Disclaimer: Twilight is the property of Stephenie Meyer, my OCs belong to me.
This chapter is dedicated to Alphabloodwolf, WriterNMomma, Sarahkala444, Asherah Isa, maggiepie123 and rickaroo922
Kekipi
I'd been on snooze all night. I couldn't let myself drift off into a full sleep because I was worried about Billie. She'd had a nightmare and didn't wake me, just got out of bed to deal with it on her own. She'd dealt with enough on her own. I had to support her through everything.
Billie convulsed and I sat up quickly as Billie jumped up beside me. She was panting as she stared into the darkness before she turned to me and I saw the relief. She hugged me, burying her face in my neck and I hugged her tightly to me.
"Another nightmare?" I asked.
"Yeah. Stupid thing." She growled and I felt tears hit my shoulder. "I wish I could get rid of them."
"Is there a way?" I asked, cause the vamps had all kinds of powers.
"Just got to de-clutter my mind of all the dark." She said with a sigh. "I might need therapy. Whatever, there's no shortcut. It'll take time."
"Is there anything you can do in the mean time so you can get some sleep?" I asked as I stroked her back.
"I'm not sure. I want…" She trailed off into silence.
"What do you want?" I asked.
Billie sat back and looked into my eyes for a long moment before she dropped her eyes. Then she looked back up at me and forced a smile to her face.
"I could do with a run." She said.
"Then let's go." I said, and stood up on the bed, holding out my hand.
"Now? But you should sleep." She said, looking concerned.
"You think I could sleep now I'm worried about you?" I asked.
"What about work?" She pointed out, always her trump card, or so she seemed to think.
"I haven't got any remember? Hani will be covering tomorrow. Today." I said as I checked the time. It was two in the morning.
"I guess." Billie said as she put her hand in mine carefully.
"If you play your cards right I might even throw in a midnight swim." I said with a wink.
"It's two in the morning." Billie pointed out.
I shrugged and kissed her.
"Lesgo run in the night. The moon is bright. You feel her calling?" I enticed.
Billie gave me a genuine smile as she nodded.
I smiled back, kissed her hand then pulled her after me as I headed down the stairs. Billie giggled as she sped up and pulled me faster to the door and pulled it open. We went out into the night and sped down the path onto the beach. Billie stopped suddenly and stood looking out over the water.
I put my arm around her and she leant into me as she sighed.
"I love this place." She said. "Our paradise."
"I can't believe I thought I was happy here on my own." I said with a chuckle.
Billie turned to me and clasped her hands behind my neck.
"We all make mistakes." She joked before she kissed me.
I put my arms around her waist and deepened the kiss. I enjoyed the feel of her body pressed against mine and choke happy to have her safe in my arms. Billie hummed as she pulled away from me but took my hand.
"Shall we just stroll instead?" She asked.
"I don't mind." I said as we strolled toward the trees.
"It's a nice night." She said as she took a deep breath of the air.
"Always is." I observed.
"Even when there's a storm?" She teased.
"Especially when there's a storm." I said and pulled her in close so I could kiss her head.
She chuckled.
"That storm was pretty ono." She said.
"Not so much the storm." I said with a chuckle.
Billie chuckled again before she sighed, sounding content.
"We'll have to visit that cave again sometime." Billie mused.
"Sure." I said with a nod.
"As soon as Carlisle replaces my IUD and I don't have to worry about the bleeding." She said sadly.
"Don't worry about that." I said.
"But it could be a month."
"Yeah. But I went twenty two years without sex, I think I can handle a month." I pointed out.
"No offence, but that's before you knew what sex was." Billie pointed out.
"So you're telling me that from the time you lost your virginity fourteen years ago you haven't gone a whole month without sex?" I asked.
"Of course I have. But you do miss it. Especially when you're around someone you're sexually attracted to." Billie said warily.
"Ok." I said, and thought for a moment. "What exactly makes you bleed?"
"What do you mean?" She demanded.
"Is it any sexual activity?" I clarified.
Billie shook her head.
"Then what?"
"When it's penetrative." She replied.
"Ok. Well there's other ways to get off. I mean, you never taught me how to eat a lolly." I said, not quite comfy with the whole sex talk to put it bluntly.
"You know how to eat a lolly." She said frowning up at me, so I raised my eyebrows to try and get to her to know what I meant.
