Chapter 5
Stella flipped her laptop screen down and rubbed her temples. Most of the four hour flight from Wellington to Avali on Aleki’s family jet had been spent rescheduling meetings, updating her documents and organising professional development for Jessie, her assistant who would be stepping into her shoes while Stella was in the islands.
A fortnight wasn’t a huge amount of time in most careers, but weddings moved fast even in the off-season. Thank God I didn’t get knocked up in January. Mae and Luke had taken advantage of the all-round sunshine of Avali to hold their wedding in the middle of New Zealand’s miserable winter, which meant her planning work was intense but the actual number of events low. Aleki had badgered her into carving out two weeks on the island to plead his case for their proposed marriage.
Not that she needed too much convincing. As an only child with abandonment issues, her psychosis had been halfway to agreeing on the spot. The concept of two parents, a loving family, time and resources to devote to their son or daughter’s upbringing? Yes, yes and yes! She was fortunate the rational part of her brain had stepped in to stop the scared little girl inside of her being in charge of any big kid decisions. Literally.
“Would you like some water?”
Stella glanced across the aisle at Aleki.
“No, thank you. How much longer do you think we’ll be in the air?”
“Only another thirty minutes or so, I would venture. Are you sure about the water? Your blood volume has increased by fifty percent since you conceived. Dehydration is a concern.”
What the ever-loving heck?
“My blood?”
“Yes. Your body produces more blood when you are pregnant. It’s extraordinary. Would you like to read about it?”
Tapping his phone screen, he held it out to her so that she could see the loading screen for a popular pregnancy app.
“I’m okay, thanks.”
To Do List. Download pregnancy app. Drink more water, apparently. Get better at knowing your own body than your baby daddy.
“If you say so.”
“What should I expect in Avali?” The concern that had been haunting her since her agreement to fly back with Aleki burst forth from her mouth in a rush.
Aleki’s mouth tightened in a grim line. “It will be different. Our people, our welcoming culture will remain the same. But coming home with me? That will stir some talk.” Deep brown eyes caught hers and pinned her in place with the warring emotions she saw there. “I have never brought a woman back to Avali with me.”
“Do you keep a stable full of them there?” Stella’s attempt at light delivery stumbled and tripped over her own tongue, landing clumsily in the space between them.
“Leai, little star. You are determined to think the worst of me. Avali is my home. It is where I take refuge. My role as prince is one that I take seriously, because failure to do so is to fail my people. Whatever, whomever, I may entertain myself with on foreign soil, when I am in Avali I am here to serve. I have never been romantically linked to a woman on the island, and I have never brought a woman with whom I am romantically linked onto the island.”
He could hear her gulp, she was sure of it.
“So this is a first for both of us?”
“It is different, and what is different is always exciting to begin with.” Aleki shrugged a single shoulder and Stella tried not to salivate at the simple bunch and pull of the lean muscles under his dress shirt. “There will be some interest, more so when we announce our engagement.”
“The engagement I have yet to agree to?”
“It will happen. You remember our discussion about the tabloids. I cannot bring shame upon my family. The social and economic fallout would be too great. If you remain pregnant, you will do so as my wife.”
Fury rose in her throat like a wave.
“Shame?” The word came out low, dangerous. We’ll get to my bodily rights later.
Aleki sighed, the timbre of his voice aligning with the dip of the plane as they began their descent.
“Shame is a different beast in the islands, fafine aulelei. In the palagi world, shame is fleeting, a bad idea that sits with one for awhile and slowly fades. Shame in Polynesia is a living thing. It encompasses families, wrapping tighter around them until it is like a curse. Everyone knows and nothing absolves it. Not time, not deed, not a new generation. The people of Avali are progressive in many ways, little star, but this is not one of them. We are a culture where family comes first. Allowing my child to be born out of wedlock would bring that shame on my family, on our pepe. It would be unacceptable regardless of my status, but as it is, the royal family would lose face not only with our people, but across the Pacific. I cannot permit that.”
