The Pregnancy Proposition

The elevator chimed and the doors opened. He heard Paige’s sigh of relief and tried to hide his smile.

“Please—” he gestured “—go ahead.” He listened for the shuffling of her movement as she got on the elevator, then Hōkū pulled at his harness and led Mano into the elevator behind her. He ran his hands over the control panel, finding the lobby button marked with the braille symbol. Then he turned to face the door and reached for the railing to steady himself.

“What is your service dog’s name?” Paige asked as they descended.

“This is Hōkū,” he said. The brown lab had been at his side for seven years, and he’d become almost a part of Mano. “You may pet him if you like.”

“Are you sure? I know you’re not supposed to do that when they’re working.”

Smart. Most people didn’t know that. “Unfortunately, I am always working, so Hōkū is always working. Give him a pet, he’ll love you forever.”

“Hello, Hōkū,” Paige said in the high voice people reserved for babies and animals. “Are you a good boy?”

She was rewarded with Hōkū’s heavy, happy panting. She was probably scratching his ears. He was a sucker for a good ear scratching.

“What does Hōkū mean?”

Mano enjoyed the melodic quality of Paige’s voice, especially as she used some of his native Hawaiian language. It wasn’t too deep or too high, but he could hear the smile when she spoke. “It means ‘star’ in Hawaiian. Before navigation systems and maps, sailors used to guide their ships by the stars, and since I use him to guide me, I thought that was an appropriate choice.”

“That’s perfect.”

A cloud of her scent rose up as she stood. Paige had a unique fragrance, and yet it was somehow very familiar to him. Many women, especially those from the Aolani suite, nearly bathed in expensive perfumes or scented lotions. Most people wouldn’t even notice it, but Mano was overpowered by smells, good and bad. Paige’s scent was subtle but appealing, like a hint of baby powder and a touch of...hand sanitizer. That was a different combination.

The elevator chimed and the system announced that they were on the lobby level. He’d had the elevators updated several years back to include that feature for himself and any other visually impaired guests. The doors opened and he held out his hand for Paige to exit ahead of him. He expected her to rush out the door toward her destination. Most people were a little uncomfortable around him. She obviously was, but it didn’t repel her. Her scent lingered at his side as he exited.

“Are you eating dinner at the hotel tonight?” he asked.

“That’s where I was headed. I’m not sure where I’m going yet.”

“If you want your first meal to be an authentic one, I would recommend Lani. That is our traditional Polynesian restaurant, so you’ll get a great taste of what Honolulu has to offer in its culinary basket. There’s also a beautiful outdoor seating area. If you hurry, I believe you can still catch the sunset. It’s not to be missed. Just tell the hostess that I sent you and she’ll make sure you get the best seat available.”

“Thank you. I’ll do that. I hope we’ll see each other...er...run into each other again soon.”

Mano smiled as she stumbled over her words again. “Enjoy your evening, Paige. A hui hou kakou.”

“What does that mean?”

“Until we meet again,” he said.

“Oh. Thank you for your help. Good night.”

Mano waved casually and then listened as the slap of her sandals faded in the direction of the beach and hotel restaurants. Once she was gone, he turned toward the registration desks and let Hōkū lead him through the guests. Hōkū stopped just short of the counter where they went through the swinging door to enter the area behind the registration desk. The concierge station was just to his right.

“Aloha ahiahi, Mr. Bishop.”

“Good evening, Neil. How are things going tonight?”

“Fine. You’ve just missed the check-in rush from all the stateside flights arriving.”

Good. He did well to move about the hotel, but he tried to avoid the busiest times when he was most likely to run into an issue with people dragging roller bags or children running around.

Since it wasn’t busy at the moment, he also wondered if he could take advantage of his concierge’s eyes. He was curious about his new guest, Paige. “Did you happen to see the young woman that got off the elevator with me?”

“Briefly, sir. I didn’t get a good look at her.”

It amazed Mano sometimes how those with sight spent most of their time not taking full advantage of it. “What of her did you see?”

