Nevermore
pecked at his brain like Edgar Allan Poe’s raven. And although he had his land legs, he felt a stir of accustomed nausea.
Jane loved the house. She learned that the ranch and house had been left to Mak by his father, wanting to make sure Rose would be taken care of. It was about half the size of her daddy’s plantation house, and Rose’s comment confirmed that when she said, “There are four bedrooms upstairs and a sitting room which doubles as a playroom and a schoolroom for Leia.”
“Could Miss Jane see it?” Leia said. “I want her to know how much I’ve learned since she might be my teacher.”
Jane didn’t intend to be a schoolteacher and wasn’t sure what to say so she remained silent, but she smiled at Leia. Her uncle Russell came to her rescue. “Leia, we don’t know yet who will be teaching the classes. Your dad is doing a wonderful job.”
Mak lifted his hands as if to ward off such a thought. He emitted a short laugh. “I’m a rancher, Russ, not a teacher. Anytime one of these ladies wants the job, I’m fine with it.”
“I do want to discuss that.” He put his arm around Matilda. “Even if she is my sister, I can truthfully say this fine lady would work her fingers to the bone to help somebody else.”
Matilda’s scoff of distress made him lean away from her, but the affectionate look in his eyes was evident. “But I know, too, she’d like to explore this island from the white sands to the black sands as soon as I can assure her I’m all right without her telling me what to do.”
Matilda scoffed. “I took a five-month-long trip for this? That’s a brother for you. Wait till I tell you how he used to treat me.”
“Now, Tildy,” he said. “You were the more spirited of us children. You don’t want me telling stories on you, do you?”
She gave him a warning stare. “Let’s change the subject right now.”
Rose spoke up. “Russell, you didn’t mention the green sand beaches.”
“Green sand?” Matilda’s mouth remained open until she found words again. “Are you serious?”
Before Rose could answer, Leia was nodding. “It’s really green sand. Grandmother and her friend took me there.”
Mak said, “If we’re ever going to have our dinner, maybe we’d better get this tour over with.”
“I believe our next room is the dining room,” Rose said. They followed her down the hallway, past the kitchen on the right, and entered the spacious dining room. Over the table hung a crystal chandelier, holding many candles.
When Jane glanced down she noticed Mak looking at her. Did he suspect, or know, that Texas had electricity already?
Along two walls, the sunlight shone through wide windows that offered a view of green lawn and lush foliage, a lovely contrast to the elegant dining room.
Mak had her uncle Russell sit at one end of the long table while he sat at the other.
“Sit across from me,” Rose said to Matilda, and they took their places at each side of Mak. Jane sat beside Matilda and Pilar next to Jane. Leia sat across from them, beside Rose.
After her uncle asked the blessing on the food, a heavyset, gray-haired woman who looked to be maybe in her sixties, entered the room with a huge silver platter. “This is Coco,” Rose said. “She and her husband had a restaurant in Hilo for many years. Now, we’re fortunate to have her with us. She’s the best cook in all of Hawaii.”
Coco seemed stiff and unfriendly. “Aloha,” she said in a monotone voice. “I’ve prepared a special dish for you. Broiled crocodile eyes on a bed of Ki leaves, smothered in coconut juice.”
Jane didn’t know what the others were doing, but she opted to look at Leia, hoping a child’s expression might tell her this could not be dinner. Leia’s lips were pressed together and her little eyebrows lifted slightly and her widened eyes simply moved from one side to the other as if this were an everyday dinner item. But Jane thought the little girl seemed to be trying a little too hard to act like everything was normal.
In complete silence, Coco walked over to the table, set down the silver platter, and lifted the lid, revealing the most delectable piece of what looked and smelled like beef with something else beside it.
Coco’s face relaxed, and Jane felt sure they all breathed easier. “I serve the beef in case anyone doesn’t like fish. This is a prize Hawaiian fish called
opakapuka
.” She asked them to take their forks and sample the fish.
Jane wasn’t sure about the
puka
sound of the fish, and gingerly placed a bite in her mouth. “Wonderful,” she said, not caring if much of it still lay on her tongue. “I’ve never tasted fish so good.” She looked around at the others, and they were nodding. Mak was smiling.
“I’ll be back,” Coco said.
“May I help?” Pilar said.
Nobody seemed to know what to say for a long moment. “Oh,” Matilda said. “Pilar is a cook, too. I know she’d love to see the kitchen.”
“That would be very nice,” Rose said.
“Me, too?” Leia asked.
Rose nodded. “That would be nice, too.”
At that moment, the dinner became very informal. Coco was even more congenial as she explained that taro was a kind of yam. Pilar brought in dishes of fresh vegetables of every conceivable kind, and Leia brought the cold food.
