The following Friday I headed straight to Aunty Morgan's after work. And when I arrived I saw Tara's car in the driveway, as I made my way to the front door I wondered how long she had been there and how much shit Aunty Morgan had told her about when I was a little kid.
“Sim sim,” as soon as I opened the door Juliet came crawling over to me. I picked her up and lifted her high in the air before settling her down on my hip.
“Hey baby girl,” I smiled down at her as she kept on saying my name. “Where's you mummy?” I asked her. That got her to stop saying my name and start saying 'mama' as she pointed toward the kitchen / dinning area. I carried her over to the dinning table where Tara and Aunty Morgan were sitting, with empty coffee mugs in front of them, leading me to believe that Tara had been there for quite some time. “Good afternoon, my love,” I lent in and kissed Tara softly on the lips. “Hey Aunty Morgan,” I flashed her a smile.
“That's a good look for you, you know?” Tara commented as I walked around to the other side of the table, Juliet still hanging off my hip.
“What's a good look?” I expressed my confusion.
“The baby on your hip,” Tara smiled sweetly and it was her smile that told me she was just teasing me.
“Nah, it's just this baby, because she's just so gosh darn cute,” I stared into Tara's eyes lovingly.
“Hello? Remember me? Your Aunty and the woman who you've been talking to for the last couple of hours?” Aunty Morgan caught our attention, as Tara returned my gaze, speaking to both of us in turn and causing my jaw to hit the ground at her last remark.
“A couple of hours? You've been here for that long?” I directed my questions at Tara, picking my jaw up off the ground.
“Yeah, well I got board waiting for you to finish work,” Tara informed me.
“Fair enough,” I smiled as I bounced Juliet on my knee. Dinner ran surprisingly smoothly, Aunty Morgan and Uncle Harry seemed really taken with Tara and I was absolutely chuffed with that. “Somebody pinch me, I must be dreaming,” I said after dinner while I was sitting in the passengers seat of Tara's car.
“What makes you say that, sweetheart?” Tara asked glancing in my direction.
“When I moved over here I dreamed that I would find someone amazing who I could connect with on different levels, but it always seemed like pipe dreams, until I met you and you're even better than any dream I ever had, so I must still be dreaming,” I explained to her. Tara grinned as she reached over and pinched my thigh. “Ouch, okay I guess I'm not dreaming,” I smiled.
“Nope, I'm the real deal, I'm here, I love you and I'm not going anywhere,” Tara reassured me.
~ ~ ~
The following day we were on a plane to New Zealand. Our first stop was Christchurch, where another of my mum's sisters lived with her growing family. Aunty Linda and Uncle Peter lived in a new development suburb about half an hour from the CBD with there two small boys, Luke and Adam.
Aunty Linda was always my favourite Aunty when I was a little kid because I didn't get to see her very often and when I did she always brought me presents. And the birthday presents that she sent me were always the best, even if they were usually a few days late. She's the Aunty who sent me the post cards from Europe.
So, needless to say, I was very excited about introducing Tara to my Aunty Linda and Uncle Peter.
“So, how did you two meet?” Aunty Linda asked once we'd arrived at their place. I had hired a car at the air port so that we could travel around the place at our own pace. We were sitting in Aunty Linda's living room, sipping on white wine, but at Aunty Linda's words I snapped my head in Tara's direction.
