“Think of it as a holiday. And Liz, I have good news for you. I have contacts in London and I called in a favour from one of them. Your ex has been spotted going to and from work in the City all week last week, so there is no way he can be behind what has been going on here. You guys take care, okay? I’ll speak to you soon.”
Liz put the phone down, beamed at Kristan, and almost burst into tears.
“I think we were due some good news at last, right?” Kristan smiled as her lover hugged her tightly.
“You have no idea how happy this makes me,” Liz exclaimed excitedly. “He has given up on me, he’s let me go. I am so, so happy!”
She laughed and Kristan laughed with her.
They carried on walking on the beach, holding on tight to each other, and the smile never left Liz’s lips.
“You were great with Marion the other day,” she reflected after a while.
“Well. When she stops crying she’s a great baby.”
“And you really do like kids, right?” Liz enquired, wanting to be sure.
She was on a roll now. She felt lighter than she had in months, and the woman next to her was so beautiful it made her feel invincible. She wanted to love her, be with her, create a life with her that no one else could touch. Now she really felt that she could, regardless of what else was going on.
“I do like kids,” Kristan replied after a quick glance at Liz, smiling when she noted the colour in her face and the sparkle in her eyes.
Liz nodded.
She grinned at her.
“Okay. So would you like to have a baby with me?”
Kristan stopped walking immediately.
“Do you?” she asked.
“I asked you first.”
“Depends,” Kristan replied seriously.
“On what?”
“On what you are talking about. Adoption, surrogacy…”
Liz wrapped her arms around Kristan’s neck and kissed her gently.
“Pregnancy,” she said softly. “For me.”
Kristan held her against her, her head spinning a little.
Her crystal clear blue eyes turned thoughtful as she considered the idea, and Liz ran a gentle hand through her hair.
“What are you thinking?”
Kristan breathed deeply.
“You’ve never mentioned kids before,” she said. “So I’m just a bit surprised, that’s all. This is fast, Liz.”
“But it feels right.”
“And I want to make sure this is really what you want. Because I wouldn’t be the one doing all the hard work.”
“Like being fat and emotional for nine months?” Liz ventured.
“Yes,” Kristan chuckled. “That, exactly.”
Liz shook her head a little.
“There would be plenty of hard work besides that,” she remarked.
“I know.”
“Kris, I never thought kids would be an option for me,” Liz reflected thoughtfully. “But now things are different.”
“Because we are together?”
“Yes. And the other day when we were at Kelly’s, when I was holding Marion and feeding her, and looking at her like that, I was thinking what an amazing adventure it would be to bring another life into this world.”
“Bit scary, too.”
“I’m not scared. I know enough about what is important in life to understand the huge responsibility that it would be.”
“Huge is the right word. It would be about caring for another human being when they are small and young, and learning…”
“And making sure that we equip them with all the resources they will need to be happy and successful in this world,” Liz finished.
Kristan smiled.
“My thoughts exactly.”
“Looks like we’re on the same page then. And I am ready for it,” Liz said, her eyes shining. “I am ready for it, with you.”
Kristan smiled again, her heart beating so fast she thought she might faint.
“Then yes,” she said simply. “Yes, I want to have kids with you.”
Just before lunchtime they packed up their gear, threw the bags into the back of the car and got on the road again. Kristan felt better and happier than she had in years. Her shoulder had stopped hurting as if by magic, her headache was gone again and her mind was clear. Liz felt the same, and she could bend her knee again although she was careful not to overdo it.
Kristan got behind the wheel, smiled when Liz put Melissa Etheridge on the CD, and she hit the gas.
“I could get used to this travelling thing,” she said happily.
“Is that what you did when you first got here?”
“Yep. Spent a week in my campervan driving all over the place. Of course I was sick the first few days, but it got better eventually. I’m ready to settle down now,” Kristan added with a smile.
“Glad to hear it, my love.”
They turned off Highway 6 after a while, and Kristan switched her lights on as they left the ocean behind and headed inland toward the mountains. It had gotten cloudy, and as they started to climb the temperature dropped noticeably. Liz switched the heating on and zipped up her fleece. After a few minutes it started to spit a little.
“I love this kind of weather,” Kristan said with an excited smile. “In the mountains especially.”
“Weather in the mountains,” Liz nodded. “Only one word for it.”
“What’s that?” Kristan asked.
“Temperamental, darling. You should know.”
Kristan shot her lover a quick glance, taken aback by the unexpected comment.
“What?” she said. “You think I’m temperamental?”
“I think you have a temper,” Liz said gently.
“I get passionate about things. What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing,” Liz assured her. “Nothing at all. And I like it. Passionate is good.”
“I sense a big but in there somewhere,” Kristan said, glancing toward her again and looking slightly worried.
Liz leaned over and kissed her on the cheek tenderly.
“But sometimes,” she said slowly, “I think it’s scary. Like the other day when you were all ready to go charging into the cafe on your own, regardless of what danger might be there waiting for you. Or when you almost ended up in a fight with James. When you get angry, you forget to be careful.”
