Spring Broke

by Melody Carlson

  “No,” Megan said. “If you’re not going, I’m not going. I heard the Road to Hana is highly overrated anyway.”

  “I heard it’s something you shouldn’t miss seeing,” said Anna.

  “Well, I’m going to miss it.” Megan sat down on the couch.

  Lelani smiled at all of them. “Look, I appreciate the moral support, but really, I’ll be fine here on my own.”

  Megan shook her head stubbornly. “I refuse to leave you alone.”

  “But Marcus really wants you to go,” said Lelani. “And this is your vacation. You can’t spend the whole thing babysitting me.”

  “It’s just a silly curvy road,” said Megan. “I’ll probably end up getting carsick anyway.”

  “Carsick?” Kendall stepped in now. “No one mentioned anything about getting carsick.”

  “It’s supposed to be one of the windiest roads in the world,” Anna held up a brochure so Kendall could see the map.

  “In that case,” said Kendall, “you guys go and I’ll stay here with Lelani.”

  “You don’t have to—”

  “Look,” said Kendall firmly. “I want to. Okay? And you all know how selfish I am. I wouldn’t say I wanted to stay if I didn’t want to stay, would I?” She grinned. “Seriously, there are worse places to stay than in this little corner of paradise.” She glanced out toward the pool. “Are we allowed to use that, Lelani?” she asked quietly.

  Lelani just laughed. “Have at it.”

  Kendall pointed to the door. “You guys are like so outta here.”

  As it turned out, Gil decided not to go either, so the foursome just took the Jeep. Then Gil called to see if Lelani wanted to do something.

  “Do you want to come with us?” Lelani asked Kendall while Gil was still on the phone.

  Kendall considered this. “Not really,” she said.

  “But I feel badly leaving you here alone.”

  Kendall just laughed. “Are you kidding? Between the pool and the beach, what more could I want? Really, this is perfect. I feel like a princess.”

  Lelani frowned. “And I feel like a prisoner.”

  “I guess it’s all a matter of perspective.”

  “I guess.”

  Kendall meant what she said. She was perfectly happy to have this lovely place to herself. And she did feel like a princess. If she hadn’t witnessed some of Lelani’s mother’s tantrums herself, she would probably go over to the big house right now and beg them to adopt her. But then Kendall remembered that she, like Lelani had been, was pregnant and unmarried. So she’d have to nix the adoption plan. Still, what they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them, would it? For today, she planned to enjoy that gorgeous pool. And if Meri wanted to give her another papaya smoothie, well, Kendall wouldn’t say no.

  First, she did her toenails. This was a little save-money trick that Megan had talked her into. According to Megan, Kendall would save around three thousand dollars a year if she did her own nails. Manicures weren’t such a big deal, although Kendall wondered if the pedicures might get tricky when she got bigger with the baby. Already, she could feel the pinch when she bent over too far.

  When her toenails, pretty in pink, were dry enough, she gathered up her pool things and headed to what seemed like a sorely underused pool. She laid claim to a padded lounge chair and then went over to dip her feet into the water. It was lukewarm but refreshing, so she got in. The water, compared to the ocean, felt silky and clean against her skin, and although she hadn’t wanted to get her hair wet (chlorine on bleach, not good) she couldn’t help but stretch back and just relax, still keeping her head above water. Ah, yes, this was the life.

  She heard the sound of a baby squealing. She looked up in time to see a young woman in a very bad bikini, carrying what must be Emma, in an adorable pink skirted swimsuit, and approaching the pool.

  “Oh.” The young woman frowned. “I didn’t expect anyone to be out here.”

  Kendall stood up and smiled. “I’m Kendall, a friend of Lelani’s.”

  “Uh, right. I’m Ginger. Kala’s nanny.”

  “Don’t you mean Emma’s nanny?”

  “Yes, whatever. We usually have our morning swim about now.” She stepped back as if rethinking this routine.

  “And?”

  “We seem to be disturbing you.”

