“Not at all. You still sound so hurt.” Faye wanted to embrace Kaia and tell her it would be all right.
Kaia’s smile was sad. “Tutu kane says I was in rags when he found me and brought me home. I imagine the abandonment affected me in ways I can’t remember. And I’ve lived with the whispers all my life. My mother’s departure was big news on the island.”
“Why did people talk about it so much? It happens every day, sad to say.”
“My mother was someone special. Paie Oana grew up the darling of the island. A Hawaiian princess that everyone recognized. She was the best hula performer in the islands, I’m told. I’m surprised she was able to vanish without a trace, to tell you the truth.”
Faye hesitated. She didn’t want to upset Kaia even more. “Could she be dead?”
“I doubt it. I think she just got fed up with raising three kids on her own. She was used to acclaim and honor and the drudgery got her down. When a rich man appeared, she was more than ready to be spoiled again.”
“I see. Maybe she’s changed.”
Kaia must have heard the note of disapproval in her voice, because she looked up. “The guy she ran off with owned a bunch of companies. He had a private jet and a house in Paris as well as two on the mainland.”
“Where did you hear all this?” Faye shook her head. “Sounds like a lot of gossip to me. If you were left with a friend, maybe your mother was abandoned too and didn’t have the money to feed you or something.”
Kaia’s cheeks reddened, though from anger or embarrassment Faye couldn’t say. “I shouldn’t be talking like this. I’m sorry. You’re right; it’s gossip. I didn’t come here to air my past anyway, but you’re a good listener.” She glanced at Heidi. “Maybe we should wake her.”
Kaia’s words warmed Faye. The walls between them were starting to come down. She glanced at the sleeping child. “She’s so tired I hate to do that.”
Kaia rolled her wrist to look at her watch. “I’ve only got another hour before I have to meet Jesse.”
“Oh? Jesse is supposed to come get Heidi at five.”
Kaia gasped. “Oh, didn’t he call you? He wanted to ask you to keep Heidi this evening. I wanted to give you a break from her for a few hours and instead I’ve yakked my head off. I’m sorry.”
Faye’s initial dismay faded. After talking with Kaia, she realized she’d been going about this the wrong way. It was time she put her own selfishness behind her and focus on Heidi’s needs. She’d fallen too quickly into the old patterns of pursuing her own ends no matter what the cost to others. She wouldn’t hurt Heidi the way Kaia had been hurt.
The red dirt road held more dips than Waimea Canyon. The wind whipped her hair in the exposed Jeep. Kaia was beginning to think the shave ice she’d gulped down with Heidi and Faye had been a bad idea. She’d enjoyed the time with Faye. Though the older woman had seemed cold and polished on the outside, the genuine caring in her manner had cut through Kaia’s usual defenses. Strange that Faye had done it so easily.
Jesse turned into a pull-off to a canyon and killed the engine. “This seems pretty remote.”
Taro fields spread mauka, and the flooded fields glistening in the sunshine. “The place where they meet is just down that hill,” Kaia said, pointing to the sloping hillside opposite the taro fields. “They use the old rice mill.” She started off in the general direction of the mill.
“This is probably a bad idea,” Jesse grumbled. “Your ankle is still too weak to be climbing rough ground.”
Her ankle throbbed at the reminder, but Kaia wasn’t about to say so. “I’ll rest it up on the boat later. And a swim will fix everything.” He helped her down the steep incline. Thin soil slid from under her hiking boots. Stones rattled down the hill. “We’re sure not sneaking up on anyone,” she told him.
He grinned, and she found herself smiling back. Suddenly the fading afternoon sun seemed brighter. His quiet strength made her feel secure. It was such a direct contrast to the way she’d felt when she first met him. They’d sure gotten off on the wrong foot.
They reached the bottom of the slope. The mill crouched over a dry spring about a hundred yards away. A slight breeze shifted a dangling piece of metal sheeting on the roof, and it gave an eerie creak that startled them both. Kaia clutched Jesse’s hand.
“I don’t think anyone is here,” Jesse whispered.
“Oh yes there is.” Kaia pointed at a black sedan sitting under a palm tree. Red dust dulled the shine, but she didn’t think it had been out of the showroom more than a few weeks.
He nodded and held his finger to his lips. Crouching low, they stepped to a window along the back of the building. It was too high to see in, but Jesse stepped onto a large boulder. A gecko scurried away at their approach.
“See anything?” she whispered.