Just Once More (4 page)

A beautiful soul
, she repeated to herself as they approached the group. He thought so, and since he had a beautiful soul himself, maybe he did know. Maybe.

Hannah and Drew weren’t here yet, were waiting until Gracie woke up from her morning nap, so she couldn’t hide behind her sister. Not that she needed to, because it wasn’t about her anyway. It was about the others. She’d stay quiet, listen, laugh at their jokes. And not being pretty, no matter what Liam said, would be better anyway. With women.

And then the first person she saw, getting up from her beach towel to greet them, made her dismiss that worry. Because, as pregnant as Kristen was, there was no contest.

Jocelyn Pae Ata. The bride in the wedding they had all gathered to celebrate, and one of New Zealand television’s biggest stars.

It was easy to see why. A truly stunning face, with the velvety bronze skin, lush dark hair, and chiseled cheekbones of her Maori heritage. And a body, displayed to spectacular advantage in a red bikini, that told Kristen why Josie had been selected as a model for
that sporting magazine’s famous calendar, and that would surely have every single man on the beach falling over himself to get another look.

Or maybe not. Because that had to be Hugh standing up beside her. The guys never looked as big on TV as they did in person. There was no helpful contrast to normal men when they were out there on the field, that was the problem, so you didn’t get the full impact.

Kristen had told Liam once that she liked him because when she was with him, nobody stared at her. Hugh had to have that effect as well, and she’d bet Josie appreciated it as much as Kristen did herself. Big, tough, and nothing but fierce, his neatly trimmed dark beard putting the finishing touch on an appearance that would have had more than the rugby players unfortunate enough to be on the other side of his punishing tackles running the other way.

Liam set down his burdens, made the introductions, gave Josie a kiss on the cheek, then greeted Hugh with a quick embrace, a clap on the back that told Kristen how glad he was to see him, even though they’d been together on the All Blacks’ European tour until just a few weeks ago.

“Two days to go, eh. Holding up all right?” Liam asked the two of them. “Getting married at the marae’s an adventure in itself. Least Kristen probably thought so.”

“Oh, no,” Kristen objected. “An adventure, maybe, but it was wonderful.”

Exactly the wedding she’d always dreamed of, the one she hadn’t had the first time around. Family. Closeness. Love, the real kind. The right kind. And Liam, with Nate by his side, standing and waiting for her at the front of the big room with its ornate carvings, its intricately woven flax panels.

Standing in the building that was more important to him than any other, and letting her know that she was just that important too. Watching her walk to him, every line of his broad body and beloved, battered face telling her how much he wanted her to do it, how much he needed to be right here, doing exactly this. Taking her hand in his, and marrying her.

“For you, I hope it was wonderful,” Liam told her. “But then, my family was nothing but rapt to have you, and no worries that you weren’t good enough for me. More the other way around, wasn’t it. But for this ugly bugger, who knows. It’s bound to be a bit
more of a challenge for a Pakeha boy. Has your future father-in-law explained to you yet,” he asked Hugh with a grin, “that if you treat her wrong, you’ll have not just him to answer to, but her entire whanau and the ancestors as well?”

“If I remember right,” Hugh said, “it was more to the point than that. Can barely recall, to tell you the truth. I was pretty terrified at the time.”

“You were not,” Josie said. “And he did not.”

Hugh laughed. “You think not? Think I’m making that up? Trust me, I’m not making it up. Never mind. I understand it. A Dad thing, that’s all.”

Hugh was raising his brother and sister, Kristen remembered. Taking it seriously, she guessed.

“Where are the kids?” Liam asked, echoing her thoughts.

Hugh gestured towards the water. “Out there on the raft. No worries, Reka and Kate are out there too. The others aren’t here yet. Our job to wait for you. And Hemi and Koti are putting the boat into the water.” He nodded across the beach where a tractor was backing into the surf, launching Hemi’s gleaming white powerboat. “Josie’s keen to show me how much better she is than me at water sports. Turns out she won some sort of wakeboarding championship, back in the day.” He sighed. “And I only find this out today? Too late to back out of marrying her, I reckon.”

