"Pardon my lack of tact but how exactly does someone from Hawaii come to have a name like Farrell?" Oliver asked with interest as the two of them trudged along the sands of Waikiki.
The corner Grace's mouth quivered into a tight smile. "Well there is a story to it. My Father jumped ship during the Spanish-American War off the coast of The Philippine islands. His Father had married for the second time an Irish woman after losing his first wife when my Father was quite young. When my Father jumped ship he was considered a deserter so he assumed the name Farrell - his stepmother's maiden name, so as not to be caught."
"Well that was smart if not slightly scandalous", Oliver's top lip curled up.
Grace smiled gently to herself. "My Father adored his stepmother."
Oliver raised his eyebrows. "Sounds like a rare relationship."
Grace nodded. "He met my Mother's Father in Manila while doing business. My Grandfather worked for Dole, arranging the import/export of pineapples from Oahu to Asia and the Pacific."
Oliver's ears pricked up when hearing her speak about business.
"My Grandfather invited my Father to travel back to Hawaii with him and it was then that he met my Mother." A puff of amusement escaped Grace's lips. "I'm not sure that having his protégé fall in love with his daughter was exactly what my Grandfather had in mind but my Father used to say that when he met my Mother, no force on Earth could have stopped their love."
Oliver gave her a halfhearted smile. He could not relate to the emotions of which she was speaking. He had never been in love before.
"You said you never got the chance to know your Mother. May I ask what happened to her?"
Grace's face fell, she stared down at the sand, avoiding looking at him. "She died while giving birth to me."
Oliver sighed deeply. He could see the guilt the young woman carried over her Mother's death so evidently. Not that she could have done anything to prevent it, of course.
"That's why I'll never have children of my own", Grace shook her head. "The risk is far too great."
Oliver wasn't sure how to explain to her that it wasn't always as easy as just deciding not to reproduce. In fact there was nothing to say that what they'd done last night couldn't lead to that, but he most certainly wasn't going to raise that point with her now.
The walk from Roscoe's villa to the Moana Hotel took about an hour and as they approached the hotel they were suddenly bombarded by a group of poor, dirty, malnourished children. Some were holding out their hands speaking words Oliver didn't understand, others were simply gawking up at him in wonder.
"What's this?" He frowned at Grace.
"They're just fascinated by you…and hungry."
"Where are their parents?"
"They have none. They're orphans", Grace stroked the head of a small boy who was walking alongside her.
"Well, what do they want from me?" Oliver grumbled, walking faster to get away from the children.
Grace narrowed her eyes at him for his seemingly uncaring attitude. "They can see you obviously have plenty to give. But you're not going to, are you?"
"Why should I? They aren't my responsibility."
Grace huffed in disbelief. "Don't you feel compassion for them?"
"What for? They live on a tropical island."
"They have no one to care for them or to show them love."
"Nor did I by the time I was their age."
Grace turned her head to look at him. She didn't know what impression she'd formed of him but it wasn't that. "I'm sorry", she murmured.
Oliver shook his head. "Don't be. I made it alright."
Grace murmured something in Ōlelo and all the children replied before standing back to watch the two adults walk into the hotel.
"What did you say to them?" Oliver asked her.
"I told them I'd come back later with some food from inside."
"Do you have money for that?" Oliver asked her incredulously.
She raised her chin proudly. "I don't have much but whatever I have, I have to share."
She thought he might commend her for her altruism, but to her disappointment all he said was, "Well, that's a foolish notion if you want to get anywhere."
As they stepped up to the hotel desk, Grace turned to glare at him. "I don't want to get anywhere. I want to live my life with kindness."
Oliver stared at her for a moment but said nothing. He turned to the hotel receptionist and booked two of the hotel's best rooms.
Grace felt quite awkward and uncomfortable with the strange situation. She didn't care for the man all that much, and she certainly didn't agree with many of his life views but at the same time she felt she should be grateful to him for putting her up and looking out for her. She felt very conflicted and sort of pressured in a way.
"Thank you", she said to him as the bellhop showed her to her room.
"Not at all. I'm going to see my plantation later this afternoon. I wondered if you wouldn't mind showing me the way, if you know how to get there?"
