Chapter 35

The morningof Josie and Edith's wedding dawned clear and bright, as if someone had flipped a switch and turned off the storm. The doom and gloom of the week's flooding were replaced by a glowing sapphire sky and piercing golden sunlight. Every palm frond gleamed and yellow and red hibiscus blooms burst forth like fireworks against shiny emerald bushes refreshed by days of rain.

I wasn't so sparkly. I got ready for the early afternoon festivities with a heavy feeling in my body; every limb weighed a ton and my chest hurt. I showered and made my way down to the kitchen and sat at the table, where I forced myself to eat a few bites of fresh banana bread Aunt Fae had heated up for us.

"You don't like this recipe?" she said. "I got it from that nice lady down in Ke‘anae. She sells dozens of loaves a day to tourists driving out this way."

"The banana bread is great, Auntie, but I might be coming down with something. I'm just not feeling well."

Aunt Fae squinted at me. "I don't think this is physical. Want to talk about it?"

"No thank you."

Tiki seemed to sense my gloom. She wound her furry body around my legs a couple of times before plopping down on my feet. Her warm body felt like fuzzy slippers. Her ferocious purr added a bit of massage therapy to the mix as she leaned in against my legs. I closed my eyes, enjoying how sweet she was being.

I could really appreciate this moment because I remembered how far we'd come.

"Are you feeling any better about wearing that va-va-voom dress?" Aunt Fae asked.

"Not really. I'm still puzzled why they'd choose something so over-the-top for me to wear." I pushed my fingers through my hair, giving it a tug. "I have to remember not to bend over. At. All."

Aunt Fae patted my shoulder. "It's a small price to pay to make the brides happy, wouldn't you agree?"

"That's the goal, right? To make the brides happy."

I went back to my room and got dressed, putting on the silly little dress. Then I did makeup, which for me was a two-minute operation: a stroke of blush on each cheek, a few swipes of mascara, and a whisk of lip tint. That was as much glamour as I could handle, especially while flashing so much leg.

"What happened to the sparkly eye shadow?" Aunt Fae said as I came downstairs for inspection.

I groaned. "Ugh!"

I'd forgotten the hideous glittery gold eye makeup Edith had handed out right when we left the rehearsal dinner. She'd said, "Josie and I saw a photo in a bridal magazine where all the girls were wearing this. It seemed so festive in the pictures. Since all of you ladies will be in slightly different purple dresses, it's the one thing that pulls you all together."

I told Aunt Fae that if looking like a string of Vegas pole dancers was the thing that "pulled us all together" it didn't bode well for the overall theme of the wedding.

"What the brides want, the brides get. You remember that when it's your turn," said Aunt Fae.

I muttered under my breath. "Like that's ever going to happen."

"What's that?"

"Keone's decided to take a new job if they offer it. He'll be flying bigger planes which means more time away. He mentioned it's a step closer to possibly even getting some mainland flights."

"So? You see how many planes take off and land from Kahului? Let alone Honolulu. A hundred families have loved ones either in the cockpit or crewing in the cabin of those aircraft. They make it work. You and Keone will work it out too."

"That's not the biggest problem."

I told her about my ongoing angst about the little girl in the hermit shack. "I just can't shake it."

"I did my best," Aunt Fae said. "I could never replace your dear mother, not to mention your wonderful father, but every day you were with me, I did my level best to give you a loving childhood."

"I know. And you did." I got up and put my arms around her. My battle with touching others didn't extend to Aunt Fae. "I didn't mean it like that. You were the best guardian ever. I'm not talking about you being like Maile's awful foster mom. This has to do with feeling like no matter how much I work at being strong and self-sufficient, there's something out there that's stronger, that could take everything away at any time."

"There is something stronger," she said. "It's called ‘love.' Love will always be stronger than pain and loss."

I nodded and broke away, heading for the stairs. "I'm going up to get that gold eyeshadow on now, Aunt Fae."

But my quick departure was so she wouldn't see me swiping away the tears.

* * *

Aunt Fae was already seatedas I was about to clamber up into Sharkey, no small feat wearing the teensy dress, when my phone rang. I took the call, wrestling the phone out of my clutch purse, when I saw it was Elle Beane. "You need to get down here as soon as possible," she said.

"We're not late, are we? Edith said to be there by noon."

"It's not that. There's someone here you need to see."

"Lola?" I'd about had it with her dramatics.

"Just please hurry," said Elle before hanging up.

I hustled Sharkey to Hotel Hana in record time. It was dicey taking the twists and turns and one-lane bridges ignoring the speed limit. Driving to Hana at eleven o'clock on a Sunday morning meant dodging oncoming traffic and not getting stuck behind slow-moving tourists gawking at waterfalls.

We arrived at Hotel Hana and parked near the front in a loading zone. If Elle wanted me to move my car later, I would. But she sounded like whatever was going on justified time-saving measures. "I've got to go see what's wrong," I told Auntie.

"Of course." She flapped a hand. "I'll take my time and bring in our gifts."

Elle was waiting for me just inside the lobby. Her jaw had the resolve of an Army officer about to send her troops into battle.

"What's going on?" I said, trying to smooth the dress further down my thighs.

"Follow me." She speed walked through the lobby. Once outside the courtyard area, we crossed a manicured lawn ringed by hibiscus bushes sculpted into perfect spheres. At the edge of the area, Elle turned toward a duplex bungalow with stairs leading to a roomy porch. The property made me recall one of Aunt Fae's favorite sayings, "neat as a pin." We hurried across the lawn, my size eleven heels punching holes in the turf as I took strides as long as I dared in the skimpy dress.

I started to kick off my shoes as I reached the stairs, when I saw something that made me gasp.

Resting on the welcome mat of the bungalow was a pair of muddy, child size pink rubber slippers.