Chapter 9
CHAPTER 9
Emi braced herself but still wasn’t ready for the impact of seeing all the newsreels following her sudden disappearance.
Swede fed the information to her sequentially.
The first newsreel was a plain news report about a missing college student with a copy of the photo taken at the beach the day before she’d been taken. She’d worn a lacy coverup over her favorite teal bikini. She’d smiled and posed in the sand with a palm tree and the beach in the background. It would have been a great advertisement for Hawaii if it hadn’t been announcing the disappearance of a young girl.
The next reel showed a reporter speaking to her college friends—Jen, Kris and Annette—whom she’d traveled with to Hawaii.
Emi’s fingers tightened around George’s.
Her friend’s faces were streaked with tears. Annette was so distraught she couldn’t talk to the female reporter. Emi’s heart ached for the girls. She could only imagine how horrible she’d have felt if it had been one of them and she hadn’t walked back to the hotel with her, especially knowing what she’d gone through during the past eight years.
At the end of that reel, the reporter asked for anyone with information about the missing woman to contact the Honolulu Police.
Her parents’ faces appeared in the next video.
Emi nearly doubled over at the tears streaming down her mother’s cheeks. Her father stood with an arm around her shoulders, his own eyes red-rimmed, his face haggard. When the reporter asked them if they wanted to say anything, her father said, “Please, bring our daughter back to us.”
Her mother wiped the tears from her cheeks and choked out, “Emi, if you hear this, know that we love you so very much, and we’ll do everything in our power to bring you home.” She broke down into sobs and turned her face into Emi’s father’s chest.
Tears slid down Emi’s cheeks. The only thing keeping her grounded was the strength of George’s grip on her hand.
A few more clips showed her parents still in Hawaii, offering a reward for Emi’s safe return and another for any information that would lead to their daughter’s safe return.
The next news report was from her hometown newspaper, showing her high school senior picture with the news that she had gone missing on vacation in Hawaii. The Honolulu Police had no leads and no body.
Another news article showed Emi’s mother speaking at a fundraiser for an organization that helped missing persons and their families.
Emi’s heart bled when she saw the name of the organization.
Emi’s Heroes.
George scooted his chair closer and slipped an arm around Emi’s shoulders. She leaned into him, her heart breaking for her family and the families of other missing persons.
So many of those missing persons came home in a body bag, or their bodies were never found.
Emi had been alive all those years her family had suffered.
Hawk appeared beside her with a box of tissues. “You don’t have to continue if you don’t want to.”
“Is there more?” George asked.
Swede’s face appeared briefly. “Only a little more. I promise.”
“Keep going,” Emi said, choking back a sob.
Her brother’s image appeared along with an article about his graduation from high school and how he planned to join the Navy. The final article was a short clip from her hometown news, congratulating Colin Sands on successfully completing the Navy’s Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training course to become a US Navy SEAL.
The photo was of a young man, not her little brother.
Though sad she’d missed so much of his coming of age, Emi’s heart swelled with pride for her brother’s accomplishments.
Swede and Kyla’s faces reappeared on the monitor.
“We’ll keep looking through satellite images,” Swede said.
“As soon as you have anything, no matter how inconsequential it might seem, let us know,” Kyla added. “We’ll be here, day or night.”
“Thank you,” Emi said. “For everything.”
“If that’s all, I’m out here,” Swede said.
Hawk nodded. “We’re done.”
Swede’s face disappeared.
“Out here.” Kyla’s face blinked out, leaving a blue screen.
“Are you okay?” Hawk asked.
Emi nodded. “I will be.”
“I’m sorry if that was too soon,” Hawk said.
“No,” Emi looked up, holding her chin high. “Really. It’s okay. I know exactly how my parents felt, losing their daughter. If anything, it makes me even more determined to find and free Sara. Is it noon yet?”
Hawk grinned. “Not yet, but Kalea’s friend will be here soon.”
Emi prayed hypnosis would bring out something Swede and Kyla could use to locate Fallon Vance or whoever the hell the bastard was.
She turned to George. “What now?”
“I don’t have any plans for the morning. What would you like to do?”
Emi pushed back from the conference table and stood. “I’d like to go outside, breathe fresh air and plan how much I’m going to hug my daughter when I see her next.”
George stood with her. “How about a walk?”
She nodded. “Perfect.” Emi smiled at Hawk. “Thank you for helping.”
