by Jillian Neal
“And you call her this as well?” Mrs. Vindico sneered.
“Yes, I do. Quite often, actually.”
“Well, I’ve never heard you refer to her as such.”
“Well, you also never listen.” He slammed the Buick into park and helped his father unload the luggage.
Flipping the switch to turn the overhead lights on in the cottage, Dan set his parent’s suitcases in the bedroom before returning for another load. Papa halted him out by the car on his return trip, after his parents had moved into the house.
They shared a knowing gaze. Papa gave Dan his soothing chuckle. He held up one of the wooden crates that contained several of Tutu’s oils and creams.
“You know they’re not going to use those.” Dan lamented dejectedly.
“I wasn’t so sure you would use them when you first brought my Maylea back to me. Of course someone handing you oils and telling you to strip my beautiful granddaughter down and give her baths makes a man of your caliper listen more intently, I suppose.” He teased.
Dan found it odd that he was able to chuckle with such ease. “I certainly wasn’t going to argue with her.”
Papa grinned. “If we have the cure, Daniel, but we don’t share it with the ailing, then why are we here?” The wisdom of the man permeated his tone.
“Here, I’ll give it to them.”
Smiling, Papa relieved himself of his burden. “Do you remember what I told you just before you married Maylea?”
Dan thought back. There had been so many things.
“You have fire in your soul, Daniel.”
“Yes, sir.” He recalled the conversation well. “And Maylea can soothe the burn.”
“That’s right.” Papa seemed impressed that he’d remembered, but Dan knew he would never forget.
“Your mother’s spirit is choked with worry and doubt. She is weary and desperate for approval, but listens to no voice other than her own. She may not listen tonight, but that doesn’t mean that you should stop talking.”
“I won’t let her do this to Fi. She’s been through hell at my hands. I won’t let anything hurt her again.”
“Maylea is strong, son. Her mighty strength is in her quiet grace, in her dignity, and in her soothing spirit. She can help quell your mother’s fire as well, but she needs your shield around her. You must work together if this is going to work at all.”
“I know, but she’s been strong long enough. I will always be her shield, sir, but tonight fire is going to meet fire.”
Papa nodded. “And that just might be the beginning, but at some point the fire must cool and the island must form. I wish you luck. It will be a mighty task.” He handed Dan a large picnic basket that was near his feet. “Tell your parents if they need anything to let us know.”
Dan added the basket of provisions to the crate of oils and tinctures. He marched towards his parents heated whispers from inside the front room.
“Marion, don’t kid yourself!” The Governor demanded. “Daniel will pack our bags for us, and make certain that we end up a lot further away than the St. Regis resort, and you’ll never see he, or Fionna, or our granddaughters ever again. Honestly, I don’t even think it would tax him to do so.
“She is everything to him, Marion. His whole world. Not me, and not you, Fionna, and Aida and the little one. That is all that matters to him, and I want a relationship with my son and with his family. So, please stop trying to change him and change the woman that saved him, when none of us were able to.
“Let me go ahead and lay out the cold hard facts for you, dear. Right now, they’re coming home in one month’s time, and Dan’s going back to work. Late one night a few months after that she’s going to wake him up terrified and overjoyed because she’s in labor. I would like to think that we would make the call list somewhere above Stephen and Lillian, but trust me, right now we’ll be lucky if we get a call a week after they’ve brought little Heleena home from Georgetown.”
With a sigh, Dan stepped into the living room of the cottage. He set down the picnic basket and the wooden crate on the single countertop.
“It’s Halia, Dad. Halia Elisabeth Amelia Vindico. That’s what Fi wants to name her.”
The Governor was visibly moved, but Dan’s Mother was still scowling.
“Don’t you need to get back to, May-lea?” She spat viciously.
“Marion!” The Governor roared.
“Don’t call her that!” Dan kept his voice calm but menacing. “You don’t even know Fionna, so you’re sure as hell not going to call her Maylea. That’s not a right; that’s a privilege that you haven’t earned. Actually it’s a gift,” he amended, “but not one you’ve been given or deserve.”
