11. Emma
11
Emma
“ I ’m King of the Earth!” Kai shouted, standing atop the pile of mulch that had been delivered the day before. “All shall tremble before me!”
“Move it, Earth King.” Emma brandished her pitchfork. “I’m workin’ here!”
“This is my realm!” he roared, voice only slightly muffled by the giant leaf he had turned into a mask.
“All the Earth is your realm, oh King,” Juniper intoned from the lanai, “and your orchard is under attack!”
“Who dares attack my orchard?” he shouted, waving a stick that was longer than he was.
“The mynah birds are in the fruit trees again.”
“How dare they!” Kai boomed. “Soldiers, with me!”
He charged down the mulch pile and around the side of the house, screaming all the while.
“Thanks for that,” Emma said to Juniper. She stabbed the mulch pile with her pitchfork and began loading her wheelbarrow. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay. Managed to eat a bowl of that leftover soup.”
“That’s great!” Real relief washed through her body at the news that her niece had managed to eat a proper meal.
“I’ve got a bunch of tea on the stove, and I’m going to go pack up some of the bagged mixes too. I’m not missing another market day.”
“Sounds good. Let me know if you need a hand with anything.”
“I’m okay,” Juniper said, heading back inside. “You do your thing, Earth Queen.”
“Queen regent of Kealoha,” she muttered, filling the wheelbarrow until it brimmed with spongy brown shredded wood.
Emma carted the mulch over to the jaboticaba sapling and started spreading it in a big circle around the tree. A healthy layer of shredded wood and leaves kept the weeds down, and over time it turned into nourishing soil for the trees – a key part of growing food in a place that had only a couple inches of soil above fields of lava rock.
A circle of dark brown mulch around young trees helped to keep the grass back long enough for the saplings to get established – though even ten-foot fruit trees could be overtaken by grass and vines if left unattended for a few months.
The small, late-season crop of fruit that grew on the thin trunk of the jaboticaba tree was still mostly unripe, but one round globe was such a dark purple that it was nearly black. Emma took it between her fingertips, and it came off easily in her hand. She put the whole fruit in her mouth and bit down; it exploded with juice that tasted like concord grapes.
Emma chewed the tough skin and spat out the seed.
Standing in her impossibly verdant front yard, she experienced a surge of gratitude that felt a lot like grief. Where the Kealoha place was concerned, she would probably never be able to untangle the two.
“Emma!” A shout startled her, and she turned towards the street. Dio ran past, barking. She raised a hand to her eyes to shade them from the sun and spotted a familiar mass of curls just above the front gate.
“Toni?” she said, barely audible even to her own ears. Then again, shouting, “Toni!”
She dropped the pitchfork and ran to greet her sister.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” she demanded when she got closer.
“I did,” Toni said, but her green eyes sparkled with mischief.
“You didn’t tell me that you were coming today .”
“I got the first flight that I could and then I rented a car. I didn’t want my visit to be one more thing on your plate. The idea is to take some of the load off, not pile more on.” She paused, looking unsure. “Is that okay? Can I stay a few days?”
“Are you kidding?” Emma flung open the gate and pulled her sister into a hug.
Toni was six years older than Emma, and some part of her was always surprised to find that her big sister was a full head shorter than she was. She squeezed her tight and then stepped back to get a good look at her. Dio, having accepted that this stranger was a friend, was now whining and nosing her belly in search of attention.
“Okay, okay,” Toni laughed, petting him. “Hi!”
There was more gray in her curls than there had been the last time Emma had seen her, and new lines on her face. The past year had been hard on the whole family. Sometimes, in the depths of her grief, she lost sight of that.
Then Toni turned to her with a bright smile, and her worry eased.
“Okay if I leave the car there?” she asked, gesturing to the silver rental car she had parked by the fence.
“That’s fine. Normally I’d invite you to park in the driveway, but…” She trailed off and gestured to the mulch pile that was taking up most of the space.
“No worries.”
“Need a hand with your bags?”
“No, I’m good.” Toni shouldered her ancient, oversized backpack. “This is all of it.”
Emma looked at her dog, who was wandering towards Tara’s place.
“Dio!” she called. “Go home!”
Obediently, Dio spun and raced back through the fence.
“Good dog,” Toni remarked as they walked through.
“He’s easy to train,” Emma said, closing the gate behind them. “Super smart, eager to please. We got lucky.”
“So did he. Wasn’t he living in the jungle when you found him?”
“Skirting the edge of a parking lot by the beach, yeah.”
“Dogs don’t forget that sort of thing.”
“I guess not.”
Toni put her hands on her hips and looked around. “The yard looks gorgeous, Em.”
