“I’m coming too.” These were tiger sharks, one of the most dangerous species. She swallowed and pressed her lips together. “Let me call Nani.” She grabbed her whistle and blew it. A few moments later, she pointed. “There she is! But she’s not coming close.”
“If she sees me in the water, maybe she will.” Jesse sat on the railing and slung his legs over.
“Uncle Jesse, you can’t go! There are sharks in the water.” Heidi ran to grab his hand.
He squeezed it. “You pray for me, okay? I have to go. It’s really important.” His gaze met Faye’s. “Take care of her. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“We’ll pray,” Faye promised.
“Try to ease into the water with as little splash as possible,” Kaia said. “And dive as deep as you dare. We don’t want them to mistake us for seals on the surface.” She grabbed the railing and let herself down toward the water. She was halfway submerged before she let go, and she entered the waves with hardly a ripple.
Jesse saw her and motioned her back, but she shook her head. “You may need my help. Make sure you come up for air as little as possible,” she told him.
He nodded and pulled his mask into place. “See you aboard the boat.” His head disappeared into the water.
Kaia took a deep breath and dove. She saw a large shadow off to her right and paused to look. A large tiger shark loomed in the murky water. She dove deeper, trying to emit as many bubbles as she could to let it know she wasn’t a seal. That’s what she’d always been taught, but this particular shark didn’t seem to get it. It followed her down.
Her lungs burned. She was going to have to surface for air soon. She glanced up and saw Jesse moving toward the boat. The tiger swam past, nearly brushing her with its tail. It was checking her out. She was going to die in its jaws.
The shark turned and started back. Its hungry mouth displayed rows of razor-like teeth. She didn’t have a chance. Then Kaia saw another form come toward her. Nani. Six other dolphins followed. To Kaia’s amazement, they circled the shark. Then Nani rushed in, ramming her nostrum into the belly of the shark. The attacks from the other dolphins came thick and fast. Wham, wham. In moments the shark was bleeding and beginning to turn belly up.
Nani brushed by Kaia, and she reached out and grabbed the dolphin’s dorsal fin. Nani pulled her quickly to the top, and Kaia took a deep breath, sucking air into her oxygen-starved lungs. Glancing behind, she saw the sea beginning to boil with sharks as they zoomed in to scavenge the fish the dolphins had attacked.
She had to get out of here. Grabbing Nani’s fin again, she let the dolphin pull her toward the Porpoise II. She saw Jesse standing on deck with the ship-to-shore phone in his hand. Moments later, she grasped the side of the boat, almost too exhausted to pull herself up. She found the last vestiges of her strength and got to the ladder. She climbed aboard and fell onto the deck.
Jesse bent over her. “Are you all right?”
“Shark,” she gasped. “Nani saved me, she and her friends.”
Jesse helped her up. “I’ve got to get through to the captain. It’s almost nine.” He listened. “He’s not answering his phone.” He dialed another number and spoke to an SP. “Interrupt him,” he shouted in the phone. “You can’t let that missile launch! Tell him to call me before he gives the order.” He clicked off the phone and went to the helm. “We’ve got to find Duncan just in case we can’t reach Lawton.”
She dropped into the seat beside him. “Where do we look?”
“I have no idea.” His face betrayed unutterable weariness.
“I’ll ask Nani.” She grabbed DALE from the deck and dropped it over the side. “I’ll punch in shark and put a man’s face on the screen. Nani used shark when she wanted me to know Heidi was in danger. Maybe she’ll get it.”
Nani chattered and rose on her tail in the waves. She plunged into the sea and zoomed off toward shore. “Follow her, Jesse!”
Jesse revved the motor, and the boat zoomed into the wake left by the dolphin’s fin. She veered toward shore just past Makaha Point. Jesse slowed the boat and strained to see into the valleys and crevices of the Na Pali coastline. There was no sign of Duncan’s motorboat.
Nani stopped and danced through the waves. She chattered and whistled.
Kaia touched Jesse’s forearm. “She’s saying ‘shark’ again. You think Duncan is here somewhere?”
Jesse grabbed binoculars and focused them. “I think I see something.”
Kaia waited, barely daring to breathe.
