While the report was restrained, excitement among Martin and his Harlow colleagues was at fever pitch.
FOUR
1977-1985
Majestically, and with a solid dignity no other form of transportation yet devised could match, the cargo liner SS Santa Isabella edged its way along Fort Armstrong Channel and into Honolulu Harbor. Andrew and Celia were on deck, standing with other passengers, below the bridge and forward. Andrew, with binoculars, was already scanning the dockside and port buildings coming into view. His scrutiny had a purpose. As the Aloha Tower loomed ahead, made golden by Hawaiian sunshine from an azure sky, the ship swung smoothly to starboard, tugs fussing beside it. Ships' whistles sounded. Among the Santa Isabella's crew, landing preparations intensified. Lowering the binoculars, Andrew stole a sideways glance at Celia. Like himself, she was bronzed and healthy, a consequence of almost six months of leisure, spent largely in the open air. She was relaxed too, he could see, as he thought of the accumulated tensions that had preceded their departure. No doubt about it: their tour, the comparative isolation and a total absence of pressures had been good for them both. He raised the binoculars again. "You seem to be looking for something," Celia said. Without turning his head, he answered, "If I see it, I'll tell you.”
"All right.”
She sighed.”I can hardly believe it's almost over.”
And it was. Their long journey, which had taken them through fifteen countries. essentially would finish here. After a brief stopover they would fly directly home from Honolulu, ready to resume their lives amid whatever changes awaited them, though such changes would be mainly those affecting Celia. She wondered what they might be. Deliberately, since leaving home in early March, she had excluded thoughts of the future from her mind. Now it was mid August and the future must be faced. Touching Andrew's arm, she said, "For the rest of my life I'll remember this time; all the places we've been, everything we've done and seen...”
Celia thought: There was so much to remember. In her mind, scenes flooded back: Yes, truly magic moonlight on the Nile, and sand and searing heat in the Valley of the Kings... walking the labyrinthine cobbled streets of Lisbon's Alfama, nine centuries old, and flowers everywhere... Jerusalem-"The hill nearest heaven, where a man can cup his hand to the wind and hear the voice of God.”... Rome's paradoxical mingling of the earthy and ethereal... Greek islands, diamonds in the Aegean, a montage memory of dazzling light, white terraced villages, mountains, olive groves... Oil-rich, thriving Abu Dhabi and a happy reunion with Celia's younger sister, Janet, her husband and young family... India, subcontinent of savage contrasts, its pleasures weighed against appalling filth and degradation. One picture-postcard scene: Jaipur, the pink city... Then the Great Barrier Reef, Australian coral kingdom, a snorkeler's Fantasia... and near Kyoto, Japan: the fragile, dreamlike beauty of the Shugakuin Imperial Villa, an emperor's hideaway and a place of poetry, still guarded from the tourist mainstream... Hong Kong's frenetic pace, as if time were running out, and so it was... In Singapore-amid enormous wealth-the humble hawker food stalls, a gourmet's paradise, with nasi beryani served at Glutton's Corner, aptly named... In Singapore, too, Andrew and Celia had boarded the Santa Isabella for an unhurried journey through the South China Sea and into the Pacific, a journey which was ending in Hawaii, here and now. There had been twenty or so other passengers aboard, most of them savoring the leisurely shipboard pace and comfortable accommodations without the hectic, organized jollity of a conventional cruise ship. As the cargo liner continued moving slowly, Celia's musing drifted on... Despite her conscious efforts at the exclusion, until now, of thoughts about the future, inevitably there had been some about the past. In recent days especially she had asked herself. was she wrong in quitting Felding-Roth so abruptly? Her resignation had been impetuous and instinctual. Had it also been unwise? Celia wasn't sure, and that thought made her wonder whether sometime soon she would experience regrets and anguish even greater than her present doubts. Clearly her departure had not affected the company or the drug Montayne in any serious way. In February, as scheduled, Montayne was launched, apparently with great success. According to trade press reports which Celia read before leaving with Andrew on their tour, Montayne was at once widely prescribed and popular, especially with women who continued to be employed during pregnancy and to whom relief from morning sickness was critically important. It seemed obvious that the new drug was a bonanza for Felding-Roth. Similarly, she had learned while in France that the same was proving true for the French originators of Montayne, Laboratoires Gironde-Chimie. The France-Soir news stories out of Nouzonville and Spain, it seemed, had not harmed the reputation of Montayne. Nor, in the United States, had Dr. Maud Stavely's anti-Montayne arguments been given much credence or impeded sales. Celia's thoughts turned back to the ship, which was close to the dockside now, approaching Pier 10 where they would disembark and clear Customs. Suddenly, beside her, Andrew exclaimed, "There!" "There, what?" He handed over the binoculars and pointed.”Focus on that second big window-above the dock and left of the clock tower.”
Puzzled, she did as instructed.”What am I looking for?" "You'll see.”
The group around them had thinned out. In addition to Andrew and Celia, only two or three passengers remained, the rest having returned to their cabins to prepare for going ashore. Celia adjusted the binoculars and moved them, exploring. Almost at once she cried, "I do see! And I don't believe it "You can believe it," Andrew said.”They're real.”
"Lisa and Bruce!" Joyously, Celia shouted her children's names. Then, holding the binoculars with one hand, she began waving frantically with the other. Andrew joined in. Behind the plate glass, in the spot where Andrew had observed them, Lisa and Bruce, laughing and excited, waved back. Celia was incredulous.”I don't understand. We weren't expecting the children. How did they get here?" "I was expecting them," Andrew told her calmly.”In fact, 1
arranged it. It took several phone calls from Singapore when you weren't around, but - . .”
Celia, still overwhelmed, seemed hardly to hear.”Of course, I'm happy to see them. But Lisa and Bruce have summer jobs. How could they get away?" "That was easy too--when I explained why it was I wanted them here.”
He retrieved the binoculars and put them in a case. "I still don't understand," Celia said.”You wanted the children?" "That's right," Andrew assured her.”It was so that I could keep a promise. One made many years ago.”
"A promise to whom?" "To you.”
She looked at him, perplexed. Andrew said gently, prompting, "It was on our honeymoon. We were talking, and you told me why you'd preferred a honeymoon in the Bahamas, rather than Hawaii. You said Hawaii would have made you sad. Then you explained about your father, and his dying at Pearl Harbor, going down with the Arizona.” "Wait!" Celia's voice was barely a whisper. Yes, now she did remember... remembered after all these years. On that honeymoon day on a Bahamas beach, she had described her father to Andrew, described the little she remembered of Chief Petty Officer Willis de Grey...”When he was home the house was always noisy, full of fun. He was big, and with a booming voice, and he made people laugh, and loved children, and was strong...” And Andrew, who had been understanding then and ever since, had asked, "Have you been to Pearl Harbor?" She had answered, "Though I'm not sure why, I'm not ready yet. You'll think this strange, but one day I’d like to go to where my father died, though not alone. I’d like to take my children.” It was then that Andrew promised, "One day, when we have our children and they can understand, then I'll arrange it. A promise... twenty years ago. As the Santa Isabella eased alongside Pier 10 and mooring lines snaked out, Andrew informed Celia quietly, "We're going tomorrow; it's all arranged. Going to the Arizona Memorial, to your father's ship and where he died. And just as you wanted, your children will be with you.”