We walked on a few more steps then she snorted.
"Right." She said. "Yeah. Eat a lolly. Like when I showed you what it was like to be a lolly?"
"Yeah." I confirmed.
"You'd go down on me?" She asked, almost like she didn't believe it.
"Yeah." I said.
"But you seemed so scared before." She said, and I guess that explained her disbelief.
"Because it was the first time you suggested it and I have no experience." I admitted.
"You got some." She said as she leered at me.
"Ok. Some. But anything we haven't done is new to me and I have to at least try."
"Then sure." Billie said. "At least it won't be a complete drought."
"You want to now?" I offered.
Billie shook her head. "I'm enjoying our stroll."
"Ok." I said with a shrug.
"I like the night air." She said as she raised her face to the sky, smiling.
"Yeah." I agreed as we reached the end of the trees where the island gave way to rocks.
"Can we walk around the rocks?" Billie asked.
"Back around to the beach?"
"We can't go that way?"
"No. It leads to the sheer cliff."
"But we can get back to the beach this way?" She said, pointing around to her right.
"Yeah." I confirmed.
"Cool." She said as she let my hand go and leapt up onto the rocks, making it look effortless.
I scrambled to the top of the rocks where Billie was looking out at the rolling water as the moon lit up the breaks. Billie sighed and leant into me again.
"This is uplifting too. Another bit of happy." She said lightly, but it was tinged with sadness.
"Yeah." I said as I put my arms around her and looked out too.
"The more happy I find the more I'll have to fight the darkness in my dreams." She whispered.
"Then we'll work on the happy." I promised.
"I like the sound of that." Billie said wistfully.
We stayed there for a long while before we moved along the rocks, the sea lapping at our left side, as we made our way back to the beach. As we got there Billie led me out onto the jetty and we sat down at the end of it, with our feet dangling in the waves as we looked out into the night, where the dark of the sea rolled against the deep ink blue of the sky.
"Do you know any of the constellations?" She asked as she lay back with her hands behind her head and looked up at the stars.
"No." I admitted as I lay back next to her.
"I'll teach you sometime." She promised. "Maybe after the new year we can start a star chart. Track the constellations through the year."
"Sounds good." I said.
"Shall we go back up to the house now?" Billie asked as she got to her feet.
"Yeah." I agreed as I got to my own feet.
Billie took my hand and we walked back along the beach and up the hill to hale. We didn't go into the house though. Billie wanted to lie on the hammock.
"I'll go grab a blanket and my clock." I said and rushed into the house and up the stairs. I got two blankets, some pillows and my clock. I checked the time, it was only half three.
When I got back outside Billie was standing in the middle of the lanai looking up at the stars. I spread one of the blankets out on the hammock before putting the pillows in place. I tucked my clock under the pillows so I could reach it when I needed to check the time.
"Billie." I said softly as I stroked her arm gently.
She turned to me and smiled.
"You want me to get up first?" I offered.
"Yeah." Billie said wistfully. "I can snuggle down next to you."
I kissed her then climbed up into the hammock, throwing the other blanket over me ready, but holding it open so Billie could climb in next to me. She climbed up and settled down next to me as the hammock rocked a little. I pulled the blanket up around Billie as she snuggled down onto my shoulder, her hand on my chest.
"This is nice." She murmured.
"Yeah." I agreed as I ran my fingers in her hair.
"I could sleep now." She whispered.
"Why don't you? It's only half three. It's ages before we got to get up." I whispered back.
"What if I dream again?" She asked, sounding frightened.
"What if you don't?" I asked, she couldn't be frightened of it forever.
"But I have. Every time I sleep." She whimpered.
"Well you can just wake up." I said. "I'm right here for you. You know that."
Billie nodded her head.
I took her hand and kissed her palm before I started stroking her cheek gently as I sung an old lullaby.
"You have a good singing voice." Billie murmured.
"Everyone sounds good singing in Hawaiian." I joked.
"Sing it again." She said softly before kissing my chest.
I started singing again and Billie drifted to sleep. Once I was sure she was sleeping I let myself drift off until I was woken by my alarm at half five. Billie groaned in my arms and I hurried to dig out the clock from under the pillows and hit snooze.
Billie lifted her head and blinked at me.