Kristan gripped the wheel tighter and she breathed deeply. It was not the first time someone had taken issue with her rather explosive and fiery character. Mike used to tell her her off for it. Kristan smiled a little when she thought of him.
“I know,” she said eventually. “I just… sometimes I just react to things, and…
“And it might get you hurt one day,” Liz interrupted. “The thought of that happening, it makes me feel sick, Kristan. It makes me…” Liz hesitated, shaking her head and looking pale. “I just can’t bear to think about it, simple as that.”
For a while Kristan was quiet, focused on her driving, taking each bend with absolute commitment. Her reading of the road was sharp and precise, her use of speed just perfect, and it was enough to make Liz excited but not enough to make her scared.
“I understand,” Kristan said after a while. “I promise I will do something about it.”
“Thank you,” Liz whispered.
“But I will lose control from time to time, Liz,” Kristan added fiercely. “And there is nothing that I can, or want to do about that.”
She glanced to her left, smiling a little at the worried look in her partner’s eyes.
“I mean when I make love to you, darling. Only when I make love to you.”
Liz gave a soft laugh and sat up a little straighter.
“That,” she said, “is a deal.”
“Yeah? For sure?”
“For sure.”
Kristan smiled, and she reached for Liz’s hand and wrapped her fingers through hers.
“Thank you for being honest with me,” she said quietly. “That’s
one of the things I really love about you.”
“Good. I wouldn’t know how not to be.”
They carried on climbing, and Kristan leaned forward and narrowed her eyes at the leaden skies above.
“Wow, it looks like snow,” she remarked, frowning.
“I love snow,” Liz remarked excitedly.
“Well, Crystal Springs is quite high up, so it’s not unusual to get some at this time of year.”
“Great.”
“I just hope we don’t get snowed in.”
“I hope we do,” Liz shot back immediately.
She laughed.
“I’d love to get stuck in Crystal Springs, alone with you for a few days.”
“After, we load up on groceries, right?” Kristan pointed out with a grin.
“Oh yeah, of course.”
The road became narrower and the skies grew darker, and Kristan grabbed her phone when it bleeped inside the pocket of her jeans.
“We have just lost phone cover,” she announced, frowning at the screen. “Under normal circumstances I would be delighted.”
“Then again, we haven’t seen a single other car since we got on this road,” Liz pointed out. “I think that’s a good sign. I’m not worried.”
Kristan nodded.
“Good. We’re not far from town now.”
“Okay, so what’s the plan when we get there?”
“Load up on some food and head straight to the house before this weather gets worse, if that’s okay with you.”
“Perfect. How far is your house from the centre of town?”
Kristan smiled a little.
“About three miles,” she said, almost sheepishly. “In some bit of forest. You know me, I like privacy.”
She drove them straight up to a shopping outlet on the outskirts of town and parked in front of a Whole Foods outlet.
“Great,” Liz commented, looking at the shop through her window. “I intend to carry on with your instruction whilst we’re here.”
“Cooking lessons, yes?”
“Absolutely.”
“How about lasagna for tonight? I’m starving again, Liz.”
It was a good sign, Liz thought happily, and they walked hand in hand to the shop and spent some time stocking up on vegetables, fruit juice, rice and pasta. When they walked back out again it had started to snow.
“Unbelievable,” Kristan exclaimed. “This is so early in the season for snow…”
“It’s our welcoming present,” Liz declared, grinning, her face turned toward the skies.
Kristan looked at her and smiled. She dropped the bags she was carrying, walked up to her lover and wrapped her arms around her waist.
“You are so beautiful,” she murmured, and she kissed her, right in front of all the shops.
“Kristan,” Liz protested, blushing and smiling.
“What?”
“People are watching…”
“I don’t care,” Kristan replied, and she kissed her again and this time Liz responded, wrapping her arms around her neck and pulling her harder against her.
When Kristan pulled back she was beaming.
“Thank you,” she said softly, and she rested her head against Liz for a moment.
Liz had to shake her after a while.
“We need to go,” she laughed.
She was right, and it was snowing hard now. They got back into the car and Kristan drove off quickly.
“You got phone cover now?” Liz enquired.
“Nope. You?”
“Nothing.”
Kristan just shrugged. She was feeling too happy to worry about it, and when they turned left off the main road onto the country lane that led to her house she spotted the police unit parked under a bunch of trees, and came to a stop right next to them.
She rolled her window down and smiled at the two officers who were sat in it.
“Omaru’s team, right?” she asked.
“Kristan and Liz?” one of them replied.
“You got that right.”
“The coast is clear. Welcome home, ladies.”
Kristan smiled at them and carried on driving. She would have hated to admit it, but she was glad that Omaru had come through. She was not so worried about herself but she wanted Liz to feel safe, and now she knew that she could relax. They turned a corner and came within view of her house, and she stole a quick glance at her lover.
Liz was leaning forward in her seat, staring at the house with a big smile on her face.
