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Chocolate Kisses 2: Pearl Ch. 01

By: calibeachgirl



In the tale, "Chocolate Kisses," the characters of this story, were introduced. That tale related a forbidden romance in Depression Era Los Angeles.

James Ewart, 45, a World War One fighter ace whose children were viciously murdered. His wife, Catherine, committed suicide after becoming pregnant with the murderer's child. Years later, he fell in love with Bethany Rose, a colored woman.

Bethany Rose, 33, a college nursing student who dropped out due to the Depression. She and her Jimmy moved to Hawaii, the only territory beside Alaska where inter-racial marriages could be legally occurring. They have two daughters.

Eliza, Bethany's older sister, 38, married John Franklin, 50, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, and they also moved to Hawaii with her three children from a previous relationship.

Thanks to pawwriter for editing this chapter; to elliot, lynn and pepper for their support...





Chapter 1... Early September, 1941



On the morning of Tuesday, the 2nd, Bethany Rose and Eliza, lifting the hems of their brightly colored sarongs, ran for the shelter of the small market's awning. Even during the dry Hawaiian month of September, the life giving rain splattered the rich volcanic soil and darkened their sandals.

Apprehensively, the two sisters looked down the narrow street toward Waimea Bay. For the last eight months, Popukea on the North Shore had been overrun by sailors. Everywhere they went, groups of sailors were standing around, watching, almost leering at all the women and girls, so exotic after living in small, isolated Southern towns.

Just like every girl or woman over the age of twelve, they were met with appraising looks from every uniformed man walking the streets. The locals knew who the haole women were. It was common knowledge their husbands were very obsessively protective of the two dark sisters and their children.

After that first assault, every woman in the area came to town with at least one male member of her family, usually two, sometimes armed with guns or machetes. Mostly, they didn't come at all. 

The sisters went in to buy more sugar and flour for Eliza's fruit pies. Food hoarding had not been officially endorsed but at the beginning of the year the military had already begun to do so. As much as possible, the family didn't use any food set aside for the horrifying times they knew were going to come. 

Eliza touched her sister's arm. "Bethany, let's get out of here," she anxiously whispered. "These sailors are giving me the willies and we need to leave."

The 'line to pay' seemed to move as slow as death. The old woman ahead of them hassled over the price of every item she had. Bethany already had her money out when two sailors came to the line and cut ahead of her, forcing her back into Eliza.

One, a tall sandy-haired man with a badly sunburned, peeling face, just laughed... a love, evil laugh and said something to her in a heavy, almost unintelligible Southern drawl. 

Shocked, Bethany stepped back again, causing Eliza to drop both bags of flour. Hitting the wooden floor, they split open and a rising cloud of flour coated everything nearby, including both sailors' shoes.

"Look what you done, you dumb..." He walked toward her, his raised fist shaking in anger.

Bethany and Eliza continued to move back from the men, Eliza looking behind her as they tried to walk away.

"C'mere... what'chu gonna do 'bout muh shoes?" The other one stepped forward and grabbed Bethany by the arm, pulling her toward him, twisting her wrist. Her silver coins scattered onto the slippery floor, leaving dusty white trails as they rolled through the flour and under the shelves.

"Let me go! Please! You're hurting me!" She tried to pull away, pushing against the now slippery floor as her foot raised another dust cloud into the air. She took a deep breath to calm down and instantly regretted it as the flour dried her throat. Where was John?

He twisted harder, she screamed and he swung his other hand back to slap her face. Suddenly, a hand grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around; a fist came smashing into his nose. Then, a knee violently lifted him off the floor and the bleeding man collapsed onto the broken flour bags, exploding another white cloud into the air.

His friend cringed and edged cowardly back, seeking to disappear behind a display of Spam. Frantically looking to find a way out the door, he was met by another man's fist, doubling him over onto the tumbling cans and then the flour-covered floor, sending yet another cloud of flour across the floor.

Outside, a crowd had gathered drawn by Bethany Rose's high-pitched scream. Sailors outside started yelling while the mostly silent local crowed waited across the way. The people in the store could hear them as several sailors tried to enter the store but were stopped by a looming figure silhouetted by the sunlight.

Bethany was pulled back by Eliza who was now yelling something. Bethany couldn't understand what her sister was saying. The sharp burn in her wrist was overriding everything else.

She couldn't believe all this was happening... happening to her.

The sailor, who had attacked Bethany Rose, foolishly tried to stand up. John knocked him down again with a kick to the groin; this time, he stayed down, curled up in pain and crying like a stuck pig.

"John!" Eliza cried. "Oh, John, thank God."

John looked at the man cowering on the floor. "Get up again and I swear to God I'll kill you, you son of a bitch.

"Liza, put some ice on her wrist and wrap it up so it stays cool. Go on, girls, and keep that arm up, Bethany." Although Bethany had studied to be a nurse, the pain overwhelmed her; she forgot the most basic simple part of First Aid.

There was a huge roar outside and two burly SPs dressed in white pushed their wsay in. "What's going on here?" the bigger one asked, tapping his dark baton onto his left hand. He looked around the small market covered in flour and instinctively waved his hand through the still floating white dust.

He saw two sailors moaning on the floor and two civilians standing over them looking to kill. Who was that old man? Somehow, he felt he should know.

John looked over. "Glad the Shore Patrol finally decided to show up. Just taking out the trash, Master at Arms. Maybe you can help me?" John nudged the bleeding man with his boot.

"All right, all right... quit joking around. What happened?" He looked warily at the two sisters. Aside from being covered in flour dust, they were nicely dressed, not at all what he would have expected of two colored women, especially in a nowhere town in Hawaii.

He knew the local customs in Hawaii were very different from Fresno but it still took a conscious effort to work within its far different boundaries. All these people, here...so different... too different.

"This piece-of-shit, here, and that one over there, aren't worthy of the uniform. He was manhandling my sister and I took offense with his attitude and actions. He had no right to touch her and he's damn lucky you two showed up. I was about to take him out the back and kick his goddamn redneck ass all the way back to the mainland."

The SP looked at John, with his so gray, thinning hair and age lines on his face and hands. "How old are you, anyway?"

"Fifty. I was at..." he paused, "in the Great War, Belleau Wood."

"Jesus Christ... OK, we'll take these guys in. What's your name?"

"John Franklin, Sergeant John Franklin, USMC. I was assistant supervisor for the CCC reforestation project here in the territory until just a while ago."

"Was?"

"No more money, so it all got shut down. Listen, I need to look after my wife and sister."

It was at that point that he fully understood the meaning of John's words. A white man related to... married to? a colored woman? Jesus Christ! He shook his head in disbelief. What kind of insane place was this?

"How do I get in touch with you, Sergeant?" Once a Marine, the SP knew, always a Marine. He begrudgingly gave the old man his due, but that was another war in another time. Any future war, he thought, would never be fought hand to hand. Never...

"Just ask for the Ewart-Franklin place; we're up that first road off Kamehameha. Everybody knows us... not these two assholes, though.

"I doubt he'll forget us, now." John turned away and went to the sisters standing next to the freezer. Bethany had a yellow cloth full of crushed ice wrapped around her arm and was licking a root beer Popsicle that Hoshito, the store owner, had given her.

"Damn, I should have kicked that guy's ass more before those Shore Patrol guys showed up." He turned to his friend that had kept the door closed on the crowd. "Thanks, Lee; I guess I'll see you tomorrow, at the house... 

"Well, Bethany, let's get you home. Jim is going to be so angry, I'm not sure I can face him."

"It's all right, John, you couldn't have known." Bethany tried her best to calm him down. She knew when her husband discovered what had happened, even the might of the United States Navy would not be able to protect those two men from his retribution. One thing she had learned, married to Jim all these ten years, was that he took nothing from anybody, anymore... not since Catherine's sad death.

"That's the problem, honey, I should have known." John knew it was going to be a long, hard afternoon waiting for Jim to return from Pearl Harbor. While he knew he wasn't afraid of Jim... he was. Watching the two sisters was the only thing he had to do today and he failed badly. He glanced at his watch, wondering how his best friend was going to react.

As they were leaving, Hoshito said he would send the food up to their house, no charge. He decided to add a pound of Hershey's kisses to the box. He locked the store and went to find a broom, muttering something in Japanese.

The sisters walked out of the store back into the warm September rain, a fitting end to their shopping trip: dirty, damp and sore...

It was late morning by the time they reached home in the hills above Popukea and anxiously waited for Jim to return from Pearl Harbor.





Following Bethany's directions, Eliza and John were able to wrap a new cloth bandage filled with ice around her wrist and then established a sling around her neck. She looked into the mirror and grimaced as her arm shifted.

Jim was going to be so angry, she realized. There had already been enough problems in Popukea between residents and the military interlopers, including several accusations of rape... as far as anyone knew, the Navy had done nothing about it, further angering the Hawaiians, including the Ewarts and the Franklins, as Hawaiian as any haole could ever be.



All afternoon, the sisters were sitting in the kitchen, waiting for the inevitable.

"Oh, this is going to be miserable," said Bethany. "I don't know if I'll be able to help you with the work."

"Oh, no, you don't, sister. You're not getting out of it that easy. As a matter of fact, I bet you've been faking the whole thing." Eliza started to laugh, trying to diffuse the tension they all felt. "I'll let you set the table, how's that? You can do it one dish at a time."

They all looked at the wall clock... tick... tick... tick.

"Seriously, though, Jimmy is going to be so angry. It's a good thing he wasn't there. You saw what John did... imagine what Jimmy would have done. Those sailors would be dead right now and Jimmy would have a lot of trouble on his hands."

Bethany looked at her sister and nodded her head.

Early afternoon came and went; lunch was eaten in silence... and then the noise of Jim's '29 Chevrolet preceded his arrival from Honolulu by about fifteen seconds. Getting out, he expected his wife to be greeting him as she had done every time he had to leave without her.

"Bethany Rose! Where are my chocolate kisses?"

He approached the back veranda and was met by Eliza who was nervously wringing her hands as she started to speak. Her actions only worried him more. "Jimmy, there's been a little accident... she's all right; just a little sprained wrist is all."

"What?!!! Where is she, Liza?" Not waiting for an answer, he hurried into the house, calling for his wife and was waylaid by John. He put his hands on Jim's shoulders, trying to slow him down.

"All right, what happened, John?"

"Whoa, slow down, Jim. Bethany's OK. She's in the kitchen. We had a little incident down at the store. It's all... my... fault, Jim. I can't tell you how sorry I am." He looked at the floor, crestfallen.

Quickly, John gave a very vague rendition of what happened emphasizing his fault for not watching the two sisters more carefully. He didn't even mention his actions, he was so embarrassed.

He remembered that day at the beach near El Segundo. Jim discussed the two sisters with him and warned him never to hurt Eliza... and his carelessness today let Bethany get hurt... so much worse...

Bethany was sitting at the kitchen table, calmly drinking lemonade, waiting for the explosion she knew wasn't coming. He didn't think that way... he was much more dangerous than that.

She started to rise as he came into the large open room but he caught her before she could and knelt on the floor next to her chair. 

"Bethany, baby, how are you feeling?" He hugged her carefully, wary of her bandaged arm.

"I'll be OK, just a few weeks, is all... Did John tell you?" She could feel him shaking. She used to think he was paranoid about the family's safety and would remind him they weren't in Los Angeles anymore. After all this time, he finally was right.

"Yeah... I'm sorry I wasn't there." He was kissing his wife, so frightened that he almost lost her. After Catherine and his daughters, he knew he couldn't live through that again... he just couldn't. He touched the white flower in her hair, gently brushing her tightly, curled hair.

"Well, John was and damn, that guy didn't even have a chance."

"What do you mean? The guy didn't even have a chance? What guy? John didn't say anything about a guy. What happened, Bethany? Tell me from the beginning."

Jim went to get a glass and carefully poured himself some lemonade, his hands shaking in frustration. He sat down to listen to his wife as she told him what had actually transpired in the store. Every so often, he looked at John standing in the other room talking with Eliza.

John noticed Jim's attention and his face reddened. Eventually, he went outside, seeking to escape his brother's irritated look and walked out to the relative privacy of the citrus orchard.



When early evening finally arrived, they were sitting on the veranda, holding hands and watching the sun sink on the horizon. "Guess I should have gone with you," Bethany Rose said, quietly. "Please, just take me to bed and make love to me."





At half-past-six, on Wednesday the 3rd, the noisy racket made by the old Chevrolet was heard as it struggled up the hill.

"He's got to get a new car or at least a new engine. I can hear him coming a mile away. At least, he's home," and then, she heard another car, a newer car. Instead of the expected 'I'm home,' there was an animated conversation, from the sound of their voices, between her husband and at least two others, a man and a woman.

"Sorry I'm late." He kissed Bethany and sat down next to her. "Hey, babe... I missed you and I've only been gone for a few hours. What am I going to do if it's longer?

"I'd like to introduce Lieutenant Commander Philip Hendricks and Lieutenant Anne Kearny. They're staying for dinner."

There was a mad scramble to set two more places on the table just as Eliza was bringing out the food. Bethany knew something was happening. Not quite sure what, but naval officers had never come to the office before.

Even with two guests, dinner was a quieter event than usual.



By nine o'clock that night, all the children were either asleep or in their rooms and Jim stood up. 

"Well, I guess you girls have been wondering just why our two guests are with us tonight.

"Bethany... Eliza... John and I..."

"Hey, no you don't... don't drag me into this!"

Jim smiled at his brother. "As I was saying, John and I haven't been quite forthcoming about what we've been doing."

Whatever he was doing... he said it was 'consulting,' but what could he possibly have that the Navy wanted? This was so confusing, she thought.

He nodded toward the two officers at the table. "Bethany, I've been working in the Office of Naval Intelligence since 1937."

Bethany's glass hit the floor and shattered.

The room was deathly still; thinking Jim and Bethany should be alone, Eliza started to leave but John's strong right hand held her back. He leaned over and whispered to her, a surprised look on grew on her face and she sat down on the sofa facing the sea.

Ignoring what Eliza had done and only looking at Bethany, Jim continued. "I'm sorry that you, well, both of you... well, I have to say something, now, because things are going downhill fast and you both need to know what's going on before it gets out of hand and it's too late for explanations." He gestured at their guests standing off to one side.

"But... how? Why? What's going on, Jimmy?" 

Both women were confused, Eliza more than Bethany. Except for that one night on the porch with the Klan and again at the market, John was always the 'quiet man.' Jim was the 'lively one' once Bethany Rose brought him back to life following the murders.

Maybe, she realized, too quiet; suddenly she remembered he had told the Shore Patrol he was at Belleau Wood and caught her breath. 

The next day, she found a history book in Jim's den, read about it and cried for the rest of the afternoon. "Oh, my God," she gasped, knowing it was so, so horribly true.

Since Jim had arrived with his guests, his whole demeanor had changed. He sat straighter, was quieter and his usual silly, happy grin was missing.

Bethany could see his love for her, but there was also a newly discovered hardness that frightened her. Something had changed within him.

Jim nodded to the naval officer.

"Thank you, again, Mrs. Franklin, for this wonderful dinner. We know we just showed up but Commander Ewart said to come tonight."

Bethany Rose's mind raced... "Commander?" What was going on? Oh, Jesus, he wasn't working for the Navy... he was IN the Navy! Her spirits deflated as she began to recognize all the implications.

By midnight, the two sisters had a good idea of what their husbands were doing without knowing exactly what they were doing.



"How on earth did you ever become part of Naval Intelligence? I don't understand." Bethany looked at her husband... her husband who had kept such a secret all these many years.

"It's a strange story... Honey, I swear to God, I'm sorry I had to keep it hidden from you but that was one of the conditions I... we had to live with."

Before he could continue, she spoke. "But, Jimmy, six years? I'm really hurt. I... I'll talk to you later." She got up, left the living room and went to their bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Damn it! he thought. He had wanted to tell her from the beginning what was happening but couldn't. He didn't even want the job but when they showed him what was happening, he couldn't turn it down. He had family to care for. However hard it was for colored people in the United States, the Japanese would be infinitely worse if they succeeded in controlling the Pacific.

The others quietly went to their own rooms, leaving him alone.

He waited almost half-an-hour and then went to the locked door. "Bethany, please let me in. I can explain. It's not what it looks like..." he said, knocking softly on the door. God, he thought, did he actually say that?

"Go away, Jimmy, just go away."

"Honey, please..."


Chocolate Kisses 2: Pearl Ch. 01



There was no answer this time and he walked away, dejectedly. His aimless wandering around the house eventually found him outside on the veranda looking at the patio furniture.

Why was she reacting the way she was? He had no clue. Yes, he knew he should have found a way to break it to her but then she would do nothing but worry and he never wanted to make her worry about him.

