McDonald_TWT_GENVers_Feb2014

by Donna McDonald

  “What are you complaining about? I made sure there was no chance of you burning off your skirt. Only the groomsmen will be fire dancing at the luau afterward. The rest of us get to watch and admire the show,” Sabine said.

  And she’d seen the nearly naked version of Koka’s fire dance during his practice in the backyard of his house. Grateful for the seclusion of a tall privacy fence, she had enjoyed the show immensely.

  Denise suddenly appeared in the doorway pushing a wheelchair.

  “Aren’t you ready yet, Sunshine?” Pekala demanded. “You need to hurry before Koka and his cousins burn the house down with their practicing.”

  “I’m ready,” Sabine said, walking to her.

  Pekala lifted the bouquet of white orchids, jasmine, and assorted colorful flowers. “These are not completely traditional, but they suit you. Come now. He waits impatiently.”

  Sabine buried her face in the fragrant bouquet. “These are beautiful and they smell amazing.”

  “Boys—it’s show time,” Sabine called when she lifted her head.

  Rolling his eyes, Joe gave a head nod to a still laughing Todd. “If we ever decide to do this, and I use the word ‘theme’ in a sentence, remind me of Sabine’s wedding.”

  “Yes, honey,” Todd teased, snapping the elastic that held up Joe’s grass skirt as he walked around him.

  Despite the not so graceful beginning of their march, the two men grew quiet as they walked ahead of the bride and her escort, slowing more when they heard the music.

  The walk down the sand-covered pavers was slow with the wheelchair, but Sabine hardly noticed. All she saw was the brilliant white smile of the man with ancient warrior blood who waited for her. He stood by the side of the walkway he’d created for his grandmother.

  Denise rolled Pekala to the side and waited while Koka stepped onto the pavers and took a position facing her. Sabine fought back a giggle when he cleared his throat and took a deep breath. It made her smile to see that he was as nervous as she was.

  “For our friends from the mainland and our family, we decided to start our ceremony with exchanging our declarations in front of you first,” Koka said. He watched Sabine’s smiling face with his heart beating hard.

  “Mahalo nui loa. Thank you for your prayers and for bringing my sunshine to me today,” Koka whispered. He bent and kissed Pekala’s cheek, then straightened to hold out his hand formally to his bride.

  “Ke Aloha—I am calling Sabine Blakeman my beloved. Aloha No Au Ia 'Oe—I am saying to Sabine that I truly love her—and I do very much,” Koka said, explaining to everyone as Sabine put her hand in his.

  “Aloha Au Ia 'Oe,” Sabine replied, grateful for the language lessons Pekala had given her. “I am saying back to Koka Whitman—I love you—and I always will.”

  Overwhelmed with emotion that simply had to be expressed, Koka bent his mouth to Sabine’s for a kiss that rocked them both more than was wise.

  When he lifted his head, she stumbled back a little. He instantly reached out and caught her, unable to stop his masculine chuckle. “Whoa—don’t fall.”

  “I wasn’t going to fall. I just wasn’t prepared. You weren’t supposed to kiss me yet,” Sabine complained.

  “Do you expect a warning every time I kiss you?” Koka demanded.

  “Not now, children. We have guests. No fighting until this is over,” Pekala yelled as loudly as her old voice would rise, clapping her hands for extra sound.

  “Sorry, Pekala. But Koka started it,” Sabine said, snickering and pushing against her handsome groom’s chest with the hand that held her flowers.

  “Consider yourself warned then, bride. If you think I won’t kiss my wife when I please, you are definitely marrying the wrong Todd,” Koka said sternly. He pulled a squealing Sabine into his arms and kissed her neck while everyone listened to her protests.

  Finally pushing free of her demanding groom’s hold on her, Sabine glared at Koka’s happy face. He was so absolutely beautiful. It was still very hard to believe a man like him could want her as much as he did. Overwhelming emotion with the force of a tidal wave swept through her every time she looked at him.