“Sit down.” He gestured to the table.
His mother jerked one of the chairs back and threw herself into it fitfully. The Governor and Dan eased them back and joined her.
“Why are you here, Mom?” He was mildly impressed at his ability to reign in his temper, but was certain that it was Fionna and the healing island that had his rhythms calmer than he was accustomed when he was so hurt and so furious.
“Really, why did you come here?” He genuinely wanted to hear her answer. “Did you come so you can tell your friends that you vacationed in Hawaii? Did you come to follow Jim and Bev’s vacation itinerary? Because you didn’t come to see me, and you sure as hell didn’t come to see my girls, so why are you here?”
“I did want to see you and Fionna, Daniel, but you have to admit this is not exactly a Hawaiian vacation.”
He let her words sink in. “No,” he agreed. “This is a farm, my wife’s family farm, in the middle of paradise. The place where the phenomenal woman that agreed to marry me, and bear my children, despite all of the hell she’s gone through at my hands, has been able to heal and relax and become whole again.”
“Daniel, this is not how you were raised. I don’t understand this. I don’t approve of this.” She finally admitted.
Impressed, Dan drew a deep breath. “Okay, but that doesn’t make it wrong, Mother. It’s not D.C. I understand that. In fact, that’s why we’re here. D.C. never offered me anything worth having other than my wife, but Kauai has offered me nothing but a life worth living. You don’t have to understand it or approve of it, but I will not allow you to make Fionna uncomfortable or allow you to make her feel like she’s not good enough for you.”
“Daniel, you cannot allow her to walk around on a public beach with barely anything covered. Your Father is a Realm Governor. We are a ruling family!”
With a quick spiteful thought that she should have seen Fionna on Secret Beach a few weeks before wearing nothing at all, Dan tried to think of a way to make her understand even a small part of his life.
“Yes, Mother. I’m well aware of what my Father does for a living. What I can’t understand is how that changes the fact that Fionna is pregnant with our baby. If the press wants to take pictures of us out on the beach with my hands on my wife and on my baby, then let them. I did that. It’s mine. The Realm knows she’s pregnant. What on earth is wrong with that?”
“The way you’ve been living this summer is inappropriate, Daniel. This is not the way our family conducts itself. This place is like some kind of hippie intimate relations camp!” She shrieked and shuddered in horror.
Laughter spilled from his mouth over his mother’s verbiage.
“Marion, for heaven’s sake!” The Governor huffed.
Shaking his head, Dan forced himself to go on. “No, mom, the way I’ve been living isn’t the way you’d like me to live, but you see it is the way I’ve wanted to live, and the way Fionna wanted to spend the summer. Aida has grown and healed and obviously Halia is coming along just the way she’s supposed to. So, why can’t you ever just see the good?”
The Governor stepped in with a sigh. “In your mother’s defense, not that she has much of one, it is different, son. You were the guy that drowned himself in his work so he never had to deal with anything at all. You would w
ork until I found you the next morning asleep at your desk in the Iodex office.
“As happy as I am that you’ve changed and you’re really living now, it wasn’t that long ago that this wasn’t you.” He gestured both of his hands to Dan. “And now you’re helping to run a farm, taking naps with your pregnant wife each day on a screened in porch, and running a store that sells home remedies and bath oils. You run your hands and your mouth all over your extremely pregnant wife’s stomach in front of anyone and don’t give a damn. Remember that you and Fionna have been living this everyday for three months. We’ve not even received so much as a phone call until we asked you to pick us up at the airport. So, we can obviously see the change, but we weren’t a part of it.”
“I know, Dad, and I really do understand that. But you don’t seem to understand that the guy that slept in his office more days than not, that wasn’t me.” His voice rose in accordance with his fervor. “That was some shadow of the hell I was living. This is me, and Fionna is the one that chiseled me out of the shell I existed as.” His voice finally came to a shout desperate for his parents to hear him.