Coco dished out a small, stuffed green leaf and laid it on each plate. “This is rice in taro leaves,” she said proudly. “You can put those around at each place,” she said to Leia who brought in two dessert dishes, then went back for more.
“This is Hawaii’s famous
haupia
pudding made from coconuts. And be sure to try the mountain apple jam on your bread.”
“This is fabulous,” Matilda said. “I’ve traveled many places in the world, and your Coco has outdone them all.” She looked at Pilar. “Most all of them, anyway.”
Pilar smiled. “Probably all.”
Jane knew Pilar had just eliminated her mother as the world’s best cook.
Uncle Russell was nodding and chewing, plowing into the food.
“You really are eating some of the best food Hawaii has to offer,” Rose said. “There are many restaurants here, a lot of Japanese, Chinese, and Portuguese in particular, and their food is good. But this is a collection favored by most people.”
“You did give me a scare, Coco,” Matilda said. “I don’t think I’m ready for crocodile eyes.”
Coco stood with her hands folded in front of her while they sampled the various kinds of food.
“She does something like that every time we have guests,” Rose said. “That’s why they say they aren’t going to accept a dinner invitation unless Coco is the cook.”
The older woman had transformed from a person of sternness into someone who seemed much like a member of the family. Her laughter, smile, and shining brown eyes made her look ten years younger than when she’d come into the dining room.
“She was like that in the restaurant,” Mak said. “That’s one reason it was the most popular place to eat in the area.”
The woman’s body seemed to laugh with her. “When people come from other countries to the island, they should sample good, real Hawaiian food. I’ll be back.” She walked to the doorway and looked over her shoulder. “And I do hide in the hallway and listen to conversations.”
“I like that woman,” Matilda said.
“Oh, we love her,” Rose said. “She’s so dear to us. Our guests always say they’d love for her to join us at dinners, but she won’t. Says she has her place.”
“That reminds me of my mother,” Pilar said. “She’s a cook for the Buckleys. Oh,” she added quickly, “my mother doesn’t joke like that. She just cooks.”
Jane felt the others now realized that’s why Pilar wanted to help. Matilda spoke up. “Your mother has a particularly difficult time, Pilar.”
She nodded. “If she were here, she wouldn’t let me sit at this table. She’s afraid I’ll get big ideas.”
“Well, like I’ve said before,” Matilda said, “we’re in Hawaii now. Let your ideas be. . .” She lifted her hands in the air and wiggled her fingers. “Let them be. . .flowers and sunshine and palm trees.”
Soon, the conversation was dominated by Matilda and Rose exchanging stories about their travels.
Jane halfway listened but was delighting in the delicious food served by a cook who had pretended to be stern. Was some of Mak’s aloofness a pretense, too? Or did he really think no woman could break through his carefully guarded defenses?
It seemed nobody wanted to move. “I am completely stuffed,” Jane said.
“Me, too,” Leia said, as Coco came in with a silver pot. “But I have room for coffee.”
“Sure,” Mak said. “In about ten years.”
She grinned and picked up her milk glass.
“This is Kona coffee,” Coco said, pouring them each a cup. “The world’s best.”
Uncle Russell had already introduced Kona coffee to Jane and Matilda, who were nodding as Mak affirmed Coco’s statement. “That’s no exaggeration,” he said. “It’s in great demand throughout the rest of the world. It’s one of Hawaii’s greatest exports.”
“I will bring cream,” Coco said.
Jane sipped the black coffee. “Delicious,” she said. “But I do take cream.”
While waiting, she glanced at Mak. “You call the ranch
Bele Chere
?” They’d ridden under the sign at the top of a wrought iron entry. “That sounds French.”
“You know French, then?”
“I studied it in college.”
“So, what does it mean in French?”
“Let her guess, Daddy.” Leia had such expectation in her eyes that Jane figured she was waiting for her to say something funny again. She probably would.
“Mmm.
Bele
is close to
belle
, meaning beautiful.
Chere
. I don’t know. Sounds like it would be close to
cherie
, meaning friend. So,
Bele Chere
means
good friend
, or
beautiful friend
.”
After she tried to guess, Leia said, “
Bele Chere
means
beautiful loving
.”
“
Living
,” Mak corrected, as they all laughed lightly. “
Beautiful living
. In the olden days, it meant something like that, could be
good life
,
beautiful life
. My dad named the ranch. It’s Scottish.”
“What does Leia mean?” Jane asked.
“
Meadow
,” Mak said, the look in his eyes as soft as his voice.
“Grandmother says I’m like a meadow full of pretty flowers.”
Jane smiled. “I think she’s right.”
Leia nodded. “I do, too.”
They all laughed. Ah, the beauty of innocent youth.
