Kulani sat. Just having Cappy here helped soothe her shredded emotional state. Without preamble, she told him everything. She couldn’t leave anything out, not even the part that was top secret. Cappy was completely trustworthy, and besides, he needed to know everything in order to make an informed decision about what she planned to ask of him. When she finished, he was leaning his narrow hips against the counter, his large-knuckled hands resting on the drain board, his eyes thoughtful.
“What I want to do is help Dev. I have to go down there with him.”
“Or,” Cappy said as he poured steaming hot coffee into colorful ceramic mugs, “I could go down with him instead of you.”
With a shake of her head, Kulani said, “No, I can’t let you do that.” She gratefully took one mug after Cappy poured a jigger of brandy into it. A little liquor at this point would help unknot her gut, and he seemed to sense that. “Thanks…”
“Strictly medicinal, you understand,” he replied as he sat down with a grin that exposed the missing front teeth he’d lost in a fall last year and never had replaced.
She managed a one-sided lift of her lips and took a sip of the liquor-laced coffee. “Right…medicinal.”
“Well, if you don’t want me goin’ down the side of the mountain with ’im, then do you want me on top to belay ropes and other stuff to you?”
Nodding, Kulani placed the mug on the glass surface of the table. “Yes. I trust you with my life, Cappy. This isn’t a two-person mission. It’s really three. We’re going to need hundreds of feet of rope as we get farther and farther down the cliff. I’ll need you at the top with a static belay. Once I get the pitons in place, you’d have less to do. But I’d want you on top to monitor us all the way down, even if your job with the lines is done.”
“You are going to need food, dry clothes and sleeping bags. We’re in for a tropical storm. At least, that’s what my nose tells me. The forecasters are wrong on this weather. The winds are already up to forty miles an hour, and the weather bureau on Kauai is saying it might develop into a hurricane tomorrow night—just when you’re supposed to start that descent.” He shook his head. “Man alive, this really sucks, but I see the wisdom of going down the wall instead of trying to hike back up into the canyon. Chances are they’ve got motion sensors planted all over the place in front of ’em. They won’t have any up on the walls of the canyon.”
“Right. Another reason to descend,” she agreed quietly. Cappy had been an army ranger during the Korean War. Some said he was crazy when he returned from Korea, but Kulani knew it was post-traumatic-stress disorder that made Cappy live his life the way he had since then. She saw his mouth twist. “What?”
“When you spoke of Hunter, your voice went real soft.” He eyed her, humor dancing deep in his dark brown eyes. “This guy grab your heart, Kulani? Sure looks like it from where I’m sitting.” He grinned broadly.
Flushing, the heat rolling up her cheeks, Kulani avoided Cappy’s laughter-filled look. “Oh, Cap, don’t be ridiculous! You can’t know someone for two days and have that happen.”
“Really?” He patted her hand in a fatherly way. “Child, your voice goes soft, your eyes go soft…why, you’re the soft-boiled egg and he’s your shell, your protector, the guy who holds you with his arms and his heart.”
“I’m an egghead for even thinking this guy means anything to me,” Kulani growled, a faint smile crossing her compressed lips.
Chuckling loudly, Cappy sipped his coffee. “Child, it’s about time somethin’ good happened to you. Now, this Dev Hunter fellow seems to have only one fault, from where I sit. He’s got a lot of pride and thinks he can descend that cliff alone. No one can. Not even him. You were right to call me. And it will take the three of us to pull this off.” Reaching over, he gripped her hand and squeezed it. “You did right when you called me. I’m the right person to be a part of your team.”
Relieved, Kulani said, “Then I need to call Dev and tell him what’s up.”
“Good idea, child.”
Kulani dialed his room at the Princeton Hotel. She was anxious to connect with Dev. Why wasn’t he answering? An operator came on the line, and she left her name and phone number and a message that it was urgent that he return her call her the moment he got in. Reluctantly hanging up the phone, Kulani walked slowly back into the kitchen.
Cappy looked up. “He might be down at the Sunset Cliffs store, checking out climbing gear. He’s gonna need a helluva lotta coiled rope for that descent.”
Nodding and trying to hide her worry, Kulani sat down. “Sammy probably has that much nylon rope on hand?”
