For a while it had seemed the weeks were going to last forever, but to Lily’s amazement, time had moved on. Having gained definite confirmation from her brother, she had already written to her father about staying two extra weeks. Her return date was now December 15.
But that was not what was on Lily’s mind today. Today her thoughts were wholly centered on her brother. He was flying in that afternoon. Lily could hardly stand the wait. She was working on her packing but kept growing distracted as she worked.
“I need to talk to you, Lily Walsh.” Bailey’s disgruntled voice could be heard in the hall just before the woman herself appeared in Lily’s doorway.
“Okay,” Lily said with a laugh, knowing that her friend wasn’t actually angry. Lily turned to Bailey but continued folding the blouse she was working on.
“Now you listen to me, Lily Walsh! You can move back to Jeff’s, but before he goes to work in the mornings, he needs to bring you here.”
“He’s not going to work for about three weeks.”
Bailey’s hands came to her expanding waist.
“Then he can just move out here and stay with us!”
“I’ve become very bold, Bailey, but I’m not sure I can order my brother to move out here.”
Bailey perked up with a new idea.
“Evan can order him.”
Lily laughed and asked, “But who’s going to convince Evan?”
Bailey’s look was a tad smug and a little bit provocative.
“Leave that to me.”
Leaving the younger woman shaking her head with amusement, Bailey went in search of her mate. Time had moved on for Bailey and the family as well. Their two months off were gone, and they had guests in all the cottages. Nevertheless, this was a Saturday, and Bailey knew her husband might still be in the vicinity. She was pleased to come down the stairs and find him making a phone call at her desk. She waited until he had hung up and then put her arms around his neck from the back.
“I’m here,” she said into his ear, “to work my female wiles on you.”
Evan held his laughter before saying, “I can hardly wait. What is it that you want?”
Bailey sat in his lap.
“Evan, Jeff comes home today.”
“Right.”
“We can’t let him take Lily away from us.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Order him to move out here until he goes back to work.”
Bailey tried not to smile when Evan hooted with laughter, but it didn’t work. Unfortunately for Bailey’s plan, the children heard their father’s mirth, and a moment later Bailey and Evan weren’t alone.
“Will you at least talk to him?” Bailey asked before both children tried to climb into her lap.
“Because you want Lily around even though Jeff is home?”
“Don’t you?”
“Yes, but she’s waited two months to be with him. I think we’d better let them handle it.”
Bailey sighed.
“And don’t forget, Bales, there’s someone else’s heart involved here too. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing plenty of Lily.”
“So what you’re saying is that I need to convince Gabe?”
Evan’s brows rose. “That’s a thought. He probably won’t need much persuading at all.”
Looking like a woman on a mission, Bailey asked the children if they wanted to take a walk and visit their Uncle Gabe.
“My sister accosted me in my office this morning,” Gabe said to Lily on the way to the airport.
“What did she do?”
“Well, she started out in a friendly enough fashion but ended up threatening to make my life miserable if I let Jeff take you away.”
“What did you tell her?”
“That I would see what I could do, but even she had to agree that Jeff might wish to have some time with you.”
“So we’re taking our cue from Jeff?” Lily asked.
Gabe glanced at her as he realized what she’d just said.
“Lily, would you rather stay at the resort than move back to Jeff’s?”
“Certainly. Did you think otherwise?”
“I don’t know what I thought. Will you tell Jeff?”
“No.”
Gabe looked at her again. “Because you don’t want to hurt him.”
“Correct. Not even wanting to be with you would make me risk hurting Jeff.”
Gabe took her hand.
“We’ll take our cue from Jeff,” Gabe agreed, not sounding upset or resigned, just matter-of-fact.
Lily agreed with a nod, but she wasn’t entirely certain how she felt at the moment.
Lily put a hand to her chest as the first passengers came through the door. He was almost here. Jeff was almost back! Lily knew she was going to cry and didn’t even care. Gabe was behind her, able to see over her head. So many people came through the door that Lily wondered if her brother had missed his plane. She was turning to ask Gabe about it when Jeff appeared.
Spotting them almost immediately, Jeff came their way with a huge smile on his face. He wrapped his arms around his sister, who was already getting teary.
“Oh, Lily,” he said when he stepped back to look into her face, his mouth open in surprise. This was not the sister he had left. She was tanned, with a healthy bloom about her that had not been present when he’d left two months earlier. And her eyes! They were sparkling.
Jeff couldn’t find any words, so he hugged Gabe and then stood looking at the two of them.
“How was your trip?” Gabe asked, giving Lily a moment to compose herself.
“Good. Everything was on time.”
