Jewel of the Pacific

by Linda Lee Chaikin

  “Say what?”

  “The pocket was empty.”

  Ling looked uneasy. Then, embarrassed. “You change mind and give letter to Miss Judson?”

  “Not at all.”

  “Okay. I tell you, Mr. Rafe. Very bad. I catch lady in your bedroom at Judson Mansion. She laugh. She say you spill something on black jacket. Say you ask her to bring jacket to room to give me. No sound good, but how I ask question of fancy daughter of Mr. Judson? And, jacket was wet, like she said. But I remember. Think she put something behind back and hold in hand when I come in bedroom.”

  So that’s how she did it. The deceitful little wench!

  He’d been ripped apart by what he thought was Eden’s rejection, immaturity, and selfishness.

  Rafe recalled how in the library Bernice was going to take the letter but he’d insisted she leave it with him. Naturally she saw him place it in his pocket, while he’d been blind to her scheming intentions.

  “I do remember,” he admitted, angry with himself as much as he was with Bernice. As a man, it was his responsibility to be wise in these matters and not to let his decisions be influenced by someone like P.J.’s spoiled niece. Again, pride had interfered with wisdom. He thought he knew best, but his determination had gotten him into the tragedy with Townsend and now Eden.

  Rafe thought back to what had seemed a minor incident. When they’d gone into the salon to meet the other guests she’d spilled something on his jacket. Then she’d apologized profusely and insisted on taking his jacket to Ling. She must have come directly to my room and removed the letter to get rid of it.

  “I think she took the letter, left my room, and destroyed it.”

  “Think same thing. I say very strange woman.”

  He looked at Ling who fidgeted with the silvery buttons on his fancy jacket.

  “All right. You know something more. What is it?”

  “I think letter you write Miss Eden never go to postman. I put on hall table. Then I see Miss Judson at table short time later. Now I know. She write lying letter from Miss Eden. I think she take your letter away. It never get to leper island.”

  Bernice had read what he had written in confidence to Eden, and answered it the way she wanted Eden to reply. Then, knowing he couldn’t see the handwriting, Bernice was able to pretend the letter had arrived from Kalawao.

  “And like a fool I swallowed it all.”

  “Not your fault. Miss Bernice woman with tricky fishnet. She like you too much. She catch if can.”

  “No thanks,” Rafe said. “Character is all-important, Ling. Wealth, beauty, and influence are death traps in the wrong hands. If someone can cheat and lie to reach their goals, you’d better not have your back to them when they don’t want you anymore. I’m going out. I’ll be back late tonight.”

  He went out the bedroom door.

  Ling looked around at the clutter. He sighed, shaking his head. Slowly, muttering in Chinese, he began to put things back—one at a time.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The Long Way Back

  Eden drove the buggy along, thinking. If Bernice could lie so easily to get her way, there was little reason to trust her words on the card. If Rafe had kept a photograph of Bernice on the Minoa he would have admitted it. He hadn’t tried to excuse himself where Bernice was concerned. Then, since Rafe hadn’t put them among his personal papers, who did?

  Her hands tightened on the reins. She was remembering something … Keno standing by the captain’s desk. Keno glancing her way before slipping something into the drawer. Could it be? But how? Where had he gotten it?

  She moaned and tears prickled her eyes. How ashamed she was over the spiteful things she’d believed about Rafe. During all these miserable months it had been nothing but another lie.

  Lies. Lies ruin, destroy, kill, and maim. And who did Jesus say was the father of lies? Satan was a liar and murderer from the beginning.

  She must talk to Keno at once!

  When Eden arrived back at Kea Lani, Candace was coming out the front door carrying a large bundle, followed by one of the serving girls, who also carried a large bundle. Candace waited until Eden stopped her buggy and turned the reins over to the stable boy.

  Eden walked up, holding a hand against her pretty green hat.

  Candace smiled. “That horse is totally spoiled. She might as well be your baby.”

  “Kona? Well, she is!” Eden said, laughing. “I won’t make any excuses. I loved that horse the moment I saw it at Hanalei. She was one of Rafe’s colts, but he gave her to me.”

