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Irish.’
And if Sion Edwards was there? He felt a surge of excitement at the prospect.
Flicking through his contacts, he pressed the phone to call.
“Whitey? It’s Irish.”
He let him rattle on. Whitey was a big fan of his new white VW van.
He wasn’t sure how this would play out, so it was softly, softly. Whitey was a hard nut. He’d chopped that scumbag into fish food even after he’d got his money back for him. But even so, he was still touchy as Hell about his dead twin brother. Even after thirty years.
“Listen la’, I’ve got a favour to ask yer.”
“D’ya still have little Vinny’s birth certificate?... Does yer mam still keep everything in a box? Ah! Fair play to her… yeah… yeah… she has had it tough.``
He yawned silently. Enough buttering him up.
“Errr Whitey? How hard would it be to get hold of it for us? The birth certificate? That’s right… Just for a few days... Yeah… ‘course we’d give her summat for it… A holiday?…. Go on then… She loves Prestatyn, does she?… I’m sure we can fix her up with a static caravan on the Welsh coast… For a month?”
Cheeky git.
“I need it by tomorrow… The Richmond? Alright. Two o’clock it is.”
It was done.
At this stage it was only an idea. But things took time to organise, and as Vincent Cullen, Whitey’s now not so dead twin brother, he’d be free to go wherever he wanted without the National Crime Agency keeping tabs on him.
Even to New Zealand.
???
When Shaun had agreed to help row the waka, he hadn’t realised he’d be bare-chested and wearing a piupiu, which was a skirt made entirely of flax leaves. Thank God he’d been able to wear his black Speedo shorts under it.
He’d taken a selfie for Claire but she hadn’t opened it yet.
And now, here he was, climbing into the waka with nineteen men.
The massive canoe was floating well. And Ari was beside him too, in what he was coming to rapidly realise was far more than a boat launch.
Rawiri nodded to Shaun and they moved up into the back of the waka like they’d practised. He was certain he was only there to make up the muscle, but it was still a huge honour for him. He was being allowed to take part in something symbolic and spiritual. This was not purely a boat ride.
Blessings were given and the waka was named. The tradition, Ari told him, went way back to when the first iwis or tribes were named after their canoes.
Local families lined the estuary, willing them on. And then, as each man held his oar vertically to the sky, Ari stood up tall in the waka, proud and invincible in his ceremonial kakahu, a spectacular cloak of feathers.
Speaking in Maori he commanded the men and they flattened their oars. Touching the water with them they began to paddle as they’d practised. Together as one, they stroked out onto the tidal current and then worked steadily along the estuary.
In the distance, Shaun was aware of a buzz of cheering and shouting from the shore, but no more than that. The bank had become blurry in his peripheral vision as he focussed on his oar and the rhythm of the strokes. Feeling only the pride of the men flowing like electricity and powering their corded muscles, they paddled their new waka first up to and then back from the river’s mouth.
And on the estuary headland, blending in amongst the crowds one woman watched them. Her heart burst too as she followed the wake of the waka as it sliced through the brown river water towards the sea.
Arriving back at the riverbank, Ari and Shaun jostled through the crowded shoreline surrounding the returned waka. Strangers slapped the backs of the waka captain and his Pakeha friend.
Rawiri pushed excitedly past them, and Shaun watched him heading towards a group of tough-looking tattooed men.
One of them stared back aggressively at Shaun and he glanced away. It was a proud day for the boy, but Rawiri’s situation concerned Shaun.
Ari had told him to leave it be because Rawiri’s dad was into some serious shit. They had plantations of skunk set up in a forestry unit. Shaun had seen marijuana growing wild around the lodge but he hadn’t realised that criminal gangs were farming it out this way.
And would Rawiri get sucked in too? He couldn’t save them all, but he vowed to talk to Rawiri again before he left.
Finally, they found a space in the crowd to stand and breathe easy. Ari put his hand on Shaun’s shoulder.
“Hey, you’re whanau now. Family.”
Shaun swallowed a hard lump in his throat. How could Ari, new father and well-respected leader of men know what that meant to him? To be told he was ‘family.’
He cleared his throat.
“Thanks, bro. You’re only looking for a babysitter.”
“There is that.”
Michelle came over and Ari carefully took his new baby boy Kauri from her. Reaching forward, he passed the sleeping child over to Shaun who took him gently and held him.
