“Forgive me, please. It’s just that I had always envisioned my Mother with me…” she starts to say and struggles not to cry.
Emma takes pity on Heather and wraps an arm around her shoulder. “You have come to the right place, sweetie. I can have you dressed and out the door in no time! Don’t worry about a thing! Where are you getting married?” she asks her gently leading her to a chair. With a snap of her well-manicured fingers, another clerk hurries over with a tray of refreshments.
Heather looks at Elina and back at Emma and discovers kindness in her brown eyes. She takes a deep, calming breath and fills her in on all the details.
“It is a beach wedding at sunrise. With my Mother’s sudden death, we didn’t want to wait any longer,” she says wiping her eyes.
“Tell me about the lucky man,” she asks gently pulling Heather up out of the chair. They walk toward a rack of dresses as Emma looks her over carefully noting the young girl’s skin coloring, long curly hair color and body shape. She pauses when Heather smiles, lighting up.
“His name is Seth, he is amazing. He is gentle, kind, loving, and protective. I don’t know how I got so lucky, Emma? He saved my life, and I lost my heart.” She begins to feel a sense of peace as she talks about Seth. Her smile illuminates the room when she tells her, “I want to knock his socks off Emma! Can you help me?”
“Yes, I can! Let’s get started.” Emma responds confidently.
Three hours later, Heather has a beautiful dress and all the accessories to go with it. Elina has a turquoise sun dress, with simple beading and they are laughing as they find a quiet spot to port back to the house. They stash their purchases in the guest room and run outside to meet the family.
Chapter 20
The sun has set and Seth with his family are relaxing outside near a large fire pit, surrounded by chairs.
“Time to get to business,” Elina thinks. She hates to be the bearer of bad news, especially on Christmas Eve, but they need to be filled in. Just her presence alone is enough to put this family at risk. Seated around the pit, Elina listens to the laughter and love of those around her and she hopes they will forgive her.
Jake takes her hand as though reading her mind. He nods at her in encouragement.
“Seth, can I have a minute with you? I have a favor to ask of you?” Nervous, she speaks quickly knowing what she asks is too much.
“Elina, you may speak freely in front of my family. They know who and what you are,” he responds.
She takes a deep breath, looking at the expectant faces around her and begins.
“Good, then you all know I am the Keeper of the Light. I have been chosen to…”
Jake struggles not to laugh and he chuckles causing her to stutter.
“Jake! This is serious. My coming has put all of you at risk and I need your help.”
Jake looks ashamed. “Sorry, please continue, Elina,” he says smiling.
“The demons are drawn to the power of the Keepers, and I…” she is forced to stop again when Seth starts to laugh.
Leilani looks at her husband and speaks in Hawaiian and the boys all start to laugh. Heather struggles not to laugh as well. Scott pats Heather and leans overs to whisper.
“This old man needs some coffee. I’ll be back.” He says, slipping off to the house.
Smiling Heather nods at her father and turns back just as Elina’s anger begins to grow.
“What is so funny? You find it funny that your family is in danger?” She stands up, “I am asking you to fight demons and protect humanity and you think this is funny!”
Scott hurries up the path to the house, Elina’s raised voice fades into the sound of the waves pounding the sandy beach. His anger is boiling and writhing within his soul. He struggles with keeping it inside, hidden. He kicks his ways into the kitchen mumbling under his breath.
“How did you protect humanity, Keeper? By letting her die! Control it, Scott!” he snarls.
A familiar motion has him pulling open a kitchen drawer full of knives. His tool of choice is a sharp steak knife. Unconsciously, he tests the edge of the blade with his thumb.
A step over to the gas range and he flips on the burner, “Control it!” he tells himself as he passes the blade through the blue flame. His hand is trembling with the barely controlled hurricane of emotions inside and he smiles when the blade turns red hot.
He pulls open his button up shirt and drags the tip of the blade down his chest, not slicing, but branding a path over the healed scars that ripple across his body. The smell of burnt flesh rises and the fury consumes his mind as his whole body now shudders with the pain he is inflicting on himself.
“Focus!” he snarls pressing the desire to kill down. “Just wait!” he focuses on the white hot throbbing pain as his mind registers the intensity of the sensation.
Over and over he scorches his chest with ribbons of burnt flesh. Calmer now the pain in his chest soothes him for the moment. He flips the burner off and closes his shirt before carefully cleaning the knife and returning it to the drawer.
The flask of whiskey he carries is half full, so he takes a swig and moves over to the coffee pot. Working silently he flips the switch on and waits.
“Soon she will pay.” He promises the memory of his dead wife.
On the beach Makaio stands and everyone falls quiet. As the Chief of his family, he holds ultimate power. He takes pity on this young woman with the weight of the world on her
