by Amanda Dick
“That’s right,” she said hesitantly, doing her best to look relaxed.
Henry didn’t seem to notice, intent as he was on pouring tea for the two of them and generally fussing around after both of us. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him so attentive. He was like an old woman. I took a quick swallow of coffee from my takeaway cup, trying not to choke. He’d have killed me if I’d said that out loud. It made me feel like a rebel.
“Have you seen much of this beautiful country of ours?” Maia asked, deftly turning the conversation around to him. She certainly had a knack for it. Watching her now, as an outsider looking in, I was full of admiration, although the reason she was so good at this made my heart ache.
“I was born and bred here,” he said proudly, sitting down at the table finally. “I spent four years overseas during the war, and when I came back home, I didn’t want to leave ever again.”
Maia smiled, glancing over at me. She was enjoying his company, that much was obvious.
“When I got back, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. I toyed with the idea of going into my father’s business,” he continued.
“What business was that?” Maia asked, taking a sip of her tea.
“He was a mechanic, he had a small firm here. I fancied myself as a mechanic – I was good with machinery.”
I’d never heard this story before. I took a bite of my éclair as Henry continued.
“Dad was looking at expanding, opening a workshop in Auckland, where his brother was. He offered me a job there, helping to set it up.” He took a sip of tea and sat back in his chair. “But then I met my Glenda. A real beauty she was – swept me off my feet. She was happy here, and she didn’t fancy living in the big smoke. It came down to a choice – the business in Auckland, or stay here with Glenda. So I stayed here, and instead of being a mechanic, I got a job selling farm machinery.” He winked at Maia. “At least my hands weren’t greasy. Women don’t like greasy mechanic’s hands.”
Maia laughed and Henry looked like he was actually glowing. I’d never seen him this way before. The gruff exterior was gone, replaced by a charming tongue and a peaceful countenance that really surprised me. Maybe it was talking about Glenda. I know he missed her, but he didn’t talk about her, and I never felt comfortable bringing her up, in case it was too painful. Maybe I should’ve.
After we’d finished our tea and chocolate eclairs, Maia asked Henry for a tour around his garden. He was only too happy to oblige. I watched her with him, attentive and interested. Henry was in his element, explaining about the roses, the camellias, the hibiscus and the abundance of fruit trees planted in neat rows in the yard behind the house.
Henry wasn’t the only one glowing. Maia looked the most relaxed I’d seen her in days. They seemed to click, and it made my heart soar to see it. He was completely enamoured with her, and it was clear the feeling was mutual. Her skin glowed, she smiled almost continually, and when he gave her a plum off his tree near the back door, she shined it on her shirt and bit into it immediately. Eyes closed in ecstasy, the juice dribbled off her chin and it was all I could do to stop myself from licking it off. When she told him it was the best plum she’d ever had, I thought he was going to burst with pride.
She probably thought I was lying about his gruff exterior. It certainly wasn’t evident today. What was evident was that they got on like a house on fire. It was incredible to see his whole demeanour change, but at the same time, it raised so many questions. He and Em had been so close. Was he connecting with Maia because she reminded him of Em, because she was Em, or because he was charmed by Maia?
I suppose I could ask the same questions of myself.
When we left a couple of hours later, it was with a bag of fresh fruit and a promise to come back and visit soon. Just as I was backing out of his driveway, Henry waved me back.
“Hang on, I’ll just be a minute – he probably forgot to give us a tonne of mandarins or something,” I smiled, getting out of the car and jogging barefoot up the driveway towards him.
“What’s up?” I asked, slowing down as I closed in on him.
He took my arm and turned me around so we had our backs to the truck. Then he turned deadly serious. I knew that look. My heartbeat doubled back on itself as I waited for the bombshell.
“She’s special, boy,” he said, his eyes narrowing. “I have a feeling you know that, too – I can see it when you look at her. Just be sure you hang onto her. Girls like that don’t come along every day. Don’t do anything to mess this up, or so help me, you’ll have me to answer to.”