Looking back on it, he realized, it was a stupid thing to do, regardless what the Navy wanted. He should have remembered his wife and children come first in any situation and yet, that was what he was trying to do. The only way he could feel confident he was protecting them was to do what he had been doing.

He sat heavily onto a patio chair and suddenly felt her presence. "Bethany, please talk to me. I know you're mad but... give me a chance to explain, please."

She stood there, still dressed from dinner, her face streaked with tears. He took her into his arms and held her, just as he had one day in Los Angeles... the day she refused to marry him.

"How, Jimmy?" She practically begged for an answer, wanting to find a way to forgive him for his secrecy. That was what hurt her, not whatever he was doing but that he couldn't seem to trust her enough to tell her.

"I know it sounds kinda dumb, now... after all, what would the Navy want with me?" By then, his right arm held her and she turned and moved to him.

"I thought you were a businessman working with the Navy."

"It started out that way... but then, someone read my book on the War.

"When Catherine and I..." He stopped, remembering that day they had arrived in New York City. "When we came back from Europe, I went to college and got a degree in business and one in Political Science. That's why I was able to write the book in some kind of intelligent manner.

"An admiral's aide read it after we moved here and I was already working with them and one thing led to another and here we are. Look, Bethany, I know it sounds stupid but the admiral read the book, four times he told me. He said he was impressed how I put together the hidden motives for the war.

"It wasn't that I didn't trust you, it was just that I didn't want you to worry about it and it was better that you just thought I was doing some kind of consultation or something. We're so hidden there that only a few know where we are and what we are doing.

"Please, forgive me for not telling you." He held her tighter, wishing that everything had just gone away and they were once again the only ones in their own private universe.



The next morning, he woke to find them both still dressed and sitting on the patio, his arms gently protecting her from the outside world as she had fallen asleep against him... at least, he hoped he could.

Jim didn't want to wake her so he lay holding her until she stirred.



Everyone was once again at the table... eggs, bacon, pancakes, orange and pineapple juice... light conversation... nervous glances... the faint rattle of silverware on plates.



Jim and Bethany walked outside to the uphill patio. He brought along a beach towel to cover the bench.

For a great while, they sat there, holding hands and staring out at the Pacific Ocean, ironically enough, looking in the direction of Asia... and with it, Imperial Japan and the death that waited just over the horizon.

Several times, she could tell he wanted to say something and then became quiet, again. She bided her time, knowing full well that he would speak when he had completely formed in his mind what he wanted to say. Early in their strange relationship, she found that when he spoke to her, he often was as tongue-tied as a love-struck school boy. She had learned to wait.

"Bethany, I'm going to be at Pearl more and more ... at least, until I can arrange something else..." He paused and looked into her eyes, delving into her heart and soul, "and I'm thinking you could be with me... at least part of the time. 

"What do you say?"

She was taken off-guard. "What... what about the girls?"

"Eliza can watch over them while you're gone, maybe every other week. We could try it and see what happens... that is, if you want." He watched her eyes, the windows to her soul.

She was hesitant, not wanting to leave her girls behind but she didn't want to be without him, either. "We... we can try..." her voice trailing off again, wondering what the future was going to bring.

Something was happening.





Sergeant William Blake, USMC, looked at the sailor standing before him. In his opinion, a sorrier sailor in the US Navy did not exist. His disdain for seamen reached a new low with Reynolds.

"Reynolds, you stupid bastard, what the hell's the matter with you? Do you realize what you've done? Jesus Christ! You'll be lucky if all you get is put on report and transferred to Guam. You'll probably get serious time in the brig for this.

"Wipe that stupid grin off your face, you asshole!"

Spencer Reynolds, to the sergeant's surprise, didn't seem very worried about his situation. This perplexed Blake. The charges were severe and worse, from his point of view, completely, unequivocally true. There was going to be hell to pay.

Of all the people Reynolds could assault, the one he picked was probably the worst... only having sex with an admiral's wife could have been worse. He didn't know entirely who Commander James Ewart was but the telephone call from Nimitz lit a fire that refused to go out. Whatever Reynolds thought was going to happen, he was dead wrong.



Eliza and Bethany were hanging the laundry when they heard the insistent ring of telephone. The sisters looked at each other and then Bethany ran to the back veranda, but the caller had hung up. All she heard was the disconcerting hum of the dial tone.

A while later, it rang again and this time Bethany was able to answer it.

"Hello?" She was almost out of breath, having run to the phone again.

"Good morning. This is Sergeant William Blake, calling for Commander James Ewart. May I speak with him, please?"

"He's not here, right now. This is his wife, Bethany. I expect him back late this afternoon. Would you like to have him call you back?"

"Yes, say about four o'clock? My number is..."

"One moment, please... let me get a pencil and some paper."

When Blake hung up the phone he was confused. Scuttlebutt indicated Ewart had a colored woman living with him as a common-law wife but if that was her, she didn't sound anything like the colored women in Georgia. This woman sounded well educated with no hint of any accent. He decided to look into it, if only for his own interest.

Stationed at Fort Benning, whenever he had a pass to leave the base, he would seek out the colored whores in Columbus. For some reason, he found them more to his liking. They knew it was business and were willing to do anything if he paid them enough.

He hated Georgia. It was hot. It was humid. It had chiggers. Everyone drank warm Coca Cola and talked funny. It had been fun for about a week but then he realized he couldn't understand them at all.





Early Thursday, September 11th, following an incident with the USS Greer and U-652, President Roosevelt ordered the United States Navy to 'shoot-on-site' German warships, including the U-boats prowling the Atlantic. Even so, the president was unsure that Congress would vote a declaration of war and the country remained divided on whether or not to enter the war. The pro-German sentiment was countered by the newfound support from American Communists after Russia was invaded.

Jim didn't come home at all that night. He did call, she knew but was still disappointed that he wasn't with her. 





On the afternoon of Wednesday, the 17th, their two young girls were in the citrus groves behind the house, playing in the trees planted the year the older one was born.

Now, almost ten years later, the orange and lemon trees were so much taller than she was and Ano'i strained on the ladder for that last reachable orange to share with Olina.

Their Hawaiian names, Ano'i, which meant 'desired,' and Olina, 'joyful,' were as symbolic of them living in Hawaii as much as their family breaking all ties with California.

Suddenly, hopping right before them was a huge gray-brown, ugly-green cane toad.

"Get back, Olina, get back. Don't touch it, it will kill us dead! Run!"

The barefoot girls ran for the house, screaming for their daddy.

Jim came out onto the veranda in time to have his daughters bowl into him and almost knock him down, his pineapple juice flying everywhere over his pants and the wooden floor. 

While the younger girl, only five, continued to scream, the older one told him about the large toad that had come into the citrus grove.

"You did good, honey... take your sister into the house and ask your mom for a cookie. Go on, now..."

Laughing, Jim inspected his wet, sticky-sweet pants and then went around the house to the garage to get a shovel, finally heading out toward the orange trees, just as it started to rain, again. At least, he thought, I'll get my pants washed.

As much as he hated scaring his daughters, an inherent fear of the deadly amphibians was better that finding one of his girls dead.

A short while later, he returned carrying the dead animal on the blade of the shovel and then, lifting the lid of the trash can, dumped the huge eight-inch-long toad in. He didn't want to worry his daughters, but that was the third one he had killed in the last week.

The toads seemed to be everywhere and had been spreading throughout the island impossibly fast. In tropical Hawaii, the imported amphibians bred all year long, as many as twenty-thousand eggs at a time, all the tadpoles toxic.

The wretched animals had already killed the girls' shepherd, Buddy. The 120-pound dog had died a horrible death as the poison coursed through its body.

He scrubbed the shovel over a barrel for several minutes before putting a light coat of oil on it and hanging it back up on the wall. One of the chemicals released by the adult toads was similar chemically to heroin, causing hallucinations and death.

That was why he told his daughters to run as fast as they could from any of the dangerous amphibians they saw. He made sure that all of it was removed. 

It was becoming time, he realized, for the territory to take a much more aggressive stance against the Central American import but with war clouds on the horizon, doubted it would happen any time soon.

"Damn cane toads," he complained. Just the same, he was proud of the way his older daughter handled the situation, doing everything he had taught her.

Ironically, both the deadly toads and the Ewart and Franklin families arrived in Hawaii at the same time in 1932.

"Bethany!" he called, removing his muddy shoes and walking into the house. "Where are you, baby?"

He found her in the kitchen, pouring milk one-handed into two glasses for their daughters. She offered her cheek for him to kiss.

"How are you feeling?"

"Ahh, Jimmy, it's getting much better. I'll get you a glass; you're just in time for some cookies. Sit down, honey. Did you take care of it?"

He looked at his young daughters, each holding an Oreo, wide smiles showing black crumbs between their teeth.

"It's gone... I'll take a look later today and see if there are any others or if this one just got here by accident," he said, with a mouth full of cookie. "If I keep eating these, I'm going to get fat. How's your wrist, right now?"

"It's actually pretty good. I guess it wasn't as bad as we thought."

He looked at his wife. The years had been more than kind to her. It was hard to imagine they had been married, living and loving in Hawaii for ten years. Where had the time gone?

At thirty-four, she had gained a little, who didn't? ...especially after two babies, but was more beautiful to him than the day he saw her standing on that street corner in Venice. Her dark figure had rounded out in just the right places for him and, he smiled, she gave him a very nice feeling when he made love to her. 

She knew he loved her. The smile on his face every time he saw her made everything worthwhile.

He brought her to an emotional, sexual nirvana with his mouth. If anything, this last year they had made love more than ever before... until recently and something happened, she just didn't know what. It must be the tropical climate, she thought... tiring him out, she hoped... or, whatever was going on at Pearl. He was still reticent regarding his work.



Bethany came over and sat on his lap. Running her fingers through his now graying hair, she kissed him deeply and surprisingly, could feel his excitement growing.

"Why, Mr. Ewart..." she whispered. "What on earth do you have in mind? Something scandalous, I bet."

"Why, Mrs. Ewart, I was just hoping to show my appreciation for your chocolate kisses and cookies." 

As soon as the girls left the room, he cupped her breast and kissed her chocolate neck. She shifted on his lap to better feel his arousal pressing against her.

"I am the luckiest man I know... a wife of sweet chocolate who loves me and two little girls of golden honey who adore me."

She whispered into his ear. "You know, tonight would be a great night to have some of those chocolate kisses you're always talking about and I've got some honey of my own for you." With that, she gave him a squeeze and stood up.

He stood up behind her, careful of her arm and nuzzled her neck. She bent her neck toward him as he moved his lips to that magic spot below the side of her chin and she could feel her body start to heat.

He remembered that Christmas Eve so long ago when she first came to his bed and freely offered him her love and her virginity. Although the sexual tension had been thick enough to be present every second of the day, that night was a romantic union of two souls rather than a wild, meaningless romp beneath the sheets.

"Jimmy, not now, the girls are awake. Oh, Jesus, Jimmy, I love you more than life, itself. Oh, yeah, right there, baby." He was arousing her more than any time in the last few weeks. Was it desire, love, need, lust? She didn't care, she wanted it. 

She became still, realizing what she had just said. Damn it! I'm only 33 years old. I need it more than once in a while these past few weeks! ...and, I want it from him...

He inhaled her scent. He knew he was more than ten years older than she. He wondered how long he still had with her and his daughters. However long it was, he was determined to make them as happy as possible.

"For a... umm, a thirty..." He shut up, realizing that he was now treading on thin ice. "How old did you say you were, little girl? Seventeen, eighteen?"

"Oh, you flatterer... tonight, we'll see what you can do with a seventeen year old... try and keep up with me, dirty old man."

"Old man!?! I'll show you who's an old man." He began to mercilessly tickle her right below her waistline. Soon, though, his tickles became something else; he heard her give a little moan as she pushed back against him and then her body shook in his arms. "What do you say to a little nap time?"

She took a long moment before she answered, wondering if today would be different, if today he could love her like he did just a few weeks ago. She had to try. 

"Just a minute, lover boy. I notice you didn't say anything about being 'dirty'." She walked onto the veranda; the two girls were playing with their dolls. "Girls, come into the house to play or color or something. Daddy and I are going to take a nap so make sure you are quiet."

Jim was locking the deadbolts on the doors and closing the bottoms of the windows. Turning on the fans, he said, "Don't answer the door or the phone. Later, we'll have pizza."

"PIZZA!!!"

That, unfortunately for the anxious lovers, got the girls very excited and they ended up being put to bed in their room for their own nap.

"Now, you stay here until I come to get you, understand?"

"Yes, Daddy..." Both of them started to cry and he was trapped, as he knew he would be. Like their mother, his two girls were able to get anything they wanted from him. When it came to them... he was putty in their hands.

He sat down on the floor, hugged them and then kissed the tears on their honey-colored complexions.

"Mommy and Daddy are tired right now and we need to take a nap. You girls play in here, OK? Maybe... and that's a big maybe, we'll go to the beach later. OK? C'mere, give mommy a kiss."

He looked up in time to see his wife smiling and holding out her hand to him. She put her finger to her lips. "Shhhh..."

The two lovers went to their bedroom and closed the door.



Later, he spooned his Bethany Rose, his left hand draped over her waist, gently holding her breast, massaging her nipple. Kissing her shoulder, he shifted closer and felt his erection pushing against the back of her thighs as he ran his left hand down her waist and onto her thigh.

She pushed back, grinding her hips and moved forward, finally settling down on his face as he began to kiss and then insert his tongue deep inside her. His tongue moved around each lip, first the left and then the right and then deep into her heat as she bucked up and down against his head.

She braced herself with her free hand against the headboard and continued to press against her husband's face, placing her clit directly onto his open lips and began her moans as he closed his mouth and sucked it in.

He began taking in and then letting out her clit, over and over. After all this time, he knew the easiest, quickest way to bring his wife to completion.

Jim felt her start to quiver, then shake and finally bounce on his mouth. Each time she lifted, he took a deep breath and held it as she came down and ground herself onto his mouth and pushing his chin into her, spreading her, bringing her up and over and then off the edge.



Meanwhile, outside toward the back of the property, Eliza looked carefully at her husband. "Junior should be back by tomorrow."

"I hope that he learned something from all this. It's been five months, now."

"I know, I know... it was great Jim was able to get him that apprenticeship with that scientist. Who knew there'd be so much interest in coral reefs?"

John picked up a small piece of reddish basalt and threw it into the greenery. "Well, he better be able to explain it to me, that's all I'm saying. All joking aside, I really missed him but he was showing too much interest in the local girls around here and we don't need that, right now."

A few hours later, Eliza and John walked onto the back veranda, past the new propane refrigerator and then to the door. He grabbed the doorknob and tried to turn it, but it was still locked.

"That's strange... you got your key, honey? I forgot mine on the dresser this morning."

"No, it's never locked during the day. Maybe something's open. Do you think they took the girls somewhere?"

"I don't know, but we've got to get that birthday dinner started. I've at least four more pies to bake. I'm trying a new recipe."

They walked around the side of the house and noticing the bedroom window was open, approached. However, Bethany's moans and the squeaking bed told them it might be a long wait before the door was unlocked. 

"Well, Liza, we've got three choices: we can knock on the window and ask them to open the door for us, but we'll probably get killed by Bethany; we can wait on the back veranda until they're finished, but you told me that that could be an hour or two they way they do it; or we could try and see if the kids can open the door."

"That seems the best. If we mess up their afternoon, there'll be hell to pay later." Eliza smiled, thinking of her own bedroom escapades with her fifty-year-old husband. "I don't understand how you old men are able to get it up, let alone keep it up for so long. Why, just the other day, Bethany and I were..."




Chocolate Kisses 2: Pearl Ch. 01



She stopped short, seeing the look on John's face. He didn't know if she was joking or not. Talking about him and Jim... well, he thought, I've heard no complaints, yet.

He walked off, leaving Eliza to listen to her sister climax again with a somewhat loud response to whatever Jim was doing. Maybe, she wondered, maybe she could get Bethany to have Jim and John compare notes, one night, maybe... It was something to think about.

When they had built the home, one side reflected the other. Jim and Bethany's family's personal living space was at the north end and John and Eliza were at the south. John walked around the back of the house to where the girls' room was and knocked on the window.

Olina looked up from the floor where she had been coloring. "Uncle John! Why are you outside? Aren't you going to come in?"

"Sweetheart, we're locked out. Open the back door, please."

"But, Daddy said..."

The older girl spoke up. "Olina, don't be silly. Uncle John, we're not supposed to leave the room. Mommy and Daddy are taking a nap and we need to be quiet."

"OK... I'm going to open the window all the way and come in this way."

He boosted himself up and through the window, landing with his face on the rug. The girls laughed at their uncle who looked like a seal on the beach.

"Uncle John, you're funny," the younger girl laughed.

