Lana'i of the Tiger (The Islands of Aloha Mystery Series) by JoAnn Bassett Read Free Book Online Page B

let
you know I wouldn’t be coming in last night.”
    “No problem. I wasn’t worried.
One of the perks of being a grown-up is you don’t have a curfew.”
    “Deedee begged me to stay the
night. You know how that goes…” He grinned, then must have thought it might be
considered tactless to bring up the joy of sex to a recent widow. He started
back-peddling. “Uh, what I mean is, we kind of got, uh, well…”
    “I know exactly how that goes,
and once again, congratulations on your upcoming wedding. It’s an exciting
time.”
    He looked relieved.
    “Speaking of which,” I said.
“Let’s go out to the greenhouse. I want to show you where you’re going to tie
the knot.”
    I took him out back and showed
him how tidy Mr. Ho had already made the area where the ceremony would take
place.
    “It’s not finished, because
he’ll be bunching a dozen blooming orchid plants back here,” I said as I
stepped into the corner. “Then I’m going to see about getting someone to build
a simple lathe and frame arched arbor that will go here.” I pointed to where
Tyler and Deedee would stand with the minister.
    “The guests will assemble here.”
I indicated an eight foot square area. “If it’s okay with you, we’re not going
to provide chairs. The ceremony will only last about five or ten minutes.” I
watched his face as I said this, ready to offer Plan B if he didn’t like the
idea of everyone standing.
    “Sounds good. And hopefully, with
everyone standing, it will keep the minister from rambling on,” he said.
“Nothing’s worse than a preacher who loves the sound of his own voice.”
    “Since you mentioned it,” I said.
“Have you asked someone to officiate at the ceremony?”
    “Uh, I thought you handled
that.”
    “Sure. No problem. We hadn’t
discussed it, so I didn’t want to overstep in case you had someone special in
mind.”
    “Nope. I don’t know a soul over here.”
    I wanted to say, welcome to
my world , but I held my tongue.
    “Okay, how about religious
preference? Would you rather I look for a Catholic, Protestant, Jewish…”
    “Heck, I never even thought
about it. Does it have to be religious? Can’t we have a justice of the peace or
someone like that?”
    Oh no. I didn’t know if they even
had a justice of the peace on Lana’i. Chances were, with only three thousand
people, everyone went to Maui or Honolulu if they needed a government official.
    “Let me look into it. If you’re
okay with leaving it up to me, I’ll find you the best person available. Someone
who’s got the legal chops, but who’s also a person of few words.”
    “Excellent. By the way, what
time should the guests arrive?”
    “For a four o’clock ceremony,
I’d say tell them to be here no later than three-thirty. That way, if there are
any late-comers, we’ll still have a half-hour leeway.”
    “Well, since they’re coming in
on my private jet, I don’t think they’ll have much of an excuse to be late,” he
said.
    “Oh, I almost forgot! Did you
get your marriage license?”
    “Hmm, can you get that for us
too?”
    “No, that’s something you and
Deedee will have to handle yourselves.”
    “I totally forgot about it,” he
said. “I suppose we can’t get one here on Lana’i.”
    “I’m afraid not. Lana’i is in
Maui County. The county seat is in Wailuku, Maui, on the far side of the island
from here. You can go to Maui by ferry, but it’d be quicker to fly. Or you could
also get a license in Honolulu. Since it’s a state license it will be good anywhere
in the state.”
    “Deedee’s getting a little bored
over here. She’d probably like to go to Honolulu. I’ll tell the pilot to file a
flight plan and we’ll fly over first thing tomorrow.”
    “Good. Now, the final item we
need to discuss is how we’ll pay for everything.” I felt awkward asking this,
but I didn’t have a credit card or a bank account on Lana’i. And the meager
cash the feds doled out to me each week wasn’t