“It’s finally done,” Kawe sighed, tossing the hammer he was using onto a table on his front porch, “took me so damn long to rebuild.”

“Yeah,” I sighed, taking a seat on his porch swing, “Here we are. Tomorrow is a year together and… your house is done.”

“Hey,” Kawe squatted in front of me, and I nodded, wiping my nose on my sleeve, “Why are you sad?”

“I got used to you being home with me,” I whispered, refusing to look at him, “Falling asleep in your arms, waking up to breakfast before you go to work. We do everything together and now… I don’t know what to do. I’m going to miss you…”

“Baby,” he cradled my face, and I kept my gaze on his chest, “Look at me, Hoahoa.”

“I can’t. I’m sad. What does Hoahoa mean?”

“I’ll tell you when you look at me.”

I finally raised my head, and Kawe kissed me softly with a smile, “What does it mean?”

“Spouse. Baby, I’m not moving back here. If you’ll take me, I don’t want to leave. I fixed this place up to give it to someone we both know very well.”

“Noemh?”

“Nope. Nikau. He’s been living with my parents forever. He deserves his own space. I’m hoping it leads to him meeting someone. If you want to stay living together, of course.”

“It’s our house, Tau,” I whispered against his lips, and Kawe smiled, “I can’t live there without you.”

“Then no more crying,” he cleaned my face with his sweater, “I don’t like seeing tears in your eyes.”

“I’m sorry. I feel so selfish.”

“Stop that, you’re not. You’re my Hoahoa. Or you will be at some point. I’ll never leave Asher. Come on,” he jumped up and pulled me to my feet with ease, my new leg braces making it something simple I could do without thought, “Let’s go home.”

I leaned on Kawe’s arm with a smile, our hands linked as we headed down the road, passing a few other people who lived nearby, all of them waving or calling out to us. I felt more peace living on Pitt Island than I ever had in Christchurch, knowing this was meant to be my home. My parents were planning to come visit in three weeks for Christmas, as Bailey was spending it with Kylie and her family, and my nephew Bentley was about to be born. I missed all of them terribly, but being with Kawe and his family helped me feel as if I had never lost my family but rather grown it.

“Tau? Where is Simon?” I called, walking through the house, “Normally, he greets us.”

“I… Asher, did you leave the back door open?”

“Of course not. Oh my god,” I rushed over to Kawe, and he was leaning out of the back door, looking around, “Where is he?”

“I’ll find him. It’s an island, he can’t be far,” Kawe kissed me and ran down the deck, calling for Simon.

I started pacing the living room as I texted the entire Tawhiri family, asking that they keep an eye out for Simon. A small creak came from behind me, and I froze, deciding not to move in case it was Simon so that I wouldn’t scare him.

“I bet you can’t hear me,” a familiar voice whispered, and I went back to my phone, pretending I didn’t know that Felix was in my home. Instead, I texted an SOS to Kawe, “Always so irresponsible when it comes to your receivers. How can anyone stand you? If you weren’t such a freak, I would have adopted a kid with you and then taken them. Got a nice amount of money from your parents in our divorce. But instead, I wasted so much time on you.”

“Hello Felix,” I whispered, “What are you doing here?”

“You can hear me?”

“I can hear you. Why are you trying to use my deafness against me? Did you let my cat out?”

“Oh. Yes, I did. He’s probably fine. I knew Kawe would leave to find him for you.”

“What is it you want?”

“I just want you to fuck me. I want my husband back.”

“No.”

“Aw, come on. You don’t want me?” Felix pressed a soft kiss between my shoulders, and I kicked back, knocking his knees out, “What the hell!”

“My legs aren’t as fucked up now anymore,” I spun around, kicking him in the stomach, “I can actually use them.”

Kawe suddenly burst through the front door, freezing when he saw Felix on the floor, “You.”

“K-Kawe. He attacked me! I just came here to talk,” Felix coughed softly, and I rolled my eyes.

“He broke in, let Simon out to lure you away, and tried to convince me to fuck him. He wanted me back only to divorce again for a ridiculous amount of money,” shrugging, I kicked Felix again before sitting on the couch, “How did anyone even let you onto the island?”

“You can’t keep me out. I may have uh… not been welcome, but I can legally come here.”

“Nope,” Kawe hauled Felix to his feet and pinned his hands to his back, “Felix Mahuta. I’m placing you under arrest for breaking and entering as well as stalking, both of which I have proof of that I submitted to the province. I’ll pull the camera footage from today that shows you breaking in and Asher defending himself in his home. He owns it after all.”

“You can arrest him?” I gasped softly.

“Fire chief. I can place him under temporary arrest until the police arrive. We have one sheriff. I sent him my own SOS when I saw yours. Let’s wait outside.”