“There he is!”
“Where?” Kaia asked. He pointed, and Kaia made out a speck of movement on the slope of the mountain.
“Let’s get in there.” Jesse steered the boat to the shore until the bow touched sand. He dropped the anchor overboard. The radio crackled to life. “Finally,” he said. He picked it up. “Matthews.”
The captain’s voice came on. “What’s wrong, Jesse? Over.”
“I think we’ve located the terrorist, sir,” Jesse said. He gave his commander a brief report.
The radio crackled again. “I just launched the missile. You’d better stop that man now. Reinforcements are on their way.”
Too late. They were too late. Kaia clenched her fists in her lap.
“Understood. Over and out.” Jesse tossed the radio mic down. “I’m going ashore.”
Kaia dropped the anchor overboard. “Let’s go.”
They hopped over the side and waded ashore. A steep path led straight up into a small valley. Jesse took Kaia’s hand, and they raced to the path. Kaia’s breath came hard as she climbed.
She glanced at her watch. Two minutes had already elapsed. The seconds were ticking by. They broke through the vegetation into a small valley. The remains of a heiau, an ancient Hawaiian temple, lay in front of them. On it was a portable satellite. Jesse, ahead of her, raced for it. Duncan was reaching for it.
“No!” Jesse tackled his friend as Duncan swung around with the satellite contraption in his hands. It went flying through the air to shatter against the stone of the crumbling temple structure. Both men rolled over and over on the ground.
Duncan’s face reddened. “Arrghh!” He grabbed Jesse by the shoulders and tried to roll him off, but Jesse outweighed him by forty pounds. He beat ineffectually at Jesse’s grip on his biceps.
Jesse rolled him over onto his stomach and pulled Duncan’s hands behind his back, then dragged him to his feet while still keeping hold of Duncan’s wrists.
Kaia rushed to his side, her breath coming in gasps. “You got him!”
“Take your hands off me!” Duncan twisted vainly in Jesse’s grip then went limp. He began to sob. He sank to the ground, and Jesse let him. Duncan was a beaten figure with his head bowed and tears streaking his face.
“Let’s go get Heidi and Faye,” Kaia said.
The navy came and took Duncan away. He seemed smaller somehow. Shrunken and defeated. Captain Lawton congratulated Kaia and Jesse on a job well done and told them the missile test had been a complete success. With the Akis in custody as well, the munitions were safe too.
Kaia waded back to the Porpoise II with Jesse. Nani chattered her greeting, and Kaia studied the dolphin with tears in her eyes. “She did it. She talked to me. We communicated with words. I don’t know what we would have done without her.”
Jesse patted the dolphin’s nostrum. “She was wonderful. So were you.” He put his arm around her and helped her board the boat. They sat down in facing chairs.
Kaia’s face grew hot at the love in his eyes. They now had time to explore that uncharted territory. The thought left her both terrified and elated.
Jesse leaned forward and took her hands in his. “Seeing what bitterness did to Duncan made me realize something, Kaia. We can’t go forward, either of us, until we can forgive the people who hurt us and let go of the past. I’m willing to do that if you are. When we get back to the boat, can you tell your mother you forgive her?”
She stared at him. ??
?I don’t think I can,” she whispered. “Not yet.”
The elation in his eyes faded. “Try,” he said.
She closed her eyes against the plea in his face. “Let’s go get Heidi,” she said.
He gave her a quick look then turned the key and fired the engine. They said nothing as they headed out to the boat where they’d left Faye and Heidi. Heidi waved to them as they pulled alongside.
Jesse gave Kaia a quick glance as he helped her mother aboard, but she avoided his gaze. Heidi rushed to hug her. Kaia clung to the little girl. Tears stung her eyes at the feel of Heidi’s arms around her neck. They were all safe. She could hardly believe it.
Clenching her hands together, Faye stood off to one side. When Kaia released Heidi, Faye took a step toward Kaia. Kaia reflexively took a step back, and Faye’s smile faltered. “I prayed and prayed you’d be all right,” she whispered.
“We’re fine. Duncan was caught in time. Ready to go home?” She tried to sound friendly, but when she saw Faye flinch, she knew her words had come out cold. So be it. Bridging this gap was going to take more strength than she could muster right now.
