by Bodie Thoene
“I will always love you, John.”
“I love you,” he replied.
“Can I come with you?”
“Not yet. Too much life for you to live. For me. Live it.”
“Not without you! I can’t do it without you.”
“It’s okay, Sandi. Remember? Remember the blackbird? Time for you to fly again.”
So bright. So bright! She could not keep her eyes open against the glare. Calling John’s name, she sat up and reached for him.
He was gone.
The plaintive song of a night bird summoned its mate.
Chapter Twenty-four
Republic of Hawaii
The north wing of the new house at Ainahau was completely sheltered from the afternoon sun. Though it was not a tall chamber, the floor-to-ceiling windows admitted plenty of light. Louvered screens allowed the sweetly scented winds free passage. Depending on the direction of the breeze, the air was either tinged with pikake or the sharp tang of a screen of eucalyptus trees.
Papa Archie had commissioned the room as Kaiulani’s retreat from the cares of state—a place where the princess could gather with her closest friends for pleasant conversation. Though Kaiulani had no official duties, it still served that purpose, even if only shared by Kaiulani and Hannah.
The noon delivery of the post arrived. From the handful of letters, Hannah snatched up a letter from Annie. She scanned it briefly, then shared the contents with her friend. “Annie says the north shore of Maui is a wonderful place to raise a family,” Hannah reported. “The Provisional Government doesn’t even try to run things there.”
Flipping over a page, Hannah continued, “She also wants to know why no one warned her that an eighteen-month-old boy could be such a handful!”
Hannah paused to dab her lips with a handkerchief before resuming. “She also says she and Kawika take the baby and go into Lahaina once a week for shopping. They often see Andrew there.” Frustrated by the lack of response, she asked, “Do you hear me, Kaiulani? She says they see Andrew Adams.”
Kaiulani lifted her eyes from the pale blue stationery she was studying. “Sorry. I was reading a letter from the queen.”
“Bad news?”
Kaiulani bit her lip. “Worrisome. She wants me to agree to marry Prince Koa.”
“Koa? Not really?”
“She says it’s for the good of the monarchy—to preserve the bloodlines of the Alii—and that the people would support such a match. She says I may have to choose between him or a Japanese Imperial prince.”
“Koa, or a Japanese prince?” Hannah repeated. A spasm of coughing made her shoulders shake.
Kaiulani looked up with concern, but Hannah waved her off. “I’m all right,” Hannah said, taking a sip of water. “It was the shock. You won’t agree to either, will you?”
Kaiulani spread her hands helplessly. “She is grasping at straws. Keeping a royal line, even if there isn’t a throne. She wants to keep hope alive.”
Hannah grimaced. “So the queen and Thurston actually agree on something. Your own people love you so much, Kaiulani, they would die for you. If you had said one word or raised one finger, they would have charged the bayonets of the soldiers so you could carry flowers to your mother’s tomb. While you’re alive, you are a threat to the PGs.”
Kaiulani requested. “The haole soldiers and Thurston’s men would fill every empty grave with freshly dead Hawaiians—and for the slightest reason. That’s what haunts me, as it must Queen Liliuokalani. She surrendered her authority to save lives. I wouldn’t have anyone, not one life, lost for my sake.”
Hannah said quietly, “I saw it in Andrew’s face: he would willingly die for you. He is a changed man. Love has turned him around.”
Hannah and Kaiulani raised their heads at the coarse laughter of men from outside. Kaiulani’s eyes widened. Had the soldiers come to arrest her?
Abruptly there came rough pounding on Ainahau’s main entrance. Without a pause the hammering continued, growing more insistent and harsher.
Kaiulani exchanged a glance with Hannah, then stood.
Hannah leaped to her feet. “I’ll go. What if you’re wrong? What if the PGs have come to arrest you?”
Waving Kaiulani to keep back out of sight, Hannah padded down the corridor, past the grand reception hall, to the front door. The booming of fists echoed in the house.
“What do you want?” Hannah demanded.
“U.S. Marines,” was the shouted reply. “Open the door.”
“Yeah, and be quick about it,” another said.
Judging from the powerful voices, the impatient callers could kick in the door if they chose.
Hannah opened it a crack. “Yes? What is it?”
A half dozen uniformed haoles ringed the front step. One of them had a tripod topped by a large wooden box. “This is where Kaiulani Cleghorn lives?” another demanded. “Well, we want to get our picture taken with the ex-princess. Something to show the folks back home, see?”
“Yes, I see,” Hannah said, gesturing behind her back to Kaiulani, warning her to stay back. Hannah smiled at the men. “Yes, I am Kaiulani. I’ll be happy to oblige. Shall we take the picture here on the front step?”
Kaiulani felt sick with fear for Hannah’s safety. She had just said she would not have one life lost for her sake, and yet Hannah was standing in her place!
She leaned heavily against the wall and prayed as male voices and laughter intruded on the peace of Ainahau. “Well, you’re a pretty thing.” The American accent was clear. The marine’s tone was as suggestive as if Hannah were a girl in a saloon.
