4 Kaua'i Me a River (12 page)

“Tell
you what,” he said. “I’m off tomorrow. Why don’t I take you to Queen Ka’ahumanu
Center and we’ll find you a kick-ass dress? My treat.”

I
agreed to go.

“Is
Farrah handy?” he said. “I’d like to talk to her before we hang up.”

“She’s
trying to put a baby crib together. From the sounds of things, it isn’t a good
time to interrupt.”

“Tell
her I’ll help her with it tomorrow,” he said. “Right now she needs to call the
Maui Sheriff’s Department.”

“I’ll
tell her.”

“Crib,
huh? Someday we may need a crib, you know.”

The
guy was nothing if not full of surprises.

***

On Friday
morning my cell phone rang as I was driving to the Palace of Pain. I hoped it
was Charles saying he’d thought it over and decided to go ahead and sign the
pre-nup. As annoying as Eleanor could be, maybe the love of a good man would
soften her up a little.

“Pali,
it’s Valentine Fabares.”

“Hi
Valentine, I wasn’t expecting to hear from you so soon.”

“Yes,
well, probate has been scheduled for early Monday morning. Due to the
circumstances, I asked for the earliest possible spot on the docket.”

“What
circumstances?”

“You
know, a possible petition contesting the will. If we can get this probate underway,
I think the disqualified heirs will encounter a somewhat steeper slope.”

“Maybe
Peggy and Joanie have a point. Maybe the other children should have—”

She
cut me off. “Look Pali. I knew your father. I have every confidence in the
veracity of both the legality of his will and the spirit behind it. Trust me,
this is what he wanted. Have you ever heard of the Golden Rule?”

“Of
course, ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you’.”

“That’s
the classic version, yes. But your father practiced a more modern version of
the rule. Phil always said, ‘He who has the gold, rules’. Do you see my point?
It’s your father’s money. You and Sunny are the only people he wanted to give
it to. There’s no way a judge could see it differently.”

“But
it seems—”

“See
you on Monday. We’re first up so I’d appreciate it if you could plan to be over
here on Sunday night. Can you do that?”

“Sure.”

“Great,”
she said. “I’ll meet you at the courthouse at eight-thirty Monday morning.
Aloha
.”
The line went dead and I assumed she’d hung up.

Hatch
showed up at my shop later that morning. Since the Lindberg wedding was on
hold, I’d spent the last hour doing a little office housekeeping and answering
emails. I hadn’t slept well the night before but it wasn’t due to the baby
crying. I’d tossed and turned wondering how I was going to tell my friends, and
especially Hatch, about my upgraded financial status.

“Ready
to go rock the Kasbah?” he said. “I’m thinking you should get something
glittery. And tight.”

I was
glad I’d asked him to pick me up at my shop rather than at home. I wanted to
keep Hatch away from Farrah because, big surprise, she hadn’t called the police.
She had managed to get the crib assembled, though.

As if
reading my mind he said, “What did the police say when Farrah called?”

“Uh, I’m
not sure. I left the house really early. She wasn’t up yet.”

“But
she called, right?”

“As
far as I know.” I really wanted to change the subject. “I’m thinking maybe a blue
dress. I like blue.”

“To go
with your eyes?”

“My
eyes are hazel.”

“Blue,
hazel, whatever,” he said. “How come women call things fifty different colors
and guys get along with five? Get whatever color you want as long as it’s got a
really short skirt.” He winked at me as if he knew a comment like that would
garner some major
stink eye
and I didn’t let him down.

We
went from store to store to store. My feet hurt and my boredom meter had
clicked into the red zone. I’d never known a guy outside of Steve’s social
milieu who had such shopping stamina. I was about to throw up my hands and
offer to attend the dinner naked when I spied a slinky blue number with a soft draped
neckline and a slit up the leg that left almost nothing to the imagination.

“But
it’s long,” said Hatch.

