Page 64 of Big Island Horizons
Ricky shrieked again and flapped his wings, working his way down to the nearest branch. He was scared of heights – the sad reality of a domesticated macaw.
Clumsy and frightened, he slowly made his way down out of the tree. Finally, in a burst of flight, he soared over their heads and landed on top of the aviary.
Tara was so happy she could cry.
She was also terrified that he would get spooked and fly off again.
“Hey Ricky,” she said softly, walking to the aviary door. “You hungry?”
She opened the door and Cody followed her in, opening the bag of brazil nuts. Lucy, who would normally have begged for a treat, was climbing up the inside of the aviary wall to get closer to her mate. He edged his way along the roof and finally down the side of the aviary, where Tara was waiting for him.
“Step up?” she said, holding out her arm.
With one black claw and then another, Ricky stepped onto her arm.
Tara brought her arm to her chest and Ricky cuddled into her, exhausted. She carried him into the aviary and shut the door behind them. After petting him for a moment, she transferred him to a nearby branch so that he could eat.
Lucy made a fuss over him while he feasted on brazil nuts and papaya.
Tara let out a sigh of relief and leaned into Cody, resting her head on his shoulder.
“One less thing to worry about,” he said.
“Thank goodness for that.”
22
Lani
Lani sat on the milking stool, her eyes gritty with lack of sleep.
Even Tenn sleeping next to her wasn’t enough to keep her nervous system in check anymore. What if Zeke found them together? What would he do? What about the girls? Was she putting them all in danger just by being near them?
More than once, she had seriously considered leaving. But the thought of taking her daughter away from this beautiful life, of moving to some random place and starting over without her family to support her… it was excruciating. Maybe even more painful than the thought of leaving Tenn. She had left her family behind once before; she couldn’t do that again.
But she couldn’t keep living like this, either.
She was so exhausted that she managed to fall asleep with Tenn, more often than not. But then she woke up around two in the morning, completely wired on cortisol. There was no falling back asleep after that. She would just toss and turn until she finally got up at first light to milk the goats.
Her stress levels were off the charts.
It was even worse than when she had been living with Zeke, because then she had at least known how to manage him… more or less.
The stress had never gone away, but it had never been quite this intense, either. At least not until the end, when he started to snap and snarl at Rory. As soon as she began to wonder whether her daughter was safe in that house, she’d started making her plans to leave.
But now, she was worried for everyone she loved, everyone she came into contact with.
He had broken into her house, despite the restraining order.
She longed to believe that his leaving the rings had been a positive thing, a sign that he was ready to let her go. But she knew better. It was a reminder of their vows, a message that he would never let her go.
“Lani?”
She nearly jumped out of her skin. Milk sloshed over the rim of the steel bucket, but she managed to catch it before the whole thing spilled to the ground.
Tenn’s expression was pained.
This wasn’t fair to him, she thought, holding back tears. Waking up in the wee hours, dragging the kids over here so that she could milk the goats, acting like her bodyguard when he had a daughter to raise and a business to run. It wasn’t fair to any of them.
