Page 24 of Big Island Sunset
“Ahoy, captain!” Prince shouted, running after him. “I spy treasure ahead!”
“Onwards to plunder!” Kai cried.
Emma chuckled. She stood leaning against the porch rail, watching them until they ran out of sight.
Her son was happy. At a time when everything else felt fractured and uncertain, that was a huge comfort. As long as Kai was thriving, she could bear up against anything.
If only she knew how to help Juniper and Ethan –reallyhelp them, not just stand there helpless like a pedestrian witnessing a car crash.
She pulled her phone out and called her big sister.
“Hey Em,” Toni picked up on the first ring. “How’s our girl doing?”
“Not great,” Emma admitted. “First-trimester nausea hit her like a freight train, and Ethan’s reaction to the news was… about what you’d expect, I guess.”
“She told him?”
“She beggedmeto tell him.” Emma sighed, wandering down the porch steps and out through the shaded verdancy of her front yard. “I botched it.”
“I’m sure that’s not true. His reaction is on him.”
“I guess.” Emma sat on the overgrown grass next to her jaboticaba sapling. She never got close with the lawnmower or the weed whacker; she was terrified of damaging the baby tree. Against all odds, it had put out a coral-like flush of white flowers followed by green globes of fruit. They were varied shades of plum now, nearly ripe.
“How bad was it?” Toni asked.
“Pretty bad.”
“It’s still busy season for me, but I finally hired someone that I can trust to run the stand for a while. I need to finish training her, and then I’ll come out to visit.”
“Okay,” Emma agreed. She felt out of words – exhausted.
“And she’s definitely keeping the baby?”
“Yeah.”
“And you think that’s a good idea?” Toni pressed. Emma didn’t know how to answer.
“I don’t know if it’s good,” she said, fumbling for the right words. “It just… is.”
“There are other options, Em. Herbs that she could use. I’ve done it myself, more than once.”
“That’s not what she wants.” Emma had watched Juniper devour stacks of books. Their niece knew nearly as much about herbalism as Toni did herself. If she had wanted to take that route, she would have. “All that we can do now is support her – or risk driving her away like Ethan’s done.”
“I don’t like it.”
Emma didn’t reply. She just turned her face up towards the vibrant blue sky and watched a white cloud drift slowly over the house.
She didn’t understand why everyone was so quick to condemn Juniper.
Their niece had always been the darling of the family, the first grandbaby, bright and brilliant and wise beyond her years. So why were they so quick to turn around and condemn her as a foolish child right when she stood on the cusp of full womanhood?
“Look what it did to Laurel,” Toni insisted.
“What did it do to Laurel?” Emma asked, still looking up at the sky.
“Postpartum psychosis. What if it’s hereditary?”
“What are youtalkingabout?”
