Author's Note: Ah, what the heck? After penning Chapter 2 (which I hoped you liked), I couldn't stop wondering what happened to the Kealoha's and their kids. Thus, this segment was spawned to shed greater insight as to the ongoing developments of Nina's and Jerry's three kids and their grandchildren. Hope you enjoy it. I promise that this will be the last installment in this series. Enjoy.
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It is funny how time and life creep up on you to catch you by complete surprise, and that's what happened to me. It seemed like only yesterday that I married my pixie Japanese wife, and quickly became the father of three children (Cassie, Mikey, and Jimmy) who were born one right after the other. After many years, we are now witnessing them spreading their wings and flying from the proverbial nest (to some degree or another).
Cassie, our eldest, had her mom's physical build, charm, and determination. If she got anything from me was the desire to become a medical doctor but specializing in family medicine as opposed to my emergency room focus. Taking advantage of the abundance of financial aid for Hawaiian students, Cassie got her own apartment like I did while undergoing my medical education and training. While I shouldn't have been surprised, I still was when one day Cassie showed up with a haole (Hawaiian for Caucasian) young man in tow who unbeknownst to us was shacking up with her.
"Nina," I whispered when we had a chance of not being overheard, "What do you think of this Trevor Alexander? Our daughter says he is from old New England stock and came to Hawaii and its medical school program to get away from his old-school and high-society upbringing, and especially his family. Then he met Cassie who is a clone of you...yes, she is...and the poor bastard never stood a chance once he fell under the spell of 'your' headstrong daughter (aka pussy-whipped)."
Nina just looked calmly at me before simply replying, "He's a nice boy who reminds me of a certain charming Hawaiian young man who ogled me while I was a high school senior. If our daughter is like me, Cassie seduced Trevor shortly after meeting him... laying claim to him as I did to you. Remember, I moved in with you when you went to medical school...and aren't you happy with what happened?"
As it turned out, Cassie dazzled Trevor's 'high-mucky-muck" (snobby and wealthy) family when she met them with her dazzling appeal, her downright assertiveness, and her genuine love for Trevor. The fact their estranged son wouldn't have returned home (even for a short visit) if it wasn't for our daughter did much to endear Cassie to her beau's family.
Throughout medical school, Cassie frequently updated Trevor's parents on the latest on their wayward son. And when it came time to do their residency, she decided that they would do theirs in the Northeast, then got married to Trevor, and begin their family on the East Coast. Their son, Mark, became the heir apparent to Trevor as he was to his family's wealth.
As I said earlier, Mikey decided to go into law and was welcomed by my in-laws to stay at their place while doing his law school. He took to his legal studies like a duck took to the water, distinguishing himself by being able to thoroughly understand, argue, and apply the more abstract areas of Constitutional and civil law procedure, winning the praise of his professors. Mikey easily passed his bar examination, and with the legal, social, and political connections of Nina's parents, he was selected to be the clerk of one of Hawaii's Supreme Court judges which foretold his prominent legal career.
Until now, Mikey had been an all-work and no-play kind of guy. Then two events happened that would drastically change his life. The first was when he was introduced to...more likely "set up" by my mother-in-law (what is it about the women of that family) to Janis, the niece of her good friend from her women's club.
Janis was a pretty, smart, and shapely Chinese young woman (a deadly combination for our inexperienced son). Although still finishing up her business degree and several years younger than Mikey, Janis had a certain maturity about her and quickly realized the promise of her potential beau. As such, she promptly staked out her claim on him by shamelessly seducing him (big sigh, another guy joins the pussy-whipped club) and making him hers.
The second event was a tragic one. My father-in-law suffered an unexpected massive heart attack and passed away suddenly. Nina was devastated but had to pull herself together to support her mother who couldn't imagine life without her longtime husband and life partner.
"Oh, Jerry, am I glad that Mikey was there for my mom. When she requested that he stay with her so she wouldn't be alone and lonely, he gladly agreed. Do you know that my mom has made it clear that since he would be taking care of her in her elderly years, her house would become his when she joins my dad? Mikey would have done so without any such inducement, but at the urging of Janis, willingly accepted. Do you know that his bold Chinese girlfriend promptly moved in with him and has endeared herself to my mom who is now thinking of her as a future granddaughter-in-law?"