Hawk gave her a crooked smile. “We haven’t done much yet.”
“You’re trying, and you’ll—what was the word?” Her eyes narrowed as she thought back to what Ule said. “Oh, yeah. You’ll Ho’omau.”
Hawk grinned. “That’s how we saved Kalea and how we’ll save Sara.”
George led Emi out of the war room through the hallway into the tack room, finally exiting the outbuilding into the sunshine.
Emi raised her face to the sky, letting the sun warm her skin. “We’ll find her.”
“Damn right, we will.”
After waiting eight years to be rescued, Emi could barely stand to wait a few hours until the hypnotherapist arrived. She straightened and looked around, determined to push back the anxiety building inside. “Where to?”
“Why don’t we go look at the horse that recently gave birth? Then we can check out the horses in the pasture.”
Emi gave him a tight smile. “I’d like that. Maybe fresh air and open spaces will help free my mind for when Sachie arrives.”
George offered Emi his arm. She rested her hand on the inside of his elbow and strolled past the outbuildings until they came to the barn.
Inside, they found Kalea and Mr. Parkman standing in front of a stall.
Kalea waved them over. “Come see our newest member of the ranch.”
George and Emi joined the Parkmans.
When Emi looked over the stall door, she only saw a large buckskin horse standing there.
“This is Blondie, one of our best mares on the ranch.” Kalea pulled a carrot from the back pocket of her jeans and held it out.
The mare stepped forward to take the carrot. When she moved, her baby danced around to her other side in view of the folks watching.
Emi’s breath caught.
“That’s Buttercup,” Kalea said. “She’s one whole day old.”
The filly had the same coloring as her mother. Her mane and tail were black, her body a light golden. The only difference was the white star in the middle of her forehead. She nuzzled her mother’s belly, searching for her teats and suckled hungrily as the mare munched on the carrot.
Emi’s heart filled with the joy of witnessing the beauty of nature. She remembered nursing Sara in their tiny room, so glad and blessed she’d had enough of her own milk to sustain the baby. She didn’t want to think what might have happened to Sara had she not been able to nurse her through the first year and a half of her life.
“She’s beautiful,” Emi said.
Kalea smiled. “She is. And she’ll make a good cowpony like her mother. Are you out for a walk?”
Emi nodded.
“We’re headed to check out the horses in the pasture next,” George offered.
“Before you go, come see what I found behind the stairs to the loft,” Kalea said. She grabbed a flashlight from a charger on the wall and led them to the stairs.
George and Emi followed Kalea to the shadowy space beneath wooden steps that led up into the loft.
Kalea knelt and clicked the button on the flashlight. The beam of light shone onto a golden retriever, lying on her side, nursing a litter of little golden puppies.
Emi squatted down beside Kalea. “How precious,” she exclaimed. “How many did she have?”
“I counted ten,” Kalea said, a frown creasing her forehead. She counted softly to herself, ending at nine. “Hey Ginger, where’s your other puppy?”
Kalea reached in, pushed the mother to the side and looked behind her.
When the mother moved, Emi spotted the missing baby crawling beneath her mama’s tail. “There it is.” She reached for the puppy and held it in her hand, marveling at how small and helpless it was, yet they instinctively knew what they needed to survive. “Hungry?” she asked and then fit it between its siblings on an unoccupied teat.
“That one was a girl,” Kalea said. “And if you look closely, she’s got a little white star on her forehead like Buttercup.” She leaned closer to the other puppies. “None of the others have the same star. That makes her special. We could call her Buttercup Two, but I don’t like naming puppies destined for new homes. It’s hard enough to part with them.” Kalea crawled backward and stood.
For a long moment, Emi stared at the babies, again, amazed at nature’s ability to keep going while Emi’s world seemed to be stalled. “Sara would love to see the puppies,” she murmured.
“We’ll be sure to bring her here,” George promised.
“And if things work out and you land in a place that allows dogs, you can take Buttercup Two home with you,” Kalea said.
“I’d love that,” Emi said. She just couldn’t think that far ahead. All her focus had to be on freeing Sara first.
George led Emi out of the barn and to the wooden rails of the pasture fence.
“I like to sit on the top rail and watch the horses when they’re being frisky.” He nodded toward the horses with their heads down, grazing. “Or when they’re just grazing. It’s peaceful.”
Emi rested her hand on the top wooden rail. “Will it hold me?”