"Damn clock." She grumbled.
"We could just go back to sleep." I pointed out.
"We could. But we need to be at your garage by seven so you can give Hani the run through and we can get the new furniture here in time to set up before Isla gets here. We can't let her down."
"You're right." I said but didn't make any effort to get off the hammock.
"Come on." Billie said with a chuckle as got down off the hammock.
I sighed and forced myself to sit up before I got down off the hammock. Billie smiled at me and took my hand and led me back into the house.
"Why don't you shower first while I cook breakfast?" She suggested.
"You sure?" I asked.
"You look like you need waking up more than me." She said with a chuckle and kissed my cheek before heading to the kitchen.
I went upstairs to grab some clean clothes then went into the bathroom. By the time I showered, breakfast was ready. It was a big breakfast, but I guess we weren't sure what time we'd eat again.
"How are you feeling?" Billie asked.
I shrugged. It had been a long time since I had someone I could share my feelings with and now I had so many raging around that I couldn't even explain them to myself. Billie put her hand on mine and smiled at me that looked like she actually meant it, all her smiles had looked forced since we got back. Not that I expected her to be upbeat and lighthearted after everything she went through, but it was nice to see a genuine smile. Proof that she could get through this and Ritchie wouldn't hang like a ghost over the rest of her life.
"It's gonna be good today because I've seen enough of Elise to know she won't shun you." Billie said with certainty.
"But I lied to her for so long." I said sadly.
"We'll help her see things from your point of view. And we're helping Isla out. I'm sure that'll be a few points in your favour."
"I hope so." I said with a sigh.
"I know so." Billie said firmly and I couldn't help but feel better about that. "I'm gonna shower, then we need to head out."
"I'll wash the dishes."
It was twenty minuets later that we were down on the beach manhandling the trailer onto the water so I could attach it to the boat. We got into the boat and I started the engine and took it slow at first because I wasn't sure how this boat would handle the trailer. Once I was sure the boat could handle it, I picked up speed until we reached my dock.
We got out and went to open up the garage. It was quarter to seven. Hani would be here soon.
When Hani arrived I showed him around the garage, my price list and what boat was due in. Once I was sure he had the hang of everything me and Billie went to get the table set from the trunk of the car. It just about fit in the trailer and at the last moment Billie remembered about Isla's clothes and went to grab her bag from my car before we set out for our island.
We got back to our island and Billie put Isla's bag on her back before we carried the box between us up the path. It took us half an hour to set up the new furniture and arranged it to Billie's ideal. Then we went in the house and made a den by draping a sheet from the rail of our bedroom, just like Billie had that first night we had sex, to create a place Isla would feel comfortable to change. I also put a set of my own clothes in there so they'd be easier to get to than needing to go upstairs. . Obviously we wouldn't phase back at the same time, but we could use the same space. In the meantime, Billie text Isla to let her know where her clothes were so she'd know where to go when she needed to change back.
Then we just had to wait.
Billie made some lemonade, and I helped her. At least it killed the time.
Oh god! This was it! Time to fess up!
I heard a boat approach and Billie took my hand. I tried to control my breathing. Last thing I needed was to fursplode right now. I managed to get a grip on myself, but it seemed to take forever before I heard Mom, Dad and Isla talking up in the clearing. Wondering where the film crew had got.
I heard Isla say that Mom and Dad should wait in the chairs then she came into the house.
"We're here." Isla said.
"Where's Mom and Dad?" I asked in my nervousness.
"They're outside. I'll go sit with them and, well come out when you're ready I guess." Isla said as nervous as me.
"We'll be right out." Billie promised.
Isla nodded and went outside.
"You still want to step out first?" Billie asked me.
"Probably better Mom has chance to get over me being here before I introduce you." I said, scratching my head.
"It's gonna be ok." Billie said as she took my hand and kissed me.
We smiled at each other, weakly, then went to the door.
I let go of Billie's hand and stepped out onto the lanai. There were gasps and I looked up to see Mom and Dad looking shocked while Isla looked choke worried.
"Jimmy?" Mom finally said.
"Hi Mom. Sorry about all this, but Isla said you wanted to meet my girlfriend." I said, figuring that would be a good reason without going straight into the whole wolf business. "Well, here she is. Billie."
I held my hand out to Billie and she stepped out and took my hand.
