by Reina Torres
Mary nodded thoughtfully. “What is it that the bad guys have against a good woman’s wardrobe?”
Laughing, Hi`ilani’s attention was drawn to movement across the store. Truck, Ghost, Baron, & Jackson were walking through the automatic sliding doors of the mall.
Together, the three women sighed in admiration.
“Goodness, look at them all together.”
Mary reached across the table and gave Rayne’s hand a squeeze. “Amen, sister.”
Leaning forward onto her forearms, Hi`ilani covered their hands with hers. “They are pretty good looking,” her voice completely nonchalant, “not bad, really.”
The two Delta wives turned to look at her in unison.
“You’re joking, right?” Mary’s tone was anything but.
“Seriously?” Rayne’s brow furrowed. “Not bad?”
Hi`ilani waited until the men were halfway across the open rotunda and then she leaned in toward the ladies. “Scorching hot and you two know it.”
Rayne looked at her and she couldn’t help the blush that crawled all over her face and neck.
“Oh my God, you and Ajax? Seriously, and you didn’t tell us earlier?”
Mary laughed and leaned even closer. “What did you expect her to do? Until now, the men have been by our sides.”
Jackson walked up to the table. “Why do I get the feeling we should all run away from you ladies?”
“I bet the last person you want to run away from is Hi`ilani. Hmm, Ajax?”
Hi`ilani felt Jackson look at her after Mary’s little comment and she blushed even more.
Baron was the one who broke into the conversation. “You’d be surprised how thin the walls are in our house. After I got home and we got rid of the MPs, Ajax and his honey didn’t get a lot of sleep.”
“Hey,” Truck grabbed Baron’s arm, “not funny.”
Shrugging off Truck’s hand, Baron held up his own in surrender. “Sorry, sometimes I forget what it’s like to be around women.”
Jackson gave Baron a good shove. “You mean decent women.”
Baron gave them all an unapologetic smile. “Semantics, Ajax. Plain ol’ semantics.”
“Sometimes,” Ghost interjected, “it makes all the difference.”
Hi`ilani’s phone chimed in her purse and startled, she fished it out. Opening it up she saw a notification on her phone. “Detective Wong sent me a text. Excuse me.” She pushed back her chair and walked over to an empty storefront where there was less noise. Dialing she held the phone to her ear.
A hand touched her shoulder and she turned around to see Jackson standing there, hiding her from any curious eyes. He touched her back with his hand, his thumb stroking her side.
“Miss Ahfong?”
“Yes, Detective Wong. What happened?”
“I’m calling with some developments in the case. One of the men who shot your friend has been found and he’s in our lock up awaiting an arraignment tomorrow morning.”
“That’s great! Wow, when did that happen? How did you find him?” Her heart was beating a frantic rhythm in her chest. “Never mind, I don’t need to know.”
“Okay,” she heard a happy sigh in his voice, “but if you do want to know you can always ask later. Now, I do have to remind you that we’re still looking for the other man he was with and while we have him in custody, he’s refusing to talk until he has a lawyer.
“A hold up in the Public Defender’s office is taking some time, but we have hope that we’ll be able to get information out of him in exchange for some consideration in sentencing.”
“That’s great, right? He’ll give you his friend’s name and then I don’t have to hide as much.”
“What do you mean, as much?” There was a pause. “What’s that noise?”
Blowing out a breath she started to answer but Jackson held out his hand.
Hi`ilani put her phone in his hand.
“Detective, this is Jackson Guard.”
“What’s going on Jackson? Where did you take her?”
“She has four of the best trained Army men on island at her side here at the PX. It’s on military property. She’s perfectly safe, Detective. And we’re on our way back to my house as soon as we end this call.”
“Good. I’d still like you to keep her movements to a minimum until we have more information. More people in custody.”
“All right, Detective. We’ll keep things to a minimum, but I’m not making her a prisoner. So whatever you can do to find that guy’s partner, I’d really appreciate it. Until then, I’m going to keep her safe.”
“Okay, Mr. Guard. Be sure you do.”
Ending the call, Jackson handed it back to her.
Nodding, she tucked it into her purse as she kept her eyes on him. “Thanks.”
“No need to thank me. I want you to be happy and you really needed a break.” He set a hand on the wall over her shoulder and leaned in closer. “And I’m glad we brought you here.”
“You’ll be really glad when we get back home,” she smiled, “Mary and Rayne helped me pick out some things.”
She saw the curiosity in his eyes and felt her cheeks heat up when she saw his eyes change as he realized what she meant.
“Really?”
She nodded. “A few things… that they said won’t stay on very long.”
He wrapped his free arm around her and pulled her tight against him, bending her head back with his kiss.
She felt his breath inside of her and she groaned deep in her throat. It continued, his head slanting across her lips in the other direction until they heard someone clap and then another person clearing his throat.
Pushing her hand against his chest, Hi`ilani leaned back and sighed. “Do you mind if I kick your friend’s butt?”
Jackson gave her another kiss and then leaned forward to whisper in her ear. “I’ll hold him down for you.”
Hi`ilani smiled when he stood and set his arm down around her shoulders. “I can’t wait.”
