She shook her head. “I haven’t come here often.”
“Me, Bane, and Kaia used to run through the lava tube and jump off into the water below. That’s how I got this.” He pointed to a faint scar on his forehead. “The ceiling in the lava tube is shorter than you think. I’ll have to show you sometime.”
He almost acted like he was enjoying being with her, but she knew better than to let herself hope. The glamorous type like Leilani was more his style. But how she wished it were different. She limped toward the water.
Mano turned back to the mausoleum. “Maybe he walked here. Let’s check inside.”
Annie didn’t want to go in there. She knew she was being silly, but chicken skin prickled her back. She forced her feet to move forward, to follow Mano. He must have sensed her trepidation, because he stopped and took her hand. His warm fingers closed around hers, and the shock stiffened her backbone and strengthened her courage. She squeezed his hand. “Mahalo,” she whispered.
He smiled. They walked toward the mausoleum again. “I don’t like this,” she muttered.
“Me neither. It feels wrong. Probably nerves. I’ve never been here when there weren’t half a dozen tourists gawking.” He gave her fingers another gentle squeeze. They reached the door to the Hale-o-Keawe. Mano tried the door, but it was locked. “He must not be in there.” He looked behind him toward the canoe landing and frowned. “Someone is paddling ashore. Maybe it’s Tomi.”
Annie jerked around. The sun was in her eyes, and all she could see was golden light bathing the water. She squinted and shaded her eyes with her hand. “I can’t tell.” She pulled her hand from his and ran toward the landing.
“Annie, wait!”
She ignored Mano’s call and flew across the sand. Her feet sank, and the sand sucked at her boots. In her hurry, she stepped in the water rather than balancing on the rocks that thrust up out of the sand. Waves surged over the tops of her boots and washed sand inside. She reached the rocky landing just seconds before Mano grabbed her arm. She shook him off and turned eagerly into the fading sun. The sound of the kayak’s paddles swished through the water and mingled with the static of the surf.
The boat scraped bottom. Mano sprinted forward to grab hold of the kayak while Annie stared into the face of the man in the boat. Her brother, Tomi. He had their father’s build—slim with long thin muscles. He’d evidently given up trying to grow the sparse mustache, because his face was smooth now. She noted his black hair needed a trim. Dressed in khaki shorts and a T-shirt, he really was there in the flesh.
Her lips parted, but no words emerged. Her gaze locked with Tomi’s. His impish grin seemed tentative, as though he was waiting for her to chew him out, but all she wanted to do was run her fingers over his face and touch him to assure herself he was really alive.
She ran forward, her feet slipping on the volcanic rock under the water. “Tomi?” she croaked before her throat closed, and she couldn’t utter another word. The brother she thought dead was standing there in the twilight. He was thinner than she remembered, probably by twenty pounds at least. He wriggled out of the kayak and stepped into her arms. She buried her face against his chest. He smelled faintly of perspiration and sea salt. But he was real, oh so real. No figment of her imagination, no dream, no spirit. Though her communion with God had been nonexistent lately, thankfulness welled up inside her.
Tomi held her tightly. Mano stepped away to give them privacy. His chin rested on the top of her head. His chest rumbled under her ear, and she realized he was laughing. She lifted her head and stared up at him. “What’s so funny?”
“I never thought I’d see my levelheaded little sister show such emotion. I’m usually just told what to do.” His dark eyes were amused but held a trace of tenderness that softened his words.
“Is that how you see me—a colorless, emotionless drill sergeant?” Funny how it was impossible to gauge how someone else viewed a person. If someone had asked her, she would have said her family thought of her as the strong one who made sure things got done. They should have realized she loved them more than life itself. Hadn’t she devoted herself completely to her family? She’d chosen the career her father wanted, let Leilani outshine her at every turn, and catered to Tomi’s whims without a murmur.
“Sorry, sis. I didn’t mean it that way.” He dropped his arms and stepped around her out of the water that lapped at their ankles.
She glanced into his face. “Leilani didn’t come with you?”
He went still. “I haven’t seen Leilani in more than a year, Annie. I told Mano she wasn’t with me.”
A weight descended onto Annie’s chest, and she couldn’t speak. Her fingers clutched at Tomi’s shirt. She’d pinned her hopes on finding both her siblings tonight. “Your cell phone cut out, and he didn’t understand what you said.”