Leaving Lavender Tides Read online

Raul shrugged. “It’s my retirement reward.”

  Otis looked away. “I’d always planned to take my wife to Hawaii for our thirty-fifth. She died six months ago, but I decided to come anyway.”

  Zach winced and clapped his hand on the man’s shoulder. “I don’t know what to say, Otis. I’m really sorry.” He slipped his arm around Shauna in a protective embrace.

  She felt incredibly selfish at the thought that she might not have Zach to herself this trip. His friend Otis obviously needed some support after losing his wife, and she should be glad they were there to give it, but the balloon of her anticipation suddenly deflated. This might not be the honeymoon she’d hoped for.

  Chapter 2

  His wife. Zach’s gaze lingered on Shauna’s smooth tanned arms, bare in her vibrant turquoise dress. Her black hair was in an elegant updo that revealed her neck and shoulders and made her look a bit taller, which she probably liked. Her hands were in motion as she talked with Raul and Otis, who’d joined them for dinner. Crystal chandeliers glittered overhead, and the murmur of conversations around the dining room filled the air.

  It was going to be a great honeymoon, and maybe they’d be able to let go of all the terror they’d gone through in the past month.

  He realized Shauna and Raul were staring at him. “What?”

  “Raul asked you a question three times.” Shauna’s green eyes held a teasing light. “Thinking about that bike ride in the morning?”

  He grinned. “It’s going to be fun.”

  “Getting up at three is not going to be fun.” Her green eyes smiled at him over the rim of her water glass.

  “Hey, that’s five our time. I’m not on Hawaiian time yet, are you?”

  “That’s its only saving grace.” She glanced at Otis. “What are you fellows doing tomorrow on Maui?”

  “I thought about that Haleakala ride, but I’m not sure I’m up for that. I might sleep in, then head for the beach and snorkel, maybe take in a whale-watching excursion in the afternoon.”

  Zach focused his thoughts. “Sounds good. We’re doing dinner at Leilani’s on the Beach tomorrow night. Want to join us?” Shauna’s smile dimmed. He should have kept his mouth shut, but he’d seen the loneliness in Otis’s face.

  Otis raised his brows in mock alarm. “That’s okay. You guys are on your honeymoon. You need to hold hands and gaze at the sunset. I might cruise the bars and look for a cute tourist.”

  Raul let out a careless laugh. “All these couples make me want to have a woman on my arm too.”

  Saved by their good sense. Zach grinned. “Good luck, buddy.”

  Over dinner Raul had talked about all his travels. The man had made millions with a start-up dot-com business. He’d shown them pictures on his phone of him standing at a temple in India with his wife some years back.

  Raul stared off into the distance. “We didn’t go on beach vacations. She was afraid of water, and she much preferred cultural experiences. A new wife could never measure up to her.”

  Zach’s gaze cut to Shauna. If anything happened to her, he didn’t think he could ever remarry either. She was irreplaceable. But she’d remarried him after losing the love of her life, his best friend, Jack.

  For a year they thought Jack had fallen accidentally while climbing, an event Zach blamed himself for. They’d found things were not what they seemed and that the danger was far from over. Together they’d obtained justice for Jack, and now the future was a bright ribbon in front of them.

  The servers began to clear away the dessert plates, and Zach realized it was nearly seven thirty. People would probably be waiting for their table since the cruise line did freestyle dining. “Guess we’ll head out of here.”

  Shauna rose as if she had been waiting for him to say that. “I wanted to go to the comedy show tonight, but I’m really beat. It’s ten thirty our time, and I don’t think I can stay awake for it.”

  And he was eager to have his bride all to himself. He took her hand and smiled at the men. “See you later, guys. Have a good evening.”

  A shadow passed over Otis’s face but was quickly gone. “You too.”

  As they got out of earshot, Shauna rose on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear. “They probably wanted us to hang around with them longer. I just couldn’t do it.” She produced a big yawn and sighed.

  He squeezed her hand. “Me neither. We need some time alone.”