Grace nodded her head. "Yes, I know where it is."
"Thank you Miss Farrell. I'll come and fetch you in a couple of hours."
"Yes sir, Mr. Warbucks."
Oliver nodded his head at her. They both knew that to have formality between them now was somewhat odd. After what they'd done the night before, how they had held each other and laid together, they had become very familiar with one another. However, they also both saw it for what it really was - a sort of business transaction. Despite the fact that they had bared themselves completely to one another and had given their bodies up for cherishing, cherishing one another in return, no special feelings had been developed, no particular connection had been formed. It was love making without love at all and it left both of them feeling quite hollow inside…
For the next hour and a half, Grace soaked in the most luxurious bath she had ever had in her life. She jumped in surprise when she heard a knock on the door of her room. Quickly jumping out of the tub and tying a towel around herself, she rushed to the door. When Oliver saw her standing there, dripping wet and covered only in a towel, he blinked in surprise and made a concerted effort not to look at her. "Ah, I'm sorry to interrupt. I should have asked the concierge to call you first. W-Will you be ready to leave soon?"
"Yes Sir, will you give me a few moments to get dressed?" She asked, self-consciously pulling her towel tighter around herself, despite the fact he had already seen her without clothes on.
"Yes, of course. I'll wait for you out here."
Grace quickly closed the door and released the breath she'd been holding during the rather embarrassing interaction. She went and quickly got changed before opening the door again and joining him in the hallway.
As they stepped outside into the bright sun again, Oliver squinted yet took in a deep breath of the sea air. "I don't know how long it's going to take me to get used to all this quiet."
"What do you mean? What's wrong with the quiet?" Grace asked incredulously.
"Oh nothing really, it's just…not New York."
Grace shook her head. "At least here you can be at peace. In America I'm sure you must constantly have your defenses up, checking behind you wherever you walk. With all of the landowners coming from there, I'm sure that's just how Hawaii will become one day soon too", she said somberly.
Oliver frowned at her. "Where exactly did you gain this impression of America from?"
Off of her coy expression, the conclusion was easy for Oliver to come to. "Roscoe", he shook his head. "He never really was particularly loyal, especially for a Naval man."
Keeping her head bent, Grace said, "He's always talked about how America's full of gang members and criminals."
"Well that's certainly not very fair. That's not what the majority of Americans are like. I mean, do I look like a gang member or a criminal?"
She raised her eyes to meet his. "No. You look like a man with an eye for development. But Hawaii doesn't need to be developed. Everything we need is already here. Everything we are is perfect."
"So you don't agree with the idea of statehood?"
"Not one bit. Nor do I agree with territorialism. Do you know what colonization has done to my home? It has introduced disease, derision, war…"
"Well hold on a minute, what about all the good things that have been introduced here? Medicines for those diseases, proper education, jobs for people in our workforces?"
"Our sovereignty was our birthright, we never asked for the overthrow of our kingdom or the annexation of our islands and those who agreed to it were entirely and unfairly coerced!"
Oliver raised his eyebrows in surprise at the conviction of her speech and how well-spoken she really was. But as impressed as he was with her, he also couldn't help but see her as something of a cynic. "And how much of a stake do you yourself claim to possess over what you say is "your land"? When you told me just this morning your Father was an immigrant himself!"
Grace became very defensive in response to his question. She grit her teeth and cried in dismay, "He was a man who came to this island with nothing and worked his fingers to the bone for his humble lot. Unlike your kind of people who've come here already possessing everything and continue to take and take and take, pillaging our land and stripping the rights of our people…"
Oliver sighed, beginning to see why the young woman was so angry.
"Alright", he started to concede, but Grace wasn't through yet.
"...Profiting from our sacred soil and destroying the purity of our women!"
Oliver felt as though she'd really punched him in the gut with that last statement. Knowing how personal and how raw that particular subject was between them.
"Alright", he whispered in regret. "I'm…I'm sorry for any harm that's been done to you and to your people."
Grace swallowed thickly, refusing to allow the tears stinging her eyes to fall.
