Hawaiian Crosswinds by Linda Chaikin

Author:Linda Chaikin [Chaikin, Linda Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-57567-554-1
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Published: 2011-09-17T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Secret Spy

Candace Derrington unpacked her portmanteau and hung her evening dress in the guest chamber closet at Hunnewell’s beachfront house. She was here to have dinner tonight with Oliver and his widowed father, Thaddeus, who was even now preparing for his trip to Washington D.C. Other guests would be present, including her cousin Zachary—reluctant dinner date for Claudia Hunnewell—and also the British commissioner and consul general in Hawaii, James H. Wodehouse, and several members of his staff, their wives, and a few assistants.

Candace was surprised upon discovering that the commissioner would be guest of honor at the dinner.

Now why would the British commissioner come here? The question held her interest for some time until she had opportunity to meet with Oliver for a brief walk on Waikiki after lunch.

Oliver didn’t appear to mind her questions. His breezy laughter merely strengthened her conviction that he believed women, even smart women like Candace and Great-aunt Nora, should keep their footprints out of politics.

“And why shouldn’t the British commissioner come to dinner?” he asked with a forebearing smile twisted on his lips. “There’s no accounting for the oddities of friendship, my dear Candace.”

My dear Candace. She loathed the way he put it. Don’t trouble your feminine intellect with such deep concerns, dear.

Marriage to Oliver would have its stresses and strains.

Keno never spoke to her like this. Keno saw her as a woman. He was romantic, funny, charming, and treated her well. Candace with her finishing-school manners, her education, her interest in Greek. He appreciated her accomplishments and never felt threatened as though they might infringe on his manliness. He accepted and loved her for who she was. It didn’t make him feel diminished that she liked Greek.

“True,” she said, deliberately pushing back, “but it does seem strange. Your father, I mean.”

“Indeed, how so?” They walked along the white sand, casting long shadows on the beach, their wide-brimmed hats appearing to touch.

“Well, I would think it obvious as to what I mean,” Candace said. “Is your father not a staunch ally of Misters Thurston and Dole? Your father’s quite prepared to pack his bag to go to Washington to sell annexation of the Islands to the American president.”

“He is, yes.”

“Well, in spite of all that, Mr. Wodehouse comes to sip tea with him. Mr. Wodehouse who hotly disputes annexation? He thinks that if such a diabolical event as annexation should ever occur, he would much prefer Hawaii to become a British colony. Doesn’t it seem peculiar then, my dear Oliver?”

Oliver smiled patiently, as though she had become too upset over the latitude permitted in a man’s world, and needed to calm down, so he artfully changed the subject.

When later that afternoon Candace continued to think about the situation, she went to the desk and wrote a brief message. She sent it by one of the serving boys to Eden, at Kalihi Hospital.

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