by Kay Hadashi
“The last I heard, the wedding was off.”
“Oh, well, maybe you should come in anyway, and bring the pregnant lady with you,” Lai said.
“What do you mean, the wedding is off?” Melanie asked as Trinh drove them home.
“Harmon said he was troubled about something. Personally, I think he has cold feet.”
“He didn’t the first time you guys got married. What’s the problem now? Is he…”
“He denies he’s seeing anyone else.”
“What do you think it is?” Melanie asked.
“What’s the saying? Why buy the chicken when he can get the eggs for free?”
“Not sure that’s how it goes, but I get the idea,” Melanie said. “So, keep your eggs to yourself for a while. See if that makes him pay a little closer attention to the ring on your finger.”
Trinh held up her left hand and wiggled five bare fingers. “Gave it back.”
“Wow, it really is off. Sorry.”
“Not your fault.”
Melanie tried shifting her position but couldn’t push hard enough with her legs to get much movement in her rump. “Maybe it is. I kinda got into him for a moment at work today. He said something about you wanting another baby, and that seems to have put him off his oats.”
“You think I should?” Trinh asked.
“Have a baby? No.”
“Why not?”
“Because you just asked if you should have another, not if we should have one. Harm said just about the same thing, wanting to hold a vote on it. Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but don’t you think it should be a team effort? That both of you should want one?”
“This coming from the lady whose kids both came as surprises,” Trinh said. “By the way, did you get the onesies from the nurses at work?”
“And enough diapers for twins. Remind me to send a thank you note.”
“You do realize your delivery room is going to turn into a party once they hear you’re in labor.”
“I get that idea. Don’t they have anything better to do than gossip about me?” Melanie asked, watching as their shared driveway loomed.
“Not really. Think about it. You’re one of the busiest surgeons at the hospital, you’re our mayor, and you’re on your second kid since you started working there. And you’re the second generation Kato to work at West Maui Med. The place would be boring without you, Mel.”
“Great. What happens when I stop producing kids for them to chat about?”
“You’ll have to go back to dyeing your hair weird colors.”
Chapter Four
As soon as Melanie was home from the meeting, she went to Thérèse’s bedroom. She expected her to be asleep already, snoring away. Instead, she was playing with her stuffed green dinosaur toy. She sat on the edge of the bed.
“Why are you still awake, Sweetie?”
“I dunno.”
“Maybe because you’re playing with your new friend? What’s his name again?”
“Mister Crumpet.”
Melanie took the toy for a closer examination. “Hello, Mister Crumpet. My name is Melanie. Why aren’t you and Thérèse sleeping now?”
“Mister Crumpet is worried about stuff.”
“Like what kind of stuff?”
“You and little sister. Daddy. Auntie Trinh and Unca Harmon. Peeschool.”
Melanie smiled, trying not to laugh at her daughter’s clumsy pronunciations. “Preschool, not peeschool. It means the school you go to before starting regular school.”
“I no gotta go pee there?”
“Only if you have to and you ask the teacher first. Why are you worried about little sister? She’s not even born yet.”
“I seen other babies. She gonna be so small. What if something happens to her?”
“That’s why she has me and Daddy to take care of her. And Auntie.” Melanie hated the idea of laying a guilt trip on her daughter at such an early age, but didn’t know how else to make Thérèse feel included. “And you. You’ll be really important to her. You’ll be a good big sister, right?”
“I don’t know. I never been a sister before.”
“Well, most of the time it’ll be really easy. Daddy and I will help you. Why are you worried about Daddy?”
“Cuz he’s always worried about stuff.”
“Well, you let him worry about his stuff. He’s pretty smart and knows what to do.” She gave Mr. Crumpet back and pulled the blanket up to her daughter’s chin. “Why are you worried about me?”
The girl shrugged.
It was a struggle to get into the right position on the girl’s single bed, but Melanie lay down next to Thérèse. “Come on, you can tell me.”
“No wanna hurt your feelings.”
“Oh, I see. You better tell me anyway. We can’t keep secrets from each other.”
“Cuz you’re different now,” the girl whispered.
“Different how?”
“So big.”
“Because I’m pregnant. I’ve got baby Sofia inside of me. When she comes out, I’ll be back to normal. I promise.”
“You no like baby Sofia?”
“What? Why do you think that?” Melanie asked.
“Not so happy these days. Maybe you’ll leave her behind someplace.”
“Don’t say that, please. I like her just as much as I like you and Daddy. Nobody is going to leave her behind. Not ever, okay?”
The girl nodded her head while yawning. She had bad breath and Melanie knew why. She felt the girl’s neck under her jaw.
“Now, what I want to know is how you got Mister Crumpet off the shelf? You’re not able to reach that high. Did you use magic?”
“Maybe.”
“What’s our promise about you using your magic?”
“Not supposed to,” the girl said, yawning again.
“And it’s a secret from everyone else, right?”
Thérèse nodded.
“So, no more magic, or there’s trouble. Promise me, little one.”
“I promise.”
The girl was soon asleep, leaving Melanie to find a way off the bed without jostling it around too much. Turning lights off as she went through the house, she found her husband in the bedroom.
