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Mum gets up. “Liza, can you take the children indoors please.”
“Aw…” they all say, wanting to watch the show, but Liza and her husband ferry them all inside, and soon we hear the strains of music from Moana drifting from the TV.
Mum comes to stand next to Teariki. He helps Philip up, the four of us forming a semi-circle in front of Rangi.
“I can’t believe you,” Mum says to all of us. “Fighting on Christmas Day, in front of the children.” She glares at Rangi. “You are sixteen now, a full-grown man, and you should know better.”
“He called Ellie a slut,” Rangi says tearfully. “I love her.”
She puts her hands on her hips and studies him for a moment. Her expression softens. Then her gaze slides to me and Philip. It hardens again. “And as for you two… you’re supposed to set an example to the children!”
“He started it,” I mumble.
“Henry,” she scolds, “Good Lord, what are you, twelve? If the two of you can’t act like grownups, you can both leave now.”
Philip ignores me and gestures at his son. “He announced he’d made a girl pregnant at the dinner table,” he says. “I’m sorry if I reacted badly, but I was a bit fucking shocked.”
“Stop swearing,” she snaps, holding up a finger. “We were all shocked, but let’s face it, it’s not the first time it’s happened, is it?” She lifts an eyebrow.
Oh shit, I’d forgotten—Philip got Rangi’s mother pregnant at sixteen, too.
He doesn’t say anything, but his gaze drops to the deck. I frown, thinking about the fact that he was eighteen when I went to Greenfield. Rangi was two by then, and Philip had to get a job. He’d ended up driving a delivery van, as it was the only thing he could find. He didn’t have the opportunity to better himself. There was no invitation to Greenfield for him, no adventure therapy or team-building exercises, no help to get into university. Mum hadn’t taken her nursing qualification back then, and so she wasn’t in a position to help him financially. For Philip, life has been one long struggle, made worse by having four children he can’t afford. Mum’s right, he’s not really in a position to criticize Rangi when he’s done the exact same thing four times.
She looks back at Rangi. “I’m sorry, love. How far along is she?”
“Eight weeks,” he says. He glances at me. “Her mum helped her figure it out.”
Philip frowns. Then he looks at me. “Wait… what? You knew?”
Rangi realizes his mistake and sends me a guilty look.
Ah, shit.
“He came to see me,” I reply, knowing there’s no point in denying it. “She’d told him she was pregnant and he didn’t know what to do. I bought them a pregnancy test so they could confirm it. That’s all.”
His eyes blaze with fury. He looks at his son. “Why did you go to him? Why didn’t you come to me?”
“Because he knew you’d react like this,” I reply.
“Shut up, I’m not talking to you.”
“Philip,” Mum scolds. “Enough. Let’s concentrate on Rangi. He didn’t get Ellie pregnant on purpose, and he hasn’t done it to spite you. It was a mistake, and he’s obviously upset about it.”
“At least you got to keep your baby,” Rangi says to his father.
“Yeah,” Philip replies, “what a great decision that turned out to be.”
“Philip!” Mum is horrified. Rangi looks crushed. I look at Philip, gutted for Rangi, but he refuses to meet my gaze.
“We should go,” Philip says. “I don’t want to spend one more minute in his company than I have to.” He shoots me a look then, and it’s full of bitterness.
“No,” I say, “you stay. The kids haven’t even finished their dinner. I’ll go.” I walk over to Mum and give her a hug. “I’m sorry,” I murmur. “It was a lovely meal.”
“You don’t have to go.” Her eyes glisten.
“He’ll cool down if I leave.” I nod at Teariki, then I stop in front of Rangi. “Bro,” I say. “Do you want to come with me?”
Rangi looks up at me, then at his father.
