Glass Beach by Jill Marie Landis

Author:Jill Marie Landis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BelleBooks Inc.
Published: 2014-04-30T00:00:00+00:00

Eleven

AN ALLEY CAT HAD more moral fortitude.

With every step up the hillside from the cove, Elizabeth inwardly fumed and fussed over what she had just done. Head down, arms and legs pumping up the steep trail, she refused to turn around and look back at the beach, afraid that Spence was watching.

How she ever could have let him kiss her was beyond her imagining. What had she been thinking? Certainly not about the scandal that would have ensued if someone like Alberta Baxter had happened upon the scene.

Beside her, Hadley trudged along, grumbling continuously about being hot, tired, hungry, and itchy.

“Mama, I can’t stand it,” she whined. Her voice, an octave higher than normal, grated sharply on Elizabeth’s already frazzled nerves.

“You’re just feeling itchy from the saltwater. As soon as we get to the house you can take a bath.” She reached for Hadley’s hand, trying not to vent her impatience on her daughter.

“But I’m itchy now!” Hadley finally balked, went limp, and hung from Elizabeth’s hand for a second before she let go and plunked herself down in the middle of the path. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes were thickest in the ravine, and they began to attack. Elizabeth took a swat at a very determined pest when it landed on her collarbone.

“Hadley, stand up and stop whining.” She tugged once on the girl’s hand and then let go, turned around, and headed up the trail, praying that Hadley would follow.

As she continued on for a few yards, she wondered what she was going to do. She could not lock herself away and avoid Spence Laamea forever. It had been hard enough skirting him for just the past week. Now she could not even trust herself to be alone with him.

Abruptly she halted in the middle of the path and turned around to watch Hadley. The child was lying on her back, her arms folded over her chest.

“I’m dying back here, Mama, and you don’t care!”

Hadley had never been so stubborn and willful, at least not while Franklin was alive. Elizabeth reminded herself to be patient. Not only was Hadley having a hard time adjusting to the death of the perfect father, the father she herself had created, but she was probably tired as well.

Sighing, wishing she had stayed in the garden all morning, Elizabeth walked back down the trail. When she reached Hadley, she went down on one knee, brushed her daughter’s matted hair off her sweaty forehead, and then cupped her chin in her hands, forcing her to look up.

“I think Uilani has haupia in the kitchen. How would you like some?” Tempting her with the promise of the slick coconut pudding, Elizabeth then kissed the tip of her nose. Although her daughter still tried to look upset, Elizabeth could tell she was wavering.

“Can I have two bowls?” Hadley sniffed.

“If you get up right now and start walking. The sooner we get back, the sooner you’ll get to bathe and wash the salt off.”

Hadley sighed, a long, audible sigh. “All right, then,” she conceded, allowing Elizabeth to pull her to her feet.

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