Spoils of Eden (30 page)

“Yes, you could do all of that, sir. Maybe more. You could turn Eden against me as well. It doesn’t mean that I’ll knuckle under. It is their welfare I am most concerned for.”

“I’d rather not do it, Rafe. Apart from this difference of opinion now over Eden and Kip, you have all the qualities of a fine young man. Matt would indeed be proud of you. And if it weren’t for the
clinic on Molokai—and the necessity of having my daughter with me, I could accept a marriage between you and Eden. Any conflict Matt and I may have had in the past is over now. Matt, too, was a good man. You’re wrong if you think I still hold some unchristian malice toward him because of Rebecca.”

“I’d like to believe that. But there are unanswered questions about my father. There’s the matter of how he died on Hanalei. To this day I’ve not been able to satisfy myself with the accidental-death ruling. There’s more to it than I’ve been told.”

“My word, Rafe! You’re not suggesting that I—”

“No, sir. I’m suggesting there may be some small piece of information you haven’t mentioned about that day.”

“I wasn’t at Hanalei that day.”

“Something you’ve shut out of your mind and refuse to consider. You may have seen something, heard something later, that your Christian mind wants to reject.”

“This is beyond me. I’ve no wish to even discuss such vileness.”

“A Christian knows better than most what evil lurks in the brightest gardens. We know that fallen sons of Adam are capable of far more than murder. Why try to behave as if sin doesn’t thrive all around us? Sin reigns supreme in the unregenerate heart. And even in the regenerate hearts of Christians, the sin nature has not yet been eradicated. It still demands its pound of flesh.”

“Matt’s death was an accident. I’ve no cause to think otherwise.”

“And the fire at Ling’s hut?”

“The fire—why, an accident! What else could it be?”

Silence held command for a long moment before Rafe spoke.

“I can see I’m wasting your time and mine. But about Kip: this is the third day of his absence. Tell your daughter she needn’t concern herself. I will handle matters directly with the Board.”

“Eden? What has she to do with Kip?”

“From this moment onward, sir, nothing. Tell her I went to the Board of Health this morning and met with Dr. Bolton. Kip is no longer under my care at Hawaiiana. In fact, there is no child to turn
over to Kalihi. And one thing more. You may not know it yet, but Ainsworth Derrington is making a public stand on my side of this controversy. So are Parker Judson and the rest of the big planters. Whether it works or not, time will tell. They’re all urging the Board and the Legislature to support a change in the law that will permit me to adopt Kip.”

Silence again prevailed. Then …

“I’m not surprised Ainsworth is using his influence with the Board in the matter. He has high plans for your political future. I’m also well aware he wishes my daughter to marry an Easton. Whichever way this struggle unfolds, Rafe, I intend to go on with my life’s work. It’s all-important to me. That clinic
must
be opened at Kalawao. Regardless of the Derrington thrust behind you, I don’t believe there’s anything you or Ainsworth can do to keep Eden from working at my side.”

“In that, sir, you are undoubtedly correct.”

Shaken to the core of her soul, Eden stood in frozen silence.

How could all this be happening?

What did it mean? Puzzlement clutched her heart. How was it that her father appeared to know so much about Kip’s past? Jerome spoke with a knowledge that went back to an earlier time, to Tahiti. He’d spoken to Rafe as though they believed some right of control belonged to Dr. Jerome. Why then was he just now making an issue about Kip’s adoption?

Just how
did
Rafe find and rescue baby Kip at Molokai? Was there more to Kip’s story than she’d realized? Why was it being kept from her?

The mother of the baby hadn’t wanted Kip left at Kalawao, Rafe had suggested, words which repeated themselves in her mind. Mention of Kip’s mother had seemed to stagger Dr. Jerome. Why? What mother
would
want her newborn left to the pollution of Kalawao?

Why then did the mention of this particular mother seem to send a painful blow to her father? Had her father not seen babies and small children abandoned on Molokai or sent back to Kalihi for care? Certainly he had. Then why had Rafe expected his words to make a strong impact on Dr. Jerome?

