The pilot and hostess stood in the open doorway staring at their two passengers. “Hey, we just fly and deliver them. We got them here on time, so maybe we’ll each get a bonus, and if that doesn’t happen, we made two people really happy tonight. Wanna go for a drink somewhere? First, we have to lock this baby down, then we can take in some nightlife.” But neither moved as they watched the two women make their way to where a crowd of locals waited for them behind the gates, leis in hand.
“You think those women are VIPs or something?” the hostess asked the captain.
“Or something. Not our business. All we need to think about for the next few days is warm sand, gentle breezes, and golden sun. We are in Hawaii! What’s not to love?”
“You’re right, it’s none of our business,” the hostess said, flashing a winning smile that Captain Ortega thought was beautiful.
Across the tarmac under the lights, the entire Aulani family waited for one of the maintenance crews to unlock the gate that would allow Sophie and Linda to walk through, where they were immediately showered with deliciously scented leis, one after the other. And then everyone started to jabber at once. A baby in a front papoose sling started to cry while other children held out additional leis that Sophie and Linda accepted with smiling faces.
An older man, deeply tanned, with snow white hair, came forward. He held out a beautiful white orchid lei. “It means welcome and the love of our family. I am Sam, Kala’s oldest brother. She has entrusted you to my care. These people gathered here are our family. We came here to make you welcome. The hour is late; tomorrow, today actually, we will gather at the house and make a luau for you and your friend. Welcome to Hawaii, Miss Sophie, and welcome to you, too, Miss Linda. We have a car waiting to take you to the house. My grandson Kiki will drive you.”
The baby started to cry again as the group urged Sophie and Linda forward.
The two-hour trip was made in silence for no good reason. Later, Linda said it was the jet lag that had tired them out even though they’d slept for most of the trip.
When the car came to a stop in the driveway of crushed shells, Sophie got out and looked up at the stars. “This is real, isn’t it, Linda? I’m not dreaming, am I? Tell me I am not going to wake up back in prison. I want to hear the words, Linda, so please humor me, and say them, okay?”
“This is so real, it’s scary. You are not dreaming. You are not going to wake up back in prison. This is the beginning of your new life, Sophie, so start enjoying it right now!”
“In that case, I’m walking down to that beach right now, and I’m going to sleep under the stars. Kala said I could do that. I’m going to keep all these sweet-smelling leis and use them as a pillow. Want to join me?”
“Try keeping me away. Just you try,” Linda said, sprinting through the yard and down to the sandy beach, Sophie right behind her.
Linda stopped right at the water’s edge. “Tell me something, Tuesday’s Child—that’s what Kala always called you, by the way. Tell me exactly what you feel right this moment in time.”
“I feel like ... I feel like I could fly if I flapped my arms. I feel safe, happy, and blessed that I’m here. I want to shout it to the world and to thank ... everyone, even Adam Star.”
“Then do it!” Linda challenged her.
Sophie screamed until she was hoarse, her screams muffled by the roar of the ocean. The only one who could hear her was Linda.
Chapter 7
SOPHIE LEE WOKE SLOWLY. SHE WAS FULL OF SAND FROM HEAD to toe, even had sand in her mouth. She tried to spit it out. Looking around, she was stunned to realize that everything had not been a bad dream after all. She really was in Hawaii, and she really had slept on the beach under the stars.
It was still dark out, with a few stars twinkling overhead, but the new day was going to chase the darkness away within minutes. She could see a faint glow of light on the horizon. A new day. Wednesday, to be precise. Wednesday was good; not as good as Tuesday, but still good. Sophie sat up and hugged her knees as she waited for the sun to creep over the horizon. Her first sunrise in Hawaii. How good was that? Pretty darn good, she thought. She stared, transfixed, at the huge orange ball and the dark, velvety shadows, which were fast disappearing.
