“Hoolaulei,” Eden corrected with amusement.
“Sounds the same to me,” Zach said.
“Maybe they are,” Rafe commented lightly. “This hoolaulei is better suited for one of the hullabaloos of Kalakaua’s heyday.”
Zach laughed.
“If I don’t show, do you think anyone in the huge crowd will miss me?” Rafe asked Eden.
“Yes.” Eden smiled. “I will.”
Zach, standing behind Eden caught Rafe’s eye and smiled faintly. Lucky you, the look seemed to say.
“Oh another thing,” Zach said to Rafe, reaching into his pocket. “Ainsworth asked me to give this message to you. He said it was in answer to the one you’d sent a day or two ago about a meeting with him.”
Eden, unaware of any meeting between Rafe and her grandfather, looked at Rafe as he took the message and put it in his pocket. She wondered what it was about.
Eden went to send for coffee to be delivered since she was unfamiliar with the workings of the small “kitchen” Ling had set up. Ling was spending time with his family on Hanalei.
When the coffee was served, and good-natured small talk over, Zachary began to talk about Silas. Eden, however, did not care to hear any new information until later when she would hear it from Rafe.
She went into Rafe’s bedroom for the first time, now her bedroom as well—she was still a bit dazed about the tremendous change, and unloaded her smallest traveling bag. She wanted to change from her traveling clothes into a cooler afternoon dress. As she did, she thought about Rafe. She had thought she knew Rafe well in the past, but each day was a new experience in learning new things about him. Especially how romantic he was, his sense of humor, and his patience with her. She would not have thought he was patient during the miserable time of their misunderstanding, but he was.
She also discovered his great love for reading in the evenings, that he had a lovely singing voice and could play the guitar. He was captivated with the study of the universe. He liked to take her outdoors on a clear night and tell her about the planets and constellations.
He also spent more time studying Scriptures than she had known, and prayed often. At the first light of dawn he would fling back the drapes or bamboo blinds to watch the sunrise. Eden would cover her head with the sheet and he would tease her about what she was missing. He would always hold her in his arms and pray a brief prayer aloud for them before they would begin the day, either together or apart.
These were only a few interesting things she had learned since becoming his bride. If possible, she loved Rafe even more now than before they were married.
Rafe is the most wonderful man in the whole world, she told herself. Now he is mine.
So far, marriage was exciting. She was not the least disappointed in anything marriage offered or demanded.
All those lonely nights she had spent on Kalawao, and now, she could sleep contentedly in his arms, with her head on his strong chest and depend upon him. Marriage to the right man like her darling Rafe was thrilling. She looked forward to many years of happiness with a large family and life on Hanalei.
Part 3
Stars and Stripes Forever
Chapter Twenty-Six
The Decision
After Zachary left the hotel suite, Eden entered the living room and found Rafe at his desk leafing through what appeared to be legal forms.
“Was Ainsworth’s message about the celebration on Saturday?”
Rafe glanced up at her. He hesitated, and then came to a decision. He stood from the chair with papers in hand.
“We have no secrets now.” He snatched the message on the desk, and passed it to her.
“It’s about Kip.”
Her light mood vanished. After Ambrose had performed the marriage ceremony, she had returned to Kea Lani to pack for the two-week honeymoon. She had intended to leave all serious concerns behind and think of the exciting time before her. Then, aware that such a serious matter as Kip’s parentage would not disappear just because she’d become Mrs. Rafe Easton, she had packed Rebecca’s journal at the bottom of one of her bags and later told Rafe she’d brought it along.
“This is our time alone. Everything else must wait.”
He had not mentioned the matter any further until the day before their return to Honolulu.
On that morning when she arose, she saw that Rafe had taken the journal with him on his usual early morning hike. She had worried and prayed about his response to the disappointing facts surrounding Kip’s birth, and when he returned that noon she could see the truth had soberly affected him. Even then, he had set aside any discussion until they were back in Honolulu, where he was obligated to return to the Legislature for an important vote.
