Two months later…

Isaac paddled hard, the wave’s power swelling beneath his surfboard as he took his last run in of the morning. Above the hiss of Bounty Bay’s surf, his mates, looking like seals in their black wetsuits, waited on boards for their turn, hollering both encouragement and the usual male put-downs that were more a sign of long-standing friendship than any real negativity.

“Go, you bad thing,” Todd shouted to Isaac’s left.

“Don’t wipe out and crack your thick skull, asshat.” Sam’s voice came from somewhere behind him. “Nat’ll kill me.”

Isaac nearly laughed, though it would’ve meant a mouthful of salt water. He’d been dragged out of his bed by his brother and four of their mates at dawn. They’d loaded up his truck and Glen Cooper’s with their boards—Isaac’s had seen a bit of action in the last couple of months for the first time in years—and headed to the beach. Nate had piled into Glen’s truck along with Nate’s brother-in-law, Todd Taylor, whom Isaac had known for years since he was the husband of one of Isaac’s cousins.

Owen had hitched a ride with Sam, cracking the joke that as an emergency room doctor, he’d patch up Isaac if need be. The same joke he’d told the previous times Isaac had joined the guys for a surf—something he’d refused to do for years because of his knee. No longer as graceful as he had been before the accident, he was still improving every time he donned a wetsuit and challenged himself.

The ocean surged beneath his board and propelled a rush of adrenaline—the good kind—through his body. Then he was on his feet, wind whipping past his face as the years of practice reawakened skills he’d once thought forgotten. There were only two things that beat the head rush of sun, sand, and surf: rugby and Nat. And it sure as hell wasn’t rugby he was thinking about as he lost his balance and majestically wiped out.

Cool water closed over him and bubbled around his face. He opened his eyes in the churning surf and stayed under a moment longer, just enjoying the power of the wave tossing him around. Sometimes it felt good just to let go, to submit to that stronger power.

Like the love he had for Natalie, and in turn, Olivia. His whānau now.

Isaac rose out of the water, close enough to shore that he could easily stand, and ignoring the heckles from behind him, grabbed his board and waded onto the shore. Glen and Nate sat nearby, stretched out on the wet sand, watching Owen, Todd, and Sam who were still out on their boards.

“Hey,” Glen said as Isaac approached. “Pretty good form up until you took a dunking.”

Isaac grinned, swiping his palm over his dripping face. “Coming from a guy who’s better off surfing the web than surfing for real.”

Glen laughed, elbowing Nate next to him. “Told you he had a sense of humor.”

Nate cupped a hand over his eyes and looked up at Isaac. “You got time to sit a while and watch the guys show off like there are girls watching?”

“Nah,” Isaac said. “Sam’ll be out there for hours. I’ve got stuff to do.”

Isaac caught the flash of Nate’s sharp smile.

“Or someone to do?” Nate asked.

Glen chuckled. “Ah, the sex of the newly engaged. Nothing like it. Except, perhaps, the sex of the newly wed.”

“Or the sex with your hot baby-carrying wife,” Nate added.

Isaac rolled his eyes. “Tell me again why the six of us are out here getting water up our noses and sand in our ass cracks when we could be home in bed with our women?”

“Damn,” said Glen. “And I thought I was supposed to be the smart one of the group.”

Nate rose to his feet and clapped Isaac on the shoulder. “You make a bloody good point, mate.” He turned toward the water, stuck two fingers in his mouth, and whistled. Then he waved a get the hell in here arm to the three surfers.

Out beyond the breakers, Sam returned the gesture with a middle finger before paddling to catch the next wave.

“You want to leave those guys to it?” Nate asked. “I’ll give you a lift back home and Sam can drive your truck back later.”

“Yeah. Let’s hit the road,” Isaac said.

Fifteen minutes later, Isaac had stowed his board in the garage and hit the shower to scrub off the sand and salt. He wrapped a towel around his hips and headed to the kitchen.

