Page 62 of Big Island Moonlight
Emma
Emma rose with the sun and went to her window. If she stood at the right angle, she could see the garden through the glass. Juniper was up already, pacing the damp grass with her son in her arms. She looked so small and vulnerable from up on the second floor.
Wilder’s parents had as much of a chance of making it as anyone, Emma told herself. More, probably, given their willingness to learn and their astonishing work ethic.
All the same, her niece’s impending marriage made her uneasy.
They weresoyoung.
Ethan and Laurel had been very much in love. Ethan was a hard worker, just like Cody, and Laurel adored him. They had seemed so happy in those early years. Emma believed that they reallywerehappy, living in their little yurt in the redwoods, doting on their growing baby.
Laurel just hadn’t been able to beat the demons that she carried inside.
Emma would never understand it.
She chewed her bottom lip, watching her niece walk back and forth in front of the ‘ohana.
Cody walked outside with a steaming cup of tea. With surprising ease, he took the baby from Jun with one arm as he handed her the hot drink.
Juniper smiled up at him, radiant, and brought her fingertips up to his jaw. They talked quietly for a moment, then turned and walked out of sight.
Maybe they weren’t like Ethan and Laurel, Emma reflected.
Maybe they were more like her and Adam.
She and her late husband had been just as young as these two when they’d first met – younger, actually. Kai had been born much later, after she had earned her degree and spent several years as an elementary-school teacher. But if things had been different, she knew that Adam would have done his best. Even at seventeen. Just like Cody.
She sighed and walked away from the window, trying to shed the thoughts and memories that swirled restlessly through her mind. A longing for the past and worries for the future competed for her attention in a flood of anxiety that blinded her to the present moment.
Emma did the only thing that she could do in moments like those.
She stepped outside and threw herself into farm chores.
Immediately, the sensory input of the outdoors calmed her nervous system. Misty morning air and warm sunshine, birdsong and the gentle hush of the wind in the trees. She breathed deep and strode across the yard to the goat pen, where they were bleating for her attention.
By the time she’d finished with the morning milking and moved on to weeding and pruning in the garden, all was right with the world again.
She stayed out there a long time, well aware of how quickly darker thoughts could rush in if she went back inside again too soon.
“Weeding in your PJ’s, Auntie Em?” Juniper teased. Emma looked up to see her niece watching her over the garden fence.
“Yes ma’am I am.”
“I’m going to make some scrambled eggs. You want some?”
“That would be great, sweetheart. Thank you.”
“Coming right up. Actually…” Juniper let herself into the garden and started gathering things to add to the eggs: a few spring onions, a few different kinds of herbs. Then she dropped a kiss on the top of Emma’s head and let herself back out again.
Emma went back to work, losing herself in the rhythmic task of pulling weeds. When the garden gate opened again, she stood up and brushed her hands off, expecting Jun. But it was Keith, standing there on the gravel path with a heavy paper bag and a smile.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Good morning.” It was a moment before Emma recovered from the surprise of his sudden appearance there in the garden. When the shock had passed, she strode to greet him with a kiss on the cheek.
“When you didn’t pick up, I figured you were out in the garden already.”
“That was a safe bet,” she said with a grin.