“Okay, fine!” His mother’s sudden fury shocked him. “But this isn’t me! And I have a very difficult time believing that I raised a son that is perfectly willing to allow his wife to run around barely dressed, letting everyone and their brother see her in the state she’s in. Or that gives her baths outside on a screened in porch. Or that let’s his daughter announce that she remembered to remove her undergarments, and uses the things in that store to do things without your clothes on outside of the house!
“I’m sorry, Daniel, but you’ve never been anymore accepting of me and the things I believe in than I have of you. And I will not sit here and pretend that I believe that the way you and Fionna have chosen to conduct your life is appropriate.” She blinked back tears.
Not certain where to begin, Dan shuddered in effort not the scream.
“You know what, Mother, you don’t have to agree, and you don’t have to approve. The only thing you have to do is keep your mouth shut! Be polite to my wife, and her family, and her friends. I may not agree or accept the way you choose to conduct your life, but I don’t call you out in front of your friends. I do try to keep the majority of my opinions to myself although I will admit that I haven’t always done so well with that either.”
“Do you ever think that I might be right? Did you ever for a moment stop and think that it might not be good for your seven year old to know that you and Fionna are bathing outdoors every night? Or to see her mother walking around barely covered? I’m certain that if she’ll wear that to the beach, she probably wears less around the house.” She baptized herself in her sanctimonious indignation like a pig in muddy waters.
“Do you want Aida to turn out like Lindley?” She finally punctured the actual horror, the actual fear, that had driven her to such extremes.
Dan and his father shared a solemn glance.
“Mom, I want you to listen to me, and please know that I am not saying any of this to hurt you. I knew something was off with Lindley when she was much younger than Aida.
“And did you ever stop and think that maybe part of the reason that I jumped into bed with Amelia when I was barely seventeen years old, after years of pressuring her before that, or that the fact that Lindley does the things she does might have something to do with the fact that you don’t even want to acknowledge that sex exists?
“You spent most of our lives trying to convince us that it was bad, and it isn’t bad. It’s life. In fact, it’s the way life begins, but you were so adamant that we shouldn’t know anything about it that it just made it that much more tantalizing. It is a beautiful, magical experience when it’s with the right person, at the right time.
“I’m sure that Fi and I will make our fair share of mistakes as parents, but I am beyond certain that I don’t want my daughters to grow up ashamed of their bodies or ashamed of desire. Do I want them to act on it when they’re seventeen? Hell, no. But the only way I know to prevent that is to make them understand that they’re worth waiting for. They are the most beautiful girls in the world, and any guy that doesn’t make them feel that way isn’t worth having in the first place.” He tried to explain the things he hoped to instill in Aida and Halia.
“So, yes, I do give my wife baths almost every night, and yes I keep my hands on her, and I talk to Halia, and I kiss her stomach, because she’s mine, both of them are mine. I want them to know that, and to be proud of that. And yes, Fionna has certainly laid out, walked around, and slept topless while she’s been here. And Aida’s played in the sprinklers on the farm wearing nothing at all, but that’s okay. Because they are the most beautiful girls in the world, not because Fi has an incredible body, but because they have beautiful hearts and souls and spirits. It doesn’t matter what they look like on the outside. All women are beautiful and should be proud of who they are, because there is no shame in sexuality and there is no shame in being a woman!” He shook his head and wondered what his mother was actually hearing.
“If Aida knows I give Fi baths, so be it, because she also knows that I adore her mother, that I love her more than life itself, and that I would do anything in the world for my wife and for my daughters. And as much as I’ll hate every single minute I’ll have to endure of giving them away, if my girls find a guy lucky enough to be with them, and that adores them as much as I adore my wife, then I can’t deny them that. I want that for them.
“My marriage isn’t going to be divided into the what we let the Realm see, and the way we are when we think no one’s looking. We’re going to be us. Dan and Maylea and Aida and Halia, and you can take it Mom, or you can leave it. The choice is entirely up to you, but Dad’s right. If you can’t find it in yourself somewhere to stop attacking my wife, and the way we choose to do things, then you probably won’t be seeing much of my family over the next few years.”