The fact Ainsworth had sent a message about Kip through Zachary told her that Rafe had made a decision about the dilemma facing them. She found his action surprising, since Ainsworth would surely seek control of his blood grandson, and Kip meant so much to Rafe.
Eden read Ainsworth’s message:
“Rafe, I must say this crisis you allude to with Kip comes as a shock to me. I have no knowledge of why your decision to adopt him should pose a quandary to me, or to any future Derrington. I will discuss the matter you bring up Saturday at the luau. We should be able to get off from the throng without being noticed.
A. Derrington
Eden looked up from the message.
“Then you’re going to tell him?” she said anxiously. “Darling, are you sure?”
“The truth is always best. Ainsworth must be told the facts.” She took hold of him, her eyes searching his. “If he learns Kip is his grandson, you’ll lose him.”
“He’ll do everything in his power to claim him. I know that. He’s received Silas, and he’ll certainly want a young boy to bring into the Derrington family, especially after losing Townsend. Trying to hide Kip will harm rather than protect.”
Yes, she could see Rafe’s reasoning. Lies and secrets would bring a harvest of trouble.
“It’s Townsend who seems the great risk,” she protested. “What if he seeks control of his son just to hurt us?”
“After his crimes? He won’t dare show his face in public soon. If he does, he’ll be arrested. As we know, it’s Ainsworth who will want control of his grandson.”
“Then, what will we do about Kip?”
“I don’t know yet. I’ll need to talk to Ainsworth.”
“I should have burned the journal when I had a chance. Then no one would have known.”
He enclosed her in his arms. “No, you did the right thing, Eden, my love.”
“Did I? Do you sincerely believe that?”
“Yes. I sent a letter to Ambrose before contacting your grandfather. Ambrose asked point-blank whether I could raise a boy, knowing Townsend had fathered him.”
Eden, too, had worried about that aspect of proceeding with Kip’s adoption.
“I told him it didn’t matter. Zach and Silas are Townsend’s sons, too. That doesn’t provoke my dislike.”
“What did Ambrose say?”
“Ambrose agrees with my decision to let the truth prevail, to allow God to work out His purposes with Kip and with the rest of us. When Kip grows up he will face his parentage the way many of us face our problems. He’ll need to find God’s calling in his life’s circumstances. It will be up to us, to his Grandfather Ainsworth, and the rest of the family to see that he is raised in a way that prepares him.
“If he is raised to trust in Christ then, when a young man, he’ll be able to confront the giants. I have a feeling he’ll be strong enough to handle it. And so,” he said calmly, “I’m going to have a talk with Ainsworth. He has blood rights because Kip is a Derrington. I won’t fight him if he insists on bringing Kip to Kea Lani as his grandson.”
She supposed he was right. It was wiser to put everything on the table now.
At Kea Lani, Hawaiian music rolled along the expanse of lawn, while frothy-tipped waves from the Pacific curled onto a stretc
h of white sand near the dirt road leading to the Easton pearl beds. Thanks to Rafe, the historic church founded by Eden’s parents remained, and the Sunday morning sermons continued to be faithfully preached by his uncle, Ambrose Easton.
The nearly one thousand adjacent acres reaching toward the Koolau mountain range now made up the new Hawaiiana pineapple plantation, of which Keno now held his share. Keno was also managing Hawaiiana during Rafe’s term in the Legislature, and the rebuilding of sections of Hanalei on the Big Island. Rafe was adding to the plantation house to make it even grander for Eden, as its new mistress.
It was late afternoon and palm trees rustled as if swaying to the music. The sun was low in the cloudless sky as Rafe walked with Ainsworth across the lawn, away from the crowd of the merry guests, where they could discuss Kip without interruption.
“I’ll be forthright, Rafe. You provide my family with something that I didn’t recognize during the years you were growing up at Kea Lani. I always thought you an intelligent boy, but headed for trouble. You didn’t seem able to accept your father’s death or your mother’s marriage to Townsend.” He looked at Rafe. “Of course, now I know why. Back then I hadn’t accepted the truth. I thought you had a chip on your shoulder. Ambrose insisted otherwise, but I was stubborn. I shouldn’t have permitted Townsend to bully you and treat your mother cheaply. The older I get, the more ashamed I am about it.”