The first day of her new life. And it was a new life. She needed to think about that. Really think about it. Yesterday was still a blur in her mind. Events had moved at the speed of light, with no time really to sort through it all. Adam Star was dead. Adam Star had gone to Kala and confessed that he had killed his wife. Even though Kala and her legal team had suspected that all along, they had been unable to prove it. Given their absolute certainty that Sophie hadn’t killed Audrey Star, the only other person who could have done it was Audrey’s husband. Adam Star had left her his fortune. The Star fortune, whatever that might be. She, personally, had over $700,000 in a brokerage account. That meant she could buy whatever she wanted. Within reason. She had an active driver’s license, a current passport, and her nursing license was going to be given back to her. All thanks to Kala, Jay, and Linda. In a million years, she would never be able to thank the three of them for believing in her, standing by her, fighting for her. How could she ever repay them? Not that they wanted to be repaid. So many times during the trial they had all said they were doing the job they were trained to do. That turned her thoughts to Ryan Spenser, the man who had sent her to prison for life even though he did not have a shred of evidence that she, and not Adam, had killed Audrey Star.
During her ten years in prison she had tried not to think about Spenser, but she’d been unsuccessful. Plotting his death day after day was the only way she could fall asleep at night. She made promises to herself during those ten years that if she ever got out of prison, she would go after him and make him wish he were dead. In the darkness of her cell she tortured him, flayed his muscular body, tossed him to the coyotes in the desert, drowned him at sea. She particularly liked the scenario where she carved her initials over every inch of his body. The scenario where she managed to hog-tie him, then kicked and stomped him to within an inch of his life wasn’t bad either. She grimaced at her ugly, evil thoughts.
Those thoughts had carried her to the faster-than-lightning extraction from the state of Georgia. What were the lawyers so concerned about? She didn’t fully understand Linda’s explanation of what they were anticipating happening once the news broke about Star’s death, his confession, and her release from prison.
Sophie continued to hug her knees, her thoughts on her current situation. It must be noon by now back on the East Coast. Was news of her release public knowledge yet? Had Adam Star’s death made it to the obituary page? She wished she knew. But what she wanted to know more than anything was Ryan Spenser’s reaction to the news of Adam Star’s confession, his death, and his cremation. She wondered what Spenser looked like now, ten years later. Was he still so arrogant, so cocky, so mean-spirited? Leopards didn’t change their spots, Kala had said.
Sophie had never hated anyone in her whole life, not even the bullies back in the orphanage. She understood they were just venting at their circumstances, trying to get through the days. They wanted to belong to someone just the way she did, but she had accepted early on that there was no one out there who would magically appear and whisk her away to a wonderful life. The nuns had explained that part of life to her and she had listened and accepted it. The bullies had not. She’d had friends back then, during those days, girls as well as boys. Life at St. Gabriel’s had not been bad. She survived by being obedient. Sister Julie had said life was all about being a good person and going by the rules. You had to obey them. When you weren’t obedient, that was when trouble happened.
Sophie had tried to be a good person and live her life by the rules, and for her effort, she’d gotten a sentence of life in prison. She was going to write a letter to Sister Julie and tell her about that. What would be her response? Probably something along the lines of: God never gives you more than you can handle. Well, right now that w
asn’t working for her. So what if she handled it. So what!
She shouldn’t have had to handle it. She’d been a good person. But ... she could hear sweet Sister Julie say, “Now, now, Sophie, take a look at where you are! Look at where God has placed you. He’s given you your freedom and a fortune to go along with that freedom. He was testing you. You must forgive.”
“Yeah, right. Forgive who? That skunk Adam Star? Ryan Spenser, who pinned the killing on me and sent me to prison? The people who kept me locked up for ten long years? I’m supposed to forgive those people? Well, Sister Julie, that is not going to happen, and the word forgiveness is no longer in my vocabulary.”
A wave washed up and over her legs. The water was deliciously warm.
Farther down the beach, Linda yelped and jerked upright, her expression so comical, Sophie burst out laughing. Good Lord, when was the last time she had laughed out loud? So long ago she couldn’t remember.
“I think it’s time to go inside, don’t you? Since we’re covered with sand, maybe we should dunk ourselves first, what do you think?” This was another first; she had an idea, and she voiced it. Almost as good as making a decision.
