Aloha Love

by Yvonne Lehman

  Bent over, the lei swinging in front of her, she managed to look around and up to the side and saw the man with the flowered hat now on his head and minus a bandana around his neck.

  “Thank you,” she managed to squeak out after wiping her mouth. Looking down, she didn’t see anything unseemly on the lei or on her clothes. Straightening, she accepted the arm he offered and allowed herself to be led to a bench. She took a deep breath but only exhaled through her nose, lest he guess what had soured in her stomach.

  Leia came over and pulled a little purse from her pocket. “Don’t feel bad.” She wrinkled her nose distastefully. “People do it all the time.”

  Jane noticed that several other passengers were doing exactly that. Some had been fortunate enough to find a reasonably private place to empty their stomachs. Matilda and Pilar gave her sympathetic grins.

  “This will help,” the little girl said, holding out a piece of hard candy.

  Although she feared having anything in her stomach, Jane accepted the candy. Maybe it would at least freshen her breath enough that she could again join the others.

  “Thank you,” she whispered to the girl, who smiled and said, “Are you the new teacher?”

  Jane didn’t know what Pastor Russell’s needs might be, but there was no way in the world she was going to be a teacher confined to a school building. Her hesitation was filled by Matilda coming over. “Can you walk, dear? We need to get you someplace where you can lie down.”

  “Oh, no,” Jane said, rising from the bench. She held the soiled bandana in one gloved hand and placed the other hand on Matilda’s arm. “I think standing still is what did it.” As they walked up to Uncle Russell and Rose, she apologized. Matilda had said her face had been green. She felt sure it had turned deathly white from the way she had felt. Now feeling warm, her face was probably red.

  She laughed. “Oh, I must be a sight.”

  “Oh, you’re fine.” Rose MacCauley echoed Leia’s words. “It’s not unusual. A voyage like that is hard on a person. Believe me, I know.”

  Jane tried to smile, but even that effort felt weak. She was trying to figure out the relationships here. The man, woman, and child were MacCauleys. The woman looked older than the man, but she was quite lovely.

  She didn’t feel it proper to ask. Anyway, Matilda was still discussing her. “Jane was never seasick a moment aboard ship. She had her sea legs the whole time. We decided that must have been due to her being such an avid horseback rider.”

  “Avid?” Rose MacCauley said as if that were shocking. The woman’s eyes widened as she looked from Matilda to Jane and back again.

  Jane saw the questioning flicker in Matilda’s eyes. Like she, Matilda must be wondering if the woman was asking the meaning of the word.

  After a moment of hesitation, Matilda simply said, “Yes. Our Jane is an expert equestrienne.”

  Mak’s mother put her hand to her heart. “Another example that God brings good from the worst of things.”

  Jane didn’t exactly follow her line of reasoning. Perhaps the woman hadn’t understood the words avid or equestrienne.

  Rose MacCauley turned to the man who had stepped aside. “Mak,” she said. “It might help if Jane rode your horse. She’s not ready for land yet.”

  Jane thought he looked dumbfounded. He snorted, not like a horse, but it was definitely a snort. “You know the horse is spirited. And. . .” He gestured toward her. “Miz. . .”

  Jane knew he didn’t remember her name. He changed his wording. “She wouldn’t know where to go.”

  “Then perhaps you could give her a ride,” the woman said in a low but meaningful tone.

  Pushing the candy aside with her tongue, Jane took several gulps of air. “I’ll be all right. I don’t think there’s anything left in me.” Looking around at the men in skirts she saw pants legs exposed beneath the flowered material wrapped around their thighs. “Maybe I could go for a canoe ride or something.”

  Matilda seemed to like the idea. “Oh, wouldn’t that be fun.”

  “No, no,” Uncle Russell said, shaking his head vigorously. “I don’t recommend that. But, Mak,” he said to the man, who had stepped farther away from them. “A ride might be a good idea. The schoolchildren are too excited for lessons. You could take Janie to my house, and she could get some ginger tea. You’d be there before our carriages or the children in the wagons.”