  “The pool seems big enough for all of us.” Kendall felt like giving poor Ginger some fashion tips about bikinis, but then the nanny sounded British and everyone knew that British girls—well, besides the Spice Girls—were all fashion challenged.

  “All right then.” Ginger stepped into the shallow end of the pool.

  Suddenly Kendall was worried. “That is unless, well, does Emma ever go potty in the pool?”

  “She has on her Little Swimmers.”

  Kendall frowned. “Huh?”

  “It’s a swimming nappie, a diaper. She wears it beneath her suit to keep excretions contained.”

  Kendall wasn’t crazy about the word excretions. So, just in case, she kept a safe distance, watching warily as Ginger eased the baby into the water. First she sat Emma on the top step. The baby happily splashed her hands in the tepid water, laughing in glee and causing Kendall to smile. Really, had there ever been a cuter baby? Well, maybe there would be someday. Kendall patted her tummy.

  “One, two, three,” said Ginger. Then, to Kendall’s shocked amazement, Ginger actually splashed the baby in the face, picked her up, and dropped her right into the water! The baby sank!

  “What the—?” Kendall dived into the water and, ruined hair or not, swam to the other end of the pool to rescue poor Emma, grabbing up the slippery baby and pulling her out of the water.

  “What are you doing?” demanded Ginger.

  “What are you doing?” cried Kendall as she cuddled the frightened baby to her and stepped away from the evil Ginger. “You murderer, you!”

  “Have you lost your mind?” Ginger was coming toward Kendall now.

  But Kendall was taller and, she felt certain, madder. “You just keep your distance, you horrible thing!”

  “What is wrong with you?” Ginger’s cheeks were flushed now.

  “Stay away from me, or I’ll scream.”

  “Give me the baby!”

  “I mean it,” Kendall glared at her. “I’ll scream and then I’ll call the police and I’ll have you arrested for child abuse.”

  Ginger’s anger turned to worry at that. She stepped back and folded her arms across her front.

  “That’s right,” said Kendall. “I saw it with my own eyes. You tried to drown my friend’s baby.” She shook her head. “You are a monster!”

  “Who is a monster?” asked a female voice from on the deck.

  Kendall looked up to see Mrs. Porter standing in the shadows. “I saw Ginger trying to drown Emma. She dropped her right in the water and—”

  “Emma knows how to swim,” Mrs. Porter said calmly.

  “But she dropped her in, and the baby went under, just like a rock, she was sinking.”

  “That’s how she swims.”

  “But I—”

  “Return Kala to Ginger, Kendra.”

  “It’s Kendall, and the baby’s name is Emma,” snapped Kendall.

  “Give the baby to Ginger, Kendall.” Mrs. Porter’s eyes looked lethal.

  “She’ll drown her again,” pleaded Kendall.

  Now the maid and the man who looked after the yard were standing in the shadows too. Everyone was watching.

  “She’ll show you that Kala knows how to swim.”

  “That’s right,” said Ginger as she stepped forward and took Emma, who seemed happy to get away from Kendall. Then she sat Emma on the step again. But this time Emma didn’t look quite so sure.

  “It’
s okay, Kala,” said Ginger. Then she did something that Kendall couldn’t see that seemed to make Emma smile. Emma did the happy splashing again. Ginger counted to three again, then picked up Emma and dropped her into the water.

  Kendall’s eyes grew wide and she was about to make another rescue, but she noticed that little Emma was indeed swimming, moving her arms and legs like a little tadpole. Kendall couldn’t believe it. Emma was swimming. Then she bobbed up and Ginger picked her up and everyone on the deck clapped.

  Naturally, Kendall felt like a fool.

  “You see,” said Mrs. Porter.

  Kendall just shook her head. “I didn’t know that babies could swim.”

  “They can if they’re taught,” snapped Ginger. “By someone who knows what they’re doing.”

  Kendall nodded. “I’m sorry. I just thought she was drowning.”

  “Maybe next time you’ll ask first.”

  “Oh, Ginger,” said Mrs. Porter. “You shouldn’t fault our guest for trying to rescue our baby. She didn’t know.”

