Du Rose Blaze

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Surcingle“Another letter?” Hana’s finger trembled as she pointed to it. Logan brushed off her question with a jerky shrug of indifference. “Tell me exactly what the fire chief said?” He pulled up his visitor’s chair and sat opposite her. She cringed beneath his scrutiny, knowing he expected an accurate account right down to the last full stop and comma. Horse hair clung to the hem of his jeans and she focused on the dark stain of worn saddle soap on the inside of his left calf.

“You need new chaps.” She pointed to his leg, stalling as she recalled the conversation in her mind.

The crook of Logan’s index finger warmed her chin as he lifted her face and forced her to look at him. “Start with the phone ringing,” he commanded, his tone soft and cajoling but laced with authority.

Hana exhaled and her thoughts sorted themselves into order. “I didn’t recognise the number. She asked for me and said Tama listed me as his next of kin.” Her eyelashes fluttered as she peered at Logan from beneath them. “That’s okay, isn’t it? You’re his uncle, so it should be you.”

“It’s fine.” Logan dragged the chair nearer and stroked his fingers across her cheek and into her hair. His biceps bulged, and the veins rose from beneath his olive skin. The sight distracted her, and she lost her place for a second. “She said he didn’t show up for his shift and they’re concerned. A few guys visited his house but he isn’t there.” She swallowed. “What do you think has happened to him? Where do we start?”

Logan exhaled and sat back in the chair. He dropped his hand into his lap. “I don’t know.” His brow furrowed to a black line, merging with his fringe and casting his eyes into shadow. He tapped his right thigh with his fingers as he sifted through his thoughts. “He called me at the weekend.” Logan tutted. “I couldn’t hear everything he said because of the noise in the restaurant.”

Hana’s insides knotted into hard balls of pain. Her shoulders slumped. They’d taken the children to Auckland for the day to celebrate Edin’s fifth birthday. She’d chosen to visit the aquarium in Mission Bay and then screamed all the way around it when Hana refused to buy her a second ice cream at the kiosk. Hana took her back to the car, and the others enjoyed her treat without her.

Tears pricked behind her eyelids and she covered her face with her hand. “So, he might have asked for help, and we missed it.”

“I missed it.” Logan frowned. “It’s no one’s fault.”

Hana blew out a ragged breath. “It’s mine. I agreed to keep Edin, and I’m not coping. She runs me in circles and the rest of the family is suffering. Just as I think I’m getting her on track, it’s time for another visit to the prison and her mother lectures me on all the things I’m doing wrong. I feel backed into a corner and I can’t find the exit.”

Logan rose and slipped onto the sofa next to her. His arm wound around her shoulders and he kissed her temple. “Hallelujah!” he snuffed into her hair.

“What?” Hana swallowed and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Tension snaked around the crown of her head. “You’re happy now because you can wash your hands of her? I’ve failed and we can all go back to normal?”

Logan snorted, sounding like one of the stallions on the mountainside. “Really? I thought you knew me better than that.”

“I don’t know how to fix this,” she breathed.

“Then, stop!” His grey irises twinkled with wisdom. “Let us help you, Hana. We’re a team and we’ve spent the last eighteen months watching you ward off assistance like a lone ranger. You can’t fix it, but we can.”

“How?” Hana tipped her head back to stare at the ceiling. “I thought Bodie proved willful, but Edin makes him look like the model child.

Logan grunted to avoid commenting on Hana’s eldest son. He twisted his lips to keep his opinion contained. “Right,” he said, his tone definitive. “This is how it’s going to go from today. You’ll stop shielding Edin from anyone else’s discipline and accept help. I’ll make the next prison run and it will be the last for the foreseeable future. Caroline can’t have it all ways.”

Hana gasped and leaned back to gauge Logan’s expression. “You can’t keep a mother from her baby.”

Logan shook his head, his neck stiff and the motion stilted. “Caroline should have thought about that before she shoved Nev off the balcony. She either accepts my terms or we hand the kid over to the family members who keep sending us nasty lawyer’s letters. If they want Edin, they can have her. Caroline killed my brother, Hana. I owe her nothing. From now on, it’s my way or the highway.”

Hana exhaled. “Okay. If you’re only bluffing. We keep Edin.” Relief released a lightheaded sensation which caused her head to swim. “What about me?”

Logan rose and walked towards his desk. He gave a nonchalant shrug of his broad shoulders and a smirk slid across his lips. “You can behave too.”

Hana tutted. “I mean, what about me and Edin? How can I change what’s going wrong?”

“Easy.” Logan tapped the keyboard on his desk and squinted at the computer screen. “Stop sheltering her like a delicate flower. Everyone else is scared to tell her off because you jump in and shield her. It takes a village to raise a kid, Hana. Stop mediating for her and making excuses.”

Hana nodded. “I’m afraid she’ll tell Caroline what a failure I am as a parent. She already criticises everything I do.”

Logan snatched up a piece of paper and a pen and glanced up at Hana. “Which is why I’m taking the next visit. I’m sorry for the kid, I really am. But I won’t continue jeopardising my family for her sake. It ends today.”

