Where or When: A Pearl Harbor Romance Page 7

  "Your coffee, Miss Eden.” Mali deposited a white ceramic cup and saucer in front of her. "Toast will come in a moment."

  Eden nodded her thanks. Mali's brown eyes were ringed by purple shadows and the lines on her forehead seemed etched more deeply. Nani was Mali's youngest child, a funny and friendly eleven year old with a smile like a sunbeam. She wanted to ask Mali about the girl but couldn't bring herself to do so in front of Lilly. Later, once her sister-in-law was gone, she would make a point to inquire.

  Lilly was one of those women who seemed to instinctively know what to do and what to say in almost any situation. Eden couldn't remember ever seeing Lilly flustered or uncomfortable, no matter what was going on. Her brother's wife seemed to have been blessed with an almost unflappable calm that Eden frankly envied. Try as she might, her emotions were always one step away from getting the better of her. Not so Lilly. Lilly was charming and polite and so generous with her time and attention that after awhile most people even forgot she was Japanese.

  Even Eden had to admit it was easier to dislike Lilly from a distance.

  "Has Daddy left for work yet?" she asked as Mali handed her a plate of toast.

  "Hours ago," said Lilly. "He has a meeting to attend this morning and he wanted to get in a game of golf before going to the office."

  "Did Tony go with him?”

  "Of course. Have you ever known your brother to pass up the chance to golf with his father?"

  "I suppose Tony will be back here in awhile."

  "I doubt it," said Lilly, taking a sip of pineapple juice. "He has a meeting at Pearl."

  There was little Eden could say to that so she concentrated on her coffee and toast. She couldn't imagine what business Tony could possibly have at Pearl. Maybe he was having lunch with their father or catching up on old times with some of the guys he'd known before he got married. She wished Tony had thought to ask her to go to lunch with him. It had been ages since she'd spent any time alone with her big brother and there were so many things she wanted to ask him. Was he happy? How did it feel to be married? Did he want a boy or a girl and did he ever wonder how it was going to feel, having a baby who was part Japanese. She had a hundred questions for him and they never seemed to have any time together any more.

  Another wonderful thing Lilly had done for the family.

  "Orange juice?" asked Lilly, reaching for a white ceramic pitcher in the center of the table.

  Eden shook her head. "No, thank you.” She looked down at her gold wristwatch, a gift from her father two years ago upon her graduation from high school. Half past ten. Only thirty minutes until Rick Byrne arrived and she could escape.

  Chapter Nine

  Eden slumped down in the back seat of the Oldsmobile and glared at the two laughing people sitting up front. Wasn't that just like a man to be so solicitous of a woman just because she was pregnant? Lilly didn't have a broken leg. Her belly was huge but that hadn't stopped her from walking or driving or seeing her patients. Eden was the one who needed crutches, not her sister-in-law.

  Not that Rick Byrne seemed to care. He'd scarcely given her a second look when he pulled up in front of the house a half-hour ago. Polite. Distant. Blandly pleasant when she knew his normal personality was anything but. It was hard to believe this was the same man who had forced her from the Oldsmobile last night to watch the flames from the cane fields as they danced toward the midnight sky.

  Well, two can play this game, she'd thought, rebuffing his arm as she made her way to the car. She hadn't lost six other drivers for nothing. Eden was no fool and she had deduced that Rick Byrne wanted to please her father. Retaining his position as her driver was every bit as important to him as it was to her, albeit for different reasons.

  She'd barely suppressed a triumphant smile as he opened the door for her. Hattie's Haute Couture dress shop east of Diamond Head. Lunch at the Windward Club. A lazy afternoon at the beach on Waikiki. And after supper, a long drive to Waianae to stop in at a party she'd heard about. Before this day was over she'd make him wish he'd never obtained a driver's license....

  "Eden!” Lilly's bell-like voice had wafted across the front lawn. "I'm so glad you haven't left. May I spend the day with you?"

  "I should have said no," Eden muttered now, alone in the back seat. All of her wonderful plans for the day now seemed like a form of penance when she thought of sharing them with her sister-in-law.

  Rick met her eyes through the rear-view mirror. "Did you say something?" he asked, a definite twinkle in his eyes.

