Hiro Loves Kite
Page 22
“She’s not in there,” Kricket mutters while opening the door and shoving me inside with more strength than I would have anticipated. I stumble headlong into the room. When my eyes lift, I gasp.
The curtains flutter from the open window. Candles burn and waver on every surface. It smells like smoke and snow, but mostly it has the sweet, soft smell of Kite. My eyes touch upon the tiny folded stars and cranes and lotus flowers strewn over the dresser, the floor, the bed. I’ve been teaching Kricket the crane. I hadn’t got to lotus flowers yet. My eyes narrow.
The mirror sparkles with reflected light, like she’s actually trapped a comet in here and its tail is lying gently across the furniture.
Kricket shoves a shirt and a bowtie into my arms. “Put this on.” Her eyes have returned to serious, and she looks like she’ll hurt me if I don’t abide her wishes. I shrug out of my shirt and put the white one on, quickly fastening the black buttons. The bowtie looks more complicated than origami and I wrap it around my collar, tying it loosely. I have no idea how to do it properly.
Kricket throws me a dinner jacket. I look ridiculous, barefoot in pajama pants and a tuxedo shirt paired with a dinner jacket. But Kricket nods her approval.
She grabs my waist with pointy fingers. Lines me up by the window. “Stand right here an don’t move,” she orders, pointing at a spot on the floor almost grumpily. I salute and do as I’m told.
Muffled voices on the other side of the door. “Okay, Kin, do you think you know everything there is to know about the plumbing in the basement now?”
Kin’s mocking tone is liquid lies. “Well, I thought it was necessary knowledge, you know, in case something goes wrong. You’ll need a man to fix things around the place.”
I can imagine him puffing his chest out proudly.
Kite laughs daintily. “It took you twenty minutes to tell the difference between water pipes and heating lines. Not to mention the stairs…” Her voice is like rustling corn silk in a field. Sweet and surprising.
“Well, now I know the…” Kin’s voice darkens like he has a secret. I step forward, and Kricket slaps her hand on my chest to stop me.
The door opens, and Kin and Kricket whisper, “Surprise!” at the same time.
Kite steps into the room, her hair plaited messily and resting over one shoulder. Her nightdress hangs below a tightly fastened robe. She puts her hand on her heart, gasping like I did at the sight of her room. “What on earth!”
Kin waggles his eyebrows behind her, and I frown. When her eyes meet mine, we are stretched elastic, winding tighter and tighter until she is standing in front of me. I face my palms to the ceiling. “I’m in the dark, too,” I manage.
Kin strides over to us, standing at the windowsill, icy breeze reddening our cheeks. He gently places a garland of flowers on Kite’s head like a crown. Her chin dips, and she bites her lip. Her lashes are dark and curled and sprinkled with pollen. The flowers hang lower over one ear, and I reach out to tuck them back into her hair. She is more than beautiful. She is the beginning of the universe. Stars colliding.
We turn to the two conspirators, who look very pleased with themselves. “What are you two up to?” I ask.
Proudly, Kricket marches to the window and takes a pre-decided position at the sill. “I’m gonna marry you an Nor-ah. Though I know you call her Kite. So, for the porpoises of the ceremony, I will say Kite. Not Nor-ah. Okay, Nor-ah? Shoot. Okay, Kite?”
We both laugh quietly, getting an irritated look from the little redhead. Kite taps her apricot lips with a nod. “Yes, of course, Frankie.” Who points between us, indicating for Kite and me to face each other.
“Dearly loved. We’re gonna gather around and marry Hiro and Kite.” She says the word emphatically. She reads from a torn piece of paper, her eyes running over each word carefully.
My smile is stretching beyond my face. My heart is breaking free from my chest. I find Kite’s eyes, and I can tell she feels the same.
Kricket straightens the paper. Points at her sister. “Kite loves Hiro.” She waits for confirmations, and Kite nods shyly. Then she points at me. “And Hiro loves Kite.”
“I do,” I murmur, hooked into that honey expression. Waves of warmth crashing over my eyes. A rainbow slow dances over us from the leadlight lamp by the window.
Kricket slaps my arm. “We’re not at that part yet.” Letting out a groan, she traces the words with her finger. “Ya made me lose ma place.” She taps her ear as it crackles and whines.
Kin chuckles beside me, but when I find his expression, it is genuine and encouraging. It’s the other side of the ticket. The return trip. He flicks his hand, telling me to turn back toward Kite.
Kricket mutters to herself, then says, “Right! They been worryin’ about things that don’t need worryin’ about. When them being in love with each other is the only thing they should be worryin’ about. Well, not worryin’… I mean, thinking about.”
In her eyes, I see resolution. I feel it within myself. The kid is right.
I wait to hear a snicker from Kin, but all I hear is a long, deep breath in.
Kricket points her thin finger at my chest. “Hiro, say I marry you, Kite.”
These words, though spoken by a child in the middle of the night, carry importance. “I marry you, Kite.” I hold my breath for the next part. My heart hinged on what Kite will say.
Kricket swings in her party dress, flashes of pink satin and milky-way light. “Kite, say I marry you, Hiro.”