Eden stood still, drained of emotion, her heart thudding in her ears. She wrestled with the impossible.

It couldn’t be. No, it just couldn’t be.

Keno
, she thought.
I’ve got to talk to him alone
. Who could arrange it? Candace. Yes, if anyone could bring Keno to a meeting, Candace could.

Keno could shed more light. He’d been with Rafe on Molokai when Rafe found the baby boy. He’d also been with Rafe in Tahiti. Maybe he’d been in the actual meeting between her father and Rafe.

A stronger conviction bound her. Was there another reason to go to Molokai with her father—to discover the secret she believed was being kept from her? Dare she even think it?

Was
Rebecca
Kip’s mother?
Then who was his father?

No, it couldn’t be Jerome—then there’d be no disagreement between him and Rafe over who owned the baby. And it couldn’t be Rafe. Though Rebecca was not too old to still be a mother, she was old enough to be
his
mother. And beyond all that, it was unthinkable that Rafe would go to a leper compound to indulge in immorality!

Weary, worn, and stunned by the notion that Kip might be her own half-brother, she needed to see Ambrose. And she needed time with her Lord in prayer.

I
t had been a month since the fires in Rat Alley had died out, and the winds had swept Honolulu clean, bringing fresh hope as rubble was slowly cleared to make room for rebuilding. There’d been no new cases of plague reported in weeks, and the emergency mode at Kalihi had simmered down to normal duties and daily routine.

Eden’s daily routine, however, was filled with more than “normal duties” as she also assisted Dr. Jerome in his ongoing struggle to gain permission from the Board of Health and Queen Liliuokalani to open his clinic on Kalawao. What had initially seemed a straightforward endeavor was now thwarted by various obstacles.

Ambrose listened sympathetically when Jerome came to him with his recent burdens. “Perhaps the timing is not quite ready for our God to act. Let’s continue to wait on His wisdom,” he exhorted Jerome after the Sunday service at the mission church. “We surely know our compassionate God has heard our pleas. Then again, let’s not underestimate enemy spiritual forces who stand against any work that will glorify Christ. We’ll continue to pray, rely on His
Word as our light, and patiently wait.”

Patience was a fruit far removed from Eden’s anxious spirit in those long days and weeks. Her heart was torn between a strange longing for Rafe, whom she hadn’t seen in over a month—since he was said to be on the Big Island at Hanalei—and concerns about Kip, her father, his clinic, her mother at Kalawao, Candace’s broken heart, and on and on it went.

How can I be so torn?
she cried to herself one day.
There’s a part of me that longs to run into Rafe’s arms and walk away from everything else, and another part of me that struggles to reach Molokai!
On that day Eden went to see Noelani for an hour of rest. She sat in Noelani’s bright kitchen, enjoying coconut cakes and coffee.

The door stood open, airing the kitchen from fried coconut oil. A flight of wooden steps wound down a little hill, where a passion fruit vine meandered toward the beach. Through the open doorway Eden watched the waves. They were rough this afternoon, foaming over the white sand.

“I already told you what I think you should do, honey,” Noelani said, pouring Eden a cup of coffee. “Marry that handsome Rafe Easton. Every girl in the Islands is watching him, and the richer he gets, the more they will want him! Go live on Hanalei and have lots of green-eyed sons and daughters. Then you’ll be happy.”

Eden laughed for the first time in weeks. “Maybe you’re right. But Jerome is counting on me.”

“So is that Herald Hartley, if you want my opinion. You watch out for that one. He looks innocent enough with that boyish grin and red looking hair, but he’s been around plenty, so I think. He’s been all over the world, including India. That tells me he’s no innocent little fellow dedicated to God.”

“Noelani, sometimes you say the most outrageous things. Why wouldn’t Herald be dedicated to God? Look how he adores my father and his work. He’s rolled up his sleeves and has been working hard at his side ever since he arrived.”

