Chapter 1: A new home

The house was little more than a fishing hut that had been extended over the years. The original owners had moved away to France and this house, along with the land surrounding it, had been left to relatives to care for. Now the relatives too were moving away. Tired of the small island existence and lured by tales of life in the modern world they had put the house up for sale.

The paint on the house was peeling, the hinges on the doors rusted; there was a leak in the ceiling over the kitchen and spare bedroom, and the plumbing would need to be replaced soon. But it was on the beach, it sat on 2 acres of land, and something about it – perhaps the semi-solitude of it's setting, called to my heart.

"I give you good deal," Temalii was saying. He was nearly forty, too old in my mind's estimate to be packing up his family and moving to a foreign land to start over again, and then I realized that was the same thing I was doing. But where Temalii and his family were wanting to go out into the big world I was wanting to hide from it. I wanted to bury myself away on a tiny little island in the middle of the south pacific.

Temalii flashed his friendly smile at me, eyes crinkling at the corners. Both he and his wife are Tahitian. Their dialect is very close to French but not quite the same so I had to listen carefully to make certain I understood him correctly. "Show me the boundaries… where the land ends," I explained, and he nodded and motioned for me to follow him.

Twenty minutes later I was once again standing at the back of the house and facing the sea. A calm settled over me. It has been years since I've been to the sea. The last time was when Michael and I…

Stop! Michael's gone, I tell myself. Let him go. Let him live in peace. Let yourself live in peace. The thought nearly makes me laugh out loud though I feel more like crying. Now that Section is gone and I am free I feel at a loss as to what to do with my life.

I still can scarcely believe that the world is no longer my worry. The problems are still out there, the terrorists groups, extortionists, espionage… but they are no longer my concern. I kept my end of the bargain I'd made with my father. I remained at Section not out of any sense of loyalty, though I did feel some since he was my father. But no, I stayed because with that promise I was able to give back to the man I love his life and his son.

Sighing I look out over the clear blue water and wonder again where he is and if he is happy. I hope so. I hope that time has healed him of all that he had to endure while in Section. People thought he was invincible, a machine, but I knew different. I knew that beneath that machine-like facade he presented to the world was a man who longed to be free.

I imagine him living on a farm somewhere with Adam, or maybe he'd gone to the sea also to settle. I doubt if he would choose to live in the city or a suburb. There are too many anomalies to account for. It would be safer, easier to live somewhere semi-remote where he could keep track of people's coming and going.

Adam would be nearly thirteen now. A young man. I wonder how he is, if he still has that small bashful smile that reminds me of his father. I wonder too if Michael has found a mother for him. He will resist starting any new relationship for several reasons. There is his love for me, of that I am certain, and his knowledge that I'm still alive. He'll feel a sense of obligation toward me, especially since I remained in Section for him. He'll think that he has no right to love again while my own life is locked away. But I am hoping that someone will have entered his life. Someone who will help him to see life as it should be, full of light and joy, or at least a peaceful contentment. That's what I want for him.

"Ni-ki-ta!"

I turn at the sound of Temalii's voice, startled out of my reverie by the similarity in the way the Tahitians pronounce my name and the way Michael did. "What is it, Temalii?" I ask, smiling as I walk toward him. He has his youngest with him, a little girl of about five or six years old and carrying a plate covered with a broad, odd-shaped leaf. "Hi." I squat down to greet her.

"Give aunty," Temalii says, nudging the little girl, and I look up at him with a surprised look. "It's Tahitian bread," he explains, as his daughter offers the plate to me. "I put some fish in there too. You eat and rest. Later my brother-in-law, Poleu, come look at the work you want done, yes? You show him everything you want fix and he fix for you."

I smile as I thank him and Tiare, his daughter. She is beautiful with long brown hair and beautiful dark eyes. "Did you make this?" I ask, and she grins and shakes her head.

"My maman made it."

Temalii starts to leave and he is waving goodbye to me and urging to Tiare to follow him. "You can come back visit aunty later," he tells her when she lingers. "Now you come go home help maman. Come, come! Say bye to aunty."

She does and I stand there with the leaf covered plate in my hand and smile at her. This is the other reason I have decided to live here is because of the people and their open-heartedness. Three days ago I hadn't even known Temalii or his family and now suddenly I find myself adopted in and made one of them. Aunty Nikita. The thought brightens my spirits and I laugh, this time out loud, as I turn and go in to have lunch in my new home.