He softened now. “Yes. She’s trying to take steps now. Did you see her walk?”
“No, I didn’t have a chance before—”
“Lelani,” her mother’s voice cut through the room like a sword. “And you’ve brought your friends.”
So Lelani turned and introduced Kendall. Her mother was dressed now, looking sleek and sophisticated in a pale yellow sheath dress and matching sandal flats. And pearls. Lelani wondered what the special occasion was. Her mother usually reserved her pearls for going out or entertaining.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Kendall,” her mother said politely. “And nice to see you again, Megan. Are you girls enjoying your stay?”
“Yes,” said Kendall. “You have a beautiful place, Mrs. Porter. And Maui, or what I’ve seen of it, is absolutely gorgeous.”
“We like our little island.” Her mother smiled—perfectly—and motioned to the pale blue sectional. “Won’t you girls sit down? Can I get you anything? Meri makes a lovely papaya smoothie.”
Megan glanced at Lelani and Lelani said, “Sure, smoothies sound great.” She knew this would distract her mother for a couple of minutes. And as soon as she was out of earshot, Lelani turned to her dad. “I need to talk to you, Daddy, in private.”
“Well … your mother won’t like—”
But Lelani was already grabbing his hand and tugging him. “Come on, Daddy. You can’t let that woman boss you around forever.”
Kendall giggled, and that seemed to trigger something in Lelani’s dad, because he simply nodded and said, “Fine. Let’s go.”
Before her mother returned, Lelani and her dad slipped out the back, and she led him past the guesthouse directly to the beach.
“You know that you’re going to get me into trouble, don’t you?” he warned.
“You’re already in trouble,” she pointed out as she hurried down the beach and away from the house. “The trouble began when you sided with Mom to keep my child.”
“What?” He stopped walking and turned and looked at her like she was crazy. “You’re the one who took off, Lelani. You’re the one who left her baby for her parents to raise.”
She looked into his eyes. “Is that what she told you?”
“It’s what I know.”
“No, it’s what my mother has brainwashed you to believe.”
“You were miserable here, Lelani. Everyone could see it. You were unable to care for your child. You didn’t even want to. Your mother took over your responsibilities because you refused to—”
“That is not true!”
“Oh, you can call it the baby blues or whatever you like, but I saw you, Lelani. You hid out in the guesthouse with dirty hair and ratty clothes. You wouldn’t speak to anyone. You were a mess.” He shook his head. “And I kind of understood. But to leave everything just hanging the way you did, well, I don’t—”
“My mother forced me to go. You don’t know that?”
“She thought it might help you to get away.”
Lelani felt like screaming. How could her dad be so gullible? Or maybe he didn’t care. Maybe he just wanted to believe his wife’s spin. Maybe it was just easier.
“I agreed with her, Lelani, I thought you needed a year in the mainland to clear your head and figure out whether you wanted to return to med school.”
“I didn’t know what I wanted, Dad. When mother refused to let me be with my baby and—”
“Alana didn’t refuse to let you be with Kala—”
“Emma! Her name is Emma.”
“Fine. Emma. Kala. Whatever. Your mother did not—”
“She hired a nanny, Dad. Even before I came home from the hospital, she hired Ginger to care for Emma.”
“Because she thought you needed help.”
“NO!” Lelani shook her fist at him. “Because she wanted Emma for herself.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Lelani. What parents, at our age, want to start a family over again? Your mother was simply trying to help you. And then you fell apart and—”
“No, Daddy.” Lelani’s voice grew calm now. “My mother hired Ginger to take over the baby, and before I could do a thing, she moved Emma to my old room, and then she moved me out to the guesthouse. When I said I was going to care for Emma myself, she told me that I couldn’t.”
“Well, you couldn’t.”
“Sure, I didn’t have a job or money, but I wanted to care for my own baby. I wanted to be a mother. I just needed a little help.”
“We helped you, Lelani.” Her dad wiped the sweat from his brow, then shook his head. “And you were nothing but ungrateful. That’s probably why I agreed with your mother. I thought you might learn to appreciate all that you have, all that I’ve worked so hard to give you, if you didn’t have it to take for granted anymore. I thought it might knock some sense into that stubborn head of yours and maybe you’d come—”
“It’s useless!” Lelani closed her eyes and shook her head to keep herself from screaming.
“We should go back to the house,” her father said quietly.
Lelani opened her eyes and willed herself to be calm. “Yes, Daddy, you should go back. It’s clear that Alana Porter has you under her thumb and there is nothing I can do to make you see the truth. Nothing I can do to change the fact that you are controlled by your wife and probably always will be. But at least I tried.” She smiled sadly at him and, despite all the emotions raging within her, she felt sorry for her father. “But I still love you, Daddy. And no matter what happens, I’ll always be your little girl.”
Then she turned away from him and ran as fast as she could go down the beach in the opposite direction of the house. She ran and ran and ran. She thought she could run forever, but the beach finally came to an end, and she was forced to stop.
