Chapter Eleven
Kelly
“The new baby will be a girl,” Tutu stated with the utmost confidence.
Annie, Kekoa’s wife, rubbed her growing belly affectionately. “I have been thinking it’s a girl, too!” She beamed. Her raven hair was pulled back into a tight bun. “We find out the gender next week.”
“I still think it’s a boy,” Kekoa grumbled.
“You would go against Tutu?” Annie shook her head in disbelief. “She’s never been wrong before.”
“You should listen to your wife, boy.” Tutu clucked her tongue at him and then took a large bite of the burger that was almost the same size as her head.
“This is your sixth kid, and she has guessed them all correctly?” Reese raised an eyebrow from where she was sitting next to me at the table. I could tell she had been nervous when we’d arrived, but I was impressed with how well she was settling in with my family.
“Not just our children. All her children and her great-grandchildren,” Annie smirked over at Kekoa.
“It’s all luck!” Kekoa had his signature black hair pulled back into a low ponytail.
“Are you willing to bet on it?” Annie gave Kekoa a shit-eating grin.
“Ooo, yeah,” Kahale whistled from his spot next to Emily. “Do it, Kekoa. I would love to see that.”
Kekoa shook his head furiously. “I have never participated in that shit, and you know it. I’m sure as hell not starting now.”
“Speaking of bets,” I turned my head dramatically towards Kalani.
“Fuck you!” she spat.
“Kalani Marie!” Mom yelped as she choked on some food.
“Language, Mom!” Kai snickered over from the keiki table.
“Listen, Reese. You seem like a nice girl, but I know my brother is lying to me. Now is the time to come clean, or else there will be big consequences. Are you dating him?” Her eyes were pleading now.
Reese was staring intensely at Kalani, and I was afraid she might cave. I didn’t even know I was holding my breath until her golden eyes met mine.
“Sorry, Kalani. I actually kind of like this guy.” She smiled shyly up at me, and warmth spread through my chest, straight to my heart.
I was blown away when I picked Reese up earlier today, stunned by how gorgeous she looked in that simple white dress. It was the first time I had seen her with her hair down, and now I couldn’t unsee it.
From our few encounters, I could tell that Reese was easygoing. She always had a natural, clean look. I could tell she put effort into it, but she didn’t go overboard. I had a feeling that I could take her surfing, and she wouldn’t be scared to get her face wet.
“It’s time to pay up,” I said to Kalani, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of Reese.
“Tonight?” Kalani all but screeched. I tore my eyes away from Reese to see Kalani’s dark red face.
“What did you guys bet?” Reese asked.
“The usual,” everyone at the table said in unison, even Tutu.
“Oh, yes. The usual.” Reese laughed.
“All the kids have had the same bet since they were little,” Dad cut in. “If you lose a bet, you have to shave off an eyebrow.”
“What!” Reese’s mouth dropped open, and Kahale was now laughing like a dying dog.
“She lost two bets to me, so technically, they both have to go,” I smirked over at Kalani.
“You’re not actually going to let him shave your eyebrows off, right?” Reese asked Kalani.
“She has to, brah,” Kahale cut in. “It’s the law.”
“The law?” Reese said incredulously.
“It’s true,” Kekoa said. “When I was sixteen, I lost a bet to Kalani, and I didn’t have eyebrows when I passed my driving test. I had to live with that picture until I turned twenty-one. I never made a bet with them again.”
“I was missing an eyebrow for our wedding.” Kahale looked over at Emily apologetically.
Emily rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “Yeah, thanks a lot for that one, Kelly.” Kahale leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.
“Hey! I’m not the one who made a stupid bet one week before my wedding. I wouldn’t have risked it. You married that one.” I put my hands up defensively.
Reese turned to inspect my face. She reached up and touched my eyebrows tentatively. My skin hummed with electricity at the touch. “How many times have you shaved your eyebrows?”
“Only five times,” I said.
“That’s a lot!” She laughed as she brought her hand down.
My skin ached from the loss of contact. She was grinning ear-to-ear, though, and I felt like I had won the lottery by not just getting to see it, but by being the one who caused it.
“Kahale has probably shaved his over twenty times. I think this is Kalani’s ninth time. And I have only done it three times.” Kekoa said, leaning back in his chair proudly.
“How long do they take to grow back?” Reese reached up to touch her eyebrows, wishing she would touch mine again.