Linda tried to spit the sand out of her mouth. Her corkscrew curls stood out at crazy angles all over her head. “I cannot believe I actually slept on the beach under the stars. I can’t wait to tell Jay; he’s going to be so jealous.”
Sophie was already on her feet. She reached for Linda’s hand to pull her up. “The ocean is as warm as bathwater. Look how blue the water is, Linda. Isn’t it beautiful?”
Together, they walked down to the water’s edge, the water lapping around their ankles. “It was hard to tell last night, but this looks like a private beach. I guess it belongs to Kala. I read something on the plane yesterday that said the population here is only around nine thousand during the off-season and around forty thousand during the season, which I assume is the winter. Amazing. Can you swim, Sophie?”
“Yes, but not well. Patty and I took lessons at the YWCA. I’ll just wade out and wash the sand off.”
“That’s another thing for you to do while you’re here. Learn to swim like a pro, learn how to make those gorgeous leis, and learn the hula. Boy, you sure are going to be busy, and you know what, Sophie? You earned every minute of your time here. We really slept on the beach, and no one came near us. Un-be-liev-able!”
Ten minutes later both women walked back toward the sprawling house set amid lush foliage. “I can’t wait to see the inside. I guess that young boy took our bags inside. Kala said there is a housekeeper, a cousin, I think she said. She’s going to be cooking and cleaning for you, and I’m not sure about this, but probably waiting on you hand and foot.”
“I don’t want anyone waiting on me hand and foot, Linda. I’m not feeble. I want to do all that myself. Well, okay, I don’t want to do the cleaning, but I know how to do it. We had chores at the orphanage.”
“Well, rules are rules. These are Kala’s rules. I don’t think it would behoove either of us to break those rules.”
“I know a thing or two about rules, and you’re right,” Sophie said as she stepped onto the lanai. She gasped. She’d never seen such a wild profusion of colorful flowers in her life. At first she thought they were growing wild, but then realized all the plants were perfectly manicured. There were orchids, beautiful, gorgeous orchids of all sizes, plumeria, white and pink, that smelled heavenly, hibiscus so brilliant in color they almost burned Sophie’s eyeballs. In the middle of the lanai, a table was set for breakfast, with pristine white dishes. The chairs were teak and their cushions covered in brilliant colors to match the rainbow of flowers. A glider that swung back and forth was nestled next to a small fountain, whose trickling water was guaranteed to induce sleep. Sophie thought it one of the prettiest sights she’d ever seen. She said so. “They must have a wonderful gardener. When I had kitchen duty in prison, I tried to grow basil and parsley, but the plants died on me.”
“I’m going to take pictures and send them to Jay. I want him to eat his heart out. In a nice way of course.” Linda giggled. “Are you going to fight me for that glider?”
“Yes. I think I’ll sleep out here tonight. How wonderful it will be to be surrounded by flowers and the stars overhead as I fall off to sleep. I almost can’t wait.”
“Well, in that case, I guess I’ll have to opt for a nice soft bed with gentle breezes wafting through the open windows. I’m sure the scent of the flowers will drift upward. I am so hungry, are you?”
“I could eat something, but I’m not starving if that’s what you mean. I think I’m too excited to eat. Can that magic phone you have check on what’s going on back in Georgia?”
“It can, and I will do that as soon as we take a shower and have some breakfast. Come along, Sophie. I think it’s time we met your housekeeper.”
Her name was Mally, and it was hard to tell her age. She could have been forty or she could have been sixty, not that it mattered. She was small-boned like Kala, and it was easy to see the family resemblance. She’d coiled her thick, silky hair in a braid around her head like a crown. Her eyes were bright and inquisitive. Her smile was shy and welcoming as she hugged Sophie, then Linda. She stepped back and picked up the two leis that were on the kitchen counter. She draped them around the women’s necks, first Sophie’s, then Linda’s. “You wear all the time. Make you smile. You go now and take shower. I cook for you when you come downstairs.”