She caught the disappointment in Jesse’s face and turned away from it. If forgiving her mother was a necessary prerequisite to a relationship with him, she might have to keep her distance for now.
Thirty
Kaia hadn’t seen or talked to Jesse for two days. He’d called, but she’d seen his name on the caller ID and not answered. She didn’t know what to say. He’d made it clear he didn’t want a relationship unless she got rid of her baggage. She wanted to do that, but she didn’t know how.
Sitting on her garden bench with her cat in her lap, she could see the blue expanse of the Pacific over the cliff where her house perched. When she’d looked down on Tutu kane’s cottage earlier, she’d seen her mother’s Volvo parked in front. The feelings the sight evoked had not been worthy of a Christian, but she couldn’t help herself. All her mother had to do was come back, and she was suddenly the family darling again.
Hiwa was licking her paws with relish. Kaia ran her hand over the cat’s silky fur. She knew what she should do. The right thing would be to march down the stone steps and see her mother face-to- face. Talk to her.
Kaia rubbed her forehead and put the cat on the ground. Hiwa yowled and shot off toward the palm tree by the fountain. Kaia wished her grandmother were here. Her presence had been as calming as jasmine. Almost lonelier than she could bear, Kaia wished she could lay her head in Tûtû’s lap and feel her grandmother’s fingers in her hair.
A shadow blocked out the sun, and Kaia looked up to see her brother. Bane wasn’t smiling.
“We need to talk,” he said.
She scooted over on the bench. “So talk.”
“I probably should have shown this to you before, but the time never seemed right.” He held out an envelope. Kaia stared at it, not sure she wanted to know what it contained. “Read it,” he urged.
“What is it?” He laid the envelope in her lap, and she stared at it. She recognized the writing. Bane’s name was slashed boldly across the paper in her grandmother’s familiar script.
“Read it and see.”
Her hands trembled and her fingers felt clumsy as she pulled the paper inside free of the envelope. She unfolded it and began to read.
Bane,
I leave you this letter as the eldest. When I’m gone, I pray you will choose the right time to give this to your sister. Your wisdom is great in spite of your youth. You will know when.
My Kaia, though you are dearer to me than I can say, there is a cancer eating up the joy in your heart more ravenous than the disease devouring my body. I fear this bitterness I see growing in you will strangle the joy from your heart as seaweed chokes the lagoon. You have brought us much joy in your growing years. Now you are a wahine, a woman. The Bible says to put away childish things, and I hope as you read this letter, you can do that very thing. Forgiveness is an adult response, and you must take hold of it with the same zest with which you embraced your studies. Do not blame your mother for her mistakes. God says to forgive as He has forgiven us. Let go of it, my Kaia. Let go and let God heal your heart.
Tûtû
Kaia dropped the letter, and it drifted to nest in a bed of mimosa. For a few moments, she was a little girl again, and her tûtû the woman with all the answers. If only her grandmother were here to guide her through these treacherous waters. She didn’t know how to forgive her mother. If only she could forget the past and forge a new future. But it was easier said than done.
“You have to forgive her, Kaia,” Bane said. He squeezed her shoulder and left her.
“Help me, Tûtû,” she whispered. But the only answer was the wind in the palms.
Jesse sat in his Jeep and looked at Oke Kohala’s cottage. From the vehicles parked around the sandy road and in the driveway, it looked like Kaia’s brothers were here. Though Jesse wasn’t enamored at the thought of baring his heart to the world, it was now or never.
If he had to fight for Kaia, so be it. She hadn’t answered his calls, so this was the next step.
“Are we just going to sit here?” Heidi asked. “I want to go look for Nani. Will you come with me?”
Jesse glanced at his niece. Her blue eyes darted around in fear. He couldn’t blame her for being scared. She’d been through things no child should witness.
“Let’s go.” He got out. Heidi scooted over the seat to get out on his side. She held his hand in a death grip.
“When is Mom coming?”
“As soon as she can get a flight.” Jesse would miss Heidi. Now that the tests were over and he could spend more time with her, he was about to lose her.
