Hannah turned her face to Kaiulani and put her arm around her shoulder in an embrace. “Don’t—cry.” Her complexion was a sickly yellow. There was no color in her lips.
“Look what I’ve done to you! Oh!”
Hannah croaked, “No. Kai—don’t—”
“I’ll make tea. Can you drink some, do you think?”
Hannah attempted a smile, but the hacking seized her again. Kaiulani held her until the convulsion released. She kissed her forehead and hurried to make a steaming cup of tea with three sugars. Carrying it back to the bedside, Kaiulani propped her up and held the cup to her lips. “Please, Hannah! You’ve got to try.”
It seemed to sap all Hannah’s strength to take the first sip. She swallowed hard. For an instant her eyes cleared with a look of thanks.
“Yes. Good girl! More? Please try! Oh! Iesu!”
At the name of Jesus, again Hannah sipped the brew, then closed her eyes and sank back. “Baibala Hemolele.” She sighed. “Read—please.”
Kaiulani rushed to the bookshelf and searched for an original copy of the first Hawaiian Bible from among the volumes. As she touched the well-worn volume, the fleeting thought came to her that this Bible had been translated into Hawaiian in part by missionary Asa Thurston—Asa, grandfather of Lorrin Thurston, architect of the betrayal of the Hawaiian people. How far the children of the righteous had fallen in their worship of wealth and power!
Kaiulani closed her eyes a moment and prayed that her heart would not be bitter against God because of what evil men had accomplished. “Speak your love into our broken hearts on this dark night of our souls, O Iesu!”
Hannah turned her head toward Kaiulani’s whispered prayer. “Please, read—Ke Akua Mana E!”
The Bible fell open in Kaiulani’s hands to Psalm 91. Her eyes fell on verse 2, and she began to sing the words as she read, “ ‘E olelo aku au ia Iehova’ (I will say to the Lord), ‘Kuu puuhonua, kuu puukaua hoi’ (my refuge and my fortress). ‘Kuu Akua, e paulele aku au ia ia’ (my God in whom I trust).”
Kaiulani paused. Hannah sighed with relief. “My heart is warmed. You—must—trust.”
Kaiulani sank down. Her lips near Hannah’s ear, she sang, “ ‘Aole oe e makau i ka mea hooweliweli i ka po’ (you will not fear the terror of night). ‘No ka mea, e kauoha mai no ia i kona poe anela nou’ (He will command his angels concerning you). ‘E malama ia oe ma kou mau aoao a pau’ (to guard you in all your ways).”
Hannah whispered, “This is—His promise—to you, Kaiulani.”
“For you too, sister of my heart.”
Hannah answered firmly. “Verse 12 for me soon.” She recited from memory, “ ‘E kaikai lakou ia oe, ma ko lakou mau lima’ (on their hands they will bear me up). Soon!”
“Oh, Hannah, please! Your love is to me more faithful than that of men. Don’t speak of leaving me! I can’t bear it. I can’t!”
Hannah said, “In place of Kaiulani, Hannah must sleep—beside your mother at Mauna ala.”
“I won’t permit it!”
“ ‘E hoonui aku au i kona mau la’ (with long life will I satisfy him). ‘A e hoike aku no hoi au ia ia, i kou hoola’ (and show him my salvation).”
Kaiulani clasped Hannah’s hands. “Yes, Hannah, you must live! You will live a long life!”
“No, Kaiulani. I want to go home. Don’t you see? You must live—live long—safe, happy…in my place.”
“Oh, Iesu! I can’t let her go! Please! Please!”
Rain drummed upon the roof and sluiced off the eaves.
Kaiulani wept and prayed for help to come.
* * * *
The storm had broken. Morning sun shone brightly through the windows. Kaiulani had slept through the night beside Hannah, warming her, keeping her soul from flying away. Clammy cold had become a burning fever, yet Hannah had lived through the night. Was that not reason to hope?
“Oh, Hannah.” Kaiulani kissed her cheek. “You’re still here.”
