Page 109 of Kiwi Gold
Was there one more person whose presence here would make things ascomplicated as they could possibly be, short of Laila’s mum coming back from the dead? Yes, there was, and it was my stepfather, Peter. Drake’s onetime best friend and partner. My sisters’ dad, per the birth certificate, and mine, per the adoption papers. My former boss.
And he’d had a few. Or possibly more. Peter could put it away like nobody’s business.
Not that he was weaving. He just exactly wasn’t. I knew what the too-bright eyes and the careful foot placement meant, though.
It had been messy, working for him. I’d learned as much as I could, because despite the drinking, he’d had a nose for precious and semiprecious metals and a knowledge base like an encyclopedia. And no steadiness at all, unfortunately. When it had got too much to take, I’d bowed out as quietly as possible, and he’d accused me of poaching his clients and betraying his trust. Yeh, that had been a fun few months, because Peter could hold a grudge.
I’d barely seen him since, unless it was Claire’s birthday, a graduation, a wedding, or something like that. I’d driven him home from the last wedding—Larissa’s—when it had become necessary. That hadn’t helped our relationship, either.
Once, he’d felt like my dad. Now, he didn’t.
It seemed to take an eternity for him to get to the table. Drake was on his feet, and so was my mum. I thought Drake would speak first, but Mum did instead. “You’re not invited to this, Peter.”
“No?” he said. “I’m surprised. Betraying me in business wasn’t enough?” he asked Drake. “You had to impregnate my wife, too?”
Amira looked at Yasmin, Yasmin looked back at Amira and shrugged, and then they looked at their grandfather. I noticed that, and then I didn’t, because I was on my own feet now, and headed over there.
Did I want to handle this? I did not. I was the only one in a spot to do it, though.
“I’ll drive you home,” I said. “Talk it out, eh.”
He shook off the hand I’d put on his arm as if he hadn’t heard me and asked Mum, “Did you know? Did you know, and make me pay for it? Forhissperm? Did you always want him after all, because that macho bullshit works for you?”
Yasmin’s mouth made anOshape, but nobody spoke for a second.
“No,” Mum finally said, icy calm, but with a tremor just below the surface. “And we both paid for the sperm, remember? We split everything fifty-fifty.”
“With excellent results,” Lexi said, “brains-wise, anyway. Also temperament, I’d say. Although I’ve always liked being a ginger, too.”
“Dad,” Liana said. “You said you wouldn’t! You said you just wanted to talk to him!”
“And I am,” Peter said. “I am talking to him. I’maskinghim. Afraid to answer me, mate?” he asked Drake. “Got nothing to say for yourself? That’s new.”
“You’re right,” Drake said. “I’ve got nothing to say to you. What’s the point?”
“Alienation of affection,” Peter said. “That’s what they call it. My kids. My grandkids. Mywife.Did you have something going on with her while we were married, too? Is that why you stopped sleeping with me?” he asked Mum. “Is that why?”
Laila was up now, too, her hand on her dad’s arm. “Don’t,” I heard her say. “It’s not worth it. He’s drunk.”
“I’ve got that,” Drake said. “Got that a long time ago.”
“No,” Mum told Peter. “I stopped sleeping with you because I had four babies, I wasrecoveringfrom having four babies, I was exhausted, and you were useless. Lachlan was more help than you ever were, and he waseight.It’s hard to respect your partner when he watches you struggle and doesn’t care, and that’s what happened to me. My sex drive dried up, you’re right, but it wasn’t because of me. It was because of you.”
“Christ,” I heard Ewan mutter. “That’s too much information.”
“All right,” I said. “I think everybody’s said their bit. Let’s go home, Peter.” I could hit him in the side of the neck if I had to, I guessed, the same way I’d done with Laila’s sword-wielding admirer, but I didn’t want to.
Did Peter oblige? He did not. He asked, “How’d that presentation in Saudi go, then? Abdulaziz receptive, was he? Or don’t you think you’ll get it? Falling on your face didn’t help you there, eh. You look like shit, by the way. He looks like shit,” he informed Mum. “How’s your sex drive with that?”
Drake’s mouth barely opened as he formed the words. “What do you know about Abdulaziz?”
Peter laughed. “I got my diploma from Oxford, remember? Because I didn’t come from nothing. I know it’s not the University of Otago, but it’s not too bad. He wasn’t always a good Muslim, not like you, but then, you always were too straight for your own good.”
Liana said, “What? Dad. What did you do?”
“Never mind,” he said, putting his arm around her. “Put things right, that’s all. You didn’t want him horning in on things, pretending to be a dad, when you had a perfectly good one already, so I fixed it. That’s what dads do, eh. They fix things.”
Amira’s voice piped up, then, clear and loud as anything. “Mum, why does that man have funny eyes and a funny voice?”
