27. Lani

27

Lani

" I didn't think it was possible to pull a wedding together faster than I did," ‘ōlena said, "but you proved me wrong."

"We nearly eloped," Lani told her. "Neither of us wanted a big wedding. And honestly, I wouldn't have minded his mother finding out about it after the fact. But I do want you there. And Emma. And your parents. And Tenn wanted his parents. So. A last-minute beach ceremony seemed like the thing to do."

"Any doubts?"

"I've never been as sure of anything or anyone in my entire life."

"You mean Tenn."

"Of course."

"See, I was talking about that dress. If you had given us a bit more time–"

"Oh hush." Lani pushed ‘ōlena away and went to stand in front of the full-length mirror. "This will have to do."

She had spent two days scouring every transfer station on the island for a dress – and a couple of Kona bridal shops, too, where the price tags nearly gave her an aneurysm – before deciding that her favorite sundress would work just fine. The yellow dress hugged her waist and made her skin glow.

"Tenn likes it," she said, pulling self-consciously at the threadbare skirt.

"Lani, I was just teasing. You look gorgeous." ‘ōlena fanned out Lani's hair, which she had coaxed into shining waves.

Nate had driven the trailer down at four in the morning just so that Lani would have a place to get ready. It wasn't really necessary – Lani didn't have a fancy white dress or a makeup bag or even shoes – but she appreciated the gesture.

"I have a surprise for you." ‘ōlena opened a cabinet and pulled out a box. She opened it to reveal a delicate haku lei studded with plumeria flowers.

"Oh!" Lani put her hands over her mouth and blinked back tears. "It's lovely."

‘ōlena steered her back to the mirror, fixed a stray strand of hair, and set the haku on top of Lani's head. The flower petals were bridal white, and their centers were the same golden yellow as her dress.

"Thank you."

"One last thing." ‘ōlena reached back into the box and pulled out a plumeria bouquet.

Lani swallowed as she reached for it, trying not to cry.

"Is it okay?"

"It's perfect."

"Ready?"

"Let's go."

"One minute." ‘ōlena pulled out her phone and texted some – all? – of the people waiting below. Then they climbed down from the trailer and started down the stairs towards Honoli‘i.

Lani paused at the top, taking in the view. She had surfed there a hundred times with her dad. It was where Tenn had taken her on their first date, and it was where he had proposed. There was nowhere on Earth she would rather get married.

‘ōlena waved her over impatiently. Lani grinned and joined her on the stairs.

At the bottom, she padded barefoot across the grass. Rory and Olivia were waiting there with Mahina, and they oohed and aahed over her flowers.

With the women of her family all around her, Lani walked down the path to the beach. The sun was low in the sky, just starting to warm the black sand beneath her feet. They had been there since dawn, and the beach was still quiet.

At her first glimpse of Tenn, standing down the beach with their family and closest friends, Lani wanted to toss the bouquet aside and run to him. Instead, she paused and looked down at their girls. Rory was beaming, but a subtle anxiety hung around Olivia.

"Will you carry this for me?" Lani offered the little girl her bouquet.

"Really?" Olivia smiled for real then, as bright as the morning sun, and Lani's heart grew lighter.

"Really." She turned to Rory, lifted the haku lei from her head, and put it on her daughter instead. "Ready?"

"Let's get married!" Rory jumped up and down in her excitement, then caught the oversized haku before it tumbled to the ground.

Hand in hand with both their girls, Lani crossed the black-sand beach.

Manō stood waiting, ready to officiate his second wedding of the month. Mahina and ‘ōlena had walked ahead; they stood to one side with Nate and Kekoa. Emma was next to them, hand in hand with Kai, watching with a tearful smile. Juniper, Nell, Tara, and a few of Tenn's closest friends rounded out the crowd.

Tenn's parents stood to the left, slightly uphill from the others. She let her gaze pass quickly over the stony expression on Sonya's face and rest for a moment on Ken, who was watching her with genuine warmth in his smile and a gleam in his eyes.

Finally, she looked at Tenn. As she had suspected, once she looked at him, she couldn't look away. He stood with his back to the sun, his expression awed as he watched her walk towards him.

When she was close enough, she released the girls' hands and reached for him. Olivia and Rory went to stand with ‘ōlena's girls as Tenn clasped both of Lani's hands in his.

They stood barefoot, staring at each other for a long moment before Tenn remembered his vows.

"Lani King, I've been madly in love with you since I was fourteen years old. We grew up, and you moved away, and I kept waiting to meet a woman who could eclipse my memories of you… but no one ever did. No one ever could.

"When you walked into my cafe years later, it was like the cloud parted and the angels sang. We had both lived through so much over those intervening years, but there you were, as beautiful as ever. And still drawing all over whatever piece of paper you could get your hands on, just like you did in our highschool math class.

"Everything about you – your beauty, your talent, your kindness and your strength – has grown and deepened over the years. I'm honored to be the man who stands beside you and supports you for the rest of our lives.

"I promise to love you unconditionally. I promise to cook you breakfast every morning and bring you lunch when you forget to eat. I promise to make you and our children my first priority, always. You are the love of my life, and that will never change."

As if to punctuate his speech, he brought his hands up and kissed her fingers.

"Every time I look at you," Lani said, "I can hardly believe my own luck." She spoke in a normal voice, not pitching her speech out to the small crowd but speaking directly to him.

"I might never fully understand what I did to deserve you, but I will spend the rest of my life trying to live up to it. Our journey as a family has just begun, and I'm so grateful that we found each other in time to raise our daughters together.

"Doing life with you feels right in a way that I never could have imagined. I promise to love you when life feels easy and to love you even harder when life feels hard, to support you and grow alongside you all the days of our lives.

"I choose you, and I promise to keep choosing you forever. I love you."

"I love you," Tenn echoed. His eyes shone with tears, and his smile lit up his whole face.

He slipped his grandmother's ring onto her finger, and she did the same with a simple golden band that she had bought for him. Manō pronounced them man and wife, and Tenn pulled Lani to him with a kiss that lifted her feet from the sand.

When he released her, the cheers and applause of their friends and family filtered into her consciousness. Rory crashed into her with a hug that would have knocked her over if Tenn hadn't still had one arm around her, and Olivia joined them a moment later.

People snapped pictures on cell phones before the sun got any higher, and then they went to the tents and blankets that had been set up to enjoy a long day at the beach.

Tenn caught her hand as they walked and pulled her back out of the crowd.

"What is it, husband?" she asked playfully.

"Do you want to go surfing?"

"Now?" She laughed in surprise, looking out at the lineup and then back into Tenn's deep brown eyes.

"Yeah, now."

"Sure." She stood on tiptoe to kiss him, then dropped her heels back into the soft sand. "Let's go."