‘I’m sorry,’ Augi said softly. ‘I know this is a shock. But there’s no doubt about it. John Kowalski must have returned after the war, in early 1946. Hope was born in December.’
‘Ngaire saw him again,’ Kate whispered.
‘Yes.’
Kate closed her eyes.
‘It makes sense,’ Dan said. ‘What Uncle Hemi — what everyone — hinted at. Ngaire’s husband Tamati wasn’t Hope’s father. And he was never going to be. They must have married to protect each other. To give each other cover. Best friends, but nothing more.’
Kate reached into her pocket and pulled out the photo.
‘Lucy once said he looked like someone in love,’ she murmured. Her mouth trembled. ‘My grandfather. And I never knew.’ Tears slid down her cheeks.
‘Mum, what is it? I thought this would be good news. You’re the closest relative. The house is yours now.’
She shook her head. ‘Yes. I know.’ She looked out into the darkening garden. ‘But I’m thinking about my grandmother. Living her life without the man she loved.’ Her voice broke. ‘That makes me sad.’
Dan nodded, suddenly understanding. He turned to Augi who rose.
‘I think we should leave now,’ she said. ‘You need time to process this.’
Kate nodded distractedly. ‘Thank you.’
‘I’m sorry it’s upset you,’ said Dan.
She grabbed his hand. ‘Daniel — I feel sad for my grandmother. But I’m also happy she loved someone kind enough to give her the one thing he could — a home. That’s no small thing.’
Dan blinked back tears that threatened. What the hell? He never cried. He looked at Augi who took his hand.
‘It is,’ she said to Kate. ‘Call us if you need us.’
‘I will,’ said Kate. ‘And thank you again.’
As they reached the car, Dan looked back briefly to see his mother hadn’t moved. He was in two minds as to whether to go back to her, but Augi shook her head.
‘Honestly,’ she said. ‘I think it’s for the best. We’re all close by if she needs us, but she had a lot of thinking and remembering to do.’
He smiled back at her. ‘What would I do without you?’
‘Luckily,’ she said, getting into the car, ‘I’m not going to let you find out.’
As he slid into the driver’s seat beside her, they kissed, and he knew he’d rediscovered not only his trust in people, but a love that would last forever.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kate appreciated Augi’s sensitivity. She knew Augi believed she needed time — time to absorb the fact that she had a different grandfather, and that this discovery meant she could now claim the house as hers.
But it wasn’t that. Ownership was only a word. A legal conclusion. Useful, perhaps, but it didn’t change how she felt about her home, or her family. Kate had lived in this house her whole life. She didn’t need paperwork to tell her where she belonged. Nor did she need Tamati’s blood in her veins to know he was, and always would be, her grandfather.
What she needed time to process was something else entirely.
Augi had said that John Kowalski had made at least two visits to MacLeod’s Cove. One during the war, when he was stationed there as a Marine, and a second, undocumented visit after the war — when Kate’s mother had been conceived in 1946.
But there had been a third visit.
Kate hadn’t said it aloud. Had barely dared to think it. But the certainty had settled in her bones with a calm that surprised her.
John Kowalski hadn’t come to MacLeod’s Cove twice.