Liam smiled. “She’ll be better than me too, then,” he assured Hugh. “I’m not good on boats. Pity Toro isn’t here, because he’s the worst, bound to make us both look good. Can’t float. Something about not enough body fat.”

“Aw, backs,” Hugh said with a shrug.

“Not an issue for us fat boys up front,” Liam agreed. “That’s not my problem. Got nothing to blame but my own shrinking heart.”

“It means you can babysit with me,” Kristen said.

“Well, yeh,” Liam said. “That too.”

“When’s Toro coming?” Hugh asked. “Bringing his partner, right? Ally? Haven’t met her yet. She’d be another one to school us, from what I hear. Some kind of sportswoman herself, eh.”

“Climbing guide. And yeh, she’s been known to show him up a time or two. Or more than two. Going to do it more, too, because she’s his fiancée now,” Liam said with
satisfaction. “He did it in front of a whole crowd last weekend. Got her parents, his parents, everybody together for it. No backing out now.”

“Really.” Hugh laughed. “That’s awesome.”

“Liam,” Kristen protested. “Maybe they wanted to make an announcement.”

“You reckon? Oh, well. Can’t be helped. If they make an announcement,” he told Josie and Hugh, “do me a favor and act surprised.”

Josie laughed. “I’m going for a quick swim before we get started,” she said. “Anybody?”

“No, thanks,” Kristen said.

“You go on,” Hugh told her.

Josie tossed her sunglasses to the towel, ran down to the water with athletic grace, kept running through the shallows, and dove. And only then did Hugh stop watching her.

A couple hours later, and everyone was there on the towels, picking at the remains of their picnic lunch in the shade of three huge umbrellas.

Josie was heaps wetter, heaps sandier, and heaps happier. She’d been a bit nervous about this—well, add it to the list of things she’d been a bit nervous about. But, as it turned out, there’d been nothing to worry about.

“I’m knackered,” Hugh sighed from his spot beside her. “And all right. Josie wins. I officially concede defeat. Who knew you could grab the board and do those turns in the air like that?” he complained. “That’s above and beyond, surely.”

“You don’t win a wakeboarding contest because you can stay on the board,” she said smugly. “You win it because you can do tricks. And I’ve got tricks.”

“Yes, you do,” he agreed. “I’d say you’ve got tricks and then some.”

“But Kate didn’t do badly either,” she said graciously.

“No tricks,” Koti’s pint-sized wife said. “But I stayed on, even though it was my first time. Koti beat me for sure, but it wasn’t
his
first time. Give me some practice, buddy,” she told her husband with her usual outsized attitude, “and we’ll see.”

“Remind me never to give you any practice, then,” Koti said. “And anyway, I didn’t beat Josie. Hugh’s right, she gets the trophy. Or an extra slice of pavlova, in this case. About all we have to offer.”

“Which she won’t eat,” Hugh said. “Hungry all the time. That’s the price you pay for this.” He put a hand on her side, fingered the gold chain that hung around her hips, weighted in the middle by the end that dipped down to the top of the extremely brief bikini bottom, a straight line to glory.

Josie smiled and let him finger it. She’d known he’d love that chain.

“But at least Hemi lost too,” Koti said. “That makes me feel a bit better.”

Hemi laughed. “Only because I’ve got a wee bit of restraint. Not actually looking to knock the mother of my children into the sea.”

He and Drew had taken turns giving the kids rides on the tube behind the boat, and then had taken Nic’s wife Emma out, at her request. And when Reka had wanted a turn, that hadn’t surprised anybody at all.

Hemi had done a few circles, crossed the wake a couple times, and Reka had held on, to the cheers of the women on the shore. And then they’d seen her swim to the boat, pull herself in, and Hemi dive over the side to climb onto the tube. Drew had moved over, Reka had taken the wheel, and…look out.

“Every single dirty maneuver a person could do,” Hemi complained. “Every single one. And I held on through all of them. Until she did that circle, got that wake so high, and flipped my tube.”

“A woman has few pleasures,” Reka sighed. “So few simple pleasures in life. Surely flipping your hubby off his tube is one of them. One small compensation for everything we endure.”