“And do you have to go back anytime soon?”
“Not for three months, and only then if I’m needed.”
The threesome started walking toward the baggage claim area, but Jeff kept turning to look at Gabe and his sister. And his sister looked back!
“Well, it’s a good thing you didn’t try to keep your feelings a secret.” Jeff finally said, finding the words he’d been looking for. “I would have known in an instant.”
“Known what?” Lily teased, and Jeff had all he could do not to shake his head. The change in her was remarkable. And he learned a moment later that it wasn’t just her appearance. As he watched she took a piece of gum from her pocket, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth.
“My sister is chewing a piece of gum,” Jeff commented to Gabe.
“It gets worse,” Gabe informed him. “She’s completely addicted.”
They had arrived at the baggage area, so Jeff was able to stop and face his sister. She blew a quick bubble.
“You’re addicted to gum?”
“I think I am,” she said brightly. “Want some?”
All Jeff could do was laugh.
A loud buzzer sounded, and Lily stood back while the men went forward to gather Jeff’s gear. Lily’s heart filled with dozens of emotions as she watched the two men she loved. She couldn’t stop smiling as they trooped out to Gabe’s car. Gabe opened the trunk and shifted Lily’s bag out of the way.
“Lily, why is your bag in here?” her brother asked, loading his gear.
Lily frowned in confusion. “I thought I was coming back to the apartment with you.”
“Well, I plan to sleep in my own bed tonight, but I figured we would live at the resort until I went back to work.”
“Are you certain?”
Jeff’s brows rose. “Lily, if I had a choice between having Annika with me or five miles away from me, she would be with me.”
“Bailey will be so pleased” was all Lily said before she climbed into the rear seat of the car so her brother could have the front, suddenly very glad they had taken their cue from Jeff.
“Now, as a lot of you know,” Pastor Stringer said Sunday night as the evening service began, “Jeff Walsh was called away just as his sister arrived from Kashien. But now Jeff’s back, and we’ve gotten to know Lily in his absence. For the next five weeks they’ve agreed to tell us a little about growing up in Kashien. We’re going to start tonight and have just a ten-minute segment with them each week.
“Okay, Jeff and Lily, come on up and get us started.”
Jeff came out of the pew, Lily behind him. She had deliberately dressed in Kashienese garb, bamboo hat and all, and she walked ten paces behind Jeff, head down. Jeff went directly to the podium, but Lily stayed behind and to the side of him.
“What you just watched,” Jeff began, “is the way a Kashienese woman lives her life. To show obeisance and respect to the male head of her household, be it her father, husband, or brother, she walks behind him with her head down. And her eyes must be lowered. She must not look a man in the eye unless she is commanded to do so.”
With that, Lily removed the hat and came to the microphone with her brother.
“You may have noticed that even now Lily sometimes drops her eyes in the presence of the men here at church. It was something she was taught from early childhood. What Pastor has asked us to do now is have a short conversation in Kashienese. Lily is going to be better at this than I am since I’ve been away so long, and she’s always had a better ear for languages.
“What we’re going to act out for you is the buying of her hat. Watch the way Lily compliments me with just her stance and attitude, even as she tries to diplomatically dicker me down on the price.”
Pastor Stringer came forward with a separate microphone. Jeff had given him the gist of the conversation, and in between Lily and Jeff’s conversation, he “translated.”
Lily came forward, head bowed. She spoke and indicated the hat. Jeff handed it to her and stated a price. Lily said very little, but by her hand movements and the way she handled the hat, she told Jeff she thought it was very nice. She spoke about the top of her head not being covered and said how the sun beat down on her. She drew out a tiny coin purse, opened it, and looked inside.
Everyone laughed when Jeff looked affronted and waved at her to put the coin purse away. Lily’s manner of apology was fascinating. She bowed and groveled, and in a few moments Jeff forgave her and sold her the hat. Everyone clapped when Jeff turned back to the congregation.
“Had we been in Kashien, it would have taken a lot more groveling on Lily’s part to get me to notice her again. As Pastor pointed out, her offering price was insulting for what was obviously a fine work, and I was angry. I would have gone without a sale before I would have given in too soon.”
“Can we take some questions, Jeff?” Pastor Stringer cut in.
“Certainly. Aleka,” Jeff called on the woman whose hand came up first.
“Is there no compassion, Jeff? Would there be some caring that she didn’t have a hat and had to work in the hot sun?”
“Not for a woman. As the seller, I might feel some compassion if I hoped to marry her someday, but even if that were the case, I would have to be careful not to show too much of that in public and lose face.”
“Is the hat actually from Kashien?” was the next question from a girl in the back pew.
