Dan's eyes widened. He could not believe what he was hearing. He hoped this wasn't all a dream. If it was, he didn't want to wake up. He wanted to dream this dream forever.
"Are you okay honey?" asked Belle, with a worried expression.
Dan didn't reply. He was to shocked.
"I'll go get some water." said Belle, as she headed to the kitchen.
"She was in front of me this whole time." Dan said to himself.
While Belle was in the kitchen Dan heard someone coming back in the house. He saw Thanya headed to the kitchen.
"Thanya!" Dan called, drawing her attention.
Thanya walked over to Dan. She had come back in the house for some water. She still had to take off her prosthetics, but would keep them on until she reached the sand.
"Yes Dan?" Thanya answered.
"I missed you." Dan said to her, with a fresh set of tears threatening to overflow.
Thanya looked both surprised and confused. Her father-in-law just said that he missed her. He was being nice. He was always civil but he was never this warm to her. Plus, he was crying. Thanya had never seen him cry before. She started to wonder what made him act like this.
"It's good to see you too Dan." Thanya replied. It was the best answer she could come up with.
Dan shook his head. "Dad." he said correcting her. "Call me Dad."
This time, Thanya could not hide her expression. She was shocked, confused, and happy all at the same time. She wished she was here five minutes before she entered. So she could see what the reason was for him being like this. She felt like if she asked, it would ruin things. So she nodded.
"You really are my daughter." Dan said, with tears in his eyes.
Thanya was shocked. He never called her his daughter, even after Hansen and her got married. She could tell by the emotion he was showing, that it was sincere. He finally accepted her into his family. He smiled at her.
"Can I hug you?" Dan said choking up.
Thanya nodded, and tears started to form in her own eyes.
Dan hugged her tightly and the tears started to fall as soon as his arms were wrapped around her. Belle looked concerned when she walked back into the dining area. She was really confused and baffled at what she was seeing. She loved Thanya, but she thought it would take years for Dan to finally give Thanya a chance. This was definitely a surprise.
"I finally found you! I've been looking for you all these years. I finally found you!" Dan said with tears.
Thanya was still confused as ever, but happy that she was finally accepted into the family. Belle and Hansen had always been welcoming. This time meant even more, because it was coming from Dan, a man who had been so distant and had kept her at an arms length, never letting her come close.
"Honey are you okay?" asked Belle, when she put the cup of water on the table.
Dan nodded "Of course. I'm just talking to my daughter." he said, gesturing to Thanya.
"Isn't that right?" Dan asked Thanya.
Thanya nodded with tears in her eyes, "Yeah Dad. That's right."
Belle nodded and smiled.
"Thanya!" Hansen called her name from outside.
"Coming!" Thanya called back. She hugged her in-laws and quickly grabbed the water she came for.
When she exited the house, she walked over to Hansen. He was waiting for her right where the grass met the sand. He grabbed the bottles from her and hand in hand, they walked along the beach. There were other people out on the sand - families with their keiki's and surfers going out with their surfboards, ready to catch the next wave.
As they were walking, Hansen saw a bottle on the shore. One of the things he did not like was littering. So he let Thanya's hand go and went toward the shore. He picked up the bottle and looked inside. There was a letter inside.
"Whats this?" Hansen said out loud.
"Hey! Whatchu doing!?" shouted a bald local man from afar.
He was wearing a blue tank top and black surf shorts, standing by a bunch of people. Hansen could immediately tell he was a local.
"Unko! Dat was da guy dat when drop da two big guys at da police station." said a younger man beside him. He, too, had a strong Pidgin accent.
"How you know?" asked the bald man.
"Jim Kala told me!" replied the younger man.
"Oh. You tink he can scare me!?" the bald man asked, with his chest stuck out and chin up in the air.
The bald man flexed his muscles and gestured to his non-existent biceps.
"You see dis gun?" asked the bald man. "He did a lot of damage to sum braddahs faces."
Hansen saw the bald man from afar, and assumed that the man was pointing at him. Before things could escalate, Hansen walked toward him to calm the situation down. The younger man saw Hansen walking toward them, behind his uncle. His eyes widened and he quickly gestured behind the bald man.
"Unko! He's comin!" the young man hollered. "Ohhh, someone goin to drop today."
"Oooohhhh," everyone else teased said teasingly to the bald man.
"Somebody getting lickens," teased a lady in the group.
"Run, Unko! Run!" shouted the young man.
The bald man had yet to face Hansen.
"I'm going to—" said the bald man in a cocky tone, before he turned around.
At that moment, he saw Hansen behind him.
"Love my braddah." the man finished with a innocent smile.
The man looked down, and saw the bottle still in Hansen's hand.
"Das my bottle brah. I wrote one song in there." said the bald man.
"Oh yeah? What's the song?" asked Hansen.
Hansen opened the bottle and pulled out the piece of paper. He unraveled the paper and saw the words written on it.
"Yu my Sonchine," Hansen read out loud. "Is this a Chinese song?"
The bald man had written it in pidgin, and shook his head, "No. You like me to sing um for you? Dis a love song I wrote for da wahine's like the wahine behind you."
The bald man looked at the people nearby and multiple people had other instruments by them. At once, they began to sing the song "You are my Sunshine" in Hawaiian by Kimié Miner. As they began to sing, Thanya and Hansen looked at each other, both strongly in love and glad to be where they were. They fought through obstacles together and it was all worth it.
"I thank you for not giving up on me." said Thanya, as she looked at Hansen with love.
"I will do anything for you." Hansen replied with a smile, then kissed her with all his love.
THE END