“Give
me a minute,” I said heading to the dressing room. “I’ll come out and if you
hate it, I’ll put it back. No argument.”

I
slipped on the cool shimmery dress and turned to look at myself in the mirror.
The black
rubba slippas
on my feet didn’t do it justice, but the color
and drape of the dress hugging my body was amazing.

“Ta-dah,”
I said as I stepped out into the main area of the store.

Hatch
stared. I twirled around to give him the full vision of the above-the-knee
slit.

“Wow. I
never thought long could be more sexy than short,” he said.

“Common
mistake,” I said. “I have to explain it to brides all the time.”

Hatch bought
me the dress. On the way back to Pa’ia I couldn’t believe how excited I felt
about going to the fireman dinner at the Grand Wailea in my fancy new dress.
Maybe my being Miss Richie Rich would turn out to be fun after all.

***

When I
went into my shop the message light was blinking. I called the voicemail number.
 

“Pali,
this is Charles Lindberg. I’m sorry, but I just can’t do it. I can’t spend the
rest of my life with someone who’s constantly lording her money over me. I told
Eleanor my decision and now I’m leaving for home. If I owe you anything for
your trouble, give me a call.” He left a number with a mainland area code.

I
watched in my mind’s eye as my bubble of joy about becoming a rich heiress floated
up, up, and away before bursting with a tiny
pop
.

CHAPTER 14

That
night I modeled my new dress for Steve and Farrah. Steve gave me a thumbs-up and
Farrah—whose entire wardrobe consists of
mu’u mu’us
and caftans—declared
the style and color divine. When I told her I planned to wear my new pearl amulet
with it she beamed.

“But
honey, since we’re talking accessories,” Steve said. “We’ve got to do
something
about those shoes.”

I
looked down at my ‘good’ sandals. They were black leather with inch-and-a-half rundown
heels. “No good?”

“Are
you planning to run a half-marathon between the salad and soup courses? Because
those things look positively
athletic
.”

“I’m
not into ‘do me’ shoes, Steve.”

“I get
that, but c’mon. All you need is to take it up a notch. Maybe a lighter color,
like bone or ivory, with a little bit higher heel. Let me take you shoe
shopping tomorrow.”

I
groaned. “I’m not sure I can survive the mall two days in a row.”

“Oh,
get over yourself,” he said. “Aren’t you always telling bridesmaids it’s their
duty to suffer for their friend’s big day? Haven’t you convinced countless
girls to wear the most god-awful get-ups in the name of love and friendship?”

I
nodded. It was Hatch’s first firefighter banquet. A little suffering was
probably in order.

***

I woke
up on Saturday feeling conflicted. I looked forward to my date with Hatch, but
not on any level was I looking forward to three hours of tromping through the
mall with Steve.

“Maybe
I could borrow some shoes,” I said to him over breakfast. “You’ve got a few
drag queen friends. Maybe they’d loan me something.”

“Sure,
if you wear a size fifteen,” he said. “Suck it up, honey, we’re going sole
searching. I promise I’ll bless the first decent pair you find.”

It
sounded like a concession, but I knew Steve well enough to know his notion of
‘decent’ and mine were worlds apart.

Before
we left for the mall I begged Farrah one more time to call the authorities and
report the baby. I still hadn’t heard from Sifu Doug’s brother, James, and I
wondered if he’d decided he didn’t want to get involved.

“Hatch
is coming here to pick me up tonight,” I said. “He’s going to grill you with
his ‘truth stare’ and you’re going to go down in flames.”

“Chill,”
she said. “I’ve got a plan. I just need a little more time.” She looked down at
the baby asleep in her arms. When she looked up, her face was tight with
resolve. “I can’t let them take him. I just can’t.”

“Then
why haven’t you named him?” I said.  “I’m not exactly buying that Libra in
retrograde thing.”

Farrah’s
expression relaxed. “I haven’t named him because I don’t have my computer
hooked up yet.”

