Bamboo and Lace (18 page)

“Let me see now,” Lily said in an exaggerated tone. “Is Celia under this sofa pillow? No, not there. Maybe Peter is hiding under this picture frame.”

It was too much for both of them. They sprang out, giggling uproariously, declaring that they had fooled Lily. Lily plopped down on one of the sofas, and they scrambled to sit with her.

“You didn't find us,” Peter exclaimed.

“I thought you were under that picture frame,” Lily said, her eyes large with teasing. “And you, Celia, I thought you were under this little pillow.”

“I'n too big,” she told her, all the while looking very logical.

Lily laughed and asked, “Do you know what I want to do?”

“What?”

“I want to go out and sit in the sand. Do you want to?”

Without even answering, Celia began to pull the sandals from her feet. Peter and Lily did the same. Not two minutes later, they were just off the oceanview veranda, working on small sand houses and roadways.

“I think we need a little house right here,” Lily proclaimed as she began to wet sand and shape it into a little box. Celia's little fingers came in to help, which meant that Lily had to start over when the toddler became distracted, but Lily didn't mind. Their city was shaping up nicely.

“CeCe!” came a cry of impatience a moment later. “Get off my house!”

“Here, Celia.” Lily tried to intervene.

“Wanna sit here,” CeCe told her.

“But if you do that,” Lily replied, her voice kind, “you'll smash all Peter's work. Come and sit right here next to Peter.”

Celia did as she was asked, but her face showed a measure of disapproval. Lily chose to ignore her. She wouldn't have done so with her own child, but Celia was not her own.

“How are you doing, Peter?” she asked of that small boy.

“Okay,” he said, working to put the house to rights.

“Why don't I help you?”

“I can help,” Celia offered, but Lily did her best to finish the job swiftly and distract the little girl. It worked for a time, but Celia seemed determined to be in the middle of Peter's project. Lily was casting around for something else they might do when she realized they had company. Gabe was sitting on a lounger, a book open in his lap, his eyes on the threesome.

“Hello,” he said when Lily's eyes came to his.

“Hello. We didn't see you.”

“I didn't want to disturb this construction project, but I suddenly remembered that we never looked up the word ‘payroll.' I was afraid I would forget again if I let it go.”

Lily smiled and pushed to her feet.

“No, Celia!” The words came out of Peter before Lily could take a step. Lily turned, but the children's uncle stepped in.

“Celia Alani Markham! Come here this minute.”

Lip out a mile, the little girl obeyed. The wet sand covering her bottom and hands gave proof of her crime.

“You may sit right here on this seat until you are ready to apologize to Peter.”

Celia did so, but it was clear she was none too happy about it.

“Here, Lily,” Gabe directed, turning slightly away from his niece. “Pull a chair up and look at this.”

Lily bent over the book and started to read where Gabe pointed. “Oh, 1740,” she said, her eyes large. “That's earlier than I thought it would be.”

“I felt the same way. Here,” Gabe shifted the book so she could see better, “read the whole thing. There isn't much, but—” Gabe cut off when his niece moved. Thinking she was headed to her brother, Gabe only watched. The little girl had no eye contact with him as she came around his lounge chair and started to climb into Lily's lap.

Lily was rapt with the book. She had finished reading the definition of “payroll” long ago, but several other words had caught her eye. Without even looking down, she felt Celia, lifted her into place, settled her arms close around her, and continued to study the dictionary. Only Gabe's voice got her attention.

“Celia,” he began, his voice telling everyone that he meant business, “you may come and cuddle with Lily just as soon as you apologize to Peter. Until you do that, you will sit on this other seat. Now, what are you going to do?”

Tears threatened at this point, so Gabe reached for the little girl's hand.

“CeCe,” he said gently, “if you had built a sand house and Peter sat on it, you would be very sad. You need to love Peter more than wanting your own way.”

“I lub Peter” was the tearful reply.

“I know you do. Why don't you go over now and tell him how sorry you are?”

An occasional sniff punctuating her nod, Celia climbed from Lily's lap and went to her brother.

“Peter,” Gabe said before Celia got to him, “you need to watch how impatient you get, okay?”

“Okay.”

“I'm sorry,” Lily said to Gabe.

“For what?”

“I was supposed to be watching the children.”

“Actually, I was trying to rescue you. Ash and I try not to get involved for fear that the kids will think they're surrounded by parents, but it's not your job to put out the fires between them. Evan would be none too pleased to learn that Celia gave you a hard time.”

Lily's lips formed her silent “oh,” her face thoughtful, before she turned to look at the children.

“Celia reminds me of a little girl from home,” Lily began to say, her eyes still on Peter and Celia, who were again playing in the sand. “She had to be taught the difference between good attention and bad attention.” Lily looked back at Gabe. “She was eager for either kind. Once she understood that negative attention wasn't pleasing to anyone, she changed.”

“Good and bad attention. I don't know if Evan and Bales of Hay have ever thought of it that way before.”

“Bales of Hay?” Lily questioned as she watched the man in the lounger shout with laughter.

“I don't know how that surfaced from the past,” Gabe finally admitted, laughter still filling his voice.

“But that's what you used to call Bailey?”

