Page 3 of Big Island Weddings
“I never knew about the goddess.”
“She is the sister of the sun and moon.” Frowning slightly, he asked, “Does Aurora have sisters? Or brothers?”
Lani shook her head, though she thought of Olivia and felt a twinge of guilt. She and Rory were very nearly sisters, but it was all so new. So fragile.
What if Lorenzo ruined everything, just by being there?
She was terrified, but when he looked at her with a pleading expression identical to Rory’s, she knew that she couldn’t deny him the chance to meet their daughter.
More than that, she would never deprive her daughter the opportunity to know her father, to know a whole family that she had never met. Did she have living grandparents? Aunts and uncles? Cousins? Lani’s head spun with questions that she was too cowardly to voice.
“You will let me see her?” he asked.
“I don’t know anything about you,” she blurted. “I don’t even know your last name.”
“Lazzeri,” he provided.
“Lorenzo Lazzeri?”
“Yes.”
“Nice to meet you.”
He grinned and straightened. “I will tell you anything you wish to know.”
“Okay. But… later. I should get back to work.”
He nodded and started to hand her phone back, then paused.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I will give you my phone number. You will call me?”
With a sigh, she nodded her agreement. He programmed his number into her phone.
“I have rented a room here in Pualena,” he said, his voice infused with a quiet plea, “but I cannot stay forever. You will call soon?”
“Yes,” she agreed. “Soon.”
He nodded and handed her phone back to her.
“I would like more photos, please,” he said as she stood. “I want to show to my mother.”
A lump rose in Lani’s throat, and tears burned her eyes.
Rory had a grandmother.
Lani’s foolishness hadn’t only cost her daughter five and a half years with her father. It had cost her time with her only living grandmother. And for some reason, that cut even deeper.
“I’ll send you some photos,” she promised, her voice tight.
“Thank you.”
She nodded and retreated inside. Juniper gave her a quick, curious glance before turning her attention back to the customers at the window.
Lani went into the back to scrub pots, trying to give herself time to calm down.
Her whole life was about to be turned upside down. She would have to share her daughter with a whole family of people she had never even met.
