A.J. Llewellyn - Phantom Lover 14 - Paden by AJ Llewellyn

Author:AJ Llewellyn [Llewellyn, AJ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

E

verybody started talking at once, Maluhia and Lopaka threw themselves at me. Kimo was the only one who kept eating. “Did you know the whole time?” Lopaka asked him.

Kimo’s gaze was reproachful. “You keep forgetting who you’re married to, Mypaka.”

“You knew the whole time?” Lopaka insisted.

Kimo waved his fork around and speared a piece of salmon. “Most of it.”

“When did you first realize?” I asked him as Maluhia almost strangled the life out of me with her hugs.

“As you were coming down the steps from the plane. You took too long to pull down your skirt. No woman would do that.”

“Yeah! That was funny,” Kamaha said.

I reached over and tickled his tummy, making him laugh.

“Tickle me, tickle me.” Keli’i rushed over to me. “I was the first one who knew it was you, Papa.”

“How did you know?”

“You spoke to me. I thought you were inside Tien-Lung.”

“I was inside Tien-Lung, but I hopped out of him as soon as the van stopped.” I tickled his tummy and he laughed.

“Me, too!” Little Kimo said. He laughed before I even touched him.

Lopaka stared into my face. “I see you…sometimes. Tell us, how did it happen?”

Kimo clapped his hands together. “Kids…I want you to go and find us some passion fruit to eat with our haupia. First one back with enough to fill…” his hands hunted around for a big bowl, “this, will get a special prize.”

“What kind of a prize?” Kamaha wanted to know.

Kimo’s eyes narrowed. “A very special prize.”

“How special?”

“Geez you’re a tough negotiator,” Kimo said. “You were so much easier to deal with when you were three.”

Kamaha nodded. “I know. I get that all the time.” He gestured toward his mother.

“The one who finds the most passion fruit will get a helicopter ride with me.”

“Oh boy!” The three older boys took off, little Pele and Kama hurrying to keep pace with them.

“Darling,” Lopaka said, moving over to Kimo and putting his hand on his shoulder. “We don’t have any passion fruit growing here right now. It’s too early in the season. Wasn’t that a little mean?”

“Oh, they’ll find it,” Kimo said, his expression smug. “Eventually.”

“So.” Tutu pushed back her plate. What gives?”

“Did you jump into me?” Raul wanted to know.

I had to confess I had.

“God, now I know why I felt so peculiar. And the coffee thing. Was that you?”

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

With the children out of the way, I was able to tell the adults at the table everything. There was a predictable outcry when I told them about what I learned in the cave.

“Who’s Teimoni?” Mama Nui asked.

“My ex-husband, the cannibal king.”

“My mama is still in the cave?” Maluhia asked. “You just left her there?”

“She wants to be there,” I said. “Somebody from our family has to guard the offerings we left Pele when we began this.”

Maluhia’s expression was mulish. She was so like her mother.

“It’s true,” Papa Nui said, surprising me. He was so quiet normally, allowing Kimo to handle things of the spirit realm. He was a quiet, dignified man, powerful in his own way, but his son ruled the roost.

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