Smiling, he patted her on the head and went to unlock the back door for his embarrassed, red-faced wife. As she came in, he put his finger to his lips and said, "Shhh, c'mon, let's take our own nap."

"But my pies..."

"Pies can wait, Liza, pies can wait..."



After a while, Jim looked up at the ceiling, frustrated. After the wild oral sex he and Bethany had, when it was time to make his way between his wife's open and willing thighs and penetrate her moistness, he felt himself lose it and go soft. No matter what she did with her mouth or hands, there was nothing...

She held him, laid next to him, put her arm across him... and said nothing. His 'problem' as she thought of it, was happening more and more often lately and as much as she loved him, it was becoming very, very disturbing... worrying... troubling... distressing... upsetting... alarming... and a tear paused for a moment and then tumbled to her pillow.

Yes, she thought to herself, he did give her earth-shattering, sheet-gripping, can't-breathe orgasms... but she needed a man to love her fully and her husband wasn't doing it.

She cried, quietly, inside her heart-broken soul. What was happening with her Jimmy?



Later that afternoon, Lizbeth and her sister, Grace finally came home. After spending the day with their friends at the beach, they were dirty, tired and hungry.

Eliza was putting the last two pies into the oven. She was still moving slowly, following John's aggressive loving. She was both surprised and happy. She knew John was getting older... was older than her... and their loving had slowed over the last six months... she was happy that Bethany Rose was getting enough loving from Jim... even if he was twelve years older than she.

How both sisters married such older men would always be a mystery to everyone except them. To them, it was impossible to imagine life without them. She thought back to that first cup of coffee she gave him and his shyness around her. Something happened after that... often she wondered if Jim had something to do with it. After all, John was given time off from work whenever he seemed to want to visit her.

"So, perhaps you'd like to tell me why you couldn't take your cousins with you?"

"Our friends don't like them, Mom; they said..."

"What did you say?" Eliza didn't like the direction the conversation was heading and was afraid she was going to have to make a hard decision very soon.

Lizbeth whispered into her mother's ear. Eliza's eyes widened in shock at what her daughter told her. Oh, no, oh, no, oh, no...

"And you just let them talk like that, without saying anything? How could you? First, you know it isn't true and second, family always comes first, before friends... these girls aren't your friends or they would never have said something so mean. Right now, just go to your room, both of you."

"That's not fair! We didn't do..."

"That's right, you didn't!"

Her daughters saw the cookies on the counter-top. "No! No cookies for you. Go shower! Git! Go to your room. RIGHT NOW!!!"

She sat down at the kitchen table. She didn't know how to tell her sister what had happened. It was too painful. And, her nieces... what about them?

The huge influx of military personnel and their families from the mainland had changed the easy-going, superficial live-and-let-live attitude of the island into something very different from what they experienced ten years earlier.

It was as if the snake had arrived in their own personal Eden. A snake? More like hundreds of snakes...

She knew that while Jim and John would fume and find a way to deal with it as men would, her sweet, loving Bethany Rose would have a broken heart.

Bethany was already depressed and her approaching birthday only seemed to make it worse.

Eliza decided to keep the secret to herself, as much as possible. One thing was sure, she realized: her daughters weren't returning to visit those horrible people again.

She busied herself, getting the fine china and silverware ready for Friday's birthday dinner. Although neither she nor Bethany worked outside the house, the two sisters had maintained their unspoken agreement that she would continue cooking and Bethany would take care of everything else in the house.

She laughed. As usual, the men would have liked to just sit back and watch their women do all the work, but that wasn't the case. For the last seven years, John had overseen the CCC reforestation project on the north side of the island. With more than twelve million trees in the ground, the islands were quietly returning to their primeval beauty... or, at least that was the story that she and Bethany had believed. After Jim's startling declaration last night, she didn't know what to believe.

Eliza remembered the trip to the Big Island with John to see the volcano erupting. It was majestic, terrifying and... surprisingly erotic; they spent an extra night because of that one eruption.

"Oh, shit!" She smelled her pies burning and ran into the kitchen.



That evening, Bethany Rose warily watched her sister. Something was bothering Eliza, she just didn't know what. Eliza's two girls, Lizbeth and Grace, excused themselves immediately after dinner and quietly returned to their room. She decided to wait and let Eliza approach the situation on her own good time.

Bethany's own two girls went into their room to play, finally leaving the four adults alone in the living room.

"Lemonade?" Eliza asked.

"That would be great. What time are you fine ladies getting up tomorrow to fix our dinner?" John laughed, protecting his face from the cushion flying in his direction.

"Keep talking like that..." said Bethany in defense of her sister. 

Eliza went outside to the propane refrigerator.

"...and there'll be no dinner," she finished.

Eliza came back in carrying a tray with four glasses and a full pitcher of lemonade. "What'd I miss?"

"Oh," laughed her sister, "I was just telling these two... men... about what time I wanted them to start bar-be-queing the chickens, tomorrow. What time do you want, Liza?"

She looked at her sister. "Well... maybe around four? We could start eating maybe five-thirty or so. Would that be all right?"

Jim lifted his glass in agreement and nudged John. 

"OK, fine with us," he said, "fine with us." He whispered to his friend, "easiest job of the day.

"In a more serious note, did you happen to see they're building another gun installation at Waimea? The Army is expanding all along the coast. They know the Japanese are coming... it's going to be bad, I'm sure of it.

"I've learned more about them in the last few years than I wanted to know. Damn Japs are going to blow up the Pacific, just you wait and see.

"They have that crazy mentality that we think the same way they do... that if they can knock us out quickly, we'll sue for peace or something and give them whatever they've already taken, just like in China and French Indo-China.

"Even if they invade here and kill every single one of us, America won't take that lying down, we'll come back and blow this place into the sea if that's what it takes."

"James! What if the children hear you? Don't talk so loud. Talk about something else, will you?"

"Sorry, Eliza, it's just that... ah, the hell with it. We're gonna get screwed, no matter what happens. We're a couple thousand miles away from California and California is at least that amount from the rest of the country. All those farms don't count, you know that. Speaking of farms...

"How much more food do we have room for? I want to get as much as possible canned foods before something happens and it becomes rationed."

"There's just a little more room. Anymore and we won't be able to walk into the two rooms and the floor would probably give way."

"Good."



Chocolate Kisses 2: Pearl Ch. 02



copyright @ calibeachgirl
all rights reserved, 2011

Chapter 2 - Late September, 1941

On Thursday morning, the eighteenth the sun rose to bathe the island in bright rainbows and the light fell across Jim's face.

"Ohhhh," Jim moaned, pulling his pillow over his head. "Damn, baby, you've got to talk to those girls of yours to be quiet in the morning." He felt a hangover pounding but had nothing to drink the night before. As a matter of fact, he hadn't had anything to drink since the first girl was born. Why he felt that way, though, he had no idea, whatsoever. Getting older, he thought, wasn't as much fun as he thought. "My head is killing me."

Damn! His head hurt... try and hide it, he thought. Bethany has enough to worry about without adding that to... the drums beating in his head were pounding a rhythm that made his brain scream.

Bethany rolled over and onto him, one warm thigh on each side of his face and taking one finger to her lips, slowly put it into her mouth. Withdrawing it, she took the wetness to his nose and flicked it.

"My girls? Like you weren't there at some point in making them?" She looked at her wedding ring. The nick was still there from that night, a constant reminder of what she had done to him and her vow to never do it again. That was the worst time of her life. Thank God, she prayed each evening, she came to her senses, even if it took several weeks before she had returned to their bedroom.

Thank God, he thought, she was changing the subject. "Well, I'll admit to being there at some point. How do I know you didn't have one of your boyfriends over?" Hmmm... maybe that wasn't the smartest thing to say, considering what had become a very intimidating, bothering situation. For a moment, he wondered if there was a hint of truth in his jest. He was becoming very, very insecure in the bedroom. How worse it was going to be, he had no idea but it made him more nervous than flying into von Richthofen's Circus.

"You sorry, old man," she laughed, "if that was the case, I'd have thrown you out of my bed long ago." She looked carefully at his face, looking for some reaction to her last statement. She saw something flash across his face, something uneasy. Why would he be uneasy? He was the only one she had ever loved, would ever love, could ever love. There was no one else. It was only a joke... maybe, not such a smart one, she realized. Something was bothering him. She knew from his actions in and out of bed. If something was bothering him, it was bothering her even more and she didn't even know what it was.

Her hand reached under the covers, eliciting a much different moan as her fingers grasped him, attempting to bring him to hardness.

"Sorry old man? Sometimes, I... Kick me out of your bed? Never! Ha." Think fast, Ewart, he thought to himself, think fast! His head quickly disappeared under the covers and within a few moments, he had Bethany moaning totally out of control as she writhed on the bed, grabbing the sheets and tearing them loose from the bed.

Her knees bent higher as he grabbed her ankles and pushed them forward. God, that felt so good, she thought, push harder, please, push harder... "ahhhhhhhhhhh... damn, Jimmy, don't you dare stop now." 

Bethany's back arched clear of the mattress as she humped against his face two, three, four times and then started to relax but then, as he continued probing and kissing, started once more, this time much louder.

Her strong movements caused him to lose his grip on her silky smooth legs and she quickly wrapped her thighs over his shoulders and around his neck.

She lost track how many times she had peaked because he never let her come down enough to tell the difference from one to another.

When Bethany's knees finally lay flat, he rolled over and lay on his back, breathing hard and reached for her hand. God, he wished she'd get there faster...

As her own breathing slowed, she turned her head to the left and smiled at her husband. "Thank you..." was all she could say. Jesus Christ, 'thanks' is all I can say? After all that? What the hell is the matter with me? OK, time to make him feel good, now.

Jim lay there, staring at the ceiling. Yesterday afternoon, he was hard as a rock, at least for a while and knew he should be as hard as a rock now. When he started kissing his wife, he was... and then it went away. Not right away, but after more than fifteen minutes waiting until he was sure she was completely satisfied, he felt himself slipping away. Maybe, maybe he waited too long to love her... that was it, he hoped, maybe that was it. 

It was happening more often than not, now... erratic and inconsistent, to be sure, but still present.

He lay there, staring at the ceiling hoping she hadn't been paying as close attention as he had. Each time, he begged off, saying he just wanted to please her, that was enough, he tried to convince her... and, himself.

Bethany fell back asleep, still holding his hand, dreaming of making love to him like that first romantic night so many years ago, the night she gave him her virginity and love and he gave her a new wonderful life.

He lay there, staring at the ceiling until he finally couldn't stand it any longer and had to get up. Time to see the doctor, he realized, sadly, and see what's going on with him. He wasn't THAT old, was he? Jesus, they've only been married ten years. Forty-five wasn't too old, was it?

He lay there, staring at the ceiling, worried for the first time since he met Bethany about something like this. She was only in her early thirties and once they had started sleeping together, Bethany Rose discovered a voracious sexual appetite. He was worried... worried that he soon wasn't going to be enough for her. He didn't know what he would do if it came to that. He knew she loved him but this was something else, entirely. Could she separate sex from love in her mind? What would he do if it came to that?

Damn it!

He lay there, staring at the ceiling, worrying as every husband had done at one time or another: What was his wife doing when he wasn't around?

Later that morning, Jim brought the dishes over and started setting the table. He stopped and looked at the table and then went outside to fill a vase with flowers. Bethany was still asleep and he decided to just let her stay in bed. He had a lot of thinking to do. In an almost mindless daze, he continued walking back and forth from the china closet to the table. He was startled by the soft sound of a woman's footsteps padding across the hardwood floor. 

Think, think, think... he felt like Winnie the Pooh. Oh, bother.

"Jimmy... why didn't you wake me, sweetheart?" Bethany put her good arm around her husband and pulled his head down for a deep kiss. As her tongue slipped between his lips, her hand slowly reached down and caressed him, causing him to become incredibly aroused. My God, she thought, he's hard as a rock!

"Forget the dishes, Jimmy, you still have unfinished work in the bedroom." She reached around his waist and walked him back to the bedroom, but before she could return from washing in the bathroom, he had lost his erection and had left the room in frustrating shame.

By her birthday Friday morning, Bethany knew there had been a disturbing change in her husband. While he brought her to an incredible number of orgasms orally, for some reason he was no longer really having sex with her... hadn't, really, she thought, for several weeks. It had been sporadic and then, nothing at all. She couldn't even remember when the last time was. Oh, my God, she realized, she couldn't even remember.

Yesterday he seemed to lose interest. After orally pleasuring her, he didn't complete the act of love, again. She missed him roughly filling her, gently teasing her, giving himself to her completely as she felt his heat erupt deep insider her.

And when she brought him back to the bedroom yesterday, by the time she returned from the bathroom he had left her alone. What was happening to them? She was scared. What was happening to their marriage? She was frightened. What was happening to their love? She was terrified. No, they still loved each other, of that she was sure of. 

She thought of all the small, loving things he did for her... how could he not love her?

She found herself looking into their bedroom mirror, running her hands over her breasts, lifting them a little, watching the back of her legs as she clenched her muscles. 

She traced the lines radiating from her eyes and lips and touched the hair he said he adored. It somehow lost its springy curls and frizzed up against her head due to the humidity. Did he still love it? Yes, she knew he did... But, did he love someone else, too? 

She stared at her nose. While not as wide as it could have been, it still was different from white women. Why did it bother her now?

Little did she realize what she thought of as imperfections, he thought of as character. What she thought of as wrinkles, he thought of as beauty. Every time she spoke to him, he felt he was with an angel... a chocolate angel, but an angel just the same.

This was becoming a horrifying birthday. How could she think that? What madness did she have running wild in her subconscious?

She put on a pair of high heels and walked around the room, naked... wondering what he saw when he was with her. Bethany sadly felt she was getting old and no longer arousing him as she had done during their ten years of marriage... or, at least as she thought she had.

How had she let herself go, Bethany asked herself, pleading for an answer that was hard to understand. Over the years, especially after the two girls, she acknowledged gaining some weight. It had sneaked up on her over the years, a little here, a little there... and here she was, only 33 and yet feeling so, so much older.

Bethany ran into the bathroom and stood on the scale, something she admitted she hadn't done in such a long time. She and her sister had taken to wearing loose, forgiving sarongs and they always fit.

Her scream echoed through the otherwise empty house. 

She had gained over twenty-five pounds. Oh, God, she whispered in her mind, oh, God, what have I done? No wonder he doesn't want to fuck me.

There, she thought, I said it... fuck me. I can't even get a mercy fuck from my own husband. How has my life come to this?

She collapsed on the bed, still undressed, and began to cry. Thank God no one was home to witness her despair and sadness.

Thinking about it, she realized he hadn't actually done her in... oh, God, how long? Two, three weeks for sure... the end of August?

Tears freely covered her face. Despite the heat she buried herself under the covers. She was still crying almost an hour later when Eliza came back into the house.

Eliza knocked on the bedroom door and then walked in. She found her younger sister lying on her side like a small child, one arm over her eyes, quietly sobbing.

"Honey, what's wrong? You can tell me..." Eliza reached out a hand to touch Bethany's hair and waited for her 'little' sister to calm down and speak to her.

Several minutes passed. Bethany moved her arm and opened her eyes. "Are we alone?"

"I think so, I'll go look." Eliza left the room and soon came back. 

"No one's here except us, Bethany. What's bothering you?"

"I'm old and fat and Jim won't even fuck me and my hair is a mess. He's having an affair; I just know it. What am I going to do, Liza? What am I going to do?"

"What do you mean he's having an affair? Not Jim, surely not him." What madness is this? Eliza thought to herself. Oh, Jesus Christ, not this. Impossible... it had to be...

"It must be when he goes to Pearl for those meetings with the Navy... one of those women on Hotel Street... or somebody else, I don't know... maybe, one of the Filipina women around here." She started crying again.

"Bethany Rose, listen to me! Why on earth would you say something like that? He's worshipped the ground you walk on from the first day he saw you in Venice." Eliza moved over on the bed to look closely at her sister. She then realized that both she and her sister had indeed grown ten years older. Absently patting her own frizzed, graying hair, she grew nervous.

What if John felt that way? Why were we both worrying about that, now?

"What happened in here? What are you two doing at night? I can't help you if I don't know what's going on." She gave her sister a very concerned look.

Between sobs, Bethany slowly, carefully, told her sister how Jim would kiss her, massage her, touch her there, kiss her there, lick her there, arouse her and continue until she could orgasm no more... and then, he would hold her, spoon with her, but now, that was it.

"Haven't you spoken to him about it?"

"I'm afraid to. I don't know what's going on and I'm afraid to find out. What if he does have a lover and is saving it all for her?" Not her Jim... not after everything he had done for her... not after everything he had done for all of them... no, never... impossible. 

Trust... distrust... fear...

"Just last month... yes, last month he was fucking me all night long and sometimes during the day when no one was home."