Hana rubbed her stomach, sensing the knots constructed from each of Edin’s tantrums disperse. Then she remembered Tama, and the tension flooded back into place like the return of the tide. “The fire chief is expecting me to call her back today.” She sniffed. “What do I tell her?”

“That I’ll find him.” Logan stuffed the scrap of paper into his front pocket. “And I will.” He tapped his pocket. “That’s the address of the fire station. We’ll drive up there tomorrow. Wait here a second. I’ll run to reception and ask Raymond to cancel all my appointments and we’ll leave as soon as we’ve dropped the kids at school.”

Hana gulped. “We?” She edged forward on the sofa until her knees dipped towards her toes. “But what about Mac? He can’t go back for a few days because of his stitches. And Edin? I’m sitting here waiting for Armageddon to start.”

Logan strode across the room and paused with his hand on the door knob. “Mac can hang with Alfred tomorrow. He wants to drive up to check on Methuselah with Toby and asked if he could take him. I’ll see if Leslie can fetch the others after school, in case we’re late home.” He turned his body to face Hana. “And Edin is going to have her first day in the reception class.”

“No!” Hana rose. “Caroline doesn’t want her at school yet. Edin can’t string a sentence together. She already blames me for that, so she’ll go nuts if I put her in school.”

“Tough.” Logan shrugged. “Caroline is in prison with no power, yet you give her total autonomy over my family. The school said she can start, so she’s going. It’s time for her to sink or swim.”

“But that’s cruel!” Hana closed her eyes and imagined Edin’s blonde mother glowering at her across the table in the visiting hall. She flipped the scene and put Logan in the hot seat, hating that scenario even more. “You can’t go to the prison, Logan! She still loves you.”

“You mean, you don’t want me to go in case I see her in her prison sweatshirt and decide I’m in love with her. At least tell the truth, wāhine.”

“It sounds ridiculous when you say it like that.” Hana sighed and clasped her knees. “But I’ve seen how manipulative she is.”

“Yep, first hand, it seems.” Logan closed the door behind him and Hana see-sawed between relief and terror. She didn’t doubt that Caroline would relish seeing Logan again and cringed at the thought of the other woman’s delight. But the weight of the prison visits and the endless stream of criticism she endured while there seemed to lose their heaviness.

Hana turned her palms downwards and opened her fingers, allowing the emotional load to cascade to the ground and dribble through the cracks of the floorboards. “We’re a team,” she murmured. “Start being one.”

Logan returned within minutes, having instructed Raymond to empty his calendar. “I’ll call the school,” he said, reaching for his desk phone. “She can wear one of Phoenix’s old uniforms. They can stop writing to us now.” He searched for the number online and dialed.

Hana held her breath as he dealt with the unfortunate school receptionist, whose squeaked protest issued through the gap between the handset and Logan’s ear. When his mobile rang in his pocket, he hauled it free and frowned at the number.

“She’s just gone to fetch someone,” he remarked to Hana, smirking as he jerked his head towards the land line. He answered the mobile in his other hand. “Hi, Pete. Hana’s here. She’d love to talk to you.” He lobbed his phone through the air, giving her no other choice but to catch it.

“Pete who?” she demanded. At the grin on Logan’s face, she shook her head and held the device away from her body. “Logan, no!” she hissed. She lifted it in her fingers, ready to throw it back to him, but she’d faltered too long and lost the bluff. Temper burgeoned in her chest as her husband laughed and turned away to answer a question on the other phone. He’d let the mobile smash on the floorboards if she threw it, knowing someone else would order him a new one and spend the time making it fit for his use. Material items held none of his affection beyond their usefulness in the scheme of his day. At that moment, Hana hated him for it.

“Hi, Pete. Can I call you another time? We’ve got stuff going on here.”

Mouth noises issued from the device as Hana activated the speaker. She’d force Logan to listen one way or another. “No.” He huffed and puffed, the offense obvious. “I want to talk to you about our wedding. Henrietta’s very upset. Logan said we could hold it at your hotel, but the receptionist told her there isn’t a single weekend free between now and December.”

“We shut in December.” Hana stated the obvious and then groaned. Logan turned towards her, one eyebrow raised and a smirk spreading across his lips.

“Logan said we could hold it at your hotel. He offered us a discount.”

“Phoenix is seven!” The sentence blasted free without consideration, causing Pete to pause in his complaint.

“Happy birthday to Phoenix?” He didn’t sound sure. “Many happy returns?”

Hana rose and shook her head at her husband. “Logan made that offer eight years ago. You can’t turn up now and demand he fulfill an obligation which you didn’t value at the time. We don’t do weddings anymore, Pete. This is a hotel and conference centre. You need to find another venue.”

Her fingers shook as she stabbed the flashing icon on the screen. Pete’s indignation ended with an abrupt silence. Hana hung her head and closed her eyes. Her heartbeat thrummed in her ear drums, rhythmic and steady. Healthy. For now.

Logan’s slow clap forced her to open one eye. He hung the handset back in the cradle. “Mrs Du Rose, you are the new taniwha.” His lips quirked upwards on one side and admiration sparkled in his grey irises. “You’re scary when you get going. Anyone ever told you that?” He exhaled and rubbed his eye sockets with his knuckles. “Welcome back, I’ve missed you.”