Silence filled the humid night air and a timid knock sounded on the door.
A breathy chuckle escaped Dan. “The quelling tide.” He whispered as the Governor stood to let Fionna inside.
“Hey, baby.” Dan stood and pulled Fionna to him. He just needed to feel her, to breathe her in. To let her douse the flames that had begun to consume him.
“Hey,” Fionna smiled timidly. She glanced down uncomfortably for a moment. He saw it then. She’d been crying.
She was wearing a sleeveless sundress that she often donned after going to the water. It was a brilliant teal blue and the elastic top clung to her heaving cleavage that wasn’t bound in a bra. The long dress flowed out over her bump, and he knew that was all she was wearing. She was natural, just like he liked her. But he also knew that his parents were probably just as aware of that fact. She’d realized this as well. That’s why she was even more uncomfortable.
“Uh, Papa’s with Aida. I didn’t leave her there or anything. She’s asleep. The water wears her out. I just wanted to make sure Tutu got the cottage ready for you. I brought you some fruit salad for your breakfast.” She held up a glass bowl from their own cottage that contained a mix of tropical delicacies.
“Papa said he packed you some coffee.” She gestured to the picnic basket. “But you’re welcome to come down to our home for breakfast, if you like.”
“Thank you, Fionna. That was very kind of you.” The Governor glared pointedly at his wife. His brow furrowed a moment later. “Uh, did you want us to call you Maylea, sweetheart?”
“No, sir.” She answered just a little too quickly. She tried valiantly to hide the shudder her body gave. Dan held her tightly against him. She wasn’t giving anymore of herself away, and he wanted her to know that she didn’t have to. His parents certainly hadn’t earned the privilege.
He turned his gaze back to his mother as he held his wife fiercely to his chest. If she wanted to know where his loyalties lie, all she had to do was open her eyes. The ball was in her court, and everyone waited with baited breath to see her next move.
“Thank you, Fionna.” Mrs. Vindico stood from the table. With an audible breath, she seemed to forcibly unhinge her jaw as she moved to the counter. “I’m certain what all of this does.” She opened the picnic basket and touched the brown bottles in the small wooden crate as if they were a den of cobras that would strike at the slightest movement.
With a timid chuckle, Fionna paced towards Mrs. Vindico. Dan followed in her wake. He kept her balancing forces shielded in his own, using his fire to protect her and give her light.
Fionna helped Mrs. Vindico unpack the foods from the picnic basket.
“Tutu knows that sometimes guests like to have a meal alone or even just to have coffee and breakfast on their own, so she usually makes certain you know it’s okay with her if you and the Governor eat up here.” She placed coffee cake in the small breadbox.
She glanced at Dan who nodded his encouragement. “These are oils for your bath.” She pulled four small brown dropper bottles from the crate. “Lavender and citrus will help your rhythms relax, and this detoxes your body. Rose oil helps with balance.” Her voice had lowered to a whisper and she refused to meet anyone’s eye as she forced herself to go on. “These are just some scrubs and lotions. This helps clear up liver spots.” She pulled the large tube from the crate.
“Really?” Mrs. Vindico was suddenly intrigued.
Fionna’s head shot up. “Yes, ma’am. It really works. We grow the aloe vera plants here, and Tutu has a honey supplier on the Big Island. She doesn’t have any age spots, and she’s been in the sun her whole life. The cleansers she packed help thinning skin as well.”
Fionna’s voice lowered again. “Kukui oil and coconut oil are excellent for everyone’s skin. I’ve used them my whole life, and it’s how Dan and I cleared up Aida’s eczema.” She willed Dan’s parents to believe her as she set the oil on the counter.
“Dan rubs them on my belly every night, and I don’t have any stretch marks.” She began but halted abruptly as she recalled his mother’s scowl on the beach.
“There are a few teas in here. Tutu believes that health comes from within and then can be cultivated from the outside. You are what you eat kind of thing.”
