Page 87 of Big Island Horizons
“You mean besides coming over at dawn and making us breakfast?”
“Yeah, besides that.”
“We’ve got the whole Pualena Playschool crew coming over at noon. The family too, of course. And we need to go pick Prince up. His grandmother said that he could come, but he needs a ride.”
“I can help with that.”
They spent the morning making food for the party. Kai helped to mix up the banana cupcakes he had requested, then lost interest and went outside to play.
They were just putting the last of the food away when Tenn arrived on foot. Lani walked outside to meet him, but Rory got there first. She stood watching with her hands on her hips as he let himself through the front gate.
“Where’s Livie?” she demanded.
“Her grandma and grandpa wanted to take her out to breakfast,” he replied.
“But what about the birthday party?!”
“They’ll drop her off in time for the party.”
“Are yousure?”
“I’m sure.”
She peered up at him for another moment before chirping, “Okay,” and running off to find Kai and Prince.
People began to arrive quickly after that, families from the playschool and the whole Madeira clan. ‘Olena and Nate arrivedtogether, which was something that Lani planned to ask her cousin about the moment that she got her alone.
Tenn made himself useful and strung up the piñata with his one good arm, dodging her attempts to treat him like an invalid.
Olivia was one of the last kids to arrive. Her friends swept her up and into the action while her grandmother stood at the gate, looking across the yard at Tenn with a pinched expression on her face.
“Sonya, hi!” Lani greeted her. “Would you like to come in for some lunch?”
“He shouldn’t be doing that,” Sonya said as she watched her son tie off one end of the rope he had thrown over a high branch of the‘ulutree. “He should be resting his shoulder so that it can heal.”
“I tried telling him.” Lani could feel her voice and smile turn strained, as much as she tried to stay casual and upbeat. “He says he’s tired of resting.”
Sonya’s cold blue eyes settled on her with a barehmphof acknowledgement.
“Would you like to stay?” Lani asked again.
“I can’t. I have papers to grade.” Sonya seemed on the cusp of saying something else, her gaze flicking between Lani and Tenn, but she held back.
“Okay, well… thanks for dropping Livie.”
She nodded and walked back to her car, leaving Lani feeling stranded and off balance.
Tenn’s mother hated her, she knew it. She blamed her for his injury… and she wasn’t wrong. If it hadn’t been for Lani, that never would have happened. It was a guilt that she still grappled with every day.
He smiled at her across the lawn, and the pain in her chest eased. He was still here. And despite all that had happened, he was happier with her than he would be without her.
Wasn’t that all that mattered in the end?
She walked across the yard and settled into her usual spot, his uninjured arm wrapped around her waist. Surrounded by love and conversation and family, she felt the ghosts of her past begin to ebb away.
It was a new day under the Hawaiian sun with her love by her side – and that was an everyday sort of miracle that she would never take for granted again.
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