Wildfire Island Docs

The moment the words left his mouth he realised, with what felt like a body blow, that it was possible he was looking at his own daughter here.

For a long moment there was a silence so complete it felt like everyone else here knew the significance of what the answer to his query could be. In the end, it was Hana who spoke.

‘I’m free,’ she told him.

‘Three,’ Anahera corrected her. ‘Three and a half, even.’

The mental calculations were so easy to make, it took only a few seconds. Add on nine months for a pregnancy. Count up the years and months since he and Anahera had had that last, incredible night on Sunset Beach.

The difference was six months. There was no way that Hana was his child.

It should have been a huge relief.

So why was he left feeling so crushed?

Maybe because it was the final proof that Anahera hadn’t cared enough. She’d moved on so fast she’d found someone else and become pregnant in the short space of a few months. For all Luke knew, Hana’s father was also here on Wildfire Island. He might come through the same door any moment now.

Luke swallowed hard as he checked his watch. ‘I might head back, Sam,’ he said. ‘We’ll have plenty of time for this tour in the next few days, and, as you reminded me, I don’t want to miss the last session of the conference.’

He didn’t look back as he fired his parting words. ‘It’s what I actually came here for, after all.’