“I’m sure he will,” Cappy said with a snort. “He can completely outfit Hunter for this climb, if that’s what he wants. Or maybe Hunter brought all his equipment with him. Who knows?”
Raising her eyebrows, Kulani said, “God, I hope he doesn’t go out to that ridge point by himself before we can get to him.”
“He’s bound to go back to the hotel sometime tonight.” Patting her hand, Cappy said, “You worry like a lovesick girl.”
“Oh, Cappy!”
Chortling, he released her hand. “One thing I know about you, Kulani, is when you blush, you’re in love. Saw that,” he said, taking a long, delicious sip of his coffee, “when I climbed with you and Stephen. He made you blush all the time.” Pointing at her reddened cheeks, he said, “Now this feller, Dev Hunter, holds your heart. I feel it’s good for you. No one should be alone, you know?”
She gave him a skeptical look. “You’re alone,” she retorted defensively.
“Me? The ole mountain goat of Kauai? Why, child, no woman in her right state of mind would have me around her.” He touched his silvered temple. “I’m crazier than a dingy cormorant, remember?” And he cackled.
“Oh, sure you are.” Kulani laughed with him. His wife of fifty years, Elena, had died a year ago. Kulani had seen Cappy’s utter devastation at the loss. They’d been deeply in love. His hair had been shiny black with just a touch of silver at his temples before she’d passed on. Afterward, he’d turned gray almost overnight. He was a shadow of his former self. Elena had understood the wounded war vet. With her, Cappy had found safety and love. Without her, he would have been lost had it not been for Kulani. She’d lost Stephen six months before, and knew the pain of loss, too. She’d saved Cappy from holding a gun to his own head and putting himself out of his grief-stricken misery. Since then, she and Cappy had been closer than ever. He was like a foster father to her, and she, the daughter he’d never had, but always wished for.
“Tell me more about this Hunter fella. Since we’ll be meetin’ up tomorrow, I’d like to understand as much as I can about ’im.”
Sighing, Kulani said, “He’s got your eyes, Cappy. Not the same color, but the same mirth and humor in their depths. When he looks at me, I feel his laughter. He’s not laughing at me, but has that impish, Irish blarney look. Like he knows something I don’t.” She waved her hand gracefully. “Or maybe he knows the inside joke and I don’t.”
“I’ll bet the twinkle in that young fella’s eyes is about the joy of getting to lay ’em on the likes of you. You’re beautiful. A wild ginger growing in the midst of a green jungle, untouched and unearthly. I’ll betcha he thinks he’s died and gone to heaven.” Cackling, Cappy waved his bony finger at her. “And don’t sit there and spit and sputter in denial, child. You are one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever laid on eyes, ’cept for my ’Lana.”
Lowering her lashes, Kulani absorbed Cappy’s passionate statement. “Mama always said real beauty was in the heart. That’s what I strive for, Cappy. My outer looks will fade and change with age. I want my real looks, my inner attractiveness, to shine through like the lighthouse beacon at Secret Beach.”
“Believe me, you’re like a radiant sun. Never mind that lighthouse, child. If Hunter is half the man I sense he is, he’ll think you’re more valuable to him than any amount of money, gold or gems. Believe me, I feel it here, in my heart.” He pres
sed his fist against his bony chest. “And my senses tell me that Hunter isn’t any ordinary run-of-the-mill fella, either. But then, all I gotta do is look into your eyes and see the stars shinin’ in ’em, and I know he’s one helluva man where you’re concerned.” Rubbing his hands together, he said, “Nope, I can hardly wait to meet this gent.”
Chapter Seven
Sunset along the ridge overlooking the steep lava walls of the Kalalau Valley was turning a bloodred color as the last light of day peeked between layers of prominent storm clouds. Dev was leaning over, making last-minute adjustments to the harness he was going to strap into when, to his utter surprise, he saw Kulani and a thin, wizened man appear at the top of the steep trail above him.
Freezing momentarily, he studied Kulani’s deeply shadowed face as she, too, hesitated. Her shoulders were packed with black nylon climbing ropes, he noted. Anguish and fear etched her face. But he also saw resolve there, in the way her soft mouth was compressed.
