The Family She Needs

A hand pushed at his shoulder.

‘Stop it. You can’t go from selling the house and the surgery and bailing out to suddenly telling me you’re staying. Do you ever consult with other people before you make decisions that might affect them?’

She was peeved.

‘I’m not selling the house or the surgery. I sorted it all with the lawyers yesterday, in Nelson.’

‘That’s not answering my question.’

She locked her eyes on him and waited, her fingers tugging at the hem of her jacket.

He’d done what she wanted, hadn’t he? What was there to discuss?

‘Is it all right with you if I’m a permanent fixture in my nephew’s life?’

Disappointment replaced her annoyance. ‘You know it is. What’s not all right is the way you go about doing things that involve me. I’ve spent my life falling into line to suit first my father and then Ian. I am not going to do it for you. Ever.’

So she thought he was a control freak? ‘I was trying to do the best for you both.’

‘Take me home. I’m done here.’ She turned to face the front, her shoulders tight, her hands still fidgeting. ‘I’m done with you.’

His heart curled up tight, painfully. Until she’d said that he hadn’t realised how much he’d been hoping she cared for him.

‘I’m still not going away.’

‘Mickey will be thrilled.’

Did Karina want him gone so she could bring Mickey up on her own? He doubted it. She’d phoned him the moment she found those bruises, had turned to him for help. She was tough on the outside, but underneath was a softie who sometimes needed to be able to lean on someone. Him. He had to be her backstop. He couldn’t handle it if she found someone else to fill that gap in her life.

Could he win her heart in the months ahead? It wouldn’t be easy, but the reward would be worth all the waiting.

* * *

Karina stood in the doorway of what had briefly been Logan’s bedroom. Her heart thudded against her ribs. Tears blocked her throat. Logan sat on the floor with Mickey kneeling beside him. In front of them was an open carton of James’s belongings. Photos covered the carpet, many of them torn or crinkled from being screwed up. The photo of James in Logan’s hand was shaking.

‘That’s my daddy.’ Mickey tapped the picture. He rummaged through the others. ‘And here’s Mummy. She’s pretty.’

‘Yes, buddy, she is.’ Logan’s voice sounded full of tears. He was focused on the picture of his brother, drinking in every pixel.

‘I want them to come home now.’ Mickey picked up some more photos.

Logan ran a hand over Mickey’s head and down his back. ‘You and me both, buddy.’

Tears spilled down Karina’s cheeks. ‘And me,’ she whispered.

‘Hey.’ Logan looked up. ‘We’re doing a bit of sorting here.’

‘Sure.’ She took a step into the room. ‘I had to put the photos away. They got too much for a certain boy. He wasn’t coping.’

‘Hence the damaged ones?’

She nodded. ‘That’s why there’s only the one on the wall in his bedroom.’ Out of reach of Mickey.

‘Karina, can I put Mummy and Daddy in my bedroom now?’

‘Yes, sweetheart, you can.’

Hopefully enough time had passed that he would no longer get too distraught every time he looked at the photos. She moved closer and squatted down beside Mickey.

‘You choose which ones you’d like.’

‘Uncle Logan’s staying with us.’

Her gaze instantly fixed on Logan. As in staying in this house? Or in Motueka? ‘You’ve explained?’

‘Of course. But I didn’t say exactly where I’d be living.’ His eyes never wavered. ‘I can find a house close by.’

‘Or you could move in with us.’

How would she cope? How could she not? She loved him. Loved them. They were a family unit, put together under unusual circumstances, but that didn’t mean the love wasn’t real or strong or good.

I love them both so much it hurts.

She loved Mickey; always had and always would. She loved Logan: always would. She’d done what she’d sworn never to do again: fallen in love. Fallen for Logan. Surprisingly, that didn’t feel like a problem right now. He might act first, tell her later, but he always had her concerns on his radar, looking out for her and Mickey.

Was she going to ruin a chance at happiness by being pig-headed? He hadn’t brushed her aside when she’d complained he should have discussed everything with her. He’d been at the front door as fast as possible when she’d phoned in a panic that morning. What more did she want?

For Logan to love her.

She stared at him. Would he ever feel for her what was tightening her chest, speeding up her heart for him? Did he get tingles at the base of his spine every time she walked into the same room? Tingles she’d come to accept as her Logan barometer?

Only one way to find out all the answers.

The air was suddenly chilly, but her blood was warm, her heart heated. ‘Hey...’ She leaned across and took his face in her hands, kissed him full on the mouth.

‘Tell me I’m not dreaming,’ the man holding her heart whispered.

Her reply was to kiss him some more.

‘I could get to like this.’

Now he took charge of the kiss, deepening it and sending hot need flowing through her body.

Finally she pulled her head back, just enough to see into his eyes. ‘I know I’m all over the place about what I want, but I’d be happy if you stayed here. Permanently. With us. For Mickey. For me. I love you, which is why I got huffy with you. I didn’t think I could take a chance on happiness, but now I know I can’t do anything else. You’ve found a way into my heart. Not sure how, but you have.’

Her lips pressed together in a rueful smile. She could go on and on, but he’d probably do a runner from the madwoman.

Logan reached a hand around one of hers. ‘I’m not going back to Africa. After this morning I know I don’t need to. I have you. Nothing, no one, is half as scary with you at my side.’

‘Kar—ina. You want a photo?’

‘Sure do, sweetheart. You pick one for me.’

She slowly slipped out of Logan’s hold, unwilling to leave his warmth and strength, but knowing those would always be there for her, whenever she wanted them. She just knew it.

‘Karina...’ He pulled her back to him. ‘I love you, too. You’re amazing, the way you’ve accepted who I am, the mess I’ve been. I doubt I’d have begun to recover without you there for me. But most of all I just love you—everything about you.’

Her heart swelled and more tears flowed—this time for joy.

‘Thank you,’ she croaked.

This time she’d got it right. She knew it from the bottom of her heart.

Logan stared down at a picture of his brother and sister-in-law. ‘I wonder what those two would have to say about this.’

‘I think Maria would be laughing fit to bust. In the nicest possible way, of course.’

‘James would tell me to grab life and live it with you and Mickey.’

One month later...

A handful of people were gathered in the lounge at the old house in High Street. Karina looked around, smiling at everyone.

Mickey’s grandparents, Adele and Mark, were smiling nearly as much as she was. David and his wife and Leeann and her partner were chatting together. David was more relaxed now that he could share the clinic’s workload with Logan, and no longer talked of moving away. Becca stood in the middle of the room, watching everyone as if she was the boss around here. All dressed up in a figure-hugging suit, looking stunning, she had a new boyfriend at her side who looked as though he never intended letting her