Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Augi came out her front doorway carrying a bag of what looked to be books and hurried through the rain down the path toward the car.
As usual the house was in shade. The large, ancient-looking plum tree arched over the house in an unruly way, its fruit pulling the branches down toward the spongy grass.
At that moment a goods train thundered behind the short row of cottages.
Dan ground his teeth. He hated to see her here. Not that it was horrible, just not her.
‘How is Kate?’ asked Augi as she got into the passenger seat, dropping the bag of books into the footwell beside her. ‘I hope our news didn’t shock her too much?’
‘She’s OK. Actually,’ he said as he signalled before moving out into the road. ‘Mum doesn’t show it much, but I know she’s on a knife-edge at the moment. She needs all this stuff about her family, about the house, to be settled.’
‘I’m sure. I’ve sent an email to John Kowalski’s great-niece — who appears to be his closest relative. It’s the right thing to do. Sometimes it’s best to know one way or another. It’s hard living with things you don’t understand.’
‘Hopefully Hemi will be able to shed some light on it. It’s hard to figure that Mum, who knows everyone around here, hasn’t had much to do with her relatives.’
‘Families are complicated,’ she said after a short pause.
He sighed. ‘Sure are.’
They drove in silence for a few minutes before they turned off the road and onto a rough track which took them through high stands of flax and native trees before emerging into a clearing where half a dozen houses stood around a marae.
He pulled up at the gravel parking place alongside a new Japanese car and some kind of flash 1960s American car that clearly needed repair.
‘Cool car,’ he said.
‘It belongs to Mere’s grandson,’ said Augi, clearly knowing a lot more about the families than Dan. He hoped to remedy that this morning.
They got out of the car and he shivered. The rain had lessened and had become a mist which shrouded the hills above the settlement and the marae. ‘It’s hard to think we’ll solve any mysteries here, when the whole place looks mysterious.’
‘Have you been here before?’ she asked, following his gaze.
‘Yeah. Loads of times when I was a youngster. Hadn’t a clue I was related to anyone here, then.’ He turned to her. ‘I mean look at me — blonde hair, blue eyes — I hardly look Māori.’
She shrugged. ‘We’re all a mixture of a lot of things. Superficial appearance, hair colouring, the colour of one’s skin — none of those things are good clues to where we come from.’
‘They’re all you’ve to go on when you’re seven.’ He looked back at a house from which someone had emerged. ‘Mere?’ he asked Augi quietly.
‘Aunty Mere,’ she confirmed.
Mere raised her hand in greeting as they walked towards her. Smoke curled up from a chimney and a volley of barks from the neighbouring garden was followed by a man’s stern command. The dog stopped instantly.
‘Morning, Augi! Got some kai in the oven. Scones.’ She shot them both a wide grin revealing a couple of missing teeth.
Augi gave her a warm smile. ‘Kia ora, Aunty Mere.’
Mere’s eyes moved to Dan’s in query. ‘And you’ve brought a friend along.’
‘Daniel MacLeod,’ he greeted her.
‘Danny MacLeod!’ exclaimed Mere. ‘Come here and let me look at you!’ She gripped him by the shoulders and stared short-sightedly into his face. ‘Well I never. You’re all grown up! I remember you as a wee scrap of a boy, getting up to mischief with my mokopuna.’
He grinned. ‘I had some good times with them. How are they?’ he said, as they kissed on both cheeks.
‘Doing well. Got one in Auckland and the others in Australia.’ She pulled a face.
‘They’ll come home though, when they’re ready.
’ She turned to Augi and kissed her. ‘So,’ said Mere, keeping a hold of Augi’s upper arms while she searched her face for clues.
‘Tell me what’s so important it got you away from all your books.
Moana said you wanted to see us, but didn’t say why.
And why you bought this handsome fella with you. ’
Dan grinned and shot a look at Augi who purposefully didn’t return his look.
‘I’ve got some books for Uncle Hemi. But we’re here for another reason as well. We’d like to ask him about the past. About Ngaire — Daniel’s great-grandmother.’
Mere’s eyebrows lifted and she dropped her arms, apparently satisfied now she knew the reason for Augi’s visit. ‘Ah, it’s about the cottage, then.’
‘Yes,’ said Dan in surprise.
Mere exhaled slowly and nodded. ‘Not before time. We thought your mother might have come. But I guess she’s sent you, instead.’
Dan exchanged a worried look with Augi.
‘Kate said she’d been wanting to come for years, but wasn’t sure how welcome she’d be. She said her grandmother Ngaire had kept her distance and had wanted her to do the same.’
Mere nodded. ‘Understandable. After what happened.’
‘What—’
‘Not here, boy,’ said Mere impatiently. ‘Let’s go and see the person you need to see.’
They followed Mere around the side of the house, past a washing line pegged with clothes that snapped lightly in the breeze. Mere walked with steady purpose, and Augi had to hurry to keep up with her and Dan.