“Does it?” She wrinkled her nose, looking from the messy pile of mulch to the weeds creeping in between tropical plants. Anywhere she looked on the property, she saw half a dozen unfinished tasks competing for her attention.
“It does! Everything looks so healthy. You’re taking great care of the place.”
“Thank you.” Emma put a hand on her chest, taking her sister’s praise to heart. Coming from someone who had devoted her whole life to growing things, her words meant a lot.
“Hello the house!” Toni called as they approached the lanai.
“Nia?” Juniper’s voice came faintly from inside. She came through the front door looking like she might burst into tears at any second. “Nia!”
“Hey, Junebug.” Toni started to say something else, but Jun rushed forward with such a fierce hug that she nearly knocked them both to the ground.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” she demanded.
“I told you I would!”
“You know what I mean!”
“I booked the flight late last night and left early this morning. I figured I’d just… come see what’s up.”
“You’re so weird,” Jun said affectionately. “Come on inside.”
They walked in through the living room to the kitchen, where four different teas simmered on the stove. Through the kitchen windows, Emma could see Kai running through the orchard and shouting the birds out of the trees.
“Mamaki?” Juniper asked, already ladling out three mugs of tea.
“Perfect,” Toni said.
“Thank you.” Emma picked up one of the mugs and sat down at the kitchen table.
“How are you feeling?” Toni asked Juniper, hovering by the stove.
“Better than I was.”
Toni unshouldered her backpack and set it on one of the kitchen chairs. Then she opened the top and started pulling things out like Mary Poppins.
“Have you been drinking ginger tea?”
“Forget drinking it,” Jun said with wry humor. “I’ve taken to eating straight ginger.”
“I formulated a new pregnancy blend.” Toni handed her a huge bag of dried herbs. “The main ingredients are oat straw and raspberry leaf, but there’s ginger and peppermint in there too.”
Juniper frowned. “Isn’t peppermint contraindicated in pregnancy?”
“You don’t want to overdo it, but small amounts in a blend is fine. It will improve the flavor – and help with your nausea.”
She nodded and hummed in response, still looking unsure.
“The main thing is to keep some food in your stomach,” Emma reminded her. “That’s what really helped me.”
“I know.” Jun sighed and sat down across from her, holding a mug of tea in both hands. “I’ve been trying, but it feels impossible once I’m already nauseous.”
“That’s why you have to eat often enough that your stomach’s never all the way empty. We’ll get some pest-proof containers for your room so that you can snack round the clock.”
“B vitamins help too,” Toni added.
“Not on an empty stomach, though. Only once you’ve been able to get some food down.”
“This nausea suggests some sort of deficiency, and missing meals will only make that worse. We need to build you up!”
Juniper looked between them with a tired, tolerant smile. “Thank you.”
Toni sat down and reached for her hand. “We’re here for you, kid.”
A shadow passed across Juniper’s face. “Did you tell my dad you were coming?”
“I sent him a heads up hello text when I landed…” Toni trailed off, peering at Jun. “Why? Are you guys okay? You said–”
“We’re okay,” Juniper said, waving a hand in front of her face like she was swatting away a fly. “We’re just… not great.”
“I’m not sure what that means.”
“Me neither.” Juniper slumped forward and put her head down on the table.
Toni looked at Emma and raised her eyebrows.
Emma just shrugged. She hadn’t been present for the conversation between Ethan and Jun when he came back that same day to talk things over, but he hadn’t stayed very long.
They had seen him a couple of times since then – he’d invited them over for lasagna and then come by a couple of days later to fix a loose board on the porch steps – but things between him and Jun seemed strained. As far as she could tell, father and daughter were both tiptoeing around each other, afraid to set the other one off.
Just then, Ethan’s truck rumbled up in front of the gate.
“Speak of the devil,” Toni murmured, leaning back to peer through the front windows.
“What?” Jun asked, sitting up.
“Your dad’s here.”
“Yaaay.” Juniper dragged the sound out like a funeral dirge.
Emma stood and walked outside to greet her twin.
“Hey Em.” He offered her a tired smile as he walked towards the house. “How are you?”
“I’m okay.” She sat down on the porch steps. “You?”
“I’m okay,” Ethan echoed. He paused in front of her, hands in his pockets. “Is Toni here yet?”
“Yeah, she just got here.”
“Did you know she was coming?”
“I did not.”
He just shook his head. The door opened behind her, and Ethan’s face brightened.
“Hi Dad,” Juniper said.
“Hey Junebug! How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay.” She sat down next to Emma.
Ethan looked past them, and his expression went flat. “Antonia.”
