Aloha Love

by Yvonne Lehman

  His quick laugh made her think he didn’t care for her methods. The grin stayed on his face when he said, “There are no snakes in Hawaii.”

  Shocked, her jaw dropped. “No snakes? Not one?”

  “Nope. The only things here are what people from other countries have brought in. None have brought any snakes.”

  While she was trying to recover from that disclosure, he said, “If you could get my little lady to. . .pick apples, you could get her to do anything.”

  Twenty-one

  Pilar squealed, “No!”

  Uncle Russell said, “Well, well.”

  Matilda nodded while she stared at Jane.

  They’d each gotten mail. Jane hadn’t read her second letter yet.

  “Bet I know what this is about,” Matilda had said when Uncle Russell brought the letters home. Letters didn’t usually come for all of them at the same time. They’d settled at the kitchen table, each looking at the envelopes until Matilda had said, “We have to open them sometime.”

  “They’re coming?” Pilar said. “Is that what your letters say?”

  “They’re already on their way. They should be here in February.”

  Pilar began to wail. “I don’t want to go back. I don’t ever want to leave here. I mean. . .” She stood and held onto the edge of the table while they all stared at her. “I can’t go back to being my mother’s helper, anymore. Jane, you’ll be married. Matilda won’t be there. I have plans. I have friends here. It’s not like in Texas.”

  She threw her letter on the table and ran from the room.

  “I’ll talk to her later,” Matilda said.

  “I understand her wanting to stay here,” Jane said. “But I can’t see Inez allowing it. Where would she stay, anyway?”

  “She’s welcome here,” Uncle Russell said. “But although I’m a preacher, her mother doesn’t know me and might not agree.”

  At suppertime, Pilar brought the subject up again. “I’ll have to do what my mother says, won’t I? After I graduate from school, I could get a job. Maybe in the sugar fields.” She shook her head. “That wouldn’t work. Susanne wouldn’t be my friend if I worked for her parents.” She looked quickly at Jane. “I don’t mean that you’re not because I worked for your dad.”

  “I know that, Pilar. There’s six years difference in your age and mine, so the situation isn’t the same. Maybe your mother will fall in love with Hawaii, too, and want to stay.”

  Pilar exhaled heavily. “My mother doesn’t fall in love with anything. She just wants to stay a cook and a housekeeper.”

  Matilda reached over and laid her hand on Pilar’s. “Your mother takes pride in her work, Pilar. That’s about all she has.” She patted the girl’s hand. “I’ll reason with her.”

  “But she doesn’t. . .I mean. . .”

  “I know what you mean,” Matilda said. “Your mother feels stuck in a kitchen while I gallivant all over the world. It’s not really me she dislikes. I mean, if my husband hadn’t left me a pile of money, I’d be spitting on his grave twenty-five times a day.”

  A hopeful look came into Pilar’s eyes. “You can make her understand about me. You can do anything.”

  “Pretty much,” Matilda agreed. “Now stop your worrying.”

  After supper, as Jane and Matilda walked toward the church, Jane remembered what Matilda had implied before they left Texas. “You don’t think Inez. . .and my dad. . . ?”

  “Oh yes, I do. I have a feeling they’re going to make an announcement, and Pilar’s plight will be secondary. Oh, I don’t mean they won’t care, but if there’s some reasonable way they feel Pilar has a better future in Hawaii than in Texas, they’ll likely consent. I’m sure I can help in some way. There’s no place I have to be in a hurry.”

  Jane threw her arms around Matilda. “I love you, Matilda. It’s amazing how you can be so independent and yet care enough to be right there to help when someone needs it.”

  Matilda smiled. “Did you ever stop to think, Jane dear, I need it, too? I need your love. I need the feeling of being wanted and needed. I think that’s why the good Lord admonished us to help each other.”

  “I’ve always known that,” Jane said. “But I’ve mostly been on the receiving end. I don’t want to be selfish, and I like the feeling of having been some help to Pansy and to Uncle Russell.”

