Hana Du Rose

CHAPTER THREE-1

CHAPTER THREE

They enjoyed a breakfast of bacon and eggs with the family stragglers from the party. Miriam bustled around with purpose and importance.

“Is there any more bacon, Mum?” Michael asked from next to Hana, his mouth bulging with bread. Hana slid her gaze towards Logan as she felt him stiffen next to her, watching his jaw work against his cheek. His veiled tension unnerved her and her fork clattered against her plate. “Don’t you want that?” Before she could answer, Michael’s knife flipped her tomato onto his pile of food. Her appetite went with it.

“You’re disgusting!” Liza pouted across from them, nibbling on an assortment of fruit next to a dollop of yoghurt. “You’re a doctor. Don’t you know how to protect your arteries?”

Michael laughed, dodging sideways as Miriam placed more bacon on his plate. She stared at Hana’s abandoned cutlery with a narrowed brow. “I always eat well when I come home,” Michael continued with a grin at his mother. Hana saw his gaze flick to the side of Logan’s face as though baiting him. He noticed her watching and his brow furrowed. “Has my brother explained our weird family to you?” he asked, jerking his head towards Logan.

Hana shrugged and shook her head, feeling her ponytail swish across her back. “It’s not relevant,” she replied, her tone nonchalant. “I’ve married Logan, not his family.”

“Good answer!” Michael nodded in appreciation. “He picked a woman with looks and brains. Well done Logan. I didn’t think he had it in him, did you Liza?”

Liza’s eyes narrowed and Hana avoided her gaze, sensing the condemnation with no need to see it written on her regal expression. The single rasher of bacon turned to ash in her throat. Liza leaned forward. “It takes a village to raise a child, Hana.” Her grey eyes bored into Hana’s face. “Like it or not, you’ve married this family and we shall hold you accountable.”

“Accountable for what?” Hana glanced sideways at Logan and saw his jaw clench.

“Leave her alone!” he snapped and Liza recoiled in surprise.

Hana jumped at the barb in his voice and pushed her bottom harder into the back of her seat. She’d half-packed their belongings upstairs and wondered how long it might take her to sling the rest into the Honda. A speedy escape seemed preferable to the awful tension in the room. Logan rose to rinse his breakfast plate and Hana watched a chef beat eggs in a corner of the industrial kitchen. His white clad arms whisked in a frantic motion. Miriam leaned over a woman unloading the dishwasher. “Start on the bedrooms when you’re done there,” she said and received a nod in return.

Hana opened her mouth to excuse herself and Michael beat her to it. “Wouldn’t you get paid more if you were a qualified teacher?” he asked, biting on egg yolk like a hungry bear.

“Probably.” Hana wished to avoid a conversation with the potential to go downhill.

“Didn’t you go to university?”

“Yes. I have an English Honours degree.”

“So you could still do it.”

“But I don’t want to. I have no desire to teach.” Hana felt colour rising in her neck, overheating her from the inside. Battling it worsened the flush. She kept her voice level. “What’s the big deal about teaching?”

Michael shrugged, his expression nonchalant. “Just seems a bit dumb is all. Working in an office for peanuts when you could earn more.”

“I’ve done just fine, thank you. I like my job and I’m financially secure. I’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, you will now!” Liza’s barbed comment sounded loud enough for Hana to hear. The pecking festival left her breathless and disconcerted.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She gulped and looked to Logan for help, watching him turn and lean his bum against the counter. His arms folded across his chest and his face exuded thunder. Michael opened his mouth to start again.

“Shut it!” Logan’s command carried across the large kitchen. A woman with a laden tray widened her eyes and stopped in her tracks, scurrying on when she realised he didn’t mean her. Logan’s eyes flashed and he gritted his teeth. “Quit cross-examining my wife. Or get out.”

Hana gaped as nobody challenged him. Miriam placed toast racks into a tall cupboard with careful hands and remained silent. Michael shoveled food into his mouth and Liza slurped coffee opposite without comment. Logan reclaimed his seat next to Hana, stretching his long legs out in front of her and resting his boots on the beam between the stout table legs. He turned his body in towards her like a human shield and she shot him a look of gratitude. The atmosphere plummeted towards freezing point and she pondered her escape with more urgency.

Liza continued to observe Hana across the kitchen table. She resembled an eagle, circling the up draughts before plunging onto its prey with talons and hooked open beak. Hana understood her success in the law courts. The woman could sever heads from bodies without moving out of her seat. Her treatment of Miriam seemed cursory and Hana cringed as she fussed around her daughter for the price of an insincere smile.

“Will you stay another night?” Miriam asked, brushing Liza’s shoulder with the back of her hand.

Liza glanced across at Logan in response and shook her head. “No. Big case starting tomorrow.”

“Oh.” Her mother’s face sank into a haze of wrinkles and Hana felt a spark of compassion begin in her breast. Miriam turned to Michael. “Are you staying, tāne?”

He looked up from his plate and nodded. “Yeah, sounds good.”

Miriam smiled with pleasure. “That’s wonderful,” she gushed.

Hana became aware of the female wait staff shooting looks between Logan and Michael. Logan ignored them but Michael promised assignations with his sultry grey eyes. They tittered in the corner of the room over the pretence of polishing cutlery and discomfort made Hana squirm in her seat. Michael winked at a teenage waitress and Logan narrowed his eyes. “Don’t!” he snapped and Michael laughed, giving him a two fingered salute in a childish display of defiance.