“Morena,” he said to Olivia, who sat dressed in her sports kit already, yawning at the breakfast bar, one finger swiping down her ever-present phone.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “You promised to take me surfing, remember?”

He lifted an eyebrow at her, then collected two cups and crossed over to the coffee machine. “You wanna get up at six on Saturday morning for a surf lesson, and then go to practice at eight?”

She huffed out a painstaking trying to be patient sigh. “Practice doesn’t start until eight thirty.”

He sent her a sharp grin. “Not anymore.”

“Mrs. Crawford should never have offered you a permanent part-time coaching position,” Olivia said with a hair toss that was so much like her mum’s it made Isaac grin harder. “You’re obviously power-tripping on it.”

“Like, totally,” Isaac teased in a falsetto voice.

Olivia giggled. “You’re so embarrassing, Isaac.”

“Embarrassing, but ready to whip you girls into shape in forty minutes’ time on the field.”

“Whatever.”

Olivia ducked her head, but not before Isaac caught a glimpse of her smile and a conspiring sideways glance.

“Mum’s gone back to sleep,” she added. “I heard her snoring when I got up.”

“I’d keep that little bit of information to yourself if I were you.” Isaac finished making the second coffee and set it on the saucer next to the first. “I’ll go wake her up, eh? Coffee and then we’ll pour her into her shorts and T-shirt ready to go.”

“’Kay.” She hesitated for a moment. “Isaac?”

“Yeah?”

“How many bedrooms is the new house gonna have?”

As an early wedding present, Isaac’s parents had offered him and Natalie a section of family land on the farm. Situated on a low rise, it had an incredible view over Bounty Bay and would be perfect for building a big, sprawling house. A new start for the three of them.

Isaac left the coffees on the countertop and came over to lean against the breakfast bar. “How many do you think we should have?”

Olivia flicked her gaze to the ceiling and counted on her fingers. “One for you guys, a big bedroom with an en suite for me, a couple of guest rooms so we can have friends to stay…” She paused, dropping her gaze to his face, her eyes crinkling with mischief. “And probably another two or three bedrooms for my future brothers and sisters.”

“That’s a helluva big house,” Isaac said. But his heart gave a huge galloping stride in his chest at the thought of Nat carrying their child. “I hope you really haven’t got designs on playing for the Black Ferns since you’ll be spending all your spare time cleaning this big house, plus changing dirty nappies and babysitting.”

“Eh,” Olivia said with a shrug. “We’ve got plenty of friends and whānau to help with that.”

Isaac squeezed her arm. “We have at that. Better go and deliver your mum’s first caffeine shot for the day.”

He picked up the two cups and carried them down the hall toward his and Nat’s bedroom. Their bedroom. She and Olivia had moved in with him a couple of weeks after they got engaged. They liked to pretend it was at Olivia’s insistence, saying Isaac’s house was “awesome and had faster Wi-Fi and a bigger bedroom for me” but the truth was neither Nat nor Isaac could stand to spare another moment apart.

He nudged the bedroom door open with his foot and stepped into the room. Sunlight sneaked through a crack in the drapes and cut a swath to his big bed where Natalie had rolled over from her side to his, her face buried in his pillow.

Isaac set the coffees on her nightstand and crawled into bed beside her, wrapping his body around hers. She sighed, nestling her bottom against his hips and pulling his arm tighter across her body and holding it there. He pressed his lips to the curve of her shoulder and closed his eyes, letting the steady beat of his heart, once damaged beyond repair, beat only for her.

“I love you, tahu,” he whispered.

“Wuv you, too,” came her muffled reply.

He smiled so hard he thought his face would crack from the force of happiness bubbling through his veins.

This.

This life of surfing with his mates, training with his girls, Sunday lunches with his family, and a woman whom he loved more than he loved anyone in the world—this was sweet. Sweet as, as the Kiwi saying went. Any chaos in his world became ordered and so simple when he was with Natalie.

He was hers. She was his.

Mō āke tonu atu. Forever and a day.