“Oh, yes, I know. I’m not saying he doesn’t respect Dr. Jerome.
He seems dedicated more to Jerome than anyone else. You should ask your father why that is. How did he meet Hartley in India?”

“Herald told me he was at wits’ end when my father found him and gave him a new start. He’s just being grateful.”

“Humph. He sounds suspicious to me. Here, have another coconut cake. Rafe used to love them. He hasn’t been around in a long while, and you’re losing weight each time I see you. You and Candace both. Nothing but skin and bones, worrying me all the time.”

“Noelani, where is he keeping Kip?”

“Now don’t go asking me that. I don’t know. I don’t want to know.”

“What about Kip’s origins on Molokai? Have Rafe or Ambrose ever talked to you about them?”

Noelani’s face turned immobile. She shook her head.

“Did you know Rafe met my father on Tahiti and talked to him about Kip?”

“Why should Rafe tell me that?”

“I don’t suppose you would encourage Ambrose to tell me anything he remembers?”

“You’re right. I won’t. Enough, now. Here, eat up. That’s a good child.”

Child. She felt like anything but a child. Even her bones ached.

As the weeks had passed, conflicts of various kinds appeared to escalate in all realms. There was tension between Townsend and Grandfather Ainsworth over the lifestyle he was living, not to mention the breach that had formed between Townsend and Zachary since that conflict over the burning of huts. Zachary was now spending most of his time away from Kea Lani at Great-aunt Nora’s Tamarind House on Koko Head. He was also writing boldly in favor of the royal monarchy, much to the aggravation of Grandfather Ainsworth. Eden believed Zachary was deliberately supporting Liliuokalani to get back at his grandfather and Townsend.

“If you expect a loan to save the
Gazette
, you won’t continue
supporting the corruption of a monarchy gone wrong,” Ainsworth had recently told Nora and Zachary.

Nora had scoffed. “Corruption in politics, my dear? Selfishness and greed are the mainstays of the annexationists in the Legislature.”

“Need I remind you, Nora, that the Legislature is not supporting the opium trade or gambling in order to dig Hawaii out of its financial hole,” Ainsworth bit back.

“Now that we’ve brought up gambling,” Zachary said, “why should my inheritance be cut in half to favor Silas? It wouldn’t surprise me to find he’s working with the gambling cartel in Louisiana to get the monarchy to give them a larger slice of pie in the Islands.”

Eden considered what motivated each of the two brothers. Rafe had changed his political agenda due to genuine beliefs in Hawaii’s future with the United States. Zachary had changed, not on merits of the issue, but because of his offended self-realization.

Eden came back to the present as Ambrose spoke. “The Derringtons’ conflicts come mostly from spiritual struggles in their hearts. If the heart is right, other things in our lives usually fall into place. But where jealousy and envy are, there is striving. The harvest is needless personal struggle, resentments, and discontent.”

Noelani said, “Townsend mentioned once that God intends for His children to be rich in this world’s goods.” Her eyes smiled at her husband.

Ambrose laughed, a hearty almost joyful laugh that Eden loved.

Oh, he did, did he? Well, now, the great apostle Paul might disagree with Townsend—and any other so-called minister who’s uttering such mush. ‘And having food and raiment let us be therewith content,’ Paul wrote. Can you imagine Paul entering cities in the book of Acts and standing up to preach that God wanted them all to be wealthy, successful, and healthy? Paul, who stood in basic clothes, owned neither gold nor Mediterranean resorts, and had a body scarred with lash marks? He must have been stiff and aching after the stoning he took. And Paul said clearly, ‘Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.’

“Paul is an example for the church. He preached that all men are sinners. Without sin there is no meaning to the gospel, and no reason for the sacrifice of Christ at Calvary. No wonder Townsend doesn’t want to hear it. ‘For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified,’ Paul said. He told them the remedy for sin, not a course on feeling good with an abundance of this world’s goods.”