from your golden boy son.”

  Hana tutted and glared at him. “Where’re you going? You don’t know where she’ll be.”

  “I’m going to work,” Logan snorted. “It’s not an emergency; she’ll turn up.”

  “But what about me?” Hana leaned back on her elbows and tried to look sensuous. Her hair stuck up on one side and a streak of mascara graced her flushed cheek. Logan leaned down and kissed her pouting lips.

  “You, my darling, need to think of a way to get rid of the old woman and the drop-kick before I get home.”

  “That’s not fair.” Hana sank back into the mattress. “Impossible in fact. Your grandmother said you were a dick.”