  "Not a thing," said Eden coolly. As if she'd give him the satisfaction of knowing just how terrible a time she was having. Lilly swiveled around in her seat to look back at Eden. "I feel terrible sitting up here in front like the Queen of the May. I'm certain you'd be more comfortable up front, wouldn't you, Eden?"

  Darn right I would be, she thought. Funny how she'd liked the back seat just fine until last night. Now it seemed cramped and claustrophobic. "The back seat is wonderful," she managed through clenched teeth.

  "You're spoiling me," said Lilly. "I'm pregnant, not incapacitated."

  Eden's face flamed. Her thoughts exactly, but Lilly didn’t have to be so blunt. Granted Lilly was a doctor and accustomed to using all manner of technical terms, but “pregnant” was such an ugly word. What was wrong with "expecting" or "with child"? She was pleased to see that Mr. Big Shot Byrne was also red in the face.

  Lilly, however, was blithely oblivious to their embarrassment, and chattered on about third trimester difficulties. Eden wanted to ask what on earth a "trimester" was but, knowing Lilly, the explanation would be even more humiliating than the question. She turned her attention to the scenery outside the window.

  The road curved around the ewa side of the island, offering a spectacular view of Diamond Head. Legend had it that in the early nineteenth century, sailors believed they'd found diamonds in the volcanic crater where King Kamehameha I had worshipped his gods by offering up human sacrifices. Unfortunately the sailors' diamonds had turned out to be worthless calcite crystals but the name Diamond Head endured. Hawaii was filled with stories that were a mixture of the fantastic and the frightening that somehow matched the wild splendor of the land. She'd never before seen a place so utterly beautiful. When Eden had her first view of the islands from the deck of the S. S. Lurline she'd been stunned by the splendor of the place.

  As Rick followed the curving road toward the club, she again experienced that sensation of awe. The road looked as if it had been carved by an enormous cleaver, slicing away part of the earth, exposing its beautiful beating heart. Great slashes of burnt sienna, golden ocher, throbbing violets and deeper reds like ribbons of paint applied by a master.

  "So where's this dress shop?" Rick asked, once again meeting Eden's eyes in the mirror. "We're running out of road."

  "Turn left at the vegetable stand then follow the highway through town."

  "This must be quite a special shop," Lilly remarked, "to bring you all this way."

  "I wouldn't know," said Eden blithely. "I've never been here before."

  Lilly started to laugh. "Oh, to be young," she said. "I can't remember the last time I went to a new dress store just for the fun of it."

  "Must be tough being a doctor," said Rick, blissfully unaware of Eden's ire. "Guess you don't have a lot of time for things like that."

  Eden groaned. Leave it to Byrne to say something noble. Lilly launched into an impassioned discussion about all of her young patients and Eden could see Rick falling more deeply under her sister-in-law's spell with each word the woman uttered. Even Eden had to admit there was something compelling about Lilly's enthusiasm and dedication. Not to mention the fact that she'd never looked more beautiful.

  Rick would probably be in love with Lilly before the day was over.

  Well, let him, Eden thought as he pulled up in front of Hattie's Haute Couture and turned off the engine. She certainly didn't care. In two more weeks she'd be out of the cast and back in the driver's
seat and Rick Byrne would be out of her life for good.

  It couldn't happen soon enough for her.

  He got out of the car then crossed around to the passenger's side and opened the front door. Extending a hand, he helped Lilly out, being solicitous and quite charming as he guided her around a divot in the grass. Lilly beamed her thanks then hurried up the walk to gaze in the front window of the store.

  Rick turned back to Eden. "Toss me the crutches," he said, "then I'll give you a hand."

  She suppressed the urge to tell him exactly what he could do with her crutches. She pushed them across the seat toward the door.

  Rick grabbed the crutches, then leaned them up against a palm tree. "Okay," he said, extending his hand. "Everybody out."

  With difficulty she swung her legs out then reached for his hand.

  "Alley oop.” He grinned as she clumsily climbed from the car. "Good going."

  "Aren't you just a regular Sir Walter Raleigh today," she snapped, aware of the way her skirt had inched up over her thighs and he hadn't even noticed.