"Mina?" Mom asked, as she glanced between us, getting to her feet. "What's going on?"
"My full name is Wilhelmina. I usually go by Billie, but sometimes Mina when I want to be incognito." Billie said in a straightforward way, like it was something everyone did.
"Why would you need to hide?" Mom asked, not looking happy.
"It's a long story. I'll tell you later, but right now Kekipi and Isla have something to tell you." Billie said gently as she let my hand go and held her hand out to Mom. "You should probably sit down for this."
"Now I'm nervous." Mom said, as Billie led her back to the chairs.
Dad was shifting uncomfortably. I was sure he wanted to get out of here as soon as, but it was time for him to face the music. I'd spent too much time on my own thinking I was some unnatural freak. If he'd got over himself I could have been on better terms with Mom.
Isla got up and came to stand next to me before taking a deep.
"There's something we need to tell you. It explains why I've been running a temperature lately and why Jimmy distanced himself and changed his name to Kekipi and why he's been living here, out on Wolf Island."
"You live on Wolf Island?" Mom asked in shock.
"Yeah. This is my hale." I said, indicating everything around us.
"It's nice. But why out here?"
"I thought this is where I should be. Wolf Island." I murmured.
"Why?" Mom asked, but she'd soon get the joke.
"Mom. There's an inheritance on Dad's side of the family." Isla said, and I realised she wanted to explain this her way. "His mother was from Washington Sate. She's a Native American from a clan known as Quileute. They're spirit animal is the wolf. In fact they think they come from wolves so they're not allowed to kill them. But it's more than that. Some of the Quileute, they can turn into wolves."
"That's a nice folk tale." Mom said.
"It's a true history of our people." I said solemnly. "Only I didn't know this till a month or two ago. Right about the time Billie washed up here. Before then, I thought I was the only one and a freak."
"I'm lost." Mom said, and that was her usual cue to get to the point.
"Ok. I think we should just show them." Isla said, and I realised she was right. "Mom, brace yourself."
It was weird but I could feel it in the air that Isla was about to phase so I did too. I hung back where we'd been standing, but Isla padded closer to the others. She stopped halfway between and dropped down onto her stomach.
"Is that really my children?" Mom asked and I felt worried for Isla for a moment.
"Yeah." Billie said softly as she put her arm around Mom. "Isla wants you to approach her."
"Really?" Mom asked, and she looked curiously toward Isla so I let myself relax a little.
"I know wolf body language. My Mom and Brother got the inheritance too." Billie said gently as she got to her feet and helped Mom up too.
"Did you do this to them?" Mom asked.
"No. It's in the genes. It comes out sometime after puberty but before they're in their twenties. This is why Kekipi, I mean Jimmy's been distant since he was fifteen. That's when he started phasing." Billie explained as she led Mom to Isla.
"What about Isla?" Mom asked.
"Only since last week. But she couldn't keep it from you and well, you're not gonna share this around are you?" Billie coaxed.
"No." Mom said as she scratched behind Isla's ear.
"Yeah. Cause this is something we want to tell the neighbours." Dad scoffed, and I looked at him and glared while a growl rumbled up from my chest.
Mom yelled at both me and Dad, but Isla whined, getting to her feet. Mom did shrink away a little, and I could tell by Isla's body language that she felt worried Mom was afraid of her.
"Isla, I'm sorry." Mom said as Isla began to head to the door of my house.
"It's ok. I think Isla's gonna go change back now, but her clothes are in the house." Billie whispered.
Isla nodded to Mom just to confirm what Billie said was true. Then Isla went back into the house. I hung back there by the door, wondering what to do. Should I approach Mom? Would I frighten her? Was it better to give her time to get used to it?
I didn't have to worry for long because Isla came back out, dressed in the clothes she gave Billie the day before. I turned to the door and Isla scratched behind my ear as she passed me. I went into the house and behind the curtain so I could phase back.
I phased and pulled on my clothes but I couldn't make myself move for a while. I listened out to the convo going out on the lanai. Mom was reassuring Isla that she didn't find the whole thing freakish. Then Dad had to pipe in and I had to defend my little sister.
Didn't mean I wasn't choke amount nervous when I stepped out the door.
"Oh Jimmy." Mom said as she rushed up to me and hugged me. "Now I know why you went away. You should have told me."
