“Clear some time for lunch at the Lodge today. There’s somebody I want you to meet.”

We’d just arrived at work and were walking along the hallway to our offices. “I intended to lunch at my desk, Oliver. I’m still playing catch-up from the time I lost making that trip to Auckland.”

“Don’t think of it as lost time. You got us Pearl. This could be just as good. Maybe better.” He followed me into my office, closed the door and leaned against it, eying me in a completely unprofessional way.

“Who’s going to be at lunch?” I was trying not to eye him in the same manner.

“It’s a surprise, and it can’t be rescheduled. Believe me, you’re not going to want to miss the opportunity. I expect you to bring your supreme powers of persuasion with you.”

“Not my super-power, I’m afraid. If I knew who it was I could prepare.”

“Come here and I’ll whisper it to you.”

I went to him, and, of course, he didn’t whisper the mystery guest’s name, he simply took the opportunity to tongue my ear and say something filthy. I pulled the door open and pushed him out of my office.

Even though I badgered him the entire drive, Oliver still refused to tell me who I was meeting.

“It’s a sad day when I can’t give you a surprise,” he muttered, opening the car door for me.

“I’m going to look unprofessional if I’m not prepared.”

“I don’t want you to be prepared. This isn’t a work lunch. It’s social. If I told you who it was, you’d have been scheming all morning. I want you to feel things out over lunch. I trust you to make an approach if you think it’s appropriate, and if you don’t get the right feel, then don’t do anything.”

“You’re making me nervous, Oliver. It’s not royalty, is it? Or Tom Hiddleston? I think he’s filming down south at the moment.”

Oliver took my hand and didn’t answer. We entered the foyer and Oliver pulled me to a stop. There was a young boy sitting on the reception counter and Maraea was teaching him a song in Maori. She stopped when she saw us and nudged the boy.

He spun around and jumped from the counter before Maraea had time to catch him.

“Uncle Oliver,” he called, running to Oliver and grabbing him around the legs.

“Uncle?” I asked.

“Surrogate. He doesn’t have any uncles of his own.” Oliver pried the boy off his legs. “Orion, I want you to meet someone. This is my friend, Darcy.”

He looked up at me with the biggest green eyes I’d seen. “Hi, Darcy. Are you going to be my uncle, oops, aunty? Are you getting married? Mommy’s having two babies and she’s really fat. Come on, I’ll show you. She sits down a lot.”

He took Oliver’s hand and the way he led us through the Lodge suggested he knew the layout well.

I tugged Oliver’s sleeve. “Is Orion the lunch guest?”

“Part of the family. You’re about to meet the rest of them.”

Just as we reached the garden, a large squeal went up. “La-la-vah!” called a little dark-haired girl with familiar green eyes now propelling herself toward Oliver.

“This is Aurora. She used to be a baby, but now she’s growing up. But not growing up big like me,” Orion explained, standing on his tiptoes with his hand performing some sort of height-indication above his head.

Oliver swept the toddler into his arms. She gave him a stern look, studying his face, her chubby hands cupping his chin.

Satisfied by whatever it was she was checking, she said, “Kiss-kiss, La-la-vah,” before kissing him on both cheeks, his nose, then his mouth. He did the same back to her, and then she wriggled to get down.

My heart squeezed a little watching Oliver with the children. He was completely at ease, and they obviously adored him. They each took one of his hands, but he stopped. “Orion, I think you should take Darcy’s hand and introduce her to your parents.”

The young boy puffed his chest out, and swapped Oliver’s hand for mine. “They’re over here, in the private area because people bug Daddy and ask him to write his name on everything.”

“Okay.” I looked at Oliver.

“Go on, I’m right behind you,” he said.

“I know how to write my name,” Orion added. “But, do you know the letter r?”

“I do. I’ve got the letter r in my name, too.”

“Oh. Sometimes, I write it backwards.”

“Me too.”

“You’re a grown-up.”

“Even grown-ups make mistakes,” I said. We’d passed through the gate into the private walled garden.

“Here they are,” Orion exclaimed. “This is Mom and Dad.”

I stopped to compose myself before I had a total fan-girl moment, because I was certain that the couple seated at the table were the reclusive rockstar, Reuben Creed, and his wife, Stella.