  “You were always just fine, Jane. But you have matured in many ways since we’ve been here. We aren’t born wise; we grow into it.”

  “I hope so. And you know, I think I can be a real help to Mak. He’s opened up to me a little. And after things I’ve heard from you and Rose and Uncle Russell, he hasn’t done that since his wife died.” She stopped and caught hold of Matilda’s hands. “I’m going Saturday morning to talk to him about how I would teach Leia. I know he’ll be testing me, but I think this is a big hurdle for him to overcome. I so want to be helpful.”

  “That’s good, Jane,” she said, giving her hands a squeeze, then letting go. “But in the meantime, don’t you think you need to give your dad and Austin some thought? In about three months they’ll be here.”

  “Three months,” Jane mused. “That’s enough time to get Leia riding like a girl her age should. Time to get Mak to realize he needs to accept his wife’s death and move on with his life. You know, he’s stuck in the day she died. He just can’t let it go. Maybe we can even get him back in church.”

  “Jane.”

  Jane turned her head to stare at Matilda.

  “In three months, your dad and Austin will be here.”

  “Oh my,” Jane said. “I feel like I’m just getting a good grasp of my land legs. Now I have to start thinking about my sea legs?” Of course, her attention would need to revert from Mak’s needs, to Austin.

  As if reading her mind, Matilda said, “Now, dear. Do we plan a Hawaiian wedding. . .or what?”

  Twenty-two

  Dressed in her least stylish riding pants, Jane eagerly awaited Friday when Mak would finish his classes and they’d ride together to his ranch.

  “Let’s stop in town and pick up something to eat,” he said after the school let out for lunch. At the colorful farmer’s market, Jane again felt much like a minority, seeing the food and wares of Japanese, Portuguese, Polynesian, Korean, and Chinese people. She and Mak each settled for a cinnamon-raisin-macadamia-nut shortbread cookie, and divided one for each horse. She learned of fruits that were foreign to her—lychee, lilikoi, star fruit, guava.

  “I know banana,” she teased.

  “Probably not this kind,” he said. “There are about fourteen varieties in Hawaii.”

  After munching on the delicious cookies, they mounted the horses and headed for a trot-walk to the ranch. Mak confided, “I did tell Leia that her fear stems from her knowing her mother was thrown from a horse. But I didn’t feel the time was right for going into further detail.”

  Jane felt that was progress. When she and Mak rode up, she wasn’t surprised to see Rose and Leia waiting outside the carriage house. As she followed Mak into the corral where they left Big Brown and Cinnamon, he murmured, “I’ve never before seen my daughter in pants.” He took a deep breath. “Nor my mother looking quite so triumphant.”

  “Where did you get that outfit?” Mak said, walking up to them.

  “Aloha, Jane,” Rose said with a big smile before answering Mak, while Leia pulled the sides of her pants like a girl curtsying in a skirt. “Chico borrowed the pants from one of the paniolos’ sons who’s about Leia’s size.”

  Mak was seeing his little lady in old-looking shoes and the clothes of the son of a cowboy who worked for him. Jane however, could visualize Leia in a real riding outfit and boots.

  Rose leaned toward Jane and spoke softly. “The boy has worn these pants many times for the same purpose.” Then she addressed them all. “I’ll leave this to you. Later, I’ll serve some refreshments.”

  Jane looked at her and mumbled, “No apples,” and they both laughed.

  Rose walked to
ward the house, still chuckling.

  Jane knew the next few minutes were critical. With one knee bent and a booted foot braced against the wall, Mak leaned back with his arms folded while Jane explained the process to Leia.

  Leia crinkled her nose. “But, Daddy, you don’t like for me to get dirty.”

  He scoffed. “Has that ever stopped you?”

  Jane knew this could end the session before it even started. But she couldn’t, wouldn’t back down on that point. Of course, stable boys could clean the stalls. But this was an important part of discipline and the care of an animal. Long before now, Leia should have been accustomed to all parts of animal behavior. Jane had certainly learned the hard way about cow patties. She continued holding onto the rake.

