Jewel of the Pacific (41 page)

“I’m humbled,” Ainsworth said, looking pleased. “But before we leave the subject of Townsend, where do you think he went, and how did he get away?”

Rafe hesitated. “He received help from the gambling and opium cartels. He went first, with a woman’s help, to Tamarind House to recover and then boarded a smuggling boat to one of the Islands. Then a ship took him either to California, or the Oregon coast. And he’s either gone to the Caribbean, or he remains somewhere on the mainland.”

Ainsworth looked amazed. “I think you’re right, Rafe. He may be waiting for my death, thinking he’ll inherit some big piece of the Derrington pie. If so, he’s in for a tremendous shock. He’s not inheriting a single penny, pineapple, or stalk of cane from me!”

“You may be right about his believing he’ll inherit money. He knows he won’t get Kea Lani. He could never come back and live a normal life. As I told Eden he’d be arrested and he knows it. But money sent to him through a lawyer? Yes. I think, sir, you’ve added the final dot and period to his plans.”

“Well, he’s not getting a thing, Rafe. Now.” He smiled. “Let me surprise you by saying that I would rather have my other grandson Kip raised under your proven character, and subject to your uncle Ambrose’s biblical guidance. Silas and Zachary are fine young men, but Silas has a failed life, partly because of Townsend, and Zachary is a good enough lad … but unfortunately, emotionally troubled.”

Rafe stared at him, at first unable to believe what he had heard. “Are you saying, sir, that you want me, and now Eden, to proceed with adopting Kip?”

“I understand your surprise, but yes, that is what I am saying. I’m an old man. I won’t be around many more years. Kip is what, two or three? My departure will come in his youth when he will still need strong guidance. I would much rather have this boy in capable hands from the beginning. I can see him all I want, I’m sure. You’ll let him come and spend time at Kea Lani. I’d enjoy having him call me ‘Grandfather.’ But everything else, Townsend included, let us keep among the three of us—I assume Eden knows since Rebecca left her the journal. When Kip is grown and I am gone, I’ll leave it to your discretion as to whether or not he ever learns about Townsend and Molokai.”

Rafe was speechless.

“You might have destroyed that journal and no one would have been the wiser. Yet you came to me with the truth. That impresses me, Rafe. What better father could this little fellow have? The thought occurred that for
once
something coming from Townsend will grow up to honor the Lord. What better legacy could a Derrington have than that?”

He put a hand on Rafe’s shoulder, and his eyes twinkled in the setting sun. “And may you have many
Easton
sons and daughters.”

The full moon was rising as Eden joined her father and the members of the Derrington family. Jerome smiled at his daughter and stood, pulling a chair closer for her to sit near him. “Well, what do you think, Ambrose? Did I get a fine son-in-law?”

Ambrose looked across the lawn to where Rafe, Keno, and Zachary stood. Keno said something and Rafe laughed.

“If there ever was a marriage I wanted to take place, it was this one. Of course, I could add Keno and Miss Candace to that list as well. By the way, isn’t it a little past time for that big event to take place?”

“Two more weeks, Uncle,” Eden said, laughing. “Candace has pinned a calendar above her mirror. Every day she enjoys marking off one more day.”

“I thought I would never see the day when that marriage would happen,” Great-aunt Nora said. “I’m so relieved Candace isn’t marrying that dreadful young man, Oliver.”

“Now Aunt Nora, not so long ago you told me the handsome Oliver was a fine gentleman, worthy of my consideration,” Eden said.

Nora looked uncomfortable. “So I did, dear. That was before I understood the rapscallion is a friend of the gambling and opium ruffians. I shall feel pity for Thaddeus Hunnewell when he discovers his firstborn son is one of them.”

“It does seem to me,” Ambrose said, “that the opium cartel has a rather free hand on Hunnewell lands to intimidate the workers. What’s your opinion, Jerome?”

Dr. Jerome stroked his chin, his green eyes sharp in the firelight. “I’ll admit I’m a trifle suspicious of their foreman. He appears to bully his own countrymen.”

“When we went there on Thursday to hold the service?” Ambrose asked, drawing his bushy brows together.

“Yes. I think his name is Wong. He said nothing to me, but he did intimidate the group of men and ladies walking to our cabana near the field.”

“I’ll speak to Rafe about it,” Ambrose said. “He’ll see Thaddeus Hunnewell in the Legislature on Monday. I don’t think Hunnewell senior will approve of the foreman’s behavior. Perhaps the fellow is being paid by the kingpin to intimidate. The last thing the opium cartel wants is to lose their addicts to the freedom of knowing Christ.”

“They won’t stop us,” Jerome said. “The work will go on unless Thaddeus orders us off his land. I don’t think he will. He doesn’t come to the mission church as often as I’d like to see him, Ambrose, but he does revere God.”

Ambrose seemed to agree. “Maybe I’ll call on Thaddeus this week. It’s been some time since I saw him. I’ll invite him to our men’s Bible study.”

Great-aunt Nora stood. “Well, dear ones, it’s time I went indoors. Tonight I expect to go to bed early. I hardly slept a wink last night. I rarely do when I come to Kea Lani. That dreadful old mattress Ainsworth keeps in my room hasn’t been exchanged for a new one since King Arthur discovered the magic sword.”

Everyone chuckled. To Nora, everything was the fault of her “cantankerous brother.”

“I’ll walk back with you, Aunt Nora,” Eden said.

Inside Kea Lani house, Eden accompanied Nora into the large library, while Nora looked for a book to read.

“It always aids my sleep, and digestion,” she said. “I usually fall asleep because the book is boring.”