Jeff looked to Lily.
“Yes, I brought it with me,” Lily explained.
“She did more than that,” Jeff interjected. “She made it herself. The weave is so tight you could carry water in it.”
As people throughout the room murmured with appreciation and more questions were asked, Ashton leaned toward his brother.
“If that smile gets any bigger, Gabe, it’s going to split your face.”
Gabe didn’t even try to hide it. His chest was out a mile as he watched Lily up front. Her smile was on the shy side even as she worked not to drop her eyes before all the men of the church. Her gaze swung over in his direction repeatedly, and Gabe asked God to help her relax and do a good job.
A few minutes later she was back in the pew next to him.
“You did great,” he told her softly.
Lily gave him a look, said a single word in Kashienese, and shook her head a little. Gabe waited only until the service ended to ask her about it.
“Didn’t you think you did well? And what was that word?”
“That word was ‘terrified.’ Couldn’t you see me shaking?”
“No, you did great.”
“I’m glad to hear you couldn’t tell, but it’s a bit daunting to know that I have to go up there four more weeks.”
“You’re going to do fine. You already know most of these folks, so you’re getting more relaxed,” he reasoned. “You love the work you do with the translating, so when it’s time to talk about that, you just share with us like you did that day with Carson.”
Lily glanced toward the podium.
“It’s scarier up there than it would first seem.”
“Yes, but could you tell that everyone enjoyed it?”
“I could, Gabe. Thank you.”
It was on Gabe’s mind to say something more, but people were headed their way. They greeted Jeff if they had missed him that morning, and then had more questions for Jeff and Lily. The family was late getting home, but since Jeff was staying with them, it felt like a continuation of their time off. They talked and laughed until much too late, but all agreed that it was worth it.
“So, do the two of you have a plan?” Jeff asked Gabe when he’d been home about ten days.
The two were alone in Gabe’s office. Jeff had gone over to ask him an entirely different question and then saw a snapshot of Gabe and Lily on Gabe’s desk.
“It’s interesting that you should ask that, Jeff. You know how I love maps and charts and such, so just last night I was looking at the calendar and putting some of this down on paper. I met Lily when you brought her to us on September 5. On October 7—just a month later when we were in Hilo—we talked about our feelings. You came home November 6, which meant we’d had a month to get to know each other under closer circumstances. And now, Lily leaves for Kashien four weeks from yesterday.
“I love her, Jeff,” Gabe said simply. “Has it happened very fast? Yes, but that’s not my problem. My problem is having no idea how to approach your father.”
Gabe stopped talking for a moment, but he added something before Jeff could speak.
“I also want you to know that I’ve done nothing more than hold Lily’s hand.”
“I appreciate your telling me, Gabe. I recently found out how hard it can be. But tell me something. What does Lily want you to do about our father?”
“She thinks it would be best if she talked to him first and asks him to write to me. She’s hoping he’ll be willing to dialogue through the mail.”
Jeff looked thoughtful, trying to gauge if Lily was on the right track. It was so hard to know.
“Maybe I’ll talk with her,” Jeff said, his mind still working on it.
“Or the three of us could talk.”
“Yes,” Jeff said immediately; that was the idea he was looking for. “Let’s do that tonight.”
“Okay. We’ll let Lily know as soon as she gets back from the store.”
“I’d better go and let you get to work.”
“Before you leave—” Gabe stopped him—“tell me how things are going with Annika.”
Jeff smiled. “I got a letter yesterday.”
“And she’s doing well?”
“Yeah. We miss each other. For the first time I think I know how Ash feels.”
“And how I’m going to feel in a few weeks.”
“Well, there’s one consolation,” Jeff said, this time on his way out. “We’ll all know how to pray for one another.”
“Look at this one,” Lily said to the children, Celia in her arms and Peter standing beside her. Bailey was on her own with the shopping cart. Lily and the children were shopping with the little handheld basket.
“It’s red, and this one is yellow,” Peter told her.
“And you say they have tiny M & M’s inside, Pete?”
“Yeah! They’re real good.”
“I think we’d better add some to our basket.”
Peter and even Celia lit up over this.
“Eat an now,” Celia said.
“No,” Lily said with a shake of her head; she had become quite good at translating. “We’ll eat them later, maybe after lunch. Would you like to walk for a while?”
Celia’s little head bobbed. Lily gladly put her down; her arms and shoulders had started to ache.
The threesome shopped on. The whole point was for Lily to entertain the children so Bailey could make better use of her time, but in truth Lily was the one being entertained.