  Mak could change his mind in a moment, too. His next words indicated that. “No, you don’t have to, Leia. Miss Jane said that many young girls in Texas have drivers who take them where they need to go. Or they can wait until their dad or family member feels like taking them into town or on excursions.”

  Her lip poked out. “I want to do it myself.”

  He said, “There’s only one way.”

  Her eyes challenged her dad and Jane, but neither spoke. Her lips tightened, but she came over to Jane and took the pitchfork. Jane reached for another one.

  Leia gasped. “You’re going to do it, too?”

  “Certainly. It’s just part of being in your horse’s life.”

  “Okay,” she said, as if beginning to play a game. “Let’s see who picks the most apples.”

  “Okay,” Jane said back. “Just don’t toss any the wrong way.”

  Mak watched, astounded. His little girl was helping clean out Big Brown’s stall. Early that morning, he had told the bewildered stable boy to leave some of the apples in the stall.

  Even so, he never would have thought such a thing could happen, or that it should. But Leia, to his surprise, stuck with the job. She and Jane would make sounds like “P-uewee” and turn their heads, then laugh.

  How good to hear a woman laugh with his child. Of course, his mother often did, but he was used to that. This was different. Reminded him again of Maylea and what he and Leia both missed.

  Strange, he thought more highly of Jane picking apples than when she stood around looking like a beautiful lady. She wasn’t above getting downright smelly and messy. She was teaching his daughter, a young girl of privilege, what it meant to work. And his daughter seemed happier with that than when his mother was teaching her to crochet.

  Well, Miss Jane could often look like a dainty, well-bred creature, but she sure knew how to clean out a stall, like a man. . .or rather, like a stable boy.

  When they finished, Jane walked over to him. “You don’t have any airs about you, Miss Jane,” he said and watched her smile disappear and a warning look come into her eyes when he added, “except what might linger after a stall cleaning.”

  “Well, for your information, I love the smell of horses and stables.”

  Leia’s smile looked more like a grimace, but she didn’t dispute that.

  “Now,” Jane said. “For the next step.”

  He planted both feet on the floor. “A horse?”

  “Exactly.”

  His little girl, or rather stable girl, put her hands together like she might applaud.

  “Miss Jane,” he said, “Do you think Cinnamon would do?”

  “You mean that nice, sweet, gentle, trot-walking horse?”

  “Exactly.”

  Jane nodded. “Bring her in.”

  Mak listened to what Jane was saying to Leia, who had wanted to ride for a long time. Now in the presence of such a big horse, she seemed shy, and he knew that moment of imbedded fear would surface.

  “He’s your pet, Leia,” Jane said, “but not just a pet. He’s also your transportation, and you must always be in control of him. You must learn to train him to do what you want. Don’t let him do whatever he wants.”

  Leia was nodding. “That sounds like what Daddy and Grandmother tell me. They make me do what they want. Dry the dishes. Clean my room. Wash my hands.” She lifted her hands. “On and on.”

  “That’s so you will grow up to be a properly trained, obedient, fine young lady.”

  Leia looked at the apple pail in the corner. “Ladies pick that kind of apples?”

  “Oh, yes. I’m a lady and I just did it.”

  “Does Miss Tilda?”

  “She has when she took care of her own horses. She would again if she needed to. Young ladies do many things. Some sit in drawing rooms and knit or crochet.”

  Seeing Leia’s nose begin to crinkle, Mak thought she wasn’t too fond of that.

  “Others enjoy outdoor activities,” Jane was saying. “But you need to know how to do all things.”

  “I want to be a lady.” His daughter looked very serious. “Like you.”

  “Okay,” Jane said. “Now introduce yourself to Cinnamon. After that, I’ll show you how to touch her. It’s fine to touch her gently, but at other times you should touch her firmly. Like your daddy would hold your hand firmly to cross a street if a horse and carriage was coming toward you real fast.”

  Her eyebrows lifted. “He would pick me up and run.”

  “Okay, let’s see you try to pick up Cinnamon.”

  Even Mak laughed at that.