  “Don’t let Bernice know. She’ll insist he give her a horse next.”

  “Now that you mention Bernice … I need to speak to Keno. You wouldn’t know where to find him I suppose?”

  Candace tilted her auburn head. “Yes, surely, but why would you want to talk to him about Bernice? What do the two of them have in common?”

  “Not a single thing. I need to ask Keno some questions about what happened on the Minoa when he captained the ship to Molokai. Could you bring me to him?”

  “I was just going to Hawaiiana with these new drapes. Keno is there.”

  Eden halted. “Hawaiiana? Oh, no. That’s the last place I want to go. Bernice is there visiting with Celestine.”

  “I don’t think so. I heard something about her going with her uncle and some friends to another of the Judsons’ summer homes. One isn’t enough, you know,” she said with a half-smile. “Bernice is easily bored. This house, I think, is on Maui. Come along, then. I’ve had new draperies made for our bedroom. I don’t think I could endure those dark blue ones. They’re of wonderful quality, but so dark! Noelani says they were chosen to make the room better for Rafe’s sleeping habits, but Rafe’s tastes are not mine—” She stopped. “Anyway, these new ones,” she said of the bundles she carried, “are a pale blue and ivory brocade. They’re simply lovely. I hope Keno likes them.”

  “Keno will like anything if you’re included with it.”

  Candace paused and hugged the bundle, her eyes looking into the distance, as if she saw a mirage. “Lucky, aren’t I? To have a man like my Keno Boy?”

  “No.”

  Candace looked at her, stunned. Then Eden laughed. “No, not lucky, silly. Blessed! Blessed by God.”

  Candace smiled and brushed a dark curl away from Eden’s throat. “How right you are. What would I do without you? Anyway, climb in. I’ve much to do in the plantation house before dinner.”

  Eden was happy to see Candace so enthusiastic. Her upcoming marriage had put a twinkle in her eyes and a glow to her cheeks. I’ve never seen her this happy, and I couldn’t be more pleased for both of them.

  Once they were seated, and the reins were in the driver’s hands, the horse trotted down a lane lined with feathery green. Eden glanced toward the horizon where billowing clouds churned restlessly.

  Eden glanced at Candace. “There’s a reason for the way Rafe’s behaved.” And she told Candace what happened that morning at the Gazette. Candace broke into a smile. “Why, Eden! You should have told me immediately. Why this is the best news possible.”

  “I don’t see it quite that way.”

  “Oh but you simply must. He doesn’t love Bernice. If that snake did all of this to come between you two, you and Rafe can come back together again. It was all a fabrication. Rafe must know that by now. He’s too smart to marry a woman as empty as Bernice. She couldn’t be a Christian and live in such deceit. Her conscience apparently doesn’t bother her. It will mean the end of anything between them. Oh this is absolutely wonderful!” Candace repeated, bringing her palms together.

  “You may not see how all of this is working out for good, Eden, but it is. Rafe knows the truth now, and so do you. My faith is refreshed. I truly believe you two will marry after all.”

  Eden kept a grip on her feelings. Candace may believe the matter solved, but Eden wasn’t as optimistic. She thought she understood Rafe better than Candace.

  “You’re sure Rafe isn�
�t anywhere near Hawaiiana?” Eden asked cautiously. The last thing she wanted was another meeting.

  “If he left the Gazette office in the mood you described, then Bernice is the one who should worry about a confrontation with Rafe. She’s off to Maui, though, and I don’t think Rafe will go all the way there. I suspect he’ll wait until she returns to Honolulu.”

  Eden smiled. She would like to see Bernice’s face when Rafe stood in his confident stance and told her he knew all about her “magical letter” arriving.

  Then, she corrected herself. No. That isn’t right. As God’s child I do not seek vengeance. That’s the way the world’s children behave. I’m going to follow the steps of Ambrose. I’m going to pray for Bernice Judson. There was always hope for such a person.

  When they arrived at Hawaiiana, Keno was coming from the field. He was walking with his shirt open and the wind blowing against him and his hat. He saw their carriage and buttoned his shirt, walking forward to meet them. He opened the carriage door and his first smile was for Candace. He bowed. “My sweet Lady.”

