Lelani
“You really don’t have to go with me,” Lelani told Gil as he snagged a parking spot and did a rather commendable job of parallel parking in a pretty tight space.
“Like I’ve already told you about ten times, I want to go with you.” He frowned now. “Unless you don’t want me there, in that case I can just wait in the—”
“No, I absolutely want you there, Gil.” She put her hand on his arm. “I need you there. It’s just that this is your vacation. You only have four days left.”
“And I would sit in a stuffy lawyer’s office for all four of those days as long as I was with you, Lelani. Don’t you get that?”
She smiled. “Thanks. Hopefully that won’t be necessary.”
He handed her the car keys.
“Why don’t you keep them,” she told him. “In case things get boring and you want to take—”
“I told you already.”
“Okay.” She took the car keys and dropped them into her purse while he put some coins in the parking meter.
“Are you nervous?” he asked as they walked toward the office building.
“Yes. But I’m also sort of relieved. It’s like I should’ve done this a long time ago.”
“No time like the present.”
“Right.” She took in a deep breath as he opened the door for her. She knew she could do this. She would do this. She glanced at Gil. “Thanks for coming.” He smiled. Lelani had considered asking Megan to come. She would’ve if Gil hadn’t volunteered, but she knew that Megan and Marcus planned to drive around the north side of the island today. And Lelani had really wanted them to do that. She was happy that Megan was so taken with Maui’s history. The way she’d told Lelani all about Princess Ka’ahumanu had been really sweet. And for Megan to compare Lelani to her was even sweeter.
“You’ll be like her today,” Megan had assured Lelani this morning. “Strong and wise and doing what’s best for your child.”
Lelani had thanked her, but as she waited for the receptionist to announce her arrival, she felt unsure. Maybe going to a lawyer would simply make things worse. In fact, maybe her mother had already gone to a lawyer. What if she’d accused Lelani of abandonment? It was entirely possible.
“Lelani.” Clara Chan met her at the door, taking both hands in hers and smiling warmly. “It’s been too long.”
Lelani smiled and introduced Clara to Gil. “He’s my moral support.”
Clara nodded in a somber way. “Yes, you’ll need it. Come into my office. Let’s talk.”
Lelani had already given Clara most of the facts over the phone. But something about the way Clara was looking at her made Lelani feel worried. “Is something wrong?” she asked as they sat down in the chairs across from Clara’s cluttered desk.
“Well, I did some checking, Lelani. And records show that your mother attained custody of Emma in August of last year.”
Lelani felt like someone had just jerked the floor out from under her. “What? No one told me. I never signed anything.”
Clara nodded. “No, you didn’t need to. Because you were out of state and your child was here, your mother had the legal right to file for custody.”
Lelani turned and looked at Gil. Tears were filling her eyes and she felt a huge lump wedging itself in her throat. She didn’t think she could even speak. Gil took her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“Excuse me if I’m butting in,” he began. Lelani just nodded. “But shouldn’t Lelani’s mother have consulted with Lelani about this?”
“Under normal circumstances, a custody arrangement would be discussed with all parties involved and agreed upon together. Or else it would be settled in court.”
“But neither of these things happened, right?”
Clara shook her head. “But, in Mrs. Porter’s defense, she had the right to file for custody. For instance, if Emma needed medical treatment, she would need to have the authority to get it for her.”
“But I did sign a paper to allow Emma to have medical treatment,” Lelani said. “And I didn’t relinquish my parental rights either. It was the same kind of form that’s used for child-care purposes.”
Clara made note of this. “So, you assumed that was sufficient before you left.”
Lelani nodded. “But I did leave.”
“Only because your parents forced you to leave,” Gil pointed out.
“That’s true.”
“That’s a valid point,” said Clara. “But it might not be terribly valuable in court.”
“Do you think this will go to court?” Gil asked.
