Chapter 57
YOURS, MINE, AND OURS
“Scarlett,” Zane said, two days after Christmas. “And Finlay. I need a minute with the co-captains, please.”
They scrambled out of the sea with him without question, which, yes, made him pretty bloody proud. He asked Skylar, “OK with the littlies for a minute?”
“Of course,” she said. “You go on.” She was sticking close to Georgia and George.
The boy’s swimming had come on by leaps and bounds, between Zane’s pool and their holidays.
Hahei for a week first, because it was Skylar’s favorite, and now Hawke’s Bay to spend Christmas with Zane’s whanau, which included both Nan and Geoffrey.
Marriage happening there, it seemed. “I don’t care for all this new nonsense about oldies living together outside of marriage,” Geoffrey had said when they’d announced it.
“Seems to me, if you love a woman this much, you marry her.” Which suited Zane fine.
Oh. The kids. Both George and Georgia were now plunging into the sea and diving off the raft like they’d been born to it. Like fish, or possibly ducks, as Finlay no doubt would have pointed out that fish didn’t climb onto docks, or do much diving, either.
Ducks, definitely.
“What, Dad?” Scarlett asked.
“Over here,” he said, walking down the sand a bit, avoiding the cricket-playing kids and the row of kayaks ready to take out the next party. “As it’s a bit of a secret.”
When he got far enough away, he asked, “How would you two feel about taking charge for an hour this afternoon while I take Skylar on a bit of an outing? I’m asking, not telling, as it’s a favor.
You comfortable with that, alone in the holiday house?
Otherwise, I could get Nan and Geoffrey to come over.
No swimming, obviously. House time only. ”
“Of course we could do that,” Scarlett said. “Why wouldn’t we be comfortable?”
“When are you going?” Finlay asked.
“Three,” Zane said. “Four. Like that. Once everybody’s got tired and is reduced to playing board games, I thought.”
“You should go for longer,” Scarlett said. “Finlay and I can make dinner, can’t we?”
“Yeh,” Finlay said. “Mum was planning to use that snapper you and I caught this morning. She said she was making that first thing she cooked for everybody, the one with the noodles and the lemon and all. We’ve made it with her before and she’s bought all the stuff for it, so we could make that.
It’s just noodles and fish and sauce, and we have the recipe. ”
“And capers,” Scarlett said, “that you don’t like.”
“I like them now,” Finlay said. “Didn’t you notice that I liked them last time? I’m twelve now, and I like capers. So stop saying that.”
“All right,” she said. “You don’t have to get all narky about it. But yeh, Dad, we can make that. And asparagus, too. That’s easy, and it’s Skylar’s favorite. But why is it a secret? I told you, we can look after the others. We can do it any time. We’re good at it.”
“OK, then,” Zane said. “But wait to do the noodles until we come home, please. That big pot’s going to be heavy, and full of boiling water. Wait for me.”
Scarlett sighed. “Fine. Although we could do it. We’re both getting stronger.”
“Humor me,” Zane said. “And as to the secret, I have something I’d like to ask her, that’s all, and we’ll need time for a good chat.”
Scarlett looked at Finlay. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“What?” Finlay blinked at her.
She sighed. “Boys. He’s going to ask her to marry him, of course! On the beach, which is romantic. Dad usually isn’t romantic, so if he’s being romantic, that must be why.”
“Oi,” Zane said. “I’m romantic.”
“You bought Mum that pendant that she wears all the time,” Finlay said. “You sent her flowers two times, too. Both of those things are romantic. I think.”
“And the pendant was very expensive,” Scarlett said. “When you buy something very expensive like that, it means, like, ‘engaged to be engaged.’ So OK, that was romantic. But you’re usually not.”
“Why would it be expensive?” Finlay asked. “It’s not very big.”
“That’s because your mum wouldn’t let me buy the big one,” Zane said. He felt he had to defend his honor here. “She said it was ‘clunky.’ She also said, ‘Absolutely not.’ She preferred the smaller one, because it was more delicate and she could wear it every day.”
“The one you bought was still very expensive,” Scarlett said. “It cost about seven thousand New Zealand dollars. I looked it up.”
“It’s just, like, a piece of honeycomb made of gold, though,” Finlay said. “With five little diamonds stuck on. How can that cost seven thousand dollars? You can buy a car for seven thousand dollars!”
“Not much of one, you can’t,” Zane said. “And this thing was from Paris. Reckon they slap on another thousand or two for that. But that isn’t the point.”
