The clouds were rolling into the bay but the roar of the men beneath them performing the Ha'a Hawaii was far louder and more imposing than the din of the angry thunder. Their pain and grief was exposed for the whole island to see as they chanted ferociously and passionately while the bodies of the two local Oahu victims of the Hanapepe massacre were carried down the beach to their final resting place.
Grace and Oliver watched solemnly, a shared remorse passing back and forth between them over the tragic events at the sugar cane plantation, and the wailing and crying of loved ones surrounding them now on this beach. Grace took Oliver's hand and squeezed it, tears rolling down her cheeks. Watching the men go past him in a mournful march, he tightened his jaw and softly squeezed Grace's hand back.
It was five days since the massacre and Grace had continued to educate Oliver on the customs and traditions of her people, though she was even more withdrawn than she had been before. He tried not to push her to do too much, knowing that she, like many of her fellow Hawaiians, was in mourning. He never thought he'd get the chance to witness a Hawaiian funeral first hand, nor had he wished to. It was a very somber yet profound experience
The procession moved up the beach, finally stopping at a small burial ground. The caskets were carefully lowered down and mourners came up to the plots one by one to throw flowers and Lei inside.
Oliver bent down to carefully place his Lei on the coffins of the two men. He didn't know them personally but he felt he needed to come and pay his respects nonetheless. Grace had been supportive of the idea and appreciative.
When Oliver rose back up to his feet and turned around to scan the crowd for her, it took him some time before he was able to find her and when he did, he saw that she was walking away from the rest of the group, making her way inland.
He wondered for a moment whether he should just let her go and give her some space, but something told him to follow her. He quickly jogged up the beach lest he lose sight of her, and followed her in through the dense bush.
After some minutes, they arrived at a lagoon. Oliver watched with interest but stood back, perching himself on a large rock as Grace dove straight into the water, after some time she resurfaced and began swimming across the expanse of the lagoon to the other side where a glorious waterfall gushed over the rocky ridge. He watched as she went and stood underneath it, the deluge cascading over her as if it were washing away the sadness and grief, renewing her, body and soul.
She was quite naked but Oliver genuinely didn't notice, at least not through the same eyes as he might have done a few days ago, through the eyes of a man. Now, he looked at her with a soul connection and a deep understanding of her roots. As she emerged from the water, she began to explain to him the custom of cleansing oneself after a burial to remove the tapu, to allow the letting go of spirits and for moving on after loss.
Oliver removed his shirt and trousers and jumped into the cool water with her. He stood and flicked his thinning hair back, running his hands over his face before flicking some of the water behind himself just as Grace had shown him.
Grace watched him with intrigue. He was a man who commanded respect but he also showed great respect to others. She knew she had never known another man like him, especially not a foreign man. She had learned this over the past few days, had developed a trust with him and a strange sort of feeling of companionship.
Even on their first night together, Grace felt he had been gentle and considerate. From what some of her friends had told her about their first experiences with men, she knew she was fortunate in that regard.
"Are you alright?" She asked him suddenly, taking him by surprise.
He blinked. "Yes, I'm alright. Are you?"
"It's a very tragic thing that has happened and I'm very sad about it but I do feel better now for doing this."
Oliver nodded in understanding. "I do too. I'm glad we could come and show our respects. Thank you for helping me to not feel so out of place."
"Thank you for being here to help me get through it", she replied shyly.
They each gave one another a soft smile, wading in the water in companionable silence for a while until the air began to cool.
They made their way back down the beach and joined the community feast which was customary after a funeral. Grace began to help with the cooking and Oliver tended one of the fires.
What had previously been a mournful day became a celebration of life as people talked and sang and worked and ate together. Everyone seemed to uplift everyone else and Oliver could see the spirit of the Hawaiian people shining through. He was impressed and rather moved by it.
As he looked over at Grace, he began to see the self-assurance that had been so evident in her the day they'd met, when he'd first set eyes upon her. It seemed the young woman thrived when she had a purpose and felt useful. Oliver recognized the same in himself.
She placed his plate of food in front of him, still deep in conversation with another local woman and he smiled at seeing her so open and confident. He could tell she was a bright girl but she had been suppressed for far too long living with Roscoe. He knew she was capable of much more than she'd ever been given the opportunity to realize.
The wheels began to turn in Oliver's mind…
As the days and weeks went on, Grace began to feel less beholden to Oliver and more appreciative of his presence. The two of them went everywhere and did everything together and found themselves forming an oddly close bond.
Grace continued to teach Oliver the traditions and history of Hawaii. He was still partial to his beloved New York of course but he had developed quite an appreciation for the Hawaiian islands.
