Page 44 of Big Island Weddings
“Is that all?” Lani tried to sound playful, but her voice came out weak and shaky.
“Juniper’s still testing blends, so we’ve got enough tea to bathe in.”
“Mamaki would be lovely.”
Emma poured out two mugs of tea and brought them to the table.
The kids were in the next room watching a movie on Uncle John’s bulky old television set. They giggled, and the sound pulled at her heart.
Lani’s love for her daughter was all mixed up in fear and grief. She didn’t know if that was her burden to bear, punishment for the choices she had made… or just an ordinary part of motherhood.
“Try not to fret.” Emma reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “You’re welcome to use my car until the truck is running again. It’s not like I drive much.”
“Thank you, but I’m not too worried. If Kekoa can’t help me fix it, I have enough saved to buy something decent. I might take you up on that, though, just to get around the next few days.”
“Of course.” She looked at her for a long moment, head tilted in concern. “If you’re not stressed about the truck, what is it? You haven’t been yourself lately.”
Lani nodded in agreement and took a breath in, trying to sort her thoughts out enough to voice them. She was tired of carrying this alone… and unsure of why she was doing that to begin with. Maybe because she had wanted to talk it through with Tenn first, but then she had failed miserably on that front as well.
Maybe it was that she had been doing life alone for so long that when something truly terrifying happened, she dealt with it by herself.
But she didn’t want to live like that anymore.
“Rory’s dad showed up,” she said, wrapping both hands around the warm mug in front of her.
Emma’s jaw dropped. She quickly snapped her mouth shut again, then opened it to ask, “Her bio dad?”
“Yeah.”
“The Italian?”
“That’s the one.”
“How?”
Lani let out a heavy sigh. “An old coworker of mine ran into him. She had been following my pictures on social media for years, apparently, and she was there the night we met. All of my friends on the ship knew what had happened. A few of them even helped me look for him once I decided to keep the baby. But with no last name, no address…” She trailed off and shrugged.
“And by ‘showed up’ you mean…”
“Here.”
“Here,” Emma repeated, wide-eyed. “On the island.”
“Just showed up at the shave ice place one day.”
“That’s wild! How long will he be here?”
“I don’t know.”
“Has he met Rory yet?”
“Yeah. She loves him. She calls him Babbo.” A smile pushed at Lani’s cheeks, because how could she not be happy about something that made her baby girl light up?
“What’s his name?”
“Lorenzo.”
“And has he met Tenn?”