Rafe wondered that Ainsworth was apologizing at this late date.
“I never held that against you. It was Townsend.” He could have said more—but what good was continued resentment?
“There is one thing,” Rafe said. “Have you heard anything about Townsend?”
Ainsworth’s face melted into troubled bewilderment. “Not a word, Rafe. I thought he might come to me for money soon after his hideous deed, and I alerted the marshal, who had a few fellows on watch. Needless to say, he didn’t show up. I have no idea how he managed to escape the Islands.” He met Rafe’s gaze squarely. “He received no help from me. I hope you believe me.”
“I do, sir. I’ve not always agreed with the decisions made about his actions—”
“I know that.”
“But you were always honest about your intentions. Now I prefer to move forward in life. I have what I’ve wanted most, Eden, Hanalei, and thankfully, my sight. I’m married to your granddaughter and I happen to be a contented man. And I anticipate a good relationship with my new grandfather. After all, I never had a grandfather until now.”
“I’m humbled,” Ainsworth said, looking pleased. “But before we leave the subject of Townsend, where do you think he went, and how did he get away?”
Rafe hesitated. “He received help from the gambling and opium cartels. He went first, with a woman’s help, to Tamarind House to recover and then boarded a smuggling boat to one of the Islands. Then a ship took him either to California, or the Oregon coast. And he’s either gone to the Caribbean, or he remains somewhere on the mainland.”
Ainsworth looked amazed. “I think you’re right, Rafe. He may be waiting for my death, thinking he’ll inherit some big piece of the Derrington pie. If so, he’s in for a tremendous shock. He’s not inheriting a single penny, pineapple, or stalk of cane from me!”
“You may be right about his believing he’ll inherit money. He knows he won’t get Kea Lani. He could never come back and live a normal life. As I told Eden he’d be arrested and he knows it. But money sent to him through a lawyer? Yes. I think, sir, you’ve added the final dot and period to his plans.”
“Well, he’s not getting a thing, Rafe. Now.” He smiled. “Let me surprise you by saying that I would rather have my other grandson Kip raised under your proven character, and subject to your uncle Ambrose’s biblical guidance. Silas and Zachary are fine young men, but Silas has a failed life, partly because of Townsend, and Zachary is a good enough lad … but unfortunately, emotionally troubled.”
Rafe stared at him, at first unable to believe what he had heard. “Are you saying, sir, that you want me, and now Eden, to proceed with adopting Kip?”
“I understand your surprise, but yes, that is what I am saying. I’m an old man. I won’t be around many more years. Kip is what, two or three? My departure will come in his youth when he will still need strong guidance. I would much rather have this boy in capable hands from the beginning. I can see him all I want, I’m sure. You’ll let him come and spend time at Kea Lani. I’d enjoy having him call me ‘Grandfather.’ But everything else, Townsend included, let us keep among the three of us—I assume Eden knows since Rebecca left her the journal. When Kip is grown and I am gone, I’ll leave it to your discretion as to whether or not he ever learns about Townsend and Molokai.”
Rafe was speechless.
“You might have destroyed that journal and no one would have been the wiser. Yet you came to me with the truth. That impresses me, Rafe. What better father could this little fellow have? The thought occurred that for once something coming from Townsend will grow up to honor the Lord. What better legacy could a Derrington have than that?”
He put a hand on Rafe’s shoulder, and his eyes twinkled in the setting sun. “And may you have many Easton sons and daughters.”
The full moon was rising as Eden joined her father and the members of the Derrington family. Jerome smiled at his daughter and stood, pulling a chair closer for her to sit near him. “Well, what do you think, Ambrose? Did I get a fine son-in-law?”
Ambrose looked across the lawn to where Rafe, Keno, and Zachary stood. Keno said something and Rafe laughed.
“If there ever was a marriage I wanted to take place, it was this one. Of course, I could add Keno and Miss Candace to that list as well. By the way, isn’t it a little past time for that big event to take place?”
