The Callahans: The Complete Series

by Gordon Ryan

  Little Clint, at five, PJ’s oldest son, was hollering, “Uncle Tommy, Uncle Tommy,” and the young boy’s enthusiasm and unabashed greeting brought tears to Tommy’s eyes. He quickly glanced around to see who else might be watching the scene.

  Within minutes the ship was moored, the gangway lowered, and the three Hawaiian girls were gathered at the bottom of the ramp. A small group of musicians also appeared, and the rhythmic strains of Hawaiian music drifted through the air. The children were first off. Ignoring their mothers’ warnings to be careful, they dashed headlong down the gangway with Clint in the lead. Rushing up to the man in uniform, the young lad stopped short of Tommy and looked up at him.

  “Are you my Uncle Tommy?” he asked, suddenly shy.

  Tommy smiled at his nephew, reached down and picked him up, and held him at arm’s length for a moment. The boy had an uncanny resemblance to pictures of PJ taken when he was the same age, and Tommy immediately warmed to him. This was PJ’s son. His own nephew. A Callahan of the next generation.

  “I certainly am, son, and you must be Clinton Callahan, the leader of the bunch,” he laughed. Two smaller children, a boy and a girl, also gathered around Tommy, and suddenly he was standing in front of his brother after so many years.

  “You look a lot like Pop,” PJ said.

  Tommy nodded. “So I’ve been told.” He placed Clint on the ground and took one step toward his brother. “And you favor Mom.”

  PJ also nodded. “Aye. In temperament too,” he grinned. “It’s so good to see you, Tommy. Are you well? Do you like Hawaii?”

  “First things first, big brother,” Tommy said, grabbing PJ and wrapping his arms around him.

  After a spate of exuberant hugging and backslapping, PJ stepped back and wiped his eyes quickly with a handkerchief he retrieved from his back pocket.

  “I think you’ve got a good two inches on me, Tommy. I guess I’m not the big brother anymore,” he laughed.

  “No, but you’ll always be ‘old brother,’” Tommy challenged with a grin.

  A beautiful woman with light-brown skin, long, black hair, and dark, almond-shaped eyes had come up behind PJ, where she stood silently, holding a baby in her arms.

  “Might we join in this family reunion?” she asked softly.

  PJ whirled around, smiling at his wife. “I’m sorry, Kiri. Tommy, this is my wife, Kiri, and these are my children: You’ve already met Clint,” he said, tugging on his son’s ear. “This is his younger brother, Simon, my oldest daughter, Lea, just turned three, and the baby,” he said, again looking toward his wife. “We named her Jenny, after Grandma Hansen.”

  Tommy had known that Kiri was of Maori descent, but he found her more beautiful and exotic-looking than her pictures had suggested. Nearly as tall as PJ, Kiri had a slender, athletic build. Smiling at Tommy, she showed a mouth full of beautiful, perfectly straight, white teeth. She surprised him somewhat after they were introduced by stepping forward and gently touching the tip of her nose against his.

  “Kia ora, Tommy. I am honored to be your sister.”

  Tommy smiled at her greeting and then kissed her cheek.

  “A fine family, PJ. You’ve done well, down under.”

  “Aye, and New Zealand has done well by me, also. Oh, and let me introduce my mate, George Armitage and his family.” George had waited patiently, happily watching the Callahans became reacquainted.

  “George and I were missionary companions, and now we manage Shenandoah Station together. It ­wouldn’t have become the ranch it is were it not for George. And, Tommy, this is our cousin Emily, now Mrs. Armitage, and their two children, Margaret, named after our other grandmother from Ireland, and Tim. And that about completes the crew,” PJ laughed.

  Tommy motioned to the Hawaiian girls who stepped forward and draped fresh flower leis around the necks of everyone, including Tommy. Then the party walked toward the customs shed where a couple of uniformed guards were waiting as luggage from the ship began to unload.

  “When does the rest of the family arrive?” PJ asked.