“Just a basic impression because I noticed her speaking with you. She was tall for a woman; with long, straight brown hair. Pale. Very thin. I didn’t really see her face since she was turned toward you.”

Mano nodded. That could’ve described a thousand women at the hotel, easily. It was a start, though. “Okay, thank you. Let me know if you have any issues. I’ll be in my office.”

“Yes, sir.”

Mano and Hōkū continued down a hallway and through the area where hotel management worked to keep things flowing smoothly. They went down another hallway and turned to enter his office. He flipped on the light and made his way to his desk. Neither he nor Hōkū needed the light, but he’d discovered that his employees found it strange that he would sit in a dark office and would think he didn’t want to be disturbed.

Mano settled into his chair and Hōkū curled up to sleep at his feet. His dog always laid his head on his shoe, so Mano knew he was there. He leaned down to pat the dog on the head, hit a few keys on the keyboard to wake up his computer and slipped the headset he used to control it over his free ear. It allowed his system to read emails and files to him, and he could control it with voice commands. He wished he could tell his high school keyboarding teacher that no, he wouldn’t need that skill in the future.

As he checked his email, his attention was drawn to his other earpiece that was connected to the hotel security system. Mano knew everything that happened at his hotel even if he couldn’t see it occur. It had been a quiet day with a lot of idle chatter. That would change as the sun went down. The weekends got a little wilder at the resort with nightly luaus, fireworks shows and plenty of mai tais to go around.

At the moment, two members of his team were trying to determine if a gentleman at the outdoor bar needed to be cut off. He was getting loud. Mano didn’t worry about those kinds of issues. His staff could handle them easily.

A soft tap sounded at his door. Mano looked up expectantly toward the sound. “Yes?”

“Good evening, Mr. Bishop.”

Mano recognized the voice as his head of operations, Chuck. They had grown up together and had been friends in school since second grade. “Evening, Chuck. Anything of note happen while I went upstairs?”

“No, sir.”

“Good. Listen, did you happen to be around when our Aolani VIP checked in this afternoon?”

“I was not, but Wendy was at the desk around that time. I can check with her if you need something.”

Mano shook his head. He felt a little silly even asking, but it wasn’t as though he could find out otherwise. “Don’t trouble her, no. But if you happen to see Miss Edwards, let me know what you think. She seemed...different. She piqued my curiosity.”

“Hmm...” Chuck said in a tone that Mano didn’t like. “If she’s caught your interest, I want to get an eyeful for myself. It’s been a long time since you allowed yourself a little companionship. Could she be your latest lucky selection?”

Mano sighed. Chuck would likely torture him mercilessly now. He was a lot like his older brother, Kal, in that way. It was his own fault for telling his friend about his unusual dating habits, but it was the only thing that kept people from trying to fix him up all the time. “I don’t know about that. I just wanted your opinion before I ask her to dinner tomorrow evening.”

“So you are asking her out to dinner?” Chuck asked.

“Not on a date,” Mano corrected. “I was going to ask her to join me at the owner’s table.” It was a tradition his grandfather started at the hotel, and he had carried it on when he took over. It was just the first time it involved a young woman traveling on her own. “I was curious about her being here by herself.”

Chuck was right to a point, although Mano wouldn’t tell him so. He was interested in Paige. He didn’t like dating guests at the hotel, but considering he almost never left the property, it was that or celibacy. From time to time, if he found a woman who interested him, he’d propose that she spend a week with him. No strings, no emotions, just a few days of fantasy before she returned home to her regular life. That’s all he was willing to offer a woman. At least since Jenna.

His personal experiences had taught him that a short-term fantasy was the best thing he had to offer. His disability always seemed like the third wheel of every relationship. He may have adjusted to being blind, but he hated to ask someone else to deal with it long-term. He did his best not to be a burden on his family, but it would be harder to shield a woman in his life from it. He didn’t want to be a burden on the woman he loved.

“I’ll look into it, sir.”