Page 35 of Big Island Moonlight
He nodded curtly, not meeting her eyes.
“I want to be able to understand what her family is saying.”
“We’re her family,” he said vehemently. “They’re just her… relatives.”
Lani was shocked silent, but she reached for his hand.
He let her slip her fingers through his, and she felt some measure of relief.
“They’re her family too,” she said softly.
“Her life is here. They’re not a part of it, not really.”
“But theywantto be.” She scanned his face, trying to understand why this bothered him so much. “Extended family is important. My grandparents, my aunts and uncles and cousins… I can’t imagine what my life would have been like without them. Rory deserves to know where she comes from.”
“She comes from you. She’s yours.”
“Well, yeah,” Lani said, but her forehead pulled together in a frown. He was echoing what she had told herself a thousand times, but those assurances felt hollow now that she knew the names and faces of her daughter’s Italian relatives. They were real people, and they loved her daughter.
“She has family here already. Cousins, community. Us.”
“But she deserves to know both sides of her family, Tenn. I thought that I had robbed her of that. Now I have the chance to make things right.”
“Is her life here so bad?” he demanded. “Is she lacking for anything?”
“No, but I won’t deliberately cut her off from half of her family! Why would I do that?”
“We don’t know anything about these people!”
“They love her. Lorenzo thinks that she hung the moon, and he’s a good man. His mother calls her all the time, even though they can barely talk to each other. She just wants to see her face. Rory will grow up to hate me if I cut her off from them.”
“She could never hate you.”
“I owe it to her to keep the lines of communication open.”
“Okay,” he said, leaning away. “Okay.”
She peered at him. “Is it?”
“Olivia has no contact with her mother’s side of the family,” he said quietly, looking down.
“It’s not the same thing.”
“Isn’t it?”
“Aren’t her mother’s parents both alcoholics? Have they even tried to stay in touch?”
“You don’t know anything about Rory’s grandparents.”
“That’s why we’re going to learn. I can’t get to know them if we can’t understand each other. And I’m not sending her over there without me, not at this age. Anyway,” she added, her throat tightening, “they’re the only grandparents she has.”
He sighed and slumped back against the sofa cushions. Then he brought their joined hands up to his face and kissed her knuckle, just behind the delicate golden ring that had once belonged to his grandmother.
“You’re right,” he said after a moment. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” She moved closer and put her cheek on his shoulder.
They sat like that for a long moment and then, reluctantly, he released her hand.
