Spoils of Eden by Linda Lee Chaikin Read Free Book Online

it.”
    She thought of Celestine and wondered how the matters between her and Townsend could be solved, when Townsend remained unrepentant.
    “I can’t help thinking that Townsend’s boasts of Silas are another insult to Celestine. He’s a selfish fellow and needs all the prayers we can muster, Eden. He’s at the top of my list.”
    She had sometimes wondered who was first on Ambrose’s precious prayer list, but knew it was a holy matter between him andGod. Hearing this brought a twinge of conviction. She rarely prayed for her uncle Townsend. To be truthful, she didn’t like him. It was easier to pray for lepers she didn’t know than a man who gloated over his shameful affairs.
This is something I need to deal with
, she thought.
    “About Zachary.” He looked down at her. “Did you notice he’d hurt his leg?”
    “I can’t help noticing such things. It’s the nurse in me,” she jested. “But he didn’t say how it happened. Why do you ask?”
    “Perhaps it’s nothing. As I mentioned, Rafe dropped by this morning. He merely asked if Zachary had been here last night.”
    She paused on the pathway, and searched his gaze, wondering what was on his mind.
    “Why would Rafe ask such a thing? Zachary lives at Kea Lani, so he would come by almost every day.” She stopped, remembering how Zachary hadn’t stopped at the church to see Ambrose since April. Even so, Zachary lived at Kea Lani, which was within walking distance of Ambrose’s house and Rafe’s new pineapple plantation.
    “True, my dear, but Zachary isn’t usually in the habit of prowling about after midnight, then running when a member of the family recognizes him.”
    “Is that what happened?” Her curiosity sparked to life.
    “It’s likely inconsequential, but, yes, Candace thought she saw him last night on the lanai near your Great-aunt Nora’s guest room. When she called to him, he left in a hurry. She mentioned it to Rafe at breakfast and thought Zachary might have injured himself. Rafe knows I’m often up late at night working, so when he stopped by this morning with the Kona beans, he asked if Zach had come by to see me last night on his way back from Hanalei.”
    She considered as they came to the bungalow. “Did Rafe think Zachary hurt his leg leaving the lanai?”
    “Candace did, I gather from what she told him. I don’t know what any of this means.”
    She glanced at him. He wore a troubled look, so she remained silent as they walked on together. Zachary’s behavior made no sense, and when they arrived at the comfortable bungalow, the puzzling incident was dropped.
    Ambrose’s horse and buggy were still out front from some earlier calling. Her favorite hibiscus bushes were growing vigorously beside the wooden steps that climbed up to the latticed lanai. She remembered them from childhood, when shed lived in this love-filled home.
    Even though she now lived at Kea Lani as a Derrington, there were still so many prized memories here that whispered to her heart. Shed grown up believing her mother had died, and Grandfather Ainsworth and Great-aunt Nora had told her there was no one in the family to properly care for her at Kea Lani. Jerome had taken Rebecca’s death extremely hard, it was said, and he had left Oahu to voyage to Tahiti, Bora Bora, and eventually as far away as India until his loss was assuaged. Shed accepted this story as a girl, but even then it hadn’t been satisfying. “Why couldn’t Jesus heal his hurting heart?” she’d asked as a child, and received only a sad silence and the admonition that her father thought it best that she be cared for by Ambrose and Noelani.
    Noelani, who had worked for Rebecca at the Hawaiian Royal School, had been pleased to become Eden’s nanny. Even after Eden reached her young teens, the family had appeared in no hurry to bring her to Kea Lani to be raised with her two cousins, Candace and Zachary.
    “You fit in so well with ‘Uncle’ Ambrose and ‘Aunt’ Noelani,” they