Clara frowned. “I’d be surprised if it didn’t go to court. I, uh, I’m acquainted with Alana Porter. She’s not the kind of person to give in to anything without a good fight.”
Lelani nodded and looked down at her lap.
“We’ll give her a good fight,” said Gil.
“If you don’t mind, may I ask what your involvement with Lelani is?”
“I’m her friend.”
Lelani looked at him and smiled.
“And I’d like to be more than that.”
Clara nodded. “I see, but you’re not the baby’s father?”
“No, he’s not,” Lelani said quickly.
“And the baby’s father? What role does he play in this custody dilemma?”
“No role.”
“Because?”
“Because he didn’t want anything to do with her.” Lelani looked down. “He was already married.”
“Married men often have children outside of their marriages. That’s no excuse not to take responsibility.”
“I don’t want him involved with Emma. He doesn’t want to be involved. Is there anything wrong with that?”
“No, if it’s mutual consent. But you are aware that fathers have custody rights too?”
“I’m aware. But he made it clear he wanted nothing to do with Emma.”
“Don’t you think,” Gil injected, “that this is more about Lelani and her parents and Emma’s best interest?”
“I couldn’t agree more, but I just like to shake every tree first. That’s for Lelani’s and Emma’s sakes. We don’t want to get surprised on down the line.”
“So what do you think I should do?” asked Lelani.
“To start with, we’ll file a petition for custody. But then we’ll have to build your case.”
“Build my case?”
“The court is willing to change a custody arrangement when it’s proven to be in the best interest of the child. We must provide evidence to this. We must convince them that it’s in Emma’s best interest to be with you.”
“I thought that courts always showed preference to the mothers,” said Gil.
“Generally speaking. But grandparents are highly respected in Hawaii. And it’s not unusual for grandparents to raise their grandchildren.”
“Even if they steal them from their real parents?” Lelani clenched her fists, still fighting to hold back her tears.
“Where does your father stand in all this, Lelani?”
Lelani just shrugged. She was afraid to speak because she knew she was about to cry.
“He seems to be siding with his wife,” Gil told her.
“I’m not surprised,” Clara admitted. “However, I’ve known Will Porter for quite a long time. He’s always been an honest businessman with a sound sense of fairness.”
“Except when it comes to my mother,” muttered Lelani.
“Yes.”
“So what kind of evidence does Lelani need to gather so that she can prove that she should have custody of her own child?”
Lelani nodded eagerly, thankful that Gil was on top of things.
“The court looks primarily at three criteria. First being the safety and well-being of the child. Then the court considers the history of the guardians, if they have previously caused physical harm or reasonable fear of physical harm to another person.”
“Would that include emotional abuse?” asked Gil.
“Yes. Emotional abuse would be considered.”
“What’s the third criteria?” asked Lelani.
“If a parent has been absent or has relocated as a result of family violence, the relocation shall not be a factor against the parent in determining custody.”
“Bingo!” yelled Gil. “That’s it, isn’t it? Emotional abuse sent Lelani into a depression. It’s what forced her to leave.”
“It will be difficult to prove. Lelani already told me that although her mother is verbally abusive, she never physically harmed her. Emotional abuse is a slippery slope.”
“And it will be my word against hers,” pointed out Lelani.
“But you have witnesses.” Gil stood now. “Lelani has been living with three other women, including my sister. They’ve seen how Lelani has been traumatized by all this. She’s had nightmares and panic attacks and all sorts of things.”
Clara nodded and wrote something down. “Interesting.”
“Some of Lelani’s friends actually heard Mrs. Porter verbally attacking Lelani, just this week, right here in Maui. Even in front of Emma.” He turned eagerly to Lelani. “Right?”
“That’s true. Megan saw it.”
“A witness,” declared Gil.
Clara actually chuckled as she made note of this. “Gil, have you considered going into law?”
“Not really.”
“But he’s very intelligent.” Lelani reached up and took his hand. “I’m glad you’re on my side.”
