penguin occupants.
‘I don’t know who’s having more fun out there,’ Aimee said. ‘The kayakers or the seals.’
‘Seals?’ Matt asked, looking up, and then he saw them. Playing among the kayaks were three or four, yes four, seals. They twirled and twisted around like synchronised swimmers, amusing Matt with their fluidity. Aimee pointed at a patch of grass sitting up on the rock-walled edge of the beach.
‘Looks just right,’ Matt said, as they collapsed down to a sitting position where they could relax and watch the seals play.
They took up their places on the grass and Matt was just about to start a meaningless conversation when Aimee came to the party with a dreaded line.
‘I’ve been thinking, Matt, and we need to talk.’
Matt felt the blood drain from his face. He had been waiting for this. The moment where Aimee would tell him that it couldn’t work. Him in England, her in New Zealand, I just think of you as a friend, you’re like my brother. All that stuff. He propped himself up in preparation, ready for the blow.
‘It just feels… right. Being with you. It’s… comfortable. I like you.’
The warmth crept back to Matt’s cheeks. Had he heard that right?
‘You do?’
‘Of course! You’re a sweet guy.’
Blood-cheek restoration complete.
‘I fell in love with you on the flight.’ Matt felt his cheeks overfill with blood as he let that line slip. What a charmer.
‘I think I did too. You I mean. You know what I mean. But, I don’t know how it could work. You know, the distance thing. I don’t think distance relationships are for me.’
Plug pulled. Blood rushes out again.
‘Is there a way we can make it work? What if I moved out here?’
‘No. You can’t move out here, your job is too important. If anyone’s going to think of moving, it’s me.’
‘Are you serious?’
‘I’d have to be, and that’s what I want to talk about.’
‘OK.’
‘If we were going to give this a try, I mean a serious try, then I’d have to move out to the UK. I assume I can transfer my studies there.’
‘That would be no problem.’
‘But I wouldn’t be lifting my roots for a fling. I need to know that you’re serious, one hundred percent. I want you to think about this too. If you’ve got any doubts, I need to know.’
‘I can assure you, one hundred percent. Right now, I have no doubts. If that changes you’ll be the first to know.’
‘OK.’
Matt looked at Aimee blankly.
‘OK what?’ he asked.
‘OK, I’m going to really think about it. I’ll look into transferring my studies. I’ll talk with my parents, get advice from friends, and if it all pans out right I’ll come to the UK.’ She paused. ‘But if I come it’s the real deal, a serious commitment, are you prepared for that?’
‘Aimee,’ Matt said, grabbing her hand, finally making the first move. ‘If you come out to England to be with me, for us, I’d marry you.’
‘You’ve only known me a few weeks!’
‘I knew the day we met.’
Aimee said nothing. She reached over and ran a finger down his cheek. Then, leaning in to him, her lips met with his in what was the most beautiful kiss Matt had ever experienced. The kayakers and the seals all vanished into the background. All that Matt could see now was a restored lighthouse, a rose garden, Aimee and their child running towards him.
Snap out of it Matt, she has to decide to come first. Just enjoy the bloody kiss.
And he did.
With dinner out of the way, and a good dinner it was too, it was time to go back to Otakau Marae and see if they could find someone to talk too. Matt led the way to the marae’s buildings and could fairly quickly see that there was no one about.
‘Let’s try that house again. Maybe someone is home and they can help,’ he suggested.
They walked the few steps to the neighbouring green weatherboard house and knocked on the door. There were sounds of movement, banging, and the shuffling of feet. They waited. Eventually, the door was opened by a beautiful old Maori woman. She stood a good forty centimetres shorter than Matthew. Yet she had the look of someone that could run rings around the best of them.
‘Good evening,’ Matthew said. ‘I hope we aren’t disturbing you.’
‘What are you lot doing here?’ The woman asked, her voice impatient and angry. ‘It isn’t even Saturday for God’s sakes. How many times do I have to tell you religious lot that I ain’t interested?’
The door was closing in a swift movement. Aimee blurted out her words just before it met the frame.
‘We aren’t religious, we’re interested in the marae!’
The door opened slightly.
‘The marae, you say?’
‘Yes,’ Aimee said. ‘I’m from Auckland and my friend is British. We saw the beautiful marae on our way out to the Albatross place and just had to ask about it.’
The door opened fully.
‘Why didn’t you say so? Come in, come in.’ She stood aside and waved her arm to show them into the hall. ‘Why didn’t you stop by earlier? More light, you would have seen more when I give you the tour.’
‘You’ll give us a tour?’ Matt said, trying to sound like an excited tourist, but most likely failing miserably. ‘That’s great, thanks.’
‘We tried, but no one was home.’ Aimee answered.
‘I was here all day,’ the lady said, looking confused. ‘Oh… it must have been when I was up the back picking wild berries for my pudding. My name’s May, anyway.’
The introduction round followed and small talk about a holiday in New Zealand was discussed. It seemed they were going along with this plot. Maybe Aimee figured it would go down better with May if they don’t mention their real reason for interest in the marae.
‘You best come and have a look around the place before it starts getting dark,’ May said, leading them out of the house.
The tour was thorough. May knew every part of the marae as if she was born there. Turned out she was. During the next hour they learned about the meaning of the carvings on the church and the meeting house. They looked at a blue stone in the church wall and heard how it had been removed from the first white man’s house of the area. Aimee was interested to hear that the Treaty of Waitangi was signed by two of the local chiefs on a ship just off-shore. Despite having not intended to get the grand tour, Matt thoroughly enjoyed it and was not at all impatient to get to the point of their visit. But when the opportunity presented itself, he jumped for the chance.
‘You said the first building on the marae was the old church, and that it was built in 1864. Did your people live on the peninsula before then?’
‘Of course, there was many villages all over Muaupoko, our name for the peninsula.’
‘Was everyone who lived among you from just your tribe? Or did different groups live together?’
‘What do you mean exactly?’ May asked, looking a little more serious now.
‘We heard from some Kaumatua that there were stories of white people living on Muaupoko long before Cook arrived,’ Aimee answered. She managed to be tactful even with that information.
May laughed. ‘Oh, them, that wasn’t on Muaupoko.’
‘It wasn’t?’ Matt was shattered.
‘Nah.’ She laughed again and pointed over Matt’s shoulder, towards the harbour. ‘That was over there, over