They spent a lot of time with Koa and the other local men, who, along with Grace, guided Oliver around the islands and showed him their way of living. The two men developed a somewhat reluctant friendship though Koa did have words of warning for Grace after seeing her and Oliver walking arm in arm down the beach one day, contented smiles on both their faces.
"Don't go thinking you can trust him just because he gives you new clothes and a place to stay. Don't forget where and how you met."
"I haven't forgotten it, but he's proven himself to be better than that. You can't always judge a person based on a first impression", she responded challengingly.
Off his dubious look, she narrowed her eyes at him. "I know what I'm doing, Koa."
He shrugged his shoulders and turned away from her, leaving Grace to ponder what her own motivation was for continuing to entertain Mr. Warbucks. She'd certainly done more than enough to orient him to the islands and had taught him many invaluable pieces of local knowledge. She;d accompanied him several times to his plantation and had even taught him a little bit of her native language. She knew in her heart that her doing these things out of kindness to him, or out of gratitude for the kindness he'd shown to her was no longer the primary reason for her devotion to him. Rather, she had come to enjoy his company. The things that came with him having money were certainly not displeasing either, but even without those things, Grace still would have volunteered to be his guide until the end of his time in Hawaii.
The truth was, she enjoyed having someone to talk to. Someone who was engaged with what she had to say. Her Father had loved her, she knew that, but she truly didn't think she'd ever earned the respect of a man before, yet Oliver made her feel as though she was not just respected, but appreciated too.
She knew what some of the locals had begun to think and say about them, but nothing defamatory had happened between her and Oliver since his first night on the Island and she knew it never would. Not just because he'd promised her that he would remain a gentleman, but because she was quite sure that after spending the night with him that one time, he couldn't possibly be interested in her in that way again. She was no longer desirable. Not that she wished to be desired by him, she told herself and then promptly wondered why she'd even had the thought.
Oliver discovered during a friendly chat over dinner one night that Grace's favorite time of the day was the very late evening. She loved to venture out at night to look at the stats and to stare out at the great black vastness beyond the shore.
From that day on, almost every night after ten o'clock, the two of them would stroll the sands of Waikiki together. The moonlight guiding their way, their footprints leaving an impression in the sand while their conversations and the company of one another left their own impressions in each of their hearts.
Of course, their evening walks did little to quell the rumors about them. The local women would look out from their verandas as they passed. Some would sneer conspiringly to their neighbors, others would sigh dreamily at romance they believed they were witnessing.
The evening before Oliver was due to depart saw them at the beach late into the evening again. The fact that he would be leaving the following day hung over them like a cloud, neither one really wanting to acknowledge it, for they both knew that in doing so, they would have to acknowledge how close they had become and how difficult it was going to be for them to say goodbye.
"Come", Grace softly coaxed him into the water, offering her hand to him. With barely a moment's hesitation, he obliged and wrapped his hand around hers securely, following her into the rolling waves.
The sand moving beneath his feet, and the water swirling around his ankles gave Oliver quite a dizzying feeling. It probably didn't help that Grace was clinging to him so tightly either.
"I must say, this reminds me a little of being drunk", he joked as he struggled to keep his balance. Grace laughed lightly in response. "I could see how you'd make that connection."
He narrowed his eyes at her scrutinizingly. "I can't imagine you ever being drunk."
Her eyes twinkled in the light of the moon as she responded, "You'd be surprised."
He lifted an eyebrow in amusement as she raised her arms up and curled them around his neck. "Hold on to me. Widen your stance a little more to keep your balance."
It was true that she didn't want him to fall, but it wasn't the only reason she said it or why she had him in her arms. The warning feeling she'd initially had about him had gone and if there was any feeling of danger now, it only excited her. Besides which, she knew there was nothing really to risk - tomorrow, he would be gone.
"The water makes you feel so weightless while at the same time, giving you a sense of being so incredibly grounded, so connected to planet Earth", she murmured the words softly, her hands curling around the base of his neck.
They were both breathing deeply, close enough for the other to hear, even over the sound of the crashing waves. There was a spark of electricity clearly passing between them, they could both feel it.
As the tide shifted around them, they pulled each other closer. Bringing her face nearer to his, she whispered. "Let the waves wash over you, just move with the tide. Feel the sand shift beneath your feet. Don't fight that pull, just go with it."
He could sense that her words held a certain weight, a certain undisclosed meaning.
"This is the strangest feeling", he told her softly, his own words holding a double meaning too. Her heart hammering louder in her ears than even the ocean, she replied to him, "Yes, it is."
She was so confused by the emotions now consuming her, by the way her body had begun to react to this man.
His eyes met hers, lit up under the moonlight. "Grace…"
"Yes?" Her voice warbled.
"I want you to come back to New York with me."
