Looking at one another as they carried their children, Jessie and Art both tried to remain strong. Neither of them could be sure what it meant for them that they hadn’t been able to find a way off of the island, but they knew they had to put the safety of their boys first and protect them until the very end. It had been dangerous and risky taking Zayn and Axel out toward the cruise liner in the first place, but that had seemed necessary in the moment. From now on, they both silently vowed to do right by their boys before anything else. They may be trapped in Hawaii, but they weren’t finished, yet.
As they walked back inside their house, the door never even having been locked behind them, Jessie felt a weird mixture of relief and fear wash over her. She had no idea what was going to happen next and that terrified her, but she couldn’t deny she felt considerably less anxious now her family was back in their home.
She and Art made their excuses to the boys as rationally as they could manage, fed them a quick meal and took them both upstairs to their rooms. Axel was asleep within minutes, his tiny head nestling down beneath the covers until only his mop of blond hair was visible in the dim, green glow of his night light. Zayn took a little longer though, the seven-year-old understanding what had been happening a little more than his younger brother did.
“I don’t understand,” he said as Jessie sat on his bed and stroked his cheek, gazing down at her first born son like he was a miracle. “Why did we all have to leave the island?”
“Something has happened on the mainland which is going to change things for us,” Jessie tried to explain. Her son was intelligent, but he was still only a child and she didn’t want to worry him anymore than he already was. “We thought we needed to leave so we could deal with it, but it turns out we can cope with everything from home. Things just might be a little bit harder than we’re used to.”
“I thought we needed to get on the big boat?”
“We tried,” Jessie nodded. “But they couldn’t fit everyone on. Some of us have to stay behind and look after the island, so we’re going to do that. Okay?”
“Okay,” Zayn mumbled, nodding into his pillow.
“Try and get some rest now, bud,” Art piped in from the doorway after having changed into his pajamas. It was remarkable the difference having children made: his mind was still on high alert as he tried to process what was going to happen to him and his family next, but he knew if his boys saw him dressed and ready for bed it would make the pair of them feel relaxed. And Arthur was willing to do anything for his boys. “Sleep tight.”
“Night dad,” Zayn said as he rolled over to make himself comfortable. Jessie stood up from his bed as slowly as she could manage, trying as she did every night not to disturb her son. As she reached the door, she planted a soft kiss on Art’s cheek and smiled at him, pulling the door closed behind her and leaving her eldest to sleep and hopefully forget the ordeal of his evening.
“What are we going to do?” Jessie asked her husband once the two of them were downstairs, standing in their kitchen which looked vaguely like a bombsite from their desperate attempt at packing things before heading out to the cruise liner. Shaking her head, Jessie felt responsible for them missing the boat. If she hadn’t been so intent on gathering supplies, then maybe they would’ve made it. Maybe they could’ve gotten off the island.
“Or maybe we would’ve been crushed by the closing doors,” Art spoke up, reading his wife’s mind and knowing exactly what was troubling her from the look on her face. “Maybe we would’ve been the ones who were pushed off of the pier into the ocean. Maybe we would’ve been trampled on the deck of the boat. It wasn’t equipped for that many people to try and get on board. It was,” Art paused, struggling to find the words to say. “Ridiculous. I think we made the right choice coming back home when we did. We need to keep the boys safe, that’s the most important thing.”
“I know,” Jessie nodded, strongly agreeing with her husband. “But what are we going to do in the long run? If there isn’t any money, how are we going to survive?”
With a deep sigh, Art shook his head. “I don’t know, babe. I don’t know what’s going to happen to us now.”
Jessie had never expected Art to have all the answers, but his response still made the pang of fear inside her chest throb again, reminding her it was there. She leaned against her husband, her head on his chest as he held her in his arms and the two of them closed their eyes, trying to block out the worries and fears that plagued them. There was no way of guessing how life on their tiny island would change now. Without resources from the rest of Hawaii and most importantly, the mainland, they would be forced to be self-sufficient and live off only what the land could give them. Truth be told; that wasn’t much.
But Jessie and Art both believed they would figure something out. Their two little boys were sleeping upstairs and keeping them safe and happy was – like it always had been – the most important thing. The stream of money ebbed and flowed like water, sometimes it was a gushing river and other times nothing more than a leaky faucet, but they always survived. It wasn’t the be all and end all of their lives, both
