Silversword by Phyllis A. Whitney

Author:Phyllis A. Whitney
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781504045933
Publisher: Open Road Media Romance
Published: 2017-05-10T04:00:00+00:00

10

Once we were down the mountain, the highway across the isthmus into West Maui was a fine road, wide and fast. Now there were sugarcane fields wherever space offered. We passed signs that read: SMOKE AHEAD, since in Hawaii cane was burned before it was harvested, to concentrate the sugar. Once we passed a fiery field where the burning seemed out of control, but men were working around it to contain the flames.

As we followed the road around their base, the massive West Maui mountains cut steeply down on our right, slashed by deep ravines. Since their rise was close and more precipitous, they seemed higher than Haleakala, though their height was only half as great. In some places the road had been sliced through black lava rock that crowded us toward the sea. On our left were beaches—sometimes smooth sand, sometimes stretches of rocks or pebbles. White-crested rollers surged in to be challenged by tiny figures on surfboards, balancing skillfully in their ride toward shore, or else tumbling into roaring foam, bodies and boards tossed together wildly.

In several places little parks had been created between road and beach, furnished with picnic tables and shade trees—protected spaces for all to enjoy sand and water. Places where the condominiums and hotels could never encroach.

This morning both sky and ocean wore their pure Hawaiian blue, while far-out puffs of white cloud traveled swiftly before the wind. Sunlight glittered on every swell, turning water to a shade of emerald as it neared the shore. In some places the water came nearly to the road, and during a storm this highway must become impassable. There weren’t too many roads to offer choices on Maui.

I still held back from asking my question, because once it was asked the atmosphere between Marla and me would change. For the moment, she was trying to keep everything friendly, though I felt sure she hadn’t relented in the least about hurrying me home to San Francisco.

“Tell me about David’s wife,” I said. “He talked about her a little yesterday.”

“I never liked her much,” Marla said frankly, “I think she looked at all of us at Manaolana as interesting neurotic specimens. Especially Noelle, of course. Luckily, my mother would never let her treat Noelle.”

“Why luckily?”

“Because I think Kate’s probing would have made everything worse. Oh, she was plenty smart and successful in her work. She knew a great deal—but she didn’t know us.”

“How did she die?”

“A drowning accident Currents can be tricky off Maui, and she wasn’t Hawaiian born. Of course her death hit David pretty hard. And Peter too—their little boy. David’s just beginning to come out of it, though I doubt if he’ll ever find another woman who can measure up to Kate in his eyes. So be careful, Caroline.”

There was the malice again. Marla always saw too much.

We didn’t speak again until she nudged me. “Look at the monkeypods!”

We were passed a grove of wind-twisted trees, their flat tops offering a canopy of shade.

“Henry Perrine Baldwin planted a number of monkeypods on Maui, including those.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.