If there was one thing a man hated, it was to let his emotions show on his face. Jesse had thought he was doing a good job of masking his pain. “Kaia isn’t speaking to me. And Faye says she won’t take her calls either. I made the stupid mistake of telling her she needed to forgive her mother before we could pursue our own relationship.”
Bane gave Jesse a good-natured slap on the shoulder. “Smart man. You can’t build anything on rotten ground. My sister can be stubborn. She’s been hurt too many times, but she needs to learn to let it go. I’ve prayed about it, and I’m going to call a ho’oponopono.”
Jesse was familiar with the family therapy session, though he’d never personally attended one. It meant literally “to make things right,” though he suspected even a radical intervention like that would fail to reach Kaia. Still, it was worth a try. She at least had to listen out of respect for her family.
“When?” Jesse asked.
“Tomorrow at sundown. I’ll send our grandfather to fetch her. She can’t refuse the command of the kahuna.” Bane grinned.
Nani whistled and clicked to Kaia as she sat at the pier with her feet hung over the side. “Good girl,” she said. The dolphin had said “swim.” Kaia still couldn’t believe they’d breached the wall between the species. Real communication. It was a dream come true.
If only her other dreams would stop hounding her. Every night she went to bed vowing to forget Jesse: the sound of his voice, the scent of his skin, the touch of his hand. And every morning she awoke with a vivid dream of him: the sparks that had flown between them the first time they met, his gentleness with his niece, his commitment to those he loved.
Kaia had fought the dreams by throwing herself into her research. She wanted no time to think or feel. So far she hadn’t succeeded. She felt like she’d been tossed around in the water by a humpback whale. And she couldn’t get her grandmother’s letter out of her mind.
Jenny hurried along the wooden dock. “Reporters are due in about an hour.”
The other woman had been subdued the last few days. At least Jenny hadn’t been involved in the plot to blow up the munitions storage area. And Kaia hoped her heart hadn’t been too badly damaged by the discovery that Kim had murdered Jonah Kapolei. Kim and Nahele weren’t getting out of jail anytime soon.
Was her own bitterness taking her in the same direction Duncan and Nahele had gone? She wanted to be rid of this. She glanced up at Jenny. “Is Curtis handling the interview?”
“He wants you to do it. He thinks the reporters would rather ask him about Duncan than the communication with Nani.”
Kaia winced. Curtis had been hit hard by his younger brother’s arrest and attempt to kill Faye. “I’ll do my best,” she said.
“I’ll stall them until you’re ready.” Jenny touched her on the head and went back to the office.
Kaia glanced up as she left. Her grandfather was here. He stopped to speak to Jenny then continued on toward where Kaia sat on the dock.
“Curtis said you’d be out here,” Tutu kane said.
She scrambled to her feet. “Is something wrong?”
Her grandfather was somber, a state she seldom saw him in. “Bane has asked me to call a ho’oponopono for tonight. I want you to be there.”
Kaia brushed the debris from her shorts. “It’s been ten years since you’ve called one of those.” The last time, Bane and Mano had been fighting over the same girl and had refused to speak to one another for two weeks. Kaia gulped. If she had talked to her grandfather about how she was feeling, he might not have resorted to such a drastic measure. Refusal wasn’t an option, though she wanted to ignore the summons.
“Is our mother coming?” she asked cautiously.
“Of course.”
Great. Just great. The ho’oponopono was all about forgiveness and healing breaches. But in spite of her dismay, a thrill ran along her spine. Part of her longed to see her mother again. Her mother—Faye, she corrected herself—had caused too much pain and suffering. She had no idea of the damage she’d left in her wake. How could she? Her parents had never left her. They’d always been around to love and support her. Faye had no frame of reference to even understand what she’d done.
“I can see the wheels turning,” her grandfather said, laughing. “You think too much sometimes, Kaia. You’ll be there.” It was a command, not a question.
“I’ll be there. Even if I don’t want to be.”
“I think I already knew that.” Her grandfather dropped a kiss on her head, then left her by the water.
Kaia glanced down at Nani. She had rolled to her side, and one eye peered up at Kaia as if to judge her temper. “You should be very afraid,” Kaia told the dolphin. “I’m mad enough to bite lava in two.”