10. Lani

10

Lani

L ani sat on the sea wall, watching Rory climb and leap over the black rocks.

Sunlight beat down on the back of her head and warmed her shoulders, but it didn't seem to touch the chill that had settled into her bones.

Things were tense between her and Tenn. He had barely spoken to her since their argument about Lorenzo. He hadn't kicked her out, but he had been working longer hours at the cafe than she had ever known him to do.

His mother had picked Olivia up from the co-op every day that week, brushing by Lani with a smug look that said she knew she was on her way out.

Tenn had hardly even looked at her in days.

It felt like he was just holding his breath, waiting for her to leave.

And that broke her heart.

She had picked Rory up that afternoon and driven her straight to the keiki beach, where Lorenzo was waiting for them.

Rory had greeted him with a running jump of a hug, as if he were a staple in her life rather than a man she had only met once, and Lani's stomach had turned over as she settled in to watch them.

It was a good spot for it. Lani could give them their space without losing sight of them.

The keiki beach was a big lagoon that had been reinforced over the years by a wall of lava rock, protecting the small sandy beach from all but the biggest waves. It was low tide, and Rory's laughter danced across the lagoon as she leapt from the lava rocks into the clear water.

Lani sat on the rock wall with her knees drawn up to her chin and her arms wrapped around her legs. Her whole world felt unsteady, like the earth had started to shake and tremble just when she had finally gotten her feet on dry land.

Her uncle's heart attack had left her doubly shaken. Manō had always seemed as steady and permanent as Mauna Kea, and now he was in a hospital bed connected to machines.

She pulled out her phone and texted Auntie Mahina. How is he?

He's okay, Mahina replied. Resting. PCI in the morning, and he should be able to go home the day after that.

Can I bring dinner? Lani asked. Something light? Poke?

That would be great.

He's not fasting, is he?

No, he can eat dinner. ‘ōlena's here too.

K, good. At the beach with Rory. We'll bring dinner in a bit.

Mahalo, Mahina said.

Lani dropped her phone back into her bag and scanned the water, looking for Rory.

She spotted her at the far side of the lagoon, climbing the huge lava-rock wall that stood between the keiki beach and the surf.

Lorenzo was spotting her. He stood waist-deep in the water, holding his hands up just behind Rory's back so that he could catch her if she fell.

She had to admit… he seemed lovely. Beneath all of her shock and worry, she felt grateful that Rory wouldn't have to grow up with a huge black hole in her life. Tenn was a wonderful father, but eventually Rory would wonder about where she came from, all the relatives she had never met.

Lani blew out a breath and looked away.

It seemed like every other woman present was staring at the shirtless Italian. His voice rolled out across the water in a combination of Italian endearments and accented English as he encouraged Rory, and she caught one woman fanning herself as she stared openly at his tanned shoulders and muscular back.

Lani just rolled her eyes and dropped her forehead to her knees.

She knew he was gorgeous. She understood the draw. She had felt that magnetism the night that they met in Greece, and she had been instantly charmed by the few English words that he knew.

She didn't feel anything for him now.

She had lots of complicated, contradictory feelings about his appearance in Rory's life.

But feelings for him? None. Zip, zilch, zero.

Her heart belonged to Tenn… but her heart wasn't the only one on the line here. She had to ask herself what was best for Rory. If Lorenzo wanted to make a go of things, would it be selfish of Lani to ignore that? To deny Rory the chance at a family?

Quickly, she dismissed the idea. It was ridiculous.

Except… if she were single, she would at least give the man a chance. If she hadn't met Tenn, it might seem like the perfect happily ever after. Her daughter's father finds them, they find each other…

But she had met Tenn. Had met him first , as a matter of fact, all the way back in their school days. He was her person.

If he even wanted to be…

She put both hands to her head, trying to slow the awful tornado of worries that spun through her thoughts, sucking everything up into the chaos of it all.

"Mama!" Rory's voice was close, and Lani straightened up in surprise. Her daughter was running towards her through ankle-deep water, beaming.

"Hi, baby." Lani pasted on a smile.

"Did you see my jumping?"

"I did! And I saw you climbing. You're so brave!"

"I'm brave and I'm strong!" Rory posed, showing off the muscles on her tiny arms.

"She is a wonder," Lorenzo said. His voice was almost reverent as he looked at their daughter, and Lani's heart lurched.

"Babbo invited us to pizza!" Rory told her, nearly shouting with excitement. "Can we, Mama? Please?"

She shook her head. "Not today."

Rory whined in protest and stomped one foot with a splash. "Why not?"