I nodded, speechless. He glanced back over my shoulder again.
“She reminds me of my Glenda,” he said absentmindedly, as if talking to himself.
My heart, racing just moments ago, shuddered to a halt. He used to say the same thing about Emily. I wondered if somewhere deep down, he knew more than he thought he did.
I’d been unable to get the idea out of my head. If Emily and Maia were the same person, would it change my life – again? I was in love with both of them, but I could only have one of them. Did I have to choose? Selfishly, I didn’t want to. To my mind, the only advantage to finding out if Maia and Emily were the same person, was for everyone else, not for me. Bridget would have her daughter back. Henry would have his grand-daughter. Alex would have his sister. I wanted the closure more for them than for myself. I didn’t feel like I needed it as much as I’d thought I did. Whether it transpired that Maia and Emily were the same person or not, I was happy for the first time in years.
But I also knew that Maia had a gaping hole in her life, and if we could somehow find out about her past, she might finally be able to fill it.
That was my driving force. Her need, not mine.
But we had time. Time to google, time to find out about DNA tests and scour missing persons websites. Time for doctors and police files and investigators.
Right now, it was our time and I was determined to make the most of it.
DINNER WAS HOMEMADE pizza, rustled up by my good self. I loved cooking for Maia. Sharing her with Henry had been hard. As great as it was to see them getting on well together, I wanted her to myself again. There were things I wanted to do to her that I didn’t think Henry should witness, nor would we want him to.
I was desperate to build on the relaxing vibe that being with Henry had created, so I was taking her to another one of my favourite quiet, out-of-the-way spots. While she was in the bathroom, I got out my trusty cooler bag and threw in a blanket, a couple of towels and a bottle of wine with two plastic glasses.
Maia walked out of the bathroom, her hair drawn up into a high ponytail, her hands on her hips.
“So, if I need my swimsuit, that means we’re off to the beach. Right?”
I grinned, looking forward to the evening ahead. The sun was still up and it was early. And she didn’t really need her swimsuit. As much as I loved it, I was actually hoping she might forgo it.
“Nope, not the beach.”
She frowned, pouting at me adorably, eyes narrowed. “Another surprise destination?”
“You’ll love it, don’t worry.” I grabbed the cooler bag and my truck keys, still grinning. “Come on, let’s go.”
“You can be very mysterious, Mr Danes.”
“International Man of Mystery, that’s me,” I winked, taking her hand and pulling her towards the door.
We jumped into the truck and headed out of town. She tried to quiz me for clues, but this time I didn’t give in. Maybe it was the fact that I wanted to see her face when we finally got there. Maybe it was just that I enjoyed listening to her wild and random guesses. Either way, I felt like I was walking on air.
A full twenty minutes passed before we turned off the main road and she saw the sign, proudly displayed with a bold arrow on the side of the road.
“A waterfall?”
“A waterfall.”
“I really didn’t see that coming. I was way off wasn’t I?”
I chu
ckled. “It was highly entertaining, though.”
“Ha! Well, your clues were complete and utter lies – what did you expect?”
I grinned over at her, reaching for her hand. The falls had been one of mine and Em’s favourite places. I was kind of hoping for a miracle. If she really was Em, I couldn’t really imagine her not remembering this place. But if she wasn’t, I still wanted to share its beauty with her. There was something incredibly appropriate about taking a beautiful woman to a beautiful location.
I pulled off the side of the road and parked the truck under the trees. We were surrounded by native bush, green and dense, a basic five-strand wire fence separating the road from the undergrowth. Trees towered above us, sheltering us from the heat of the early-evening sun.
I grabbed the cooler bag from the back seat and waited for Maia to come up alongside me.
“Over there,” I said, pointing to the wooden sty built for crossing the fence-line.