“Seriously, thanks, man,” Shaun said quietly, gazing at the sleeping child in his arms. “I will never forget today. And to be whanau with you. It means a lot. More than you know.”
Ari looked him in the eye, commanding and displaying respect.
“I’m here for you, bro’, even after our gig at the hostel’s up.”
“Me too, brother. I’m gonna miss you all.”
“I’m expecting an invite over to yours, real soon,” Ari laughed. “So, get the stubbies in, yeah. Might be sooner than ya think, if this little fulla keeps me awake much more.”
Little Kauri looked so angelic, fast asleep in his arms. One week left, it was all he had until the students finished school and the hostel shut for good.
He was genuinely sorry to be leaving. He’d learned so much from the boys and from Ari. And there was so much that he admired about Ari’s ways. Especially, how connected he was to his place. His environment, his culture, his family.
“Shaun.”
He glanced up. Stunned.
She was standing there. In front of him.
Long, silky, dark hair sweeping down across one shoulder, full red lips, reflective aviators masking her eyes. Her long, black t-shirt dress was slit up the sides giving a hint of her fabulous legs.
His heart pounded.
“Claire.”
She slipped her glasses onto the top of her head as they stood in awkward silence, unable to speak, both overwrought, unable to take their eyes off each other.
“Err... Claire. This is Ari.”
“Ari, this is my friend who’s looking for her father.”
“Hi Ari,” she smiled. “Thanks for your advice, though I’ve not made any enquiries yet.”
Her eyes pulled back towards Shaun’s bare chest.
It had been six months since he’d seen her but the physical magnetism between them took his breath away.
As did his sudden bout of shyness. For the first time in his life, he was stuck for words.
Ari stood transfixed, staring at her too, seemingly also unsure of what to say.
Looking away, Claire touched her neck nervously.
He plucked his son carefully from Shaun’s oblivious arms.
“Kia Ora, Claire... uh, I think that this little one needs a change, so I’m gonna get outta here… See ya later at the hangi, bro.”
“Hangi?” Claire asked, looking confused and a little disconcerted by Ari’s reaction to her.
“They’ve got a heap of food cooking in this underground oven they’ve dug. You gotta see it,” Shaun explained breathlessly, finally able to speak. “Did you see us?”
She repositioned her hair over her neck self-consciously.
“Yes... I got a picture too. The boat cutting through the morning mists. And your friend there, standing in the middle. I’ll never forget it. Was it alright for me to come?”
“Claire!”
He took her hand, her almond eyes meeting his and lingering there. His bare skin goosebumped as he felt
the charge between them.
Unable to bear the intensity any longer, she glanced shyly away.
He watched her trying desperately to recover her composure.
“It’s more than alright.”
She flicked him a nervous smile.
“Look at you. Let me see what you’re wearing.”
Shaun obliged by stepping back and turning slowly for her as she giggled.
She was still on edge, he could tell.
“What would they say in the Cross Keys if they could see you now?”
“Let’s keep this to ourselves, eh?”
He took both of her hands and she gasped as he pulled her in towards him, her eyes widening with surprise but desire too as she gazed up at him.
His bare skin felt the warmth of her t-shirt dress and the softness of her breasts pressed up against him as he lowered his head down towards hers.
How much had he longed to kiss her? She had no idea. Or maybe she did? To put his lips on hers, hold her in his arms, feel her heart beating against his.
But not here.
Not where the boys and everyone could see them.
He grazed the top of her forehead gently with his mouth, and using every ounce of willpower he had, he released her hands, fixing them solidly on her shoulders.
“Wanna get outta here? I need to get changed.”
Taking her hand in his, they walked back inland away from the headland of the estuary and the crowds, back towards the deserted beach and the school hostel.
She looked around at the closed-up wooden school buildings and the hostel in front of them.
“So, this is where you’re staying?”
The look she gave him crackled in the air between them. There was no way he could invite her in to see his room.
“Yip. Give me five minutes to change my skirt.”
“Take your time. I’m fine out here, catching the rays. But be warned, if you come out in a dress, I’m walking away.”
She sat down on the wall with her aviators back on.
Dammit! Did she have any idea of the effect she was having on him?
She brushed her hair over her shoulder again when she saw him coming back out. This time in shorts and a t-shirt.
“Better?”
“I preferred the bare chest.”
She instantly coloured up.
Crossing the road from the school they dropped down onto the empty beach and found a spot to sit together on the sand.