It went without saying that Mikey gravitated to the State's Legislature's chief legal counsel position, cementing his future. Soon thereafter, he married Janis and they quickly produced grandchildren for Nina and me, and great-grandchildren for my mother-in-law. Henry and Simone more than filled the void of my mother-in-law that had been left by her departed husband and blessed her last golden years with unbelievable happiness.
Now, Jimmy elected to stay at home... of sorts. Like his mom, he became a Health and Physical Education teacher and coached football as his alma mater as a defensive coaching assistant (linebackers). His girlfriend, Cindy, elected to similarly follow him into teaching as a Health and Physical Education teacher (what a surprise), and under the influence of my wife and her mother soon became the cheerleading coach at my son's high school (what another surprise...hmmm).
Cindy spent so much time at our house...or more so in Jimmy's bed...that she eventually was given her own house key and began referring to Nina and me as "mom and dad" (big sigh). Then on my fifty-sixth birthday, my son and his "girlfriend" of many years took Nina and me out to dinner and sprung their surprise.
"Dad...mom," Cindy started as she spoke for our youngest, "Jimmy and I have decided to get married (about fucking time)...and start a family. While we would like to get a place of our own, the cost of a single-family home in Hawaii is more than we can afford at this time on our teachers' salaries.
"We'd like to ask you...if you'd be willing... to help us build a second story addition to 'our' house by taking out a home equity loan. I have asked my parents and they are willing to chip in...and we would take care of the remaining amount.
"If you're open to the idea, we like to build an internal stairway to the second floor...that would consist of a bathroom, two bedrooms, a kitchenette, and a small living area. However, we are open to common tasks such as cooking and washing. And when we have kids...which I'm open to especially since Cassie has one and Mikey has two already...they can take care of you when you finally decide to retire and take it easy."
Nina looked at me as I looked at her. At first, I wanted to say, "What the fuck? I was hoping to retire!" But when I felt my wife's little hand squeeze my lap, I shut my mouth (as I often did) and took a deep breath.
I then realized that Jimmy and Cindy had indeed saved us from the "empty-nest syndrome" that struck a lot of aging parents. With my youngest and his girlfriend in our house, our home was a happy one and the absence of our two older children was significantly lessened. What they were asking was to continue doing so.
It further dawned on me that Cassie, our eldest, was over five thousand miles away and had a new life. She had married Trevor and mended the rift between him and his parents, and ensured that he and their son, Mark, would be the heirs to his family's old money, land, and especially influence. On top of this, Cassie was an attending physician at a prominent Northeastern hospital with an established practice of her own.
Similarly, Mikey and Janis were the power couple of Hawaii's society and politics. While they had Henry and Simone, we seldom saw our son, his wife, or our grandchildren who attended the private and exclusive and affluent Punahou Schools. Our get-togethers were infrequent and sad to say, extremely brief. It was as if my son and his wife were determined to continue the legacy of my in-laws.
In sharp contrast, Jimmy (and Cindy) made it a point to frequently visit and spend time with my aging parents who live just down the hill from their school. While my younger siblings were there to tend for my parents, Jimmy's and especially Cindy's visits brightened up my folk's elderly outlook on life considerably.
Then there was Cindy who kept my son under her control, shamelessly conspired with my wife, and generally merged seamlessly into our day-to-day lives. They reduced the loneliness that came with the realization that while we had grandchildren, there were none with who we could personally relate to or who made us feel special or wanted as they tended to gravitate to their spouse's family.
My wife of many years read my mind before I could say anything, simply nodded. "Okay...we will take out the loan...to help you build a second story to our house. We were planning on getting a puppy (like wow...since when) to scamper around the house and fill our lives with joy. But I guess we can substitute your babies for it. However, don't expect us to spend our golden years taking care of your little brats! You make them, you take care of them (yeah, right, I'll believe that when it happens)."
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We had barely finished the second story to our Kailua house when Cindy dropped the bomb that blew Jimmy, Nina, me, and our other children out of the water....she was pregnant! This brought able a flurry of activity between Nina and Carolyn as the two mothers began urgently planning their kids' wedding.
There was as well as some frantic planning between Cassie and Mikey as to wedding and family accommodations. Fortunately, Cassie had access to Trevor's family's money and dovetailed attending her younger brother's wedding with a family Waikiki vacation so as not to impose on her family members.
