Page 119 - Mistified Update June 2020_Neat

holiday when they met. It was love at first sight and
they decided to marry within a few short weeks.
Nothing or no one was going to change their minds.”
“We had accepted our son’s wishes and were
preparing to meet Sherry and welcome her into our
whanau when a tragic thing happened. We received the
heart breaking news that our Tu-Manawanui had
incurable cancer.

“One moment he was as strong as the Kauri tree;
and the next moment he was frail, lying in the hospital
and waiting to die.“
Nana Grace then told everyone that she was my
grandmother and I had run away from her, just like my
mom did many years before.

Anne Marie was still convinced that Nana Grace
had put an evil spell on my mom for leaving and now
she had put one on me. Of course, Pita came to her
defense. Still, Anne Marie could not understand why

my mother would be in such fear of her.
Nana Grace explained that my mom was very
young, the love of her life had just died and she had
found herself pregnant in a land and culture very
different from her own.

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