Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
‘I needed that,’ said Lucy as she waded back to shore.
She stopped when she saw the state of Oliver’s trousers and shoes — both soaked — and the expression on his face.
‘Everything OK?’ she asked lightly, shaking her hair of excess water.
‘Fine,’ he said too quickly, handing her dress back. ‘Why wouldn’t it be?’
She studied him. ‘Because your Italian shoes are ruined and you look like you’ve seen something supernatural. And I’m assuming that wasn’t me in a bikini.’
His mouth finally curved. ‘Oh, you should have seen my face when you took the dress off. I may have forgotten how to breathe.’
She laughed as they walked across the sand. ‘I’m glad I missed that. Doesn’t sound attractive at all. Would’ve ruined the image.’
‘So you think I’m attractive?’
She didn’t look at him. ‘I think you’re needy.’
He laughed. ‘I think you’re right. Maybe I am. I never have been before. I guess there’s always a first time.’
She looked straight ahead with a smile. She refused to tell him exactly how off-the-charts attractive he was. She was pretty sure his ego was robust enough already.
‘So,’ she said, wanting to divert the conversation, ‘what do you think of my family?’
‘Who’s being needy now?’
‘I am. Because my family means everything to me. And, to be honest, I was against inviting you to the barbecue.’
‘Why?’ he asked, looking at her intently.
‘Because I didn’t think you’d fit in. Because it felt like an intrusion — the enemy not at the door, but inside — and because it felt… dangerous.’ She couldn’t meet his eye any longer. They continued on up the beach towards the house. Lucy was silent, wondering how he’d respond to her comment.
He didn’t respond. That unsettled her more than if he had argued.
She was glad they’d arrived at the sand dunes where they walked in single file up past the bench and into the garden. Everyone had gathered on the verandah to escape the quickening wind.
‘Nice swim?’ asked Jen, tossing Lucy a towel. She pulled it around her, shivering a little. And yet she didn’t really feel cold. Just exposed.
‘Glorious!’ she replied, leaving Oliver to his own devices and going inside the house for a quick shower.
When she emerged five minutes later in white jeans and shirt, she was surprised to see Oliver seated in the middle of the family group, sipping on a coffee while listening to Kate and Megan recounting anecdotes about past events at the Old Colonial when it was a fully-functioning hotel.
She had to give them full marks for trying.
She wondered if her family would end up trusting him, even though she didn’t.
Because, despite her undeniably growing feelings for him, and despite Oliver’s character unfolding, showing surprising glimpses of himself she hadn’t guessed at, she still didn’t trust him.
She sat next to Jen. ‘I don’t see Augi.’ She’d have liked to quiz her about her latest findings, which she’d alluded to obliquely in a message, saying she needed to find out more before telling Lucy. ‘She was invited wasn’t she?’
‘Yes, but she said she had something on, and she’d come by later.’
Lucy glanced across at Dan who was out in the garden with his nephew, Liam, and George. She wondered if anyone had told him that Augi was coming but somehow she doubted it. Her mother wouldn’t have thought to. Unlike Lucy, she hadn’t seen how Dan reacted whenever Augi was around.
‘Actually,’ continued Lucy, ‘speaking of Augi. Dan was in the café the other day when Augi walked in and he couldn’t stop staring. What do you reckon?’
Jen blinked in surprise. ‘Dan?’ She looked at Lucy who nodded in confirmation. ‘And Augi? Well,’ she said, twisting her engagement ring on her finger, ‘I guess there have been unlikelier couples. A man who doesn’t do subtle falling for an enigmatic woman.’
Sam came up at that point and reached across the table for Jen’s hand. It seemed he never wanted to be far from her. ‘Talking about me again?’ he said with a grin.
‘Ha!’ Lucy said. ‘You wish.’
‘No,’ said Jen with a laugh, ‘we’re talking about unlikely couples.’
‘Who?’ asked Sam looking around before his eyes alighted on Oliver. ‘Oh you mean Lucy and Oliver,’ he said with a big grin.
‘They do look good together, don’t they?’ said Jen with an answering grin.
Lucy jumped up indignant. ‘Sam Boyd! That’s ridiculous.’ She leaned in so only they would hear. ‘He’s a ruthless, arrogant son-of-a-bitch who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.’
Sam just smiled. ‘What’s that phrase about protesting too much?’
Lucy wandered off, thinking about what she’d said about Oliver.
Thing was, that was what she used to think.
But alongside that had grown another image of Oliver.
The Oliver who’d held her late into the night on their first date — respectful and kind.
