Jewel of the Pacific (5 page)

“Oh? Why was that?”

“I don’t know. Liho said a coach passed by slowly but didn’t stop. He recognized the driver as his friend who works at the Royal Hotel. Silas slipped out after that.”

“He didn’t come home here,” Noelani said. “I’ve been here all evening. I’d have heard him.”

“Then he must have gone into Honolulu,” Eden suggested.

“Well, good night Eden, Aunt Noelani. I’ll see you both later at the vigil. Aloha.”

Noelani urged Eden up the stairs. “One day with its troubles is enough. You need sleep,” she said.

“I’ll stay with you,” Noelani said. “Just like I used to do when you were small, to make sure you don’t wake up with a nightmare.”

Upstairs in her own familiar bedroom, Eden was able to put down some of the burdens weighing on her heart. She stretched out on clean, crisp sheets, hoping for a few hours of sleep before going to the prayer vigil.

Noelani sat in a rocking chair across the room, near the open windows. Soon she began humming hymns and island melodies, as if Eden were a child again. Eden smiled.
Thank You, Lord, for people like Noelani and Ambrose.
Townsend’s violent face faded into the dimness of her mind as Noelani’s soft voice prevailed.

Eden looked across the bedroom at the clock. “Noelani, why didn’t you wake me sooner? I must get to the church.”

“You needed sleep even more. Here, drink this.”

The statuesque woman brought her a cup of tea and stood until Eden drank it.

This woman who had helped raise Eden was a dignified older woman with white hair and a pleasantly creased round face. She was a
hapa-haole
—her white, haole father had worked on a New Bedford whaling ship.

“Any news from Dr. Jerome?” Eden asked.

“Nothing yet. Mr. Ainsworth left with Ambrose earlier.”

“He was supposed to sleep.”

Like me
, she thought with self-incrimination as she rushed to get dressed.

“And Candace?”

“She’s gone to the hospital to bring your cousin Zachary home.” Noelani shook her head. “I always knew the Derrington matters would end badly when it came to your uncle. Townsend brought trouble wherever he walked. I can almost see the grass withering beneath his footsteps. When I think what might have happened to you if Rafe hadn’t arrived when he did.” She placed the palms of her hands against her temples and closed her eyes.

There was no carriage out front to suggest that Candace and Zachary had arrived, though the groom might have brought the horses back to the stable.

Great-aunt Nora had arrived a week earlier from Tamarind house on Koko Head, but she had preferred a room at the Royal Hotel. She was at harmless odds with her brother, Ainsworth, over a loan she needed to keep her newspaper, the
Gazette
, financially stable. Eden was convinced that Nora had gone to the hotel to appeal to Rafe for a loan.

If things weren’t so tragic Eden could have laughed at the turnaround of events. With possession of Hanalei, owning half of the pineapple plantation called Hawaiiana, and the Easton pearl beds under his rightful control, Rafe Easton had unexpectedly become the man the Derringtons looked to. Before acquiring control of all things Easton, Rafe was merely the adventurous son of Matt and Celestine, respected for his abilities, but not seen as someone either Grandfather Ainsworth or Great-aunt Nora would have approached for help.

Ainsworth had always taken favorably to Rafe, but in earlier times when Rafe had supported the queen’s rule rather than annexation, Rafe had practically been told to leave Honolulu and not come back.

As for Great-aunt Nora, ever since Rafe had promised to loan Dr. Jerome the money to build his research clinic on the island called Molokai, where the leper settlement was, Nora had realized that she might turn to him for help with the
Gazette.
She’d come to the hotel, but then the tragedy at Hanalei had occurred—and Rafe was in a coma, and …

Eden worried. The marshal hadn’t brought any new information on Townsend. If he’d tried to slip away on a steamer, wouldn’t someone have noticed his condition?

Voices came from the direction of the parlor. However, the room furnished with magnificent native woods and green potted ferns was empty.

Eden swept across the room and out onto the lanai. She hoped she’d see her father, Dr. Jerome. He could explain everything so much more clearly than anyone else. She’d been disappointed on arriving at Kea Lani to be told again that Dr. Clifford Bolton could not continue as Rafe’s physician since he’d been pronounced a leper.

Naturally she was confident in her father’s ability to care for Rafe, but he must be told about Rafe’s severe headaches from an earlier injury. Perhaps Dr. Bolton had sent Jerome the information, but she wanted to make certain.

She leaned over the railing and scanned the garden below. She could see no one amid the thick banana plants, white orchids, and black lava rocks. The voices, however, continued even louder than before.

She couldn’t distinguish the precise words being flung in disagreement, but the voices were not Dr. Jerome and Grandfather Ainsworth. One was a woman, the other a man—no, there were
two
men’s voices.

Eden recognized the southern accent of her cousin Silas Derrington. Silas claimed to have grown up in Louisiana, and his accent confirmed that.

Zachary resented his father’s preference for the illegitimate Silas, but Grandfather Ainsworth and even Great-aunt Nora with her stolid principles had readily accepted Silas. Grandfather thought Silas would prove an asset to the family sugar enterprise and had recently placed Silas in a position of authority—suggesting to Zachary that Silas might be appointed heir above him.

