He gave a polite shrug. ‘Work. As usual.’
‘Right. Well, I hope you’ll pop in again to see us.’
‘That’s not likely,’ he said, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on Kate. Augi sensed the tension between Lucy and Oliver. He was leaving, and she hadn’t known he was leaving so soon. Augi’s heart ached for Lucy who had perceptibly paled. ‘I’ve a flight booked for Australia tomorrow,’ he continued.
‘Maybe you can visit us when next you’re back then,’ suggested Kate, beginning to look doubtful.
‘I have no plans to return,’ said Oliver.
‘Oh,’ said Lucy looking bereft. Augi’s heart went out to her. Loving the wrong man was always hard. Augi should know. She’d done the same thing so long ago.
‘So, all the best everyone, and, if you’re ever in Sydney, look me up. I know some great hotels,’ he added. ‘They don’t have as much character as the Old Colonial, but at least they have all mod cons.’
Uncomfortable laughter followed, and Oliver and Lucy disappeared around the front of the house.
An uneasy silence fell. Kate’s eyes lingered sadly on the corner of the house, beyond which they could hear murmuring voices. Augi looked down, uncomfortable at how Lucy’s pain had been laid bare for everyone to see. Not that Lucy would have worried. Augi shouldn’t have come. She should have made up an excuse. She looked up to see Dan watching her carefully.
‘Lucy lives her life in the spotlight,’ said Dan. ‘It must seem strange to you.’
‘A little.’ She shrugged. ‘I just hope Lucy is all right.’
Kate dragged her gaze back to the table and took a sip of wine. ‘My Lucy will be fine. She’s lost her heart to Oliver, there’s no doubt about that. But it’s not the same as when it happened last time. She’s older, more resilient now. It’ll hurt if it’s not reciprocated but she’ll get on with life, because she has a big, full one. She’d like him to be in it, I’m sure, but she doesn’t need him to be.’
‘That’s good to hear,’ said Augi.
Kate nodded. ‘Thank you for finding out the mysterious marine’s identity, Augi.’
‘It took some doing.’
‘Well, we appreciate it. When we send his name to the Michigan lawyers, hopefully they’ll be able to confirm whether it was him behind the trust and house ownership.’
‘It’s got to be him,’ said Dan. ‘The photo provides the connection to Ngaire, and then there are the other clues like the recipe and jewellery which link back to Michigan.’
‘Yes, I think it must be him. Well, hopefully the lawyers will be able to move things on to their logical conclusion. I guess they just need to find a descendant who will inherit the trust and then that will be that.’
Dan and Augi exchanged a worried glance.
‘But it still doesn’t answer the question,’ Kate continued, clearly refusing to have a discussion on what she’d do once she was no longer entitled to live in MacLeod’s Cottage. ‘Of why John Kowalski would buy MacLeod’s Cottage and set up a trust for a woman he barely knew.’
‘Love?’ asked Dan.
‘Then why didn’t he give her the cottage instead of hiding it from everyone in a trust?’
Dan shrugged. ‘No idea. But he must have had a reason.’
‘And I wonder if anyone around here knew it,’ said Kate, leaning back in her chair, gazing out to the dark rolling hills to the side of the cottage. ‘I’d love to ask my Maori relatives, but I feel a little awkward. There’s been so little contact with them over the years.’
‘Do they live on the Maori land, just north of here?’ asked Augi.
‘Yes, that’s right. It’s where Tamati came from.’
‘When I visited Moana today she told me her great-grandfather was still alive and remembered Ngaire and Tamati.’
Kate’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Really?’
‘I know him,’ said Augi quietly.
‘And I don’t,’ said Kate sadly. ‘There was some kind of rift. But I should have gone to see them and tried to heal old wounds.’