“I could get real used to this in a hurry,” Linda said, as they made their way through the house. It was breathtakingly gorgeous, and everywhere they looked, they could see Kala’s fine touches. Everything gleamed and sparkled, and the heady scent of the plumeria was everywhere.
“I like it that everything is so open, all those French doors and the sheer curtains billowing about, the paddle fans stirring the scented air, all this beautiful teakwood, the floors, the furniture.... It’s like something out of a movie. I am so jealous of you, Sophie, that you are going to be living here while I’m back in good old Dunwoody, Georgia.” It was all said in fun, and Sophie knew it. She laughed as they mounted the stairs to the second floor.
“Look at this balcony; you can see the entire downstairs from here,” Sophie said in awe. “Why is Kala living stateside when she could be here?”
“She’s needed stateside for people like you. People here don’t need her the way she’s needed back home. That’s the best answer I can give you, Sophie.”
“I understand. Now which room is mine and which one is yours?”
“I guess whichever one has our stuff. I’m thinking someone probably unpacked our things, and we’re good to go. Yep, this one is mine,” Linda said as she opened a bedroom door. “Oh, my God! Is this beautiful or what? Look at that pineapple bed! You need steps to get in it. I’ve only ever seen pictures of rooms like this.”
Linda was talking to dead air; Sophie was down the hall opening the door to her room. She stood in the doorway and simply stared as she tried to drink in the room that was to be hers for as long as she stayed there. It was beyond anything she could ever have imagined. There was no ceiling, just the roofline of teakwood. A long pole from the peak held a paddle fan that whirred soundlessly. Everywhere she looked, there were vases of fresh-cut flowers, the scent intoxicating. She could see her reflection in the shiny floors. Sheer organza rippled from the open French doors outside her own private balcony, with two chairs like the ones on the lanai. Her bed was the same as Linda’s except for the coverlet, which was pale yellow with appliqués of tiny green leaves. She had the same set of three steps to get into it.
Sophie made a promise to herself to jump on the bed later. She looked in the closet to see a wide array of clothes, evidently the things Kala had bought for her that were in the huge suitcase that had been carried onto the plane. Sundresses, slacks, blouses, shorts, and dressy dresses. All cotton, linen, or silk. In the whole of her life, she had never had anything as fine as what she was seeing.
In
a far corner tucked into a small alcove was a desk of sorts, which held a computer, a phone, and, mounted above it, a television set. All the comforts anyone could ever want.
Sophie made her way into the bathroom and stopped short. She reached for the doorframe to steady herself. It wasn’t just a bathroom. It was a grotto, with brick walls that held moss and water trickling down. Within it was a huge Jacuzzi with twelve jets. All tiled to match the grotto walls and floor. The shower was clear glass and spouted twenty-seven jets. Sophie counted them. The vanity was white and gold, with three sinks. In the middle were bottles and jars and jugs and pots of lotions, shampoos, and perfumes. The towels on the racks were thick and thirsty and bigger than twin sheets. They were mint green with the initials KA on them. She laughed when she saw the bidet. Oh, if the prisoners back in Georgia could only see this. She was glad they couldn’t. What they didn’t see couldn’t make them hunger for it.
Sophie stripped down and piled her wet clothes in one of the three sinks because she didn’t know what else to do with them. She turned on the twenty-seven jets in the shower and danced under all of the gushing water. She soaped up and rinsed three times, each time using a different bath gel. She also washed her hair three times, using different shampoos and conditioners. When she saw that her skin was starting to pucker, she got out of the shower and wrapped herself in one of the green towels.
Sophie took her time poking through the clothing in the walk-in closet. She finally chose a yellow sundress splashed with white daisies and spaghetti straps. On the floor she found a pair of thong sandals with matching daisies on the bands. She brushed out her hair and hoped that at some point she could get a fashionable haircut in town. She wondered if she smelled as good as she felt.
Sophie looked at the little clock on the night table: 7:45. Lunch hour back in Georgia. She shrugged; there was nothing she could do about the time. And right now it was time to eat because her stomach was growling. She walked down the hall and saw Linda sitting on the pineapple bed.
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