"After what happened last night, I can understand how you have developed your opinions of me. I don't know if there's any way I could change your mind about me personally. In terms of my business interests here, of course my main focus is to generate profit, however I don't consider myself to be among the landowners who are giving their workers a raw deal. I concede there are quite a number who are and I know that many people are suffering because of it. But I beg you, come and see for yourself how I run my operation and then judge me for me, not as a generalized idea of who you think I am."
Grace pursed her lips. She wanted to tell him that after last night, she knew perfectly well who he was, but she bit her tongue and continued to lead him inland.
When they arrived at the sugar plantation, they went to the mill first to meet with the foreman. He greeted Oliver as an old friend despite the fact the two had never met in person before. Grace watched the two men talk with interest. The foreman, Charles, told Oliver that in spite of the turmoil and unrest surrounding the industry and the dissatisfaction of workers in Hawaii, their productivity was at an all time high and the workers were as satisfied as they had ever been.
Grace was silently doubtful until she saw Charles introduce Oliver to the workers and watched as each one of them greeted him with enthusiasm and gratitude.
Grace was taken aback. There were laborers on the island ready to stage riots over their working conditions, yet these people seemed perfectly content in their jobs. Grace followed the men out into the plantation, watching from afar as Oliver greeted each one of his employees with a handshake and sincere words of thanks.
The young woman couldn't help but consider that perhaps this man was different from the rest after all.
…
After a full inspection of the plantation and the mill, Oliver took Grace up to the top balcony of the stone building so they could both watch out over the vast landscape and look at one of Oliver's many empires in action.
They stood, gazing out across the fields in silence for quite some time, neither one knowing what to say after their tense conversation that morning.
Finally, it was Grace who broke the ice with a sentiment Oliver hadn't been expecting from her.
"Your employees all seem to respect you very much. It's clear you do a lot to earn that."
"Perhaps it's because I don't treat them any less than I would expect them to treat me. I acknowledge the integral part they play in the day to day operations of my company, every bit. Without them, there would be no Warbucks industries", he said in a way that was unexpectedly gracious.
"I don't think there are many people in your position who would even think to recognize that", Grace told him honestly.
Oliver shrugged a little. "Perhaps now you might see why I didn't give my food to those orphans earlier today. As far as I'm concerned, my fortune is better spent helping the adults of these islands to be able to support their families by giving them gainful employment. If every employer did so, maybe there would be fewer orphans in need of such gratuity."
Grace knew that what he was saying made a lot of sense. Not only did his way keep people employed and earning, it gave those people a sense of empowerment.
"I don't believe in handouts", he continued, "But what I do believe in is giving people opportunities to make their own way in the world."
"I think I may have judged you too quickly. I apologize." She bowed her head regretfully.
Oliver gave her an empathetic look. "I understand the allegiance you have to your Grandfather and the loyalty he had to the monarchy and to these islands. But the ideals your Grandfather had belong to the past. Time moves forward and we must move forward with it."
She nodded slowly, understanding where he was coming from. After a few moments of silence, both of them looking out over the plantation from the balcony of the mill, Grace turned to him with a touch of wryness on her face. "I still think you could have at least given those poor orphans some food."
Oliver's eyes widened at her guile. He gave a disgruntled huff. "Well, we still have to pass back that way to return to the hotel, don't we?"
The smile on Grace's face stretched out into a full grin and Oliver shook his head, wondering how a woman barely known to him could have such a hold on him already.
A/N 1: So when I started writing this story and set it in the year 1924, I actually had no idea that there was riots going on in that time in Hawaii over the conditions and unfair payment for sugar cane workers. Since I started researching sugar plantations of the time and discovered this, I decided it would be wrong of me to simply ignore that and so I had to re-jig this chapter a little to include that topic, at least in part. There will likely be more of this covered later in the story too.
A/N 2: Fun fact - the story of Grace's Father changing his name to avoid treason charges after jumping ship during the war is actually the story of my Great-great Grandfather Henry Barber. He assumed his Mother's maiden name, which was Charlotte Maurice. His Father's name was Arthur Barber. If it weren't for him, I would be a Barber and not a Maurice! I guess if it also weren't for him I wouldn't be here either, so there is that too!