"I didn't know where to begin. I still don't know how to say it. Billie and Isla are a big help." I said quietly as I hugged Mom back.
"It's all out now. At least I can have you at the dinner table on Sundays again." Mom said happily and I felt a whole lot better.
"Yeah." I agreed.
"You can bring Mina too, even if she's supposed to still be in Wyoming." Mom joked as she pulled away from me to look at Billie. "What was that all about?"
"Well. When I found out Kekipi was your son it was kinda difficult to work for you without blurting something out." Billie said, and I guess it was the truth if she wanted to let Dad off the hook.
He went and put himself right back on it as he grumbled, "Sure that was the reason."
"Oh?" Mom said, turning to look at him and putting her hands on her hips. "There's another reason Big Jim?"
"She found out who I am and didn't like it." He said in a way that made me think he was trying to get Billie in trouble along with him, but it wouldn't work. Seriously, he'd been married to Mom for almost twenty-five years. You think he'd know her better.
"Who are you?" Mom demanded, ignoring the Billie thing. "Last I checked you was Jim Silva."
It was clear Dad wasn't gonna answer and he'd outed himself, so I was gonna let Mom know exactly who he was and what he'd done.
"Kimo Munroe. His parents are Susie and Tuck Munroe." I stated.
"Oh? Tuck Munroe? You never told me that." Mom said, she recognised the name.
"I don't have nothing to do with them." Dad said, folding his arms looking stubborn.
"Why?" Mom demanded.
Again he wouldn't answer. So I done it for him.
"Grandma Susie used to phase too. So all her kids knew about the wolf thing. Saw them when they went back to visit their grandparents in La Push. Dad was worried he'd become a wolf too, that's why he broke things off. Not that it would have happened by then. I guess he didn't listen careful enough to the legend."
"You knew about the wolf thing all these years!" Mom hissed as she closed the gap between her and Dad.
He nodded his head, but he couldn't exactly lie about knowing now.
"Did you know it had happened to Jimmy?" She demanded.
Dad shook his head, but Mom knew him too well.
"You knew! You knew our son was going through all this and you didn't help him? You didn't think to tell me all those nights I cried wondering what I had done to drive our son away? You…" Mom had started by raging but she broke into sobs at the end.
"Elise…" Dad said gently as he started to get up.
"Stay away from me. I don't know you." Mom cut him off as she backed away.
Isla got up and hugged Mom to her shoulder. She offered Mom a drink, and they went into the house. I didn't follow them since I figured Mom needed some girl time with Isla, and we had to make sure Dad didn't interrupt them.
"Are you ok?" Billie asked me as she hugged me.
I hugged her back.
"Yeah." I assured her.
"Why did you have to say anything?" Dad asked and I turned to glare at him.
"Fo' real?" I demanded. "It's so Isla don't have to suffer like I have these last seven years."
"Yeah, but you just put a bounty on your Mom's head." Dad growled.
"Not at all." Billie said firmly. "Even before the formation of VCAC, Elise would have been protected under the Volturi-Quileute treaty given that she's the mother of a wolf, and now, the law states that humans can be informed of our world as long as they can be trusted to keep the secret too."
Dad snorted.
"You don't think I know the laws my own brother and sister were part of making?" Billie demanded.
"I know that on the Res it's not so bad if humans know, they got protection from the wolves. What's here to protect Elise?"
"Me." Billie said as she stepped close to Dad. "I told you before that my power could make me a monster if I use it for the wrong reasons. Well if I use it for good then I can help a lot. I can take out a vamp on my own by draining their energy until they're weaker than me. Not to mention your son and daughter can turn into wolves and protect her too."
Dad just stared, he didn't have any answers to that.
I sighed and took Billie's hand, pulling her over to our usual chairs and we sat in silence while we waited for Mom and Isla to come back out of the house.
"Big Jim. We'll talk later." Mom said crossly when she and Isla came out of the house. "Kekipi."
I felt shocked that Mom used my new name.
"Mom?"
"Now I know why you changed your name I can respect it. There's a lot of thought and meaning behind it." Mom said as she smiled at me.
I nodded, happy that Mom accepted that part of me at least.
"We need to talk at some point. Catch up on all the years I've missed because I didn't know." Mom said, and she was holding back a sob.