“My eyebrows grow back in two months,” Kahale shrugged.
“And they grow back that thick?” She pointed to Kahale’s black hair. Kahale wiggled his eyebrows and got a small laugh out of Emily.
“Mine always takes a full six months,” Kalani sighed. “I haven’t lost a bet since before having kids, so I’m sure they won’t grow back at all now.” She pushed her fingertips into her temples. “Jeremy is going to come back and not even know who I am.”
“Oh, sweetie, he loves you no matter what.” Mom wrapped her arms around Kalani.
“Yeah, he’s used to living with a troll,” Kahale cackled.
“You son of a—” Kalani rose from her seat, looking ready to jump over the table to strangle him.
“Nuh-uh,” Kahale jumped up. “I’m not the loser here.”
“Okay, you two, settle down. Kalani, it’s time to pay up,” Kekoa said, taking charge like the firstborn he was.
“I’ll go grab the razor,” I said, standing up.
“I can help clean up in the kitchen,” Reese offered.
“That is so sweet,” Mom said. “You’re a guest, though.”
“Please, it’s the least I can do. I appreciate you guys having me over for dinner.”
Everyone dispersed from the table, most choosing to hang outside, and I headed for the bathroom to grab the old electric razor. I went back down the hallway when I heard Kalani's voice and stopped dead in my tracks just before the kitchen, staying out of sight.
“You know, for the record, I think it’s refreshing that you didn’t pry into how Kelly was adopted.
It’s always been an...uncomfortable topic for him,” Kalani said, her voice gentle.
“Kelly has been a part of our family since he was only six months old.
I've only ever seen him as my brother, but growing up, it's hard to know you were adopted.”
I stared at the many family pictures that lined the hallway. All of us were smiling at different ages, frozen in time. I’d always felt like we were a family when we were together, but seeing how much I stuck out always reminded me how different I was. I was an outsider.
“It’s not my place to ask questions. If Kelly doesn’t want to talk to me about it, then I’m never going to force him,” Reese’s voice carried out of the kitchen and landed straight in my heart.
“Not everyone would feel that way,” Kalani said as dishes clinked in the sink.
“I’m sure I’m very different from most of the girls Kelly brings home.” There was an uneasiness in her voice. I knew I should’ve stopped eavesdropping, but I was paralyzed against the wall.
“Oh, honey. Kelly has never brought a girl home. That’s why I made that bet. If Kelly brought you home to meet us, he must see something special in you. He doesn’t share his adoption story with just anyone.”
“I don’t feel like being adopted is something to be ashamed of,” Reese said more confidently than before.
“It’s complicated. I could tell you—”
“No, that’s okay,” Reese cut her off. “When he’s ready... if he’s ever ready, he can tell me then. It’ll be worth waiting for.”
I swallowed hard against the large lump that had formed in my throat.
“Mmm, eavesdropping, are we, e ku’u aloha?” Tutu’s voice came from behind me, making me jump.
“Tutu, I....”
“You don’t have to explain anything to me.” She winked as she pushed past me towards the kitchen. “Oi, Kalani, your eyebrows came in so beautifully this last time. I’m going to miss them.”
I swallowed hard over the emotion that seemed to be stuck in my throat. Then I emerged from the hallway. “Let’s get to shaving, ladies.”
My parents’ backyard had always been a sanctuary for us growing up. Unlike most properties, my parents’ house had a fairly large plot of land—almost a quarter of an acre in the back. On the mainland, that wouldn’t be very impressive, but here on the island, it was everything.
The backyard started off flat and then gently sloped down the hill. You could see straight out to the ocean from the covered patio. Years of hard work resulted in a beautiful landscape featuring willow, palm, mango, and papaya trees.
At the center of the yard stood a massive twenty-foot monkeypod tree. Its roots were visible and stretched out in all directions. The tree’s branches spread out wide, and its large green leaves covered the yard like an umbrella, providing shade from the sun.
Kalani was now sitting by the base of the monkeypod in a fold-up chair that Kahale had brought out.
The kids were running around the backyard, Ted chasing them, not paying us any attention.
Our parents were lying in the hammock on the far-right side, not participating in our shenanigans.
Tutu was rocking lazily in an old rocking chair that had been in that spot before I was even born.
The rest of us adults had formed a semicircle around Kalani.
