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Raina laughed. She saw him smiling back at her, and caught
something in his eyes that flared, making her breath stick in her
throat. Then they reached the car, and she devoted her attention to
getting some of the sand off her son before he climbed into the back
seat again.
'Another story, Uncle Logan!' he demanded, bouncing a little on the
leather upholstery.
Raina said automatically, 'Please, Uncle Logan!'
Logan grinned at her and said, 'You, too?' under Danny's obedient
echo of the phrase.
She smiled faintly and shook her head. Logan half turned in the seat,
to look back at Danny. 'Let's see -' he said thoughtfully. 'Would you
like a true story?'
'Yes! Please,' Danny said hastily.
'Okay your mother will appreciate this one. There was a beautiful
young princess who lived around here, about a hundred and fifty
years ago, when the Maori tribes were at war with each other. Her
name was Te Aho-o-te-Rangi. Her tribe, the Ngai-te-Rangi, lived on
the Tayranga side of the harbour over there -' he pointed, and
Danny's eyes followed his pointing finger with interest.
'One night the pa was attacked by a great army from another tribe,
and after a pretty fierce battle, the attackers set the place on fire. Te
Aho, the princess, had a baby son, and to save him she tied him on to
her back and began to swim with him all the way to the other side of
the harbour over here. She was seen, and one of the enemy warriors
shot her and wounded her, but she managed to swim all the way, and
eventually reached her friends on the farther shore, who pulled her
from the water and looked after her son, who grew to be a big strong
fellow.'
'Did he kill the bad man that shot his mummy?' Danny asked
interestedly.
'I expect he had a jolly good try, anyway,' Logan grinned. 'That's how
they worked it in those days.'
'Good!' Danny said with satisfaction, and Raina laughed protestingly
and said, 'Maybe he forgave the man, and made friends with him. A
lot of Maoris became Christians in those days, and learned to forgive
their enemies instead of looking for revenge.'
Logan started the engine and said, 'Yes. A pity some of the pakeha
didn't take more notice of their own white missionaries.'
Under cover of the engine's noise, Raina asked, 'What happened to Te
Aho?'
'She died of her wounds, once her son was safe.' He gave her an odd
glance and said with some deliberation, 'She gave her life for her
child.'
Raina would have done the same, of course, and he knew it. That was
why he had said she would appreciate it.
'Don't you approve?' she asked, mindful of that strange note of
deliberation in his voice.
'In her case, she had little choice her son would have been killed or
enslaved,' he said. 'I don't go along with unnecessary sacrifices.'
Rather sharply, she said, 'And you are the judge of what's necessary?'
His sideways smile was rueful.' You won't allow that, will you?' He
was turning the car, driving to the main road, his eyes fixed ahead.
'Not if you're applying your judgment to me,' she said steadily.
'Don't you think that sometimes an outsider can see more clearly -?'
'But you're not an outsider,' she said. 'You're -'
'What?' he prompted her. 'An interested party? Okay, maybe I'm
biased. Mrs Crimmins isn't.'
Raina's look was startled, then wary. He and Mrs Crimmins must
have chatted quite a bit, that night Raina had been out with Robert
Linton.
'What did Mrs Crimmins say?' she enquired cautiously.
'That you're in need of a good husband. I gathered she was presenting
Robert as a candidate.'
In spite of herself, Raina felt her cheeks burning. 'Mrs Crimmins
means well,' she said.
'She's also right. About you needing a husband and about Dan
needing a father.'
'Am I doing so badly?' she asked, stung. 'You don't think much of me
as a mother, do you?'
'Don't be ridiculous!' he said, keeping his voice low so that Danny
shouldn't overhear. 'I've never suggested you're not a good mother.
Just that you can't be a father as well. No woman can.'
'Biologically, I'll admit that's true.'
'Biologically isn't what I meant, and you know it. Stop begging the
question, Raina.'
'Well, it's a fairly academic question, isn't it? I mean, you don't seem
to see Robert Linton as a suitable proposition. Do you have a better
suggestion?'
'Yes me,' he said somewhat grimly.
Raina was so utterly surprised, she burst into a peal of laughter.
The car swerved a little as Logan took a corner, and his mouth
straightened into a rather ominous line.
Fortunately, Danny created a diversion by demanding to know what [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]