14. Akemi
Akemi
Rain came down one inch after another on the night before Kaleo’s birthday. It roared against the metal roof overhead as Akemi watched the clock strike midnight. Kaleo was sound asleep, bathed in the hurricane-strength white noise of the storm.
By dawn, it slowed to a trickle.
Not long after that, the sky began to clear.
Akemi paced back and forth on the front lawn, trying to discharge some of the anxiety that was squeezing her lungs. Kaleo sat nearby, carefully stacking a set of wooden blocks that were older than his mother.
“Did his plane land yet?” Anne asked, coming down the front steps.
“Just did, yeah.” Akemi gave her a weak smile.
Lorenzo’s final flight had been canceled due to the storm, stranding him on the wrong island. He caught the first flight out that morning, which meant that he was due to arrive exactly when the birthday party was supposed to start.
They had deliberately scheduled it for the morning, both to maximize their chances of a happy baby and to include Lorenzo’s family via video call, accounting for the twelve-hour time difference…
but Lorenzo was supposed to arrive the night before, giving him at least a moment to settle in before launching into a party.
“The whole thing is a mess,” she said to her sister. “We should have allowed more wiggle room.”
“Why couldn’t he fly in a few days early?” asked Anne.
“Two of his employees were on vacation.”
“At the same time?”
“They were on vacation together,” Akemi clarified, “so he didn’t have enough people to run all of the tours with him gone until they got back.”
“He’s cutting it close. But if his plane landed already, he’ll be here any minute. Well in time for the party.”
Akemi nodded, looking down the road. Anne stepped closer and put an arm around her.
“Have you eaten today?”
“Not yet.”
“Kemi, you can’t skip meals. You’re still breastfeeding.”
She nodded, half paying attention, still looking down the road.
“I still have some ‘ulu waffles left from breakfast.”
“I should have picked him up myself,” Akemi muttered, nibbling at the nail of her thumb.
“He’ll be here.” Anne squeezed her shoulder. “I’ll go make you a plate.”
Kaleo lost interest in the blocks and wandered off, toddling barefoot across the gravely lawn. Akemi trailed him, her mind still far away.
It was his first birthday. The year had gone by in a blink, in spite of their many flights and sleepless nights.
She couldn’t believe how quickly he had grown. It seemed like just a moment ago she had been holding her newborn; now she was hurrying to keep up with a toddler.
It was his first birthday, and they hadn’t seen Lorenzo in six months.
Half of his life.
A year ago, Akemi had felt so certain that they would work things out.
And they had tried their best. Kaleo had spent a good chunk of his life thus far with each side of his family.
But as Lorenzo’s tour business grew and thrived, his own ability to travel had diminished.
He was watching their son grow through a screen, and that hurt more than Akemi had expected.
With each missed milestone, she wondered if she was doing the right thing…
and if it was already too late to change course.
When Kaleo completed his third lap around the house, they found Lorenzo walking up the driveway. He was pulling a huge piece of luggage that could have fit three toddlers inside. When he saw them, he stood it straight up and walked quickly forward.
Despite two days of travel, he looked perfectly put together. His black hair was neat, his face clean shaven, his button-down shirt clean and pressed. Seeing him, Akemi felt frumpy in her wrinkled linen dress.
“Ciao ragazzi.” His voice was soft, carrying both joy and heartache as he looked between her and their son.
Kaleo stood still, staring at his father with intense concentration. He seemed to recognize him, but he was used to seeing him on a phone screen.
Lorenzo crouched down in front of him, arms open in a gentle invitation, and spoke to him in fluid, musical Italian.
Kaleo moved forward with some hesitation, then giggled when his father scooped him up into a hug. He allowed himself to be held for a few seconds, and then he wriggled away.
“He’s like a puppy,” Akemi said. “He’s either asleep, or he’s on the move. There’s no middle ground.”
Lorenzo stood and turned to her. He opened his arms with the same cautious hope that he had shown with their son – and Akemi stepped into them. Immediately, he closed his arms around her and held her tight.
She pressed her face into his clean cotton shirt and breathed in.
There in his arms, she felt a warm sense of home.
He held her for a minute, then released her with obvious reluctance.
“He’s escaping,” he explained, gesturing towards Kaleo just as their toddler rounded the corner and disappeared.
“He does that,” Akemi said with a sigh. Lorenzo took her hand, and they followed their son into the back yard. “Keeping him alive is my full-time occupation.”
“He doesn’t make it easy.”
“No. He doesn’t.”