"Wait a minute. Wait a minute. John and I heard the two of you Wednesday afternoon. You don't fool me, you two were fucking like there was no tomorrow."

"No, we weren't. It was just him..." Bethany's voice disappeared. "...kissing me... you know, down there."

"Where is he, anyway?" Eliza thought it strange that Jim would be gone, especially after what happened in town. "Did he go to Pearl Harbor?"

"I don't know. Both he and John said they'd be back later and left." She started crying again. "They said something about going to a doctor."

By late afternoon, Bethany had spent most of her birthday wandering aimlessly through their trees, smelling the citrus scent. She took some of the leaves and rubbed them on her skin, spreading the smell over her arms and legs.

She came across one of the damn toads and gave it a wide berth, reminding herself to tell either Jim or John about it when she returned to the house, but now, she just wanted to be alone with her troubles.

She reached the small patio they had built their third year and sat down on the bench. She loved Jim with all her heart but couldn't help wondering what was happening... 

The view toward the sea was incredible. She remembered that windy day they stood in almost this very spot and chose to make their home here. She looked out to the water, seeing the white crests of the waves approaching the beach. It was the same ocean, it was the same view but she was so different now.

She sighed. That he said he loved her was no surprise... he constantly demonstrated how important she was to his life.

But, even though he made her feel SO good, he seemed to lose interest after and then, this morning, he left the bedroom before she even came back from the shower. It hurt her heart and, she admitted to herself, her ego that he would just leave without even saying something... anything... to let her know what was on his mind.

Bethany wracked her brain... were there any signs of him straying? She didn't have a clue where to start looking other than following him every second of the day.

Her mouth was as dry as the month had been except for that day at the store. There had been no real rain for weeks and she, for some reason, missed the patter of the drops on the patio's metal roof.

She wished it would rain and wash away her fears. Bethany was ashamed of herself, doubting her husband's devotion and commitment. This was the tenth year of their marriage. She knew... she just knew with all her heart and soul, he loved her but that little nagging doubt refused to leave her mind and was driving her crazy.

Oh, God, the shame that filled her being was starting to hurt her head. How could she think of him doing something like that? Yes, she told herself, yes, it scared her, downright terrified her to think of her Jim with another woman... 

She jumped up and ran down the hill to the house.

At the same time, Jim and John were at the Popukea Clinic, near Waimea Bay. Jim, for anything else, would have seen the doctors at Pearl, but for this...

"Well, there are a few things going on... Let's see...

"First, we're going to change your diet, some. Even though you both are in pretty good physical shape for men your age, you're not getting the same exercise you were before the territory shut down the tree project."

The doctor was surprisingly direct with his two patients, unlike some who would just say what people wanted to hear.

"Now, here's some changes you seriously need to do. Cut back on the fried foods. I know your wives can cook up a storm with all that southern style food but it's going to kill you if you continue eating like you're both twenty years old. I don't know how, but I'm sure it's doing something to you blood vessels. Remember what I just told you about how it works... all this fat is clogging it up and the blood's not getting through. I've seen enough patients to figure that much out. You'll end up with a stroke or heart attack.

"There's still so much we don't know about that but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

"Cut out the meat; eat fish instead. It's not like there aren't any around. I don't want either of you eating meat from here on out.

"Second, I think you're both suffering the effects of what happened in the market to your women, feeling inadequate, feeling impotent...

"You, John, Bethany was already hurt by the time you reacted... and you, James, you weren't even there and that's definitely got to affect you in the bedroom."

John was going to protest but realized he couldn't leave Jim out there by himself. Besides, what the doctor was making some sense to him even if he wasn't psychologist.

"The combination of these events, each on their own would be causing problems, are affecting you both. James, you especially since you weren't there and then the family tried to cover it up from you... and you, John, you feel bad because you were there and acted too late, according to your own code of ethics.

"You find a way past that and with this new diet you both should be fine.

"Our little town is crawling with sailors who have brought their own problems with them. They are the snakes in paradise, I'm afraid, and there's not a whole lot we can do about it."

The Chevrolet bounced into another muddy rut in the dirt road. Each time, Jim was sure that it would be the end of the poor car's suspension and they would be stranded God knows where along the coast. Maybe he should have borrowed a Jeep from the base... and yet, amazingly the old car kept going. 

"Are you sure about this?" he asked, "I mean, you know..."

"What? Because he's Chinese or because he's mysterious?" John laughed. "Look, what the doc says about food is all well and good, but that's going to take time and you need something else right away."

"Ah, hell, I'm willing to do anything to fix this. I'm sorry, John, I'm just so damn embarrassed about all this and I don't have a clue to what she's been thinking, probably that I'm fooling around or don't love her anymore.

"Damn, just the other day, she was washing up to have a little fun with me and I just walked out while she was still in the shower. Jesus, that's no way to treat someone you love.

"I just can't find a way to talk about it with her. It hasn't been that long and still I know it's been too long. I was hoping it was only a real temporary thing but it doesn't seem to get better. I need to find out if I can fix this or not before I say anything but that's probably a big mistake and it's going to bite me in the ass. I just know it."

"Slow down a bit... OK, we're here. Let me do the talking." John left the car and disappeared down a stone pathway wending its way through the overgrowth. He eventually found his way into a clearing and faced a small, brightly painted red house with a large pond to its right. A blue and orange carp swam lazily under the lilies, leaving small ripples across the water. The implied calm belied his feelings about coming here.




Chocolate Kisses 2: Pearl Ch. 02



Past an arched wooden bridge was the red-painted front door guarded by a stone dragon. Nearby, hung a brass bell about a foot in diameter and he tapped it with his finger. It remained silent, too heavy to move with just a light push.

He doffed his fedora and knocked on the door. 

Instead of an ancient, wizened Chinaman, John was surprised by a young woman wearing a white blouse and tan slacks. She had long, jet black hair, porcelain skin and just a smirk of a smile.

He spoke to the woman in halting Chinese and she stepped back, inviting him into the house. The interior was sparse, just the essentials present, mostly red and black lacquer and gold inlays.

In the room farthest back, she introduced her grandfather. Even though the old man was dressed in a white shirt and worn but clean Levis, John felt as if he was being presented to the Emperor in Peking's Forbidden City.

The man and his granddaughter spoke rapidly in Chinese. She turned to John. "We will see your friend, now."

John went back to the front door and whistled. Several tropical birds answered back.

A minute later, Jim removed his hat, wiped his feet and entered the house.

"C'mon, this guy's doing us a great favor because of what his grandson told him about us. They're a tight knit bunch."

For the longest time, Jim, through the woman as interpreter, related his problem to the old herbalist. He was unsettled that the beautiful woman was present during the old man's questions... even more so when he was asked to drop his pants. He turned bright red, redder even than the sun settling into the ocean.

The old man started speaking once again in Chinese. It was too fast for either Jim or John to follow and the young woman laughed.

"Grandfather says that you should be able to please many women."

"Please, lie down there," she said, indicating the bed in the room across the hallway.

He thought she was going to leave but then she just smiled and held out her hand for his trousers and underwear. Damn, he felt, this better be worth it. Where did John go?

Desperate for help, he did so but was still amazed when she closed the door, came to him, began to touch and then lick him, finally taking him inside her mouth. "Wait a minute! I don't..."

"Wait, please."

He felt himself becoming hot and tried to think of his wife but all he could see was the dark-haired beauty bobbing her head. 

Then, she stopped and looked at her watch. Eventually, although longer than usual, he felt himself become flaccid. How could he do this to Bethany? What if she found out? Jesus Christ, even during the years between Catherine and Bethany, he had never done anything like this.

He tried to convince himself he was doing it for her... for them... for their marriage, but it was so strange, so illicit, so... damn it, so erotic as he had watched the black-haired beauty swallowing him down her throat.

"Very interesting," she remarked. "Eight minutes. Is this about right? When was the last time?"

Completely embarrassed, he nodded his head. "Eight minutes? Jeez, I don't know. Last month... Oh, God, this is so embarrassing."

"Do you think that's why you only lasted eight minutes right now?"

He nodded his head, unable to speak.

"All right, now I'm going to see if I can get you to ejaculate."

"Look, I really appreciate everything you're trying to do for me but since I've been married, I've never had anything to do with another woman; as a matter of fact, except for my two wives, I've never been with anyone else... that just isn't me. I'm not comfortable with this at all. It feels like I'm cheating on her."

"Look, Jim, I've got a Master's degree from Berkeley in Biology, specializing in nutrition and I've been researching natural ways to maintain health, especially Chinese herbal remedies. I can show you the papers on the wall if you wish.

"Now listen to me. You have a very serious personal problem here and if it can't be corrected it's going to cause a heart full of grief and sorrow and might even destroy your marriage. Is that what you want?

"You said your wife enjoys sex with you, making love with you. Don't you enjoy making love to your wife? Without help, that's not going to happen. Can you live with that? Can she live with that?

"Please, believe me this is necessary, as crazy as it sounds. It's not any different from any other medical test you might have to take. You're not cheating, even if you happen to enjoy it. As a matter of fact, if it's going to work, you have to enjoy it. Close your eyes and pretend it's your wife if that makes you feel better.

"Now, just relax and let me do what I need to do. Please." Her hand moved to hold him, again.

"This is... awkward," he said but still nodded his head, all the time wondering what he really was doing with another woman... a beautiful, exotic woman...

"If you love her, you owe it to her to at least try. If you keep this to yourself, no one will ever know and you know it's either yes or it's no."

She bent over him, touching him once again and began moving her hands on his skin. Slowly at first, up just a bit and then back down she took the skin, creating a little friction with her fingers. 

He was erect... he was hard... he was hot and starting to feel a rush he hadn't know for weeks. 

Was it her or just the situation? What about Bethany? Why was he responding to the dark-haired beauty touching him?

He didn't want to but he moaned and she took that as permission to continue.

Her head came down once more and engulfed him, amazing him as it disappeared into her mouth and then into her throat. She came back up and away.

She looked up for just a second and he thought he saw another enigmatic smile. "Are you ready?" Without waiting for an answer, she put her full attention to him.

He did his best to try and not try, hoping that he would actually learn something if he was ever going to please his wife again.

It seemed to last forever and it seemed to be over before it started. He erupted five times into the small towel that appeared from somewhere and still she continued to minister to him. Eventually, he stopped.

"I guess you were saving up," she said, quietly, trying to put him at ease now that she knew what she needed to know.

She waited for him to breathe calmly once again. "That was over fifteen minutes. I think that if you have your wife on top and doing a lot of the moving, you'll be able to achieve and maintain an erection sufficient to please her. That's right now... with your permission, I'm going to help you regain most of what you had when you were in your twenties.

"I know you're not going to believe it but you're able to perform quite well, as a matter of fact, very much quite well. From what you've told my grandfather, the biggest problem is that you always make sure that your wife is satisfied first, which of course, is quite commendable. Very few men even bother to worry about the woman at all, let alone whether or not she enjoys it to its fullest extent.

"Perhaps... perhaps you should take turns achieving orgasm. One time, it's her turn and the next, yours.

"But, as you've become older it's not as easy to maintain your erection that long, especially as you say that sometimes it's as long as a half-hour pleasing your wife. You have amazing stamina. Don't you get tired? Never mind.

"Now, we want you to try some of this... it has a Chinese herb from a tree called the Ginkgo along with some others. They've used it for centuries, especially as an aphrodisiac. 

"I've spoken with many Chinese herbalists and they all swear by it. They even brought in men who are a great deal older than either of you... sort of a testimonial, I guess, but it convinced me.

"Look, what you need is better blood flow, especially there. I truly believe this will help that, along with the change in diet your Western doctor proscribed. These herbs should dilate your arteries enough that it causes a better blood flow, especially where you need it for this situation. 

"Now, you must realize this is not a miracle cure and won't happen overnight. From what they've told me, it takes about four to six weeks and then, hopefully, your problem should go away as long as you continue to take it. That's because you wish to please her first because you really love her.

"Honestly, if you were just going to do it, you'd have no problem but that's not really making love, that's just sex... and not very good sex, at that... at least, from a woman's point of view.

"I know that's a long time but it should be worth it. Honestly, you need to speak to your wife about this. Well, maybe not about this, but about your problem in general. Make her understand what is happening. I bet she's really worried about the two of you. I probably think she's terrified about this, especially if you haven't spoken to her about it.

"Come back when you need more. This should take care of you for about three months, I think, a tablespoon each evening... that should do you the best for the morning, you know, with your natural morning erection."

After he left, she smiled once more. While there was a need to see if he was potent, she found herself enjoying him far more than was necessary. The others, she always sent into the room by themselves to obtain a sample. This time, though, it was different... it was... enjoyable. He was physically enchanting... and, impressive.

Jim started the car to drive back home. "Your Chinese is improving.

"I'm going to miss Eliza's fried chicken. We better keep the coleslaw, though."

"Well, that's better than missing having her and dying too soon." John looked out the window at the number of sailors standing around as they re-entered the town. "I guess your meta... what did he call it?"

"Metabolism..."

"Yeah, metabolism... your metabolism is different from mine... although I'm glad we found this out before it got too bad for either of us."

"Just the same..." argued Jim, trying hard to keep the car out of the deeper ruts. "Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, cornbread..."

The car went into another pothole.

"Ain't no chicken worth that much," John said, finally. "I'd rather die fucking than fucking die."

"You know, we need to get a newer car. This one doesn't like all these ruts out here, anymore."

"Yeah, well, neither does my back."

"Well, if we're going to keep coming out here, I guess you're right. Too bad, though, I like our old cars. They have character."

Early evening found Jim sitting at the table and drinking orange juice with Eliza, when Bethany ran into the kitchen from her walk up the hill. She took his glass away, caressed his face with her good hand, kissed him deeply and then looked deeply into his eyes. 

She saw what she was looking for... that look of undying devotion that sparkled in his eyes and knew to her eternal soul she shared him with no one else but Catherine and all his daughters and she gave him the ability to live with those memories without them killing him in grief.

Holding his hand, she pulled him up and putting her arm around him, led him outside and they walked away into the dimming light.

"Bethany," he said, quietly, "there's something I have to tell you."

For just a moment, her heart was in her throat but then, she saw the love shining again in his eyes and smiled... whatever it was, they'd face it together. 

He began to relate most of what happened with his visit to the doctor and the herbalist. The beautiful woman, her... he kept to himself. Some things, he knew, are better left unsaid.



Chocolate Kisses 2: Pearl Ch. 03



Chapter 3 -- October, 1941

Copyright @ calibeachgirl

All rights reserved, 2011

With thanks to Doug, Elliot and Pepper for editing and support and for Jimmy B.

*

Although the blue tail-rudder blended well with the sea below, the plane's chrome-yellow wings and fuselage screamed "Here I am!" to anyone looking for it.

Reaching its ceiling, the plane abruptly flipped over upside-down and headed toward the water almost two miles below. He could feel the wind vibrating the wire rigging between the wings as they continued to plunge straight down.

In the rear cockpit, the instructor held tightly to the hand grips he had installed as his student pilot cork-screwed the Stearman toward the ocean. As concerned as he was, he had full confidence in the skills of his student and tried to enjoy the roller-coaster ride. Just the same, he no longer ate breakfast when he knew they were going flying. Whatever the mind knew, the stomach refused to believe.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" the pilot in the front cockpit screamed in joy as the ocean rushed up to meet them. The instructor knew it, even if he couldn't hear anything through the oxygen mask and the engine noise. It happened every time they did this stunt.

Ah, crap, he thought, as the plane pulled away from the ocean and swooped back up into the clouds.

The plane bounced once and settled, leaving another set of black skid marks on the year-old cement as it headed toward a small group of hangers lining the runway. The Kaydet trainer taxied closer and stopped; its engine died and soon, the only sound to be heard was the nearby surf rushing the North Shore beach.

The man in the back hopped out and held out his hand as his student stepped out onto the lower wing, jumped into his arms and kissed him. Taking away both her goggles and leather helmet, he ran his fingers through her tightly curled hair. He swung her around, her knees bent back as she held herself tightly against him.

"Baby, that was fantastic! I've not been that excited in a long time." He gave his wife a wide toothy grin. "That was almost as good as making love to you." He squeezed her ass with both hands and spun around again before setting her down on the heating runway.

Bethany hugged her husband and as they walked over to their old Chevrolet, three blue-dungaree'd sailors began to push the little biplane into its place alongside three blue and gray Grumman 'Cats and a couple of olive and yellow Boeing P-26s.

"That was quite an exhibition there, young lady. My stomach is still up in the clouds, somewhere."

"I thought you were the famous fighter pilot, the scourge of Europe." Just the hint of her smile appeared accompanied by a sly look of amusement.

