Page 87 of Just Say (Hell) No
Another card, then. Another message.
The Star. This is Nyree’s. Tell her—dreams really do come true. It’s all right to believe. And remember, baby—you aren’t the only one with that energy, or with those dreams.
Now, she crossed the street to the terminal at the zebra stripes, and Ella said, “You’re acting nervous. I’m the one who should be nervous.”
Nyree hesitated where she was, then finished crossing before turning to Ella.
It’s not enough to look,she reminded herself.You have tosee.
Ella tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, trying for casual. But when her hand fell, her thumb was running over her fingertips, just like that first day in the furniture shop. Nyree said, “Nobody’s going to miss that you’re pregnant, but Tom already knows, remember? So does most of the team, probably, since that school visit, but that’s all good, too. Like you said—you’re not wearing any scarlet letter. You’re doing a beautiful thing. And youarebeautiful.”
Ella snorted. “Yeh, right.”
“Yeh,” Nyree said firmly. “Right.” Ella was wearing a crossover yellow-gold top that lit up her skin, as well as a stretchy brown skirt that would’ve nearly reached the knee on Nyree, but didn’t come anywhere close on Ella’s long legs. Nyree had heard tallboy drawers opening and closing that morning, then heard them some more, and had known it was Ella changing clothes too many times. When the girl had finally come downstairs, Nyree had seen the tears and the fear just under the surface. But at this moment, all she looked was gloriously young and perfectly ripe, like the goddess of fertility. “You wait,” Nyree promised her. “You’ll see.”
She told herself, too.Dreams really do come true. And not just dreams about sex.
They were almost late, which wasn’t just due to fear on Ella’s part. It had been Nyree’s doing, too. Now, though, they were here, through the doors and into the echoing hall, just having approached the knot of women and kids when the first group of big, tired bodies headed out of International Arrivals and into the terminal.
A group of middle-aged men, that is. The coaching staff, which was another reminder Nyree didn’t need. Next Saturday, the Blues would be playing the Highlanders at Eden Park, here in Auckland, and on Friday, her mum was coming up. Nyree had asked Kane not to mention her new living arrangements to her mum or his dad, and he hadn’t. How did she know? Because she hadn’t felt the Disapproval Waves washing over her all the way from Dunedin, that was how. Marko didn’t need those, and neither did she.
She stopped thinking about coaches, then, because a familiar, tiny figure with a mop of black curls was shrieking and charging under the barrier, arms waving.
“Daddddeeee!”The word reverberated even above the hubbub, and there was that famous grin and full-arm Maori tattoo as Koti James, first out of the doors, grabbed his daughter in mid-charge, swung her high overhead, and cuddled her close while she put her little hands on his cheeks and laughed into his face. Nothing but loved, and nothing but secure.
“Aww,” Ella said as Koti reached Kate, who was holding the baby. He put a gentle arm around her, gave her a lingering kiss, and said something to her. Something sweet again, Nyree assumed, but then she stopped watching them, and Jocelyn Pae Ata, too, who was getting her own absolutely enthusiastic kiss from Hugh Latimer, the captain looking as big and tough as ever.
But not brutal. That was somebody else.
Marko came through the doors with his duffel over his shoulder. In the midst of a group of players, most of them searching the crowd for that special somebody. His dark eyes met hers, the fierce expression changed to something else, and she thought,Breathe,and then forgot to think it and just stood there, rooted to the floor.
He was in front of her, but he still wasn’t smiling.
He just frowns at them so they move off,Ella had said.
It was like she was holding one of those flat plastic disks with the silver balls inside. That moment when you tipped it just right and the three little balls finished the maze and settled into place, like that was how it was meant to be.
He frowned when he felt too much. He was a whale, that strongest of Maori totems, most of him under the surface. Protective. Unmovable.
She stepped into him. His bag hit the floor, and his arms went around her, lifting her off her feet. His mouth was on hers, kissing her like he couldn’t do anything else, and she was kissing him back, wrapping her arms around his neck, holding him close, and thinking,Yes. This.
When he finally set her down, Tom was there with his own tattooed arm around Ella, asking her, “Feeling all right? Babies growing well, eh. You’re looking good.”
She was looking excited, and shy, too. “Nah. I’m huge. Twenty-one weeks, eh.”
“Yeh,” Tom said with his sweet smile. “I hear that can happen when you’re pregnant. So what did you find out? Do you get to talk to the parents today?” Which meant that the two of them had been texting, obviously. Nyree shot a look at Marko, but he wasn’t looking as fierce as he might have been.
Ella said, “No. They’re in Rarotonga, on holiday, and then there’s your match, so we’re doing it next Sunday instead. Wouldn’t you know it, when I finally find the right ones. I couldn’t do it earlier, because Marko wanted to be there. I want it to be at their house, too, I mean the parents’, so I can see it. So…”
“That’s good,” Tom said. “That’ll help, for him to be there. And next week’s all good. You’ve got time.”
Marko said, “Glad you approve, mate,” his voice dry, and Nyree jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow. Ella needed all the support she could get.
Tom said with a glance at him, “I could come by in a bit, Ella. Too cold for ice cream, maybe, but we could have lunch, go for a walk, and you could tell me. Go to the supermarket, too, if you like. I need to do that anyway.”
Ella was about to answer, but instead, her hand went to her belly, and she froze. “They’re moving again,” she said. “The babies. I started feeling them right after you guys left. At first, I wasn’t sure, but…” She was right, because Nyree could actually see movement under the snug gold top. “Whoa,” Ella said. “I guess it’s strong because there are two of them. It’s like they’re both rolling over, doing somersaults.” She laughed. “I still can’t get used to it. It’s soweirdto think about them in there, being alive. Isn’t it?”
Tom lifted his hand, hesitated, and asked, “Can I?” She smiled at him, took his hand, and set his palm on her belly. He looked down at it, then up at her, his own smile growing, and said, “I feel them. Awesome.”