Oliver caught up to me.

“Is that who I think it is?” I said quietly.

“Not sure, can’t read your mind,” Oliver teased.

“I’m going back to Maraea. She’s teaching me a special song,” Orion called, and disappeared through the gate again.

“You could have warned me, Oliver.”

“Relax, they’ll love you.”

Reuben Creed, yes, that Reuben Creed stood up and came over to us. We shook hands and I nearly passed out because I think I had every recording of his.

“Come and meet Stella,” he said, after kissing me on both cheeks.

“Excuse me for not standing, but I’m kind of wedged in here.” Stella smiled, and looked completely radiant. “Sit with me. Those guys will start talking about boats pretty soon. Reuben’s restoring my Granddad’s old clinker sailing dinghy. You’d think he’d raised the Titanic. I want to hear all about you. It’s been quiet on the island for the past few weeks.”

Stella and Reuben lived on Ahunui, the biggest of the islands we’d seen the other week. “Do you come over to the mainland often?” I asked.

“No. We came over to interview nannies. These are twins,” she said, pointing at her stomach. “I’m sure I’m capable of looking after the children, but Reuben insists I need help. Orion will start school soon. He can come over to Waitapu, but when the weather’s awful, that won’t work. I don’t know if I need a nanny, or a tutor, or a housekeeper. And, we have this problem with Reuben who is paranoid about privacy. Plus the singers and bands who come to record need privacy, too. Listen to me? I’m taking over the conversation. Tell me about you, Darcy?”

I gave Stella the usual story, and then she asked about Oliver and me. “You two are an item?”

I wasn’t sure how much I should say. “Well, we work together—”

“Yes, but I can tell you adore each other. We’re so happy Oliver’s found someone. Tell him to bring you over to the island and stay for a weekend. That’s if you don’t mind the children, because they won’t leave Oliver alone.”

“They’re gorgeous. I don’t mind them at all.”

“Oh, and the twins are imminent, so it’ll be chaotic. I’ll get Reuben to organize it with Oliver. What do you do for him? If he’s an ogre to work for, you can come and work for us.”

I laughed.

“What’s that?” Oliver asked.

“Stella thinks you’re probably an ogre to work for,” I said.

“My wife thinks just because she’s pregnant she’s allowed to say anything she likes,” Reuben said.

“And, my husband likes to keep me pregnant, so he only has himself to blame.”

He pulled her to him and kissed her. I’d never before seen a couple with such an aura of love around them.

“Darcy,” Reuben said, “Oliver tells me you scored Pearl for the gala. Nice work.”

“To be honest, I had nothing to do with it. Her management approached me and all I had to do was say yes.”

“Don’t undersell yourself. They’ll have checked you out completely before they made the offer.”

I hoped not. “I have to say, Oliver winning the award, and the resulting publicity was what really did it. That put the cause in the spotlight. There’s no contract signed yet, but I’m confident it’ll go through.”

“I was talking to her last night. I think you’ll find you’re good.”

If I didn’t already have a giant crush on Oliver, I’d have been a mess around Reuben. There was no arrogance about him at all and I wondered if that was Stella’s influence, or if he was simply the coolest rockstar on the planet.

The guys went back to talking about boats. Oliver had drawn something complicated on a napkin, about handcrafting wooden blocks and pulleys. It gave me the opportunity to ask Stella something I’d been curious about.

“What’s it like, living with Reuben? I mean, I’m trying to be calm, but I’m also pinching myself, because Reuben Creed! I have all of his music.”

“Do you? Oh, he’d love to know that. I hadn’t really heard of him when he came to the island so I just thought he was some grumpy visitor who wanted to be left alone.”

“You’re kidding me?”

“Nope. I mean, of course I thought he was pretty hot, and I knew he could sing because he used to play his guitar at night and sing songs.” She shrugged. “We just got along, and fell in love. And now, look, babies everywhere.”

Waiters brought plates of food. Salads, fish, seafood, and large bowls of hand-cut fries.

Stella snagged one. “Sorry, I’m always hungry. Get some food, and then you can tell me about this gala event you’re planning?”

I explained the event to her, focusing on what it meant to Oliver and how good building a rehabilitation center would be for Waitapu and the surrounding district.