The young woman froze, immediately losing her balance. She grabbed onto his arm so as not to fall and at the same time, he tightened his hold on her but she gingerly pushed him away and stepped back, retreating from him in shock.
Oliver stepped forward, following her with wide eyes, afraid that he'd scared her off. "N-not for any kind of unscrupulous reason, you understand. I want you to work for me. I'd like to give you a job and a place to live. I think you could be a valuable asset to my company."
Grace stammered. "I…I appreciate that, Mr. Warbucks but…leave Hawaii? I'm just not sure if I could."
"You would have a very comfortable life and of course you'd still have your own freedom. You wouldn't be tied to me, you could do whatever you like in your spare time. There's so much to do and see in New York, so much to learn. I think you'd benefit from it and enjoy it a lot."
Grace continued to back up onto the sand, further away from Oliver, feeling utterly astonished and overwhelmed. "I need time to think about this", she told him honestly.
Oliver held his hands out to her beseechingly. "I leave tomorrow."
She shook her head, everything was hitting her at once and all too suddenly. She believed him when he said that he was only interested in a professional relationship with her, but how could she, in good conscience, go to America with him in that capacity when she was beginning to develop such strong personal feelings for him? She would feel like a fraud if she accepted. It wasn't as if the chance to work and live in New York wasn't an exciting prospect to her but she would mostly be accepting his offer in order to remain close to him. Could their relationship progress if it was based on pretense? Besides, she hadn't quite figured out what it was she felt for him yet, it was a feeling so foreign to her. Was she really prepared to take such a big risk in order to figure it out? Was she prepared to leave her home? To leave everything safe for something so unknown?
"I'm sorry, I just need some time", she shook her head at him, watching the sorrow fill his face as she turned and ran away from him down the beach.
…
The following morning, after packing up his things, Oliver went to the neighboring suite and knocked on the door. He knocked for quite some time, finally accepting that Grace was either not there or not answering.
With a disappointed sigh, he walked away and caught the elevator downstairs to the lobby. His steamer was leaving at ten o'clock and he had just over an hour to get to the dock and board it for the long journey back to America.
"Good morning Mr. Warbucks", the perky young concierge greeted him as he approached the desk to check out.
"Good morning. Have you seen Miss Farrell today by chance?"
"Yes Sir, she checked out quite early this morning."
Oliver bowed his head. "I see."
It comforted him to know that she had at least returned to the hotel the night before but he was dismayed to discover that she'd evidently wanted to put him and their association behind her as quickly as possible. After several weeks of getting to know her and feeling as though they had become friends, he couldn't deny the hurt he felt that he wouldn't at least have the chance to say goodbye and wish her well.
He thanked the concierge and she summoned the bag handlers to fetch his suitcases and take them down to the dock. Oliver trudged along behind them. A small crowd gathered around him, everyone excited to see the American steam ship disembarking their shores. Oliver searched the crowd for Grace but did not see her. With her in his mind, he handed out dollar bills to the children who'd come to see him off and they all cheered happily.
As he neared his boat, he spotted Koa and the other locals he'd come to know well. Koa approached him and shook his hand, pulling him in to give him a honi inu, breathing deeply as the tips of their noses touched. "Be safe, Haole", the large Hawaiian said, clapping Oliver on the back.
The American still didn't know what the term meant, though he could only guess that it had something to do with him not being a native of Hawaii.
"Thank you Koa, you too", he smiled firmly at him.
He generously tipped the men who'd helped bring his luggage from the hotel to the beach before he climbed into the small boat that would take him out to his ship.
As the outrigger bounced through the water, Oliver turned back to the beach, hoping beyond hope that he would see Grace there. He saw many jubilant people, smiling and waving at him but there was no sign of the young lady who he had formed such a strong attachment to. His heart sank as he turned back around to face the ship as they pulled up alongside it.
He climbed up to the deck and began to make his way inside the cabin when suddenly the sound of a conch shell rang out across the bay. He turned to smile and wave goodbye to the people who had hosted him one last time and realized that the ceremonial instrument was not meant for him, it was meant as a farewell for one of the island's daughters. There on the beach, surrounded by many of her friends and many more well-wishers, Grace was running towards the sea to catch the boat.
Oliver bolted to the stern of the ship, watching intently as she boarded an outrigger and it sped towards the larger vessel. He dashed over to the portside to be the first one there to help her up.
"I'm sorry to have made you wait", she apologized breathlessly before he could even speak. "There were a lot of people to say goodbye to."
Oliver extended his hand to her and guided her onto the deck. He gave her a nod and smiled, "It's alright, Miss Farrell, you made it in time." He shook the hand he was still holding onto, now grinning widely. "Welcome aboard."