  “New drapes,” she announced pushing bundles into his strong arms. Then she turned toward Eden. “Eden needs to talk to you about Parker Judson’s niece.”

  Keno exchanged glances with Candace and then stepped back, hand at chest. “Now wait a minute, ladies, I’ve nothing to do with the wealthy heiress from the Bay City, believe me!”

  “So you know she’s a wealthy heiress do you?” Candace asked tilting her head.

  “Well, who doesn’t?”

  Candace laughed. “I’ll bring these bundles into the house and meet you for refreshments on the lanai when you’ve finished. With Noelani’s help, we’re going to tackle those horrid blue-black drapes today.”

  Keno walked with Eden to the shade of a jacaranda tree. He wiped his brow and apologized for his soiled condition. “We’ve been working in the mountainous field south of here. New pineapple plantings.”

  “I remember when you and Rafe put the first slips into the ground. They’re doing well I suppose?”

  “Oh, excellent. You won’t believe the sweet, juicy taste of these new pineapples. They’ll be the talk of the mainland. I can see the finest restaurants in California serving our pineapples—and Kona coffee.”

  She laughed. “You needn’t convince me. I had a sample of one of those pineapples on the Minoa in San Francisco. And I’m addicted to Hanalei coffee!”

  A breeze blew against them.

  “I can’t understand Rafe,” he said thoughtfully. “He’s not walking the pattern of his old footsteps, a way I know as well as my own. It troubles me. I told him so, too. He just gave me that steely look of his and went on as if I hadn’t said anything. Well, he can see again, thanks to our Lord. But if he’d give you up for Bernice, then my old pal must have lost some of that wit he’s known for, even if he’s regained vision.”

  She turned and faced him. “Keno, that’s what I need to talk to you about. I think there is a reason why Rafe has been so, well, difficult.”

  “What do you have in mind?”

  “I talked with him this morning at the Gazette.”

  His surprise was evident. “He knew you would be there,” he stated, with a hint of suggestion in his voice.

  “Oh, he knew all right.” She explained about Rafe buying sixty percent of the Gazette. Keno whistled. “Smart move,” he said thoughtfully.

  She went briefly over what it was likely to mean about supporting the monarchy in the editorials, but Keno was elusive about whether he supported the monarchy or annexation. Also, she told him about the vigorous “discussion” they had engaged in, and that she and Rafe had stumbled onto some very disturbing facts.

  “What kind of facts?”

  She told him that Bernice had apparently made a counterfeit letter from Eden breaking off with Rafe.

  Keno groaned. He put a fist to his forehead. “Fool that I am, I didn’t have a clue. No wonder he behaved as he did.”

  “How could we know? We’ve all been tricked.”

  “But I should have guessed the problem was something so painful he couldn’t talk about it. Even Ambrose missed it.” He shook his head miserably, and looked down at the ground. “Ambrose and I both failed him.”

  The depth of Keno’s friendship with Rafe comforted Eden’s heart.

  “No wonder he’s been so angry, with that chip on his shoulder,” he said. “Okay, then. Bernice wrote this crazy letter to Rafe in your name. He believed it and everything crashed. Now, you suggest he’s on to her. Well, that ends it then, right?”

  “There are other problems.” She tried to sound casual. Rafe wasn’t the only wounded one. She, too, felt so hurt.

  “Maybe so. There are always other problems. Look how many Candace and I had.”

  “I know,” she said gently. “But it did come together at last.”

  “My point. And these matters with Rafe can be straightened out.”

  “I don’t believe Rafe’s ready yet. He’s been hurt enough recently with everything that’s happened—Townsend—”

  “Who’s still roaming free.”

  “The trial of believing he would go blind, the betrayal by the woman he thought he could trust above—it’s not easy to just pick up where we left off.”

  “You’re right there. Broken bones need time to heal. I had a friend once who broke his arm. But he kept messing with the sling. Even took it off sometimes. Said it was too tight. When he did heal, his arm was crooked.