“Lorenzo!” Dawn greeted him with a big smile and came down the back steps to give him a hug.
Akemi released his hand – and then immediately wanted it back again. It was disorienting, realizing just how much she had missed him. Touching him gave immediate relief to a pain she had hardly let herself acknowledge.
“It’s good to see you again,” Dawn said, holding his shoulders in both hands. “How long will you be here this time?”
“As long as you’ll have me.”
“As far as I’m concerned, you can stay forever!”
Lorenzo laughed. “Well, the government limits me to ninety days.”
“Three months, then.” She patted him warmly on the arm and went back inside.
“Are you really staying that long?” Akemi asked.
“Are you?” Lorenzo held out a hand. She laced her fingers through his, and they followed Kaleo as he ran back towards the front yard.
“I can’t travel alone with a toddler anymore. It’s too hard.”
“And you won’t come to Italy?”
“You mean permanently?”
“Nothing is permanent. But if you’re pausing your travels, why not return with me to Tuscany?”
Akemi chewed her lip, turning the question over in her mind. She couldn’t see herself living with Lorenzo’s parents for very long. An extended visit was hard enough. If she moved to the family villa indefinitely, she would lose her mind.
Before she could reply, a little girl came sprinting up the driveway.
“Babbo!” She slammed into Lorenzo, and he scooped her up into his arms.
“Figlia mia!” He spun her around. “Stellina! Come stai?”
“Sorry, I know we’re early.” Lani waved as she walked up the driveway. Rory’s mother was from Pualena too, which was what brought Lorenzo to the island in the first place.
Lani was Mahina’s niece – so Akemi had known her all her life, in a vague sort of way. But Lani was five or six years younger than she was, and that had been a big age gap back when they were eight and fourteen.
She had a son too, a chubby baby who seemed perfectly content in his sling. A wedding ring glinted on her finger as she patted his back.
Akemi pushed down a silly pang of envy and herded her own hypermobile son away from the street. When she reached for him, he cackled and ran away.
“Sorry,” Lani said again. “She was so excited.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Akemi said quickly. “It’s been a long time.”
“You didn’t come to my house!” Rory exclaimed, pulling back to look at her father.
“Only because I knew you would soon be here, principessa, for your brother’s birthday. I’ve only been on the island for half an hour.”
“I missed you!” She flung her arms around his neck and hugged him again. He held her tight and rocked her gently back and forth.
“I missed you too, stellina.”
Lani held up a big gift bag and looked to Akemi.
“For the birthday boy,” she said.
“Thank you. You can set it on the lanai, if you want.” Akemi ran after Kaleo, who had disappeared around the corner again.
When she caught up with him, he shrieked with joy and ran even faster.
“Dude. You’re gonna wear yourself out before your party even starts!”
He ignored her.
Luckily – perks of being at her mother’s house – her family handled all of the party preparations while Akemi wrangled Kaleo, nursed him up in her room, and wrestled him into a fresh diaper and a clean Hawaiian shirt.
When they finally made it back downstairs, the party was in full swing – and a cheer went up at the arrival of the birthday boy. He hugged Akemi’s neck, suddenly shy. When she tried to put him down, he clung to her like a baby monkey.
“Okay, I get it.” She would feel the same way if all eyes were on her. “I’ve got you.”
It felt good to hold her baby close for once. Lately, he hardly let her hold him unless he was half asleep. He cuddled close for a while. Then he spotted his cousins, and he was off again.
It was a smallish party – just family – but the inclusive local idea of family was still enough people to make it a crowd. The big kids were running wild, and Kaleo tripped over his own feet trying to keep up.
Lorenzo followed Kaleo around, trying to get his face on screen for a video call with the family, and his grandmother had tears in her eyes as she talked about how big he was getting.
“Il suo secondo compleanno sarà in Italia,” Akemi promised.
His second birthday will be in Italy.
They sang the Hawaiian birthday song and let Kaleo tear into a tiny cake that Anne had baked, and then Akemi let him splash in the baby pool instead of trying to scrub the frosting off of his face herself.
Finally, Kaleo got so overtired and fussy that Akemi retreated to a quiet corner outside and nursed him to sleep.
“There you are.” Lorenzo found them some time later and claimed the chair next to hers.
“It was way past his nap time.”
He nodded and looked around. The party was winding down. Rory had already left for her second birthday party of the day – but not before extracting a promise from her babbo that he would take her to the petting zoo the next day.
“Do you want to take a walk?” Akemi asked.