Out of breath, she turned and looked back. Her father was nowhere to be seen. He’d probably returned to the house to report that Lelani had lost her mind and gone screaming down the beach. Well, fine. Maybe she had lost her mind.
She walked out into the surf and let the ocean swallow her. The water felt chilly against her hot skin at first, and then delicious as she adjusted to it. She went under, allowing the coolness to seep into her scalp before she swam out a ways and just relaxed. She had always felt comforted by the ocean, and sometimes the gentle waves reminded her of a loving parent holding a child, rocking it gently. She stretched out her arms and legs, allowing the rolling surf to sway her back and forth. Her sundress swirled about, sometimes twisting around her body and sometimes floating free like a jellyfish. When she finally tired, she slowly swam back to shore.
With her dripping dress clinging to her, she walked a few feet from the ocean’s edge and collapsed on the wet sand. She closed her eyes and sighed deeply. Somehow, this was going to turn out all right. She couldn’t explain why, or even wrap her mind around the way she felt, but out there in the waves she had imagined herself resting in the hands of God. She had let go of some things and entrusted them to him. And she knew that everything was going to be okay.
Maybe not for her parents. But for Emma and Lelani, it was going to turn out all right. Because Lelani knew, the instant she laid eyes on Emma this morning, that they belonged together, and that neither of them could ever be really happy unless they were together.
Because of that, Lelani knew that she would do whatever it took to care for Emma. She would work hard, maybe go back to school, whatever. Emma would have the best that life could give. Oh, she might not have the expensive luxuries that her grandparents offered, but she would have enough. More than enough. And she would have love—the kind of love that would allow Emma to grow up to be whatever it was she wanted to be, and the kind of love that would forgive, again and again. This is what Lelani knew in her heart.
Twenty-three
Anna
“Whale-watchers anonymous,” she joked into the phone. “I’m officially an addict now.”
“Hey, Anna,” said Megan’s voice. “A little emergency here.”
“What?” Anna imagined her brother being attacked by a shark. “Is it Gil? Is he okay?”
“No, it’s not Gil. But I’ve tried to call both him and Marcus, and I’m guessing they’re on the water and that their phones are on the beach.”
“What is it?” Anna’s heart was still pounding and now Edmond was looking on with concern. “What happened?”
Then Megan told Anna that Lelani had gone missing. “She was talking with her dad, which we assume didn’t go well. And, man, you should meet her mom. She makes my boss Vera look good.”
“Oh, no.”
“Anyway, Kendall and I looked up and down the beach for Lelani but didn’t see her anywhere. Of course, she doesn’t have her phone with her. I thought maybe Gil could help look, but I don’t even know where they went. Maybe you or Edmond might—”
“We’ll get right on it, Megan. I’ll start calling Gil.”
Anna quickly explained to Edmond and they both tried to call the guys. “Poor Lelani,” said Anna as she closed her phone. “Her mother sounds horrible.”
“Even worse than yours,” teased Edmond.
Anna smacked him in the arm.
“Sorry.” He smiled sheepishly. “How about I get us a taxi?”
“How about it.” She gave him a warning look. It was one thing to make fun of your own mother, but Anna had to draw the line somewhere.
Just as they were getting into a taxi, Anna’s phone rang.
“It’s Gil,” he said. “What’s up?”
She quickly filled him in.
“Where did they last see Lelani?”
“On the beach behind her house.”
She could hear Gil talking to Marcus now. “We’re on our way,” he assured her.
So as they drove, Anna called Megan back. “Gil and Marcus are on it. We’re coming home.”
“Poor Lelani,” said Anna as she leaned back into the taxi.
“Do you think she’s okay?”
Anna considered this. “Well, Lelani is a pretty levelheaded girl. I doubt that she’d do anything stupid.”
“Maybe she was abducted.”
“Oh, Edmond.”
“I’m just saying. A lone girl in Maui—”
“Maui is Lelani’s home. I’m sure she’s knows how to be careful.”
He nodded. “Yeah, sure.”
Still, Anna wondered. She also wondered how devastated her brother would be if anything happened to Lelani. Not that Anna wouldn’t be crushed as well. They all would be. Good grief, everyone loved Lelani. Who couldn’t?
Apparently her parents.
The yellow Jeep was in the driveway when they pulled up. Marcus came to meet them. “Everything’s under control,” he assured them. “Gil and I found Lelani on the beach.”
“Is she okay?” demanded Anna.
“She just took a swim—probably she was out there when the girls searched for her—and then she fell asleep.”
“Where is she now?” asked Anna as they got out of the taxi.
“With Gil.” Marcus shook his head. “Her mother sounds like a monster.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“Megan said she tried to have a private conversation with her dad, hoping that he would understand.”
“But he didn’t?”
“Apparently not.”
“Poor Lelani.”
“She actually seemed in pretty good spirits,” Marcus said as the three of them went around to the guesthouse. “She keeps saying that everything is going to be okay.”
“That’s a relief.”