Hana watched Logan’s slender fingers tap a beat on the table. Veins and tendons disappeared into his shirt, wrapped around olive wrists like corded ropes. Hana followed their route with her eyes, knowing the capable muscular frame hiding beneath the expensive cloth. She imagined what he might use those hands for and felt her cheeks flush. Craving the safety of Logan’s bedroom and the promise of more intimacy, she rubbed her fingers across his thigh and narrowed her eyes. His lips rose in one corner in a lopsided smile and a dimple appeared in his cheek. Hana watched from beneath her lashes and he winked in return. “I should finish packing,” she whispered and watched him bite his lower lip.

Liza studied the exchange through hooded lids and heaved out an exaggerated sigh. Logan ignored her as he ran his hand along the outside seam of Hana’s jeans, waking up the nerves in her thigh and leaning in for a kiss. “Need help?” he mouthed and Hana feigned coyness with a nonchalant shrug.

A car screeched outside, travelling too fast for the deep gravel surface. Wheels spun and stones peppered the long kitchen window as the vehicle slewed to a stop. Everyone jumped except Logan. He looked towards his mother. “Trouble?”

The slam of a car door and scrunch of footsteps followed. Miriam stood on tiptoe at the sink and peeped out through the long sash window. Her complexion blanched as she sought Logan with her eyes and gave him a look of helplessness. She sent a silent transmission and he left the room, gone before Hana could assess the situation with any clarity. A cool belt of air occupied his vacant space and her chest tightened. She heard his boot soles thud along the tiled floor, followed by the bang of the ornate front doors. Hana stood, shoving her chair with the backs of her knees. A dart of pain shot up her wrist as Michael gripped it one-handed, his fingers tight and uncompromising. His grey eyes flashed with veiled warning. “Leave it,” he said, laying his fork down with his other hand. The steel behind his smile only hardened Hana’s resolve.

“Let go of me!” She tugged her wrist and his grip tightened, drawing a hiss from between her teeth. “It hurts!” she snapped and slapped him around the face.

A collective gasp filled the room and Hana felt the eyes of the kitchen staff on her flushed cheeks. Cradling her wrist in her right hand, Hana fumbled her way through the heavy door and ran down the corridor. Her feet slapped against the tiles. She followed the sound of raised voices, one of them hysterical.

“She’s gone, she’s gone!” Tama stood at the bottom of the front steps, his back to Hana. She skidded to a halt at the top of the stairs and stopped the door banging behind her. Logan leaned his backside on the old car next to them, not attempting to quiet the teenager. A couple pulling a suitcase up the front steps gave the men sideways looks of concern. Hana offered a lame smile and moved sideways on the uppermost step to allow them to pass.

The door closed behind them and Hana watched the slump in the teenager’s shoulders and knew what ailed him. Anka left, abandoning him like an unwanted pet. Her heart sank into her gut with sadness. “What a waste,” she sighed, pressing her hand over her mouth. Anka sacrificed her job at the school, her marriage and children, her faith and friendships. All collateral damage as the promise of excitement faded against the bite of reality. Hana shook her head knowing Anka had torched every possible bridge back to her former life.

Tears of regret pricked her eyes as Hana stood in the wide doorway, the wind lifting her hair from her shoulders and tossing it around behind her. A wave of bitterness urged her to gather up the pea-sized gravel and throw handfuls into the air in temper. She hoped s*x with the teenager made up for losing everything else, but doubted it.

Tama thrashed around in front of Logan, his body moving with stiffness and aggression. Hana heard him shift from begging to bargaining, his back towards her. “Please, tell me where she went. Your chick must know; they’re friends.”

“They were friends.” Logan’s voice remained calm. “You ruined that for her.” He stared around the empty car park as though bored, his body language relaxed and unthreatening. Hana noticed how the family resemblance looked striking at close quarters and a doubt rose into her mind. “What do you want from me, Tama?” Logan asked.

His question acted as a catalyst and Tama’s body folded from the waist. “Help me!” he exploded. “Tell me what to do.”

Logan shook his head and Hana watched sympathy flicker in his expression. “I can’t, mate. You’ve detonated your life like I said you would. I advised you not to move in with her and I asked you to stay in school. You did what you wanted and now you’ll have to work through the consequences.”

“Please!” Tama begged and Hana heard his voice rock with tears.

Logan stood and shifted his butt off the car. He shook his head. “Are you high, Tama? Did you take something?” His voice sounded level and Hana held her breath and backed towards the door.

“Screw you!” Tama spat. “Like you even care.”

Logan’s body language stiffened, his muscles flexing in readiness for trouble. “Stay at the bunkhouse and sleep it off,” he advised, his voice calm and reasonable. “Make any trouble and I’ll ask security to throw you out.”

Tama reached out a hand, twisting Logan’s shirt in his fingers as he passed. He dragged him close, almost overbalancing with the effort. “Where is she?” he yelled into Logan’s face. “Tell me where that chick is. You know who I mean, don’t you? The one you’re banging. Where is she?”

Hana held her breath and Logan stopped walking. His body resembled a power pole, upright and immovable. Grey eyes flashed danger and he put his hand over Tama’s fingers. “Let go of me and I won’t break your face,” Logan hissed. “But you ever speak about Hana like that again and I’ll bury you. You just enjoyed your last free pass.” He snatched his shirt free and sent Tama reeling backwards with a single push. Then he strode towards the stairs.