But Hannah did not reply. She only caressed Kaiulani with her eyes. Her breath was labored, coming in shallow gasps. Her heart beat fast like a little bird’s.
The approach of horses’ hooves sounded on the gravel. Kaiulani leapt up and ran to the window. “Oh, Jesus! Thank You! Thank You, Jesus! Hannah! It’s Andrew! And Papa! They’re here! They can take you to a doctor! You’re going to get well! You’ll see!”
Barefoot, Kaiulani rushed from the house and threw herself into Andrew’s arms. The details spilled from her as he and Papa Archie followed her into the house and to Hannah’s bedside. “And then my horse fell. She came looking for me in the rain. Pneumonia, I think. I couldn’t leave her to go for help. I couldn’t help her! Oh, I prayed all night you’d come back for us. To take us back to civilization. She must have a doctor’s care!”
After one look at Hannah struggling for breath, the men flew into action. Andrew said, “There’s a buckboard in the shed. I’ll harness the team.”
Archie instructed Kaiulani, “We’ll get her to Honolulu.”
“I must go with her.” Kaiulani’s eyes filled with tears. “I won’t leave her.”
“You can’t come. More dangerous for you now than ever. Kaiulani, you must stay behind. We’ll take care of her. Good as new. You can’t come.”
Hannah opened her eyes and focused on Archie. “Papa—Archie?” Each word was a breath.
“Sweet Hannah, what’s this? What’s all this?” he asked. “My sweet girl.”
Hannah reached for him, clasping his sleeve. “I—am—your— daughter.”
“Of course. Of course, Hannah.”
Her other hand, trembling from the fever, groped for Kaiulani’s right hand. Hannah cried, “Listen. You must listen! I dreamed, and from this moment, behold—I live and die—as Princess Kaiulani Cleghorn.”
Kaiulani dropped to her knees. “Please, Hannah! Don’t say this. Please, promise me!”
Hannah tried to raise up on her elbow but failed, falling back on the pillow. Andrew burst in. “All ready to go.”
Hannah’s voice was fierce. “I—am—Kaiulani Cleghorn!”
Deep brown eyes sought Kaiulani’s soul. “I dreamed—Mama was here last night—Kaiulani, please, I want to go home.”
“No!” Kaiulani cried.
Andrew, panting, stood back as Kaiulani threw herself across her friend. His knowing gaze locked on Archie’s.
Archie said gently, “Kaiulani, we must hurry if we are to get her down the mountain.”
Hannah rasped, “You must stay behind—live in my place.”
Kaiulani kissed Hannah’s fingers. “I won’t let you go!”
“I’ll be there—to meet you—when you come home.”
“Hannah! How will I live? Who will I talk to?”
Hannah’s voice was gentle, tenderly pleading, “I am asking—your permission—to go home.”
Kaiulani could hardly speak. She sobbed against Hannah’s neck. “Oh, Hannah! My beloved sister. My dearest friend.”
Hannah captured one of Kaiulani’s tears on her fingertip and held it to her lips. “Your tears are mine. It is written, someday—Jesus will dry every tear. Kaiulani, for this cause I came into the world. I have no choice now—from the beginning my steps were ordered by the Lord. My sister—your permission to let me play the role of the princess one last time. Please—let me—go.” She held Kaiulani’s hand to her heart.
Kaiulani nodded, sobbing.
Hannah smiled. “You live now as Hannah—in my place. Promise me—you will live a long and happy life.”
Kaiulani replied, “I promise. Anything. You promise to be there, waiting, when I come.”
“I will. And watching with those who love you. You live for us both. You must live out our days with joy.” Hannah looked toward Andrew. “This one—my beloved—she is Hannah now. She will marry you. You will love her well—for all her life?”
Andrew answered, “I will.”
Hannah sighed. “Then I am ready. Ready. Kaiulani? Mahalo. Aloha, my beloved
sister—my friend. Aloha nui loa.”
“Aloha, sweet Hannah. Aloha nui loa. Aloha me ka paumake.”