  Tommy laughed. “Tomorrow. Pop was going to book them all on the same ship, but Mom convinced him that Tess and Seby would be more comfortable traveling by themselves and not having her parents underfoot. She told me on the telephone the other night that all she had to do was remind Pop how he would have felt if Grandpa Hansen had wanted to go with them on their honeymoon to Europe. Pop caved in immediately. They all left San Francisco only hours apart, but on two different ships. When I checked yesterday, I was told that both ships will arrive tomorrow.”

  “That’d be Mom, all right,” PJ allowed.

  After clearing customs, the party walked to the car park where Tommy’s yellow roadster was standing.

  “Well, that’ll be a tight squeeze,” PJ said, his face beaming.

  “Not to worry, old brother,” Tommy replied. “I’ve hired two additional cars.” Reaching into his car, he retrieved two sets of keys from the glove compartment. “I’ve made all the necessary arrangements for accommodations. You’ll all be staying in three bungalows out in Laie, a small village on the north shore, right on the beach. The houses are within walking distance of the temple. There’re two larger houses, one with five bedrooms for your family and Mom and Pop, one for George’s family with two bedrooms, and a small cottage for Seby and Tess, a bit away from the others,” he grinned.

  “I see the military has organized that disheveled mind of yours,” PJ said.

  “You could say that,” Tommy replied. “Logistics we call it.”

  “You’ve done well, brother. Shall we go? How far is it?”

  “A couple of hours, around the coast. It’s a beautiful drive.”

  PJ looked up toward the hills to the north and west. “It all seems beautiful, Tommy. From the way you described the Dominican Republic, this must seem like paradise.”

  Tommy nodded. “It is nice here. I’ve grown used to it, I suppose. Well, let’s load up then. George, you want to take the green town wagon with most of the luggage? And Clint,” Tommy said, ruffling the young boy’s hair, “how would you like to ride in this hot roadster with your Uncle Tommy?”

  Looking at the sporty yellow open-topped roadster, the boy’s eyes opened wide, and his face lit up with excitement.

  “Oh yes, please. Can I, Dad?” he pleaded.

  “He’s been over the moon about this trip,” PJ added.

  “Over the what?” Tommy asked, looking toward his brother.

  PJ laughed out loud. “Over the moon. It means ‘very excited, or thrilled.’ I’m afraid my language has taken on a new dimension. I had to become a Kiwi as best I could, you know.”

  “Well, take it slow with me, PJ. I’m just a country boy from Utah,” Tommy grinned.

  Tommy smiled at the lad who was admiring the fancy car, and picking him up, lifted him over the side and set him in the passenger seat.

  “I expect you to carry your load, son, and you may have to drive this car part of the way,” Tommy laughed and then saw George Armitage struggling with the luggage. “Here, George, let me help with those bags.”

  With the luggage loaded, the kids installed in the cars, and with young Clint sitting tall in the yellow roadster—to the chagrin of his younger brother who had pleaded to be allowed to also “ride with Uncle Tommy”—Tommy walked around to the passenger side of PJ’s car and opened the door for Kiri. She was still holding the baby, and as she approached to enter, Tommy leaned forward and once again kissed her on the cheek, then whispered in her ear.

  “Welcome to Hawaii, Sis. You’ve made a beautiful family, and from all I can see, a fine husband out of PJ.”

  “Thank you, Tom,” she said, “he’s a good man.”

  “Aye. He is that.”

  “I can’t remember,” Katrina said, “when I’ve felt so fulfilled or been so happy, Thomas.”

  “If that’s the case, then I’m happy, too.”

  “­You’re happy too, and you know it, Mr. Callahan,” she tease
d. “Our family has really grown and just think how long it’s been since we’ve all been together. Or how long it will be until the next time,” she added.

  “There you go, Katie, already worrying about the next time instead of enjoying this time,” he said, taking her hand in his.

