Page 21 of Big Island Moonlight
“I guess we are,” she conceded.
He took her hand in his and brought it up to his lips, lightly kissing her knuckles.
“But you could still ask,” she challenged him. He grinned again.
“Will you let me take you out to dinner?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” He dropped her hand and moved away, walking backwards. “I’ll pick you up at four!”
“For dinner?” she shot back, incredulous.
“Yep! Bring a bathing suit!”
“For dinner?” she shouted again.
“Trust me!” he gave her a wink and disappeared into the crowd.
Emma turned and walked back to her car, floating through the crowd without noticing anyone around her. She didn’t need anything from the market that day, not really.
Her shopping basket was empty, but her heart was full.
8
Juniper
By the time the market was done, Juniper’s whole body ached.
Taking only the bag with that day’s earnings, she walked along the sea cliffs until she reached the shade of the ironwood forest. There, she sat down on the soft carpet of fallen pine needles and rested her back against the trunk of a tree.
The eastern edge of the island was only a few yards away, close enough that she could feel the shock of each crashing wave and the gentle caress of the saltwater mist on her cheeks.
Deep in her belly, the baby did a somersault in an ocean all his own.
Juniper had never seen his face, but she loved him more deeply than anyone she had ever known. She had never doubted whether or not she wanted to keep her baby. Even now, without ever setting eyes on him, his life was as precious to her as her own.
Her own capacity to provide for another human being, on the other hand, her ability to prepare him for the world… that was something that she questioned every single day.
She tried comforting herself with the knowledge that she didn’t have to know how to parent a teenager or a kindergartener. Not yet. She only had to figure out how to care for a newborn, which billions of women before her had managed.
The other more complicated stages that came later, she had time to study for.
Already, she was inhaling parenting books the same way she had once devoured books on herbalism. But no matter how much information she absorbed, she couldn’t quite vanquish the seed of doubt that had taken root in the depths of her mind.
Was she strong enough? Her heart, her spirit… Would she be a good mother?
Or was she just deluding herself?
“Packed and ready to go!” Cody announced. He strode along the black rock of the sea cliffs, dark golden hair glowing in the afternoon sunlight.
“Sit with me for a while?” she asked, holding out a hand.
He paused and glanced at his watch.
“Please?”
“Sure.” He lowered himself onto the forest floor, close enough that they sat shoulder to shoulder. “I can still make it to work on time if we leave in about ten minutes.”