  A blush made its way up her creamy neck, and she nodded. “We need to protect our time together. I don’t want to get home and regret how we spent our honeymoon.”

  He kept possession of her hand as they made their way to the cabin. He locked the door behind them and saw a cute towel bunny on their bed. It guarded a sprinkling of chocolates. “They really know how to make us feel special.” He scooped up two squares and handed one to Shauna.

  His cell phone dinged with a message, and he dug it out of his pocket to glance at it. “We know your brother’s name. It’s Grayson Bradshaw.”

  Shauna had been searching for her brother and sister ever since she discovered they didn’t die in an earthquake like she’d been told.

  “Grayson, not Connor?”

  “His new parents gave him the name. Since no one seemed to know who he was, they were free to name him whatever they wanted.”

  “It’ll be hard to quit thinking of him as Connor.” She lifted her head and smiled up at him. “I’m glad we have this time here first. It gives me a chance to roll around the different scenarios in my head. Like how will he react when we find him?”

  “Let’s try not to expect anything. It’s going to be a shock.”

  She nodded. “I’m trying not to obsess about it. We have other decisions on our plate too. The upgrades to the airport have to be determined, and we’ve been talking about hiring another helicopter pilot if we have a baby.”

  Having a child was high on their list of creating the perfect life together. Her son, Alex, was five and a joy to both of them, but they’d love to have a child together. Shauna had inherited a good chunk of money from her mentor, and he had a hefty amount still in savings, but the ideas for expansion of Hurricane Roost Airport held challenges they’d have to work out.

  All good reasons to keep this time for themselves. A lot of things would distract them once they left the cruise. He pulled her closer and found her eager lips.

  Zach’s breath fogged in the frigid air at the top of Mount Haleakala in Maui. The tour operator had provided them with coats, but the blowing wind cut right through him. He kept his arm around Shauna, though it wasn’t much protection from the cold.

  “You doing okay?” he whispered in her ear. “I feel a little light-headed.”

  “Me too, but I’ll be okay.”

  The parking lot looked like a volcanic moonscape filled with swirling fog that periodically parted to reveal people bundled in coats and gloves. The van had picked them up just before three in the morning to drive them to this spot just below ten thousand feet.

  He caught his breath. “Look!” The sun burst over the horizon in a showy display of magical golden light.

  The chatter of the other tourists fell silent as the sun put on a display that had been unfathomable when he’d first heard about it. The sun was above the clouds and painted them in a golden orange that took his breath away. Shauna’s, too, for she gasped beside him.

  Haleakala means “House of the Sun,” and watching the sunrise burst out of the darkness explained the name. Legend said the demigod Maui had captured the sun and forced it to slow its journey across the sky to lengthen the day.

  “It’s unbelievable.” Shauna slipped a cold hand into his.

  “You’re freezing.”

  “It’s about time to start biking. That will warm us up.”

  Once the sun pushed into the blue sky, they piled into the van and drove down to sixty-five hundred feet, where the tour guides handed out bicycles and helmets. “Sure you’re up to this?” he asked Shauna.

  “I just drank a bottle of
water. That will help this headache that’s starting.” She shivered as she took possession of her bike, a sleek red one. “I thought this was a tropical honeymoon.”

  “Our steward told me this was an experience we would never forget. He was right.”

  The tour guide, a young woman with long black hair, waved for their attention. “We’ve had people killed on this road. Accidents are not uncommon, so I need you to pay attention. No gawking at the sights when you’re going around hairpin curves or against oncoming traffic. Space yourselves out and be aware of what other bikers are doing.”

  Killed? He exchanged a long glance with Shauna. He’d never heard it was that dangerous, though he understood how accidents could happen with the volcanic outcroppings and rough terrain. He and Shauna were both excellent bikers, but he planned to keep her in his sight at all times.

  Once she was mounted on her bike and pedaling down the mountain, he fell into place about four feet behind her. The view of green valleys and blue ocean invigorated him, and the last of his fatigue blew away. The way they’d go around a curve and seem to drive straight into a cloud was exhilarating.