The Oliver who’d stood by the sea looking almost wistful, moved by the moment.
Which was the real Oliver? She still didn’t know.
She wandered around the table, coming to a pause beside her mother. She sat down and watched as Kate, Megan, Ryan and Oliver chatted.
She couldn’t have imagined a more disparate group of people.
Ryan the IT geek and family man, Megan the big-hearted schoolteacher and her mother, an educator through and through, earnestly talking to Oliver about the school gala.
Like Oliver would be interested. Then she looked at him and her heart did a funny squeeze.
While he might not look exactly interested, he did look…
gentler than she’d imagined he could be.
He looked relaxed and even, she thought, enjoying himself.
Maybe she’s misjudged her mother’s strategy.
Maybe this initiation into family and community really was having an effect on Oliver and swaying his judgement.
Although after listening for a few minutes, it did seem the majority of the conversation was coming from the women, with Oliver merely encouraging it by interjecting polite remarks.
‘So are you from a large family, Oliver?’ asked Kate, possibly sensing his lack of interest in school galas.
Lucy knew it was a question her mother had been dying to ask but had refrained until the afternoon was drawing to a close.
Presumably she trusted Oliver wouldn’t be offended at this late stage.
‘No, not really,’ he said with a smile which had suddenly become guarded, the smile polite. ‘I’m an only child. No other family.’
‘You were raised in New Zealand?’ It seemed Kate was determined to find out everything there was to know about Oliver.
‘Khandallah, Wellington. In a big old house, of the same vintage as this, actually,’ said Oliver, glancing around at the exterior of MacLeod’s Cottage.
Kate leaned in to him. ’And yet it seems your interest is in modern architecture. Didn’t you love being raised in an old house full of character?’
Oliver shifted, clearly uncomfortable now. ‘In a word, no.’ He sighed heavily and continued, as if softened by Kate’s sympathetic glance. ‘To be honest, my upbringing was far from idyllic and I wanted nothing more than to have no reminders of it.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that.’
‘It’s fine. I’ve moved on.’ He sat back in his seat, and looked around. ‘I guess it’s different for your family. You’re happy. Anyone can see that, and your house must feel like it’s a part of your family.’
Kate suddenly looked down and Jen frowned. Silence descended. Oliver looked at Lucy with a puzzled frown.
Then Kate looked up. ‘I don’t own it.’
Lucy and Jen exchanged surprised looks. Lucy hadn’t imagined her mother, who’d been reluctant to broach the subject even with her own family, would tell Oliver. It seemed she must trust him.
‘But, it’s MacLeod’s Cottage, of MacLeod’s Cove. Who else could it belong to?’ he said.
‘Excellent question. On the death of my grandmother I discovered the house wasn’t hers, but owned by some other person or entity, I don’t know which.
And there’s a trust, the trustees of which are similarly unknown, which had allowed my grandmother to live in the house for the rest of her life. But not her descendants’ lives.’
‘We’re looking into it,’ said Jen. ‘But only have a few clues so far. It looks like it began around 1946, when Ngaire — that’s Mum’s grandmother — moved in, and that it might be connected to a US marine who was stationed here during the war, and Michigan in the US.’
‘Sounds an unusual set of clues.’
‘It’s an unusual problem,’ said Lucy. ‘A friend of ours is checking out some local history to see if there’s anything there that could shed any light on it.’
‘Local history? There are a lot of files sitting untouched in filing cabinets. And it looks like the American Marines frequented the pub. I’ll have a look through what we have there. I don’t think it’s been touched in decades and the previous owners all seemed to have been hoarders.’
‘Talking of our clever researcher!’ said Kate jumping up. ‘Here she comes!’ She looked to the side of the house where Augi stepped uncertainly, holding a covered plate.
‘I hope you don’t mind me coming round the back but I knocked and no one answered.’
‘Not at all,’ said Kate, giving Augi a hug, which seemed to alarm her a little. ‘Next time, knock and then enter and call out.’
Augi nodded but Lucy could tell that hell would freeze over before this polite and secretive woman ever did anything so familiar.
Augi looked around and blushed. Kate and Lucy followed her gaze to Dan who had turned to look at her, surprise evident on his face. They didn’t seem to know that everyone was looking at them.
Jen, clearly taking pity on them, said loudly, ‘Dan, you’re relieved of child duties. Why don’t you get Augi a drink?’
Lucy had never seen her brother so flustered. ‘Sure, er, I’ll…’ He looked at his muddy hands and then without a further thought, wiped them across his jeans. He took a few steps up to the verandah and Lucy could now clearly see the interest in his eyes.