They reached another house — older, more weathered, surrounded by native plantings that looked as though they’d been left to grow wild. Mere stopped at the gate. It was from this house that smoke from the chimney wound its way up into the sky.
‘Uncle Hemi’s place,’ Augi said to Dan. She turned to Mere, and Dan could see she was a little nervous. ‘He’ll talk to us?’
‘He’ll talk,’ Mere said wryly. ‘Whether it helps you or not is another matter.’ She lifted her chin toward the verandah. ‘But you’re the librarian. He likes you. He says you bring books like food.’
Augi smiled faintly. ‘That’s nice of him.’
‘He’s old. He’s softer than he once was.’ She glanced from Augi to Dan and then opened the gate. ‘Come on then. Let’s get this done.’
Uncle Hemi was on the verandah, wrapped in a blanket despite the mildness of the day, his eyes sharp beneath heavy lids. He looked up as they approached.
‘Uncle!’ she called. ‘What are you doing outside? You should be keeping warm inside. Why did I light the fire otherwise?’ Despite her telling off, Mere sounded cheerful.
‘I’ll do what I want, girl.’ His gaze went to Mere first, then to Augi and Dan, before returning to Augi.
‘Librarian,’ he said.
Augi inclined her head. ‘Kia ora, Uncle.’
He grunted, which Dan reckoned could mean anything from irritation to approval.
Mere stepped forward. ‘And this is the boy MacLeod. Danny. Remember him Uncle?’
‘Of course I do. Right little bastard. Caught him scrumping all my apples from my tree once, along with your mokopuna.’
Dan pulled a face. ‘Sorry about that, Uncle.’
Hemi grunted, rubbed his gnarled fingers over his eyes before dropping his hand into his lap where his fingers worried a wooden carving. ‘Come a bit closer, boy, so I can see you better.’
Mere pointed to a plastic white garden chair and Dan sat down in it. It gave slightly because it was cracked. Whatever Hemi saw in Dan, he seemed to approve and gave a satisfied grunt. He turned to Augi.
‘You two friends?’
Augi blushed and refused to meet Dan’s gaze. ‘Yes. I’m friends with all the MacLeod family.’
Hemi shot Dan a mischievous look and was about to speak when Mere jumped in, clearly worried that Hemi was about to say something inappropriate. So was Dan.
‘Augi has brought you books, Uncle.’
Hemi turned his attention to Augi. ‘Thank you. Got some of those raunchy romances I like?’
Augi smiled and nodded. ‘Yes. Shall I take them inside for you?’
He nodded, and, looking grateful for a reprieve she slipped inside the old house. She returned almost immediately.
‘They came to talk to you about Ngaire,’ said Mere in a loud voice.
‘Hm,’ grunted Hemi and rubbed his nose.
‘We can’t figure out what happened to her during the war.’
‘She got married to Tamati, boy. Plain and simple.’
‘I mean about what happened to MacLeod’s Cottage.
We know Ngaire moved out and onto the marae in around 1942, 43, and then she moved back in again 1946 after she was married to Tamati.
’ Dan decided to get right to the point.
‘The thing is Mum doesn’t own the house, a trust does, and we can’t figure out why. ’
Mere and Hemi both nodded.
‘You don’t seem surprised,’ said Augi.
‘We’re not,’ said Mere.
‘It was all to do with those bloody Americans,’ said Hemi.
‘The Marines?’ asked Dan.
‘That’s right. Came over here, turned our women’s heads, gambled, drank too much, and then left again.’
‘So…’ said Dan, clearing his throat. ‘Was it Ngaire’s head that was turned?’
‘More than turned. Ngaire was just a girl then. I remember her because she was so beautiful, but I would only have been about four or five. And she and her family lived in the big house by the beach.’
‘MacLeod’s Cottage?’ asked Dan.
Hemi nodded. ‘More like a mansion than a cottage,’ grumbled Hemi.
Dan and Augi exchanged smiles. Hemi sighed and looked out into the distance, beyond the clattering flax leaves into the blue sky, as if he were lost in the mists of the past.
Mere tapped Hemi’s knee. ‘Uncle? What else? About the house?’
‘The house? Oh, that was Ngaire’s father’s fault. Stupid bastard. He always liked to gamble but his family had managed to keep him away from it. But when the Marines came, there was more booze around, more gambling, and he lost it.’
Dan leaned forward. ‘Lost what?’
‘The house of course. He lost it in a card game. Some Marine won it.’
‘Was it Johnnie Kowalski?’
Hemi shook his head. ‘No, he came in later.’
‘You knew him!’ said Dan.
Hemi just shrugged.
‘Uncle!’ said Mere. ‘You’re confusing me. What happened?’
Hemi looked impatiently at Mere. ‘Isn’t it obvious? Ngaire’s Dad got carried away, lost the house in a card game and the Yank who won it turfed them out of the house and rented it out to some other family. Incomers.’