  “It’s all right,” she said, seeing his frown and knowing the man didn’t want her on his horse. Or did he just not want her near him?

  As if confirming that, he turned and walked away, past the children, toward where a couple of wagons tied to horses were in the shade. Uncle Russell offered an arm and Jane began to move toward a carriage. “Oh,” she said, “this is like walking on marshmallows.”

  Next thing she knew, a huge brown stallion was right beside her. The man with the flowered hat reached down for her.

  “You don’t have to do this.”

  “I know,” he said. Uncle Russell put his hands on her waist and helped hoist her up. Oh, what she’d do for riding pants right now. However, she squished her billowing skirts around her to keep them away from the horse’s head and from being able to fly up and blind this. . .person. . .who wore flowers.

  The man had his arms around her, holding onto the reins, looking over her head, and she was breathing the most wonderful sweet air and feeling the cool breeze on her face. They were only trotting, but the movement was similar to being aboard ship. Her shoulder was pressed into his flowered shirt.

  She ventured a glance at him. He saw it and said, “Try not to throw up on my horse.”

  A deep breath of air filled her chest, and she felt her shoulders rise with it. She was well enough to remember someone had called him Mak. That was the name of the person Matilda had said was teaching for Pansy.

  That little girl had asked if Jane would be her teacher. Well, she figured she would be as qualified as this aloof man. She would not just sit there and let him make fun of her, even if she did feel much more comfortable and hardly aware of any surroundings other than the strong arms around her, and the musky smell of him combined with that of flowers. . .on his hat.

  “I wouldn’t insult a horse by throwing up on him,” she said. Noticing the pocket on his shirt, she reached up and pulled at it gently with her gloved finger. “I could just deposit it right here.”

  Nine

  Equestrienne? That’s what the woman had said of this sassy young woman who wouldn’t surprise him if she did throw up in his pocket. Perhaps her horseback training made her sit so straight. Or was it his reluctant attitude that rankled her into that erect posture? On second thought, he doubted that. After all, she had accepted the ride.

  He felt it best not to attempt small talk. While he kept glancing at her hair beneath her hat to determine just how orange it might be, she kept her eyes on the scenery, which was not too inspiring at the dock.

  Whether this would be simply a ride for a couple miles to the area where the mission house, school, and Rev. Russell’s house were located would depend upon her reaction. If she began to thank him, compliment him, or any other of that female kind of thing, he’d gallop her right up to the reverend’s home and deposit her.

  He left the dock area and trotted the horse along the beach, where she could feel the motion and see the ocean. She gasped. “Oh, I’ve never ridden a horse on a beach.”

  The turn of her head from one side to the other revealed her wonder as she looked at the ocean, smiled, took deep breaths, and looked up at palm trees.

  Seeing her enjoyment and hearing her say, “I’m feeling much better,” he rode farther and longer than he’d intended.

  The carriages and wagons were already lined up in front of Rev. Russell’s home when they arrived. Russell must have heard the horse’s hooves when Mak rode up to his house. He came out and reached up for Jane, who then held onto his shoulders and tested her land legs.

  “I think I’m okay now,” she said. �
��I feel a little weak, but. . .okay.” She looked up at Mak. “Thank you,” she said softly, but her eyes, which were not big as a crocodile’s but were big enough to be interesting, held a guarded expression as if she didn’t know what to think of him.

  Good.

  He didn’t want her thinking of him.

  At least her face no longer looked green. Not splotched either, although he had observed a few tiny freckles across her nose on otherwise flawless skin. She wasn’t bad looking. With that hat, he couldn’t be sure of her hair, but he thought it more a sun-gold than orange. And the few strands of her hair that had blown against his face had not come from a fourteen-year-old with her hair in pigtails.

  He touched the brim of his hat and gave a slight nod. “I’d be grateful, Reverend,” he said, seeing that his mother’s carriage was at the side of the house, “if you would please tell Mother and Leia I’ll be at home.”

  The reverend lifted his hand in response before he smiled at Jane and said, “Come inside. We’ve made some ginger tea for you. That will make you feel better. Maybe you can eat a soda cracker.”

