Chapter 25 Anne
Anne
Anne felt profoundly grateful as she drove down the highway.
The green hills and vast blue skies above were food for the soul, and she felt whole in a way that she never truly had before – or at least, never in her adult life.
Seeing all three of her children on a daily basis was healing a deep wound that she had lived with since the age of seventeen. The progress that Anne had made with her eldest was subtle, but they had made progress.
Now they were going camping together, a family trip that included all of the cousins from Harper up to Zoe, and Anne’s heart was full.
“Can’t somebody else pick up Mia and Auntie Laurie?” Pete complained as they turned north towards Hawi.
“It’s a nice drive,” Anne said. “It won’t take long.”
“Oh, I don’t mind.” Pete winced as his mongoose pup burrowed down through the neck of his shirt. “It’s just that Rikki doesn’t like the car so much. He’s getting antsy.”
“You should have left him at home,” Claire muttered.
“Alone? I can’t do that! He’s just a baby!”
She tried to give him a dirty look, but then she giggled when Rikki’s face popped up past the collar of his shirt.
Laurie and Mia were waiting on their lanai when Anne pulled up the driveway. It had been at least a couple of weeks since they’d made it down to Pualena, and Anne was thrilled to see them again.
Mia leapt off of the front steps and waved her arms in huge, rapid arcs. As soon as the car stopped, she pulled open the back door.
“I’m so excited!” she exclaimed in a stage whisper, petting Rikki’s head with one outstretched finger. “I’ve never been camping before!”
Claire ceded the front seat to her aunt, Laurie tossed their bags into the trunk, and then they were off.
Laurie was quiet as they drove south from Hawi, but the small space was full of the kids’ chatter. Anne’s mind drifted here and there, thinking about her plans for the future and the decisions that they needed to make before it was time for the kids to start school again in the fall.
Noah’s strong hands and warm brown eyes invaded her thoughts repeatedly; each time they did, she pushed him out of her mind and returned to more pressing concerns.
It felt strange, driving to the other side of the island for a camping trip when she had guests at the house, but Dawn had encouraged her to take a night off.
She and Halia would join them for the afternoon, but they planned to drive home to their own beds after sunset. Halia had work the next day, and Dawn had declared that she was too old to be uncomfortable.
Anne was looking forward to spending quality time with her sisters, kicking back in the shade while the kids played in the sand. Pete was over-the-moon excited to sleep at the beach, and even Claire was looking forward to a night under the stars.
“I forgot to bring marshmallows for the kids,” Anne said, turning her face slightly so that Laurie could see what she was saying. “Would you text Mom and ask her to bring some?”
“I don’t have my phone,” Laurie said.
“You forgot it?”
Laurie hesitated and then nodded.
“I’ll text Grandma and Auntie Halia,” Claire said from the back seat. “These kids will riot if there are no marshmallows.”
“These kids,” Pete mimicked her. “Are you ancient or what?”
“Just mature,” she said loftily.
“Too mature for s’mores? Great, I’ll have your share.”
“Ha ha.” Claire’s voice was flat as she tapped a message into her phone.
Anne sighed and cranked up the music. She gave Pete a glance that warned him to be quiet, then tapped Laurie’s knee to get her attention.
“Do we need to go back for your phone?”
She signed no with a quick, forceful gesture.
“Are you sure?” Anne asked. “I can still turn around.”
“It’s fine.” Laurie gave her a strained smile. “We’ve driven too far to go back now. Let’s not keep these kids cooped up in the car any longer than we have to.”
“Okay… if you’re sure. You could text Chris from my phone to let him know you’re okay.”
Laurie nodded and looked away.
Anne found a parking spot in the crowded lot, and they hauled all of their gear down the coast to the spot that Oakley had claimed for them.
Hayden and Harper shrieked with excitement at the arrival of their cousins, and the kids took off for the tide pools.
“Stay where I can see you!” Oakley shouted after them.
Anne smiled at the sight of Pete picking his way across the rocks with a baby mongoose perched on his shoulder. She watched the kids for a moment, itching to go in search of sea creatures alongside them, but opted to stay and set up camp.
She walked over to Claire, who sat in the shade of a tree, scrolling on her phone.
“Give me a hand with this tent, would you?”
“Yeah, okay,” Claire sighed.
“There’s good snorkeling here,” Anne said. “That area down at the end is more sheltered. It probably has a lot of fish.”
“Do you want to come with me?”
“Sure.” Anne grinned at the unexpected invitation.
“We should go before the sun gets too high.”
“Yeah, okay. Help me move the cooler into the shade. We can set up the tent in a bit.”