“Needs her tonsils out,” Melanie said while Josh unbuttoned her blouse in back.
“Or a soundproof room. That’s why she’s snoring so much?”
“Her nodes are swollen and her bad breath means her tonsils are ripe.”
“I can take her to the pediatrician tomorrow,” Josh said, now unzipping Melanie’s skirt in back.
“Thanks. Maybe there will be time to have them taken out before she starts preschool.” She sat on the bed knock-kneed and breathing hard, just from getting undressed. “I’m supposed to help Trinh with her dress and meal selections this evening. You can survive without me?”
“I’ll muddle through somehow. It sounds like she’s having some anxiety over the dress,” he said.
“If we get as far as getting the dress on her. The wedding might be off again.”
“No surprise there. That’s how many times they’ve called it off?” he asked.
Melanie began changing her clothes in slow motion. “Four in as many months. Even Tay is picking up on a vibe between them.”
“But you’re going to help her work on the dress anyway?”
“Love springs eternal, or whatever crap the greeting card companies are feeding us these days. Sorry. Extra grouchy today.”
“I don’t know why. You’re only forty-seven months pregnant, you do surgery inside people’s chests, and you’re mayor of three islands and the state’s second most populated county.”
Melanie pulled an old pregnancy T-shirt over her head, trying to adjust the fit over her belly. “Don’t remind me.”
“I’ve never understood all the nerves over a wedding dress.”
“All brides are anxious over their wedding dress, even if they’re marrying the same guy for the second time. It’s the onl
y time we’ll ever wear it, and of any moment of our lives, we want to look our best. But how’d you know she’s anxious about the dress?”
“Oh, just from helping her with it earlier. She’s lost a lot of weight.”
Melanie turned around to look at Josh. “Just exactly how do you know she’s lost weight?”
“Like I said, from helping with her dress.”
“Helping how? When was this?”
“Today, while you were at work.” He stopped talking, a look of panic spreading over his face.
Melanie cocked her head. “Just exactly what did the two of you do while I was at work?”
“She, well, wanted my opinion on the dress, and needed those things, what are they called? Tucks made here and there.”
“You made tucks in her dress with pins? Where at?”
“Over at her house. Thérèse came with but napped.”
“I meant what part of the dress?”
“Oh, uh, around the waist, I guess. And I think the other part is called the bodice.”
She walked over to stand right in front of Josh, who was perched on the edge of their bed. She stuck a finger in his face. “You stay away from Trinh’s waist, her bodice, and every other part of her, understand?”
She left her side of their adjoined homes and went around to Trinh’s front door. After greeting the two younger kids and getting an update on the eldest’s news from going to college in Honolulu, they got started on looking at the meals the new caterer offered.
“You doing okay, Mel?”
“Yeah. Just have a lot of things on my mind. Why?”
“You’re breathing hard, like you just got through swimming a race.”
“I think it’s just the baby pressing on my diaphragm.”
“But you’ve already dropped,” Trinh said.
“Maybe there’s a basketball player in there. I’m collecting so much water lately, I think I’ve gained twenty pounds of it in just the last couple of weeks.”
Trinh took a look at Melanie’s ankles. “You’re really puffy. Your face, too.”
“Just what I wanted to hear.”
“Take a diuretic. I think I have some in the bathroom cabinet.”
“Forget it. It’ll drain when it’s supposed to.”
Trinh sighed. “Good ol’ Melanie Kato. You can prescribe the stuff for your patients but won’t take it for yourself. At least go see your doctor.”
“I see my OB tomorrow afternoon. I’ll do what she tells me.” Melanie eased down onto the bed, trying to recline, but only flopped onto her side. With Trinh’s help, she was able to sit up again. “Trinh, can you do me a favor and not ask Josh for his help with your wedding stuff?”
“I thought something was up when I heard my name mentioned through the walls, sorta loudly. Is he okay?”
“Not bleeding, anyway.”
“He mentioned about helping me with my dress today?”
“Of course he did. Getting info out of him is easy. I wish he wouldn’t tell me half the things he does. But until I stop looking like the poster girl for diuretics, and you looking like you’re ready to swim in the Olympics, could you keep your distance from him, please?”
“So touchy. Just like last time.”
Melanie rolled over onto her back, letting Trinh stuff a pillow behind one side of her rump to prop her up a little. “And I can guarantee this is the last time I’m doing this pregnancy business.”
“Not gonna try one more time? Try for a boy?”
“Forget it. Girls are all Kato women are able to produce. There hasn’t been a boy since my grandfather was born.”
“Yeah, well, nature has ways of changing people’s minds.” Trinh set aside the fabric for her dress. “Speaking of changing minds, you think I’m doing the right thing?”
“Marrying Harm?” Melanie asked, not surprised with the question. They were covering old ground. “Or calling it off?”
“What’s the point, you know? Not really sure if I love him. Sure, he’s the father of my children, and I get the hots for him sometimes, but I just don’t have the same feelings for him I did a long time ago.”
“So, don’t get married.”
“But the kids are getting a kick out of seeing their mom and dad get married.”
