‘It might not go as you imagine,’ she said.
‘What do you mean? She’ll be thrilled. She no longer has this uncertainty hanging over her.’
‘But it also means that the man she believed to be her grandfather isn’t her grandfather. There’s a whole different family out there she knows nothing about, but which is a fundamental, genetic part of her. This kind of thing can affect people in different ways.’
He closed his eyes, groaned and rested his head against the steering wheel. ‘Of course. I hadn’t given it a moment’s thought.’
‘I know. You were looking at the facts, and of course, Kate will too. But there will also be an emotional side which might play out differently to how you imagine.’
‘How?’
Augustini shrugged. ‘I don’t know. She might feel disoriented, as if everything she’d believed in is now to be questioned. She might feel sad that she’s not genetically related to Tamati’s whanau. All sorts of emotions, probably some contradictory — but she will also feel relieved that the matter is settled and her future in the house is secure. So… I just want you to be prepared. I know you’re excited to tell her.’
Dan leaned over and kissed her on the lips.
‘It’s just as well one of us is so wise.’
She smiled. ‘Our kinds of wisdom are complementary.’
’Together we’re more than the sum of our parts.’
Her smile broadened and she laughed. ‘I rest my case.’
This time she kissed him with a tenderness, her hand cupping his cheek. He sighed when she pulled away. ‘What did I do to deserve you?’
She patted his cheek playfully. ‘Not enough clearly.’ She laughed as she pushed him away. Then she grew serious, her gaze moving across the garden toward the house. ‘Is that Kate?’
Reluctantly distracted, Dan followed her gaze and was surprised to see his mother sitting on the front porch. She was alone, and hadn’t noticed their arrival. She looked miles away.
Augi was right. He could see that now. This was a momentous occasion — not only for Kate, but for them all. Especially Augi. What they’d found mattered to everyone. It was about home and family. And Dan realised he was a different man to the one who’d returned home to lick his wounds all those months ago.
He also understood that nothing was certain in this life. Things might appear to be sorted but then, a turn of the kaleidoscope and things could change in an instant. But of one thing he was certain — Augustini. Whatever life might throw at them, they’d face it together, because they were stronger that way. And they were meant for each other.
Augi turned to look at him and smiled. ‘I do love you, you know.’ She stroked his cheek with the back of her knuckles. He angled in to kiss her hand. ‘And I especially love you when you look at me like that.’
‘Like what?’
‘As if you’re not even aware of yourself. As if all your consciousness is focused on me. It’s selfless; it’s beguiling.’
‘It’s love,’ he completed, before kissing her. ‘Now,’ he said, glancing across the garden to the porch. ‘Let’s go tell Mum what we’ve found out.’
Dan found it odd, seeing Kate alone, in profile. She didn’t usually sit there. The back of the house was where life happened — gardens, laughter, the kitchen door swinging open and shut. The front was more exposed, more watchful. It struck Dan that she must have chosen to sit there deliberately.
As they walked along the pavement to the gate, he kept his eye on her. She hadn’t moved. It almost didn’t look like her, the colours were different at that time of evening. It was that in-between moment, when daylight hadn’t quite given up and night hadn’t fully arrived. The sky hovered in shades of violet and deepening blue, and the air was heavy with scent — jasmine, salt, and warm earth cooling after the day.
Maybe she was just enjoying it all. But, as he approached and saw her tense profile, somehow he doubted it.
‘Mum,’ said Dan clicking the garden gate closed behind them.
Kate stood up and walked to the steps, holding on to an upward strut, a wide smile on her face. ‘Darling! How lovely to see you both!’
Augi stepped forward before Dan could, and Kate embraced her warmly. It still surprised him how natural that was now — how Augi no longer froze, no longer hesitated, but returned the affection easily.
As they turned back toward the chairs, arm in arm, Dan looked up at the house.
MacLeod’s Cottage.
He’d always thought cottage a ridiculous show of modesty for a house that was anything but — from the high roof silhouetted against the darkening sky, to the delicate decorative trims and the wide verandah, to the great pohutukawa arching over it all.