He squeezed it and smiled. “Me too.”
“Well, Lelani, I suggest you get affidavits from your friends. Both in regard to your emotional state while living in the mainland, and things they witnessed in your parents’ home. Both will be valuable. In the meantime, I will file the petition and began to prepare for your case. By the way, you have the legal right to visitation with your daughter. I will get that started as soon as possible.”
“Does this mean I should remain here?” asked Lelani. “Not return to Oregon?”
“That would definitely be in your best interest.”
Lelani frowned. “I’ll need to find a job and a place to live.”
“Yes, you probably won’t want to live with your parents, under the circumstances.”
Then Lelani told Clara about how her mother postured to get rid of Lelani in the first place. “If I’d been stronger then,” said Lelani, “if I hadn’t been struggling with post-partum depression, I think I would’ve gotten a job and found a place to live. I never would’ve gone to Oregon.”
“Why Oregon?” asked Clara.
“My dad’s sister lives in Portland with her husband and three kids. I stayed with them at first. But their house was tiny and my aunt and uncle seemed to think I was the nanny and maid and, well, other things.” Lelani shook her head at the memory.
“Who decided that you should live with them?”
“My mother.” Lelani kind of laughed. “Of course.”
“Has your relationship with your mother always been strained, Lelani?”
Lelani considered this. “No, not always. As long as I agreed with her, as long as I lived my life the way she felt was best, as long as I was her adoring daughter, as long as I was perfect”—Lelani swallowed hard—“then things were okay.”
“That’s a hard act to keep up,” said Clara sadly.
“Tell me about it.”
Gil put his hand on Lelani’s shoulder. “I don’t know anyone as close to perfect as Lelani is. I would think any mother would be proud to have her as a daughter.”
“Unless that mother saw her daughter as her competition,” said Clara. “Do you think that’s a possibility, Lelani?”
Lelani thought about it for a minute. “Yes, I suppose so. Especially as I got older and tried to make my own decisions. Like when I wanted to go to medical school, my mother hated the idea, but my dad supported me. That got a little ugly.”
Clara nodded, then began summarizing their meeting, rattling off a list of the things that Lelani needed to do. Fortunately, it looked like Gil was listening carefully, because Lelani felt like her head was spinning.
“Okay, then.” Clara looked at the clock on her desk. “I think I have enough to go to work on here. I’d like to make some notes about your case, check on some things, before my next client arrives at two.”
So Lelani and Gil thanked her, and Clara told Lelani that she would be in touch.
Outside, Lelani couldn’t contain the emotions anymore. She put her hands over her face and began to cry. Then Gil took her in his arms and there on the busiest street of downtown Lahaina, Lelani sobbed. Wouldn’t her mother be ashamed to see her daughter now?
“I’m so sorry,” she told him when she finally pulled away, touching his dampened shirt—a Hawaiian one that he’d just gotten yesterday. “Look, I soaked your new shirt.”
He stroked her hair and smiled. “You’re welcome to soak my shirt anytime.”
Lelani was still trying to remember all that Clara had told her to do, gathering material for affidavits, dates, records, letters … and then she remembered that she’d have to stay in Maui until the custody was resolved.
“Oh, Gil, what am I going to do?” she asked when they reached the car.
“You’re going to do whatever Clara thinks will help you to win custody of Emma. I’m starving. Let’s go get some lunch and we’ll make a list while it’s still fresh in our minds.”
“But that means staying here in Maui.” She turned and looked at him.
He nodded as he dropped some more change in the meter. “If that’s what it takes, that’s just what you’ll do.”
“But … what about … us?”
He gave her his brightest smile. “Hey, you really do think there’s an us!”
“Well, isn’t there?”
“I like to tell myself that there is, but sometimes I worry that I’m delusional.”
“I will miss you so much if I stay here.”
He hugged her again. “It’s just temporary. Just until you get custody.”
“What if it takes a long time?”