  Katrina pulled at Tom’s arm as they walked barefoot along the sandy beach between the ocean and their bungalow. It was nearly midnight, and the moon was full, reflecting off the water and illuminating several of the smaller islands and rock formations just offshore. The walk had been Katrina’s idea. For the three days that they had been in Hawaii, PJ’s children and even the Armitage kids had clustered around their newly discovered grandparents like bees circling a hive. Katrina relished every moment of it, and even Tom, to his surprise, had enjoyed playing his new role of Grandpa Tom.

  The previous morning, after taking a day to settle in to their new accommodations, the four couples had gone together to the temple where PJ and Kiri and George and Emily Armitage were sealed to each other and had their children sealed to them. While the families were in the temple, Tommy had driven back around to Pearl Harbor to complete some military business that he said was necessary, something his mother recognized as an excuse to get away during the temple visit. She had cornered Tommy already and asked him about his activity in the church, and he had readily admitted that religion was not a priority in his life at that point. He was happy for the rest of them, but he ­wouldn’t be joining them in the temple.

  That afternoon, after the sealings, Tommy came back from Pearl Harbor and took the children for a picnic on the beach while Tom and Katrina, Seby and Teresa, PJ and Kiri, and George and Emily returned to the temple to participate in an endowment session. As Tom sat in the temple, glancing back and forth between the women who were seated together and the men who sat side by side with him, he thanked the Lord for what had transpired in his family. Though he and Katrina had walked separately for years, they had come together now, and except for Tommy, they were all united in their faith. At the time Tom had made his commitment and gone to the temple for the first time, Robert Thurston had told him that it really didn’t matter how many years were lost in his vacillation about religion, but that his path was set now and all was right with the Lord. Observing his family in the temple, Tom experienced an overwhelming sense of peace and contentment.

  Katrina had quickly seen that the two New Zealand women, cousin Emily and PJ’s wife, Kiri, were close friends. During the first years they had worked the sheep station together, Emily’s new membership in the church had opened a door for Kiri, a lifetime member, to explain things to her from a female perspective.

  Kiri’s broad-based Maori family had been members of the church since before the turn of the century, her grandparents having joined shortly after the Mormon missionaries first visited New Zealand in 1898. Both of her grandfathers had been leaders of the church on the North Island, where PJ had met her while attending a church conference. She was in fact, third-generation LDS, in a land where Mormonism had yet to really take hold.

  In 1921, Elder David O. McKay, in company with President Hugh Cannon from the Salt Lake Liberty Stake, had made a worldwide trip, stopping in New Zealand, where the Apostle had called George Armitage to be presiding elder on the South Island. Elder McKay had promised the Saints on the South Island that their numbers would grow, and that one day a stake would be formed on the South Island and a temple of the Lord would be built in New Zealand.

  With her heritage of faithfulness and her husband also serving faithfully in the church, Kiri’s faith was strong. It was also clear that she and Emily were best friends. Living together in the isolation of the sheep station and sharing the hard work of caring for their families and feeding seasonal crews who came to Shenandoah Station to help with the shearing of sheep and harvesting of crops, Kiri and Emily had truly become sisters. The bond between the two was evident, and it was something that Katrina found very comforting. Having PJ live so far away would always tug at Katrina’s heart, but knowing that he had a loving wife and close friends made the separation a little easier to bear.

  As he and Katrina continued their midnight walk on the beach, Tom spied another couple walking toward them, illuminated by the moonlight. Watching them for just a moment, he quickly determined that it was Seby and Teresa. Tom didn’t say anything to Katrina, who was looking down, searching the sand for unusual seashells as they casually walked along the water’s edge.

  As the distance closed between the two couples, Katrina finally looked up and saw Seby and Tess approaching.

  “It’s after midnight,” she exclaimed to Tom. “What are they doing out here?”

  “The same thing we are, Katie m’ darlin’, falling in love all over again.”