Anne donned her long-sleeved swim shirt and followed her daughter down the beach, snorkeling gear dangling from their hands.
At the end of the beach was a small bay, sheltered from the waves, and that was where they waded into the water in search of fish. The ocean was cold, even in summer, and Anne relished the feeling of the cool water climbing up her body after walking in the hot sun.
They tightened their fins, donned their masks, and set off. Anne kicked along at a leisurely pace, letting her daughter lead the way.
There weren’t a tremendous number of fish hanging out in the tiny bay, but there were enough to thrill a mainlander.
Claire followed a bright yellow butterfly fish for a minute, then veered off towards an odd-looking fish with a clear tail and dramatic, irregular stripes.
When it disappeared, Anne tapped her daughter’s arm and then surfaced, pulling the snorkel out of her mouth.
“Do you know what that was?” she asked.
Claire shook her head.
“Humuhumunukunukuāpua’a.”
“Humuna what now?!”
“Reef triggerfish. It’s the state fish of Hawaii!”
“Say its name again.”
Anne repeated the fish’s Hawaiian name, slowly, and Claire copied her.
“That’s right!”
Claire giggled and went back to snorkeling.
They swam a while longer before heading back for shade and a snack.
The rest of the family was there now too – everyone but Akemi, who was off in Albania.
The scheduled posts on her blog were all about their adventures in Hawaii, but she’d filled the family group chat with pictures of quaint mountain villages and old stone castles.
“Mom!” Pete shouted when he saw her. “This is way better than a resort!”
Claire laughed. “Seriously?”
“I just saw an octopus, Claire. A real. Live. Octopus! Living free and in the wild!”
“Okay, you win.” She tousled her brother’s sandy hair. “I guess that’s better than chlorine and concrete.”
“Will you go snorkeling with me?”
“Not at noon.” She glanced unhappily at the glaring blue sky. “Maybe later.”
“I’ll go,” Zoe offered.
“Yes!” Pete threw both hands up in the air. “Let’s go! Mom, will you take care of Rikki?”
“Sure.” Anne held her hands out and accepted her son’s pet. The pup was getting stronger every day, well out of danger by this point and eating solid food. They would have to discuss long-term plans for the creature… some other day.
She settled into the shade and put off the tent setup a while longer. The mongoose pup stretched his long little body and then curled up again, content to sleep the day away in her lap.
“I thought you said those things are diurnal,” Claire said to Pete.
“He’s a baby, Claire! Babies need naps!”
She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Say hi to the fish for me.”
“I will!” He grabbed his gear and ran off down the beach with Zoe close behind him.
By the time they came back from snorkeling, Claire had figured out the tent setup all by herself. Dawn was building sandcastles with her youngest three granddaughters, and Oakley had made lunch for the whole crew.
“It’s so good having everyone together,” Dawn said when she walked up to camp for a sandwich. “I just wish Akemi was here. I loved having all of my girls on the island.”
“She’ll be back soon,” Oakley said.
“Hey Grandma Dawn?” Pete asked, sitting next to her on the sand.
“Yeah?” She reached out and brushed some sand off of his cheek.
“You seem better.”
Dawn smiled, but her eyes were sad.
“Are you better?”
“I’m still sad, kiddo. I still miss your grandpa. I always will. But yes, I’m better than I was.”
“You’ll always be sad?” Pete asked, blue eyes wide.
“Probably. But I can make room for joy, too.”
“Like when we were building sandcastles?”
“Just like that.” She scooted closer and put an arm around him.
They built a fire that night, and the kids got to roast their marshmallows. Oakley grumbled about sugar before bedtime, but she was overruled by Dawn and Halia, who told her to let the kids have their fun.
The kids made one last trip down to the tide pools to wash the goo from their hands, and then they put all of the younger cousins in one tent to whisper and giggle until they eventually fell asleep.
Zoe was more relaxed than Anne had ever seen her, at least as an adult. She joked with Claire, spoke to her mother without rancor, and even let the baby mongoose fall asleep in her lap.
“I can’t believe you made friends with that thing,” Claire told her.
Zoe winked and said, “It’s not his fault he was born in Hawaii.”
Halia drove Dawn home after sunset, but the remaining sisters sat around the fire late into the night.
Anne felt a sense of perfect contentment and peace – and she was surprised to realize that, for the first time in decades, that feeling of happiness and ease had become more common for her than the constant stress she had lived with for years.
Finally, long after the kids had fallen asleep, they buried the remnants of the fire.
Anne crawled into the tent between her sisters and fell asleep to the sound of the sea.