Kaiulani’s heart pounded. “Oh, Lord! My rock and my fortress! Spread Your wings over my Hannah! Give Your angels charge over her to defend her. Please, Heavenly Father, I don’t know how to pray!”
Suddenly a gruff male voice barked, “What are you up to? Who gave you permission? Clear out, or I’ll have you in irons!”
Silence.
Hannah’s gentle reply. “They came to the door. Said they wanted a photograph with the princess…with me…”
“Trespassing. My apologies, miss. I’ll do my best to see it don’t happen again. Not with my men, anyway. But you’d best stay out of sight. Lock the gates, see?”
The words Aloha and mahalo seemed blasphemous on the tongues of the departing soldiers.
Silence.
The door swung open slowly. Hannah, pale and weary, entered the house. Her breath came in wheezing gasps. She groped for a chair. Kaiulani helped her to the sitting room as her shoulders convulsed with coughing.
Minutes passed before Hannah could speak. “You heard?”
Kaiulani, shaken, nodded. “What can we do? The Kapu sign didn’t stop them.”
“It won’t stop them. They’ll come again. I saw it in their expressions. Oh, Kaiulani! These are not men with human hearts!” Hannah began to cough again. Covering her mouth with a handkerchief, she fought to breathe, tried to catch her breath. The white linen was stained with drops of blood.
Kaiulani had seen this sign of sickness before. “Hannah, my dearest, come on. Come on. Let me help you to bed.”
* * * *
The western sky still glowed long after the sun had set. The grandfather clock in the foyer of Ainahau struck ten times as the cool evening breeze from the ocean ruffled the curtains. Peacocks plaintively called to one another as they flew up to roost in the branches of the banyan for the night.
An Oriental servant Kaiulani did not recognize cleared away the dishes.
Papa said, “The house servants are all Chinese now. I know enough of their language to make my wishes known. And they don’t know enough English to spy on my conversations.”
“Papa, can it be so bad?” Kaiulani asked.
Archie stroked his beard. “They’ll all be approached by Thurston’s men now that you’re home. I hope I’m right, and there are none among the staff who understand what we’re saying. We must speak Hawaiian when we talk over important matters. I’ve se
nt word to Andrew. He’ll be here soon.”
At that a knock sounded at the door. Papa rose and went to answer it.
Sobered by the warning, Kaiulani looked across the table at Hannah’s darkly somber expression. “What is it, Hannah?”
Hannah glanced up quickly. “Aloha au iā ’oe.”
“And I love you.” Left hand on her heart, Kaiulani clasped Hannah’s hand and kissed her fingertips. “Kaikaina, my sister.”
Andrew’s voice preceded him as he returned with Papa Archie.
Andrew was dressed in a rumpled white linen jacket and trousers. His striped cotton shirt was open at the neck. Kaiulani’s heart leapt as he entered the room. Sweeping off his broad-brimmed straw hat, he bowed slightly. “Princess Kaiulani and the lovely Hannah.”
Kaiulani smiled at him and touched the empty chair beside her. “Andrew, dear friend.”
He hesitated and tucked his chin as if the title friend had struck him. “I’m glad to see you. Grateful to God that you are alive and unharmed.”
“So far,” Kaiulani replied, grasping both his hands.
Andrew, Kaiulani, Hannah, and Papa moved onto the lanai.
For a moment, just a moment, all the worries that had loomed at Kaiulani’s homecoming vanished.
The Chinese servant followed, carrying their coffee and pineapple-upside-down cake onto the lanai. Stars lit the sky.
As they settled into their cane-backed chairs to savor the evening, Kaiulani exchanged a knowing glance with Hannah. “Papa,” she said, “Andrew is always welcome. But I don’t believe you invited him for a late evening social call. If Andrew came here when he could arrive unobserved, there must be a reason.”
Papa Archie looked embarrassed, but Andrew leaned forward with a serious expression. “I told your father that I don’t think it’s safe for you to stay on Oahu at present. There are rumblings about you among the PGs. You’re too popular.”
“And what do you suggest?” Kaiulani asked crossly. “Should I go back to England?”
Hannah put one hand on her chest as a spasm of coughing overtook her, but with the other she touched Kaiulani’s shoulder. “Sorry,” she said when the rasping stopped. “Kaiulani, don’t be so hasty. Hear Andrew out. You’re no use to your people if you’re dead. Or under house arrest like the queen.”
“I am under self-imposed confinement. I can’t stick my nose out of the gate. Andrew, if you have any ideas…”
Andrew stared up at the constellation of Orion striding majestically across the heavens. “You have friends on the Big Island, don’t you?”
Papa Archie said, “Yes. Parker Ranch. Kaiulani has a cousin there too.”
“Parker Ranch?” The thought of horseback riding and the freedom to go out was appealing. “Is that what you suggest?”
Kaiulani was surprised at Andrew’s reply. “No,” he said. “But that is the story I will send as a dispatch to the papers. We’ll leak the news that you’re on the Big Island. Enjoying your stay with friends.”
