Leia nodded toward the box in Pete’s hands. “Hey, Pete. What you got there?” Pua waddled to meet Pete, craning her neck to see what he carried. He stepped around the goose, but she scurried after him. “Pua is wondering if you’ve brought her some fruit.”
Pete’s smile widened. “I found this kapa cloth in my grandmother’s attic, and I wondered what you could tell me about it.” He extended the box to her.
Leia took the box and caught her breath. “It’s gorgeous.” She carried the box to the picnic table where her grandmother sat singing. Setting it down, she carefully lifted the precious cloth from the box, and the aroma of sandalwood and plumeria embedded in the cloth drifted to her nose. Whoever had made this beautiful piece was a kupuna of the art that Leia was still trying to learn. The golden-rod and black colors were still vibrant on the snow-white cloth. There were a few blemishes because of the age, but it was still lovely.
She ran her hand over the soft cloth. “I think it’s a ceremonial robe. Look at the Ukanipo—the shark god—design. This is a real treasure.” Kapa cloth was highly prized and was still even used for bartering. She suppressed her own covetous thoughts.
“How much do you suppose it’s worth? I know it’s damaged.” Pete touched a hole in the fabric.
“Several thousand dollars at least.” Leia put her hand over the hole. “This is not much damage considering the age. It’s lovely.”
Her grandmother stopped singing. She reached out to touch the beautiful cloth. “That reminds me, I still haven’t found my great-grandmother’s kapa bedcovering. You must see it, Leia.”
Her grandmother had never mentioned any kapa bedcovering before. Was she still befuddled? Leia took her grandmother’s hand and thanked God that the clouds had lifted. Smiling with relief, she pressed her lips to her grandmother’s hand. “Aloha, T?t?. I’ve come to stay with you for a while.”
“A’ole loa! I can get along just fine on my own.” Her grandmother frowned and pulled her hand away. “Your mother can’t be happy about this. You belong in her haole world, not here.”
“I’m not a haole, T?t?.” Leia’s gaze met Bane’s, and she looked away from the sympathy in his face.
Her grandmother dismissed her words with a wave of her hand. “You’ve been raised by a haole, and you’ll always be one. Your father should never have married her. I knew from the first moment I laid eyes on her that she was wrong for my Akoni. He should have married the girl I had picked for him. Beautiful Pela. She came to see me last week, and she’s still as lovely.”
“Did she?” Leia glanced at Bane and gave a slight shake of her head. Pela had died five years ago.
Her grandmother stood and went to Pete. “Who are you, young man? Are you chasing after my granddaughter? You’d do bet-ter to find someone of pure blood.”
Leia knew her mouth was dangling, and she shut it. She blinked back tears. Grief swamped her. Her grandmother had been Leia’s supporter when she was growing up—she couldn’t bear it if the illness changed that. “It’s me, T?t?. It’s Leia.”
“I’m not blind, keiki.” Ipo’s voice was still sharp.
Pete patted her arm. “I’m a friend of Leia’s. The cloth belongs to me. Do you recognize the family pattern?”
“Maybe.” T?t? touched the cloth again. “Where is my kapa cloth, Leia? Did you steal it while I wasn’t looking? I don’t want you here. There are too many valuable things in the house. I can’t trust you.”
Leia looked away from the sympathy she saw in the men’s eyes. “You can trust me, T?t?. I wouldn’t take anything of yours.” Ajax whined and licked her hand.
Her grandmother put her finger to her lips in a shushing motion. “You’re just like your mother. She was always sneaking around here looking for treasures. She talked me out of the little jade whale I loved so much. I didn’t want to give it to her, but she kept hammering me until I couldn’t think.”
Leia knew the figurine her grandmother meant. Her mother loved it. Ipo’s eyes filled with tears, and Leia tried to embrace her, but her grandmother waved her away. Leia wanted to run away, to hide her shame from the two men watching, but she couldn’t. T?t? needed her—she just didn’t know it.
Bane put his arm around Ipo, but she didn’t brush him away. Her white head nestled comfortably against Bane’s shoulder, and she gave him a coquettish smile. “You remind me of my husband, God rest his soul. What did you say your name was?”
Was she confusing Bane with Pete? Leia exchanged puzzled glances with the men. “You know Bane, T?t?. He and I were engaged once.” A wave of heat touched her cheeks when she said the word engaged, and Bane’s chin jerked up so that his eyes locked with hers. She wondered what he really felt now. Did he care at all, or had all those feelings burned up in their final conflagration?
Her grandmother waggled her finger at Leia. “You haoles are flighty. You take after your mother.”