“It’s totally the point,” Scarlett said.
“Because you probably bought the wrong engagement ring, too. Maybe you should ask her next week instead, when we’re back in Auckland, so I can go to the shop with you first. We could take yours back and get the money for it. You’re not exactly fashionable, Dad.”
Zane said, “Not necessary, thanks. Besides my terrible taste, does anybody have anything to say about this plan? You, for instance, mate,” he told Finlay.
“Anything we need to hash out beforehand, if I’m going to be your stepdad?
And this is dead secret,” he decided he’d better remind them. “No telling the little kids.”
“Because she might say no, you mean,” Scarlett said. “And it would be embarrassing if everybody knows.”
“Girls don’t say no,” Finlay said. “Not if they’re in love.
I’ve seen it in a million movies. Every one that you pick out, anyway.
The man kneels down and holds out the box, and the girl puts her hands on her face and cries, and he puts the ring on her finger, and they kiss.
I don’t know why it’s in every movie, because it’s dead boring. The exact same thing every time.”
“Exactly like every movie you pick,” Scarlett countered. “The ending is always the heroes fighting with the villains for about fifteen minutes—or an hour—and then the heroes win and everybody makes jokes and the credits start. Every single time.”
“I have to watch, though,” Finlay said. “For fighting technique.”
“Excuse me?” Scarlett said. “We’re taking Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu together, not just you, and they’re not doing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in those films. They’re usually using superpowers, and we don’t have superpowers. How does that help your technique?”
“It helps my inspiration, then,” Finlay said. “Besides, it’s fun.”
“Fine,” Zane said. “Not the question I asked, but fine.”
“As long as you kneel down,” Scarlett said. “And have the ring. And say her whole name. The guy always says her whole name.”
Finlay said, “It’s cool, though, if you get married.
I like sharing with Duncan better than being in my loft, and it gets confusing going back and forth.
It’s good to have more toilets, and the swimming pool and trampoline.
And Snowball might not be so naughty if he were at one house all the time.
Remember when you came home from the U.K.
and he’d pooed in your trainers? That was funny, but you probably don’t want him to keep doing it.
Mum says he’s a temperamental cat, but he’s really just a bad cat.
She likes him anyway, though, so I don’t think you can give him away or anything.
Duncan would be pretty upset, for one thing. ”
“Nobody’s giving away Snowball,” Zane said. “Although I do plan on building some shoe shelves. The kind that go behind a closed door. And, yes, you’d all live in our house. And keep on being co-captains. And doing your chores. Six kids, eh. Too many for one woman, with her husband gone.”
Husband. He liked the sound of that. He always had. It was a bit like “captain,” which was another of his favorites.
“Well, obviously,” Scarlett said. “Excuse me? I’m thirteen?
Besides, it’s kind of nice to always have somebody to do things with.
And to practice rugby with. I think, when it’s term time again, you should let Finlay and me walk the other kids back and forth to their school.
I don’t think Nan and Geoffrey really want to do it anymore, and Finlay and I are definitely old enough to supervise.
Besides, Nan says the best water aerobics class is at nine. ”
“We could do that,” Finlay said. “Except that Duncan was saying that he and Olive should just walk them since they’re both nine now, and that’s old enough.”
“They’re probably a bit jealous,” Scarlett said, “because you and I are always in charge. People like to be in charge.”
“You like it, anyway,” Finlay said.
“We’ll see,” Zane said. “Good idea about the walking,” he decided to add. “Sharing the, ah, leadership duties.” How did they keep getting off the point?
“We could have, like, a Family Council,” Scarlett said, “if you and Skylar get married. With meetings. Skylar gave me this book called Cheaper by the Dozen—it’s pretty old-timey, but it’s a true story, and it’s funny, so being old is OK—and that’s what they did.
They had eleven kids in their family, and they had charts for chores like you made, Dad, and the older kids responsible for the younger ones, and meetings, too, so everybody got to give their opinion, even the little kids.
The book was before seatbelts, though, so everybody fit in one car.
You should probably get a new car if you’re going to get married. That people-mover kind.”
“Mum didn’t like that car,” Finlay said. “She said it was too big.”
“We’ll find one she likes,” Zane said. “OK, then. I’ll take Skylar on that outing—we’ll call it four o’clock—and you’ll be in charge. Dinner at five-thirty or so, I reckon, and you’re waiting to do the actual cooking until we’re back. And no telling. Secret, eh.”
“Because you’re nervous,” Scarlett said. “We get it, Dad.”