Slowly straightening, Dev put the nylon leg harness aside and met Kulani as she carefully made her way down the vertical path. It was muddy and slippery from a rain shower, the first of many to come with the tropical storm, which had arrived less than an hour before. The old man waited at the top as she descended.
“What are you doing here?” Dev demanded as he gripped Kulani’s outstretched hand and helped her down to the ledge where he stood.
“You never returned my call last night. I was going to tell you that I’d climb with you.”
His eyes widened momentarily. “I never got the message,” he told her in apology. “Maybe it got lost or something? If I’d have known you called, I would have returned it, believe me. But, you don’t have to climb with me. I told you, I don’t need anyone.”
Anger surged through Kulani. She halted inches from him. “You are stubborn as a mule, Dev! I talked to Morgan last night. He said you are not to go on this mission alone. Are you in the habit of disobeying orders, too?” She jabbed her finger toward the lip of the cliff, where they would begin their descent. In the west, the clouds thickened and shut off the weak stream of sunlight, reminding her that the tropical storm had not moved on. In fact, it was forecasted to hit Kauai full force this evening—just when they were starting their climb.
“Well,” Dev muttered defiantly, checking his harness, “I told Morgan I could do this alone.”
She stood there, breathing hard, and looked from him to the lip of the cliff. Fear rose higher, along with hurt and hope. Kulani realized in that moment that she needed to make this climb, regardless. Cappy was right: she had to face her fears.
She captured Dev’s hand in hers, and in a ragged voice, she pleaded, “Look, I’m really hurting right now. I need you in order to make this climb down that face. I’m afraid. I keep having flashbacks from the past. I’m going down there with you or without you. You can’t stop me from coming, but it would be better if you agreed to let me come along. That way, if I needed you, you’d be nearby, Dev.” Her throat closed off with tears as she watched his eyes soften with her admission. “Please…I need you on this descent, Dev. Will you be there for me?”
His conscience railed at him. The vulnerability, the raw truth she was sharing with him moved him as nothing else ever had. Kulani needed him. How long had it been since someone had really needed him? Susan—when she’d lost their baby; that was when. But she hadn’t reached out. Not to him. Not like this. Mouth tightening, he stopped fiddling with his ropes and harness. The tears glimmering in Kulani’s eyes were his undoing.
“You need me?”
“I said it, didn’t I? Do you think I’m lying to you?”
“No…no, I don’t.” He knew she wasn’t lying just by the look on her face. Kulani was incapable of such a lie. He tried to grapple with her quavering request because it was tearing his heavily guarded heart wide open. The feelings pouring through him were wild, untrammeled, filled with hope, with desire—for her alone. Swallowing hard, Dev motioned to the coils of rope. “I was a little busy last night getting all the equipment to climb with, and I didn’t have much time to think things through. Maybe I could use a little help, after all, on this descent.”
Kulani accepted his explanation, and relief tunneled through her. There was a lot of business to attend to shortly before a climb. “We’re here to help,” she said tightly as she released his warm hand. “But first, I want to you to meet Cappy Martinez.”
Dev narrowed his eyes at the old man who was now descending gingerly down the trail. Then his eyes widened with shock. Cappy was a legend in his own time. Anyone who was serious about mountain climbing knew of Cappy Martinez.
The old man moved agilely toward them. “These belay lines are damned heavy, young man. Help me get them over to your static belay point,” he said, pointing to where Dev had already set up a block and tackle around a huge, gnarled umbrella or schefflera tree that stood near the ledge where he was going to begin his descent.
Dumbfounded, Dev did as he was ordered. In no time, almost five hundred feet of nylon line lay in neat, orderly piles near the trunk of the tree. When he was through he noticed that Kulani was dressed for climbing. She wore dull black, clinging material from head to toe beneath her jeans and white, long-sleeved shirt. Around her neck was a set of night goggles.