  “You’re a wise girl. I guess that comes from all those years with Ambrose. Let Rafe heal and come to his decisions on his own timing.”

  “Keno, there is something more. And I’m the one who needs convincing on this. Do you recall the morning my father had his angina aboard the Minoa? There was an envelope—”

  She could see he was gripped by what she was bringing to his remembrance.

  “I confess I went through his drawer,” she said, blushing. “Rafe knows I did, too. Because I brought up the photograph and the card.”

  “I knew you’d found them,” he said. “And I knew it meant trouble.”

  “Rafe denies that the card was there,” she said. “After the false letter he received, I can’t help thinking he’s right. But I can’t understand how they could have been planted in the captain’s cabin.”

  Keno ran his fingers through his hair. “I’ve wondered the same thing. Bernice wasn’t aboard the Minoa that’s for sure. But if Rafe comes out straight and says he didn’t stash them away as a secret memento, then he didn’t.

  “At the time I just didn’t know. I was surprised. It didn’t fit what I knew about him. And while he saw Bernice in San Francisco a few years ago, most of the entertaining was done at the Judson Mansion by Parker Judson who often had Rafe go there to talk business and meet other associates. Men like Spreckels. I don’t ever recall him cooing over Bernice. But like you, I couldn’t see how the photograph got in the cabin unless he put it there. So I tried to guard him. I didn’t want you to find it. But I knew you saw me. There was just that one moment when you looked over at the desk and I was putting it in the drawer.”

  “But I can’t understand how it got out of the drawer to begin with,” she said.

  He looked at her sharply.

  “You did find the envelope outside the desk didn’t you?” she asked quickly, intently. “I was almost sure I saw you pick it up …”

  “Eden, that’s what must have happened! It was on the floor by your father’s medical satchel when I saw it and picked it up. And I’m the one who dropped it there!”

  “You!”

  “Sure. Looking back it’s plain enough. I was rushing to find his heart tablets in the bag. I couldn’t find them, they weren’t in the bag, but I didn’t know it. So I practically ransacked the medicine bag. That’s when the envelope must have fallen out. There might have been some other envelopes, too—mail, I guess, just sort of stuffed inside. So you see the envelope wasn’t in the drawer with Rafe’s private pa
pers. I’m the one who put it there thinking it belonged there. I wanted to get it out of your sight.” He slapped his forehead.

  Eden almost laughed. “You’re sure, Keno?”

  “Certain as can be. But why would your father be carrying that sort of thing around in his medical bag?”

  The tension returned. Yes, why indeed? She wondered.

  “My advice is to talk this over with Ambrose. Then bring him with you and chat with Dr. Jerome. He should know how it got in his medical bag.”

  Eden agreed. What’s more she wanted to pursue the “investigation” at once. “Would you explain to Candace that I went to see Ambrose?”

  “I’ll tell her. Want to borrow one of Rafe’s horses? He has half a dozen here in the stables.”

  “Thanks Keno, but the bungalow is not far from here, I’d like to walk.”

  The brisk walk revived her. When she neared the church by Ambrose and Noelani’s house she heard men’s voices followed by laughter floating out the open window. She had no trouble recognizing Ambrose’s hearty laugh. She didn’t recognize the other. When she entered through the open church door she was surprised to find that Ambrose was with her own father. Perhaps not recognizing his laughter was a reminder of how driven he’d been all these years. But his quest was now over, the door had shut, and she prayed the laughter might grow to replace his obsessiveness, like a strong, stately tree bearing spiritual fruit. Free, at last—and so was Rebecca.

  They were sitting on one of the benches down front, talking together like two old friends. She’d already noted they’d been together a great deal lately since he’d recovered enough to leave his bed and take slow walks. She loathed breaking in on their camaraderie. Especially when her reason for coming would renew old tensions. Nonetheless she had to discover the truth.

  Ambrose saw her first and stood. “Come on and join us, lass.”

  Her father smiled his welcome and got to his feet, putting an arm around her shoulder. Jerome had lost much weight and he remained sallow, with his cheekbones showing. Nevertheless he had survived his attack and, by God’s grace, it appeared that he would live for some years