Toni barked out an exasperated laugh. “Nice to see you too.”
He looked away. But when she walked down from the porch a moment later and offered him a hug, he reluctantly put his arms around her. Their big sister was about a foot shorter than he was; the top of her head didn’t even brush his chin.
“It’s good to see you,” he said gruffly.
“Where’s the little guy?” she asked, stepping back.
“Home. Fern’s watching him.”
“I’m looking forward to meeting her,” Toni said with genuine warmth.
He just nodded and turned his attention to Juniper. “I’d like to talk to you for a minute.”
“I’m just gonna… go take a look at the orchard,” Toni said, moving away. “I haven’t seen this place in years.”
“Em?” he said. “Would you give us a minute?”
She started to stand, but Juniper’s hand shot out and grabbed hers.
“ What , Dad?”
He sighed and looked at the ground, hands still stuffed in the pockets of his shorts.
Juniper softened her tone, though her grip on Emma’s hand was painful. “What is it?”
“I have a suggestion, and I don’t want you to fly off the handle. I want you to just… keep an open mind.”
Jun went perfectly still, her body as stiff as a statue.
“I spoke with a local adoption agency,” Ethan said, his voice soft. He pulled a brochure out of his back pocket and held it out, but Jun made no move to take it.
“Ethan,” Emma started, but he silenced her with a look.
“These days, lots of families do open adoptions. That means that you could still be a part of the baby’s life, still see them as much as you’d like, but you would be free to live your own life.”
The bone’s of Emma’s fingers creaked in Jun’s grip.
“It’s the best of both worlds,” he pleaded.
“Ethan, this isn’t what she wants.”
“Stay out of this, Em.”
“Don’t talk to her like that!” Juniper shouted, her frozen state shattering. “She’s the one who’s been here for me! Her! Not you!”
Ethan looked devastated. “I just want what’s best for you.”
“You don’t even care what I want!”
“You don’t know what you want.”
“How can you say that?” she demanded.
“You have no idea how hard it is to be a parent.”
“I ruined your life, is that it?”
“No! Stop twisting my words.”
“You wish you’d just given me away?”
He closed his eyes for a moment and took a breath. Then he held out the brochure again. “It’s the best of both worlds, Jun. If you would just talk to them–”
She snatched the pamphlet from his hands and ripped it in two.
“Jun, for f–”
“This is my baby!” Juniper jumped to her feet. “A person, not a problem!”
Emma stood up and put an arm around her, trying to calm her.
Ethan stepped forward, pointing a finger at her chest. “You have no idea what you’re talking about, what it takes to–”
“Why don’t you give Teddy away?” she shouted.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“He’s still little. I bet some nice couple would love to adopt him , right? He was a mistake too, wasn’t he? His mom was a junkie, right? Should she have gotten rid of him ?”
“Enough!” Ethan shouted. “Show some respect.”
“Go back to California.” Jun’s voice broke, and tears spilled down her cheeks. “I don’t even want you here. Just go home.”
The despair on Ethan’s face just about broke Emma’s heart.
Juniper went inside, slamming the door behind her.
“What happened?” Toni asked, coming back around the corner of the house.
Ethan kicked at a rock. “She added pregnancy hormones to teenage hormones is what happened.”
“I thought you two were okay.”
“We were!” Ethan shot back, half shouting.
Toni frowned at the pieces of pamphlet on the ground. “What did you do?”
“What did I do?” he growled. Then he shouted, “What did I do? I let her go live with you !”
“Me?” Toni exclaimed.
Emma watched them, frozen, her stomach in knots.
“You,” Ethan shouted. “My straight-A student went to stay with her dear, quirky aunt Toni, and what happens? She drops out of high school!”
“She got her GED,” Toni said defensively.
“Right. Great. Look where it got her.”
“Ethan, stop,” Emma pleaded. “Juniper’s a great kid.”
“Stop saying that!” he shouted, rounding on her. “I told you I didn’t like her spending so much time with that neighbor kid!”
Emma felt her face pale. The blood rushed out of her head so quickly that she had to sit back down on the porch steps.
“That’s enough,” Toni said.
“I turned to my family for help,” Ethan said, his voice low and venomous, “and you ruined her.”
“What is this, nineteen-fifty?” Toni flung her hands out in exasperation. “She’s not ruined, Ethan!”
“So you’re happy about this?”
“Of course I’m not happy about this. But what I’m also not doing is putting more stress on a seventeen-year-old girl who’s already a nervous wreck.”
“You know she can’t do this.”
“You’re doing it,” Toni snapped. “How hard can it be?”
Ethan turned and walked back to his truck without another word.