We walk in silence out of the locker room and through the swinging door, facing the crowd. Noa had the restaurant rearranged to make space for rows of chairs, which are filled with hotel staff and a spattering of very distant relatives from our side and a few of Noa’s. Thank God, Noa is dressed.
We walk slowly down the aisle, and I cup my other hand over our already clasped hands. I can’t let go. How do dads do this? I feel like I’m giving Lea away to someone after I fought so hard to keep her.
The aisle ends faster than I wish, and Noa is standing in front of us, waiting to take Lea’s hand from my death grip. I release her but throw my arms around her neck and squeeze to match the tightness in my chest. “I love you so much, Lea. It hurts. It hurts to let you go.”
“I’m just getting married,” she chokes out. “I’m not leaving you. You’re my sister. Forever. Unless you continue to strangle me right now.”
Lea’s long-stemmed flower is placed in my clenched fist as hands curve around my waist, pulling me off of Lea. “Sweetie, come on,” Denver whispers in my ear. “Everyone is watching. It’s okay.”
Denver’s words soothe me as they usually do. He has a calming effect on me like no one else has ever had. I move to my designated spot, forced to face the line of men in their tight black shorts and protruding stuffed pecker pops. Except for Denver, of course. He doesn’t need to stuff. I try to blur my vision to avoid most of the sight, so I can listen to the exchanging of their vows.
I catch the looks on their faces, finding pure bliss and happiness, and everything else seems to fade into the background. All I’ve ever wanted is for Lea to be happy. I put myself aside, gave myself that job, and knew if I could accomplish that everything would be okay.
The words, blessings, vows, and exchange of rings seems to happen within a blink of my eye, and before I know it, they’re already exchanging their first kiss as man and wife. Everyone is cheering, and a single tear involuntarily falls from the corner of my eye. She belongs to someone else now. I’m done.
Lea takes back the long-stemmed bird of paradise flower from me as she places a kiss on my cheek, whispering “Thank you,” before shouting, “I did it!”
Music blares from the speakers above and the song “My Humps” from Black Eyed Peas plays.
What the hell?
I cover my face, confused by my weirdo sister and my new weirdo brother-in-law.Dear God. There’s two of them. How? Denver grabs my hand that’s still over my face and loops it through his arm. He kisses my knuckles and holds my hand against his bare chest. “You did a great job,” he says beneath his breath.
“‘My Humps?’ Seriously?”
“She wants everyone to laugh. That’s what we need to do for her today.” When my eyes focus on the aisle in front of us, I notice everyone dancing in their seats, some even inappropriately. It does, in fact, make me laugh. “Kai, come over here with me for a minute. You need to breathe.” When we reach the end of the aisle, we break away from the crowd and leave the restaurant.
The fresh air feels good to inhale.
We walk over to Denver’s truck. He opens the door and slides into the driver’s seat.
“What are you doing?” I ask him.
“Putting clothes on,” he replies with laughter. “Noa will pay for that in some way. Just not sure how yet.”
Denver slips on a pair of black board shorts and a breezy, baby blue, button-down shirt. After six months, my heart still palpitates when I take a minute to look at his flawless, natural beauty. I’m not sure how he ended up mine per-say, but I haven’t complained once. He’s my other half, the butt of my jokes, the period to my sentences, and the sun that was missing from my sky.
“I think they’re doing pictures soon,” I tell Denver.
“Noa told me they were taking an hour to themselves. I’m not sure Lea knew. He’s having the bar open inside, though. I figured we could go grab Aya for the reception. He told me the waiters will be dressed for that part.”
“Thank God,” I tell him. “That sounds like a good plan.”
“Come here for a second, though. Did you see what was across the street? I hadn’t looked before last week, but I saw a weird reflection, and I needed to see what it was.”
“Isn’t it just water?” I ask him.
“No, it’s not.”
“Oh.” I guess I hadn’t looked past the grassy area. Denver takes my hand, and we scurry across the street to the other side. I’ve spent the last six months trying to show Denver every inch of Maui, but he’s determined to find places I don’t know about. He hasn’t managed to yet, but I’m not giving up hope in him.
We get to the other side and walk up to the cliff’s edge—a drop-off I didn’t know was here. I actually had no idea how high up we were.
“Look down there,” Denver points.
There’s a sandbar in between a mess of rocks, and there’s writing in the sand.
“Kai—” Denver says softly.