“As kids, all the time. She used to chase us, but then she got used to the name and ignored us.”

Lily smiled. “It sounds like you know all about negative attention.”

Gabe's brows rose. “I think you must be right. It's certainly easy to see that CeCe comes by it honestly.”

Lily's gaze went back to the dictionary. “Is this type of dictionary readily available here in Hawaii, Gabe?”

“Yes. Just about any bookstore would have it.”

“I think I'll ask Jeff to help me find one when he returns.”

“Has he called lately?”

“No,” she said, her smile a little sad. “I think he must be very busy, or he figures I'll do better if he doesn't call all the time.”

“And which is it? Are you doing better?”

“I hope so. I hope I'm not walking around in a self-centered little haze like I was the first week.”

“No one thought you were self-centered, Lily. We knew you were scared.”

“And how foolish was that?” Lily asked, looking him right in the eye. “Jeff wouldn't leave me somewhere where I would be harmed.” Lily shook her head in self-derision.

“So you don't miss him so much?” Gabe tried to guess.

Lily's gaze went to the sea as she admitted softly, “I miss him every day.”

Gabe studied her profile for a moment and thought how much he liked Jefferson Walsh's sister. Through his friend he had come to care for this woman, but not until he met her and experienced her openness, honesty, and keen mind did he realize how much he appreciated her as a person.

That he found her quite lovely and very sweet certainly didn't harm the picture, but Gabe's thoughts were not romantic, just tender and caring.

“Why don't you call him?”

“Because it's not an emergency.”

“Is that what he told you?”

Lily looked surprised. “I don't know. I just assumed that was the wisest choice.”

“Go inside and call him,” Gabe suggested. “When the person on the other end answers, just explain that it's not an emergency and would they please ask Jeff Walsh to call when he gets a chance.”

“And you don't feel this is wasteful?”

“How would it be wasteful?”

“Because it's long-distance and expensive.”

“Much as I appreciate your sensitivity on the issue, Lily, you're not abusing the privilege. Your desire to talk with Jeff is a very easy wish to grant.”

An easy wish to grant.
Lily liked the sound of that so much she smiled.

“I'll do it. As soon as Evan and Bailey come in, I'll call.”

Gabe almost offered to stay with the kids, but something told him that Lily would want to finish the job.

As it was, they took care of the children together. Peter said he was getting hungry, and the four went in for a snack. When Bailey showed up some 20 minutes later, Lily took Gabe's suggestion. Just an hour later, the phone rang. It was Jeff calling for Lily.

“Are you dreadfully busy?”

“I am, Lil. More so than I expected to be.”

“Well, that's good. The time goes fast then.”

“Yes, it does,” Jeff agreed, not willing to admit to her that his return might be delayed. He was working night and day to change that fact, but it wasn't going well.

“So tell me,” Jeff started again, “now that you've had a few weeks, are you glad you stayed?”

“I am, yes, but I hate how short our time together will be.”

“I've been thinking about that.”

“What exactly?”

“Just that. Our time
will
be short. Did you know I originally wanted you to come for six months?”

“I think so.”

“Well, maybe you should just write Father and tell him you're staying longer.”

“You know better than anyone, Jeff, that you don't tell Father anything.”

“Lily, I'm not trying to lead you to be disrespectful, but what is he going to do?”

Lily did some fast thinking, but it wasn't in the direction her brother thought it might be.

“You're going to be delayed, aren't you, Jeff?”

“It's looking that way,” he admitted, wishing he had told her at the beginning. “I'm working hard, but some of this is out of my control.”

In a heartbeat Lily came up with a decision. “I'll give you one extra week, Jeff. I'll trust that you'll do everything within your power to be back when you said you would, but if you're going to be any more than a week late, I'll write Father and tell him I've changed my date.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I think he'll understand. I've come all this way, and I know he wanted us to have a good time.”

“Thanks, Lily. I'll admit that does take some of the pressure off me.”

“Good. I don't want to be a source of worry for you.”

She had been just that, Jeff could have told her, but he knew that was no one's fault but his own.

“So how are your lessons coming? What are you learning?”

“You would be so impressed. I can run the bread machine
and
the coffeemaker. I've mastered the washing machine and dryer. I can swim, and in the morning I'll be learning to play tennis.”

“Is Gabe teaching you?”

“Yes. How did you know?”

“Because he's very good. What else will you do?”

“I don't know. But when I visited the Little Bay Restaurant today, I learned so much.”

“What do you think of Wang Ho?”

“He showed me everything. He was so kind.”

“He is kind, but let me warn you: He's a foxy old matchmaker, so watch your step.”

Lily had a good laugh over this. In fact, she had a hard time catching her breath.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes, I'm just surprised. He doesn't strike me as the type.”

“Well, he is. You can take my word for it.”

“So why hasn't it worked with you? I want to be an aunt someday.”

On the other end of the line Lily heard Jeff burst into uproarious laughter.

“Where did that come from?” he gasped out.

“I've told you that before.”

“You have not.”

“I'm sure I have.”

He could hear a change in her voice, and it made him smile. He could tell she was relaxing and having fun. And when they finally rang off nearly an hour later, Jeff's heart was light with the knowledge that his sister was doing well.