Take My Breath Away by Meg O'Brien

Author:Meg O'Brien [O'Brien, Meg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romantic suspense
Publisher: Crossroad Press
Published: 2016-05-30T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

“What do you mean, waiting?” I said, confused, still facing her on the drive.

“Oh, they’ve known about you for years, your grandmother said. They thought you didn’t want to know them, and they never would have forced themselves on you. They’re much too sensitive for that.”

“I can hardly believe this,” I said, pushing my hair back with a shaky hand. “It’s too much of a …”

“Coincidence?” She smiled.

“No. No … I don’t believe in coincidence.”

“Nor do I. I believe your meeting was meant to occur, Kate. I’m not certain I know why. Perhaps simply to heal old wounds?”

I was still having difficulty taking it all in, but her last words made sense. “Yes. That may be it.”

“Are you willing to meet them, then?”

I hesitated for only a moment. “Of course. Of course—I’d like that.”

“Good.” She nodded her approval and we began walking to the car again. “Your grandmother, your aunts, uncles, and cousins are all looking forward to meeting you. Your grandfather … well, I should tell you up front, he can be difficult.”

“Difficult? In what way?”

“He’s a man of the old ways. Descended from kahunas, as my own father is. You’ll see. It’s always better to form opinions for ourselves, don’t you think?”

I wasn’t all that certain at this moment, but didn’t press the point.

“I’ve already spoken to Dan about this, and he’s agreed to drive you to their house tomorrow. It’s not too far. Just up the road, in fact, but a long walk in the heat. They asked if you might come tomorrow evening, around six. Is that all right? Everyone will be in from the fields by then.”

“The fields?”

“Taro. Your aunt Deborah convinced everyone to come home from Oahu years ago, and work the land again. It’s a family endeavor now.”

“How, uh … large a family?”

“Oh, dozens. They’re all about.”

She must have noted my small prickle of uncertainty. Touching my cheek in a gentle, reassuring way, she said, “It’ll be all right. You’ll see.”

We stood beside her white Geo, turning our eyes skyward a moment to appreciate the stars, which were brilliant under an ink-blue sky. Sharon looked back at me suddenly. “I’m so glad we met.”

She gave me a hug, and I remembered to hug back, letting her feel my breath on her cheek, in the non-haole way.

After a moment she pulled back, her brow furrowed. “Kate, give me a call in the morning, and we’ll set up an appointment to meet in my office at the university to work on a few things. Meanwhile, I can’t stress enough that you need to protect yourself from further happenings of the kind you told us about. What you’ve experienced so far could well be only a first approach, a gentle nudge, asking you to open up more. Look at it this way: You are standing outside a movie house now, and every once in a while someone opens the door so that you can see a small slice of the film inside on the screen. You stand outside trying to decide whether to go in.

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