She says it with determination and abandon. With all the pain and scars thrown to the side. I take them. I’ll hold them for her as long as she needs me to. “I marry you, Hiro.”
Kricket clears her throat. An icy wind pours through the window. Kite reaches up and closes it behind her little sister’s head. The cold can’t come in. The words won’t fly away. “Now join hands.” When she curses, Kite draws in shocked breath. “Aw hell, I was s’posed to do that first. Just pretend you were holdin’ hands tha whole time.”
I can’t help but let out a folded laugh, creased in the corners by something big happening right here. In the bedroom of the girl who lived in the fancy brownstone and wanted to fly away. Whose feet are now firmly on the ground, facing mine. Saying things I am so happy to hear. Things I believe in, wholeheartedly.
Kite pats her sister’s head. “It doesn’t matter, Frankie. You’re doing great.”
“Jus hold hands extra tight; that’ll make up for it.”
We hold hands. They lock together, and maybe our feet lift a little. Like there’s still magic left. Still stardust to squander.
Kricket puts her hands over ours. Pushes them down quite forcefully. “I now pronunciate you married!” She presents the simple pewter ring with a star on it I bought at the drugstore. “Stick that on Nor… Kite’s finger, please.”
I slide it onto her ring finger. It’s too big and rolls over so the star is underneath, but Kite gazes at it like it’s the most beautiful thing she’s ever owned.
Kricket claps her hands, jumping up and down. Kite’s eyes are lit like the blazing sun on the summer sea. I grin and she grins, and we can’t let go of each other.
Kin mutters something, grabbing hold of Kricket’s arm. “C’mon, you little ferret,” he says affectionately. I hear them, but my eyes can’t stray. They see only the air around her face. The distance from me to her lips.
“But I wanna stay,” Kricket moans as she’s being gently dragged across the carpet.
“No. You don’t,” Kin says, pausing in the doorway.
“Why, what’s gonna happen?” her husky voice whines.
Kin’s chest rumbles with that deep chuckle that comes straight from his mischievous heart. “Because they’re gonna kiss.” He makes smooching noises, and I’m sure Kricket’s face scrunches.
“Ew!” she manages as she’s pulled through the doorway and it’s latched. The sound pulls the hands from the clock. Time doesn’t just stand still. It ceases to be. This moment is purely and endlessly ou
rs.
I wrap my arms around her waist, and she does the same. Pressing close. Eyes alight. Our toes touching. Our hearts winding around each other in a permanent, unbreakable kind of way. It’s a kiss free from pain. And it’s the best one so far because I know there are so many more to follow.
I know that we’re right where we’re meant to be. Not holding each other together. Just holding each other.
We fall. We laugh. We open.
We are bridged and broken no longer.
“So, what do we do now?” Kite asks with a heart that’s full but knows there’s more.
I smile. “Whatever we want.”
THE END
* * *
Don’t miss Breaker & the Sun, Book 3 in the Paper Stars series. Available now on all platforms!
Also by Lauren Nicolle Taylor
The Woodlands Series:
The Woodlands, Book 1
The Wall, Book 2
The Wounded, Book 3
The Wanted, Book 4
The Willful: Novella, Book 5
Paper Stars Novels:
Nora & Kettle, Book 1
Hiro & Kite, Book 2
Breaker & the Sun, Book 3
About the Author
Lauren Nicolle Taylor is the bestselling author of THE WOODLANDS SERIES and the award-winning YA novel NORA & KETTLE (Gold medal Winner for Multicultural fiction, Independent Publishers Book Awards 2017). NORA & KETTLE received a starred review from Booklist magazine. She has a Health Science degree and an honors degree in Obstetrics and Gynecology. She is a proud Hapa, living in the lush hamlet of the Adelaide hills with her husband and three children.
Acknowledgments
This book was written in the interest of a fresh start. Having felt like I was being creatively restrained for two years, I sat down to write with abandon and freedom. Hiro Loves Kite is a reflection of letting go and holding on. Letting go of expectations, of the need to please and holding onto love and the belief that good things can and will happen. What resulted is a representation of real, messy, hopeful love. And the story of two people who must come to terms with the fact that they truly deserve to have that love.
If you take anything away from this novel, let it be that you do deserve good things. I think far too often, when bad things happen, we believe we’re being punished. We think, of course that happened. It was only a matter of time. It’s been a bad week, a bad month, a bad year. We hold onto the negative: Due to trauma, a bad string of events or something else that makes us think that luck is not on our side. When what we should be doing is holding onto the good. It’s a rope dangling right in front of our faces, offering a way out of the hole we’ve dug. But it can be so hard to grasp. The climb looks hard. The rope swings out of range. It’s slippery. It burns our hands when we lose purchase. We can’t see over the edge and we worry it’s more of the same up there.
Take it! Even if you don’t know what’s waiting at the top. Believe it’s good. Or, that once you get out, you’ll find the good thing, down the path, around the corner. I promise, it’s not out of reach. It’s waiting for its moment.
We all deserve happiness. Don’t let the world, the universe, the freakin’ sky, tell you any different.
Thank you for reading Hiro Loves Kite; I hope you enjoyed this book!
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