  The grade of descent went steeper as they approached a curve up ahead. He applied the brakes to avoid running into Shauna, but the grips went all the way down. He frowned and tried to slow again with the same result. The bike accelerated as he reached the curve, and he swerved to avoid Shauna.

  “Sorry!” he shouted as he flew past her.

  The wind rushed past his cheeks and down the neck of his jacket as the bike sped up as he came out of the curve. The grade down looked steeper yet, and he searched around for a soft landing where he could change out his bike, but jagged black lava lined both sides of the road.

  He clutched the bike grips and looked ahead to where a truck was gearing up to lumber past in the intersection. If he was gauging the speed right, he would hit the side of the vehicle unless he did something.

  He lifted both feet from the pedals, then began to use his sneakers as a brake against the pavement. The bike lurched to the right, but he managed to keep it from crashing into the volcanic shale along the shoulder.

  He thought he heard Shauna shout, but the wind snatched away her words. Most of the group probably knew by now that he was in trouble. He dug his toes harder against the pavement, and the bike finally began to slow. The intersection drew near much too fast, and the truck driver hadn’t noticed Zach was struggling.

  He had to stop now or he was going to slam into the side of the truck. He dug in with his sneakers hard enough that the tops of his toes started to burn, then he set both feet down flat on the pavement. The bike rocked, then toppled over to his right. He put out his hand to catch himself, but his palm skidded in the shale, and his shoulder and cheek slammed into the rocks.

  He slid in the loose rocks, then finally came to a stop near a large volcanic boulder. Pain exploded along his cheek and shoulder. His bike had landed several feet ahead of him, and the tires still spun as he lifted himself on his smarting elbows.

  “Zach!” Shauna was at his side trying to help him up. “You’re bleeding.”

  Wincing, he leaned on her and managed to stand. With every second he felt more scrapes and abrasions. “It could have been worse.” He touched the blood trickling down his cheek.

  The tour guide reached them. “What happened?” She handed him a bottle of water and began to rummage in a first aid kit.

  “The brakes failed.” He felt a little light-headed and leaned a bit on Shauna.

  The tour guide blanched and looked over at his battered bike where the male tour guide was examining it. “That’s impossible. We have them checked every night.”

  He stood still while she applied a stinging antiseptic to his elbow. “Someone evidently didn’t check mine. The brakes failed completely.”

  His mouth in a grim line, the male tour guide rolled the bike toward the van. “The brake cable was cut.”

  Shauna’s head came up, and her green eyes narrowed. “Cut?”

  “Yeah, I don’t understand it.” The man hefted the bike onto the rack at the back of the van. “I’ll run you down to the clinic to have you looked over.”

  Shauna helped him to the van, and he limped up the steps to drop into a seat. It wasn’t the best start to their honeymoon, but at least it had happened to him and not to Shauna.

  Chapter 3

  The grass roof overhead and the sound of the surf a few feet away from their open-air table at Leilani’s on the Beach in Whalers Village should have calmed Shauna’s agitation, but she couldn’t stop thinking about that cut brake cable. The server, a pretty Hawaiian woman, brought their pineapple-vanilla sodas and the ahi poke they’d ordered as an appetizer, then left them alone to enjoy the approaching sunset.

  Shauna eyed her husband, who looked tanned and healthy in his blue Hawaiian shirt and khaki shorts. The accident had shaken her more than him. “How are you feeling?”

  “Fine. A little sore but nothing major.”

  The clinic had treated his scrapes—stitching one cut—and let him go. It could have been so much worse. She already knew what it was like to lose a husband, and the thought of how close she’d come to losing Zach sent a shudder through her entire body.

  He reached across the table and held her hand. “Don’t look so worried, honey. I’m fine.”

  “Who would have cut that brake cable?”

  “Maybe no one did. Things can wear out.”

  She lifted a brow his way. “Zach, you saw that cable. It was cleanly sliced in two. Someone would have had to take a cable cutter to it.”

  His chagrined expression spoke volumes. “I’d hoped you hadn’t noticed.”

