Iris and the Aloha Wedding Adventure (6 page)

Iris swallowed hard. “What about the
wedding tomorrow? How will she walk down the aisle?”

“We'll decorate the crutches with some flowers,” said Hana's dad. “We'll make the best of it.”

Hana turned to her sister. “I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you.”

“I know. You were trying to help the wedding,” Leilani said. “I forgive you.”

Hana smiled. Iris began to feel better too.

“Speaking of the wedding, we have a lot of work to do,” Tutu said.

“Wait a minute,” Leilani interrupted. “What about the hula? I won't be able to dance. Oh, no, Hana. It was our special gift to Malia and Jay!”

“What are we going to do?” Hana wailed.

“No worries!” Tutu declared. “Iris can take Leilani's place.”

All eyes turned to Iris. She felt her face heat up.

“No way!” Iris blurted out. “I can't do the hula. I'm a terrible dancer! There's no time for me to learn. The wedding is tomorrow!”

“Please, Iris!” begged Hana. “I can teach you. It's for Malia and Jay.”

Iris was having trouble swallowing. How could she possibly learn a dance in one day?

“Nope! No way! Can't do it!” she repeated.

Everyone was still looking at her. Iris could see sadness in all their faces.

“You can do it, Iris,” said Tutu calmly. Then she whispered into Iris's ear, “Don't forget, the
Menehune
will help you too.”

Iris gulped. She didn't know what to do.
I wish Rosie and Starr were here to help me
decide,
she thought. But she already knew what they'd say.

“Alright,” she said softly.

“Hooray!” the family cheered.

Hana hugged Iris. “Thank you! Don't worry, you'll be a great hula dancer!”

Iris wanted to believe Hana, but she couldn't help worrying. Everything in this wedding had gone wrong so far.

There was no time to waste! When the family returned to the house, everyone went right to work. A neighbor had heard about Leilani's accident and brought over baskets of fresh flowers. Now the girls were remaking all the leis.

When she finished her first lei, Hana proudly held it up for all to see. “Look! I'm ready to make another one.”

“Wow!” Leilani said. “It's perfect!”

Iris was amazed at how quickly Hana had strung the flowers. And she hadn't broken any petals!

When all the leis were finished, Hana and Iris asked their fathers if they could help them with their jobs. The girls raced each other to see who could set up more chairs on the beach. Then they offered to help their moms with the decorations. Hana folded napkins while Iris arranged flowers in vases.

With no more tasks to complete, the girls headed to the banyan tree to make things right with the
Menehune.
They decided to
leave a whole box of cookies as an apology gift. Hana wrote a note. It said:

Dear
Menehune,

We are SO sorry! Will you

forgive us?

Mahalo, Hana & Iris

P.S. We hope you like the cookies!

“What does Mahalo mean?” Iris asked Hana.

“It's Hawaiian for ‘thank you.' If we're polite, maybe they'll be nice again.”

“I hope so!” agreed Iris.

After dinner the girls met on the back patio. It was the moment that Iris had been dreading all day: the hula lesson.

“You can do it, Iris!” cheered Leilani from a chair.

Iris scrunched up her nose as if she smelled something rotten.

“Don't worry. I'll help you,” said Hana. “Every hula dance tells a story. The movements are the words of the story.”

“Our hula is about love,” added Leilani. “Hana will dance, and I'll explain what each step means.”

Hana opened her arms to the sky.

“It
comes from the heavens.”

Hana leaned over and swept her arms to the ground.

“It's as deep as the ocean.”

Hana crossed her hands on her chest.

“Love is in your heart.”

Hana opened her arms wide in front of her.

“Spread it around the world.”

“That's it,” said Hana. “We repeat it until the music ends.”

Iris clapped her hands. “It's so pretty! And it looks easy!”

“Now we'll teach you how to turn and move your hips at the same time,” said Leilani.

Iris's smile dropped to the ground.

“Try it with me,” said Hana.

The girls practiced together. Iris learned the arm movements quickly, but the other parts weren't so simple. Sometimes she
would move her hips to the right, but she'd forget to turn to the left. At one point, she became so tangled up, she tripped over her feet and fell.

“Are you hurt?” asked Leilani.

“No,” said Iris. “Just embarrassed.”

Hana reached down to help Iris stand. As she pulled her up, both girls yawned.

“It's getting late. We should go to bed,” Leilani suggested. “Tomorrow is a big day.”

“All you need is sleep, Iris,” Hana said “Then your dancing will be perfect.”

Iris wanted to practice some more, but she could barely keep her eyes open.

“Okay,” she said uneasily.

I need more than sleep,
she thought.
I need a big miracle!

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Loud smacking noises jolted Iris and Hana from their sleep.

“Oh, no!” exclaimed Iris.

“Not again!” cried Hana.

The girls threw off their sheets and ran downstairs to the kitchen. There, they found Tutu knocking a jar against the counter, trying to loosen a tight lid.

“Good morning!” Tutu sang. “No problems today! Everything is set up and
ready for the wedding.” Then she winked. “I guess those apology cookies worked.”

“Yay!” The girls launched into a happy dance. For a second, they did not realize there was another person in the room.

“Good morning,” someone said.

Hana and Iris froze. Standing before them was a beautiful bride. Malia wore a wreath of white orchids in her hair. The fabric of her elegant white gown was printed with faint Hawaiian flowers.

“Wow…” said Iris. “What a beautiful dress!”

“You look so pretty!” Hana said.

“Mahalo!” replied Malia.
“I can't wait to see you two wearing your flower girl dresses!”

With all the activity over the past few days, Iris had almost forgotten the best part of her Hawaiian trip – being a flower girl!

“What are we waiting for?” Iris asked Hana. “Let's get dressed!” She darted up the stairs past her friend.

“Wait for me!” yelled Hana.

A few hours later, Iris and Hana stood on the beach in pink, breezy sundresses, waiting to walk down the aisle. Pink plumeria petals were spread all over the sand before them, leading to the beautiful hibiscus wedding arch that the girls' mothers had repaired.

Iris and Hana were bubbling with excitement. Instead of dropping more petals on the aisle, the flower girls had been given
a different task: Iris was carrying the lei that Jay would give to Malia, and Hana carried the one Malia would give to Jay.