* * * *
1973
The old woman’s warm brown eyes brimmed as she studied Sandi’s face. She caught a single teardrop on her index finger and held it to her lips in a gesture spanning quiet decades of unforgotten love and friendship
“Aloha me ka paumake,” Sandi whispered.
“My heart is with the one…”
“…who is done with dying,” Sandi finished.
“Yes. So now you know the truth.” Kaiulani reached out to Sandi, enfolding her in an embrace as if she was a small child in need of comforting.
Sandi laid her head against Kaiulani’s chest. “You’ve kept the secret.” Sandi’s voice caught in her throat. She could not finish her thought. The old woman’s heart was strong after a lifetime of beating for two lives.
“For almost seventy-five years I have lived on, since we said Aloha. No day has dawned, no sun has set, without my heart remembering her great love. She died in my place. She is home, waiting. I am certain of it. Hawaii’s legend has become history. It is written that Princess Kaiulani died, and thousands mourned the day she was buried in Mauna ala, the ‘Fragrant Hills.’ ”
“Near your mother and the last king of Hawaii.”
The Princess Victoria Kaiulani did not reply to this statement of fact. She stroked Sandi’s hair. “Someday the true King of Heaven and Earth will return, and we will all cast our crowns at His feet. He will judge and set all things right. It is written then that our Lord will dry every tear, and there will be no more sorrow. No more sorrow.” She released Sandi and smiled into her face. “Do you understand?”
“Yes.” Sandi sat back on her heels.
“Do you believe?”
“The evidence is irrefutable.” Sandi glanced at a file containing decades of personal letters signed, Hannah Adams, which were unmistakably written in the handwriting of Princess Kaiulani. “What about your life? You and Andrew?”
“We were married that same month in a small ceremony in The Mission House. God blessed us with three beautiful daughters and a son. One of my daughters, Hannah is her name, is Archie’s grandmother. I was always partial to her, as you can guess.”
The faded photographs and ancient tintypes on the walls and dressing table took on new meaning for Sandi. As never before she understood what the Bible meant about the “great cloud of witnesses.” 28
“Do they know?” Sandi asked.
“A handful know the secret. There were 144 of us at our family’s Christmas picnic. Impossible to keep a secret with so many.”
“Archie?” Sandi’s eyes widened.
Kaiulani laughed. “Archie is named for my father.”
As if summoned by Sandi’s thoughts, Archie knocked on the half-open door. “Aloha! Gramma?”
“And here he is.” Kaiulani extended her arms to her great-grandson. “Look at him. Handsome. Just like my Andrew. My heart skips for joy every time I lay my eyes on him.” Kaiulani leveled her gaze on Sandi. “He tells me you would make a fine first mate for the Royal Flush.”
Suddenly the name of the sailboat took on new significance. Sandi felt herself blush at Kaiulani’s frank declaration. “I—I…he never told me that.”
Archie crossed his arms and towered over Kaiulani. “If Her Royal Highness says it, you can believe it.”
A blackbird perched on the railing of the lanai and cocked his head at her. Broken wings…learn to fly… . Sandi gazed at Archie’s face and knew why she had come—why Kaiulani had chosen to reveal the secret to her. She had not come to Lahaina looking for love. In spite of everything, love had found her in Lahaina. Her heart filled with an overwhelming sense of joy. It was time to live again.
The old woman clasped their hands. “Aloha. It is a sacred word. Life is too short to wait, my children. I have asked the Lord if I might live to see my great-great grandchildren before I go home.”
Archie touched Sandi’s cheek and pulled her close. He kissed her gently. “What do you say, Sandi? You and me on the Royal Flush?”
Sandi sighed with contentment in his embrace. “Yes. Yes! Sounds like a winning hand to me.”
About the Author
BODIE THOENE (pronounced Tay-nee) has written over fifty works of historical fiction. That these best sellers have sold more than twenty million copies and won eight ECPA Gold Medallion Awards affirms what millions of readers have already discovered—that Bodie is not only a master stylist but an expert at capturing readers’ minds and hearts.
