Bamboo and Lace (59 page)

“Mr. Walsh has filled out your papers, but there are some things he did not know. We would wish for you to complete these.”

“Yes, sir.”

“If you'll come this way.”

Gabe was led to a table, and with Owen translating whenever needed, the forms were completed and business began.

“My son has the needed funds for this transaction,” Owen said diplomatically. “But if it would be possible, while the papers are being checked, we would request to see the baby.”

“Certainly.” The minister bowed graciously. He was very familiar with Owen Walsh and knew him to be a fair and caring man. “I will arrange it.”

“I thought the baby would be in the village,” Gabe said as soon as they'd been left on their own.

“No, the adoption must take place here in Capital City, after a doctor has examined the child. And in the case of boys, they try to learn why the child is being given up.”

“If you'll come through here—” the minister had returned, and a moment later they were directed to a small, windowless room with a dim light burning overhead. A nurse came in almost on their heels, a bundle in her arms. She surrendered the baby into Owen's arms because she had taken the baby from him the day before, then went out, shutting the door behind her. Owen wasted no time. He handed the baby to Lily.

Heart pounding with more emotions than she could identify, Lily shifted the blanket to find a tiny one-month-old face peeking out at her. The baby's cheeks were round and her sloe eyes as black as night. Her nose resembled a soft round button, and her eyebrows were so dark and perfect that for a moment, Lily could only stare.

“Oh, Gabe; oh, Papa.” Lily was breathless with wonder. “Look at her.”

Gabe couldn't manage a word. His hand came up to touch her soft little face as he marveled with his wife.

“You should wait to hold her, Gabe. It's not the custom for men here, and doing so could cause offense. You should wait until we get home.”

“All right. Thank you for telling me.”

Lily could wait no longer. She unfolded the blanket and inspected every square inch of the minuscule person in her arms. Judging her to be less than six pounds, the little person who tried to ball up against the cool air was utterly captivating to her. Lily didn't know if she had ever seen anything so tiny and perfect and soft. She looked as long as she dared, cooing softly down to her, and had just gotten her diapered, dressed, and rewrapped when someone knocked.

“Is everything in order, Mr. Walsh?”

“Yes, thank you. I believe we can proceed.”

Things took on a surreal atmosphere for the newlyweds as they paid the minister, signed papers, and were given a medical report on their new baby daughter, as well as completely legal adoption papers. They were soon on their way to catch a bus out of the city.

Gabe sat very close to his wife and the child in her arms, still trying to believe they were parents. The bus trip to Mintsu, where they would take a wagon or cart on to Lhasa, was long, made more difficult by their attempts to make formula and measure accurately. But at last, from their place in the back of a wagon, the village where Lily was born and lived most of her life came into view.

Gabe was enchanted. His wife had told him of the way she would race with friends from the large tree in the town center, up the hill to the stone wall, and then back again, and now Gabe could see it firsthand.

“This way,” Owen directed as they stepped down. Gabe remembered to let Lily follow him as he walked behind his father-in-law, and not more than three minutes later, he stepped into Owen Walsh's home. It had taken all of a very long day, but when Lily came directly to him and handed their daughter into his arms, he knew it had been worth every second.

“Sit down, Gabe,” Owen directed, accurately reading the exhaustion and emotion in his face.

Gabe took a seat and did as Lily had done in the ministry office. He moved the blanket aside so he could fully see this miraculous little bundle.

Owen and Lily brought chairs close so they could look as well. Lily was the first one to speak.

“She needs a special name, Gabe.”

Gabe looked up at his wife.

“She's Kashienese, I'm white, and you're half Hawaiian,” Lily said. “We don't want her to forget her Kashienese heritage, but her name needs to fit into our world. What do you think?”

“I hadn't thought of it, but you're right. I'm not worried about a Hawaiian name because she'll be a Kapaia, but her first name does have to be special.”

“Ling-lei is nice.”

Gabe looked skeptical and apologetic all at the same time. “A Lily and a Ling-lei in the same house. I don't think we want to do that to ourselves, sweetheart.”

“That's true. Do you have any ideas, Father?”

“I've been calling her Pumpkin.”

This brought laughter to the room's occupants before everyone quickly fell silent, too weary to think any longer.

“She will still need a name in the morning,” Owen said quietly. “Why don't we have something to eat, and you can make it an early night.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Lily said just as the baby began to fuss.

Gabe wrapped her snugly as Lily prepared another bottle. Owen heated some soup he'd made the day before.