"Ha... ha... ha... very funny... half the time you're up there you're scared to death you'll do something wrong and the other half you're scared to death knowing you did something wrong. It wasn't until I started flying the Jenny that I had some fun with it. Catherine and I..." 

He became quiet. Even after all these years, there were still some topics that were better left unsaid... and this time, he did it to himself. 

Bethany knew what to do when those feelings threatened to overwhelm him. "I remember. That was a nice little plane. I wish we still had it." She remembered the time she and Jim had buzzed the gambling boat in Santa Monica Bay. "This one, though, has a lot more spunk to it. We could have had a lot of fun with it back in Los Angeles. C'mon, fly-boy, let's go home."

"Yeah, it's nice but it's still a trainer, even if it is quite a bit faster than what we used to do. Want to do it, again, say sometime next week? Maybe Friday, the tenth?"

"Oh, Jimmy, that would be wonderful! I'll make sure that I make my instructor happy tonight!"

"Don't forget to fill out your flight log." He saw her looking greedily at the five fighter planes. "OH, NO, YOU DON'T!" Grabbing her hand, he pulled her away as gently as he could, as fast as he could.

Her flight suit disguised Bethany to a certain extent but her black curly hair was too obvious to ignore and she could feel the stares of the sailors as they drove back to town.

They stopped at the little town's small grocery store. Ever since the incident there, Bethany Rose only came to town when he could take her, his insistence as much as her need. Every now and then, he was awakened by her thrashing around as she relived the day in her nightmares.

Hoshito was surprised to see her; Eliza and John came into town to do the shopping, leaving her at home watching the girls or at Pearl with Jim.

"Mrs. Ewart, so good to see you. I was afraid I would never see you again. Mr. Ewart..."

The small Japanese man made no mention about their flight suits, raising Jim's suspicions. There weren't that many women who wore flight suits and the number of colored women in the islands who did so was non-existent.

"I have your Hershey's Kisses in the cooler. I think I got the last case in Honolulu."

It would indeed be a shame, Jim thought, if Hoshito turned out to be disloyal or worse, a spy. Time to get some surveillance out here, he hated to admit and wondered why it took him this long to think about that. A grocery store was the perfect place to keep tabs on what was going on and American sailors on passes weren't exactly known to keep quiet.

He hoped he was wrong. His complacency may have been a tremendous gaffe. Even now, the grocer looked warily around the store. Was he afraid of them or the sailors outside?

Jim had taken to wearing his sidearm when he wasn't at home or at Pearl. While Bethany said nothing, thinking it was because of what had happened at the store, he sadly knew it was for the storm coming from Japan. His work was now putting everyone at risk if the Japanese discovered what his role really was in Naval Intelligence.

"Here you are, Mrs. Ewart, that's 25 pounds of candy at seventy-five cents a pound..." The old man put his pencil to paper and squinted at his numbers. "Eighteen dollars, seventy-five cents."

Bethany counted out the money, one tired bill at a time. Even as she did so, she realized that these candies were part of her weight gain... and yet, her husband said nothing. She looked at him, wondering what he must be thinking as the chocolate was pushed across the counter. He said nothing but did smile. Never once did he ever consider what the silver wrapped chocolate might have been doing to her, so blind was he when it came to her wishes. Indeed, he handed her the money himself earlier in the morning. 

She felt guilty and looked at the box. Chocolate kisses... she laughed quietly. It was what he asked for every day. She started to push the box back and say she had made a mistake but Jim leaned over and whispered into her ear. "Take the box, baby, it'll probably be the last one."

In the car, he looked at the box and then at her. "Listen. You're not going to be able to get those pretty soon if we get into a war. Chocolate is all going to go to the military for rations. Just don't eat it all at once. I don't know when we're going to get any more. I'm actually surprised we got these. Sugar is going to be hard to get. It'll be rationed. We'll have to get another hive or two before people wake up."

Jim's talk of war continued to disturb her and dulled her enthusiasm from the morning. She prayed he was wrong but then, she remembered, he was never wrong. It might take a while before his predictions came true but they always did. The very thought made her shiver and as she looked at the box of Hershey's on her lap, she started to cry. Her world was crumbling around her and there was nothing she could do.

When they arrived home, she took the box and put it into the cool room below the house.

That night, he dreamt of Catherine and his two lost daughters. Unlike other times, this time made him smile in his sleep and he rolled to wrap his arm around his Bethany Rose. Somewhere in his heart, he saw both women together, surrounded by all four girls.

Two hundred feet west of the house, Spencer Reynolds was slowly moving on his hands and knees looking for weeds. The tomato plants were now four feet tall and most had ripening fruit. This was his third week working at the Ewarts' home doing manual labor and for once, he was grateful to the colored woman... it was either this, he realized, or hard labor. How the hell, he thought, was he supposed to know she was the wife of a Navy commander? Even so, she had been incredibly polite to him, bringing him food and cool lemonade to drink. He slowly realized that he was such a damned fool that morning. 

Another weed was pulled out from the fertile volcanic soil and tossed into his bag. 

He finished with the weeds around the tomatoes, picked up his shovel and walked over to the chicken coop and run. At first, the spreading of chicken manure into the compost heap didn't exactly please him one bit but eventually he grew used to it and now, he had it down to just another task to accomplish before it became too hot to work outside.

Going inside, the hens scattered as he began gathering the nearly one hundred eggs waiting for him. He kept a wary eye out for the rooster. That was one mean bird. After washing them, he kept the best dozen for the house and put the rest into straw filled boxes to take to the Japanese grocer the next morning. Returning to the store had been interesting following what he had... no, he thought, no sense thinking about it. It either was going to be the best thing that happened or the stupidest thing that happened but no sense in crying over spilt milk.

Returning to the outbuilding's workbench, he began to mix together the chicken feed. With almost no grains growing in the islands, a good third of the food provided the cackling birds was grass. That was provided by moving the chicken run every few days before the chickens totally denuded the ground, leaving nothing but dirt.

A good source of food was the myriad bugs that lived on the... what could he call this place? A farm? Not a farm in the traditional sense he was used to from the South but definitely an almost self-sufficient homestead. The birds foraged on the insects as much as they could and moving the wire fence kept the birds in protein.

He put together a basket of pigeon peas and two buckets of worms for protein. Whistling another Andrews Sisters' tune, he walked back into the pen and spread the food around, laughing as the hens rushed through the still tall grass to get the worms flying through the air.

Several yards away, he saw his zucchini and cucumbers winding up the trellis he had installed two weeks earlier. Did he really think of them as 'his'? He guessed he did, given the amount of time he spent there. After the first week, he began staying later and later until he practically lived at the Ewart-Franklin house. If the commander noticed, he didn't say anything. How could he not notice?

The Hawaiian climate was a miracle for plants like these. They kept growing all year long and he had no doubt that with enough work, tomato plants could live forever. Since coming to work here, he was eating better than he ever had. If not for the work, he would probably have gained ten pounds. He was as fit as he could be.

And yet, it did bother him, somewhat, that he was torn between what he felt before and what he felt now about Mrs. Ewart and Mrs. Franklin... especially Mrs. Ewart. He found the colored woman arousing him whenever he saw her. Was it because she was the only woman he now had any contact with, or was it because he subconsciously still felt she was something to be used for his pleasure? Either way, it bothered him greatly.

He saw her coming toward him with the lunch basket. She had gone from not speaking to him at all to addressing him as Mr. Reynolds to now calling him Spencer. He still spoke to her as Mrs. Ewart. He was afraid to cross that final line and become too friendly with her. No matter how much he might be tempted, no matter what she might feel, as if that was going to happen... he knew it was a death sentence. The commander was carrying everywhere he went, every time he saw the man and there were enough shore patrol around to kill him if the commander didn't.

"Thank you, ma'am," he said, reaching for the basket. As usual, there was a large thermos of iced lemonade and two sandwiches, chicken and tuna today. So much better, he realized, than the Navy mess his friends were eating. At the bottom of the basket, he found a huge brownie. A toothy grin revealed his surprise. 

"Thank you, very much! You sure are a good cook. I haven't had anything this good since my..." He was quiet. His mother had died; his no good daddy had run away and he had joined the Navy to stay out of jail. That about summed up his life.

He pulled another weed. 

He heard something... another damn toad. The commander had been very clear about those toads and he picked up his shovel and brought it down, slicing the amphibian in half.

Later that afternoon, he worked carefully around the three memorials. He read the names the first time he was shown what to do; but she had made no comment. It made sense when he thought about it... the woman and her two girls were the commander's second family. 

Whether they were really married or not, they acted as if they were and he knew well enough now to act the same way toward the colored women and girls there. 

It explained, he realized, the age difference. It also explained the protective attitude the two men had toward their families. What a fool he had been to act the way he did. He was lucky the two men in the market hadn't killed him. He would have.

He pulled another weed and then polished the large granite stone carrying their names. 

He looked forward to supper. The food had changed after the first week and gone were the fried chicken and ribs and mashed potatoes to be replaced by fish and the vegetables he was tending. As much as he missed the down-home Southern cooking, he found he felt much better with the new menu... and, fishing was a lot of fun each morning. 

At least, Mrs. Franklin had kept the coleslaw. Honey and lemon juice for the dressing... it sounded strange until he courteously tried it. The recipe would have gone home to his mama, but...

This had turned out to be the greatest situation ever to come his way. It sure beat the brig, he knew.

After supper, he read another of the books the commander had given him. Originally, having to study almost made him choose the brig but as the days passed, he started to become interested, especially in the book that the commander had written about the Great War.

Damn, Spencer thought, the man was a fighter ace. An excellent reason not to fish in another man's pond. Killing wasn't something foreign to Ewart and Spencer had no desire to become another scratch on the side of the commander's cockpit.

Strangely, James never seemed to gain weight, no matter what he ate. Bethany Rose seemed to forget that he and John had exercised daily since moving to Hawaii; it just wasn't that obvious, especially when he was at Pearl.

James, though, had noticed the change in her attitude and soon took her running early in the morning along the beach and then back up into the hills. When they slowed to cool down, he picked her up and carried her into the water. "Oh, no, you don't!" she laughed and he dropped her into the waves and went down with her.

How much longer he would be able to do so, he had no idea but was convinced it wasn't going to be much more. One good thing, he thought, was that his Chinese herbals had started to show promising results and he could hardly wait until he was fully satisfied he could fully satisfy her.

He was sitting in the library, making notes when she came in and closed the door. Nothing, he determined, was going to get done, now. Smiling, she sat down on his lap, letting the robe slip open. "Doing a little homework?" she teased. Bethany wet her finger and touched is lips.

Jim's right hand moved up and down her back, sliding across her chocolate skin. His fingers caressed her shoulder, her neck, her skin.

She took his right hand and placed it upon her thigh and moved it back and forth. "Mmmmmmm..." she moaned. She had missed his constant touching. She felt his fingers slither across her skin, leaving a burning trail and that dampness returned.

The change in diet and his herbal remedies had done wonders for her self-esteem. Thoughts of his straying were pushed to a hidden corner of her mind but she realized all the weight she had gained had caused her problems. Combined with his own situation, she had become unsure.

He wasn't sure whether she meant it or not but wasn't going to argue about it. His hand inched upward, slowly, toward that mysterious patch that had drawn his attention from almost the first moment he saw her standing on that Venice street corner. His finger slipped in as she shifted her leg a bit and she moaned again. 

My God, he thought, how wet was she? His fingers ministered to her needs and soon she was vibrating against him. 

"I see that you're awake down there." A move... "Thank God," she whispered to herself. "Jimmy, do me..."

"Liza, are you still wanting to do a Halloween party? If so, we're going to have to get the candies as soon as possible."

"I don't know... I'm not sure if it's a good idea or not. Every time Jim turns around, he's talking about war. He might not want to spend the money. How do we even know we can get the candies? Given all this healthy food the two of them are demanding... yeah, I know they're right, but, given that, how can we buy a bunch of candy? I've already lost a few pounds, myself, and I wasn't even trying. What do the boys say?"

"Thanks a lot, Eliza, thanks a lot. I've still got another ten pounds to go. As far as the boys go, I haven't asked. I figured we're doing most of the work."

"Yeah, well, sure, but Jim's really becoming tied up at Pearl. Do you think he'd mind?"

Bethany thought. If everything he was worried about came true, this might be the last Halloween party for a long, long time. One way or another, they would have a party, even if it was the last one for a while. "Let's do it. He won't mind, even if he can't be here for it. Maybe, though, instead of candy we make cupcakes and ice cream and have games. That might be better. We could have it in the back before it gets too late."

"All right, let's get Spencer down to Hoshito's and order whatever we're going to need. Do you think the school would help us out this year with decorations? You know, maybe we could have it at the school?"

"Sister, are you crazy? Who wants to go to school more than they have too?" Bethany laughed. "Let's get some mothers to help bake, this year." She left the kitchen to find Spencer.

He lay on the bed, waiting for her to return from the bathroom. He had had the strangest dream. He was a school teacher and the classroom was full of young boys who seemed to be listening to music. How they were able to do so, his subconscious didn't bother to explain and his growing frustration made him angry. He had a movie he wanted to show, something about... he couldn't remember... too many times he awoke and couldn't remember what he had dreamt, only that he was in a foul mood.

In his dream, he walked down the aisle to one boy who was snapping his fingers to some unheard tune and grabbed him by the collar, throwing him out the door.

He had awoken with a start that shook the bed. 

She was not in the bed and it wasn't until he heard the shower running that he settled down. He didn't have this problem before and wondered if it were the different herbs he was taking. It seemed more likely, though, that it was his worry about the Japanese.

Even though their information was solid-gold terrifying, no one seemed to listen. He had no idea how far up the chain of command his reports went before being put on a shelf somewhere to languish and die.




Chocolate Kisses 2: Pearl Ch. 03



He took his Chinese herbs every evening just before bedtime and was feeling much better about himself, even with the dreams. 

Although he knew he physically was miles ahead of where he was earlier in the summer, he still was self-conscious about his condition. He was afraid that he would somehow lapse back into what he was before and wanted to wait. 

There had been several times when she refused to have him orally pleasure her if it meant that he wouldn't be able to have intercourse with her and it led to a chilling evening. He tried to explain that he was willing, well, that was the wrong word... that he was happy to please her and worship her body for the gift that it was.

In the middle of Thanksgiving dinner, Bethany Rose moved her leg against her husband's thigh and quietly placed her hand on him. He almost dropped the bowl he was holding as her hand massaged him through his pants.

Jim hurriedly passed the mashed potatoes down the table to John, Jr. who had finally returned just in time for dinner. Sitting next to Junior was Albert Burguns, the coral reef biologist who had been his mentor the last five months.

Burguns' plate was heavily piled high with food and he ate like a man approaching his last meal. "Thank you so much for the invitation to stay... I really lost track of time... I mean, while I was out there. I haven't had anything to eat but fish and rice for months."

He seemed reluctant to say anything other than they collected a tremendous amount of information that now needed to be gone over. He estimated it might take a year or so to write and publish a report.

He looked at Jim, strangely enough, John noticed, for some support. There was something going on between the two men, Jim and Albert, which he didn't understand.

Jim was looking at his wife who smiled back innocently. She continued to move her hand back and forth, occasionally stopping to feel and squeeze.

He cleared his throat as he felt the heat building. "Excuse me... I'll, uh, be back in a moment." He held his napkin loosely in front and then turned and went, almost ran to their bedroom. 

Right behind him was Bethany who practically rushed him into the room and locked the door. Pushing him down onto the bed, she swiftly unzipped his pant and freed his almost burning erection and hiking up her skirt, she moved above him and then forcefully came down, burying him deeply inside her, her moist heat driving him insane, her moist heat that was holding him, squeezing him, her moist heat that he had missed for months, now.

"Oh, thank you, Jesus, Jimmy... how much I've missed this... damn, this is good." She began to rock back and forth, holding her breasts tightly through her blouse, forcing him against her and she could feel the warmth spreading through her as it began to build. "mmmmffffff," was all that she could say and she so quickly shuddered three, four, incredibly five times before she slowed enough to catch her breath.

"And... now, to finish..." She began to move her body up and down, finding a rhythm... an ancient rhythm and she could feel him swell even larger and then he grabbed her by her waist and she could feel him drench her over and over until they both were done as she trembled again, twice, more, more, and more. It seemed to continue forever.

"My God, Jimmy, where have you been?" She collapsed onto his chest, not caring about her still healing wrist. With her head next to his, she whispered the things she knew he liked to hear and what she wanted later that evening. 

Thanksgiving, indeed...

Eventually, their breathing slowed enough they were able to get up from the bed, wash and redress themselves. Bethany touched his cheek. "Thank you, Jimmy... I had been so worried about you... about us... damn, that was quick."