“May want to watch yourself there, my queen,” Hemi said. “I have my ways of taking my revenge.”

“Well,” she said smugly, “there’s that too.”

“And now we know,” Koti grinned, “how they got those four kids. Nothing like a challenge.”

“I should never’ve fallen in love with a Maori girl, that’s what it is,” Hugh complained. “Notice how Emma didn’t show Nico up, Josie? Rode on the tube, happy to take a nice quiet ride around the sea with Drew’s steady hand on the wheel. I think she’s the woman for me. Suit you, Nico?”

“No,” Nic said. “Taken me all this time and another baby to get her to this point. My hard work’s done. Do your own.”

“To
what
point?” Emma demanded. A pretty, petite blonde in a pink bikini, she indeed didn’t look like she’d be giving Nic any competition in the toughness stakes.

Hemi dropped his head in his hands and groaned. “Mate. I can’t even…No. Epic fail. Do not take notes,” he ordered Hugh. “Erase that one from the memory banks. That’ll get you no place you want to go.”

“Speaking of going,” Josie said, “we should be getting back.”

“Oh, not yet,” Reka said. “Let the kids finish their game. Give us a chance to chat with you.”

Josie glanced at the broad stretch of firm sand near the water’s edge, the tide almost fully out now. Six of the older kids, a couple of extras joining in as well, were well into a cricket game. All of the older ones, in fact, except Finn’s son Harry, who was helping the littlies build a sand castle nearby, showing a patience that made Josie smile, while Hannah and her quiet sister kept an eye on them.

Amelia, meanwhile, bowled a gentle ball to Hannah and Drew’s son Jack, who didn’t seem to need the gentleness, because even though Jack wasn’t even five yet, he gave it a good whack that had the fielders running and Jack charging for the wicket. No lack of inherited athletic ability there, that was clear.

Hugh’s sister looked pretty happy to her. Had been that way all day, in fact, despite a little show of sighing and flouncing around when she and Hugh had invited the kids to come along for the afternoon.

“I’ll be the oldest, though,” Amelia had objected, “and the other kids are so immature. Nobody else is even a
teenager
. What would I
do?”

“Aw, come on. Just makes it more fun. Means you can be the proper little madam you are, put them all right.” Hugh grinned at his sister, rumpled her hair.

She shrieked, grabbed for it.
“Hugh!
I just finally got it
right!”

“Oh. Sorry,” he said, though he didn’t look all that guilt-ridden. “But you’re just going to get wet anyway,” he said reasonably. “Come with us, and you’ll have about a minute for Ariana and Sophie to admire your new short hair and how perfectly it’s…fixed, or whatever it is, and then you’ll all be in the water and it’ll be a lost cause anyway.”

Amelia didn’t hear the last part of that, because she’d already been dashing into the bathroom to restore her carefully mussed style.

Josie understood. She’d taken Amelia for the tousled shoulder-length cut a week earlier, knowing its symbolism. That Amelia had finally given up the ballet dream, had accepted that she would never be a bun-head. The riding lessons Hugh had arranged for her had had a fair bit to do with making the change easier.

“All
right,”
Amelia said, coming back into the room. “I’ll come. But don’t muss me anymore, Hugh.” She glared at her brother like the Drama Queen she was, and he laughed.

“No worries,” he told her. “Your perfect hair is safe from me. Until you get to the beach and forget it.”

Which she hadn’t done, because there had been a couple of cute boys diving off the raft, and that had meant a fair amount of showing off on their part, a good bit of giggling on Amelia’s and Sophie’s parts, even eleven-year-old Ariana’s, who had blossomed early and was already showing signs of being as pretty—and just as curvy—as her mum. The boys had joined the cricket game as well, which had Hugh, Hemi, and Finn all keeping an eye on them, and made Josie laugh to herself. Any boy looking to get close to any of those girls was going to have a job of it. Because Ariana had a Maori dad, just as Josie did herself, and as for Finn—well, Josie wouldn’t want to be the boy coming to pick Sophie up for a date. And Hugh wasn’t too far off in the protective ferocity department. Not any too far off at all. One look at those hard eyes, not to mention the size of him, and a boy would be thinking twice, Josie thought proudly.