Aloha Honeybun

CHAPTER TWO-3

“THEY DIDN’T LEAVE ANY information with the front desk,” Godric told the group assembled in the lobby of the hotel. “Maybe they went out on a boat and didn’t make it back in time.”

Alastair shook his head. “Alf told me they were going hiking this morning but that they’d be back in plenty of time to pick us up.”

“It’s not like them to leave us hanging,” Bob Honeybun mused with a frown.

Shaking her curly blonde head Wanda Honeybun said, “I’m worried they’ve gotten lost or worse.” Everybody turned to the matriarch of the family. She was sitting with Pricilla a few feet away from them, keeping the active little girl entertained with a bag of cereal and an interactive book. Her pretty face was creased in worry. “Those trails are steep and windy and Lord knows what creatures roam that rainforest.”

Warwicke shook his head. “They’re fine, Mom. Alf’s trained for all kinds of emergencies and Pleasance will kick the butt of anything that even looks sideways at him.”

Wanda’s face creased in a reluctant smile. “You’re right about that.” She shook her head. “I’ve just been dealing with this bad feeling since we left Indianapolis. I can’t seem to shake it.”

The men and women standing around her shared a look. Wanda Honeybun’s instincts concerning her children were almost never wrong.

Clovis tapped his fitness watch. “Percy and Brita are due to touch down in twenty minutes. Once they’re here we’ll come up with a plan.”

“If Alf and Pleasance haven’t come back by then,” Heathcliffe clarified. “I’m sure they just lost track of the time.”

Everyone but Bella and Wanda nodded. Watching the two women, Godric felt a darkness moving in to mar the beauty and promise of a gorgeous Hawaiian evening. It was clear that Bella was feeling the same dire internal alarms his mother was. And with her intuition on such things, that was a troublesome turn of events. “Maybe I should just go visit the concierge and see if they came by asking for a suggestion. If we can find where they were supposed to be, maybe we can find where they ended up.”

Clovis nodded. “Good plan.” He glanced toward the glass wall at the back of the hotel where the wide expanse of blue water was turning charcoal beneath a blanket of darkness. Only the white froth at the edge of the ocean and a silver strip where the moon painted the water’s surface relieved the dark expanse of ocean. “It’s getting late. They wouldn’t want to be on the trails at this time of night.”

“Unless they had no choice,” Bella said, frowning. Baby Matilda waved her fat arms in the air and let out a howl that turned her face red. Bella glanced toward the front desk. “I need to feed her and put her down for a nap.”

Edric nodded. “Let’s get checked in. Family meeting in our room in an hour?”