  Afraid she might burst into stupid bride tears any second, Sabine buried her red face in her flowers and turned to the only person she could for help. “Don’t just stand there, Joe Kendall. It’s your job as Man of Honor to fix this awkward situation.”

  Joe crossed his arms and spread his legs to look as intimidating as possible. “What is there to fix? Your embarrassment over fighting with your groom cannot be greater than mine wearing this grass skirt for you. Go say ‘I do’ to the bossy Hawaiian you adore and let the man feed you grilled pineapple for the rest of your life. You’re just afraid to say ‘I do” again, sweetie. But there is no reason to be in this case.”

  When Sabine shook her head and wouldn’t raise her face from her flowers, Joe sighed and turned to the now suddenly worried groom. “Trust me, Koka. Your bride doesn’t mean that head shake one bit. Instead of fighting with her, try saying something romantic and poetic. Sabine loves that stuff now. She goes on and on about it.”

  The wisdom of Joe’s request hit him in a rush, and just as hard as his bride hit her Man of Honor in the chest with her bouquet over his request. Koka laughed loudly at Sabine’s actions, but he finally understood what was needed. He cleared his throat loudly as Joe forcibly turned his suddenly reluctant bride to face him again.

  He stepped closer and smiled into her wary eyes. “I know you’re worried, but I swear your heart is safe with me. Sabine Blakeman—there is a man standing by the ocean with the power to marry us. He is waiting for us now as anxiously as I have been waiting for you all my life. Will you marry me today? Will you become my wife? I promise to love you and only you until I take my last breath. Aloha Aku No.”

  Raising her head at the sincerity that was always in his lovely words, Sabine nodded and smiled at the only man who could have ever talked her into remarrying so soon. “Okay. I love you too. I’m sorry I panicked. Now I’m so nervous that I’ve forgotten Pekala’s lessons. How do I say a simple yes in Hawaiian?”

  “Let your heart say it for you, Sunshine. I will hear it,” Koka whispered, tugging her hand until Sabine laughed happily and followed him.

  # # #

  NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: If you enjoyed this ebook, please consider leaving a positive review or rating on the site where you purchased it. Reader reviews help my books continue to be valued by distributors/resellers and help new readers make decisions about reading them. I value each and every reader who takes the time to do this and invite you all to join me on my Website, Blog, Facebook, Twitter, or Goodreads.com for more discussions and fun.

  You are the reason I write these stories and I sincerely appreciate you!

  Many thanks for your support,

  ~ Donna McDonald

  KEEP READING in this ebook to

  read an excerpt

  from “Next Song I Sing”,

  Book 1 in the Next Time Around series

  Glossary of Translations

  Most of the Hawaiian in this book came from internet research. I found one very good site that was geared to weddings which was full of phrasing for love and romance. I’m not including it because sites have a tendency to disappear or change. Instead, I am including the translations of the phrases I used.

  aloha is a greeting used to say hello or goodbye. Aloha can also mean love.

  kupunawahine ~ grandmother, grandma, granma, granny, grammy, grams, nana

  ku`uipo ~ sweetheart

  Ke Aloha ~ beloved

  Mahalo E Ke Akua No Keia La ~ thanks be to God (or the goddess) for this day

  Mahalo ~ thank you

  Mahalo nui loa ~ thank you very much

  Nau ko`u aloha ~ my love is yours

  Na'u `oe ~ you're mine

  No Keia La, No Keia Po, A Mau Loa ~ from this day, from this night, forever more

  Nou No Ka `I`ini ~ I desire you

  'O Ku'u
Aloha No 'Oe ~ you are indeed my love

  Pilialoha ~ to be in a bond of love

  Aloha Au Ia 'Oe ~ I Love You

  Aloha Aku No, Aloha Mai No ~ I give my love to you, you give your love to me

  Aloha No Au Ia 'Oe ~ I Truly Love You

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  Excerpt from NEXT SONG I SING (Book 1 of NTA series)

  Chloe sighed heavily when she saw a magazine with earmarked pages being pulled from the bright red overnight case tossed on the roll-away cot next to the window. She hung her head and groaned like a woman dying, eliciting a wicked laugh from the bag’s owner.

