Page 109 of Just Come Over

“Nah, mate,” Te Rangi said. “I never was much chop at guessing.” Still genial, but awareness in the brown eyes. He wasn’t a fool.

“Dylan,” Rhys said. “And Casey.”

“Casey,” Te Rangi said slowly. “Don’t know any Caseys.”

“His daughter.”

Around them, locals chatted and laughed, and the fire was warm on Rhys’s back, but he barely noticed.

“Ah,” Te Rangi finally said, no laughter in his eyes this time. “That Casey.”

“Yeh.” Rhys did take a pull at his beer, then. A long one. “Her mum died. She’s got no whanau in the States.”

“Oh. Huh. That’s rough. I reckon we’d better find somebody to take her, then. Ari and Terina have been having some trouble having a second. Waited too long, maybe, but he’s out on the boats every day now, earning all right. They’ve got a wee house out near Riwaka. Or there’s me. I’d have to ask Nia. Not sure how keen she’ll be at the start, since we’ve got the oldest nearly out of the house and the others not far behind, but whanau comes first, eh. You and I have some debt to pay along those lines, I reckon.”

“We do,” Rhys said. “But nobody has to take her. I already did. I’ve got her, and I’ll be keeping her.”

Silence for a long, long minute, and then Te Rangi said, “Dylan told you after all, then. That’s good.”

“No. He didn’t. First I found out was my lawyer ringing me up, saying there was this girl in Chicago, and my name was on the acknowledgment of paternity. Witnessed by Te Rangi Walton.”

Te Rangi sighed, took a swallow of beer, and raised a beefy shoulder. “Yeh, cuz. I did. Somebody needed to. Better than not having her provided for at all, I thought.”

“And you didn’t think,” Rhys said, knowing his voice was too harsh but unable to make it be anything else, “that I ought to know. Even when Dylan fell ill. Even after he died.”

Te Rangi’s gaze sharpened. “He had her looked after, though.”

“No. He didn’t. Even less than he had Zora and Isaiah looked after. Why would you think anything else?”

“I asked him, though.” Te Rangi’s genial face was troubled at last. “When I went up to see him, when he fell ill. Asked him if she was set, and he told me he was going to see to it.”

“When did he ever keep his promises?”

The words hung there between them, a young fella brought over the burgers and left again, and Te Rangi still didn’t speak.

Rhys waited, and finally, his cousin said slowly, “He didn’t leave anything for her, then.”

“No. And you should’ve told me, soIcould’ve seen to it. Her mum wasn’t too well off. She died running across the street at night to get to work. They put Casey in foster care.”

Te Rangi closed his eyes. “Shit,” he said quietly. “Sorry, mate.”

The rage that had boiled up started to settle, and Rhys breathed some, picked up his burger, and said, “Never mind. I’ve got her now. But I need to know who you told.” He took a bite, and Te Rangi did the same. Sometimes, you needed a minute to regroup.

“I didn’t tell anybody,” his cousin said when he’d finished chewing. “Dylan didn’t want you to know, and if I’d told anybody, you’d have known. Nobody’s going to keep a secret like that.”

“Nobody but you.”

“Could be I owe you.”

Rhys nearly winced. “You don’t owe me.” The words came out rough. He couldn’t help it.

“Cuz.” Te Rangi’s hand came out to grip his shoulder. “Yeh, I do. Made the tea enough times, didn’t you. Looked after us as well as you could. Set an example, too, you could say. My dad’s worthless, and yours wasn’t too flash. I’ve done better, and if you went to get Casey, seems to me that you have, too.”

The burger was sticking in Rhys’s throat. Something about the tightness in his chest, maybe. He nodded and focused on swallowing. On getting it together, because he was dangerously near the edge. He didn’t go over that edge anymore, but he was very nearly doing it now.

“Does Zora know?” Te Rangi asked.

“Yeh. Isaiah doesn’t, and neither does Casey. I needed to make sure nobody else did, because otherwise, I’d need to tell both of them. Better it comes from me, eh.”