“You
need a
computer
to name this baby? Don’t even tell me you’re planning on
calling him ‘Google’ or ‘Yahoo’ or whatever. That’d be criminal.” I’m sure I
sounded way more cranky than it called for, but since I’d been saddled with a ludicrous
name I felt I had the right to weigh in.

“No,”
said Farrah. “I’m not searching for a geek name. I need my computer to look up
his Hawaiian name. In English his name would be ‘Moses’ but I don’t want to
call him that. I need to find out the Hawaiian spelling.”

“Hang
on. I’ve got a Hawaiian dictionary around here somewhere.” I rummaged through my
bookshelf and came up with a yellowed copy of “The Pocket Hawaiian Dictionary,”
by Pukui, Elbert and Mo’okini.  The blurb on the cover promised Hawaiian
spellings for popular names. I flipped to the name section and found the ‘M’s.’

“It’s
Moke
,”
I said. “The Hawaiian version of Moses is
Moke
.”

“That’s
so perfect,” said Farrah. She looked down at the baby’s sleeping face and
whispered, “
Aloha,
little
Moke
.
E komo mai
to your new
life. Your new mama loves you with her whole heart.”

It
would’ve brought a tear to my eye but I’d already begun steeling myself to go shoe
shopping.

***

As
Steve pulled into a parking spot at the mall my cell began playing Mendelssohn’s
wedding march. That ring meant someone was calling on the ‘Let’s Get Maui’d’
line. I checked the caller ID. I didn’t recognize the number but it was an
‘808’ area code which meant Hawaii.

“
Aloha
,
this is Pali Moon,” I said. I used to answer,
Pali Moon
,
Let’s Get
Maui’d
, but it was often misinterpreted.

“Hello,
Pali. It’s Joanie Bush, Phil Wilkerson’s former wife. Do you remember me?”

“Of
course. What can I do for you?”

“I got
your number off the Internet. So it seems you’re a wedding planner?”

“I
am.” I could hardly imagine the woman who’d been so nasty at the reading of my father’s
will would want me to coordinate a wedding for her, but maybe she’d called to
apologize.

“That’s
pretty funny,” she said.

“Oh?”

“Yeah,
your dad should’ve kept you on retainer. I mean, think of the money he would’ve
saved.”

Had
she called simply to heckle me?

“What
can I do for you, Joanie?” I shot an apologetic look at Steve, who was drumming
his fingers on the steering wheel.

“In
this situation, it’s more what I’m doing for
you
.”

“Have
you talked Peggy out of contesting the will?”

“Peggy’s
not one to be talked out of anything, I’m afraid.”

“Joanie,
I’m kind of busy right now. Can I call you back?”

“No
can do. I’m heading off to the mainland today. Even though Phil totally screwed
my kids out of what was rightfully theirs, I feel bad for you. I have some
information I’m sure you’ll want to know.”

Steve
tapped the face of his watch.

“I’m
sorry, Joanie,” I said. “But I’m in kind of hurry.” 

“Look,”
said Joanie. “I don’t know what you’ve been told about your mother’s death, but
I’ll bet it’s a lie.”

“I
haven’t been told much of anything.” I felt my cheeks start to feel hot.

“Well,
I’m willing to tell you the truth. Unless, of course, you don’t care.”

 “I
care very much.”

By now
Steve had plopped his head back on the head rest and closed his eyes. I felt
trapped between hearing what Joanie had to say and continuing to rudely ignore
Steve.

“I’m
afraid I really can’t talk right now,” I said.

“That’s
fine with me,” said Joanie. “Because I’m only willing to tell you about this
face-to-face.  I’ve got a flight to Honolulu in half-an-hour. Then I’ve got a short
layover before I leave for the mainland at four. If you’re interested in hearing
what happened to your mother, meet me at the Honolulu airport.”

“I’m
not sure if I can…” I let it trail off.

“It’s
up to you. But right now I’m feeling generous. Once I get back home, who knows?”