"I love you, Bethany." That afternoon with the Chinese girl surfaced from his subconscious. As embarrassed, as shamed as he was with what she had done, she HAD saved his ability to make to love his wife and for that, he would always smile when he thought of her. She and her grandfather's herbal remedies put a new context to the idea of 'Chinese take-out.'

The time they had been gone left the rest of the diners self-conscious, all except Eliza, laughing quietly, knowing full well what her sister had done and why.

Their guest, however, continued to fill his plate several times, remarking occasionally on the juiciness of the turkey or the tangy sweetness of the cranberry sauce or the nutty taste of the stuffing. Throughout the meal, the four daughters watched as he ate as if he were a condemned man with his last meal.

While the two lovers were working out their frustrations in bed, at the dinner table, John was working out his own frustrations with their dinner guest.

"So, exactly what did you learn, Mr. Burguns?" John, at first interested in finding out what his adopted son, Junior, had been doing, and was now suspicious he continued to press the issue. Studying coral... seemed like a waste of time... the reefs were just there, that's all. There had to be more to it than that. That's just stupid.

"Please, just call me Al... that's fine. Well, you see, there's been a little worry... well, that's not right... there's been a lot of worry in some of the research facilities about the reefs. We've been trying to determine the effects of oil on the little creatures and the other animals that live on the reef."

"I thought it was just rock, under there, I mean," said John. "I mean, after all, it IS just rock, isn't it?"

"Well... yes and no... you see, the reefs are made up of the... well, lets just say that they are alive and when they die, what's left forms a heavy rock that mostly likely will become limestone... maybe... probably..."

Burguns put another spoonful of cranberry sauce into his mouth, signaling he was through giving his short, dull and somewhat inadequate science lesson. It almost was as if he wanted to change the subject as quickly as possible.

John wasn't interested in the actual biology; he wanted to know what his son had been doing all this time. He decided there was something going on that Burguns was either hesitant or refusing to explain.

"What exactly WAS Junior doing?" His voice started to show his frustration. The children around the table knew that John was about to lose his temper. They had only see him get that mad twice and not for at least three years. Whatever was bothering him was important, that they knew, and wondered why their visitor wasn't telling him what his Junior had been doing.

Burguns looked for support from Jim but neither he nor Bethany had returned to the table.

"John, he is our guest and it's Thanksgiving," Eliza said, sharply. "Let's not worry about a bunch of stupid rocks. Rocks is rocks, who cares?"

John looked at all five children looking at him and felt ashamed. He had gotten angry during dinner... Thanksgiving dinner. "I... I apologize... I... look, I should have spoken to you later... will that be all right?" Damn it, he thought, it's my house and I have the right to know what's going on, especially with my own son.

"I would like that, yes. I'm not trying to hide anything... well, not really, but there are... I'll just wait. Thank you.

"Could I have some more white meat, please?"

The dinner conversation shifted to other things, mostly of no consequence... typical dinner conversation with guests.

John didn't like Burguns, that he was sure of... and, he didn't like being made to look foolish in front of his family. Burguns... he was going to be given a lesson in manners.

The last piece of piece of whipped cream strawberry pie went to Jim who shared it with Bethany Rose, a bite at a time. They had missed a lot of dinner and were now picking through whatever leftovers there were still on the kitchen countertop. 

Bethany looked up at the rest of the family. "What?"

She was met with a gale of laughter from her sister.

Later that evening, the three men met on the veranda, looking out into the darkness. Jim had walked around, making sure there were no listening children anywhere near... 

"They all should be in bed, by now, don't you think?

"Bethany," he almost shouted, "all the children are in their rooms, right?"

"Yes, dear, you know that. Can I get you anything?"

He looked at his two companions. Heads nodded 'no' and she left, closing the French doors behind her.

"All right, let's talk," he said. "I asked Al, here, to spend Thanksgiving with us... well, with you and me, really, so that I could get his report and he could tell you what Jr. had experienced. 

"Yes, I know Jr. could have told us but it probably would have been colored by his own teenage naiveté and you needed to hear it from the horse's mouth, as it were."

As the night progressed, John moved across a range of emotions, anger, interest, dispassionate listening, frustration and finally confusion.

"The whole trip was a ruse?" he asked.

"Oh, no, the information collected will be quite valuable and has already been turned over to several universities, including UCLA, Berkeley and USC. They're the ones that are actually going to write it up..."

"So... you're not a scientist?" asked John. His grip on the Adirondack chair was starting to hurt his fingers.

"Yes, I am... but, I'm also working with the Office of Naval Intelligence.

"Before you get upset, Mr. Franklin, at no time was your boy ever in any danger. As a matter of fact, he never left the islands here. I had him in the lab typing up reports or with me just offshore at Kauai for some practical experience. I even gave him a personal aquarium to keep specimens in and learn color photography. He had a great time... I'm happy to say that he's learned a lot of skills that should do him well when he's older."

John looked pleased and still had an underlying current of anger. If that was all there was too it, why didn't he just say so at the dinner table instead of acting like it was some great state secret?

"Why didn't you just come out and say so? What's so damn hard about that?"

"I'm afraid some of that's my fault, John," said Jim. "I should have told you ahead of time but I got so caught up in... well, you know, with the Chinese herbalist..." He gave his friend a look, one of seeking understanding and one of seeking forgiveness.

"Yeah, I can understand that, I guess, and tonight, I noticed you and Bethany were taking care of business, there..." John started laughing, a deep from the heart laughing. "I guess no harm, no foul. All right, so what were YOU doing there while Jr. was watching the fish and rocks?"

Burguns looked at Jim, seeking permission to talk and was met with a silent assent.

"I was spying on the Japs... over towards China and trying to keep Chiang and Mao from killing each other and direct them toward fighting the Japanese. Those two are going to go at each other as soon as they can when the dust settles.

"Last year, the Japanese signed a military alliance pact with the Germans and the Italians. When we get involved, it's going to be an incredibly deadly conflict, a truly worldwide war. I don't know what it would take to stop them... with their God damn so-called 'samurai code of ethics.' What crap... I've already seen the atrocities they've committed on the Chinese and God help us when we have to go up against them."

John sat there; trying to digest it all... the implications were mind-numbing. He knew his brother and best friend, Jim, was neck-deep in political intrigue but to hear it from someone else was just unsettling.

"How much do the girls know? How much does Jr. know?"

"Not a damn thing," both Jim and Al responded. They looked at each other and began laughing.

"Well, I'm glad that someone can laugh at all this.

"Jim, you got anything worth drinking in the house?"

Before Jim could answer, Al pulled out a silver flask and passed it over to John. "Here," was all he needed to say and John took a long pull on the flask.

"Damn, I haven't had a drink in years but no time like the present."

The next morning, Bethany tried to disentangle her leg from her husband's without waking him. The holiday had given her a rare chance to spend a wild night with him beneath the sheets. Even though he had come to bed late, she had waited up for him and met him just inside the bedroom door as her sarong slipped to the floor and he came to attention in more ways than one.

She thought back to the night before... He had sat down on the edge of the bed and watched her on the bedspread as she smiled at him. 

She felt his finger moving on her breast, then her nipple... "Chocolate," he murmured and put his tongue down on her... licking and bringing it tight and hard.

His tongue moved down to her belly, swirled around for a few moments and then headed deep into her being, slitting her open and then, first one side and then the other, finally surrounded her clit and began to lightly suck.

She went crazy at his touch, there. Jesus, she thought, wanting to shout as loudly as she could, children and guest be damned for all she cared. It was as exciting, as wild as that first night, that first Christmas night when she came to his room and offered her heart and body to him.

His hands cupped her cheeks and pulled up; then pushing his face into her crotch, the pressure set off the first orgasm of the evening as she gripped his head and pulled on his hair.

Even through the hair-pulling pain, he refused to stop and brought her off again, twice more. The shimmy of her hips told him that he had accomplished his goal for the evening and was happily surprised since only a short while had passed since their 'thanksgiving dinner' sex.

He stood up next to the bed and gently raised her legs up against his chest before sliding into her. She was so aroused and still excited from dinner he was able to push on in completely. This time, she was silent. With closed eyes, she turned her head right and left in rhythm with his strokes and he kept moving.

Following their earlier bout only hours ago, he was able to hold back his orgasm for a long time until she said, "God damn it, do it! I want it!" She interrupted herself with another orgasm and she shook hard against him. 

He wanted to ask her if she was sure but she began to squeeze her legs together. He couldn't hold back after that and exploded again. 

Jim was amazed. He would have thought after dinner... but forgot to think about it again when he came once more. He tried to stop pushing, hearing the sloppy noise as he entered but she had locked her ankles behind him and wouldn't let him escape her grip.

Finally, he had to stop... he wasn't able to continue no matter what she did. Breathing hard, he pulled her feet apart and kissed them, one and then the other, sucking on her little toes.

Her hands slapped the bed as he moved his head down and licked his way to her pussy once again.

This time, she did make a loud moan as he plunged his tongue inside once again.

She wasn't quite sure what was in the Chinese herbals he had been taking religiously each evening before bedtime but true to his promise, he had returned, as he so laughingly put it, to 'the land of the living.'

"Mmmmmm," he moaned as he felt her leave and the bed rise up on her side. "Way... wait, baby, don't go yet..."

"You silly boy, it's after ten o'clock, already. Are you planning on spending all day in bed?"

"Would it be with you?" He reached out, just missing her leg. "C'mon, how often do I get to stay home like this?"

"If last night was any indication of what to expect, I'll sign up for it in a heartbeat. Problem is, we've got a houseguest here and after yesterday's little disappearance during dinner... well, a girl is getting embarrassed around here when she's near you... I'm so sore, Jimmy, you're going to have to help me get around." She laughed.

"I'll help you into the shower and scrub your back, how's that?" He sat up in bed, too quickly and as the blood worked hard to keep up, his head went dizzy. "OH, my head!" he said, holding his head between his hands, trying to push back the hurt. "God, I hate when that happens."

"I thought you weren't having that anymore." She sat down on the bed and touched his face. "You want some aspirin?"

"No, I'll be OK, there... I'm fine now, I'll just be a little more careful. Must be the aftereffects."

"From what?"

"From you, of course. Baby, you are something else..." He grabbed her hand and pulled her down onto him. "Aha, just what the doctor ordered, here." His lips quickly found her breasts and soon had brought her nipples to a morning hardness.

Without too much effort, she swung her leg over and settled down over his face as he eagerly sent his tongue sliding between and then inside, finally settling on circling, circling, circling...

She accidently hit the wall behind the headboard as her head swept forward and then...

"Ouch! Damn it! Jesus, that hurt." She rolled off and lay on the bed facing the other way.

He started laughing. "Love hurts..."

"Lunch?" Lunch came and went, little sister. What have you and lover boy been doing, anyway?

"Oh, wait a minute, I'll make some sandwiches... turkey is about it, right now?"

By the time lunch was ready, Jim had sat down and was drinking his second glass of orange juice. Bethany carried over the two plates... turkey sandwiches, cranberry sauce, warmed-up potatoes and some candied carrots.

"There'd have been more but your guest ate his way through most of it last night. I swear, he acted like he hadn't anything worth eating in months. Maybe, he was telling the truth last night about nothing but fish and rice.

"Want some more juice, Jim?"

"Yes, please." He looked at his wife with an almost unbelievable lust. He knew what he really wanted and was determined to get it before dinner, even if it meant taking her somewhere away from the house.

Two hours later, the two lovers had arrived at a secluded section of the beach, far away from anyone else. She quickly spread out the blanket while he opened the picnic basket and took out ice-cold bottles of Coke and homemade brownies. Sugar and sugar and chocolate... just what the doctor ordered, he thought. Now, for a little lovin'.

"We seem to be making up for lost time, don't you think?" She dropped her blouse onto the sand and reached for the buttons on the skirt. 

"You have no idea..."

"Yes, I do... Jimmy, I was feeling so bad, so worthless when you..."

"I'm so sorry, baby... I didn't think what I was doing to you... all I could see was what I was doing... what I was feeling for myself. I promise it's never going to happen again."



Chocolate Kisses 2: Pearl Ch. 04



Chocolate Kisses 2: Pearl
Copyright @ calibeachgirl
All rights reserved, 2011


Chapter 4 – Early December 4th, 1941

It was one week after Thanksgiving that Bethany strolled leisurely into the kitchen and dreamingly ran her fingers along the counter, a sleepy smile on her still somnolent face. She stopped for a moment and fed a macadamia nut to their parrot, Jolly Roger, brought home after the dog died. 

Eliza brought over two cups of coffee, sat down and poured milk into hers. "Bethany Rose... do you have any idea what time it is?"

Bethany gave her sister a silly little grin and looked at the ridiculous cat clock hanging on the wall, its tail and eyes marking each second as it passed by. Roger moved back and forth with it, his head bobbing in time with the tail.

It was almost nine-thirty.

"Kwock! cracker. Roger... cracker." As smart as the bird was, the girls could never teach it anything else. He spent most of his time whistling.

Bethany smiled and took another sip of the steaming, hot coffee. Nine-thirty! Wow! And, she realized, he had been good for three more times this morning... She herself had gone there at least five times; probably more, just that last time, alone.

My God, she thought, he's become... she couldn't find the right word but finally settled on demon... that's it, a demon in the bed. Her smile grew wider.

"Kwock!" said Roger. He whistled three more times.

"Are you going to want breakfast, or what? I can make some French toast, if you like." Eliza realized she was anxiously tapping her fingers on the table and stopped, laying her hand flat. 

Bethany looked exactly like she had that first Christmas morning when she and Jim both came down the stairs together. It was one of those moments that you knew was coming but were still shocked when it happened.

"Huh? Oh, yeah... sure... whatever you like." She stared out the kitchen windows as Eliza broke a couple of eggs into the bowl, started to beat them and then tossed in some bread.

As the sound of the frying bread filled the kitchen, Bethany looked back to her bedroom, reliving the events of the previous evening and, now, the morning...

Last night, they immediately went to the bathroom, dropping their clothing to the stone floor. She turned the shower on, and as they stood waiting for the temperature to be bearable, she felt his hands passing over her skin and the thought of it brought her nipples erect and tight. He hadn't even touched her there and she was so ready for him. 

The mirror began to fog and they pulled the glass door open together and walked in, almost falling to the wet tiled floor as their groping continued.

She moaned as his fingers roamed over her body, stopping occasionally at the spots he knew she was most aroused at. He bent slightly and licked one chocolate nipple and then the other. Her hands hung heavily around his neck as she became weak in the knees and shifted her weight against him.

He sank to his knees and she obliged him, opening her thighs to his mouth as his tongue ticked her hair and then slid deeply into her. The warm water mixed with her own warm wetness and she leaned against the green tiled wall, her legs braced against his knees as he prayed to her altar.

She could feel the heat rising from her crotch, up to her breasts as his hands cupped her breasts, his fingers touching and gently squeezing her nipples and then it rushed to her head as her blood pressure rose. Her arousal immediately bounced back down and she shook, almost as if she was shivering against an unseen cold, again and again and again, all the while his tongue working heavily against her clit.

"Now, Jimmy," she whispered, "now... let's do it now." She turned the water off.

He picked her up and held her in his arms. She knew then... well, she always knew back in the recesses of her heart, that her weight gain had never been a factor in their relationship. Just the same, she realized, she needed to lose that other five pounds.

Slowly walking into the bedroom with her, he went toward the bed. It was going to get wet, he thought, and didn't care one whit. Down she went onto the sheet... down he went on her.

Within seconds, he was between her bent legs bringing her back to that heat that never really left her. His hands held her up against his face as he moved back and forth like a hungry dog worrying on a bone.

She was startled back to awareness; her breakfast plate and silverware were set before her with somewhat of a clatter. 

"Orange juice?" Eliza noticed Bethany's mind was somewhere, probably back in bed with Jim. She nudged her. "Hey, sister! Orange juice?"

"No... uh, thanks." As Bethany absent-mindedly began to eat, one small forkful after another, visions of that one particular thing he did for her still dancing in her head.

Bethany put her head down on the table and asked, "What day is it?"

"Damn, girl... what did he do to you?" As if I don't know, Eliza decided. That change in diet really worked wonders for them, she thought. John, himself, had been much more...

Bethany hesitated before answering her sister, then whispered, "Everything... he did everything... oh, God, I'm so sore."

Eliza stared at her sister. "Well, it seems whatever problem he had has gone away." She started laughing, sipping her own coffee.

"Oh, my head..." moaned Bethany, "my mouth... you know, he spanked me and told me I was a naughty, uh, very bad girl."

"What are you going to do now?"

Bethany raised her head and laughed. "Why, go back to bed, of course. What else?"

And, with that, she rose from the table and left her sister standing there, mouth open and muttering something under her breath about wild women and crazy men.

She entered the room and then closed and locked the door. There were only three rooms in the house that had locks on them: the two master bedrooms and his office... and this one, she put to good use.