I couldn't say much, just nod again.
"But first things first. How did you and Billie meet?" Obviously Mom wanted to lighten the mood, not dwell on the dark of the past till she had time to think this over.
I wasn't sure what Billie wanted me to admit.
"I washed up here. I used to work covert for the Coalition."
"What's that?" Mom asked.
"It's what we call the Vampire Coalition of America and Canada. It's basically the vampire nation in the US and Canada. They act as a Government so policing comes into it. You still get bad vamps and this one particular group called The League were slave-farming dhampir. I went in under cover to the one in Mexico while my cohort entered the one in New York, but we were sold out and I made a quick escape. Tried to swim for Baja California, but hitched a ride on a yacht instead. I ended up here, and found the man of my dreams."
I couldn't help but smile and kiss Billie's head when she said that.
"These League kolohe were the ones who kidnapped you?" Mom directed at Isla and I was surprised she'd said that much so soon, but then again, Isla didn't wanna keep anything from Mom.
"Yeah." Isla said.
"Kidnapped?" Dad asked.
"We'll talk about it later." Mom snapped. "Right now I need to be sure our kids are ok."
There was an awkward silence. Mom was the one who broke it.
"Billie, you were saying?"
"I washed up here and I didn't have anything on me until I got in touch with my bosses. That's why I took up that job at the Diner so I wouldn't be sponging off Kekipi before my finances were sorted. If I'd known the League would actually show up here I would have left as soon as I had my passport, but it seemed like the best option for me to sit tight here on Hawaii until everything back home was settled. Vamps never come here because it's hard for them to hide out."
"How did they find you?"
Billie shrugged.
"We haven't had a full report yet. We just wanted to get back home as soon as."
"Let me know when you find out. I want to be sure my daughter-in-law is safe." Mom said as she smiled at Billie.
Billie smiled back.
"We're all ok with this?" Dad demanded, and I guess I could cut him the tiniest bit of slack considering me and Billie had just been saying we could keep Mom safe, when we couldn't do it for ourselves.
"I told you to be quiet Big Jim." Mom snapped. "Are your cousins still down there?"
"Yeah." Isla confirmed.
"I think we should go home so I can discuss this with Big Jim. Maybe you could stay here a while and Kekipi drop you back this evening?" Mom said to Isla.
"Ok." Isla agreed.
Goodbyes were said before Mom led Dad away toward the path.
"You think they'll be ok?" Isla asked, sounding worried.
"They just need space to talk it out." I said, hoping I was right.
"Is that wishful thinking?" Isla accused, and all I could do was shrug.
"Did I cause this?" I asked, giving me a pleading look.
"No." I said firmly. "Dad caused it the day he decided not to help me."
"I still can't believe he did that. I knew before, but this confirmed it. He still doesn't want to know that side of us." Isla babbled, she was choke worried about this.
"Well he gave us the gene so he has to deal." I said coldly, it was how I felt, and Isla agreed with a nod.
Billie sighed and got to her feet.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm feeling restless. You both fancy a run?" She asked, and this was to take our minds off it, or at least Isla's mind off it.
"I could do with one." Isla said in relief.
"I'll just go change." I said and headed into the house so I didn't shred two sets of clothes in one day.
When I got back to the garden Isla'd already phased and waiting for me by Billie.
"Let's go Uleys." Billie said, using the name of the Quileute family we were descended from, and she started running for the path.
Isla and me took off after her and we had a choke lot of fun running for a couple of hours. It was three by the time we got back to the house and me and Billie hadn't eaten since breakfast, and I was sure the same went for Isla, so she stayed for some food with us before I took her back to the Big Island.
Isla headed home while I went to check if my garage was still standing. If Hani had done a decent job then I'd take him on. At least I could take on a little more work.
"Howzit?" I called as I stepped into the garage.
Hani poked climbed the steps out of the dry dock.
"Brah, you're back." He said. "All go ok?"
"Mom's still talking to us and would like to meet the rest of the family at some point." I said with a shrug.
"Gran will love that." Hani said with a nod.
"Mom will too." I said, before taking a breath. "Any problems today?"
"I think I done everything right. I only done what was on the books, but a guy named Sullivan came in with an emergency and he'll be here first thing tomorrow. I wouldn't have booked him in, but you had a free space."