Papa Archie leaned forward. “Yes. But where?”
Andrew hesitated as the servant emerged and poured another cup of coffee. The journalist waited until the attendant left, then lowered his voice. “Where I will escort you—with your agreement and your father’s permission—is to Ulupalakua, in up-country, Maui.”
Suddenly the image came clearly to Kaiulani’s mind: a pristine, white clapboard ranch house, high up on the flank of Haleakela. Surrounded by big trees and hidden sometimes in the clouds hanging about the mountain, it was a pleasant, secluded place. “I was there once with the king…with Papa Moi,” she recalled. “Mister Stevenson was there as well.”
Papa Archie’s face brightened at the suggestion. “The king’s old house. Closed up. I know the ranch foreman. It can be arranged easily.”
Andrew fixed his gaze on Kaiulani. “Listen. You’ll be safe there. Free.”
Hannah cried, “Oh, Kaiulani! We can ride every day.”
Archie sat back, satisfied. “Your mother loved that house. Ulupalakua!”
Kaiulani clapped her hands. “On the slope of Haleakula, overlooking the sea. I remember! We saw the whales breach when the sun was silver on the water.”
Hannah laughed. “We learned to milk goats. Remember? The paniolos let us ride the ponies of their children.”
Kaiulani’s eyes filled with tears at the prospect of living in obscurity and freedom. “There was no place in the islands where we had such joy.”
“I’ll come up from Lahaina once a week with supplies,” Andrew promised. “I’ll bring letters and carry out any messages you need to send. Then, when things quiet down in Honolulu, or we get rid of Thurston and his crowd, I’ll bring you home.”
Papa Archie steepled his fingers and studied the faces of Kaiulani and Hannah. “The happiest I have seen your faces since you returned.” He turned to Andrew. “I am depending on you, Andrew. You can sail to Maui from Ainahau.”
* * * *
The women, bundled in travel capes, waited on the beach beneath Ainahau. Beside them, one coal-oil bull’s-eye lantern was nailed to a palm tree’s trunk. Standing atop a low post a few yards farther toward the waves was a second gleaming beacon.
Andrew, who had gone to locate the rowboat hidden earlier for tonight’s purpose, returned to Hannah and Kaiulani. “The channel through the reef is narrow but passable,” he said by way of explanation. “When the captain sees these two lights as one directly atop the other, he knows to come straight ahead to anchor.”
Even as Andrew spoke, a dark shape knifed across the face of a distant phosphorescent swell. “He’s right on time,” Andrew said.
He assisted Hannah into the dinghy, then returned for Kaiulani. His hands felt warm on her arms and his breath warm on her cheek.
Once they were seated, he launched the boat, Andrew’s boots squelching in the wet sand.
The princess sat in the stern of the craft; Hannah in the bow. “You see the light on the ship?” he asked. “Keep your eye on it, and give me corrections if I’m headed wrong.”
Kaiulani watched Andrew’s sure, strong strokes on the oars. There was no wasted motion. Each pull powered them nearer to their escape with a minimum of noise. Kaiulani wanted to tell Andrew how much she admired him: his plan, his strength, his courage, his commitment to her cause. But now was not the time, and this was not the place.
He caught her looking at him. “Not exactly rowing in Regent’s Park, is it?” he joked.
“How do you know we can trust this captain?” she asked.
“Old friend,” he replied. “Hawaiian captain who worked in the sandalwood trade with my father. He’d sooner die than betray you.”
“He knows who we are?” Hannah asked.
“Yes, but not the crew,” Andrew cautioned. “Keep your hoods up and your voices soft. You’ll be fine.”
The freeboard on the schooner was low. Two steps up a rope ladder, and they were aboard. The captain murmured a greeting, then bustled them aft to the deck behind the cockpit before setting his crew of three to hoisting anchor and making sail.
“What’s her name?” Hannah asked. “The ship’s?”
“Ho’ololi,” Andrew replied.
“Good,” Hannah approved. “ ‘Transformed.’ May this night transform all our lives for good.”
An off-shore breeze wafted Ho’ololi beyond the black gap where white breakers surged over the coral on either side. With the wind from the port quarter astern, the skipper ordered the sails set for the crossing between Oahu and the island of Lanai. Soon the water sang along the lee rail as Ho’ololi set her keel into the waves like an eager horse attacks the track.
The stars were radiant overhead. “Is it true the ancient Polynesians could navigate across thousands of miles by the stars alone?” Andrew asked.
“So my grandmother taught me,” Kaiulani said. “The channel between Kaho’olawe and Lanai is called Kealaikahiki, the road to Tahiti. Our people came from there, I think.”
“How
brave they must have been,” Andrew said. “Not just the sailing, I mean, but giving up all they knew—their life back there—to go to a new, unknown land.”
Impulsively Kaiulani reached out and grasped Andrew’s hands. “But they took their families with them. It’s not about houses and land. If you have those you love around you, you are home.”
Hannah coughed softly. It was not a sound of disapproval, but still it caused Kaiulani to stiffen and draw back from Andrew’s touch.