When they were nearly back to the group she looked up at him and spoke with a hint of worry in her tone.
“I was wondering. Tomorrow is Sunday.”
“I’m guessing you weren’t wondering about that.”
“No, sorry.” She shook her head. “You told the Detective that I’m not a prisoner.”
He nodded slowly, but she saw the guarded look in his eyes. “I did.”
“Then,” she bit into her lower lip as she considered her words, “I was wondering how you’d feel about taking me to dinner at my family’s house.”
“Uh-”
She leaned to the side and looked at the rest of the group. “You’re all welcome to come.”
Mary looked at Rayne before she answered Hi`ilani. “We have reservations at Roy’s tomorrow night.”
Hi`ilani waved off her concern. “It’s one of the best restaurants, enjoy!” She turned to look at Baron and gave him a grudging smile. “What about you?”
He looked at Jackson and they both saw Jackson narrow his gaze at his friend and shake his head.
“Dragging my ass to an airport to run back and help my friend protect his girlfriend? Painful.” Baron nodded and gave Hi`ilani a grin that looked completely unnatural on his face. “Getting to watch her family meet the man that broke her heart? Priceless!”
Chapter 11
As they drove past the old Crouching Lion Inn, Jackson saw Hi`ilani sit up and look around her seat into the back of the Jeep.
Jackson laughed. “Are you worried he jumped out along the way?”
Shaking her head, she sat back in her seat and sighed. “He doesn’t look comfortable back there.”
Jackson’s laugh almost came out as a cough. “He’s slept in worse.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely,” Baron’s voice scratched up through his throat, “we both have, now can you stop talking about me so I can get some rest?”
Jackson swore under his breath and reached into a small compartment in the
console and taking out a small Ziploc-like bag he tossed it into the backseat. Hi`ilani covered her mouth to hide her laugh when the bag bounced off of Baron’s forehead. “Now put in the ear-plugs and shut it.”
Baron’s single-finger salute had both of them laughing.
Turning back to look out the windshield, Hi`ilani sighed and enjoyed the scenery as it rolled by like a long single-take movie shot.
A few moments passed before Jackson chanced a look at her.
“About this dinner,” he swallowed audibly, “is someone going to give you trouble about me being there?”
“Me? Why would they give me trouble?”
He gave a half shrug as he kept his eyes on the tightly curving road that moved them past a crowded beach park. “Maybe because you’re bringing a haole home?”
“Don’t you mean two?” She laughed and he found himself smiling, at what, he didn’t know yet, but her laugh wasn’t tight or nervous, it was genuine.
“What?” He looked down the road and saw some cars slowing to turn into the beach park. “What’s so funny?”
“Most people that I know don’t have a problem with haoles it’s just when people start to exhibit behaviors that are a little...”
“Dickish?” He supplied.
She nodded and gave a little, “Hmm. Yeah, I guess you could say that. I was going for superior or entitled, but sure, that works too.” Sitting back in her seat she let the wind from outside the window blow across her face. “As long as you don’t act like a jerk no one is going to have a problem with you.”
It seemed simple enough. “Sure, I can handle that.”
“Good. Still, if you change your mind, I can give you money to go to the L & L by the feed store. Tutu’s expecting me to help her tonight so I can’t just leave or not go.” They were already into the heavily shaded part of the road nearing the old petting zoo and coming up on the next beach park. “You’re going to turn left at the light across from the baseball diamond.”
He gave her a wink. “Don’t trust me with street names?”
Hi`ilani let out a loud sigh. “Nothing against streets names or your spelling, but I like to use landmarks for directions.” They continued on for a bit before she spoke again. “But, yeah, your reading of Hawaiian words is sometimes... painful.”
Jackson slowed to let some beach goers cross at the crosswalk and used the time to turn and look at her. “Well, what do you expect? It’s like a foreign language to me.”
The last man across the crosswalk gave them a shaka in thanks and Jackson put his foot back on the gas.
“Well, it is a foreign language to you. So there’s nothing wrong with asking for a little help.” She gestured at the upcoming turn lane in the middle of the road and Jackson set his signal as he slipped into the lane.
“So, help me.”
She grinned and leaned forward with an arm braced on the dash. “There’s three main things to remember about the Hawaiian language. Can you remember three?”
He gave her a look that spoke volumes and she laughed at it, making him groan. “Tell me.”
“Number One,” she pointed off toward the mountains as soon as they were through the intersection, “until the Missionaries came from the East Coast, the language was purely verbal, so when you read something, remember that’s it’s phonetic. The missionaries wrote down what they heard.”
“Okay. No silent letters. Got it.”
She motioned down a street to the right and he set his signal to make the turn.
“Number Two, it’s going to seem like you see a lot of the same letters over and over and that’s for a good reason. The missionaries started the language with seventeen letters instead of the English twenty-six, and later brought it down to twelve, so that’s all we’ve got.”
“Twelve,” he repeated, “doable.”
“Okay,” she gave him a wink. “Turn left on the third street and you can’t miss the house.”
“What about number three?”