No sooner had she heard the 'click' than she had dropped her sarong onto the rug and slipped back beneath the covers. Within seconds, her hand had sought him out and began to bring him back to life.

Bethany was fascinated how it worked. Once second, it was so gentle and flexible and then the next, hard as an Italian salami and so much longer and wider than before.

Mother Nature sure was a woman! She laughed quietly, not wanting to spoil the mood. If he thought she was laughing at him, who knew what would have happened.

Down Bethany Rose went, opened her lips and slid him onto her tongue. She tasted his skin, warm and then hot and then felt some from him, just starting. She hesitated, looking at him but he had a great big smile and she continued. He never forced her, grabbing the back of her head and fucking her face. She had heard about that from some of the women she had met in town... how their husbands or boyfriends became inconsiderate and unloving, just using them.

He never did that to her and she loved him even more for it... doing everything he wanted because of it.

She pushed down and felt him enter her throat and began to work the skin with her left hand, faster, faster, faster and he came in such a rush. Bethany felt the liquid heat pour down her throat and was beginning to wonder if she had breath enough to finish when he stopped.

Thank God, she thought. She was about to choke, either from not enough air or from the amount he had flooded her with.

"What...."

"What, what... baby?" he asked.

"Whatever that stuff is that you're taking... God, don't ever stop, please. You should get them to bottle this stuff, they could be rich."

"Somehow, I don't think that's what important to them, Bethany. They are following a different drummer."

It wasn't until late morning that Eliza saw her sister again and then Jim a few minutes later.

"Do you think," he asked, looking at the two of them, "I could have a sandwich?

"What?" he asked.

Bethany moved toward the breadbox but Eliza waved her away. She sat down while Eliza made two sandwiches and then poured out glasses of milk. 

"I see you've finally gotten up. Drink this, Jim, to, uh, keep your strength up, Jim... just in case..."

"Supper is at six. Do you two think you'll be on time? How hard can it be?"

Bethany burst out laughing.

Jim looked away, turning several shades of crimson. "I think I'll just eat this outside. Thank you, uh, it's very good. Uh, what time is it, anyway?" 

He hurriedly left the kitchen to the sound of his wife's laughter. He smiled... things were back to normal... at least, he thought, in the bedroom.

A worried frown came over his face. Thank God, he thought, things were good once again, actually, they were great, but the conversations he and John had had with their counterparts at Pearl had him worried... very worried.

Everyone knew the Japanese were coming, they just refused to accept it... it was just a question of when and where. 

He knew it was going to be at Pearl. He had to get his people out of there before it happened.

Joseph Grew, the ambassador to Japan, had said as much back in January. It was the only place that made sense. 

Using the Conservation Corps work as a cover was an incredible piece of luck. While he made perfunctory visits to the work sites, it was John that kept the project running and while John knew what he was doing, he still was not privy to all the information being discussed by his brother.

They were coming. He could smell it in the air and so could many others. He wondered how many people would die before it was all over.

Tomorrow, he would have to spend almost the entire day at Pearl. Maybe he would take Bethany Rose with him... it might make more sense to tell her then...

Jim turned around and walked purposely back to the house. "Bethany Rose! I've got to..."

"James! Don't shout... I'm right here."

"I'm going to Pearl tomorrow and I would like to take you with me. What do you say? It would be fun, c'mon, baby; we can make it an overnighter and see a movie and do some shopping... a new dress?"

She knew she had to lose five more pounds to be where she was when she was married but he still never mentioned her weight to her.

And, she ashamedly admitted to herself, had thought he was having an affair or at least visiting prostitutes when he went into the city.

"Oh, Jimmy, I would love to go with you." She threw her arms around him and kissed him deeply. "Can I thank you now or later?"

"As good as that sounds, I have some work I have to do right now but I'll see you later. Six for dinner... tell Eliza that I might be a little late and to start without me if that's the case."

He put his arm around her and they walked back to the veranda; she waved as she watched him drive away.

Dinner was a quiet affair for many different reasons. Bethany was still working through her mind everything he had said about staying at Pearl. Things had become as normal as they could be and now this... how to deal with it without scaring the girls was becoming harder each day as she saw how nervous he had become. 

There was an urgency in the bedroom that hadn't been there before. At first, she had just thought it was because of the herbals he was taking each evening but then, thinking about it more, realized that his worrying about the Japanese had overshadowed everything else. He was making love... having sex as if each day were their last.

If war came, life would be horrifying, especially if they came here. While her first duty was to her two daughters, her overwhelming duty was to her husband. If things were indeed as bad as he painted, he needed a clear head to think with. If that meant going to Pearl with him, then so be it. Eliza could watch all the girls and Jr. and John could take care of the home with Spencer's help.

No, if it came to that, Spencer would return to regular duty. He was going to return soon, anyway. Jim mentioned Spencer being almost done with his time with them and being transferred to the USS Arizona.

"Dessert? I've fruit and some homemade ice cream."

Bethany Rose looked at Jim, grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the table. "NO!"

She was embarrassed, not meaning to be so loud. "God, I'm sorry." She let go of his hand and ran outside onto the veranda.

Jim threw his napkin down on the table and hurried out after her. "Bethany, where did you go?" He couldn't find her and could only think she went to the bench.

He went back inside and got a lantern, put his Zippo into his pocket and made the uphill walk toward the bench. "Bethany? Are you up here?" He listened and finally heard her crying.

She was at the bench but instead of sitting there, she was kneeling on the ground and praying on the bench with her head down on her hands. He knelt down beside her and turned down the lamp until it was just lit.

Maybe she had the right idea, he felt. Pray for all you're worth. But, he sadly knew, God was somewhere else right now and thousands of people were dying every day with no God to protect them. The devil was coming and this time he spoke Japanese.

Friday morning, after kissing her daughters goodbye, Bethany Rose joined the two naval officers who had returned to drive them to Pearl Harbor.

Jim had tarpped over his old Chevrolet and when she gave him a questioning look, he gave her a sad smile. Somehow, she knew it would be a long time, if ever, before he drove it again.

Although it was a beautiful, sunny, blue and green Saturday morning, she sat quietly in the back of the long dark blue Buick with her hand in his and closing her eyes, ignored the passing scenery and the beautiful Pacific to her right.

Whatever their life had been, it was over now.

Eventually, after what seemed forever to her, they arrived. Identifications checked, they proceeded to a non-descript small green building somewhat removed from the rest. Hidden beneath the tremendous spreading branches of five ancient banyan trees, it was almost invisible from the air.

Bethany was almost overwhelmed the next few hours as she was introduced to the twelve others working with her husband, for her husband. She didn't know what to expect. While they were all polite, she wondered which ones were because of her husband, which ones didn't care and which ones actually wanted to be friendly.

She and Eliza had learned a strange lesson in human behavior when they met John... their John, formerly of the Klan... their John, who could have been killed protecting Eliza... their John, who adopted three colored children because he loved their mother.

By two o'clock, she was tired, hungry and wishing she had brought something to eat. Should have brought some of those chocolate kisses, she thought. She had lost her husband hours ago to some information that had all the people there anxious. No wonder, she realized, when he did come home to her, he was so tired and restless at the same time. She wanted to go home where the world made sense.

A tap on her shoulder turned her around. "Mrs. Ewart, would you like something to eat?" It was Agnes, her husband's clerk, secretary... something like that. Oh, God, what if SHE would have been the one he was having an affair with? She certainly was pretty in a 'girl-next-door kind of way... her thoughts depressed her.

Why was she thinking these thought? She knew... she just KNEW he wasn't doing anything and yet these thoughts still rattled around her mind.

"Please." Thank God, she thought. How could they go so long without food?

The lieutenant opened the refrigerator, took out four sandwiches and a couple of cokes and they went outside to a picnic table shaded by another huge banyan. 

"Well?" the woman asked.

"Well, what?" Bethany replied, a little harshly, she quickly realized. She took another bite of her tuna sandwich, wondering if she should apologize but the young woman, a girl, actually, didn't seem to notice.

Agnes pointed to the nearby building. "All this... he didn't really tell you, did he?"

Bethany sipped her Coke and set the bottle down. "No... I really had no idea."

"You know, he couldn't have. He's wanted you to know for a long time and now, he needs you to know..." Agnes' voice wavered and then disappeared. 

"He asked me to speak with you. He thought that you... I'm sorry, I can't do this. You're going to have to speak with him about it. All I'll say is that... ah, forget I ever said anything."

Bethany didn't know why she said the next thing but once it was out, there was to no taking it back. It had to be fatigue or worry or desperation or maybe all three.

"I thought he was having an affair, you know... that he didn't care... that he had someone here... someone like you."

Agnes blushed bright cherry red. How did Bethany know of her desire to take him to bed? Was it that obvious? Did she really have a 'father' fixation as one friend said? ...or was she just entranced by his manner and intelligence?

Sadly, she knew there was never a chance and should date others but after meeting him, the others were just boys pretending to be men.

Bethany put her hands to her face and lowered her head. "I'm sorry; I don't know why I'm telling you this... I shouldn't have..."

"Mrs. Ewart, he loves you. That's why he broke... that's why WE ALL broke the rules, that night and today.

"You are all he talks about when we're... well, I can't tell you... well, when we're taking a break, anyhow."

"Please, call me Bethany. After this, I don't see how you could do anything else."

"Bethany Rose... that's a beautiful name. Yes, I know your full name... like I said, you're the world to him... and he's been sleeping in his office when he's here. 

"There is NO OTHER WOMAN." Agnes cried inside, knowing that her yearning, her want, her need for him would never be fulfilled, not as long as Bethany Rose was there for him.

"The other day, he insisted we come with him. I don't know if he originally intended to tell you or not, but he told us he wanted to give us a break away from here.

"You have a very nice family..."

Bethany could feel the woman's hesitation. "You're surprised he married a colored woman, aren't you?"

Several long, excruciating moments passed taking a million wild thoughts with them. Why now, Agnes asked herself, why meet the woman of his affection who she would never supplant in his heart.

"Frankly, yes. It just..." She was at a loss for words that wouldn't ruin her career.

"Isn't done?" Bethany said. She took another sip of her cola.

"Well..." the woman squirmed a little on the picnic bench. "Well, yes, you know...

"I'm sorry, I must sound so stupid."

"He never said anything? ...about me being colored?"

"No, he just said you were one of the two most beautiful and kindest women he's ever loved... we were surprised that evening... I'm sorry.

"I don't think it ever occurred to him to mention it."

Bethany knew immediately who the other woman was in her husband's heart; she felt nothing but a gentle sadness for Catherine. She, herself, was the one that hung the photo of his first family on the wall, a constant reminder of what was and what is.

She looked at the younger woman who was so red-faced in embarrassment and nervousness.

"Are you OK, now? With it, I mean?"

"After that night, whatever notions I had about..."

"Colored people?"

"Uh, yes, I guess, colored people... well, they mostly went away.

"You and your sister are really the only ones I've ever actually spoken to. God, I'm so embarrassed."

Silence hung in the humid air.

"Damn, I wish I could just crawl away.

"Bethany Rose, could we start over?"

Bethany looked at the nervous, young woman. If change was going to take place, somehow, it had to start like this; anything else was doomed to failure and only bring grief to everyone.

Even so, she wasn't out to change the world, just her little corner of it.




Chocolate Kisses 2: Pearl Ch. 04



"Sure, why not? Why not?

"Hi, I'm Bethany Rose Ewart, originally from Los Angeles. Evidently, my husband has a secret life that I knew nothing about. Has this really been going on since 1937?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. Allow me to introduce myself... My name is Agnes Bozeman, from Eugene, Oregon. I've been here two years now... and I'm scared to death."

They talked and talked until Agnes saw an ensign waving at them.

"Crap, we've got to back... I'd like to talk to you later, if that's all right?"

"Yes, please. I'd like that, too."

"Bethany, dear, I'd like you to talk with Lieutenant Baker... if you're going to stay here with me you need to get clearance... who knows, it might even get you a job... remember how the store turned out?"

"If that's what you want... do you know what's it about?"

"Just some simple stuff... you know, are you a good American, stuff like that."

Two hours later, the lieutenant was finished and said he'd get back to her Monday, the 8th.

She never realized how complicated her simple life had been.

That evening, that so very late evening, they took a jeep and drove down to the beach on the west side of Oahu. 

He stretched out on the beach blanket, looking at the stars in her eyes. "Bethany?"

"Yes, Jimmy?"

"We've come a long way from Venice, haven't we?"

There was no answer, at least one that he could hear. Instead, he felt her fingers touch his face and then he felt her lips touch his mouth and then he forgot everything else in the world except her.

He had arranged for a room to be available in the married officers' quarters but it was after one in the morning when they finally returned.

"I'm sorry it's not home but I'm afraid it will have to do until you decide what you want to do."

Later, lying on the bed, too hot for blankets, too hot for anything except touching fingers to fingers...

"They're coming, you know..."

"I know." She started to cry and soon her tears touched his face as he pulled her to him. 

"It'll be all right, sweetheart. We've just got to see this through, that's all and pray to God that nobody gets hurt."

"Jimmy, you know that's not going to happen... somebody always gets hurt."

"I know." He cuddled her with both arms, kissing her tears away, kissing her, touching her, loving her and soon her sorrow was swept away, if only for a short time, by her passion for him, his passion for her.

Bringing Agnes to his house to meet his family... it was as gentle a letdown as he could think of. She had been dropping hints almost from the moment she became part of his team. He had thought of transferring her but decided against it. Somewhere else, she would be easy prey for someone else

Later, just before Saturday daybreak, he slid out from Bethany's arms, walked over to the window and just stared to the northwest. 

The dragon was coming... they weren't ready, nobody wanted to listen and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.

Damn it!

Next - Chapter 5: Saturday, December 6th



Chocolate Kisses 2: Pearl Ch. 05-06



Copyright @ calibeachgirl
All rights reserved, 2011



Saturday, December 6th, 1941

The cloudless blue-sky sunshine glowed around her as the surf roared onto the beach. Rolling up to where she had stopped, it splashed her long legs. Wearing a dark-brown two-piece swimsuit, Bethany looked almost nude as she walked along the sand with her two girls, one on each hand; suddenly, another child appeared from the water arms up, wanting to be held. 

As Bethany reached down, the morning reveille sounded and woke her from her dream. 

It was one of those dreams that seemed so real. Doctors were occasionally discussing ideas that the brain couldn't tell the difference... it was as real as real could be and yet it wasn't. 

Freud had just died two years earlier; known for saying that dreams were sexual in nature, he still managed to hedge his bet, saying 'sometimes a cigar is just a cigar,' so who knew what dreams really meant.

"Nammmrfffff," she mumbled and rolled over, finding her arm reaching for emptiness. He was gone and then she understood the vibrant sound of the bugle.

She looked out the window. Jim, in his uniform, was with the rest of them and standing at attention, saluted while the Stars and Stripes rose on the base's main flagpole. Even the civilians had stopped moving and she stepped back from the glass, not wanting to embarrass him by being seen inside during the ceremony and considered disrespectful.

As soon as the sound faded away, there was a call for dismissal and he eventually returned to their room. Knocking on the door, he entered, took the wide-tooth comb from her hand and swept her nightgown-clad body into his arms, pressing her to him. 

"Good morning, Sunshine, time for breakfast." He put his lips to her neck, kissing her brown skin.

"But, won't they mind? I mean..."

"First, I don't give a... I don't care what 'they' think... you should know that by now, baby.

"Second, I promised you a day in Honolulu and that's where we're going.

"Third, we wouldn't be eating with them, anyway; we'd be eating with my group."

"But..." She looked around the room, searching for something. "But, what about the, you know, the Japanese?" she whispered. "Don't you have to..."

"You'd think so, wouldn't you? We've turned in everything we've determined to them, the admirals and everybody... maps, charts, reports, photographs... I can't do anything more, that's it... now, it's just time to pray and hope that we're wrong."

"You're not finished, though, are you? You're still going to worry about it. Do you have anyone working on it right now? Shouldn't you be there?"

"No, we're not finished and yes, I have people working on it but there's nothing I can do right now without getting into a plane myself and flying around trying to find them. They're somewhere to the north, I just know it.

"God damn it. Look, let's go to town." His face was turning red, not a good sign, she knew. Then, he calmed, as if he was incapable to do anything else whenever he was around her.

"C'mon, put on a happy face. Breakfast awaits, m'lady. Time for some fun."

She nudged him with her Keds sneaker. "Oh, Jimmy, this rice is delicious. How did you find this place?"

"Actually, a friend of mine found it about a year ago."

"Oh? Agnes?"

"HA! Are you jealous? There's nothing to be jealous about, you know that...