Eden worried of further misunderstandings and growing trouble between the two half brothers. She imagined the shame and heartbreak the Derringtons would face when Townsend was put on trial. It was Grandfather Ainsworth’s family pride that had caused her family to not reveal to Eden that her mother, Rebecca, was a leper on Molokai. Ainsworth and Great-aunt Nora had feared certain people in society would shun the Derrington name, afraid the disease loitered within the premises.

Grandfather Ainsworth’s ambition for the family name had also driven him to want to marry Eden into another powerful island family, and he was displeased when she became a nurse at Kalihi hospital working with her Aunt Lana in leprosy research.

From the garden, Silas’s voice rose above the others. “So that’s the way it is.”

A moment later Silas emerged from behind the banana plants, followed by a man and woman.

Eden stood motionless.
I’ve seen them recently … somewhere
.

The man was tall, thin, and gloomy looking in black clothing and a sleek top hat. The woman wore a scarf rather than a stylish hat. She also wore gloves, and a satiny black dress. Were they in mourning?

Silas climbed the steps to the lanai. Eden expected the couple to follow, but they turned toward the front gate. Eden didn’t recall seeing a carriage parked nearby.

Suddenly Eden could hear familiar voices in the entryway and footsteps coming into the parlor. She turned and looked at Silas again. He saw her standing there, and his eyes flickered with something like surprise.

Silas was a pleasant-looking young man with wavy chestnut-brown hair and the same light blue eyes as his father and Zachary. Recently he’d received as many invitations to picnics, dinners, and balls as Zachary.

Silas, while of a husky build, showed little interest in outdoor activities, and did not care for breeding thoroughbred horses as Rafe and Zachary did. Silas once commented that if they’d race their horses against each other, then he’d be interested. Such talk only bolstered Zachary’s claim that Silas was an “untrustworthy gambler from New Orleans.”

One of Silas’ walking sticks had a heavy silver handle designed like a wolf’s head. Zachary had recently accused Silas of “bashing me on the side of the head” with that stick. The head injury had occurred weeks earlier in the darkened Hunnewell garden. Eden was there that night, and so were Silas and Rafe, but the culprit had proven to be someone else. The accusation, though, did show Zachary’s suspicion of Silas.

Candace and Zachary Derrington entered the parlor with Great-aunt Nora. Eden went into Great-aunt Nora, anxious for the latest news on Rafe.

“My dearest child!” Nora’s face was etched with worry. “How could such a horrid thing happen! Are you well, my dear? That rapscallion nephew didn’t hurt you?”

Eden forced a smile and they embraced. Eden planted a kiss on her cheek. “I’m safe, Aunt Nora. And what’s the news of Rafe?”

“No change, my dear. Your father remains nearby. He is in contact with other doctors. Everything possible is being done.”

Zachary stepped forward and hugged Eden.

“Poor little cousin,” he said emotionally. “It must have been wickedly evil for you.”

Eden patted his shoulder. “And you! Are you badly injured? I was horrified when I saw him attack you on the
Lilly of the Star.”

“Just bruises and probably a sprained arm.” His light blue eyes turned icy with anger. “Sprained where ‘dear old Dad’ kicked me with his boot.”

“Let’s forget that now,” Candace said, stepping forward.

Silas had entered the parlor just behind Eden. Caution flamed his eyes when he met Zachary’s glower.

“Well,” Silas said with forced cheerfulness, shoving his hands into his pockets and rocking on his heels, “you look as though you’ll be right as rain in another day or two, Zach, old boy.”

“Disappointed?” Zachary sniped.

“Not at all, little brother.”

Zachary smirked. He moved to the parlor door. “I’m going to my room.”

“I’ll bring up some tea,” Great-aunt Nora told him. “Get into bed, my boy, just as the doctor advised.”

Great-aunt Nora recently had begun to show Zachary more attention and sympathy than she had before. Perhaps their growing closeness was due to his working for her at the
Gazette
, and his hints at the dinner table recently that he might just change his mind and decide to support the queen rather than annexation. Any political change was obviously meant to get even with Grandfather Ainsworth for favoring Silas in the Derrington enterprises.

Silas watched Zachary leave, and then excused himself and left the parlor.

Eden stayed for tea with Candace. When Candace left to meet Keno at the mission church, Eden slipped out of the house. Commandeering her private horse and buggy, she rode to downtown Honolulu to meet with her father, Dr. Jerome.

R
afe awoke at the chatter of birds in the branches.
Strange
;
they’re singing before the sun is up
.

He stirred in the bed and winced. Every muscle in his body hurt, and his head felt swollen. He brushed his arm across his face. Why couldn’t he see?

He felt bandages around his forehead, covering his eyes—so that was it. Where was he? He felt the stiff bedsheets. He wasn’t on the boat. Then the scene flashed in his mind—Townsend—the boat. His hands were wrapped—he must have given Townsend a work-over. As he moved, his head felt ready to burst.