"We already have plans."

"Do not! What plans?"

"We're bringing dinner to the hospital for Auntie Mahina and–"

"Not the hospital!" Rory shouted. "I hate the hospital!"

"You are going to the hospital?" Lorenzo asked with concern.

"My uncle had a heart attack," she explained. "He's still there, and his wife and daughter have barely left since he got there."

"Attack?" The furrow of concern between his eyebrows deepened.

"A heart attack," she clarified, putting a hand over her own heart.

He looked at her with confusion, and then his face cleared.

" Ha avuto un infarto ."

"A heart attack," she said, nodding.

His thick black eyebrows pulled together again. "I come with you?"

"No," she said, too loudly. She softened her tone and said, "No, thank you. Only family."

Lorenzo frowned at that but didn't press.

" Arrivederci, principessa. " He crouched down and kissed Rory on both cheeks.

"I don't want to go to the hospital," she whined. "It smells funny. I want to stay here with you."

"You go with your mama," he told her. "You see me again soon. Maybe you show me the tigers at the zoo."

Rory gasped and looked up at Lani. "Can we, Mama?"

"Sure." The free zoo was as good a meetup spot as any.

"I will text you," he said to Lani. He kissed Rory once more on top of her head. " Ciao, figlia mia. "

Lani took Rory's hand firmly in her own and walked her up to the parking lot.

Her truck – a relic inherited from her Uncle John – coughed and complained a few times before it finally started up.

As Lani navigated through the crowded parking lot, Rory chattered on and on about her Babbo. Lani clenched her teeth in frustration, then felt doubly irritated with herself for resenting anything – or anyone – that made her daughter happy.

She made a quick pit stop for dinner, coaxed her truck to start again, and drove another couple of miles to the hospital. With the bag of food in one hand and Rory's little hand in the other, she gritted her teeth and marched through the glaring white halls.

After all the stress and heartache of Tenn's injury, revisiting the same hospital wasn't easy. But there was nothing she wouldn't do for her family, and she knew from experience how awful the hospital food was.

Three smiles greeted them when they walked into Uncle Manō's room, and her mood brightened. His color was much better than it had been the last time she visited, and he was sitting all the way up in his hospital bed.

"Where's Kiki and Lulu?" Rory asked.

"They're with their dad," ‘ōlena told her. Grief and fear for her father had carved a hollowness into her face that hadn't quite disappeared with his recovery. Lani stepped closer and gave her a one-armed hug as she brought the bag of poke up onto a table.

"Where's Rory?" Manō gasped. "Who's this tall lady with Leilani?"

Rory giggled and scrambled up onto the hospital bed. "It's me, Uncle!"

"No way! When did you grow so big?"

"Thank you for bringing dinner," Mahina said. She looked tired from her days and nights in the hospital, but otherwise she seemed fine. Manō had given them an awful scare, but he was recovering well.

"No problem." Lani pulled out the plastic bowls of poke and passed them around.

"What, no mac salad?" Manō teased.

"Your mac salad days are over," Mahina said.

"You hear that, Lani?" He placed a hand over his broad stomach and gave her an exaggerated, mournful look. "Your Auntie here is trying to starve me."

"You won't starve, Uncle!" Rory chirped. "We brought poke!"

He laughed and popped the lid off of his bowl. Seated cross-legged at the end of his bed, Rory dug into hers too. The women perched wherever they could and chatted as they ate.

Watching Manō and Mahina together, Lani's thoughts went back to Lorenzo. Was she depriving her daughter by refusing to even consider partnering with her birth father?

Losing her parents was a devastating one-two blow that had left Lani brokenhearted and adrift.

Meanwhile, ‘ōlena had raised two girls and created a successful business. She was the strongest, steadiest person that Lani knew… and all of that was built on the foundation that her parents had provided for her.

Lani's youthful mistakes had already robbed Rory of five years with her father, and they had spent most of those years in a hell of Lani's creation, a nightmarish marriage that she had been too cowardly to leave until it was nearly too late.

Choosing Tenn over her ex husband had been a no brainer. Better to have no father figure at all than to live with a man like Zeke.

But now Tenn seemed to be pulling away. What would it mean for Rory if the second father figure in her life up and vanished? What would it do to her if Tenn and Lani broke up years down the road and her second "Daddy" wanted nothing to do with her after the breakup?

Lorenzo loved Rory already. She could see it. And she had done both of them a disservice by keeping them apart, even if it had just been through her own mistakes and incompetence.

He was Rory's father. Her real father. And that was forever.

One way or another, Lani had to let him into their life.