"I couldn't resist. I'm sorry." He looked around the small sidewalk café, checking to see who might be watching them. It seemed clear, so far. He was becoming more and more paranoid as the days passed. If this kept up, he was going to have to have an escort whenever he left the base. Maybe, Spencer would work out, he wondered.

"Ah, don't be. I appreciate the attention," she said, trying to steer the conversation away from his young lieutenant's likes and dislikes.

"Here, try this..." Jim replied. "Fried chicken with an orange-honey glaze... it's incredible. Yeah, I know it's fried... just eat it." He took his chopsticks and transferred a few pieces onto her plate. "Well?"

She poked a piece with hers. "Wow! It's exploding oranges in my mouth. Give me some more," she said, reaching for his plate.

"Greedy woman... What do I get in return?"

"C'mere, I'll tell you."

He leaned over the table, making sure his uniform stayed away of the sticky food. As she whispered, her hand reached under the table, his eyes widened and then his smile widened.

Without another word, he picked up his empty plate and brought it back across the table. A friendly wave at the serving girl brought another dish over and he slid that over to her also. "Here, eat it all."

"I'm going to have to have the recipe for Eliza. We can eat it once in a while, you know... I'd rather have you than this, anyway. How come I didn't know about this earlier?"

"That's easy... nobody knows it exists except for the people that come here and a couple of other places. It's not sweet enough for American tastes. If they find a way to sugar it up, it should be very popular.

"It's really known as "陈皮鸡", literally 'old peel chicken.' Sometimes, they use tangerine rind, instead." He didn't want to mention that it was his Chinese herbalist, during his last visit with her, who had offered him the dish. Better to leave that relationship quiet the way it was and just get the recipe if she was willing to part with it.

"Well, when you're finished, we can go do a little shopping. I saw some beautiful Hawaiian shirts for sale back that way. I know a couple of pretty girls that would like to have some, I bet. Maybe, even their mother... what do you think?"

"I think you have your priorities backward, that's what I think."

"Have you read the Watch Tower?" Standing before them was a small group of men, each holding a printed pamphlet.

"Look, uh... we're having breakfast here and would appreciate some privacy." Jim turned his head away from the group, hoping they would disappear back into the passing crowd walking the sidewalk.

"God is revealing his will and you should seek enlightenment if you choose to be saved. You're being in the military will doom you. Don't you want to be saved?"

"Listen, I'm trying to be nice. Go away. I'm not kidding, damn it, leave us alone."

"Armageddon is coming."

"You got that right. Message delivered. Now, beat it."

"Just let us give you this..."

Jim stood up. "I tried to be nice. Get the hell out of here before I lose what little patience I have left. I prefer to think for myself, thank you and so does my wife."

"This... woman is your wife?"

At that, Jim moved toward the speaker, saying, "Prepare to meet your maker, asshole."

"Jimmy!"

He stopped and looked at his wife, ashamed of his actions while in her company. His perfect morning had been ruined.

Meanwhile, the group had taken the opportunity to make their way and vanish up the street.

"I... I need a break... let's go."

"What a beautiful shirt!" she exclaimed. The shirt, with a black background, had bright yellow-golden leaves and reddish Heliconia 'lobster claws.' Contrasting with her skin tones, the shirt's wild colors s stood out.

Time and after time, shirts were rejected until just the right one was matched. It turned out to be an expensive shopping trip. Besides Bethany, shirts were eventually bought for everyone. 

"I knew it was going to be like this..." he said. He was still angry at those fools, accosting them at the little restaurant. What nerve! Couldn't just let people alone and now... 

"And yet, you did it anyway. That's why I love you so much. Can I have some more of that chicken? Could we go back... please?"

After a quick stop for some more food to snack on, they headed back to their room at the base. "We'll leave the clothes here and then go back out again, unless you'd like to do something else."

Living on the North Shore had its advantages and its disadvantages. Clean air, beautiful scenery and the ability to live life alone and away from the mainland's restrictions were the main reason they moved there ten years earlier.

However, the adult attractions of Honolulu were usually out of reach due to the time required to return home late at night and movies were usually a year out of date by the time they made the rounds to their small town.

They hadn't even bothered to go see "Gone with the Wind" while they did take the children to see "The Wizard of Oz." The two of them had seen "The Cat and the Canary" with Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard and "Stagecoach" with John Wayne. 

Most of the interesting films, though; they never had a chance to see, even though the year seemed to have an incredible number. The North Shore was just too far away to Honolulu to go there every Friday night or Saturday afternoon.

And, tonight, he thought, might be their last time in a long time, God forbid.

"How does dinner and a little dancing sound? The Royal Hawaiian has Apaka tonight. He's part of the radio broadcast. I think he's taken it over, actually. And, tomorrow, we could go see a film."

"Oh, could we?" Her eyes lit up like shining, dark stars. "But, I don't have anything to wear."

"Sweetheart, let's not worry tonight, just this one night, at least. I want us to have fun, tonight. You know, you're right, you're going to need a new evening dress for tonight."

Several hours later, dragging more bags of clothing back to their jeep, she asked for a hamburger. Lately, he thought, she'd been hungry more often than not. "Enough?" he asked as she finished her second burger.

It was two hours later before they left their package-filled room to return to Waikiki Beach with tired but well-pleased looks on their faces.

He took her hand and helped her out of the Jeep. Traveling around Hawaii in an open Jeep wasn't such a good idea wearing an evening dress and leaving a Jeep with the top up needed a skill that took a little practice.

Alfred Apaka was as good as advertised and as the evening wore on, they danced to his Hawaiian melodies until it was time to go. It was a slow drive back to the base and as much as he wanted to love her that night, he was just too exhausted to do any more than kiss her goodnight.



Chapter 6

Sunday morning, December 7th, 1941

Eliza had all five children eating waffles early Sunday morning. Opening up one of the two round griddles, she poured more batter in, listening to it sizzle as it hit the hot metal. 

Junior was eating like the young man he was soon to be, shoveling in one large mouthful after another, each dripping with home-gathered honey, as fast as he could. Lizbeth, though, ever thoughtful of her approaching womanhood, watched what she ate more than she had just a year before.

Eliza dreaded the day she was going to have to have the 'talk' with her. She and Bethany were going to have to sit down and get their stories straight before having to repeat it four different times.

Sunday's menu always threw out the healthy diet followed the rest of the time and in a few weeks, it would be Christmas and everything that went with it... She already had planned the menu, this year a much healthier but still traditional dinner. What Santa was going to bring, though, was still open to question.

Her whole family was around her... her husband, her sister, Jim whom she adored as much as she did John, Jr. and the four girls. Each child was treated so equally, it sometimes was difficult for others to know who belonged to whom.

And then there was a low rumble and the dishes began to shake enough that one glass fell over, spilling milk all over the floor.

"Earthquake! Everyone out, c'mon now, move." Always the last one out of the house, she still stopped to pull the griddle's cord from the wall. Cracks were one thing; house fires another thing, altogether.

"Look, Auntie 'Liza! Airplanes!" The little girl ran to Eliza and threw her arms around the woman, seeking shelter from the thunder.

Only several hundred feet above them, dark green planes flew by, angry red meatballs on their wings, shaking everything.

"Oh, Jesus," was all she could say. "Children, come here to me, now!" Where was John? Jim, for all his complaining, was dead right. Too late to pray, they all turned and ran for the house.

Spencer was turning over the compost pile when he heard the first deep, dark drone in the sky and turned to look north. Plane after plane after plane... all coming straight at him or so it seemed as he stood on the hillside. At first, he dropped to the ground, seeking some kind of shelter but quickly realized he was not their target... at least, not yet.

He ran back toward the house, waving his arms and screaming to the family standing on the grass to get back into the house and down on the floor.

One pilot broke formation and headed for them, guns firing but at the last moment returned to his group. Little did Spencer know that an angry group leader saved their lives, demanding the pilot return. It was the last 'kind' thing happening that day; the lieutenant, now wishing to bring honor to his family, decided not to waste any more ammunition on such unworthy foes.

Spencer looked at the large-caliber bullet holes stitched across the lawn ending six feet from away. He turned back from the house, was sick to his stomach and lost his breakfast.



"Bethany, honey, are you awake? It's almost eight o'clock, baby and we need to get some breakfast in town or you're going to have to eat Navy food. Do you want to go to that Chinese place, again?"

Bethany's response was totally unexpected. She flew out of the bed, her hand covering her mouth and headed down the hallway toward the bathroom at the south side of the building.

He was only seconds behind her, wondering what had happened to his wife. She couldn't be sick, could she? Navy food wasn't that bad, was it, and besides, they ate off-base yesterday, anyway.

"Bethany, are you all right?" Stupid question, he realized. Of course, she wasn't all right, she was sick to her stomach and vomiting whatever was left from yesterday dinner into the toilet.

He opened the door to find his wife on her knees, hovering over the toilet, trying to stop. Jim took a washcloth and wet it, attempting to wipe her face when she turned to him and said, "Jimmy, I'm going to have..."

There was a whistling noise and the first bomb hit.

Brightness...

Loudness...

Darkness...

Silence...



Late Sunday afternoon found him finally conscious and covered with broken wood and smashed glass. "Oh, damn, my head... my... oh, shit! 

"Bethany, where are you?" It was hard to hear, he felt like he was underwater and he choked on the dust that still moved in the breeze flowing through the shattered walls.

It was hard to see through the water spraying what was left of the building's second floor bathroom. "Bethany!" he screamed and tried to push the wooden beam off his leg.

"Aughhhhhhh!" Then, he noticed his pant leg soaked with dark-brown, dried blood...

Blood, whose blood... oh, crap... my blood...

He finally saw her dark form lying on the floor near what was left of that side of the bathroom. Whatever little clothing she had been wearing had been blown away by the blast and he could see her dried and dark-red blood smeared on the floor.

He braced himself against what was left of the wall and used his right leg to push against the wooden beam. It lifted off and away from him. Immediately, the pain screamed through his head. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he yelled and tried to move his left side. The pain almost made him pass out, again. He saw Bethany Rose lying there and once more tried to move.

He could, slowly. He dragged himself over to her, favoring his bad leg and was grateful to God that he could hear her breathing... a regular breathing, shallow to be sure but still regular. 

She just didn't wake up. 

Oh, God, she just didn't wake up.

He looked down the hallway through the destroyed doorway. There was no one there and while there was extensive damage, he thanked God there was no fire rushing through the wooden building. At least the water spraying throughout the room kept everything wet.

Help hadn't come, it wasn't coming; it was up to him to save his wife, just as he had done so long ago in Venice. He rolled over onto his knees, pushed up with his arms and finally limped down the hallway, leaning against the remaining walls and ducking fallen ceiling boards, looking for any gaping holes in the floor. He made it to the outside stairway landing and looked at the harbor. 

Huge, monstrous black clouds billowed into the once blue sky and another explosion rocked the air as something exploded in the distance. He looked for something, anything but saw nothing heading his way, friend or foe.

Shuffling down the stairs a step at a time, he found them stable enough and slowly brought himself back into the building to get Bethany. 

He stopped at their room and armed himself. Then as much as he hated to do it, he lifted her over his shoulder and slowly, so carefully retraced his steps to the outside, leaning heavily against the hallway wall, stepping around broken floor boards and sparking electrical wires. By the time he made it to the stair landing, two sailors saw them and helped him carry her down to a waiting jeep.

If they were surprised she was colored, they made no mention of it and the three of them quickly put her in the jeep and headed toward a tented triage area.

One of the doctors gave her a confused look which quickly disappeared when Jim's hand went to his .45 and the deadly stare on his face warned the man to do his duty.

"We'll need to have a look at your leg, Commander. Uh, just as soon as we take care of her, of course."

Two hours later, as he ran his hand over a cut open pant leg and bandaged leg, a nurse came by with news of Bethany Rose. "Commander Ewart, the woman..."

"Yes, my wife..."

"Uh, yes, sir, your wife... I'm sorry but she lost the baby; she has had a tremendous blow to the head and so we're going to keep her here as long as we can... you understand, as long as no others arrive needing our attention more. I've given her a sedative to keep her calm, especially after the baby... I'm sorry about that. I have to get back to some others, now." 

"I don't think that will happen. It's been four hours since the last attack and word is that that's probably it for today, at least. We have patrols out looking for them.

"You said, a baby, didn't you?" It was starting to sink in that the child he never knew was gone forever. He leaned against the tent pole, wanting to fall down. Death all around and he was grieving for an unborn child he never met, never held, never kissed...

"Yes, I'm sorry."

"The Japanese, right?" It was obvious to the doctor that shock was starting to take over the man's senses. He seemed to be all right but his conversation kept going in circles. Between the attack and his wife's condition and now the loss of the baby...

"Yes, sir, they... looks like everyone was caught with their pants down. I'll take you to her, now, if you wish. Wait, let me get you a crutch."

"Thank you... I'm sorry, it's just that..."

"That's all right; today is going to be a perpetual nightmare for us all. We'll never going to forget today."

"Oh, Jesus, I forgot all about the girls. Where's a phone?"

"There aren't any, right now, everything's been commandeered and shut down."

"Yes, you're right, that was stupid of me. I guess... I hope they'll be all right. They're probably more worried about us.

"Damn! I knew I should have gotten everyone out of here. How stupid could I have been?" He clenched his fists in anger.

"Are you all right? Can I do anything for you?"

"Please, take me to her." He slowly stood up from the grassy shade he had been lying under, leaning heavily on the crutch the nurse had brought. None of the buildings at this end of the base remained intact and yet, the huge fuel tanks nearby were untouched. God, he thought, the Japs are going to regret that mistake.




Chocolate Kisses 2: Pearl Ch. 05-06



Someone had given him an M1 and two magazines and he slung the weapon over his shoulder as he limped over to the next tented area. 

He found his wife lying on a cot, her eyes closed and groggy; all the dust from the destroyed building gone as she lay under a clean folded sheet.

"Hey, baby," he said, "you gave me a fright, there." Her eyes blinked and widened when she saw the crutch under one arm and the rifle over the other. "I wish you could have told me a little earlier, though. I'd as just as well stayed home with you."

She tried to smile but started sobbing. "Oh, Jimmy... I wasn't sure and now, all this. I'm sorry... so sorry."

"Don't be... I mean, yeah, it's impossible to comprehend. I told them over and over and..." He tried desperately to not mention the lost baby but there was no way he couldn't. There would be time enough to grieve privately, later. Survival had to come first. Losing her would kill him, that he knew.

"Jimmy, I know." She stopped speaking... her eyes closed for a moment and then she struggled to stay awake.

"You kept telling us, remember? It's not your fault, there's nothing you could have done more. When the blame comes, it won't be at you." She closed her eyes, again, for a much longer time.

He wondered if seeing her was... considering... "I'm just hoping we'll be around for blame to come. Honey, the nurse told me about the baby..." He sat down on the grass next to the cot and held her hand tightly in his. He lay his head down on her arm.

"It's been... two months, now..." she said, "I wasn't sure so I didn't say anything, you know, because of what was going on..."

"...whatever we were doing early October..."

"...I don't remember but it must have been pretty good... I..."

She started sobbing deeply, from the depths of her soul as she cursed their baby's fate and then realized the smell of death overcame everything else.

"Do you hurt, Bethany? I can tell them to give you some..."

A movement... "Excuse me, Commander Ewart?" It was Agnes, addressing him formally. How she found him, he had no clue. What she needed, he wanted no part of, but she was a welcome distraction for Bethany, whatever she desired. The two of them could talk about... whatever... Bethany probably would rather just have quiet.

"Yes, what?" A bit abrupt, he realized. The young woman didn't deserve his anger, especially now.

"I have a Jeep. They need... want us over at headquarters, sir. Now." She looked mortified, standing there, intruding on such a personal moment between them. She wanted to be anywhere but there. 

Two of her friends were dead, caught out in the open when the bombs began falling. Death was one thing every person in the military took as a possibility, a way of life, but the death of a child, even an unborn child, seemed more personal, a cut to the very soul.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Ewart, Bethany, I heard what happened and..."

"Go, Jimmy, I'll be all right here and if they let me go..." She groaned and closed her eyes. "I'll wait for you by that big tree over there. You have a responsibility to everyone, now, not just us."

He kissed her and gave one last look over his shoulder. As he limped out, a tear fell unseen down his cheek for the child he would never hold, never kiss but would always love.

"Commander Ewart?"

"Yes, sir. Reporting as requested."

Nimitz let that slide. He knew exactly what had happened to the man's wife. More importantly, he knew about the endless reports that Ewart's group had sent in describing the coming Japanese attack and possible targets by order of importance. First and foremost: Pearl Harbor.

"You and I have to talk, starting right now."

Still carrying his rifle in hand, the rifle that stayed with him wherever he went for the next three years, he sat down. 

A week later, Nimitz was promoted to Admiral and became the newly chosen Commander in Chief of the Pacific Theatre.