“Get married, then.”
Trinh flopped down on the bed next to Melanie. “Think he’ll do the same thing again?”
“Cheat on you? Maybe.”
“That doesn’t help, Mel.”
“Well, maybe he won’t. How the heck am I supposed to know?”
“Okay, that’s it. I’m cancelling the wedding completely. Nothing wrong with just being friends with benefits, right?”
Melanie gave her friend a thumbs-up. “Right. Friends with bennies every Saturday afternoon, and sometimes again in the evening.”
“You know about Saturdays?”
“Thin walls, Trinh. We can hear you guys fooling around as easily as you can hear me bitch at Josh.”
“Really?”
“Honestly, I don’t know what makes you giggle so much.”
“I do not!” cried Trinh. “Can we please discuss the meal selections?”
“I thought you were cancelling?”
“Changed my mind again.”
“Okay, one chicken, one fish, and one vegetarian selection. Saffron on the chicken, ginger on the fish, and raspberry vinaigrette on the salad for us vegetarians.”
“How do you know what goes on chicken and fish?” Trinh asked.
“Believe it or not, I listen to you nurses talking in the OR. It’s always broiled saffron chicken, seared ahi with ginger, and ras vinaigrette.”
“You make it sound boring. Maybe I should just serve Spam with rice.”
“You could do that.”
“Are you even listening to me?” asked Trinh, beginning to make notes.
“Yeah. Why would a guy go surfing right after getting the crap beat out of him?”
“Huh?”
“A guy was brought in today that was beat up, then went out surfing, only to get hit by a boat or whatever. No water in his lungs. Dead instantly. Found him submerged in the reefs at Lahaina, his board leash caught up in the coral, but no board.”
“His lungs were empty but he was submerged? That means he was dead before he got wound up.”
“Right. Probably dead instantly when he was struck before drifting for a while, maybe as long as a day before he was found.”
“Poor guy. Why was he brought to the hospital?” Trinh asked.
“That new ER doc, Bobby Brown, is doing an article on ocean drownings. He was all jacked about this victim, trying to figure out what happened even before the autopsy is done.”
“That would be a rotten job to have.”
“No kidding,” Melanie said, yawning. “The victim’s mother is coming and wants the coroner to hold off doing the autopsy until after she sees his body. He can’t look much worse than what I saw of him today.”
“Well, forget about chicken or fish for the reception,” Trinh said, scratching those off her list.
“Sorry. Are you going to try on the dress?”
Trinh stripped to her undies and stepped into her dress. “I think some of these tucks Josh…some of these tucks are a little too tight. What do you think?”
“It’s nice. You can’t gain any weight before the wedding, though, or you might have a wardrobe malfunction.”
Trinh tried looking at her back. “Malfunction where?”
“Pretty much everywhere.”
“That’s what I get for trying to repurpose my first one.”
“Why not just use one of my mom’s dresses? She was shorter than you, but you’re skinny enough to fit into them.”
“You think she’d mind?” Trinh asked.
“She’s been dead for more than twenty years. I doubt she’d mind. Anyway, she was your mom for a while, too. Stepmom, anyway.”
“What about that one she wore when she married my dad?”
<
br /> “Yes, the wedding in Spain. That didn’t really look like a wedding dress. What about the one she wore to marry my dad?” Melanie asked.
“The wedding at the California hacienda, or the one in the White House?”
They both laughed and said in unison, “The White House wedding!”
“Seriously, that one was a pale peach color, super pretty. I tried putting it on once but there was no way I could ever fit my figure into that dress. You and Mom just never had hips or boobs. Pearls and an updo and you’d totally rock that dress.”
“I still can’t believe my stepmom was married to the President, and then married my dad, a grocer.”
“Add up all five of her marriages and she barely had one complete marriage. Such a weird family,” Melanie muttered, now looking at one of Trinh’s bridal magazines. She stalled at one picture in particular.
“Five? She was married to your dad twice and then my dad.”
“There was another that didn’t last very long when she was super young that nobody is supposed to know about, and one other in between the two times she was married to my dad, also something nobody is supposed to know about. I’ll tell you about those some other time. She was totally fickle, but when she was married, it was the real thing and with all her heart. That much I know.” She handed the magazine to Trinh. “Look at that.”
“Pretty dress, but I don’t have the time to have something like that made. Wait, is that…”
“Yep. A long time before I ever came along. I still find old pictures of her and Auntie Amy in fashion magazines sometimes. Just recycled pictures of older styles that have become popular again. I wouldn’t have recognized her except for her dimple.”
“Your mom was so pretty.”
Melanie took the magazine back to look at the picture again. “Yeah, Mom was something else. But hey, I need to go home pretty soon.”
“Tomorrow is your last day, right?”
Melanie helped Trinh out of her wedding gown. “Half day in the clinic, then I’m free for four weeks. Tay and Josh have all these plans for us, but I’m planning on staying home with the baby the whole time.”
“You’ve decided on Sofia for her name?”
“Sofia Kailani Junko Kato-Strong.”
“Another United Nations kid,” Trinh said, just as Melanie was leaving to make the short walk around the house to her own back door.