Everyone gathered in the guesthouse. Lelani apologized for worrying them. “I just needed some space,” she said as she handed out sodas and water to everyone. “I needed to clear my head. It seemed like no big deal. But I’m sorry I worried you guys.”
“Guess we should know that the local girl can take care of herself,” said Gil.
She smiled at him. “Not completely. I do appreciate the moral support.”
“So what are you going to do now?” asked Kendall. “I mean about your baby?”
“There’s not much I can do right now,” said Lelani. “Except maybe get a late lunch. Is anyone else starving?”
All hands went up. So Lelani told them about a nearby barbecue place with pulled-pork sandwiches. “It’s only take out, and only the locals know about this place,” she assured them as they headed for their cars. “There’s a great beach nearby where we can eat.”
It was close to four by the time they had everything they needed and were settled on a private and pretty strip of beach. It seemed like everyone was tired and hungry. After the food was gone, and after a brief argument about whether swimming too close to eating caused cramps or not, the boys and Lelani went to play in the water and Kendall took a nap.
Anna and Megan (both still unsure about the cramp thing) cleaned up their picnic area. Megan filled Anna in on how the day had gone so far with Lelani and her parents.
“It was so sad to see Lelani trying to reason with her mother,” said Megan as she crushed a paper cup. “I finally couldn’t stand it and stepped in and went a few rounds with her myself.”
“Who won?”
Megan just shook her head. “Mrs. Porter acts like she wins every time. She’s so smug and sure of herself, like everyone else is a complete fool. Really, it’s like she’s delusional.”
“Sad.”
Megan frowned. “I probably shouldn’t have said that about Mrs. Porter. I mean it wasn’t very Christian of me. But seriously, I’ve never met anyone like her—or anyone so polar opposite of Lelani. And yet Mrs. Porter acts like Lelani is some kind of evil, devil girl.”
“Our Lelani?”
“For a minute, I wondered if maybe we don’t really know Lelani. But then I realized we’ve been living with her for months. She couldn’t hide her real self.”
“Sounds like her mother didn’t hide her real self very well.”
“Except that she did sometimes,” Megan admitted. “Like when Mr. Porter and Kendall were there, Mrs. Porter was very polite to everyone. Okay, she was like the Ice Queen too. But she smiled and offered us drinks and was Mrs. Congeniality. Even when she realized that Lelani took off with her dad, which I know really made her mad, she covered it fairly well. Kendall almost bought into it. But then Mr. Porter came back, and Kendall and I excused ourselves, but before we were out of earshot, we heard Mrs. Porter laying into the poor guy.” Megan squinted out to where the swimmers were playing. “Do you think it’s been twenty minutes yet?”
Anna checked her cell phone’s clock and nodded.
“You coming?”
“Not yet. I need to call my mom.”
“Yeah, I should do that too,” said Megan. “Maybe you can remind me later.”
Anna nodded as she hit number three on her speed dial. Edmond had moved to the number-one spot and Gil to second.
“Anna!” her mother said. “Is something wrong?”
“No, Mama. Just calling to say hi.”
“My, my,” her mother sounded pleased. “Do you know, mi’ja, this is the third time you’ve called me in two days? I think you should go on vacation more often.”
“Very funny.” Anna sighed. “Mama?”
“Yes, mi’ja? Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes, I’m—”
“And Gil, he’s okay?”
“Yes. He’s swimming right now.”
“Not with the sharks?”
“No, he’s swimming with his friends, Mama.”
“What is it then? I can hear something’s wrong in your voice, mi’ja. Aren’t you having a good time? Did you and Edmond have a fight?” She gasped. “Oh, no! Tell me you didn’t really get married, Anna?”
“No, I did not get married. Good grief!”
“What then? I am dying of suspense.”
“It’s Lelani, Mama.”
“Something has happened to Lelani?”
“Not exactly. But her parents, particularly her mother—she’s a beast, Mama. And poor Lelani. No wonder she’s been so sad since she moved to Oregon. I think her own mother has broken her heart.” And then Anna spilled out the whole story, at least all that she knew. “I just feel so sad for her, Mama. And I wanted to talk to someone.”
“Poor Lelani.” Her mother made a tsk-tsk sound. “I never knew.”
“No one did.”
“Maybe Gil?”
“Maybe.”
“But what can you do about it, mi’ja?”
“I don’t know. I just needed to talk.”
“Well, you just keep being her good friend, Anna. I know she has several good friends, but someone whose mother is—well, you know. She needs all the good friends she can get.”
“I know.”
“Give Gil my love, mi’ja.”
“I will.”
“And Lelani too.”
“Really, Mama? Do you mean that?”
“Of course. What do you think I am? Some horrible witch?”
“No, not at all. I think you’re my mama.” Anna smiled and told her adiós, then hung up. Really, her mother seemed to be getting nicer by the day. Or maybe it was just that old distance-makes-the-heart-grow-fonder thing.
Twenty-four
Kendall
“You guys go and have a good time,” Lelani told Anna and Megan and Kendall. “You can take my car too, so there’ll be plenty of room.”
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