“I weigh a lot more than you, and it hasn’t broken yet,” he said. “Want some help up?”
She nodded.
George grabbed her on either side of her waist and lifted her to sit on the top rail. “Now swing your legs over to the other side and rest your feet on the rail below. I’ll hold you steady.”
She did as he said, liking the way his hands felt so warm and strong where they rested on her waist. Her pulse quickened, and a rush of heat flowed through her veins that had nothing to do with the sun shining down on them.
When she was steady and could hold herself up, George removed his hands from her body and climbed onto the fence beside her. “See?” he said. “It’ll hold both of us.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” she said and glanced at the pasture, counting the horses quietly grazing. “Eleven,” she said softly.
“That’s how many I counted,” George said. “They have a lot more than that, scattered across the various tracts. Cowboys on the ranch are called Paniolo.”
As they sat on the wooden rail, watching the horses graze, George spoke softly about the ranch and how they combined modern techniques with cultural heritage to raise cattle. The ranch donated over six thousand pounds of meat annually to needy Hawaiians.
Emi listened, letting George’s rich tones calm her racing heart. By the time they climbed down from the fence, it was nearly time for lunch.
“Let’s clean up and see if Ule will let us help in his kitchen.” George held out his hand.
Emi took it as naturally as if she’d held his hand all her life. They walked to the ranch house together in silence.
The closer they came to the house, the faster her pulse pounded. By the time they stepped up onto the porch, she was nearing the point of hyperventilating.
George stopped and turned to face her. “Hey. It’s going to be all right. I’m sure Kalea’s friend won’t push you too hard. If you feel uncomfortable, all you have to do is stop.”
She stared up at him. “What if I don’t remember anything that will help us find Sara? Time might be running out for my little girl,” she whispered.
George took both her hands in his and leaned close until their noses practically touched. “We’re going to find her.”
For a long moment, she stared into his eyes, wanting so badly to believe him. She had to believe him. Had to believe they’d get to Sara in time.
“We’ll find Sara,” he said softly.
Emi inhaled, let the air out slowly and nodded. “We’ll find her.”
“Now, let’s wash up and invade Ule’s space,” George said with a wink.
He led her to the guest room where she’d slept the night before and into the bathroom. They washed their hands at the same time. Emi had the soap first. When she handed it to George, it slipped out of his hands.
He caught it before it hit the floor and returned it to the soap dish.
She rinsed first, then George.
When she reached for the towel, he took it from her and gently dried her hands and his.
The whole process felt oddly...intimate, leaving Emi slightly breathless by the time they left the bathroom.
She followed behind him to the kitchen, glad for a few moments to pull herself together.
Ule didn’t let them touch any of what he was cooking but put them to work setting the table with plates, glasses, cutlery and napkins.
When Kalea, Hawk and Mr. Parkman entered the kitchen at noon, Ule had George and Emi carry platters of sandwiches and bowls of beans and potato salad to the kitchen table.
George filled glasses with water, tea or lemonade, depending on what each person wanted.
Ule joined them for lunch and got into a discussion with Mr. Parkman and Kalea about the different techniques they were using to manage the cattle.
Emi found it fascinating, soaking up their words. After years without outside contact and no one else to talk with, she loved sitting at the table, listening to the voices of people who cared for each other and the land and animals they managed.
And listening to them kept her from thinking too much about what was to come when the hypnotherapist arrived.
When they’d finished the meal, Kalea, Hawk and Mr. Parkman adjourned to the office to go through some packages that had been delivered that morning.
Emi and George helped clear the table.
Ule didn’t argue. Maybe he sensed Emi needed to stay busy. She was glad he let her help.
She’d laid the last glass on the counter when Kalea poked her head into the kitchen. “Sachie’s here. I’m setting her up in the guest bedroom’s sitting room if that’s okay with you.”
Emi’s pulse leaped into overdrive. “That’s fine.”
She looked to George.
“Do you want me to come with you?” he asked.
Before Emi could say yes, Kalea shook her head. “She says it works best if the patient is alone. No distractions.”
Emi stomach clenched.
“I’ll be close by,” George said. “Just relax and let her do her thing. You’ll be okay. We’ll find Sara, no matter what.”
Emi nodded. She had to believe him. If this didn’t work, they were no worse off than before the hypnosis.
They would be no better off either.
And the clock was ticking.