  Mak turned Big Brown as he saw Jane put her hand on the reverend’s arm and heard the man telling her to call him Uncle Russell. She walked with him up on the porch, where Leia came out.

  “Are you coming in, Daddy?”

  In a house filled with sickness and women and a preacher? “I need to go and check on Panai, Leia. I’ll see you at home, later.”

  She lifted her hand and waved at him, then reached out to take hold of Jane’s free hand.

  Mak adjusted himself better in the saddle, which felt rather empty now. He didn’t like the feeling of remembering when he and Maylea had ridden like that, nor did he like a woman being so close, the feel of his arms around her. Nobody should have been on this horse with him. It only made him miss Maylea even more.

  Of course, the feeling had nothing to do with Jane; she had simply brought out emotions that were never far from the surface. He had nothing against her. He just didn’t need any woman invading his space.

  Mak galloped the horse faster than usual, needing the wind on his face. He longed to feel free, to ride until all the distress was blown from him. It never happened. But he spent the rest of the afternoon tending to Panai, where his hope lay. Later, he spent time in the ring with the wild mustang he was in the process of taming. Being in control of something was a good feeling.

  Hearing the clanging of the triangle, he had Kolani take the mustang into the stables. After washing up, he entered the kitchen as Coco was putting dinner on the table.

  His mother’s blessing seemed shorter than usual.

  “First,” he said, upon seeing Leia’s eyes light up and knowing she was about to go into a long spill about the day’s events, “before you tell all about the reverend’s relatives, how was Miz Pansy today?”

  “Oh, so much better, Daddy. She just smiled and cried. She said they were happy tears.”

  “I’m sure they were, honey.”

  “Pansy has hung on for this, Mak,” his mother said. “She was so happy. But you know she’s been getting weaker.”

  “Miss Jane got better.” Leia’s eyes widened. “She might could be my teacher if I could go to school. I like her, Daddy.” Her little shoulders lifted with her deep breath. “And I like Miss Pilar. She’s nice. And Miss Tilda, oh my.”

  His mother laughed.

  Mak glanced from one to the other. “Now what does that mean?”

  Leia shook her head, and her gaze traveled around as if she were trying to see an answer. “I don’t know,” she said. “But I think. . .oh, I know. Miss Tilda is like a volcano.”

  They all laughed. He had taken Leia close enough to see the fire that continually spouted up like a fountain, lighting up a night sky with red fireworks, literally.

  “Oh, she is, Mak,” his mother agreed. “She is so full of life. I think we’re friends already.”

  “Me, too,” Leia assured them. “And Miss Jane and Miss Pilar are my friends. Miss Jane might could be my teacher. I’m cleaning up my plate.”

  Sure. . .that should do it.

  His mother turned to him. “Oh, Mak. Jane is the one.”

  “Mother, please,” Mak protested. “My one is gone.”

  “Oh, I don’t mean for you.” Her laugh sounded like a scoff. “She’s the one for Leia. She teaches. . .”

  He missed whatever she said next, but he was aware what she had said was a switch. At every ship docking, particularly the tourist ones, she would tell him of beautiful women, and because she was a generous woman, she invited most of them to their home. So now that one appeared who did get his attention by being green and obnoxious, she’d changed her mind about finding him a woman?

  “Why is this one not for me?”

  His mother smiled. “Oh, Miss Jane was modest about it, but Matilda blurted out the whole thing. Jane has been engaged to marry an oil tycoon’s son since the day she was born.”

  Mak found that puzzling. “I didn’t know arranged marriages went on in America.”

  “Oh, she doesn’t have to do it. It’s just that her daddy is a wealthy cattle rancher and has been friends with the oil tycoon family forever.” She waved her hand in the air and smiled broadly. “So you don’t have to worry about me trying to fix you up with this one, or about her being out to get you. She’s spoken for.”

  “Good,” he said and kept eating.

  She wasn’t finished. “And you don’t have to worry about her being after your money. Her daddy and her fiancé are filthy rich.” She looked at Leia. “Not filthy-dirty. That’s just an expression.”