  "Nose out of joint, princess?” Some of his jaunty swagger of the night before was back.

  "You must be joking.” She tossed her hair back from her face. "My crutches."

  "Say please."

  "I'd like my crutches."

  He handed them to her, holding her elbow until she had the crutches in position under her arms.

  "Even the hired help likes to hear thank you now and then."

  She knew she was acting small and mean-spirited. Rick deserved better than this. It wasn't his fault that her sister-in-law made her feel like a backward child and it certainly wasn't fair to take that fact out on him. The words "I'm sorry" caught in her throat. She wanted to say them--she really did--but she couldn't quite give voice to her feelings.

  "Thank you," was the best she could do.

  #

  What Rick wanted to do was to jump in the Oldsmobile and get as far away from Hattie's Haute Couture as humanly possible but, as angry as he was, not even he could rationalize ditching a woman who was pregnant and another one with a broken leg. Not that he didn't spend a few fiery minutes daydreaming about the look on Eden Forrester's face when she hobbled outside and found her car and driver missing.

  He'd come to pick her up this morning absolutely certain that she'd never again get under his skin, yet here he was debating the wisdom of leaving her stranded and heading back to Pearl Harbor. That's not the way to get ahead, pal, his inner voice warned. Stay the course. The only path to success was the straight and narrow. If that meant putting up with her moods, then he'd have to put up with her moods.

  He dragged a hand through his bristly hair and leaned against the fender of the Olds. Hell, it wasn't his fault she didn't like her sister-in-law. Lilly seemed okay to him but then he wasn't the one with a Jap in the family. He was kind of surprised he'd never heard Owen Forrester talk about his son's wife. It wasn't everybody whose son married a beautiful doctor, even if she was Japanese.

  One thing was certain, however: Lilly Forrester was a stunning woman, one who'd turn heads anywhere on the mainland. He grinned as he thought of Eden. So that was it. Daddy's little girl was jealous of her sister-in-law. Eden was probably used to being the belle of the ball wherever she went and now, there she was, faced with formidable competition right in the bosom of her family. From a foreigner, no less.

  Somehow he liked the idea of Eden being jealous. It knocked her down to more human proportions. Last night she'd seemed appealingly vulnerable and he'd been hard put to keep his hands off her. This morning she was prickly as one of the cactus plants he'd seen during a train stopover in Arizona. Any one unlucky enough to get close to her was bound to be hurt. She acted more like a princess than little Elizabeth or Margaret over in England.

  He had every reason to hate her guts and yet there was something about her...something that went beyond her coppery mane of hair and sweet little body. They were nothing alike, not in background or temperament or ambitions, yet he felt as if he knew her the way he knew himself.

  "Knock it off, Byrne," he said aloud with a shake of his head. "You've been out in the sun too long."

  Chapter Ten

  Although it galled Eden to admit such a thing, Lilly had an unerring eye for style. "Try these," Lilly had said, pointing out three fetching outfits. "They'd be darling on you."

  Eden wrinkled her nose. "I never wear green," she said, noting the fine handiwork on the lace collar of a blouse.

  "Try it," Lilly urged. "I think you'll be surprised."

  The saleswoman led them to a spacious room at the far end of the store then discreetly left them alone.

  Each outfit Lilly picked out was cuter than the last. Even with the annoyance of cast and crutches, Eden still managed to twirl before the mirror in a particularly cunning powder blue sundress. "How do you do it?" she asked her sister-in-law. "I never would have picked this one. First green, now powder blue. What have I been missing?"

  "I've always had an eye for color.” Lilly's hand rested across her belly. "I only wish I could paint the way you do."

  Eden looked at Lilly in the mirror. "You're kidding.” She hesitated. "Aren't you?"

  Lilly laughed. "Not a bit. I'm afraid I'm a frustrated artist. I envy your talent."

  Doctor Lilly Aoki Forrester envied Eden? Eden didn't know what to say. She fumbled with the fastener on the sundress, inordinately pleased that her accomplished sister-in-law found something in her to admire. She'd always felt so horribly self-conscious around Lilly, aware how frivolous her own life must seem. Not that Lilly ever said or did anything to make Eden feel that way. Lilly was much too well-bred, too aware of other people's feelings to do anything so thoughtless. Eden was the one who constantly stumbled over her own sharp tongue.

