Page 31 of Maliea's Hero

“I’m sure,” Maliea said.

Andrea touched her arm. “Just so you know, the professor loved you very much. You and Nani were his world.”

Maliea snorted softly. “Maybe so, but not enough of his world to give up his obsession over fictitious treasure.”

Maliea set the box on a chair beside Andrea’s desk. Then she turned and hugged Andrea. “We’ll be talking soon,” she promised.

“Please do.” Andrea’s eyes filled with tears. “I lost your father. I hope I don’t lose you and Nani as well.” A single tear slid down her cheek.

“Don’t worry. We love you,” Maliea said. She bussed the older woman’s cheek with a light kiss. “Let me know if you retire. We’d love to see you more often.”

The older woman nodded and laid a hand on Nani’s back. “Take care of our girl.”

Maliea forced a smile. “I will.” She held out her hands.

As Reid eased Nani into her arms, Maliea gathered her daughter close.

Reid lifted the box and carried it toward the door. They took the elevator down and left the building.

At the SUV, Reid stored the box in the back. Maliea helped Nani into the backseat and buckled her seatbelt. Then she slipped into the front passenger seat. Reid climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine. “Where to?”

Maliea sighed. “I might as well tackle my father’s apartment. At the very least, I need to wrap my arms around what must be done.”

While Reid pulled out of the parking lot, Maliea entered her father’s address on her smartphone with a stop at the store where Tish had promised to leave Nani’s car seat.

Using the map’s directions, Reid wound his way through the streets of Honolulu, his gaze going to Maliea. He tried to gauge her reaction to the thought of going to her father’s house to sift through his belongings. Reid’s mother and father were still alive back in Texas, as were his two sisters and a younger brother. He didn’t know how it felt to lose a parent or sibling. But he knew how it felt to lose a friend and then have to go through his belongings to pack and ship them back to family members. It hurt knowing that a friend or family member wouldn’t be around. The good times they’d shared and the bad times they’d weathered together would be nothing more than memories.

Maliea stared out the front windshield, her teeth chewing on her bottom lip. “I don’t know how someone will react when we get there.” She tipped her head toward the backseat.

“I’ll do what I can to distract her,” Reid assured her.

Maliea faced Reid briefly and gave him a weak smile. “It’s hard.” She choked on her words, tears welling in her eyes.

Reid reached across the console, took her hand in his, and gently squeezed it. “I’m sorry you have to go through this.”

“I know you didn’t sign on for this kind of duty,” she said. “But it’s easier for me, knowing I’m not alone. So, thank you.”

Reid gently squeezed her hand again. He didn’t know what else to say. So, he didn’t say anything and just held her hand. The more he held it, the more he liked how it felt. She had slender fingers, but they were solid and competent. Yes, she was hurting, but she wouldn’t let that detract from being an excellent mother to her daughter. She would protect her from the bad guys as well as her own sadness. Reid admired that. Maliea was a woman who would remain resilient for the people she loved.

He’d like to know more about her comment concerning her husband’s Teacher’s Assistant, but he didn’t feel he had the right to pry. If she wanted him to know more, she’d tell him. Based on the fact she’d left all her husband’s belongings with her father’s secretary, Reid would guess that Maliea had no love lost for her dead husband. She seemed much closer to her father.

Maliea pointed to the next corner. “Turn in there. This is the store where Tish said she’d leave Nani’s car seat.”

Reid pulled in. They found the car seat in a shopping cart in a cart corral, quickly transferred it to the SUV and settled Nani into the safety belts.

Back on the road, it wasn’t long before Reid pulled in front of a white, stucco apartment complex near the university.

Maliea unbuckled her seatbelt and looked up at the building before her. “When I married Taylor, my father sold the house I grew up in. He said he didn’t need all that room and preferred to live closer to the university. I think the empty house got to him. After my mom passed, he had me to keep him from getting lonely. That all changed when I married and moved out. I think the memories in the house were too much for him.”

“I can understand,” Reid said. “I wouldn’t want to be alone in the same house that held only memories of my wife and daughter.”

Maliea shot him a grimace. “I’m sorry. I should be more sensitive. You’ve lost family members, too. Maybe not in death, but it still hurts.”

Reid pushed his door open. “It’s been a couple of years. The pain fades.”

“You must’ve loved her a lot,” Maliea said softly.

He paused before getting out of the SUV. “Looking back, I don’t know that I loved her as much as I loved the idea of being a family.”