  “Emma Wallace, I can’t believe you still do those silly quizzes. I will not be answering any questions about my favorite position during sex, so don’t even ask.”

  Emma studied her friend Chloe and then pointed the magazine at her, punching the air with it for emphasis. “I’ll take it easy on you because your divorce is still fresh, but you need soul-searching more than any of us, Chloe. You stayed with a man who cheated on you for more years than I did. This is not just a quiz. It’s part of your journey to self-discovery.”

  “Journey to self-discovery? Jeez, Emma, you’re starting to sound more and more like those greeting cards you write,” Taylor Baird said, dragging an expensive black leather overnight case on wheels into the room behind her.

  Emma and Chloe smiled at the svelte blonde who looked all business in her suit. Chloe ran over to hug her, surprised to be getting all choked up over how happy she truly was to see Taylor.

  “Thank God you’re here. Emma brought a quiz,” Chloe complained, saying it as if it were a dirty word.

  Finally letting Taylor go, Chloe returned to her unpacking, a little embarrassed about how incredibly happy she was to be with her friends again. God, she should never have left.

  “Command some authority here, Taylor, and tell Emma no quiz questions. I moved to the West Coast to get away from being emotionally tortured,” Chloe said.

  Taylor laughed, her voice husky. “Remember in college when Emma got the idea that we needed to get our belly buttons pierced to be sexy?”

  “Unfortunately,” Chloe said, remembering the trauma all too well.

  She had screamed in pain while Emma had laughed and Taylor had winced in sympathy. But ironically, Chloe had kept the piercing over the years. Mostly because it had cost her so dearly to get it, but also because it made her feel sexy even when her husband Aaron hadn’t liked it. Wearing jewelry in her belly had been her way of rebelling against him when they fought, which ended up being often during the almost five years they had been married.

  “Earth to Chloe? Where are you?” Emma called, waving a hand in front Chloe’s face.

  “That piercing hurt like hell, Em,” Chloe informed her, glaring hard as she remembered the pain.

  “Everything worth doing hurts a little, even exercising. And who was it that ran around in navel-revealing shirts all that year? I’ll give you a hint. It wasn’t me or Taylor showing off our piercings,” Emma reminded her, not a bit embarrassed to gloat.

  “What else could I do but show it off? I figured I might as well enjoy flaunting it after going through hell to get it done,” Chloe insisted, glaring at Emma, who stuck out her tongue.

  “I bet you still have your piercing,” Emma said with a knowing grin. “I don’t. Taylor doesn’t. Tell us the truth, Chloe.”

  “A woman has a right to some keep some secrets, especially from nosy friends,” Chloe announced, turning away from their knowing smiles.

  When both Emma and Taylor laughed, Chloe rolled her eyes because…well, she had kept her piercing. And it had felt very brave to take a healthy chunk of her savings and buy a tiny real diamond-studded ring to wear there. It made her feel a lot younger than forty. She had needed help to feel better about her thirty-six-year-old husband replacing her with a skinny woman half her age.

  Taylor laughed at Chloe’s and Emma’s bickering, thinking five years living on opposite coasts hadn’t changed the dynamic between them much. Back in college though, Chloe’s programming to please people she cared about had practically guaranteed she would never outsmart a determined Emma hell-bent on a makeover. Helping people improve themselves was practically a religion to Em, and she and Chloe were usually favorite converts.

  “We were twenty-one not sixteen when we got those piercings, Chloe Zanders. You could have said no about the belly button ring. You can say no to the quiz now. That was my point for bringing it up. It’s time to learn to command your own authority,” Taylor said with a laugh.

  “Trust me, Baird. I’m not the pushover I was in college. I command authority when I need to nowadays, but you’re not fooling me. If I don’t play along, you and Emma will think I’m just as boring as my ex did,” Chloe said, turning away to shake out her clothes from the exercise duffle she had brought.

