Page 69 of Big Island Sunset
“Mahalo. I’m happy too.”
She hugged her, being careful not to squash Everett. He pushed her away anyhow, giving her an indignant scowl. Lani just laughed.
Her heart was full as she watched her two daughters on the money bars. Warm sunlight slanted overhead, and the green grass of the field sparkled with morning dew.
There were more decisions ahead, more challenges — and more happy surprises too.
Right there, in that moment, she realized that she was perfectly content. And instead of anticipating future worries or potential problems, she let herself breathe deep and enjoy it.
21
Fern
Theo woke up crying, and Fern rushed to scoop him up out of his crib.
“Is it your teeth again?” She cradled him in her arms and rocked him back and forth until he calmed — though he continued to whine and grumble, looking up at her with wide eyes and a tear-streaked face. “Teething is so hard sometimes, huh?”
She carried him through to the kitchen and settled him into his high chair with a baby-sized popsicle. She’d made them herself with fresh coconut water, so she didn’t mind giving him as many as it took to soothe his gums.
From what she could tell, the poor kid had four teeth coming in all at once. No wonder he woke up screaming half the time. If she had four teeth cutting through her gums, she would probably wake up crying too.
Theo’s grumbling shifted to happy baby babbling as he gnawed on his second popsicle, and Fern set about making them some lunch. She warmed up a small pot of beef stew on the stove and put a small portion of it into the blender for Theo. Pureed beef was his favorite thing to eat, and she felt a lot better giving him grass-fed island beef than jars shipped over from the mainland or who knew where.
“Hungry for some real food?’ she asked once the puree was cool enough for him to eat.
“Mamamamama!” He drummed his high chair tray in anticipation.
Before she could sit down, there was a knock on the door. Theo shouted at her when she turned away, and she handed him the silicone baby spoon with a bite of puree on it… which immediately ended up on his nose. Fern swallowed a laugh as she opened the front door.
“Jun!” she said in surprise. “Hi!”
Juniper blinked, as surprised to find Fern in her dad’s kitchen as Fern was by the unexpected visit. Ethan had been doing his best to patch things up with his daughter, but she hadn’t been to the house in a while.
“Come in,” Fern said a moment later. She stepped aside and waved the girl through.
“Is my dad home?” She hovered near the door uncertainly as Fern closed it behind her.
“No, but he should be back soon. Theo just woke up from his nap, though. Come sit with us. Are you hungry?”
“I could eat,” Jun said cautiously.
“I just warmed up some beef stew. Can I get you a bowl?”
“Sure. Thanks.” She shrugged off her backpack and hung it on one of the kitchen chairs.
“Go ahead and sit down,” Fern said. She went to the stove and put the lion’s share of the food into a bowl for Jun.
“Where’s my dad?” Jun sounded so young in that moment.
“He needed some things from the hardware store,” Fern said lightly. It was the truth, but only a piece of it. Ethan was planning to stop at the hardware store on his way home from therapy. This was his second appointment with a grief counselor he’d found, and she hoped that he would keep going.
She thought that it would be healthy for him to tell Jun that he was in therapy, but she also knew that she didn’t have the right to share that with the girl she hardly knew. Ethan would tell her when he was ready — sooner rather than later, she hoped. But the mending of the relationship between father and daughter was really none of her business, regardless of how much she wanted the best for both of them.
“Hey Teddy Bear,” Jun said softly, patting her little brother on the head. She smiled at his baby babble.
“Here, go ahead and eat.” Fern ladeled out a bowl of stew and handed it to Jun.
“What about you?”