  “I suppose.”

  “Don’t let it spoil your swim, Kendall.”

  But Kendall was already getting out of the pool. She went over and wrapped her towel around her waist, gathered her things, and headed back to the guesthouse.

  “Sorry we gave you such a fright,” called Mrs. Porter.

  Kendall didn’t look back, but she could hear the snootiness in the apology. And she knew that Lelani’s mom was smiling in a snide way.

  Kendall went inside and showered and scrubbed the chlorine out of her hair. To think she’d risked her hair over nothing. But then again, it hadn’t felt like nothing. All of her motherly instincts (and who knew she had them?) had kicked into gear when she’d seen that sweet baby go under the water, and again when she held Emma close to her.

  Well, not only was Kendall thankful that she hadn’t “terminated” her pregnancy, she felt more certain than ever that she wanted to keep her baby, she wanted to be a mother to her baby, and she didn’t care whether Matthew was involved or not. Oh, it would be nice if he would send money. But that was it. She didn’t need his help to do this! And neither did Lelani. In fact, Kendall was of a mind to encourage Lelani to bring the beautiful little Emma home with them. She was welcome in Kendall’s house. She and Lelani could raise their poor fatherless children together.

  As Kendall dried off, she imagined herself and Lelani with their children and sharing the house at Bloomberg Place. Perhaps Lelani would be the one to go out and work and Kendall would stay home and care for their children. Okay, Kendall realized that she didn’t have the slightest inclination of what one did to care for children, but it seemed to her that if someone like Ginger (of the bad bikini) could learn these things, certainly Kendall could as well.

  Or perhaps both she and Lelani would have jobs, and together they would hire a nanny (a good one who didn’t try to drown the children!) to take care of their babies. Why not?

  Twenty-five

  Megan

  “I wonder what it would feel like to have grown up in a place like Maui,” Megan mused as she and Marcus took a break on a beach in Hana. It felt good to have the solid ground beneath her and the warmth of the sun above. The Road to Hana, about fifty winding miles of thick jungle vegetation and numerous beautiful waterfalls along the way, had taken more than three hours to travel. And Megan was not ready to get back in the Jeep yet.

  “It’s sure a different world here.” Marcus picked up a handful of sand, letting the grains trickle like fountains between his fingers. “I think I’m starting to understand the island mentality.”

  “What mentality?” Megan curled her toes into the sand, digging them down to where it was cooler.

  “You know, the why-work-if-you-can-play mentality.”

  “Oh, right.” Megan remembered what Lelani had told them about how most Hawaiians worked to live, not lived to work. They valued an extra day at the beach more than a fatter paycheck at the end of the week. “Well, if I lived here, I’d probably adopt a Hawaiian work ethic myself.” She chuckled. “In fact, I wouldn’t mind taking work less seriously at home too.”

  “Really?” Marcus looked curiously at her. “You always seem like such a driven sort of worker.”

  “I do?” Megan considered this.

  “Yeah, I’m not saying you’re a workaholic, but you really do work hard.”

  She nodded. “I get that from my dad.”

  “And I’m not saying it’s bad”—Marcus leaned back and looked at the sky—“but do you ever wonder what your dad thinks about all that work now?”

  “You mean … like he’s probably not up there in heaven going, ‘Man, I wish I’d worked more.’” She sighed. “At least he enjoyed his work. He was a great architect, and he loved what he did.”

  “I guess that would make a difference.”

  “Do you love what you do?”

  “I used to think I loved it, but now I think I really just loved the money.” Marcus laughed. “Investment brokers used to make more. But now, even if I made more, I still wouldn’t love it. I might not even like it.”

  “Then why do you do it?”

  “To pay the bills, to keep the wolf from the door.” He turned and looked at her. “How about you? I haven’t heard you saying anything positive about your job these last few weeks.”

  “Because I pretty much loathe my job.”

  “Even after Cynthia gave you a raise and a week off?”

  “That was nice. And I plan to go back and work hard in return, but …”

  “But?”

