Gina scratched her head. “Okay, I’m a little bad with remembering names. I’m already lost with who’s a Tanizawa and who’s here to make me even more nervous?”
They all laughed. One young woman came over to her, introduced herself as Dwight’s wife, and took the bottle from Gina. “I’m nobody you have to remember for now, but I know how a corkscrew works. It won’t help you remember our names, but it won’t matter so much after a glass of wine.”
Dwight took over again. “Kenzo is the oldest son, followed by me, then Millie, then Kyle, and Harry is the youngest. He’ll get here a little later. All the others are either in-laws or cousins here for the burgers and dogs. Don’t worry about them.”
“I guess I should’ve brought more wine,” Gina said, still wondering exactly why she was there. Just then, a glass was put in her hand by Koni, Kyle’s wife.
“There’s no shortage of this. The wives bring their own to drink, and the husbands bring beer. Which is a waste, because most of us are a bunch of boring teetotalers.”
“She hasn’t met Harry yet,” one of the women said. “Or his latest girlfriend. What’s her name again?”
“Need a Rolodex to keep track of them,” Koni said.
Gina was beginning to enjoy her visit. This crowd wasn’t all that much different from her family back in Cleveland. “To keep track of his girlfriends?”
“To keep track of the latest one’s names.” Koni forced an insincere and slightly tipsy smile. “That seems to change as often as her hair.”
“I never have seen her roots,” someone said. “Anyone know her natural color?”
“Yes. Clairol,” Koni said, laughing.
The crowd broke up, with the kids there going off to explore a trail of some sort, a couple of the men starting barbecues, and most of the women retreating to the shade of the house. Like always, Kenzo disappeared. Dwight stuck with her, though, when she went to a low rock wall with a view of the valley.
“This is a beautiful view. The mountains in the background on one side, the ocean in the other direction, and the city below.”
“See anything familiar?” he asked.
“I haven’t been here long enough to be able to recognize landmarks.”
“The tall buildings are Waikiki, of course. And the Ala Wai Canal and golf course next to it. Just a mile away on the other side of this valley below us is the university. Notice anything about what’s directly below us?”
She wouldn’t have recognized the estate except for the two large water tanks nearby. She saw the new roof of the house lost in the trees, and the circular driveway that roamed past the various gardens of the estate, and the shallow hole that would eventually become the koi pond. She could just spot one side of the little bridge, most of it hidden in the trees that covered the stream.
“Wow, seeing the estate from up here, it looks like I’ve done nothing at all.”
“That’s actually good for us, Gina.”
“Why? I’ve barely scratched the surface. Which is something I need to talk to you about. Or Millie, whoever is running the project in the background.”
“We don’t want to be in a hurry with this project. We want it to be done right. Initially, we talked to several local landscape architects who wanted to bring in heavy equipment and level the place before starting all over with something new. Then we got your proposal.”
“Yeah, my proposal from Hades. I had no reason to send you that proposal. I’m from Cleveland. What do I know about the tropics? I barely have any experience in landscape as it is.”
“That’s why we wanted you. We’re hoping you go about the job thoughtfully, even hesitantly. We figure you’ll be careful trying to preserve whatever is already there.”
“That’s how I’m trying to approach it, but I don’t know if I’m being successful or not. Really, I’ve been meaning to talk to Millie about dropping out of the project so someone more qualified can take over. Even Felix, the foreman, would do a better job of understanding what you want and then rebuild your old gardens.”
“You might not entirely understand our situation, Gina.” Dwight seemed concerned about something. “Your family name is Santoro, right?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re Italian?”
“By heritage, yes. On my father’s side, we’ve been in America for four generations. My mother came to America from Italy to marry my father.” She explained how Santoro is more of a Spanish name, but had become fairly common in the Po Valley region of Italy in the last couple hundred years. My sister likes to tease me that I’m more Italian than our mother, while Ana’s very American like our father. I don’t see it, though.”
That brought some worry to Dwight’s face, until Millie came out and nodded to him.
“We have one more Tanizawa for you to meet.”
“You have one more brother, the youngest, right?” Gina asked. “I think I heard the name Harry?”
“Eventually, but he’s not here yet.”
Dwight led Gina back into the house to one wall in particular in the living room. There were several pictures on the wall of the same people she’d just met but in younger days, along with that of a woman. There was also a small shrine of some sort on a sideboard, with several sticks of incense smoldering. Inside the shrine were another picture of the woman, and an old black and white picture of a couple in Japanese kimono. There was also a plate with a pyramid of oranges, a bowl with rice, and a small plate with wrapped candies. In the middle of everything was a ceramic cup with a clear fluid in it.
“You’ve probably figured out we’re Buddhists. This is our family shrine where we burn incense and make little offerings to remember our ancestors.”
“It’s lovely. I’ve never seen anything like it. Is the lady your mother?”
“Yes. She passed quite a few years ago.” He got the small