"That's ok. He's a good customer." I said as I headed to the office. "You wanna come in again tomorrow morning? If you bring in all your details I could hire you on part time for now, maybe full time if we get enough extra business?"
"Fo' sure?" Hani asked.
I nodded.
"I just need your details so it's all above board." I stated,
"Ok. I'll bring them tomorrow." Hani promised.
"I officially open at eight, but I'm here from seven so turn up any time between then." I explained.
"Will the door be open?" He asked and I nodded. "Then I'll be here about half seven since you wanna take my details down."
"Sounds good." I agreed. "I'll just get you your money for today and you can go."
I went to the strong box.
"I can only pay you minimum wage unless business picks up then we can work out a commission deal for extra work." I told him as I opened the strong box.
"I don't mind minimum wage. Money's money." Hani said with a shrug.
I nodded.
"So that's a hundred bucks for today." I said after a quick calculation.
"That's way too much." Hani said, looking scared.
"You worked ten hours. Minimum is ten bucks an hour. That's a hundred bucks." I explained.
"I had an hour for lunch. So it's ninety." Hani countered.
"You shua?" I asked.
"If you weren't family then I'd take a paid lunch hour, but you're my brah, and I'm just happy for the work." Hani said as he nodded.
"Ok. I won't pay you lunch, but maybe we could come to an agreement of alternating who pays for it. It'll be ono having someone to work with again." I said, realising how I actually missed that.
"Why didn't you before?" Hani asked.
"Needed all the money I could make to build up the garage. Now I'm making enough to take on an extra pair of hands, but it also means I can have a day off now and then. Never needed to before but now I got Billie…" I trailed off happily.
"You wanna spend much time with her as you can. I'm so jealous brah that you're a wolf. You get to imprint, but also, there's the running. Gran always tells us stories of when she used to run, and I always wished I'd get it when I was keiki."
"I wish I'd been there to hear Gran's stories so I'd know what happened to me when it did."
"Oh brah! It had to be junk."
I nodded.
"Course if it had all gone well for me, I wouldn't have been on Wolf Island when Billie needed me." I reasoned.
"True." Hani said with a nod.
"So have you got a partner?"
"Yeah. I'm married." Hani said with a grin.
"You are?" I asked in surprise, he was only a little older than me.
"Well Tory had to make an honest man of me when she got pregnant." He joked.
"You're a father?" I asked, trying not to sound as shocked as I felt.
"Got two. I guess there was way too many of us at the lunch to take us all in. The two smallest are mine. For the time being, until Koa's Moana drops. Haukea is nearly five, and she's a classy little lady, just like her ma, and Haulani, he just hit the terrible twos."
"Brah, we're more or less the same age. I haven't even considered kids and you got two." I couldn't help but comment on.
"Well Kea wasn't exactly planned. Me and Tory got a little too frisky when she's was on the antibios, call us young and stupid, not to mention it was senior prom, but we didn't know the antibiotics stopped the pill from working." He said with a shrug. "As for Haul, well we already had one and had married, no point in leaving it too long to give Kea a baby sib."
"Planning on any more?" I asked.
"Nah. Tory and me agree, one of each is enough." Hani said with a chuckle.
"Ok." I said as I counted out the ninety dollars and passed it to him.
Hani picked up the wad, flicked through it then put it in his pocket. I pulled out another ten and slid it across the desk to him. He frowned at me.
"Five each for Kea and Haul to make up for the birthdays and Christmases I've missed."
"There's no need." Hani said.
"If you don't wanna give it to them now, have they got a trust fund?"
Hani shook his head.
"Then open one for each of them and if you wanna make it part of your pay deal we could arrange for five dollars a month to go into each of their accounts ready for if they plan on college when they're eighteen."
"I'll talk to Tory about it." Hani said, looking unsure.
"It's me paying it forward." I said, and Hani frowned. "When I was eighteen, I'd saved some money but my parents put up half so I could buy this garage and follow my own path in life. This way I can help two of my cousins do the same."
"Then when they're doing what they want in life they get to pay it forward?" Hani asked.
"Yeah." I confirmed.
"Pass on the good deed. I think Tory can flow with that." Hani said with a nod. "Ok. Mahalo." He said and hugged me. "I'll see you tomorrow brah."
