by Bowes, K T
He took Phoenix, hoisting his daughter over his shoulder in strong, tender hands, loving being an unexpected father. Hana felt naked without the child in her arms and wished she could disappear through a hole in the ground. Logan’s other arm wrapped itself around his wife, nudging her towards the door. “They’re gonna stampede in a second. Let’s get out of the way.” He kissed Hana’s temple, his brow knitting when she didn’t respond.
Hana tried to collect herself, straightening her spine and forcing a smile onto her lips. “Sorry, it’s your job and you have things to do.” Those things didn’t include consoling his incapable wife. “Sorry,” she said again out in the lobby. “Go back to your breakfast, everything’s fine.”
Hana took Phoenix, still not looking Logan in the eyes in case he saw her ineptitude and walked towards the pram. He followed her out. “Hana, look at me. Babe, what’s happened? You were fine when I left yesterday morning.”
Hana laid Phoenix back onto the slim mattress, tensing as the little mouth opened for its familiar wail. Hana knew her own tired tears were near the surface and wanted to escape. She loved her baby with all her heart but valiantly fought the dreadful urge to abandon the noise and disturbance and life changing numbness - and walk away. “It was fine when you left yesterday morning,” she said with a bite in her voice. “But it’s obviously not now, is it?”
“I’ll walk you home.” Logan stepped after her, attempting to follow his little family along the wide path to the soccer field, but Hana waved him off with a dismissive gesture.
“What’s the point? You’ll only turn and walk right back here again. It doesn’t take two to push a pram, but it takes two to raise a child. Or so I thought!”
“Hana!” Logan’s concerned grey eyes watched his wife walk away, seeing the despondent droop of her shoulders and sensing her unshed tears below the surface. Guilt assailed him. His night duty was undisturbed and his hair still wet from the hot shower an hour ago. His poor wife didn’t look as though she’d eaten in the last twenty-four hours, let alone slept or showered.
It wasn’t working. “Damn it,” he cursed, interspersing it with a swearword. He should never have agreed to Angus’ request to take on the boarding house. The unit allocated to Logan’s family was small and tatty, their baby hadn’t settled since they moved in and nor had Hana. Logan knew she longed for the peace of their expansive villa in the Hakarimata Bush and sympathised. March and the replacement boarding house manager couldn’t come quickly enough for him.
The bell sounded from inside the house, letting the boys know they had half an hour to walk to the main school for tutor group. Logan reluctantly turned back to the boarding house, deciding to talk to the principal in his next free period.
“Things not good with your missus?” the chef asked, grabbing fresh air before the big clean up from breakfast. “She looks shattered.”
“Yeah.” Logan nodded. “I should be with her, not here. I don’t know what Angus is playing at. I’ve done five night duties in the past week, on top of my usual teaching commitments and I can’t keep this going.”
The chef laughed and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, you should know this place by now. Work ya till ya drop and then find another mug. No wonder Dan Fowler took off in such a hurry! He probably got fed up. I’d give up if I were you.”
The sound of shouting broke out in the lobby and Logan saw fists flying. The chef grinned and walked towards the back of the building. “That’s your next hour taken care of,” he sniggered over his shoulder. Logan rolled his eyes and waded in to break up the fight.
Author's Note
Dear Reader
If you have enjoyed my novels, please consider leaving a short review at the site where you purchased them and at Goodreads.
I have learned many things on my publishing journey, one of which is that I cannot succeed without reviews, no matter how good my work might be. It doesn’t have to be an essay, a few short words about what you liked will be good enough for me.
Thank you,
K T Bowes
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Link to Book 5 of The Hana Du Rose Mysteries- The New Du Rose Matriarch
About the Author
K T Bowes lives in the Central North Island of New Zealand, not far from Culver’s Cottage. Sadly, the ‘real’ Culver’s Cottage burned down last year, which was a dreadful shame. She began the first three books many years ago, thinking she would leave them for her four children to deal with one day. But a publisher friend persuaded her to get her book out there just a week before he died unexpectedly. So that’s exactly what she did.
The author shares her home with her husband and an angry ginger cat. Her children are off making their own way in the world nowadays and fly, drive or bus home when they can. K T Bowes emigrated from the UK with her gorgeous husband and four children back in 2006 and is now a proud New Zealand Citizen.
Other works by this author
Logan Du Rose
About Hana can be downloaded free HERE
Hana Du Rose
Du Rose Legacy
The New Du Rose Matriarch
One Heartbeat
The Du Rose Prophecy
Du Rose Sons
Du Rose Family Ties
The boxed set is available containing the first 4 novels HERE
Novels for teens/young adults:
Free from the Tracks can be downloaded free HERE
Sophia’s Dilemma
A Trail of Lies – FREE to subscribers
Gone Phishing
UK based mystery/romances:
Artifact
Demons on Her Shoulder
From Russia, With Love series, based in UK
The Actuary can be downloaded free HERE
The Actuary’s Wife
The Actuary in Trouble
New Zealand Soccer Referee Series
All Saints
Small Town New Zealand Romance Series
Deleilah
Take a look at all K T Bowes’ novels HERE
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Copyright Notice
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Disclaimer
These novels are a work of fiction, entirely the product of the author’s imagination. Any similarities to actual persons, living or dead, businesses and events are purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of these books may be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written permission of the author.
This work is the intellectual property of the author writing as K T Bowes.