Orion and Aurora came and went through the meal and I noticed the boy had the same watchful eye over his sister that Reuben had for his wife. I envied them, envied what the people in this area had in their little piece of paradise. Their lifestyle was full and rich, without the stresses of city living. Everyone seemed to care for one another, and accepted me as one of their tribe.

Reuben swapped places with Oliver when we’d finished eating, and quizzed me about the event.

“Oliver’s almost convinced me I have to come over and support it.”

“You can grow your beard again, and wear dark glasses,” Stella suggested.

Reuben turned to me. “You have no idea what it’s like to spend a life in hiding, Darcy.”

His comment made me feel like an impostor among them. “Is that your way of telling me it’s futile even hoping you’ll consider joining us?”

He responded with an enigmatic smile.

We carried on chatting through the afternoon. Stella and I took a walk around the gardens with the children. Her knowledge was astounding, and I listened just as carefully as Orion did when she explained various healing properties of native plants. She carried a camera, taking photographs along the way. Nothing posed, but it was ever present.

Aurora took my hand, her steps slowing as our walk progressed.

“She’s missed her afternoon nap. I’m surprised we haven’t had a tantrum,” Stella said.

I picked up the child and as we walked, she stroked my face with sticky fingertips before her head dropped heavily against my shoulder. She’d fallen asleep. I had little experience with children, but I had to admit there was something peaceful about carrying Aurora as she snuggled into me.

“Thank you,” Stella said. “I’ve reached a size where carrying Aurora is difficult. Let me know if she’s too heavy.”

“She’s fine. Will you come to Waitapu to have the babies?”

“No. The midwife will come over to Ahunui. Hopefully, these babies will wait for her to arrive. Orion turned up in a hurry, so it was just Reuben and me.”

“That sounds scary.”

Stella laughed. “More scary for Reuben, I think, than it was for me.”

“My Daddy’s brave,” Orion announced.

“I think your Mommy is, too.”

“Mommy is a goddess.”

“Wow.”

“Daddy said so.”

“I’m sure Daddy’s right.” I felt the same. Stella had an extraordinary sense of peace about her.

We were met by the men as we neared the end of the bush path we’d been walking. Reuben took Aurora from my now-aching arms, cradling her against his chest with one arm, the other taking a protective hold of his wife’s hand.

Oliver and I went ahead with Orion who’d found a fresh burst of energy. He wanted to detour and show me where the stream tumbled over the rocks before it disappeared underground.

By the time we made it back to the Lodge, Reuben was packing up their things, while Aurora slept in a small hammock strung from a tree. Stella was in the bathroom, so I helped Reuben.

“Children travel with more equipment than a rock band,” he said. “Once the twins are here, we’re going to need a couple of roadies whenever we leave the island.”

“Oliver took me on a sightseeing trip in the boat the other weekend. Ahunui looks heavenly.”

“You came over and you didn’t stop in to see us?”

“I was keeping her to myself,” Oliver said. “I didn’t want you distracting her, Reuben.”

Stella had just returned from the bathroom. “Come along, team, we need to get back to the boat before I need to pee again.”

“These days all outings are logistically planned around bathroom stops for Stella,” Reuben said. “Oliver, you and Darcy need to come over and stay very soon.”

“We’ll come after the fundraiser so that Darcy can relax, otherwise she’ll hide away and keep working.”

Reuben walked beside me down to the boat.

“I hope you’ll both come to the gala. As guests, of course,” I added.

“Let’s see,” he said. “My wife says she likes you. I trust her judgment about people implicitly because she’s a completely open book. What’s there in front of you is one hundred percent Stella. She hides nothing, whereas most of us spend too much time trying to manage the way the world views us. Stella sees something broken in your past. Personally, I think she’s a witch. That’s why I stick with her. I’m frightened of the curse she might cast my way if I leave.” He laughed, then his face turned serious. “You’re good for Oliver. He’s become a close friend since I’ve been in this country. I just wanted to tell you that whatever it is in your past, it’s probably not as bad as you think. Let it go.”

I wondered what I’d said that had clued Stella about my past, but by the time we’d returned to Tradewind, I’d decided Reuben was probably right. Stella probably had superpowers.