“Then I’ll come and visit.” He grinned.
“What if I changed my mind about living on the mainland?” She studied him closely, “What if I found out that I couldn’t bear to leave Maui again?”
His brow creased. “Do you think that’s possible?”
“I don’t know. I’m just trying to be honest, Gil. Maui is my home. And being here now, despite the unfortunate circumstances, well, I still love it.”
“What’s not to love?”
“The fact that your family, your job, everything, is back in Oregon.”
“Everything but you.”
“You couldn’t leave all that.”
“I could for you, Lelani.”
She didn’t know what to say. This was too much. It was hard enough trying to figure things out regarding Emma. And now there was Gil to think of.
“Hey, we don’t need to resolve everything in one day.” He took her hand. “And there’s a restaurant around the corner that I’ve been wanting to try out.”
Gil changed the subject as they walked. He talked about the restaurant business and how the skills it took to run a restaurant could be applied to other businesses. “It’s not like I specifically wanted to handle the business end of my parents’ restaurants,” he confessed. “It’s more like I fell into it. Still I can’t complain. I’ve learned a lot.”
Lelani remembered the questions he’d asked Clara now. “You know, you probably really would make a good lawyer.”
He shrugged. “You never know.”
They were seated and Gil reached across the table to hold her hand again, looking at her with so much warmth in his eyes that Lelani thought she was melting.
“Lelani, Lelani,” he said quietly. “What does your name mean? I know that all Hawaiian names have meanings, right?”
“A lot of them do. But some are just our translations for English names. I had a boyfriend in high school whose name was Mikala, Hawaiian for Michael. In his senior year, he started going by Michael, but his parents didn’t like it.”
“So what does Lelani mean?”
“When you spell it the right way, it means flowers from heaven. Lei, spelled l-e-i, means flowers, like the lei necklaces. Lani means heaven.”
“But your name is missing an i.”
It was a story she used to have to tell often when she was in school, but this was the first time she’d explained it in a while. “My mother had a difficult birth with me, and she was sort of out of it when my dad filled in the information for my birth certificate. He knew I was to be called LeiLani, but…”
“He misspelled it.”
“Yes. Apparently my mother threw a fit, but my father put his foot down. He said that since I was half Hawaiian and half Porter, I deserved a name that was uniquely my own.” She smiled sadly. “That was probably one of the last times he stood up to her.”
“And you got stuck with a misspelled name.”
“I actually kind of liked it in school. It’s a fairly common girls’ name, and being an i short made me feel unique.”
“Well, the name still fits you. Lelani. You are like a flower sent from heaven.”
As Lelani considered the legal battle ahead of her, she felt more like a flower about to go through hell. Still, it would be worth it to get Emma back. As much as Lelani loved peace, she knew that she was willing to go to war for her daughter.
After they ordered lunch, Gil got out a notepad and began writing down things that Clara had suggested Lelani do. Somehow, seeing it neatly down on paper made Lelani think maybe she could do this thing.
“I should start looking for a job right away,” she said. “As well as a place to live. A cheap place. Some of the resorts have housing available for workers. Maybe I can find something like that to start with.”
“I wish you could go back and finish your medical degree,” said Gil. “I think you’d be a great doctor.”
“I wish I could go back too,” she admitted. “In fact, I’ve been daydreaming about going to Portland State. I did some online checking and thought I might even get enrolled for summer term.”
“Well, in due time. First things first, right?”
She nodded. “Right. What matters most to me now is proving to my parents and the court that I can support myself and my daughter. Even if I have to scrub floors and toilets at the Pukahanalakimana Hotel, I am willing to do it.”
Gil laughed. “They’d never hire me there, I can’t even say the name.”
“Most people just call it the Puka.”
But Lelani was serious. She would even work at the low-class, sleazy Puka Hotel if that was the best she could do. She just wished that she’d had the strength to do that last year. But then, she realized, she never would’ve met Gil.