“You know what I was thinking?” Kalani shifted uneasily in her seat. “Maybe we should be done with all the betting. I’m thirty-six years old now. Don’t you think it’s time to give this all up?”
“Absolutely not.” Kahale crossed his arms in front of his chest. “No one took mercy on me last time.”
Kalani looked around for any support and stopped at Reese. Reese furrowed her brows and pulled her lips together in a tight line. She had mentioned that she was a terrible liar, and now it was showing all over her face.
“Your girlfriend doesn’t seem too comfortable with this idea.” Kalani held on to her last bit of hope.
“It is a little extreme,” Reese confessed, her eyes full of guilt.
Kalani must have seen it too, because she said, “Reese, do you swear you are dating my brother?”
“Again, with this? Give it a rest.” I tried to shut her down.
“It is awfully convenient that you have a girlfriend out of nowhere,” Annie said.
I rolled my eyes. “Is it really that unbelievable that I would have a girlfriend?”
“I think we need more proof,” Kahale said.
I glared at him. “What kind of proof are we talking about?” I asked.
“I think we are going to have to see a kiss.” Kahale gave me a shit-eating grin.
“What is this, third grade?” Reese surprised me by speaking up. She had shifted her body weight slightly away from me with her arms crossed.
“It’s going to be a requirement if I’m getting an eyebrow shaved off for this,” Kalani stated, gaining more confidence.
“No,” I cut in. “We never bet that I would kiss my girlfriend in front of everyone. Especially not when this is her first time meeting everyone. The bet was whether I would bring my new girlfriend to family dinner. And I did.”
“I think a kiss should be required for this,” Annie said, giving Kalani an ‘I got you’ nod.
“Let’s vote on it,” Kekoa said.
“That’s not how this works!” I said, panicking at the
idea of kissing Reese. She would never see me again after this, and my gut told me I needed to see her again.
“All in favor,” Kekoa raised his hand. Everyone except for me and Reese raised their hands. “Okay, the tribe has spoken.”
I sighed loudly and turned towards Reese. Her face was flushed, reaching all the way to her ears. Her golden eyes peeked up at me shyly.
“Are you too hot?” I asked her. If she didn’t want to kiss me, I would own up to the lie right now and switch places with Kalani.
She looked around nervously at my siblings and their spouses, and then back at me. This was the moment she would reject me and leave.
“It’s a little warm,” she said finally. “But I’m okay. It’s not too hot,” she said tentatively, standing as she came closer to me.
I tried to mask my surprise and relief as I stood and closed the gap between us. I stared at her beautiful, full lips. Lips I had been thinking about since I’d first met her. She licked her lips, and I nearly came apart right there.
I almost forgot we had watching eyes as I brought my hand up and cupped one of Reese’s cheeks. My fingers slid over the splash of freckles I found there, and her face reddened at the contact. Her eyes pierced through me, and I leaned closer until our noses brushed against each other.
Her breath skated across my face, her breathing slightly erratic, as she wrapped her arms around my neck. The dark gold in her eyes met mine and then fluttered closed, giving me the permission I needed. I took the leap as I softly pressed my lips to hers.
The kiss was gentle and warm. So warm. My other hand came up, and I framed her face as she leaned in, thoroughly kissing me back.
It took every bit of self-control I had not to open my mouth and consume her.
I wanted to run my hands through her hair and find out what she sounded like when she moaned.
Instead, I sealed the kiss and pulled away, surprised when her lips found mine again. She moved her mouth slowly over mine, sucking on my bottom lip. An electric current ran down my spine as one of my hands found the small of her waist. I pulled her closer, leaning more into the kiss than before.
The sound of a dry cough jolted me back to reality. I opened my eyes, my lips still pressed to hers, and remembered that I was in my childhood home, kissing a practical stranger in front of my siblings.
She broke the kiss this time, and I felt almost dizzy at the loss of her contact. My lips were burning, like she’d touched me with fire. Her eyes were wide and darker now as she stared back at me. I was still holding her face in one of my hands, unable to let go.
Kahale clapped his hands and whistled out a catcall. I moved my hand down from her face to her arm until I grasped her hand. I gave her a slight squeeze and then reluctantly released her.
Turning back to the group, everyone was smiling, even Kalani.
“Sorry, Kalani,” Annie spoke first. “I tried to help you, but your eyebrows are toast.”