  Leia nodded and said seriously, “I need to go to school and learn things like that.”

  “Yes, you do,” his mother said and looked triumphantly at him. “Did you see that girl’s ring?”

  “What girl?”

  “Miss Jane.”

  “I think she was wearing gloves, and I think she might have thrown up on them.”

  “Well, she didn’t hurt the ring. That diamond is big as. . .as. . .”

  Leia stuck her hand out over her plate. “As big as a who–o–le finger.”

  His mother’s eyebrows lifted. “Close,” she conceded.

  This was a welcome change. As his mother said, he wouldn’t have to worry about her being after his money, and she was engaged to be married. He needn’t give her a moment’s thought. He wouldn’t need to make a point of keeping his distance.

  Perhaps her fiancé would arrive. He understood his mother’s excitement over having some new women to talk with, to find out about America. Just as Mak’s mother enjoyed the friendship of women who visited Hawaii from other countries, he enjoyed interaction with men.

  Mak was beginning to feel good about the situation when Leia said, “Daddy, I’m going to ask the Little People to make Miss Jane be my teacher.”

  Ten

  “How are you feeling, dear?” Matilda asked when she and Jane walked out of Rev. Russell’s two-story white clapboard house after having a light supper in Uncle Russell’s kitchen. They stood on the porch.

  “Ashamed,” Jane said, taking hold of the banister.

  Matilda scoffed. “What in the name of wild horses do you have to be ashamed of?”

  Jane groaned. “Oh, Matilda. After seeing Aunt Pansy so frail, I realize all my fuss about getting sick was wrong. I have nothing to complain about.”

  Matilda scoffed. “Oh yes, you do. We’re puny little human beings who have enough of the divine in us to want everything to be perfect. I think God put that in us so we’d keep trying to be better people.”

  Looking at the warmth in Matilda’s smile reminded Jane of just how precious that woman was. On the outside, she was all fire and energy, but inside, she was a million times more valuable than those gold pieces she carried around in the purse against her bosom.

  “Pansy cared about how you were feeling,” Matilda said softly.

  “I know, and that makes me feel bad. The atten
tion should not have been focused on me.”

  “Oh, honey. We all told our seasick stories. Even Pansy joked about never being able to leave Russ because she’d be too seasick going back to Boston. We were all trying to make you feel better.”

  “I know. And the laughing brought on Pansy’s awful coughing spell, and we had to get out of there so the nurse could take care of her.”

  “But that was good for her. The coughing helps clear her lungs so she can breathe better.”

  “Maybe you’re right.”

  “Maybe?”

  Seeing Matilda take a step away and plant her hands on her hips, Jane laughed. “Okay, you are right.”

  “I really am in this, Jane.” Matilda stepped up next to her and placed her hands on the banister, displaying her jewels and causing Jane to be aware of the single ring she wore, the diamond that sealed her commitment to Austin.

  Matilda must have noticed she was looking at the ring. “That is a beautiful diamond, Jane.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  “Are you missing Austin?”

  Missing him? Austin had always been in her life, and she’d accepted the fact he always would be. She didn’t really take anyone for granted after her mother died, but she accepted that both her dad and Austin were there for her.

  She supposed one missed whoever wasn’t there when you’d been used to their presence. She’d missed Austin when he went away to college. Then she’d missed him when she went to college. She missed him after he joined his dad in the oil business.

  So she looked at Matilda’s waiting face and said, “Sure. Now that you mention it. I miss Austin and Daddy and Texas. Even Inez.”

  Matilda smiled and patted her hand, the one with the ring on its finger.

  Jane looked at the rose-blue sky that was fast turning to magenta. “Like you always told me, Matilda. Life is full of wonderful adventures, and that’s where we need to focus our attention—never brooding about what we don’t have.”

  “That’s right, Jane. Russ has told us of Pansy’s rapid spiral downward, yet she has stayed alive to see us. She so enjoyed this evening. But she’s ready for her adventure into eternity.”