“That’s what you said yesterday.” She watched the koa tree grove with suspicious eyes.
Her mother would have been home by now except for her canceled flight. There had been a terrorist scare, and Jillian had been stuck in Italy, much to her dismay. She hoped to get a flight out within a day or two, though Jesse didn’t dare tell Heidi the reason for the delay. She would just worry all the more.
He stopped on the path and squatted to look her in the eye. “You don’t have to be afraid anymore, monkey. The bad guys are locked up. You’re safe.”
Her face contorted. “It was scary, Uncle Jesse.”
“I know. And I’m sorry I wasn’t there to keep you from getting scared. But God was with you. You know that, right? And he kept you safe.”
“I know.” Her face relaxed. “I prayed and prayed for you to find me. And he sent Nani.”
“That’s right.” Jesse smiled.
“Where is Kaia?” Heidi’s voice was plaintive.
“I’m not sure. I’m going to go find her later.” Maybe she was at the lab. She had plenty to keep her busy there now that Curtis had heard the story of how Nani helped rescue his wife. Jesse stood up and took Heidi’s hand. His steps lagged. Man, he didn’t want to have to enlist Kaia’s family’s help, but he didn’t know what else to do. He felt like a kid going to his dad over a problem at school.
The imu pit was heating, and Mano was layering the hot coals with ti leaves. He waved at Jesse and went back to his work.
“Can I watch?” Heidi whispered.
Jesse nodded. “I’ll come get you later and we’ll go to the beach.”
“Okay.” She ran to join Mano, who handed ti leaves to her so she could help him.
Pressing his lips together, Jesse strode to the cottage door and knocked.
“Be right there,” Bane called.
Wonderful scents came through the screen door, and Jesse’s mouth watered. He hadn’t eaten breakfast yet, and the aroma of baking coconut made his stomach rumble. He stepped away from the door as Bane joined him.
“Where have you been hiding?” Bane asked, holding open the screen for Jesse.
“I’ve been busy.”
He followed Bane inside. “It’s about time you showed your face.” He studied Jesse’s face. “You look a little
haggard, brah.”
If there was one thing a man hated, it was to let his emotions show on his face. Jesse had thought he was doing a good job of masking his pain. “Kaia isn’t speaking to me. And Faye says she won’t take her calls either. I made the stupid mistake of telling her she needed to forgive her mother before we could pursue our own relationship.”
Bane gave Jesse a good-natured slap on the shoulder. “Smart man. You can’t build anything on rotten ground. My sister can be stubborn. She’s been hurt too many times, but she needs to learn to let it go. I’ve prayed about it, and I’m going to call a ho’oponopono.”
Jesse was familiar with the family therapy session, though he’d never personally attended one. It meant literally “to make things right,” though he suspected even a radical intervention like that would fail to reach Kaia. Still, it was worth a try. She at least had to listen out of respect for her family.
“When?” Jesse asked.
“Tomorrow at sundown. I’ll send our grandfather to fetch her. She can’t refuse the command of the kahuna.” Bane grinned.
Nani whistled and clicked to Kaia as she sat at the pier with her feet hung over the side. “Good girl,” she said. The dolphin had said “swim.” Kaia still couldn’t believe they’d breached the wall between the species. Real communication. It was a dream come true.
If only her other dreams would stop hounding her. Every night she went to bed vowing to forget Jesse: the sound of his voice, the scent of his skin, the touch of his hand. And every morning she awoke with a vivid dream of him: the sparks that had flown between them the first time they met, his gentleness with his niece, his commitment to those he loved.
Kaia had fought the dreams by throwing herself into her research. She wanted no time to think or feel. So far she hadn’t succeeded. She felt like she’d been tossed around in the water by a humpback whale. And she couldn’t get her grandmother’s letter out of her mind.
Jenny hurried along the wooden dock. “Reporters are due in about an hour.”
The other woman had been subdued the last few days. At least Jenny hadn’t been involved in the plot to blow up the munitions storage area. And Kaia hoped her heart hadn’t been too badly damaged by the discovery that Kim had murdered Jonah Kapolei. Kim and Nahele weren’t getting out of jail anytime soon.