The bathroom was in the produce section, and when Peter needed that, Lily stayed close by but looked her fill of luscious fruits and vegetables. Not until Celia said she missed her mother did they go and report back.
“How is it going?” Bailey asked.
“Someone needed to see her mother.”
Bailey took Celia in her arms. “Did you want to shop with me for a while?”
Celia nodded, her face a bit sleepy, and Lily made room in the seat area of the cart for the little girl to ride. Bailey had just moved on her way when Peter quietly spoke Lily’s name.
“Yes, Peter?”
“Lily, can we look at the baby things?”
“We certainly can. Do you know where they are?”
“No.”
“Well, we’ll find them.”
Not many minutes later Peter stood in front of the stacks of diapers, his little face serious.
“Were you hoping to get something here, Pete?”
“No, I’m just looking for blue diapers.”
“Why is that?”
“Well, if Mama has a boy, I think he should have blue diapers.”
Lily had no idea that he’d thought that much about this. Her heart was very touched by his admission.
“And why is it important that a boy wear blue diapers?”
“So people won’t think he’s a girl.”
“Will you be all right if your mom has a girl?”
“Um-hm,” he said, his face completely open. “I think they have lots of pink diapers.”
Lily looked at him, her heart filling with love.
“Have I told you, Peter, that you’re one of my favorite people to shop with?”
“I am?”
“Yes, you are.”
Obviously pleased, the little boy only smiled at her, his eyes shy. Lily was ready to stand and study this aisle for as long as he wanted, but evidently he’d seen what he came to see. A moment later he suggested they look at the candy section again. Lily was only too happy to comply.
“I finally have things figured out, Jeff. The last time we spoke of this—you were still away—I didn’t know what to tell you when you offered to represent me to Father.”
“But you do now?”
“I think so. At least, I have a plan. I’m going to tell him how I feel. I know it won’t be easy, but somehow I think my having been away will have softened him. I might want you to write him someday, but not now.
“My goal is to go home and find a way to dialogue with my father. I don’t know how he’ll react, but I’m hoping he’ll respond to me openly, and through mutual respect we can move to a different level in our relationship, at least within the walls of our own home. And then in the same way I want to introduce the subject of Gabe and me.”
“Good,” Jeff congratulated her. He was more than willing to write to his father for Lily, but if she could implement changes on her own, that would be best.
“What will you do if he doesn’t respond the way you hope, Lily?” Gabe wanted to know.
“I guess I honestly believe he will, Gabe.”
Gabe smiled at her. From all he’d heard of this man, his heart was doubtful. But Lily certainly knew her father better than he did, and on top of that, she looked peaceful with her decision. And Gabe hoped she was right. His future with her rested on Owen Walsh’s response. God might choose to work in the man’s heart, and Gabe needed to make up his mind to believe and trust God, no matter what the outcome.
“Will you approach this as soon as you get home, Lily?” Jeff asked. “Or ease into it?”
“Right away. As soon as we’re home and alone.”
“We’ll be praying.”
“Thank you, but out of curiosity, what will you ask God to do?”
“I’ll ask Him to help Father to listen. You put your finger on it, Lily. If he gets upset or angry, you can’t talk to him. I’ll ask God to work in his heart, even before you arrive.”
This plan worked for Lily. She did not want to tell God what to do or beg Him in desperation to make her father listen. She did believe that she had some good things to say to her father. She never once wanted to show him disrespect, but she ached for change between them. Even if she could never come back and marry Gabe, the man she was now in love with, she wanted her relationship with her father to be different in the future.
“What if he never lets you come back?” Gabe voiced the question that had been in the back of his mind for weeks.
Jeff and Lily both looked at him, but Jeff answered the question.
“He is a hard man, Gabe, but not completely unreasonable. If Lily writes and tells me that it has all fallen apart, I’ll write to my father and introduce you so that you can write to him personally. He knows about you. I can’t think how he could possibly object to such a man marrying his daughter. But if he does object, we’ll do everything we can on this end to make it work.”
“Would it make it worse if I came to Kashien?”
“You mean right now, Gabe, or if he won’t listen?” This came from Lily.
“I would love to go with you right now, Lily, but I was thinking more along the lines of if and when it didn’t work.”
“I’ll have to think on that one, Gabe. I mean, it would be wonderful to have you, but if my father is that upset, I can’t think of how your presence would help.”
“I guess I thought it might help him to see that I’m serious and committed to us.”
The two looked at each other for a long moment. Jeff watched them.
It was one of the most wonderful things he’d ever experienced to have his sister and closest friend in love. And for just a moment, Jeff let himself forget that there might be a man in Kashien who could smash all their dreams to pieces.