Page 24 of Kiwi Sin
“Decided to swim instead,” Daisy said, taking off her trainers as Gray grabbed a towel and began to rub Xena down. “Nothing clears the cobwebs after a night shift like a good long swim at the saltwater pool, especially if it’s in the rain, except possibly a smoked salmon eggs bennie at the Long Dog café, which we also did. Swimming always makes me hungry.”
“Getting fortified for this lunch, too,” Gray said. “Have a sleep first, though, what d’you reckon? Even Superwoman has to sleep.” He pulled Daisy in by the hips and kissed her mouth, but that didn’t shock me anymore. That was tame, for them.
“Are you sure you’re still OK with this?” Daisy asked, staying in his arms and not stepping back. “Fourteen people, some of them probably still in their caps and aprons? Keeps getting worse, eh. Not to mention my sister-in-law Chelsea, because she’s bound to condescend to you again. You could give it a miss and go golfing instead.”
“Chucking me out of my own house now?” Gray asked, but he was laughing. “Besides, it’s raining, and it’s going to rain more. I’ve had to work in the rain all my life, between rugby and building. I’m drawing the line at my leisure hours. Besides, whatever Oriana’s making smells awesome, and I want some.”
“As you paid for it,” Daisy said.
“Aswepaid for it,” he said. “Am I complaining?” He searched her face, then. “Something wrong?”
She shrugged. “No. Just tired. I’m going to take that nap. What do we have—three hours? That’s time enough.”
“Want company?” Gray asked.
She smiled. “Want to give me company?”
“You know I do.”
The thing between Gray and Daisy—it always seemed like electricity, the same kind of tingle I got when I looked at Gabriel.Wasthat a crush? What was the difference? Maybe that the other person got the same charge. I didn’t know much about electricity, but it had to go between things, didn’t it? If you were the only one who felt it, it wasn’t going to be lighting anything up. It just ran into the ground.
“We’ll be at the house, then,” Daisy said. “If you’ve got this, Oriana.”
“I’ve got it,” I said. “No worries.”
10
SIGNALS, CROSSED
Gabriel
The day wasn’t going the way I’d hoped.
For one thing, Oriana was moving back and forth between cooktop, oven, and sink like a particularly industrious butterfly as Frankie continued to work away in an exercise book at the kitchen bench, my mum got out plates and cutlery, and Radiance and Glory served fizzy lemonade and tea. Daisy’s twin, Dorian, was sitting on the couch, holding himself apart from the others along with his wife, Chelsea, who’d never lived at Mount Zion and always seemed like she was bursting to set everybody right. In fact, at this moment, Chelsea was feeding their baby and studying us as if we were her science project, which we probably were. Chelsea was a teacher, and in “graduate school,” whatever that was. She had to write a thesis, apparently, and had announced at the last lunch that she was planning on studying “the effects of gender stereotypes on student achievement,” which seemed ominous.
Take, for example, the way my dad was talking with Gray, Raphael, and Uriel about Gray’s upcoming projects. Daisy was there, too, and my brothers kept looking at her oddly, clearly wondering why she’d joined them and wasn’t … doing whatever they thought she should be doing. As if she were going to learn their secrets.
Oh. Me? I was sitting on a stool at the kitchen bench. The idea had been to have a chat with Oriana, but as I’ve mentioned, that wasn’t happening. Especially now that I’d been joined by my sister Harmony, as well as Patience, Glory’s younger sister. Patience was barely sixteen, her wedding day already set when she’d walked out with her sister and brother-in-law. She’d been meant to marry the Prophet’s grandson, Valor Pilgrim. He’d apparently been showing signs of wanting to leave himself, the Prophet had wanted to stop it happening, and she was the prettiest girl still at Mount Zion.
“Nothing binds you to Mount Zion like a wife and kids, he reckons,” Uriel had told me the day our dad had brought them home. “At least that’s how it looks, because he’s marrying the girls off even younger now, the moment they turn sixteen, and the blokes as well. Barely twenty, some of them. We didn’t give him a chance with Patience.” Which was good. I hadn’t liked Valor when we were kids. Maybe it was wrong to hold that against him, but I did anyway.
Now, Harmony said, “Can you show Patience and me the ute, Gabriel? Dad told me all about it, and I want to see.”
I said, “I can if you like, though it’s not much to look at.” I tried to catch Oriana’s eye, because I’d driven over here thinking about showing it to her, but she was arranging some spiny golden things on platters, then shoving them back into the oven, maybe to stay warm. They looked a bit like a photo I’d seen of pangolins, or possibly dinosaurs with their armored plates up, and definitely like no food I could remember eating. At any rate, she wasn’t looking at me, and hadn’t looked at me since I’d arrived, so I put on a jacket and went out into the rain with the girls, feeling a little stupid about my hopes for the day, not to mention the ridiculousness of showing off my still somewhat battered ute, gray primer and all.
Patience said, “It’s so wonderful. Is it really yours?Allyours?” She smiled in my direction, though not quiteatme. She was cut from the same mold as Drew’s wife, Hannah, with pale-blond hair and bright blue eyes and the kind of smile that sparkles, and she had a sort of infectious spirit, full of life and merriment. Patience was one of those girls that the unmarried men watched, because no rules about downcast eyes could entirely quell that life force, and all of them had hoped to be her husband.
I said, “It’s not much, and it’s not painted yet—I’m trying to work out the color—but yeh. It’s taken a fair bit of effort to get it running sweetly again, but it’s OK now.”
“Can we see inside?” she asked, which was flattering, but then, she hadn’t been inside many vehicles yet and wouldn’t know how unimpressive this one was.
“Sure.” I opened the passenger door and both girls climbed in, Patience first. At least they were out of the rain.
I could see them talking in there, examining dials and buttons, then Harmony opened the door and said, “Get in and show us, Gabriel.”
I hesitated. The ute had a bench seat, but it wasn’t close to the size of a couch. Harmony said, “Comeon,”and I thought,We’re not in Mount Zion anymore,and climbed inside.
“Can you turn it on?” Patience asked, her shoulder touching mine, and when I did, feeling quite proud of the way the new heater blasted the air, asked, “What’s that for?” and pointed at a dial below the speedometer.