“Just in case you had any thoughts on this topic, you ain’t climbin’ alone, young feller.” Cappy pointed his finger toward the valley behind where Dev stood. “Kulani told me everything. I know of only two kinds of climbers, son—those that live and those that die. Now…with the info she gave me, I’d say you’re gonna be in the dead column real quick. So I’m glad you decided to let her come along with you.” He jabbed his thumb across his narrow shoulder. “She’s the right partner to have. She’s climbed these valleys all her life. I taught her to climb them when she was only nine years old.” And he smiled proudly at Kulani, who was standing tensely, the nylon harness she was going to wear in her hands.
Scowling, Dev swung his attention to Kulani. She had plaited her hair into two long, thick braids, which lay across her shoulders. Long hair was a detriment in climbing, particularly as the winds swept up a cliff. The strands could blind the person, or worse, get tangled in the equipment and cause even more problems. With her ebony hair in braids against her golden skin, she looked very Native American.
“It’s time to face my fears, Cappy,” Kulani said.
Without saying anything, Cappy glanced significantly at Dev Hunter and then nodded to her. “Yes,” he told her softly, “it is. And it’s a good thing. I think this young lone wolf can be there to help you if you get in trouble, too.”
She made sure her harness was turned inside out so that the wide nylon webbing would not be kinked or twisted when weight was placed into it, and then rapidly began to unbutton her blouse. She stepped out of her jeans, folding them along with her white shirt and putting them into a plastic bag to keep dry.
Dev saw the terror in her expression as she readied herself. Her hands were trembling. She was afraid. And she needed him. The thought buoyed him. It made him feel good in a way he hadn’t experienced in a long, long time. Kulani was counting on him to help her if she got into trouble while facing her deep fears. And he found he wanted to be there for her.
Cappy stepped forward and waved his finger in Dev’s face. “Kulani said you were a man to be counted on in an emergency.” He grinned a little as he looked up, tilting his head slightly like a bird looking at something. “Are you?”
Dev stared down at Cappy and then over at Kulani, who stood poised and waiting for his answer. “It’s been a long time since I was needed by anyone….”
Cappy chuckled. “Well, she needs you, so how about that?” He gave Dev a satisfied smile. “You’re important in her life. To her.” He looked around at the darkening landscape, at the swollen rain clouds approaching. “It’s a good thing you’re going down as a team. If one of you gets in trouble, no helicopter pilot in his or her right mind is gonna come fo
r you. Not with this storm on top of us.” He shook his head. “No way. Not with the winds screamin’ up these walls from the Pacific. You’ll have each other. That will be enough. You made the right decision to let her come along with you.”
Chastened, Dev swallowed his usual arrogant reply. When he saw the way Cappy was looking at him, the old man’s thin mouth twisted into a knowing grin, he replied, “Yeah, well, I was worried for Kulani….” Dev waved his hand in her direction. “I care about her. I didn’t want to have her jeopardized on this assignment…but if she needs me, I’m willing to go along with everything.”
Rubbing his bristly gray chin, Cappy grinned a little more widely. “You care about her, young feller?” He chuckled indulgently and turned to Kulani. “See? I told you so. He likes you. I knew this figured into his reasoning for not wanting you to come along.”
As heat pummeled her neck and cheeks, Kulani bent down and pretended to busy herself with the thin, protective black flak jackets she’d brought along for both of them to wear—just in case. “Hunter would say anything to keep me from coming along,” she retorted. When she straightened and stared defiantly across at Dev, she saw that her words had hurt him. “Oh, hell,” she muttered, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.”
“Love is never smooth sailin’,” Cappy said with a chuckle.
Kulani’s breath hitched. “Love?” The word came out strangled. That was impossible! She couldn’t love this arrogant man!
“You’re crazy, old man,” Dev breathed savagely. He moved over to the new coils of nylon rope and bent to inspect them. His heart pounded at Cappy’s unexpected statement. Love? No, the old man was nuts. Dev liked Kulani, but love didn’t happen like this. Or did it? Dev was unsure. All he knew was that, as he prepared his gear for the descent, he’d spent one guilty, sleepless night because of how he’d mistreated Kulani.
Cappy moved carefully over the slick, red clay, heading to where Dev stood. “Ah, to be young again,” he said wistfully, “with all the pain and joy that comes with it.” Bending over the coils, he announced, “There’s enough line here to get you three hundred feet down the cliff. Where’re your pitons? I wanna check ’em out.”
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