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each other well, having been in each other’s company often with Rafe and Candace. She knew he had a nickname for her that he used with Rafe—“Miss Green Eyes.” She managed a smile and laid a hand on his arm.
    “I shall be all right, but did Rafe say anything at all on the way to Honolulu, to the medical ward?”
    “No. He was not conscious. Look, Eden, we’ve begun a 24-hour prayer vigil at the mission church for him. Maybe there’s some real hope. All things in God’s will are possible. So don’t give up yet.”
    She squeezed his arm. “Yes it’s possible. As you so well put it, everything in God’s will is possible. I won’t give up yet, especially if you won’t.”
    “You can be sure. And neither will Noelani.” He put a strong arm around the older woman’s shoulder.
    “Rafe is like a son to me,” Noelani admitted. “Just like my Keno. Ambrose and I have been praying much.”
    Keno turned to leave. “Get some rest, both of you. I’m going to the church now. All my cousins are there—even Silas,” he said with a note of surprise about Townsend’s illegitimate son.
    “You mean Silas was at the church
praying?”
she asked, surprised.
    “Well.” Keno rubbed his chin. “Whether he was praying is questionable since I don’t believe he’s reconciled to God yet—but he has been coming to church to see Ambrose recently. Isn’t that right, Noelani?”
    “Silas is a rascal,” she said. “Ambrose says Silas likes to come to his office and argue about the Bible. It doesn’t worry Ambrose any.”
    “Well, maybe some of it is getting through,” Keno said. “Anyway, Eden, he was there earlier, but he suddenly left.”
    “Oh? Why was that?”
    “I don’t know. Liho said a coach passed by slowly but didn’t stop. He recognized the driver as his friend who works at the Royal Hotel. Silas slipped out after that.”
    “He didn’t come home here,” Noelani said. “I’ve been here all evening. I’d have heard him.”
    “Then he must have gone into Honolulu,” Eden suggested.
    “Well, good night Eden, Aunt Noelani. I’ll see you both later at the vigil. Aloha.”
    Noelani urged Eden up the stairs. “One day with its troubles is enough. You need sleep,” she said.
    “I’ll stay with you,” Noelani said. “Just like I used to do when you were small, to make sure you don’t wake up with a nightmare.”
    Upstairs in her own familiar bedroom, Eden was able to put down some of the burdens weighing on her heart. She stretched out on clean, crisp sheets, hoping for a few hours of sleep before going to the prayer vigil.
    Noelani sat in a rocking chair across the room, near the open windows. Soon she began humming hymns and island melodies, as if Eden were a child again. Eden smiled.
Thank You, Lord, for people like Noelani and Ambrose.
Townsend’s violent face faded into the dimness of her mind as Noelani’s soft voice prevailed.

    Eden looked across the bedroom at the clock. “Noelani, why didn’t you wake me sooner? I must get to the church.”
    “You needed sleep even more. Here, drink this.”
    The statuesque woman brought her a cup of tea and stood until Eden drank it.
    This woman who had helped raise Eden was a dignified older woman with white hair and a pleasantly creased round face. She was a
hapa-haole
—her white, haole father had worked on a New Bedford whaling ship.
    “Any news from Dr. Jerome?” Eden asked.
    “Nothing yet. Mr. Ainsworth left with Ambrose earlier.”
    “He was supposed to sleep.”
    Like me
, she thought with self-incrimination as she rushed to get dressed.
    “And Candace?”
    “She’s gone to the hospital to bring your cousin Zachary home.” Noelani shook her head. “I always knew the Derrington matters would end badly when it came to your uncle. Townsend brought trouble wherever he walked. I can almost see the grass withering beneath his footsteps. When I think what might have happened to you if Rafe hadn’t arrived when he did.” She placed