The Aloha Spirit by Linda Ulleseit

Author:Linda Ulleseit
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: She Writes Press
Published: 2020-04-14T16:00:00+00:00

SEVENTEEN

World’s Fair 1939

Family surrounded her. Dolores didn’t know what Ruth and Alberto had told them, but they rarely left her alone with Manolo. Her morning sickness went away, and her belly grew quickly.

“Your body remembers what it’s like to be pregnant,” Ruth told her. “The first time, you don’t start a baby bump until you’re four months along. By the third time, you start showing almost before you know you’re pregnant!”

Dolores rubbed her belly. “I’m only a month or so in, but it looks like four months!”

Ruth laughed and took Betty by the hand. “Come on, Carmen,” she said, “let’s go see what Rosa is doing.” She led the two girls outside to join the other children, who were playing with Helen in Grandma Jessie’s yard.

The men were not yet home for lunch. Vovô snoozed on the couch. Grandma Jessie held her chopping knife. She turned to Dolores and said, “Aloha means taking others’ pain as your own.”

Dolores nodded, unsure where this was going. Was she talking about Manolo? Or about Dolores? “Maria used to tell me you could love someone without loving everything they do.”

“No family is perfect,” Grandma Jessie continued. “Lord knows I’m not saying what my son does is right, but we are all here to help you.”

“I know that,” Dolores assured her. “Manolo loves me; he loves his girls. They need him.” When Grandma Jessie’s gaze lingered, Dolores said, “I won’t leave him. I can’t. God created marriage to be permanent, and I know what’s best for my family.”

Grandma Jessie nodded, satisfied. “You’re a good Catholic, Dolores.”

Not for the first time, Dolores wondered about Grandma Jessie’s own marriage. Her husband had left her with five small children. They had never divorced. Dolores didn’t even know if he was still alive. He was gone, though, while Manolo kept coming back to inflict new pain. It didn’t matter in the eyes of the Church. Dolores was married.

After Alberto got a job as a shipfitter at Pearl Harbor, he was gone most of the day. He worked on various ships in the harbor. Dolores was glad he was settling down. Ruth stayed close to home. She sold her hand-sewn clothes door to door to make a little money, but when Manolo was due home, Ruth was always there. Dolores could find no words to thank her, and she knew they were unnecessary.

About a block away from them on Beretania was a school that offered classes for children with sight problems. Dolores enrolled Carmen there in the fall. She expected backlash from Manolo, but he never said a word. So she walked Carmen to school every morning and listened to her chatter happily on the way home every afternoon. Betty toddled all over the house. Her chubby cheeks invited pinching. For all intents and purposes her husband had left them, but they were not alone. The Medeiros family had embraced them.

Manolo startled Dolores by appearing for dinner after Betty’s birthday in February. His animated face showed how eager he was to see her.

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