She settled her pince-nez and leaned forward to read some of the titles. “Let’s see … leave it to Ainsworth to have ordered
this
dreadful one:
Inside the Political Mind of the Royal Family
, by B. B. Rothersfield. Posh! It’s about England and King George the some-number-or-other. Well, that should make me drowsy. Come along, dear. Will you and Rafe be staying the night?”

“Yes, we’re so close to the mission church, we can walk.”

“Good. I believe Candace is having Keno to Sunday dinner, and it will be delightful to have the two of you joining.”

Eden went with Nora to her bedroom where Nora gouged her walking stick at the mattress. “That’s the rascal. Look at it—old and lumpy. Why, I had that same mattress as a girl. Imagine! I believe he refuses to buy me a new one just to keep my visits here brief.”

Eden struggled to keep her laughter down. “I’ll make it a point to order a new mattress for you. A goose-feather mattress. How will that be?”

“Sounds marvelous. Hand me my medication, will you dear?”

Eden did so. “Aunt Nora, there’s something I want to ask you.”

“For a goose-down mattress you may ask anything you like.”

“I’ll be straightforward. What did you see in the court of Iolani Palace at the ball that caused you such distress you fainted?”

Nora stared at her. She walked over to the brocaded wingback chair and lowered herself with a sigh. “Did Rafe suggest you ask me?”

“No. I’ve wondered about it since then. I was on the balcony when you came in from the court where the band was playing. You looked as though you had seen the unbelievable. Then you fainted.”

Again, Nora sighed. “Well Eden, I did see something that shocked me. I suppose it caused my fainting. Close the door. I’ll tell you. I suppose you’ll repeat it to Rafe?”

“Well, we don’t wish to keep secrets from each other.”

“Wise decision. It doesn’t matter. I think he already knows well enough. In fact, he knows even more, and so does Zachary.”

Eden closed the door and sat opposite Nora. She leaned forward, hands folded on her lap, watching Nora.

Nora looked up at the ceiling as if gathering her thoughts into words and then began quietly.

“I feel like a Benedict Arnold, but when the truth must be spoken what can one do but speak? I discovered something that night that is most dismaying. It alters my opinion of Queen Liliuokalani.”

Eden took her hand. Did this have anything to do with the late night visitor? “Yes?”

“It’s shameful, really. I was convinced Oliver was a gentleman, as you know. But Oliver Hunnewell is a spy. He’s mixed up with the powerful gambling syndicate from the American mainland.”

Eden wasn’t surprised. In fact, she knew that to be the case, as did Rafe and Zachary. But why did Nora believe this?

“What happened to convince you, Aunt Nora?”

“First of all, the scoundrel met a woman who entered the court by way of the royal guardhouse. And how could she get through the guardhouse area without someone high up helping her? Otherwise, she would need to come by the civil gate, like the rest of us.”

Eden asked quietly, “You saw her then? Do you know who she is?”

“Oh, yes. I’ve seen her before at the Royal Hotel. She’s a soothsayer.”

The facts seemed to be straightforward enough. Nora had actually seen the tarot card reader arrive, and Eden had seen the woman as she came up the stairway into the private living quarters.

“Her name,” Nora said softly, “is Madame Wolf—actually
Fraulein
, since she is of German ancestry. I don’t know whether she is married or not, but I’ve seen her at the Royal Hotel twice since I’ve been there, and both times with a man. I don’t know his name. I’m sure Rafe has seen her as well.”

“Yes, and I saw the couple speaking with Silas in the garden here at Kea Lani.”

“A dreadful revelation. My suspicions about Silas now appear to be certain. You’ve told Rafe of course?”

“Yes, but he already knows enough about Silas to show that he, like Oliver, was involved with the cartel out to influence the queen.”

“Well I’m grieved to say this, my dear, but it seems clear that Liliuokalani is being influenced, whether she knows it or not. They are out to get those horrid gambling and opium bills passed by the Legislature and then signed by her into law.”

“And they are using the tarot card reader to influence her?”

“Yes, that is what shocked me. I would never have believed it if I hadn’t seen her arrival and the queen looking in her direction with approval.”

“And you saw Oliver, too?”

“Oliver and another man meeting Fraulein Wolf. Oliver handed her some papers. Then the three of them walked back into the palace through another route, the man showing the way.”

“Who was he?” Eden begged.

“Well that’s it, dear, the frustrating thing was I couldn’t see the man’s face. But I recognized the woman, as I said. By shuffling tarot cards and drawing from the pack, she supposedly reads the past and predicts the future. It is all nonsense, quite absurd. And very reckless of the queen to listen to her. Imagine! That is what had me so upset. It still does.”

“And rightly so,” Eden soothed.

“To think that my friend, the queen, would trust what she is told from cards!” She put a hand to her forehead.

“We don’t know for sure if she does listen to her, Aunt Nora. We mustn’t rush to judgment.”

“No, but I fear that she
does.
The odious question is: Who decides what information will be given to the fortune-teller?”

Yes, and who was the man with Oliver Hunnewell who gave her the papers? And what role did Oliver hold in this dark scheme?

“I fear the queen may secretly meet with this Fraulein Wolf often. I am most disappointed. Ainsworth is right about some of his beliefs concerning the queen. Whereas I—” She looked pained. “Whereas I have put too much confidence in frail human flesh. ‘Put not your confidence in man,’ Scripture teaches us, and I’ve unwisely put too much in the monarchy.”

T
he evening lights were coming on in Kea Lani plantation house, golden against a darkening sky. A silvery star winked down.

Rafe watched guests conversing with each other on the front lawn of the great white house, discussing everything from sugar prices to politics. He stood with Keno and Zachary behind the chairs where Eden, Candace, and Claudia Hunnewell were talking.