When Coco returned with cream, Jane stirred it into her coffee. She smiled and looked across at Leia. “Leia, your beautiful skin is the color of Kona coffee with a touch of cream in it. Very beautiful.”
“
Mahalo
. That means
thank you
.” She looked at Jane for a moment. “Yours has little speckles on it. On your nose across here.”
“Yes, it does,” Jane said.
Leia squinted as she stared. “It’s a little like ants crawling on the white sand.”
Matilda was the only one who dared to laugh, and she did it vigorously.
“Did you put them on there or did they just grow that way?” She was very serious.
“They just grew.”
Leia looked wistful. “I wish I had some. I like them.”
Jane nodded. “Mahalo. I do, too.” She smiled at the little girl, giving her so much attention. “But I didn’t always like them. They’ve faded through the years, but I took a lot of teasing when I was young.”
“Me, too,” Leia said, her expression sympathetic.
Mak spoke up. “What do you mean, Leia? Who’s teasing you?”
Her lips formed an
O
and her eyes closed. “Sorry. Grandmother told me to forget it. I guess I forgot to forget it.”
Rose appeared uncomfortable under Mak’s stare. She waved a hand as if dismissing it. “Oh, you know, Mak. That was last year when a man came to get the horse you’d trained, and his little boy said unkind things to her.”
Leia was nodding. “He said I was crippled and ugly.”
Jane joined Matilda and Pilar who made protesting noises, and Jane said, “You’re beautiful, Leia.”
Leia nodded. “Now I am, but not when my leg gets tired.”
Pilar was young enough to ask the question that Jane had on her mind and figured Matilda did, too. “Why does your leg get tired?”
Leia’s face made movements like she was trying to think. “I forgot.” But she smiled then. “But my limp is fading,” she said, “like Miss Jane’s freckles.”
The tension was thick as that chunk of beef, Jane thought.
“What I want to know,” Matilda said, setting down her coffee cup. “Is about the hula. I hear it mentioned often, but it’s said like a Baptist talking about whiskey. Makes the upper lip curl up. Is this not polite dinner conversation?” She looked toward Leia. “Or not to be discussed in mixed company?”
“No, it’s fine,” Rose assured her, seeming relieved that the subject of Leia’s leg had changed to something else, but Mak’s face still looked cloudy. “The hula is a kind of dance the early Hawaiians did. After missionaries came, it was forbidden. The people were taught that God would not accept them unless they wore clothes and stopped doing the hula.”
“The missionaries were mistaken,” Uncle Russell said. “They thought the hula was connected with nudity. In the last few years, we’ve come to understand that the hula was the Hawaiians’ way of communicating about their culture. Before the missionaries came, they had no written language, so they acted out their stories.”
“That’s right,” Mak added. “The gentle swaying of their bodies and hand movements are like sign language. It’s a natural artistic form of the spoken word. We point, we clap, hit, strike our fist against the palm of the other hand, slap the table, shake hands, move the hand as a warning.” As if proving his point he looked at the position of his upraised hands. “We gesture.”
“And this,” Leia said, smacking her left hand with her right one.
“Now, Leia,” Rose said, “How many times have I spanked your hand?”
Mak spoke up. “Mother, if I remember correctly, once was enough.” He slapped the side of his thigh. “And that was back here.”
Leia’s dark eyes were filled with love as she looked at her dad, smiling and nodding. “But she won’t spank me there because it might hurt my leg.”
“But speaking of the hula,” Rose said as if in a hurry to change the subject again. “The king had a birthday party. My husband and I attended. I believe that was about fifteen years ago. Anyway, that party lasted for two weeks. Two thousand people were invited, and he brought back the hula. That helped make it more acceptable.”
“And you danced the hula?” Matilda asked.
“Well. . .” The lovely woman touched the side of her coiffure and spoke in a rather sultry voice. “The party lasted for two weeks. He was the king. What’s one to do?”
They all laughed.
Rose seemingly changed the subject when she said, “I’m sure you have electricity in Texas.”
“Recently,” Jane said. “In the big cities.”
“We don’t yet,” Rose said, then returned to the subject of the king. “But a couple of years ago, the king installed a fantastic electric system at the palace. That cost more than it did to build the palace.”
“Does the king—” Jane and Matilda both started to ask the question at the same time. Jane motioned to Matilda, who finished the question. “Does he still have his parties?” Jane knew the two of them would love an invitation to the palace.
“He does occasionally,” Rose said. “He always throws a party before the island’s most important horse race.”
Jane would have liked to hear more about that, but Leia spoke up. “Come to my party.”
“Oh, you’re having a party?”
She nodded. “I have one every year of my life for my birthday.”
Jane smiled at her. “How old will you be?”