Page 25 of Big Island Weddings
“Don’t leave me here alone!” Cassie said in her most piteous voice. “I want to go in the van with you!”
“There’s no more room in the van, sweetheart. And you won’t be alone.” She ran a hand over her daughter’s hair. “You’ll be with Auntie Emma and all of your friends.”
“That’s not true! You’re taking all of my bestest friends away!”
“Rory will be here with you.”
Cassie sniffed and relaxed her grip. “Rory’s staying here?”
“Yep. And Kai and Shoshana and Izumi and lots of other friends.”
“Okay.” She sighed and dropped her arms.
Nell asked each parent at drop off, but no one was available to help her wrangle kids at the botanical gardens that day.
Oh well.
The small group of older kids was relatively easy to manage. She would just make several group trips to the bathroom to make sure that they didn’t have to split up or backtrack.
It would be fine. They had a guided tour scheduled, and hopefully that would hold their attention. Nell would just bring up the rear and make sure everyone stayed together.
Easy.
Still, being solely responsible for other people’s kids brought her anxiety to the forefront.
Driving a van full of other people’s children was a uniquely nerve-racking venture. Nell had grown up driving trucks, andshe had plenty of experience. She was competent. But she had hardly driven at all the past couple of years, and steering the bulky van onto the highway made her pulse speed and stutter.
Everett fell asleep before they even hit the highway, and she had bribed the rest of the kids into good behavior with a bag of candy: one for each person who made it all the way to the botanical gardens without making any noise.
It was not her finest moment, and it was overkill, but it let her navigate the van with no distractions. To keep the kids occupied on the longish drive, she played a stories podcast over the stereo system.
Finally, she pulled up in front of the botanical gardens and parked in the lush shade of the rainforest.
Her attention was on the kids as they piled out of the van. She strapped Everett into his carrier, made sure that everyone had their snacks and water bottles with them, and then she sprayed them all down with a natural mosquito spray that one of the parents had donated.
She didn’t notice Hugh until she was almost on top of him. He stood just inside of the entrance, watching her with a gleam in his eyes.
“What are you doing here?” she asked in astonishment.
“I thought you could use some backup.”
“But I thought you had meetings all day.”
He shrugged. “I rescheduled.”
“Hey Uncle,” Luana said, pulling at his arm, “where’s Daisy?”
Pain flashed through his eyes, there and gone in a blink. He smiled ruefully at Luana and answered, “She’s still at her school in Honolulu.”
“So irraz,” she muttered under her breath.
Hugh laughed. “Yeah, it is. I miss her too.”
She sighed and looked up at Nell. “Can we go in now?”
“Yeah, let’s go.” She did a quick head count and then took them through to find the botanical garden employee who would be leading the tour that day.
They were used to school groups coming through – it was a free offering that every school in the area took advantage of at some point – and their guide did an excellent job of keeping the kids engaged as they walked down the long boardwalk trail through the shade of the jungle.