I followed Kawe as he dragged Felix outside. Felix attempted to fight but failed due to Kawe’s strength. A police car appeared, and someone I had met one time, one of Aata’s friends named Amahau, climbed out, narrowing his eyes.

“Amahau,” Kawe nodded, “I give him to you.”

“Felix. My word, do you know how many warrants I have for you just here? What the hell did you do now?”

“He broke into my house,” I called, rubbing my arms, “tried to extort me. Let my cat out. I have video evidence of all of it. I can have Kawe email it to you.”

“Please do. Either way, Felix Mahuta, you’re under arrest. I’m going to add these charges to the 10 warrants I have for you. Arson, theft, and property damage.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong! Asher assaulted me. Why aren’t you arresting her?” Felix yelled, trying to force Amahau into letting go of him.

“I’m not a woman, please stop misgendering me. You touched me first. Kissing my back without permission is assault. There is only one person allowed to do that. Kawe. You can’t just touch me. The minute you did, I had every right to defend myself. I’m done talking. We’ll send our evidence over,” I squeezed myself, my throat closing up.

Amahau nodded and shoved Felix into the back of the police cruiser. As soon as they were out of sight, I collapsed on the deck, trying to breathe, and Kawe wrapped me in his arms, letting me cry as I squeezed him.

“Is it over?” I hiccuped, gasping for air, “Is he going to leave me alone now?”

“Yes. Yes, baby, it’s all over. No more Felix,” he whispered against my hair, “it’s okay to entirely move forward now. We don’t need to worry about him anymore. He’ll be in jail for a while, and I hope it’s enough to teach him a lesson. If not, I’ll be here to defend you again.”

“Kawe,” I looked up at him and he smiled, kissing my forehead, “Thank you.”

“Of course. I’m here, baby. We’ve been together a year, Hoahoa. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

“I love you,” I muttered before gasping and pushing him off me, “no wait, I…”

“Asher?” Kawe stared into my eyes, “Say that again.”

“N-no.”

“Yes. I need to hear it to know that I’m not insane.”

“I… love you,” I sniffled, cradling his face, “I love you so much, Kawe.”

“Oh, thank god,” he kissed me quickly, his hand tight on the nape of my neck, “I love you too, Hoahoa.”

“Can we go inside? My mind is foggy. It’s weird to be free. I don’t think my legs will work with me, though.”

“Alright,” Kawe gently picked me up, holding me close to his chest, and I cuddled down, trying to stop myself from crying, “I need to go find Simon still.”

“Mhm,” nodding, I let him lie me in bed, tucking the blankets around me, “Do you think he’s okay?”

“Baby, you know I never lie to you. But I hope that he is. I will find him, no matter what, okay?”

“I just don’t want to know if he’s dead. If you find him that way, don’t tell me. I know you hate lying to me, but I can’t handle it.”

“Alright.”

Kawe gave me a few kisses before leaving, and I cuddled into the sheets, finally fully allowing myself to cry. It was a mix of relief that Felix would no longer be a problem, guilt that things had gotten to the point that Felix was desperate enough to break into my house, and fear that Simon was injured or gone forever.

“Baby!” Kawe shouted from the living room, and I climbed out of bed, going as fast as I could, “I think we need to change our cat's name,” he laughed, “Do you remember when Simon got out a few months ago and has been escaping off and on?”

“Yeah, little shit,” I sniffled, staring at the carrier in Kawe’s hand.

“Because,” he set it on the table and slowly opened the door, “Simon isn’t a boy. She’s a mommy now.”

I bent down to find my cat nursing two kittens, one white and the other as orange as her. She purred when she realized I was close, her eyes closed, “Oh. Well, I mean, I never did go through with getting her fixed. I guess I should probably do that now. Do you think Dr. Ngata will take her?”

“Of course. But what about the kittens?”

“Well. Nikau would probably like a mouser when they’re ready to leave… Simone. Noemh could take the other, she mentioned wanting a cat since you won’t let her take yours from your parents.”

“I’ll call them after making an appointment with Dr. Ngata. It’ll have to be about two months from now, so we’ll need to keep her in one of the bedrooms with the babies.”

“Alright,” I whispered, reaching into the carrier to pet Simone, who rubbed on my hand before pushing one of the kittens toward me. I picked it up cautiously, pure white fur settled in my palm, and giggled, wishing I could see their eyes, “How beautiful. Good job, Mama.”

“Let me set up a room for her,” Kawe wrapped his arms around my waist, and I leaned into him, “We’re grandparents now.”

“You’re such an idiot,” I laughed, my voice cracking, “Thank you, Tau. For everything today. You’re always my savior.”

“Duh. I love you.”

“Yeah,” I turned my head, kissing the side of his throat, “I love you too.”