She gave me a puzzled look, but followed as I led the way, climbing over the sty and down onto the other side of the fence. I reached up to take her hand and help her over.
“This looks kind of creepy. Are you sure?”
I laughed. “Yeah, I know. Trust me, it’s worth seeing.”
“Why are we stopping here, and not going further up the road to the proper car park?”
I held her hand as we made our way along the dirt track cut into the undergrowth, single-file. “Because that’s where all the tourists go. This is somewhere special.”
We made our way through the bush for ten minutes or so, until we could hear the waterfall clearly in the distance. Another five minutes of fighting our way through the bushes, and the clearing came into sight.
“Close your eyes,” I said, stopping.
She smiled, and I could tell the anticipation was getting to her. She closed her eyes, and I slowly led her forward, through the clearing, where the sun fought its way through the canopy and showered us with light, to the other side.
“I can hear water.”
“Careful,” I warned, leading her onto the track again. “Just take it slow.”
I pushed overhanging branches aside for her, and the bush gave way to the slow-moving river. We were downstream from the waterfall, able to hear it but protected from the eddies and the spray. The river curved gently away from the falls, and this protected, sheltered spot was like a slice of heaven on earth, especially at this time of day.
Native birds called to each other in the distance, invisible to us but lending a peaceful ambience that always seemed to soothe my ragged soul. The contour of the earth dipped down into the river, and once you were in the water, it felt like you were a million miles away from civilisation.
“Open your eyes,” I said gently, squeezing her hand.
I watched her as she did so, eager to see the look on her face when she saw where she was.
Her mouth fell open, just slightly, and her eyes widened as she took in the view. With the sun reflecting off the surface, the water looked impossibly blue and clear, like something you might see in the Bahamas. Even the sand on the riverbed was almost white.
“It’s so beautiful,” she murmured, turning to me.
I smiled, my heart skipping a beat. She may not remember it, or know that it was significant or special, but she recognised the beauty in it and that was enough. I let go of the cooler bag and leaned in to capture her lips with mine, curling my arms around her waist and drawing her in closer.
It’s incredible, how things can be so strained, so wrong, so out of control one minute. And then the next, it’s as if everything is so right, you can barely remember what it used to feel like. That’s what she had done for me. She had put a wall between the me of a week ago, and the me of right now. I could barely remember what the old me would be doing now, if she wasn’t here. It was difficult to know what day it was. I found myself wanting to spend every single moment with her, and when she wasn’t with me, I was counting down the hours until she was. The feeling was so all-encompassing that I often found my mind wandering. It was as if my brain was struggling to remain on an even keel, constantly pulled off kilter, leaning towards her and away from the rest of the world. Being around her was the most intense natural high I had ever experienced, and like any addict, I wanted more.
I pulled away from her, slowly, reluctantly, tucking a stray hair behind her ear.
“You’re so beautiful,” I murmured, taking in every detail of her face.
Every time I looked at her, I saw something new. It was like discovering her for the first time, every time.
“No one’s ever said that to me,” she whispered. “Not that I remember, anyway.”
I ached for her. My body, my heart, my soul – every part of me.
“I look in the mirror, and all I see is a face,” she said quietly. “Eyes, skin, hair. Fragments of someone else – bits and pieces that don’t really add up to anything. I don’t even know who ‘me’ is. But when you look at me, it’s different. I don’t know why, and I don’t care, but it just is. You don’t just see me, you look inside me. You make me feel whole.”
I gently took her face in my hands, making sure her eyes were on me, leaving no room for misunderstanding. “You make me feel whole, too.”
She closed her eyes, as if she was giving herself to me, and I took her. I took her lips in mine, her heart in mine, her soul in mine. I wanted all of her and it felt like we were in total agreement.
Breathlessly, I pulled away. I smiled, rocking slightly with her in my arms.
“I don’t know about you, but I need to cool off.”