In the timeless classic series (coauthored with husband, Brock) about Israel (The Zion Chronicles, The Zion Covenant, and The Zion Legacy), the Thoenes’ love for both story and research shines. With The Shiloh Legacy and Shiloh Autumn (poignant portrayals of the American Depression), The Galway Chronicles (dramatic stories of the 1840s famine in Ireland), and the Legends of the West (gripping tales of adventure and danger in a land without law), the Thoenes have made their mark in modern history. In the A.D. Chronicles they step seamlessly into the world of Jerusalem and Rome, in the days when Yeshua walked the earth. New novels from Bodie include the political thriller ICON, The First Stone, and The Zion Diaries series.
Bodie, who has degrees in Journalism and Communications, began her writing career as a teen journalist for her local newspaper. Eventually her byline appeared in prestigious periodicals such as U.S. News and World Report, The American West, and The Saturday Evening Post. She also worked for John Wayne’s Batjac Productions and ABC Circle Films as a writer and researcher. John Wayne described her as “a writer with talent that captures the people and the times!”
Bodie has long been intrigued with the personal accounts of history. The romantic and often mysterious stories based in Hawaii have held a special enchantment for her. “There, the past and the present overlap through the lives of elders sharing their memories,” Bodie says. “When I met that old Hawaiian woman, who was making leis in the shade of Lahaina’s banyan tree, I was entranced by her photos—and her personal remembrances of Princess Kaiulani. The rumors she shared shed new light on the old story, as if Romeo and Juliet had a happy ending. As she told me the legends and the romance, I knew I must write it one day.”
Bodie and her husband, Brock, have four grown children—Rachel, Jake, Luke, and Ellie—and seven grandchildren. Their children are carrying on the Thoene family talent as the next generation of writers, and Luke produces the Thoene audiobooks. Bodie and Brock divide their time between Hawaii, London, and Nevada.
www.thoenebooks.com
www.familyaudiolibrary.com
Notes
1 “To Princess Kaiulani,” Songs of Travel and Other Verses, Robert Louis Stevenson, http://www.online-literature.com/stevenson/songs-of-travel/29, 2/15/2010.
2 Psalm 19:1–3
3 Psalm 19:4
4 “A Wand’ring Minstrel I,” The Mikado, by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, http://www.leoslyrics.com/listlyrics.php?hid=aEeHmYrPois%3D, 2/15/2010.
5 “Braid the Raven Hair,” The Mikado, by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, http://www.leoslyrics.com/listlyrics.php?hid=bYCuLwLBptI%3D, 2/15/2010.
6 “Libretto,” The Mikado, by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, http://www.jumbojimbo.com/lyrics.php?songid=5864, 2/15/2010.
7 “Three Little Maids from School,” The Mikado, by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, http://www.guntheranderson.com/v/data/threelit.htm, 2/15/2010.
8 “Braid the Raven Hair,” The Mikado, by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, http://www.leoslyrics.com/listlyrics.php?hid=bYCuLwLBptI%3D, 2/15/2010.
9 “A Long Time Ago,” by Jim Croce, 1972, http://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/jim+croce/a+long+time+ago_20241120.html, 2/16/2010.
10 “Sorry Her Lot Who Loves Too Well,” The Mikado, by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, HMS Pinafore, 1878, http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/gilbert_and_sullivan/sorry_her_lot_who_loves_too_well-lyrics-1148335.html, 2/16/2010.
11 “In the Blea
k Midwinter,” Christina G. Rossetti, http://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh221.sht, 2/16/2010.
12 “In the Bleak Midwinter,” Christina G. Rossetti, http://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh221.sht, 2/16/2010.
13 The Gondoliers, Act I, by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, http://download.franklin.com/cgi-bin/franklin/ebookman_free_preview?cpogs10, 2/16/2010.
14 “Regular Royal Queen,” The Gondoliers, by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/gondoliers/html/royal.html, 2/16/2010.
15 Romans 10:14–15