“Home sweet home, darling,” Kristan announced. “You like it?”
The house was small and made of wood and large expanses of glass, and it looked just like a jewel in the snow.
“I love it,” Liz exclaimed.
She jumped out of the car and hurried up toward the front door, limping still but ignoring it. Kristan threw her the keys, and she got busy with the bags of groceries in the back. When she joined her lover inside and pushed the door shut behind her, Liz was already busy getting a fire started.
“Kristan, don’t worry about the bags,” she instructed loudly from the lounge.
“It’s okay, I got it.”
“No, really, the shopping can wait.”
Liz was beaming as she almost ran into the kitchen and flew into her arms, making Kristan drop a loaf of bread and several bags of spinach onto the light grey flagstone floor.
“Liz, what are you…”
Kristan stopped talking when her lover started to kiss her, not at all gently but roughly, hard, passionately, pushing her against the wall and pressing herself against her.
“Liz,” she gasped, feeling out of breath and sounding like it.
“Kristan,” Liz replied, staring her in the eye, thinking how beautiful Kristan was when she was aroused and a little confused. “What?” she asked.
Kristan just shrugged, smiling, her eyes a little hazy.
“I forgot,” she murmured, and she pulled Liz against her and kissed her back.
The bedroom was freezing cold and so they made love in the lounge, on the couch, in front of the big open fire. The groceries waited, the mobile phones waited, the world was put on hold. And when they finally came up for air Liz looked into Kristan’s limpid blue eyes and was alarmed when she saw tears in them.
“Kris,” she murmured. “What is it babe?”
Kristan shook her head and smiled a little.
“Nothing,” she said. “Just tired. A bit emotional I guess.”
“Then it’s not nothing,” Liz replied immediately. “Tell me.”
Kristan simply sighed.
“I’ve just realised something.”
“What?”
“I hate it that I cannot make you pregnant right now,” Kristan said quietly. “There is nothing in this world that I would like more than that, and there is nothing I will ever be able to do about it.”
Liz immediately wrapped her arms tightly around her, and she rested her head against her naked breast.
“You will,” she said gently. “You will. All we need to do is plan a little more than most people. Okay?”
But Kristan believed otherwise.
“Not really,” she said darkly. “It is not going to be that easy.”
“But it can be,” Liz insisted. “There are ways, Kris. Ways we can have a baby together. Don’t worry.”
“I just don’t want it to be all clinical and cold when it happens, you know? I do not want it to be just a medical procedure.”
“It won’t be. I promise you darling, it won’t be, and you will be as much a part of it as me. Okay, my love?”
Kristan nodded a little, a small smile dancing on her lips. She could not look at her lover and not smile, she realised, and that was a good thing.
“Are you hungry?” Liz enquired, smiling back at her.
“Yes. Please don’t make me cook…”
Liz burst out laughing, and she gathered her clothes from where she had thrown them on the floor. The house had warmed up by now and s
he was looking forward to a nice meal with her lover and a good night’s sleep.
She looked around the room thoughtfully, admiring the plush cream carpeting throughout, pale blue and yellow furniture, and the Maori art pieces on a shelf on the far side that stood out beautifully against the darker red wall. Wooden French doors led to an outside patio, and heavy wooden beams on the ceiling gave the room tremendous warmth. Throughout the house it was the same theme, soft colours, warm wood, modern shapes and ancient Maori art.
Kristan definitely had a gift for design.
“Still no phone cover?” Liz enquired.
Kristan shook her head no, laughing when she spotted the delighted look in her lover’s eyes.
“Great,” Liz declared. “I’m going to grab a quick shower and then I’ll get that lasagna under way.”
“Okay. I’ll go get some more wood in.”
Even though she did not share that information with Liz, this was an opportunity for Kristan to go around her property and check that everything was in order.
In the small shed at the back she smiled at the sight of her mountain bike and kayak waiting patiently for her to return, and her heart jumped in her chest when she spotted the CD case abandoned on the side. Shane Nicholson, Mike’s favourite, she recalled, and she picked up the case and gently ran her fingers over it.
Then she looked up toward the sky.
“I’m going to have a baby, mate,” she said softly, “what do you think of that, uh?”
Her eyes filled with tears at the thought that Mike would never know, and before she could get emotional all over again she walked back out into the cold. It had stopped snowing but it was getting windy, and it was absolutely freezing.
Kristan walked around the house, doing what Liz would not have wanted her to do. She was not sure what she was looking for exactly, but she was pleased when she found nothing of interest, no sign that anyone had been there, no footprints in the snow. She went to the wood shed, happy to find it well-stocked still, and she gathered several big logs in her arms before walking back to the house and the enticing smell of roasting vegetables.
Chapter 19
Despite what Kristan Holt thought about him, Jason Omaru was a good cop and he had a flair for people. If given the opportunity to spend a little bit of time with them he could pretty much read them like a book, and he was looking for such an opportunity when he arrived at the Holiday Park that morning.
Unbroken Page 19