“And if I abort? Avali doesn’t seem like the kind of country that is super progressive in terms of reproductive rights.”
“We are a religious country, yes. While we fought off the colonisers who tried to claim our land for their own, the values of Christianity aligned with our own in a way that the ancestors embraced. However, it is your choice whether you keep this baby or not. You are the one who will need to grow this child, to care for it until others can do so. I would not presume to tell you what to do with your body.”
Relief rushed through Stella, leaving her almost dizzy in its wake. She’d been avoiding the question, aware of the strong religious culture in the Pacific, but hearing Aleki’s assertion that she should make her choice as she saw fit assuaged anxieties she hadn’t been aware she was holding until this minute.
The jolt of wheels on tarmac roused her out of her thoughts, and she busied herself packing away her laptop and headphones while Aleki remained still in the plush, toffee coloured seats, staring out the window as the plane taxied along the runway of the Havalei’i airport. Aleki had explained on the flight that the royal family owned a private aircraft, but private airstrips were considered an extravagance when the land could be used to grow crops or house livestock that would boost the island’s economy.
The plane coasted to a stop and Stella adjusted her dress, smoothing her hands over the white linen as nerves jangled in her throat.
“Fafine aulelei?”
She looked up to see Aleki standing above her, his white shirt and charcoal dress pants crisp and his hand extended. For a moment she just stared, taking in the dark pool of his eyes, the sharp line of his jaw, the burnished tone of his skin. The two days since Aleki had arrived in her doorway had been such a blur that she hadn’t had a moment to look, really look, at the father of her baby. Awareness flared to life inside her as she took him in, from the warmth of his gaze, to the pads of his exceptionally capable hands. The combination of the boy she’d once harboured a crush on and the man she lusted after now. Slipping her hand into his, she let him guide her out of her seat towards the door.
“There is a small welcome prepared, as is customary for all arrivals. You will have experienced something similar at the airport last time you visited, but due to my position this will be a little more formal.”
“I thought the point of a private plane was to avoid attention.”
Aleki grinned, and heat flared in Stella’s core.
Down, girl.
“Avoiding attention has never been my strong suit, little star. But no, this reception is nothing more than business as usual. Hospitality is the bedrock of the Pacific. Every airport in Polynesia will welcome travellers in some way. It is what we know. It is who we are.”
With that, the doors opened. The warmth of the air whoosed into the cabin, conjuring images of beaches and cocktails even within the small space. Aleki stepped into the light, tugging her forward with him as they descended the plane.
The beat of traditional island drums soared through the air, reverberating through her and stirring her senses as her heart raced to keep up with the strike of wood on wood. In front of the plane on the tarmac, oiled dancers dressed in tapa cloths wrapped around them from the waist down swirled and stomped in time with the music. The beaten barkcloths were etched with traditional designs in brown, black and red, complimenting the colouring of the dancers and the barbed crimson necklaces they wore. Behind the men, a line of female dancers swayed and undulated, wrapped in a rainbow of silks and leis. Their gentle movements worked in tandem with the intensity of the men, and their clear, high voices reached Stella even over the fierce beat of the drum. The performance engulfed Stella, overwhelming her senses as the air pulsed with the beat of the drums, the scent of the ocean beyond the runway and her body thrummed in awareness of Aleki’s hand in hers. His eyes were fixed on the dancers below, eyes shimmering and his free hand clasped on his chest as his people welcomed him home.
He’d show that kind of love for our child. She had seen it in his eyes when he spoke of their baby, the same ferocity that shone now as he surveyed his subjects with pride and passion pulsing through him.
The music stopped abruptly, the men on one knee, heads bowed, facing the plane, and in the silence she heard Aleki’s words in her head.
We are a country where family comes first.
“Fine,” she whispered, leaning into him as the echo of the drums faded into the air above them. “I’ll marry you.”
* * *