"Aloha." I said as he left the garage.
I shut everything down then returned to hale.
Billie was sitting on the lanai, a glass of lemonade in her hand as she stared at nothing. I went over to her and it was like she didn't even notice I was there.
"Billie?"
She gasped, then focused her eyes on me. She smiled.
"You were quick." She said.
"Not that quick. I paid Hani and closed up the garage." I said, feeling worried.
"Oh." She said and frowned.
"Are you ok?" I asked as I crouched down in front of her.
"I really don't know." She said, shaking her head.
"Did you have a black out?"
"A black out." She snorted and chuckled.
I frowned at her.
"Well my name is Black and I was out." She chortled.
"You still have your sense of humour." I joked as I tucked her hair back behind her ear, I felt worried about her.
"I need to record this." She said with a sigh as she got to her feet. "And the fact I had another nightmare last night."
"You want me to do anything special for you?" I asked, offered.
"No. I just wanna relax. Forget about everything." She said warily.
"What is your favourite thing to do to relax?" I asked.
"Other than sex?" She asked flatly.
I nodded.
"A nice hot bath with lots of bubbles." She said and sighed.
"Do you want me to set your hot tub up?" I offered.
Billie shook her head. "It'll take too long."
I thought for a moment.
"We got to go to Mom's for lunch on Sunday. How about we stay on the Big Island tomorrow?" I suggested.
"What?" Billie asked with a frown.
"In a hotel. We find one that has a bath."
"Will there be any at short notice?" She asked doubtfully,
"If you know where to look. Plus, it helps to be a kamaaina." I said with a grin.
"Are you sure?"
"Go write down your report for Mal and then I'll show you how to surf the web local style."
"Laid back?" Billie asked, and I just winked at her.
She laughed, kissed my cheek then turned to the house. I followed her inside.
"I'll shower to give you some space." I offered.
"You can sit here if you want. Wake me up if I drift away again." She joked, but I realised she wanted me to stay near.
"Ok." I said and sat down.
"It won't take long." She said as she opened up her laptop.
I watched her as she typed for a while, but she didn't seem bothered by me. Finally she looked up at me with a sigh.
"Done." She said. "So, you wanna show me this local style surfing?" She asked as she turned the laptop towards me and moved her chair around until she could loop her arm around mine and lean on my shoulder.
"Ok." I said, wiggling my fingers to loosen them, it had been years since I'd really used the computer, although like everyone it was a big part of school life.
It didn't take me long to get back in touch with the keyboard and soon I was on the right FB page to hit me up with the right contact on the Big Island that could let us in on which hotel with a bath had a cancellation or an un-booked room, which would let us book tomorrow for cheap.
We ended up with a room in one of the top hotels on the Big Island for ten percent of the original price because it hadn't sold and the hotel was happy to fill it at a cut down price than not at all.
"That was amazing." Billie said and kissed my cheek.
"I didn't ever think I'd put that to use." I said, loosening my arm from hers so I could put it around her.
"We can have a bath tomorrow." She said as she snuggled into my chest.
I nodded.
"We'll have to pack a bag."
"We will." I agreed.
"We should do it now so it's out of the way then we'll have the rest of the evening."
"Yeah." I agreed.
We stayed snuggled on the chairs a little longer before we went up to pack our bags.
We both had a shower and I spent the rest of the evening trying to keep Billie's mind off any worries and on us being normal people in love. I knew that's what she wanted from me and I'd give her as much of that as possible, but I knew she still had to deal with her issues to heal from them.
We had a good, fun evening with little bits of happy for Billie to build on. When it came time to go to bed I had a better idea than climbing up to my shelf. Billie had a good sleep out on the hammock and if we went straight out there she could sleep all night. So I led her out there once I grabbed the blankets, pillows and my clock.
"I think this will help." Billie whispered as she settled down with her head on my shoulder. "It's so peaceful out here with your solid warmth and the open sky above me. I feel safe and I can sleep."
"That's all I want." I said as I stroked her arm gently.
"That's all I need." Billie whispered as she snuggled further into my shoulder. "See you in the morning."
"Pleasant dreams." I wished her with all my heart.
After that we settled to sleep, the open air calming, the sway of the hammock comforting and Billie in my arms reassuring.
Thank you for reading
Reviews are welcome
Gemma x