She nodded, any residual sadness now gone, replaced by a cheeky smile that made me want to kiss her again. I resisted though, pulling my t-shirt off and running straight for the river, knees tucked up, maximum splash for your buck. I popped up, shaking my head like a dog and sending water spraying everywhere. At this point in the river, it was less than ten metres wide. Narrow and intimate, with the bank rising up steeply behind us, covered in native bush, the water refreshingly cool. It was like a private pool, and we had it all to ourselves.
“What are you waiting for?” I asked, staying submerged up to my shoulders, my toes digging into the sandy bottom. “Let’s make you some memories.”
She gave me a strange look, as if she wanted to cry, but then she smiled instead. She pulled her t-shirt off and unfastened her shorts. It felt like the clocks had stopped. Her shorts fell to the ground and she stepped out of them, her legs long and smooth and milky white. She had to be around five foot six, the same height as Em. I tried to mentally calculate how many inches of legs that would be, wrapped around me. That red swimsuit was devastatingly hot on her small frame. I’d always been a bikini fan but on her, that sexy one-piece was enough to change my mind.
She ran to the water’s edge and dived in, leaving a small splash in her wake. I watched her through the clear water as she swam towards me, popping up near me with a gasp.
“It’s freezing!”
I chuckled. “Yeah, it’s a bit glacial, I’ll give you that.”
She ran her hand over her hair, smoothing it back into her ponytail. I stepped closer, draping my arms around her. I couldn’t keep my hands off her. The need inside of me was growing, gnawing at me like an itch I couldn’t scratch. The more I ignored it, the worse it got. I knew I’d have to feed it soon, but in the meantime, as long as she let me touch her, hold her and kiss her, it was making it easier.
She smiled up at me, and for the first time, I saw the need growing inside her, too. She didn’t look shy anymore. She was challenging me.
Dangerous. Very dangerous.
I pulled her closer and her breasts rubbed up against my chest. My body felt like it was on fire. That red swimsuit was like an open flame, luring me closer. She laced her hands around my neck and I boosted her up as her legs encircled my waist, locking together behind me.
Sweet Jesus. She had no idea how difficult it was for me not to rip that swims
uit off her and take her, right then and there. Instead, I tilted my face up to hers and her smile disappeared, replaced by a ferocious longing. She leaned down, tickling the end of my nose with hers, and then she kissed me, her fingertips caressing the base of my neck and working their way up into my hair.
I was suddenly aware of nerve-endings I didn’t know I had. My heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest, hammering against my ribcage, begging to be set free. We were standing in the middle of a cool river, water flowing gently around us, accepting us as one of its own, yet my body was on fire. The contrast was both irony and torture.
She released me, from her lips and from her spell.
“I don’t ever want this day to end,” she murmured, as her legs tightened around my waist. “I want to stay with you forever. I don’t care if forever is a month from now, a year from now, or a hundred years from now.”
Just the thought of forever being only a month from now made my gut clench. I wanted our forever to last a hell of a lot longer than that.
“If our forever lasts a hundred years, it’s not gonna be nearly long enough,” I said, pulling her closer.
She smiled, holding my face in her hands. She kissed my forehead, my nose and both cheeks. Then she kissed my lips and the world around us faded into oblivion.
If heaven was a place, I was pretty sure I was in it.
I DON’T REMEMBER MUCH about the trip home. I remember holding her hand while I drove, and I remember seeing the sunset as we crested the hill on the way back into town. I found myself noticing that kind of thing more and more lately. For so long, I’d had my eyes closed because I was scared of seeing things as they really were. But lately, I’d found courage I didn’t know I had and I was under no illusion. It was because of Maia. She was opening up my world – showing me what my life could be like with her in it.
Later, back home and curled up on the couch with Maia in my arms, I felt like we were starring in some kind of dystopian movie. Alone on the planet, just the two of us, left to our own devices. Life seemed simpler, easier. The sun had gone down, the TV was off, and the only light in the house came from the table lamp in the corner.