They ate in quiet wonder. Owen could not stop watching his daughter with a child, and in his own home. Lily could hardly believe she was back so soon, and now a mother. Gabe was in a state of utter shock. He was in Kashien with his wife, and she was feeding their daughter! All he could think to do was cry.

He didn't break down, but the need to do so told him it was time to get some sleep.

Lily didn't know when anything had felt so good. It didn't matter that she was on a mat on the floor next to her bed and that Gabe was in the bed. All that mattered was that she could stretch out her aching limbs and sleep. And sleep she did, like a hibernating bear, for the next six hours.

When she heard a baby's cry in the middle of the night, it took a moment to remember where she was, but as soon as memory returned, she lit a lamp and lifted her tiny daughter from the basket she'd been sleeping in. Gabe sat up and squinted at the twosome, feeling as though he'd been run over by a truck.

“Go back to sleep,” Lily told him quietly.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I'm fine.”

Lily took the baby to the living room/kitchen area and found her father with his lantern lit, already starting a bottle.

“Thank you,” she said when he handed it to her. “I'm sorry we woke you.”

Owen laughed a little.

“I can sleep when you leave. It's not every day a man has his daughter and granddaughter at home. At least not this man.”

Lily looked up at him.

“Did you want to feed her?”

“Yes,” he agreed, a smile telling of his pleasure.

Lily enjoyed the sight and even tried to talk with her father, but things were getting fuzzy.

“Go get her bed, Lily, and put it in my room.”

“Are you sure?”

“Go.”

It was with a grateful heart that Lily went back to her bed on the floor. Much as she wanted to be with her baby, she desperately needed more sleep.

Lily woke slowly, the room already light, and looked up to see that she was being watched.

“Hi,” Gabe said softly.

“Good morning,” she said with a sleepy smile.

“Are you sore?”

“I'm fine.”

“Our daughter's basket is missing. Do you know about that?”

“She's in with my father.”

Gabe suddenly scooted toward the wall.

“Come on up.”

Lily climbed into the single-wide bed with her husband, his chest to her back as his arms and the covers came around her.

“I've been thinking,” Gabe said.

“About what?”

“Peter, Celia, and Sarah's middle names are all Hawaiian. Why don't we give our daughter a name more familiar to the United States and give her a Kashienese middle name, like Ling?”

“Oh, that's a wonderful idea, Gabe. I was trying to think of something last night after I lay down in here, but I was too tired. What names do you like?”

“Well,” he said, and she could hear a smile in his voice, “I already have a Lily. I think we need a Jasmine.”

Lily rolled into him so she could see his face.

“Another flower name. I would never have thought of it.”

“Do you like it?”

“Jasmine Ling. Oh, it's pretty!”

“I think so.”

“Shall we go tell her?”

“Yes—your father too!”

Like children on Christmas morning, they dressed and went to find their daughter, their own little Jasmine Ling Kapaia.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Oahu

“How are you?” Evan asked Bailey when he found her alone on the veranda.

Bailey looked at him as he sat down in the lounge chair next to hers. She was as in love with the man and as attracted to him as ever, but things had changed, and they'd only been married for eight years.

“Were you just looking for quiet?” Evan tried again.

“No, but if I say what I'm thinking the wrong way, I might be misunderstood.”

“Well, if I don't get it the first time, tell me again.”

Bailey looked at him, knowing he would listen; he always did.

“I've been thinking all this time that Ashton and Deanne took one of the cottages so they could have privacy and time alone this first year, but it's become very clear to me that it's easier for me that way too.”

“Why is that?”

“Because at times it's so hard to watch Gabe and Lily interact. We've been married eight years, and we don't act the way we did at first. I would say I love you even more now, Evan, but we're not captivated with each other the way Gabe and Lily are.” She looked at him, feeling terrible for having opened her mouth.

Evan reached for her hand.

“I'm glad you told me.”

“You're not hurt?”

“No, because you're right. We are in a different place right now for many reasons.”

“Like what?”

“Just to name two: We're eight years older than we were on our wedding day, and we now have three children.”

Bailey looked frustrated.

“But that doesn't mean we aren't still fascinated by each other,” Evan added, and Bailey looked back at him. “What it means is that I've gotten lazy. I think about you more than I say. I'm still as attracted to you, I still desire you, but you don't know that, so I've got to step it up a little bit.”

“But it's not all your fault, Evan. I don't come to you like I used to.”

“Well, then you've got to step it up too. Our relationship isn't going to look like Gabe and Lily, we have to face that, Bales, but if we've gotten too busy and too distracted to show each other how much we're in love, that's got to change.”

“You're not upset with me and what I said?”