  He was seeing how excited Leia was about all this. Even at her young age, Leia was not content staying indoors, doing what he considered safe things. But how could she be? Her mother came from hardworking laborers on a sugar plantation whose ancestors had taken an uncertain ocean voyage. His parents were adventurers who had left their country to make Hawaii their home.

  He was beginning to see some of the things his mother had tried to tell him about his own daughter. But he’d been helpless about what to do. Soon, she came to say refreshments were ready any time they were.

  “I think you need to get cleaned up first,” his mother said to Leia. They walked ahead, with Leia telling his mother what she did and what she learned.

  Jane looked up at Mak. “I would never have thought a horse like Big Brown could leave a stall so clean overnight.”

  She had a way of observing the minutest of things. “And I would never have thought a child could win an apple-picking game over an accomplished horsewoman.”

  “Okay,” she said, “I guess that means we’re both devious.”

  “Or,” he said, “both trying to do what’s best for a child.”

  “So the lesson went well?”

  He nodded. “Better than I expected.”

  “You mean you didn’t expect much from me?” She placed her hands on her hips.

  He stopped in front of her, looking at his mother and daughter to see if they were out of hearing range. “I didn’t expect my daughter to clean out a stall. I admit I don’t know her as well as I thought I did.” He inhaled and looked over her head for a moment. “Leia is a strong-willed, adventurous little girl.”

  “That isn’t bad, Mak.”

  He’d heard Jane describe herself that way. He reached up and brushed aside a stray lock of hair the wind blew against her cheek. “No. Not bad at all.”

  Her expression showed surprise. Was that because he’d touched her or was it his admitting that adventurous wasn’t bad? She slapped the leg of her pants. “I just realized something,” she said. “I don’t have a horse. Cinnamon needs to be here for Leia to talk to and feed oats and apples.”

  “She learned a lot today. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. But I learned something, too. Your bringing Cinnamon to me had nothing whatsoever do with the color of my eyes or my hair. You wanted to find out if I thought the horse would be right for Leia.”

  He shrugged. What could he say?

  “Mak, you could have told me that.”

  They’d neared the house, so he stopped again and stood in front of her. “I wasn’t trying to be deceptive. I wasn’t sure about allowing Leia to learn. It’s like this is all
happening, unfolding, when I didn’t really plan it.”

  Would she understand that? After a moment she said, “Could this be one of those times Uncle Russell talked about when he said the Lord works in mysterious ways?”

  She stared into his eyes. After a long moment, he turned and walked on. “I don’t know,” he said seriously. “Most of God’s ways are a mystery to me.” He opened the screen door. “But I’ll get you another horse.”

  Her eyes widened, and her voice sounded incredulous. “One that can really gallop?”

  She could make him laugh more in a few minutes than anyone else had done. . .in a long time.

  Twenty-three

  Jane thought he might choose the white horse for her but when he didn’t, she figured he thought it might be a mite too frisky. After they returned to the stables he asked a stable boy to bring Anise to the corral.

  She loved the horse the moment she saw her. Mak had chosen a beautiful brown mare with a black mane and tail, not as large as Big Brown or as old, but a fine, strong animal. Maybe he did respect her ability as a horsewoman.

  “Shall we gallop out and see how Panai is doing with his workout?” he asked.

  “I’d love that.”

  “Just remember,” he said as they mounted the horses. “Don’t try to ride like the wind before you and the horse relate well. Like you told Leia, you need to know each other first.”

  Jane felt so good in the saddle, like the two of them were made for each other. “I promise,” she said. “I will not ride like the wind.” She gave him a sly look. “Like a Texas tornado wind, that is.”

  He gave her a warning look. “Just try to hold it down to a gentle Hawaiian breeze for now.”

  As they cantered across the velvety green range, Jane mentioned that her dad, Austin, and Inez were coming to the island. “They will probably arrive in February.”

  After a moment, he said, “Oh, in wintertime.”

  “What’s winter like here?”

  He sighed as if that were a problem. “About two degrees cooler and a few more inches of rain.”