  She glared at the plain black gym bag. It wasn’t red and perky like Emma’s or sleekly black like Taylor’s. It was black and old, not to mention well-used, but her good luggage had been too large for a simple three-night stay in a resort, so Chloe hadn’t bothered with it. Everything that worked for California fit in the one small bag she’d carried on the plane.

  “You are so not boring, Chloe. Your ex was just a selfish jerk like my mine was. Own it, girlfriend—and then let it go,” Taylor said flatly, snorting in derision. “Trust me, you didn’t lose anything divorcing a man who didn’t appreciate you. One day soon, you’re going to be nothing but relieved that Aaron is out of your life. It just takes a while to feel it.”

  Taylor unzipped her case and started looking through her clothes. “Now come on. We’re going shopping for sexy new dresses to kick off our weekend. For once, I’m looking forward to letting Emma try to fix me with her quizzes and questions. I haven’t had a decent date in three months. I obviously need an attitude adjustment.”

  “It’s been two weeks since my last date,” Emma recounted, “but I’ve been sexually abstaining for several months. I’m balancing my chi and preparing for a better relationship. I want to be in an open and receptive state of being when I let the next man that far into my life.”

  Chloe snorted. “Balancing your chi? Wallace, you crack me up.” She shook her head and sighed heavily again. “Well, don’t try to balance mine, Em. I like my chi like it is. I’m still too mad at my ex to even think about sleeping with another man right now. I just want to enjoy my freedom for a while and be grateful I can stop worrying about what some guy thinks of me.”

  Taylor laughed, rich and full. “Well, speak for yourself. I don’t even remember the last time I had sex. I think I would like someone to unbalance my chi—and soon. What I need right now though is some minor lubrication, a late lunch, and some good old-fashioned girl fun.”

  “Taylor, I booked us appointments in the spa like you asked,” Emma said, speaking to her very savvy business friend who had placed her order for the weekend with specific instructions that she would be picking up the tab for their fun. “Full works on all three of us tomorrow at ten, including massages. We’re going to be buffed, fluffed, and stuffed. I hope that’s what you had in mind.”

  “Stuffed? What do you mean stuffed?” Chloe demanded, gripping her most slimming black dress in her hands. “Just what kind of massages did you arrange for us, Emma? I told
you I’m not ready for anything yet.”

  Taylor fell back on the bed laughing. “Would you listen to her? The woman who used to date three guys at once has now been replaced by an uptight version afraid of getting laid. Will you tell her sexual massages are not on the spa menu at this five-star hotel? I swear I am never going to visit the East Coast if Chloe is an example of what happens to people out there.”

  Emma put her chin on her chest and sighed heavily as she looked at Chloe. “I can see unwinding you is going to take some time.”

  “Yeah? Well, I’m about to show you two skinny blondes how much authority big women like me command. I’m going to sit on Emma’s tiny butt until she tells me what she means by stuffed,” Chloe said firmly, shaking out the five-year-old black capris that she hoped might still tame her curves.

  At an extremely healthy size fourteen, Chloe was not all that big by East Coast standards. But in southern California where tanned and toned bodies were the norm, she was twice the size of her two skinny friends.

  “Stuffed as in lunch, Chloe. Lunch is included in our treatment. Relax, will you? When was the last time you had any fun?” Emma demanded, shaking her head sadly.

  Chloe stopped sorting her clothes. When was the last time she had fun? Good grief, she couldn’t even remember. Sex she’d had, if you could count sleeping with her cheating ex-husband, but fun was sorely lacking. How pathetic was that?

  “The last time I had fun was in college,” Chloe answered finally. “Despite Aaron’s time out here, he and his family had very different ideas about fun than I had. Honestly, I don’t know now why I married him. When it came right down to day-to-day living, we didn’t have much in common.”

  “I know why you married Aaron. You were almost thirty-five and thought the world was ending because you were still not married. It was easy for you to cave-in to the sexy, semi-retired football player who spent all his time trying to get you into bed,” Taylor said wisely.