  “I’m going to get more serious about finding a teaching job.”

  “Do you think you’d love to teach?”

  “More than I’d love helping to decorate rich people’s houses.”

  “Teachers don’t make much money.”

  “I don’t need much money.”

  “You know, since we’ve been going to church, I’ve been thinking about a lot of things.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like what I want to do with my life.”

  She turned and looked at him. “What do you want to do with your life?”

  “I want to make a difference.”

  “I know what you mean,” admitted Megan. “I want to make a difference too. I’ve been thinking about that Hawaiian princess that I was reading about at lunchtime.”

  “The one born in the cave?”

  “Yeah. Ka’ahumanu.”

  “I can’t believe you can remember her name, let alone pronounce it right.”

  “I sort of made a point to remember it. I wanted to ask Lelani if she was related to her. I mean there are some similarities. Ka’ahumanu had a home in Lahaina, and they’re both tall, intelligent, beautiful Hawaiian women.”

  “Except Lelani doesn’t have any tattoos.”

  “Not that you know of anyway.”

  “Does she?”

  Megan laughed. “I don’t know. But I haven’t seen any.”

  “Anyway, back to Ka-ah-what’s-her-name.”

  “Ka’ahumanu. She was a woman who made a huge difference. Her influence on this island is really profound.”

  “Uh-huh?” Marcus leaned back into the sand again. “Tell me more.”

  Megan leaned back too. “First of all, she married well.”

  Marcus laughed. “Yes, considering she was born in a cave.”

  “But after her royal husband died, she did a lot for her people. She made laws to protect their religious practices, which in turn allowed Christianity into the island.”

  “Which was kind of a mixed blessing, don’t you think?”

  “I think some of the missionaries took advantage of the wealth of this land—and of the culture. But you have to give credi
t to some, like the missionaries who taught Princess Ka’ahumanu to read and write and introduced her to Christ. They made a difference too.”

  “So Princess Ka-ah was a Christian?”

  “Yes.” Megan punched him in the arm. “I already told you all this at lunch, don’t you listen to me?”

  “Well, you were reading the back of the menu and I was reading the inside since I was hungry. Sorry.”

  “Anyway, after she became a Christian, she did a lot of things to help and protect her people. She was an amazing leader—especially for a woman back in the eighteen hundreds.”

  “So you want to grow up and be like Ka-ah-hoo-ha?”

  “Ka’ahumanu.” Megan laughed. “Actually you were a little closer that time. But, yes, I wouldn’t mind doing something influential in my life. I don’t aspire to be a Hawaiian princess. But I’d like to make a difference. I suppose I could be a missionary.”

  “A missionary?” Marcus sat up and stared at her.

  “I know. It sounds crazy, but I’ve actually thought about it from time to time.”

  “What would you do?”

  “Well, I’ve heard that there’s a need for teachers in a lot of places. And I do have my teaching credentials.”

  “Wow. That’s kind of mind-blowing, Megan.”

  She nodded. “I’ve never actually told anyone before. I guess I sort of thought that if you’re supposed to be a missionary, well, God would call you to it.”

  “Like, ‘Yoo-hoo, Megan, God on the line. Can you please go teach African children to read and write?’”

  Megan laughed, then punched him again. “No, silly. Not like that. And if I’d known you were going to make fun of me, I never would’ve told you in the first place. Sheesh.”

  “I’m not making fun of you. Not really. In fact, this interests me … a lot.”

  “What interests you? That I might hop on a boat and head off to regions unknown and teach orphans and you’d never hear from me again?”

  He shook his head. “That’s definitely not what interests me.”

  “What then?”

  “Well …” He looked slightly uncomfortable now. “I’m not sure I’m ready to say it just yet.”

  A tiny alarm went off in Megan, and she wasn’t even sure why. She had just teased him about heading to the ends of the earth and he had said he didn’t like that idea and that he had something to say, except he wasn’t ready to say it yet. Or maybe she wasn’t ready to hear it yet. Surely, he wasn’t about to pop the question, was he? No, that was crazy.