Chapter 9 #2
He'd noticed that she really had a way with people, but in that moment, she was enchanting the little girl.
Faust raised an eyebrow, seemingly at the situation. He looked down at his watch and then at Harmony. "You think it would be easier if you had Duke with you on the way to the hospital?"
Harmony grinned from ear to ear. "Could we?"
Vega's shoulders shook with laughter as he put his hand on Harmony's shoulder. "I'll go up front and drive."
She nodded but kept her gaze on Faust. "Can you spare him?"
Faust turned around Kaleo followed his gaze.
The Rescue Crew were still removing the victims of the crash from their cars.
With a soft exhale, Faust's shoulders sagged a little and Kaleo wondered if he was thinking about his friend Seth.
No, Seth hadn't died in a car crash, but the loss of life was the same.
A tragedy.
Pure human tragedy.
"Yeah," Faust looked up and Kaleo saw a kind of shadow lingering in the other man's eyes. "Yeah, you can go with Harmony and Vega to the E.R. We'll make do until you get her squared away."
Kaleo ached for his lieutenant.
He was really suffering with the loss of his friend.
"Thanks, lieutenant."
Faust waved his hand in a vague gesture. "Just take care of her, okay?"
"Sure, boss. Will do."
Faust walked away and Kaleo heard Harmony sigh softly.
When he looked up at the EMT he saw a similar ache in her gaze.
"You knew his friend well?"
Harmony nodded, but her smile rallied on her face. "We all did, but Faust was the one closest to Seth. He still feels... responsible, even though he had no way to prevent it from happening." She took a step back. "Do you think you can climb in with her in your arms."
"Not a problem." He got up with a soft 'whoop' of sound and the little girl giggled near his ear, her hands gripping his T-shirt. "Let's go up!" He climbed in and sat down on the gurney where he could lean back and get a better hold on the little girl.
Harmony climbed up in after him and closed the doors at the back of the ambulance.
Once she got to her seat she leaned toward the front of the ambulance and nodded at Vega. "We're ready."
"Okay, boss," Vega called back and the ambulance started to roll further.
Harmony set her clipboard down into a holder attached to the interior wall of the ambulance.
Kaleo felt the little girl lay her head down on his shoulder and when she exhaled, she seemed to sag against him, relaxing.
"I think I've heard the word limpet before."
Harmony looked up at him, smiling. "Yeah? I tend to use words that some people call 'old' or 'antiquated.'"
"No one uses the word antiquated, except for you, Harm."
Kaleo heard Vega reply from the front seat of the ambulance.
Harmony grumbled under her breath. "Just you wait until we're alone, Vega."
Kaleo didn't worry about the ambulance driver. He'd seen the good relationship that the two had with each other. They were more like siblings than just partners. They teased and joked, but when it came down to it, they were excellent partners and EMTs.
Harmony turned back to look at him and Kaleo relaxed a little more. "Where did you hear it?"
The ambulance bumped a little, and Kaleo wrapped his arms around the little curl soothing her when she startled from the sudden rocking.
"In Hawaii we have two that I can think of.
" He tipped his head back and looked at the ceiling above his head in the ambulance.
"Both of them hug the rocks near the ocean's edge.
They're part of our favorite local foods.
'Opihi is the first kind. And the other sounds a little silly, but they're just as tasty. "
"Sounds silly?"
Kaleo looked down at the little girl in his arms. She was looking at his face with wide-eyed curiosity.
He grinned at her. "They're called pipipi."
The little girl giggled softly and leaned back against his chest, her hands relaxing on his T-shirt as she let out a little sigh.
Harmony nodded her head. "Pipipi?"
Kaleo smiled in reaction. "They're little round shelled snails. Some people eat them raw." He grimaced a little. "I've only been able to eat them cooked. But the 'opihi? Those are really delicious any way I can get them. But my favorite is in a poke."
"Poh-kee?" Harmony sounded out the word, her light tones making it sound almost Southern.
"Yeah. Most poke is raw. 'Opihi in poke have to be put into boiling water for a quick moment to get it to separate from the shell."
"I'm not sure I'd be eating that."
Kaleo laughed softly at her words and the movement jostled the little girl until she turned her head, putting her cheek against this chest. "I would think so, too, but when I first ate it, I was a kid, just like this little girl here.
" He rocked her back and forth as he spoke and she laughed in reaction.
"Back then it was just tasty. I had no idea where it came from or what it looked like before it was in mouth.
I guess that's a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you see it. "
He felt the little girl pat his chest and he realized that she was soothing herself more than anything, but it soothed his homesick feelings, too.
"People buy it for baby luaus, or weddings, but my mom got a pound of it from Ruger Market before I left the islands to come here. It's crazy expensive now, not like it was when I was a little kid, so I ate it slowly, enjoying every bite."
"Okay, now I'm getting hungry."
Kaleo turned his head slightly, but he knew he couldn't see Vega. He could only hear him.
"Me, too." He sighed softly.
"We're coming up on the ER entrance. I'm going to pull off to the side just in case they need better access for anyone coming up after us."
Vega really was a good driver. Kaleo barely felt it when they stopped.
"I'll come around and open the doors, Harm."
Harmony gave Kaleo a soft smile. "I'm not worried about her condition," she let him know. "She's calmed down a lot and if she was in pain, we'd see or hear signs of it by now."
Kaleo nodded, agreeing with her. "That's good to know."
"But, as always, I'm going to wait for the final word from the doctors inside."
The doors at the back of the ambulance opened up and Harmony moved past him to get down out of the way.
It took him a moment to shift around and put his feet on the floor of the ambulance.
He'd never spent much time with children other than his sister and his younger cousins, but he realized that he was woefully out of practice carrying a child.
Well, if he'd ever been 'in' practice he didn't know.
By the time he stepped down to the ground with the little girl safely in his arms, he looked up to see someone looking back at him.
"Lexie."