Page 41 of Big Island Sunset
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.” She leaned back and looked at her, the blue of her eyes brighter than ever with the whites pink from crying. “Sisters wear the same dresses, or everybody wears the same t-shirts, like that.”
“You want me to find us some matching clothes?”
Olivia nodded, and her lower lip trembled.
“Then maybe people will know I’m part of the family too,” she said through her tears.
Her distress was so pitiful that it brought tears to Lani’s eyes too.
“Okay,” she agreed. “We can find some matching clothes.”
Olivia put her arms around Lani’s middle and squeezed her fiercely. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome, baby,” she said, holding her tight.
They sat like that for a long time.
When Lani did go back to her tablet, it wasn’t to work. It was to order a few sets of matching dresses and family t-shirts in an effort to help her bonus daughter to feel at home in their family of four.
These things took time; she knew that. She couldn’t just snap her fingers and make things better for Olivia. But she would help her along in any way that she could.
11
Emma
“I’m King of the Earth!” Kai shouted, standing atop the pile of mulch that had been delivered the day before. “All shall tremble before me!”
“Move it, Earth King.” Emma brandished her pitchfork. “I’m workin’ here!”
“This is my realm!” he roared, voice only slightly muffled by the giant leaf he had turned into a mask.
“All the Earth is your realm, oh King,” Juniper intoned from the lanai, “and your orchard is under attack!”
“Who dares attack my orchard?” he shouted, waving a stick that was longer than he was.
“The mynah birds are in the fruit trees again.”
“How dare they!” Kai boomed. “Soldiers, with me!”
He charged down the mulch pile and around the side of the house, screaming all the while.
“Thanks for that,” Emma said to Juniper. She stabbed the mulch pile with her pitchfork and began loading her wheelbarrow. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay. Managed to eat a bowl of that leftover soup.”
“That’s great!” Real relief washed through her body at the news that her niece had managed to eat a proper meal.
“I’ve got a bunch of tea on the stove, and I’m going to go pack up some of the bagged mixes too. I’mnotmissing another market day.”
“Sounds good. Let me know if you need a hand with anything.”
“I’m okay,” Juniper said, heading back inside. “You do your thing, Earth Queen.”
“Queen regent of Kealoha,” she muttered, filling the wheelbarrow until it brimmed with spongy brown shredded wood.
Emma carted the mulch over to the jaboticaba sapling and started spreading it in a big circle around the tree. A healthy layer of shredded wood and leaves kept the weeds down, and over time it turned into nourishing soil for the trees – a key part of growing food in a place that had only a couple inches of soil above fields of lava rock.