  Lilly, seated in a boudoir chair, had an odd look on her face.

  "Are you all right?" Eden asked. Please don't let her go into labor at Hattie's Haute Couture.

  Lilly looked up. "I think my son is getting anxious to see the world."

  "Your son?” Eden couldn't help chuckling. "You're certain it's a boy."

  "Absolutely.” Lilly's graceful hands moved gently across her abdomen.

  "Is there some way to tell?” Lilly was a doctor, after all. Maybe there was a test they could do to find out.

  "Women's intuition," said Lilly. "Tony wants a son and I would never disappoint him."

  Eden nodded as if she understood. The truth was, the whole conversation was making her very uncomfortable. Lilly was so obviously in love--and so ripely pregnant--that Eden felt as if she were looking at her own life from behind a screen. Seeing the world through a scrim that dulled the colors and muffled the sounds. As fiercely as she missed Tony, she couldn't deny that her brother had never seemed happier than he had since his marriage.

  Tony had been the most popular boy in every school he'd ever attended. He'd been voted "best-looking," "most likely to succeed," and "boy I'd most like to be stranded on a desert isle with.” He'd had more girlfriends than you could shake a stick at and his only problem had been finding time for a social life while he was slogging away at medical school.

  He'd seemed happy, carefree as the clouds drifting overhead, much the way Eden herself appeared to the world at large. And then he met Lilly and it was as if an unseen hand had thrown a switch and brought her brother to blazing life right before her eyes. Was that was love was all about, then, a jolt of electricity that made your blood sizzle and warmed everyone near you with the heat? Something magical that made you wonder how you'd managed to live your life before that moment.

  She placed the outfits she was going to purchase on an empty chair then Lilly helped her keep her balance while she slipped back into her own clothes. Now she was having these strange thoughts while she was out shopping. When was she going to get back to being her happy-go-lucky self?

  "Daddy will shoot me," she remarked as the saleswoman tallied up the bill. "I don't think he wants my spirits t
o be lifted quite this much."

  "Your father dotes on you, Eden. I believe you could buy out the store and he'd never utter a peep."

  "Then you don't know my father as well as you think. He's been quite exasperated with me lately."

  Lilly grew silent for a moment, as if she were debating the wisdom of her next words.

  Eden, feeling the reckless abandon of a young woman with six brand-new outfits, fixed her sister-in-law with a look. "Oh, go ahead, Lilly. If you have something to say, say it. Live dangerously."

  "No," said Lilly after a few seconds. "It isn't my place."

  Eden shrugged and leaned forward to sign the credit slip against her father's account. "Have it your own way. Everyone else has an opinion on how I should live my life. Why should you be any different?"

  "I would never think to tell you how to live your life, Eden.” Lilly sounded aghast at the thought. "I was simply going to remind you that Owen has been under a great deal of stress lately."

  Eden laughed and put her receipt in her pocket. "Daddy under stress? He has the cushiest job on Pearl.” As if any of the officers on the island were overworked or overburdened with responsibility. Honolulu was a veritable paradise, an endless carousel ride of parties and dances and moonlight swims in the caressing arms of the Pacific Ocean. She knew how hard her father had campaigned for this appointment. "Hawaii is the best place the navy has to offer," her father had told Eden before they left California for Pearl Harbor. "It's the closest you'll ever get to heaven without saying hello to St. Peter."

  First Lilly chided her about Mali, now she was telling her how to treat her very own father. Was there no end to the woman's meddling? You asked for it, an inner voice reminded her. You told her to say whatever was on her mind.

  She followed Lilly out into the bright sunshine with the saleswoman, arms piled high with parcels, bringing up the rear. Didn't Lilly realize how transparent she was, trying to curry Owen's favor in so blatant a fashion? She'd never be accepted, not in a million years, not even when her baby came. Eden couldn't understand what had possessed her brother when he impulsively made the Japanese-American doctor his wife. Oh, Lilly's pedigree was fine, but she was still foreign and that fact was going to hold Tony back in the years ahead.