Before she could reply, a little girl came sprinting up the driveway.
“Babbo!” She slammed into Lorenzo, and he scooped her up into his arms.
“Figlia mia!” He spun her around. “Stellina! Come stai?”
“Sorry, I know we’re early.” Lani waved as she walked up the driveway. Rory’s mother was from Pualena too, which was what brought Lorenzo to the island in the first place.
Lani was Mahina’s niece – so Akemi had known her all her life, in a vague sort of way. But Lani was five or six years younger than she was, and that had been a big age gap back when they were eight and fourteen.
She had a son too, a chubby baby who seemed perfectly content in his sling. A wedding ring glinted on her finger as she patted his back.
Akemi pushed down a silly pang of envy and herded her own hypermobile son away from the street. When she reached for him, he cackled and ran away.
“Sorry,” Lani said again. “She was so excited.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Akemi said quickly. “It’s been a long time.”
“You didn’t come to my house!” Rory exclaimed, pulling back to look at her father.
“Only because I knew you would soon be here,principessa, for your brother’s birthday. I’ve only been on the island for half an hour.”
“I missed you!” She flung her arms around his neck and hugged him again. He held her tight and rocked her gently back and forth.
“I missed you too,stellina.”
Lani held up a big gift bag and looked to Akemi.
“For the birthday boy,” she said.
“Thank you. You can set it on the lanai, if you want.” Akemi ran after Kaleo, who had disappeared around the corner again.
When she caught up with him, he shrieked with joy and ran even faster.
“Dude. You’re gonna wear yourself out before your party even starts!”
He ignored her.
Luckily – perks of being at her mother’s house – her family handled all of the party preparations while Akemi wrangled Kaleo, nursed him up in her room, and wrestled him into a fresh diaper and a clean Hawaiian shirt.
When they finally made it back downstairs, the party was in full swing – and a cheer went up at the arrival of the birthday boy. He hugged Akemi’s neck, suddenly shy. When she tried to put him down, he clung to her like a baby monkey.
“Okay, I get it.” She would feel the same way if all eyes were on her. “I’ve got you.”
It felt good to hold her baby close for once. Lately, he hardly let her hold him unless he was half asleep. He cuddled close for a while. Then he spotted his cousins, and he was off again.
It was a smallish party – just family – but the inclusive local idea of family was still enough people to make it a crowd. The big kids were running wild, and Kaleo tripped over his own feet trying to keep up.
Lorenzo followed Kaleo around, trying to get his face on screen for a video call with the family, and his grandmother had tears in her eyes as she talked about how big he was getting.
“Il suo secondo compleanno sarà in Italia,” Akemi promised.
His second birthday will be in Italy.
They sang the Hawaiian birthday song and let Kaleo tear into a tiny cake that Anne had baked, and then Akemi let him splash in the baby pool instead of trying to scrub the frosting off of his face herself.
Finally, Kaleo got so overtired and fussy that Akemi retreated to a quiet corner outside and nursed him to sleep.
“There you are.” Lorenzo found them some time later and claimed the chair next to hers.