  “Oh, Thomas, don’t be silly. ­We’re grandparents now,” she laughed.

  Tom stopped walking and pulled Katrina around to face him while Seby and Tess were still a dozen yards away. “You can be a great-grandmother, Katie, and I’ll still be fallin’ in love with you.” He then pulled her closer and kissed her firmly, wrapping his strong arms around her shoulders and holding her tightly.

  “Hey, you two,” Teresa called out as she and Seby approached, “­we’re the ones on the honeymoon.”

  Katrina gasped as Tom released her from his hug but stood gazing quietly at her face. Without looking toward his daughter and son-in-law, who had stopped a couple of feet away, Tom said, “and if ­you’re lucky, my precious daughter, you’ll never get off your honeymoon.”

  “I get the point, Dad,” Teresa laughed. “We were just about to head back for some midnight lemonade. Any takers?”

  “Sounds good to me,” Tom quickly replied.

  “Thomas, the young folk want to ...”

  “C’mon, Mom,” Teresa said, “it’s all right. We’d love to have you come back and talk privately. We haven’t seen anything of you since PJ’s kids got hold of you.”

  “Well, if ­you’re sure,” Katrina said, still reluctant to intrude on the honeymooners’ time together.

  “Señora, we will be sailing to the outer island of Kauai tomorrow anyway. Tess is right. We’d love to talk to you for a while,” Seby said.

  “All right then,” she replied, “but Seby, you’ve got to find something other than Señora to call me, please. I see you’ve begun calling Thomas, Tom.”

  “Yes, but—”

  “No buts. How about ... Mom.”

  Seby smiled broadly. “It would be my honor ... and perhaps my right.”

  Katrina smiled at her new son-in-law and linked her arm with his and turned to walk with him back toward their bungalows.

  “It is your right, Seby. I was present at your birth, and at your marriage. So that settles it.”

  “Tess, I’ll walk with you since it seems your husband has deserted you for an older woman.”

  “Maybe, Dad, but from what I can see, I think she already has a man.”

  “You’d be right about that, sweetheart. You’d be absolutely right,” Tom laughed.

  Chapter 9

  The next afternoon, Tommy helped load Seby and Teresa’s luggage into the town wagon as the newlyweds began to bid their farewells to the family. While Katrina was out on the lawn in front of the bungalows, struggling to organize the children for a group photograph, Teresa, PJ, and Kiri stepped away from the confusion.

  “It’s so far down there, PJ, and it ­isn’t always going to be possible to arrange these family gatherings. It could be years before I see you again,” Teresa said.

  “I know, Tess. But the world’s getting smaller all the time. I’ll be back to Utah sometime, and New Zealand’s a great place for a vacation. You should bring Seby down,” he said, giving his sister a quick hug.

  “I’ll try,” she said, tears continuing down her cheeks. She then made the rounds, hugging all the children and then Emily and George. As Tess was preparing to get into the car, Kiri leaned over to Teresa and hugged her sister-in-law once again.

/>   “Tess, just over a year ago, I took two of my younger sisters to see your movie, A Gathering Storm. They were both very moved by your portrayal of the courage of that young woman. Then, when I told them you were PJ’s sister, they were in awe. You know, the church is not well established in New Zealand, and even though the girl you portrayed didn’t have any religious affiliation, I want to thank you for showing them that someone can stand up to evil and not always lose. You taught some good principles in that role.”

  Teresa hugged Kiri again, and the two women rubbed noses in the traditional Maori way.

  “Thank you, Kiri. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have such a good role to play. I haven’t seen one since,” she laughed.

  “I understand,” Kiri went on. “I read your letter to PJ about how it is to live in Hollywood and about your frustration over the sacrifices so often required. Is it really that bad?”

  “I can’t indict the whole community, Kiri, but young people are quite often exploited and those who have no set standards seem willing to surrender their morals to further their careers or land the next role.”

  “What’s this about careers?” PJ asked, stepping close to the two women.