“Two more weeks, Uncle,” Eden said, laughing. “Candace has pinned a calendar above her mirror. Every day she enjoys marking off one more day.”
“I thought I would never see the day when that marriage would happen,” Great-aunt Nora said. “I’m so relieved Candace isn’t marrying that dreadful young man, Oliver.”
“Now Aunt Nora, not so long ago you told me the handsome Oliver was a fine gentleman, worthy of my consideration,” Eden said.
Nora looked uncomfortable. “So I did, dear. That was before I understood the rapscallion is a friend of the gambling and opium ruffians. I shall feel pity for Thaddeus Hunnewell when he discovers his firstborn son is one of them.”
“It does seem to me,” Ambrose said, “that the opium cartel has a rather free hand on Hunnewell lands to intimidate the workers. What’s your opinion, Jerome?”
Dr. Jerome stroked his chin, his green eyes sharp in the firelight. “I’ll admit I’m a trifle suspicious of their foreman. He appears to bully his own countrymen.”
“When we went there on Thursday to hold the service?” Ambrose asked, drawing his bushy brows together.
“Yes. I think his name is Wong. He said nothing to me, but he did intimidate the group of men and ladies walking to our cabana near the field.”
“I’ll speak to Rafe about it,” Ambrose said. “He’ll see Thaddeus Hunnewell in the Legislature on Monday. I don’t think Hunnewell senior will approve of the foreman’s behavior. Perhaps the fellow is being paid by the kingpin to intimidate. The last thing the opium cartel wants is to lose their addicts to the freedom of knowing Christ.”
“They won’t stop us,” Jerome said. “The work will go on unless Thaddeus orders us off his land. I don’t think he will. He doesn’t come to the mission church as often as I’d like to see him, Ambrose, but he does revere God.”
Ambrose seemed to agree. “Maybe I’ll call on Thaddeus this week. It’s been some time since I saw him. I’ll invite him to our men’s Bible study.”
Great-aunt Nora stood. “Well, dear ones, it’s time I went indoors. Tonight I expect to go to bed early. I hardly slept a wink last night. I rarely do when I come to Kea Lani. That dreadful old mattress Ainsworth keeps in my room hasn’t been
exchanged for a new one since King Arthur discovered the magic sword.”
Everyone chuckled. To Nora, everything was the fault of her “cantankerous brother.”
“I’ll walk back with you, Aunt Nora,” Eden said.
Inside Kea Lani house, Eden accompanied Nora into the large library, while Nora looked for a book to read.
“It always aids my sleep, and digestion,” she said. “I usually fall asleep because the book is boring.”
She settled her pince-nez and leaned forward to read some of the titles. “Let’s see … leave it to Ainsworth to have ordered this dreadful one: Inside the Political Mind of the Royal Family, by B. B. Rothersfield. Posh! It’s about England and King George the some-number-or-other. Well, that should make me drowsy. Come along, dear. Will you and Rafe be staying the night?”
“Yes, we’re so close to the mission church, we can walk.”
“Good. I believe Candace is having Keno to Sunday dinner, and it will be delightful to have the two of you joining.”
Eden went with Nora to her bedroom where Nora gouged her walking stick at the mattress. “That’s the rascal. Look at it—old and lumpy. Why, I had that same mattress as a girl. Imagine! I believe he refuses to buy me a new one just to keep my visits here brief.”
Eden struggled to keep her laughter down. “I’ll make it a point to order a new mattress for you. A goose-feather mattress. How will that be?”
“Sounds marvelous. Hand me my medication, will you dear?”
Eden did so. “Aunt Nora, there’s something I want to ask you.”
“For a goose-down mattress you may ask anything you like.”
“I’ll be straightforward. What did you see in the court of Iolani Palace at the ball that caused you such distress you fainted?”
Nora stared at her. She walked over to the brocaded wingback chair and lowered herself with a sigh. “Did Rafe suggest you ask me?”
“No. I’ve wondered about it since then. I was on the balcony when you came in from the court where the band was playing. You looked as though you had seen the unbelievable. Then you fainted.”
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