“Take your hands off me!” Duncan twisted vainly in Jesse’s grip then went limp. He began to sob. He sank to the ground, and Jesse let him. Duncan was a beaten figure with his head bowed and tears streaking his face.
“Let’s go get Heidi and Faye,” Kaia said.
The navy came and took Duncan away. He seemed smaller somehow. Shrunken and defeated. Captain Lawton congratulated Kaia and Jesse on a job well done and told them the missile test had been a complete success. With the Akis in custody as well, the munitions were safe too.
Kaia waded back to the Porpoise II with Jesse. Nani chattered her greeting, and Kaia studied the dolphin with tears in her eyes. “She did it. She talked to me. We communicated with words. I don’t know what we would have done without her.”
Jesse patted the dolphin’s nostrum. “She was wonderful. So were you.” He put his arm around her and helped her board the boat. They sat down in facing chairs.
Kaia’s face grew hot at the love in his eyes. They now had time to explore that uncharted territory. The thought left her both terrified and elated.
Jesse leaned forward and took her hands in his. “Seeing what bitterness did to Duncan made me realize something, Kaia. We can’t go forward, either of us, until we can forgive the people who hurt us and let go of the past. I’m willing to do that if you are. When we get back to the boat, can you tell your mother you forgive her?”
She stared at him. “I don’t think I can,” she whispered. “Not yet.”
The elation in his eyes faded. “Try,” he said.
She closed her eyes against the plea in his face. “Let’s go get Heidi,” she said.
He gave her a quick look then turned the key and fired the engine. They said nothing as they headed out to the boat where they’d left Faye and Heidi. Heidi waved to them as they pulled alongside.
Jesse gave Kaia a quick glance as he helped her mother aboard, but she avoided his gaze. Heidi rushed to hug her. Kaia clung to the little girl. Tears stung her eyes at the feel of Heidi’s arms around her neck. They were all safe. She could hardly believe it.
Clenching her hands together, Faye stood off to one side. When Kaia released Heidi, Faye took a step toward Kaia. Kaia reflexively took a step back, and Faye’s smile faltered. “I prayed and prayed you’d be all right,” she whispered.
“We’re fine. Duncan was caught in time. Ready to go home?” She tried to sound friendly, but when she saw Faye flinch, she knew her words had come out cold. So be it. Bridging this gap was going to take more strength than she could muster right now.
She caught the disappointment in Jesse’s face and turned away from it. If forgiving her mother was a necessary prerequisite to a relationship with him, she might have to keep her distance for now.
Thirty
Kaia hadn’t seen or talked to Jesse for two days. He’d called, but she’d seen his name on the caller ID and not answered. She didn’t know what to say. He’d made it clear he didn’t want a relationship unless she got rid of her baggage. She wanted to do that, but she didn’t know how.
Sitting on her garden bench with her cat in her lap, she could see the blue expanse of the Pacific over the cliff where her house perched. When she’d looked down on Tutu kane’s cottage earlier, she’d seen her mother’s Volvo parked in front. The feelings the sight evoked had not been worthy of a Christian, but she couldn’t help herself. All her mother had to do was come back, and she was suddenly the family darling again.
Hiwa was licking her paws with relish. Kaia ran her hand over the cat’s silky fur. She knew what she should do. The right thing would be to march down the stone steps and see her mother face-to- face. Talk to her.
Kaia rubbed her forehead and put the cat on the ground. Hiwa yowled and shot off toward the palm tree by the fountain. Kaia wished her grandmother were here. Her presence had been as calming as jasmine. Almost lonelier than she could bear, Kaia wished she could lay her head in T?t?’s lap and feel her grandmother’s fingers in her hair.
A shadow blocked out the sun, and Kaia looked up to see her brother. Bane wasn’t smiling.
“We need to talk,” he said.
She scooted over on the bench. “So talk.”
“I probably should have shown this to you before, but the time never seemed right.” He held out an envelope. Kaia stared at it, not sure she wanted to know what it contained. “Read it,” he urged.
“What is it?” He laid the envelope in her lap, and she stared at it. She recognized the writing. Bane’s name was slashed boldly across the paper in her grandmother’s familiar script.
“Read it and see.”
Her hands trembled and her fingers felt clumsy as she pulled the paper inside free of the envelope. She unfolded it and began to read.
Bane,