Honeymoon Baby

‘Well, that’s wonderful news!’ Paula beamed. ‘Isn’t it, Jenny?’

Her mother’s joyful exclamation was punctuated by a low rumble and a shimmer of windows in their wooden frames. Mount Ruapehu obviously had the same opinion as Jennifer.

Dot got up and crossed to the glass doors, peering towards the mountain through a fine haze of grey powder interspersed with twirling, fingernail-sized ash flakes.

‘It’s pretty black up over there now,’ she said. ‘There’s hardly a glimpse of clear sky left. I bet the colour of that plume means most of the crater lake has gone. We could see some real pyrotechnics soon.’

She rapped at the dust-coated glass with a stubby finger. ‘I hope the wind changes again, or I’m going to lose some of the plants to this damned ash. I’ve covered the most delicate ones, but at this time of the year they need as much sunlight as they can get.’

In spite of the fact that she travelled for about four months of every year, Dot had put herself in charge of the flower and vegetable gardens, and whenever she was in residence she worked with a passion amongst her beloved plants and planned all the new plantings. Over the years she had built up the grounds of Beech House to the point where they were regularly featured in ‘open gardens’ tours during local festivals.

Rafe went to join her at the window, the seams of his close-fitting jeans whitening as he stepped across Jennifer’s legs, dragging her unwilling attention to his taut backside as he moved away. To her chagrin, her mother caught her looking and grinned, miming a silent whistle.

Jennifer smiled weakly in return as she began stacking the tea things on the tray. If her mother had never met her ‘husband’, the discreet long-distance ‘divorce’ that she had been planning to blame on their extended separation could have been achieved with minimum fuss. Now it would be that much more difficult.

‘Are we likely to be in any danger at this distance?’ she heard Rafe ask Dot.

‘Not from molten material. In an eruption the size they’re predicting the danger zone for that is only a few kilometres.’ Geology was another of Dot’s hobbies. ‘But the radio said that there’d already been several big lahars through the ski fields, and once the mud-flows reach the river systems they can cause havoc downstream. There was a big train-wreck in ’53, when a rail bridge over the Whangaehu River got washed away and a hundred and fifty people were killed. But our main problem will probably just be the ash flying around and clogging things up, and then you get water shortages when people try to clean it up. And it can be toxic when it’s breathed in, of course, so we’d better make sure the animals come inside...’

‘Oh, dear,’ said Paula. ‘Do you want to put a canvas over your car, Rafe? We have some spare covers in the garage that we bought after last year’s big blow. I know it’s only a rental, but heaven knows what this dust might do if it gets into the engine.’

Jennifer stopped what she was doing, aghast at the tacit invitation contained in the suggestion, but before she could think of an objection Rafe turned from the darkening view and strolled back to smile down at his eager hostess.

‘I suppose that would be a good idea, but I don’t want to impose, Paula.’ His diffidence was a beautifully calculated pre-emptive strike. ‘I know you weren’t expecting me, and Susie told me when I arrived that you had a full complement of guests. Actually, since I wasn’t quite sure of the set-up here, or what Jennifer’s immediate plans were, I had made a reservation at a hotel...’

‘Rafe! Of course you’ll stay here with us!’ Paula was visibly shocked by his offer. ‘We always have room for family, no matter how full we are. Jenny has a lovely big bedroom which takes up the whole of the upstairs, with en suite bathroom and outside access via the balcony, so you can both have tons of privacy. Goodness!’ she laughed, as the loaded tea tray crashed back down onto the coffee table. ‘Jenny would never forgive me if I tried to chase you away—look at her face, she’s horrified at the very thought!’

Rafe knew full well what she was horrified by, and it wasn’t the thought of their separation.