  “It was pretty hard not to see it must have been deliberate.”

  She loved the way he liked to shield her from life’s harsh realities, but she wasn’t a child. “Did the tour owner have any ideas?”

  Zach took a sip of his soda, then scooped up some poke. “I tried to call him when I was waiting for an X-ray, but I didn’t reach him.”

  “You’d think he’d want to make sure you were all right.”

  “The tour guide probably reported my mishap was minor.”

  Her gaze went out to the sea, now touched with gold and orange from the sunset. “We’re here in paradise and having to look over our shoulders. I’d thought our honeymoon would be carefree, Cowboy.”

  He swallowed his bite of poke. “It’s going to be fine, Fly Girl. Just a slight hiccup. It might have been someone who wanted to cause mischief and didn’t care who got hurt.”

  “I don’t like it.”

  In spite of his smile, she saw the worry in his blue eyes. It was clear that he didn’t like it either, but knowing Zach, he wouldn’t want to add to her worry by voicing his own.

  A band began to play Hawaiian music as the server wound her way through the tables to bring them their scallops and Parmesan-crusted mahimahi meals. The twang of the steel guitar mixed with the softer ukulele, and the tense muscles in her shoulders relaxed.

  The aroma of the Kula corn and Molokai sweet potato gnocchi made her mouth water. “I’m hungrier than I realized.”

  Zach picked up his fork. “We missed breakfast and lunch.”

  As they shared each other’s meals, Shauna let her gaze drift over the patrons. There was a sweet couple who might have been celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary and people in their twenties who sported matching sunburns.

  She was finding it hard to relax. Zach could have died today, and she would have been widowed. Again. She couldn’t bear to go through it again.

  She stared at her handsome husband. “You’re not allowed to die.”

  His expression went tender. “I know it was traumatic for you to see that today. Don’t think I’m not sympathetic to your fears, but you have to let go of them. God’s got me, you know. And you.”

  “I thought he had Jack.” The words burst out of some well she hadn’t known existed. A well of fear and distrust.
/>   “He does.”

  Zach’s gentle reminder brought tears to her eyes. Jack wasn’t lost. “It’s hard to remember this life isn’t what it’s all about.”

  “I know. It’s hard for all of us.” He reached across the table and gripped her hand in his strong fingers. “I don’t know what I’d do if I ever lost you or Alex. I guess it’s easy for me to talk when I’ve never lost a spouse, but one thing I do know is that God would carry me.”

  She looked down at the table and nodded. “I don’t know why we’re getting so morbid on our honeymoon. We have years and years together ahead of us.” The desperation in her voice made her wince, and the way his fingers tightened told her he’d noticed.

  “I love you, honey. Let go of that fear, okay?”

  “I’ll try.”

  Who would have cut the bike’s brake cable and why? Just for kicks to see what some random person did, or was there more to it? She needed to let go of her paranoia and fear, but she wasn’t quite sure how.

  Zach had to nearly stop the Jeep to navigate the hairpin turn on the Hana Highway. The vistas of cliff and blue water below were breathtaking, and the scent of flowers filled the air. Shauna undid her seat belt and stood to take a couple of pictures out of the topless vehicle. It was a repeat of many other pictures taken so far.

  She sat back down, buckled up, then took a sip of the coconut lemonade she’d gotten in the last town she couldn’t pronounce. The mingled flavors of coconut and lemon made her sigh with satisfaction. She put her drink in the holder and smiled at Zach. “You realize this is called ‘The Divorce Highway.’ We haven’t argued even once.”

  Both of his hands gripped the wheel. “If we survived nearly getting murdered by criminals a month ago, we can survive this.”

  He had a point. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily. I caught you fair and square.”

  His hand squeezed her bare knee. “I think it’s the other way around.”

  Warmth spread out from his touch. Too bad they weren’t in their cabin. She put her hand on his. “It’s been a great day.” She glanced to her right. “Oh, we’re at the bamboo forest. I really want to do that hike.” She slurped down the last of her lemonade.