Leaning back in her seat she sighed with a smile. “All that’s left are the vowels. A is AH. E is EH. I is EE. O is OH. And U is OO. If you can remember that you can read things out loud and not have people glaring or laughing.”
“No silent letters, repetitive, and Ah, Eh, Ee, Oh, Oo.” He was nodding slowly as he set the turn signal for the last street. “I think I can hold that in my head.”
“Good,” she leaned back even further and set her legs up on the dash, her skirt falling back to her mid-thigh, “we’ll give it some practice later. I think we still have some of the kids’ books around. The girls can take turns listening to you. They’ll love that.”
He was about to ask about her sisters when he made the turn and looked down at the end of the street. The last house on the end had a big green hedge around the front of the house, leaving gaps open for the walk up to the front door and the driveway up to the covered garage.
As they drew closer, he saw a bunch of people walking along the side of the road and the side streets, all heading in the same direction. A large white tent top rose above the hedge and he noticed a bunch of people helping to erect the structure.
“What’s going on over there?” he wondered aloud. “Is there a party going on in your neighborhood?”
Using her hand to steady her on the open window frame, she looked up and shook her head. “No, that’s just the tent.”
“Just the tent?” He shook his head. “It looks like the tent we set up during the last training for a command post. I thought you said this was just a family dinner?”
Her head rolled slightly to the side to look at him with a smug grin and a little glitter in her eyes. “It is a family dinner. Half the neighborhood is related to us and the rest are kalabash, like family. Can’t leave folks out. So, one Sunday a month, Tutu Leo makes Sunday Dinner for the family and we all come over.”
“I’m afraid to ask how many people that means.” He felt something scratch at the back of his throat.
“’Then don’t ask.” She raised her hand to wave at someone walking on the side of the road. “Hey!”
They called back and then Hi`ilani settled back into her seat. “Go ahead and park along the left side of the street. Everyone’s fine with people parking there when they have to bring their cars.”
A little eager to get inside and maybe eager to try to get this over with, Jackson turned a U in the wide street and parked along a chain-link fence covered in some kind of clinging vine.
Getting out of the Jeep, he stretched his legs a bit, waiting for her to join him, but when she didn’t walk around the car, he found himself moving around to her side. He found her, crouched over the vine, her hand cupped around a ball of white flowers.
She must have seen him from the corner of her eyes and waved him closer.
He stepped closer and stood at her side for a moment before she tugged on his jeans. When he crouched down beside her, she moved back from the flowers and waved him closer. “Smell this.”
If it had been one of the men from his unit he would have thought twice. The things that they’d made each other smell over the last year... well, it wasn’t good. Not anywhere near good. But, as he leaned over the flowers in her hand, he drew in a slow breath.
“That’s really nice.”
She beamed up at him and straightened her legs so that for a moment she was taller than him. “That’s pikake, a king of jasmine flower. It's spelled P-I-K-A-K-E.”
He straightened up, trying not to stare a little too long at her hips and her breasts on the way up. “P-ee-K-ah-K-eh?” He sounded out the word that she’d just spelled for him.
“Yes!” She jumped a little in the air, but she still couldn’t quite look him in the eyes. “That was great. Once I tell the girls-”
“Let me guess,” he sighed, “they’re going to spell everything for me?”
“Well, at least the things they know how to spell. Don’t be too afraid.” She walked up to the house and looked into the window of the backseat. �
��What about Baron?”
Jackson opened the front door and lowered the backseat windows. Taking out his phone he typed in a quick message and sent it.
Hi`ilani heard the phone beep from inside the car.
“I let him know where to find us. When he wakes up, he can join us.”
She gave him a curious look and then shrugged continuing on toward the house.
“Wait.” He called after her and started to jog to catch up. “Why should I be afraid?”
She walked along beside him, waving at a few of the people heading in the same direction.
They didn’t even make it up to the front door before the screened door swung open, banging against the side of the house. Two girls dressed in jeans shorts and tank tops came running down the walk barefoot with their hair swinging behind them in two long braids. “Brace yourself,” was all she said before the two jumped and hugged her at nearly the same time.
As a surprise attack, it was well planned and he had to give the girls credit for the coordinated assault. The taller girl got her arms around Hi`ilani’s neck and the shorter, probably younger girl, latched her arms around her older sister’s waist and hugged tight enough to earn a loud exhale.
If he hadn’t been quick enough to brace a hand on the middle of her back, the whole group would have ended up in the grass on the small front lawn.
“Hey, hey!” Hi`ilani was laughing too hard to say much more, but her smile was telling. She was enjoying every second with the little girls.
And when the door swung open again he had barely a chance to look up before he saw a rubber slipper flying through the air.
It sailed right over the girls and landed with a dull thump on the ground. All three girls went silent and turned their heads to the doorway. The woman standing in the doorway had eyes that promised mayhem, but given the soft lines of her face and Hi`ilani’s deep affection for her, he knew it had to be mostly guff. Her hair was a pile of grey curls above her over-sized t-shirt with its neck cut out in a wide curve. “Look at you three. Makin’ so much noise I had to come out in my boroboro shirt.”
She looked him over from head to toe and one of her eyebrows seemed to arch higher as she continued all the way down to his feet.